Recent Reads

I love, love, love to read, and now that I'm not working full-time, I have had a lot of time to catch up on my mile long list of books to read before I die.  So, here is a list of recent reads:

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
You have to read this book.  If you've seen the movie, you still have to read this book.  Louis Zamperini's story is unreal.  How can one person experience all of those things in one life time-- Olympian, ship wrecked for months, POW-- and then still come out a kind and loving person?  This book will change your life.

Frankenstein by Marry Shelley
If there was ever a book written that is totally different from what people's perceptions are about the book, then this is it.  Take everything you know about Frankenstein and throw it out the window, especially because Frankenstein isn't even the monster's name, it's the name of the man who created the monster.  See, told you.  This is a beautiful story about being misunderstood and the effects that a loveless life can have.  Really sad, but really beautiful at the same time.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
I liked this book until the ending.  I hated the ending.  And then I was mad that I wasted time reading the book.  Basically, it about a girl who gets jealous of her boyfriends VIP all-guys secret society, so she finds a way to go undercover and mastermind all of the pranks that the society does.  Sounds good, but be warned, the ending is anti-climactic.

I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella
This book had me laughing out loud.  Poppy, the main character, is hilarious and winds up in the most outrageous situations.  She loses her new engagement ring at a hotel (a family heirloom) and after she gives her phone number to every worker at the hotel in hopes that the ring will be found, her phone gets stolen.  Miraculously enough, she finds an abandoned cell phone in a garbage can and claims it as her own.  Little does she know the adventure that picking up this phone would get her in.  Again, hilarious book, but be advised-- there is a lot of language.

The Selection Series (The Selection, The Elite, and The One) by Kiera Cass
I blew through these books in like a week.  They are really entertaining, but very predictable and pretty repetitive.  The story is basically The Bachelor in a YA novel.  I've never watched The Bachelor, but I've heard enough about it to get the gist.  If you like that show, then you'll love these books.

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
The classics are my favorites.  Seriously, it just doesn't get better than The Count of Monte Cristo or Jane Eyre.  One of my mission companions told me about this book, and I was intrigued: a man has a picture painted of him and then he stays young while the picture grows old.  Interesting.  I listened to this on audio book (I don't think I could have lasted any other way)-- there is a lot of on and on and on dialogue.  Anyway, this book really got me thinking about what real beauty is and what my portrait would look like if it reflected what I looked like on the inside as a result of my deeds.

Zorro by Isabel Allende
The drive to visit Matt's family takes about 9 hours.  I stopped by the library and picked up this audio book on a whim before our last road trip.  We loved it!  Totally different from the movies in a good way.  The story basically is the life of Diego de la Vega and how he becomes Zorro.  Super good!

My Story by Elizabeth Smart
I had this book on my "To-Read" list for a long time, then I heard her speak at UVU this last year and went to the library to pick it up straight away.  I was not disappointed.  I mean, I can't believe that Elizabeth Smart is able to even get out of bed in the mornings after everything that she's been through.  This is an incredible story about survival, healing, and forgiveness.

My Life with the Walter Boys by Ali Novak
I really loved this book--read it in a day.  After her family is killed in a car accident, Jackie moves from NYC to Colorado to stay with her mom's college friend and her family, a family of 12 boys.  There is a lot of learning, teasing, and other fun surprises as Jackie adjusts to living in the country with the Walter boys.

The Magician's Lie by Greer Macallister
I just finished this book, and it was another one that left me feeling like I had wasted my time reading it.  It's about a girl who is threatened and stalked by her cousin.  She runs away and becomes a famous magician, and then she is the top suspect in a murder.  She tells her story from the jail house to the police man in hopes that he will set her free.  This book was a little dark for me, and I guess I was hoping for a better ending.

That One Time When I Tried to Skirt the Problem

Some of the best memories that should be recorded are, of course, the really embarrassing ones. There are many different types of embarrassing. There's embarrassing like the time when I came home from a date and saw that I had food in my teeth-- embarrassing, but not really detrimental because that relationship was going nowhere anyway. Then there are embarrassing moments that are embarrassing because of the time of your life that you were in. Like when I was changing into my parakeet costume (bright yellow sweatpants and matching sweatshirt with a paper beak which I can't seem to find any pictures of anywhere) for the school play when I was in second grade and accidentally went into the boy's bathroom instead of the girl's bathroom. I thought I was going to pass out or throw up or both even though no one even saw me. Now I would have laughed and walked out, but at the time, I thought my life was over. Then are things that aren't embarrassing at the time, but then looking back you're like, "Oh my gosh, did I really write 'Hey Hot Stuff" when signing the year book of one of the popular guys in 6th grade that I really didn't even know but wished I did" ... I mean... I didn't do that...

