Preserving Life's Moments

Books of 2023

2023-12-31T16:33:00.000-08:00

I did a great job keeping tracks of my 2023 books through April and then didn't. This year also felt really haphazard on the books I read. Just what ever fell into my lap basically. I miss not having a book club. I'm ringing up around 40 books for 2023. I'm certain I've missed a handful with my poor tracking for half of the year.

I completed my 3rd year reading through the Bible. This year I used The Bible Recap which goes through the Bible chronologically. You read assigned daily Bible section and then listen to a "recap" of that section. It's super informative and really helps you to understand the passages. I highly recommend it.

An author and her daughter go to a cabin in Winthrop, WA for the summer (I adore Winthrop in real life, so it was fun to have it as the setting). A murder mystery unfolds in the small town. Easy read. Surprise ending. Slightly suspenseful.

This was an assigned book for Shane last school year as a freshman. I read it while he was reading it. Incredible read of a Holocaust survivor. No matter how many books I read on the Holocaust, never can I wrap my head around the horror of all of it.

An older book and a very random read. It was suggested to me because of it's content on managing people and leadership. Overall an interesting take on running a business.

A mystery that was long and drawn out. Weak side story lines. Interesting enough to read to finish it but not to suggest it.

A true story of a women's experience as a child in the foster care system. Where she was able to find family and faith.

This would make a great book club book. So much to ponder. Lots of parallels that could be debated. It was a bit slow, but super thought provoking.

Butterflies Set Free Translated by Katie Gallagher (no image)

True stories of human trafficking. Mind numbing sad. One of the best books I've read on this topic that fully shows how people end up in these situations and how with rescuing they can recover.

The life story of a book store owner. Full of life lessons, romance, friendship and sadness. A recommended read.

A Christian fiction book with the main topic of grief.

True story of a death, time in heaven and return from death.

A not practicing Jewish man lives the Bible as literal as possible for a year. Such an interesting and thought provoking read. My reading of it was perfectly timed after I had read Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy in the Bible. He drove me crazy and I wanted to shout at him so many times. His literal comparison was a bit much for me, but he did a lot of research. He never ended up excepting God, yet interestingly he truly became a better person through the experience.

A sweet romantic mystery involving friendship and family history.

An older book with incredible thoughts and ideas on food. I didn't fully agree with some of her thoughts overall. Replicating this would be extremely difficult (honestly just about impossible). It was inspiring for sure.

A great frame work for engaging children into a Christian world view. Not rocket science but laid out well in a great reminder. A quick and short read.

A short story that took about 1 hour to read. It was so good though I didn't want it to end.

This is potentially part of a series, but I didn't realize that. I think I found it sitting in the airport with a note saying up for grabs.

I saw this author speak at a conference. Her life tail is fascinating, multiple personalities and trauma. I had high hopes for this book, but it was a bit hard to read in how it was written.

World War II setting. A family takes in an orphan Jewish baby as their own. Recommended read.

Good overall classic bestseller. Enjoyed the characters and the plot.

This book really imprinted imagery in my head. I often feel like I watched this as a movie instead of reading it.

A quick and easy read. Good principals and reminders.

I won this book from a blogger friend. It was a sweet easy read that really brought a peace to my heart. Tales of a Mom who hasn't had an easy path parenting and I could relate and it felt good.

This book was so powerful. It really helped me to understand Shane's brain and how we can support him. I highly encourage anyone to read this (or some of his other versions) if you have someone in your life with an ADHD brain.

Oh how I wish this book was written 16 years ago! Hands down the best parenting book ever. This could easily be the only parenting book basically worth reading (and I've read a TON of them!). I highly recommend it.

I love the concept of this book. I can't say I have a full life council though.

A sweet fun read about a church community and it's pastor.

What a fantasy tale! I've never read anything like this. Great read. It appears to be book 1 of a series, though I haven't read any others.

I can't remember anything about this book.

The tales of a family with 3 children traveling the world. A fascinating read. I can't imagine doing it myself especially with my 2 kids. I love the idea though.

Fascinating book! In my top 5 of this year. Highly recommend it.

Absolutely the most comprehensive book on heaven. Biblically based and thoroughly researched. It's lengthily and a little redundant. Each chapter takes on a different question and there are something like 45 chapters. I read a chapter a night. Highly recommended.

A good thriller.

Come November, I turn to cheesy Christmas books. My first Christmas book of 2023. I grabbed it at Costco. Don't read this book.

This is a perfect Christmas book.

Another perfect Christmas book.

Mediocre Christmas book.

It takes place somewhere near the Olympic Peninsula in a made up town which was interesting. Weird ending though.

Perfect Christmas book.

Another Christmas book win (and I am pretty picky about them).

Solid Christmas book.

The final Christmas book (and book of 2023). It wasn't really very Christmasy, but a sweet story to end the year.

Books of 2022

2022-12-19T21:00:00.001-08:00

My book list of 2022. I didn't do a great job keeping track of the books I read this year. Life was just a lot more then ever. In all of it, I kept on reading. Though keeping track of what I read didn't make it on the top of the memory banks. Here is what I can find through my library book borrowing list (but they only keep 100 on there, so that got only got me through the last 5 months of 2022. Plus, the "readers choice" books don't actually have information on them. I appear to read a lot of those). Along with the few books that I took pictures of to remind myself of what I read.

I've listed them this year from last read of the year to the beginning. You'll see Christmas book season to start. I hit that one early and hard. I think I cracked my 1st Christmas book before Thanksgiving!

The total books that I can remember I read is coming in at 30 for 2022. I would wager that this year was certainly one of my less read years in comparison. Back to life was just a lot more then ever.

I completed my 2nd year in a row reading the Bible through. This year I used this devotional/reading plan.

A perfect Christmas book to end the season on.

A fun Christmas romance. The characters had a fun banter back and forth. The setting was unique, taking place in a European village with a King.

A Christmas book full of Santa.

Classic Christmas book. Just a good Christmas read. Just what Hallmark movies are made of.

Another fabulous Christmas read. Where you just want it all to work out.

This one was ok, but one of the characters was an author. Each chapter opened with parts from the books she was writing and I totally didn't enjoy that part. I just skipped over that section each chapter. I'd take a week on "the Ranch" though for sure!

Loved this historical fiction book. So many trials and tribulations. Really puts our life into preservative.

An another intensive picture of a girls life in India. Things that one wants to believe aren't even possible, but sadly they are. Fiction, though I'm certain there is plenty of truth in all of it. Eye opening for sure.

A very interesting take on Alzheimer's disease, where the two main characters have it at an early onset in their late 30s. This one really makes you think about what might be best for people with dementia could be very different then what one might think. Certainly some curve balls through into the plot here.

I struggled for half of 2022 with a Crohns flare I was lead to read this book on the SCD diet. It was written many decades ago. I followed the SCD diet for 2 months without a lot of results. It's a HARD protocol to follow and it's not been updated to our current times of food products making it even harder.

What a time to read a book such as this. The story set in a period where abortion is illegal. Stories of 5 women are followed. Lots to let one chew on and think about.

Decent suspense thriller. A bit long winded.

A really good suspense thriller!

The sweetest book. Just a good nice read. I realized I really enjoyed two of this authors books this year.

I remember this book, but I barely remember this book. It was a long drawn out romance. Kind of annoying, but I wanted to know how it ended, so I finished it.

Creepy suspense thriller! What a crazy plot!

A book about ALS. A good read, though sad.

Sisterly love. Or too much?

Another one by Lisa Genova. She tugs on your heartstrings for sure!

Just a silly fun read ESPECIALLY if you've even been a Room Mom before or have ever been involved in your PTSA.

Decent suspense thriller.

Solid good book.

A great book. Really makes you think about love and trauma.

A true crime story. An unsolved mystery about mostly likely a person who has murder the most people ever in history. A bit long at points, but overall an interesting read.

For the 1st half of 2022 I was in a book club. This was one of the picks. It's very Jodi Picoult. A good book club book.

This was an amazing book on praying. It really broke down how to effectively prayer.

This was a hard book for me to get through. I took it chapter by chapter and had days to weeks between each one. The message is an important one.

Hal Perkins as a parent is a pretty amazing role model.

Danny Silk also has a lot of knowledge and wisdom to give.

5 months of 2020 in Review

2022-12-17T21:03:00.000-08:00

Each year that goes by I struggle to remember the adventures, growth and changes our family goes through. I'm taking a look in review of 2020 along with a goal to each month in 2021 sit down and reflect soon for better details on our journey. (Clearly, a goal that hasn't happened yet...as I'm publishing this December of 2022 with not a single month to account for outside of these 5 months from 2020).

January

We started out the new year with a trip to Leavenworth. For the past couple years we've tried to get the kiddos out to the snow. Sometimes that snow proves to be harder to find and sometimes we have to leave early due to too much snow. We stayed at the Icicle Village Resort, where hot chocolate was always available and where the hot tub and pool were outside and we visited them both every day in the freezing cold.

Sleigh ride! Where of course, we'd make friends with the resident dogs.

The kids had been to Leavenworth many, many, many years prior, but not with much memory of it beyond where we stayed (at the Sleeping Lady) while Kenny had a work conference. As well as, that it poured rain the whole time we were there and Adalyn didn't sleep a wink while we were there. It was time to make new memories of Leaven worth. We had fun browsing stores and eating (Mongolian Grill became a HUGE family favorite).

We visited the Reindeer Farm and loved getting to visit the reindeer up close and personal!

Though we didn't get any new snow while we were in Leavenworth, our drive home through the pass was full of fresh stuff. Thankfully, Kenny, was cool as a cucumber.

In January we said good-bye to Vice, Kenny's Nissan Versa, and welcomed in a Mazda which we never named. I started a goal of doing a hike every week which was part of our pre-training for our big Enchantment hike planned in July. Kenny and I made an attempt to go vegetarian for the month of January. That lasted days for me and maybe a week for Kenny.

A big new adventure for Shane was Snow Bus! Every Wednesday for 2 months he headed off to the mountains to go snowboarding with a group of other fellow EAS classmates. He left school around 10:30am and got home around 7:30pm. It was certainly a whole new set of freedom for him. A story I think he'll always carry with him, was when one afternoon, a friend he was on the slopes with got hurt and he had to find help for her. It was a whole ordeal!

We also saw snow at home in January, which means school was canceled for a couple days. Which is always a highlight for the kids.

February

Mid winter break lands in the dreary month of February. Where I decided that the kids and I needed to attempt to fill the week with something besides being at home all day, so we took at staycation in Redmond (a town neighboring Kirkland). We stayed in a Hyatt in the Target parking lot and it had an indoor swimming pool and hot tub. The kids spent hours in the pool room, where it was humid and hot and I pretended that we weren't still in WA where it was actually pouring rain outside.

We also tried out this huge indoor trampoline place south of us. It was absolutely bonkers busy there (basically all of western WA was on mid-winter break, too). It took us 45 mins in line to check in. The kids were not happy about being there, but in the end it was a nice way to blow off some steam.

We saw Sadie turn 16! At this point we knew every moment we had with her was special and at any point she could pass. Her hips weren't great, but she was happy!

Now here is where some foreshadowing begins for the rest of our year. Mid to late February, I had a bought of sheer tiredness and a headache I just couldn't get to go away (I don't normally have a headache and if I do it's from dehydration and easily fixed). It lasted about a week. I vividly remember standing in the kitchen one day and jokingly saying to Kenny "Do you think I have that Coronavirus thing?". We both laughed it off and went on with our lives. The exhaustion and headache eventually went away. Being tired isn't a new concept to a parent and headaches aren't uncommon, so I didn't think much more of it.

March

The month our lives all changed before our eyes. When things happened that none of us could have ever dreamed up or imagined. The first week of March, Shane and Kenny were sick. Kenny described it as the worst cold he's ever had. Shane rarely gets sick. He had a fever and chest pains. He would constantly tell us his lungs were burning. He coughed at night and had a hard time breathing. We took him to the doctor and they said it was Pneumonia and treated him with antibiotics. This was before all the Covid protocols and madness was put in place. He got better after about a week but still had a cough. He didn't go to school for a week and missed the only baseball tournament his select team played in all of 2020. On Wednesday, March 11th, Kenny and Shane boarded a plane to Arizona to go to spring training. The world was starting to feel dicey at that point. That was also the day school was shut down. Kids were sent home and weren't to return for one week while "we slowed the spread". In Arizona, on Thursday, Kenny and Shane headed to the ball park to watch a game, as they were driving there spring training was canceled. They decided to cut the trip short and come home on Friday instead of Sunday. Adalyn and I had a pedi-mani booked that Friday that we went to. That was the end of life as we knew it.

