Books of 2017

  I read 37 books this year (actually, close to 100 if you count the 50+ The Magic Treehouse series I listened/read to my kids. Boy, was that a time commitment!). I really enjoy reading, and this year I practiced feeling like reading was a time of enlightenment, instead of a guilty time-waster as I so often categorize it. Here's the order, with a few comments:

• Anne of Ingleside--L.M. Montgomery

Finished this series this year after beginning it last year. Anne is a delightful character, and I enjoy her story inasmuch as it so closely parallels my own love story.

• Rainbow Valley--L.M. Montgomery

• The Queen of Attolia--Meghan Whalen Turner

This is a FANTASTIC series. I love the first book, and this second one is great, and the third is splendid...you get the idea. Great characters, strong females, etc. And always a twist in the perspective of the story/plot.

• Daring Greatly--Brene Brown

This took me so longt o get through. I loved the first half, but then I lost steam, and it seemed that she began repeating herself as the slogged to the finish. Her Tedtalks are good.

• Of Mice and Men--John Steinbeck

• East of Eden--John Steinbeck

SUCH an impacting book. I read it with a few friends and spent hours discussing what Steinbeck reveals about people, love, religion, meaning, all of it. Definitely a book everyone should read in their lifetime.

• The Bell Jar--Sylvia Plath

• Rilla of Ingleside--LM Montgomery

• Peter Pan--J.M. Barrie

If you are wanting to read Peter Pan out loud to kids, choose the play instead of the book. The pirate fights and descriptions are lost on the kids.

• The King of Attolia--Meghan Whaler Turner

• River Secrets--Shannon Hale

Shannon is a good storyteller. I really enjoy the world she has created, and the strengths and flaws of her protagonists.

• Forest Born--Shannon Hale

This book stood out to me because it shows (spoiler alert) that, unlike Frodo who can't happily return to the Shire, that heros and heroines can be happy to go out, adventure and travel and such, and then return home--like home is actually a good thing :)

• Conspiracy of Kings--Megan Whalen Turner

• The Boys in the Boat--Daniel James Brown

• Hillbilly Elegy--J.D. Vance

• The Penderwicks--Jeanne Birdsall

Another great series. The first book is my favorite, and it delights me all the more because this is such a great picture of how my sisters and I were growing up. I love it!

• The Penderwicks on Garham Street--Jeanne Birdsall

• The Penderwicks at Mouette Point--Jeanne Birdsall

• Don Quixote--Miguel de Cervantes

This took me FOREVER to get through. Like over 9 months--more than it takes to grow and deliver a baby. It is TOO LONG. There are lots of good and humorous and literary important things here, but mostly just too long.

• Chocolate Fever--Robert K. Smith

Read with the kids. Funny.

• The Chocolate Touch--Patrick Skene Catling

I liked this even better than Chocolate Fever. So did the girls.

• What We Talk About When We Talk About Love--Raymond Carver

Meh. When I talk about love, I don't talk about such sad and depressing things. Needs more of an emotional, less cynical mix.

• Thick As Thieves--Megan Whalen Turner

• Ten Colloquies--Erasmus

Read this because Erasmus supposedly had quite an influence on Reformation thought, etc.

• The Penderwicks in Spring--Jeanne Birdsall

• Middlemarch--George Elliot

Phenomenal. I can't believe I never read Eliot during my MA in English program. Her ability to weave together stories and keep track of dozens of characters is mind boggling. Good read, and beautiful, meaningful writing.

• House Full of Females--Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

Ulrich is one of my long-time role models--my dream was to follow her academic path (history undergrad, English masters, then history PhD), and I appreciate having an intelligent, historical researcher who is so thorough in delving into a topic. Lots to discuss with this one.

• The Girl Who Drank the Moon--Kelly Barnhill

Enjoyable Newberry award.

• Elantris--Brandon Sanderson

This is my first exposure to Sanderson. I was struck with the story, and I have thought of it often. Lots of the details escape, but some of the characters still find me in my thoughts.

