Your Fair Warning of What to Expect For The Next Month or So.

I have been a nutcase the past couple weeks. My face looks like a 13 year old's I'm so stressed. And my anxiety levels are through the roof. With how stressed out I am, I've become pretty lackadaisical about everything. Sometimes I realize I'm flying out to Portland in 54 days, and at other times it feels so distant. I've taken on an attitude of, "things will happen when they happen."

We signed our lease earlier this week, and I signed with the moving company yesterday. I've taken almost everything off of the walls, packed all of our books, and took down our hanging DVD shelf. My house is naked. It's a little depressing and yesterday Ross called our house the "ghost house". Which is fairly fitting.

So... it's official. We really ARE moving to Wisconsin. 

And it's exciting, it really is. We feel so incredibly blessed that Ross was able to find a job even before graduating. And not just a job. A wonderful job with an incredible company. I'm looking forward to being REAL grown ups and exploring, and everything, but at the same time I'm really going to miss being so close to family, and only a 12 hour drive from Portland. We're not going to be able to visit as much. I have loved having both of our families so involved in our girls' lives. It's been such an incredible blessing to be in Utah with family, and having family visiting so often. I didn't really grow up near family and didn't get to experience that. Family is so incredibly important to me, I'm so grateful for the tight knitted family we have. So, onto WI.

Just in the last couple days it has gotten so much colder here. Today, the weather is reminiscent of Oregon weather. Except there is snow on the base of the mountains, and on the mountains. I am just PRAYING it isn't snowing or raining on Saturday. I have realized that I am going to die in Wisconsin. No, really. I lived in Illinois for a few years while growing up. We had snow. Lots of snow. And I remember it being cold. Really cold. Like one day at the bus stop my brother's friend slid on the ice and fell so hard he had to go to the ER. And another time, I was an idiot and stuck my tongue to a pole. And it got stuck. Kids are invincible when it comes to weather and I'm not so sure how I'll fare in the next coming months. 

The half marathon I signed up for is this Saturday. As in three days away. As in 72 hours from now I will probably be running. Or dead on the side of the trail. Or frozen at Mt. Timp where the race starts. I hurt myself pretty badly back in July when I was doing the best I have ever done with running, and I had to take some time off. Okay, scratch that. I had to take a lot of time off and sometimes I still hurt when I run. The longest run I have done since recovering is 7 miles. So, just a tad over half of what I'll be doing in 3 days. Everyone pray for me. hahaha

It's just been a busy last couple of weeks, and I fear the busy has only just begun. I've been talking to people in various running groups on Facebook and asking them about running. I even signed up for an indoor half marathon only a couple weeks after we've moved. Heaven help me. It's at the Olympic skating place, and you run laps. No iPods or headphones are allowed, they just blast music for you. When you registered, you had to give a song request. People were so friendly and kind when I asked questions about it. They love that it's a million laps and kept talking about how supportive everyone is, how the aid station is always just a couple of turns ahead, and how much fun it is. They convinced me.

We have some exciting things ahead, and I apologize if I expose my psychotic mess outside of the Loveland house. Please forgive me and feel free to pass me a Diet Coke and tell me to chill. And from now until we move, please don't expect to see a clean house. I totally and completely expect my children to act like this while dealing with my crazy.

 

 

Halloween.

I suppose I should blog about something less scaring. I apologize for the latest post. Sometimes I feel better about the horrid truths about being a mother when I can get it all out and add some humor. I can't be the only one who has these things come up, but no one else seems to talk about it.

Anyway, this morning I finished costumes. I love Halloween, however; since being married, I kind of feel like the Halloween "spirit" (Not sure what you call it, but like Christmas spirit) Has gone down. Our first year, we didn't even get pumpkins. The second year, we got pumpkins, but didn't carve them. This year, we have our pumpkins (Claire made it extremely clear that she NEEDED a white one,) and I'm determined to do some carving.

I don't think we even knew about our ward party the first year. The second year, Claire and I dressed up, but after a few minutes, I was so embarrassed because hardly any adults dressed up, so I went to the bathroom and washed my face. (I was a mime.)

This year, Claire is older and understands things now. I think maybe having her be excited about everything helps bring back my excitement. So we decided to do family themed costumes this year. We had decided upon our costumes way back, towards the beginning of summer. The wheels in my head had been turning about how I wanted to do everything ever since. I knew I wanted to do homemade costumes. Homemade costumes on the cheap side. This morning I finished everyone's costumes, accessories and all.



This was my inspiration, and Ross loved it, too. At first I thought I'd be the nurse or something, but one of Ross' sisters gave me a better idea. Mama Kate is the life guard. Ross is the shark bite victim, with some cute arm floaties, and another pool toy to carry around, and our two monsters are sharks. While their costumes are grey, you can be sure I will be adding massive bows.