As that week turned into two weeks, then three weeks, then months. The kids never returned back to school. "Remote learning" was a joke for Adalyn as a 3rd grader. Shane struggled under massive amounts of pressure as a 6th grader at his choice school called EAS (Environmental Adventure School). An already challenging school, where expectations where quickly changed to an online learning/do it on your own curriculum. He was depressed and angry. The aspects that they worked their bottoms off for all year, like field trips and special events, were all canceled.

My job went to remote teaching. I had 2 classes of 18 toddlers that I was all of a sudden suppose to do my gig via zoom with them. I worked harder in March then I had ever worked before, changing up content and curriculum to fit something we had never done before.

We were doing all we could to make the most of the situation. It was temporary. We could certainly do this for a couple weeks!

Shane doing school and talking on the phone. Life as a teen in 2020.

Adalyn doing her 1st Zoom with a huge amount of friends. It was utter chaos!

Adalyn and our kindergarten neighbor spent endless hours and days together outside when school shut down. This friendship got her through some of the darkness early days of this miserable situation.

Kenny and I continued to train for our Freedom Hike in July.

Adalyn saying hi to her best friend from a distance. Makes me think of Romeo and Juliet.

Adalyn turned to her artwork and made some of the best creations I've ever seen from her.
Birthdays turned to drive byes and drop offs. She made this for a friends birthday.

April

April brought us sunshine, Kenny's birthday, a canceled trip to Arizona for spring break and Easter. There was hope school would return after that and life would go back to normal. Sadly, that didn't happen.

We rang in Kenny's birthday with homemade macaroon's and dinner in the park.

Watching church online for Easter was a very surreal situation.

Mosaic caulk art.

Easter egg hunting, egg dying and the arrival of the Easter bunny made the day feel a bit more normal.

We spent a lot of time lunching together. Why not make it fancy!?

The sunshine we had during April, along with all the time Adalyn could play with our neighbor were glorious' gifts from God.

We did a lot of reading!

And a lot of puzzles were completed. This was my most favorite puzzle I've ever done! Children's books in a puzzle format. I literally couldn't sleep the night I started it because I just wanted to finish it so badly.

We continued to hike and spend time outside.

And then there were those details of haircuts!

May

Hope became despair. Sadness became anger. Life couldn't sustain at this rate. Shane struggled daily at school. He was angry and his little heart was broken by school and life via a computer screen. We slogged through each day trying to find every silver lining we could find. We were safe and cared for. Yet what was going on around us was just flat out wrong on so many levels.

Mother's Day...we visited a garden store, said hi to some animals and took a hike.

Mother's Day breakfast by Adalyn.

A friend made and sold beautiful cider boxes with succulents. I was inspired to make my own, Kenny and I created these as one of my Mother's Day weekend asks.

My fabulous Mother's Day gift: a hammock!

Our dryer broke! Luckily, we weren't with out a dryer for long.

We saw propaganda pop up all around us.

We took a trip into Seattle (before Seattle became held hostage by mobs and rioters).

This is the gum wall. Below gum art!

We were able to get a few bike rides in.

We loved on Sadie as much as possible. She hit a point where she stopped eating. We though for sure we were near the end.

Oh, peonies! How I love you. This was my 2nd year of my 4 peony plants.

They tripled their flowers this spring.

A quick Sequim visit, where we left Shane to have some R & R with Mema and Papa.

Even when it rained, Adalyn played outside with her neighborhood buddy.

Spa day and baking! All the ways to fill the days.

June

June brought us the end of school which was the biggest relief ever! Four months of "remote learning" had left Adalyn with very little education and left Shane exhausted and frustrated. It was time to shake off 3rd and 6th grade and attempt to have a summer of fun. The camps that were booked back in January were unfortunately canceled for a variety of reasons which brought about another round of sadness and grief. Every corner it felt like there was a hit.

A pool seemed like the best way to ring in summer!

Unfortunately, it was used only a handful of times and most of those times were in the rain.

I wrapped up my 7th year at LWTG as a Parenting Educator.

It felt good to bring that school year to an end.

Shane turned 13, teenager in the house.

We kept his celebration low key with 5 of his friends coming over to hang out.

Shane was able to keep in touch and hang out with many of his friends over the summer. They went to the lake and did a lot of bike riding around the neighborhood together. It was such a soul filler for him. As fall arrived and school started back up, friendships started to fall off, which has created despair for our teenager. Being a teen is hard enough as it is, let alone, being isolated at home with little social face to face interaction.

We headed right out to on a little get-away the weekend after school got out. Just a an hour and a half away to a place called Lost Lake, in Shelton, WA. We fell in love with our place on this quiet and quaint lake. It was a perfect escape.

Bald eagle attempting to catch a fish!

We came home to a nest right by our front door with 4 eggs!

There would eventually be 6 eggs in total.

Watching the process of these eggs turn to baby birds was a major highlight of my summer.

Kenny celebrated Father's Day by watching his children do yard work along with a few games with his new pickleball net.

The A-Team (Adalyn and her cousin Arli) got to spend a few hours outside together.

Shane decided to be helpful!

This girl needed a bath! Since she kept hanging on, we gave in and bathed her.

You can tell what she thought about that.

Time with Adalyn's best friend, Madison. I adore that they love playing with their dolls together.

Time at the lake with friends.

Kenny and I continued to hike. As our training hikes got longer and longer, it got harder and harder to do them because they kids weren't in school and it was extremely challenging to get a kid sitter. Since our long hikes required to go further away we weren't comfortable with the kids being home alone. Luckily, as summer arrived, the kids' most favorite kid sitter Marissa, was able to watch them. It was a huge blessing for all of us. They needed someone else to be around and we needed to train and a break from them. Training got harder and harder for me as the lengths and elevation increased. My right knee quickly became painful and wanted nothing to do with elevation. I spent many a hikes upset and frustrated. I eventually decided that hiking the full Enchantments wasn't in the cards for me.

July.....

I found this blog post unfinished. I was actually surprised that there was so much content on it. I never got around to finishing it.

Books of 2021

2021-12-26T15:02:00.003-08:00

Another year of books! I kept decent track of the books I read the first half of the year and then I got a full time job and that task went off the to-do list. I did continue to read though! My goal for next year is to keep better track of what I think of each book after I read it.

I hit 53 (or so, since I may have missed a book or two) this year. Not the 74 of 2020, but still a good haul overall.

I found this title on a top book list of 2020. As I put it on hold at our local library, I was 574 in line! That was the longest wait I've ever seen and would take years for me to get the book in my hand. Luckily, a friend had a copy for me to borrow!! An interesting read about skin color and family. It wasn't an amazing read overall, but readable. Slightly thought provoking.

A friend picked this as a book for us to read and discuss in January. Matthew McConaughey has always intrigued me. I've seen him speak here and there and his thoughts made me go hmmmm. This was truly an enjoyable and enlightening read. I laughed, I shock my head and I pondered. He is a philosopher, think outside of the box, hard worker and family man.

Allie Beth Stuckey was a podcaster I stumbled upon March of 2020. I had stepped away from the 2 main podcasters I had listened to as they took on a cancel culture attitude along with embracing all things Covid. Allie was a breath of fresh air that I needed in the time when my thoughts were full of confusion. The book was fine. Many of the points were things she has made on her podcast or I've picked up in other places. I think the audience is better fit for high school - young adult girls. Though the message is really important and one that young girls should be reading (and honestly many adults could hear this message, too).

Apologetics is a brand new idea to me as of 2020. Also, a concept I stumbled upon in the world of podcasts. If you haven't heard of it, in a nutshell, it's the idea that you know and have reasons to back up un-truths being tossed at Christianity. It means, truly understanding why one is a Christian and why one believes in Christianity beyond just faith or just because. It means you can discern when someone comes at you with the bible says this or that, you can stop and critically think about what you do know is true. This book was heady!! A whole lot of isms in there. It was certainly empowering to start to understand some of those isms and know what they look like so you don't get sucked up in them. Because many a churches out there are preaching isms and they aren't bible driven.

A truly historical read! So much insight and education filled within this book. If only this could be a required read for all members of our society. Or at the least teach the history in our classrooms. Candace is brave and courageous and doing amazing work.

I listened to Abigail Shrier on two podcasts in 2020 and was so drawn to her work. Having two teens in my house hold, 1 being a female, I knew I needed to read this. Also, having studied anorexia in college as a psychology major, this transgender trend and the parallels it has from my generations eating disorders was so interesting. Our youth today are drowning and cell phones and social media are taking them down along with their normal teenage angst. Things need to change dramatically before there is no future generation.

I'd consider this a historical fiction book. It's a YA book and I have no idea how it ended up on my hold list, but I glad to read it. I think it was an author Shane was into for a bit and I got it for him, but I ended up reading it. A very enlightening story about a boy from Syrian that flees his country with his father and gets stranded in Belgium. The author did a fantastic job showing both sides of the situation when it comes to the complicated arena of war, asylum and immigration.

I'm also not sure where this book came from on my hold list. I often hear of books and just add them and months and months later they show up. This was an interesting suspense novel. With a pretty creepy turn at the very end.

This is an older book that I remembered someone telling me about. The true stories told are hard to even believe. Mind blowing what horrors kids experience. Quite interesting to see where psychology and therapy has come, though not far enough.

An eye opening tale of a world so different then mine and one that is even hard to imagine while reading about it. A tale of survival, perseverance, determination, a bit of luck and a happy ending. A read I'd recommend.

I can barely remember this book even after reading what it was about. I think it was a decent thriller, but clearly not memorable beyond that. But sometimes that's all one needs.

Another suspense thriller. It was long and slow. It wasn't miserable, but not a favorite.

A unique story line. I feel like when I read this I really could see it in my head and could completely see this being turned into a movie.

A fun, easy, silly read full of a whole lot of truth bombs. Written by a social media "star".

Also written by a social media "star" which I didn't realize when I put the book on hold. She has quite the story to tell and has over come some hurdles.

I've never been a Sarah Huckabee follower or knew anything about her. For some reason this book perked my interest and I found her story enjoyable to read. I'm not a memoir kind of of girl, but have read a handful over the last year or two. I think what I found most interesting was her closeness to President Trump and her thoughts she had about being on his inner-team for a couple years. Really quite insightful and an image that the world of media doesn't want us to see or hear about.

This was a weird one! Good enough that I wanted to keep reading it, but mostly because I wanted to try and figure out what the heck was going on. Super far fetched, yet entertaining.

A page turning thriller! This one kept me reading and had quite the surprise ending.

I'd been hearing about this book in a few different places. It had my interested peeked and I was really excited to read it. It didn't disappoint. A interesting take on a dystopian world. Weird time to read it in the midst of our own chaos of 2020-21.

I grabbed this at one of the free little libraries near our house. I thought it would be a great summer cheesy read. It turned out to be a great read, but it wasn't even that cheesy. I really like the characters and the journey they went on.

Another free little library book. That seemed interesting enough. It was odd! But in a good way. The main character can taste feelings! A very unique idea and storyline. What bothered me the most was the family dynamics and their lack of communication!

Free little library for the win! This was a great read, but sad! Two girls go missing and it's the parents journey of years and years of looking for them. Could be a really hard read for some.

Summer read...I have zero memories of it.

What sounded like a nice fun light read was really quite miserable. Don't read this book.

A total suspense thriller. A bit long and took way to many pages to get to the point where you wanted to be. The end got wrapped up a bit fast and wonky. Overall, a decent thriller.

Not a ton of rocket science here. An ok read though I didn't agree with all of what he had to say.

A book pick from the new book club I'm in. I loved the historical aspect of this and the history presented with the Dust Bowl. The similarities it showed to todays world with the migrants from the east to California, the discrimination and how hard it was for them to get a foot up. How they were truly slaves to the big cotton corporation and government.

I'm always captivated by WWII novels. Every time I learn something new about the horrors that happened to so many people during that time frame. This was story came from a different angle. I enjoyed it.

