Please, Contain Your Excitement

2025 Books

noreply@blogger.com (Sherry) — Wed, 31 Dec 2025 14:13:00 +0000

I read 50 books this year, mostly audio (33), quite a few on Kindle (16), and even one on paper.

Top 10% of books this year:

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon
Daughter of Fire by Sofia Robleda
The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion by Beth Brower (counting them all as one book)

After April, the months that I read these books may not be accurate. Although GoodReads updates automatically when I finish a book on my Kindle, I am not always diligent in adding my audiobooks (via Libby, Audible, and others) to GoodReads. I try to update my master list about once a month, but I really lagged after April, always thinking, "I should do that soon." Then my life got really chaotic in August - Saeed came for the school year, and then my mom was diagnosed with cancer. And then even more chaotic in September when I made three trips to Texas - one to visit my mom, and she died while I was there, next for her memorial service, and finally to pick up my dad for him to move across the country to live with me. October, November, and December are such a blur, I can't even begin to parse out what books I listened to and when. Consider this list approximate.

You may notice that many of the books after April don't have much commentary, and the fact that I can't remember much about them probably speaks to my thoughts about them.

January:

1. Blank by Zibby Owens - Not a great way to kick off my reading year.

2. The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World* by Melinda French Gates - I found this really interesting, and I'd love to hear a more updated take on some of Melinda's opinions. It was interesting to read about how she described her marriage to Bill, especially now that they divorced.

3. Give Her Credit: The Untold Account of a Women's Bank That Empowered a Generation by Grace L. Williams - Interesting and worth a read, but not terribly gripping.

4. Remarkably Bright Creatures* by Shelby Van Pelt - It's popular for a reason. Cameron was annoying. Other characters were good.

5. Froi of the Exiles* by Melina Marchetta - Second time through on this series. This one is not my favorite.

6. Daughter of Fire by Sofia Robleda - This reminded me of Gods of Jade and Shadow and made me want to learn more about Central American history.

February:

7. Quintana of Charyn* by Melina Marchetta - A good conclusion to the series, but this one drags quite a bit and is longer than it should be.

8. Tom Lake* by Ann Patchett - I loved so much about this story and the narration by Meryl Streep. The back and forth in timelines is done beautifully. I loved that the modern story takes place during Covid lockdowns, but it isn't a book about the pandemic. The relationships, the growth, and the overall narrative were just so good.

9. The Outlaw Noble Salt by Amy Harmon - This one was really slow for the first third. Even when it picked up, I still felt like there was a lot of dragging. I loved the end; it just took a while to get there.

March:

10. Tenth of December* by George Saunders - Eric told me to listen to this series of short stories. We found ourselves laughing hysterically and also being astoundingly depressed as we discussed some of them.

11. Finding Chika* by Mitch Albom - This was a sad book, but it was so full of love and light.

12. The Nickel Boys* by Colson Whitehead - I had seen this book on lists for a while. I saw a preview for the movie January. I put it on hold without knowing anything about it. It was so dark and so heavy. And yet it is so important to grasp the ugly parts of our history, especially at a time when people are trying to erase it.

April:

13. Valencia and Valentine by Suzy Krause - This was sweet, but it was pretty slow for a long while.

14. The Frozen River* by Ariel Lawhon - I loved everything about this book. First 5-star rating on GoodReads in a while.

15. The Unmaking of June Farrow* by Adrienne Young - I always enjoy a good time-travel story. This one was a little confusing. The aspect of looping genealogy is fascinating.

16. Atomic Habits* by James Clear - Probably better to read this one in print for the purpose of taking notes.

17. Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident - Rather needlessly long, but still interesting.

18. Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus* by Dusti Bowling - I was surprised by how much I liked this. It was also around the time of reading this that a misdiagnosis (that had actually been several misdiagnoses for the last 30 years) was diagnosed as being more similar to Tourette's than all the other diagnoses she'd been given.

May:

19. Shelterwood* by Lisa Wingate - Good.

20. The Rise of Wolf 8* by Rick McIntyre - In an alternate life, I am a wolf-watcher. I'm impressed by McIntyre's dedication and rigorous study. What a gem. Please come talk to me about wolves.

21. Summer of '69* by Elin Hilderbrand - She's associated with light, easy beach reads. But this series is so good.

June:

22. The Bright Side of Disaster by Katherine Center - I was not terribly surprised to learn this was her first novel, not only because some of the technology in the book felt old, but also because the writing was not up to the caliber that it is now. I love Katherine Center, and I say skip this one.

23. The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt - Could it be a podcast series? Yes. It also SHOULD be because many people will listen to a podcast sooner than read a book this long. With that said, this topic is so important, and we need all the parents and educators to read it.

24. Tress of the Emerald Sea* by Brandon Sanderson - Some downright funny parts, but it was so long the family was a little checked out by the end.

25. Swan Song* by Elin Hilderbrand - Great finale.

26. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 1 by Beth Brower - The first is a little slow, but how quickly I fell in love with this main character.

27. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 2 by Beth Brower - There's a cult following for this series for a reason.

28. Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins - Look, I really enjoyed this book while I read it. But it must have been pretty forgettable because I saw somebody holding a copy in November and thought, "Oh yeah, I still need to read that," and it was several hours later when I remembered that I had, in fact, already read it.

29. Dopamine Nation* by Anna Lembke - Just read The Anxious Generation instead.

July:

30. The Rose Code* by Kate Quinn - Very good. I was all in on this one.

31. Darling Girls* by Sally Hepworth - I had to read the description to remember a single thing about this book, and I still remember almost nothing about this book.

32. The Rom-Commers* by Katherine Center - I don't remember much from this book except that it made me laugh a lot, and it was surprisingly sweet. Katherine Center is my latest go-to.

I think I actually read more in July, but my Kindle was probably in airplane mode so I could finish some Libby checkout, and I think those books don't register on GoodReads until I turn off airplane mode, so they show up as later reads in GoodReads, and as mentioned above, I have no memory of this year.

August:

33. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 3 by Beth Brower - Loved.

34. The Sound of Gravel by Ruth Wariner - This was a hard one. Down with abusive communities.

35. The Nine* by Gwen Strauss - So fascinating. A little difficult to keep track of the many people, but their stories are so worth telling. Down with facism. Down with the patriarchy. (Women in the French resistance were discouraged from talking about their experiences after the war. So many heroes have died unknown. And obviously we shouldn't promote heroism for the sake of fame, but women can be strong, and we should shout it from the rooftops.)

36. Things I Wish I Told My Mother* by Susan Patterson and Susan DiLallo - Ugh. Look, the book was alright. I just have a beef when the main problems this mother and daughter have are hardly problems at all. Also, I finished right before my mom got her cancer diagnosis, so the timing was not great.

September:

Could I have read on every plane ride? Yes. Did I? No. I watched a lot of movies and cried a lot. Special shout-outs to: my first time watching the Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis version of Freaky Friday (after seeing its sequel with a bunch of ladies in the theater); Coco; Field of Dreams (my first time to see it!); and Encanto.

37. Love Your Life* by Sophie Kinsella - I wanted something light in this time of grief. I barely remember this. It was probably funny? I can't even remember.

38. House of Dreams: The Life of L. M. Montgomery by Liz Rosenberg - Hoo boy. Picked this up at the library in the summer and finally got around to it. So much of it felt like the right amount of sadness to be cathartic as I dealt with all the heavy things that September brought. But then it took a real turn in Maud's older life, and let me tell you, I was NOT prepared for it. I think this book is beautiful, with truly lovely illustrations, but this woman led a tragic life. I want to read more of her books. I obviously love Anne of Green Gables, but I also love the lesser-known The Blue Castle. Her favorite was The Story Girl, which I just could not get into. I'd love to read the Emily series. Maybe in 2026. Anyway, read this book if you are in an emotional state to handle the sadness of her adult life. But do not read it in the month that you watched your mom die.

39. Daisy Darker* by Alice Feeney - Delightful, even the second time through.

October:

40. The Only One Left by Riley Sager - Very good thriller, a little silly at the end, but they usually are.

41. Thirteen by Steve Cavanagh* - Pretty dark, very gripping.

42. A House Full of Females* by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich - Well-written history. I'm not a fan of polygamy, but I think this book approaches it pretty fairly.

November:

43. Pro Bono* by Thomas Perry - Perfectly fine.

44. The Book of Lost Names* by Kristin Harmel - Meh. I loved the aspect of forgery and making codes during WWII, but the mixed faith relationship and the statements about it didn't resonate with me. The writing was not stellar. And the ending was eye-roll-inducing.

45. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 4 by Beth Brower - No bedtime can stop me.

46. Operation Hail Mary* by Andy Weir - Just as delightful (and a little long), as I remembered it. We loved sharing it with our kids on our trip to Washington for Thanksgiving.

December:

47. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 5 by Beth Brower - To quote a friend during a discussion at our ward Christmas party, "Beth Brower must be protected at all costs."

48. Everyone is Beautiful* by Katherine Center - Young motherhood feels distant, but even this experience doesn't totally resonate with me. Still, I love Katherine Center.

49. Get Lucky* by Katherine Center - One of her earlier ones, and it shows, but I preferred it over Everyone is Beautiful.

50. The Bodyguard* by Katherine Center - Utterly delightful. Her newer stuff really is so good.

2024 Books

noreply@blogger.com (Sherry) — Tue, 31 Dec 2024 14:29:00 +0000

I read (I think) 68 books this year. All were audio, except ten on Kindle, and a whopping one on paper. My top 10% in no particular order:

Life is So Good by Richard Dawson
Romney: A Reckoning by McKay Coppins
My Real Name is Hanna by Tara Lynn Masih
Outlive by Peter Attia
The Small and the Mighty by Sharon McMahon
The Unknown Beloved by Amy Harmon
Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

See my note after March.

January:

1. Romney: A Reckoning* by McKay Coppins - Very honest. I've never voted for Mitt Romney, but I have a lot of respect for him.

2. Dear Emmie Blue* by Lia Louis - Sweet.

3. The Terrible Two Get Worse* by Mac Barnett - Enjoyable, but not as good as the first one.

4. Zero Days* by Ruth Ware - I called this one pretty early on. It was good, but not my favorite.

5. My Real Name is Hanna* by Tara Lynn Masih - Such a truly beautiful and hopeful book. Everyone in book group loved this one.

6. The Terrible Two Go Wild* by Mac Barnett - This one was better than the second. The family really enjoyed it.

7. Gone Tonight* by Sarah Pekkanen - Fine but a little forgettable.

February:

8. Thank You for Listening* by Julia Whelan - A very fun listen. Way more depth than I expected (but still pretty light.)

9. Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don't Know* by Malcolm Gladwell - Not his best. The audio production is top-notch, but this book left me wondering how it all connected and what we can do about these problems.

10. The Book of Forgiving: The Fourfold Path for Healing Ourselves and Our World by Desmond Tutu - Meaningful, but a bit of a slog. This was supposed to be for book group a few months back, and nobody read it. I felt the need to finish it (as I do).

11. Station Eleven* by Emily St. John Mandel - I remembered loving this one before the Covid-19 pandemic and wondered if it would hold up for me. It did.

12. Laughing Without an Accent: Adventures of an American Iranian at Home and Abroad by Firoozeh Dumas - Not as delightful as the first, but still worth a read. Includes touching and funny moments.

Look, somewhere along the way I stopped tracking my books dutifully. I wasn't keeping up on Goodreads and I neglected my personal spreadsheet. Historically, I could use Goodreads to figure out what months I read my books, but without Goodreads, I'm a little lost. I went through the history of my Libby app and looked through my Kindle, as well as Eric's Libby app for any books we listened to as a family. I think my list is complete.

Also, I didn't keep this post-dated blog post updated (I usually add to it throughout the year), so some of my thoughts about these books are completely lost. I'd beg for your forgiveness, but I'm confident nobody reads this.

13. Cultish: The Language of Fanatacism* by Amanda Montell - I remember not a lot about this one. Interesting while I listened.

14. The Women by Kristin Hannah - I know people adored this one, but I didn't think it was her best. I did like it, but not as much as everyone else seems to.

15. To Say Nothing of the Dog* by Connie Willis - I wanted to love this one, but it lasted too long.

16. Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents by Lindsay C. Gibson - I think most people should read this book.

17. Chasing Lincoln's Killer* by James L. Swanson - Worth reading.

18. The Terrible Two's Last Laugh* by Mac Barnett & Jory John - This audio series is delightful.

19. We Begin at the End* by Chris Whitaker - I felt like this one was a slow.

20. City Spies* by James Ponti - The family enjoyed this one.

21. The Bomber Mafia* by Malcolm Gladwell - I thought I'd like this better than I did. I just found it slow.

22. Framed! by James Ponti - This is a fun series for the family.

23. Vanished! by James Ponti - A bit more of the same, but overall, the family really likes this author.

24. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone* by J. K. Rowling - I love to relisten to this series. I don't do it every year, but sometimes for long runs, it's nice to listen to something I've heard/read several times before.

25. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* by J. K. Rowling - Ditto.

26. I Was Here* by Gayle Foreman - This one was hard to listen to, but I appreciated it. Having lost a friend to suicide a year ago, I felt like it grappled with some of those emotions really well.

27. The Thief Lord* by Cornelia Funke - Eric picked this one, and the family liked it decently well.

28. Empire of Pain* by Patrick Radden Keefe - Look, I'm more skeptical than ever about the healthcare industry and pharmaceutical companies. This family was terrible and deserves to be raked through he mud.

29. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban* by J. K. Rowling - Comfort book.

30. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire* by J. K. Rowling - That cemetery scene will always get me.

31. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix* by J. K. Rowling -

32. The Hotel Nantucket* by Elin Hilderbrand - This was my second one of hers, and I found it delightful.

33. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince* by J. K. Rowling - Let's stop pretending Snape was some kind of hero.

34. The Younger Wife* by Sally Hepworth - I don't remember this at all. Like, at all. I'm pretty sure it was a modern Jane Eyre.

35. All Good People Here* by Ashley Flowers - Not the best.

36. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows* by J. K. Rowling - I will always think this one was a little longer than it needed to be.

37. Intertwine* by Nichole Van - A really delightful time-travel book.

38. I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy - Woof. What dumpster fire her childhood was. I'm glad she's been able to start to recover from that. I think most adults who were in the child entertainment industry are probably liable for some level of abuse. It was bad on so many fronts.

39. Nothing Like it in the World* by Stephen E. Ambrose - We listened to this as a family, and even though it's definitely for adults, my girls understood it and followed along. We stopped often to explain different concepts. I loved learning about the Chinese who worked on the railroads.

40. Outlive by Peter Attia - Have I talked to you about Healthcare 2.0? Because it's here, and we need to pay attention to it. There is so much we can do to be healthier and have better lives!

41. The Left-Handed Twin* by Thomas Perry - I enjoy this author while I'm on long runs. I like this series, but it may have run its course.

42. A Small Town* by Thomas Perry - Not his best, but it was adequately engaging.

43. The Song of the Cell* by Siddhartha Mukherjee - We started listening to this as a family, and it immediately kicks off with a discussion of a fast-growing skin cancer. I had, within a day or two prior to starting this book, told Eric to go to a dermatologist about a weird sore/scar on his arm. Eric only listened to the first hour or so of this book, but it was enough to convince him to see a dermatologist. (And thank goodness he did, because his skin issue was serious enough to be need removal, but no need for alarm.) This book was long and a little hard to keep up with, but I will talk your ear off about the two types of depression if you ever want to talk about that.

44. The Death of Mrs. Westaway* by Ruth Ware - Do I remember the ending of this? No. But I remember enjoying it. It's probably based on another book, but I don't know which one.

45. The Mysterious Affair at Styles* by Agatha Christie - Not my favorite. It was fine.

46. Landline* by Rainbow Rowell - Just as good as people say. Nurture your dang relationships, folks.

47. Nightwatching* by Tracy Sierra - This was some excellent psychological suspense. I started it, and then it expired. I'm glad I made it back.

48. The Paris Apartment* by Lucy Folley - Engaging, and I'm always interested in stories with lots of characters. But this one was pretty unbelievable (and I say that as someone who reads a lot of unbelievable things.)

49. The Heiress* by Rachel Hawkins - I already don't remember a thing about this book. Oh wait, I just looked it up. Very engaging, but clearly I forgot about it as soon as it was over.

50. Hello Stranger* by Katherine Center - I need to read more by this lady. She is very good.

51. After I Do* by Taylor Jenkins Reid - I love this author, and this was my least favorite of hers.

52. Four Thousand Weeks* by Oliver Burkeman - This book gave me a lot to think about. I don't think it's great in terms of learning about time management. It's more about how to change your thinking about time and how you spend it. Definitely more philosophical than practical.

53. Attachments* by Rainbow Rowell - I liked this one a lot. Not as much as Landline, but still very enjoyable.

54. The Unknown Beloved by Amy Harmon - Excellent. It's such a downer of a topic (a serial killer), but Amy infused it with hope and light and goodness.

55. Undaunted Courage* by Stephen E. Ambrose - I loved learning about Lewis and Clark.

56. Daisy Darker* by Alice Feeney - I didn't know this would be perfect for Halloween, but it definitely was. This was just such a good take on And Then There Were None.

57. Think Again* by Adam Grant - I probably need a paper copy of this one. It was just so full of good stuff.

58. The Vacation Rental by Katie Sise - I frequently wanted to quit this one, but I hung in there and appreciated the twists.

59. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo - Apparently, she has a duology that I should read. This one was fine.

60. The Five-Star Weekend* by Elin Hilderbrand - Again, I love the way this author pokes fun of herself. I really loved the variety of characters and the pacing of this book.

61. The Lost Apothecary* by Sarah Penner - I loved the old story and hated the modern one.

62. The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek* by Kim Michele Richardson - I read another book about the packhorse librarians sometimes back. I liked this one as well. It had some interesting elements with the blue people.

63. The Small and the Mighty* by Sharon McMahon - The conversational nature of the narration is certainly different for a history book. I generally appreciated it, but I'm kind of a history book snob, and sometimes it felt patronizing. Despite that, I think Sharon did an excellent job drawing out stories of regular folks who did important things. I've been following Sharon since 2020 (and even saw her live in October 2023), and her book did not let me down.

64. Life is So Good by Richard Dawson - When we talk about books that I won't stop talking about, this is it. I loved hearing about history from somebody who lived through it, and to hear a Black man's perspective on things. I also loved the East Texas and Dallas connections. (He lived near where some of my ancestors lived, and then spent his adulthood in Dallas.) Despite all the hardships and challenges of his life, he remained hopeful and grateful.

