More Nerd Stuff

Since I still need to get pictures from my MIL's camera to document our October-Fest we had last weekend, I will do a book report of sorts. I thought I would do a follow up on this list I blogged about last May.

I am happy to report I read all of the books (and then some) on my YA "To Read" list. I guess that is what happens when you are feeling nausous all summer :) So here are my thoughts

Books I LOVED:
Immortal Instruments Series: The best way to explain these books is it's a cross between the magic and battle between good and evil of Harry Potter and the romance of Twilight. FYI for younger readers: There are some pretty intense make-out sessions.

The Clockwork Angel: This is a prequel to the series above. I actually ended up liking this book more than the other series. Only because I LOVED the setting (turn of the century England) and thought the romance part was more sweet and slow to come.

The Study Series: There are three of these books--Poison Study, Magic Study, Fire Study I loved that the main character is strong-willed and not some damsal in distress. I loved that there is romance, but it doesn't overpower the book--the protagonist still has her own story beyond her boyfriend.

Juliet: It's been a while since I've read this, but I know I really liked it. It's a cross between a National Treasure and The DaVinci Code type story. Plus it had a main character who was over 20 and the story wasn't obscene in any way. Shocker!

Books that were OKAY:
The Beautiful Creatures series. Right now there are two books and the third one was just released. I can't really pinpoint what I don't like about them. They were good, but I found myself getting bored and skimming some parts. Plus the character of Lena drives me crazy. And you can tell the main character, Ethan, is a boy written by female authors. He is way too sensitive and intense for a high school boy. I still plan on reading the third one.

Incarceron: I just finished this one yesterday. It was good, but weird. It might have been a little too "out there" in the fantasy genre for my taste. I also think the author had a lot going on in the story so it made it a little confusing. Of course this book is just book number one in a series, so I will probably read the rest.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth series. Good, but the first two books were bascially the same story. The last book was by far the best. And even though they aren't obscene, I hesitate putting them in my classroom because the romance is kind of intense for a middle school audience, I think.

The Wolves of Mercy Fall series (Shiver, Linger, Forever). This was a story based on mostly emotions and thoughts of characters. There was very little actual action in these books. Also, by book #3 I was way more interested in the side characters stories because I was so bored with the two main characters.

The Maze Runner Series. The third book was just released and yes I will read it. I wasn't totally into the first two, but they were good. I a good boy book, I think. Lots of action and very little romance. Maybe that is why it's only "okay" for me. HAHA!

Books that were 'MEH:
The Beyonders. Sorry Brandon Mull but I could not get into this book. It was good but mostly I am bugged that this is going to be a trilogy! This story totally could have been told in one book. Plus the ending was terrible. The whole story builds up to this one moment and it's a huge letdown. But this story is really popular with a lot of my students.

Why are almost all YA books part of some kind of series? Now my "to read" is 10 times longer than it was in May. Also, I have done very little reading in the "adult" book category. Any suggestions? I get tired of YA storylines after a while :)

Nerd Alert!

Last week was crazy! We had parent/teacher conferences on Wednesday and Thursday nights until 7 pm. Friday the entire English department went to a conference in SLC and at the last minute the weather decided it would start to snow, throwing all 5 of us female teachers in a tizzy (while the lonely male English teacher sat back and laughed and shook his head) and we decided we didn't want to chance driving out if it was going to snow all night and made the decision to drive out Thursday night after parent/teacher conferences. Luckily one of the teachers has the hook-up at the Marriot there. We didn't even leave town until almost 8pm that night because everyone had to go home after conferences and pack and arrange things for our families. Thankfully, I had already arranged for Brooke to spend the night at Honey's house or I would have been in BIG trouble.

Oh, but the conference was worth it! There were tons of vendors for teachers like Scholastic and Usborne Books and others who were giving away free products. I even won a free book and bought several others. We went to 3 breakout sessions and got to listen to 3 amazing keynote speakers. One was Neal Shustermen who is a fabulous YA author. He's written some great stories like: And(this one is a trillogy and the first book is going to be made into a movie.) I even got some of his book signed and this time I wasn't so selfish about my book signing. I got extra copies signed to give away in a raffle for my students and I also got a book signed for a certain nephew who lives in Alaska (Merry Christmas!). Neal Shusterman has also written a hilarious YA books called The Shwa was Here.