I hadn't read this author before, but after reading The Forest of Vanishing Stars, I began reading more of her books. This is another WWII book with a very different spin. I really liked this and the twist and turns. It's not a happy ending kind of tale.

This was quite the read! Very different story that leaves you to ponder a whole bunch.

Straight up cheesy fun read.

I think I enjoyed this book, but can't recall much of it. I think maybe I wanted them to all just communicate with each other! I read this during our summer road trip.

A book club pick. I wouldn't have picked this up otherwise. It was dense and hearty. A little much for me, but when I waded through that, it was really a good read. It was written 2005-ish I think but totally lends itself to now still and even more so then when it was written. Great information especially if you are raising a boy or have a boy in your life.

A pick from my new book club. I enjoyed the read and reading her struggles and her journey through her healing. It was long and the 1st half is very different from the 2nd half. I'd say if you are interesting in someone's journey through cancer it's worth the read.

I really liked this book. It's a romance novel, but the main character did something I can't even imagine (sailing alone in the open ocean!) and I enjoyed being on that journey with her as I read.

A great suspense thriller!

A little long and drawn out, but I enjoyed the read overall.

Though it's thought provoking on the concept of gentrification, I really didn't enjoy this book. The characters annoyed me badly. I did finish it so there is that.

Another solid suspense thriller.

I LOVED this book. It gave me such a warm fuzzy feeling and I didn't want it to end.

Another really good read with a very unusual story to tell.

A cheesy, light, easy summer read.

A book club pick. This has an interesting storyline. It took me a little bit to get into it and I didn't love the way it ended. Overall though I liked the book.

A book club pick. More Kristin Harmel and WWII. This focused on POW and interment camps. Lots of interesting information. A bit on the long side and drawn out a little, but still a good read.

For the 3rd year in a row, I dedicated myself to good old Christmas books for the month of December. Remember this is where Hallmark gets it's scripts from. Some sort of problem, romance and it gets solved. Check, check and check for this book.

More Christmas cheer!

I hadn't read any books by this author before and this year she was kind of what I was digging. This book was so stinking adorable. I wanted to jump into it and live in it forever and ever.

Cute Christmas read.

This ended up having two short stories in it which made me bummed. I clearly didn't read the front cover well enough.

I had been saving this one for my December reading. It had very little to do with Christmas it turns out. Though a fun mystery novel.

I didn't have any more Christmas books to read so I had to end the year with some teen reading. This was another dense research based read, but as you can see I'm all about the teenager right now. I wasn't sure how this one would go either, but in the end I took a few important nuggets with me. Also written 10+ years ago, it's solid information if you are raising teenager.

A super easy read with helpful ways to remember to communicate with teens. I even had my teen read a couple of the chapters.

This year I read through the bible! I'm beyond excited about that accomplishment and have already started it over again. I learned so much and love reading it every day.

Books of 2020

2020-12-27T12:04:00.005-08:00

This was a book club choice. It took me 3 attempts to finish this book, but I truly was glad I kept trying to get through it. The true story is absolutely astounding, but the writing is a little choppy. It really did peek my interest into North Korea which left me with a lot of unanswered questions.

A friend recommended this book. I don't think I would have other wise picked it up. A novel yet the story is really bore out of truth of living in Colombia in the 1990s. Also, quite eye opening to what living in another country is like. It drug on a bit for me and was on the slower side, but I also was glad I stuck with it and completed.

I loved this book. The main character is super awkward but so relateable. I was drawn to her journey through her friendships and really connected with that.

I knew nothing of this author when I picked up this book. Turns out he writes odd story lines. I really liked this though it was weird. Mystical and magically which I wasn't expecting at all.

This was a book pick for the parenting book group I'm in. The title sounded so refreshing and I was so excited to read it. In the end there wasn't really very much enlightening information. I found that most of what the author talked about we already did on some level. I would say it could be a great beginning parenting book. The information wasn't bad at all, just on the basic level.

This was another parenting book club book. This author wrote Queen Bees & Wannabes which I have sitting on my book shelf but haven't read. I couldn't get into the boy version of that. It was Long. So long. What felt like long that wasn't needed. I have another book that is specifically written to raising boys that I liked a whole lot more. In the end I couldn't get through this one and let it go.

I'm not usually drawn to books about wars. This one was a last minute grab from the library before we all got shut in. The main character ends up enlisting in the Civil War disguised as a women so that she doesn't have to through with an arranged marriage her abusive Dad made. The history about the Civil War and the life they led was really interesting. The story line was intriguing with a mixture of a love story along the way. As well as a theme of photography.

Also, a last minute grab from the library before life became something out of the Twilight Zone. Another historical book that takes place in the 1930s. Now that I think about it Where the Dandelions Bloom and this book are oddly similar but set in a different time. This book also had a love story theme, hardship and photography. The middle of this one was really slow.

This was a grab off the library readers choice shelf that I picked up because sometimes you just want an easy fun read. A super odd story line about a girl who makes a robot so she can have a date to her sisters wedding. In the end, though odd, I liked the tale it told.

A friend mentioned this book because her sister wrote it and it instantly caught my eye because my children are HUGE grumblers! I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. I enjoyed the honestly the author writes about with her family and things they tried to lessen the grumbling. We tried some of the items mentioned. In the end though I didn't walk away with a lot of solutions though it did shine a light on how I may be grumbling in ways I didn't think I was. I liked reading about another family who deals with the same challenges as us.

Another grab off the readers choice book shelf. I think I was drawn to the hot pink bring sparkly book cover. I figured out a few chapters in that I have read this authors previous books (The Proposal). It's very much a contemporary romance novel!

This was a book club pick. One of the 1st ones I read after we made a new list for the year because it was one of the few books available as an ebook through the library while we are in covid 19 lock down. It's a mystery, I wouldn't say thriller. Pretty basic concept...a bunch of people stuck in a small hotel when a big winter storm comes cutting power and making roads impassable. When someone dies followed by others through out the time they are stuck there. It was a easy fast read. You knew that by the end you'd know who did it, so not much of any plot twists per say. It was wrapped up in a neat little simple bow.

This was the 2nd most talked about book in our book club when I joined (Glass Castle being the 1st). I've wanted to read it for years but just for a million reasons hadn't. Finally I found a copy at a thrift store and gobbled it up in a couple days. I loved this story and could see why it was such a well discussed book in book club.

Another book club pick. I was able get an ebook via the library during our shut down. I much prefer reading books versus the ereader but desperate times call for desperate measures. Commonwealth covers 4 generations of people. The story was enticing though at times hard to keep track of all the people. It really highlighted that the decisions we make as people and parents there is a great effort towards our children and their lives.

I read this book aloud to Adalyn. The author write a favorite of mine: The One and Only Ivan. I didn't realize that until we were a bit into the book. This was such a sweet whimsical story of trees, animals and humans. I can't help but hope someday that a tree or animal stops and talks to me.

This book!! This was book clubs April pick. Which was technically the 1st pick of our new reading list year. We held book club over zoom due to our shut down situation. I gobbled this book up in 1 day. The characters and the story line are like nothing I've ever read before. Yes, it's about twins who burst into flames when they are in some form of emotional turmoil. There is so much more to that though, families, parenting, friendships. To boot, my book club got to zoom with the author Kevin Wilson during our meeting!! What!?? It was the coolest thing. He's insight to the book really was the cherry on top of the whole story. Easily could be my top pick for the whole year.

Since I was in love with that Nothing to See Here, I desperately wanted to read another book by Kevin Wilson before we had our Zoom meeting with him at book club. I was so happy to get this quickly from the library as an ebook. Also, a story about families and parenting, the concept was really interesting to me. It was a longer read and a bit more cumbersome for me to get through. He just has fabulous character development and I really see and feel these characters. I even got to ask him about who the father of Dr. Kalina Kwon's baby was (it's not revealed in the story). He didn't tell me but he said it would have defiantly effected the research project. I'm still left hanging.

This book was hard to get through, slower then I like. Similar to the plot of Commonwealth...a novel that covers different generations of multiple families. Also, similar are those choices made by one generation that effect the next group's lives. Another random similarity to The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson with face injuries in both of these two books. Overall I found it sad, depressing and long.

I'm on a Kevin Wilson kick. This book opened with a bang and I thought, oh, going to be a killer like Nothing To See Here. Unfortunately, it fizzled quickly and got really long and slow. The concept was oddly wacky and fun. It picked back up briefly at the end. The middle just didn't cut it for me.

Adalyn received this book for Christmas recently. We picked it up last year to read as a read aloud together but she just wasn't into it. The book got abandoned on her bookshelf though I longed to pick it back up because I really wanted to know what Bob was. Finally, during our government shut down she said we could start reading it again. We both enjoyed how it came together though I'd say it was a little long winded and drawn out.

A book club selection as well as one of the worst books I've ever read. Maybe it's a self help book? Maybe not? If it is there is zero help in it. It's chapter after chapter of stories of how horrible women's lives are. Women whining about this or that. A lot of swiping assumptions about generations as well. As a Gen X I related very little to this book and it was suppose to be all about my generation. She fell quite short in my opinion.

This book was a bit to unrealistic for me overall. Though I wanted to keep reading to see if it all made sense in the end. It didn't in the end all add up. The time travel and her out of order life I just couldn't wrap my head around. What happened to the years when she wasn't there? Who was living those years in her place? Or was she just "missing"? Why did she just start doing this at 19? Too many questions in the end. Entertaining enough in the long run. Easy enough of a read that held my attention.

I read this in about 24 hours. An easy page turning thriller. I knew there was going to be a twist at some point, but when it happened, man it smacked you right in the face! Talk about childhood trauma, abuse, mental illness, abuse of power...lots of interesting topics that were touched on.

I also read this one in about 24 hours (shut down life = more reading time). It was a page turner as well. Also, potentially a thriller. Similar that you were waiting for the other shoe to drop and when it does you also go holy, cow! Then you just read faster to put it all together. Not a happy tale by any means. The choices made at the end by the main character are very interesting. Abuse, marriage, and being a parent are topics touched on in this book.

An interesting tale of a man that literally keeps things that he finds laying around that are "lost". He passes his "collection" onto his housekeeper and she is left to find homes for them. It's a sweet story with some tangents that I didn't love (the random side stories related to the belongings) and then there was a whole ghost-haunting part of it, too. I loved the relational part of the story between the characters. Also, a story-line of Down Syndrome that was beautiful.

Read these book also during lock down and loved the ties I felt between life as I was living it and historically. The history in it was rich and I truly felt like I was there in the middle of it. Made me want to visit Kentucky! The topics of poverty, literacy, politics, mining, land usage, power all hit so close to home in our current lives. Then toss in love, marriage, friendships and even potentially a gay character. Truly loved this book.

A fun summer read. The idea of being authentic was nice though not a fully reached idea. The characters were fun and it ended all wrapped up in a nice little happy package. There were a few little twists in the plot that kept you on your toes. I wanted them to be my friends and people and I would have totally hung out at Monica's Cafe. It made me miss community and friends.

I've always wanted to read this book and tried to read it with Shane but we just couldn't do it. I'm in a FB group book club and one of the book choices for this year was to read a graphic novel. I don't do graphic novels. Adalyn ONLY reads graphic novels. A friend was loaning us some of her graphic novels for Adalyn to read while locked down. I was excited to stumble onto this find. It wasn't to bad overall as a graphic novel. We watched the move this week, too. The movie is a bit different from the graphic novel and now I'm curious how different the graphic novel is from the book??

We walked into the cabin we had rented on Lost Lake in Shelton late June and I instantly went to the book shelf full of hard covered books. It was like a candy shop to me! This one caught my eye. Instead of reading the 2 books I brought with me, I jumped into this guy and finished it while we were there for 3 days. It was a different story for sure. An interesting read. The characters were sweet. The idea being old and lonely and how to keep living a full life as one ages. Actually, a them in the Authenticity Project book, too.

This book has been on my book shelf for years! I grabbed it finally one night during lock down when I just wanted to read a real book and not something on the kindle (where all my books from the library go these days since the library is shut down). It was a fast read. Also, a translated book which I need for my online FB group book club. Two birds with one stone kinda book. In interesting story of a boy in love with a older lady. Later in the boys life he discovers her again and find out she has quite the past. The German history entwined in the story is eye opening as always.

Another book sitting waiting to be read on my bookshelf. A big one...397 pages. Three main characters: 2 sisters and the Mom. All going through big life changes. The story of addition, divorce, marriage, affairs, love and parenting. It's unnecessarily long. An easy summer read.

