Summer Reading List

The votes came in (yay!) and it seems like you would like to hear about my summer reading list, so here goes!
P.S. I'm pretty sure I'm missing two, I just can't remember what they are... so maybe we'll have a reading list # 2 blog later on...

Catcher In The Rye
Amazing that I have never read this before now. I actually remember starting it a few years back but couldn't finish it. It's not at all what I expected, having heard about the conspiracies surrounding it. Once I realized that it is just a book-long rant from a teenage boy I was able to enjoy it for the classic it is. It was difficult for me to swallow the insane amounts of negativity about everything in the main character's life, until I realized that it was such an accurate and insightful look in to the average teenager's life. Don't you remember hating everything? Haha! I thought it was a brilliantly written, run-on sketch of the average teenager's rite of passage and journey into realizing that the world, just possibly, does not revolve around you.

Brave New World
Such an interesting story! 1984 is one of my top 5 for sure, so I figured I would enjoy this, and I did, but I was impressed at what a different story it is. Alex and I talked about this for weeks after I finished because I was SO intrigued at how the author took a seemingly complete dystopia and made all of it's inhabitants completely satisfied and HAPPY with their existence in it. Of course it looks like a dystopia to us, with choice few having complete control over every aspect of each individual's life, but to these people it was all they had known, and they loved it. Even the lower ranks of society were literally trained to WANT to be that way, and to despise the thought of ever being anyone else but who they were designed to be. So how could they know not be happy? And even when they were exposed to the so-called "savages" who live as they want (albeit, locked in a certain area of the world) the "civilized" do not want such a life, they like being prisoners of this dystopia. Would we all be this way if we were raised in such a society? Is the desire for freedom, for individuality an innate characteristic or is it learned?
Man... I could go on and on about this book. A must-read for sure.

Atonement
I don't even remember why I chose this book to read, but I really liked it. It was a story about mistakes, betrayal, and spending a lifetime trying to atone for those. I loved the ending - it wasn't a happy one, but I love how it was written. I'm a sucker for the war-time periods, and this was a great sketch of WWII England. I don't want to give too much away, but I just loved the concept of writing your own story when reality is too much to take.

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
I admit that I gave into the book club suggestions for this book at the beginning of the summer because I couldn't think of anything else to get, and I was feeling very novel-y. (New favorite word). I absolutely loved this book, from start to finish. I devoured the fantastic character development and was immediately deeply emotionally attached to all of them. I cried... a lot. The author superbly made me believe in the fictional training of the Sawtelle dogs and the human-like relationships between them and their owners. I found myself wishing I could get me a Sawtelle dog. At times I felt it was a little disconnected and at other times a bit too lengthy describing things that were not pertinent to the story, but overall I loved the writing because it kept me riveted the entire time. I could not wait to turn the page - on every page. And not because it was a thriller or a suspense novel, but because I loved the characters and was emotionally involved in what would happen to them next, even if it was just a romp out in the field to play with the dogs. And THAT is what qualifies Wroblewski as a superb author in my eyes. I can't wait for his next book.

Hunger Games Series
I was very wary of the third book as I had heard mostly bad reviews from it - mostly just that it was poorly written, bad ending, not as good as the other ones... etc. But I was not disappointed at all, and maybe it was thanks to my low expectations, but I'm glad either way. I got tired of how whiny Katniss was the whole time, but it was indeed realistic in that sense. She was only 17, and (refer to the first review) still believed the world to revolve around her. I did think the writing quality was lacking, but I think that is because this novel was different from the other two, and we had not seen Collins have to write a story without action every chapter. This was more of a deliberate, calculating time in the story, and Collins is not as brilliant at this as she is at writing an action-packed Hunger Games story. I liked how it ended a lot - I felt complete closure and I like that at the end of a series. Overall, a thrilling, exciting, albeit somewhat juvenile read.

Revolutionary Road
This was an extremely depressing but riveting story to me. Being newlywed it was fascinating to me to see this married couple's relationship disintegrate into nothingness. It was a pretty riveting study on how being selfish in your relationship makes everything suck.
I bawled like a little girl at the end. It was just plain depressing. Good read, though.