65. Grave Talk by Nick Spalding - A little bit twee, but it was fine.

66. Finnikin of the Rock* by Melina Marchetta - I'd read it before. I bought the audible version because I had a credit, and I remembered really liking it. I still really like it.

67. Jacob Marley* by R. William Bennett - An excellent Christmas read. This is such a good take on the first ghost who visits Ebeneezer Scrooge.

68. The Law of Love by Steve Young - I love the concept. The application is the challenge. The book was a bit repetitive.

*Denotes an audiobook.

2023 Books

noreply@blogger.com (Sherry) — Mon, 01 Jan 2024 11:10:00 +0000

This year I read 63 books: 12 on Kindle, 3 on paper, and 48 audio. (Technically one was a mix between audio and Kindle, but I credited to audio since that is where the bulk of it was consumed.) One of my goals this year was to consume some amount of book every single day. I think I ended up forgetting to read or listen fewer than 10 times over the entire year. Since I've been running a lot less, I've needed to find other times to listen to books.

My top 10% of books this year:

Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave
Dragon Hoops by Gene Luen Yang
The Last Slave Ship by Ben Raines
Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou
I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys
Die With Zero by Bill Perkins

I always find it interesting to compare how my top 10% aligns with my overall total. This year I read a total of 18 non-fiction books and 45 fiction books, so about 28% of my total books were non-fiction. But among the six books in the top 10%, four of them are non-fiction!

January:

1. Light to the Hills by Bonnie Blaylock - Sweet story about the WPA project to deliver books to rural areas during the Depression.

2. The Joy of Sweat by Sarah Evers* - Who knew sweat was so interesting?

3. The Guest List by Lisa Foley* - Dark and disturbing, and I couldn't stop listening.

4. Other Words for Home by Jasmin Warga* - Loved this so much in so many ways.

5. Reputation by Sarah Vaughan* - Definitely has some tough topics, but man, this was a good one.

6. Happier Hour: How to Beat Distraction, Expand Your Time, and Focus on What Matters Most by Cassie Holmes - This book had so many good things to think about when considering how to use your time in ways that actually bring about happiness.

7. Hello Molly! by Molly Shannon* - I loved Molly's candor about hard topics, and I loved her optimism. I laughed out loud throughout this book and shed a few tears too.

February:

8. The Last Slave Ship by Ben Raines* - Everyone, go read this book right now. I cannot stop talking about it.

9. The Bird and the Sword by Amy Harmon - I think I prefer her historical fiction, but this one was pretty good.

10. Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou - Man. What a dumpster-fire Theranos was, and nobody seemed to notice. Those who did were bullied into silence.

March:

11. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens* - I read this right after my freshman year of college (nearly 20 years ago!), and I really loved it. It definitely held up for me in this audio version.

12. Mom Life Versus the Everday Apocalypse by Megan Whitmer* - A fun little book about the adventures and hilarity of mom life.

13. Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center* - I was surprised by how much I liked this one.

14. Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng* - I find her books engaging, but then I just feel frustrated by the characters.

April:

15. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald* - What a delightfully fun one to listen to on our road trip.

16. Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery* - Always a delight. Even better to share it with my children, most of whom loved it.

17. Ten Thousand Tries by Amy Makechnie* - This was for book group, and I wasn't expecting much, but I really liked it. It was a hit with everyone in the group. I'll definitely recommend it to my children.

May:

18. Les Misérables by Victor Hugo* - There is just no need to read the unabridged version of this book. So much of this book is amazing, but then there is so much nothingness. Jean Valjean is amazing. Marius and Cosette's love story is ridiculous. (Marked as audio, but I also read some of it (maybe 20%) on Kindle.)

19. Good for a Girl: A Woman Running in a Man's World by Lauren Fleshman* - So good. I want all my running friends to read it. And all parents.

20. Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool* - This is a sweet and fun one. Read it once before, and read it again for book group.

21. American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins* - A good book, written well, but it seemed a little like grief-porn.

22. Beyond the Wand by Tom Felton* - Such a delightful listen. I listened to most of it while on a long run, and I'm sure some people thought I looked like a weirdo, smiling from ear to ear as I listened to some of Tom's stories.

23. A Girl Called Samson by Amy Harmon - This was my least favorite of any I've read by Amy Harmon so far. I didn't love the romantic slant of this story based on a real person.

June:

24. White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America by Nancy Isenberg* - Intereting, but I didn't think she proved her points as a historian as well as others have.

25. I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys* - The scene with Christian watching the video that Daniel's friends in America sent to him was so amazing. I have told countless people about that scene.

26. The Running Girls by Matt Brolly - A decent suspense/thriller.

27. The Terrible Two by Mac Barnett and Jory John* - Our family loved listening to this one on our road trip.

28. The Princess Academy by Shannon Hale* - Even the kids who didn't want to listen to a book about princesses were surprised by how good this was. It wasn't my first time reading it, so I knew that the title doesn't do the book justice.

29. Out of the Ashes by Kara Thoams - I really liked this suspense book, far more than I expected.

30. The Half-Life of Ruby Fielding by Lydia Kang* - Ugh. Should have quit this one early on, but I wanted to know what would happen. And then it was just so ridiculous.

July:

31. Elantris by Brandon Sanderson* - I read this several years ago, but there were many details I couldn't quite remember. It was fun to listen to it this time.

32. A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson* - I called a few of the surprises at the ending, but not all of them.

33. The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale* - It was fun to share this with the entire family on a road trip.

34. The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough* - Probably not my favorite of his, but it was interesting to learn about this time in history that I knew nothing about.

35. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir* - Such a delight. There were a few times when the science went on a little too long, but I loved this story so much.

36. Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Muderers* by Jesse Q. Sutanto - What a fun one! I loved listening to this one. The characters were delightful, and I laughed out loud many times.

37. The Passion of Dolssa by Julie Berry* - Another huge winner for me. I couldn't stop thinking about it, and I want to read more about this time period.

August:

38. The Davenports by Krystal Marquis* - I wanted to love this one, but I felt like it dragged on too long.

39. The Accomplice by Liza Lutz* - I really loved the back-and-forth in the timelines for this one. The characters didn't do a lot for me, though.

40. Through a Darkening Glassby R. S. Maxwell* - This was another one where I really wanted to love it, so I kept reading it, but ultimately I was disappointed.

41. Fed Up: Emotional Labor, Women, and the Way Forward by Gemma Hartley* - I allowed myself to give up on this one. It felt like a big whine-fest with no offered solutions.

42. Everyone Brave Is Forgiven by Chris Cleave* - I loved this book so much. The writing was beautiful, and loved the themes. I wanted to listen again as soon as I finished.

43. Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney* - This one deserves all the hype.

44. Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking by Samin Nosrat - We chose this for book group, and I ended up buying a copy. I'll be happy to have it around for reference.

September:

45. The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth* - This was such a good one. I loved so much about it.

46. Animal Farm by George Orwell* - It was interesting to listen to this with my kids and explain all the underlying messages.

47. The Magician's Nephew by C. S. Lewis* - Another good listen with the kiddos.

48. Little Bee by Chris Cleave* - Coming off Everyone Brave is Forgiven, which I loved with my whole heart, I thought I would like this one. I did not. At all. The main characters (besides Bee) are terrible. It was just so ugh.

49. Dragon Hoops by Gene Luen Yang - Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I'd love a graphic novel as much as I loved this one. It was so good.

50. The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter - I stayed up way too late too many nights in a row reading this one. It took some turns I did not expect.

October:

51. The In-Between: Unforgettable Encounters During Life's Final Moments by Hadley Vlahos* - The writing isn't stellar, but I appreciated the stories in this volume.

52. The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson* - This is funny, but it's a bit long and ultimately felt like more of the same by the end.

53. Friends, Lovers, and the Terrible Big Thing by Matthew Perry* - I read this right before he died. It turns out, I like Chandler Bing far more than Matthew Perry. His addictions made his life hard, which also made this book hard to read. Another thing that made this book hard to read were the jumps in timelines and the repetitiveness.

54. Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke* - I chuckled throughout this modern-day Metamorphosis, but it's definitely not for everyone.

November:

55. Good Inside: A Guide to Becoming the Parent You Want to Be by Becky Kennedy* - If you follow Dr. Becky on Instagram, you'll learn what you need to know. This book has a lot of good content, but by the end, I was skipping to the relevant sections.

56. The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism by Edward E. Baptist* - This is a good, important topic, but it was really long. It's not a history book I'd readily recommend.

57. Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume* - I do not get why this is such a classic. It felt really out of touch to me.

58. Die with Zero: Getting All You Can from Your Money and Your Life by Bill Perkins* - I have not stopped talking about this book with anyone who will listen. It really challenged some of my thoughts on money and how I spend it.

59. False Witness by Karin Slaughter* - Really dark, but I couldn't stop listening.

60. Broadway Butterfly by Sara DiVello - Nothing at all happened in this book. Yet another Kindle FirstReads, where I hung on to the bitter end, expecting something to happen, but nothing did.

61. The Light Pirate by Lily Brooks-Dalton* - Billed as a mix of Station Eleven and Where the Crawdads Sing, I expected to love this one. I agree with the description, but the plot fell flat for me, especially at the end. I wouldn't say nothing in happens in this book, but when big things happen, it was as if they were small blips.

December:

62. Girl, Forgotten by Karin Slaughter* - I'm to a point where everything from this author feels the same. Her books are highly engaging (if rather sweary and violent), but in the end they all blur together.

63. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus* - I get why this one has gotten a lot of hype. It was funny and tender and deals with important topics. I thought it wrapped up too quickly and cleanly in the end.

64. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin* - I get why this one was wildly popular, but it didn't do a ton for me.

2022 Books

noreply@blogger.com (Sherry) — Sun, 01 Jan 2023 13:30:00 +0000

This year's reading included 74 books, of which 15 were Kindle, and the rest were audio. I don't even know what a paper book feels like anymore, although I perpetually have a stack on my nightstand.

My top 10% were:

Sprinting Through No Man's Land by Adin Dobkin
The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
The Trumpet of the Swan by E. B. White
The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
They Said They Wanted Revolution by Neda Toloui-Semnani
Where the Lost Wander by Amy Harmon
One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Of this top 10%, four of them were read on Kindle - which may say something about how I retain things I've read with my eyeballs versus listened to with my ears. Or it may speak to the fact that I'm more invested in a book I've purchased (which is the case for a couple of them), or that I'm really good at picking which Amazon FirstReads books I'll like the best. (Except that previous years' iterations of this post indicate I'm not very good at picking my Amazon FirstReads books, so there is that.)

A few other things about 2022's reading. We listened to so many audiobooks on our massive road trip. My kids' growing appreciation for good books is getting fun. Also, in our first few years of marriage, I always gave Eric a hard time because I read several books he had recommended, but he rarely took my book recommendations. Over the last few years, especially as our distance running has ramped up, he has started heeding my recommendations more. It's fun to see where he lands.

January:

1. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss - A very interesting fantasy, but it was so slow. I don't think I'll get around to reading the others in the series.

2. The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth* - An interesting read. Maybe considered a thriller? I know that I figured out the the truth well before the end of the book.

3. The Woman They Could Not Silence by Kate Moore* - Such an interesting story, but it literally could have been one third as long as it was. I wouldn't have touched it at all because I really hated this author's telling of another story in history, but we chose it for book group.

February:

4. Winterkeep by Kristin Cashore* - Possibly my favorite of the series. I just really enjoyed all the aspects of this book.

5. Golden Girl by Elin Hilderbrand* - I had never read this author before, and now I might take a dive into all of her books. This was just funny, poignant, and still pretty light.

6. Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell* - I blew through this super fast, but I was disappointed in the ending. It seemed unbelievably unrealistic.

7. The Hypnotist's Love Story by Liane Moriarty - Not my favorite of hers, but I found it likeable. My book group was underwhelmed.

8. Persist by Elizabeth Warren* - Some interesting ideas here. I'm not sure if all of her plans would go exactly as she imagines, but at least she has some specific ideas.

9. Anxious People by Fredrick Backman* - So many laugh out loud moments on this one. I really enjoyed the characters.

10. The Unflinching Ash by Angela Armstrong - It's pretty special when you get to read a book written by a friend. Even more special if the book is legitimately good.

March:

11. Good Neighbors by Sarah Langan* - I couldn't stop listening to this one.

12. The Nature of Fragile Things by Susan Meissner* - Pretty good. No bones to pick with the history, but the overall plot was a bit outlandish.

13. Ban This Book! by Alan Gratz* - This was a fun one.

14. Sprinting Through No Man's Land by Adin Dobkin - If you didn't listen to me ramble on about the Tour de France while I read this book, then you sure missed out.

15. The Outlaws Scarlett and Browne by Jonathan Stroud* - Very enjoyable.

16. One by One by Ruth Ware* - Pretty forgettable.

April:

17. Savvy by Ingrid Law* - The boys and I really enjoyed this one and had lots of suggestions for prequels and sequels. Turns out, they already exist or are in the works.

18. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster* - The boys and I liked this one too.

19. Whatever After: Two Peas in a Pod by Sarah Mlynowski* - The whole family listend to this one, and we were surprised by how much we all liked it.

20. The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah* - Loved it. Probably my favorite of hers that I've read.

21. The Lost Family: How DNA Testing is Upending Who We Are by Libby Copeland - I thought this was a fair assessment of DNA testing within the non-professional genealogy world. She did a good job discussing the pros, cons, and difficulties of genetic testing. Much of it wasn't "new" to me, but I appreciated an outsider's view of things.

22. The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud* - Very amusing.

23. Whatever After: Fairest of All by Sarah Mlynowski* - Not as fun as the first one we listened to.

24. Whatever After: Abby in Oz by Sarah Mlynowski* - Perfectly adequate.

May:

25. Going There by Katie Couric* - I really enjoyed this one. Some people thought it was too full of gossip, but I thought it was a good balance.

26. Tears of Amber by Sofia Sergovia - I really appreciated this historical fiction. It's about WWII, but it's from the viewpoint of people in East Prussia, which I was really not familiar with.

27. Whatever After: Dream On by Sarah Mlynowski* - Just more of the same from this series. It's a decent series that I don't mind for my kids, but it's not something I'd read on my own. The boys were also pretty tired of it by this point.

28. The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo* - What a fun one!

29. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Wrecking Ball by Jeff Kinney* - I stand by my dislike of this book series.

30. Whatever After: If the Shoe Fits by Sarah Mlynowski* - I felt like this one was one of the better ones from a mom perspective.

31. The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary* - I've said it before, and I still feel it: Where was Beverly Cleary in my childhood? How did I miss her altogether?

32. Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt* - Such a good one for our cross-country trip.

June:

33. The Trumpet of the Swan by E. B. White* - This book is positively delightful and hilarious and wonderful. I'm going to have to buy a copy.

34. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl* - We all loved this one too.

35. Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar* - A family favorite.

36. Wayside School is Falling Down by Louis Sachar* - We loved this one too.

37. Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger by Louis Sachar* - And this one.

38. Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan* - Such a wonderful audiobook. My third listen, the boys' second, Eric's first.

39. The Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl* - Another fun one.

40. The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare - I was surprised by how much I liked this one.

41. Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate* - I'm a sucker for stories about adoption and lost families. I'm not sure how well this will age with the rise of DNA testing. I appreciated the history about the Tennessee Children's Home Society. Before DNA testing was ubiquitous, I worked with a client who believed her parent had been illegally adopted through this organization.

July:

42. An Unsuitable Job for a Woman by P. D. James* - This was a well-paced book to listen to while I get back into distance running.

43. The Skull Beneath the Skin by P. D. James* - I didn't like this one as well as the previous, but it was fine. I wasn't terribly sad to learn there were only two in the series. I'm sure I'll seek more by this author.

44. Ptolemy's Gate by Jonathan Stroud* - A nice conclusion to this series.

45. As Time Goes By by Mary Higgins Clark* - Meh.

46. The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin - Loved it so much. I was surprised by how delightful it was.

47. Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal by Amy Krouse Rosenthal - This was just such a delightful little book. I laughed a lot and may have even shed a tear or two.

48. Family Money by Chad Zunker - Meh. I got this free from Amazon. It didn't do a lot for me, but it was short enough that I went ahead and finished it.

49. Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson* - I'm always surprised by how much I enjoy books written in verse.

50. Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor* - It was really nice to listen to a series that was only a duology instead of a trilogy. This was such a satisfactory ending.

51. Cover Her Face by P. D. James* - I can't even remember what this one was about, but I liked it well enough to continue the series.

August:

52. Into the Water by Paula Hawkins* - This one is a bit dark, but I appreciated how the character lines fit together.

53. The Dreamer by Pam Muñoz Ryan* - Delightful and sweet. I wish I had known more about Pablo Neruda before starting the book. Or even that the book was a historical fiction of his childhood.

54. A Mind to Murder by P. D. James* - It was hard to keep track of all these characters.

55. A Tiger Mom's Tale by Lynn Liao Butler* - This was really good contemporary fiction. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

56. Unnatural Causes by Dawn Eastman* - I came upon this one while looking up a P. D. James novel of the same title. It got me through some runs, but was nothing to write home about.

57. Unnatural Causes by P. D. James* - I was really intrigued by this one and was a bit surprised by the ending.

September:

58. Shroud for a Nightingale by P. D. James* - Maybe it's time for a break from this series. I'm having a hard time keeping track of all the characters.

59. They Said They Wanted Revolution by Neda Toloui-Semnani - A fascinating perspective of the Iranian revolution and some who participated in it. Written by the daughter of a couple of late revolutionists, relying on as many primary documents and family members and friends as would participate.

60. Defy the Night by Brigid Kemmerer - Fell a little flat for me.

61. Where the Lost Wander by Amy Harmon - Loved this one a lot.

62. The 1619 Project by Nikole Hannah-Jones* - Heavy stuff. Some of the essays should be required reading.

63. Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid* - I just love her stuff. This new one was fantastic.

64. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng* - There's this underlying theme that you can only be truly happy if you thrust off the shackles of all societal constraints. I think that is complete nonsense.

October:

65. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline* - Despised.

