Books Read in 2009

Here's my list of reading from this year. Much smaller than last year. Without a baby/toddler to rock to sleep, my reading time dwindled. It was difficult to get book club books read.

Hmmm, favorite book this year? The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

1. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – J.K. Rowling
2. Midnight Sun (partial draft) – Stephenie Meyers
3. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – J. K. Rowling
4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – J. K. Rowling
5. The South Beach Diet – Arthur Agatston, M.D.
6. The Five Love Languages: How to Express Heartfelt Commitment to Your Mate – Gary Chapman
7. The Outsiders – S. E. Hinton
8. The 10 Greatest Gifts I Give My Children – Steven W. Vannoy
9. The Clerk’s Tale from The Canterbury Tales – Geoffrey Chaucer
10. The Tales of Beedle the Bard – J. K. Rowling
11. The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency – Alexander McCall Smith
12. The Night Following – Morag Joss
13. Not Quite What I was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Famous and Obscure Writers – Edited by Smith Magazine
14. Alas, Babylon – Pat Frank
15. The Language of Sycamores – Lisa Wingate
16. Tending Roses – Lisa Wingate
17. Freakonomics – Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
18. The Girl Who Stopped Swimming – Joshilyn Jackson
19. One Thousand White Women – Jim Fergus
20. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane – Kate DiCamillo
21. The Last Lecture – Randy Pausch and Jeffrey Zaslow
22. 1984 – George Orwell
23. Anne of Green Gables – L. M. Montgomery
24. The History of Love – Nicole Krauss
25. The Things They Carried – Tim O’Brien
26. Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier
27. Cheaper by the Dozen – Frank Gilbreth, Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
28. Three Cups of Tea – Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
29. Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
30. The Book Thief – Markus Zusak
31. The Lost Symbol – Dan Brown
32. The Turn of the Screw – Henry James
33. Mercy – Jodi Picoult
34. The Book of Mormon


Partially Read
1. The Best Life Diet – Bob Greene
2. Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation – Cokie Roberts
3. The Rhythm of Life: Living Everyday with Passion and Purpose – Matthew Kelly
4. Cry, the Beloved Country – Alan Paton

My Little Pirate

My parents came to visit last week. They had a great time with the kids and finding everything they say so hilarious. Here's a funny with my dad and Austin.

Austin can't say his *R* sounds very well, so it comes out like *AY*. So he was telling my dad something about a *chay*, which my dad didn't understand. Once he finally figured it out he said:

Dad - Oh, chair! You have to say that word like a pirate with an ARRRRR sound on it. Can you say that? CHAI-ARRR? Try to say that, Chairrrr.

Austin - It's not a pirate chair.

Adding a Dog to the Mix

So we are adding a puppy. I'm more scared about this than I would be adding another kid. Is that nuts? I have 5 kids, but a puppy sounds like too much work and responsibility?!? But isn't she cute? She's the second from the right. The first 3 are boys. The last 3 are girls. We originally picked the second one in line. He is so handsome with those markings. But then they brought out the big, beastly dad and we changed our minds to the tiniest girl.

We get her next week. Yikes.

Books, Books, Books!

Last year, I decided to write down all the books I read during the year. I've never kept a written record, so it is fun to look back and remember the year in books. Here's the list:

1. Mansfield Park – Jane Austen
2. Marley and Me – John Grogan
3. The Listener – Terri Blackstock
4. The Ultimate Gift – Jim Stovall
5. Letters For Emily – Camron Wright
6. The Gifted – Terri Blackstock
7. Keeping Faith – Jodi Picoult
8. Ella Minnow Pea – Mark Dunn
9. Lost Horizon – James Hilton
10. My Name is Asher Lev – Chiam Potok
11. Uglies – Scott Westerfeld
12. Elsewhere – Gabrielle Zevin
13. A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
14. Pretties – Scott Westerfeld
15. Specials – Scott Westerfeld
16. Extras – Scott Westerfeld
17. The Host – Stephenie Meyers
18. I Heard the Owl Call My Name – Margaret Craven
19. The Giver – Lois Lowry
20. Gathering Blue – Lois Lowry
21. Messenger – Lois Lowry
22. The Guardian – Nicholas Sparks
23. Perfect Match – Jodi Picoult
24. Forever in Blue – Ann Brashares
25. Pope Joan – Donna Woolfolk Cross
26. Water for Elephants – Sara Gruen
27. The Last Summer (of You and Me) – Ann Brashares
28. The Secret – Rhonda Byrne
29. The Red Badge of Courage – Stephen Crane
30. The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
31. Oxygen – Carol Cassella
32. The Magician’s Nephew – C. S. Lewis
33. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe – C. S. Lewis
34. Breaking Dawn – Stephenie Meyers
35. The Horse and His Boy – C. S. Lewis
36. Prince Caspian – C. S. Lewis
37. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader – C. S. Lewis
38. Poppy and Rye – Avi
39. The Silver Chair – C. S. Lewis
40. The Last Battle – C. S. Lewis
41. Gossamer – Lois Lowry
42. Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoevsky
43. Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
44. The Last Lecture – Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow
45. The Homework Machine – Dan Gutman
46. Beautiful Boy – David Sheff
47. A Thread of Grace – Mary Doria Russell
48. The Thirteenth Tale – Diane Setterfield
49. The Worst Best School Year Ever – Barbara Robinson
50. The Quiet Little Woman: A Christmas Story – Louisa May Alcott
51. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone – J. K. Rowling
52. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets – J. K. Rowling
53. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – J. K. Rowling
54. No Talking – Andrew Clements
55. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – J. K. Rowling