• Half of a Yellow Sun--Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

So much tragedy and hardship in the world that never touches our lives directly. Without modern technology we wouldn't even be aware of the rest of the iceberg. Some is so foreign, but some is repeated in every society on earth.

• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society--Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

So fun.

• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory--Roald Dahl

My oldest daughter's new favorite book, and has started off a Roald Dahl kick in our house.

• Little House in the Big Woods--Laura Ingalls Wilder

I was surprised how much my kids liked this. We've trudged all the way to near the end of the 3rd book in the series now.

• The Book of Mormon

Every year the same words. Every year new highlights, thoughts, and inspiration.

• Tuesdays at The Castle--Jessica Day George

Kids love it. a Little juvenile for me.

• Wednesdays in the Tower--Jessica Day George

• Thursdays with the Crown--Jessica Day George

• Fridays with Wizards--Jessica Day George

California Beach and Disneyland 2016

We splurged on a Disneyland trip in February, and it was a total success. Reasons for this: 1. we went the week before Disney jacked up their prices yet again and 2. everything on the trip was perfect. How often does that happen?

At home, prepping for our trip.

We drove, and, thanks to books-on-tape and other CD songs, it was actually a fun roadtrip. 

Like our naptime blanket tents?

Our first afternoon we spent at the beach. Both girls' first beach experience. I think I was the most excited (I haven't been to a beach in five years—too long!!! Curse the desert!)

Dustin's mom came with us and the girls loved having Grandma around! We spent Friday in California Adventure. 

And it so happened that no one at Disneyland wore yellow the day I dressed my girls in their matching shirts, which made it so much easier to keep track of my sprinters.

We ran home after lunch and took naps (the kids were wiped out!). I worried beforehand that once we left the park we would never make it back, but after naps we jumped back on the bus and headed back for more fun--our little girls kept going strong through World of Color and fireworks.

The next day was solely for the Disneyland half of the park--Fantasyland, Adventureland, the whole shebang. We brought an Elsa and a Cinderella to the parks.

And we got some classic cameos of our little blondies:

I attribute a lot of the magic of Disney and the enchanting atmosphere, but really, the trip was wonderful because it was me and my family, spending time away from our day-to-day duties, making memories and reveling in the magic of a family made of best friends. 

P.S.—Sara can't wait until the next Disneyland trip...which will probably be in a decade or so :)

Easter, Swimming, and Other Such Niceties

I just couldn't help but add a quick photo blitz to the blog covering quarter 1 of a great 2016 year. We've had a lot of ups and downs in our lives lately, but January through March were basically the best. Here are some highlights:

We were able to see the inside of the new Provo City Center LDS Temple as a family--twice! The kids were well behaved and allowed us to feel the peace and spirit available in temples.

Dustin's work provided tickets and hot dogs at a Utah Grizzlies hockey game. The noise was a bit overwhelming for the girls' ears, but we had a blast.

Next, a few mug shots of the belles of our golden house. From sun-up to sun-down we have a rockin' time:

And picnics are a new favorite activity--there are weeks where five of our seven lunches are spent outside (many thanks to Dustin's co-worker Chris who gifted the girls matching lunchboxes and fueled this fetish).

I had to include a shout out to the preschool our neighborhood organized and pulled off with spectacular success.

Rosie dove into swim lessons this winter and, after some tears and terror, managed to transform into a water-loving A+ student.

Easter with cousins was smashing good fun all around. 

We finish up with a wonderful LDS General Conference weekend, complete with sweet roll making with Nana.

Halloween

Rosie was a spider...we all were, but she actually enjoyed it :)

Monster Mush for our Halloween breakfast (green milk, purple blackberries, and orange oatmeal)

I love sunny weather near Halloween. One of those idyllic moments in the life...short lived :)

Ghost pancakes--they can be any shape, and 3 chocolate chips (eyes and mouth) are much healthier than the twelve it takes to make a jack-o-lantern grin.

Our cookies actually turned out this year--no horror-story piles of crumbs and kid saliva.

In the process of making ghetto family costumes.

And hanging up spider webs.

Cutest kids ever!