Midwives
This book was recommended to me by Sara Staheli Hanks, who knows that I am very interested in midwifery and doula-ship-ness :) Hehe.
I totally loved the book, eating up all the "granola" characters. It is based in the south in the '80s and tells the story of a midwife who performs a c-section on a woman who, at the time, she is sure is dead. She is sued by the family, and of course the state gets involved, citing the pure evil of delivering babies at home. My blood was boiling more than once during this book, for sure. But really, the end of the book was the most infuriating. Honestly, it's been months since I've read this and I'm still not sure how I feel about it. You can't just take the reader, get them all attached and sure of the story, and then change it.
Someone else needs to read this so they can vent with me.

Peace Like a River
I read this book for a book club that Al and I are in with a couple friend of ours, and I LOVED it. Loved it. Alex couldn't get past the first 5 chapters. He hates slow-moving books, and this is definitely one of those. It has a little action in it, but it is more just a character study of some really awesome people who I feel are totally real. I loved all the characters in this book. More importantly, this man's writing... wow. Just, wow. There were COUNTLESS times when I found myself chuckling, smiling, crying at his incredible imagery. He paints a complete, vivid picture in just one sentence. This author is incredible at relating to his reader and communicating in a way that I don't think I've ever experienced through a book. Pure genius. And honestly, the book is not even that exciting. I just couldn't put it down because I wanted to turn the page and find the next little nugget of absolute genius in his writing. Not to go on and on about this book... but you HAVE to read it. Even if you speed read through the entire book, there is this one chapter towards the end that moved me in a way that a book never has before. This man is genius. I cried so freakin hard, it's not even funny. Ok, it was a little funny. But seriously, read it. Seriously.

Current read: One Second After
To put it in the words of my cousin, Nate, who saw me reading it at the family reunion: "That book scared the shit out of me." Hehe. I love him.
This tells the story of a small "up in the mountains" town after an EMP has hit the entire nation. I'll tell you what, Alex and I are thinking a lot more about getting food storage, getting some guns and learning how to refrigerate things in terra cotta pots. (Alex couldn't sleep last night, and that's what he learned to do during his insomnia. I love my husband.) Super interesting read that makes you think about all the things that you don't even think twice about having now.

Yay for reading!! I love, love reading and would love any and all suggestions on other books to read. I have a list on my computer from all the suggestions I've gotten and it's very helpful when I'm trying to choose what to read next.

Lifey Life

Fail. Again.
I will try to do better, that's all I can say about that.

Life is A M A Z I N G.
Where can I begin? Over the last several weeks Alex and I have been able to hang out with awesome friends, buy new toys, play with family, connect with old friends, craft up a storm (okay, mostly me on that one) and love each other like crazy!

During the last week of August and into the first of September I was SO busy at work, I thought I might die. I was working 11-12 hour days continually and couldn't have been more grateful for Labor Day and the extra (paid!) day off work. We were able to have lunch with one of Alex's mission companions and his cute wife. Isn't re-connecting so much fun? I always come away from fun times with friends and family so grateful for relationships, and feeling so blessed at how we have the opportunity to nourish those relationships.

Over the next few weeks work slowed back down again for me (thankfully and discouragingly) and Alex continued on at the school, some of his kids getting a lot harder to handle. He is not enjoying his job as much this year and we have been considering other options at this point.

This last weekend was a super fun one! While Alex worked his tail off for the Census all summer long, we just let the money he was making pile up in an account because we didn't need it to pay bills. What a surprise to get to the end of the summer and realize how much extra money we had! So we thought and thought about something we could treat ourselves with and decided on a laptop, since the computer (that doesn't even belong to us) in our place is literally a dinosaur. Sometimes it sprouts claws and breathes fire when we try to run any sort of program. It doesn't even have Word. We have basically been living in the stone age: no computer, no IPod, no flashy cell phones with Internet, no big TV, and so on. We didn't mind at all, especially considering that Obama couldn't watch us from our 1990-something TV :) JK.
But seriously.
So anyway, we ordered this laptop online:

It is super cute and we added all the extra stuff to make it purely awesome.
This laptop is like a super sleek, fast and extra cool dinosaur that will probably mutilate our old computer for pure enjoyment.