We also heard from Ally Condie. She talked a lot about her new book coming out Nov. 1

Some interesting things she said:

• if you are interested in writing yourself, if you write 219 words per day, at the end of a year, you would have a book that is almost 80,000 words long. Pretty cool!


• The rights to Matched (her first book in this trillogy) have been sold to Disney to make into a movie


• The scenery for Crossed is based on the scenery from Southern UT which is where she is from.


• Her brother Nick, appears in the book as a character named Vic and she said he turned out to be more of an important character than he had any right to be.


• The colors for the cover (Green, Blue, and the third one will be Red) are based on the colors of the pills the characters take in the book.

And because I am the biggest nerd ever, my favorite keynote speaker came from a guy named Jeff Anderson who spoke on editing. He had all of us laughing our heads off by telling nerdy English jokes. He talked about a book called The Shallows which explores the question: Is the internet making us stupid? He claims that by browsing through information we are teaching a generation not to pay attention to details and that explains why there are more traffic accidents and why students can't retain information. Very interesting. Basically, he summed it up with this picture:Jeff Anderson also talked about how Daily Oral Language (DOLs) where you have students come in and correct sentences written on the board that have errors in them (I'm sure you did this in school. I know I did and I know I have my students do this too) has no research to support that it actually improves student writing. As a teacher, I know this to be true. Anyway, his presentation was very inspiring thought provoking.

As a nerd, I was very satisfied.

A Glimpse of Fall

Last weekend Blake, Brooke, and I were able to head up on the mountain for some family time and some camping. It was fun to get away from home and enjoy the beautiful autumn scenery. And what a difference last weekend was compared to our rainy/snowy weekend we are having right now! Blake's parents came up and spent some time with us and it was great to have them along (Thanks to Honey, we actually have pictures to document the trip!). We listened to conference, went on a drive, ate tinfoil dinners cooked in the fire, chased Brooke around our campsite while she looked for sticks, tried to creep up on birds, and went for a four-wheeler ride.

Hope we get to see more of autumn and not just jump right into winter. Right now all my late blooming flowers and tomatoes that have still been producing like crazy are covered in snow!

Oh, so we meet again...

(the above picture has nothing to do with my post. It was actually supposed to go in my last post, but somehow got missed. Isn't it so cute?)

I guess I was due for a round of "I'll teach you a lesson" after I bragged about all my cooking successes in my last post.

Monday was a great day. My students were well behaved and didn't give me any grief. I was able to find a used sit and stand stroller in excellent condition and got it for a great price. I got home and felt like cooking. Plus, it was going to be the first day in a week that Blake was going to be home for dinner. I wanted dinner to be good. Since I hadn't actually planned anything to make that night I got looking around my kitchen and noticed a pile of sweet potatoes sitting on my counter from 2 weeks ago. I thought about making the traditional mashed sweet potato dish with the marshmallows on top, but Blake isn't a huge fan of that so I decided to make sweet potato fries. After finding a yummy recipe from my favorite cooking website I got to work. Peeled the potatoes and started chopping them into french fry shapes.

Where I promptly almost cut my finger off with a knife. I should have called it quits right there.

Brooke's reaction was so cute. She was very concerned and went off immediately to find me a band-aid. She never did find one, but did find her Easter basket, so she was happy. She also found an almost empty jar of cream-cheese frosting in the garbage. She was insistent that I let her have it and since I was preoccupied with my finger and the fries, I was not really at the point of caring: my "patience o'meter" was slowly climbing.

Fix the finger and onto the coating of the fries. I obviously didn't read the recipe very well because when I looked closer I only had like 3 of the ingredients needed to coat the fries before baking them. I quickly got Brooke in the car and we sped over to my in-laws house to raid their cupboard (oh, and I had left the oven on pre-heat and was praying the house wasn't going to burn down in my absence.) I found most of the ingredients at the in-laws (Brooke of course pitched a fit because we weren't staying there) and went home.

