Kimmie Jean & Co.

12/7/11

Baby it's Cold Outside!

Arizona had it's first cold day of the season last weekend. I kinda loved it cause it was just 50 degrees and overcast. Perfect winter weather if you ask me! {none of this snow and frozen stuff for me thank you}

It was the PERFECT day for a nice soup and hot drink.

Time for some WHITE CHICKEN CHILI!

The first time I made it I accidentally may have put diced jalapenos instead of chili's... don't make that mistake unless you want to burn your tongue off {sorry Chris!}

I got this recipe from my cousin Bria.

It's DELICIOUS! and super simple. It doesn't take long to cook either which I love.

White Chicken Chili:

1 rotiserri chicken and pull it apart.
2 cans of great northern beans
2 small cans of diced green chili's
1 can of chicken broth
1 medium onion
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregno
half tsp pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Simmer all that for 30 minutes then at the end add 1 cup of sour cream and a half cup of whipping cream, and serve right away!

Try it and let me know how it goes! And if you have any recipes for yummy stews or soups let me know!

'Tis the season!

12/5/11

Love at first sight!

Have you seen my niece Lydia?

Isn't she darling?

When she was born, I got to spend her first night in the hospital with her. It was important to me to be able to bond with her since I lived far away and wouldn't get to see her often.

I cherish those moments when I just held her and watched her sleep. Such a precious new spirit.

I've been in love ever since.

One of my favorite parts of being in Arizona is the opportunity to be around my nieces and watch them grow and get these quirky personalities.

Even the puppies love the baby, they cant get enough!

And since I don't have much else going on in life... you're gonna hear a lot about them. I'm officially obsessed.

12/4/11

Bargain Hunters

We all know that I've had an extensive retail career working on Black Friday {of death}. BUT I have never actually shopped the madness {mostly cause I thought those people we're crazy!}

This year I decided to join in on the fun. We were in St. George for Thanksgiving and since Target was opening at midnight it was thunk to be a wee bit easier than previous 4 a.m. experiences. They had a T.V that I wanted and some other good door buster deals {think Christmas presents!} so we got all pumped and prepared for a long night.

We headed off to Target around 7:30 p.m. It wasn't too cold yet and there were probably like 40 people ahead of us in line. Since Kailey had to work at Hollister at 4 a.m. she decided to pull an all-nighter and bring some friends along for entertainment.

Sitting in line wasn't all that bad. We made friends with our fellow line mates and banned together the last hour when people started showing up and trying to cut into that line. We got pretty rowdy there towards the end {SERIOUSLY people, don't think you can show up at midnight and get in on those deals we waited in line 4.5 hours for! RUDE!} Chris was the enforcer and got in some peoples face... that was the best part!

While I didn't get the TV that I wanted, we got some other great deals and were out of there by 1:45! Overall success! The things we do to save a few bucks... totally worth it!

We did go to Kohl's later that day around 3 p.m. and waited in line for over an hour... not worth it. But with Black Friday shopping and then Cyber Monday shopping, I can proudly say that I'm DONE with Christmas shopping! Yippee! Now I can just enjoy the Holiday, highly recommended.

11/22/11

Little Slice of Heaven

When I moved in with Chris and Melis, I decided that my contribution to the household would be making dinner every night. Those two little worker bees work all day, the least I can do is have a delicious meal on the table {and by table I mean coffee table} when they get home.

I've been trying out new recipes. Last week I made French dip sandwiches {Id say they were a hit!} for the first time and a couple other recipes I found on Pinterest... check em out.

So Melissa was asking for Chicken Parmesan which I've never attempted to make before... therefore I put it off for a couple of weeks, hoping it wouldn't come up again... j/k but seriously... finally I found a recipe that looked pretty easy, so I decided to give it a shot.

Looks great, tastes great!

You should try it, its SUPER EASY and quick. The ingredients aren't anything weird and you probably already have the stuff for it in your kitchen.

Here ya go... the website even has a video tutorial!

Try it and tell my how it goes!

11/21/11

Bestest Besties

The last couple of weeks in San Diego were pretty lonely for Kobe. I would take him to work with me every day {at a middle school, he stayed in my office no big deal} but one day he broke free and ran all over campus terrorizing the Somali children {apparently in their culture dogs are demonic animals and they are not allowed to touch them... who knew} the rest of the kids thought he was great... the teachers did not...

So I had to leave him home alone all day every day for a couple of weeks. Poor boy. By the time I got home from work I had SOOO much to do {packing and such} the poor pup didn't get much attention.

But all of that changed when we got to Arizona.

My sister Melissa has a puppy named Hooshie who is Kobe's bestest friend/cousin. They are in LOVE with each other.

Every time they are around each other they play and wrestle and love non stop.

Now that they are together 24/7, you'd think that they would settle down... NOT A CHANCE! They wrestle and play and chase each other around ALL DAY LONG...

I love it. They couldn't be happier.

Oh those pups...

{am I a crazy dog lady yet?}

11/11/11

If You Dont Know, Now You Know

It was just time...

I have been very hesitant about writing too personally on my blog mostly to protect the privacy of people other than myself. I can sometimes be pretty cryptic in my descriptions of events and such. People ask questions, and I don't blame them... I am curious when I read other people's blogs too.

I am pretty confident that the few people who read my blog are either complete strangers OR close personal friends and family. I don't have any enemies that I know of, so I'm sure people wont desecrate my personal stories. With that being said, I think I'm ready to finally tell you all what you already think you know. I'd rather have you hear it from the horses mouth (me) rather than through the grapevine (gossip)

Here we go...

Richard and I have decided to end our marriage.

And by decided, I mean, we did actually end our marriage... about two months ago.

My parents were divorced 10 years ago, and I have stated time and time again that I would never never NEVER do that, never even consider that. I take my temple covenants seriously. I take my word and my promises seriously. I would not give up like they did, there is nothing that is bad enough to break those covenants... NO MATTER WHAT!

I've always believed that. I believed that the day I was married, and a year after I was married, and I believed that until the day we walked into the court house.

Gosh I love that man. I love him with every cell of my body. I will always love him, there is nothing in the world that could happen to make me stop loving him. Marriage isn't just about love.

You hear people say, "as long as you love each other, you can get through anything." It's not true.

Richard and I were together for 51 months and married one month shy of 3 years. Neither of us wanted to get divorced, but it was the right thing to do. I can't explain it... and I don't have to... this is a decision that is so so personal to us, no one else needs to understand.

Just for sentimental sake... lets remember the simple times...

Just know that we still love each other so much. We respect each other and we only want the best for each other. We are confident that this new chapter in our lives will bring us both happiness and be the opportunity that we need to fulfill our missions here on earth.

Thank you all for all your love and thoughts and prayers. We have felt it big time and are so grateful for your support.

11/8/11

Am I Too Late?

SO.................. I may or may not have been taking a sabbatical from life for the last week or so... oh well, I had a BIG life change and I deserve some time off...

With that being said, I moved to Arizona! Arrived Saturday night, unloaded and unpacked Sunday, picked up my sistie and BIL (brother in law) from the airport... and got right to work!

We decided to throw a Halloween slash birthday bash for our Mummy on Monday night. Mel and I do nothing half way. This party was a themey amazingly spooky event. It was A LOT of work, but absotutalootly worth it.

The food (thank you Pinterest!)