Good Reads

A few good books I have read lately.

"These is my words: the diary of Sarah Agnes Prine 1881-1901" by Nancy E. Turner

This book has been my favorite so far this year. It is a fictional account of a woman who lived in the Arizona Territory from 1881 to 1901. I loved how it was written as a journal. It made it easy to stop and put down because the entries were fairly short. I also have a greater appreciation for living now, with all of our modern amenities. As I was reading it I thought of my own grandmas who grew up in Arizona and what life was like for them. I know my grandmas did not live in Arizona before it became a state yet they lived in small towns and how to do a lot for themselves. I especially thought of my Grandma Taylor because in the book Sarah writes how her neighbors speak Mexican, not Spanish. My own Grandma Taylor use to say this all the time. I just laughed to myself and kept reading. In the book Sarah writes how she has to deal with rattlesnakes, scorpions, tarantulas, and so much more. Again I am grateful I only have to deal with scorpions, which is bad enough.

"Sarah's Quilt" and "Star Garden" by Nancy E. Turner

These two books are a continuation of Sarah Agnes Prine's diary. I didn't enjoy them as much but I liked how it kept the story alive. In "Star Garden" Sarah writes about rain and how for most people rain is a dreary thing but here in Arizona it is an answer to prayers. I thought even now that is true. I can't even begin to tell you the number of times I have prayed for rain and the number of times I have been grateful for it. These are good books but "These is my words" is by far the best of the three.

"The Help" by Kathryn Stockett

I really enjoyed this book. It is set in Mississippi in 1961-1964 the height of the Civil Rights movement. I loved the characters that are in the book. I really felt like I was there. The story is about two black women and one white woman. The white woman wants to write a book about what it is like to be a black housekeeper. Of course they have to keep it secret because it is not a good time to be helping each other out. But the book really brings out how alike people are. Of course we have differences yet we all want to same things in life. I really enjoyed this book.

If anyone has anymore suggestions for books I would love to hear them. I am always on the look out for great books.

Sad, yet Happy

This week I have been cleaning out my house, getting rid of toys the kids no longer play with, DIing clothes that don't fit, taking down the crib and getting Kate into a toddler bed. Things like that. As I am doing all of this I feel a little sad. The crib has been set up since Jack was born, eight years ago, and now it is down, never to be set up again. The train table that Jack loved is gone, but we kept the trains and train tracks. This means he is growing up and I am a little sad about this. The cute dresses of Kate's that I loved no longer fit her so they went to the neighbor who just had a baby girl. I hope they will be loved there. All of this makes me a little sad, yet I am happy. I know my kids are growing and it will be so fun to see what they become. Jack will always love trains but now he loves football and basketball more. Kate will get new dresses and maybe even sleep in her toddler bed from now on. Jay will continue to grow and find other things that he loves. I know it is a part of life but it still makes me a little sad to see my kids grow. I love the ages they are at now, but I know as they grow older I will love where they are at and how much they are learning.

The countdown is on!!!

Disneyland here we come!!! In two weeks we will be at the happiest place in the world. I don't know who is more excited me or the kids. I am leaning toward taking Kate to the princess breakfast or lunch. She is free and I think she might enjoy it. I am sure the boys would like it too but not enough to pay for them. I can't wait and I hope we have a great time and great weather.

winter weather

Winter weather in Mesa???

Yes, but the above picture is Flagstaff, but if you look closely at the picture of Jack you will see white stuff in the picture that is actually snow. I know it looks like dirt or rocks but it really is the white stuff. We were inside and Jack yells "it's snowing" so we ran outside and sure enough the white stuff was coming down, almost like a blizzard, he he he. It is a rare thing to happen here so all of the neighbors were outside enjoying the snow. The best part though is by Sunday the temperature will be back up to the sixties with sun.