Some were read alouds with the kids. Some were for book club. I think my favorite one this year was, The Grapes of Wrath. I have never read it before and I really enjoyed it. So sad, SO SAD, but really good.

Happy (Belated) Halloween!

Here's the kids on Halloween. We were in Ft. Collins for the holiday. Their cousin was baptized the next morning. The kids really enjoyed trick or treating with their cousins. The weather was so nice this year, no coats or jackets! Yippeee!


Morgan - The Great Sphinx of Giza

Gavin - Ninja

Reagan - Vampire

Austin - Skeleton

Camryn - Kitty

This year, we didn't carve pumpkins. However, we did unintentionally grow a nice, big pumpkin in our garden. Although it wasn't a baking pumpkin, I cooked it up and have made pumpkin muffins and a pumpkin pie with it. I think I got about 16 cups of pumpkin from it! When I questioned what I would do with it all, Sterling said to throw the rest out. He didn't want me to freeze it, but after going through all the cutting, baking, scraping, and mashing...well it was pumpkin GOLD to me. Plus, I still need to make pumpkin bars and pumpkin pancakes.

The Season Shuffle

It's that time of year. The colder weather has come, so it's time to pack up the short sleeved shirts and the shorts. Time to hunt down the winter coats, the black dress shoes, the sweaters. Time for me to get emotional while packing up the outgrown clothes.

I wonder if it is just me, but I dread it. Not only is shuffling through five children's clothes time consuming work, but I just get sad with the physical reminders that my children are growing up. I feel like a big baby.

This morning I went through Reagan's drawers. I stored the summer stuff that will fit for next year, and then I stacked stuff to be saved for Camryn. It was fun thinking of Cami wearing some of those clothes in a few years. Fun to toss the stuff I never want to see again.

The past week, I brought up bags of clothes for Austin and Camryn from the basement. It's a walk down memory lane to pull them out and think when the older kids wore them, thinking of them at their younger years. They are washed and ready to wear. However, those bags and boxes are still sitting in their rooms. Why? I am dreading the removal of their old stuff. The stuff I give away for good. There isn't any younger ones to pass them on to. Now I have to decide the donations, passing on or selling the barely worn, maybe even keeping a few. It's hard to get in there and work.

I know my mom must have had these same feelings, she saved a lot of our clothes. She has been able to give me some of my own clothes that I wore as a baby and little girl. Some of them were really neat to have, like the outfit I wore home from the hospital. It was special to have each of my daughters wear that dress home as well. But others, seemed old and dated, better to have been given up decades ago.

It's hard for me to let go, but I can do it...

Five Months Later

I've had a request to update my blog. Hmmm, it has been a while, Ashley! Thanks for the nudge to get back here. Alrighty, a few highlights of the last five months, with pictures!

We went to Sterling's family reunion at Bear Lake near Logan. Our favorite day was spend on the beach. Sand, boat, water, sun - sunburn. Good times! It was really nice to be with all the cousins and families. There were 25 cousins and 17 parents and sibling/spouses.

The kids went back to school. Morgan is in 5th grade. Gavin is in 3rd. Reagan is in 1st. Austin is in preschool through the city. 

When school had started, and we had not gone camping as a family, we brought camping to our home. We had a campfire a couple of weekends and we also set up the tent and camped. It was much warmer than heading to the mountains in September.

This is a recent picture of the family. We went hiking on Labor Day.

Then the birthdays...we had a celebration week in August. Sterling and I had our 13th anniversary, followed by my bday on the 24th, Sterling's on the 25th, and Austin's on the 26th. I wish his birthday was first in line, we are pretty partied and caked out when its his day. But everyone needs cake on their birthday. I won't give mine up! Gavin's birthday was just this week, he wanted the United States on his cake. We put the nine candles in states he has been.

This past weekend we headed up to Breckenridge for fun. We were able to see the aspen trees changing colors. It was really pretty. We hung out in the hotel pool a lot. It was fun to get away.

All caught up! Let's hope for at least a monthly post from here on out.

