Tracy, Cody, and Mack

2012-02-09T11:56:00.000-08:00

The last couple weeks have absolute been Hell on Earth... to put it lightly :)

Along with my raging hormonal anxiety, Stupidly severe cold that me and Mack caught, and fabulous UTI action that has consumed me, we have been ....drum roll... POTTY TRAINING!!

Why, Oh why would I choose to wait three weeks before my due date to start potty training!?

Two reasons.

#1. we have a fabulous family vacation planned in April that Mack NEEDS to be potty trained for. I didn't realize this until recently, otherwise I would have started MUCH earlier and #2. I assumed that because Mack is a pretty smart kid, quick learner, and detests being dirty that this process would be relatively smooth.

Oh you naive, naive stupid Tracy... you had no idea.

It was a pure battle of wills. My, very fragile, largely pregnant inept will, against Mack's super human strength, size of Texas man-baby will.

There is still no victor. You see, three weeks later, Mack can successfully go potty on the potty chair. ... which is HUGE considering the weeks that we have gone through.. BUT Mack RE-FUSES to poop. In general. Not on the potty, not in his underwear, not at night. NEVER!

Last week I gave the kid 3 ... 3!!!! suppositories and a heavy laxative. And .. nothing. I watched as he held his en-ragingly cute little butt cheeks together and refused to let anything out. He is in pain and screams all the time.

Talk about conflicting emotions. I hate to hear him scream/in pain so half of the time I am stationed next to his potty chair holding him and singing him songs.

The other half of the time I want to (don't worry I don't) slap his little face because he is outright enraging.

Superbowl Sunday was spent this year at my fabulous in laws house.

After watching Mack do the on the potty, off the potty, screaming because he needs to poop dance for about an hour we decided enough was enough. We (my brave husband) gave him an enema. He tried to hold it, but the Poseidon God rules too strongly and he gave in. POOPED HE DID!!!! VIIICTORY!!

... Now it is Thursday and we are back to square one. No poop, holding it, crying, on the potty off the potty poop dance.

Good freaking gravy child.
This is Mack's potty chart. Don't let the stars under the poop section fool you... those happened the first couple of days we were potty training... and we were VERY generous. We also have tried every reward imaginable. ... and everything imaginable!!

Oh, and let me take this time to say... this post is in no way looking for comments to give me suggestions on how to make this easier. In fact, PLEASE don't comment and give me suggestions. We have tried EVERYTHING, and after watching my sister potty train her child in 3 days flat I have just realized that every child is different. So I really don't want to hear that you potty trained you child in one hour by giving him marshmallow mateys yada yada yada. Am it bitter? Damn straight I am!!!! :)
This is the champ with the will of iron.

This picture was taken last December when We tried having a 'potty party,' but decided he wasn't ready.... I was so wise back then.

Here is a redeeming cool boy picture, after the last humiliating one I posted :) I still love my little Mack. I guess we will keep you... but heaven help me if you aren't potty trained by the next Superbowl party!!!

*Side Note* (Dear in-laws,

I am so sorry we ruined your fabulous annual Superbowl party by causing a HUGE scene involving our almost 3 year old, non-pooping child. Everything was delicious and wonderful and I wish we could have enjoyed it more.

With love,

Mother of said, non pooping child)

2012-01-17T11:41:00.000-08:00

Apparently we are museum going people, because last Saturday we headed out to the Arizona Science center. My In-laws Darin and Lori bought these tickets ahead of time and gave them to us for Christmas. How cute is that!? It was absolutely perfect.

We got there right when it opened, so there was hardly anyone there.

This was the first thing Mack ran to... a giant stomach replica. As soon as he ran in, it made a loud stomach gurgling noise that scared him horribly. He ran out of there as fast as his little legs would let him. It was quite hilarious.

Cody Convinced him it was a good idea to try again... after all, there was a slide involved at the end of the stomach.
But Cody was distracted by the poop facts that were inside. .. go figure
The hand sensors would pick up your heart beat, and pound them on the drum.
A surprise attack of squishy balls when this giant nose "sneezed" ... Mack was not amused. ..he ran away again.
A cool basketball hoop exhibit, that I'm sure taught you something... but all Mack and Cody got out of it was free basketball practice.
At first Mack was hesitant to lay on the bed on nails. .. but he definitely got into it once he saw Mommy and Daddy doing it.
Then he couldn't get enough..
How handsome is this little boy!? We had to rip him away from each exhibit. He could have stayed there for a week. he loved experiencing so many new things.
The happy group.

Thank you Lori and Darin for such a fun day!

side note, (for pregnancy documenting) this was taken a little over a week ago. I am a little larger now, but only have less than a month!!!

2012-01-16T13:54:00.000-08:00

Me, Cody, Mack, and our friends Scott and Sam Patronized Lo-Lo's Chicken and Waffles this MLK day. I can't think of a better way to celebrate the day.

The bulk of my pregnancy cravings revolve around this place!! ... so basically, what I am saying is that I am looking for any excuse to eat here. PLEASE, give me one ;)
Who knew that waffles+fried chicken would be pure heaven.

2012-01-11T12:37:00.000-08:00

It's not often that I receive mail from the Supreme Court.

I opened it to find a beautiful love letter from my hard working, and charming husband.

So thoughtful.

Is this what you do all day Cody? Because if it is, that's completely fine with me. Continue on...

2012-01-10T20:11:00.000-08:00

Have you been to the Arizona museum for youth in Mesa? Cause it's fantastic.

I bought a groupon a while back, and am super happy I did. Me and Mack went last week with our friends Kara and Lucy. The kids loved it. Therefor, I loved it too.

Mack and Lucy loved this little piano that sat on the ground and lit up.
I'm pretty sure he is the next Beethoven.
And A Giant light bright-ish toy.
I got carried away
Cool pod chairs.
Giant blocks that begged Mack to jump off of them.
Velcro Tree and fruit. ... If I weren't so lazy, I would totally build this for Mack's room
Who knew that shaving cream art could be so fun? ... even though Mack made me wipe off his fingers every time they got dirty. He is such a clean little man.

2012-01-10T20:05:00.001-08:00

Happy (late) New Year to you all!!

I love the beginning of the year. I love setting goals, and reflecting on how I want my life to change from the previous one. 2011 was a tough year for me. I am not sorry to see it go. For many reasons I wont get into, it was a tough one. whew, I survived.

Helllllo 2012!

I am so excited for a fresh start and a new perspective. 2012 Holds so much promise. I am so excited to move forward and enjoy this amazing year!

With that said..

I found a few pictures of Christmas festivities, so I thought I would post them.

Mack loved sledding... until he flipped and landed on his face. woops.

Santa brought Mack MANY presents... one of which was the much coveted Buzz scooter.
He got the hang of it right away.
I think my little boy is the cutest kid in the entire world. Seriously, look at that face!!!

2012-01-02T11:22:00.000-08:00

Hello blogging world... or more realistically, Dad, Cody, and Lori. I know you are shocked to see a new blog entry from me. I guess that is what new years resolutions will do to you... or maybe I am looking for any excuse to prolong the inevitable taking down of the Christmas decorations.

The last two months have been a crazy blur. So much has happened, that will unfortunately only be remembered in my mind, because I have been the worlds worst photographer as of late. So Christmas 2011 will be documented without pictures. Sorry future posterity.

November was difficult for me and my family. My Nana, passed away the week before Thanksgiving. Cancer. My entire family gathered in San Diego to attend to funeral. It was really hard on me. I will miss my extremely sassy pants grandma. I know she is in a better place and I am okay now, but it was harder than I expected.

December was full of holiday festivities that kept me busy. We ate endless amounts of food, attended the Nutcracker. Made 2 "candy houses" (gingerbread houses) because Mack simply couldn't get enough... oh, and don't worry, my little OCD man color coded all his candy on the house. We saw Christmas lights at the temple, and visited Santa twice.

We had Christmas #1 with the extended Huffaker family. Christmas #2 with the immediate Huffaker family and Christmas #3 in Utah with the Theriot family. It was a blast, but definitely a whirl wind of non stop fun. Mack LOVES Christmas.. whats not to love. I tried really hard to teach him the two different stories of Baby Jesus, and also Santa Clause. He did pretty good understanding everything, and I thought he was really getting it until a couple of weeks ago when he started talking about baby Santa. ... eh, there's always next year :) He loved all his new presents, (there were way too many) but I think his favorite was a marble toy from Santa. My favorite presents included a vitamix blender from my parents and a special necklace from my grandma that was set in place before she passed (so cool, right?).

Christmas was extra special this year because it fell on a Sunday. We were able to listen to Elder Christofferson and his wife speak in church. (They are my parents neighbors) I am so lucky to have such great in-laws as well as family who I sincerely love spending time with. Family gatherings are really the highlight of my year.

2011-11-08T12:34:00.000-08:00

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!!!

2011-11-05T15:30:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-11-02T19:10:00.000-07:00

Guess what Mack was for Halloween this year?

The father of our country of course!

I hope everyone's had a great Halloween!

2011-10-20T13:01:00.000-07:00

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 ...

2011-10-19T12:13:00.000-07:00

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.

2011-10-18T07:23:00.000-07:00

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.

2011-10-16T20:45:00.000-07:00

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.

2011-10-13T13:33:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-10-09T10:42:00.000-07:00

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.

2011-10-07T16:56:00.000-07:00

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.

2011-10-05T13:11:00.000-07:00

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.

2011-10-04T11:45:00.000-07:00

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.

2011-10-03T10:49:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-09-30T12:49:00.000-07:00

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?..

2011-09-29T11:56:00.000-07:00

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.

2011-09-28T14:31:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-07T13:44:00.001-07:00

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.

2011-08-30T13:13:00.001-07:00

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.

2011-07-07T12:00:00.000-07:00

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:: .....

2011-07-01T13:48:00.000-07:00

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?

2011-06-26T15:21:00.000-07:00

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.

2011-06-21T18:25:00.000-07:00

My family is awesome. Truly they are, I am so blessed. My parents are gracious enough to foot the bill each summer so we can all get together for a family reunion. I look forward to it every year. This year we randomly headed to Tennessee!!!

