The 2011 Book List

So-once again I tried to shoot for the goal of a book a week in 2011. I didn't quite make it-I only managed to get in 51 and a half books. That's still pretty good considering the business of the year. Trying to get the application to grad school in was QUITE time consuming-not to mention that I also took 3 classes. So, with that said-here's the list for 2011. My favorites are so marked by an *.

1. The Five Greatest Warriors-Matthew Reilly

2. The Kiss of a Stranger*-Sarah M. Eden

3. The Pharaoh's Daughter- N. C. Allen

4. Wench-Dolen Perkins Valdez

5. The Water is Wide-Marianne Monson

6. The Overton Window-Glenn Beck

7. Heaven Is for Real-Todd Burpo

8. P.S. I Love You*-Cecelia Ahern (I LOVED this book. I laughed, I cried, and yep-it's way better than the movie. Though I do love the movie. Who doesn't love Gerard Butler?!?!? And that first kiss scene....mmm....*drool*...Oh, *ahem*, sorry...bit of a tangent...he just looks so darn kissable...)

9. The Legend of Shannonderry*-Carol Warburton

10. Introduction to Psychology-Kalat (I know, I know-it's a textbook. But darn it, it counts-because I read all 641 pages of it)

11. The Stone Traveler-Kathi Oram Peterson

12. City of Fallen Angels-Cassandra Clare (I love this series, and I loved this book-but it's not one of my favorites simply because of the ending and that I have to wait so blasted long to find out what happens)

13. Trespass-Sandra Grey

14. Mermaid-Carolyn Turgeon

15. The Postmistress-Sarah Blake

16. Poisoned Pedigree-G.G. Vandagriff

17. The Hidden Branch-Same

18. The Beyonders: A World Without Heroes*-Brandon Mull (I have LOVED every book he's ever written. They're all fabulous and I can't wait for my kids to fall in love with his books when they're older.)

19. Illusions-Aprilynne Pike

20. The Throne of Fire-Rick Riordan

21. Key Lime Pie-Josi S. Kilpack

22. Blackberry Crumble-Same

23. The Warlock-Michael Scott

24. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows*-J.K. Rowling (I know, I know, I've read it twice before, but I HAD to read it again before the movie came out! It's still my favorite series. I have a quote on my Pinterest board from Alan Rickman (Severus Snape for those of you who don't know who he played) that says, "When I'm 80 years old and sitting in my chair, I'll be reading Harry Potter. And my family will say to me, 'After all this time?' And I will say, 'Always.'" It's as true for me as for him.)

25. I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced-Nujood Ali with Delphine Minoui

26. The Secret History of the Pink Carnation-Lauren Willig (I blush thinking about this book...it was way more racy than I had expected. I had already ordered the other books in the series by the time I found that out and I sent them all back....and I'm still blushing.)

27. Foreign Influence-Brad Thor

28. The Forgotten Locket-Lisa Mangum (How dumb could this series have ended?!?! I'm still a bit ticked-and I still get a bit of a headache thinking how confusing and disorienting this book is.)

29. The Borgia Betrayal-Sara Poole

30. Godmother: The Secret Cinderella Story-Carolyn Turgeon (This book is a disappointment. And weird. Avoid the urge to read it.)

31. The Daughter of Siena*-Marina Fiorato (Some of the truth behind Romeo and Juliet!)

32. The Glassblower of Morano-Same

33. The Facade-Kathy Brown (It'll be published some day! That's my mother-in-law who's the author. I'm still the only person to read it in it's entirety...I think. Maybe some of of the other siblings have read it..I'm not sure.)

34. Madame Tussaud-Michelle Moran (Her books based in Egypt are way better.)

35. The Hangman's Daughter*-Oliver Potzsch (A surprisingly interesting read that I found at Costco. Had a fab time finishing it at the beach.)

36. The Botticelli Secret-Marina Fiorato

37. The Lost City of Z*-David Grann (A great biography that totally reads like a novel! I found it fascinating.)

38. Moloka'i-Alan Brennert (Made me want to go to Hawaii more than I already do.)

39. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand*-Helen S. Monson

40. The Tower, The Zoo, and the Tortoise*-Julia Stuart

41. The Guernsey Literari and Potato Peel Pie Society**-Mary Ann Schaffer & Annie Barrows (Okay, so the last three books in a row are all British novels. I loved every one of them. All fabulous, but the last is my particular favorite. If you don't get British humor, you should, because they're ridiculously hilarious.)