The next day we went to Wal-Mart to get some food and walked out with a 42" TV. Hehe. We really are not impulse buyers, or people who squander all their money, but this was so much fun. We love our pretty tv!

We came home, set up our tv, re-arranged our whole house, and put up some Halloween decorations.
I am pretty much obsessed with Halloween (a new-found obsession this year, actually) and have been literally dreaming about all the crafts I want to make for weeks. I worked on a few over the weekend:

Mod-Podged block letters


And the second shot without the flash so you can see how eerily spooky they look with my awesome light shining from the bottom!



I love this because it was purely my idea - I didn't get it online like I do almost all my other crafts.


This is the Halloween tree that we did for craft night this last week.


Close-up of some of the ornaments. So fun!


I am shamelessly getting together with my cousin and sister tonight to do more Halloween crafts! I'm so glad I still have a whole month to do more.
(Yes, I may be a teensy bit insane).

Alex and I will be going to my Palmer family reunion this weekend and I'm super excited since a lot of my family haven't even met Alex. It will be satisfying to show him off :)

Please cast your votes on what blog should be next:
(Seriously, comment, or I might cry thinking about no one reading my blog...)
-Reviews on books I read over the summer
-Rant about Obama and current events
-Date nights with Alex
-My new credit card
Note: these last two may be combined together for a random-themed blog.
-Deep thoughts on life

Until next time! Which will hopefully be within a week instead of over a month...

Lameness, Not Lameness and Random Rants

Man! I am so lame. When I started my blog I swore I would not be one of those people that pooped out and got bored with it.
Sorry! I need to implement cute/inspiring themes like some of my friends do, whose blogs I am obsessed with, but then I would feel like I'm totally ripping them off.
We'll see.

Anyhoo! Let's give an update of the last month, shall we? Well, you can't answer because you are cyberspace that I hope will turn in to real people reading this, but alas, for now you are inanimate.
So I will answer with resounding fervor - yes!

July was a wee bit more relaxed for us, we didn't have something going on every weekend! The highlight of the month was for sure our trip to California with our best friend, Dan. At least I hope he is still our best friend after an entire week spent with us. Here are a few highlights from the trip.

This is us with Thelma and Johnnie Johnson - the cutest, sweetest, spunkiest couple you could ever meet! I want to be like them when I grow up.




They had these hideous sunglasses all over San Francisco! If you can't see, mine have Michael Jackson and Alex's have Obama. HAHAHAHAHA!


What would a photo album be without the funny face game? (For those of you uncultured swine (jk -that's from Toy Story) the funny face game is when you make a continuously changing crazy face and you snap the picture in the middle of it. Classic).


We stayed on this gorgeous beach with cute flowers everywhere.



And the last night we were there I threw up a few vital organs, so this is a shot of the morning on the way home. I didn't think I looked that bad! And this was after I felt a million times better.


So that was our fun, much-needed vacation. There was a lot more to it than those few pictures, but I won't bore you.
What I will do now is bore you with my rants on current events/politics.