My sister and her family moved to Tennessee a few years ago and happened upon this cool vacation spot like an hour out of Knoxville. Why not, said the Theriot's and we all (minus my sister Dee, her husband Michael, and little girl Raegan who were all greatly missed) packed our bags for TN. The West coast gang flew and then rented cars, while the TN/MO gang drove. Amy provided an amazing.. shall we say 'themed' mixed Tennessee Cd for us all which still haunts my dreams and gets stuck in my head today... thanks games. Tennessee was absolutely gorgeous.

As we drove the three hours from the airport to our destination we counted 13 cracker barrels!! 13. and we weren't even seeking them out. They found us. So naturally we had to eat at one and the verdict is.... even in Tennessee, they still aren't good. Ha, but when in Rome.

I have to break this post up because I am much to lazy tonight to blog about the whole trip so I will limit this one to our cabin. It. Was. Awesome.

Three stories with a big kitchen/family room, game room, and theater. There were 6 bedrooms all equipped with king size beds and their own bathrooms. There were also 2 spas located on 2 of the different stories. The view was amazing. It was a great setting for such a fun trip.

Update

2011-06-16T06:32:00.000-07:00

It has been far too long since I have talked about what Mack is doing. What kind of family blog is this!?

Here is what Mack is up to these days at 27 months...

Mack has conquered the alphabet. Upper case and lower case. He can sing the entire song without help, and is super proud of himself. He does a pretty good job, but has a hard time saying the letter W.

He is obsessed with letters, seriously everything can be a letter in my two year old's eyes. Yesterday I was clipping his nails and he was screaming bloody murder, which was strange because he usually doesn't mind me cutting his nails, in fact, he likes it. Anyway, he screamed the whole time until I was finished and then he ripped the fingernail clippers from my hands and held them upside down and said "V." I was so impressed. He also continued to make an "A," and "I," and and "L" out of the fingernail clippers.

The incident with the fingernail clippers is not anything new. Everything is a letter or number with him. Pens are "I"s buttons are "O"s and on and on. It would drive me crazy because it is non stop, but it is too cute to be annoying.

Numbers are also up there with letters, as well as colors. He counts to ten by himself, even though 6 and 7 are harder to understand. He is trying to learn 11-20, but as of now just chants "mmmmteen" 5 or so times and calls it good. Mack counts non stop. His steps, the church lights, his crackers. You get the picture. And if you are thinking to yourself, wow that kid might be OCD, you wouldn't be the first to think it. :) His favorite number is 9. He can draw a "9" and an "e" by himself, and is super proud of himself.

Mack has his colors down, with the exception of yellow. even though he knows what color it is, he calls it "Y". Strange.

Normal color labeling isn't good enough for him anymore, and I blame dang Blues Clues. ...has anyone seen that episode with chartreuse and magenta and stuff? ..Consider yourself lucky. Along with all the normal colors he also knows black, grey, and pink. I think his favorite colors are orange and purple. He gets very excited to see/say those colors.

Mack's talking is getting better. He still is far from where he should be, but he is improving so I am happy. He is starting speech therapy again next week and I am nervous. - The lady told me to have him stop practicing letters and numbers, and I/we just couldn't do it. Mack is obsessed.

He loves blues clues and Finding Nemo. His favorite shows are wheel of fortune (I wonder why) and also Price is right. (He gets giddily excited when anyone bids $9.99) He is a super sweet boy and has hardly any tantrums. He loves the little girl Lucy that I watch a few times a week and calls her shushi. (Which is better than what she calls him. She tries to say Mack and just ends up saying F***. Ha ha ha) Mack Loves the park, swimming, grandma and grandpa's house, and being outside. More than anything though, he LOVES the library! I know... he is a strange little man, but he LOVES the library more than anything!!

We love this little boy. He keeps us laughing all day long. We are grateful he is part of our family.

2011-06-07T19:52:00.000-07:00

Family pictures. I have been putting these off much too long. Like, we've never actually gotten these taken, besides extended Huffaker family pics.
Britney Gurr was lovely enough to take them for us, on super late notice too. She is amazing. Seriously amazing. After leaving that photo shoot I was convinced there weren't going to be any good pictures because Mack was screaming, doing "limp legs," and rolling his freaking eyes, my two year old, already rolling his eyes!! ugh. But Brittney managed to make us look like a normal loving family :) Go to her web site right here and then book for for some pictures. You won't be disappointed. She is talented, and a delight to be around.

...and excuse me for putting a billion pictures on. I can't help myself.

2011-06-06T20:53:00.000-07:00

Where is it? The book Atlas Shrugged that I have been reading. I am like a third into the 1000 page book and I am loving it. Ugh. Annoying. I know that I JUST had it.

Time passes.

<<<

Obligations continue.

<<<

Laundry needs to be changed.

What the... Seriously!?!? Yeah, that just happened. I washed my book in the laundry.

To give you perspective, it was like washing 50 rolls of toilet paper in with the laundry... not that I've done that, I just imagine it to be so. Not that I would put that past me anymore.

This is all that is left.

Annoying.

5 years

2011-06-05T16:31:00.000-07:00

Cody and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary on May 16th. We were in Tennessee with my family, but we celebrated a few days before we left. Pizza Bianco was our destination. We have been wanting to go ever since seeing this place on the food network channel. Let me tell you, it did not disappoint. Fan-frickin-tastic. Our only regret is not getting a marinara based pizza. BUT the two we chose were fantastic. The place was a little pricey for us poor student folk, but so worth it. We will be back!! When we stop being so broke.
I don't think I even need to say how much I love my husband and how I would make the same decision to marry him a hundred times over.

sorry these are so blurry.

Mother's Day

2011-06-04T12:14:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day was uneventfully beautiful this year. Other than one fact, which is why I am blogging about it a month later.

Bakeable chocolate croissants!

My mother in law heard rumors of these things, and I am glad I can now call this genius a fact.

Run to Trader Joe's immediately and try them. But avoid looking at the fat content.

My mothers day was spent enjoying a breakfast of chocolate croissants, hot tea, and fresh berries. Seriously my fav. breakfast ever! I also enjoyed my homemade card, and being treated like a queen by my amazing husband.

I had planned on writing lengthy ...eloquent?.. post about how being a mom is wonderful and fulfilling and amazing, but Mack was especially crazy this morning and now I am tired. So hopefully those few words will suffice.

Ha- that pretty sums up being a mom

2011-05-29T14:45:00.000-07:00

I never know how much to blog. On one hand, I don't want to only blog about rainbows and butterflies, because my life is so not perfect, and I don't want anyone to get the impression that that is what I am trying to portray, but on the other hand, I don't want to make my life seem not as fun/blessed as it really is, because I am so grateful for my life and really enjoy reading back on good times.

That said, this post is entirely designated to me bragging on how amazing my husband is. Seriously he is amazing.

Cody has done extremely well in law school at ASU. We had a hard time deciding where to go to school because he was lucky enough to be accepted to quite a few places, but in the end it came down to going to either BYU, George Washington, or ASU, after laying out our options weighing debt, experience, and opportunities, we decided to stay at ASU. I look back at this decision, 100% sure that this was the best decision for our family, and grateful we received that inspiration.

These past three years have flown by. We found out I was pregnant just before Cody started his first year of law school. Now Mack is a rambunctious, still non speaking, 2 year old.

Cody has done so great in school, and will end graduating in the top ten people in his class. He has been involved in a lot of different groups and journals at school, but has prioritized them beautifully, where I still felt like I had a husband.

This year one of Cody's articles was published in ASU's law review. Although every student writes an article ASU only publishes about 8 a year. (or something like that) His article was, “A New Type of Commandeering: The Bypass Clause of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Stimulus Package),”

It was a big surprise and an honor, when ASU selected Cody's article to be submitted (they only choose one) to a national competition for a best written student article.

Would you be surprised that out of all the articles submitted by law schools ACROSS THE COUNTRY that Cody's article won! Of course not. He is a genius. Seriously. ASU paid for me and Cody to take a weekend trip to San Diego, where he was presented the award. I am so mad because I have his acceptance speech recorded, but can not for the life of me figure out how to post it on you tube so I can link it to my blog. Ughh. I am lame. Not that anyone would listen to it anyway, and trust me Cody would die of embarassment if I put it on, but he gave a 10 minute synopsis of his paper and he is so poised and amazing in front of the 500 people, that I want to preserve it, and what better way than to link it to my blog, so if anyone can help me out with that I would seriously love you. Anyway here are some pictures of our amazing weekend in San Diego, which actually happened a couple months ago. Dang me and my blog laziness.

Sorry these pictures are huge, I forgot to resize them, and am much too lazy to go back and do it.
This is us driving over there.

*Side Note*
Roadtrip + No Mack = Complete Bliss
Roadtrip + Mack = Hell on Earth
We stopped off to Daves in Yuma for lunch because it was payed for and.. why not??

Cody being super sexy at the conference. Seriously, he is hot. And look at that plaque. It is huge, and hanging in ASU's law building if you wish to see it.

The whole weekend was perfect. The school was going to pay for a hotel for us, but I have family in San Diego we would have rather stayed with. It was heaven. They spoiled us. We went to Ruth's Chris and had the best steak/calamari/creme brulee of my life. Ahhh I can't even think about it because all I have eaten today are gross crackers and I am so hungry. Besides eating ourselves absolutely sick the entire weekend we just did a lot of hanging out around the house, which was exactly what we needed, some time to just relax. It was amazing. We caught up on a lot of reading, and swam in my aunt and uncles glorious copper ionization pool.... or something like that. We also got to hang out with my adorable cousins. The entire experience was so much fun. I am so grateful for my husband for so many reasons, but mainly because he is smart which means free vacations for me:)

just kidding of course. I love you Cody.

May the force be with you

2011-05-04T12:23:00.000-07:00

Find more Socrates Johnson songs at Myspace Music

I have been MIA from the blogosphere for a while, and have a lot to catch up on, but today instead of doing any of that, I wanted to share Cody's Star Wars themed song 'Dreams and Prophecies' from his old band Socrates Johnson. (he plays the piano and sings) ...ah to be young and married again. That is to say to be young again, we are still married. ha ha.

After all, IT IS national Star Wars Day!!

