Books

Todd here: Unfortunately I haven't been much of a reader my whole life. I read "To Kill a Mockingbird" and other required readings in high school. I read the scriptures and other church material also. But I've never been one to want to just pick up a book and read. But last summer I decided that without work I was going to spend some of my extra time reading. I began to compile of list of books I wanted to read. The more books I added to the list, the faster I would read so that I could get to the other ones. I started by finishing "The Giver" which I had started about 2 years earlier.

I finished it in about 2 days. Then I moved onto "Ender's Game." This is a book that was recommended to me back when I was about 15 years old and had heard about it, but just never got around to it.

I loved it and it has been my favorite so far. And I'm super excited for the progression of the movie and look forward to whenever it comes out. I might be one of those fanatics who dresses up and goes to the midnight showing.

In the meantime, Lexi read "And Then There Were None." So I pounded it in a couple days and then we watched the old school movie and enjoyed comparing the book with the movie.

Then I followed a recommendation from my dad and read"To Sir, With Love," which is an inspiring non-fictional story of the first years of a teacher. Then I read another classic, "Fahrenheit 451." It was okay. Then I read the companion book to "Ender's Game," "Ender's Shadow." It was good and it only made the original "Ender's Game" even better in my mind.

I ended up the summer by starting "Jesus the Christ." This is one of those books that it seems every Christian should read. I'm still reading it on the side.

School started up again, and I stopped reading and my list of books kept going up. Around that time is when I discovered Shelfari.com which helped me keep track of my list of books read, reading or plan to read.

After a few months of not reading and feeling guilty and anxious about my list, the Hunger Games movie trailer came out. This is one I actually started in the summer, but because of the writing style, a female main character, some cheesiness, etc. I stopped. But because I hadn't followed the Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings trend of reading or watching the movies, I decided to be part of the conversation and finish this one.

I enjoyed it and am glad I read it. It's no "Ender's Game" but I look forward to seeing the movie and plan on reading the other two books as the movies come out.

As I drive 25 minutes to work everyday and back I started feeling like I was wasting time just sitting there. So I looked online for some free downloadable books and I found "Les Miserables." I didn't find the actual version, but I found an old school radio edit with about 7 episodes each about 30 minutes long. I had never seen the musical before so I had no idea what the story was about. I really enjoyed listening to it. I also enjoyed analyzing it. I tried looking for themes and comparisons and the ulterior meanings from the author. We then watched the old-school movie and have been listening to the music lately. I just need to see the musical sometime now.

I've also been listening to "Team of Rivals" on CD. This is another recommendation from my dad about Lincoln's presidency. I haven't finished it yet because my brain almost exploded 3 times listening to it. It's been good though.

I recently started "How to Win Friends and Influence People." This has been a good reminder book about how to deal with people. Hopefully I come out

a better person from reading it.

Here are a couple other books on my list:

• Rich Dad Poor Dad
• To the Rescue (Pres. Monson's Bio)
• 1984
• Blade Runner
• 7 Miracles that Saved America
• 1774
• Hunting Eichman
• The Greatest Salesman in the World
• Bourne Identity (I heard it's different from the movie)
• Don Quixote
• Treasure of Khan
• Schindler's List

I would like to read "The Hobbit" before the movie comes out too. I actually have seen the Lord of the Rings trilogy once or twice, so reading the books while knowing what happens seems pointless to me.

Have you head about this book, "Abinadi"? It's about one of my favorite Book of Mormon characters. But do I want to read a fictional story on a true scriptural account? Would that just taint by feelings about him I've developed from reading his actual story from the Book of Mormon?

What kind of books am I looking for? I'm still trying to figure that out. I would like to someday read a book that has 2 or 3 parts to it. The first book is of a story from the eyes of one character, but certain details and holes are left out. Then you read the next book which is from the point of view of another character but the same story and the questions from the first are answered, but more arise. Then the last one comes from another point of view and answers all the questions. Something like that. Kind of like a Wicked to Wizard of Oz. Anyone know of any???

