A couple of weeks ago me and Mack took a trip up to Utah to visit my parents. We were there for almost a week, and had a blast enjoying the nice weather.

I didn't get too many pictures seeing as how I was a single mother. .. I have serious respect for single mothers! But we did a lot of eating, shopping, and spending time outside enjoying the fall.

These are a few of the pictures I did manage to take,

::Playing outside in the backyard.

::Posing on the metal elephant at the zoo.

::Picking Beets in my moms garden.

I love you Mom and Dad, thank you for a fun trip! I can't wait to see you again in two weeks!!!

I don't know how my pictures turned out to be all different sizes, but I am too lazy to go back and change them.

For Columbus Day (don't judge, I am really far behind) We jump started Cody's birthday week with a little day trip up North to see Montezuma's Castle. I had been there as a kid on a field trip, but Cody never had seen it. So, we made a day of it. I've always liked Montezuma's castle ... (along with every other 80 year old that was there that day:)

Mack was grumpy when we tried to pick him up for this family picture. We are cruel parents. He had a blast running around, not caring about anything.

My boys are cute

Mack, trying to win me over with a monster size hug.

After taking our time at Montezuma's, we drove a little further north to eat lunch in Sedona. We had this amazing view of the mountains all to ourselves. ..and yes I am still very much awkward in front of cameras.

This is Cody's Bison burger, that actually turned out to be weird tasting, so we split my burger and then were proud of ourselves for not gorging on delicious food...

Until we saw this alluring caramel apple display, decided we needed to have one, gorged ourselves on sugary goodness, and then were ashamed at our lack of willpower!! HA.

Day trips are the best!

Guess what Mack was for Halloween this year?

The father of our country of course!

I hope everyone's had a great Halloween!

This year's Halloween cards have been sent. Mack is adorable in them, if I do say so myself. Have I forgotten anyone out there? If you would like one, e-mail me at tracy.theriot@gmail.com and I will send one your way!!!

Oh, and this random picture has nothing to do with this post, other than it is super cool, and about Halloween ...

We celebrated Cody's birthday literally all week long, since he had to work on his actual birthday.

We started our funtivities with him having Columbus Day off (more to come on that)

Then after work on his B-day we went out to Joe's for his delicious free meal.

Then Friday we went on our birthday date.

And then we finally topped the whole week off with his family on Sunday for a family party, featuring grandmas fried chicken, creamed corn, and strawberry pie.

I guess the man is loved :)

Friday for our date we visited Cody's fav. Carrabba's and then headed to a movie. Carrabba's never dissapoints, though we rarely visit because we are poor and they don't like our kind there. So we go once a year on Cody's birthday just about every year.
Then we went with the season and saw a "scary" movie, which turned out to be a huge disappointment. It was extremely cheesy, so let me save you the regret, see a different one instead. :) BuuuT we did load up on sugary treats of every variety, which helped the movie to be more enjoyable.

I am having birthday week hangover this week. Filled with binge eating to fill the void.. And I'm sure my thighs will be paying the price for years to come.

Isn't this quite possibly the creepiest thing you have ever seen? What is Barbie thinking? I know they were probably going for a grandma barbie, but she turned out looking straight zombie!

You might be wondering why I posted this disturbing picture on my blog, well guess what? It is to document the fact that I got my first grey hair.. joyous. I take back everything I said about not feeling old at age 25... one grey hair and I feel like I might fall over dead at any moment.

The grey hair that stole my pigmented luscious youthful hair is smack center just above my forehead. Whats worse... the bottom 6 inches were still my normal blackish brown color, and then the 6 newest inches belonged to the loathsome silver color.

It was taunting me.

As if to say... there goes your youth. Embrace this ghastly white as your own because that's all you can do. And I was supposed to look away without a second glance.

If I don't blog about it, it never happened right? ... so I can stay 24 forever? No? Dang, well I might as well post it then.

