Overdue Book Review

I haven't stopped reading, I promise.  I've read a few books in the last little while, but I'm not sure which ones I haven't told you about.  Here are a few:


The Devil in the White City - fascinating.  The true story of the World's Fair in Chicago combined with a creepy guy who kills women.  It was a pretty good read, and the facts were fun.  Definitely interesting.
The Shell Seekers:  this was the large print book.  Which made me feel like the fastest reader ever.  Not the most exciting book.  Kind of depressing, actually.
Bossy Pants:  the autobiography of Tina Fey.  Which happens to be one of the funniest ladies ever.  Cute books.
Enna Burning:  The sequel book to "Goose Girl."  Cute book as well
Flipped:  Absolutely adorable.  It's a 2-sided book of teenage neighbors.  So fun to read.
Letters to my 16-year-old self:  Quick read, bun to read what some people would say to themselves after they've reached their success.  It was annoying at sometimes, but often the people wanted to tell themselves to be okay with who they are and develop better relationships with their families.
Scorpions for Breakfast:  As an Arizona resident, I now care about the immigration issues...right?  This is written by the governor, Jan Brewer.  She may have been a bit dramatic about what's going on with immigration, but there is definitely an issue right now.
Cinderella Ate My Daughter:  Interesting.  I agree with some of her points, and it's crazy to learn more about advertising and the way they've changed so much of our lives.
Ender's Game:  Fun little book that we had for book club.
Lovely Bones: still not sure how I feel about this one.
Tipping Point:  Always fun to read Malcolm Gladwell.  Another good book.  He focuses on what makes something a success or a failure. 
Blink:  And another by Malcolm Gladwell.  This one's about our thought processes, and how quickly they can happen.
Maisie Dobbs:  Recommendation from my Mom.  It was a cute book, not as much of a mystery as I was thinking it would be, but it was a good read.

There might be more, but this I think catches me up for a while.

Call to Repentance

Confession:  sometimes I don't like to answer the phone.   

Well, the other day, I was deciding to take a nap, and my phone started to ring, I looked at who was calling, and did a quick mental check of why she would be calling.  I couldn't think of anything, and having a chip on my shoulder about something, I put the phone down, and went to sleep.  20 minutes later, I listened to the voicemail.  She was in such a huge bind and needed a ride somewhere important.  Luckily, I was able to call her back and we were able to make it to her appointment, just a few minutes late.

Now, I know that I can't be there for everyone, all the time, that's impossible and unreasonable to think.  But I still do, AND this time, I chose to not even reach out to be of service.  I avoided it.  And I felt like such a jerk, and still kind of do.  I have been called to repentance, no pun intended, but it's catchy. 

There is a story of President Monson of how he had kind of been putting off a prompting all day long, and finally went to do it.  It was to visit someone in the hospital, and when he got there, the person just just passed away.  He was heartbroken and devastated.  But he made a promise to never put off a prompting again.  And he has blessed so many lives because of his skill in hearing the prompting of the spirit and acting.

Now, I know I'm not comparable to President Monson, but I feel a little of what he felt.  It has been a hard pill for me to swallow and I still feel very humbled by the experience.   I hope that all of us can find and act on opportunities to serve, and not let person biases stop us from serving.

Nice Discovery

I recently began the interesting adventure of Bikram Yoga.  90 minutes of yoga in a 105 degree room.  Disgusting?  Perhaps.  But the nice treat for my first visit was the instructor, Nathan.  He was a tall, lean man of about 27.  When I came into the studio, he was behind the counter, so I was taken aback when he came around the corner and I saw the whole picture.  He was wearing nothing but the smallest pair of tan, velvet shorts that I have ever seen.  His beautiful ponytail cascading down his back.  Wow.  It was like meeting Tarzan, or at least the guy from "The World's Greatest Athlete." (which, is actually a very funny Disney movie).  Distracting.  I couldn't look at him.  At all.  He had quite the soothing voice throughout the exercising, but what made it so much sweeter, was in the final relaxation pose (laying on your back, hands open, feet open and just focusing on your breath), he sang a sweet lullaby to us.  I am only familiar with the song from the fantastic movie "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang", another Disney classic.  I had the hardest time not laughing.  I didn't think anyone else knew this song, let alone use it to sing to a random group of people who are beyond sweaty messes. 

So, the discovery.  Upon looking up the words to the song for my brother, I found this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDaWZHPduKY&feature=related
A nice clip from the movie.  Which led me to this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sn6Tol70BjU&feature=related
Someone else singing it!  What?  Which led me to this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwlWmp64qpE&feature=related
This Stacey Kent lady is actually quite good.  I like her music.  It was a neat discovery. 

So thank you creepy yoga instructor in a small piece of fabric for singing a beautiful lullaby for me to mock so I could find this new singer.
I am excited for tomorrow's outfit!!

One Tiny Hand

This needs to be shared.

http://onetinyhand.com/

A big hand to Jake Tripp for sharing this gem with me.
(think scout meeting when I say 'big hand', ha ha!)

Wedding Season Begins

This last weekend I was able to attend my nephew Jordan's wedding in Idaho. It was a classic Idaho day...snowed about 4 inches that morning and was freezing cold. But it was so fun to get to see Jordan and Janessa make covenants with each other for eternity. And it's always fun to get to be with the family.
The beautiful couple.
And the lovely Carly. She officially got engaged on Sunday, April 1. I am so happy for her! Here we are at my birthday breakfast...with chocolate cake. I will miss her being single, but the guy she is marrying is beyond perfect for her. Makes me so very happy.
Nothing to do with marriage, but I am in love with this kid. Logan. He makes me feel like a million bucks. Always calling my name, wondering where I am, even when I'm not around.
And of course, little London. She is a beautiful baby, and is so sweet. And how can so many clothes look so cute on her?

It was so good to be home for the wedding. Another treat was having my brother-in-law Chad come up on Friday night from Utah. He was in town for his grandfather's funeral, which is sad, but we scored big time that he would drive 3 hours to come and see us. He's been deployed withe the US Air Force, and it's going to suck to have him gone for 6 months, so it was such a blessing that he could come and visit us, and that so many of us were around because of the wedding. Things work out sometimes. Plus, we got to have hawaiian haystacks for dinner that night! I love my family. I'm glad I've got to spend so much time with them lately.