Have you Read a Good Book Lately?

Wow it has been awhile since I have blogged. There is one word that would sum up what I have spent most my time doing, READING.

1. A book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale
2. Dear John by Nicolas Sparks
3. Austinland by Shannon Hale
4. Hunger Games by Susanne Collins
5. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
6. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (finished today)

They are numbered in the order I have read them over the past two weeks not in the order of preference. My habit of reading really drives Jason crazy, once I pick up a book I can not put it down until it is done. Luckily I am a fast reader but not fast enough to avoid the ire of Jason when I would rather read then put the kids to bed or put myself to bed at a reasonable hour.

I prefer books that are easy reads, ones that I can sit down and enjoy and have a feel good ending (a love story in the middle doesn‘t hurt either). I just feel like if this is my escape from needy kids, endless laundry, meals that need to be cooked, my time sucking church calling, and loving husband than I want to feel good like I am eating dessert. Some of those books don’t fit that description. In fact that last one “The Book Thief” is a good one for those that like classics or tragedies or historical books not me that likes the warm fuzzy books. But I read those meatier books once in a while so I feel well rounded and then I head right back to the dessert section.

I have done other things these past few weeks like celebrating Brooklyn’s birthday, April Fools (yes april fools, I love making food that is different than it appears), and Conference. I will post pictures of the first two at a later date.

I would really like to add to my "must read" list so post your favorite book that you have read lately.

Lehi

Last week was a busy week for us. Jason did this Lehi high school alumni tournament where one graduation class plays against another class and the difference in years is made up in points. For example if Jason’s year of 1995 was playing 2005, Jason’s team would start out with 10 points. So we ended driving down to Lehi (about a 40 minute drive) everyday to watch him play. It was really fun to see him play with his old high school buddies. Jason is actually really good, he always tells me about the glory days of high school but actually see it in action was kind of cool. In the last game he shot a 3-pointer to tie the game against the class of 2010. I just wish Brock had been there to see it, he was to busy running around the upper part of the gym playing tag with his cousins.
There was one more note worthy thing that happened besides Jason’s shooting, Zack cut his head open while going up the bleachers. Luckily my mother-in-law was there to hold him while I scrambled to find something to stop the bleeding. Right when he fell we picked him up and the blood just started streaming out. We laid him back and we had him close his eyes because the blood was filling up his eye sockets. Of course just that night I had forgotten my diaper bag so I had nothing. In desperation I asked the moms around me if any of them had any diaper wipes because I knew a dash to the bathroom would take me to long and blood would be everywhere. The mothers all kind of looked at me with blank stares because they hadn’t noticed that zack had fallen and now blood was streaming from his head. A girl right above us said she had some tissues, I gratefully grabbed the whole wad and put it on his head then ran to the bathroom to get more tissues. On my way out of the gym I passed Jason who was shooting baskets warming up for the game and told him Zack had cut his head open. It was kind of funny to see his reaction, he was so focused on basketball at the time and then to have this happen he couldn’t quite decide what he needed to do so he followed me to the girls bathroom and waited for me to get the toilet paper. We ended up getting the bleeding stopped pretty fast, the cut was a nice clean cut that a butterfly bandaid would work well on so Jason played his game and they ended up winning. In the end, everything turned out well.

All three of the boys were "reading" in front of the fire on Sunday, I thought it was so cute I took a picture, I also thought it was a good picture to show Zack's head.

P.S. I love finding bargains so I thought I would post them when I find them. My bargain of the week was finding ice melt for $1 at walmart. So I ended up getting 150 lbs for $6, now I am prepared for snow for years to come. Also I did Brooklyn's baby book thru Picaboo for free plus shipping (it was a 20 page leather bond book). Just type in the cope AFFLGB when checking out.

Spring was here two days ago

Two days ago I was outside with my kids and noticed my tulips survive my yard reconstruction. It made my day that much better.

But then I noticed there wasn't any grass where I wanted it.

And there was tons of grass where I didn't want it. Oh well I will take the yard work for some warm days and kids playing outside more.

It's about the little victories in life

I missed last week so you will be getting a double dose of me this week.
I work with the young women in my ward and we have a “New Beginnings” every year where the parents are invited and we basically introduce the new year and talk about personal progress. Any time the parents are invited it kind of stresses me out because I don’t want them to think it was a waste of time (like I think many meetings are). But I think this one turned out really well. The Olympics was our theme and we talked about how athletes work hard and some over came a lot to get their gold, then we tied it into them by asking them what they needed to do to obtain their “Gold Metal” in life. (so image that described more in-depth for about an hour).
So the next Sunday I asked the girls if they had changed anything in their life that might be hard for them so they could work toward their goals. One girl raised her hand. Let me give you a little background on this girl, she has had a rough life and has no parents living so her grandmother raised her until she decided she couldn’t handle her anymore, now she is in foster care with 4 other girls that are in our young women’s. So she said that she had decided with her foster mom that she would no longer hang out with some friends from her old school “because they were not good kids”.
It is comments like that, that make all the time and effort I spend on these girls worth it.

Okay if you can use your imagination you can see that these are the Olympic Rings

These are some of my cute Young Women in front of the value flags

Parenting is Hard

I just came home from the worst and most frustrating basketball game I have ever seen Brock play. To start it off the other team was really good and played well together in contrast to our team that is all for one and none for all. The first half Brock’s team never even scored a point but to add to my frustration was the fact the “ref” never even blew her whistle unless the time was up. At this age they can’t steal the ball unless it is being passed, but since she wasn’t calling anything they would just go up and tackle each other to get the ball. She was standing right in front of me and I could barely hold my self back from saying “your job is to teach the boys some of the rules of basketball not just to be the time clock“. A good example of what the refs should do was the man last week would blow the whistle if the boy kept dribbling and picking up the ball. He would pause the game a second and tell the boy that he couldn’t do that then he would give the ball back to that same team and they would start play again.
I guess my second reason for my frustration was the fact that Brock seems to have very little motivation, he wants to do the least and have the best results. He has the potentional to be a great basketball player, I think he is better than he should be for the amount of time he puts in practicing. The funny thing is, is that he gets so mad when he doesn’t make every shot or he loses the ball on a fast break. How do you teach your children they have to work for what they want. I know deep down that they have to want it themselves but how do we as parents guide and encourage without pushing them too hard?
I know this is deeper than I usually get but I have been thinking a lot about this because I am giving a talk at New Beginnings about being Strong and of Good Courage. I want to encourage the girls to do things that they might think is hard but in the end it will be worth it.
My last question is how do we light the fire in our children to have a passion about something (besides video games). Does any one have any great insights for me?

I don’t know if any one else does this but I will be watching my kids and think I want to remember this moment forever. They are rarely big momentous occasions they are just everyday normal moments that I would like to remember when they are older. I had one the other day when Jason was reading them a bedtime story.

Jason’s bedtime stories are not the calm sleep inducing bedtime stories that you might expect, they are interactive and loud and most importantly funny (when he decides to adlib). I want my children to remember these times too so I took a picture.

I love doing the wash, well most of the time

I can’t believe it has already been a week. So lately I have been trying to wash anything that can get wet from area rugs, to shoes, to pillows. It all started with me getting a new washer and dryer. The story of getting it is a long one but in short I saw a fabulous deal, bought it online, they sold out, I kept calling and calling telling them I wanted my washer and dryer and one day a month later they showed up.

But after today I was really wishing I had a carpet cleaning after Brooklyn got into my powdered bronzer and scraped out all the contents onto my carpet. For not being a liquid it is surprisingly staining to carpet. Anyone have any tips on how to clean makeup out of carpet?