I celebrated my 25th birthday on September 15th. I am getting older and loving it. As of 25, I still don't really feel that old. Talk to me when I turn 30 I guess.

The day was pretty uneventful, but filled with a lot of love from family and friends. I seriously have the best family and friends ever! Thank you for making me feel so loved. Cody had to sit in court that day so he was gone before I even woke up, but rest assured there was a box of donuts waiting for me :) Thank you Cody. I spent that day with family and friends and my buddy Mack. Then latter that night I went to Joe's Farm Grill to cash in on my free dinner. (pictured above) Me and Cody went out of control and basically ordered everything on the menu. So. Much. Food. We didn't even eat a quarter of it. But, totally worth it. Mmmm fried green beans.

Moving on..
A couple days later Cody took me on an adorable date that, despite these horrible pictures I wanted to document. He started by giving me really cute dream-catcher-esque earrings that he wanted me to wear on our date. Good job Cody, they are adorable and went along with a gift card that he gave me later on in the date to a place called charming charlies. ..witch is adorable, because I mentioned that I wanted to visit that place like 6 months prior. Smooth Cody :) He also gave me a coupon to purchase an industrial sewing machine. Have I mentioned that I like to reupholster furniture? Anyway, he wanted to surprise me with one, but wasn't sure what kind I wanted. To his credit he actually did research the different types and started talking to me about the different pros and cons of each model.

he he Cody talking about bobbins makes me chuckle a little bit.

Anyway,

A few weeks prior to this date we picked up a Phoenix magazine featuring the top 20 restaurants in the Phoenix area. Cody surprised me by taking me to two of them, one for dinner and then another for dessert. The first was called Amarro's in Cave Creek, that had bomb pizza. Seriously. Delicious. This picture is of the spinach tomato pizza, and I know you can't really go wrong, but the mozzarella was fresh and everything was so fresh and delicious.

The second restaurant was Tanzy, in Scottsdale. This turned out to be a cool spot for 40 year olds trying to maintain their youth. Sad, but humorous. Their desserts did not disappoint though. We enjoyed creme brulee as well as flour-less chocolate cake. Magnificent, and with built in entertainment, it was extremely enjoyable.

We had such a fun date. Thank you Chelsea for watching Mack overnight for us, and thank you Cody for continuing to be so creative and making me feel so special. I love you.

Guess who turns 28 today!? This guy! ..My husband, not the weird clock statue.

Party time!

On an unrelated note. (besides being centered on my husband)

Doesn't Cody look like Michael Buble? Oh well, I think he totally does and no one agrees with me! No one! Come on, they have the same adorable round face, and perfect nose! .. go look again.

BUT, I felt totally vindicated when a teenage girl from our new church ward told Cody that exact thing... sweet vindication!

Feel free to call my husband Esquire, because Cody passed the BAR! Hallelujah!

Not that I had any concern whether or not he would pass, but the three months of waiting to find out was a killer.

We celebrated by going out to eat with Dane, a law buddy of Cody's, and devouring all that Famous Dave's threw our way.

A nice big house, and what is my favorite part you might wonder?

An automatic place to park my car?

The elevated dishwasher?

The fact the washer/dryer is inside?

The pool?

The space?

The extra bedroom?

The citrus trees?

Nope ... but they are all nice steps up from our last places :)

The very best part, is a part that pleases the nerdiest part of my heart. Nintendo in bed.

This little 10'' TV was left in the extra bedroom, so I quickly put it to use. I pulled out my old elementary school Nintendo (64 baby, though I do love me some super Nintendo as well) that occupied all my time as a kid, and hooked it up. I know I am part boy, but I. love. Nintendo. Me and Cody pass a lot of time playing smash brothers. What can I say, the romance in bed is still alive. ..too far Tracy, too far.

I know what this blog is missing!!

Fooood!

After taking a quick gander through my latest blog entries I've decided I really need to readjust the direction of this blog (HA!!!)

