New Year's Eve Party

The last few years we have started a tradition to have a New Year's Eve party with the Barnum family. We make appetizers to eat and let all the kids stay up to welcome in the New Year. All of us were able to be there except Seth's family who was sick and Brandon White because he had to work the strip for New Years.  We try to plan some activities and games to keep everyone busy.   We had a good time and about 15 minutes before midnight we stepped it up with some dancing and glow sticks!

Christmas Vacation in St. George

This is a mega post with lots of pics from our Christmas Vacation in St. George. We were there from Christmas night through New Years and hung out with lots of family.

The first day we were there it was cold and even snowing outside, which is uncommon for St. George!

The kids helped Grandpa put away some of the Christmas decorations to make room for all the people coming over.

There were lots of cousins to play with, Hadley is only 4 months older than Avery so they fought some and played nice just a little bit too.

Aunt Melissa with new baby Evvie!

Lots of meals squeezing everyone into the kitchen to eat yummy food.

Of course there was lots of nintendo ds play for the older kids.

Cousin Bo is only 6 weeks older than Avery.  Lots of 2 year olds around was sure fun.

Baby Evvie had her blessing on Sunday for us all to enjoy.

Cousins and more cousins all around, Autumn looking cute in her princess dress above and Kayden playing with Ethan below.

Grandpa Barnum felt up to joining in some of the festivities too.

Aunt Elizabeth pregnant with baby Samuel, we even got to enjoy a little baby shower for him.

Christmas at Grandma Connie's

After opening presents at home, we packed up our car and headed for Grandma Connie's house. We had multiple stops for Christmas Day, ending in St. George, UT late that night.

The kids were super anxious to open lots of presents.

Avery got a dress up Minnie outfit that she had to put on right away.

We were thankful Uncle Will was home from the hospital and feeling well enough to play Santa and distribute the presents.

Cousin Rylee got lots of cool new dress up clothes.

Cute baby Taryn!

Christmas Morning

We had a good Christmas this year. The boys were up at 5am running around in there room, even though Ethan was feeling sick. So we went down early to see what Santa left us. This year he brought Ethan a ninjago set and a new bike, he brought Joshua a race track and a scooter, Avery got a new bike and a little doggie, Dad got a new bike and Mom got a fancy new camera.

A new bike for our little girl!

Lord Garmadon for a Lego Ninjago lover.

A new yellow scooter for sweet Joshua.

After waking up at 5 am everyone needed a quick nap around 8am.

Baked french toast and sausages for breakfast.

Captain America to the rescue.

Disney in December

This year we started getting anxious to go to Disneyland again. I've always wanted to see it at Christmas time so we decided to take a quick trip at the beginning of December. We kept it a secret from the kids and told them after we were packed and ready to leave. I would have posted the video of us telling them but it is not very exciting. They thought we were just teasing them and did not have much of a reaction. They were excited and had fun later once we were in CA.

We of course went straight for Cars Land the first day since we had never seen it and had heard it was awesome.  It did look really cool, the racers ride was broken the first day we were there but Michael ran ahead on our second day and scored some fast passes!  The boys actually got to ride twice since we did a parent swap too. 

 

Avery had fun once she got used to the rides, waiting in lines though was definitely not easy with her.

 

 

Ethan wasn't as excited this time for big roller coasters but we still made him go on them : )

 

Avery loved the Little Mermaid ride and we went on it several times.

 

 

The boys wanted to go on the big Mickey Ferris Wheel, so we did and we went in one of the rocking carriages.  Afterwards though we paid the price and Dad was so sick he had to go back to the hotel for the rest of the evening.  The boys and I stayed to watch the World of Color show which was amazing!

 

The next day we went to Disneyland, and loved all of the Christmas lights and fake snow everywhere.

 

Avery got some Minnie ears but only kept them on for a few seconds.

 

 

 

Ethan and Josh rode a lot of rides including Space Mountain 3 times!

 

 

Our last day at the parks we rode everyone's favorite rides one more time and stopped to see Santa.

 

 

 

On our way out we got lolly pops for the kids.  We had a good time, Disneyland is always fun and always exhausting. 

 

2012 Reads and Reviews

This post is mostly for myself.  I never remember what I read so I like to keep track throughout the year with a little comment so I can remeber what I thought about the book.  This next year I hope to read a few non-fictions too.  We'll see I also start Grad school so I don't know how much pleasure reading I will find time for.


