Book Review Time

Yes! I just got done with my 3rd book in 3 weeks. I love it!
I will start with the first book I read...

#1- Twilight by Stephenie Meyer-
First of all, this is a Young Adult book which can put some people off, but I loved it! It sounds so corny, but the book is about a girl who falls in love with a vampire. Now forget all you learned from reading Dracula (which I HAD to read in 7th grade and did not like it). These vampires are different and it is a great book. I read it in a few days and told my friend about it and she read it in like less than 24 hours. It is just a fun read and it is 498 pages! The great part is there is a sequel to it, yeah! It is on hold at the library waiting for me to come pick it up. My Mom's book club is going to read Twilight and when she told me that the hold at her library in Utah was over 100 people, I knew it had to be good. Lucky for me the wait wasn't that long here in Colorado, just a few days and it was mine.

#2- Suncatchers by Jamie Langston Turner-
I just happened to see this book on the shelf at the library when I picking up my #3 book. It looked like a nice clean book by a Christian author. I am always on the lookout for a nice clean book! So I tried it out. This author had other books published also. It was a fun simple read, but I will admit I did skim quite a few parts in the book so I could get to the point. This was very clean book and enjoyable. I wouldn't be as excited to recommend this book to my friends and family but wouldn't be embarrassed either. All in all I thought is was an enjoyable read.

#3- These is my Words by Nancy E. Turner-
My sister Kristen recommended this book. A few months ago I had checked this out from the library and read a few pages and just couldn't get into it. I decided to give it another chance when others had liked the book too. Once I got past the first 20 pages I started to enjoy this book more. The book got better and better. It is "The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine 1881-1901." So it is pretty much about a pioneer girl in the Arizona Territories. Great book I highly recommend!

I will probably pick up the Sequel to Twilight tomorrow. It is called New Moon. I am in the reading mood for sure!

Memorial Day

It is about over now...the glorious Memorial weekend. It is the beginning of summer and summer fun activities, yippee! We had a good weekend and it feels good. Taft & I got to go to the musical "Wicked" on Saturday afternoon. It was really fun! I will never watch "The Wizard of Oz" the same again. What a great play. What a great date. We even got to go to my favorite restaurant, Thai Basil, for lunch, yummy yummy. I had a great chicken and shrimp dish with fresh pineapple that was served inside of a pineapple. Enough about the food. It is always about the food with me! :) Todd and Kat were nice enough to watch the 4 kiddos for us so we didn't have to pay for a babysitter. Thanks guys!

Sunday was different. I helped in the nursery since they are short handed. Man! That little nursery is busy, busy, busy. I think that Ellie is what keeps it hopping though! Phew! I don't think I could do that every week. There was only 9 kids, but that was more than enough. It was fun in a way to see how Ellie acts in nursery. But she is a little pushy bugger. I had to keep telling her not to push. She sure has a BIG personality in that short little chubby body!

Today, I got to running in the morning around the trails here. I just love all the trails here! It is so nice! I have decided to try to be better in a lot of aspects in my life. I lost 30 pounds last year and some how I have let 10 pounds come back. (Actually I know what the some how is, FOOD, it is always about the food). So I am back to trying to run 3 times a week (which I have kept up with pretty well), and then go to the gym or do some strength training at home the other 3 days of the week. I want to get better at praying in the morning and get back to reading my scriptures. It just seems like I am always trying to get better at those things. Some day it won't be a fight to read my scriptures daily or to talk in sincere prayer. Anyway, I also really really really need to work on not yelling at my kids. It is just so dumb and juvenile. I love them, I don't want to yell at them, and I don't want them yelling either. So I will try harder.

So back to today, we spent most of it with Todd, Kat, Logan and Paige. The kids played on the slip and slide and we just watched and enjoyed being outside. We grilled some burgers and hot dogs (it isn't Memorial Day without grilling!) and just pretty much hung out all day. It was nice to be with them and have the kids play together. We are so lucky they live so close and that we have at least one family close by.

Let summer begin! Yeah!

Mother's Day

Here it is. Another Mother's Day. It was a good one too! First of all, starting Thursday, I got to have a "retreat" with all my sisters and Mom. They came here to Denver so we could all take some time off being moms and just spend some time being us. We shopped until we dropped and ate yummy food. It was great. Oh ya, don't forget about the talking, talking, talking. Friday night we slept at a hotel which is always fun, but I wish we could have slept in longer. 7 am! You have got to be kidding me! Oh well. It was great. I am so lucky to have the best 3 sisters and mom in the world. We are all so alike yet very uniquely different. They went home last night so everyone could be with their own little family today.

I got such cute cards from my kids. Even though Carter's said I was 41! Hmpf, I will be in 10 years! :) They all said they like my cooking. (which surprises me since Carter only likes about 1/4th of my dinners, oh well, he will like more when he gets older). Brayden made me a neat clay magnet with great colors of paint on it. Kennedi made me a book and a neat poster that has her profile on it. And Carter gave me a cute little flower pot with his finger prints on it made into bugs and flowers. The kids were so excited to give me my gifts and I loved them all. They sang so cute in sacrament meeting with the Primary kids. I love them so much. Ellie didn't know that it was any day different and was busy as usual.