42. The Son of Neptune-Rick Riordan

43. The Genesis Secret-Tom Knox (By far the worst book I read the whole year-but I had to finish it...I'm stubborn that way. Seriously. The worst. I even noted that on my sheet of paper I was keeping my book tally on.)

44. Inheritance*-Christopher Paolini (If you've not read it yet, do not read my next comment. I'm seriously disappointed with the way it ends. SERIOUSLY?!?! They don't even get together???!?!??! AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!)

45. The Maltese Falcon-Dashiell Hammett (If you like the movie, you'll like the book. They're exactly the same in almost every detail.)

46. Michael Vey-The Prisoner of Cell 25-Richard Paul Evans

47. The Inner Circle-Brad Metzler

48. Clockwork Prince*-Cassandra Clare

49. The Night Circus**-Erin Morgenstern (SSSOOO good. Go read it. Right now.)

50. The Book of Mormon (I didn't actually finish it last. But I read it every year...most of the time I can get it in more than once. I'm already in Alma again and I finished the last time in...November?? It's always worth it. Read it every day. You'll never ever regret doing so.)

And the last book I was reading that I only got half way through is The Athena Project by Brad Thor. I finished it on the 2nd of January. So it didn't count.

Don't be expecting this many books out of me for the next two years. No way that's gonna happen with the PA program in full swing. So..I'll post a list next year of the few I manage to get in this year, but don't hold your breath. I'm only on book 4 as we speak.

Do I Wish That I'd Been Born In the Times of the Pioneers?

Yep. Sure do.

I wish I had been born in a time of less. Less of everything. Less time spent wasted on the Internet or Facebook. Less worrying about whether or not my kids will make the right decision when confronted with drugs or sex or alcohol. Less worrying about whether or not my clothes make me look fat because there was so much clothing on it didn't really matter. Less worrying about eating carbs, or whether or not I'm working out hard enough or long enough. Less time wasted on mindless television or video games. Less concern placed on looks and not on what really counts in a person. Less mouthing off and more respect shown toward others. Less development and more wide spread wild land full of beauty and mystery. Less materialism and more fulfillment in life's simple joys. Less vanity and more personal happiness based on who one really is.

Less...just less.

In May 2014...

...I will be a graduate of The George Washington University Physician Assistant Program. I will be fellow alumni with Colin Powell, J. Edgar Hoover, Alec Baldwin, Casey Affleck, and Jaqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis to name a few. And where do I get to have graduation?

That's right. On the Mall. So mark your calendars people.

So here are some pictures from our beach trip over my birthday back in August. These are some of my favorites, and mostly speak for themselves.

Look at these eyelashes. Totally unfair.

Dead jellyfish. Both Jer and I got stung on this trip. Jerry's was much more worse, and continued to get worse over the next week. Apparently he's a little sensitive to them.

We met this family on the beach-and their little girl pictured here had a blast playing with Misha. Her name is Liesle. Sadly, that "L" at the beginning of her name got changed to a "W" a few times by Meesh. Poor thing. Good thing she was only two and wasn't bothered a bit.

Wait for it....

Oh yeah. This little boy LOVED the water.

I love southern architecture.

And one of the best things was that we got to see Kelly, Matt, and their daughter Natalie. She's pretty much family to me, and I was so glad they came and spent some time helping me celebrate my birthday. Love you guys!

Thanks to Blogger not letting me post any photos, I will have to put our beach trip pictures on hold until they fix their issue. So instead, I found this site on my friend Annie's blog. And look at what I found...it's just awesome.

http://hookedonhouses.net/2011/08/22/the-real-life-up-movie-house-interior-photos/#more-31269

Enjoy!

If the door is a rockin'...

Don't come a knockin'....we just had an earthquake out here for those that didn't know. It was a 5.8 magnitude that hit in Mineral, VA (near Richmond-about 115 miles from us) and was felt all along the eastern seaboard (all the way to Massachusetts at the highest report so far). I was on the phone with my mom at the time she felt it in her office and said, "Oh my gosh, it's an earthquake" and we immediately felt it here at the house. Pretty freaky. Certainly brings to mind the scriptures speaking of "earthquakes in diverse places" when speaking about the last days. We are certainly in them. For all our friends along the eastern seaboard-we hope you're okay. We're fine, just a little amazed and surprised.

Birthdays

We've had a lot of birthdays in the last few months-all of ours in fact. Here's some snippets of each one.

Scott-April 7

Misha-May 20

Jerry-July 8

Hayley-August 15

Oh the Athletic Things We Do!