66. Last Summer Boys by Bill Rivers - Thoroughly enjoyable.

67. Honeysuckle Season by Mary Ellen Taylor - This one does dueling time periods really well.

November:

68. Hunt, Gather, Parent by Michaelee Doucleff* - Some interesting ideas here.

69. Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann* - A little slow at first, but this is a crucial and overlooked part of our history. Eric nearly quit while listening, and I encouraged him to keep going.

70. The Brighter the Light by Mary Ellen Taylor* - Didn't like this as well as the other one by her. The relationships were kind of weird and confusing, and I'm a person who handles weird and confusing relationships very well.

December:

71. The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate* - This one made me want to work on genealogy projects focused on African-Americans. There are materials out there, and we need to prioritize their digitization and indexing!

72. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig* - How many ways are there to beat a dead horse?

73. One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid* - Amazing exposition of relationships and how our personalities are defined by them. I couldn't stop listening to this one and couldn't wait to see how it unfolded.

74. The Invisible Life of Addie Larue by V.E. Schwab* - Wasn't thrilled from the get-go, but I persisted. Then I regretted. So dark, so meaningless. I do not get the hype.

2021 Books

noreply@blogger.com (Sherry) — Sat, 01 Jan 2022 11:08:00 +0000

I feel a little odd that I have gone this whole year without posting at all on this old blog. But I keep my book list running on it, saved as a draft, throughout the year. It's so easy to add to it all long year and then update it just before it posts. This blog's readers have no idea if my kids had birthdays this year (they did), or if we went on any vacations (we did), but at least you'll know how many books I read, when I read them, and what my top 10% of books were.

Total books: 77

Biggest book months: April, May and June, each with 11 books. Road trips, combined with good running weather make for a lot of reading for me.

Top 10% in no particular order (rounding up because I can do what I want on my blog):

The Road Back to You by Ian Morgan Crown and Suzanne Stabile
Five Children and It by Edith Nesbit
Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo
Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
All Thirteen by Christina Soontornvat
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty
The Giver of Stars by JoJo Moyes

January

1. A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd* - Listened with the boys. It was fine. Not super memorable.

2. The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende* - There was a lot I loved about this, and a lot that drove me bonkers.

3. Truths I Never Told You by Kelly Rimmer* - So heavy. I usually enjoy the unraveling of a family mystery.

4. Shadow Woman by Thomas Perry* - This series is getting kind of predictable, and I can't remember one book from the next. But they remain engaging, especially while running.

5. The Face-Changers by Thomas Perry* - I believe after this one I told Eric I might take a break from this series. But then I dove right into the next one.

February

6. Running Out of Time by Margaret Peterson Haddix* - This one definitely had some plot holes that I didn't think of when I read it at about age 12. Nonetheless, I found it thoroughly enjoyable to listen to with my boys.

7. Blood Money by Thomas Perry* - The mafia families got involved in this one, and I had a hard time remembering which group was which. The end got a bit muddled for me.

8. The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson - This book was so good. It took me a while to get through it, but it is a very good mix of a historical study blended with individual history.

9. The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale - I liked this the first time I read it, and I enjoyed it again on this read-through.

March

10. Runner by Thomas Perry* - More of the same of his stuff.

11. Poison Flower by Thomas Perry* - See above. All the plots run together for me. I'm glad I'm nearly done with this series.

12. A String of Beads by Thomas Perry* - All wrapped up with this series (for now). If he adds more, I don't know that I need to read more.

13. Enna Burning by Shannon Hale* - I didn't love this audio version. It was read with a full cast, but it felt really forced to me. I'm glad I re-read this one because I remembered almost nothing from reading it a few years back.

14. The Self Driven Child by William Stixrud and Ned Johnson - So much good stuff in this book. I am eager to discuss it with my book group ladies.

April

15. Soul Full of Coal Dust by Chris Hamby* - Man, the coal industry is corrupt. Also lawyers are corrupt. When I hear people complain about the government tying the hands of the coal industry, I'll recommend this book to them.

16. Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney* - We listened to this on a family road trip. It was great for the boys, but I wasn't crazy about it or some of the language in it.

17. Wayside School Beneath the Cloud of Doom by Louis Sachar* - This fourth addition to the original trilogy did not disappoint. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to it and chuckling at Mr. Sachar's excellent sense of humor.

18. The Likely Resolutions of Oliver Clock by Jane Riley - This was a very enjoyable free book through the First Reads program.

19. The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg by Rodman Philbrick* - Another audiobook on a road trip. Very enjoyable.

20. All the Flowers in Paris by Sarah Jio* - Pretty good, but not amazing. The book involves two narratives, one during WWII, and one in 2009. I far preferred the one from WWII and found the amnesia trope tiresome.

21. How Dare the Sun Rise by Sandra Uwiringiyimana* - Good memoir. It wrapped up with a lot of loose ends, though, because it is so current.

22. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett - I liked it. I liked the many meanings of the title.

23. A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park* - I was amazed by how much I loved this one.

24. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days by Jeff Kinney* - I am just not crazy about these books. Listened on a road trip and then had a discussion with my kids about what a bad example Greg is.

25. A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park* - Yes, I liked this book so much that I kept it on my phone and listened to it twice in one month. My kids had a hard time following this one, but I loved it again.

May

26. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules by Jeff Kinney* - Ugh, the relationships in this book are so bad. Greg is such a brat, and so is his older brother!

27. A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck* - Now THIS was a book we all enjoyed. Good characters, hilarious story, good discussions about history.

28. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Patterson* - I loved this book when my teacher read it to my class in fifth grade. My boys liked it, but they may have been a little young to fully appreciate it.

29. Prognosis: A Memoir of My Brain by Sarah Vallance - Why do I keep reading these terrible memoirs about self-absorbed people who think their lives are interesting, but who actually just make a series of terrible choices?

30. My Calamity Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows* - I really enjoyed listening to this one. I laughed a lot.

31. The Dark Heart: A True Story of Greed, Murder, and an Unlikely Investigator by Joakim Palmkvist - Interesting. There wasn't as much emphasis on the investigator as I expected there to be, and it was a little longer than it needed to be.

32. The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee* - Such an interesting story. A little long, but I appreciated the many plays on words in the advice columns.

33. The War on Normal People by Andrew Yang* - So depressing! I know the end was supposed to fill me with hope as Yang provides ideas on how to improve America's situation, but that is not how I felt. I think he's got some interesting ideas on paper. I don't see any of those ideas making it through Congress. I do support therapy for all married couples who need it!

34. River Secrets by Shannon Hale* - Probably my least favorite in the series. Pretty forgettable for me.

35. Without the Mask by Charlie Bird - Incredibly good. I'd be curious to see where Charlie is ten years from now. I worry that his position is untenable, based on other gay LDS people I know.

36. Uglies by Scott Westerfield* - I really liked this one, despite a terrible narrator. I found the characters interesting enough, and the basic premise of the plot is intriguing. The events at the end of the book set up a lot of excitement for the next book. I also found the main character, Tally, really relatable concerning her desires and her changing opinions.

June

37. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul by Jeff Kinney* - It's amusing to listen to a book about road tripping while road tripping. Nevertheless, my opinion of the Wimpy Kid series is unchanged.

38. Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell* - How did I miss this one as a kid? It was a bit slow for my kids, but I liked it.

49. The Last Year of the War by Susan Meissner* - Such an interesting facet of American history. I was more familiar with Japanese internment camps. Reading about "Germans" who were re-repatriated was fascinating and heartbreaking. The post-war chapters dragged on a little too long, though.

40. The Road Back to You by Ian Morgan Crown and Suzanne Stabile - If I haven't blabbered on to you about the enneagram yet, then you must not have chatted with me since I last read this book. Eric and Andrew had me read entire chapters to them on our long drive home from our road trip.

41. Five Children and It by Edith Nesbit* - Oh, how I loved this one! I read it as a child and liked it. But I understood so much more of the humor as an adult. I enjoyed listening with my kiddos.

42. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth by Jeff Kinney* - Eric keeps downloading these books for road trips. I should really just put my headphones in and ignore them while my family enjoys them.

43. Pretties by Scott Westerfield* - I thought this was a decent sequel to the first. I was eager to read the last.

44. Specials by Scott Westerfield* - And then the finale really fizzled for me. What a bummer.

45. Ghost by Jason Reynolds* - This one was delightful, heart-warming, funny, and deep.

46. Your Perfect Year by Charlotte Lucas - Another free book from Amazon's First Reads. I thought it would be light and amusing. It was full of coincidences, but it definitely wasn't light. The banter between characters was not funny, but I suppose it might have been in the original German. It just didn't do a lot for me, and by the time I decided I just wasn't thrilled about it, I was 75% through and figured I'd stick it out.

47. Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo - I just loved this one so much. When I read the author's note at the end, I realized it was based on some real events, and then I loved it even more.

July

48. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling* - Listened with my kids on a road trip, and then I was inspired to re-listen to the whole series.

49. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone* by J. K. Rowling* - Restarted at the very beginning.

50. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling* - This one is just never a favorite of mine, but it has some elements that are important to the series as a whole.

51. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling* - I love this one and will always be a sucker for time travel books.

52. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling* - This one's toward the bottom of the books for me.

53. Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid* - Loved it so much! Such good characters with tons of development.

54. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling* - So much teenage angst in this one. It's a little tiring, but Umbridge is the best antagonist.

55. Matilda by Roald Dahl* - Listened on a road trip with the kiddos. We had read it aloud before, and we had seen the play recently, so it was fun to listen to the book.

56. Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid* - Again, I was totally caught up in these characters. I'm glad I've discovered this author.

August

57. Matilda by Roald Dahl* - Fun listen with the kids.

58. All Thirteen by Christina Soontornvat - This book was just so amazing and interesting. I was totally fascinated and couldn't stop talking about it to every single person.

59. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid* - I just really enjoy this author. This book took some twists I didn't expect, but I loved it.

60. Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silva Morena-Garcia* - As I posted at the time of the Mt. Nebo Marathon, there was something very appropriate about reading this book, which ends with the young woman journeying through the underworld, while running a marathon for which I was inadequately prepared. This was a brand new realm of mythology for me, and I found it fascinating.

September

61. The Wright Brothers by David McCullough* - Hot dang, I liked this one way more than I expected. The Wright Brothers didn't just invent the airplane, they also mastered flying. McCullough really brings out that aspect of their genius and persistence.

62. White Like Her: My Family's Story of Race and Racial Passing by Gail Lukasic* - Such an interesting story, but this book was a little boring.

63. Little Disasters by Sarah Vaughn* - Great British novel about families, perceptions, mental health, and relationships. Really loved, and I wish she had more books.

64. All that's Bright and Gone by Eliza Nellums* - Eh, this one didn't do a ton for me. It ended a little weird.

October

65. Little White Lies by Phillippa East* - I liked the multiple perspectives in this narrative. It was definitely a riveting book.

66. Anatomy of a Scandal by Sarah Vaughn* - This one is quite a bit darker than the other one I read by her, but I liked it. I loved the multiple narrators and how the story unfolded between past and present.

67. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling* - I told my oldest we'd listen to this one after he read the whole series, so we did. The ending sure lasts a long time.

68. The Parted Earth by Anjali Enjeti* - I loved learning about this aspect of history.

69. 1984 by George Orwell* - What a slog.

69. When You Read This by Mary Adkins* - Sweet but kind of forgettable.

70. The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins* - Totally engaging version of Jane Eyre. I probably liked the ending better than the original.

71. The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune* - Started this one and was really amused by the writing. Then my loan expired and I had to put it on hold before I could listen to the rest. By the time it came back up, I found it much less amusing. It just became rather tiresome for me.

November

72. Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty* - I love all of her stuff. This one may be a favorite.

73. It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover - Hated the first third or so, then I couldn't put it down. This deals with incredibly heavy topics (domestic violence, sexual assault), and there is a ton of swearing. But I felt like the author does such a good job of depicting why women stay in abusive relationships.

74. The Giver of Stars by JoJo Moyes* - This was a part of history I knew nothing about. Great read.

December

75. The Dutch House by Ann Patchett* - I had such mixed emotions about this book. It was read by Tom Hanks, which I didn't love. But, I was captivated by it from the start.

76. Wrong Alibi by Christina Dodd* - A pretty meh suspense/thriller for me.

77. Graceling by Kristin Cashore* - Really enjoyed and couldn't wait to dive into the second one.

78. Fire by Kristin Cashore* - I liked it even better than Graceling.

2020 Books

noreply@blogger.com (Sherry) — Fri, 01 Jan 2021 12:12:00 +0000

With all the running I did this year, my number of audiobooks is probably higher than ever before. I sometimes listen to music while I run, but most often I start with a talk from General Conference, and then move to an audio book.

This year I read 64 books. Of those, ten were on Kindle, two were a mix of Kindle and audio, four were on paper, and 48 were audio. I need to spend less time on my phone in the evenings and more time with my Kindle or paper books. My best month was May, with 8 books. (This corresponds with the month I decided to run a marathon, but it does not correspond with the months with my highest mileage, June and July. Those months I read six books each.)

Of the books I read, this year, here are my top ten percent:

The Sun Does Shine by Anthony Ray Hinton and Laura Hardin. Stop everything you are doing right now and read this book. I read this for my book group, and it ended up being one of the best book group discussions I've ever head. Eric even joined in since he had also read the book at my insistence.
Lovely War by Julie Berry. I loved this way more than I thought I would.
Maybe You Should Talk to Somebody by Lori Gottleib. Everyone needs a therapist.
The Wildlands by Abby Geni. If you liked Where the Crawdads Sing, check out Abby Geni's books. I need her to write some more.
The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton. This author hasn't failed me yet.
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. This was my favorite book in 2019. It didn't fail me on the re-listen.

As an interesting note, three of the books in my top ten were for my local book group (#1, #3, and #5).

January
1. Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures by Kate DiCamillo* - This was a fun read. I thought it was a really cute story with surprising depth. I look forward to reading or listening with my kids.

2. The Sun Does Shine by Anthony Ray Hinton and Laura Hardin* - This was such an amazing and important read. Stop reading this blog post and go read that book.

3. The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris by David McCullough* - I loved considering American history in the view of Americans visiting and living in Paris. It made me want to visit Paris and study more art.

4. Unnatural by Angela Armstrong* - I really liked this one. I thought some of the downsides of the post-apocalyptic world were a bit heavy-handed, but I'm eager to find out where this series is going.

5. The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit by Michael Finkel* - The idea of being a hermit living in the woods is romanticized a bit, but this man's story is so interesting.

February
6. The Broken Circle: A Memoir of Escaping Afghanistan by Enjeela Ahmadi-Miller - Such an interesting story of a refugee family trying to reunite after the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. Her wealthy family was different than so many refugees in that they had savings and personal friends and other connections to help them. Still, the difficulties and trials were real. (This was an Amazon FirstReads book.)

7. What It Is Like To Go To War by Karl Marlantes* - I first became interested in this book after seeing Ken Burns's documentary about the Vietnam War. The author of this book was interviewed extensively in the series. The end of the series included a list of authors and books, so I added this to my list. This book was hard to listen to, but I think it makes so many good points about what war should be, and what we need to do for our soldiers before, during, and after combat.

8. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling* - Listened with the boys, and it was so fun to watch their reactions. Also, the Priori Incantatem chapter gets me every time.

March
9. Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow* - This is a great history book, but I prefer David McCullough. It was good for me to get the facts on Alexander Hamilton because the musical rearranges some key events.

10. Supernova by Marissa Meyer* - A very fun conclusion to this series. Again, I am impressed that this series has so much depth considering it's kind of a silly topic (superhero wars). When we read the first one for book group, most hadn't read it because it's kind of long and hard to get a hold of. When I updated my status on GoodReads for this one, I saw that a few of my book group friends have also finished the trilogy, and now I want to talk to them about it!

11. My Not So Perfect Life by Sophie Kinsella - I read my first Sophie Kinsella book about a year ago and described it as a perfect beach read. This one I actually managed to start reading on a beach (and finished reading in a bath). It was entertaining, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I've Got Your Number. I definitely needed something lighthearted and distracting for this last week (quarantine, home school, earthquake, moody weather).

12. The Scarlet Pimpernel by Emmuska Orczy - It took me a bit to get into this one, but once I did, I really enjoyed it.

April
13. A Warning by anonymous* - As one who despises President Trump, I don't think there was anything new or shocking here. There is a bit at the end about how important it is to have Trump ousted via election rather than congressional removal, and I thought that should have been at the beginning. I was tempted to bail in the book much earlier because it was just preaching to the choir for me.

14. Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary* - I am just perpetually sad Beverly Cleary wasn't a part of my childhood, but I'm happy to share her with my children. We listened to this one on audio while doing a puzzle and while driving.

15. Lovely War by Julie Berry - Loved this book in so many ways. Delightful writing, great story. The end (the VERY end) surprised me. It was lovely.

16. Present Over Perfect by Shauna Niequist* - It's a series of essays, and it reads like one. A bit repetitive, but there was some beautiful stuff here.

17. An Edible History of Humanity by Tom Standage* - This book is like an anthropological look at food. It was so interesting.

May
18. A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson* - Loved it the first time. Loved listening to it this time with Eric. It is hilarious. We listened to this while doing puzzles and going on evening walks together during quarantine.

19. Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing* - Started on Kindle, then it expired, and I finished it on audio. It really is an amazing story. I probably could have used some visuals to better understand the ship, the layout of the land and the ice, etc.

20. The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris* - Beautiful story. Even though the cover says it's based on a true story, I did not realize it until the notes at the end. I loved it and raced through the audio in a couple of days.

21. The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill - This one was for book group, and I loved it! It was a bit tricky to follow sometimes, but I spent most of the book not knowing where it was going. I loved the idea of hope conquering sorrow.

22. Try and Make Me by Ray Levi and Bill O'Hanlon - I started this over two years ago. It's got some good stuff in it, but like a lot of parenting books it's a bit of a slog.

23. Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls* - Listened to this one with the boys because Eric's parents wanted to show them the movie, but I thought they should read it first. I get why it's so popular. I'd love to read a text copy sometime.

24. The Woman Behind the New Deal: The Life of Frances Perkins, FDR's Secretary of Labor and His Moral Conscience by Kirstin Downey* - Francis Perkins was such an incredible lady! I did get a bit bogged down in the political machinations in this book, but she is a pretty cool woman you've probably never heard of.

25. Louisiana's Way Home by Kate DiCamillo* - Another sweet read by this great author.

June
26. Henry and Beezus by Beverly Cleary* - Listened this one mostly with all the kids, but then I finished it off with Trixie. The boys were bummed that they didn't get to hear the end of it.

