End of the YEAR reading for 2012.

This is where I catch up on my life, it's been a year since I posted on here, CRAZY, but I'm totally OKAY with life coming in waves, and my last year has been the biggest wave of my life EVER. BUT, here are the books I read during my biggest ride life has given me so far.

January:
 
The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle 3 stars
Women, Food, and God by Geneen Roth 4 stars
Love your Body, Love your Life by Sarah Maria 5 stars
The Red Book: A Deliciously Unorthodox Approach to Igniting Your Divine Spark by Sera Beak 5 stars

February:

A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle 4 stars

March:

The Secret Lives of Wives: Women Share What it Really Takes to Stay Married by Iris Krasnow 2 stars
Enders Game by Orson Scott Card 3 stars

April:

Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali 3 stars
In my Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer by Irene Gut Opdyke 3 stars

May:

The Palmistry Bible by Jane Struthers 3 stars
This Book Will Change Your Life by Benrik 2 stars
The Guinea Pig Diaries by AJ Jacobs 5 stars

June:

The Witch of Portobello by Paolo Coelho 4 stars

July:

The Road by Cormac McCarthy 5 stars (reread)
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer 4 stars (reread)

August

Being Perfect by Anna Quidlen 3 stars
What now? By Ann Patchett 4 stars
Four-Word Self-Help: Simple Wisdom for Complex Lives by Patti Digh 2 stars
The Prisoner of Cell 25 by Richard Paul Evans 3 stars
You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay 3 stars
Consider the Butterfly by Carol Lynn Pearson 3 stars
Aspire by Kevin Hall 2 stars
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion 3 stars
Spilling Open: The Art of Becoming Yourself by Sabrina Ward Harrison 2 stars
Let’s Pretend this Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir by Jenny Lawson 3 stars
The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom by Miguel Don Ruiz 3 stars


September

The Book of Mormon Girl: Stories from an American Faith by Joanna Brooks 5 stars
The Book of Awesome by Neil Pasricha 5 stars

October

We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver 4 stars
The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown 4 stars

November

The Anatomy of Peace: Resolving the Heart of Conflict by The Arbinger Institute 2 stars
Self-Made Man: One Woman’s Journey Into Manhood and Back Again by Norah Vincent 3 stars

December

Fringe-ology: How I Tried to Explain Away the Unexplainable-And Couldn’t by Steve Volk 3 stars

Looking back on 16 years

Keilani turned 16 so I had to go back and go over some of the most memorable experiences we had with her as parents. She was our first daughter, so here goes:

All the way from babyhood:

1. The Sunday after you were born we wanted to take you to my friends house for Mothers day dinner and I had to ride in the back of Ken’s sports car (2 seater) to give you a spot in the front seat with your car seat. Nice car huh, it's a Nissan 300 ZX.

This is the car, and me pregnant with you

2.  Staying up late watching Star Trek, Leno and Mad About You with you as a little baby sleeping in the middle of the bed between us (or you watching with us until you fell asleep). We did this until you were about 2.

3. Taking you to the Philippines when you were 7 months old, it was SO hot in the non airconditioned car I had to jump to the back and nurse you right there in the car to keep you quiet. Humbling parental moment for me for sure, but quite memorable!

4.   When you were 2 ½ and jumped in our neighbors pool with your pajamas on “just because” you felt like it. I remember thinking oh great, the whole, "if your friends jumped off a cliff, would you" moment, but luckily you're independently minded enough not to be that foolish anymore. (this one's dads favorite too)

Here you are all wet and happy!

5. Getting to dress you up, little girls are fun to dress! Boys clothes are boring when you compare the two.

Okay, so this was just cute!

6. Point Flex, Bunny Ears! You don’t remember it, but you made us watch this ballet video we checked out of the library ALL the time. You also liked to watch Nancy’s Living Legends Polynesian, Latin American and Native American dance video too. You’d dress up as a Maori and even got your own poi balls for your birthday when you were 3.

Your ballet recital when you were 4

7. How you finally started sleeping in your own bed when we bribed you by giving you a macadamia if you would say the word “Macadamia” every night.

8. All the park and library visits we’ve done when you were little.  

9. All the trips to San Francisco, the beach, walking around the pier, spending time with family.

10. Getting your ears pierced when you were 10, ahhhh!

Just the tiniest bit of tears!

11. You making a cookie stand with your friend when you were 11.  I love how you sold them straight off the cookie sheets, did you make much $$?

An adventure!

12. How dependable and responsible you’ve always been with the kids, I know they’re in safe hands when they are with you.

13. You receiving Timp Academy Girl of the Year in 8^th Grade, you’re a REALLY great person, and they saw that in you!

14.   Taking you to New York City for your 14^th Birthday, also when we went with your sisters and saw the Statue of Liberty and Times Square, I hope for MANY more trips together to wonderful places in the world.

Even better adventures!

15. Experiencing all of our FIRSTS with you.

 

16. Watching you learn to drive, maybe because that means SOON I won’t have to anymore, ha ha!

Look at you now!!! A practically grown woman!

Keilani's Sweet 16 portraits

My sister Nancy got Keilani a studio portrait session for her birthday. Love how it turned out!

Trip to Arches National Park/Moab

Kenneth had a trip down to Moab for a health screening, so we turned it into a quick family vacation. I hadn't been to Arches since I was a kid, and Kenneth had NEVER been to any of the national parks despite having lived here in Utah for 18 years. So one down, 4 more to go!

This Scooby Doo van was at a gas station on the turnoff to Moab.

Balanced Rock, with Vivian and Zane running towards it.

Kalel looking cool.

Vivian and Zane making sand angels.

Zane being awesome.

Natasha being beautiful.

Dad being a Dad.

ah, what a great couple!

8 yrs old Kalel

I could be a professional photographer, lol!

Ken at the top

Crazy hair...it was the wind!

Climbing rocks

Another great Natasha shot

going through narrow trails

I couldn't keep Vivian away from the sand!

This was my favorite spot, Sand Dune Arch, just like at the beach!

Sliding!

This was fun, instead of sledding, just slide down the sand hill.

Keilani wouldn't go "sledding"



Kalel sliding down on his butt, love that trail!

and Zane just ran straight down the hill!

Easter 2012

Ah look, Easter Bunny made a scavenger hunt!

the clues!

looking for clues

reading clues

Kalel's Easter basket

Vivian got earrings

Keilani got this necklace

Scripture reading cards, the scripture says, "For my soul delighteth in the scriptures and my heart pondereth them"

I wanted to get flowers and deliver  them to random people

so here they are with Easter messages, we left 3 of them on random car windshields to brighten someone's day, and the other three we gave to family.

The movie Hunger Games came out this week, so the girls had the characters in their mind...Glimmer being one of them.

Easter Eggs

That's a Tardis from Dr Who, the kids favorite tv show from the BBC

using the chalk they got in their baskets

you know I love this one!