Winter Palace by Eva Stachniak

I enjoyed the book, especially because I hadn't ever read anything about Russian history before.  It was a page turner with betrayal, intrigue and hope but was quite long ( over 400 pages).  I just found out that it will be part of a series and I think I will keep reading to find out what happens next.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

I thought this was really a pretty interesting book, I had never read anything quite like it.  Even though it was not based on a true story I liked it's historical fiction of the time and population.  I saw the movie after I read the book and also thought it was pretty ok, books are always better.

For the King by Catherine Delors

This book was mediocre and very long.  It was set in France after the Revolution so I was interested in learning more since I don't already know the history.  The French names and characters are a little tough to follow especially in the beginning.  I had to re-download the book a few times to my Ipad since it expiring and it was taking me too long to read.

11/22/63 by Stephen King

I had a hangover from this book and couldn't write or even think about it for a while after I read it.  It was very long and very intense all the way through.  I don't usually read Stephen King since I don't like reading about the paranormal but this new one of his was labeled historical fiction so I thought I would give it a try.  It was very good, definitely a page turner that completely sucks you into the story.  I especially loved the love story portion.  I didn't enjoy the bad language in it, definitely a PG13 rating.  I would recommend it to those who enjoy Stephen King or pretty intense novels just be prepared to be committed to reading for a long while.

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

I'm always intrigued by books that cover old testament characters.  I love old testament and love to be able to visualize more what the time period was really like.  This was a good story, capitivating with fear and love and all those great things that keep you reading, however I think it wasn't a very accurate portrayal of the characters.  It put a real negative light on Jacob and Joseph too.  I'm not sure how much of the story fit with scripture but it doesn't certainly grab your interest and cause you to go back and read that part in the old testament.

The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks

This is a "fluffy" novel I bought thinking I might read it on our Hawaii trip.  Turns out I was too busy doing fun activities to relax, so I just read it when we got home.  It was pretty good, a love story and some suspense of course.  I haven't watched the movie yet, but overall the book was enjoyable.

The Fire of the Covenant by Gerald Lund

I started this book twice and finally finished it.  It's pretty long but should be, since it covers a pretty long span of events derived from journal entries.  I liked learning about the pioneers and putting a story to the history.  I felt much closer to the early saints and their struggles while reading this.  My critique of the book is the same as it usually is for Lund books.  I love the story and the characters he develops but I believe the rhetoric between characters is sometimes too hokey (not sure what the word is to describe this) than what it would have been in real life. 

Twilight of Avalon by Anna Elliot

I wanted to learn some more about the Arthurian era, a time period that is both historical and mythical at the same time.  This is a novel about Isolde the daughter of Modred who killed King Arthur.  The novel was ok, it had some magical aspects that I am never very fond of. The suspense and the love story were pretty good.  I'm not sure yet if I will read the other novels in the series.

Hunger Games by Susan Collins (Audio Book)
Catching Fire by Susan Collins (Audio Book)
Mocking Jay by Susan Collins (Audio Book)

I hadn't seen the movie or really had any interest in reading these books but I wanted check out an audiobook from library that I could listen to on my commute and this series was the most popular.  I have to admit I did like the books.  I actually started to look forward to my one hour drives to and from work and towards the end of each book I started listening around the house too.  I think the first novel is definetly the best.  The second is nothing more than a link to keep you reading. And the third was a little too much violence for me.  Overall though they were suspenseful and kept my interest. 

Cleopatra's Moon by Vicky Alvear Shecter (Audio Book)

I loved this book!  I wish the author had more to read but this is her only fictional novel.  This had everything I love in a good book, history, suspense and love.  Egypt and Rome during this time period right before Christ is my favorite part of history to learn about.  The novel is in first person following the life of Cleopatra's only daughter Selene. Many people don't know much about her but the fact that she lived after her parents' deaths was amazing.  I love imaging with this author what her story might have been like. 

The Wedding Dress by Rachel Hauck (Audio Book)

This was enjoyable to listen to.  It had elements of a love story as well as some suspense.  I didn't really learn anything from it, but it helped make my commute more enjoyable.

The Kingmaker's Daughter by Philipa Gregory

This author was who orginially got me interested in historical fiction.  Now that I have read several other authors I like her work less, however this book was pretty good.  It is easy to read and I enjoyed that she took a different perspective (who is good, who is evil) than usual.  It gave a possible story to the other side of the story.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (Audiobook)

I had read several of Austen's books but never this one.  It was thoroughly delightful, especially to listen to. It is wonderful that a novel can be so suspenseful and humorous without violence, sex or bad language.