Growing up in a house full of girls, (minus the one boy, who was severely outnumbered) we skipped the star wars and ninja turtles and opted for pride and prejudice and my little ponies.

Since getting married, I have seen the error of my ways, and have become a star wars fan.. not that I profess to be an expert.

Anyway enjoy this little ditty and laugh at Cody with me!! I love that my husband is a big nerd. Love, love love him!! ..(oh and Don't worry, he is working on a song about Lando the only black star wars character, other than mace of course)

Tangerine Help

2011-04-03T20:12:00.000-07:00

Does anyone out there have a tangerine tree?

Would you mind letting me have some?

The last 3 times I have bought tangerines at the store (for like $5 might I add) I have come home and they taste like poop. ...Not that I would know, because oranges/tangerines are the one food that I dislike. I know, I am a strange human being. But, as it turns out Cody and Mack Love them, and lately Mack even turns up his nose at the ones I bring home from the store.

If you have a tree and can help me out let me know! thanks!

Mack's 2nd Birthday

2011-03-29T20:51:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry about all the Mack birthday posts, what can I say? I love a good party. And I love any excuse to party. this year I found some super cheap, adorable Luau invitations for 10 cents each, thats right, 10 cents! who can pass that up? Obviously not me, because that is what made it a done deal.
Mack's second birthday - Luau extravaganza

We set up our luau in the Huffaker's backyard (my in-laws are way so great, going above and beyond in helping me create my wild ideas)seriously look at the place! Don't feel foolish if you thought we were actually vacationing in Hawaii, it could happen to anyone with these superb decorations deceiving people :)

Here are a few of the attendees. Sorry Darin, Lori, Jacoby, and Jaxon that we didn't get a good picture of you. Also, sorry Pete and May that you aren't in a picture together, and Pete, this picture haunts my nightmares! Ha ha
Did I mention that my mom made a stop here for a few days before she headed to see my sister in Tennessee? She was wonderful to come and help at Mack's party.

I sadly didn't get many pictures of the food... yum, I love food.
But we did serve, beef and chicken kabobs, fruit kabobs, coconut rice, luau rice, Hawaiian rolls, pineapple upside down cake, coconut cupcakes, and fresh smoothies made by the amazing Alana Fox. How cute is that tiki hut. (Once again, thanks Darin and Cody for indulging my wild dreams!!) ((and thanks Alana. I owe you big time!!))

I thought a fishing booth was in order. I'm not the worlds best artist, but I think it turned out pretty good. The 'fish' consisted of candy, stickers, bubbles, sea gummy things, and these really cute totem pole masks that I regrettably didn't get a picture of any of the kids in. Sad.

Mack doesn't love blowing candles out. He likes watching the fire burn. weirdo. (should I be worried) So, Mack's best buddy Houston helped him blow them out. I haven't made/eaten pineapple upside down cake in ages, and it fit the theme so I went with it, along with coconut cupcakes. mmmm.
Mack got a lot of amazing books to help him build his little library. The kid loves to 'read' more than anything. If I let him, he would sit in his crib for hours and look at his books. (again, should I be worried?) ha ha. He also got a little tricycle from my mom... and even though she totally disregarded the 'new or used books' memo, he loved it :)

Thanks again to all who came and luaued with us, and thanks for all the help from my fam. Mack, we love you and are so glad you are a part of our family!

2011-03-26T11:41:00.000-07:00

These posts are coming late because I have been sick, which isn't new news around our house. I am feeling better though. I am unbelievably grateful for medicine. Seriously, it is amazing.

On Mack's birthday Cody was lucky enough to have a class cancel, as well as a useless lecture in another class, so he took the day off. We started the morning out right by going out to breakfast at crackers with grandma and grandpa. (Cody's wonderful parents)
It was nice to go out to breakfast because we usually don't. Who has time in the mornings? Who wants to get dressed before noon? And honestly, I don't love breakfast food so much. I don't even feel like eating till ten, and even then it can't be heavy and greasy. I would much rather eat a bowl of cereal in the morning and then go out for lunch or dinner, where can eat my weight.

The food was good, and the company was divine:) Mack felt very special with his birthday balloons and presents. Thanks Darin and Lori. We spent the rest of the day registering for graduation at ASU and going to costco, which might not be Mack's dream birthday, but we did make it up to him with a visit to the park later that day.

Already Two

2011-03-14T14:35:00.000-07:00

My darling Mack turned two on March 10th.

How does time move so quickly?

^^^^^

Mack, I love you.

From super classy, to super stashy.

2011-03-11T11:35:00.000-08:00

Mustachey that is.

I couldn't stand seeing my hairy armpit every time I looked at my blog.

You know what I can stand seeing? Me, looking stoned, and with a stash. Problem solved. Happy Weekend!

And Say Goodbye .. to these (Arrested Development)

2011-03-09T11:23:00.000-08:00

Why am I posting this extremely awkward shot of my very hairy armpit? Oh, well, I'll tell you...

Because I am documenting this monumentous day that will change the history of my life!!

Thanks to a 90% off groupon, and a husband who wants to make me happy I am lasering those nasty armpit hair follicles till they drop dead.

Praise the day.

Side Note: I wish I was rich enough to afford getting numerous other areas of my body lasered, just saying.

2011-03-07T12:54:00.000-08:00

Because of my parents semi abrupt move to Utah, we were the benefactors of 'Spamalot' tickets. I was super excited to get to go. We were in New York when this was on Broadway, but chose to see Wicked instead. Thanks In-laws! BUT I always wanted to see it. The day after Valentines Day my want was put to rest. It was very entertaining to say the least. Very colorful and funny.

It brought me right back to my Monti Pithon days .. were I was forced to enjoy the dry humor by my older brother Ken :)

Thanks parents for buying yourselves such great tickets. And thanks even more for deciding to move so we could inherit them!! 4th row was just close enough to be spat on.. and sprinkled with confetti at the end of the play!

It was a really fun night. We misjudged our sense of time and ended up skipping our nice dinner we had planned, and grabbing some Arbys on the way. ha ha.

It was nice to have some time to ourselves. The only awkward part of the night was trying to judge whether I should laugh or not at the homosexual content because of the extremely large non-laughing lesbian sitting next to me. Oh my.

....I laughed anyway

2011-02-24T20:57:00.000-08:00

I am obsessed with this luggage.
You see, I don't own luggage. Our condo is much too small. We are completely out of room. Even under our bed is stuffed with lots of stuff. So, we constantly borrow luggage from parents who live close by. Today I am day dreaming of -gasp- owning my own luggage. Not any luggage, but this beautiful steam line luggage. So what if its like 500 dollars. It's way more important to own beautiful luggage than to save for/own a house ....right? Who am I kidding, its not like I travel anywhere exotic and exciting enough to use it (cue the sad violins)

...someday

2011-02-23T11:49:00.000-08:00

Our Valentines day this year was (supposed to be) relaxed. We had a special night planned for the next night, so Valentines day this year was spent cooking together and staying in. Everything was pretty easy going.

We even made each other homemade valentines day cards. Cody's made me cry.

I learned my overzealous lesson this year. In the morning I went to the grocery store, did 5 loads of laundry, got a hair cut, and folded those 5 loads of laundry before I even thought about starting to cook. Then around 1-ish I started making the rolls. I had to start over 4 times before I realized the reason my butter was turning into billions of crystals was because my milk was too cold. Bah.
Then I decided I wanted to make chocolate mouse, complete with chocolate bowls. So... I got a few water balloons and struggled horribly to blow them up. I can't even blow up regular balloons, so these were so near impossible. I nearly died. It took me and entire hour to blow up two balloons. I got so dizzy that I almost passed out, so I laid on the ground. Seriously. I am that cool.
So after the horribleness of blowing up the balloons.. I popped the first one instantly when it touched the chocolate because the chocolate was too hot. Great. So I let the chocolate cool forever and started in on the second one. this one was going better. This one popped too, but not before I almost entirely covered it in chocolate, resulting in chocolate EVERYWHERE.. including, but not limited to, my hair (freshly washed, cut, and styled) the floor, the celeing, and everywhere in between. Now I was back at square one, with no balloons and a dirty kitchen. ughh... needless to say I finally got it done, but it was an ordeal. All in all, the dinner was delicious, but I learned a lesson for future Valentines Days.
Don't be stupid. (partially kidding)

Ha ha, but seriously, even though it was so much fun to cook with Cody, I way overplanned and so we didn't get to spend as much time with one another because our dinner wasn't ready till 7:30 and afterward we were so so tired that we collapsed on the couch and watched the bachelor. HA .. I am so embarassed for myself.
Anyway, the food was excellent, so if you want the recipe for any of it I will link it.

Parker House Rolls. Bacon-cheese stuffed shells. Steamed artichokes with Julia child's Hollindase Sauce. ( I forgot to take a picture, but they looked similiar to this pic I found on the internet. and Chocolate mouse, in freaking chocolate bowls and rasberries. (no recipe)

I was so full by the time we were on the main course, I only ate one shell (which is why there is only one in the picture)

Overall I probably consumed a billion delicious calories.

Valentines Day Part 1

2011-02-21T11:57:00.000-08:00

Valentines Day this year was great. Filled with much love. (and potential love) A few days before the big day Me and Whitney got these adorable kids together for some staged romance. Presley (Whitney's adorable baby/model) was loving herself some Mack time. Mack on the other hand wanted nothing to do with Presley ... or any of us. While Mrs. P struck glamorous poses in the grass Mack stared directly into the camera and screamed, only briefly stopping for chocolate bribes. I only got 3 pictures before my camera died.

Whitney, will you e-mail me some of the good ones you got? Love you.

Despite how beautiful these donuts look, they are not an add folks, they are the real deal!! My lovely sister Dee brought them over to me one afternoon and created instant happiness. Thanks Dee. They were heavenly.

2011-02-18T11:46:00.000-08:00

Last month Me, Mack, Deanna, and Raegan ventured to Sandy, Utah to visit my mom and dad and see their new place. We had a really good time. Even though winter in Utah is Butt freaking cold.
I was nervous about the flight with two small children, pregnant Dee and Me, but it turned out really well thanks to the endless amounts candy and a portable DVD player with trusty ol' Baby Einstein playing.