..(I secretly hate it when people actually say that)

Anyway who am I kidding, food makes up like 75% of my life's decisions, so posting about food is probably more telling about my life than anything else. ...I'm only partially kidding.

With that being said, me and Cody are still cooking our meals together and having a lovely time. With the new move our groove has been thrown off, but I am an eater.. I'm sure we will find it again.

The first picture is of a meal that was on the cover of a food network magazine a few months back. It was very summery and delicious. I wish I would have saved the recipe, but it had some light lemony dressing, with the pasta, nuts, basil, fresh mozzarella and roasted bell pepper. Very light and delicious.

The second picture is another food network magaziner, Grilled Mac and Cheese with pulled pork. I found that one on the internet, so if you want it just go HERE. Why haven't I ever thought of putting mac n cheese on a sandwich before? Genius. It was ooberly delicious, but ridiculously filling!

Number three is a delicious turtle cheesecake. I also found a very similar recipe to this one, linked right here. Cheesecake Heaven.

It's true, we moved!!

Cody's grandma moved into a new house to be closer to her daughter, and is kind enough to let us stay in her place. It is such a blessing to have great family who help us out.

My parents let us live in their condo for over 4 years, and now Cody's grandma is letting us stay in her place. Like I said, blessed.

We are so sad to see our old place go. We loved it, and loved the people we got to know there, but I feel like we have paid our apartment/condo dues (5ish years). Our family is expanding and it is so nice to have a little more space.

This is the only picture we have of our new place so far. We crammed everything into the front room while moving. This was while grandma was still living there, might I add.

As I got out my Halloween decorations this year, I came across this skeleton man that the Huffakers gave me. I propped it into a sitting position to see if Mack would like it.

He LOVED him!

.. I know, the apple didn't fall far from the Halloween loving tree.

Mack played with this thing for like an hour.

But the absolute best was when I entered the room to find Mack doing "This little piggie went to market" on the skeleton toes!!! HA HA HA

A little morbid, bit hilarious!

I had an ultra sound this morning to find out the sex of our baby.

This is me, being extremely awkward with a fake weird smile. I always get really uncomfortable in front of cameras, and inevitably end up doing some sort of weird smile or cheesy face.

Anyway, I wanted to document my belly at 20 weeks. Please note, that this is a strange camera phone picture, I am actually much larger than this in real life. ..much larger, but just as awkward :)






We found out that we are going to be having boy number 2!!! We are so thrilled. I kept going back and forth, whether I wanted a girl or boy, but I am seriously very happy with the results. Now they can share a room (by force) and be best friends (also by force). I'm still due in the middle of Feb. but Cody is pulling for me to be super late and to have it on leap year. HA, I will dig this baby out if it gets to be that late! You think I'm kidding?..

Look at this beauty. I bought my very first baby grand piano at an estate sale. $250 (I may have a slight obsession with estate sales)

I had big plans for this piano...

-A new house, (oh, have I not blogged about the move?... shocker)

-A new room to decorate (minus the fact that I am world's worst interior designer)

-And I had big plans to paint this piano a distressed ocean blue. (dream big folks)

All those lovely dreams were dashed today when the piano tuner came over today, took my hard earned 65 dollars and told me to trash the piano and start over.

Great. screaming sarcasm.

Now I am sad. These dang pregnancy hormones are killing me this time around (Sweet, I actually posted about that one! Wh-what!)

So, what have I done since I heard the news that devastated me? (pregnancy hormones, remember?) Oh, don't worry I promptly sat on my couch, ate a bag FULL of chocolate covered pretzels and a diet Dr. Pepper.

It gets even more pathetic. I am sneaking the pretzels into my fat mouth so I don't have to share them with Mack.

Oh man, I need a new outlook on life.

Mack said his very first prayer a few days ago. Before this we have been doing the whole repeat what we say type of deal, but he created this masterpiece on his own...

Dear Heafenly Faffer,

ThankThee Mama, Daddy, Ten Apples up on top (favorite Dr. Suess book), Jesus Cuist, AmmmmEn

I love this boy.