So, I've been working out at the gym nearly every day for the last year + (since week 5 post c-section thank you very much). All of it has been to train for the few athletic things we wanted to do this year. The first goal was to actually run the entire Race for the Cure that was in June. I am happy to report I did just that-and in my best time yet for a 5k. Okay okay, it's only 3.1 miles, and I run slow, but I RAN the whole thing nonetheless! My time was 35:45.

The next thing was for us (me, Jerry, and my dad) was our first sprint triathlon. It was a 300 yard swim (my hardest part by far because of the severe disgusting-ness of the pond we swam in, and I didn't have a way to particularly train for it), an 10.85 mile bike ride, and a 5k run.

As stated above, the swim was my hardest part. It took me twelve minutes to complete making me the last. Jer kindly stayed with me the whole time despite the fact that he could have finished well before me. He's used to sticking his face in nasty water from growing up in Florida. I am hoity toity and refuse to stick mine in anything but a pool or clear, fresh water. So, here we are gearing up to start.

Why am I the only one with my game face on? Man look at how white Jerry and my dad are. Yowzuh.

So, we got done with the swim and transitioned fairly well into the bike. Jerry and I passed two women in the first 5 minutes, but saw no one after that. It took me until more than half way through the bike ride to get past the nausea I was feeling after that lake, and I got a huge burst of energy after that. We finished up the bike ride strong. The run was tough. 3.1 miles after all that other stuff can be hard. It didn't help that it started within the first 1/4 mile with a really long steep hill. After that it wasn't bad. Jerry and I crossed the finish line at 1:49:33, a full five minutes after dad who finished in 1:44:58. I'm so proud that my 58 yr. old father went out on his first ever triathlon of any kind and finished before his 27 yr. old daughter and 30 yr. old son-in-law. Way to go dad! All in all we had a great time, and I'll consider doing another if it involves the swim being in a POOL.

We didn't finish last (okay, okay, two people finished behind us, but they were a good 30 minutes behind us in finishing), and might we note-my dad was the oldest competitor. Again, WAY TO GO DAD!

Updates 1

So, here's the beginning of updates. Over the last few months we have...

Given Jerry a mini-me. I've told him a thousand times to use a #2 guard, but does he listen? No. What do we get? A cancer baby. But an adorable one. And now we just use a #1 guard all the time!

Celebrated two birthdays! My babies are getting so big!

Given little man a taste of real cake. This is in between the two birthdays-on his actual birthday we gave him a cupcake, and he didn't have nearly this much fun with it as with this piece of birthday cake. Yum yum!

Been with family. We celebrated the two birthdays with family in town over Easter weekend. Aren't they all so cute! Could the two girl cousins look any less alike? Oh but they're cute together! We had so much fun with everyone and were so happy to celebrate my sister and her husband's sealing. And now we can't wait for her baby that's due in just a couple of weeks. Can't wait to meet you baby Griffin!

Explanation

That's right, I haven't been updating. Here's why. (If you want the short sweet version, skip to the last paragraph.)

I'm applying to graduate school. PA (Physician Assistant) programs to be exact. I'm getting my master's degree so that when I graduate I can get a full time job and support us so that Jerry can finally go and finish school. Oh, and it's kinda what I want to do anyway. Now, you may think that there's not a ton involved in applying to grad school (for those who haven't), and that may be true for some (who got good enough grades the first time through their classes). Seeing as how I didn't do horrifically stellar, I've had some courses to retake to be eligible to apply. So, the things for me involved in applying for me have included the following:

A) Retaking Psychology 111 (via independent study at BYU) in approximately two months

B) Retaking Chem 121 (via distance ed at Oregon State University) "spring semester" that just ended June 6th.

C) Studying for the GRE (which I'll be taking on Friday).

D) Filling out the central PA school application, along with the supplemental applications of all the schools to which I wish to apply.

So, it's been involved, and really stressing/overwhelming. On top of all of it I'm the Primary secretary and ward camp director (camp's next week), I've been training for Race for the Cure (which was June 4th, and I finished in 35:45-my fastest time for a 5K), and for a sprint triathlon that is this coming weekend (300 yard swim, 11 mile bike ride, and a 5K) that my dad, Jer, and I are doing. I'm also now battling a sinus infection that the nurse practitioner swears is only allergies that caused a viral thing and that I shouldn't even be taking antibiotics. But she prescribed them anyway, and I'll be darned if I'm not going to take them so as to be able to make it through said sprint triathlon on Saturday.

So the long and the short is, I've been busy, and when I'm busy I take fewer pictures. Look for some at the end of June/beginning of July.