A weekend in Snowflake

Matt's mom directs the high school musical in Snowflake every spring.  Now, I'm not a huge live performance fan-- honestly, I would rather see a movie.  However, the musicals that I've been able to attend these last few years in Snowflake have really been entertaining!  We missed Cinderella last year because I was 38 weeks pregnant, but we saw Hello Dolly!, Anything Goes, and this year we saw Little Abner.  The sets are really well done, the singing is fun, and the acting is actually pretty good.  And it's been so fun to watch Matt's siblings all participate.  His whole family puts so much work into the plays each year, and it's a treat for us to go down and watch.  Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures from the play, but here are a bunch of other pictures from our weekend.

Adam is over the age where he slept peacefully in the car during long road trips, unfortunately.  And when Adam isn't happy in the car, ain't nobody happy in the car.  Luckily, there are all kinds of fun gas stations/rest stops on the drive down to Arizona.  It makes the trip take longer, but it's nice for us to have a chance to stretch our legs and explore.

 

Matt's brothers just bought this old sandrail and are working to restore it.  We got it running and took it for a spin!

 Adam loved riding around on the quad!

 We don't mess around.

And I can't end this post without mentioning how awesome it was to see Judy after her mission to Mexico!!  We're so happy to have you home!

February Reads

One book ahead for my yearly reading goal!

Austenland
by Shannon Hale

A few weeks ago, Delicious Reads posted this article on their blog about clean romances, and I dove right in.  I love romance novels, but it's hard to find ones that aren't well,... that don't make me blush and feel like I'm reading something that I should hide from Matt.  SO, I was really excited about this list and started with Austenland.  Jane is a 30-something-year-old single woman who is secretly obsessed with finding her own Mr. Darcy.  When her great-aunt finds out and later passes away, she leaves Jane tickets to experience "Austenland"-- basically a theme park for Regency-obsessed woman that guarantees a regal romance with a fine gentleman.  And I mean, this place is the real deal-- no electronics, the actors all speak, dress, and act in time-period manner.  Jane has a hard time realizing when she is acting and when she is being herself.  Are all of the others acting all the time as well?  Things get confusing when she starts to have feelings for one of the gentleman.  Could this be her Mr. Darcy or is it all just a game?  This book definitely won't change your life, but it's a feel-good 200 page read.  And there is a movie!  Has anyone seen it?

Scarlet (The Lunar Chronicles #2), Cress (The Lunar Chronicles #3)
by Marissa Meyer

Ok, to say that I'm obsessed with this serious would be an understatement.  I cannot say enough good things.  These book are so clever-- I mean, not quite Harry Potter clever, but definitely up there.  The stories weave together so seamlessly and I love the characters and the plot and just everything about them.  I've been listening to all of them on audio book, and like I said before, I really, really love the reader.  She does such a great job with the accents and different characters.  I don't want to give too much of the plot away for those who haven't read the first one, and I have to be honest, it sounds silly if I try to explain it.  I was telling my mom about them today and she looked at me like, "These sound weird... Why are you reading them?"  So, you'll just have to take my word for it and go and read them.  I promise you won't regret it... even if you're up reading into the early hours of the morning!

Fairest (The Lunar Chronicles #3.5)
by Marissa Meyer

This is the backstory of the evil Queen Levana from The Lunar Chronicles.  I have to admit, I didn't really like this book.  It was just... evil.  I don't know-- I didn't like the relationship between Levana and her sister.  And Levana is seriously psycho and possessive and the book just kind of gave me the creeps.  I felt that this book gave me a better understanding of Levana a person, but it isn't necessary to the plot of the other books.

Surprise Staycation

This last week was pretty crazy.

Matt was going to be working in Salt Lake City all week for the annual Qualtrics Insight Summit at The Grand America hotel.  We decided to stay the week at my parents' house because they live closer to Salt Lake than we do.  This actually turned out to be a brilliant idea because Matt wasn't finishing up each night until about midnight.

During the day, Adam played with Grandma which is mutually rewarding.  We went to Kid-to-Kid, a secondhand kid's store with clothing, toys, and pretty much anything else you can think of, and I got a lot of new spring/summer clothes for Adam, and Grandma picked out new toys for him.  Being the only grandchild definitely has its perks.

I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am to see some chubby feet in these this summer!

After the first few nights of Matt working late, Qualtrics decided it would be best to just keep Matt at the hotel, but he wouldn't agree unless... Adam and I got to stay, too!!  (Thanks, Matt!)  We stayed in one of the suites that had two rooms which is the best because then we don't have to be woken up by Adam moving around all night, and the room was on a corner, so we had huge window-doors all the way around the rooms.  Matt still had to work late for the two nights that we stayed in the hotel, but after putting Adam to bed each night, I shamelessly watched Food Network and surfed the internet.  It's so fun to have an unexpected getaway!

Adam got a token for a free toy at the hotel's toy shop.  He was very happy and proceeded to eat the tag and toss the penguin...

And it's not a Qualtrics party without some fancy toys!... and feather dancers... Adam woke up early after a rough night, so Matt took him down to work with him for a little bit so that I could sleep in.  Adam, of course, loved it.

We stopped by City Creek one night when Matt had a break because it was literally the ONLY place open and he was starving.  Adam played in the children's play area of the food court and had a blast.  We will definitely be stopping there again!

And I guess the highlight of the week was that my little brother got engaged to the cutest girl ever and they have the best story and they are so in love and I am just so excited for them!!  Congrats to David and Kylee!  July 22 is going to be here before we know it!

January Reads

I made a goal to read 36 books this year-- so 3 books a month with room to fall behind and catch up if I need to.  Well, January is over and I'm right on track!

Bomb: The Race to Build--and Steal--The World's Most Dangerous Weapon
by Steve Sheinkin

I loved this book.  I loved this book.  I loved this book.  Sheinkin makes this history play out like an action movie!  He gives plenty of background information about the discovery of Uranium and the making of the atomic bomb itself without going overboard into unnecessary details like a lot of documentary style books do.  This account includes stories of Russians and Americans spying for the Soviet Union as well as US efforts to gain information about the German and Soviet Union plans.  This book was fascinating and one that I would recommend to everyone.  

Saint Anything
by Sarah Dessen

This is a story about a girl who lived in the shadow of her brother's fame and good looks.  Then, after a series of destructive behavior lands him in jail, Sydney decides to move to a new school and start over.  She makes new friends that help her overcome the challenges and guilt from her brother's choices that no one else in her family seems to care about.  A feel-good book about self-discovery, family, and learning to deal with the consequences of our own choices and the choices of those whom we love.

Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles #1)
by Marissa Meyer

I listened to this book on CD-- I like to have something on when I'm home all day and Adam watches the TV if I turn it on, and that's not a habit I really want him to start-- and I finished it in like 3 days.  I'm pretty picky when it comes to readers, but this girl nailed it.  She did the voices of the different characters perfectly and I thoroughly enjoyed that.  Now, the book itself was so good!  I have to admit, I struggled in the beginning because it was set in "New Bejing" after World War 4 and there and hover crafts and ID chips and all that stuff which, after reading The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner, and Divergent books, I was pretty much done with this whole futuristic society thing, BUT I stuck with it and had a lot of fun listening to this book!  It's a play on the Cinderella story and is so clever-- I'm not going to go into more details because I'm afraid I'll make it sound stupid haha.  Just trust me-- you will like it.  I've already checked out the second one and have been listening to it in the car!