Upon further inspection of the recipe, I realized I mistaken "cumin" for "curry" and grabbed the wrong ingredient. At this point I want to throw the dang fries out into the yard for the birds to eat. I decide to make the coating for the fries with the 3 ingredients I had in the first place and just see what happens. At this point I finally pay attention to my child who is sitting quietly at the kitchen table with her can of frosting and several play plates from her kitchen downstairs. She is happily spooning what is left of the frosting onto these plates and then putting them in her Easter basket. She informs me that she is also "cooking" Do I really care at this point? Oh and did I mention it is also close to 7 pm by this point, no one has eaten dinner, and I still have the chicken to cook because the fries were only supposed to have taken 15 minutes. And Blake still isn't home either. AND Brooke has taken her "frosting cooking" activity to another level. She has emptied the entire drawer full of silverware and put all the pieces in her Easter basket WITH the plates of frosting so now everything is dirty and must be washed.

The timer beeps and what do those dang fries have the audacity to do? They burn!!! Beyond frustrated, I put the chicken in and decided that these fries don't deserve an easy death of being thrown in the trashcan. I am still going to eat them. On to making the honey-lemon dip (at least that will be good). I open my fridge to find out the yogurt (which is the main ingredient for the dip) while although is white in color, is actually flavored vanilla and not plain. Again, I decide to just go for it and make the dip with the vanilla yogurt. Surprisingly, the fries and the dip weren't that bad. Not great (like if I had actually followed the recipe) but not terrible either.

Oh and Blake never showed up for dinner. And Brooke never ate any of it--she was probably too full from all her frosting she ate. Go figure. I wallowed in my grief that night by eating a bowl Lucky Charms.

Creativity at Work

Here is my big, long post where I play catch up. We have all been putting our creative thinking caps on lately.

Blake and I have been trying to figure out what to do with all of our produce from our garden. Wd don't want to waste it, but there is no way we are going to be able to eat it all before it goes bad. So we've spent some time making freezer salsa and learned how to blanche (I didn't even know what was) our corn to freeze it for later this winter. I also have been on a cooking frenzy. I don't know if it's the pregnancy or if I've suddenly realized that cooking isn't my arch nemisis after all, but I cook/bake all the time now! I've made yummy peanut butter bars, banana bread (every week for the past 3 weeks), 2 ingredient homemade ice-cream (where I whipped cream in my mixer for the first time ever and had to call my sister for advice) and all sorts of other yummy things.

I also got school pictures taken. This always makes me laugh. Not that I care what I look like (funny how things change from when you're a kid) but I think it's funny that the photography company gives teacher a free packet of pictures. Like the whole package: 8x10, 5x7s, wallets...the whole sha-bang. What do they expect us to do with them? My first year getting this package of pictures I asked another teacher and she told me to send them out with my Christmas cards. I'm sure all of you are dying to have a picture of just me so look for one in the mail this December! (just kidding...or am I?) Since I'm on the topic of showing off pictures of myself, I made Blake take a profile shot yesterday. This is me at 20 weeks (but really I like to tell myself I'm 21 weeks and 3 days. It makes me feel better since that is what the baby is measuring.) And I wish I could find the picture of me pregnant with Brooke around the same time because I am definitely bigger this time around. As a fellow teacher told me last week, "You are only 5 1/2 months? You are going to be huge!" Yes, thank you, I know.
On my list of things to buy this time around was a rocking chair. Blake found one for me at a garage sale and I was thrilled! It's in great shape and when we got it home I used my new Kirby fabric attachment to give it a nice shampoo (the story how we ended up with a Kirby vacuum is another story I'll save for another time. It's really quite entertaining). Right now, it's in Brooke's room to use when we read stories at bedtime. Sitting on the floor with my belly is not working anymore. Eventually we'll move it into the baby's room, but that room, right now, is filled with junk and needs a major makeover. But that's later.Okay, on to Brooke. She has been so funny lately! A few weeks ago we were at my in-laws house and she comes around the corner dressed with my FIL's hat and work gloves. She announces, "Okay, I'm ready to ride the tractor with Pinch!" Like out of the blue she says this. So of course, Pinch has no choice but to give little miss B. a tractor ride. Brooke is definitely ALL GIRL. Here she is giving Blake a hug wearing my high heels.In this pic she's wearing TWO skirts and a dress-up shoe. Whenever she gets dressed up she will come stand by you with a huge grin on her face, waiting for you to compliment her on how pretty she looks.Also a few weeks ago I took Brooke to FINALLY get her first haircut. I didn't cut very much off. Just enough to even out the sides with the back. Brooke was actually so excited to go get her hair done, but she was SO SERIOUS while sitting in the chair. Some more funny things: Brooke can sing the ABCs and can say most of the Pledge of Allegiance. She comes with me to work with the scouts and we say the pledge each week. I had no idea she was learning it until one day, out of nowhere, Brooke puts her hand over her heart and starts reciting it.