Another book sitting on my shelf waiting to be picked up and read. Interesting take on someone being held hostage and the emotional destruction and ties that happen.

After watching the series on Netflix called Waco, I was super curious to learn more. This book followed suit. I liked hearing directly from the FBI negotiator that was involved in Waco. He take was slightly different then the series. This book wasn't all about Waco, it includes lots of other cases.

After the above book, I moved onto this one to get a view of Waco from the inside. The epilogue covered the siege and after that it turned into a long tale of his life which I wasn't as interested in. I didn't end up reading any more after the epilogue and a quick skim of the 1st chapter. His perspective of what went down at Waco was different then the series and from the FBI agent. In the end, Waco was a tragic event that took place that government leaders could have easily stopped from happening.

A cheesy summer read. With a mystery twist to it and toss in some romance.

I loved this book in all of it's cheese and juiciness! It's saucy and could certainly make you blush at times. I loved the characters though. It's a fun happy ending summer read.

Adalyn and I read this book together over the summer. It was a long read and very slow to start. In the end though, it covers animal rights and that all creatures big and small were made in God's eyes. A sweet story of love and acceptance for all.

Another pretty cheesy summer read, but I liked it. It had an easy flow to it and sometimes it's just nice to have everything wrapped up in a pretty happy little package at the end.

I have tried reading this book twice. I can't make it past the first couple pages. The words are a jumbled mess because the character speaking doesn't speak clear English. It's a version of survival that she's picked up, but it's impossible to read.

A fictional story based on true events which that aspect I found really interesting. In the 1930-50s in Tennessee there was a horrific system of stealing children and then selling them for adoption. The book was ok, a quick and easy read. Another wrapped up in a pretty package at the end kind of read.

Erin Morgenstern wrote one of my favorite books called The Night Circus. When I found out she had another book I couldn't wait to read it. Wow, what a book this was. I hated it and loved it all at the same time. It was a very hard read. I found myself rereading so many parts of it and it was complicated and hard to follow. Though the idea and concept of the book has stuck with me and I recall it over and over again. Hidden doors around the world that lead to a book world. A magical idea! One that I ponder for the fun of it when you hear about someone going missing. I don't read books over again, but I could see this being one that you could easily read again to grasp all of the intricate details better the second time.

This was sort of a miserable read. A book about two people that loved and hated each other. About popular crowds and fitting in. Basically a horrible cycle of them not communicating well and their relationship in and out of friendship and more. A quick read, but just didn't do a whole lot for me.

I had checked out this devotional right before lock down happened in March. One of the few upsides to the library being closed for months was that I got to complete this whole devotional before I had to return it. Lysa TerKeurst has amazing simple messages to really ground you through all of what life throws at you.

This was just not my book at all. Luckily, it was a short book which kept the boring down to a minimum. It's a lot of lack of communication between a Husband and his Wife then toss in a twist with when the Husband has a gay partner he had while at war. Blah. Maybe slightly interesting with some historical war and being called to duty along with life as a black women during that time.

One of my top favorite reads of this year! I loved this book and when I finished I wanted to read everything else by this author. I've never read anything that depicts marriage so perfectly. Then toss in side political commentary viewed as one of the main characters as a Republican. Though I'd never go to sea for any length of time, the adventures they had were just dreamy! Along with some very terrifying as well, hence you'll never find me on a sail boat out in open water!

A true story about a Father and his journey with his Son as a drug addict. Very eye-opening in the world of drugs and rehabilitation. I learned a ton. Along with being so sad and depressing on how little we do to help those with a drug disease.

I was drawn to this book because of the title. I've always wanted to do a potluck club or those traveling dinner things. Overall, though the book was about grieving, cancer and death. Though how one deals with it and how friendship can support that. I really didn't like the main character. She was so annoying and whiny. The book was readable but not good.

This was written in 2014, yet an amazing homerun in 2020. The historical information laid out in this book was amazing and the statistical information was outstandingly clear. A read that all people need.

I read a book earlier this year by this author (Sea Wife) and loved it so much that I wanted to try her other books. Sadly, this one didn't hit home with me as much. About a father who kidnaps his daughter after an long and ugly custody battle, your heart goes out to all the people involved in such a hard situation.

I'm not sure how this book ended up on my to read list, but I didn't know what I was in for and was blown away by how I ended up reading about a school shooting. Though it is a novel, it reads like a true story, because I can only imagine how these tales could so easily be true of families that have gone through these horrific events. A fast and intense read.

A suspense thriller book, where I found the main character Ella to be greatly annoying. Kept me reading and on my toes.

Shane read this last year and when I was scratching around for a book to read he said you should read this. Then he went to read me the back cover and stopped and said I can't it will make me cry. I read it in an evening. A heart warming true story of a relationship between a 11 year old boy basically living on the streets and a lady. Though heart warming, it was also gut wrenching to see what this kiddo went through. A story we should all read and be grateful for what we have and to remember to be kind, caring and helpful to those around us.

I picked this one up at one of our free little libraries in our area back in March when the lockdowns were started. I hadn't watched the movie, so figured maybe I'd give the book a go. It sat on my shelf for a few months until my book options became bare bones at which I picked it up and did truly enjoy the read. There was so much to the Asian culture I had no idea about! I found so much of it fascinating and was awestruck by the wealth. I look forward to seeing the movie soon.

Kenny has been asking me to read this book for years! I heard so many others talk about this book. Even our elementary school had a whole year themed around this book. I just couldn't do it, even with all the local history. Finally, after literally I had nothing else to read in the house I picked it up. It's a dense and long read. Way to many words for my liking. The history is interesting and the grit people had during this era is truly amazing. Something that I think all current Americans need a better understanding about how much we take for granted. I'm happy I read it, but I was so glad when it was over.

Adalyn and I read this retold and shorter version together. I had never read the original book story. Both of us found this tale to be delightful. Even Shane enjoyed it when he was book desperate. The characters are a hoot and who wouldn't want to have those amazing gardens to hang out in?!

I picked this up also from one of our local free little libraries (I just love them!). Having had my eyes opened to human trafficking this year as we raised money for our Freedom Hike through Rescue:Freedom, I was really interested in reading this book. A story, based on realistic information, about a 13 year old girl in Nepal that is sold by her step-father. A harrowing tale of survival and truly open your eyes to a world of pure evil.

A harrowing true story of emotional, physical and sexual abuse. It was a tough book to read but I think it's an important story that needs to be told, hence one that needs to be read (listened to).

A corky entertaining story about 3 fairly annoying people that all end up in a odd situation together. In the end, friendships are made.

A very unique tale. You could tell at times that it was a translated story. The characters were very interested and different. The idea of emotions and love was very simple, yet profound.

The main character was a bit bothersome to me. She lacked a backbone overall, but the story was easy enough. A mediocre read overall.

I started this one, but didn't finish it. It got swept up by my tradition of Christmas book bingeing, along with that I wasn't finding myself called to pick it back up again. Though I'd like to try again next year.

Not a person that has ever been on my radar until late in the year she started a podcast that caught my eye. I was really enjoying the content of it when a friend mentioned that she had liked her book. Figured I'd give it a try even though I'm very much not an autobiographer reader. It was okay, a bit long at times. Parts of her career I found interesting and putting things together having listened to her podcast.

What a completely different book then anything I've ever read! Based off a very small line or two in the bible. The imagery, description and historical details were stunning.

A truly silly easy beach read with a love story (imagine that).

An extremely comprehensive parenting book. One of the best that I've ever read with the amount of ideas and techniques for parents to use.

Another mediocre, silly, easy, romance read. About a girl trying to put her life in line and ends up helping a hoarder artist clean up her house.

Christmas Book Binge: I started this year's binge with an fabulous read! A perfect Christmas read! The people, traditions and the scenery, all just a perfect read of the Christmas season. It's even a movie now...I may just try to get that in, too.

I believe this character has her own series with this author. This character drives me bonkers! I'm not a shopaholic and more then anything she annoyed the heck out of me.

Turns out this is book #4 out of the wedding date series and I just so have happened to read book #2 and #3 out of the series. All the books really stand out on their own, especially this one because it's not really about any of the main characters from the 1st 3 books. It's a cute romantic Christmas read.

Such a Hallmark movie book here! Another cute Christmas love story.

This one I could wait to be over because the relationship between the two main characters was so slow and just silly. I mean, come on grown adults, just talk to each other instead of acting like high schoolers with crushes.

This was a fantastic daily advent read for the month of December. Literally unwrapping all the names of Jesus was a wonderful gift for the season. Advent isn't a tradition I know well, but have explored it over the past few years.

Continuing on my Christmas books during December. This one was a easy Hallmark movie like read. Not to cheesy, but cheesy enough.

I wouldn't consider this a Christmas read even though they did meet in December. It takes place over 1 year with brief touches on Christmas. It takes place in London (I think I read numerous books that were set in London this year) and I swear I read them with an accent in my head. This follows the relationship of two people. It was an okay read, not a favorite overall.

Another Christmas book package here. This is the stuff Hallmark makes their movies from. Takes place in North Carolina, which I also seemed to be another location I read about numerous times this year.

What would a December be with out reading a book that takes place in Nantucket. Quintessential Christmas book here.

This easily made the top 5 favorite books that I read this year. Such a page turner. My mind was spinning with ideas of where things were headed. It also hit on a lot of topics to pondering and thinking about. Community, neighbors, neighborhoods. bi-racial marriages, wealth, politics, spun narratives, racial tensions, teenage love, college, religion; all the hot topics in 1 book! I'm going to end 2020 with this one.

That ends this year with 74 books read (plus 3 books I tried to read but couldn't get through them). My goal was 50. Eck! Not sure I'll be able to top that in 2021.

Books of 2019

2020-01-16T18:08:00.001-08:00

In 2018 my goal was to read 12 books. I hit that goal and read around 20 total. In 2019 I wanted to read more then that and I succeeded beyond what I thought I could do. I'm horrible at keeping track of what I read. I'm also horrible at remembering what the books are about after I read them. My goal for 2020 is to read at least 20 books, as well as keep track of what I read and what I thought about them overall in better details then I have done in previous years.

Thirty-seven books completed in 2019 (that I can recall reading) and 2 books attempted but not finished because I just didn't like them and what's the point in reading a book you don't like.

One of my top favorite books of the year. I gobbled this one up in one day while we were on the Washington coast for spring break. Could even see reading this one again. This was a book club book pick.

I dove head first into this one as well, while we were in Arizona in March. After I read it I spent the next hour internet stalking all the people from her family. I later saw her speak in Seattle. I was interested to hear her in person since there were a few things I was curious about. She really blew me away, very well grounded, well spoken and on point with her thoughts. Also, a book club book.

This was 1 of the first books we read in a new parenting book club I'm in. I found the information in here to be beyond helpful and so useful. Also, it really was relevant to my son as well as my daughter. So much to take away, I could easy ready it again to get more from it.

I think this was my first read by Liane Moriarty, but I've heard so much about her books. This was a little take it or leave it for me. It was intriguing enough but pretty far fetched that it lost me by being over the top crazy. I kinda had expected more from it after I had heard so much about her books. Also, a book club pick.

I read this over the summer when I went on a huge reading binge. A quick read and page turner.

Another summer read for me, but this one was harder to get through. I don't remember tons about it but dragging my feet to get through it.

Summer read, easy and interesting.

This was a short read, but so crazy interesting. About a lady who is clearly on the spectrum but her life working at a convenience store is mind blowing interesting.

This was my book club pick for this year. A little mystery-ish. I loved the read, though a little wordier then I like my books, it was a page turner none-the-less.

This was a book club read. A true story, which was interesting to read historically, it was a bit of a slow read overall for me. I learned a lot about libraries though!

Another book club read. I enjoyed the way it was written by going through each of the 7 Husbands on a timeline. With a twist at the end.

Book club book strikes again. Another quick read with an interesting plot. Parts were hard to relate too, but were eye opening to say the least. Loved the Alaska setting to it.

Summer read here, that had a mystery like feel to it. Great read, great characters and plot.

This was the 1st read of the new parenting book club that was recently formed. Though the concept here was pretty basic and hammered in over the whole book, I would completely recommend it. It came at the perfect time when Shane was transitioning into middle school and that transition was quite a struggle.

