Happy New Year, friends! My company is always off Christmas Eve through New Year’s Day, and my mom decided to come to spend it with me this year. It has been lovely to relax and unplug this past week. My mom left yesterday afternoon, and I’m mentally preparing to return to work tomorrow. In the meantime, here’s a recap of her trip to Arizona, so cozy up with some coffee because it’s lengthy.

She flew in on Christmas Eve night, and we immediately got into the holiday spirit by taking her to see one of our favorite houses that goes all out for Christmas. It was so fun to see how impressed my mom was. She’s never seen anything like it back in St. Louis — she was taking videos of everything to send to family. They had 265,000 lights and nine different computerized shows with snowfall, bubbles, and pyrotechnics.

We drank coffee while we opened gifts first thing on Christmas morning. (Look at my mom and Brett’s unintentional matching — so cute!) Brett and I agreed that we weren’t getting expensive gifts this year. But he surprised me by booking a cabin for Valentine’s Day in Flagstaff, something we’ve done the past two years. I didn’t think we’d go this coming year since Brett’s running a marathon that Saturday, but I’m excited to keep the tradition alive.

Christmas was a pretty chill, relaxing day. After we opened presents, Brett made breakfast, and then we just lounged around for most of the day — Brett watched football, I finished reading Just Haven’t Met You Yet, and we all played Catan together. Brett and I cooked dinner, then took her to one of our favorite neighborhoods to see more lights. It was the perfect low-key first day for my mom to settle in.

Brett had to run 18 miles on Sunday morning for his marathon training, so my mom and I had a slow morning at home, getting ready and chatting. After Brett got back and got ready, we went to Queen Creek Olive Mill for lunch. It’s close to our new house, so we swung by after to show my mom our lot and future neighborhood. They should begin laying the rebar and slab soon; otherwise, not much has changed since we were last there.

On Monday, I met up with a high school friend and her boyfriend for brunch at Hash Kitchen since they were in town for a couple of days visiting. That afternoon I took my mom to an Asian supermarket that had recently opened down the street from us, and we each picked a little snack. From there, I swung through Black Rock for a chiller, and then we drove around one of my favorite neighborhoods with lots of waterways and green spaces.

When Brett came home from work, we went to dinner at Culinary Dropout, one of Brett’s favorites. The ambiance of the Gilbert location is fantastic. We always order the soft pretzels & provolone fondue, but we decided to switch it up and try the house-smoked salmon — so glad we did because it was delicious. I always get the spicy Korean skirt steak, and Brett loves their 36-hour pork ribs.

Tuesday morning, we had reservations at Arcadia Farms Café, and unfortunately, it was the only decent picture I took that day (blogger fail). After breakfast, we drove my mom to see our model home (it’s in a different community than where we’re building). We went to Olive & Ivy for dinner. I tried snapping some pictures, but the lighting was horrible inside, although the ambiance is always incredible.

By Wednesday, I had taken my mom to most of the places I had in mind. There is so much to do out here (hiking, horseback riding, kayaking, shopping), but my mom didn’t want to do much, insisting she just wanted to spend time with us. Since Brett was working again, we had a chill day and went to Gen Korean BBQ after Brett got home. We walked around Tempe Marketplace while waiting for our table — look at that 60-foot holiday tree!

While Brett was at work on Thursday, I drove my mom to Saguaro Lake. I was trying to take her somewhere along the Salt River to see if we could spot any wild horses, but we stumbled across Saguaro Lake instead. (If you want to see wild horses, I highly recommend kayaking down the Salt River early in the morning.) Neither Brett nor I had ever been, but it was stunning. Now I want to take Brett along next time and explore more.

For dinner, we took her to our favorite Chinese restaurant, Shaanxi Garden. They have a diverse menu — Brett likes their orange chicken while I prefer their traditional dishes. We ordered numerous things that night to share, which is common in Chinese culture rather than everyone ordering separately. My mom liked it so much that we went back on Sunday for lunch and tried more dishes!

Sweet Brett took New Year’s Eve off work to hang out with us. We ended 2021 with dinner at The Melting Pot. I’m usually not a big alcohol drinker, but I ordered the yin & yang martini (Godiva white chocolate liqueur, vanilla vodka, ice cream, chocolate fondue shavings). I’d go back right now just for that drink. Afterward, we went home and watched the ball drop, but none of us made it to midnight Arizona time.

The whole family, including the boys, took a day trip to Tuscon to kickoff 2022. We went mainly to show my mom Saguaro National Park since saguaros are native to our area. Some other things we wanted to do but weren’t able to: lunch at Guadalajara Original Grill (closed until later since it was New Year’s Day) and drive Mount Lemmon scenic byway (closed due to inclement weather).

Dog Harness

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention our last dinner even though I have no pictures of Different Pointe of View. It’s a bit of a splurge, and while the food is good, people go for the views. We sat inside because it was relatively cold, but we still had incredible views with their floor-to-ceiling windows. I highly recommend seeing the city in daylight before sunset and then after with the city’s twinkling lights.

If you made it here, thank you so much for reading. I’m glad my mom could come and celebrate the holidays with us. I miss her so much already — hoping to make it back to St. Louis this year. I hope you’ve had a great start to the new year, and I can’t wait to see what 2022 holds! xo