Happy Winter Solstice and Merry Christmas!

Happy Holidays!

I hope everyone has had a lovely holiday and has a wonderful New Year's as well next week. We've been soaking it all in this week. Our Solstice and Christmas were fantastic. We had a great time putting puzzles together, eating, drinking, game playing, setting up our cats' new cat tower! All the things.

Sunday we plan on heading down to Vegas to meet up with our friends who moved last May. We've gotten an AirBnb and look forward to playing games and your basic revelry! But our car just broke down today....so we'll have to pony up some cash to get a rental car. No bueno. I am not going to let this setback ruin our plans for fun this next week!

I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year's and stays healthy and safe!

Happy holidays from mine to yours.

DH and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary! Got him crystal. Santa came early on a horse.

Cats got a new cat condo! G had a great time building it with Dad.

Week-in-Review-- Disneyland Vacation!

It's been an uber crazy October with our trip down to California! We got it all in from Disneyland, Mickey's Halloween Party, California Adventure, LegoLand, the beach, and Universal Studios! It was a zany, fun, stressful, memory-filled 10 days. I also brought along my aging parents so they could experience Disneyland and a good vacation one more time before they're too elderly to really enjoy it.

Like all vacations we had highlights and some major lowlights like when the key to our rental van gave up the ghost and the alarm was set off with no way to disarm it! Our first day to Universal Studios was ruined but we relaxed the rest of the day and took a Pokemon walk to Angels Stadium and made the best of it. We got a new car and by the next day we were set to see Universal Studios! They were very nice when we explained out situation and they gave us free express passes for all the rides! It made the best day ever for us and we had a wonderful last day of vacation.

We learned quite a few things about what our limits are and what we'd do differently if we come back in a few years. Legoland is off our list since G will definitely be too old for it and it would be out of our way.

Mickey's Halloween Party was amazing and if we come back during October that is the only way we'd see Disenyland....

All in all despite some of the setbacks, we all had a wonderful time and so many memories were made!

And now all the pics...it's long. More at the bottom on how this last week of recovery has gone and my reading and watching updates and Halloween progress!

1st Day at Disneyland!

2nd Day with my parents. We even rented them scooters!

Halloween Party was amazing!

I absolutely adored all the Lego figurines and cities and buildings. Worth a visit no matter what your age!

Balboa beach was so pretty!

Last day for Disneyland at California Adventure. Lots of waiting in lines...

Visited the second largest Lego store in the country!

Harry Potter! Hogwarts! I'd go back again to explore more!

We met the Scooby Gang! So fun! Velma even found my missing earring for me.

I met with the Gods!

Books Finished: 

The Changeling by Victor LaValle, Scream All Night by Derek Milman, The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson, The Beanstalker and Other Hilarious Scary Tales by Kiersten White, Spirit Hunters by Ellen Oh, and PenPal by Dathan Auerbach.

Books I'm Currently Reading:

Supernatural Enhancements by Edgar Cartero, Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl, and More Bones: Scary Stories from Around the World by Arielle North Olson and Howard Schwartz (reading with G)

Books Acquired: 

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury, Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst by Robert M. Sapolsky, The Existentialist's Survival Guide: How to Live Life in an Inauthentic Age by Gordon Marino, Ph.D, Italian Folktales by Italo Calvino, The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa, Belly Laugh: Scary, Spooky Halloween Jokes for Kids by The Sky Pony Press editors, Boy's Life by Robert R. McCammon, Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters by Mark Dunn, and We Need to Talk: How to Have Conversations that Matter by Celeste Headlee

Listening to: 

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, the podcasts Spooked Season Two from Snap Judgement and Lore. 

Watching: 

I finished up The Haunting of Hill House on Netflix and oh boy, that is such an amazing series. They did an excellent job of making the story their own and incorporating Jackson's novel on a metaphorical level. I cannot sing the praises of this show enough. Also it was as scary as hell! I had at least one or two bad dreams from this!

I also just finished Making a Murderer season 2. While not as good as season one, I was impressed by the defense attorney's attention to detail and just a look at how one goes about getting new evidence introduced. It's a tough criminal justice system. 

I am still working on Maniac on Netflix...

And I'll be starting The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina probably tonight! I've heard all the good things about this one.

Making: 

I will be making chili, tortellini soup, corn bread and honey butter, mulled wine and cider, jelly shots, and other treats for Halloween night! It's my one big night that I don't mind going all out and getting a bit crazy!

We also made spooky candles and carved our pumpkins this weekend!

Looking Forward to: 

Halloween, of course! My favoritest night of the year!

Week-in-Review--4th of July, Hiking...

We all had a great time on the 4th. Every year we get together with our neighbors and go in on fireworks, potluck bbq and all-around craziness!

Here are some highlights:

G having fun with the other kiddos in the pool!

Pumpkin shots that lit on fire! Ooooo!

A pic right before the big firework show!

G got a little sick after the 4th but he perked up enough Monday to head out on the summer wildflower hike with me! So gorgeous!

Right now I'm on a Marvel movie marathon. It started with the Ant-Man and then I thought about how great it would be to watch all the movies in order. So since most of us were sick last weekend, I decided to get going on them! I just finished off Captain America: Winter Soldier last night. I'll probably have enough time for two more before we head up to Washington to see my friend who just moved and her family.