A nice book on steps to take to make yourself or the family to improve about the overwhelming part that technology takes in our lives.

In December I read silly cheesy Christmas books. This was one of those. I didn't get to as many as I did last year though.

Fun little read for the holidays. This author does a great job painting the scenery of where her books take place. Beautiful unique spots that make you want to desperately visit them in real life.

Another Christmas book with a cute happy ending plot line. That's what you want when you read Christmas books!

This was part of a small group at our church, which I sadly didn't get to be a part of very much because of scheduling, but the book was a nice read. Some helpful tips on relationships of all types.

A summer read that was heavier and hard to get through. An interesting read overall.

Completely creepy and hard to read as a parent. Fantastic book though.

I heard amazing things about this book, but it didn't hit home for me. I loved the introduction to it but outside of that I didn't like how it was written.

Another Christmas tale. Sweet with a perfect little ending.

I haven't read anything by this author either though I know she has a full line of books. This was a book club read. It was odd. The jumping between to time periods wasn't my favorite. I liked one time period better then the other. Glad when it was over.

This was also a book club book pick. I can't remember for the life of me if I read this book in my younger years in school. I did remember aspects of it when I read it this go around, but not enough to recall the whole thing. Clearly there is a reason this is a much loved classic.

Recommended by a friend, it took a few attempts for me to get into it, but as soon as I did, I couldn't put it down.

A funny read. I don't remember what I read about or took any bits of wisdom from it, but it was a fun read.

This was one of favorite authors this year. I was excited to bring her into my Christmas reads. The characters were the same from a previous book I had read of hers. I love where they live. It had some sad parts to it but came together for a nice little happy ending.

Another summer read here. I don't remember much about this book. Sadly, sometimes they just go in one ear and out the other. All I know is I liked it.

Guess what folks!? Another summer read. Interesting plot line. Loved the characters.

This was kinda like watching a car crash. I wanted to keep reading but overall I didn't like the characters (they weren't likable on purpose). Summer read. My goal was to read over the summer and that I did.

My 1st time reading this author and I knew I wanted to read more by her. I love how she describes the settings.

Not my favorite read of the year, but worth the time I put into it.

So much fun with this story. If you have ever enjoyed watching anything on Food Network, this book is for you.

I was on a bit of a mystery kick this year. This was another fun summer read.

There were a few books that I tried to read this year, but just couldn't make it all the way through.

This also was a book club pick that didn't work for me. The plot and the writing just couldn't make me get past the 1st chapter.

I love Mr. Rogers and I wanted to love this book. I skimmed through the 1st and last part of it, but it was so dry. Wordy and over detailed.

Learning about the Enneagram was a huge part of the end of 2019 for me. This was a great beginners book and I learned a lot about myself and a few other family members. It's been really helpful information.

This was one of those books you I picked up from the library just because I wanted an easy fun read. This was certainly that.

Here is my list from 2018.

My list from 2015.

Books of 2018

2019-01-05T21:42:00.002-08:00

Back in 2015 I set a goal to read 12 books in 12 months. I really wanted to pick back up the hobby and habit of reading. That set me rolling on my reading and ever since I haven't stopped. I've since joined a book club that also keeps my book list flowing. Here are the reads that I accomplished during 2018.

Swimming Lessons By Claire Fuller: An interesting story line. A page turner overall.

Long Way Home By Saroo Brierley: This book was turned into the movie Lion. I didn't see the movie, but I actually think for once the movie might be better then the book in this case. This true story was quite compelling, but the writing isn't as compelling. The emotions don't quite catch as much as I think the movie does.

Beartown By Fredirck Backman: I enjoyed the middle of this book, but really didn't like the beginning and the end of it. It touched on some interesting topics about what living in a small town is like and politics of what that could be like.

Sourdough By Robin Sloan: I adored this corky book! It certainly makes you dream of sourdough, so much that this GF gal had to get her own gf sourdough starter! Sadly, the starter is still sitting in it's package waiting for attention. The ending was a bit off, but overall a very fun read.

The Painter of Signs By R.K. Narayan: The cool thing about being in a book club is that I read books that I wouldn't normally pick up. This book fits in that category for sure! I would say it fits in the classic genre. It read like a classic to me, but was an interesting story about relationships and the Indian culture.

Today Will Be Different By Maria Semple: I loved this book! I really enjoyed the transformation of the character.

Lilac Girls By Martha Hall Kelly: I would normally tell you that war stories aren't my thing, but this book changed my opinion on that. Such amazing insight into the world of WWII. I remember being in Montana, visiting a friend, the very 1st week of summer break and staying up late reading this. A page turner, one that I couldn't put down. Very rich in history.

Born a Crime By Trevor Noah: This might have been my least favorite book of the year. A true story, that had some interesting bits to it, but overall I just didn't enjoy the read.

This Is How It Always Is By Laurie Frankel: I LOVED this book! A very interesting tale (though based on some real life aspects as well as locations in the Seattle area) about transgender. A young boy and his families choices as he becomes a girl.

The Woman in the Window By A.J. Finn: A thriller that was an easy read with a handful of shocking turns. An enjoyable easy read that will have you shaking your head.

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine By Gail Honeyman: A sweet love story. Another book that I really loved.

The Alice Network By Kate Quinn: It took me 3 tries to get into this book. Another WWI story that I just didn't think I could do. I kept at it and finally got to the point that I couldn't put it down. It ended up being the slowest, longest book that I almost didn't like this year, but in the end really enjoyed the read and am glad that I stuck with it.

Dashing Through The Snow By Debbie Macomber: I decided in December to embrace my love to cheesy Christmas stories. A friend lead me in the direction of this author and ended up blowing through a handful of her stories like they were candy. Which they really are, but they are perfect for some easy light hearted Christmas season reading.

Twelve Days of Christmas By Debbie Macomber: More Christmas candy.

Merry and Bright By Debbie Macomber: And more Christmas candy.

Christmas on Candy Lane By Sheila Roberts: This book started the Christmas book trend this year. I like this new Christmas book tradition I started this year.

The Giver By Lois Lowry: I stumbled into this series at the beginning of the year. I had never heard of it and was surprised to learn that it's a common book read in middle school these days. I ended up reading the whole series which includes: Gathering Blue, Messenger and Son. I liked the 1st book the best and found that the last book didn't quite wrap it up for me as I would have liked. A really interesting series about communities.

That puts me at a total of 20 books for 2018. I think there may have been a few others that I may have forgotten. My goal is to keep better track in 2019.

Winthrop, WA {4th of July 2016}

2018-01-30T12:36:00.000-08:00

(This blog post was dug up from the archives....this trip was taken in 2016)

We took a little road trip over 4th of July weekend. Kenny has been dying to do the North Cascades Hwy drive. He's been talking about it for over 6 years. We originally had thought about camping for this adventure, but it turns out that we don't really do no reservation camp sites very well. We stayed in a hotel instead. A much MUCH better choice. Plus, when we drove back home it was so rainy and cold where the campgrounds were. We were very happy that we didn't go that route!

It took us about 6 hours to get to Winthrop, WA. If you went straight there from our house it would take about 3.5 hours. We took a lot of time stopping and visiting sites along the way. Our kids don't really travel great especially in cars. Adalyn has motion sickness which usually results in her head hurting. BUT they did quite well on this trip! Maybe we can expand our 2 hour camping/road trip radius finally!!

Our first stop was at the North Cascades Visitor Center where we enjoyed looking around and had lunch.

Our next two stops included terrifying suspension bridges over rushing water. So not my thing. I tried to walk across, but just couldn't do it. I sent the family along with out me. This first bridge Adalyn decided to stay and keep me company.

This second bridge, she joined Kenny and Shane.

On the other side they found some beautiful water falls and gardens.

Our next stop was Gorge Lake. It's not really a lake in my book.

Technically I think it's a reservoir, but call it a lake if you must.

This is Diablo Lake. The views were so stinkin' amazing.

The mountain peeks with snow and the gorgeous teal colored water.

Plus, the sunshine and warm weather felt amazing.

This is at Washington Pass. The highest point along the drive. (NOTE: when you offer to take a picture of a family, please ask that your family moves out of the picture!!!) This place was INCREDIBLE. The fenced edge you see behind us is a straight drop down. Shear craziness. When you get back on the hwy, you drive by this ledge and it's mind blowing how far up you were when you were standing up there.

What!? A heart shaped rock. How cool!

There was even snow on the ground here.

My kids seriously haven't touched snow in years.

Adalyn's foot fell through and got wet. Hence the face.

We stayed in the cutest hotel that felt like a really big cabin called River Run Inn & Cabins. The room was huge with a view of Methow river. There was an indoor swimming pool, a swing set, lawn games and hammocks every where. It was really quite beautiful. I wanted to raft the river badly, but Adalyn was just to little for that adventure. It's on our bucket list though!

Shane was all about the snorkel and mask!

Adalyn was NOT all about swimming any where that it was "deep".
Kenny reassuring her it's all good.
Adalyn not buying it.

I could spend all day right here in this hammock resting and reading.

Downtown Winthrop was one of my favorite little towns ever! So cute and fun. Great stores and yummy food. Old Schoolhouse Brewery was one of our favorite restaurants with a beautiful deck right on the river. The Methow Valley Ciderhouse was a favorite, too. They had the best bratwurst (and we aren't bratwurst fans!) and great cider.

Sheri's Sweet Shoppe...OMG...so much yummy stuff there.

There was an outdoor museum of town history which was fun to browse.

We spent one day hanging out at Pearrygin Lake State Park.
A day of sun, sand and water is good for the soul.

On the way home we stopped off at check out this cool train.
The kids loved climbing all over it and ringing the bell.

Our Winthrop adventures were a blast. We spent longer in the car with the kids then we ever had before (and we survived!). I'd go back there is a second and I'm not one to revisit places because there are so many things in the world to see. But Winthrop is a place I hope to visit again!

Seattle Magazine {November 2017}

2018-01-16T13:57:00.004-08:00

September of 2017, I was asked to be interviewed for an upcoming article on vaccinations in a local area magazine. I had participated in a program called Immunity Community back in 2013. In April of last years, results from that study had been released and the magazine was featuring an article about the program.

I spoke with the reporter over the phone one afternoon. Nothing to exciting. She said she'd send me the copy of the article to proof any of the information I provided. Time went by and I never heard anything. Then I got a call to have a photo-shoot for the article. I was surprised, but said sure, come on over. A lovely photographer came over another afternoon and shot pictures for about 30 minutes. That was that. Time continued to pass and I didn't think much about the whole thing.

Then one day a friend sent me a message on Facebook with a picture of the article. I was flabbergasted! I had no idea the article had "hit newsstands"! I had no idea what the article said! I had no idea my face would be smack dab right there at the top of the article and SO dang big! I had totally assumed I'd have a little 1x1 square picture at the bottle of the article. Nope! That's what one gets for assuming!

That evening on the way home from a meeting, I stopped by our local grocery store wondering if I'd find the magazine there. Sure enough, in all it's glory. I purchased a couple and headed home. Terrified to see what I might have said and what might have been written! Luckily, I'm just a tiny little piece of the overall thing and not overly embarrassed by the quotes I provided in it. Phew! That picture may haunt me for awhile though.

If you'd like to check out the article you can now find it online:

http://www.seattlemag.com/news-and-features/when-science-wont-ease-vaccination-fears-washington-moms-promising-method-just

Poppy The Hamster {RIP}

2018-01-09T11:36:00.000-08:00

This morning we lost our sweet Poppy the hamster. We had recused Poppy in August from a family that was unable to keep her in their new rental house. I think she was about 8-10 months old when she came to us. Making her 1-1.5 years old when she past today. It was quite unexpected to have our furry little friend head to heaven so soon.Though we know with little creatures of this sort anything is possible at any time. Adalyn feels a lot of relief knowing that "Poppy's soul is in heaven with Dodger now". Poppy, was Adalyn's pet. As Shane had taken in a Gerbil named Chewy earlier last year.

Poppy truly brought us a lot of joy and laughs. She enjoyed being held and snuggled (until she got wiggly and wanted to run). She rocked her little plastic ball and would run all around the house in it. We loved seeing her climb the side of the cage when she got excited for food. She was quite the runner on her wheel. Speedy thing! Every now and then we'd give her a tiny piece of banana. She'd sit and nibble on that piece of heaven so sweetly. The best Poppy trick of all was watching her shove food into her side mouth pockets. Man, could she fit an insane amount of food into those things at a very fast rate. Where did that baby carrot just go!?! Oh, Poppy just crammed into her mouth! I don't think any of us ever got tired of watching this magic trick she had.