I had to think of something Claire would actually wear, be warm in, and be happy. I found some cheap sweatshirts online, and both girls love them. I wish I had one because they always look so cozy. The dollar store had great accessories. I went this morning and was worried they wouldn't have their summer pool toys out anymore.

I love that Ross is excited about his costume and had ideas, too. And I especially love that he's willing to walk around in his swim trunks wearing kiddie pool toys. He's the best.

The costume idea combined with our annual trip to Cornbelly's made me really excited for this Halloween. It's been especially fun talking to Claire about Halloween and getting her to say, "trick or treat". We're really looking forward to taking her around next week.

Oh, Joy.

I've heard that unless your children embarrass you in public, you're doing it wrong. Claire has only been a smidge embarrassing, (Until she threw the tantrum from Hell at DI and a thousand people told me to "Put the child down and we'll let you go" and prove that she was indeed my child) but then we added another kid. When you have two so close together, you're bound for some really embarrassing situations. Or so I've learned the hard way.

When you're pregnant and huge and there is absolutely no room for your bladder in what used to be your stomach and you cough or sneeze or laugh AND pee your pants, it's funny. Everyone around can sympathize or relate, and it's really not THAT embarrassing. When you're not pregnant and you pee your pants because you couldn't get to the bathroom in time, and you're not 4, well, it's pretty embarrassing.

Claire is going through this phase where she loves to push the cart. It lasts for a little while, but then she transforms into a little space cadet and needs to explore EVERYTHING she sees. Even the pattern of the markings on the floor.

So earlier this week, I went to Walmart. I was replacing a couple blinds in our house, and had to pick up a couple other things. And then I needed to GO. Now, I drink between five and six liters of water a DAY. I drink A LOT of water. And when you add my diet coke addiction, milk, juice, whatever on top of that, we're in trouble.

Anyway, so we're walking through the grocery store and then I start to walk as fast as possible without running. And where is Claire? Oh you know, mosing about looking at things, playing with things, sitting on the floor, running AWAY from me. And I can't put her in the stupid cart without people think I'm kidnapping a child. (We're NOT going through that experience again.)

I start to panic. I'm now running with the store in small spurts when Claire thinks we're playing a game, and then she'd run off in a different direction and hide. Or sit staring at the tile. So I ended up racing to the bathroom. I wanted to use the family one, but some teenage girl was in there doing who knows what. (I have a thing when people use the handicapped or family restrooms when they don't need it and I end up dancing around with my two kids and massive stroller. So I run for the women's restroom, leaving the cart outside the bathroom, but taking Aoife with me. Aoife ends up on the floor by the sinks, Claire is somewhere nearby, and all the while I have begun to pee my pants. Thankfully a person at the customer service desk had seen my hilarious performance and Claire was right there waiting for me right outside the door.

We quickly finished up our shopping trip and went home. And then it happened again the next day at the farm!! Claire couldn't stop looking at the rocks on the ground, and I didn't have a stroller. Aoife sat patiently outside the porta-potty while Claire paraded around all of the potties, feeling free to open the door and expose her mother.

I love my children, I really do. Bless their hearts. I don't think I'll be doing any shopping with the girls for a while. But who could be upset with these two little cuties?!

Three Years.

In advance, I apologize for the lack of detail, pictures, and quite possibly grammar. As I type this, Claire is supposedly napping, and Aoife is pulling at my hair, clothes, keyboard, and otherwise squirming, and all I'm really thinking about is this wonderful, blessed Diet Coke sitting next to me, and when Aoife will also go down for a nap so I can empty the storage unit and organize everything and figure out what we'll be selling at the yard sale this weekend, and what we'll pack. I appreciate your patience with my current (Permanent) scatter brained state. 

It's amazing how quickly time flies. This last week we celebrated our 3rd anniversary. Not only did we get to celebrate three wonderful years together, this was our first anniversary that I wasn't pregnant!!

On our wedding day between the actual wedding and reception, Ross and I went to Olive Garden for some soup and salad, and then did a corn maze. It's been a fun tradition ever since, and each year we've added a little tag-along.

Our anniversary fell on a Wednesday this year. Wednesdays are typically family nights where Ross' siblings that are here in Utah come for dinner and games. Or study parties, since the three of them are taking a class together this semester. Ross' brother and sister graciously babysat for us so we could go out. Our original plan was foiled, so we ended up going to J-Dawgs, walking around a party store, going to our favorite park, and finally sipping on milkshakes at Sonic.

