Booking Through Thursday

Do YOU like books with complicated plots and unexpected endings?
I love books that aren't completely predictable. Once in a while a book is so predictable I wonder what the point in reading it was. And I don't mind unexpected endings as long as the author doesn't throw something in that is completely out of nowhere and unbelieveable. I hate being left rolling my eyes thinking "yeah, right!"


As far as reading I only read 1 books this week. I've spent a lot of time doing family history work and finished up the conference Ensign so there was just no time for reading much.

The book I did read was FABULOUS!

I loved Nicholas Sparks latest book The Last Song. One of his best yet.

Our hold on Shadow Puppets finally came in at the library so Brian and I will start listening to that. I'm half way through reading Enna Burning and I'm listening to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Work It Wednesday

Today's task is to get the office cleaned and organized. Since it's now going to be an office/Kylie's bedroom I've got to find a place for everything. It's so bad right now I won't even post a picture! I've got a great book on tape to listen to and I'll hopefully stay on task and get it done today. I've also got to dig out all the paperwork I need to get the taxes done.

Which way is up?

48,000 names?!? My mom was one amazing woman! She entered every one of those names in her computer and did the research on many of them.

In the past week I've matched up 1,800 of the names in family search. Don't even ask how many hours that took me. If you took a look at my house you might be able to guess that it was a lot of hours and that I've done very little besides Family History this week.
If I could keep up at that rate it would take me 6 months just to match up or upload all the names to family search. And that is just the first step. There is no way it's possible for me to do that many names in a week again! I did the easy names, my grandma Adams family. My mom was the first to do almost all of the work that is done on her lines so it's really easy to match those names. The work for my other 3 grandparent's families isn't so easy. In fact it's much more time consuming because a lot of the temple work is already done. But not all of it so it's a challenge to find those people who got missed.
My goal is to have all at least 80% of my mom's research matched up and ready for temple work by the end of 2011. That is 400 names per week. There other 20% will be nearly impossible for me to match because there isn't enough information and they will need to be researched.
In 2012 I plan to begin actually doing new research on lines that don't have all the info.

Weekly Wrap Up

This week I focused on a couple areas I have been falling short. Namely family history and meals as a family. Overall it was a good week.

Read Preach My Gospel as a family
We did well this week. At least 5 days.
Have Family Prayers Together Every Night and Have Prayers with Each Child before they leave for school each morning.
We did better on this one too. We remembered most days.
Have a well planned Family Home Evening each week
We watched Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. Not the most spiritual FHE - but it was a good family movie we all enjoyed.
Family Fun Activity Every Week
We all went to Bryce's basketball game yesterday then went to McDonalds for lunch and watched Flushed Away last night.
Do something active as a family at least once a week
Haven't done this at all this year.
Eat at least 7 meals Together As A Family each week
Did awesome this week. 12 Meals together! It helped having no school on Monday because we got in an extra meal and I we actually ate together for all 3 meals on Saturday & Sunday this past week.
Get the kids to bed on time on school nights
Still doing ok here.
Encourage the kids to limit their Media & Video Gaming time
My kids just watch too much TV and play too many video games. I did have a couple days I kept them off.
Chores – Teach them to work
I don't think anyone did chores this week other than their bedrooms.
Kneel in prayer each morning and night
check
Read my scriptures every day
Check
Attend the Temple at least once every month
Have plans to go again on Thursday.
Read the Ensign cover to cover each month
Just the Sunday afternoon session and Relief Society broadcast left to read and I'll have the Conference Ensign done. Then I can start on the January issue.
Read at least 100 books
3 books finished this week = total 12 so far this year.
Spend at least 2 days a week at home without leaving to run errands or grocery shop
This is such a nice goal to have set. I love being home and going no where!
Lose the 20 lbs I gained in 2009
Not quite so good as last week simply because I wasn't counting calories.
Blog daily and keep in touch with extended family and friends
Blogging check - I did talk to my Aunt this week but no other extended family.
Make time to Be Still & Ponder each day
I've been reading the Ensign in the morning after Bryce goes to school and before I get the other kids up.
Start doing family history work
FINALLY! After 3 years I finally started on family history again. I was spurred on by aunt Judy or it would have been much later this year. I put in at least 20 hours this week.
Weekly date with Brian
A yummy lunch at Red Lobster.

