Books Read in 2009

Conquistador by Buddy Levy

Middleworld by J&P Voelkel


Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznik


Never Have Your Dog Stuffed by Alan Alda


Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier


Pastwatch: Redemption of Christopher Columbus by Orson Scott Card


Murder of King Tut by James Patterson


Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner


(no picture)
Aqui y Alla en Yucatan by Alice Dixon Le Plongeon


Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas


Endurance by Alfred Lansing


Scurvy by Stephen R. Brown


Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah


Shug by Jenny Han


The Giver by Lois Lowry


Riptide by Douglas Preston


Thirteenth Child by Patricia C. Wrede

Revamping the Room

Abby came over yesterday and we discussed how we are going to revamp my room. We came up with a pretty good plan I think and I'll be posting updates and before and after shots.

Plus...

Jenny, Abby, and I saw Sherlock Holmes and it was very good. Much more "Holmes-y" than I expected and the music (Hans Zimmer) was excellent :)

Where the Wild Things Are....

I finally made it to the dollar theater to see this movie. I was surprised at how very serious and kind of sad it was. I very much enjoyed the book growing up and the actors and costumes were great. But I don't think I'll be letting my children watch it. It was just kind of depressing.

Christmas 2009

Yes, I'm finally put up Christmas pictures. Christmas Eve we did a little nativity scene and Papa read the Christmas story from Luke.

Here is the full cast:
Donkey: Maddie
Mary: Sydney
Joseph: Tyler
Angel: Aubrey

(Do you like Maddie's "donkey ears?")

Tyler/Joseph leading the donkey and Mary into Bethlehem.

She was so happy about being Mary.

Aubrey was a darn cute angel.

Brian had to try on my new jacket. I think it looks better on him to be honest.

Everyone had fun with Sydney present from Santa. She got a pink Barbie jeep complete with radio! It took her a while to get the hang of driving it but she and Aubrey had a lot of fun giving each other rides.

Tyler was itching to get into the driver seat and was quite adept at driving the pink jeep around. Perhaps they could start their own "Pink Jeep" front yard tours.

You know you live in a cold environment when....

you wake up to your alarm early in the morning and you dread going outside to warm up your car, even though you know its going to be worth it. So you hit the snooze and have the most wonderful dream in which you discover that your car clicker has a secret button that turn the car on remotely. So sad that we have to wake up to reality sometimes.

Singing...

I had the opportunity to substitute for Manda in her sister-in-laws ward Christmas program. I had to sing a solo of the Hymn I Believe in Christ, support group there, only in Spanish! Yes, it was a Spanish ward and it was very nerve wracking. My spanish hymn book is a tiny little thing and it was very hard to see the tiny words while I was up on stage in front of an entire ward. The whole time I kept wondering what they were thinking..."Um, why is she up there? She's not even Hispanic." Luckily I had my best latinLamoni. And we got free food which was excellent. Unfortunately, I didn't eat much of it because I kept having vision of me singing and then a grain of rice choking me to death. It was good food though. We also met a very nice family that were investigating the church. Their daughter was very cute. It was a good evening and I'm glad that I got to help a cousin out:)

Christmas is coming....

and I may have officially come up with the lamest Christmas presents ever this year. I'm poor so I figured I would make the bulk of my presents for my family members. We will see how they turn out. But I need every body's favorite colors, so if I haven't already asked you would you please let me know? thanks. Hopefully, you won't disown me for such lame gifts. :/

Sydney's Birthday!

I know it's been a while since this event but here are some pictures of Sydney's awesome birthday party. She had a petting zoo and and a piñata and a BBQ and everyone had a good time.

Syd was so cute and so excited for her cake and presents. I love Aubrey's crusty face like, where are my presents?
She had a little encouragement from her aunt (ahem) to use the pink frosting as lipstick.

Aubrey of course did it too and then they made kissy faces at each other. Needless to say that certain aunt of theirs got in some trouble.

The ever present big horn sheep that attract all kinds of tourists.

Aubrey learning to play street hockey.

Sydney got a new baby doll and loved it. Unfortunately, so did Aubrey and there were a few spats over it.

I don't understand Tyler's need to make this face every time I put him in front of a camera. I guess I like it though:)

Aubrey working hard to hit that piñata. She was reluctant to give up the bat to Tyler but once she did Tyler managed to sever the poor unicorn's head clean from its body. He still had to beat the headless body to get at the juicy innards of candy (are piñatas gross or is it just me?)