This is the place my parents decided to go after they abandoned us. Yeah, yeah its big and beautiful with an amazing basement, but come on parents... really?

Watching Mack in the snow might have been the funniest thing I have ever seen. I bundled him up like CRAZY (minus the shoes) but he was pretty much traumatized by the horrible snow. When I put him in it he would stop moving and just scream. Ha ha.

Mom,
If you are reading this I think you are crazy. Seriously. As we unpacked box after box of children's toys, books, puzzles, legos, coloring books, and so so much more I realized that you are a hoarder of children's toys. You need to admit that you have a problem. Much love, Me, who had to unpack it all.

These pictures don't even do it justice. And I somehow didn't get a picture of the, not kidding, 10 - 15 e.x.t.r.e.m.e.l.y large stuffed animals that my dad used to use during counseling with kids that are now also added to the fun fest for the grandchildren.
I am pretty sure my mom loves her grandkids more than she ever loved any of us ;) Love you mom...

By the end of the week Mack started getting a little braver in the snow. He would stomp on it, as long as one foot rested safely on the sidewalk. And if any snow happened to land on his foot he would stop moving and scream until I went over and knocked it off. Raegan was a champ though. This little girl has no fear.

Mack loves pictures of snowmen so I thought I would try to make him one. ...but the thought of trampling through the snow myself didn't sound so appealing (like mother like son..) So I made a mini snowman on my balcony patio. Mack of course didn't help, but after I finished he would poke the snowman with a stick and grunt.

Our second night there my parents took us out to dinner at the garden room. It is a beautiful restaurant at the top of a building with lots of windows that offers an amazing view of Salt Lake City. I lost the pictures of that too, which I am bummed about. But when we got home these beautiful flowers were on the doorstep for me from my amazing husband. So sweet.

Mack loved being pampered by his Grandparents and Aunt Amy. We miss you guys already and can't wait to visit again.
...when it's warmer.

2011-02-01T10:36:00.000-08:00

I don't even need to express how excited I am to eat these little bad boys this month. So cute... and they taste pretty good too. I hope that the KK located closest (but never close enough) to me is a 'participating location.' I love that I still get a free doughnut a day thanks to that crazy promotion last summer!! Totally worth it! Now everyone go show your love this month with a box of Krispy Kremes!! woo hoo

2011-01-21T12:46:00.000-08:00

Despite my horrendous meal blogging, me and Cody have continued to cook together. I can only remember a few dishes that we made, and have no pictures, so I stole some from the internet.

The first one was Paula Deen's lasagna. Pure sweet heaven. Definitely the best lasagna I have ever eaten .. and I have eaten a lot of lasagna. We made it for our friends Pete, May, Mel, and Adam a couple months ago and they all agreed. Delicious. (not that they would tell me otherwise). Go here if you want the recipe. Then comment so we can agree that it is the best lasagna ever.

The one downfall is that because there are so many different cheeses used, it turns out to be pretty expensive. But it does make enough to feed you for a week.

Also, I have made this lasagna and I have used her marinara sauce recipe and it was really good, but I have also just made my own (in a lot less time) and it turned out good to.
I made a turkey and from there we had 'turkey week' because we had so much leftover turkey that I turned it into a week of meals. My favorite recipe was the dumplings and turkey soup filled with delicious veggies. I can't come up with the recipe right now but it looked similar to the picture below. delicious.
The last thing we made with the turkey leftovers was Emeril's Turkey Sandwiches with pesto mayonnaise and dried cranberries. Go here to behold the glorious recipe. They were pretty tasty. I also made an apple, sweet potato side dish to go with them, but I can't find that recipe either. Dang, why didn't I blog sooner. This post is turning out to be pretty lame. Oh well.

2011-01-17T11:46:00.000-08:00

This is an old picture, but when I was going through my pictures I had to post it!

"Santa" (my dad) and Mack at my Dad's Christmas party. Of course my Dad dressed like Santa... typical. (and I say that not because my dad has a weird Santa fetish, rather he is just crazy and random)

Mack liked to look and and touch kevanta (Kevin + Santa), but once we put him on his lap he started getting nervous and wanted to get down ha ha.

2011-01-14T14:04:00.000-08:00

My beautiful sister Deanna volunteered to watch Mack for us while we attended Grandpa Harris's funeral. What a sucker... :)

Because she is wonderful, she decided to take Mack, along with her little girl Raegan to the park to play. Mack, being the crazy little man that he is fell off the playground equipment and cut his lip open. Poor little guy.

He still tries to give me kisses all the time, and I have to claim 'the worst mother in the world' award because I try to avoid them. His lip grosses me out right now... it is covered in a big white scab-type thing. (I sparred you the picture)

but even with all that, he is still really really ridiculously good looking (zoolander)

2011-01-10T12:55:00.000-08:00

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

Dickens opening line from A Tale of Two Cities pretty much sums up my Christmas vacation. It was the very best, and also the very worst.

It has been a dream having Cody home for a month! I must admit it took me a while to get used to having him home, not that I don't absolutely adore him and love having him around, but when it is just me and Mack I get into a routine. When Cody is home all I ever want to do is hang out and relax instead of doing the dishes and vacuuming the floor. Today is the first day Cody is back to work/school and I am sad.

I didn't take hardly any pictures this season but I did snag some off Cody's phone so here are a couple highlights from our Christmas vacation:

-Cody took me the the Nutcracker!! I love going, but haven't gone in years so I was very happy. Cody is such a good sport:) He liked listening to Tchaikovsky, but wasn't 100% into the ballet :)

-Mack is adorable and hilarious

- I baked and ate much more than I care to admit, but here are some pictures of some cookies I made, coconut gumdrop cookies, peanut butter kiss cookies, and chocolate cookies with chocolate chips and a rollo baked into the center of them. And you wonder why Christmas is my favorite time of year?

-This year with the in-laws we did a lot of homemade presents. This is a Jones soda lamp that my little brother in law crafted for Cody. Genius Jaxon, pure genius. ...now where to put it ....

-This last picture took place earlier in the month. All us Jr High/High school friends got together for a Christmas party. I don't know why spouses were not included in this picture because they were there. ha ha. (and yes my hand is on Erica's behind...what can I say) It was lots of fun and so good to see everyone. Thanks Whit for having us all over... and Saije, you are going down next year, I am bringing my loaded dice.

Even though my Christmas holiday was filled with much joy it was also filled with;

-Me, Cody, and Mack each getting 2 colds... thats right, we were all sick over Christmas, we got better for a few days, and then we all caught another cold.

-My parents finally leaving. They are loving their new house, and doing good, but I am sad they will be living so far away.

-Grandpa Harris passed away. Ralph Harris was Cody's grandpa and lived just a few streets away. I like to think of him as my own grandpa though, seeing as how my one living grandfather probably doesn't know my name, and couldn't care less about me. .. but thats another story.

I will forever remember sitting outside with grandpa while he smoked his cigar and we talked.

We are all sad he is gone, but look forward to seeing him again someday.

My Christmas was filled with happiness and filled with sorrow, but mainly just filled. It was so busy that it went by in a rush. I wish I would have taken more time to focus on the birth of our Savior, and not so much worry about all the other things that "needed" to get done. Hopefully next year I will remember this lesson and lighten my to do list.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season.. now on to 2011!!

2011-01-07T12:11:00.000-08:00

I have a lot to catch up on, but all I can think about is how I tried to convince Cody to remake the Finoa Apple music video I had posted because it would be hilarious... but he refused, and then got his beautiful shaggy hair cut for his externship at the Goldwater institute that starts on Monday. So now it wouldn't be nearly as cool. Boo. Maybe in the summer? ... Cody???

Moving on...

I realized that I have neglected to write about my little Mack for quite some time now. I love this boy. Does he speak? No, no, he doesn't. But he did just add a word into his repertoire; UNCLE. (thank you uncle Jacoby) He doesn't just speak it, but he screams it. This is how our conversations go all day, every day..

Me: Mack, Say window.... w i i i n d o w w

Mack: UNCLE!!!!! *Screamed*

Me: Mack, say juice..... J e www c

Mack: UUUNCLE!!!!! *Screamed*

... we do this all day.

I'm not so much worried about his speech at this point, but if he hasn't improved any by his 2nd birthday I will get a speech therapist involved.

These pictures are tiny because they came off of Cody's Phone, but this is Mack's White suit that I found at a thrift store for 5 bones. Ha ha ha ha ha. He is quite a spectacle walking around church
Mack might not be talking yet, but I am pretty sure he is a genius who refuses to talk because it is beneath him. :) He is a champion at staking blocks. He does this all day. I think the one in the picture has 13 blocks, but that is not one of his biggest by a long shot.

He also knows all of his colors and has for over a month, he insists that I (because he will not ) name a color and then he will point to it. I put a 3ft Christmas tree in his room this year with multi-colored lights and he insisted that we played this game non-stop!! He also groups all of his colored blocks and stuff like that. ..to the point that it is borderline ocd.

He is also learning the alphabet. I am in no way shoving this stuff down his throat, he just non stop whines until I tell him which letter is which. He loves playing with the alphabet magnets on the refrigerator. So far he knows A, B, C, H, K, M, O, S, W and X.

He is also very ... funny, I guess I could call it. He just does things in a very exact way. He will NOT eat green candy... because green is his favorite color. The other day I gave him a little stack of M&M's and then a few minutes later I came back to find that he had eaten all of them except for the green ones. He refuses to eat them .. I find little uneaten green candies all over my house. (please feel free to lecture me on giving my child candy in the first place)

I love this boy!!! He is overall very good tempered and extremely easy to make laugh. He loves Little Einstein movies, family, the park, feeding ducks, reading books, water in any form, and eating candy (unless it is green). The older Mack gets the more and more I love him.

2010-12-11T12:43:00.000-08:00

In honor of the first day of Cody being home I thought I would post this Fiona Apple video with Zach Galifianakis that I have been loving. I love that this song is written really low on the piano and that it has amazing dissonant chords. Beautiful. bb

2010-12-10T12:27:00.000-08:00

Look at this Christmas tree. Isn't it sad? Me, Cody and Mack went and picked it out on Monday night after Cody's first final. We got it home and started putting the lights on it, only to realize that two strands of lights wouldn't nearly be enough. By that point we were so exhausted the thought of a late night shopping trip made us want to cry, so instead we snuggled on the couch, drank apple cider and stared at out beautifully pathetic Christmas tree.