(I guess a series of books as I just explained would be Ender's Game and Shadow. But the problem I have with this is that Orson Scott Card wrote Ender's Game, received popularity from it, then decided to write Ender's Shadow. He had no intentions of doing this in the first place, he just had to add on and make his own holes up in Ender's Shadow to fill it. I want a book where the author purposefully writes the books at the same time.)

What are some of your all-time favorite, enjoyable or life-changing books?

Catching Up

Yes October was two months ago, but I'll be honest I wasn't feeling that great at that time, so here is the catch up. My sister Heather had a beautiful little girl named Chelsy. I was a little (wink wink) baby hunger at this time. I'm so glad that there's a newborn in the family while I'm pregnant to hold me over and get me even more excited for our little one to come! I love the feeling you get when holding a newborn.

Roommate PARTY!!! Here are some of my favorite roommates! We ate at the great Olive Garden and

talked about old times. Crazy that we have babies and are in a totally different stage of life. 

 Me, Becca and Shawnee did some shopping after lunch. As a tradition when we shop together, we find something we know will NOT be flattering and all try it on knowing laughs will come, this was no exception. Silly roommates. I loved it!

Halloween was so fun with Gavin. He wasn't that thrilled to dress up but loved going door to door for treats. He wanted to eat each treat right after it was given but soon got the idea to put it in the bucket and go to the next door. He was the cutest giraffe! 

The back was the best part of his costume. It had some extra padding on the bum and his little tail waved side to side. 

Gavin is growing up so fast I can't believe it! I just want to stop time. I realized the other day that I only have 6 more months with just the two of us. I want to soak up every second I have with my sweet little guy. 

I'm finally feeling better! I've made it to my second trimester and had hope that I would feel better when I was in that feeling "sick" all day long stage. Isn't nice knowing that the sickness will come to an end! Sorry I don't have a picture of my belly yet but I assure you it is there. Thanksgiving dinner is to blame for showing my bump all the time now. I was like the turkey... POP!

Todd and I were asked to be Mary and Joseph for our ward party. I forgot to take a picture but I hope I'll find some and post them. I stuffed my belly with a pillow and wore this awesome night gown from my MIL from Egypt I think. Simply said I looked "great with child" and I had many eyes looking and people commenting about how they just saw me a few weeks ago and I wasn't showing. Most people didn't know we were pregnant but I guess this was one way to announce it to the ward. It was a really special experience playing the role of Mary and thinking of the kind of mother she was. I'm grateful to have been asked to do that. 

June 11, 2012

...in 32 weeks!

My Favorite 1 Minute Craft: Felt Rosettes

I've made so many of these cute rosettes and they take maybe 1 minute!All you need is hot glue gun, felt, and scissors. Hobby Lobby has the greatest color selection for felt. I use these little darlings on head bands, wreaths, and hair clips. Let me know what you think. Find the tutorial here.

Logan

Lexi and I got a deal at a hotel in Logan so we decided to plan a trip and go. It was a busy week for me planning and hosting a cross country meet so it felt good to get my sub plans ready, clean up the meet, drop Gavin off at grandma Watsons and hit the road.

We arrived around 8 in the evening and drove up and down main st looking for a good place to eat. We found Gia's, an Itlalian restaurant, walked in and wondered where everyone was. We were the only ones there so we got first class service to some good pasta.


Then Lexi suggested we go watch a movie. Why not? So we got directions to the theatre, and arrived just as Contagion was starting. It felt weird not having to be home for Gavins bedtime after a late dinner and a movie. It was after midnight by the time we went to bed. That hasn't happened for a while!

We slept in the next morning and took our time getting to breakfast and enjoying the hot tub. We got ready and did sealings in the temple. Neither of us had been in the Logan temple before so it was a great new experience for both of us.

Then we changed, checked out, and found a Mexican restaurant to eat at. Next we took a scenic 15 minute drive up the canyon to the trailhead of the Wind Caves hike. We walked off lunch up the steep switchbacks through red/orange/yellow bushes and trees to a beautiful cave/arch.
(no pics from phone available)

We headed home but wanted to avoid Friday/game night traffic through slc and Utah valley. So we stopped by our favorite custard place, Nielson's. Custard and fries ended up being a great dinner.