Family History Friday

I had a busy day Friday. Spent hte morning watching my friend's son, worked out, went out to a late lunch with Brian and then work on Family History. I think I spent at least 6 hours working on new.familysearch.org yesterday afternoon and evening. Brian went to the temple to help clean at 9:30 last night and before I realized how late it had got it he was home, it was 12:30 and I was still sitting at the computer working.
It's actually really fun. I love doing puzzles and it's like a huge puzzle with an infinite number of pieces all trying to be put together.

Booking Through Thursday

Who’s your favorite author that other people are NOT reading?

I'm not sure I can find an author that qualifies. I read books based on recommendations. I don't pick up books that I know nothing about so it's rare I read something that others are NOT reading. I would imagine in general a lot of the books I read by LDS authors are not read by the majority of people might qualify. Emily Freeman is the newest LDS author I enjoy.


The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale was a fun read. My daughter Kim has read it and enjoyed it and I too thought it was a great story. It's the first book in a series of books and I'll definitely read the next book.

Orson's Scott Card's Hidden Empire did not disappoint. It's the sequel to Empire and I enjoyed this book. I found myself walking longer than usual on my treadmill to have more time to read.

FABULOUS BOOK! Contentment by Maria Covey Cole is a must read for mothers. Short and filled with inspiration and motivation for mothers.

How to be Totally Miserable by John Bytheway was a really quick read. Filled with typical Bytheway humor and lots of great quotes.

Dead Wrong by Clair Poulson is entertaining by completely unbelieveable. The potential for a great book was there but this one had way to many coincidences for me believe any of it.

I've exceeded my reading goal for the month and I still have another 10 days. 12 books so far this year. I'm not planning on reading much this week because it will be busy.

I've got a stack of books but none of them are jumping out at me. I am leaning towards listening to The Last Song by Nicolas Sparks and reading Enna Burning by Shannon Hale but I haven't started either yet. I'm working at trying to get through the Conference Ensign and then I need to read the January issue so I'll probably spend time finishing that up before I spend much time reading an actual book.

Work It Wednesday

I told Brian I was not going to do any family history today but rather spend the day cleaning the house. Then my Aunt Judy called with questions about family names and I opened up the family history programs and now here I am 2 hours later finally exiting out of them. I think I'm turning into my mother. She'd spend hours at the computer inputting and researching names. No researching for me right now but I'm getting better at the inputting part. I'm grateful she did so much work before she died. Again I'm beating myself up for not being more interested when I had the chance! At least she left me with plenty to do until I figure out how to do research.

Now I'm finally off to get my workout in and then clean my house!

Family History

It's been nearly 4 years since my mom passed away leaving a family history file with 48,000+ names. I worked on a few of the names 3 years ago and have done nothing since. And of course the church has recently changed the way names are submitted to get temple work done. So once again I find myself learning how to do family history work. It's quite a learning curve and I've got my work cut out for me.

The task is slightly overwhelming. Especially when you run into a problem like the one I Found to day with my 5th great grandpa. His work temple work is done (at least that's what my records show) but I can't get it to show up correctly on the new program because 3 diffent people have been combined into one person and I can't get them to seperate?? I highly doubt he was born in 1720, 1740 & 1760. And my 5th great grandmother was know by 3 different last names and so her work isn't showing up right either.

I was doing some math. If I review 50 names per week it would take me 2 full years to make sure all the names are connected correctly in the new program and that the info in my mom's program is accurate. There's got to be a better way. Thursday I'm planning on heading to the Family History Center to learn what I need to do to get my PAF file entered online correctly. Hopefully they can teach me a more efficient way to use the new system.

I've decided to take the next couple weeks off of couponing and probably won't get much reading done as I attempt to get those 48,000 names connected up on the new church family history site. And my house may suffer a little in the process. It was late last night before I got my exercise in and then it took me a while to fall asleep after finally getting off the computer at 11:00 because my mind was spinning. Hopefully I'll figure out a way to balance everything. For now I'm signing off for the day and going to get my exercise in.