Every time I have walked past that tree this week I have been sad that we still haven't had enough time (aka 15 minutes) to finish our tree. Cody's finally have only again been brutal, leaving me a single parent for the last month to our crazy non speaking little boy (love you Mack)

I am so excited and am having a hard time believing that after 5:00 today Cody will be finished with his last final and will get over a month off!!! I am so unbelievably happy. Maybe by tomorrow our tree will be trimmed in all its Christmas glory.

We got our tree at Home Depot for something like 25 bucks. Beautiful. Mack liked looking at trees alright, but he really loved waiting till me and Cody weren't looking to try and dart out into the street.

I love my boys.

2010-12-09T11:44:00.000-08:00

So remember that time when I told the blogging world that Cody hits on me in his sleep? This still happens frequently, but is not anything new, so I forgo blogging the countless encounters, grit my teeth and bare the rude interruptions of my slumber.

Well blogging world I am ashamed.

You see, all this time I have been thinking that I was a helpless sleeper. Defenseless to my husbands unintentional sleeping harassment. I have been proven wrong.

A few nights ago apparently I strangled Cody in his sleep. S-T-R-A-N-G-L-E-D! don't worry, he is still alive. I guess I just reached over put my hand around his neck, squoze once, and then turned over and went to sleep. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Oh man, I hate to say he had it coming but...

Slumber party anyone?

The Hugh Game

2010-12-02T18:55:00.000-08:00

Let me preface this by saying that me and Cody are huge nerds. Sometimes on Fridays we spice up our day by ... playing games of course. Not halo, or wii, because we are big nerds remember? So instead we play made-up word games of sorts. In the past we have played "Quote movies wrong" day.

.. 'Mama always said, life is like a shooting rocket, you never know what you're going to get'

This is mildly entertaining,

But my favorite made up game by far is the Hugh Game. You chose a song and replace the word 'you' with the name 'Hugh' and then see who can find the funnier fit. Sound lame? Oh, well I love it so much that I would gladly name my next boy Hugh if Hugh Huffaker didn't sound so hideous. Then I could play this game all day every day. ... oh the joy

-Hugh make me feel like a natural woman

- Hugh spin me right round baby right round. Like a record baby....

-I had the time of my life and I've never felt this way before... and I owe it all to Hugh.

-I never felt that I'd meet somebody like Hugh... and I want to fall in love, with Hugh. (Chris Isaak anyone ;) Jade? Alyssa?)

Oh the possibilities are endless. Does anyone out there want to join us? Can you one up me in the Hugh game?

2010-11-30T18:54:00.000-08:00

Have you ever seen Evita? Well I hadn't until this afternoon, during Mack's glorious nap. I loved it. I know all the music and love it, so it was great to finally see the movie. Here's where it gets weird. Today I turned on the T.V. and glee was on. I am not an avid glee watcher, its good, but I don't know, I just don't watch it religiously, get off my back about it! :) Anywho so today I decided to actually watch it and guess what they sung... a song from Evita.

How crazy that my whole life I had never seen Evita until today, the same day that Evita was showcased on Glee. Man, I feel like I am taking crazy pills. (name that movie)

Just thought I would document the craziness.

A Murder and a Mystery

2010-11-26T07:31:00.000-08:00

Have I mentioned my friends Alana and Bethany before? No? Cause I should have, they are awesome. Every year they put on a huge murder mystery party. It is fantastic! This year definitely didn't disappoint. This party was late 50's early 60's mad men era. Me and Cody played characters that I can't actually remember the names of, ha ha, but Cody's character had something to do with politics and mine was some type of skanktastic mistress

(surprised anyone?) ha ha

This was the group. Something like 40ish people.

Alana constructed a wall with cut outs that you could stand behind to make it look like you were pictures. I loved the way it turned out! I wish it was an actual wall in my house. Alana? ...

I made all the food for the party (with the exception of Bethany's fantastic cookies) I made cream puffs, chicken salad sandwiches, cheese ball, and bacon wrapped hot dog things. I think it turned out pretty good.

More food, yum.

Sorry for posting this Meladam (melanie and adam) but this picture was classic.

Me and Codes both won awards. Cody won Mr. Green award, something about being a smooth ladies man. Mine was the Mrs. White award, for being proper and orderly. How cute are these awards?

Cocktail anyone? They had a mocktail station with lots of different drinks!

I got my dress like an hour before the party. It belongs to Cody's adorable little grandma who I absolutely love! After squeezing my fat body into this dress I was informed that grandma had worn this dress when she was 8 months pregnant with her last child!!!!!! Yeah she is tiny, and I am large, both statements are true! but it was such a cute dress.

Alana and Bethany, thanks for such a fun night!

Death to my Soul

2010-11-22T19:28:00.000-08:00

My annual passes expired on Friday.

No words to express my grief.

Me, Mack, Deanna, and Raegan made a day trip to D-land last week. It was beautiful and fun, though I must admit a little less laid back than my last trip with just me and Cody.

Mack loved seeing the characters. He loved meeting Jack and Sally, he wasn't scared at all (I was totally beaming with pride) But then like 15 minutes later he was terrified of Bell from beauty and the beast. ...what the.

Anyway if you are sick of this blog having endless Disneyland posts, guess what? They have come to an indefinite end. My life just got 10 notches sadder. ..and that is a lot.

2010-11-04T12:40:00.001-07:00

My past few weeks with little Mack have been.. interesting.

I'm sure every mom goes through this, but I feel like Mack has a super bad immune system. Does anyone out there have any advice for how to build it up?

Two weeks ago Mack had a really bad cold. Then he got over it and then a week later got the stupid cold again, which at the time I thought could have been hand mouth and foot disease, but who knows. Then like a week later he got an ear infection, then he was running around on the street on Halloween, face planted it, and chipped his front tooth (along with a bloody nose). Then he got the roseola virus, which is where we are at now.

This morning Mack looked up at me with his big puffy pink face and gave me a big chipped tooth smile. Man, I am failing at being a mom. My poor child. Oh, and if you get grossed out easily you might not want to look at the following pictures. - it is bad and it was weird lighting so the pictures don't even do the horribleness justice . The poor kid has the rash in unmentionable parts oh his body.

I feel like I should prepare myself now for a battle with the flu season. Ugh.

This picture is before he got Roseola, but after he chipped his tooth.

October

2010-10-31T14:15:00.000-07:00

70's Rocker, Elvis, and Aviator = Halloween at our house this year.

We went to our ward party and was recognized by no one. It was seriously so funny.

Remember how I posted forever ago about how I look like Elvis?! ...How do you like me now. I AM Elvis.

Oh Cody, this will forever be locked away into the section of my brain that is entitled "thing that make me laugh."

You "rock!" ... ha ha

Do you see it yet?

Last week we attended a carnival put on by the Dickersons. It was so much fun!!!

We ate cotton candy, cup cakes, caramel apples and other tasty treats!!

Mack's favorite game was ring toss. Even though the concept of "toss" was lost on him and he just placed the rings around the bottles.

This was the picture I used on Mack's Halloween card this year. He has the cutest little face in the entire world

Love him!

I made these cute little Halloween jars with my sister Dee. I thought I would add ribbon on top to make them even cuter, but they just ended up looking like du-rags. ha ha oh man..

At the beginning of this month Cody surprised me with a trip to D-land! Woo hoo!! He arranged for family to watch Mack and we partied it up!! This is a delicious marshmallow dipped in caramel then chocolate, and then covered in candy corn. Heaven. I also found a new drink to love. Lemonade with vanilla added. Seriously the best thing I have ever had. I let the lady who worked the booth talk me into it and I have craved one every single day since!!

You. Must. Try. One!!!

They Halloweened Space Mountain. Overall, pretty lame, but they had a light show on the outside of the building that was cool. I like this picture because it looks like space mountain is invading Cody's brain.

Overall October was very busy and a little stressful, but a great month!!

The Sign Made it A Reality

2010-10-28T12:39:00.000-07:00

My parents are moving.

I am extremely sad about it.

My parents have lived in their house for the past 24ish years. This is the only house for them I have ever known. I was a baby there, played the piano there, fought with siblings there, snuck out of windows there, fell in love there, I grew up there. ...

I know that house like the back of my hand, where my dad hides his guns, where the secret stash of money is hidden, the places you can make out and not get caught, Where everything goes when I empty the dishwasher, the gosh awful hallway that is covered floor to ceiling with family pictures. Everything.

I have known that my parents were moving for a while now, but it wasn't official until I drove up today and saw that horrible yellow for sale sign that was laughing at me. How am I going to let anyone live in my house? All my memories are built there.

My parents are moving to Utah. Stupid, Parents stealing Utah. My dads job is changing, which he, and the entire family is thrilled about. He will be able to do a lot more writing in his job and be able to help a lot more people. He is still working at family services, but in a different area than he is now.

I know I am being very over dramatic about the whole thing and that everything will be fine, but it is still hard for me. I guess change and me don't mix too well.

What seems like an eternity ago.

2010-09-26T14:27:00.000-07:00

My computer broke. Like in half. The screen on my lap top now lays completely down and when I turn it on it makes a sound like a small child screaming. So I have been without.

Even though my birthday was like 3 weeks ago I thought I would still document my fabulous week.

My actual birthday was on a Wednesday this year which means it was full of piano lessons and mutual. Cody also had interviews for clerkships all day, so I was pretty sad. I did enjoy some krazy sub with my sister Dee and swimming in the afternoon. Cody was a stud and showed up at my mutual with a DQ cake with a billion candles on it. I was embarrassed. He is sweet.

The following Saturday Cody took me to this amazing little restaurant/...gay bar in Phoenix called Switch. The food was absolutely amazing. Cody got an apricot and barbecue chicken sandwich, which sounds gross but was actually mouth wateringly good. The place was really good, and I love trying out new restaurants, but there were mysteriously A LOT of middle aged gay and lesbian couples there.. and the song "Ladies night" was playing in the background. I definitely want to go back, but maybe during the day for lunch. ha ha

Me and Cody also went to the dollar theater to finally see the new Twilight movie. I loved it, but seeing as how that topic is ridiculously old now I wont go on.