While watching Toy Story 3
Brooke: Mom! He lost his eye!
Me: Who did?
Brooke: The scary monster (aka Mr. Potato Head)

At Dinner:
Brooke bumps her plate with her elbow
Brooke: Oh, sorry plate.
Then looking at her pieces of meat, she picks one up.
Brooke: Do you need a hug?
Picks up another piece of meat and acts like one piece is giving the other piece a hug.

While in the hot tub:Brooke: Hi, I'm Dory! (to Blake): You can be Nemo.
Then, later...
Blake: Are you Dory? And I'll be Nemo.
Brooke: No, you're a crab.

Last night while wrestling:Blake was hitting Brooke over the head with a pillow. She was laughing hysterically but couldn't retaliate. She takes a deep breath and says very seriously to Blake, "Okay boy..." and runs at him with her attack.

And Finally, here are two videos I took recently of Brooke. They crack me up! The first one is Brooke being a ham after church. I wanted her to sing the ABC song but she was having too much fun being silly. When you ask her "why" she does/wants something her reply is always "because I need to"



In this one, Brooke had no idea I was taping her. This is her just playing in the bath tub one night. She is totally in her own little world! I love it!

It's On! Boys vs Girls

When we found out Brooke was going to be a girl, Blake started asking, "How are my girls?" And for a long time I'd reply "We're good." or something like that. As Brooke gets older and Blake still asks that question my replies are starting to sound more like this: "The girls are not getting along" or "The girls need a break from each other" We have even taken this saying to a whole new level. For instance, on Sunday when I am frantically rushing around trying to fix Brooke's tangled hair without her yelling at me and Blake is sitting calmly at the kitchen table waiting for us, he'll say "Well, the boys in this house are ready." Which is when I usually shoot him a dirty look.

But now, another teammate is coming to our home to even the odds.We are going to have a boy!! We are excited and surprised and I'll admit even a little nervous. I am used to princesses, dress-up, and playing with dolls. I don't know anything about boys! But we are excited for this new little one and are even more excited that everything on the ultrasound looks healthy and normal. Maybe a little too healthy. This baby is measuring a week and 3 days ahead and is already in the 80th percentile for height and weight. This bumps my due date to Feb. 3 (if he keeps measuring this way) and I am praying I go early and do not have a giant baby.

Here are some not-so-great pictures of the baby. These are scans so the quality isn't great and he had his head pressed into the placenta so it was hard to get a good shot, but you get the idea.

Runnin'

I am behind on my posts. I left my soapbox post up too long :) And we have something exciting to look forward to on Monday--we're finally going to know what this little jellybean I'm carrying around is going to be! Any predictions? I will go on the record and say I have no idea. Sometimes I feel like it's definitely a girl and then other times I'm for sure it's a boy. Blake thinks that means we have another girl and a boy waiting to come to our family so maybe we're not done after all :)

Even though I'm behind, I'm going to start with the most current events. Toay was our town's first annual half-marathon. My MIL ran it and last night, Blake, who has not ran in months, decided he would run it with her. Pinch, Brooke and I were the cheerleaders. We stopped along the running points and waved, cheered, and Brooke loved giving high-fives!
Watching the runners go by

here they come!ready to five high-fives

all done! I didn't have the camera for the finish line, but have the cutest picture on my phone of Blake carrying Brooke across the finish line. Brooke was happy she got a fudge-sicle