Books Read in 2011

As promised, here is my list of books read in 2011. I really liked this idea of keeping a record, and I plan on continuing it. This year I have really expanded my previous reading material and have read many different kinds of books and really liked doing so. My book taste has been much more eclectic as I have read fiction, non fiction, young adult novels, historical fiction, dystopian, fantasy, memoirs, fairy tale retellings, paranormal, inspirational, and holiday. I plan on continuing to expand my reading material this next year and I already have more books than I can read planned for next year. I am sure the list will only get longer. Here is the list of the books I have read this year in order:

1. The Maze Runner by James Dashner
2. Things I Wish I'd Known Before We Got Married by Gary Chapman
3. The Scorch Trials by James Dashner
4. Uglies by Scott Westerfield
5. Delirium by Lauren Oliver
6. Pretties by Scott Westerfield
7. Before My Heart Stops: a Memoir by Paul Cardall
8. Specials by Scott Westerfield
9. Extras by Scott Westerfield
10. Divergent by Veronica Roth
11. Between Shades of Gray by Rupta Sepetys
12. Unwind by Neal Shusterman
13. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
14. Possession by Elana Johnson
15. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
16. Miles to Go by Richard Paul Evans
17. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
18. Wither by Lauren DeStefano
19. The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
20. Michael Vey: Prisoner of Cell 25 by Richard Paul Evans
21. The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E Pearson
22. The Giver by Lois Lowry (reread)
23. Entwined by Heather Dixon
24. The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
25. The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan
26. Steel by Carrie Vaughn
27. The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman
28. Blood Red Road by Moira Young
29. Dear Bully: 70 Authors Tell Their Stories, anthology edited by Meagan Kelley Hall and Carrie Jones
30. Matched by Ally Condie (reread)
31. Variant by Robison Wells
32. Lost December by Richard Paul Evans
33. Crossed by Ally Condie
34. The Battle of Labyrinth by Rick Riordan
35. Paranormalcy by Kiersten White
36. The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
37. Legend by Marie Lu
38. The Christmas Box by Richard Paul Evans (reread)
39. The Christmas Sweater by Glenn Beck
40. Gathering Christmas by Larry R Laycock
41. The Mansion by Henry Van Dyke

*I am currently in the middle of reading The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis , so that will be on next year's list

Almost all of the books I have read this year I have really liked, some of them I loved! Here are pictures of some of my favorites from this year:



Samuel wanted to include his little list of books he read this year as well. He was very proud:
1. The Longest Day: The Classic Epic of D-Day by Cornelius Ryan
2. Calvin and Hobbes: Weirdos From Another Planet by Bill Watterson
3. Every Patient Tells a Story: Medical Mysteries and the Art of Diagnosis by Lisa Sanders (He had almost finished this one before he misplaced it, so he will finish it once he finds it again)
4. The Kolob Theorem by Lynn M Hilton (Half of it, he still needs to finish the rest)
5. Massacre at Mountain Meadows by Ronald W Walker and others

I hope you all found some good books to read this year as well!

Christmases Past

With Christmas coming in only a week, I am thinking of memories of past Christmases. We have had some good times!

My brothers on my first Christmas

Yes, I am the camel. And Jeff is the wiseman. He made me give him a ride on to the stage.

Santa came to our house!

We had a lot of fun building this

Snow football!

Enacting the Nativity Story

Helping Hyrum go through his stocking

Samuel met my family last Christmas and some of us went caving

Christmas Eve last year

Festival of Trees!

Yesterday Samuel took me on a surprise date to the Festival of Trees. I loved it! It is an event where you can go see a ton of decorated Christmas trees, gingerbread houses, wreaths, centerpieces, etc. People had donated them and they had been auctioned off, with all of the proceeds going to the Primary Children's Hospital. There were also other activities and food which, along with the entrance fee, donated money to the hospital. It was a great idea by Samuel because I loved it! I love Christmas and I love things done in a theme like many of the trees or gingerbread houses were so it was great. Also I loved that everything went to charity. Many of the trees were donated to family members who had died or had been patients at the children's hospital and had pictures by the tree which was really cool to see. Samuel said that last year they made over a million dollars. We spent several hours looking at everything and ate some caramel apples and coconut macaroons.

Here are pictures of some of the Christmas trees we liked:

Beauty and the Beast tree!

I thought the men in my family would like this Trail to Eagle tree

Harry Potter tree

This was one of my favorites: a "Tangled" themed tree!
They had all the little details from the movie, I loved it!

Samuel liked this emergency preparedness tree titled "Prepare for Santa"

Snoopy tree

Based on the movie "Up!"

"Master Carpenter" tree


The gingerbread houses were so awesome to look at it! I took the time to look at each and every one. Here are some of the many that we liked:


The Weasley's Burrow from Harry Potter



I loved the Rapunzel's Tower from "Tangled"!

This one didn't even look like it was made of gingerbread, super impressive!

This one shows scouts out shoveling the snow, I thought my dad would like it!

We took a picture of this one for Hyrum because he loves Lightning McQueen and Mater

Loved the cute farm

"Madagascar" themed

I really liked this one!


The house from "Up!"

Samuel liked this one...haha

There were a lot of musical and dance performances:

I was so amazed at people's talent and creativity. And it was great that they could use it to raise money for the children's hospital!

Samuel loves Penguins

We had a great time!

Gratitude Week Part 4

This will be the last post in my series of gratitude post. Samuel and I were both so grateful this past week for a visit from the family. It was such a fun Thanksgiving break as we had lots of quality time with the family. Today the apartment seemed so quiet without everyone here and we both commented on how the day after everyone leaves is so sad. It was a lot of fun for us to host everyone at our place even though it is pretty small. We were grateful that people were willing to hang out in our small apartment and cook dinner in our small kitchen. It was great to have Brad, Jet, and their boys Hyrum and Benson spend the nights in our apartment and get even more time with them! We kept busy during the week with hiking the Y, cooking lots of food, playing ultimate frisbee, shopping, playing games, Skyping with Greg and Kristen, and having lots of laughs and fun moments. We are sad it is over because we aren't sure yet when the next time we will see them will be, but we are grateful for all the memories we made. And also, for the leftovers they left in our fridge :).