Weekly Wrap Up

Another week gone. This week was a lot like the last week.
Read Preach My Gospel as a family
I think we only read 2 days this week. Perhaps it was 3 but we need to do better.
Have Family Prayers Together Every Night and Have Prayers with Each Child before they leave for school each morning.
Still only happening about half the time, either I miss morning or we miss in the evening.
Have a well planned Family Home Evening each week
Not so well planned but we did have FHE
Family Fun Activity Every Week
I don't think we did anything fun this week... Brian spent time with the kids on the trampoline and on the Ripstiks but as for me I was a pretty un-fun mother this week.
Do something active as a family at least once a week
Again Brian went outside and played with them but I didn't.
Eat at least 7 meals Together As A Family each week
Only 3 meals again. Boy I've got to be better. Our schedule is looking better for the coming week so I think we'll make the goal this week.
Get the kids to bed on time on school nights
Still doing ok here.
Encourage the kids to limit their Media & Video Gaming time
I did a little better this week. They are still having way too much screen time but at least there were days I told them no and to get off and do their chores.
Chores – Teach them to work
A little better this week - at least a day or two they got chores done.
Kneel in prayer each morning and night
Doing well here but now I need to focus on praying with real intent.
Read my scriptures every day
Check
Attend the Temple at least once every month
Brian & I went on Tuesday while Kylie was at preschool.
Read the Ensign cover to cover each month
I made it through the Saturday morning session and started on the talks for the afternoon session. I'm going to make it through the conference Ensign and then start on Jan.
Read at least 100 books
4 books finished this week bringing me to a total of 9 this year.
Spend at least 2 days a week at home without leaving to run errands or grocery shop
I did stay home 2 days this week. I actually rearranged my plans so I didn't have to leave home.
Lose the 20 lbs I gained in 2009
I started on a no sugar, no refined foods diet this week so I did well.
Blog daily and keep in touch with extended family and friends
I did blog and wrote a short note to my aunt but need to do better.
Make time to Be Still & Ponder each day
I did this most days. Not for as long as I would like. I took a walk on Saturday with no cell phone and no CD to listen to. The fresh air and peace and quiet was enjoyable.
Start doing family history work
Not Yet
Weekly date with Brian
Our temple trip was our date.

Seemed like this week was a little better than last week. It's hard to juggle everything but I just keep trying to do what I can each day and not stress over what I'm not getting to.

The Great Bedroom Debate

Not a whole lot of getting ready for Sunday around here. We started cleaning downstairs and then got sidetracked on the great bedroom debate.

5 kids + 3 bedrooms = LIFE IS NEVER FAIR.

Since life is never fair we seem to end up switching bedrooms about every 6 months in an attempt to make it a little fairer.

Someone always gets there own room, the younger kids make such big messes that the bigger kids don't want to share, the boys are too big to share a room with the girls. Brett refuses to be in any room but the brown room because the others have paint that is too "girlie" (pale green or peach). The whining, complaining and debating starts and of course the tears start flowing.

I refused to move all the beds around today so the options were limited. So today's solution - Brett is sharing the brown room with Bradley, Kim gets the peach room and Bryce gets the green room. Kylie the biggest mess maker of all got kicked out of all the rooms and consigned to the office (her bed currently consisting of a mattress thrown on the floor - and unbelievably she's the most excited of all of them).

Do you think it's time to repaint in some nice neutral colors?

By the time we got it all figured out I was exhausted so the kids stuff is only half put away and the downstairs looks ten times worse than we we started down there this morning.

It's a good thing there is no school on Monday - although I can here the whining and complaining already "It's a Holiday - We Shouldn't have to work!"

Fit Friday

It has been a while since I did a Fit Friday post. Since it's been an otherwise uneventfully day I thought I'd make a quick post about attempting to get back in shape. Amazing how fast all the weight I lost came back once I quit exercising and started eating any and every thing I wanted. In an effort to get the scale headed in the right direction, Monday I went off of sugar & white refined flour. I'm planning on staying off for at least 6 weeks. It's the easiest way I've found for me to lose weight. I also set a goal of at least 30 minutes of exercise everyday. So far so good. I've now completed day 5 and I feel great. I've made cookies twice this week and didn't even taste them. There were tons of yummy looking treats at relief society on Wednesday and I avoided them all.
I forgot how good I feel after exercising and how much I actually enjoy it especially when I can combined exercising with the reading of a good book. I started a blog to journal my daily attempt at eating healthy and exercising. http://healthyliving2010.blogspot.com/

Booking Through Thursday

Do you read the inside flaps that describe a book before or while reading it?
Yes I almost always read the back cover and inside flaps while reading a book. My biggest pet peeve about back covers and inside flaps is when they give away too many details about the story. What's the point in reading a book if they've already told you everything that is going to happen?

