Latest reads

I just finished reading "Matched", the latest dystopian genre book to get some buzz.

It was written by a local author (aren't they all lately?) Ally Condie. I liked it enough to finish it and am even looking forward to the next, if only the next book weren't going to be a year or so away at which time I will have completely forgotten the plot and will have to reread the first book. I'm kind of bugged by book series for that reason. I like a book that can stand on its own and doesn't need a second, third or fourth book to resolve the story line. My memory doesn't hold for long when it comes to books. Case in point: I asked for a certain book for Christmas (can't remember what it is now - figures!) and Emmy went to the trouble to go get it for me. When I got about a chapter into it, I realized that I had read it before. Hahahah!

Last month I read "Shanghai Girls" by Lisa See.


I love books that open my eyes to issues that I had no prior understanding of, like the stigma against Chinese immigrants in the 1940's. My generation is well aware of the African American fight for civil rights, but this was all news to me! The story is about 2 sisters from a very modernized Shanghai (pre-Communist China) who had the shock of their lives when their father lost his fortune and basically sold them into marriage to save himself. It was definitely an eye opener.

Happy Birthday to Me...Again and Again and Again!

I just celebrated my 37th birthday. The years are seriously whizzing by me at light speed. I felt like I was just celebrating my 30th. But unlike my 30th, I am in the best shape I have ever been and feel even younger at heart and in body.

To commemorate my big day, I chose to do an overnighter in Ogden so that I could finally try my hand at indoor bodysurfing at Flowrider. I've watched my kids do it several times and always thought it looked like fun for them, but I couldn't really see myself doing it until I lost weight and wasn't embarrassed to be seen in a swimsuit because there are quite a few onlookers. I have to admit that when the moment of truth came, I was a little terrified to lay down on that board and push myself back into the rushing water, but there's no turning back once you are out there. After a few seconds, I caught a wave wrong and I tumbled HARD up the slope to the area where you are able to stand up and get back in line. After that first spill, though, I got better and even made it up onto my hands and knees a few times. I did come away with some bruises in some pretty interesting spots, but I will do it again when the chance comes up. I never did get the nerve up to do the stand-up surfing. It looks like you fall even harder from a standing position and I'm skittish with that sort of risk after having broken my wrist a few years ago.

(You see Emmy first, then me - but watch some of the surfers falling to the right)



While in Ogden, we also went to see a movie (Gnomeo and Juliet - of course I slept), had dinner at The Sonora Grill and stayed at the historic Ben Lomond Hotel in the hopes that it was a little haunted. We love scaring our kids with haunted hotel stories (and they seem to like hearing them) and the Ben Lomond had lots of them. Unfortunately, it was not the greatest hotel experience as far as amenities and decor, but it did have an AWESOME fireplace that looked like Harry and Hermione would appear in a green puff of smoke at any minute. We also laughed ourselves silly by hiding pieces of bacon all over the room for the maids to find when the came in to clean the room. We try to have a little fun each day :)





I also went to lunch with my mom and sister Misty at the Nordstrom's cafe, had a great dinner/party with my in-laws, went on a Girls Night Out some some of my favorite people to Cafe Rio and to see "Just Go With It", AND went to a birthday breakfast with some of my other favorite people! I love birthdays and this year did not disappoint. I feel very loved and not a lot older. What more can a girl ask for?

Simon chose this shirt for me because he believes it will make me run faster.

Audrey made her famous cupcakes...

Simon's Birthday Photo Book

There's too many pages to post here, but here are a few of my favorites. I guess I've entered the digital scrapbooking world, much to my dismay. I definitely prefer the 6 hour crops at the local scrapbook stores where I can laugh myself silly with my girlfriends and drink Diet Coke until I burst. Since those places are becoming a dying breed, I have to keep up with the times! SO not as fun, but it's still something I feel strongly about doing and I must say I am pleased with the result.

Milestone

In the grand scheme of life, I suppose your firstborn's junior prom would pale in comparison to things like graduation, mission, marriage, having children, etc., but since we haven't experienced any of those with our kids as of yet, tonight felt like a big milestone for both Connor and Zach and I.

Connor and Alyssa's day started bright and early at 8:00 a.m. because they were meeting a group down in Provo at the Progressive Power Tumbling gym for some fun on huge euro trampolines, foam pits, rope swings and bungie jumpers. After they exhausted themselves doing that, they had lunch at Training Table. Zach and I joined them at their request which was fun. Connor's lack of a drivers license means that we are very much involved in his dating life and I'm starting to think it's not such a bad thing. It feels like the old days when chaperones were always present.

