Date Night Downtown.

With classes at night, Ross and I don't get as much time together. He's been absolutely wonderful and supportive, and the time he gets to spend just him and the girls has been such a blessing. Claire and Aoife have the best Dad in the world, and they only have eyes for him. We don't watch our shows together or play the traditional rounds of Skip-Bo anymore, but that's okay. We've learned to make the most of our time together and to make it REALLY count.

Gratefully, we have a wonderful friend and neighbor who has become an adoptive uncle to the girls. Back in Utah, we were fortunate enough to have a couple of Ross' siblings at school, too. We got together at least once a week and the girls were spoiled with hugs, kisses, and attention. Chris sometimes watches the girls while Ross and I escape for date night. It's been such a blessing.

Last night was date night. Chris came over and swept the girls up and took them on an adventure. They went to McDonald's where he spoiled them with ice cream, and then to the park. Can you think of a better night for a two year old?

While the girls were busy getting spoiled, Ross and I headed for downtown. I donned my new bright dress, and attempted to style my new hair. (Friday I went shopping to find some new clothes to match my new 'do. Lots of bright fun colors, perfect for the warm weather we've been having.)

We decided to stroll down State St, which is a really cool strip that runs from campus to the capitol. There are tons of cool shops, and lots of food. And a lot of popcorn places. Who knew? Anyway, the cool thing about it is the majority of the strip doesn't allow cars. So the whole street is people walking, skateboarding, or biking.

We wee starving, so our first priority was to find food. Which was really more challenging than it seems. I didn't want to decide on something, and then later see something that I would have wanted more. But it would have been stupid to walk the entire thing and then deciding what we really wanted was back at the beginning. You see the problem here?  We walked a good deal of it before deciding on Five Guys. I was in the mood for a fatty greasy burger.And the good news is after the end of our walk, I will still 100% satisfied with our choice. And the potatoes were even from Rexburg.

So we got some delicious burgers and shared some fries that you can now see in my rear. And it was fantastic. After, we poked around in some fun shops, and found a really neat bookstore. I love book shops. I love the smell of old books. And this little hole in the wall shop was right up my alley. It was wall to wall, floor to ceiling crammed with books. The books that couldn't fit on the shelves were sitting in boxes in the walkway. We had to suck it in and squeeze between the shelves to get around. (No thanks to our dinner.) It was fantastic. They had old jaxzy music playing, and the whole atmosphere was wonderful.

We made our way to the University where we found a really cool building. Seriously, what campus has a building that looks like a castle with the big wooden doors called the armory?! So like the tourists we are, we poked around the building for a quick peek before heading back toward the capitol.

As we were walking, we passed a little fro-yo shop. I caught a glance of the menu, which showcased a picture of a treat we used to get when we lived in Germany. We called it Spaghetti Ice. I was so excited I grabbed Ross' arm and drug him inside with me. Turns out, the little shop had only opened the day before. When I ordered, the poor gent said he wasn't sure they could make it because they didn't know how. The gal working with him said she thought maybe she could. She said she would give it a try, and that it might not be pretty, but that it would still taste good. It was awesome.

After our delicious treat, we popped in the Museum of Contemporary Art, where they were showcasing a collection of work by children kindergarten through 12th grade, "Young At Art". It was really cool and there were a lot of impressive pieces.

It was also Prom night. With the crowd of big dresses and hair, I asked Ross if he wanted to go to Prom with me, but he declined. That's ok. We had a great night anyway and it was already 8:30. WAY past my bed time. We headed home, and got caught up on our shows.

I love date nights. And that was one of the most fun ones ever.

Pixie Part 1.

Yesterday I walked into school, and came out about 15 pounds lighter. I suppose I owe an explanation.

This is was me. In fact, this was me less than an hour before I went in to my hair appointment.

 And this was me with hair extensions.

Back to the story. I've been thinking about cutting my hair for a while. I needed something cute and fun. Life has gotten busy. There are a thousand things I want to do in the day, and time is scarce. Doing cosmetology, I HAVE to look good. All the time. The last thing I want to do is spend an hour getting ready for the day. It became a chore, instead of something i enjoyed. And truth be told, I damaged my like crazy. I wanted a style that I wouldn't have to use thermal tools to make it look good.

