Book Review and an Update

I was supposed to read a non fantasy book after all of my fantasy reading lately, but, needless to say, I’ve been reading more fantasy. I will blame it on the library because these books have been really hard to get ahold of and my sister was able to get them from her library and I didn’t want to miss the chance to read them. It is kind of nice having two sisters close and my mom close so that we can all share the library books each of us gets. It works out pretty nicely.

Anyway, I read the “Fablehaven” series by Brandon Mull and I really enjoyed them. It is about two children, Kendra and Seth, who go and spend time with their grandparents and their grandparents happen to be the caretakers of Fablehaven, a safe haven for fable creatures... hence the name. The first book is all about Kendra and Seth slowly finding out about Fablehaven because they have no clue it exists. They just thought they were spending the summer with their grandparents. The rest of the books are about trying to protect Fablehaven and the other safe havens for the magical creatures around the world. The books are kind of long, but very easy reading so you get through them fast. They are great, clean, exciting books that I would recommend to anyone who has a love for a fantasy twist in the real world.

Due to the book reviews in my last few posts, I hardly ever give updates on what Trav and I are up to. There have been a couple of things I have wanted to post about, but whenever I think about it I don’t have the camera to load pictures and frankly, I love posts with pictures. For example, one night at about 9:30 p.m. Travis decided he wanted to make a snowman. It was one of the many days this winter where it snowed all day and we got a few inches of snow. So— we went outside and made a snowman. It was really fun and quite random! And our snowman turned out very unique.... I really wish I had a picture. First of all, it had deer antlers. Secondly, there were no rocks to be found, so the eyes and buttons are made of snowballs rolled in mud. We did not have a carrot, so the nose is made from a extra sprinkler thing left over from our new sprinkler system. And, last but not least, I decided to make it a colored snowman by putting a few drops of dye in a spray bottle with water and spraying the snowman, but my hand got tired so only the middle ball is dyed orange. Nice. It turned out pretty odd, but it was really fun to act like kids for a few minutes and roll around in the snow! Good times!

Anyway, things have been going great lately. We are loving the warmer weather! We recently bought a 4-wheeler which Travis is pretty dang excited about. I should be classified as the best wife ever because I would much rather have spent the money on a Baby Grand Piano or something. Oh well. He will have fun. I guess I am a little bit excited about it because it will make the deer hunt a lot easier! But I still say Travis is spoiled! Problem is I don’t have anyone to blame but myself!

"Midnighters" by Scott Westerfeld

I read another series by Scott Westerfeld called "The Midnighters". It is about a girl named Jessica who moves to a town called Bixby, Oklahoma and starts having weird dreams every night where the world has kind of stopped and she can do and go wherever she wants. She soon finds out that it is not a dream, but that at midnight there is a secret hour that only a few people can take advantage of. While everyone else freezes at midnight, these few kids have a whole hour that they have to share with the 'darklings'. Each of the kids have different talents. In the first book they are trying to figure out what Jessica's talent is and why the darklings are set on killing her. In the past the darklings have mostly left the humans alone, but all the sudden they are trying very hard to kill Jessica. In the second and third books, the Midnighters, as they call themselves, have to try and save the world because the darklings are trying to communicate with others in the real world and are trying to break the barrier between the secret midnight hour and real time.

I enjoyed these books. Like "The Uglies" series, the books were easy reading and enjoyable. When I read too much from one author at one time I tend to get a little sick of them, just because most authors have similar writing techniques, but I still enjoyed the books. Scott Westerfeld doesn't totally believe in happy endings and I do, so the end of both series had a sad part about it that I pretend didn't actually happen because it is sad. I would recommend these books to anyone who likes a little fantasy world mixed up with the real world!

Since I have read so much fantasy lately, I think I will read a nonfiction or history book. Any suggestions???

"Uglies", "Pretties", and "Specials"

I just read a trilogy by Scott Westerfeld. The books are entitled: "Uglies", "Pretties", and "Specials". After reading "East of Eden", these books will definitely be classified as "Brain Candy". They were a very easy, and quite enjoyable read. The story takes place in the future after the "Rusties" have all died off--- Rusties meaning us. In this world, when you are younger than 12 years old you are called 'littlies' and you live with your parents. When you turn 12 you move to dorms-like places--- at least that is what I compared it to--- where you live with people your age and are called 'uglies'. You are an 'ugly' until you turn 16 years old. On your 16th birthday, everyone is given an operation which makes you beautiful and you live on the 'pretty' side of town and get to party all the time. Tally is the main character and she is just about to turn 16 when she meets Shay. Shay tells her about a whole new world where people have run away before their 16th birthday and live in a place called "The Smoke" to avoid the operation. I don't want to give anything away, so I won't give any more details about the story line. I really enjoyed these books and would highly recommend them. However, just as a warning, there is bit of environmental stuff in the books, but unless you are pretty touchy I don't think it will bother you.