It was a great week for reading around here. First off a couple pictures books I enjoyed.

God Bless Your Way is a beautiful Christmas book by Emily Freeman. There is a Christmas song by Hilary Weeks that goes along with this book.

Pingo by Brandon Mull is a silly book my kids loved. Kylie didn't get the concept of an imaginary friend but she does now. She now has her own imaginary friend named Alexica. Our favorite part - spotting the covers of Fablehaven and Candy Shop Wars in the book. Since my children love those books they thought it was cool to find those books in the illustrations of this book.

Return From Tomorrow by George Ritchie - Classic near death experience book. Not as detailed as I thought it would be but still a great story.

I'm not sure if I had ever read Mark Twain's classic The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I've seen the movie and the musical Big River so I enjoyed all the details given in the actual text. I listened to the audio of this one.

Dreamquake the sequel to Dreamhunter didn't disappoint. I really enjoyed reading this book and in fact spent most of Saturday reading while I watched my neices and nephew. Probably the reason the house was much worse for wear after the weekend.

Brian and I finally finished Shadow of the Hegemon by Orson Scott Card. We listen together each night at bedtime but usually one of us falls asleep before the other so we end up relistening to portions again the next night. It takes us a while to get through books but it's something we enjoy.


I Hate It When Exercise is the Answer by Emily Watts was just plain enjoyable. I love Emily Watts! This book is a quick easy read and worth the time simply because Emily Watts is so human. I can so relate to the experiences she shares.



That puts me at 7 books for the year. I'm on track to hit 100 books this year!



Currently I'm listening to the Goose Girl by Shannon Hale and hoping our hold on Shadow Puppets comes in soon so Brian & I can begin listening to that one. I'm reading What the Scriptures Teach Us About Raising a Child by Michael Wilcox & Hidden Empire by Orson Scott Card.

Work It Wednesday

Today is a stay at home and clean day. The house looks like it was hit by a whirlwind. Dishes, laundry, clutter, plus the need for some good cleaning of things like bathrooms, floors, counters, etc.

My plan is to get my workout done and then be cleaning by 10:30. I've got a few audio books to listen to and will hopefully get a lot accomplished while listening.

At 4:30 I'm doing cub scouts at my house. I'm not the cub scout leader but they currently do not have one so I volunteered to fill. Bradley has been so excited to turn 8 so he could start cub scouts. He was so disappointed there was no leader and thus no cub scouts. He told me he wanted me to be his leaders so what could I do but fill in until they get someone called. Since I've been the Bear, Wolf & Webelos leader in the past I can do it in my sleep.

Then it's enrichment at 6:00. I signed up to bring soup which is good because then I'll be able to actually eat something. Nearly every soup last year looked fabulous but didn't fit in my no sugar, no refined flour diet. Brian got stuck working in the nursery so he'll be there with our 3 youngest kids while Brett & Bryce either come to help too or get to stay home and enjoy some quiet time (studying for Brett & computer games for Bryce).

Tackling Tuesday

What a day!
Not enough sleep
Exercise
Temple
Chauffeuring kids
Activity Days
More Chauffeuring of kids
Drive thru dinner
Overdue books returned
Quality bedtime
Where did the day go?
Good night!

Fun With Cousins

Do they look like they are sleeping? Getting close to sleep?
The kids were sent downstairs to bed. They were told they could watch a movie and sleep in the fort they had built. This is how I found them. All gathered around the small TV watching Party with the Penguins.

Shaun & Callie came to pick the kids up about 3:45 yesterday. Before they left we had fun watching Brett take his remote control car over a jump.

They also played on the Rip-stiks. Shaun found out Flip Flops probably aren't the best shoes to use while riding on a rip-stik.