27. The Endurance Handbook: How to Achieve Athletic Potential, Stay Healthy, and Get the Most Out of Your Body by Philip Maffetone - Way too long for the advice it gave. A mix of good, practical advice, and some kookier stuff that probably needs more evidence to support his claims.

28. The Body: A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson* - I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Bill Bryson is the best. Plus, this one resulted in me joking with Eric about castration a few times. Double win.

29. The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman by Margot Mifflin* - Such an interesting story. The author had a bit of an anti-religion agenda, but overall I thought she did a good job of sorting fact from fiction in the various records about this interesting woman and her time living with the Mojaves.

30. Never Look Back by Alison Gaylin* - I don't normally listen to suspense or mysteries, but I wanted something a little more lively than my typical history audiobooks to listen to during a really long run. I found myself being pulled into well after my run was done and will probably go on a suspense-genre spree now.

31. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles - This one really dragged for me until about the last third. Then I loved it. I'm glad I hung in there.

July
32. His Perfect Wife by Natasha Bell* - Meh. I'd hardly classify it as a suspense or thriller. It was rather dull for that category. It has interesting themes, but it was pretty dark.

33. In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson* - Not his best. Australia is amazing and dangerous.

34. Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb - I loved this book. I loved all of it. I missed my book group's discussion about it, which makes me very sad. I want to talk about this book forever. Also, you probably should talk to someone. Therapy is the best!

35. What the Wind Knows by Amy Harmon - I initially started this because I got it for free from Amazon. I didn't love it, so I put it down for a while, not even realizing that it was a pick for my book group later in the year. It took so long to get into, but I really loved the way it wrapped up.

36. Kiss the Girls and Make Them Cry by Mary Higgins Clark* - Continuing on my suspense-while-running kick. I liked this one. Cleaner than most. A little easy to call, though.

37. The Guest House by Abbie Clark* - Really engaging, but laughably implausible.

August

38. The Wildlands by Abby Geni* - I loved everything about this book. The writing, the reader, the characters, the plot. It was just so beautifully done.

39. It Was All a Lie: How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump by Stuart Stevens* - I agreed with most of what this guy says, but he didn't offer much in the way of solutions. It was definitely a book for people who like to stay in the echo chamber.

40. Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment Is Killing America's Heartland by Jonathan M. Metzl* - This is a thoughtful, well-researched book. I would like to have read more about any conflicting data or studies. Surely they are out there. Ignoring them weakens his arguments.

41. The New Jim Crow* by Michelle Alexander - Such an important book and topic. It was pretty repetitive, though. I think, to be more appealing to a broader audience, this should be done as a podcast of about 3 hours.

42. Echo by Pam Munoz-Ryan* - Such a good audiobook. I listened with my boys, and they liked it. This was for my book group, and I'm hopeful my people like it as much as I did.

September

43. Woman on the Edge by Samantha M. Bailey* - This audio kept me interested and engaged during my marathon. I finished it a couple of days later. I knew who the bad person was pretty early on, but I didn't identify all of the big reveals.

44. The Lost Letter by Jillian Cantor - I thoroughly enjoyed this one, even though it is a historical-fiction love story. I though it would be cheesy, and of course it was a bit, but I actually really liked it.

45. The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson* - Not my favorite of his. Enjoyable, but not as enjoyable as others.

46. The Lightkeepers by Abby Geni* - This author only has three novels out, and two of them are top notch. The stories are so compelling, but they aren't frantic. This one reminded me a lot of Where the Crawdads Sing. The writing about nature is just beautiful.

47. The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton - Just a beautiful, delightful, twisting read. I loved the history, the genealogy, and the mystery. I am looking forward to reading more by her.

48. The Split by Sharon Bolton* - Meh. It was fine. I may be getting a little tired of this genre.

October

49. A Madness of Sunshine by Nalini Singh* - Loved the West Coast of New Zealand setting and the Kiwi narrator. The end was rather absurd and rushed.

50. A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer - I'll be reading the second one just as soon as I can.

51. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens* - I begged Eric to listen to this one, and he did. Then I needed to listen again, and I loved it just as much as the first time, possibly more.

52. And Now She's Gone by Rachel Howzell Hall* - There were so many aspects of this one that I liked, especially the characters and their back stories. The actual plot of the missing person being investigated fell very flat for me.

53. Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell* - I loved this book a few years ago and even put it in my top ten percent for 2014. I encouraged Eric to listen to it, and then I followed suit. This book is so dark and hard to read.

54. Revival by Stephen King* - This was my first Stephen King book. The writing was phenomenal. The story itself was great. The spook factor was non-existent. It just wasn't remotely scary to me.

55. Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart - This one was for book group, and I liked it. I wasn't gung-ho for it, but it was fine.

November

56. Lost Boys by Orson Scott Card* - I read this one in 2013 and remembered it quite clearly. Still, I thought it would be a good one for a Halloween. I liked it a lot, even knowing what was going to happen. (Sometimes I can't remember what will happen, but this one was very memorable to me.)

57. My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George* - I really enjoyed listening to this with my sons. They liked it a lot too.

58. Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale* - I liked this one, but I didn't love it. It was fun discussing in my online book group.

59. Whistle in the Dark by Emma Healey* - Such a good story about a mother's relationship with her daughters. It was a bit long, but as a mom it really resonated with me.

60. The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate* - I read this exactly one year ago, so the timing of listening to it with my boys this year was kind of funny. I enjoyed listening with them and with Eric. It was over the girls' heads.

61. The Burglar by Thomas Perry* - This was a good suspense book for running. It was a good amount of plot excitement and crime-sleuthing.

December

62. Death Benefits by Thomas Perry* - I've hit upon an author I seem to enjoy. I like that his books are more focused on crime solving (especially financial crimes).

63. Vanishing Act by Thomas Perry* - I like this author enough that I've started a series of his. I thought this one is good. I like the protagonist, although the ending fell a bit flat for me. Nonetheless, I'll dive right into the next one.

64. Dance for the Dead by Thomas Perry* - The second in the Jane Whitefield series. Crime/suspense novels are fun to run to.

*Denotes audiobooks.

2020 - In Review

noreply@blogger.com (Sherry) — Thu, 31 Dec 2020 12:38:00 +0000

Although I understand why many people are referring to 2020 as a dumpster fire, for my immediate family and me, it wasn't that terrible and actually offered many opportunities we might not have had otherwise. With that said, I recognize that we are incredibly blessed to have good health, good jobs, and good schools for our children. I fully understand that my year's success are just that: mine. Yours may be different, and that is okay. For many, this year was merely one of survival.

Highlights:

One marathon, one half marathon. I joined a Facebook group for running mamas, and now I'm signed up for a trail Ragnar in May 2021!
Felix learned to ride a bike.
Trixie learned to ride a bike.
Felicia is potty trained!
Canoeing 88 miles on the Yellowstone River with lots of Eric's extended family.
Connecting with my big sister, an old friend, and my niece on MarcoPolo.
Joe Biden won.
I won tickets for our family to go to Lagoon. We had so much fun!
I made my own sourdough starter and can now make an adequate loaf of sourdough bread. I like this recipe.
We got a Costco nearby. There are a handful of things there that I really love, especially the giant bag of spinach for my green smoothies.

Places in 2020:

Cruise along the western coast of Mexico right before Covid-19 hit the rails. We even got a bonus day aboard the ship.
Lots of camping, including a couple of nights in Fremont Indian State Park in a tipi, camping near Moab, and camping on Orcas Island in the San Juan Islands.
A trip to Seattle (and environs) to visit Eric's sister and her family. I am a bit in love with the San Juan Islands.
Jackson Hole for Thanksgiving. (We defied the CDC.)

Birthdays/Traditions

Same traditions as usual, but this year we added Stockington Day the Monday before the first day of school. It was such a blast, and I can't wait to do it again next year!

Review of 2020 Goals:

Run a sub-30 5K. DONE!
Log 400 miles of running (outdoors and treadmill). DONE times 2.5. Yes, I ran over 1000 miles in 2020.
Catch up on all the books I have downloaded to my Kindle. Ha! Not even close. The problem is that Amazon gives me a free book every month, and I joined a second book group this year!
Read the Book of Mormon as a family. We gave up on this pretty early. Our little girls just cannot do it. I did read the whole thing, and I think Ike might finish before the new year.
Start a social media hashtag called #forrealfriday where people take pictures and post about real-life stuff, not just the beautiful stuff. This hasn't caught on quite like I wanted, but we'll keep working on it.
Crochet 20 beanies for a service project run by a family in our ward. I didn't do this one, but our ward did a service project for them, so I made five and put them with entire bundles for the project.
Crochet 15 new snowflakes for my Christmas tree. I didn't count how many I did. It may have been 15? It may have been 10? I genuinely do not know.

2021 Goals:

Run another marathon (or two, or three).
Keep teaching my kids to cook. (Before the reinstatement of tighter lockdown (which, to be fair is hardly tight at all compared to other places), each of my kids helped me cook one night a week, and they got to have a friend over that night. It was working really well, and they were learning real skills besides just, getting food out for me.)
Read daily with my kids. This should be a thing we do already, but we just don't. Sometimes we will check books out from the library, and I never even crack them open.
Reinstate dates with our kids.

2020 focused a lot on myself, especially in regards to training. I am looking forward to being more mindful about the time I spend with my kids going into 2021.

Felix is Eight!

noreply@blogger.com (Sherry) — Mon, 28 Dec 2020 11:02:00 +0000

Felix turned 8 in early October. He was baptized later in the month, which was a special day for us. It happened to be right before our state again toughened up on gathering limits. We were able to have many family members present for his baptism, and then we wore masks at our home afterwards for a lunch.

Felix's big accomplishments in the last year have been:

improving his reading
learning to ride a bike
beginning piano lessons
learning more board games
becoming a better hiker

He still loves to set up intricate and detailed battles with his army guys and often invites friends over to do so. Felix also enjoys playing outside with his friends in the field (usually football, but I believe other sports are in the mix), playing video games with his friends, and watching Studio C and Mark Rober. Lately he and his brother are also into Coyote Peterson. He also loves Legos and Minecraft.

Felix and Ike watch so much Studio C that they are often regale us with their own narrations of the the show's funniest sketches. I believe the Studio C cast is funnier. A few weeks ago we were telling the boys about the plot of It's A Wonderful Life when Felix informed us there is a sketch about that! (We showed them the real movie; they thought it was alright.) Then, last week Felix found me in the kitchen and started telling me about this hilarious sketch with a band singing a song called "Gary's Girl," which is a spoof of "Jesse's Girl." He was not as impressed with the actual song.

This year at Felix's annual checkup we learned he is smaller than usual. That visit has been followed up with visits with an endocrinologist, who refers to himself as Felix's "growth coach." Felix is such a fan of fruits and vegetables that it is hard to get fat on his bones! We have introduced many high-fat and high-protein items into his diet, but I still have to remind him daily to eat at least one "gain weight snack." He'd rather just eat a plain apple than have apple in a yummy dipping sauce. He still remains my least picky eater, which is lovely. He finally lost some teeth just before turning 8! This coincides with being a very late teether as a baby. (He got his first two teeth at 11 months and then nothing else until about 18 months, when he got six at once.)

For his birthday we went bowling at Fat Cats with just our family. It was a fun night out together.

I love Felix's logical and inquisitive nature. He likes to know how things work, and thinks practically. For the most part he does his household jobs quickly and efficiently so he can do the fun stuff sooner. We stared the year off with kid dates with the parents. Those fizzled somewhere along the way, but here's a photo from an early one with the two of us to the ropes course at the Museum of Natural Curiosity.

Due to Covid, our boys entered the world of babysitting much earlier than anyone would have guessed. The boys are quite good at caring for their sisters, even if their sisters are not great at being cared for. Felix loves to save his money and is so conscientious about spending it wisely. He scrimped and saved all spring and summer for a child-size kayak. They were constantly sold out. We looked at getting a used one and just couldn't luck out. Felix loved borrowing from friends when we were there with a huge group of people this summer. He was so patient to take his sister out over and over again. Luckily, we found a great deal on one on Black Friday, so he has one now! It was a big surprise for him on Christmas morning.

Last year was Felix's first year to play Junior Jazz basketball. His confidence far exceeded his skills. At one game when I was shouting at him to go down court (instead of trying to play full court press) he looked at me and yelled, "I KNOW HOW TO PLAY BASKETBALL!" All the parents got a good laugh from that (and also agreed with me, that, no, he does not know how to play basketball.) There were many times that he lobbed the ball in the general direction of the net, then turned around and started celebrating what he was sure was a goal. (It usually wasn't.) Despite these challenges, I signed him up for another round for 2021.

I sure do love my Felix. I am enjoying (mostly) working with him on the piano, and I love to hear him come up with creations all on his own. He has a great ear for music, and he'd rather learn to play by memory than reading music. (He is Eric's child in this regard.) He's been cooking with me more this year, which is also a great experience. I'm excited to see how he develops and grows over the next year, but I'm pretty sure he'll stay 8 forever.

Trixie is Five!

noreply@blogger.com (Sherry) — Mon, 05 Oct 2020 09:14:00 +0000

Trixie turned five at the end of August.

At five years old, she loves to play outside, play with friends, play with her siblings, and play with her parents. She is still snuggly, especially when trying to avoid going to bed or after a volatile outburst.

She basically taught herself to ride a bike, and she loves going on bike rides with anyone who will take her. If no big kids or adults will accompany her around the black trail (a trail by our house), she will ride up and down the sidewalk of our street for long stretches of time. On the Monday after her birthday (Labor Day) she rode eight miles!

Trixie is smart and asks a lot of good questions. Last week her pre-school teacher told me she is ready to start reading and sent Trixie home with some resources to work with. (And yes, that technically happened after her birthday, but with a post nearly six weeks late, I'm talking about it anyway.)

Technically Trixie could have started kindergarten this year, but I had decided quite a while back to hold her back a year so she'd be one of the oldest in her class rather than one of the youngest. I had a lot of reasons for that, and with 2020 being like it's been, I'm confident I made the right choice. Trixie's getting an extra year with her beloved pre-school teacher, and she's doing an online program that is going fine.

Trixie loves animals, especially horses. We still go to Thanksgiving Point to let her ride ponies. I mentioned that when she turns 8 maybe we can some riding lessons, and she has remembered this and brought it up several times. Earlier this year she and Ike pretended to be missionaries for a Family Night activity. As we asked them questions people might ask missionaries, she told us that you can get baptized when you turn 8, and you can also take horse riding lessons.

She got 11 stitches in her chin earlier this year. It went about as well as you would expect. Once the shots numbed everything up, she did okay. But eventually that numbing agent wore off. At the age of 4, she learned to swallow pills because she detested the taste of the liquid pain medicine.

My two girls are absolutely, positively, the very best of friends (when they are not fighting). They have great imaginations and can play together for extended periods of time.

Trixie also loves to play with her brothers. Felix can often be found setting up train tracks for her, and Ike can always be relied upon to rile her up. At Bear Lake this summer, he toted her all around in this borrowed kayak for long periods of time.

Trixie played QuickBall (like tee-ball, but faster-paced and more focused on essential skills), and she did fine. She finally got a hit on her last game, which was thrilling. I was one of her coaches, which was special for us. She agreed to play, in large part, because of the treats she expected after each game, but Covid put the kabosh on that, which was really disappointing. She also excelled in swim lessons this year and thinks she can swim now. (She can't.)

Trixie is brave and always willing to be a daredevil. She told me she wanted to jump off this bridge on a camping trip. Once we were actually up there, it felt quite high, and she really struggled. She finally did it, though! (After the actual experience, she thought she'd try again, but she just stood on the bridge being scared for a long time before I finally went to get her. Ike did that too on the first day he jumped.)

Like a true middle child, Trixie likes to point out the ways in which she is special, generally talking about her "broken" heart or her defective ears and how she's had surgery more than anyone in her family. At one point I'm pretty sure she told somebody she was born without a heart at all.

She actually has a great, big heart, and we are so happy she is ours.

Felicia is Three!

noreply@blogger.com (Sherry) — Mon, 24 Aug 2020 10:19:00 +0000

Felicia turned three in early July. She is a fun little girl right now. At age three she is:

Obsessed with her father.
Needing a nap about every fourth day but never getting one.
In love with Peppa Pig.
Verbose.
Potty-trained, but has recently relapsed into having chronic accidents because she can't be bothered to go to the bathroom.
Irate about having to get her hair done.
Too skinny for a lot of her pants to stay up.
Interested in wearing as many patterns as possible at one time.
Crazy about getting her fingernails and toenails painted.
Capable of finding any porta-potty at any construction site while we are out for drives. (She has a bizarre fascination with them.)

The other day she wandered into our room at night and slept on the floor. When she woke up for good, she popped straight up, with no lolling about on the floor. She looked at me and said, "Mom, wake up. It's cock-a-doodle-doo."

A few weeks ago she fell asleep while leaning on a dining room chair. This episode (pictured above) followed a long string of crying about everything you could imagine, and probably some things you couldn't imagine.

She loves to sing and dance, especially if nobody is watching. She also plays elaborate make believe games by herself.

If there is a mess left in the house, Felicia probably made it. She is, hands down, my most "into stuff" child. She constantly gets into food without permission. She eats raw oatmeal from the container, takes single bites out of cucumbers and apples, and makes her own cinnamon toast, with literally tablespoons of cinnamon heaped on. She has put an entire box of bandaids on her body like stickers. She took a bite from an EOS lip balm. (Who knew that was even possible?) She has gotten into and eaten entire packages of gum from the van's glove box. It is not unusual to find a sink full of sudsy water and all the wash cloths from that bathroom in the basin.

Her speech is generally understandable, but she struggles with words that start with s followed by a consonant. "Smoothie" sounds like "movie." "Stuck" sounds like "duck." Last week she rode a pony called Penelope, and she pronounced the name, "Pennareppy."

As difficult as she can be at this age, she can also be very sweet. She is quite perceptive of other people's feelings and tried to comfort people when they are sad. She quotes her older brothers quoting their favorite lines from movies and shows.

We love our Felicia!

Felicia: 2.5

noreply@blogger.com (Sherry) — Mon, 13 Apr 2020 10:19:00 +0000

Felicia turned two and a half on New Year's Day. She is such a fun little girl.

