Where will YOU be on 8-24-2010?

I will be at the bookstore getting THIS...... and then reading the remainder of the day until the book is finished!

Camping... sorta

A few months ago, Ben set up the tent in our backyard for a Father Son campout :) They never actually slept in the tent (because mean ol'mom said NO - this was in November and it was cold at night!) but Ryan did enjoy taking his toys out to the tent and playing :)

Wild Animal Park 2-2-2010

My awesome friend Janae took me and Ryan to the Wild Animal Park this week! It was a ton of fun - we saw the lions, gorillas, giraffes and cheetahs, went on the tram ride, the petting zoo and the play area! I didn't have my camera with me and my stupid phone doesn't take pictures, but luckily Janae has a fancy iPhone (that yes... I almost stole from her) and we were able to get a few pictures of the kids :)

The Time Traverler's Wife

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
So I really liked the idea of the story. I did not like however some of the content and language in the book. That's why I only gave it 3 stars. Someone as creative as Audrey Niffenegger who can come up with a story as creative as this can surely think of other words to use rather than the constant F-bomb. That was a disappointment because otherwise the book would have been fantastic!

View all my reviews >>

Thanksgiving... Finally!

We had Thanksgiving dinner at our house this year! (well last year... you get the idea) We were so excited to have our own house that we thought it would be a good idea to do something crazy like having the Hoy and States families over for the big event! It was a lot of fun and dinner was really good - cook a turkery by myself (almost!) and it was yummy! Good pies and Ben made homemade cranberry sauce that was very yummy! Don't have too many pictures but trust me it was fun!

Something Good to Read

A few months ago some friends started a book club and it has been such a treat! I really love it! My brain has felt mushy lately because I'm not working and spend my days with a 2 year old (whom I LOVE) but I never really have to THINK about anything. With that said, I love my book club! We have read some amazing books that I think EVERYONE should read.

Number 1: The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins (The Hunger Games and Catching Fire) If I tried to describe to you what the book was about you wouldn't want to read it... but it is seriously one of the BEST freaking books I have ever read! There are some slight similarities to the Twilight series, but Hunger Games in my opinion is about 100x better! Yea that's right... BETTER THAN TWILIGHT! I said it! There is a 3rd book to the series that is due to come out August 24, 2010 and I seriously cannot wait! Ben even read these books. Usually he is a SUPER SLOW reader but he couldn't put these books down and read them fairly quickly!

Number 2: The Help by Kathyrn StockettThis book is not at all what I thought it was going to be. It's a great story that makes you want to get off your bum and do something productive.

Number 3: The Summer Kitchen By Lisa WingateThis book is pretty much like The Help - completely different story but it makes you want to help others.

Another good read along the lines of The Help and The Summer Kitchen is A Single Thread by Marie Bostwick. All three books are written similarly and I couldn't put them down!

Right now I'm reading The Time Traveler's Wife and it is pretty good, but has some choice words that are necessary... which makes me bummed. Won't make me HAVE TO read list.

I'm seriously obsessed with reading right now so if you have any great book suggestions please let me know! Also a great site is goodreads.com

Disneyland in November...

Yup... It's now February and I think it's about time to blog about last November :)

My mom's birthday was the Monday before Thanksgiving so we went and had a blast... We went on a few rides, saw Santa, Mrs Claus and Woody and Jessie... Ryan and I did an interview for Disneyland.com for their Santa's Reindeer Roundup - Never actually saw the video so I don't know if they used my clip or not :)

iPhone

So the day after Thanksgiving, I finally got my iPhone! It was amazing! That's right... WAS... 2 weeks after I got my precious phone, I dropped it into the toilet! And apparently, water and iPhones do not play well together! I've been so sad and depressed ever since it happened! Ben found a place in Riverside that might be able to fix it, but I haven't had the time to go up there yet. Plus I'm afraid that they'll say there is nothing they can do to fix it and I will cry!

Luckily, Ben had an extra phone in the office (I couldn't use my old one because it was a Verizon phone and we just changed to AT&T). So now I'm using an old school Nokia phone - you can throw the thing as hard as you like and it won't break! However, it doesn't even have a camera on it and the texting sucks!!!! I MISS MY iPHONE!!!! :(

Whoops!

So it's been a while since I've blogged but I have a really good excuse! I HAVE NO INTERNET!!! And I haven't for a while! I'm at my parents house using theirs and I really miss it :) So anyway - I will post what has been going on the past few months over the next few days and then hopefully I can keep up with it!!!! Today's blog will be on some SUPER cute pictures that this amazing photographer took of Ryan and his cousins Olivia and Eliza. The photographers name is Julie Stainbrook and she works in Utah and So. CAL! If you are in her areas I would definitely suggest her! Here is her site http://juliestainbrookphotography.blogspot.com/ and here are the pictures she put up of my cute son and nieces http://juliestainbrookphotography.blogspot.com/2009/11/chocolate.html

Here are some more :)

So much to blog about!

Wow - So this might be a long one, but I really want to get caught up on my blog before it becomes out of control!

The Kelly's came to Disneyland and we were able to meet up with them! I LOVE visiting with them and wish that we could have hung out longer! I really miss them, but was glad we were able to take a family picture with them :)So on October 19th, Ben and I went to the Chargers/Broncos game and unfortunately for us the Chargers lost... We can't afford to sit on the Chargers side of the stadium so we were surrounded by drunk happy Broncos fans, which I don't particuarly like. One big o' lady may or may not have pushed me and gotten in my face... Of course, I may or may not have shouldered her on my way up the stairs... Long story... I ran away... These pictures are before the game when we were filled with hope and excitement :)

Ryan has gotten really good at saying his prayers. It's just about the cutest thing EVER :)

Ryan and Daddy carved pumpkins for Halloween! Ryan was grossed out my the guts of the pumpkin and refused to touch them. Which of course was really funny :)

Halloween was fantastic! Ben dressed up as a ghost, I was a hippie (I had an awesome wig, but it was a piece of junk so I ended up taking it off before I took any pictures :)) and Ryan was Woody from Toy Story! We had a great night. Went to our friends, the Armstrong's Halloween party then took Ryan to our ward's Trunk or Treat which was great!

Ryan and Olivia - the cutest lil' Bee :)Ryan had fun with Bryan, Kylie and Forrest at the Trunk or Treat :)

Enjoy the pictures - I will post some of the new house soon!!!!