So What Has Ryder Been Up To?

Ryder has been a busy boy up in Cape Cod visiting with his Grammy, Grandpa, Auntie Hailey, and Auntie Ally! Derrik and I are so thankful that we have a place we can send Ryder during these little bits of our life that get a little to hectic. We are thankful he can be there and be loved on while we take care of the chaos! We don't get babysitting for a few hours during the week to run errands or for a date night on the weekends... so we just use up all of our grandparent hours at once during our moves or like we did before during Derrik's surgery. Thank you so much Mom and Dad!

Ryder's 1st night back at home in his crib!

(For those reading who don't know... We have an amazing home with all of our own stuff.. Ryder has a really really nice nursery... he doesn't always live in a closet except when we're on the road!)

Loving his big boy bath
Night #2... pack 'n play... in my mom's closet! He slept awful in his crib and has been almost sleeping through the night every other night in the closet! This boy cracks me up! We just bought him a crib last night so he better like it when he gets here!

Playing videos games at New England Pizza

At Auntie Hailey's first pep rally!

Using the sippy cup... Grammy says he's pretty good at it

Apparently he got into a fight with his bottle

Visiting Jay at Larry's P.X.

Eating at Larry's P.X.... they spend a lot of time here!

Having his first ring pop... what a mess

He's figured out how to crawl up the stairs... I can't wait to see it!

Practicing how to walk.. i'm glad he hasn't figured it out while we were gone :)

Figured out it's fun to throw things down to the 1st floor

Pooped out from all these crazy activities!

Leaving the candy store in Chatham

The best part of Cape Cod... visiting with GiGi

(Ryder's Great Great Grandma!)

Being a crazy boy in the morning

Playing on the tennis court during Auntie Hailey's cheeringleading practice

School shopping after Auntie Ally's middle school orientation

And last but not least... he loves hanging out with my cousin Brooke!

The last step of our move begins tomorrow and then the move will be complete! We are flying back East to get our little boy. Tomorrow morning Derrik flies home to Pennsylvania and I fly home to Massachusetts. We will both spend some times with our families for a few days. Derrik will catch a bus from Pennsylvania to Boston to meet Ryder and I for our flight home on Wednesday. I know that sounds odd, but I am terrified to the across country flight with Ryder! I've always felt I could conquer anything with him, but being trapped in a seat all alone with Ryder for almost six hours.... I need some emotional support for that one! I'm sure i'll post some while back home, but if not we hope everyone has a great Labor Day weekend! We also wish all of the Louisville Bats good luck in the playoffs! Wish we were there with you guys :)

The Reds New Facilities

Yesterday Derrik and I went out for a drive and headed over to the Reds new spring training/rehab facility. This new complex which the Reds are sharing with the Indians is literally in the middle of no where! Luckily not to far away from the busy towns, but still just in the middle of the desert. The only thing near by is an airport with huge plans thats appears to be deserted, a storage place, and a pizza joint. I'd like to see the sales that pizza joint brings in during spring traing, but there is nothing else around!!! The complex is set up into three majors sections.

There is one large field with a stadium that the big league games will be held at during spring training. The stadium isn't that impressive from the outside simply because there isn't much to see. The field and all the seating are in the ground... it looks as if they dug a big hole and put the field down in it. This was solely observing from a drive by though. I'm sure it is gorgeous on the inside.

Sorry for the awful photography... it was all taken with my iPhone. With no baby around the camera gets left behind!

This is a view of the front entrance to the big league field. We were kind of close up on it, but this a fountain with some weird baseball lookin' statue.

To the left of the entrance. All of the walls are done in Reds logo and pictures of some of the players. The other side is done in Indians stuff.
Close-up of the Reds logo on their side

An awful attempt at a picture of the score board

The other two sections of the complex are about a mile down the road. They appear to be identical from the road. One side being the Reds and the other being the Indians.

The Reds minor league facilities

Derrik checking out the new work facilities

The side wall of the minor league clubhouse

Our overall feeling of the place was that we weren't that impressed. It was nice and all, but I think after a two 1/2 day trip across the country, being far way from friends and family, dealing with this awful heat, missing our baby, and a move that nearly drained our bank account... lets just say we were expecting A LOT! We are sure that the whole place will look a little nicer on the inside and when there are actually people around.

Side note for any Reds wives/fiances/girlfriends: On our journey to find some food the other day we ran past the mall. I have not managed to make it in yet, but the Forever 21 was was soooo big that there name was on the outside like the other huge department stores and was on the directory when you pull into the parking lot with the Dillards and Food Court!! I saw that it was two stories when I looked it up! Hurry up girls... Ryder and I need some shopping partners!!!