Old News is Still News

I have neglected to officially announce that I am pregnant. Not that this is new news to anyone. My blog readers consist of family and friends, all of which probably know I am prego. So, for the sake of documenting, and to tell any friends, and strange stalkers from other countries, I may have forgotten to tell.

This ultra sound pic was taken a few months ago.

I am 17 weeks along.

Feeling great, but I have been sicker with this one than I was with Mack. Thank goodness that is all over.... for now.

Wow, it is almost almost September! Where have the last two months gone? What have I done with my life? I don't even know. ...And neither do you since I haven't posted anything since the beginning of July.

It's a mystery.

There is so much going on right now with us, but I'm not even going to post about any of it. How lame is that?

I am simply posting to say I am still alive, despite my silence these past couple months, and that I will return soon.

My conversation with Cody last night when something like this...

Cody:: I really wish we would have another haboob tonight.

Me:: Uh, Why?

Cody:: Cause only one haboob feels awkward.

Me:: .....

Save the Best for last. DollyWood!!

This was a definite highlight from our fun Tennessee trip. While it lacked the Disneyland magical feel, it was seriously such a blast! And the funnel cake was to die for!!!

There were a lot of really fun roller coasters, shows, and BBQ, but the best part of DollyWood was the adorable little rides they had for kids. Mack LOVED them. He had a smile plastered to his face the entire time.

Rip off Dumbo Ride

Rip off tea cups

These next few rides were the best!! Mack was able to ride them by himself, which he thought was the coolest thing in the entire world! His cousin Rhyan is riding with him.

totally cheesy, but authentic smile

The pig ride didn't disappoint either. He is riding with his cousin Carter, who is rocking the sun glasses.

still fun

The duck ride was also a hit. He got to ride this with his cool older cousin Jonas, and cousin Carter.

Remnants of a funnel cake, and a sucker. Could a kid ask for more?

Sorry I am a little delayed in writing part two of our TN visit. I know you've been waiting at the edge of your seat for this gripping tale.
We did a lot of things while in TN, and of course I didn't get near enough pictures. We went to the Ripply's Aquarium, which was huge and super cool. But, no pictures. And "we" also went on a hey ride, although I sat that one out, do to my hey allergies. But, I hear it was beautiful. One day, we went around the small town that we were close to and shopped around. the pictures above, are of me in a cute old phone booth, and also of a cheese store that I thought was cute. I LOVE a good cheese. (if you look closely you can see Ryan and Amy purchasing some exotically strange cheese.)

This is a huge grandfather clock store that serves as my personal Hell!!! I. Hate. Clocks. That. Make. Noise. Even the clicking of clocks drives me nuts, me and captain hook would have a lot to talk about.
My studly husband and creepy wooden Irish clock statue.
This is a candy store, picture justified.
One of the billion of delicious Candy stores that lured us into them.

Note; Kiri is in a pancho because it was drizzling outside.
dinner/theater show thing. It was kind of like that show that is across from Disneyland. You know, the one where the knights joust. (has anyone seen that other than me and my jr high choir?) The only difference was that this place had better food, and it was country western themed (surprised?) But the best part of the night was the video of Dolly Parton they showed at the end, where she sang a super horrible county song. The crowd ate it up, she is seriously like a God over there. It is hilarious.

This is us riding up the ski lift into some cool little town-ish place. It was beautiful, but strangely this is the only picture I snapped. Ryan, I don't know why, but you make kind of strange appearances in all my pictures. HA
This was a little booth in the town at the top of the ski lift. This is Amy showing us her mad shooting skills!! Our roots run deep in Louisiana!
This was just a random view from our car. It was so so green and beautiful.

Dad, why are you making this face. Ha. Love you.

It was super hazy and cloudy at the top of the highest point in the smokey mountains. The boys all hiked, while the girls wussed out and stayed with the kids.



It was very eerie, but beautiful.