Resolutions and other things. . .

Well I've been working on my new years resolutions. . . kind of.

If you'll remember this year I resolved to

• Make dinner four or more nights a week
• Read the ensign cover to cover every month
• Read eight books

Making dinner four nights a week has been going pretty good. I usually cook most of the time anyway but sometimes I just have to pull out a frozen pizza :)

My second resolution reading the Ensign has not happened. Apparently our Ensign subscription expired and I didn't renew it. I'll work on that. But I have been reading all of the general conference talks from 2010 on my phone! So that is kind of like reading the Ensign.

My third resolution is the one I've been working on the most! I read the first two books of the hunger games series around Christmas time. I read the third on this year but I'm not counting it as one of my eight books cause I'm grouping it with the other two.

I'm sure many of you have read these books. They are ok. I really liked the first one. The second one is kind of a repeat of the first one. The third one is weird but I liked how it ends. They are not the best ever but definitely worth reading!

I also finished reading No Apology by Mitt Romney. It was really good. It kind of makes me wish Mitt Romney was president now :) I started reading it in October and finished in like February! Ha ha! It's a good book but not the most exciting. It doesn't count as one of my eight thought cause I started reading it in 2010.

The first book I read this year that I'm counting as one of my eight books is called Longshot it was written by Lance Allred. Mark has a serious love of Weber State basketball and all things related to WSU basketball. Lance Allred played for Weber State in 2004-2005. Before that he played at the University of Utah with coach Rick Majerus.

Longshot is a book written by Allred about his life growing up in a polygamist community in Montana and then about how he started playing basketball and eventually made it to the NBA. An amazing feat in itself and even more amazing if you consider that Allred is deaf.

I think this book is very raw Allred is very honest about his life. He suffered from OCD and depression. Rick Majerus was very verbally abusive to him while he was at the University of Utah. Majerus was "cleared of any wrongdoing" by the University. I found the last 50 or so pages of the book the most interesting. That is when Allred talks about playing overseas and in the NBA developmental league.

It took me about two weeks to get through Longshot, but the next book I read I finished in 3 days. It was very well written and very interesting. I read Staying True by Jenny Sanford. Remember a few years ago when Mark Sanford the governor of South Carolina went missing? His staff said he was "hiking the Appalachian trial" but it turned out he was in Argentina with his mistress. Well his now ex-wife wrote a book about their life and marriage. She talks about how she stayed true to what she believed in. She comes across as a very strong woman with very high moral values.

If you are looking for anything to read I really would recommend any of these books! Also if you have any good book suggestions let me know!

Okay here are some other things. . .

I made some new decorations for my kitchen.

These topiaries took forever to make but I liked how they turned out!

Our Primary had a talent show last week. It was on Saturday so I had to work but Mark took Baylee and Owen to it. I made a poster of pictures of Baylee helping me bake because she loves to help me in the kitchen. I figure that's a good talent for three-year-old!

Then Mark's dad took us to see Peter and the Wolf at WSU a couple a weeks ago! It was really fun. I tried really hard to get there on time but Baylee was very determined to get dressed all by herself this day (I picked out her clothes she just put them on). I am proud of Baylee for wanting to dress herself so I try to encourage it but when you're in a hurry to go somewhere it's hard to be patient while she buttons up all of her buttons! We made it though, we got there just before they closed the doors!