Don't worry though, Maddie rescued that animal and taped it up. I believe it is now her pet. It was a good birthday with great food and great company:)



Ruffians.

You don't know what you've got...

There's nothing like walking 3 miles to work at 6am in 13 degrees Fahrenheit to make you appreciate having a car. I locked my keys in my car...again. Are we shocked? All I know is, I love my car:)

New Moon Midnight Showing!

Yes, I admit it. I wen to the midnight showing of New Moon. And you know what? I liked it! Expecting it to be a much like Twilight in mockability we were pleasantly surprised with the second movie. And not to mention all the hot half-naked werewolves running around:D

Abby and I met her friends CC and Paige and Abby's sister-in-law Sarah at the theatre around 8pm and we waited for a VERY long time ('till midnight). But we had a lot of fun doing it. We ate our weight in chocolate and Triscuits, read magazines, and decorated "team" shirts. I was team Jacob along with CC, but everyone else was team Edward....traitors.

Abby working hard on her shirt.

The finished product.

CC displays the New Moon "hearts desire" chocolate candies (and her AWESOME Jacob shirt).

Abby does her best K Stew face. I thought she did pretty well.

Page dreams of Robert Pattinson.

You would have to sit in line for 4 hours to understand this madness.

Waiting in line and Abby in her shirt (and baby Helen). I know Abby has more pictures on her camera so I'll have to rope her in to posting them.

I know I shouldn't laugh...

but I saw something pretty funny yesterday as I was driving to my apartment. There is a Burger King just up the street from where I live and as I was stopping at a light I looked over to see a Burger King worker standing on a ladder with a long pole putting up the letters on the advertising board. He was going slowly, carefully reaching up with the pole and the letter was almost in place...when it fell from the pole and dropped to the ground. I watched the poor man in my rear view mirror as he had to climb awkwardly down the ladder with the 10 ft pole and retrieve the lost letter. It was like one of those classic physical comedy moments from a movie. I must have a sick sense of humor but I smiled in pity all the way home.

The results are in....

....and the first banner won! Thanks for all who participated in the poll!

Sailing with Uncle Dave!

September 26 was a day of adventure! My cousin Stephen invited me to go sailing with them and I readily accepted the invite. I arrived at Uncle Dave & Aunt Karen's at 8am ready for some exciting sailing fun.

The boat Uncle Dave took us out on.

It was strange weather - nice and warm but hazy so it provided some interesting shots of the other boats out. I believe there was a race that day.

A somewhat embarrassing shot of me at the helm, and talking apparently.

Ah, to sail.

Stephen and his friend Lauren. She was a lot of fun to talk to.

It was a grand time had by all I think and afterwards I had a craving to watch Captain Ron. Thanks Duncan Fam!

Hee-Haws

What is Fall without a corn maze and a pumpkin patch? Well, this was actually my first corn maze but we had a good time. The Saturday before Halloween Ashley, Sam, Abby, Anthony, Lamoni, and I met at Wendy's for lunch then drove to Hee Haw's. We were a little nervous because it was pouring down rain for a while but it got better when we arrived. Then we went to Sam and Ashley's for chimichangas, pumpkin carving, and the classic "Lost Skeleton of Cadavra."

I like to think that Martin has warmed up to me a bit by now. But for a while whenever I talked to him he gave me this face.

Us by the giant pumpkins. We thought about sticking around until the evening because there was going to be a "Pumpkin Drop." Apparently they hoist one of those pumpkins up with a crane and drop it on a car. Pretty sweet.

This was a giant pumpkin by the entrance.


Abby saw these and jumped right on. However this one was broken. Hence Abby's "what?" face.


We broke the rules and went off the path into the corn stalks to hide out.

Sam and Martin.

The giant hog monster! This thing was huge. I probably stood to the second rail from the top of the fence there. It had some name like Harvey, or Leroy or something. It was just chilling and chomping on a pumpkin.

The beautiful scenery. It had been raining but then it just became gray and chilly. All in all it was a good time:)

I Have a Question.

I need you help! I decided to put a new banner up on the title of my blog and I can't decide which picture to use. Please decide which one you like best and select your choice on the poll to the right. Thanks!

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

Option 4

I Get Bored Sometimes....

MyHeritage: Celebrity Collage - Family history research - Roots