Also, there is a fourth book in the series that takes place a few years later. The main characters in the first three aren't the main characters in the last one, but they are still part of the book. The fourth one was my least my favorite, but it was still a good read.

My first Book Review!

I have seen a couple of blogs where people wrote up Book Reviews for books they read in 2008. I thought it was a really good idea and I really enjoyed reading them so I decided to do something similar. However, instead of waiting until the end of the year I decided I would do it as I go along. Maybe it will make me blog more often!

The first book I read this year is "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck. It took me FOREVER to read. I made a goal to read more Classics and more non-fiction books this year and this was the first attempt at my goal. I chose it because my brother Sam kept telling me how great a book it was and kept asking if I had read it yet. I would tell you what it is about- but it is really complicated. It takes place before and during World War 1 and most of the story takes place in Salinas, California. I can't tell you if whether or not I liked the book because honestly, I don't know. While I was reading it I was really frustrated because it was depressing and I hate depressing books! But now that I look back it is interesting to think about the characters and what Steinbeck was trying to do. My favorite character was probably Cal even though he was the "bad" twin. One of his struggles in life was that he felt he was bad because his mom was bad and it had carried on to him. He didn't want to be bad, but he just was. It took a lot of effort for him to be "good" and sometimes he gave into his "bad" instincts. His character is probably the one I related to most because I think we all have "bad" in us that we have to overcome and even though it is hard and sometimes seems unfair, we can still do it. Aron on the other hand was the "good" twin that everybody liked. It was interesting how, in my opinion, Steinbeck made the reader like Cal better than Aron. Maybe it was because more of the book was from Cal's point of view rather than Aron's. But even in the book, Aron's own girlfriend didn't like him much because he was too good, or at least he thought he was, and he expected everybody else and everything in his life to be the same.

Anyway, I would recommend this book if you are a fan of Classics and like to analyze books or find a deeper meaning. It definitely wasn't "brain candy" as Debbie would say, but not many Classics are. It took me awhile to read--- it is about 600 hundred pages I think. In 1981 they made an 8 hour mini TV series that I would like to get my hands on, but I haven't had the opportunity yet.

So there is my first book review. A little long and kind of boring I know. But at least I have a new blog!

General Conference

Every year I have the goal to read all of the General Conference talks from last time before we are back in session six months later. Often times, in fact, most times, it doesn't quite happen. This year I put together a schedule to help me stay on track. I have mentioned this to a couple people and they have asked for a copy of it, so I thought I would put it on here. Anyway, hope somebody out there will use this!


November 2-8
Thomas S. Monson "Welcome to Conference"
Silvia Allred "Go Ye Therefore"

November 9-15
Henry B. Eyring "O Ye That Embark"
Neil L. Anderson "You Know Enough"

Nov. 16-22
Deiter F. Uchtdorf "The Infinate Power of Hope"
Marcos A. Aidukaitis "Because My Father Read the Book of Mormon"

Nov. 23-30
Boyd K. Packer "The Test"
Gerald Causse "Even a Child Can Understand"

Dec. 7-13
L. Tom Perry "Let Him Do It With Simplicity"
Lawrence E. Corbridge "The Way"

Dec. 14-20
*Christmas Devotional*
*Christmas Devotional*

Dec. 21-27
*Christmas Devotional*
*Christmas Devotional*

Dec. 28-Jan. 3
Russell M. Nelson "Celestial Marriage"
Keith B. McMullin "God Helps and Loves All of His Children"

Jan. 4-10
Dallin H. Oaks "Sacrament Meeting and The Sacrament"
Elaine S. Dalton "A Return to Virtue"

Jan. 11-17
M. Russell Ballard "The Truth of God Shall Go Forth"
William D. Oswald "Gospel Teaching- Our Most Important Calling"

Jan. 18-24
Joseph B. Wirthlin "Come What May, and Love It"
Eduardo Gavarret "Returning Home"

Jan. 25-31
Richard G. Scott "Honor the Priesthood and Use it Well"
Carlos O. Godoy "Testimony as a Process"

Feb. 1-7
Robert D. Hales "Christian Courage: The Cost of Discipleship"
Jay E. Jensen "Arms of Safety"

Feb 8-14
Jeffrey R. Holland "The Ministry of Angels"
James J. Hamula "Winning the War Against Evil"

Feb 15-21
David A. Bednar "Pray Always"
Julie B. Beck "Fulfilling the Purpose of Relief Society"

Feb 22-28
Quinten L. Cook "Hope Ya Know, We Had a Hard Time"
Silvia Allred "Holy Temples, Sacred Covenants"

Mar 1-7
Todd D. Christofferson "Come To Zion"
Barbara Thompson "Now Let Us Rejoice"

Mar 8-14
Thomas S. Monson "To Learn, To Do, To Be"
Henry B. Eyring "Our Hearts Knit As One"

Mar 15-21
Deiter F. Uchtdorf "Lift Where You Stand"
Thomas S. Monson "Finding Joy in the Journey"

Mar 22-28
Deiter F. Uchtdorf "Happiness, Your Heritage"
Thomas S. Monson "Until We Meet Again"

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMY!!!