We had a great weekend with Shaun's kids here. It was actually easy since my kids were home all day and did most of the babysitting. When we watched Mike's kids Emily wouldn't go near Brett, I think Brett loved the fact that Carter would snuggle up to him. Kim & Bryce were great helpers with Carter and Kylie & Brad did a lot of the entertaining by playing together with Kailey & Jordan.

Weekly Wrap Up

Weekly Wrap Up - We'll see how long I last at keeping up with my goals this year. Hopefully longer than last year!

Read Preach My Gospel as a family
We read 3 days this past week which is better than nothing.
Have Family Prayers Together Every Night and Have Prayers with Each Child before they leave for school each morning.
About 50/50 on this one
Have a well planned Family Home Evening each week
Check
Family Fun Activity Every Week
We had cousins in town this weekend so that counts for fun right?
Do something active as a family at least once a week
Nope
Eat at least 7 meals Together As A Family each week
3 meals - That about as bad as we've ever been. I'll blame it on sickness & the fact that Brian had a very demanding client. He worked until midnight 3 nights this week. Thankfully he held the deal together and it's now under contract!
Get the kids to bed on time on school nights
Did ok on this one.
Encourage the kids to limit their Media & Video Gaming time
Nope
Chores – Teach them to work
Nope
Kneel in prayer each morning and night
Check
Read my scriptures every day
Check
Attend the Temple at least once every month
Planning on going on Tuesday
Read the Ensign cover to cover each month
I'm a little behind from last year - I finally finished the December Ensign and started on the November Conference Ensign. I'll take me a couple weeks to get caught up.
Read at least 100 books
Just finished my 5th book - I'm off to a great start
Spend at least 2 days a week at home without leaving to run errands or grocery shop
Wednesday, Friday & Saturday I stayed home all day. But my house is still a mess.
Lose the 20 lbs I gained in 2009
Bad week - I think I gained weight
Blog daily and keep in touch with extended family and friends
I've been blogging and called my brother to wish him a happy birthday
Make time to Be Still & Ponder each day
50/50
Start doing family history work
Not Yet
Weekly date with Brian
We went out to Olive Garden for lunch - YUM!

Overall it was an ok week. Kimberly being sick and having company definitely made things a little crazier than usual. We had a fabulous Ward Conference at church today and I'm committed to being better at making time to be still. I have very little quiet time in my life and need to be better at making time to just BE STILL.

Fabulous Friday

The end of the week. We survived our first week of 2010.
We are excited to have Shaun & Callie's kids coming for the weekend. Callie is planning on dropping them off around 3 this afternoon and they'll be here until around 3 on Sunday. It should be a fun 48 hours.
As for me my day includes cleaning, cleaning and more cleaning. How is it possible that my house which was clean when my dad arrived last Friday could go downhill so quickly? I did keep up on laundry this week so at least that is not on the list. But the rest of my house needs my attention.
I better get started. Hopefuly I can finish The Adventures of Huck Finn while cleaning today.

Booking Through Thursday

What books did you get for Christmas (or whichever holiday you may have celebrated last month)?

I did not get any books for Christmas. I RARELY buy books. I use my library ALOT!

Do you usually ask for books on gift-giving occasions or do you prefer to buy them yourself?

I prefer to buy books myself but like I said I rarely buy books. I'm too cheap and the library is free. I like free!


Only 2 books finished so far this year and one of them was really too short to count but I'm counting it anyway since it was such a fabulous book.

The Ten Virgins by Emily Freeman is actually a picture book but written for adults. I loved it. It's a wonderful book in which the author gives an identity and story to each of the Virgins. These virgins are all have good qualities yet they struggle with some of the challenges of day to day life. I've heard a presentation where the 5 wise virgions are obviously righteous and the 5 foolish virgins are obviously wicked. Not so in this book. All 10 have good qualities but only 5 are focused and humble enough to be prepared when the bridegroom comes.
I highly recommend taking time to read and ponder this book.


Missionary Miracles by Chris Stewart was not quite what I expected. I was expecting something more along the lines of The Other Side of Heaven. Instead this book is a compliation of letters missionaries sent home while on there mission. There are about 40 letters that share details of what life is like on a mission. It was a quick easy read would be perfect for a Sunday afternoon. Great for a missionary heading out into the field to a get a glimpse of what life on a mission is like.