In the last six-ish months, Felicia has developed strong opinions about fashion. She is very opinionated about what she wears, often choosing very inventive combinations. If there is something with a pattern, she'll wear it. She also loves to wear anything with a picture or logo on it. She loves accessories, especially necklaces and purses. She enjoys choosing her own bows when I do her hair.

Her favorite colors are blue and orange. If she can wear something or play with something or use something with those colors as an option, she will. Until a few weeks ago, she preferred to use a bottle, if possible. (But I finally threw the bottles and sippy cups away because I am sick of finding gross containers with days-old milk in them around the house. Tantrums and general sadness ensued when Felicia realized they were "lost.")

Felicia loves her daddy. If I try to get her out of bed in the morning, she usually tells me to go away. If daddy is gone by the time she wakes up, she is very sad and often takes a while to be convinced that I am capable of getting her out of bed and getting her oatmeal. (But with quarantine happening now, Daddy is home all the time, and Felicia is one happy girl!)

Whenever we go on pre-school field trips with Trixie, Felicia lines right up and acts like she is part of the preschool class. I am considering enrolling her in a 3-year-old pre-school for next year, but I may not because she has a summer birthday. Then I think about how well she does on these field trips, and maybe I'll find one for her after all.

She loves to play with her siblings and can also be really tyrannical with them. She has loved being able to spend so much time with her siblings during this "Stay safe, stay home" time period. Usually her brothers get home from school and try to go play with friends as soon as they can. With everyone being forced to be together, Felicia is in heaven. She is also starting to play so much better with Trixie, and it is so sweet to see them play happily together.

Felicia inherited my need to be right and correct people all the time, so that's fun for everyone. Most of the time when I call her "baby," (which is a lot) she responds, "I nogga baby. Ina girl."

We potty-trained Felicia this week, and she did awesome. She wasn't our youngest to potty train, but overall, she was definitely the easiest.

Right now she can be very loving and affectionate, often saying, "I just love you." She also loves to say, "I'm happy today," followed by listing everyone else in the family who is happy at that moment and pointing out any who might be sad. She loves babies and pretends that everything is her baby. This is her with her baby cousin, who weighs almost as much as she does:

Felicia loves to dance and to sing her own made up songs, which usually involve one line repeated ad nauseam. (Example: It's a beautiful day! It's a beautiful day! It's a beautiful day!)

We sure do love our little girl (who insists she is not little).

Ike is Nine!

noreply@blogger.com (Sherry) — Tue, 14 Jan 2020 11:08:00 +0000

Ike turned nine last month. His birthday itself was a bit of a dud with him coming home from school and then testing positive for influenza B. He then spent the entire next week home from school. We gave him a book of Harry Potter sheet music as well as a Calvin and Hobbes book, both of which he has enjoyed.

Right after turning 8, Ike got baptized. Then he got to go to General Conference a few months later.

This has been a year with a lot of growth for Ike. He played and loved basketball. I was his assistant coach, and we had a fun time together at the Jazz game.

He also spent about a week with his uncle in Jackson Hole, and is a great hiker. He and I hiked Mt. Timpanogos together, and he did amazing. He can't wait to do it again next year, and try to summit this time.

Ike is mostly a good and helpful big brother. He also is the person that rile his siblings up like nobody else. When our ward was starting at 11:40 sometimes I made Eric take Ike with him to his earlier meetings just so I could have Ike out of the house. And other times I just told him he had to walk to church so I had a few extra minutes without him distracting his siblings from their jobs of getting ready for church. He walks home from church with friends almost every Sunday.

He had a rough patch with piano at the start of this school year, but then he did amazing at his recital in December. He is learning that hard things are worth doing.

Ike remains an incredibly social and playful child. He loves to play with friends, and his favorite parts about school are recess, riding the bus, and playing with friends before school starts. He does well academically and especially loves math. He loves Harry Potter, Star Wars, and sports.

2019 - In Review

noreply@blogger.com (Sherry) — Fri, 03 Jan 2020 11:08:00 +0000

Highlights:

So much running! I ran two 10Ks and two half marathons. I ran about 300 miles. (I didn't keep track of my non-GPS runs, and I deleted some of my wacky GPS runs where my app gave me more mileage than was accurate, so I'm not exactly sure on the total.) I am in better shape than I've ever been in my life.
Felicia's talking really took off in the last two months.
Trixie started preschool and loves it.
Ike and I hiked Mt. Timpanogos (but didn't quite summit due to wind).
Ike is learning that working hard to accomplish something difficult feels awesome, even if the process itself can be really disheartening sometimes. (Thanks, piano!)
Ike and I went to the BYU vs USC game, which BYU won in overtime. It was Ike's first BYU football game, and my first time back since 2007.
Felix's reading has really improved, and he is starting to enjoy reading on his own a bit more.
I went to my stake's Young Women's camp, and it was awesome.
Eric's student loan forgiveness came through, after initially being denied. (It was a huge relief.)
Doing "Come Follow Me," our church's scripture-study program, through the year was fairly consistent and gave us lots of opportunities to talk about spiritual things with our children.
We had several opportunities to help build our children's faith this year. It started when Eric's loan forgiveness was denied (despite him having taught at a low income school for five years). As we discussed what to do about it, both of us felt prompted to be open with our children about the situation and ask them to pray for their dad's loan to be forgiven. (Trixie once prayed instead "for dad to be alone.") When the loan forgiveness came through, our children could see it as a direct correlation to their prayers. We also had a lot of family prayers for Eric's shoulder to heal so he wouldn't need surgery. (It did; he didn't.) And for Felicia to learn to talk. (She did!)
I'm like a decade late to the trend, but I started drinking green smoothies, and it's so much better than skipping breakfast or eating whatever desserts we have lying around. (Who knew?)
I did some things to wrangle my mental health, and I am doing so much better!
We took lots of friends canoeing on the Jordan River (even more than last year).
We have a group of friends for fairly regular date night outings.
New flooring in my entire main floor! Before that we also painted the living room white, bought new curtains for the living room and dining room, and bought a new sectional! The old couches went to the basement, and the TV is down there too. Re-doing the living room was a big deal this year!

Places in 2019:

Three trips to Jackson Hole - Once for the Fourth of July (my brother had taken my boys to spend a few days with their family, so we had to go pick them up); once for a missionary farewell, and once for a missionary homecoming.
Moab for a canoeing thing with lots of friends.
Capitol Reef National Park - Possibly my new favorite.
Bear Lake, with friends - We started this trip on our own but then found out a bunch of friends would be there at the same time. It was a great little trip.
Ginormous family reunion in Heber - Eric's grandma's last time to host one with all of her six children, her 26 grandchildren, and 54 (or 52?) great grandchildren. (I could name them all for you, and figure out the exact count, but I've got other stuff to do right now.)
Great Basin National Park

Birthdays/Traditions:

Nothing new to report here. Birthday ice cream at Cold Stone on the Monday after a birthday. We did two shepherds' meals this year, one with friends, and one with family. Fondue on the last day of school. One new tradition is Hawaiian haystacks for dinner on the first day of school.

2019 Goals (copy and pasted from last year's post, with the results bolded):

Redecorate my living room. DONE!
Run a 10K? DONE!
Read more books on paper and Kindle. Not really.
Read more books with my kids, especially chapter books with the boys. Probably comparable to the year before. We did read scriptures more, though.
Maybe get around to finishing up those 2018 goals. (And with commitment like that, clearly I'm on the right track.) Well, we all saw where that was going, didn't we?

2020 Goals:

I'm still working on these. Right now I've got:

Run a sub-30 5K. I don't know exactly how fast I can run a 5K right now, but the last time I tried (end of November) I ran it in just under 33 minutes. I'm pretty sure I can shave off those three minutes.
Log 400 miles of running (outdoors and treadmill). (I have a new Garmin, so it is easier to log my treadmill activities to the same location as my GPS activities.)
Catch up on all the books I have downloaded to my Kindle. There are so many.
Read the Book of Mormon as a family. We can do it!
Start a social media hashtag called #forrealfriday where people take pictures and post about real-life stuff, not just the beautiful stuff. Be on the lookout.
Crochet 20 beanies for a service project run by a family in our ward.
Crochet 15 new snowflakes for my Christmas tree.

I'm excited about this new year, and the new decade.

2019 Books

noreply@blogger.com (Sherry) — Thu, 02 Jan 2020 09:18:00 +0000

This year I read 70 books, with 44 on audio, 11 on paper, and 15 on Kindle. I really fell apart in December, when I got the flu and stopped running. (Yes, we all had our flu shots.) (I listen to a lot of audiobooks while running, so if I'm not running, and I'm too sick to commute to my office, there is not much listening going on for me.) My biggest months were January and March, with nine books each. I'm not sure how I got so much reading in those months. They certainly did not coincide with the months where I ran the most.

And with no further ado, my top 10% of books for 2019:

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. (#46 on this list)
Becoming by Michelle Obama (#15 on this list).
Hillbilly Elegy by J. D. Vance (#25 on this list)
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman (#18 on this list)
The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton (#36 on this list)
Station Eleven by Elizabeth St. John Mandel (#40 on this list)
Shoe Dog by Phil Knight (#43 on this list)

And obviously if any of you want to talk to me in real life about any of these books, I'd always welcome that. Two of these books were for my book group, and if you want to join it, hit me up. (But also a couple of the worst books I read this year were for book group, so you win some and you lose some.)

January:
1. Winter by Marissa Meyer* - An overall satisfying conclusion to the Lunar Chronicles. I was worried at first that I would hate the character of Winter, but she grew on me. I was also excited to learn there were a couple of additional books that are sort of part of the series, and I downloaded them immediately.

2. Fairest by Marissa Meyer* - I loved this back story for Queen Levana. I didn't read this one in order; technically it should have been before Winter, but it didn't affect the narrative at all.

3. The Twits by Roald Dahl - I had a lot of fun reading this with the boys.

4. Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult - Very engaging. At first I thought the characters were a bit stereotypical, but they really grew on me. I appreciated the various discussions of race throughout.

5. How Children Succeed by Paul Tough - I thought this would be more about things I can do as a parent for my kids. There's a bit of that in there, but mostly it's about helping low-income kids succeed. Interesting read, just not what I expected.

6. Heartless by Marissa Meyer* - I didn't really like this one, which was disappointing after my great affection for her Lunar Chronicles.

7. From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg* - This was a fun audiobook with the kids.

8. Rapid Falls by Amber Cowie - It was fine. This was a free book through Amazon's system where I get a free book for my Kindle each month. The selection is always very limited, and I never know what to pick. It's always a gamble, and so far I haven't ready anything mindblowing.

9. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin* - It was fine. I may enjoy listening to it again with my family on a road trip.

February
10. The Read-Aloud Family by Sarah Mackenzie* - Beginning is a bit tedious, but she has great ideas for reading more with your family.

11. 168 Hours: You Have More Time than You Think by Laura Vanderkam* - Has some great principles for planning and using time well. I am going to try to implement more of them.

12. The Radium Girls by Kate Moore - Great story, very mediocre writing. Way too long and had too many chapter-ending cliffhangers.

13. Rock Needs River: A Memoir About a Very Open Adoption by Vanessa McGrady - Misleading title. Most of the book is about her failed relationships. The section about the actual adoption (less than half the book, probably) hardly even focuses on the things I expected considering its title. Great writing, just not an accurate title. (Another Amazon FirstReads book.)

14. I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella - A perfectly good beach read. If only'd I'd been on a beach whilst reading it.

15. Becoming by Michelle Obama* - I was really impressed by this book. The writing, the author herself, just all of it. (Also, I miss our old president.)

16. Thanks, Obama: My Hopey, Changey White House Years by David Litt* - Well, now I'm really nostalgic for President Obama. This one is a lot funnier than #15, but still had some really meaningful and thoughtful moments.

March
17. The Journal of Best Practices: A Memoir of Marriage, Asperger Syndrome, and One Man's Quest to Be a Better Husband by David Finch* - There is so much goodness in this book as far as improving your marriage and evaluating yourself. I loved that it came from a perspective of somebody with Asperger's, but it has so much broader applicability. A lot of swearing though.

18. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman - I just really enjoyed this book. Eleanor's character is delightfully quirky. I loved the unfolding of her history and found the pacing really good. I laughed out loud several times and thought there were so many good examples of kindness and friendship throughout the book.

19. Boy: Tales of Childhood by Roald Dahl - I should probably stick to his fictional works when I select books to read aloud to my kids. This one was good, but a little over their heads (especially the six-year-old's), and needed some off-the-cuff editing on my part.

20. Lose 200 Lbs. This Weekend by Don Aslett - As with a lot of self-help or how-to books, the front matter is the "why" you should be doing this, which I think most readers who've selected such a book have already bought into the why and do not need. The areas of focus at the end are more helpful. There are some good guiding principles for decluttering.

21. Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper* - I had a hard time with this one, mostly because of the depiction of incompetent special ed teachers. Overall, the book was fine, but not amazing.

22. Tribe by Sebastian Junger* - Plowed through this one in a couple of days. So fascinating. I think the lifestyles of Native American tribes are rather idealized, but the idea that Western culture is too isolated rang true for me.

23. Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult - I was engaged in this book the whole time and raced through it. With that said, I saw the "surprise" ending a mile away, and frankly, I think it cheapens the ethical dilemma that the mother faces.

24. Go by Kazuki Kaneshiro - I read half of this and just couldn't make myself care about the characters. (Another Amazon FirstReads pick.)

25. Hillbilly Elegy by J. D. Vance* - I cannot stop talking to all the people about this book. So much of it rang true for my own upbringing (not so much the family life, but the community environment). I want to talk to everybody about it.

April
26. Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer* - This was a fun book. I immediately downloaded the sequel.

27. The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis - Read this one with the boys. Ike understood it really well. Felix was a little bored.

28. Stray: Memoir of a Runaway by Tanya Marquardt - It's interesting to read about somebody whose life is so totally different than mine, but this book was really depressing. (Another Amazon FirstReads choice.) Also, the title is misleading. Her parents knew where she was the whole time she was gone, which was about six months.

29. Off the Page by Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer* - I liked this one even better than the first. I thought the plot and characters were far more developed, and I was on the edge of my seat wondering what would happen sometimes.

30. The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli* - It was fine. I'd be happy to listen to it with my kids in a few years. The language in it is old enough I'd want to listen again and not be the one reading aloud.

31. The Forgotten Hours by Katrin Schumann - Finally an Amazon FirstReads book I actually liked. Wouldn't recommend it to everyone, but I found it very compelling and thought-provoking. With the #MeToo movement the last few years, I've discussed with several people the issue of, "GASP! He would NEVER!" And then the resulting, "Well, actually he DID," conversations that we are having. I felt like this book handled that back and forth discovery masterfully.

32. Ramona the Brave by Beverly Cleary* - I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I just love the Ramona books! I'm sad they weren't part of my childhood. I'm happy I'm getting to discover them with my children.

33. Hallelujah by J. Scott Featherstone - I wanted to like this, but it was terrible. It was self-published, and that man needed an editor. The book is about 300 pages too long.

May
34. A Lucky Life Interrupted by Tom Brokaw* - He's a great writer. This book was fine. It's about his cancer diagnosis and initial round of treatment, with reflections on various portions of his life. It wasn't read by him, though, which is disappointing.

35. Olive's Ocean by Kevin Henkes* - I liked it, but I didn't love it. I actually thought some of the content was too mature for the target age group.

36. The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton* - Started a little slow, but once I was into it, I really liked it. Everyone in my book group liked it, which is a rare treat. While I "called" some of the ending, I definitely didn't see it all coming.

37. Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty* - I just love her. This one had lots of laugh out loud moments and some really amusing characters.

38. The Tenth Island by Diana Marcum* - I've read a few memoirs this year, and this is the first one where I didn't hate the author, so kudos to you, Ms. Marcum. And obviously I need to visit the Azores now. I looked at flights, and it may be a while until we make it there.

June
39. Fablehaven by Brandon Mull - Such a fun one to read with the boys. We started on audio, but the narrator was horrible, so we got the paper copy, and I finished it off. Seth is obnoxious.

40. Station Eleven by Elizabeth St. John Mandel* - I loved this one from the start. The story is so engaging, and I loved the narrator. I kind of wanted to re-listen as soon as it was over.

41. The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen* - Loved this one and listened to it every chance I got while I was at YW camp.

42. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling* - Audio'ed this one with the boys in preparation for "finally" showing them the movie. We had listened to this one before, but I thought the movie was too scary at the time. Even Trixie (age 3) watched the movie with us and didn't find it too scary. Go figure.

43. Shoe Dog by Phil Knight* - I was surprised by how much I liked this one. I listened to it mostly while running, which amused me. I definitely am grateful we have so much good technology in running shoes these days. Thanks, Phil Knight, and friends!

July
44. The Runaway King by Jennifer A. Nielsen* - Not as much love for this one as the first one, but still very entertaining.

45. Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker by Jennifer Chiaverini - Ugh, what a slog this one was. It read more like a very bad historical narrative than a historical fiction. It needed more fiction to make the characters more interesting.

46. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens* - I loved this book so much that I almost started listening to it again as soon as I finished it.

47. The Shadow Throne by Jennifer A. Nielsen* - This series sure did fizzle. So much eye-rolling for me in this one.

48. Front Desk by Kelly Yang* - Many of the parts I found least believable actually were based on reality, according to her epilogue at the end. I'd like to read more about Chinese immigration now. There was a lot in here that I felt could ring true for impoverished kids, regardless of ethnicity or nationality.

49. Pandora's Lab by Paul Offit* - An interesting one to listen to with Eric on a road trip. It certainly shows the challenges scientists have in following the scientific method thoroughly before making sweeping claims. Of course, the problem isn't always with the scientists, but with non-scientists who get carried away with data and studies they do not understand.

50. Rethinking Positive Thinking: Inside the New Science of Motivation by Gabriele Oettingen* - Kind of annoying to listen to, but overall a good read if you are interested about why and how thinking can change your behavior. It's not as simple as "think positive thoughts," but it's not all that much more complicated either.

51. The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio: How My Mother Raised 10 Kids on 25 Words or Less by Terry Ryan - I suggested this one for our book group, and I'm so glad I liked it on this (my second) read. It is such a delightful book about a pretty amazing lady.

August
52. The Road Beyond Ruin by Gemma Liviero - Another Kindle FirstReads. It took me months and months to get through this one. It was fine.

53. Delancey by Molly Wizenberg* - A fun one to listen to. I will never start a restaurant. I wanted pizza while listening. I skipped over most of the recipes.