Taft had to leave today to go to Washington for some training, so my wonderful friends the Mackays invited me over an spoiled me with dinner. I had salmon, grilled peppers, broccoli, baked potato, cucumber tomato salad, bread, chocolate strawberries and chocolate cake! Whoa! I felt like a queen! They are such wonderful people.

It was a good day and I felt loved!

All by myself

So, it looks like the time has come that Taft will have to start traveling for work. We knew when we took this job, almost 5 years ago, that the possibility of him traveling was real. We have been spoiled so far and he hasn't had to travel for any significant amount of time. But things are slow here in Denver and not a lot of projects are happening for his company. A project has come up in Phoenix that looks like it would last until the end of the year. I don't know what to think about all of this. On one hand it would be interesting to see how I handle being a single Mom during the week. On the other hand it probably wouldn't be fun at all! It could all start as early as next week. It would be hard being the one in charge ALL OF THE TIME. The kids are involved in sports and other things and it is nice when Taft can do some of that during the week nights. I could handle it but I don't know how my patience would hold. The one nice thing is that I wouldn't worry much about making a nice dinner. Without another adult here to appreciate the meal it wouldn't be worth the time. So pancakes, and cereal would work just fine! Maybe a little Mac 'n Cheese thrown in there too! :) Taft would rack up the miles for plane tickets so maybe we could go on a nice vacation cheaper. Oh who knows. I guess we will find out soon!

PS- I am in the middle of "Twilight" and so far it has sucked me right in. I am loving it. So I guess I really was in the reading mood!

Am I really listening?

One day in the car I banned the word Mom from my children. I had heard it too many times that day and they had filled the quota. :) I think it is funny that they have to start every sentence with "Mom." Especially when we are in the car, since I am sitting right there. I think I would know that they are talking to me. But maybe I should really think about that. Maybe I do a little too much ignoring when they talk. Maybe they think that they have to start their sentence with "Mom" so I will answer them and then they know I am there listening. Hmmmm.... maybe I should listen a little more.

Perfect Streak

Don't get the title wrong, this is not about streaking. I read and participate on a Bulletin Board on BabyCenter that is Moms Losing Weight. Some of us started today a Perfect Streak Contest. The Contest entails:
For the Perfect Streak, each day you must have a No Cheat Day, whatever your definition is.
1. No Cheat Day
In addition, you must complete four out of five of the list:
2. Cardio 30 minutes.
3. Strength training (including yoga/pilates) 30 minutes.
4. Half your weight in ounces water.
5. Four servings fruit and/or veggies.
6. Post a journal on the board (any thread counts).
To continue with the Perfect Streak contest, you have to complete these things everyday.

I need this contest to get me going again on the weight loss. Last year I lost 30 pounds by finally starting to exercise and eating right! I have gained around 5 back and need to get better about eating healthy again. I ran this morning for 3 miles on our treadmill. I hope to get outside to run again. We have tons of wonderful trails in our neighborhood and it just feels so great to be outdoors and exercise. Much more interesting than in my unfinished basement on my treadmill in front of a concrete wall! I hope I keep this streak and get back to where I want to be. It will be tough because in 3 days my 3 sisters and mom are showing up for a fun weekend together! I love to eat with friends and family so I will have to watch it.

Let's get reading!

I think I am in one of my book reading moods. Throughout the year my mood for reading goes up and down. I will read for weeks and read lots and lots and then I burn myself out and don't read again for a few months and the cycle starts over again. It is feeling like a reading time again. My kids went back on track again today, whew! More time for myself. Of course I still have my youngest still with me, but life is much more doable with just one child than four. I can get all my errands done! I dropped over to the local library and picked up 3 books: Twilight, Suncatchers and These is my Words. I hope they are good! I will let you know.

The Starting Line

Well, here I am. I didn't think I would do one of these blogs, but last night I started reading some blogs and was inspired to start one of my own. I have never been good at keeping a journal and I regret that. I have been a mom almost 10 years and I wish I would have written more and kept track better. If I don't start now then I will regret that I didn't start today. I hope to share the ups and downs of motherhood, wifehood, and lifehood.

At this point in my life, I feel like my biggest title is of mother. I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. With 4 children, being a mother is what takes up most of my time, but it would be nice to feel like I am someone/something else too. I don't know what that would be, but it is nice to be Shanna and not only Mom all the time. I have always wanted to be a mom. That is what I wanted to be when I grew up. I am glad I am a mom. I wouldn't have it any other way. It shouldn't be the only thing I am though. I wouldn't be a good mom if that is the only thing I am.

Well I hope this turns out to be as therapeutic as it seems it could be. I have already figured out that I am not the best at writing correctly, oh well! That's just me.