And with TV I've been obsessed with The Sinner. Netflix just added the first season. The flashbacks to her childhood are tough to watch but they're short so I can handle them in small doses. I also just finished up the second season of Nailed It! and the second season of the Santa Clarita Diet.

I'm reading the second book in the Pete Fernandez mystery series The Darkest Street; the second book in the Earthseed series The Parable of the Talents; and Dread Nation. I'm listening to Longbourn in honor of Austen in August read-along from The Book Rat.

I also picked up Heart Berries, Vaccinated, The Ends of the World, Another Country, The Song of the Dodo, and Stalingrad from Kindle Deals off of Amazon. A Quiet Place just came in the mail! And for horror movie night my friends and I went out to see the new Purge movie: The First Purge. (Cheesy in parts but had some great things to say on race and class).

I'm really looking forward to our road trip up to Washington to visit friends. G will be able to play with his best friends again! They just moved in May and it's been a hard summer without them here. We're heading up to play and see their new house!

Things I accomplished this week that make me proud--I love to make new things or old things if they're good for holidays and friend get-togethers. I decided to make some jelly shots for the 4th. I layered three jellies in shot cups, red, white, blue! They tasted yummy and were a big hit with everyone. I didn't have one leftover. I also made a new peanut sauce noodle recipe from Pinterest and it turned out really well! We also got our vacation plans to Disneyland in October finalized! Yay! That's been weighing on me over the last little bit. I cannot wait!

The only bad thing this week was DH's car broke down and we had to get that fixed. Some extra funds we weren't planning on were spent.

My goals over the next week are to read chapter 4 in my philosophy book, finish Dread Nation, The Darkest Street, and the 4 Agreements. I also need to keep up on The Tenant of WildFell Hall so I can be done by the end of July. I need to read 200 pages in War and Peace in order to catch up by the end of September! Yikes! These are the biggies and if I can get these done then I hope to catch up a bit more on some other books I've been piece-reading for a bit.

I'm also hoping to blog more often. I need to do it for myself. It helps me focus and plan out my reading. I'd also like to hone my blogging skills. I know there is a bloggiesta twice a year where fellow book bloggers clean up their spaces and use that time to do it.

Moab Camping Trip

It's been a tough month. We've been busy finishing off school, helping my friend and her family move to Washington, and a little vacationing along the way. Throw in a little illness over Memorial Day weekend and it's been a crazy 6 weeks or so and blogging has slogged a lot.

Summer is here and I'm excited to get back to it and share the fun stuff of summer and books and movies and TV!

G has officially finished off the 3rd grade. I really can't believe it. The last day I went to his classroom to help him gather all of his stuff and carry it to the car. Every last kid in that classroom was crying their little eyes out. They loved their teacher and the fun times they had with her this year. They will never forget her. Teachers are amazing but the special ones who can connect with kids like his teacher has this year are priceless.

The weekend before Memorial Day we were able to slip down south to Moab, UT for a little camping and hiking! G hiked all the way with lots of complaining and down time to the most famous feature in Moab, the Delicate Arch. The views were gorgeous and the spring flowers were still mostly in bloom. It was a great way to get away for a few days.

our camping trailer we rented out!

Delicate Arch trail

Spring Break April 2017

April was tough. Lots of sickness floated our way and I think it's because of the changing weather. Utah has had lots of rain, snow, wind, and sleet this last month. We did get to do Spring Break with G out of school that week. And we headed down to Moab, Canyonlands, and Escalante in southern Utah to get some awesome hikes in and see our beautiful Earth.

We live in a gorgeous state with so much beauty and nature around. I loved Canyonlands. Gorgeous layers and colors. G enjoyed the Moab Giants outdoor dinosaur museum. DH and I loved the hikes despite the exhaustion. The petrified forest was also an amazing hike.

Books Finished: March: Book One by John Lewis, Warren the 13th and the Whispering Woods by Tania Del Rio, Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh, and Kindred by Octavia Butler.

Currently Reading: Everything You Never Wanted Your Kids to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid They'd Ask): The Secrets to Surviving Your Child's Sexual Development from Birth to the Teens by Justin Richardson and Mark A. Schuster, The Genius of Birds by Jennifer Ackerman, and Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter.

Listening To: Podcasts. "You Must Remember This" by Karina Longworth is so amazing. I just listened to her 6-part series on Joan Crawford. It's a must if you love old Hollywood and history or if you just love a good story.

Watching: I am loving Dear White People, the new series on Netflix. Funny and insightful. Also Netflix put out a new Mystery Science Theater 3000. So funny. I also saw HBO's The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and found it OK but not nearly as interesting or compelling as the book, unfortunately.

Looking Forward To: I'll tell you what I'm not looking forward to. DH is headed out of country for the month of May and it'll be tough not having him here. But I've got book club Friday and I have scary movie nights every Tuesday.

Making: I'm really going to try a lot harder this week to cook more at home. Stir fry and kabobs are on the menu along with some beef stew since it's been pretty chilly around here.

My Week in Pictures: Here are some pictures from our fun spring break vacation!