Anyway, I feel like I have a lot of examples all of these scenarios in my life and believe that if these stories will help to brighten someone's day, then they are worth sharing.

That One Time When I Tried to Skirt the Problem
When I worked at the state health department in Salt Lake City after I graduated from BYU (first real job, yeah!), I took the train most days from Provo for several reasons:

1. To avoid the traffic on 1-15 which is always backed up mostly for no reason at all or for rubbernecking, and I can't decide which is worse
2. To give me more time to finish doing my make up, eat my breakfast, or sleep since I couldn't seem to find the time to do any of those adequately
3. To give Matt the car because at the time we only had one vehicle and we couldn't afford to keep buying him new pants because his biking leg muscles weren't fitting into his jeans anymore

The train station is just a few blocks from our apartment, so naturally, I only gave myself two minutes to spare just about every day which more often than not resulted in me jumping out of the car while Matt was still driving (slowly, safety first) and running for my life to jump on the train just as the whistle blew and the doors locked.

On one of these days, Matt and I jumped into the car and took off to the train station. I was wearing a black, knee-length, flowy skirt made of stretchy material that was slightly big for me (because I had lost quite a bit of weight when I got married but refused to get rid of any clothes), with flats, and a pink sweater.

As the train station got closer, I could see people starting to run from the parking lot to the train. Panic mode. I looked at the clock; we had one minute. Matt pulled up along the curb, and I jumped out and took off at full speed. At this point I was one of the only people left on the platform heading toward the train. I was concentrating so hard on my speed and trying to catch the conductors eye to plead with him for just a few more seconds, that I didn't realize that I was tripping over something. I tried to maneuver around it by taking a wider step, but my legs were constricted. As I looked down and saw a big black blob around my feet, I was so confused. Then it hit me: THAT IS MY SKIRT! With my Tupperware of oatmeal in one hand, and my purse and laptop in the other, I tried the best that I could to gather up my skirt in a wad around my hips and run with it like that to the train steps. I refused to make eye contact with anyone as I walked down the isle to the first open seat, which of course was halfway down the car.

When I finally sat down, I couldn't hold it in any longer and I started cracking up as I fixed my skirt back it's professionally appropriate length and sent Matt a text telling him he won't ever want to be seen with me at the train station again.

And the moral of the story is: 1. Go through your closet and get rid of the clothes that are too big for you. 2. Always leave one hand free to catch your falling clothes in case you decide to skip #1.

Camping with a Baby

We're trying to hold on to the last bit of summer in every way possible and take advantage of the beautiful weather we've been having.  Matt and I love camping, but to be honest, I got really paranoid when we went just the two of us when we were first married.  I mean, bears, creepy people, snapping sticks in the dark, you get it.  And then last summer I was dealing with morning sickness which meant no camping.

Matt and I decided before Adam was born that we weren't going to let a baby keep us from doing the things we love.  Now, that sounds super selfish, and maybe it is, but we really didn't want to ever view our kids as a burden.  If we wanted to go camping, then we weren't going to stay home just because camping was now inconvenient or our baby might get a mosquito bite.

So, we did a little research on camping with a baby and found some pretty good advice, the most useful of which was simply that babies are adaptable.  We took that advice and off we went.  Here are some things that we learned and tips for those wanting to try it.

 1. Keep baby warm.  It gets really cold in Utah in the evenings, so we made sure to pack socks and a hat for Adam, as well as long pants and a sweatshirt.  I started with just a onsie and put more and more clothes on him as it got colder.  I changed him into regular jammies for bed though so he could be in something clean.  I just made sure to wrap him in his own blanket and then had him in bed with me under several other blankets.

2. Bring things for baby to do. Adam doesn't quite crawl yet, and I knew I didn't want to be carrying him around everywhere. We used a moving blanket to lay out on the grass because sticks and things don't stick to it easily. We put a softer blanket on top and dumped out some of his toys for him to play with. This kept him very happy.

3. Make sure that you and baby are both comfortable when you sleep.  I advise not sharing an air mattress.  The first weekend we went out, Adam and I slept on the twin air mattress, and Matt slept on the ground next to us.  This was no bueno because I was so paranoid to move because every time I did, Adam would wake up.  Half of my body was asleep and tingling when I woke up.  I think next time we tent it, will just all sleep on foam pads.  Matt can't sit still for longer than 3 minutes, so we don't do too well on an air mattress either.

4. Bring extra of everything.  We first got to our campsite and Adam had peed and it leaked out of his diaper soaking part of his onsie.  Luckily, I brought several of those, and wipes, and diapers, and socks, and everything else that he might have needed.

5. Don't stress about it!  There were so many things that I could have worried about, but I just accepted that if Adam ate some dirt or got a scratch that he would be ok.  And he was!  We all had a great time.