Poppy in her original cage. After a month or so we were able to find her the cage of all hamster cages full of tunnels and two levels. She loved running up and down her tunnels.

Our time with Poppy was fast. I sadly never captured the pictures I would have liked or even got a video of her party tricks. Yes, she was a small little creature in this world, but the message remains the same. Treasure all the things you love in life. You just don't ever know what tomorrow will bring.

Less Is More {Declutter & Organize}

2018-01-06T20:19:00.003-08:00

Two of my favorite things to do are decluttering and organizing! Give me a messy closet or a disorganized cabinet and I'm one happy camper. Over the past couple years, I've really been on a mission to simplify. Less is more. It can very much be an uphill battle with what feels like a constant influx of items arriving into our house and multiplying after they get here (it's like toys are rabbits!). As the kids get older and we go through different phases moving out stuff just makes our house feel lighter and easier to be in.

A new phrase in our house is "use it or lose it". I have one kiddo that hoards stuff he gets in a nice tidy way, but never actually uses it. Drives me crazy! As we continue through our January Spending Freeze I've encouraged him to use the things he has in his room or it's time to move them out.

Our other child uses her toys hard for 1-2 days and then never touches them again. We are also encouraging her to return to her once beloved things and use them or move them out.

If something hasn't been played with or used in a year, out it goes! Especially if it would cost less then $10 to replace it. We tend to want to hold onto those random little things in life we *think* we'll use again, but the reality is rarely do those items get reused. Most often they are forgotten about over time and just create clutter.

I have a few avenues that we actively pass on our stuff.

I adore our local Buy Nothing group on Facebook. The Buy Nothing Project started as a way for people to give and receive items in their local neighborhoods. I love being able to gift things to the people in my direct community. And on the reverse side, receiving items this way is FREE. I can look around our house and find lots of awesome things we've been gifted from BN. If and when the times comes we'll re-gift them back to the community. It's a constant amazing circle of acts of kindness.

If I don't give it through our Buy Nothing group then it goes to Goodwill. I always have a donation bag in the garage ready for a quick drive through drop off when it's full.

Sometimes we have things that I determine are valuable enough that it's worth taking the time to sell it.

Our local consignment store is where I send any seasonal in new condition clothing and sometimes toys. I don't get a ton of money going this route. But it's easy and I usually turn around and use any money earned there on clothes for the kids.

We also have a local selling group on Facebook that is fairly active. Items go pretty quickly that route if priced correctly. Quick and easy to have a little extra cash flow that way.

Finally, Craig's List has worked really well for us, too. We recently sold two pieces of furniture within hours of listing them on CL. I had fallen in love with two new living room pieces that I really "needed" to have, but we hadn't planned on changing things up. By selling the ones we were replacing, it offset the cost of the new pieces greatly. Instead of spending $500 on the new stuff, we only spent $200. Totally worth it!

Less is more. Simplify, de-clutter and organize. I'm amazed that even after years of doing this there is always more that can go. Here's to going deeper with the items we have and moving on the items we don't need, want or use.

January Spending Freeze

2018-01-02T14:20:00.000-08:00

The big announcement was made yesterday at our weekly family meeting...January there would be a spending freeze! Outside of the food we'll need and of course the regular bills and giving that are already set in place like utilities and garbage, etc. The kids took it well. We'll see if over the weeks to come they'll still be sitting so comfortably in this concept.

Why you ask are we setting the credit cards aside to stop any extra spending?

Well, there's really a variety of reasons that one day in early December I mentioned to Kenny my idea. He was in full agreement. We have oh so much to be grateful for and the resources to take care of our family well beyond the basic needs of life. Our kids don't get their every whim and desire meet, but sometimes it feels like that.

Often spending is so much easier then not spending. It's easier to go out to dinner instead of making dinner at home and even extra hard to think ahead and have the items needed to make dinner at home.

It's easier to run to the local toy store and purchase a gift for the next birthday party, then to think outside of the box for items that we may already have on hand. What could we make your friend for their birthday? What creative "kit" could we put together with things we have here at home?

It's easy to grab that little $5 something that we "need" or toss in a fun treat while at the grocery store.

When the kids need new clothes or shoes usually those needs are quickly resolved with a purchase.

It's so easy to add Showtime for $9 this month so we can binge watch season 8 of Shameless instead of waiting for it to arrive on Netflix in who knows how many months.

Amazon Prime! Oh, you monster! It's so easy just to pop in my cart whatever item we "need" and have it arrive on my doorstep in a day or two.

It's fun to spend the weekend going to the movies or hitting up other local activities. My favorite hobby of "lunching out" will be put on hold for other non-spending activities this month.

The kids even have their own stash of cash that when the whim calls they can spend it on what ever item that their Mama won't use her cash on to purchase. I want there to be more thought next time we need or want to buy something, go somewhere, do something. Thought into what it may cost or if we really need to do or purchase that. I want the kids to see and have a bit of appreciation for what we spend our money on.

Trust me, we aren't even truly BIG spenders over here. We sit on and do talk through big purchases and say no to a lot of things. I constantly feel like I battle society on the things we need to have. The things my kids see their classmates have. The title wave of the need for this new thing or that new thing. Whatever the next cool item is or the phone that our 10 year old so desperately thinks he needs.

We've chosen to start 2018 a bit more purposeful when it comes to spending. Teaching the whole family a little lesson on waiting, wanting, wishing and needing.

Looking forward to the end of the month and how our spending freeze shakes out.

Christmas Traditions {2016}

2017-03-11T21:39:00.003-08:00

This year I tried to make sure our Christmas season didn't feel so hectic and full. We let go of a few traditions that felt to much and revised a few to make them feel less stressful.

The traditional gingerbread kit still took place! With a bit too much of eating of the candy and licking of the frosting. Overall, it was a success.

And we make cookies! Funny enough, this was on a totally different day then the gingerbread house making yet it appears my children are wearing the same clothes. For the 2nd year in a row, Cousin Arli, joined us for cookie making.

Though the whole thing was fun.

The best part of the activity was that every single cookie Arli made had eyes on them!

And we we feed the reindeer oatmeal Christmas Eve night.

As well as, leave Santa cookies.

Christmas morning our early risers get to open stockings first thing.

Adalyn's was full of Shopkin items.

Shane's was full of Star Wars.

Next comes, Santa gifts! Those come wrapped in red.

So far, what they've requested has been received. We'll see when that trend ends.

Shane got his Star Wars Battlefront game for our so old PlayStation 2.

Santa had to find this item on Ebay.

Adalyn got her Mani and Pedi gift card!

The kids get to purchase each other a gift (one of my favorite traditions!).

Adalyn got Shane this little stuffed "Dodger".

The kids also get to purchase a gift for each of us.

Adalyn got Kenny a running hat and Shane got him running gloves.

Checking out the calendar Papa gets every year.

Christmas season is one of my favorite times of year. Finding the balance between soaking it in and enjoying it versus drowning in it takes a bit of practice.

Adalyn {Kindergartner}

2017-03-11T20:37:00.001-08:00

We are 7 months into the school year and having a Kindergartner in school all day still feels exciting for her and I.

Oh, how I was SOOOO upset that she wasn't going to be able to do half day Kindergarten this year. I was mad that the option had been taken away one year ahead of when it was suppose to arrive. How I thought for sure we were going to role right through the new mandatory full day Kindergarten roll out. But in the blink of an eye, half day was gone and full day it was. I dug my heals in. I walked through every possible option and solution, but none were the right fit. Keeping her at her preschool in the 5s class wouldn't give her enough foundation to head into 1st grade. Sending her to a private kindergarten would be a cost we weren't prepared for and still meant two changes in schools in two years. Pulling her out of a full day class at our elementary school, making her half day, was a Horrible option. Though the school district considered that an "option" if I wanted her in half day.

In my heart I knew she could do it. I knew that she would eat it up. Though my heart knew she could do it, my brain didn't want to make her do it. I see half day as such a perfect baby step into the long life of education she would have ahead of her. That I had the ability to give her that slow roll out into school even if she would be "just fine".

My brain lost out and my heart set her free to her first full day of kindergarten on Friday, September 9th. Shane started school on Tuesday the 6th. The kinders had a late start to the school year. That Friday, Kenny and I both took the kids to school. We lined her up in the line outside of the building. We got their early so she could be the first one in line. She clung to me. As the commotion of the morning got under way, friends arrived and said hi, she just clung to me. The bell rung and she clung harder. Her teacher, Ms. Allan, came out to get the kids. Parents have always been asked to stay out and not come into the first day of class. Which I'm totally okay with. It just makes the separation that much harder. I kissed her good-bye and she walked into school with tears in her eyes.

BUT WAIT! There were parents filing into the school!!?? I was so confused! They aren't suppose to be going in! Kenny and I held back. I panicked. I didn't want her to be in class with parents all around and wonder why we weren't in there! I had told her parents weren't allowed in, which was what we had been told. I decide to go in and check on her. We found her hanging quietly sitting at her table. She was so happy to see us and show us where her cubby was. Ms. Allen was settling the kids in and working on getting the parents out. We kissed and hugged her good-bye again. She waved us off with just a tear or two.

I couldn't wait to pick her up! I was so excited to see her come out of school that day. All smiles. And hangry! Yes, her biggest issue with school is not eating enough. She arrives to me hungry and angry most days. It's so hard for her to focus on eating at lunch time. There's just to much going on. In her words there is not enough time. Truly, there just isn't enough time to eat and talk at the same time. She is slowly getting better at consuming more food at lunch time and either talking less or figuring out how to talk and eat at the same time. She is also allowed to eat snack before and after lunch. Though she struggles to get that afternoon snack in. Just to much learning going on. So we battle hangry after school. Which means I come prepared with snacks and a LOT of patience.

I thought besides food we'd really see her struggle with being tried at the end of the day. I've been amazed that I don't she isn't any different in this area any more then Shane is even as a 3rd grader. Monday they are energized and ready for the week. Come Thursday and Friday, they are in much need of a weekend full of down time. Trust me, they aren't even over-scheduled kids. I can't even imagine how they would be if I was whisking them off to this or that every day after school!? Generally, we come home and eat food, do homework and play.

For the first month, she had a really hard time at drop off at school. I would wait in line with her until Ms. Allen came to get the class. While she cried and clung to me, refusing to play or talk to her friends. Shane started to regress and was making drop off even harder because he would want me to wait with him in his class line, too. I still haven't figured out how to make myself be in two places at once. After a few weeks of crying and fighting over who I said good-by to first or who's line I waited in. I said no more. Car drop off it is from now on. (Mama doesn't really enjoy hanging outside the school in the pouring rain for 10 minutes either.) Now there are no more tears. Everyone kisses me good-bye, hops out of the car and has a lovely day. They also now happily play on the playground instead of huddled around me like it's the end of the world. Most of the time the best practice is to rip the band-aid off fast!

During the first month I also got an insane number of calls from the wonderful front office ladies. Adalyn managed to hurt herself daily at recess one way or another. If you bump, hit, or do anything that involves your head, you get a ticket to the nurses office, a concussion wrist band and a phone call home. I no joke, got 3-5 calls for multiple weeks in a row. I don't think she was purposely seeking attention, but she knew that if you got "hurt" and told the recess lady, she would get a trip to the office and I think that felt comforting to her. And if she wasn't in the office, then she was taking a friend to the office. After many talks about what warranted telling the recess lady this trend slowly faded and the calls from the front office stop.

Socially she is a butterfly. I love seeing her run around at school on the playground. Playing games with boys and girls alike. The flip side of this is she is super dramatic. Most days she has some complaint about someone did this or said that to her. I don't think this will change any time soon. She's a ~~bossy~~ leader as well. We work on her "leadership" skills during play-dates. Some day this trait will bring her success. For know it's tiring. I'll be using my listening ears and empathy for a long time to come with this girlie!

Academically she is soaking up every sound, letter, art, music, pe and math lesson that comes her way. This week she was sent home with her first ever homework packet. She couldn't get it out of her backpack fast enough to get started on it. The following day she walked in the door and asked to do her homework. It's the sweetest thing ever. I know with time this wears off and the shiny idea of homework wears away. For now we embrace it.