What Time Is It?

Isn't this the question of our lives the past couple of days!!! EVERYONE keeps asking us what time it is. Of course it can't be a simple explanation! Why does everything have to be confusing in our lives?! Ok so right now we are three hours behind (our family that is). For the majority of our friends and family on the East Coast living in The Eastern Standard Time Zone there is a three hour time change.

The catch to all of this is we are in the Mountain Standard Time which is two hours behind the Eastern Standard Time Zone. We were pretty confused as to why the our phones told us we were three hours behind so we used our favorite tool in the Lutz household... Google! Apparently Arizona is the only state in the whole United States that does not observe Daylight Savings Time! So because the rest of the country is observing Daylight Savings Time until the end of October and we aren't that makes us three hours behind our family. When Daylight Savings Time ends at the end of October and everyones clocks fall back.... we will be only two hours behind everyone. Get it? I hope so.... I tried to explain it the best I could. To help we installed a time clock on the side of our blog. I hope all this helps!

Road Trip Pictures

We made it! The lease is signed, the cars are unpacked, and we are officially residents of the extrememly hot state of Arizona! I'll begin with telling you that when we ran for lunch yesterday afternoon the car said it was 114 outside! When we ran for dinner at about 8:30 last night (it was dark out.. and had been for a while) it was 104! It literally feels like a sauna!


The place we are renting is gorgous.. love it! It feels like home already! It is decorated exactly how our home is decorated.. we even have some of the same stuff! It has two bedroom and two bathrooms! It was hard to look at the closet in the master and not think "ok... how are we going to fit the pack 'n play in here?". Ryder has his own room, closet, and bathroom!!! We are going to head out to Babies 'R Us this week and even get him a crib! The animals are adjusting great. They all seem to be unharmed by the extremely long trip... I think they are use to this by now! We are still unpacking our bags so i'll get some pictures of the place up later this week, but until then I put up some pictures of our trip across country. Some of them might be boring to you so you can skip over them, but Derrik and I want our extremely long trip documented...so bare with us :)

Louisiana

A gorgeous rainy sunset in Louisiana

Texas
Chloe and I got to make up for lost time in the car for two 1/2 days with no baby

Close to home for Derrik... we passed a lot of Fredericksburgs

80 MPH! Never seen it this high.... my brother could live here!

"Are we there yet?!" Out of nowhere... in the middle of hours of desert... were these things... seen them before on tv... for wind power correct? Electricy through wind? Not sure what needed electricty out there since there was nothing, but hundreds of these things for a good mile or so
And the things I talked about in an earlier post... how out of no where a mountain goes straight up, across, and right back down... soo odd! Our car transport at a gas station in the middle of no where Picture in the middle of no where Scenic overview... Texas... Around sunset
My husband... such a great job driving :) Texan Sunset So gorgeous out there!
See ya later... longest day ever spent in the Texan desert!

Nice Huh?

This stuff is all just crazy!

I can't describe to you how amazing it felt to see this!

Home Sweet Home... Right? Kinda?

For a little while anyhow :)

And We Made It!

At the border

Our New State Flag!

Poisonous Snakes and Insects Inhabit this Area!

This stuff is ridiculous! We're did we move to?

Chloe trying to figure out where she is suppose to go potty?!

She is doing great... but sometimes gets the sidewalk instead of the rocks... hard to tell the difference!

Some mountains made out of boulders... we went through like a whole mile of this it was crazy! Almost looked fake!

Pheonix

The Finish Line Flag Never Looked So Sweet!

Our Exit!! WooHoo

Cardinals Stadium is in the background... the big white dome

The sweet welcome basket the owner of the condo we are renting left us. It is SO nice to have a nice place to live with a nice owner! It was such a nice change to have someone buy Chloe treats instead of us trying to hide her!

Not Me Monday

Are you feeling guilty for eating all the cereal you said was for the kids? Laden with remorse because you took a nap at your desk when your boss wasn't looking? Overcome with embarrassment when your child sticks their hand down their pants at the mall? We'll don't be! Not Me! Monday was born out of my desire to admit some of my imperfections and reveal a few moments I'd rather forget. You may find it therapeutic to join in and do the same thing!





Quite a few fellow bloggers participate in Not Me! Monday... I have never participated before, but am feeling a little "not me" this week so I figured i'd go ahead and participate.