The First of May

Austin says we need to set up the Christmas tree. How do you explain this weather to a 3 year old? He just doesn't get it. It was warm, now it's cold and snowy, must be winter again. Bring on Christmas!

Note to Mother Nature: It is May! Put away the snow! Pretty please :)

Passion

We all need a little passion in our life, right? Not that kind of passion! I mean the passion for things we feel strongly about, the things we love, and the things that inspire us.

Well, my boy Gavin is a passionate boy. When he loves something, he loves it deeply. His life is turned upside down by his loves. As a tiny thing of barely two, his first big love was dinosaurs. Have you ever heard a sweet little two year old say, "Parasauralophus?" Precious. Oh, I never knew SOOO much about dinosaurs as I do now. This love has definately lasted the longest. For a good 4 years, that was his true love. For discipline, I would take away dinosaurs. Sometimes ALL things dinosaur - no dino clothes, no dino books, no dino toys, it was a sad day.

As he grew, his passions for other things began. One year, he absolutely LOVED belts. He would take Daddy's and mine, his, and just play with them all day. I was really thinking about getting 10 belts from Goodwill for Christmas for him that year.

Then it was Star Wars. He LOVED Star Wars. He watched the movies all the time, drew pictures, and did pretend play. For Halloween, he was Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine.

For a while, he was loving Avatar, he watched the show, collected the guys, drew more pictures, and of course played Avatar at all times.

He got very interested in the solar system. His room was painted with space scenes by his aunt. Very awesome.

This past year, he was crazy for the Magic Tree House books. While they were under his reading level, he HAD to read them all. We quickly got them all from the library and within weeks, he had read all 38 books. He even had memorized which number was which title. It was amazing to ask him what #17 was, and him answer in a matter of seconds, "Tonight on the Titanic."

Gavin recently found a new passion. He is watching movies, drawing pictures, playing pretend with his "toys", and, of course, reading the books. Here is a display of some of his passion for the subject:

This is my boy riding his "broom". Last night, he and his sister had a quidditch match. It was quite exciting!

What, you don't know who this group is? Why it is Harry, Ron, and Hermione! Harry (cat), Hermione (McDonald's toy from Chronicles of Narnia), and Ron (Imaginext toy). I MUST get him some real toys! Or at least get him a new Harry!!! Ewwww. Harry needs a bath! I love seeing him with a belt (Still loves his belt!) playing book #2, with the snake. It is very entertaining.

I love how he shares his passion with the whole family. We all love dinosaurs, all 4 older kids have lightsabers, they love watching Avatar together, and both Morgan and Gavin are reading Harry Potter together. They are now finishing book #3.

I love Gavin's passion. I hope he grows up to be passionate about his life, his education, his career, his family, and his goals. I need to catch a little bit of his passion for things.

Accepting The Hinkley Challenge

I got a forward today. To celebrate the life of President Gordon B. Hinkley, there is a challenge going around to read the Book of Mormon in 97 days. I'm going to do it. I haven't even begun to read this year, and honestly, I haven't completed the Book of Mormon since President Hinkley gave us the last challenge (I started back up as soon as I finished, but the farthest I got was in the thick of Alma, or was it 3rd Nephi?). This will be a wonderful thing for me. A little gift to celebrate a great man. As of today, there were over 8,000 people signed up to do the challenge. I'm keeping track of my progress at the right.

Here is the email message I recieved:

As most of you know, our beloved prophet, Gordon B.Hinckley passed away at the age of 97. His funeral will be on Saturday, February 2nd.

I was thinking of how I could honor his legacy and I came up with an idea. My friend and I have created a challenge for those willing to accept it: Read the Book of Mormon in 97 days. We are trying to get everyone to start on the same day. Here are the details:

Go to http://www.hinckleychallenge.com/ and create an account (free, of course). On Feb 4, 2008 (the Monday following the funeral) have an FHE lesson on the Book of Mormon and begin your reading. Each day you read, record what page number you are on by going to http://www.hinckleychallenge.com/.

We would like this challenge to be heard all around the world! Please forward this message to everyone you know. We would love to see over 1 million pages of the Book of Mormon read by the time this challenge has ended.

Do you want to show your support? Do you want to follow the prophet? Do you want to get rid of all of your excuses for not reading and become a warrior? Then join me in this challenge!!!
We are going to spread this throughout the news media (TV and radio) and we've already contacted Fox news, KSL, CBS, and ABC. But we cannot get the word out to everyone without your help! Please forward this on to EVERYONE in your address book. Time is of the essence!! This will be the one forwarded message that everyone will be happy to get :).
http://www.hinckleychallenge.com/createUser.php
-Jake Andersen

P.S. You can always see an updated list of those who have accepted the challenge by clicking here (www.hinckleychallenge.com/warriors.php)

Off I go to read, only 5.5 pages a day to finish by May 11, 2008.