Brian and I are listening to Shadow of the Hegemon by Orson Scott Card. We only have 1.5 CDs left so we'll hopefully finish that up this week.
I'm listening to The Adventures of Huck Finn by Mark Twain and am about half way through.
I just started reading Dreamquake by Elizabeth Knox which is the sequel to Dreamhunter.
I am also reading Return From Tomorrow for book group.
Hopefully on the next Booking Through Thursday I will be able to report that I have those 4 books done.

Waste of a Wednesday

1:00 and I've done nothing but eat half a bag of hershey kisses. As I was finally going to bed last night at 12:30 Kim woke up not feeling well. She tossed and turned the then basically puked all night long. We were finally sleeping somewhat by 4:30 am but then Bryce was up at 6:00 to get ready for school. So it was a night of not much sleep. I did get a short nap in this morning but I'm exhausted and getting nothing done.
One of my resolutions was to spend 2 days a week at home without leaving but this wasn't quite what I had in mind when I planned to stay home all day.

Tackle It Tuesday

Today has turned in to my errand and shopping day. Over Christmas break I didn't get out to do much shopping.

Library - to return 4 overdue books - but first I have to find one of them
Staples - to get their freebies
Rite Aid - to get their freebies or rather a raincheck because I know they will be out of the items I want
Walgreens - probably both Walgreens in town and they'll still be out of what I want
Albertsons - 6 trips through the checkout to use all my double coupons
Target - just because I love Target
Walmart - to use a stack of coupons that are expiring

Wish me luck, patience and speedy checkout lines.

2010 RESOLUTIONS

If you read any of my goals for 2009 these might seem awfully familiar...

2010 Family Goals

Read Preach My Gospel as a family

Have Family Prayers Together Every Night and Have Prayers with Each Child before they leave for school each morning.

Have a well planned Family Home Evening each week

Family Fun Activity Every Week

Do something active as a family at least once a week

Eat at least 7 meals Together As A Family each week

Get the kids to bed on time on school nights

Encourage the kids to limit their Media & Video Gaming time

Chores – Teach them to work

2010 Personal Goals

Kneel in prayer each morning and night

Read my scriptures every day

Attend the Temple at least once every month

Read the Ensign cover to cover each month

Read at least 100 books

Spend at least 2 days a week at home without leaving to run errands or grocery shop

Lose the 20 lbs I gained in 2009

Blog daily and keep in touch with extended family and friends

Make time to Be Still & Ponder each day

Start doing family history work

Weekly date with Brian

Bradley's Baptism

What a wonder day we had yesterday. Bradley was baptized and confirmed by his dad. You have never seen a child as excited to be baptized as Bradley! Congratulations Bradley we are so proud of you.

Yesterday afternoon we had quite a surprise when our front door opened and in walked Mike, Wendy, Spencer, Preston, Tanner and Emily. They had driven down from Highland for Bradley's baptism. The kids were so excited!

Following the baptism we came back t our house for treats. We had a snack buffet and Mike made a chocolate buttermilk cake! YUM!

We put together a puzzle and sat around a talked until 11:30. It was an enjoyable evening.

Hiking & A Trip to Wendys

Grandpa came to spend a couple nights with us on his way back to California (to be here for Bradley's baptism). We decided to hike to the top of Webb hill and then go to Wendy's for lunch. Wendy's is a tradition when grandpa comes. He always takes us to Wendys and we get to order whatever we want (and eat until we're stuffed).

CELEBRATE!

We had a goal in 2009 to read the Book of Mormon as a family. We finished last night at 11:00 pm. Today we went to Fiesta Fun to Celebrate!
Unlimited passes aren't cheap and we only get them when we finish the Book of Mormon.
We had a good time together.

4 or 5 Go Kart rides for all of us!

2 Bumper Boat rides one of which was really, really long.

Kim, Brad & Kylie were too short to actually drive the Go Karts but they could drive the kiddie cars which were SO SLOW!

Lots of holes of minature golf and a bunch of arcade games rounded out the day.

All in all it was a great day. We took a break mid day and got hamburgers at McDonald's for lunch. It was quite cold in the morning and those first couple of Go Kart rides were not only thrilling but chilling too!