54. The Blue Castle by Lucy Maud Montgomery - I laughed out loud reading this one. It's like a more grown-up Anne of Green Gables. If you are an Anne fan, definitely read this one.

55. MWF Seeking BFF by Rachel Bertsche* - This one was a bit long, but I loved this woman's journey of finding new friends. I thought a lot during while listening, "Yes, and this is why I always tell Eric that book group is sacred!" It is important to have good friends. It is hard (but possible!) to find good friends.

September
56. The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman* - Definitely an interesting read, though it was a bit long.

57. Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love by Dani Shapiro* - So beautifully written, and such an interesting story. With the availability of DNA testing for genealogy so available, many people have stories similar to hers (learning a parent is not actually biological). I thought Dani captured the experience really well.

58. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen - I had totally forgotten that I'd read this ten years earlier. I only gave it two stars on GoodReads then, but I gave it three this time.

October
59. This Is Where You Belong: The Art and Science of Loving the Place You Live by Melody Warnick* - I was surprised how much I liked this book. And I was a little chuffed with myself as I thought of all the things I have done in my city that help me feel more attached to it. (And doubly chuffed with myself that I listened to the book while running the historic Pony Express Trail that runs through my city. I was just ticking off boxes left and right.)

60. Rise of the Evening Star (Fablehaven #2) by Brandon Mull* - Started on paper, but it was taking us so long to get through it, that we moved to the CDs, even though the reader is absolutely horrible. I'd be fine if the boys just finish this series on their own when they are older.

61. Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie* - I had a bit of a hard time keeping track of the characters, and I had to go back over sections a few times because I had gotten bored and stopped listening. Overall, it was fine, but I'm not itching to read it again.

62. Know My Name by Chanel Miller* - This is a really powerful book about sexual assault. It definitely has mature subject matter, but it's such an important topic.

63. Rising Strong by Brene Brown* - There were so many valuable things in this book. I talked about it to a lot of people after finishing it. I should read more by her and watch her TED Talks.

November
64. She Has Her Mother's Laugh by Carl Zimmer* - I started this book in like, April or May, and it was so interesting! But then it expired, and it took forever to get it off hold again. I loved the history of the study of genetics (of course), but I got a little lost in the weeds of the super-scientific stuff.

65. Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall - This was another one that took me a while. It's a great story and really worth reading. It just took me a while to get into it.

66. Renegades by Marissa Meyer* - A bit confusing at first, but I really got into it and couldn't wait to read the next two. I actually think there is a surprising amount of depth in this one considering it's about a bunch of superheroes.

67. Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall* - Such an interesting book. I mostly listened to it while running, which made it particularly fun. I don't think I buy into the idea of barefoot running (especially since it's been ten years since this was published, and the running world is no longer gungho about it). But I loved the writing and the race narrative a lot.

68. Archenemies by Marissa Meyer* - A very good sequel to the first. Again, the plot is a little cheesy, but it has a surprising amount of depth. I'm on hold for the third book, and it's taking too long for my turn to come up.

69. The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate - I was surprised by how much I liked this book. I would really like to read it with my boys one day.

December
70. Natural Causes by Barbara Ehrenreich* - I've read one other by her, and had I realized it was the same author earlier, I wouldn't have bothered with this one.

*Signifies audiobooks.

Felix is Seven!

noreply@blogger.com (Sherry) — Mon, 04 Nov 2019 20:37:00 +0000

I am a month behind on this, but Felix turned seven! For his birthday we took him, Ike, Trixie, and two of Felix's friends to see a very mediocre movie (Abominable).

Felix is a fun and thoughtful boy. He is a lot like me - very methodical in his life and very frustrated when things don't go to plan. He is a great student and excellent (though oddly reluctant) reader and writer.

When Felix is joyful, it shows through his whole body. He celebrates with dancing, and nobody is quite sure where he got that since neither Eric nor I are much of dancers.

He is very into nature and remembers a lot of facts about animals, bugs, and plants. He just had a unit on bats at school. At dinner one night he told us about the smallest bat in the world, and Eric acted incredulous about his facts. Alexa and Google then confirmed that Felix knew what he was talking about. Then Felix told us about the wingspan of the biggest bat in the world, and again, Eric questioned him. And again Alexa confirmed that Felix was accurate.

Although Felix is not hugely interested in reading, he does like to be read to, and he has an impressive vocabulary.

As has basically always been the case, Felix has a very adult palate. He snubs child-friendly foods in favor of things like sushi. There are a few meals that he's not crazy about, but by and large he is the easiest kid to feed.

Felix is an attentive older brother and generally compliant younger brother. He loves to educate his sisters.

This year we've tried a few methods of getting chores done, and right now we are on a system of mandatory chores and optional ones. Felix is making the big bucks doing a bunch of optional chores. And he thinks most things are too expensive and not worth his money, so pretty soon he'll have a ton of cash in his drawers.

And a few pics:

Felix was the only child in his kindergarten class to read all the books in the Battle of the Books program. (Ahem, kudos to his mother for tracking down all those books from all those different libraries!)

Felix enjoys climbing on things and then having his picture taken:

My little nature-boy. This was the first time he completed a Junior Ranger program. He's done one or two since this one. (Again, serious help from me in these endeavors.)

He's not the best hiker, but he's getting better.

He ate a pickled jalapeno at a restaurant with Uncle John. He loves spicy foods.

Another hike with Uncle John.

I sure do love this little boy. I'm not ready for him to get bigger.

Trixie is Four!

noreply@blogger.com (Sherry) — Mon, 14 Oct 2019 02:22:00 +0000

I'm rather behind. Trixie turned 4 about six weeks ago. Nevertheless, in tribute to her new age, here are some things about this adorable little girl in the last year.

She talks and talks and talks, and most people have no idea that she had significantly delayed speech. With that said, her speech isn't impeccable. For example:

She adds "ed" to most past tense verbs throwed; wented; putted (not the golf kind); saided; ated. I can't bear to correct her because it's too cute.
She can't say her "r" or "l" sounds well. She can say her own name, but it isn't always understood by the people she's saying it to, and sometimes she summons me to tell a child what her name is.
Unicorn = hooticorn; Utah = Hootah.
Cheetos = Cheerios
In the last six weeks, she's gotten down the differences between "yesterday" and "tomorrow," but she has no concept of time and frequently talks about fairly recent things happening "wast year."

She loves animals. We dog-sat the above-pictured dog, B. J. last November, and she still talks about him. Her love is not limited to dogs. It extends to all animals of all kinds.

In February we went for a heart checkup, and she was thoroughly amused by all the stickers for her EKG. (And she left the hospital with at least three new toys, so it was a winning day in her eyes, without a doubt.) And the best news is that the cardiologist said we don't need to see him for two whole years, and she may never need her valve replaced. (Miracle!)

And here are just a few more thoughts about this child, scattered with some of my favorite pictures taken of her over the last twelve months.

Trixie is an incredibly sweet and affectionate child. She went through a phase of obstinacy, but she seems past that. Sure, there are times when she wants something her way, but by and large she is amiable and eager to please.

She is incredibly social and always on the lookout for somebody to play with her. She loves to play with neighbors, and with her brothers and sister.

Lately she asks a lot of "what if" questions. Sometimes they are baffling, but most of the time I think she's just looking for a reason to talk to me.

Trixie loves to play outside. We are really grateful that her heart defect has had literally no impact on her ability to keep up with her peers. While she's capable of playing quietly and calmly, her preference is generally to be rambunctious and physical.

Trixie loves to go places. We go to the various venues at Thanksgiving Point quite frequently. She loves them all the more if we are going to meet friends there. She still loves riding ponies there and has no fear of any of them (even the one that knocked her off once. Actually, he's her favorite.)

She sings a lot. Whether it's Primary music, the music from Annie or Coco, or her own made up songs, the child is constantly singing. She insists on songs and stories and cuddles at bedtime. (And, truth be told, she still gets out of her bed two to three nights a week to tell us she needs somebody to cuddle with her. Usually Eric goes and lies down with her for a while. He is a good man.)

This is Trixie holding her baby cousin this summer. She's not generally that interested in babies, but she thought this one was pretty cute.

Trixie's birthday is literally the cutoff for kindergarten enrollment next year. I couldn't find a vacant spot in a 3-year-old preschool, so I enrolled her in a 4-year-old preschool. My plan is just to have her do it for two years, unless she blows us all away this year. She is loving preschool and will probably be thrilled to do it again next year.

For her actual birthday I rented a bounce house and invited friends to come jump and splash. And the only picture I took was to send to a friend whose daughter was scared to come. (The picture assuaged her nervousness, and she came and partied.) Trixie had tons of fun acting like a hooligan with lots of neighborhood kids.

I gave her lots of cake options, and she liked the sound of a pineapple up-side-down cake, but then she didn't eat a single bite of it. She asked for a treasure chest, and that is what she got. She has loved telling people that she is 4, and she insists that she's a big girl now.

We love this little girl. She brings so much love, fun, and cuddles to our family.

Felicia is Two!

noreply@blogger.com (Sherry) — Tue, 20 Aug 2019 10:53:00 +0000

Felicia turned two on July 1. The boys were out of town with their Uncle John, and Eric was away doing his summer gig - being a teacher for a week at our school district's summer camp. The day before her birthday (and before Eric left for camp) we had a little dinner for Felicia with just the four of us, plus our friends, Joey and Priscilla.

Felicia was really not crazy about us singing to her.

She didn't really understand the concept of blowing out the candle either. Also, she ALWAYS takes her elastic and bow out of her hair during her nap, and then she wakes up with hair like this:

The day before that, we went as a little family of four to the farm and let the girls ride ponies and play in the air conditioned play area.

On Felicia's actual birthday, we hung out at home, went to our local park, and then went to the Butterfly Biosphere.

At two years old, here are some things I want to remember about Felicia:

She is getting better at playing with her siblings and loves to be a part of the group.
Felicia is quite the mimic. She doesn't talk a lot, but she mimics people in very physical ways.
At her two-year checkup, when they asked if she speaks in two-word sentences, I said yes, but it's still very rare.
She begs for bites of whatever I'm chopping, slicing, or cooking, especially onions and garlic.
Eric took her pacifier away while I was away at Young Women's camp. It doesn't seem to be the magic bullet for speech that it was for her older sister. But we're confident it's not going to hold her back either.

She's a bit tyrannical. Actually, she's very tyrannical. We have a kid-sized chair in our living room, and she doesn't like anyone to sit in it, even if she is also not sitting in it.
Felicia demands to say her own prayer after she hears anyone else saying a prayer.
She adores our nightly hug-a-thon, when everyone in the family hugs everyone else in the family. She happily says, "hu-fon" while she hugs everyone in the family, usually multiple times per person.
Felicia actually loves to get her hair done, and happily runs into her sister's room (where the hair stuff is) when I suggest we do her hair.
She likes animals but is pretty nervous around them.
Almost any time I ask her if she wants to ride on my back, she is excited to do so. I use the Ergo to carry her for far more than just hiking.
She is my most cuddly child, often asking to be picked up and held. At bedtime and naptime, we rock her in the rocking chair and sing songs to her. She usually insists on holding her pillow, a blanket, and as many stuffed animals as she can fit in her hand. When I tell her to close her eyes, she covers them with her hands.
She loves baths and frequently takes multiple baths in one day. I don't feel like arguing with her about the baths, so I just let them happen. She loves to dump water on her head over and over and over again.
Along those same lines, she loves swimming. She especially loves jumping off the side of the pool into the pool and letting somebody pull her out from under the water. She has no fear.
When not done, her hairstyle is definitely a mullet. Grow, hair, grow.

She is so friendly and says hello to just about everyone we pass. She is also rather scared of big trucks. One day she was repeatedly jumping off our front step (a hobby of hers), when a UPS truck came up the street. I was on the side of the house watering the tomatoes when I heard her screaming, "Mama! Mama!" I ran over, worried that she maybe had been stung by a wasp and realized that she was just afraid of the truck. As it went on by, her shouts of fear turned into, "Bye! Bye!" as she gleefully waved at the passing truck.
I hate to admit it, but she's looking more and more like Eric. She used to look just like me, so I'm a little sad to be losing my mini.

And here's a little video we made of her singing one of her favorite songs with me a few weeks ago:

View this post on Instagram

If you need something cute or if you need more goofy camp songs (🐸 🚗) in your life (and don't we all need more camp songs?):

A post shared by Sherry (@containyourexcitement) on Aug 9, 2019 at 5:18pm PDT

Felicia is such a fun age. We love how she's learning, increasing her vocabulary, and discovering the world. We are excited to see what becomes of her in the coming year, and I'm really looking forward to having more individual time with her and her sister as both her brothers are in all-day school this year.

2019's Fourth Summer Trip - Bear Lake

noreply@blogger.com (Sherry) — Mon, 19 Aug 2019 15:11:00 +0000

We returned from Jackson Hole on Saturday night, went to church on Sunday, and then went to Bear Lake on Monday. It was a quick turnaround.

We had blocked out the days on our calendar that we planned to go to Bear Lake. Eric and I had driven by, but we'd never been there. We knew lots of people go there for vacations and family reunions, so Eric asked a good friend what we should do. The good friend asked when we'd be there. Eric told him our dates and he said that's when his family and half a dozen other families (some we knew, some we didn't) would be there. They all stayed at a big KOA in their RVs and campers. We are not an RV family, but we figured we'd join the party and sleep in our tent at the KOA. (I don't generally recommend camping at a KOA, because what's the point of camping in a place surrounded by people? But, this time, we wanted to be by all our friends.)

On the way up we stopped at Ricks Spring, which was neat.

We stopped at Tony Grove to go fishing, which was a bust. It's a beautiful spot, though, and it would be a good place to camp.

One night we went to dinner with friends. Other nights we just gathered around various propane-fueled fires for roasting marshmallows and staying up too late chatting.

This KOA is rather large. It features a playground, mini golf, and other fun activities for kids. The girls were particular fans of riding around in the "train" in the evenings.

We went with lots of friends to the Minnetonka Caves, which was very cool. I love caves.

Before the tour started, our tour guide asked if there were any questions. The only people who had questions were our three children. (We were in a group of about 30-40 people.) At one point when he asked again if there were any questions Trixie asked, "Why is there so many rocks in here?" He told her that people brought the rocks in and left them. Also when the guide asked if there were any history buffs in the group, Eric and I were the only ones to raise our hands.

After the cave we stopped on the side of the road to go canoeing on the lake for a little bit. We sure do fill up a canoe!

After dinner that night we rented one of those horrible surries. They are insanely hard to pedal! They need some gears. The boys didn't want to come, and they missed out. (But we didn't miss them since they wouldn't have been tall enough to reach the pedals, and we would have had a lot more weight to haul.) We rode down and got shakes, and then went back up to camp.

The last day we went to the north beach and played in the sand, swam, and canoed some more. Everybody got at least a little bit sunburned.

We stopped for shakes one more time. (It was the third time for the parents and girls, the second time for the boys since they missed the surry ride.)

Then we stopped on the way to hike the Timber Pine Loop Trail. It was really hot when we weren't in the shade, but the information signs along the way made it really educational (at least for me). It was so interesting to learn about how the plants "migrate" into a new area - which plants come first, which follow, and what animals come along with them.

This tree is like two thousand years old. (There weren't signs telling us not to climb it.)

Trixie got tired of being in the carrier and insisted on walking on her own. Each time, she'd take of running and fleefully laughing only to face-plant on the trail. Then she'd insist on walking/running some more. It's hard to be little.

2019's Third Summer Trip - Jackson Hole

noreply@blogger.com (Sherry) — Mon, 12 Aug 2019 21:41:00 +0000

At the end of June my brother's kids attended a couple of sports camps at BYU. My sister-in-law came to get them at the end of their camps and took Ike and Felix back to Jackson Hole with her.

The boys had a blast with their uncle, aunt, and two cousins. They went on lots of hikes and were generally spoiled.

They did the touristy things like Moulton Barn and the shootout (or shoe-out, as one of them kept mistakenly calling it. They didn't know what a shoot-out was, so apparently they were kind of concerned when some cowboys started "shooting" at each other).

They saw a moose, but Uncle John wouldn't let them pet it because, "Wyoming is not a petting zoo."

They did some hikes and some swimming, and Felix did a lot of whining about those hikes:

Felix, also, apparently, was quite the food critic. This was his face after eating a jalapeno at a Mexican restaurant:

As a parent, I am very concerned about my kids being picky eaters. I know not all parents value a kid who can eat, but I definitely do. So I really don't cater to picky eaters. You eat what we're having for dinner, or you probably don't get to eat. I'm not a short order chef, and you need to learn to eat a variety of foods. I also don't believe in "kid foods" and basically only buy them when Eric is out of town and I need my meal prep to be as easy as possible. (The first time I bought chicken nuggets, Ike was 6.)

With that background established, here were a few things that Felix, the apparent food snob, said to his food-providers:

When served pasta with sauce from a jar: You should make homemade pasta sauce. That's what my mom does. (Please note that this is a lie. I do not do that.)
When served Mexican food with shredded cheese as a garnish: Is this cheese the kind that you grated at home? Or was it already grated before you bought it? (Answer, it was purchased already shredded.) Felix then shared his opinion (which he got from me) that cheese is best if shredded freshly so it doesn't have the weird powder on it. (He has since that time informed me that he didn't even notice the weird powder.)
Catering to his non-pre-shredded preferences, there was an evening where they were grating cheese at home, and Felix insisted on being the one to VERY SLOWLY grate the cheese, all while whining and complaining about how long it was taking for dinner to be cooked and how starving he was.
When served a ham sandwich with American cheese: AMERICAN CHEESE? YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME. I HATE AMERICAN CHEESE.

So, you know, on the one hand I've got this kid who ate bites of onion and garlic and ginger as a two-year-old while I prepped dinner. And it was awesome and magical. And on the other hand, now he is six and has really strong opinions about the quality of his food and the ingredients that go in. I guess I've created a monster.

On July 3, Eric and I drove up with the girls to spend a couple of days in Jackson Hole and to pick the boys up. John and I ran a 10K on the 4th. I had been training for it, but I hadn't quite run the full 6.2 miles until the very day of the race. I ran the whole thing, minus about 20 feet at the turnaround point. One lady ran in front of me and then would walk for a while. Then when I'd catch up to her again, she'd take off again until I caught up with her again.