I still wish we could have had our last year together where she dabbled in school via half day. Though in the end I'm just overwhelmingly grateful that Shane was able to do the half day path. I wouldn't have wanted to see/live through him adapting to full day kindergarten. Little Sister was fully prepared and ready to jump into full day kindergarten. She was comfortable with the school from years of hanging out waiting to pick up Shane. She knew the front office ladies and they knew her. She adored Mr. Sando, the PE teacher. I think she talked about him equally as much as Shane did before she even started school this year.

Snow, Snow and More Snow

2017-03-11T20:30:00.003-08:00

Oh, we've had our fair share of snow in the past few months here in the Pacific Northwest. In reality, we haven't had that much snow compared to other places, but for here, it's been a lot more then we've had in the past few years.

Our first snow hit in January. The kids could WAIT to get outside and play in it.

The kids had a great time playing with our neighbor, Lillie.

I love that months can go by and they don't see each other and

then a little snow and they are having a ball together

Our little sledding hill.

The last time it snowed, Adalyn didn't like sledding at all!

This go around she couldn't get enough.

And her Big Brother accommodated her over and over again

until her little hands could take the cold any more.

Shane spent 2 full hours out in the snow. Not coming in once.

He made this sweet little snowman all on his own.

And then it snowed again! And another day of school was missed and more time spent in the snow.

We took Old Lady Sadie out into the snow. She loves romping in the white stuff!

Sheer Joy!

Stunt Man Shane!

And then it snowed again. And the kids didn't even ask to go outside. They just wanted to go to school. I finally kicked them out and they spent a little time out in it. It appears that by the time it snows 3 times here in 3 months snow isn't so exciting by the 3rd time it comes around! Pacific Northwest kids....they don't do snow repeatedly and the complain if the sun is to bright!

Seattle Adventures

2017-03-11T19:55:00.001-08:00

Adalyn and I had a day of girl time. I threw out a few things that she might want to do and the aquarium was the winner. She hadn't been since she was a toddler so I knew she didn't have any memory of the place. It was a true Seattle dark, rainy and windy day. But we bundled up and set out to the big city and had some adventures along the way.

We got there when it opened and it started out quiet for a bit, but quickly filled up. About 30 minutes into our visit, she asked me when we were leaving. Oh, Dear! Hard for the 6 year old to understand that the time it took to drive there, pay for parking and pay to get in, we would be staying for a lot longer then 30 minutes!

She was pretty quiet our first go around. Not really into much. A smile here and there. Our 2nd time around, she warmed up and finally got into the whole thing.

She refused to touch any of the animals in the tide pools for the first half. Finally, she allowed us to venture over and little by little she started to touch the sea creatures! In the end it was one of her favorite parts.

We got to watch two different diver shows in the main tank. I was surprised by how happy Adalyn was to sit and chill. She asked quite a few questions about the divers. Both shows this friendly Wolf Eel came up to a diver to get hand feed. They mentioned that it was a rare treat and we got to see it twice!

After killing two full hours at the Aquarium, we had some time left on our parking meter. I thought a stroll (in the pouring down freezing cold rain) over to Pike Place Market would be fun. I feel bad that our kids don't spend a lot of time steeped in the culture of the city of Seattle. I knew Adalyn didn't have any memories of Pike Place. Yay, it wasn't really a hit. Too crowded and the girl wanted out. I did get her to swing by the Wall of Gum and she found that VERY interesting!!

After struggling to get out of downtown Seattle, about half way home, Chatty asked if she could sleep. A few memories for the memory book.

Dodger Dog {May 13, 2001 -- November 19, 2016}

2017-01-12T20:27:00.004-08:00

October 2005 -- We had rescued Sadie 6 months earlier and quickly felt like she needed a playmate. After two attempts with other female Golden Retrievers, we brought Lucky home to see if a male mate would be a better match. We renamed this 83 pound (overweight by 20+ pounds), tennis ball and food obsessed dog Dodger Dog. Sadie and him hit it off and there we had our family of four.

He came to us at the age of 4. We were his 2nd home. He needed to loose a ton of weight and he really had no idea how to cuddle. All he wanted to do was chase after a tennis ball. We fed him properly and threw tennis balls non-stop. Sadie and him played chase around the house and in our huge backyard all day. And we loved on him lots. The weight came flying off of him and before we knew it, he loved having his belly rubbed - a position he had been totally uncomfortable with when we brought him home. He truly became another dog, one that would bring us years of joy.

Dodger, though a Golden Retriever, DID NOT like his paws to get wet. I don't know if it was because he was a Southern California dog or what. We'd take the dogs to a dog park on the ocean (perks to living in San Diego!) - he wanted nothing to do with the waves. One time, as I was walking him along the beach. There was a rock wall on one side of us and the ocean on the other side. We got to a spot where the waves came all the way up and reached the rock wall and us. Instead of just walking through the water. This goofy guy CLIMBED the rocks! It was hilarious! When we moved back to the Pacific Northwest, he was like a cat out in the wet grass. Tiptoeing so his paws wouldn't get wet. We eventually moved into a house that had a concrete pad in the backyard. A saving grace for him in the long wet months. He wouldn't step foot onto the grass. Did all of his business from that concrete pad.

Ah man! This snow is getting my paws wet!!

He LOVED his rump scratched. That was his spot. And it didn't need to be just rubbed by a human. He would settle himself under a tree and rub and scratch and maneuver away, with pure pleasure in his eyes. Rub his rump and he'd be your friend for life.

The rump rub dance!

Food....that dog LOVED food. Even more then he loved getting his rump scratched. He would devour anything and everything. Near the end, that love of food got him in trouble more then once. He started to eat tissues. If a box of tissues were left any where in his eye sight, he'd literally pull out tissue by tissue and eat away. One Halloween he devoured a bag of candy left on the floor. He had never done anything like this before that. One Christmas he ate a mini plastic tape dispenser along with a few other oddities. We thought for sure that was the end of him. He had a digestive track made out of steel. His presence in the kitchen was felt. His head was always right there to catch anything before it hit the ground.

Dodger begging...he spent a large portion of his life in this position.

Peanut butter was on the top of his favorite list. Give him a jar of it and he'd lick it clean happily!

Dodger Dog was not the smartest dog in the world. Though in the dead of summer, you'd find him right in front of the fan. He didn't love small dogs. He didn't learn how to socialize with really any dog besides Sadie. He would wag his tail at a dog and then approach with a growl. He licked his paws and the carpet non-stop. It was utterly annoying. A habit we were never able to break him of. I often thought he'd cuddle just because he wanted to get love, not because it brought you joy. When his tank was full, he'd up and walk away to take a nap. He tolerated the kids. He had this funny game he'd play when they got to close he'd lick their face. The kids thought it was hilarious. I think he just wanted them to leave him alone, but he also didn't mind a cuddle or belly rub either from them.

I adored him. I loved the smell of his fur. The way he'd roll over so you could rub his tummy. The mornings when he'd greet me with a wet nose in my face. His deep desire to go on a walk or chase after a tennis ball no matter how old he was.

He loved sleeping on the couch or our bed. When he did it, he did it well. I always envied him crashed out on the couch. The last couple years, as his hips got worse, he couldn't get up on the bed and then finally, he couldn't get up on the couch. That was a sad, sad day.

Dodger and Sadie were best buddies. They wrestled daily, multiple times a day. They would chase each other. They more often then not at the end of the day were sleeping next to each other in mirror positions. It always amazed me how often I would find them next to each other in ideal sleeping arrangements. As the years went on, there was less chasing and less wrestling. But even until the last day, you knew they had a strong bond.

Sadie has been deaf for the past year now. She has actually taken to his passing better then I had expected. I think with her old age, she's slowed down so much and changed quite a bit with her hearing loss.

The kids knew nothing different then having two dogs in our family. They were like two other siblings to them. Though often they'd express dissatisfaction that they didn't know enough tricks or commands.

We knew as the years went on and he reached years beyond the average age of a Golden that we would lose him sooner then later. Around 14 his hips started to be a major issue for him. Going up and down the stairs to get outside was rough, but it never stopped him. He powered through it daily.

On the evening of November 18th (Adalyn's 6th birthday), I went to say good night to him around 10:30pm. Later then on a normal night. I instantly knew something was wrong. He was spinning his head side to side and was very disoriented. I couldn't get him to react to me or stand up. I woke Kenny up and he agreed something was wrong. Initially, I decided to lay with him to see if I could get him to settle down and sleep for the night. Quickly, I found out he wasn't changing his behavior.We decided it was a trip to the dog ER and that our gut was telling us this was it. He wouldn't be coming back home.

We woke both of the kids up from a deep sleep to let them say good-bye. Neither kid has any memory of that. They both were really out of it.

Saying goodbye.

The kids have zero memory of us waking them up and bringing them out to say good-bye to him.

He was panting non-stop and couldn't hold his head still.

He was clearing disoriented and uncomfortable.

Kenny carried him to the car. I drove off in the dark of the night, talking sweetly to my beloved fur baby in the back seat. The Vet came and got him out of the back seat and whooshed him away behind closed doors. When she returned she told me he was having basically vertigo. He felt like his whole world was spinning and upside down. With out further tests they wouldn't know exactly why and would not know if or when he would return to normal. He was 15.5 years old. We knew there was a chance he had some issues with his kidney and that it could very well have been cancer.

The Vet offered up for us to take him home and wait it out. He couldn't walk and I knew that bringing him home would not be the right thing to do for him or us. I said it was time. This was the clear sign that we had asked for over the past year. We didn't want to do anything too soon and by no means wanted him to struggle and be in pain. It was time to let him go.

I asked to wait until after midnight. I didn't want him to pass on Adalyn's birthday. At 12:30am, after sitting with him for a half of an hour, cuddling and talking to him, the Vet came in and administered the medicine. He went so quickly and peacefully. One second he was there panting away, disoriented and uncomfortable. The next he was laying quietly at ease. My body felt heavy and it was hard to stand up and leave him behind.

We talk a lot about Dodger Dog in our house. The kids have mourned him. They wrote him letters and we burned them, sending them up to heaven for him to read. We cried for days. I still cry some days. We laugh and remember all of his funny antics. Just yesterday, Shane dropped a whole waffle on the floor. We joked that it would have landed right on Dodger's head if he was here still.

Shane wrote a letter to Dodger. When he asked how could we get it to him, we said we could burn it and the ashes would go up to heaven to him.

Dodger Dog will always hold a special place in our hearts. A place that brings us smiles and fond memories.

Rest in peace, Dodger Dog. We look forward to throwing you tennis balls some day in heaven.

Adalyn's 6th Birthday

2017-01-08T18:26:00.002-08:00

Adalyn turned 6 in November. Better late then never on the blog post. We had a quiet family celebration the day of. Which included a doughnut for breakfast, a day at school where she delivered goodies to her class and tacos for dinner, per her request. I had opted for dinner out, but tacos at home was what she wanted.

A few days later, she had a birthday party at her gymnastics gym.

They started out with an obstacle course. Always a favorite activity!

Then hit the trampolines for some jumping. Coach Pineapple is the best!

After that, it was time for open play. Cousin Arli, enjoying some tunnels.

Adalyn desperately needed to do the limbo at her party. Coach Pineapple made it happen.

I think the birthday girl may have broken some limbo rules.

Top from the left: Presley, Ava, Sienna, Skyla

Bottom from the left: Killian, Sarah, Avery, Adalyn, Arli, Kinzie, Natalie

After all that running around, it was time for snacks, cupcakes and presents.

She had a blast with her girlies doing gymnastics!

It couldn't have been a more perfect 6th birthday party for her.

Fremont Family Adventures

2017-01-07T18:11:00.001-08:00

Adventuring in the winter is tough for me. I tend to want to huddle under a blanket and wait out these dark and dreary months. My burrow is full of two energetic bear cubs that don't burrow quietly very well. We had an empty Saturday staring us in the face, so it was time to venture out. Lately, I've been thinking our 'burb kids need to see more of the amazing city that resides in our backyard. The Fremont neighborhood seemed like a good place to hit up.

We started our trip out with a visit to the Fremont Troll. Sadly, I can say that not a single person in our family has visited this local attraction. Seemed fair enough it was time for a visit.