This weekend I was browsing Pinterest and came across this picture. And my heart stopped for a minute, then it ended up in my throat and pounded like crazy.

And I fell in love. And it was terrifying. I love short hair on other people, but it absolutely was not for me. I am not bold or daring enough. But I will gladly volunteer and encourage just about everyone else while I sit and spectate.

But it kept eating at me. I kept going back to that picture of Emma Watson and then started looking at all of her pixie pictures, other pixie styles, pixie websites, pixie blogs, pixie this, pixie that, and I couldn't stop. Like, it was keeping me up at night I was thinking about it so much.

I interviewed just about everyone I came in contact with about their thoughts on short hair.

Tuesday evening I set up my appointment. I was pretty sure I would end up with a short, choppy bob, but after consulting with a teacher, I was pretty convinced. We even picked out a student to do the cut that would do a great job. I asked Ross to help me pick something out and he ended up finding this picture for me. Very fem and sassy.

Tuesday Night: I didn't sleep. I was almost nauseous I was so nervous. I've never had hair above shoulder length. There were three major worries for me:

1.) Looking butch
2.) Looking fat
3.) Not having the right face for it.

But honestly, it's liberating. I wasn't entirely sure about the new 'do yesterday, I didn't have much time to play with it, but I think I really do love it.  As far as my worries:

1.) I've actually never felt so dainty and girlie in my life. My earrings look awesome without the hair back drop. I think I'm going to go pick out some ultra girly tops to rock with it, I can play with make up now. My face is my new canvas, but we'll talk about that later.
2.) Looking at the pictures, I feel like the cut makes me look about 10 pounds lighter. I feel like a gazelle. Tall and lean.
3.) I have a cute face. Who knew?! I actually love baring my face. My eyes look different, the focus is on my face now, and I'm excited to play with make up.

It's been awesome. I get it wet, and by the time I'm done doing my make up, my hair is dry and done, too! 

We still have some work to do with the color, bur here's where we're at.

I can even add scarves or headbands.

A side view.

The other side view.

The back.

Before and After.

I've gotten a lot of mixed feedback. The most popular response is "Ohhhhh my gosh what did Ross say? What does he think?"

Which kind of bothers me. I don't think I'd consider myself a feminist, but I am all about the independent woman. I don't think there's anything more beautiful than a confident woman with a smile on her face. Gratefully, Ross agrees.  And for the record, he does like it.

I'm still not sure how to wear short hair, but I'll be picking up some new styling tools and get to playing. I think I might trim it up a bit more now that I'm not afraid of the short hair, but I'm loving the new 'do! It's a little punk, a little flirt, and a whole lotta sass!

Hobby Lobby.

This morning we ventured to one of my all time favorite stores. In Provo, we used to go there a lot. And I'd purposely leave my wallet in the car. It's one of those stores where I can easily load up and walk out with everything I didn't need, but my house and children would look adorable.

Lately it's been hard to go anywhere with the girls. Aoife's getting 7 or 8 teeth right now, we like to nap in the mornings, and Claire is two. Enough said. But I was determined. My poor girls have been bowless for so long. Tomorrow we're having a little bow making party and needed to restock my supplies.

Here's how this little adventure went down. When we left, the sun was rising, and it looked like it was going to be a nice day. On days like that, I sometimes let Claire wear her Elmo slippers out of the house. We were going to drop Ross off at work, do a little grocery shopping, and then go to Hobby Lobby.

The rain started to fall as we were leaving the grocery store. By the time we arrived at the prime destination, the ground was one massive puddle. Not thinking, I took Claire out of her car seat and set her on the ground. I might as well have set her in boiling lava.So there I am, a baby in each arm running through the parking lot. One laughing like she's on a roller coaster, the other wailing because her stupid mother didn't think enough to put real shoes on her child.

Claire's been inside Hobby Lobby more than enough times to have my, "do not touch anything" speech memorized. Once Aoife's settled in the cart and we start making our way to the ribbon section, Claire holds out her hands and says loud enough for everyone in the city to hear, "No touch!" Claire gets just as distracted as I do in that store. We wander and meander and make sure we see EVERYTHING on the way to the ribbons. I start handing spools and bags for Claire to toss in the cart, while Claire comments on how cute a particular shade of green is. We make our way down the length of the store, stopping occasionally while Claire sits on a shelf with her Rapunzel doll and tells me to "have fun" like she'll see me later.

