In Other News...

Little D had Birthday #2 last Sunday. BB free-handed a Curious George on his cake since that is who Digs has been likened to lately. He is quite the climber.

As the crazy month of June is coming to a close, we are gearing up for a big BB reunion this weekend. Everyone is looking forward to seeing all the cousins and family and spending some good, quality time in the sun and water...

Twilight

So - I finished this a couple nights ago. All in all, I liked it - especially Edward. However, I think she could have cut about 1/4 of the book by removing the ubiquitous references to his 'crooked smile' and perfect, god-like, Adonis features - I think we get the point. I would have liked a little more with James and the bad vamps at the end and I definitely think they should have vampified Bella - I think it would have made her more interesting...
Also, I'm pretty sure Bella was modeled after the author (see pic) which made me laugh a little at how every guy in school and two powerful vampires were all pretty much obsessed with her - I guess that's every girls' fantasy. As Daph says, "I want my own vamipire."

Life of Pi

I had this book suggested to me by one of my favorite people on the planet (my aunt) and am still sort of reeling over the ending. Has anyone read this? If so, PLEASE communicate. I know what I believe about the two stories but I'm really interested to hear others' opinions.
In other news, summer is upon us and we are learning a new meaning for busy for our little family. We're in charge of 3 separate family reunions, I have a soccer tournament that is ongoing until my team loses, have to go to girls' camp and Trek with the young women and we have to help my parents and sisters' family move - TWICE. We're also trying to get this basement finished and keep up with the regular demands of life. It's all good though - we're regulary reminded of how lucky/blessed we are and happy to be where we're at in life.
Oh yeah - and we're coming up on the one month count down for The Deathly Hallows...

Random Sampling

So, it's 10:30 in the morning and Diggity just came in and fell asleep on my lap - if only all his naps were this easy. Anushka is using the bar stools to make a tent with her dolls. It would be an ideal time to get that pile of ironing done - but alas, blogging is far more alluring. We've had no exciting news lately but I thought I'd post a few pics of some of our spring activities...


Easter is always a great time for cute pics...


One day, Diggity and Nushka were wet and filthy from playing in the yard. Digs was crying from the bathtub so I wrapped him in his towel and he was OUT in about 3 seconds. He took about a 2 hour nap just like that (I put 2 towels under him - just in case:)


Another engineer in the family? Anushka is definitely showing some aptitude (I helped her a little...)


Not bad for west of Tooele eh?


LB losing to BB in Scrabble AGAIN (I'm blaming it on the strep)


Little Kathryn is home and doing great. She's filling out and getting ready to move to a new house a lot closer to her cousins - hooray!

Double Trouble! Digs with his buddy Isaiah...
OK for now...

Camping Weekend

So, BB and I like to try to take off for the weekend each year for our anniversary. This year, our 6th, coincided pretty closely with the birth of Kathryn as well as a trip to Boston that our babysitters (my parents) had the nerve to take. So, finally, we headed out on May 11th. We originally intended to head down to the Moab area but got such a late start that we ended up staying a little closer to home. Has anyone camped in the Wasatch Cache National Forest? It's about 30 miles west of Tooele and I had fairly low expectations. However, it was really a beautiful area of wilderness with pretty good campgrounds that were definitely NOT crowded. The rather large downside to all this was that I started feeling really ill on Saturday and didn't have much energy for a lot of activity. We did a short hike and saw quite a few deer (I'll post pictures once I find where BB hid the camera) - but besides that, we stayed pretty close to our site and our fire. We came home Sunday and Monday I found out I had ANOTHER bout of strep. So now I'm really anxious to go back to Deseret Peak when I'm feeling 100%.

Shout out to Chris :)

Just a fun You Tube find. If you watch 'The Office', you'll enjoy this:

Interesting Excerpt

Hello everyone. I apologize for not posting more often lately. I've discovered that adding Young Women to my own kids and husband really deprives me of most free time I might have otherwise had (at this moment, I'm actually supposed to be typing up a questionnaire for YW). I can't complain though - the girls are a blast (except for the one that I really do want to beat up :)

So, as I mentioned in my 'Recent Reads and my Ratings' section, I decided to re-read (for about the 5th time) the entire Harry Potter series in preparation for The Deathly Hallows. I think I've done this every time a new book is coming out - hence the multiple reads. ANYWAY. I started this way too early this time as I just finished book 5 and still have 74 days to wait for book 7 (and it will NOT take 74 days to read Book 6 - more like 7 OR 4 days). So, as you all should know, Sirius Black dies at the end of Book 5 at the hands of Bellatrix LeStrange (don't these characters have fabulous names?? Did you know that 'Voldemort' literally breaks down to 'Violent Death'? but I digress...) So, Harry is, of course, very distraught at the loss of his godfather when he comes across Luna Lovegood. I notice this passage every time I read this book but now that I have a blog I want to share...

"That man the Death Eaters killed was your godfather, wasn't he? Ginny told me."
Harry nodded curtly, but found that for some reason he did not mind Luna talking about Sirius. He had just remembered that she too could see thestrals.
"Have you..." he began. "I mean, who...has anyone you've known ever died?"
"Yes," said Luna simply, "my mother. She was a quite extraordinary witch, you know, but she did like to experiment and one of her spells went rather badly wrong one day. I was nine."
"I'm sorry," Harry mumbled.
"Yes, it was rather horrible," she said conversationally. "I still feel very sad about it sometimes. But I've still got Dad. And anyway, it's not as though I'll never see Mum again, is it?"
"Er --- isn't it?" said Harry uncertainly.
She shook her head in disbelief. "Oh, come on. You heard them, just behind the veil, didn't you?"
"You mean..."
"In that room with the archway. They were just lurking out of sight, that's all. You heard them."
They looked at each other. Luna was smiling slightly. Harry did not know what to say, or to think. Luna believed so many extraordinary things...yet he had been sure he had heard voices behind the veil too...

Like I said, I notice this passage each time I read Book 5. I find it so fascinating that so many people share our beliefs without realizing it. When I was on my mission and would talk to people of different faiths, they ALL said they believed (or at least hoped) that we would see loved ones again after this life - yet, as far as I know, no other religion teaches that we actually WILL be reunited with loved ones. I also find J.K. Rowlings' title of the chapter where Sirius dies very interesting - "Beyond the Veil"...