It was such a great trip and a great day off for me from work and for Lexi from Gavin. But we're happy to be back while Gavin didn't really seem to mind or notice we were even gone.

Ice cream made on a COLDSTONE

Lexi and I love Coldstone ice cream! We always get the same thing. She gets cheesecake ice cream with raspberry, I get cake batter with cookie dough. Every once in a while we think we want to try something else, only to be devastatingly let down and wonder why we ever strayed from our favorites. After we get our favs, we go and sit on a bench in the mall and people watch. The problem? It can be a little pricey. (a good alternative is Maceys ice cream. $1 for 2 small godd-sized cones, including tax). So we're always looking for deals online.
The other day I found some good ones on Deal Dragon. For a free coupon you print off you get 2 quarts for $9. We decided to try it out last night. Here are the pics of the overflowing goodness

My cake batter with cookie dough. Didn't get a pic of lexi's cause I was too distracted by mine.

Not sure if we enjoyed people watching people more or if people enjoyed people watching us. After a couple minutes of silence and purely enjoying our steal, we had to set a limit (15 more bites) to when we would stop or we could've finished the whole quart. We then sealed the container and hurried home to get the precious quarts in the freezer (but took a couple more bites first). It's now a joy opening the freezer and seeing such a beautiful site. We can have our favorite Coldstone whenever now!

The one legged napper!

The other day I went to get Gavin out of his crib from a nap. He usually is standing up when we go in to get him but this time he was on his knees struggling to get to his feet. When I picked him up I saw why:



Both legs stuck in one. He was a little frustrated but I had to take a few pictures before I fixed it.

(on a side note, is it socially acceptable for me, a guy, to be blogging like this?)

Land of Mary

Todd here: Who hates uploading pictures to blogger? So here are the pictures of our trip in backwards order with some medium sized and some small (you'd think I'd learn by now).

Anyway about a month ago Lexi, Gavin and I flew out to Maryland to visit Lexi's brother Rob and his family. We were out there for a week and loved spending time with them. They were such good hosts. (To see day-by-day blog updates go back a few posts).

These are at a museum just outside the Naval Base Rob works at:

Gavin behind the controls inside the museum:
Rob told us all these cool things about the planes.
Working some controls:
This is at the beach inside the base. We were limited on our picture taking so this is the only one we got. We just have the memories of the sweet F-18s taking off!
DC day 2 Capitol:
Botanic Gardens, alone... :)
You'd think all that walking would shrink my belly down just a bit, uuugh!
Air and Space Museum:
Natural History Museum:
The bay about 2 minutes from Rob and Tina's house with really warm water and biting horseflies:
DC day 1 Jefferson Memorial at dusk:
This is standing behind the Lincoln Memorial watching the sunset:
Construction on the reflecting pond, not sure what they're doing.
Lincoln Memorial. Such an awesome site:
We got a lot of looks with our 3 strollers going everywhere: "There's a reason for the elevators" -Black guy (to us going down the escalator in front of him)
WWII Monument:
White House:
Washington Monument:
No routines for the babies at DC, so naps were taken whenever and in whatever position:
This is the restaurant where we met up with Lexi's cousin:
Outside the American History Museum. (C'mon Todd, suck it in at least for the pictures!):
"There's no place like home:"
On the metro:
The bay in the evening:
Walking to the bay. We loved all the greenery and catching fireflies:
Day 1 at Solomon's Island, a boardwalk with some shops and stuff:
That's the stroller we got from the church lost-and-found before it was taken to the D.I. It was cheap and old but lasted us the whole week full of metros, museums, DC and much more.

Such an awesome trip. We were glad we went. But our favorite parts were just hanging out at night and playing games after the kids went to bed. We're hoping Rob and Tina will move a little closer to home so we can see them more often, but were happy to hang with them and tour part of the East Coast along the way.