I ate some ham and Gouda crepes. Fantastic.

My friend Alana made me a cactus cake for my b-day. I love saguaro cacti. I think they are so funny looking and they strangely fill me with AZ pride! Alana, knowing this, made me a cake. Oh Alana, you are funny. Thank you, it was delicious.

On a side note, mack loves chef boyardee. It kindof grosses me out, but I still let him eat it anyway, does that make me a bad mom?

Thank you to everyone who made me feel special on my birthday. I am so lucky to be surrounded by people who love me.

Monday night/Sub Zero

2010-09-16T15:33:00.000-07:00

Monday night me and Cody ventured to Sub Zero. This is a new Ice cream place on Baseline and Stapley that is amazing! I was given a coupon by my friend Erica Faller, and so I decided to give it a try. (I am a sucker for coupons) This place lets you choose what percent of cream to use in your ice cream making it ice cream, custard, or frozen yogurt! ...I of course chose custard. Delicious. Then, you choose your flavor and mix in. I chose sweet chocolate with the mix in of raspberries. Then they mix it with liquid nitrogen in front of you and turn it to ice cream! I was skeptical thinking it would be one of those things that were just cool, but didn't taste very good, BUT I was extremely pleasently surprised with the results! Yum... everyone go try it. My only hold up was that the line was extremely long, and it was very expensive... once again, I love coupons!!!

Cody got peach raspberry. Yum (these pictures were taken on his iPhone .. the blur in the background is actually a girl. ha ha ha.)

A blurry picture of my sweet chocolate and raspberry piece of heaven.

HA HA HA HA HA his head is extremely large!

Weekend Festivities

2010-09-14T07:23:00.000-07:00

Sunday Mack had his first week of nursery! It was glorious for me... even though Mack was less than enthusiastic. Mack has a problem with little kids. He doesn't like them. So, being forced into a room that was swimming with them may have been a little traumatic. I feel so bad for the nursery workers that were forced into holding my child the entire time. Does anyone have any suggestions for this?

... and if you tell me to have another kid I will kill you :)

The Huffs celebrated my birthday on Sunday! It was glorious filled with cafe rio burritos, delicious cupcakes, and presents galore. Thanks to the absolute best in-laws a gal could ask for!! Darin (father-in-law) and Jaxon (brother-in-law) are restoring this bla bla bla (Year) blah blah blah blah (make) Jeep. All I know is that it is beautiful and bright orange! Mack loves it. And yes, that is Cody making an extremely creepy face in the background.

Because Cody needed new jeans, and because we had a groupon for 50% off, (Groupon is the best thing ever. if you haven't heard of it immediately look into it. It is a sight that sends you a local coupon every day.) we ended up at gap this weekend. Mack didn't understand why Cody left and immediately investigated. Don't worry, we were the only people in the dressing room.

A trip to Five Guys was in order this weekend with Deanna and Michael. I had heard a lot of great things about this restaurant so I needed to try it out!

Verdict: I really liked it. It was delicious, but in my opinion overpriced. would I eat there again? Definitely.

Horrible picture of me and Cody eating the monsterous burgers. Ha ha

Mack is very serious about food. ...I have no idea where he got that from.

We also went with our friends Blake And Alyssa to see Lamb of God. (not to be confused with the heavy metal band) It was songs about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ composed by Mark Gardener. It was beautiful and brought me to tears. No pictures though, sad day.

Movie of Choice

2010-09-09T12:53:00.000-07:00

I am obsessed. 500 Days of Summer.

Have you seen it? I am in love with it!

This movie made me love Joseph Gordon-Levitt and I love Zooey Deschanel too. They are beautiful together... or not together as the case may be. I might as well just leave this movie in my DVD player on repeat because I watch it so often. I seriously love everything about this movie. The way it was filmed, the ending, the way it made me identify with the characters, the music. Everything is golden in my eyes.

I don't hate Summer in this movie at all, maybe its just because we have all been on her side of a relationship. I get her.

This movie also inspired me to cut my bangs (hate that word) like hers.

I love the way they are dressed throughout the film. I love Tom's skinny ties and cardigans. Classic.

They are adorable.

This scene makes me laugh out loud every time. Stupid youtube version cuts out the part where he sees his reflection as being han solo. Ha ha ha.

Labor Day Breakdown

2010-09-08T14:06:00.000-07:00

I have family that lives in San Diego.

We visit them any chance we get.

This labor day we once again found ourselves there. It was such a blast getting to see the beach from Mack's eyes. He loved it. My favorite was watching him get his hands completely sandy and then looking around and seeing no other option, would wipe his hands all over me. ha ha. I love this boy. Look at him. He melts my heart. I love watching him laugh so hard (at Dee) that he throws his head back to laugh. I'm afraid he got that trait from me.

I love the beach.

Posole Recipe

2010-09-02T12:28:00.000-07:00

There isn't really a set recipe for this posole, which is why I didn't post it in my initial posole post, but I will try to write it down as best as I can. You start with a pork shoulder. I usually get one around 1 1/2 lbs. The way you cook this is in a pan with salted water just covering it. I drop a few cloves of peeled garlic down in the boiling water with some oregano. Bring to a boil over medium heat and then reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 45ish minutes. Keep the broth, but skim off any foam on the top. After the meat has cooled, shred.

If you are feeling lazy, costco sells a great precooked pulled pork. It adds a slightly smoky flavor to the posole, but is great and makes the soup making process SO much easier.

In a pot cook a half/whole onion and two cloves of chopped garlic in a few tbsp of oil. When the onion begins to turn translucent add..

The pork

1 can of drained pinto beans

1 can diced tomatoes

1 29 oz can of drained hominy

at least 1 tbsp of cumin, adjusted to taste

tsp oregano

1/2 tsp cayenne

Salt to taste

When it is finished add grated cheese on top, and serve with a tortilla.

You can add more or less of anything until you find the way you like it. I have also added green chilies and it tasted delicious. It really is a delicious and healthy dinner, and the only thing I have ever eaten hominy in. ha.

Posole

2010-08-27T12:51:00.000-07:00

Today I woke up with a nasty sore throat and a heavy head.

My remedy of choice: homemade Posole.

When I worked at Arcadia Farms my friends Bernice and Challo, who I absolutely LOVED, taught me how to make a delicious pot of posole. For those who don't know, posole is like a Mexican pulled pork and hominy stew. Delicious.

I am feeling better already.

Todays the Day

2010-08-24T13:17:00.000-07:00

So Excited!

A Surprise

2010-08-19T12:36:00.000-07:00

A surprise package came in the mail. I opened to find this little beauty.

Two of my favorite things combined. Old Books, and French Pastries.

The French Pastry Book was published in 1926 by Alice Crippen.

Now maybe I can master the art of getting fat in style :) I can't wait to try my first recipe.

Thank you Cody for knowing just how to make me happy!

...and sneakily getting me to make delicious French Pastries for you.

The New Emo

2010-08-11T13:56:00.000-07:00

Something has been plaguing my mind lately. I am just going to put it out there and see if anyone agrees with me.

10 or so years ago started the fad of emo. Tight pants, dark hair, sad screaming music. I was a part of this fad, and I would be lying if I said it didn't have a special place in my teenage heart. I understand emo, even if I was really bad at it, I got it.

So what up with this apparent new fad. I am naming it the awkward fad.

Whats with this need to be completely internal and socially strange. Don't believe me? I can hardly make sense of it myself, but follow me on this journey.

Twilight. I'm not bashing. I love me some Edward/Bella as much as anyone else, but Bella has completely capitalized on the awkward fad. Stuttering, looking down, being soft-spoken, our dear sweet Bella can be summed up in one word; awkward.

Could this be a fluke? Did Kristen Stewart nail her role in twilight or was she using a bit too much awkwardness to be cool? ... lets proceed
Paper heart. Did anyone see this? It was recommended to me and Cody by a few people, and I love Michael Cera so we saw it. Five or so months later I am still not sure how I felt about this movie.

Did I love it? Did I hate it?

I'm not really sure.

What I do know is that the awkward fad was definitely present. The main character, Charlyne Yi was so awkward it was semi hard for me to watch. This is once again, what added to her "coolness" - her awkwardness. she took Kristen's awkward to a whole new level...
One desperately boring Friday night led me and Cody to redboxing this little gem. *sarcasm*

'Remember me' was riddled with, if you can believe it, EVEN GREATER awkward performances by Robert Pattinson, and Caitlyn Rund. Beautiful performance you too. I appreciated the short clipped sentences, not looking at each other, and overall taking awkwardness to new heights. As your audience, it was really fun to watch.
I guess my main question here is, with this new fad that is running rampant, are kids walking around high school avoiding all eye contact and pretending to be internally bleeding? When they are finally forced to interact with each other are their words clipped and forced? Are the truly cool kids forced to speak less than 100 words a day? ... If so, this post has just made me WAY uncool.

My newest Addiction... I mean Addition.

2010-08-10T12:37:00.000-07:00

I have wanted some Tom's FOREVER and I gave into my craving and got some!!

They are even cute on my ugly fat feet.

Mack loves to steel my/his/Cody's shoes and hide them around the house. Cupboards, closets, the dishwasher, he has done it.

He is such a sweet little boy. Just look at that face

I am trying to stave off my next Tom's purchase. But something tells me it wont be long.

Summer: The Way America Used to be

2010-08-05T12:19:00.001-07:00

My grandma bought a new house in Star Valley, Wyoming.

Random? Yes. Beautiful? Double yes.

It was so great to be able to spend time with my family. They are the funniest people I know and so awesome to be around. The weather was in the low 70s/High 60s. It was beautiful! When we first drove into Star Valley there was a huge banner that read "The Way America Used to Be" heh heh heh. Yes, the majority of the community is probably over 70 years old.

Thank you so so much to my parents who made it all possible!!

This picture was taken in Jackson Hole. All those antlers are gross, but the town was really beautiful! I got some great old books in a thrift store.

