It's the holiday season!

December arrived in a hurry, for what seemed like such a far off thought when we first got to the States back in September sure did creep up on us fast! I was really excited to spend a month at 'home' after so long on the road. While my friends and other family had made us feel more than comfortable during our prior adventures, there's still nothing quite like staying at home. Plus, I was also really excited for Dave and my parents to get to spend some real quality time together getting to know one another a little better. So post Zion we arrived to the Valley of the Sun for a month of sunshine and recuperation. 

I have had the very fortunate situation of being able to work at a restaurant the past 3 holiday seasons in Scottsdale as a sort of floater for their busy season. Thankfully this was my third season being able to do just that again, bouncing around from being a hostess, to doing catering events, and even corporate lunches. My 'work' kept me busy most days we were in Arizona, and my bank account welcomed that. Dave similarly found work for the few weeks that we were there, and that was grand! Most days consisted of work, followed by dinner with my folks and then hanging out at night relaxing with the pup. It was a great month indeed of visiting, making a bit of cash, and also enjoying the scenery and weather. 

I was SO excited while we were in Arizona because one of the first days we were there, my diploma finally arrived! The finality of receiving my diploma in the mail made me beyond ecstatic! It was quite surreal seeing the culmination of my work over the past two years summed up into one piece of paper, but that one piece of paper means a great deal to me. I am still meaning to get it into a frame, but it'll get done eventually. I also received a copy of my thesis bound for my bookshelf, which was realistically more the manifestation of the past two years. At any rate, this was really exciting stuff indeed.

I am a master of something!

Other things included spending a lot of time by the Christmas tree looking at the lights, and even the occasional game of banangrams - I'm so grateful that Dave loves banangrams as much as I do, and games in general for that matter. We met up with a friend of mine from college one evening at a local brewery called Four Peaks, and sadly Dave neglected to bring his new American driver's license, so the rest of us just told him how good the beer was :-( But that said, Dave got himself a driver's license as well as a bank account while we were in Arizona, he's well on his way to embracing his American roots haha! 

The Christmas spirit is contagious!

Seven is stiff competition in bananagrams!

I'm a huge fan of making Christmas cookies - and this year Dave and I got to do the work of making the two kinds we settled upon, candy cane cookies and classic chocolate chip. Food in general was a large part of the trip for both of us, as my mom is a stellar cook, and my parents also know all of the good restaurants in the Phoenix region, and Dave got to experience most of their favorite spots. From pizza, to vegetarian, to Chinese, to Mexican we had it all! There is even a Cornish pasty restaurant in Arizona, and naturally we had to take Dave there, as this was just too good of a laugh to pass up having a Cornish guy at the Cornish pasty! Dave got a greek pasty and I opted for a Crabbies, and overall Dave gave the Cornish pasty a thumbs up; we were all relieved that it satisfied his palate! We even brought back a tradition started the year prior of having DIY pizzas for Christmas dinner, and that was a success, yet again! 

Santa's elves!

When you have to make things gluten free they never turn out as nice, but I still think these look awesome!

Pizza making!

Dave and his pasty!

It's real life!

I also can't say enough about how much I love the desert in the winter, it is really magical to me. Maybe it's because I was born there that it's an innate environment that I'm bound to have an affinity for, but regardless it's spectacular in the winter months. I'm also a huge believer in celebrating the solstices, as they signify so much to me (I think Finland gave me this perspective). At any rate, we celebrated the solstice, as well as some rainier days, which I love because the smell of desert rain is indescribable! 

Double rainbow after a rainy day!

Sunrise on the solstice!

I know this post is jumping around a little bit, but when Alex finally arrived for a week to celebrate Christmas we enjoyed some great days with him as well. We had a Christmas day fire in the chimenea, that Christmas pizza I mentioned, a trip to the Boyce Thompson Arboretum, and a Boxing Day boating trip at Canyon Lake! I love taking people to Canyon Lake when they visit as it is truly a spectacular sight to see. The desert canyon walls are so pretty, especially as they are dotted with so many fantastic cacti! Then it's nearby a little village called Tortilla Flats, which is meant to mimic the cowboy towns of decades past, and it is always an obligatory stop afterwards for a snack of some sort. The day at Canyon Lake was a bit chilly when the wind was in your face, but we all loved it nonetheless. Some pictures now, and as always the really nice ones are naturally Dave's..

Guitars, gentlemen, a pup, and a fire.

Chimenea coziness

My dad, Seven and me enjoying the fire.

Canyon Lake!

Alex and his recently acquired GoPro enjoying the lake.

Sibling love! :-)

Cactus views!

Sunny and windy!

Dave and I are the only ones who caught the memo to smile!

Sun salutations!