The next morning, Ross surprised me with a rose and a Redbox in the car. (I'm the driver in the family.) He also came home early so we could enjoy Cornbelly's as a family. It's been my favorite tradition/family outing since we've been in Utah. I will especially miss Cornbelly's and hope we can find something similar in Wisconsin.

First we did the corn maze, with Claire as our leader. Unfortunately she was more interested in finding rocks on the ground. We did hay rides, played in the Pumpkin Princess Playland, shared a sno-cone, went down a huge slide with potato sacks, picked out a pumpkin, went on all kinds of rides, watched the pig races, and I was finally able to ride the mechanical bull. Like I said, this was our first non-pregnant anniversary. It's been a dream of mine. No really. And it every bit exceeded my standards. It was SO FUN!!! I had a REALLY good ride and stayed on for a long time. The gentleman controlling the bull had to result to making the bull spin in a circle really fast to get me off. And I loved every second. We ended up staying there for a little over three hours, and could have spent even more time there, had it not been for bedtime.

And Friday came. The day we were waiting for! Ross' siblings, again, so graciously watched the girls for us. This time overnight. We began our weekend getaway with a trip to Scheels, the new sports store around the point of the mountain. It was HUGE. And amazing. They even have a ferris wheel in the middle of the store. We could have spent forever in there. Ross ended up getting a new pair of shoes, which he desperately needed. It's a really cool store.

Then we drove to Salt Lake where we would spend the rest of the weekend. We checked into the Anniversary Inn. We picked the Sun Valley Suite, which was a cozy cabin, with a 2 person jetted tub and waterfall shower. I was so much in awe of the room, we didn't do much for a while. We watched movies, enjoyed sitting in rocking chairs on the front porch, and eating cheese cake. It was a blast.

The next morning, we went to the Salt Lake temple to do a live session. It was an incredible way to start off the morning. That was another thing on my Utah bucket list. The session was amazing, and I learned a lot more from it being live. We changed in the car and then explored City Creek. We could have spent all day there. We were there for a long time, and didn't even see everything. I got a few new clothes, but it was just fun to be able to spend time with Ross without kiddos and just talk. After we took a trip up to the outlets at Park City.

After another shopping session, we drove back to good old Provo to the dollar theater. We hadn't seen Brave yet, and saw that the movie was at that theater! It was AMAZING!!! We arrived pretty early for the movie, so we sat in the car talking and enjoying cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory, which was delicious by the way.

We even got home only a little after 8, and got to go to bed early. It was an amazing weekend and a great way to celebrate the last 3 years. With a big adventure ahead of us and so much going on, it was a nice break, but we're glad to be back and looking forward to many more adventures to come.

Conference Thoughts.

I am trying to keep this blog strictly our "family blog", though I am well aware that at times it has become a blog about Me (Katie Loveland), exercise/training programs, experiments, recipes, babies, and postpartum depression thoughts. I know I do sometimes post about my religion, The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and that I even have a link on the side for those who have questions or want to find out more about what our family believes. This will be a post about just that.

I'll admit, while trying to prepare for a yard sale (By the way, we're having a yard sale on the 20th to help dejunk before we begin packing, and it will actually be a multi-family event. let me know if you want more info.) Anyway, while going through all of our belongings, preparing for Ross' family to spend Conference Weekend with us, focusing on being a better mom, and all in all checking things off of my to-do list, I really didn't prepare myself for conference this year. I still got a lot out of conference, but I wish I had prepared myself so that I could get out MORE.

Like I said in an earlier post, Ross and I went to the temple last week, and both received the same feelings and thoughts about time and what we are doing with it.I thought it interesting, that much of what I got out of conference, was about the same topic, summing up to being better disciples of Christ and having that reflected by our actions. I had planned a Family Home Evening for last week about that, too. Though, I could never teach as eloquently as those who spoke in this conference. I had planned to talk about how our actions reflect who we are. We were then going to decorate our own plates, and bake them to make them permanent. We'd each then have our own special plate that we had designed and decorated.

Ross' family came out for the weekend. It was wonderful. They had gotten tickets for all of us for the Sunday morning session, as well as tickets for the men for the priesthood session. Ross' youngest brother recently turned 12, and this was to be his first priesthood session. It was special that they all got to go to the conference center together.

Attending general conference was on my bucket list of things to do before we leave Utah, and I was so grateful for the opportunity to go, especially with such wonderful company. It was an incredible experience. We got to hear Music and the Spoken Word, which was beautiful. And then I got to be in the same room as the prophet, his apostles, and other general authorities. I have always known that we have a living prophet on the Earth today, but hearing him and speak, and testify of Jesus Christ, strengthened my testimony of prophets. I KNOW that Thomas S. Monson is our prophet today and that the Twelve Apostles are called of God and that they are truly inspired men who receive revelation for us today.