Prop 8. I can't even tell you how much I hate how much animosity towards the church has been cultivated because of this. Why does everyone blame it on this single entity? The state of California VOTED. They voted. 50% of California is NOT made up entirely of Mormons. Do the simple research - scores of other organizations and religions supported this proposition just as valiantly as the LDS church did. AND - again, do the simple research - those opposed spent just as much money on their campaigning as did the proponents.
Also - who the heck does this judge think he is to OVERTURN a majority vote?! The people voted - they voted you in to office, mister! Who are you to sit on your high horse and decide what is "really" the right thing to do? Ugh.
Lastly, I don't care what the issue is, LEAVE ME TO MY BELIEFS and I WILL LEAVE YOU TO YOURS. Don't ostracize me and tell me that I am a horrible person because I believe what I do. We don't walk around vandalizing people who support animal rights. We don't spit on people who support organizations for the needy. But don't you realize that by protecting animals those people are denying the rights of people to beat their dogs?! GASP!
Listen, I realize this is different - but do you see the correlation I'm trying to illustrate? I believe one thing, you believe another. This does not make us bad people. Either one of us. I'm sorry that you didn't get what you wanted, but guess what? Obama is in the white house, I don't like any of the Supreme Court Justices, abortion is still legal, the ACLU is up in my grill ALL the freaking time telling me what I CAN'T do. That's life. That's America. It's called democracy. That means you don't always get what you want, but keep on voting and maybe it will come to pass.
Deal with it and don't freak out on me just because of what church I belong to.
Mmmmmmkay?!?!

"Your Voice is Giving Me Mono!"

Whoa, sorry about the hiatus.

Here are some highlights of the last few weeks:

- Making cards. I'm pretty much addicted. (The first one is a wedding present. I just had to get the whole package in the picture because it's so cute.)


This is my Father-in-Law's Father's Day card. He plays guitar :)


- Making a delicious pie! Look how pretty it is!!


- Crafting.


- Saying goodbye to Grandpa Seegmiller. He was such a sweet and amazing man. His legacy has blessed my life and will continue to do so.

- Sealings! We haven't been to one or done any for the dead since we've been married, and we did both in the last few weeks. Congratulations to Kortni and Jonathan! They are such a cute couple.

- 5-year highschool reunion. It was a lot of fun, but the 100+ people who said they would come ended up being under 50 so the planners had to fork over $50 each to pay for the extra food we ordered. Nice, people. Reaaaal nice.

- Ward pot luck. We have some pretty awesome and funny people in our ward. New discovery of an awesome made-up word: "Bumclock" - the ring you get around your butt when you've been on the toilet for too long.

- Singing. A lot. We sang a surprisingly pretty arrangement of "Home on the Range" at Grandpa's funeral and then sang "Jesus, Lover of My Soul" in church yesterday.

- Awesome dinner with the soon-to-be Hanleys... well, one already is a Hanley, but the other one is soon-to-be... Glad to have some more couple friends :D And another awesome dinner with the Abbotts and their really cute kid. I made a freaking delicious roast. Who knew I could do that?

- CHOIR CAMP!! So much fun. I absolutely love being around those incredibly talented kids, they are so special! It's also been really fun to see the vision that Brent and Andrea have for the camp and look forward to years and years of impacting the community for good. I love being a part of something so important and valuable.

- Reading. We're both pretty reading-happy right now. He's reading some historical fiction and I'm reading Brave New World... and Up From Slavery :)

That's pretty much all I can think of. Other than those things we have been working, letting our house get dirty, spending time with family and awesome friends and not getting any hiking in there. So much for our Every-Hike-In-Zion goal before the end of the summer.... We're just so darned busy! And this weekend we are going up to Provo for a wedding and Lagoon! Woot! I'm way excited for that. But, alas, there will be no hiking and my tummy and thighs are suffering from the lack thereof. I wish I had a work out buddy!! Someone other than my husband, because it's way too easy to say no to him :)

I Am Woman

This movement is so powerful. I get chills when I read about it and see the pictures. I will let it speak for itself.



Visit the website
stirrupsandstories.mosaicglobe.com/

Be sure to check out #9 on the first set of stories.

Awesomeness of Late

For a week or so I couldn't think of anything to blog about, and then all of a sudden I realized that I have a billion things to blog!
I'll go in chronological order, cuz that's just how I roll, mmkay?

So last Wednesday Dan, Al and I went to the last concert of our high school choir teacher, Norm Lister. I can't even begin to tell you what an amazing man he is and how many people's lives he has changed. He brings music out in kids that sometimes they didn't even know was there. He cultivated a love for music in me that I will never forget or be rid of. He was paid tribute to in so many ways that night and he went up to the mic and said "It's never been about me, or anyone else, it's always been about the music." And I wanted to shout from the audience that he WAS the reason that so many of us have the music!! Needless to say, there were many tears and touched hearts. This community has been changed because of him and he will be missed.
This is us at the concert (before all the tears).