Zach's sister Melissa and her hubby Nick offered to chauffeur them tonight which was so thoughtful because I don't think Connor wanted us to drive him like we did on his Homecoming date. He never said so but if I were him, I wouldn't have wanted it. They were totally nice to set apart their whole night dropping off and picking them up at the various places they had to go, which included Bonsai for dinner, then the capitol for the dance and then back to our house for ice cream.

So, here are a few of the pictures from tonight...




Lela Richardson & Alex Clawson

Three cool guys - Ross Selders, Connor and Alex Clawson...no wait, make that 4 (who is that in the background? anyone know?)

Yes!

After waiting for a few weeks for the official word as to whether Connor would have a prom date or not, she finally got around to answering, she being Alyssa Stetler, a girl he has liked on and off for several years now and who has my stamp of approval. Right now it is very mutual. They have early morning seminary together and he says they talk about religion a lot. They even read the scriptures together over the phone at night, so it was really appropriate how she answered him.

She called me a day in advance to ask me if I could get him out of the house for a little while so she could do something to his room. So of course I cleaned his room from top to bottom the next day! We took the whole family out that night to clean the office and to TCBY for some yogurt while she snuck in with her mom. Here's what they did...



The Book of Mormon had a sweet handwritten testimony in the front cover and it led him on a scripture chase to her favorite verses.

The last clue led him here...

What makes me happy these days...

Here's just a random list of the things that bring me smiles these days...

* Blue sky - it's so rare in these yucky inversion filled days. This week it was FRIGID but with gorgeous blue blue sky and you could see from one else of the snow dusted valley to the other. It truly brought a smile to my nearly blue lips.

* Getting mix CD's from my hubby. He is always on the cutting edge of new music, not usually to my particular liking but occasionally he finds one that I say "Oooh - make me a CD of that". Yesterday's new mix had Florence + the Machine and my favorite song was called Cosmic Love. Super cool. He also included some songs from the movie Tron that Connor immediately put onto his computer.

* Exercise. Of course. I desperately need to make a good running playlist of music. There is a certain beats per minute that works just right with my 5.5 mph running speed and only a handful of songs work. One of my favorites is Glass of Water by Coldplay. And then Lil' Jack Slade by Dixie Chicks. Totally different feel but the speed just works and I'm sure I look almost like I'm dancing when I run to those songs.

* Blackberries. Yes, it's the middle of winter and fresh berries are way expensive, so I've resorted to buying frozen. Put a couple of those into my oatmeal in the morning and ice cream at night and I'm in HEAVEN. I put some into the best muffin recipe and ate muffins for breakfast, lunch and dinner that day. They were that good.

* Reading. I just finished "Shanghai Girls" by Lisa See (before book club - yea!) and really enjoyed it.

* American Idol is back on! It has seemed like a long time. I personally like the new judges. They do seem to be putting A LOT of people through but it also seems like they have found a whole new talent pool. I'm really excited for Hollywood week.

* Girls Nights Out. (Girls Night Out? Girl Nights Out? Girl Night Outs?) Earlier this week it was a late night movie at the Broadway downtown with my BSF (best sister forever - I have two of those) Misty. We saw the Rabbit Hole with Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart. I knew when I saw the preview with Zach that he wouldn't be up for a movie about a married couple who lose their 4-year-old son and then deal with the emotional consequences, so I was thrilled when Misty texted me wanting to go. I don't know why I enjoy movies like that - I think I just like an emotional cleansing. I feel better after crying for whatever reason and movies often give me that reason. Last night I had a GNO with some of my Bonko friends. We are planning a little getaway to Vegas to celebrate 10 years of being a Bonko group. I love these ladies, and all my girlfriends.

* Reading my sisters' and two nieces' blogs. They are all such gifted writers and I pale in comparison. I don't know how they blog so often in their very busy lives.

* Getting to participate in pulling the wool over Connor's eyes as his prom date finally answers him to prom (which is tomorrow). I'll do a separate post on that soon. It was cute, though, as we tried to keep him out of the house while she got into his room and plastered it with hearts.

* Pulling off a successful Daddy Daughter Date for my Activity Days girls. We had the girls and dads do a relay including the dads paint the daughters nails, put their hair in a pony tail and tie and bow, and the girls had to tie a tie on their dad. Then there was a quiz on how well they knew eachother. The prizes were gift cards to TCBY donated by Zach. It was fun and we had almost a complete turnout.

* A somewhat steady income. After a really tough year last year, things seem to be looking up for our family economy. Thanks to some new clients and existing clients who seem to be more stable, our paychecks have finally become dependable.

* Doing puzzles at my mom's house while talking with my sister and my mom. Mom always has a puzzle on her dining room table, usually something Americana like this...


We sit at this table and eat some of her awesome leftovers for lunch and talk for an hour or more while doing these puzzles. Her house is set up with lots of toys for the grandkids so they rarely bother us which is nice.