We went white watter rafting down the Snake River. It was so much fun but horribly FREEZING! Doesn't Cody look like he has a mini life vest on in this picture? heh. heh. heh.

Little Mack and baby Raegan bathing. Thanks Michael for blurring Mack's intimates in this picture. Nice touch :) It was very cute and they were having a great time until Raegan pooped up a storm. ..I'm was secretly thrilled it wasn't Mack.

My Nana's house is set on a golf course. We went golfing a lot and had a great time. I was able to keep up with the boys even though I did play from the women tee's

Cody is giving Michael some pretty stellar advice here .

My mom organized 'minute to win it' for us all to play. We played like 15 games over the week. The winners received a $100 gift card to Outback and a sweet trophy. What is that? You want to know who the winner was? ... Me and Cody of course! Woo hoo!! Outback anyone? The game we are playing here is the one where you bounce a ping pong ball off the wall and catch it in the bucket attached to your head. Good times.

Summer: The Act Of

2010-08-04T11:31:00.000-07:00

This summer has flown by so quickly I can hardly believe it is almost over! Cody has been working at a law firm that practices consumer law, and I have been busy with my last two online classes. I am pleased to announce that as of Monday I am finished with my bachelors degree in liberal arts. Now I just need to apply for my diploma. It's not exactly the major that I had initially intended, but I worked really hard for what seems like forever and I am really proud of getting my degree. Yay. Anyway, since I absolutely refuse to walk for my graduation and my mom is irate, she is determined to get a picture of me in a ASU cap and gown. ...great. My reason for posting all this is that I in no way intend to purchase an ASU cap/gown just for one blasted picture. Does anyone out there have one that I can borrow for say, 15 minutes or so? :) I would be completely in your debt!

This summer has been filled with fun and family. Here are a few pictures I have collected.
Mack loves water. He especially loves putting his head under the hose and drinking the deliciously dirty water. Yumm.
My face decided it wanted some bangs for the summer. Thanks Janae for humoring my face.
Last week Cody, Mack and me decided to make use of the amazingly cool day and hit up our favorite, pioneer park. It was so fun to go outdoors and play in the middle of the day without immediately losing 10lbs of sweat. This is what Mack does every time we put him in the swing. - He immediately throws his head back and laughs (which might be something he got from me.)
Us being happy at the park.
This is Mack glued to his favorite Baby Einstein movie. Isn't he so handsome? I love this boy so much.
My sister Deanna, who I call Dee, graduated with her Masters in Business something or other from University of Phoenix. Aside from Condalisa Rice, who's talk was really good, the entire thing was, I'm sorry Dee, very boring. (adding to my not wanting to walk for my Bachelors) Good thing I brought my food network magazine.

Cody went to a conference in D.C. for his old job at the Institute for justice. Cody in DC is comparable to me in Disneyland. Giddily Happy.
Me, Mack, Dee, and baby Raegan hopped over to Tempe Marketplace one morning to take advantage of these sweet water jets. Mack loved it, even though in this picture he looks terrified and confused. ha ha.
Dee and baby Raegan. Aren't her pearls darling?

Summer: Feeding

2010-08-03T13:39:00.000-07:00

Being MIA from the blogging world for almost 2 months has put me very far behind. In a feeble attempt to cover everything us Huff's have been up to, I will break the next three posts down into;

Summer: Feeding

Summer: The Act of

and

Summer: The way America used to be.

This post is Summer:Feeding

Me and Cody are still cooking up a storm. Was there ever a doubt? I love food too much to let this tradition die. In these pictures are

-our recreation of Monte Cristo sandwiches (Found in the Blue Bayou at Disneyland).. (Ah,mazing!!)

-A salad we tried to recreate that we ate at some cafe in Utah, apple, blackberry cinnamon goodness. (we failed to make it as good as we remembered, but it was still aight.)

We also tried a couple new restaurants.

-The Chuck Box by ASU. I've wanted to eat there forever. It didn't disappoint. True, it was semi hole in the wall,ish, but tasty goodness none the less.

-While on the way to pick up a Hungary Howey's pizza, which is our favorite cheap pizza these days, we drove by 'The Frybread house.' We promptly flipped a U-turn and attended. How long has this secret been hiding? Why has no one ever mentioned this to me before? mmm deep-fried, refried white flour, gluton filled goodness. hmmm what does this closely resemble? .... A doughnut of course. Its no wonder I love fry bread so much. It is simply taking one of my favorite things and making it acceptable to eat for dinner. Fantastic! God Bless the Native Americans who came up with these delicacies. (Fact or Fiction? Did Native Americans actually invent Fry Bread?)

There is so much more, but that is all I have pictures of, so this is where Feeding ends.

2010-06-16T21:01:00.000-07:00

Last week my fantastic parents decided to take us to the D-backs game! Woo hoo! Lots of fun and delicious treats .. even though I missed out on the large cookie. We were in the nose bleeds and had a good time! For some reason we ended up going on the same night that a conservative 'support AZ' group went. I am mad I didn't take a picture- they had this sign that was supposed to say ...WE 'HEART' AZ but you couldn't see the heart sign so it just looked like they were holding a sign that said WEAZ, which made me laugh out loud the entire night, after just typing that out I am now realizing that it isn't that funny. hmmm..All of the pics of me and Cody turned out blurry.
These two lovebirds are my amazing parents who took us! Thanks again guys! Don't I have the cutest parents in the world, look at them with their matching Diamond Backs shirts. Ha ha
Well hello sister Dee and Bro in law Michael! .. I apologize for this semi strange photo of you now being posted on my blog.
This was an entirely different day but I couldn't help posting it. Mack LOVES dogs so I thought I would take him to the pet store in the mall. He loved it. He tried to get every dogs attention by banging on the glass, laughing at them, yelling at them, and dancing for them! Um hi, does anyone even buy dogs at the mall? They are like a billion dollars, not that we are in the market for a dog, but I'm pretty sure we wont pay anywhere near what they are asking. ...now half a billion, .. . . .

I had to call Mack's name like 50 times before he would tear his eyes away from the dog for my picture and this was the face that I got. Classic Mack .. I don't know why that line turned blue.

Secret Treasures Divulged

2010-06-15T20:20:00.000-07:00

Bountiful Basket is my recent find that I am obsessing over!!! Seriously! You pay 15 dollars and they give you a ginormous amount of fresh produce! Half is fruit and half is vegetables. Whoever thought of this is genius. Ever single week the produce changes according to what farmers have a surplus of. - I love being surprised with new items each week and I love trying new things. This week I got:

2 coconuts

large bag of grapes

10 crunchy and very delicious apples

large bunch of bananas

huge cantaloupe

Stalk of celery

Bunch of lettuce

Tons of green beans

8 tomatoes

8 red potatoes

head of broccoli

I have never eaten more fresh fruits and vegis in my life! Go check this out at bountifulbasket.org!

Summer Corn Fettuccine

2010-06-10T12:31:00.000-07:00

The last month of school was rough. I didn't see a lot of Cody and so our cooking nights were put on hold. Summer has brought the return of those nights! I love any excuse to cook delicious fatty food! Last week we created this little gem - Summer corn fettuccine! I don't even need to say how good it was because the picture says it all. We cooked fresh corn, cut it off the cob, and then blended it to create a delicious creamy corn sauce. The highlight of this dish is the fresh dill, bacon, and fresh parmigiana. My mouth is watering.

I think I might be the only person who actually tries recipes off of other people's blogs, so I wont include it. If you do want it though, just leave a comment.

4 years.. andacoupleweeks

2010-06-06T13:12:00.000-07:00

On May 16th me and Cody celebrated our 4 year anniversary! Crazy. I love this man more today than I did 4 years ago. He is amazing and I am the luckiest girl in the world. We spent our anniversary going out to dinner and seeing a movie. It was so nice to relax. 4 years is such a long time. I am old.

Overdue

2010-06-01T13:07:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago me, Cody, and Mack headed over to San Diego for a few days. It was so nice to relax after this past semester!! We stayed at Brerrin's house (my Uncle Brian and Aunt Errin) and lived it up for a few days. Mikallela sp? Errin's friend was nice enough to watch Mack for a day so me and Code could party by ourselves in... you guessed it, Disneyland. It was absolutely beautiful! Hardly any lines at all and it stayed around 60ish all day with a very light drizzle once during the day!

While we were there we dinned at the Blue Bayou and split the Monte Cristo sandwich that I have heard so much about, but never tried. We both fell in love and will be recreating it soon... Ham, Turkey, and Swiss sandwich, deep fried to crispy perfection and served with a tart red jelly of sorts. mmmm....

These pictures are all so bad because like a fool I forgot batteries for our little camera.. so these are cell phone pics.

Of course Mack loved the beach, it had all of his favorite things: Birds. Sand. Water. Space to run.

He kept us on our toes because he loved to walk straight into the waves (no fear) and then got mad and screamed when they knocked him over.

A miracle/tragedy

2010-05-23T21:04:00.000-07:00

There I was minding my own business and doing great on my diet. No carbs? No sugar?... yeah, okay, I think I can handle that for a little while. And then this happened....

Krispy Kreme was having an anniversary promotion where if you got there before 5:30 last Thursday you were given a card for a free doughnut and coffee everyday for a year! Thats right my friends!!! FREE DOUGHNUTS FOR A YEAR!!! and Mack counted as a person too, giving us three free doughnuts every day! How could I let this golden opportunity pass me by? Exactly, I didn't. This is the line we stood in, from this angle we are looking at the line behind us and we were about in the middle of the line. Nothing quite like mingling with other KK fanatics!!! This is the 1st fatal flaw in my diet...

I dragged my men with me. Thanks Cody and Mack, you will thank me later when you are enjoying deliciously free bits of heaven.

Fatal flaw #2 happened when I won a Krispy Kreme party!!! Thats right... KRISPY KREME PARTY!!! who does that happen to? I am a little ashamed to admit that I entered the contest by writing a essay as to why I should win a party. It was during finals and I was procrastinating. Anywho, I won 9 dozen doughnuts!!

that means I won 108 doughnuts.

This is me after I ate 13 doughnuts in one day!!! 13! ha ha Oh well diet, we will try again next year after my KK card expires.

