October

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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Labor Day Breakdown

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

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

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

So Excited!