I felt beyond blessed to be able to attend conference, particularly that session. Thank you Mama and Papa Loveland for supplying the tickets, and especially Papa Loveland for watching the kiddos so that I could attend. It was an experience I'll never forget.

When Ross first applied for Epic, and had an interview, we prayed. A lot. And I KNEW that was where we were supposed to go and where we NEEDED to be. Once it was confirmed with a job offer, I made some goals. I wanted to strengthen my testimony so  that I would be able to stand on my own two feet and share the Gospel, and answer any questions that may arise confidently. I knew I would need to be a strong example, and comfortable being a "Mormon". We've been in Utah for three years now, and I've grown comfortable. I've accepted that everyone here is LDS. No one drinks, or smokes, or parties. And you could have a conversation about church anywhere, and everyone would know exactly what you're talking about and not question you.

Ross and I both grew up in Portland. We loved it there, loved all of the people there, and all of the different experiences we've had there. I've heard Madison is beautiful, liberal, and a lot like Portland. I've even been attracted to the apartments that advertise recycling. I'm beyond excited about this new adventure and getting out of the "Mormon Bubble". It will be wonderful to be able to share what has so richly blessed my life, and hopefully have a similar Portland vibe. I've been checking out different races and triathlons in Wisconsin, and have even chatted with a couple people about what running outside in January is like. (We hear it's cold.) They've been ever so friendly, just like the folks in Portland and I cannot wait to start this adventure!

Halloweenie Season

Saturday morning we went to the temple. Honestly, it's been a long time since we've gone. When we move, we'll be in the Chicago temple district. We've really taken having so many temples so close for granted. It was great to go again. While there, Ross and I had the same thought about time. How we spend it and what message we are sending to God with the way we use our time. We decided upon a new schedule. At 9 PM we go to bed, planning on actually GOING to bed around 10. And we wake up at 6 in the morning. (By the way, it is REALLY dark at 6, and you can see so many stars!)

We started this new schedule today. This is Ross' last semester at BYU. Every other semester, he's started either class or work at 8 AM. I was excited about this semester when Ross said he only had work at 8 AM on Fridays. The other four days, he starts somewhere between 10 and 1 PM. I immediately thought of sleep and sleeping in. I was singing praises.

While it was great to catch up on sleep, I felt LAZY. I wasn't getting my work outs in that I wanted, and was just dragging the rest of the day.

Back to Saturday. I thought about this idea of time all day. By evening, I felt like the worst mother, wife, and person on the planet.

Today we started our new schedule. I went running, grocery shopping, showered, and played with Claire a bit before we had to take Ross to work. It was fantastic. I've been feeling like I don't play with my kids enough. I was the perfect Holly Housewife. Dinner was cooked and on the table, which I actually set right when Ross got home, the house was always spotless, and I did spend time with the girls, just maybe not as much time as I would have liked. (No, I don't neglect my children, and I'm actually a pretty good mom.) Today, I decided to dedicate the rest of my day to Claire and Aoife. Claire started the morning making cookies with Ross. It was cute and they had a lot of fun, we also colored Halloween pictures I had printed.


After nap time, we made caramel apples, listened to Halloween music, colored more, and just played. I am completely exhausted, but it was fun. It was good to have a day focused solely on the girls. I didn't clean, and we had leftovers for dinner. On the couch.

Claire loved pulling and pushing the caramel around the apples.

It was impossible to get her to leave the apple on the baking sheet.

Proud of her hard work.

Loving the caramel apple.

We took no survivors.

With moving only 76 days away (74 till our stuff moves), I don't really feel like breaking out the cute decorations. I don't think we have any fall ones, despite it being my favorite season. So we just taped our pictures to the window. It's actually really nice not having to be perfect 24/7, or ensure that our little home could be a page in Better Homes and Gardens magazine. We had a really good day.

Excuse the flash, but you can see the pictures really well!

Claire waited by the window chanting, "Daddy" for a long time. She was so excited to show Ross what she had done today.

What Really Goes On During Nap Time.

Claire eventually fell asleep. I know, I checked on her, but the following is how she puts herself to sleep. It's her wind down routine. 

Taking in the grandure.

The lamp is usually on the furthermost part of the dresser, and right side up.

Notice the missing shelf.

I'm not exactly sure how she actually SLEEPS on her bed. It's usually covered with every animal and toy in her room.

Oh, there's the missing shelf!

I am baffled at how she reaches the box of hair bows, but I guess a little girl room isn't complete until it has a trail of bows.

I often go in and find her sleeping in mysterious positions. Today she was on her bed, T bone style, with her legs dangling off, and the rest of her forming a peak on top of all of her stuffed animal friends.

Although she won't be 2 until November, I think we have officially hit the "2's".