Christmas

For Christmas break I had two goals. One, to see "Tangled" and two to see "Harry Potter." Since I accomplished these two goals on Monday and Tuesday I was then able to do other things. Like take care of sick children. On Thursday before school got out Kate was up all night throwing up. I then prayed that my other kids would be healthy from 2-5 on the 18th for Jack's baptism. They were and I thought we had beaten the bug and that only Kate had gotten it. But no such luck. On Monday, Jack woke up with a fever, but not enough to keep us from doing stuff. He would just get tired and want to rest but the Motrin did its job and kept him pretty happy. He never threw up and was good to go on Tuesday. But on Tuesday the bug had moved on to Jay. He too was running a fever and just getting tired after every little thing. Again though not too bad so we were able to do most things. He would have been better off if he would take medicine but he wouldn't. So I thought by Wednesday, Kate would have the bug and we would all be better by Christmas Eve. No such luck, Jay got worse and ended up throwing up on Wednesday, so I introduced him to his best friend, the silver bowl, and told him where you go this goes too. I guess he got tired of taking the bowl with him where ever he went because he went into the bathroom, laid down on the floor, and fell asleep. Before he fell asleep he asked me for a blanket and I told him he could go lay in his bed but he didn't want to. He just laid down and fell asleep. I felt so sorry for him. But after sleeping all day Wednesday by Thursday he was better and Kate had not gotten the bug. I thought we were good. But alas on Christmas morning we woke up and Kate was warm. Thankfully she never threw up and again only wanted to rest and be held. Kate would take her medicine and would get up to play and then the medicine would wear off and she would sleep.
Besides all of the sickness Christmas was great. The kids got suitcases from Santa in preparation of the trip to Disneyland that we are going to in January. They each got a gift card to Disney to be used on our trip. It was fun to watch Jack and Jay look at the gift cards and figure out where they can be used. We had to ask them "where does Mickey Mouse, Woody, and Buzz live"? There response was "Hollywood". Eventually they figured out Disneyland and then figured out we are going. They are so excited and we are even thinking of making a chain to count down.
Christmas Eve was great. We went to the Ricedorffs to BBQ hamburgers. I swear my father in law makes the best hamburgers. Then we went to the temple to listen to Jordon Blueth. Two days in a row for me because we went on the Thursday before to listen to the Duttons. Both performers were so good and totally put me in the Christmas spirit.
Christmas morning we opened up presents at my house then went to the Ricedorffs for breakfast and the gift exchange. Then home to rest then to my grandparents then on to my parents, for the white elephant gift exchange. It is always so much fun to do and see what people come up with. I ended up with a razor scooter. Overall it was a great Christmas and I love this time of year with all the laughter and giving.

Me with my Grandpa and Grandma Goodman. Grandpa is 95 and Grandma is 93. Look at Kate's poor sick eyes.

Jack's baptism

The day came that my oldest turned eight and got baptized. I keep telling my children that they are not allowed to grow but they never listened. The baptism was nice. There was one other girl who got baptized on the same day, December 18, 2010, so we reserved the chapel and good thing because it was packed. Between the Andersons and the Ricedorffs there was a lot of support for these two young people making such an important choice. Jack got to have Grandpa Ricedorff give the talk on the Holy Ghost and Grandpa Goodman got to give the closing prayer. He chose "When I am Baptized" as the opening song and the entire program was perfect. I was a little stressed because my calling is baptism coordinator and it was my first baptism with more than one child getting baptized. But thankfully the Andersons are flexible and it all worked out great. The only "bad" thing to happen was Ryan said the prayer wrong so Jack had to be dunked twice. I laughed because Jack kept saying how nervous he was that his toe would stick out and then he would have to be dunked twice. Well his toe didn't stick out but he still had to be dunked twice.
I am so proud of Jack and his decision he made to be baptized. I hope and pray that Ryan and I teach him correct principles and that he continues to make good choices. I love my little Jack and I know he will continue to grow even when I tell him not to.


My family, Ryan, Kate, Dyan, Jay and Jack

Kamryn Anderson and Jack

Jack with his dad already to be baptized.

Jay's kindergarten performance

Jay's kindergarten performance was so dang cute. Jason and Shelley managed to get us front row seats so we could see all of the action. Jay knew all of the songs which were: Rudolph, Jingle Bells, Dradle, Up on the Housetop, and his favorite "We Fish you a Hairy Chrismoose and a Hippo New Year." Which the kids all sang after "We wish you a Merry Christmas." I love the age that Jay is at. He wants to be big sometimes but still gets so excited about things like singing in front of all the parents. Jay is such a great student and Mrs. Burton loves him almost as much as me.
I love the shirts that all the kindergartners wore. It will be a keeper forever.


Dyan, Ryan, Kate, Jack, Jay, Kaden, Shelley, Tessa, Jason, and Rolana

Jay and Kaden

Jay with Mrs. Burton the best kindergarten teacher out there.