And the arboretum is a favorite spot as it is home to all of the different types of vegetation that can be found in Arizona! We spent a gorgeous afternoon wandering around the arboretum enjoying the vegetation, and then followed that with a stellar meal of pizza at one of our favorite pizza spots in the desert, Spinatos! Dave snapped some nice photos of the cacti!

A big barrel cactus!

These guys were in bloom!

Gorgeous flower!

And two days after Christmas we headed out to California to ring in the New Year with Melissa and Matt in Long Beach. We were sad to say goodbye to Arizona, as I always have such a nice time there, but it was yet again on to the next adventure. I know that everyone, including myself, really valued and enjoyed the time we spent in Arizona. It was really wonderful getting to spend my first Christmas with Dave in 2 years, and I know I speak for both of us in saying it was long overdue to get to spend the holiday together. My parents were also chuffed by Dave's generosity in making them a book for Christmas filled with pictures of me, now we are all just waiting for him to take off with his career in photography ;-) But at any rate, the month of December flew by far too quickly, but I guess that's how it goes they say - time flies when you're having fun! Oh, and I always get especially sad to say goodbye to Seven, as she is my favorite pup in all of the land! 

Bye Seven!

She sleeps in the weirdest positions..

Before arriving to LA we stopped at Joshua Tree National Park. This speaks again to how long you can live in a place and still not have seen everything it has to offer. This park is only a 3 hour drive from Phoenix, is world famous, and yet this was my first time visiting. I absolutely loved visiting Joshua Tree, as the trees lived up to their expectation. I've seen Joshua Trees before, without really connecting the dots that they were in fact Joshua Trees, but more than anything just seeing a massive conglomeration of them was so neat! We spent a nice afternoon here strolling about looking at the landscape, and sadly didn't have the time to spend the night, but all the same we made the most of our time and were just grateful to have the time to stop off on the way. I highly recommend a trip out here if you get the chance, as I myself am eager to go back - I'd especially like to go on a sunny day so as to see the trees in all their glory! 

This is a field of chollas!

And this is me with a Joshua Tree!

Gazing out at the desert!

Chollas for everyone!

And then we finally arrived in Long Beach for two nights of fun! The night we arrived we had the infamous potato tacos and asada fries from Hole Mole - so good, every, single, time! It's worth moving there just to eat at this place daily, seriously. Tacos for a quarter, and asada fries are covered in all the usual nacho fixings, but on french fries instead, absolutely brilliant! After our food coma we called it a night. On day two, New Years Eve, Matt escorted us around town on bicycles to go see the Queen Mary, which we managed to sneak on to and check out her glory! Post bike rides we met up with Mel after she got off work and we went out for a lunch of tamales and empanadas, mmmm!! Then we went to the park to play bocce ball, which was super fun, and not to boast but Dave and I won, YAY!! And then we topped off the evening with a backyard bonfire at a friend of Matt and Mel's, which was great! We had champagne at midnight, and had just an overall nice time riding our bikes around California on New Years! 

Dave and the Queen Mary.

Bocce ball! Sprock and I won, no big deal.

Happy New Years! Complete with noisemakers!

Feliz año nuevo!

Needless to say, 2015 was rang in in style! It was with heavy hearts as we left Long Beach on New Years Day, but the open road was ahead of us and we were headed to Colorado. We actually managed to be on the road by 8am and made it to Grand Junction, Colorado by about 9pm. It was a long, but really beautiful drive. Utah is exceptionally gorgeous, and the few times I have had the pleasure of being there I've loved it! And then when we arrived to our couchsurfing host in Colorado, we were graciously welcomed with a glass of wine and a pint of beer, as well as a swimming pool and warm bed. In the morning we were treated to an egg breakfast, and then we hit the road to Kansas. We arrived in Manhattan, Kansas after another long 12 hour drive, but again the drive was spectacular, as Colorado is quite gorgeous! Our hosts in Manhattan were really generous taking us at the last minute, as we originally thought we would make it to Kansas City or at least Topeka. Day 3 we finally arrived to Indianapolis! Yay! And so concludes our epic road trip of 2015!! The takeaway message - couchsurfing rules!

Gorgeous Utah!!

Dave enjoys the hot tub in Grand Junction - Thanks Catherine!!

In short, 2014 was absolutely amazing! I can't believe how fast time flies by, and how quickly the years pass. I have been so lucky to have Dave by my side for all of 2014, and I know I speak for both of us again in saying that we have been excited to see how 2015 unfolds. I obviously write this as three months have already passed in 2015, and it's been equally as lovely, but different indeed. 2014 was truly exceptional for us going from here, there, to everywhere! From Sweden to Finland to Spain to England to Portugal to the U.S., it's been amazing! And our friends and family along the way keep us smiling through every bit of our journey. Thank you all for being a part of our 2014, and for making us feel ever so lucky every single day. Cheers to 2015 being equally as great!