While my once very faithful blogging habit has somewhat wavered, don't think it's from a lack of worthy blog material. I have just been a slacker. Our home computer is a piece of junk so I have to wait to use the good laptop when Ryan isn't using it. By the time he comes home, the last thing I want to do is to muster up the energy to boot up, wait, download, wait, then try to get the creative juices flowing to post something even remotely worthy of reading. So here's my attempt to convince the rest of you that life for the Loveless' hasn't slowed and only gets more interesting as our Max nears his second birthday.
Outings: Yes, we do go places, other than WalMart and Costco...occasionally.
Swiss Days 2008
My darling sister, Jolea, introduced me to a little festival held in the mountain valleys of Midway, Utah a few years ago and I anticipate Labor Day weekend every year for that particular reason. It's full of cute boutique stuff, lots of food, music, parades, etc all in the middle of this quaint mountain resort town settled by the Swiss pioneers. This year Jolea could not make it so somehow I talked Ryan into going with me. He, Max and I got up early and we drove to Midway. I found a couple of cute things, we had a chicken and swiss sandwich, watched some entertainment and called it a morning. It was a good day.
State Fair 2008
My first trip to the state fair (if you don't count the Rascal Flatts concert I attended like 6 years ago with college friends there). We decided to go for family night last week. We knew there were going to be lots of livestock there; Max has a slight infatuation with barn animals of every kind right now. He knows all the sounds they make and we knew that he would love it. I was very tempted to devote an entire blog post to the many musings of the State Fair...I had to refrain from my natural instincts to pull out the camera for all kinds of blog worthy material including State Fair attire, State Fair love, State Fair crazies...you get the picture. So while I have only family fun to document, don't let that fool you. I went in part to capture the good trash that every State Fair provides.
Max loved riding the pony as long as Daddy was holding on tight. He even showed off his rodeo royalty wave.
He also had a strange fascination with all of these cut out boards. He loved them!
Max was begging for the big, yellow slide. While his face showed fear, he loved the thrill and wanted to do it again!
PJ's on...we are ready for the ride home! What a great night it was. Max was enthralled by all the lights and rides and Dad and Mom indulged in homemade ice cream and a caramel apple! I think the State Fair has won us over!
BYU FOOTBALL @ UNCLE MARK'S
Our weekly outing has taken us just five houses down the street. Since my husband's good conscience wouldn't let him buy season tickets this year (leaving his pregnant wife and son home for 6 or 7 weekends while he indulged himself in football heaven), we have made the weekly trek down the street where the entire family can indulge in our guilty pleasure...BYU football is back and is making us very happy. What doesn't make us happy is that our cable provider won't pick up the Mountain, the only station that televises all the games. Thank goodness Mark lives close. Max even knows where all the spatula and Tupperware cupboards are now. We feel very at home there. I have my husband and he has his family and we all have the game. Win, Win, Win.
So as some of you may recall, a few 6 months ago I was 10 miles into my training for a 1/2 marathon. Interruption: Pregnancy. Granted it was a planned and much wanted pregnancy. What wasn't wanted nor anticipated was the 3 months of awful morning, afternoon, and night sickness that thrust it's ugliness upon my once very in shape self. Soon my runner's high was replaced by a new comfort--my sofa. From July to September, there I lay...day after day, just counting down the hours til my next dose of anti-nausea meds could be inhaled and until my husband came home to relieve me of my parental duties (which were less than stellar due to the fatigue that plagued my world). Gone were the dreams of putting all that training to the test in Provo Canyon, and soon enough, gone was the definition in my calves and the longevity in my lung capacity. Why is it that "In-Shape" takes so long to achieve while "Out-of-Shape" takes what seems like mere minutes to take over? It really is one of life's great injustices.
Finally, a light...mid September brought a welcome surprise. The nausea dissipated, the couch looked uninviting, and I had a strange energy that seemed somewhat like a ghost from Pre-Pregnancy Past. That energy wanted to redo, repaint, redecorate, refinish everything in my house. I think my energy frightened Ryan and our bank account so he came up with a way to redirect my energy. He signed me up for a 5K at his work. Granted I had not run for a good 4 months now, but I laced up my runners, threw on my orange Xango shirt, loaded my 30 lb kid into the jogger and for some reason had no reservations about running a 5K at 5 1/2 mos. pregnant, with no training for months, all while pushing my brute of an almost 2 year old. Did I mention that while you are pregnant, your brain shrinks like 3%? It's true...because Dr. Oz said so on Oprah; it's the only logical explanation for my uncharacteristically calm state while displaying such irrational behavior. Oh, yes, I could have walked the mile trot, but that's not what Ryan signed me up for and 3.2 miles seemed like a walk in the park after my training just months ago. Ryan was in it to win it, so he went on up ahead, way ahead. I ran with some 50 year old lady from Sweden who runs marathons. We only walked about 1/4 of a mile during the entire race and finished in just over 30 minutes. Thanks to my shrunken brain, I didn't give any forethought to the way I would feel for the next week. Let's just say that things hurt in places I didn't even know I had. But when it's all said and done...I can always tell this new little one coming to us "Look what Mommy did when she was pregnant with you!" Which will be followed by Ryan saying "Mommy was missing a portion of her brain capacity; she's lucky she didn't leave there on a stretcher."
Afterwards, Max and I popped a squat on the lawn to check out the loot. In my defense, it wasn't much. Mainly smarties and suckers.
Aunt Jolea watched Max for us while we went in. We stopped at a little bakery on the way home and picked up some little hints to tell them what we are adding to the family!
Max loved throwing bread and marshmallows to Gram's dog Sadie each night. Gram of course was the perfect hostess and made her special breakfasts and burritos for Ryan and I. We were so glad that we got to spend some time visiting with Aunt Jo and with WC who had just drove in from San Diego for the 4th. 