I did not have to throw away all sentimental stuff from my sons 1st birthday party because we were once again packing our cars up to move. Never... not me!

I did not take well over eight hundred pictures at the beach last weekend because I can't keep anything that takes up physical space. Not me... I never have my camera in anyones face taking pictures. I would never do that!

I did not have to pack up my sons precious clothes to give to Good-Will because we didn't have any space, and keeping track of a consignment shop to get paid would have been too hard.

I did not almost tear up leaving my sons bath seat at the dumpster hoping that another Mommy would stumble across it before it got thrown in the trash.

I didn't insist that their be room in the car for the baby carseat that Ryder outgrew almost six months ago. I didn't try to convince myself we will use it for a second child when he comes along. I am not in denial that i'll buy all new stuff when child number two comes along because I most certainly do not have a shopping problem!

Derrik and I most certainly didn't return our third flat screen t.v. to Wal-Mart since February because we keep moving and don't have room in our car to fit our own. We would never stoop that low and try to cheat the system. Never! Not us!

We would definitely never be moving out son, who is one year and one week old, to his fifth state! We would never ever do that to try to achieve this crazy dream of major league baseball!

While packing up the apartment and emptying the fourth fridge so far this year (yes it gets very expensive!), I most certainly didn't polish off the the ice cream cake we had in the fridge to try to avoid more waste! I would NEVER do that while throwing the fruit away into the trash can.

I didn't once again have to say good-bye to great friends and move to another state. It would be absolutely crazy to have to say emotional good-byes for the millionth time this year!

Desert Q&A

First off... We had to stop not too long after making it into Texas last night because our cat, Turbo, decided she was done with her cage and started crying like crazy. They do love to sleep, but I think at about the twelve hour point she wanted to eat and go to the bathroom also. We stayed at an awful hotel. Only about $15.00 cheaper then the night before and we were scared for our lives! I love when i'm trying to suck it up and cuddle up to my husband who is suppose to protect me, and he tells me he'd rather sleep in the car because the hotel room freaks him out! We found a spider before we went to bed, a dead cricket, and three spiders in the shower this morning! YUCK! Anyhow... we survived... and have been in the desert for what feels like days! Which leads to our Q&A... we'll ask the questions... you answer! Because well... we don't know the answers....

1. The cows... in the middle of no where with no signs of life is cows! How do they eat? Who is taking care of them? Who thought it was a good idea to put them out there with no shade? Just doesn't seem fair!

2. What is with all the little bridges with River so-and-so and Creek so-and-so signs? There is NO water underneath them! Was there water at one point in time? Are they hoping by naming it a river or creek that it will bring on the water? I'm so confused!

3. The wind-mill looking things in the middle of nothing. Ok I know they spin and it shows there is wind, but what is the point of them? Is someone using them for something? I know I always see them in pictures and stuff arounds farms, but these are in the middle of no where. We need to know their purpose.

4. People made us think the desert was this big sandy area with no trees. There are LOTS of trees... all over... is this the desert? I mean it still looks barren, but we are not lacking in trees.

5. Random homes out here. There are hundreds of miles between these barren towns. Who lives out here? What do they do with their lives?

6. The random barrels, standing posts, tractors, old trucks... we see them all the time in random spots all by there lonesome out here. Did someone have hope of something happening in the middle of no where... start something for like a day or a week and then give up? Makes no sense?

7. This whole barren place is fenced off! Derrik wants to know if they are just trying to create the worlds longest fence?! Do individual people own all of this desert out here and just do nothing with it? Does the state own it? At some point in time when our ancestors found this country someone claimed it... did they sell it off? Anyhow... this fence? It's soo random! It's been going for miles for no reason at all!

8. Back to the cows.... the cattle... the steer? I keep saying "see the cows!" and Derrik is saying he thinks they are cattle... although he isn't sure he really even knows what he is talking about! He thinks one makes hamburger, one makes steaks, one makes milk... help us out?

9. Radio stations... literally at one point our radio dial just keep going and had no station! For a LONG time! And there were homes there! Could you imagine living in a place that literally didn't even have one staticky radio station?

10. So some of these mountains out here look fake! There literally is flat ground then it shots straight up, straight across, and straight back down. It looks like someone made it with their farm toys. I know there are lots of different answers as to how they formed, and it kind of gets into the evolution vs. creation theory. It is all so interesting though! I could look at it for days.... oh yeah.. I have! How did it all get like this?

We'll were off to our millionth potty break.... help us out on our Q&A!!!