After the race we went to the town's parade, which was fine. My family gave me an endlessly hard time about the fact that it was Trixie and Felicia's first parade. But y'all, I hate parades. I obviously live in the wrong state.

Then Eric convinced John to watch our kids "for an hour" while we went and canoed the Snake River. It was longer than an hour. The water was high and fast, which we knew before we got there. When we pulled up to unload our canoe, Teton County Search and Rescue told us to be on the lookout for a body (not a missing man, but a missing body, very reassuring). We took on some big rapids and also took on a lot of water. Our boat was very full and very precarious as we navigated through an endless run of whirlpools. Eric is basically a canoeing pro, which is the only reason we did not tip. Eventually we found a place where we could pull the boat ashore and dump it out. It was then that Eric realized his phone was inside his Ziplock bag, but the bag was not zipped up. Ask me about the other time Eric ruined a phone on a trip to Jackson. (I'm going to assume you asked - he left his phone on top of the car, and we drove off with it on the roof of the car and then eventually found it smashed on the highway. This is why Eric cannot have nice phones.)

That night we watched fireworks until they were over, and then the rain started pouring, and we had a bit of a walk to get back to Nicole's parents' house. But nobody melted.

The next day we went to Bear World. Y'all, I have an unreasonable love for that place. I can't really explain it, I just love it. It's super touristy and cheesy, and I do not care. You get to see bears and other animals pretty close, and there are little roller coasters and kiddie rides that are perfect for my size of family.

The train is kind of pointless, but Felicia liked it:

The little roller coaster is the best, and Trixie was even big enough to ride it. It was definitely my favorite.

While we rode the roller coaster over and over, Felicia rode the little cars over and over. She loved them, despite her neutral face.

Eric also really liked them:

(Why didn't Eric ride with Felicia? Because then they would have exceeded the weight limit. You can imagine how amused I was to get off our ride and see my husband riding in a little kid car all by himself.)

Along with my unreasonable love of Bear World, I have an unreasonable love of these little photo boards. On my work computer I have a collection of my favorite photos that are used as my desktop background, and about 10 of them are photos of people whom I've forced to put their heads in the head-holes of various photo boards. Anyway, here are our four bears in 2019. Obviously we can't have any more kids since we've maxed out the head-holes of the photo board at Bear World.

And for the sake of memories, here they were in 2016:

We've done more things this summer, and I totally lost track of time. It wasn't until writing this post that I realized I'd never written about Felicia's birthday, which was over a month ago.

2019's Second Summer Trip - Capitol Reef National Park

noreply@blogger.com (Sherry) — Thu, 06 Jun 2019 21:52:00 +0000

School let out on Thursday, and we went on a trip immediately. Ike got home about 11, and then Eric got home about 12:10. We exited the garage at 12:20, which is one of the most on-time departures in our history of road tripping.

We drove straight to our campsite just outside of Capitol Reef National Park. (Our original plan was to go to Bryce Canyon on Thursday, then drive to Capitol Reef on Friday afternoon, but it's still freezing in Bryce Canyon, and many trails are still closed, so we opted to spend the whole time in Capitol Reef.) We rarely camp at reserved sites, and we always cross our fingers that we'll find a good place. We got a real winner this time. We set up our tent as thunder and lightning (but no rain) raged overhead. We had experienced sleet and hail as we came over a pass into the area of Capitol Reef and were a little nervous about what the weather would hold for us. We crossed our fingers that our tent wouldn't get flooded while we headed over to the park. (And it worked!)

After a brief visit to the visitors' center, we went on an easy hike in the Grand Wash. It's through a slot canyon along a streambed and is nice, flat, and easy. There was still a lot of whining, despite the ease of the trail. The boys took turns running ahead of us, hiding in the brush, and then jumping out to "ambush" the family.

I took another selfie where I looked better, but I loved Trixie behind me being a ham in this one, so enjoy it.

The rocks throughout the park have holes in them, of varying sizes. The kids loved the chance to climb into holes that were big enough and accessible.

On Friday we drove along the scenic drive and then hiked Capitol Gorge to The Tanks. They are these little ponds of water trapped up in the canyon. This hike starts really flat, through a canyon on a streambed, similar to the prior day's hike. There was SO MUCH WHINING while we did that section. Then, there was climbing over rough terrain, sometimes without incredibly clear trail markers. We really had to keep our eyes peeled for the cairns (stacked rocks) to show us which way to go.

The tanks were pretty cool, mostly because they had such huge tadpoles.

Ike caught a few and even got some for his siblings to hold. Trixie was a little bit in love with hers and even pet it a few times before tossing it back in the pond.

Ike managed to fall into one of the tanks, which was very reminiscent of the time he fell in a pond in 2013 when we were hiking in Zion National Park. I will always remember, from the picture on the left, "I wet. A mess." This time we took his clothes off, wrung them out, and then had him put them back on. The trail wasn't crowded at all, so we could get away with our 8-year-old being partly naked on this trail

The mounds of rock behind us supposedly look like the domes at the tops of capitol buildings, which is where part of the name of Capitol Reef comes from.

After our hike we stopped for lunch. This was the only picture I really got of my girls in their matching t-shirts. At some of our previous national park visits, there have been Asians amazed with our blond children, and they ask us (generally with their hands) if they can take pictures of our kids. This park had virtually no Asians, but some Spaniards did circle our picnic table taking multiple pictures of our family. I should have asked them what their deal was. Were they impressed by the blondies? Or by the sheer quantity of children? Really, I should have said, in Spanish, "If you think this is a lot of kids, you should see my husband's brothers' families." But mostly I was dealing with, "Who wants mustard? Who wants Miracle Whip? Who needs an apple?"

We've been to about one gazillion national parks, but this is the first time we did the Junior Park Ranger program. Felix finished his first.

After that (plus a class about geology) we went to Hickman Bridge. It's only .9 miles each way, but it's fairly steep. I was taking Trixie to the bathroom at the beginning, and I came back to the van to learn that Eric sent Ike along the trail with Felicia. We didn't figure they'd get too far without us, especially because Felicia is so little (not yet 2). Eric needed to use the bathroom, but I headed up the trail with Felix and Trixie. I even carried Felix part of the way because the Ergo has a weight limit of 45 pounds.

Because the boys were wearing matching shirts, it was easy for other hikers to recognize that they belonged together, even though they were split up. People coming down the hill kept telling me my other two were doing a great job.

I was amazed at how far they got without grownups! Once we all were united again, I put Felicia in the Ergo again. Around this time Trixie started really struggling. Meanwhile, Ike was taking off and getting too far ahead. Eric offered to hold Trixie's hand, and she refused. A man passed us, and Eric said, "Do you want to hold his hand?" And Trixie very strongly refused. That man laughed and passed us right up. I then went to catch up with Ike and tell him to slow down. That same man was just in front of him, and I told Ike, "You are not allowed to pass that man." I then slowed down to hike with the rest of my family and heard Eric again entreating Trixie to hold his hand. Then, jokingly say, "Well, do you want to hold her hand?" referring to some perfect stranger hiking nearby. And that was an affirmative answer.

It turns out the man whose hand Trixie refused to hold was this lady's husband. We had a great chat with the couple. (He's Australian, and she's Canadian, and they're taking the year off from their regular lives to travel.)

Hickman Bridge itself was totally worth the hike.

Felicia was so tired that we moved her from Eric's hiking backpack to mine, and she slept through the whole thing. And we foolishly forgot that the Ergo (my preferred carrier) has a thing to cover up heads, so we just used the tied bandana to keep the sun off her little face.

This was the last we saw of Ike on this hike, because he took the "stay behind that man" very literally and followed him down the trail. We found him waiting for us at the bottom.

The Kohab Canyon hike is a little over 3 miles one way. Our initial plan was to hike it from one side to the other, then have me (or Eric) run back to the van, and then drive around and pick up the family. But in the actual canyon, we decided we'd seen what we needed to see, especially with the end of the hiking coming so close to Hickman Bridge, which we'd just done the day before. When the trail began descending toward the end, we turned around and hiked out the same place we'd come in. That ended up being the best option anyway, because it was close to the ice cream place.

I would have loved to have done Cassidy Arch, but it's over 4 miles, and we knew it would be too hard for the kiddos. One day we'll do it.

Our camp site was pretty awesome. We camped on BLM land a few miles outside of the park. We found a big enough flat spot for our tent, and the kids loved climbing the hills around our site (and also sliding down the hills on their bums. So we've got some horrible red stains on a few pairs of pants.)

Saturday was our last day. We prepped the kids on Friday night telling them we would be doing our longest hike the next day. It started very close to a little gift shop in the park, and we told the kids if they could be good on the hike, we'd buy them ice cream after the hike. That was some serious motivation for them.

Kohab Canyon starts off as a steep hike up several switchbacks. We started at 8 AM, so the switchbacks were still in the shade.

Trixie loved the switchbacks. Anything uphill, and especially up rocks, was super fun for her.

Kohab Canyon itself is gorgeous! Along the way there were lots of little slot canyons to explore/cram ourselves into.

And when it was done, we had our ice cream.

Then back to the visitors' center for the other two kids to earn their Junior Ranger badges.

On our way out, we hiked two small trails, Goosenecks and Sunset. Felicia actually did most of these two hikes on her own.

And then somehow I got tricked into carrying Trixie on the way down from the last hike.

It was a great weekend. I can't wait to go back to Capitol Reef park! The lack of crowds was practically magical. We'd love to go back and explore some other areas of the park (besides just the Fruita district), and we'd love to go when some of the fruit is in season so we can pick some!

2019's First "Summer" Trip - Moab and the Colorado River

noreply@blogger.com (Sherry) — Mon, 20 May 2019 01:27:00 +0000

My title has the word "summer" in quotes because:

The first official day of summer is not until June 21, just over one month away.
Even if you consider "summer" to be the months of the year when the children (and my husband) are not in school, we aren't quite there yet. (Felix has three days of kindergarten left, and Ike and Eric have eight school days left.)
We returned to our home and had to turn the furnace back on because it's been rainy and cold at our home. (The plus side of this is that we can continue putting off turning on the sprinklers.)

Last year's summer trip was 5,000 miles long. I've noticed that usually we alternate having long trips and short trips. This is partly because of the ages of our babies (we're way more willing to do horribly long days in the car with babies than with toddlers, believe it or not) and partly because those big trips take a ton of time and energy to plan (especially for Eric who tends to obsess over them). (Case in point, in 2014 and 2015 we did big road trips; in 2016 we did a couple of short trips; in 2017 we had a tiny baby, and Eric had his grad program, so we didn't do a ton of anything; in 2018 we took a really long trip; and in 2019 we have about 5 smaller trips planned.)

Anyway, we kicked off our summer trips this weekend. After bombarding you with all that unnecessary text, I will now bombard you with tons of pictures.

We headed out Friday morning (Eric, Ike, and Felix skipped school, which meant missing Felix's kindergarten graduation, which was a bummer). We drove through Spanish Fork Canyon. Our school district has a summer camp in a city up that canyon, and Eric works at it a few weeks each summer. Working the summer camp has meant he has learned lots of information about the canyon. As we drive in, he always tells the kids about the important landmarks, some history of the canyon, and other interesting tidbits. (Of course, once we pass the town where the camp is located, he tends to get much less informative.)

The interesting thing about this trip is that we had invited several other families to join us. Eric initially invited families to come canoeing with us on Saturday morning, and he told them our family would be camping on Friday night. Most of the families said they wanted to camp too. Usually when we go to Moab we camp in a ghost town near Moab, but we knew our spot would not accommodate as many people as would be joining us. When we got to Moab we went to the designated camping spots only to realize there were no vacancies. Thankfully my over-obsessed husband had planned for this contingency, and we ended up on some camping-approved BLM land even closer to Moab than where we normally camp. (The pictures Eric had seen of this land had made it seem like a terrible place to camp, but once we got there we realized the pictures don't do it justice.) Trixie also learned that she loves porta-potties at this camp site. It is a strange new fascination for her.

We set up our area and did a lot of waiting around. Our cell reception wasn't great, so we were worried about the other families finding us. While we waited, the kids found and caught lizards. (Among the families joining us is a family that has ten children, of whom seven are boys. They brought six of their boys on the trip.) At this point there was also a family with a teenage boy and a little girl who joined us, as well as a another family who brought two of their three boys.

Hank caught this lizard.

And then its tail came off:

Then we drove over to Arches and went hiking. We didn't have a lot of time, and the weather at the park wasn't promising, so we just did Park Avenue and Double Arch.

This was the only little girl with us for most of Friday, and Trixie sort of fell in love with her.

No, my husband did not morph into another man. We were in a big group, and Eric was down taking photos, so Beau helped my kids and me get up.

We camped that night, and had a great time hanging out with our friends. In total we had six families camping together.

Our family camped in a tent that we've owned for a while but had never used. Eric had picked it up at a yard sale for $10 knowing that the zipper was broken. Earlier in the year we set it up to see how bad it was and realized we couldn't just make do with a broken zipper. I did some research and purchased a zipper repair kit. Last week we set up the tent in the yard. I got out my seam ripper so I could access the ends of the zipper, then Eric put a new zipper pull on, then I stitched her back up. When you factor in my labor costs, it was not a cheap repair, but still a better price than we would have paid with a professional repair of the zipper or a new tent of that size.

This was the first time since 2015 our family all slept together in the same tent. Had Felicia been well (she was a bit sick on Friday, but we kept her dosed with ibuprofen), it would have been a great night. We were all plenty warm and comfortable. Felicia did end up in my bed because she just wasn't feeling well. (I took her this morning to urgent care, absolutely certain that an ear infection was the culprit, and I was wrong. She's just regular-sick. No antibiotic cure for her.) And Trixie ended up in Eric's bed because she just loves to cuddle with her dad.

On Saturday morning we ate breakfast, packed up, and headed to the Colorado River for canoeing. One other family joined us, bringing the total to seven families in ten canoes. We canoed a stretch of what Eric said was 8 miles, but is actually closer to 12. (One guy in our group tracked it with GPS). We were done in about 2.5 hours. The views were beautiful, the weather was mostly good (a bit chilly when the wind blew), and everybody who entered the water did so of his own accord.

A bunch of the older boys dared each other to take a dip, and it was apparent that the water was incredibly cold (as recently thawed ice tends to be). They all climbed back in their boats as quickly as they could. Upon seeing them Ike wanted to try it to. He was in our neighbors' boat (they came sans children). Unlike the big boys, Ike really jumped away from his boat, which meant he had to swim back a few feet. His facial expressions said it all.

Then the poor kid didn't have the upper body strength to get back into his boat on his own.

Felicia really struggled the last hour, and we had no medicine in our boat. She was so upset when we were done that I couldn't get her to take the medicine we had for her. Thankfully one of our group had a chewable Tylenol, which I told Felicia was candy. Worked like a charm.

After canoeing, we went back to camp because some of the families hadn't packed up in the morning. Then most of us headed over to Goblin Valley State Park. It wasn't in our original plan, but we followed the masses. Ike had a blast; Felix thought it was fine, until he no longer thought it was fine; Trixie loved it; and Felicia was adequately medicated and finally well-napped, so she tolerated being carried around on mine and Eric's back.

After Goblin Valley we drove home. We packed a lot of fun into that short trip. Everyone's super duper tired today, and it's early bedtimes for all.

Christmas 2018

noreply@blogger.com (Sherry) — Wed, 09 Jan 2019 11:04:00 +0000

A few things I want to remember about Christmas and New Year's this year:

This was our first year to have a non-believer in our household. Partly because of that, and partly because I wanted our kids to have more tangibly participate in our charitable giving, we found a project we could all do together. We bought "home kits" for refugees being housed in the Salt Lake City area. We all went to the store together and found the items on the list. The refugee group also requested Beanie Babies animals for the children. I wanted each of my kids to choose an animal to donate. The store didn't have what we needed, but I knew they were carried at my local grocery store, so we headed over there. The boys chose Minion-branded Beanie Babies. Trixie chose Skye from Paw Patrol, which I think she has only seen once. All she knew was this stuffed animal was a pink doggy, and she wanted it.

Now, I made it very clear that these toys were NOT FOR OUR FAMILY. They all repeated it many times. Everyone seemed to understand this concept. The toys were set aside with the home kits, and they were not played with. A few days later I had time to take the donations to the center in Salt Lake City. I let Trixie hold "her" pink dog on the way up, and I let her come in to deliver it. She willingly gave it to the lady but seemed a little confused as to why she wasn't giving it to another kid since I'd been telling her ever since we picked them out that these toys were for other kids.

Then she cried the whole way home about her pink dog and demanded several times that I return to the refugee center and retrieve it. I did not.

After that she started telling us that Santa was going to bring her a pink doggy, and he did.

The dog has hardly left her side since Christmas morning. She even took it with her for her surgery a few days after Christmas (ear tubes in, adenoids out).

The boys woke us up bright and early Christmas morning. We made the awake kids line up on the stairs before coming down.

We had a nice time opening presents. I always let the kids choose things for everyone in our family at the dollar store. This year Ike used some of his own money to buy a nicer gift for Felix, and it was sweet to see him get so excited about giving a gift. I think next year we may do a name exchange and allow the kids to buy each other nicer things. (I may be sick of dollar store trinkets filling up my house.)

Felicia got some real presents, including a book about her first year. She also recieved that little blue bouncy hours, and she's rather afraid of it.

But what Felicia most loved was the domino she found under the couch. She carried it around all morning.

After breakfast at home, we went to Eric's grandma's house and hung out with Eric's brother, Andrew, and Eric's brother, Nathan, and Nathan's family.

Eventually we headed home and had our traditional dinner of chicken biryani with Andrew and with my friends, Priscilla and Joey.

Our post-Christmas break included lots of board gaming. Trixie had her surgery somewhere in there. We had a game night with Eric's cousins, and a game day with another cousin and his wife along with Janssen and Bart. We had previously celebrated New Year's Eve with this same group, pre-kids. We all toasted to no kids in 2006, and we all succeeded in no kids until 2010. We weren't together on New Year's Eve exactly this year, but I'm pretty sure we all could have toasted to no kids in 2019. (We have 11 kids between the three families. It was a little chaotic, but lots of fun.)

Eric's sister and her family come for a visit. (No pictures!) We stayed up way too late playing games.

It was hard to go back to real life when the break was over.

Felicia: Eighteen Months

noreply@blogger.com (Sherry) — Mon, 07 Jan 2019 10:42:00 +0000

Felicia turned 18 months on New Year's Day. She is ready for nursery at church and has been going off and on for a couple of months. (Technically her first day of nursery is Trixie's first day of Sunbeams, but since we had Felicia going a bit early to nursery the girls did overlap a few weeks.)