The next night (yes, it was a very busy week) I had craft night with my lovely lady friends. I love craft night! It is so much fun to get together and be girly. This craft was kind of difficult to get the hang of, but since then I think I've gone a little overboard. I was up until 1:30 one night doing them.... Here are a few, and I've made more since this :)


Close-up of some of my favorites


Then it was Alex's birthday weekend! I was in a Lieto! concert Saturday night, which was also accompanied by tears for Mr. Lister, especially as we sang a song called "The Awakening". If you have never heard this song... well, you should! It is even more powerful to sing it, though. It talks about a silent dream, with no music, no choirs, a world filled with pride. And then it says ... okay, I'm just going to post all of the words because I just can't do it justice otherwise. Well, I can't do it justice unless you sing it for yourself, but I won't rob the words of their incredible power.

"I dreamed a dream, a silent dream of a land not far away where no bird sang, no steeples rang, and teardrops fell like rain. I dreamed a dream; a silent dream. I dreamed a dream of a land so filled with pride that every song, both weak and strong, withered and died. I dreamed a dream No hallelujah; not one hosanna! No song of love, no lullaby. And no choir sang to change the world. No pipers played, no dancers twirled. I dreamed a dream; a silent dream. Awake, awake! Soli deo gloria! Awake, Awake! Awake my soul and sing, the time for praise has come. The silence of the night has passed, a new day has begun! Let music never die in me; forever let my spirit sing! Wherever emptiness is found let there be joy and glorious sound. Let music never die in me; forever let my spirit sing! Let all our voices join as one to praise the giver of the sun! Awake, awake! Let music live!"

Chills. Chills, I tell you.


So anyway, after that we went to dinner with friends and fam and Alex got a birthday treat.


Then on Sunday (his birthday) we just hung out and then I threw him a surprise party that night. He was super surprised! This is us cutting his cake because we didn't cut the cake at our wedding :D


And this is a panoramic view of the decorations (and me, working on flowers!) taken with our freakin awesome camera!!



It was a really fun time, but both of us were exhausted all day yesterday, and we probably will be today because we didn't go to bed early last night, either.

How fun is our life?!

Oh, What a Beautiful Morning!

This is what I get to plant in front of my house this week!

Wish me luck, because I kill pretty much every plant I breathe on.
I have massacred like 6 plants in my office over the last 3 years. But I like to blame it on the Sahara-Desert-like conditions in the heated glass encased place they like to call "the lobby".

Isn't it funny how much you change after you get married? And by "you" I mean "I".
I was never one for cooking, crafts, gardening, being homely-ish, etc. And now I am all of these! Even homely, as I basically never do my hair anymore. Up in a bun with a headband. It's my trademark. I'm working on a copyright.
Any-hoo, the point being that I love to cook, I love crafts (sometimes to a ridiculous amount... of money), and I am starting to feel the itch for gardening. I read a quote the other day about the mother coming into existence once the child is born, for before she never existed. I kind of feel the same way as the wife. I specifically remember telling Alex that I was not the "Sure, I'll get some snacks together for your friends while you sit on the couch and jam" kind of wife or mother, and to be prepared for that. Guess what I did just two days ago? "Here you go, boys. Chips and dip, bread and dip, and ice-cold Mountain Dews." (Then an internal wink to myself - yes, I just scored "best wife ever" points.)

Sometimes I wish I was more eccentric. Poll: do you think I'm eccentric? I feel like sometimes my life is kind of blah. I wish that I had something that I was like killer passionate about. Like my sister and child birth. Or my mom and indexing (ha!). Or Reagan and bikes. Or - or! It would be totally awesome if it was something that would guide me in choosing my education. I so envy those people who have known what they've wanted to do since they were 10.

So that's my rant for today. Tonight: Quality time with friends and delicious food. (Didn't that sound like a horoscope? I should write those).