This huge thing was created in 1990. He resides under the Aurora bridge.

In his hand is a VW Beetle!

Troll Ave N

After visiting our new friend, the Troll, we headed over to the Theo Chocolate Factory for a tour. I've had this on my to-do list for years and was really excited to finally get a chance to visit this local piece of heaven.

Hair-nets and all!!!

Walking through these doors....the smell! Oh, the fabulous smell of chocolate!!

We learned so much about the process of chocolate and tasted a lot of chocolate, too! It was an hour long and the kids did great. They loved the sampling portion, as well.

We finished off our Fremont adventure with a trip to Gasworks Park. I have some fuzzy memories of a long walk home from Gasworks Park to a friends house in Ballard one fourth of July back in my college days. Kenny thinks we swung by there once many moons ago, but the kids have only seen this other well know Seattle destination from the water when we took a tour on a Duck.

Adalyn was nearing her end of adventure rope.

Kenny and I decided this is the definition of a Seattle City Park. Beautiful views, cool history, interesting structures, graffiti, dirty and random shelters set up for homeless people.

Adventured out Adalyn couldn't make it into this picture.

Overall, we had a great afternoon in the city, in the dead of winter, exploring some great sites and filling our bellies full of chocolate. We didn't even get a drop of rain on us!

Conversations with Shane and Adalyn

2016-09-27T08:17:00.000-07:00

Out of the blue this morning:

Shane: I really want a big brother or a big sister.

Adalyn: I want a baby sister!!!

Me: Well, the only way to make that happen would be through adoption.

Shane and Adalyn continue on their plans for what kind of sibling they want in the family in her bedroom. Lots of compromising and planning.

Adalyn runs out to tell me: We have decided that we want to adopt a big brother and he can sleep in Shane's room in his bunk bed.

Shane: I'll share my room with him since I have bunk beds.

Adalyn: I want a baby sister, too! She can sleep in my room.

Me: Shane, why do you want a big brother so badly all of a sudden? (Adalyn's love of babies is not a new source of information.)

Shane: I can teach him about Star Wars, he can sleep in my room and we can play together. If he is only 1 year older then me, then he can go to Sandburg with us. Can we look for one on the computer?

Me: Yea, adopting a kid is not like adopting an animal. It's not quite that simple.....

Soccer Times Two

2016-09-24T15:43:00.000-07:00

We have finally arrived into the season of life where both kids are in a sport at the same time this fall. Saturday's are full of soccer.

This is Shane's third year playing on a Lake Washington Youth Soccer Association team. He did have two seasons of pee wee soccer back when he was 3 and 4 years old, but we don't really count those since he sat on the sidelines most of the time. He's certainly come a LOOONG way since then. Each year we've seen him progress amazingly! From a little guy who didn't want anything to do with soccer to the kid who had a hat trick in his game today (hat trick = 3 goals in a single game).

Last year he was a defensive maniac. There wasn't any ball getting past him. He'd just boot it back down the field. This year he is still a defensive maniac and has really come into his own offensively as well. Last year he scored 1 goal the last game of the year. This year he's 3 games into the season and already has 4 goals in his pocket. He can hang with the best of the goalies as well, but prefers to be in a defensive or now offensive position.

Kenny coached his soccer team last year out of default since the team was about to be disbanded if someone didn't step up and coach. This year he is playing U10 and they are suppose to have referees provided by the league, so far that is hit or miss. Kenny refereed his game today.

This kid is just every where on the field. He's really suppose to be in his assigned position, but continues to be a rock star every where. He's head is so deeply into the game and what is happening.

Goal celebrating! He's finally playing on a team this year with classmates and enjoying it that much more.

Goal #3 of the game for Shane. They won 7-1. So far this season they have a loss, tie and win.

Shane and his best buddy, Collin, out on the field.

Then there is Adalyn. Gymnastics really is her passion. We felt though that she should give a team sport a try this year. She halfheartedly said she'd give soccer a try. Thanks goodness for pee-wee soccer and only 7 days/weeks total!! They have a 30 minute practice followed by a 30 minute game once a week.

She's done great getting out there and following the ball around the field. She's kicked it a couple times. Overall, she's not sure this is really her thing. We know it's not, but proud of her for giving it a try.

Warm up time is adorable!!

At least she looks cute while she practices.

Game Time!!!

Coach gave her the ball to kick, she's considering her move her. She also had the only thrown in of the game and rocked that.

Our Saturdays are full and I don't mind it when the sun shines. Soccer and rain and I don't do so great. Only 6 game days left! But who's counting??!

Baseball AA Astros

2016-06-13T12:59:00.006-07:00

This was Shane's 2nd year playing AA baseball with the Kirkland National Little League. He truly has a love and deep passion for the game of baseball. You could say it is in his DNA. Kenny managed the team for the first time in Shane's 5 year Little League career. Kenny started out being present and around the first couple years to help Shane with his anxiety issues. By his 3rd and 4th years Kenny was able to be an assistant coach as Shane didn't need quite as much 1 on 1 attention. This year manager's were needed and Kenny stepped up to take on the team. Through the chaos that a group of 12 1st-3rd graders brings, I think he was able to find joy and fun in the midst of all of that.

Many of the kids on the team were playing AA for the first time and 2 of the kids had never played baseball before. With those two aspects in play, this team grew SO much. Kenny really was able to teach them a lot of skills through the season. There were 8 teams in the AA level this year. The Astro's only lost 5 games, which were to the top two teams that consisted basically of all 2nd year AA players.

As they went into the playoffs we really had no idea how things would shuffle out. Lots of little things ended up making their playoff path very challenging. In the end though, they took on the two best teams and just about beat them both games (losing in the last at-bat to both of them). They were nail biting, adrenaline rushing, sore throat from cheering, flip-flops in your stomach kinds of games. Shane has some amazing skills as a first base man, pitcher and batting. Not to mention he can stop just about any ball behind home plate as a catcher.

I spent the majority of the baseball season keeping score and keeping track of Adalyn. I was able to catch a few pictures here and there.

They look so calm and into the game in this picture. Don't be deceived, dug out duty was rough! Those boys have a very short attention span and spent much of their time spanking each others bottoms, dumping out water cups, or just plain making havoc.

This kid is either beaming ear to ear OR crying when he plays baseball.

He takes each play, pitch and hit so deeply personally.

Little Father-Son pow wow while a new pitcher warms up.

Adalyn spent baseball games running around with friends.

She rarely had any idea what was going on with the game.

After game wrap up.

Shane got nailed in the lip by a foul ball when he was batting.

He took got a little pep talk from Dad, a hug from Mom and jumped right back in to finish batting. He even got on base and made it home before he could get ice on his split swollen lip.

No damage was done to his teeth, thank goodness!

End of the year awards. The kids had just lost a playoff game that they had fought so hard to win.

Gymnastics {2nd year}

2016-06-13T12:25:00.003-07:00

Adalyn has completed her 2nd year of gymnastics classes at The Gymnastics Connection. It's a non-competitive gym which I really like. She truly LOVES gymnastics and has already asked me numerous times if she can take classes again in September. Her one summer camp she got to pick was a gymnastics one. She can't get enough of it!

They work on five different areas throughout the year. During the year end show they rotate through each station to show off their hard learned skills. Here are some highlights from the show:

Bars

Beam

Her Coach Mags in the background clapping.

Floor...they did a routine to a Micheal Jackson song.

My FAVORITE part of the routine, when they posed "bad".

Cartwheel skills. She's come a long way on these!

Vault

Trampoline

We hope that next year she gives a couple team sports a try, but we'll let her roll on this gymnastics love as long as she wants.

Happy 9th Birthday, Shane!

2016-06-13T12:00:00.002-07:00

This kid turned 9 last week! His birthday this year landed on the last Friday of the school year. It was a day full of friends, field day, and fun!

His birthday breakfast wish was waffles with strawberries and whip cream. When asked if he wanted to go out for his birthday dinner, he said, 'No, I'd like tacos at home'.

He opened his gifts before school. Sister got him Pokemon cards and a Pokemon book - his new obsession. We'll see how long the Pokemon phase lasts in our house.

Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Bob got him this Mariners jersey and matching shorts. He was SOOO excited about it. He even changed his planned birthday outfit instantly and worn the jersey to school instead. He has very particular clothing thoughts.

He followed his Mariner's jersey gift with tickets to a Mariner's vs. Astro's baseball game in July from Grandma and Grandpa Booth. Needless to say, he was one happy 9 year old baseball and Pokemon loving kiddo. He also received lots of other generous and loved gifts from family and friends.

After school Shane had a friend from school (and they played on the same baseball team this year) come over for a sleepover. They were so awesome together. I pretty much wanted to sign Maddox up for a sleepover every night.

We are so proud of whom Shane is growing up and becoming. He is a passion filled kiddo, which can lead to challenges and has been challenging over his 9 years of life. As he gets older and he channels his passion into school, friends, baseball, and hobbies, we all live in harmony a lot more often then not. We look forward to enjoying him in his last year in single digits as he heads off to 3rd grade in September.

CrossFit {1 year anniversary}

2016-04-27T12:38:00.001-07:00

A year ago this week, I walked into CrossFit Kenmore. I had butterflies in my stomach. My palms were sweaty. I was terrified and equally as excited to see what this CrossFit thing was all about.

It had been years since I had regularly worked out, if you don't count all the hours I had spent chasing after kids. That big 40 was in the back of my mind and my kids were starting to be more self sufficient. It felt like it was my time to embrace some new healthy life style habits. I was so tired of "crashing" at 2pm from either poorly eating or shear exhaustion. I knew I couldn't get into the gym more then twice a week. Work, kids, schedules just wouldn't allow it. I decided that if I could give 2 days a week, it was so much better then none at all. Since I step foot into CFK a year ago, I've worked out twice a week every week. Through illnesses, conference weeks.crazy schedules, vacations....I've gotten a workout in. It may not be ideal, but it's better then not going at all.

I had several friends that posted about their CrossFit journeys and I was very intrigued by them. I even worked in Redmond across from a CF gym for two years. I listened to their loud music and watched as they would flip tires, run laps and do a variety of other things that looked like sheer torture. I hated running, and these people did A LOT of running. How the heck could CF work for me?

I decided to just jump in. I spent 5 sessions learning CF basics and then was let loose with all the other CFers. Man, those first few times, and even the first few months, I still walked in with butterflies. I am by no means a natural at some of this stuff. Snatches!?! Oh my! A year later I may just slightly be getting better. You want me to squat while I do that!? I still can't even make my body do that. A pull up?! You want me to do 10 all on my own. Thank goodness for bands. That huge thick blue band I needed to do a pull up with a year ago. This week I did 2 strict pull ups with the a skinny purple band, the smallest one at the gym. I can't do a pull up on my own yet, but I'm getting closer.

Running...that was an evil word to me. Even married to a guy that has run every single day for almost 12 years now. My body just flat out didn't like doing it. I can now run a mile with out really thinking twice about it. I'm not the fastest runner, but heck...I can run a mile!! I could barely run 400 meters when I started with out calling it quits.

I've dropped 10 pounds and I am stronger then I've probably ever been in my life. I don't have what I like to joke as "resting muscle". Those muscles that just sit there even when you are not flexing. I've got a decent biceps and triceps when I flex though. Those "resting muscles" are on my to do list. I'll get there.

About a month into CFing, I decided if I was going to be working my butt off as hard as I was twice a week, then I sure wanted to put better food into my body. Kenny agreed to do the Whole 30 challenge with me. From there we've morphed into a Whole 30/Paleo diet and have continued eating that way for about 10 months now. Getting rid of grains was a big deal for me. I didn't even realized how bad they were making me feel until maybe 6 months off them. I now like a sugar fix here and there. I also have a touch of diary now and again. Overall though, my eating habits have changed drastically and I don't "crash" any more during the day.

I've met a lot of great people at CFK. I love the challenge and versatility of CF. I love that I can modify it to work for me and where I'm physically at. I love to see my improvements and successes. Not every day is my best work out. I've left in tears, feeling so ticked off at my body for not getting it. Most days though, I walk out ready to take on the world.

I have "before" and "after" pictures. Though I don't think you can see a lot of changes between the two. It was a quick after thought one morning a year ago when I asked Adalyn to snap a quick picture.

A year ago at the beginning of my CrossFit adventures.

A year later. You can't see it, but I'm feeling way more fit!