While we picked out headbands, I turned for a minute and when I turned back Claire was GONE. I thought she was just around the corner, so I threw some clips in the cart before I started the search party. She wasn't around the corner. In fact, she was GONE. My heart stopped and relocated somewhere in my butt is sunk so low. I ran up and down the aisles like a mad woman saying her name, though not loud enough to start a scene. Then I heard something fall and shatter a few aisles away.

My thoughts went from "Someone took my daughter" to "I really hope that wasn't something that costs $200" I made my way in the direction of the shatter. (Poor Aoife in the cart must have felt like she was on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride) and was glad to see it wasn't my child who had caused the damaged goods, but back to feeling frantic because my toddler was still missing. Then I heard her giggle, and saw her pig tails flying as she ran down another aisle. The stinker was intentionally running and hiding from me.

Aoife and I cut her off, and sent Claire into a squealing/laughing fit. And now I will be investing in a child leash.

Summer Cannot Come Fast Enough Part 2.

I should probably clarify:

1.) I am grateful Ross has a job.

1.5.) Epic has been fabulous.

2.) Wisconsin people are super friendly.

2.5.) The country roads are gorgeous. 

3.) Please forgive my homesick, stir-crazy complainings.

4.) I'm working on the complaining, like I said, this weekend was fabulous. And I am excited for the fun things to do in the summer.

5.) But ask any native Wisconsonian what there is to do in the winter and I promise you, they'll either rave about ice fishing, or be stumped as if you asked them a multi-million dollar trivia question.

Summer Cannot Come Fast Enough.

I'm trying to decide if moving to Wisconsin in January was a brilliant or terrible idea. We knew it would be cold, but maybe we didn't know just how bad it would be. So we'd come at the worst of it, and it could only get better from there. At first, it was new and exciting and I loved watching the giant flakes fall. But they kept falling, and piling up, and the snow NEVER melted. I forgot what the ground looked like. Grass? What is grass? It was too cold to take the girls out. I even stopped taking the garbage out. I'd bag it up, start to take it out, and quickly turn around and set it on the kitchen floor.

People in Wisconsin for whatever reason don't put lights in living rooms. No, seriously. In every house I've been in, the living room DOES NOT HAVE A LIGHT. What the heck? I was talking about this last night at school with a friend from the South. A native Wisconsonian pipped in, "Haven't you heard of lamps?"

Anyway, I think the dark and the cold got to me and I snapped. I stopped working out. Stopped cleaning. And only got dressed before I had to go to school. I fell in this awful slump. People would say it would start to warm up (in MAY) and I wondered what in the world we were doing in Wisconsin of all places. Friends in Arizona, Florida, and California would post pictures of them outside with their kids in shorts and T shirts while all I had to show was the disaster my kids had created that I just didn't care enough to clean up. Which really just made me feel like a terrible mom and only added to my already sour mood.

I've been missing Utah County terribly. I miss having friends that I can just show up at their house to play. I miss knowing the area to a T, knowing places to play and things to do. Miss the people, the mountains, favorite stores, snack places, play places. I miss how family oriented it is and how there is ALWAYS something fun going on.

Last weekend was General Conference. It couldn't have come at a better time. I've been looking for a serious kick in the pants. And Conference didn't disappoint. This one was a favorite. I wish the whole thing was online already, but that would be insane. And magically the snow melted, things defrosted, and the temperature was well above freezing.

Friday the girls and I bundled up and had a picnic at the zoo, we had conference weekend, and then yesterday was a perfect day. I did a REAL workout, cleaned, made dinner, and walked to the park to play. The sun was out, and we had a great walk around the pond, exploring and playing. I even had the door to the balcony open, it was so warm.

I had a glimpse of summer and it was awesome. And then as quickly as it came, it was gone. Today is story, wet, and dark. But I'll take that over snow, and just pretend we're back in Oregon any day.  The good news is that there is hope that the good stuff is coming! Maybe I can understand why people live in Wisconsin. Come on summer, my sanity (and the lives of my family members) <kidding>depends on you!!