On a side note that is entirely unrelated, isn't my little boy amazing! GO SUNS!!! I am so happy that they beat the Lakers!!

I really suck at Title names

2010-05-06T13:59:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't updated in a long time but finals absolutely kicked my trash this time around. Oh well, they are just about over and I can finally breath again.

Over the past few weeks a lot has happened, but I wanted to share the kindness of my father after revealing his grossly twisted humor that was demonstrated on my non Krispy Kremes post. My dad, Kev-dawg as we like to call him, is an amazing handy man, and he is also my landlord, so he fixes things over at my place all the time! - A few days ago he was working on my sliding glass door. He went to Home Depot for a part he needed and when he cam back he said, "Hey Rae (what my family calls me), I got you a special treat." Me being on a SUPER lame, strict diet was secretly pleased as punch to have a reason to cheat my diet, so I held out my hand expecting to feel the weight of a delicious snickers, twix, or other candy bar, but instead received this....

Ummm... thanks Dad, I can't wait to listen to my new 'Young Ones' CD. Who doesn't love a little 'Young Cradle' and 'Grievance'?

I was going to sink one of their songs to this blog, but I thought I would spare you all. Kev-Dawg insisted that we listen to it while he fixed the rest of my door. Ha ha. Oh, and then when they started swearing, my Dad also insisted that the dudes who sold it to him convinced him it was nice Christian rap with no swearing!!! Ha ha. Oh Dad.

On a different note. Isn't my little Mack so cute? I think he gets cuter every day!

Continuing to Cook

2010-04-07T09:52:00.000-07:00

Me and Codes have made some delicious things in these past couple weeks. Those things include homemade rolls and fajittas. I wish I would have taken pictures to post. But I didn't.

In celebration of Easter and super cheap hams we chose Emril's Sugarcane Baked Ham with spiced Apples and Pears. The ham is extra sugary with the sugarcane swizzles stuck throughout the ham and the glaze that is made out of sugarcane syrup. It was SO good, despite the fact that I couldn't find the stupid kitchen twine that I needed to wrap the ham up with. - My friends in the Safeway meat department hooked me up though:) Anyway It was delicious and easy.

Me and Cody had originally planned to make this one together but then he needed to stay at school late to finish a paper. So I made my family come over and eat with me. Thanks guys.

Follow up Story

2010-04-06T12:55:00.001-07:00

Oh what a beautiful mooorning,

Oh what a beautiful day.

I've got a wonderful feeeliiiing,

12 doughnuts are coming my waaaay.

(from the musical Oklahoma of course.. minus a few words)

I have the best friends EVER!

Mrs. Lissa Walker supplied my Krispy Kremes needs.

And also gifted me with these fantastic suckers ... that I gave her like a month ago trying to get rid of.

Hey Dad, maybe next time you should pretend to give me a car!? Lissa?
AND THERE WAS ACTUALLY DOUGHNUTS INSIDE!!!!

What. The. Heck.

2010-04-06T08:33:00.000-07:00

What a horrible thing Monday morning is. Pure torture. Knowing I have piles of work to do and no Cody to help me. - Yesterday morning was just like any other. After changing a particularly shnasty diaper that Mack granted me with I opened my door to throw it away.. AND BEHOLD!! Krispy Kremes!!!! It is no secret that me and Mr. K Kreme have had a long standing love affair. But who would be kind enough to produce such a magnificent surprise!?!?

W.T.H Dad, .... W.T.H.

I stared at the box for much longer than I should have, clearly in shock and utter disbelief. Then my sorrow and agony turned to rage. An Alicia Silverstone's 'As If' truly left my lips..

This. Means. War. .

Happy Easter From Mack

2010-03-30T21:11:00.000-07:00

Here is the latest and greatest from my little man at the Superstition Mountains!
I love that this picture makes Mack's neck look even more non-existent. Love him.

#4 and #5

2010-03-29T15:32:00.000-07:00

We made #4 for Mack's birthday party. A chocolate ice cream cake with a ganache frosting. I am still dreaming of this cake. Thank you Sandra Lee... Here is the recipe..

Line 1 (9-inch) cake pan with plastic wrap, with 3 inches overhanging. Spread softened ice cream into lined pan in a smooth, even layer. Freeze for 3 hours, or until frozen solid.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Butter and flour 2 (10-inch) round cake pans and set aside. In a stand mixer or with a hand mixer, beat cake mix, water, oil and eggs in a large mixing bowl on medium speed for 2 minutes, or until well blended. Using a spatula, divide batter between the 2 prepared cake pans. Bake for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cakes cool in pans on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of each pan to loosen cakes and remove from pans.

While cakes are cooling, heat heavy cream (1 cup)in a small heavy saucepan over medium heat until bubbling around the edges. Remove pan from heat, add chocolate morsels (12 ounce bag of semi sweet), and stir with a whisk until smooth. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes, until cool and slightly thickened, stirring occasionally. Spread ganache on top of and around sides of both cake layers, keeping layers separate and not fitting together yet. Refrigerate entire cake for 1 hour, or until ganache is set.

Place 1 cake layer, ganache side up, on a serving platter. Remove ice cream from pan, peel off plastic wrap, and place on top of cake layer. Place second cake layer on top of ice cream, ganache side up. Freeze until ready to serve, but let stand at room temperature 5 minutes before serving.

For #5 we decided to make ribs. I have never made them before so I was intrigued. We made our own BBQ sauce and it turned out ...fine. Nothing to write home about, therefor I am not adding the recipe. And if anyone out there has a good rib recipe, send it my way.

One More Round

2010-03-23T21:02:00.000-07:00

We went to Disneyland a couple weeks ago and I thought I would document to occasion. This is our little family. Yay for Disneyland! Mack loves the Carousel. It is his favorite ride. Yes he still loves the gold pole. We could have a rocky future on our hands. On a side note, Mack puked in my hand after this ride. Fantastic.

I love this kiddo. I wish I would have gotten a picture of him walking to the Disney characters, he LOVED them.

I had to take a picture in this Johnny Depp Madd Hatter Hat. (the movie was excellent by the way. -other than the semi dissapointing music... did anyone else think it was just a lame mixture of Charley and the Chocolate factory and Edward Scissorhands?)
In the Indiana Jones tunnel. ...of love.
This was fun guys! Want to do it again in, oh... 3 months or so? Done.

The First of Two

2010-03-16T22:33:00.000-07:00

Mack has two wonderful sets of grandparents, aunts and uncles that love him. This year those two families had conflicting schedules which led to .... TWO BIRTHDAYS PARTIES FOR MACK!! ..lucky kid.

I am feeling guilty for not having a big friends included party. But what the heck, a one year old isn't going to know the difference right? And there is always next year for those anyway.

This is party number 1 with the Theriot family. Woo, those Theriots know how to party:) Mack loved the cake I made him - A cookies and cream ice cream cake covered in delicious ganache! ..k, maybe I loved that more than he did.

I still can't believe my little boy is one.

I call for a recount

2010-03-15T10:35:00.000-07:00

I was complaining to the gals at young womens about Mack loving to poop in the bath. If it was one big poop that would be one thing, but Mack puts out lots of little gems for me. Gross.

I told them his max number of poop was 15... but i think this picture holds 16.
A NEW RECORD!!!

..Dreaming..

2010-03-12T09:27:00.000-08:00

Today I am tired.

I am tired of school.

I am tired of my teething child.

I am tired of cleaning my forever dirty house.

I am tired.

I have been day dreaming of going back to Coronado Island where me and Cody spent our honeymoon. We stayed at the Del Coronado Hotel, which I am in love with. I love it's old glamor. Everything is so beautiful and romantic. I am missing the cute ice cream parlor moo time creamery. I miss eating the delicious breakfast outside on a patio that overlooks the beach. I miss relaxing on the beach without anything to do.

Is it too early to go on a second honeymoon?

Dinner #3

2010-03-11T08:28:00.000-08:00

Last week for the meal that me and Cody decided to make together was fresh corn and avocado salad!!! This was fantastic!! The salad dressing was light and delicious! I especially loved the fresh sweet corn. oh, and we decided to add cubed grilled chicken- it was so good. If anyone would like the recipe I will include. Fresh Corn and Avocado Salad

6 ears corn

2 cups halved cherry tomatoes

1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion (we omitted this because we don't love raw onion)

1 large avocado cut into 1/2 in. cubes (I added 2 avocados.. extra delicious)

1/3 cup chopped fresh basil leaves

2 tbsp. champagne vinegar

1 tsp. Dijon mustard

1/4 cup extra - virgin olive oil

1/4 tsp. each kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. In a large pot of boiling water, cook corn until warmed through, 3 to 5 minutes. Rinse with cold water until cool.

2 Meanwhile, combine tomatoes, onion, avocado, and basil in a large bowl. In a small bowl, combine remaining ingredients to make the vinaigrette, whisking until blended.

3. Cut kernels off cobs and add to salad: pour in vinaigrette and toss gently.

Big Mack

2010-03-10T08:18:00.000-08:00

Today my little Mack turns one year old. I can not believe it! This past year has absolutely flew by. Here are some pictures to show how lucky I have been this past year. Happy Birthday Mack. I love you.

An Enigma Wrapped In a Riddle

2010-03-09T13:54:00.000-08:00

Dear Cody,

Today when I sat down to have a delicious bowl of Coco Pebbles (Thanks Dee for the Coco Pebbles, or actually thanks to your mother-in-law) I noticed that you had accomplished the Maze on the back of the box. I am so proud of you!!! When Mack gets to be 8 years old you and him will have to fight over who gets to do the stupid games on the back of the boxes :)

2010-03-03T08:42:00.001-08:00

We were sent an adorable valentine this year by my aunt Errin and the Arnold clan over from San Diego. They sent us a ginormous sucker with their picture on it all crafted in cuteness. After V day was over I was going to throw this sucker away but I thought better of it. Mack LOVED it.. I am sad I didn't get a picture after he was thoroughly suckered. The sucker kept getting stuck to his fat belly, which made him scream. It was disgusting ha ha.

Codes got to clean this one up (thank you girls night for being perfectly timed!!)