Felicia's words include:

DA! (Always shouted, and always enthusiastic. Applied to many people, not just her dad.)
Ma
Buh-bye
Mmm (more)
Ashes, ashes (while spinning around)
All fall down (not really clear, but in the context it is obvious)
Thank you
Uh oh
Nigh-nigh (night night)
I do!
Peek-a-boo
Hi-ya
Hewwo
She might also say Ike's real name. It's still a little unclear.

Felicia is my most "into stuff" child. I can usually find her emptying cabinets and drawers or digging around in garbage cans for a tasty morsel. She also eats a lot of food off the floor. (Usually food that she just spent an entire meal time chucking onto the floor.)

Also, everything is a phone.

Felicia loves:

Eric
talking on the computer to Eric's parents
going outside
being picked up and held
wandering around and meeting people at social gatherings
going to bed
her binkie
running
the songs we sing for Family Night, specifically "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam" and "I Can be Valiant."
taking baths

And here are some pictures of her from the last six months:

Emptying cabinets:

At the Ashton Gardens:

Camping near and hiking in Arches National Park for fall break:

Family Pictures

2018 - In Review

noreply@blogger.com (Sherry) — Wed, 02 Jan 2019 12:10:00 +0000

I feel like there's probably not a lot here that isn't already covered in social media and previous blog posts, but I do like to just have it all listed out like so.

2018 Highlights

So many trips! (See below.)
Trixie talks now. It came so quickly once it started coming, and she is like a different child now.
Running a 5K. (And now I'm training for a 10K.) This was either my third or fourth attempt to train with Couch to 5K, and I finally finished it and run even more now. It feels awesome (and still kind of weird) to actually WANT to go for a run.
Lots of trips to the aquarium.
Trixie learned to talk and got potty trained.
We got a new park right by our house.
More canoeing on our local river than ever before.
Ike started a piano class that has been good for him (and me!). He's learning theory, and having him in an environment where I am not the teacher/enforcer has been good for us.
Felix is enjoying kindergarten, and he's learning to read.
Big strides for both boys in swimming lessons this summer. Trixie and I also took a class together, which was tons of fun.
The boys and I read the first three Harry Potter books together, and I have definitely instilled a love of that series in my oldest kid. I consider that a parenting win.
Felicia learned to crawl, and then to walk, and then to run. She also says a handful of words.
I was released as choir director and am now the Primary secretary. For years I've longed to be a secretary of something because it's right up my alley, and now it's my thing!
I've also told about 700 people over the course of the last nearly-eight years since we moved into our house that I would love to help with/attend Young Women camp, and just two days ago I was asked to be on the stake YW camp committee. So, wishes being fulfilled over here.

Places in 2018:

Spring Break and Easter in Montana with Eric's brother's family.
Road trip to Seattle to drop off our kids with Eric's sister so Eric and I could go to Europe. Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Switzerland, Lichtenstein (for 10 minutes), and France. I already blogged extensively about these places, but it really was magnificent.
Massive 5000-mile road trip to the Midwest and down to Dallas to visit my family. I added four new states to my list of states I've visited. (New to me: South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana. Other states on that trip: Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado.)
Fall break in Moab.

Birthdays/Traditions:

Our birthday visits to Cold Stone are firmly cemented. Nobody will let me forget to go. Eric skipped out a few times while he was cutting back on sugar to lose weight, but that just meant more ice cream for the rest of us.
We held our shepherds' meal in December. Historically we've only invited Eric's family, but with his parents out of the country this year, we invited friends, and it was great.
Fondue to celebrate the last day of school.

2018 Goals:

Finish Personal Progress - NOPE. I worked on it at the beginning of the year, and then it just kind of fizzled when I had some calling changes. I better get it done in 2019 if it's ever going to happen.
Edit and resubmit genealogy publication - Again, I worked on this at the beginning of the year and then never finished it. I probably need to recruit some colleagues for a little more hand-holding on this one.

2019 Goals:

Redecorate my living room. My friend, Molly, has already created a design board for me, so I have lots of inspiration, and I'm ready to go. (The biggest task in this project is getting Eric on board since this involves taping and painting, and he thinks our living room is fine as is.)
Run a 10K? Look, I'm not committing to this whole-heartedly. I'm sure I can do it, but I have some other work-out interest right now, so I might end up focusing on a faster 5K or something non-running-related altogether. But definitely I want to keep exercising.
Read more books on paper and Kindle. I love audiobooks, but sometimes I rely on them too much and use them to justify wasting time. (For instance, I spend a lot of time dinking around on my phone while listening to a book and then justify said wasted time by calling it "'reading.")
Read more books with my kids, especially chapter books with the boys.
Maybe get around to finishing up those 2018 goals. (And with commitment like that, clearly I'm on the right track.)

2018 Books

noreply@blogger.com (Sherry) — Tue, 01 Jan 2019 13:23:00 +0000

In Summary:
Total books read: 79. Of those, 60 were audio, 11 were on Kindle, and 8 were traditional paper books. August was my biggest reading month, primarily because we went on a 5000-mile road trip and listened to a lot of books along the way.

The top 10% of books I read this year (rounding up):

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson - It's #36 on my overall list below. It is such an important book.
Educated by Tara Westover - It's #58 on the overall list. I could not stop reading this book and gabbing about it to Eric and anyone else who would listen.
Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech - It's #3 and #7 on my list. I had read it twice before. I read it for book group in January and was reminded again of how much I loved it, so I made Eric listen while I read it aloud to him immediately after I finished it. He's a good sport.
Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor - #39 below. It's kind of weird that this book is in my top ten, but when I think about books that have made me think a lot, this is one of them. There aren't many children's books that have ethical dilemmas as real and striking as this one. You can have a real philosophical discussion with your kids after this one.
Martin Luther by Eric Metaxas - #42 below.
American Wolf by Nate Blakeslee - #33 below. This is a great non-fiction that has good flow in the narrative.
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor - #9 below. I've thought a lot about this one since reading it. I'd like to read it to my kids one day.
Funny in Farsi by Firoozeh Dumas - #63 below. For pure enjoyment's sake, this is a good one. It really is funny, and it's surprisingly heartwarming.

(I included the numbers as they are in the list below so you can read what I thought of it pretty soon after I read it. There were some that I have enjoyed more as time has passed. I don't know what that says about the book in its first read-through.)

In Full:

January
1. Three Wishes by Liane Moriarty* - Not my favorite of hers. More than the usual swearing/sex, and so many of the characters were just not likeable.

2. Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris* - It took me ages (literally a couple of years), but I finally finished this book. I started with a paper copy and eventually switched to audio. But I had to check out the audio several times before I finally finished it. I liked the predecessor much more. This one delves into the political machinations of his presidency quite deeply, and it was just hard to follow sometimes because I wasn't paying enough attention.

3. Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech - Y'all, this was my third time to read this book, and I loved it even more than the first two times. I fed the baby at about 4 in the morning and then couldn't fall back asleep, so I just stayed up reading it, and when I was done I wanted to wake Eric up so I could read it aloud to him. I am just so glad my book group picked this one.

4. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell* - I didn't enjoy this at first, but it really grew on me. I could do without all the swearing, though.

5. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah* - Really gripping story with a lot of moving parts.

6. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling* - I am just having so much fun listening to this series.

7. Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech - I know that this was already on the list for January, but as soon as I finished it, I started it again. I read it aloud to Eric, just like I said I wanted to in entry #3.

8. Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli* - I had so many friends give this book 4 or 5 stars, but I just thought it was alright, not amazing.

9. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor* - I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Possibly my favorite part, though, was the message at the end from the author.

February:
10. The Case Against Sugar by Gary Taubes - Y'all, sugar is just terrible for us. And we can't fully measure its effects on us until a few decades into our lives. This book was insightful and depressing.

11. Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline - I really wanted to like this book, but some of the characters were so flat and some of the plot was so contrived that I ended up just really disliking it. Decent story, terrible writing. Anger inducing.

12. Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper* - This was a book group read that I probably would never have picked up on my own, but as soon as I was finished I put the second one on hold.

13. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling* - I liked this one better than I remembered. Listening to this series just gets me so excited to share it with my kids one day.

14. Peeled by Joan Bauer* - It was fine. I'll probably look back at the title years from now and not remember anything about it.

15. Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger - Read this one with the boys, and it took a while, mostly because we've had too many late nights over the last few months, so many nights we didn't read. This one ends on such a sweet note, and I had forgotten that.

March:
16. Salvage by Angela Armstrong - I continue to be excited with the prospect for Angela's full-length novel. Great characters, intriguing dystopian world.

17. The Mountain Between Us by Charles Martin - Predictable enough that Eric, only listening to my periodic plot synopses as we got ready for bed, called the ending when I was maybe a third into the book.

18. The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper* - I didn't love this one quite as much as Over Sea, Under Stone, but I put the next one on hold as soon as I was finished. How had I never heard of this series until recently?

19. A Week in the Woods by Andrew Clements* - I expected this one to be more like Hatchet than it was. Despite my misguided expectations, I rather liked it and was impressed with the character development. I'd like my kids to read this one someday.

20. How Not to Hate Your Husband After Kids* by Jancee Dunn - Really enjoyed this one. It was so fun to listen to, gave me such great satisfaction that my husband doesn't suck, and gave me many ideas on how to improve in the areas where we could use improvement.

21. The Orphan Keeper by Camron Wright - Great story, but it took me a bit to get into it. I wasn't thrilled about the writing, but the story is really worth reading.

22. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling - I had a lot of fun reading the illustrated version with my kids. It was often over Felix's head (he's 5.5), but Ike (7) loved it.

23. Greenwitch by Susan Cooper* - Plugging along in this series and still enjoying it.

24. The Crossover by Kwame Alexander* - When I first started the audio, I wasn't so sure about this one, but by the end I really loved it and was sad it was over.

April
25. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling* - I have a hard time with Harry's moodiness in this one, and I always have, but I still am enjoying listening to this whole series again.

26. Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple - Mostly I just couldn't wait for Bernadette to go missing because she was so obnoxious. Once I knew that the author was also a writer on Arrested Development, I had a much greater appreciation for the humor, and I really enjoyed it.

May
27. Miracles on Maple Hill by Virginia Sorensen* - This one was just so sweet.

28. The Grey King by Susan Cooper* - I very foolishly let this one expire when I only had about 30 minutes left, then I had to wait for it to become available again, and for the last 30 minutes I was thinking, "Wait, what's going on?" So I might need to read a re-cap before I listen to the final book in the series.

29. Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer* - I kept thinking this one reminded me of Peeled (number 14 on this list), but it wasn't until I added this book to my spreadsheet that I realized it's the same author. I definitely preferred this one, but neither is a masterpiece.

30. Silver on the Tree by Susan Cooper* - This was, overall, a satisfying ending to this series.

31. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling* - I really loved this one again, possibly more than the other times I've read it (twice?). The plot is paced well, and there is so much lead-up to the final book. I just really like it.

32. Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard - So very meh.

33. American Wolf by Nate Blakeslee* - I was so enthralled by this I finished it in two days. I want to go spend all my time in Yellowstone admiring wolves.

June
34. Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos* - I just thoroughly enjoyed this one. It reminded me a lot of The Wednesday Wars.

35. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling * - Audiobooked on our road trip. I do love Jim Dale, and Ike wanted to listen to it again on the drive home. (It was Eric's first time to read the first book.)

36. Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson - Man. Go read this and contemplate injustice in our society. It will blow your mind.

37. Running for My Life: One Lost Boy's Journey from the Killing Fields of Sudan to the Olympic Games by Lopez Lomong, Mark A. Tabb* - Great story, pretty terrible writing. I'm sure the co-author had a difficult task, but man, it was hard to listen to sometimes because the writing was so bad. (And probably hard for Eric and Andrew to listen to as well since I kept interrupting the book to give examples of why the writing was so bad.)

38. The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom - A good read. I finished the whole thing on my flight back from Europe.

39. Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor* - I was surprised by how much I liked this one. It presents a very genuine ethical dilemma. We listened to it on our road trip, and Ike seemed to really enjoy it.

40. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling* - It's been fun to re-listen to this whole series amidst other books. There were a lot of details about this seventh book that I had forgotten.

July
41. Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo* - Downloaded this for our drive home from Seattle, and we finally finished it about two weeks later. It was a good one for the whole family. (But I definitely preferred Shiloh.)

42. Martin Luther by Eric Metaxas* - Another great nonfiction for the year. I have a lot of respect for Martin Luther, and it was cool to read most of this before my Europe trip and then finish it a few weeks after. When I go back to Europe I'd like to do some more sight-seeing focused on Martin Luther.

43. Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary* - Such a fun book to listen to with my kids. I can't believe I've never read any of these before.

44. The Coincidence of Coconut Cake by Amy E. Reichert - I'm not that crazy for chick lit to begin with, and this one is particularly bad. I stopped at page 109 then read the last few pages so I can discuss it for book group.

45. William Tecumseh Sherman: In the Service of My Country: A Life by James Lee McDonough* - An all-around really good biography. I didn't think it swung too far into hero worship, but it also didn't totally vilify Sherman for his weaknesses (and there were many). I found his rocky relationship with his wife fascinating.

46. Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo* - This book was intense. I'm appreciative of the author's diligence in gaining a really in-depth look at a Mumbai slum and the people in it.

47. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling* - We listened to this one on audio during our road trip. It was Eric's first time to hear it in full.

August
48. My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett* - We'd read this one on our road trip in 2015. It was fun to listen to it again.

49. Elmer and the Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett* - I didn't like this one as much as the first.

50. How We Got To Now by Stephen Johnson* - This was such a fascinating book to listen to on our road trip. I loved learning about the progression of various inventions and how one idea leads to the next and to the next. I also loved the idea of the inevitability of certain inventions. So many problems affect so many people that somebody is bound to create something to solve that problem. They may not go about it in identical ways, but we'll get to the solution eventually.

51. The Dragons of Blueland by Ruth Stiles Gannett* - I liked this one better than the second, but probably not quite as much as the original.

52. Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary* - Eric is not that crazy about this series, which makes me sad. But I really enjoy these books, and so do my kids.

53. Shiloh Season by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor* - We liked this one well enough, but the first is definitely better.

54. The BFG by Roald Dahl* - Oh, how much we all loved the audio for this book! It was so much fun! We had all seen the movie adaptation of this one, but none of us had read the book. I'm sure we'll listen to it again on some future road trip.

55. The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley* - I enjoy Flavia de Luce, especially on audio.

56. A Red Herring Without Mustard by Alan Bradley* - When you find some audio you enjoy, you just stick with it.

57. I Am Half-Sick of Shadows by Alan Bradley* - I guess I just figure if you've got a series of audiobooks you like, you should just plow on through them.

September
58. Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover - Just go read it. It will blow your mind.

59. Speaking from Among the Bones by Alan Bradley* - I'm just going to keep plowing away through the audio for this series.

60. The War I Finally Won by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley* - I am pretty sure I liked this one even better than the first. I felt like so many stories of orphans really gloss over the emotional trauma, and this one delved right into it really well.

61. The Dead in their Vaulted Arches by Alan Bradley* - This one got pretty ridiculous (which is really saying something since this whole series is about an 11-year-old genius chemist/detective), and another book I've been waiting on came up on hold, so I'll be taking a bit of a break from Flavia now.

62. The Book of Essie by Meghan Maclean Weir - I was sucked into this book so fast and was really captivated by it. It reminded me a lot of the one Jodi Picoult book I read in that it handles current issues and looks at several angles of a tough ethical problem.

63. Funny in Farsi by Firoozeh Dumas - This was both hilarious and heartwarming.

64. On My Own by Diane Rehm* - Meh. Parts of this were good, but overall it was just fine.

October
65. Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets* by Svetlana Alexievich - So fascinating, but so depressing. In fact, it was so depressing that I took a break from it to read Diane Rehm's book about grieving her husband of 50+ years. Rehm's book was positively joyful in comparison.

66. Seinfeldia: How A Show About Nothing Changed Everything* by Jennifer Keishin Armstrong - I really wanted to like this book, but I thought it got tied down with the details of the show's creation. Given the title, I expected it to be more about the show's effects on culture. It does touch on that, but not to the degree I had hoped.

67. Reporter by Seymour Hersh* - I think Seymour Hersh did amazing things in his career, I just found this book surprisingly dull considering what his investigative reporting entailed.

68. Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott - So boring. I really wanted to like this, but big snore from me. I didn't finish it, but I endured enough of it to count it for the year's reading.

69. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins - It's a little long, but it's quite a good thriller-ish book (for its time).

70. Not My Father's Son by Alan Cumming* - This book is kind of hard to listen to because it deals with parental abuse, but it is so beautifully done. I loved hearing about Alan's journey on Who Do You Think You Are?. I've worked on many episodes (though not on his since I don't work on the British version), and so I loved hearing a bit more of his own background. I need to try to track down his episode now.

November
71. As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust by Alan Bradley* - Another Flavia book. They are getting more and more ridiculous, but I still enjoy them.

72. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling* - It took our family a while, but we finally finished this one. The movie is still way too scary for my boys, but we did show them a brief clip of the movie so Felix could understand the part with the time turner because it was confusing to him.

73. The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer - Rather slow at first, but I really liked it in the end. None of my book group co-horts made it through the slow portion.

74. Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mewed by Alan Bradley* - I am honestly getting a little tired of these. I need to find another go-to when I need a new audio book.

75. The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah* - I loved so much about this book, especially the writing and the main characters. I thought the last third or so was a little ridiculous, though.

December
76. A Full Life by Jimmy Carter* - I knew so little about Jimmy Carter. I really enjoyed this book and learned he has written several others. I'm sure I'll read a few more of his.

77. Scarlet by Marissa Mayer* - I started this book ages ago, shortly after reading Cinder, and then time got away from me and I didn't finish it. I am so glad I finally got around to it. It's a lot of fun, and I went straight to the third book (Cress) when I finished this one.

78. Cress by Marissa Mayer* - Still really enjoying this series. The audiobooks are done so well. This may be a series I listen to again, actually. (I'm currently reading the last book in the series, and I probably will finish it first in 2019.)

79. Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater - This is just not that great of a read-aloud book. Felix found it endlessly boring, and it took us ages to get through it.

*Denotes audio-books.