I just want to wish Amy a Happy 24th Birthday! We have been best friends since we were 7 years old, so you may say that I know Amy pretty well! Here is a very abridged story of our friendship: We met in Primary at Church and have been pretty much inseparable since then. We went to different Elementary schools and to different Middle schools, but were always talking about the days when we could go to high school together. Our Freshman year was a blast, but sadly, my family moved to Utah the summer after our Freshman year. That really sucked, but we still stayed in touch and went back and forth and visited each other and dreamt about the days we would go to college together! Luckily, that lasted a little longer. We were roommates pretty much throughout all of our college days and had TONS of fun! Then she got married and a few months later I got married, and now we live two hours apart. I am still rooting for Chris to go to the UofU so they won’t be moving too far away, but we will see how that goes. Anyway, no matter how close or far away we live from each other, our friendship has gone on strong! I have been through soooo much with Amy and we have had some really awesome times together. She is one of my very favorite people in the world! She is so fun and such a good, kind, caring person!

At the risk of Amy killing me, here are some pictures of us when we were younger. Yes, we were both kind of chubby for a couple years there… But you all will probably get some laughs! Don’t judge us, this was YEARS ago! I think I have more to be embarrassed about than Amy.


My favorite! I don't know where we were, but wow do we look hot! We got the huge glasses and the braces going on!

This one is AWESOME! For some reason when we were younger we always dressed up and took pictures! I have no clue why. Amy is trying out a sexy look and I just look like a Grandma! Nice!

Here are a few pictures of us in the past couple years:

Me and Amy on a sledding trip.

Me and Amy right after I scoped myself! Yes, she did laugh at me really hard!

Me and Amy at the Oregon Coast. The water was freezing.... as always.

Anyway, Happy Birthday Amy! Thanks for being such a great friend! You are the bestest friend ever!

Update and a Tag

I thought I would give an update since my last depressing blog. First of all, we finally found out what Travis is charged with in regard to the elk and we were so, so blessed! The fish and game officer and the prosecutor were VERY merciful because they knew that what happened was an accident, so the only thing Trav gets is a charge of $217.00! Amazing since it could have been sooo much worse! Also, Travis's Aunt ended up dying soon after I posted my last blog and her funeral was a couple weeks ago. It was very sad and I am going to miss her a lot. At her funeral I kept thinking about why she was able to survive her first bout of cancer only to die a few weeks later and I decided that one of the reasons was so that I could get to know her because I had never gotten the chance to do so. I am grateful I got that chance. She really was a great lady.

On a brighter note, I got to take a whole week off of work to go deer hunting/camping. Cathy posted some pictures- if you haven't seen them you should go look at them. I got my first deer! Whoohoo! It is a tiny little one, so it's not much to brag about. But, the part I am proud of is I shot it perfectly so it didn't have to suffer and we have meat in our freezer again! That's always nice. And it was really nice to be able to take the week off and spend time with family and friends. I actually really enjoy it!

Lastly, I was tagged by Amy! This was actually kind of hard!

1) Where is your cell phone? Silent
2) Where is your significant other? Work
3) Your hair color? Bleh
4) Your mother? Work
5) Your father? Caramels
6) Your favorite thing? Trav
7) Your dream last night? Dreamless
8) Your dream/goal? Family
9) The room you're in? Office
10) Your hobby? Books
11) Your fear? Failure
12) Where do you want to be in six years? Mom
13) Where were you last night? Pumpkinwalk
14) What you're not? Tan
15) One of your wish-list items? Sewing
16) Wheree you grew up? Oregon
17) The last thing you did? Work
18) What are you wearing? Norm
19) Your tv? Home
20) Your pet? Labs
21) Your computer? Lame
22) Your mood? Meh
23) Missing someone? Travis
24) Your car? Messy
25) Something you're not wearing? Eyeliner
26) Favorite store? Lots!
27) Your summer? Hot
28) Love someone? Yep!
29) Your favorite color? Red
30) When is the last time you laughed? Now
31) Last time you cried? Funeral