Reading, Reading, Reading

My book list is always full. There are so many books and so little time, that is why it makes me happy when I am able to knock a few off my to-read list. And in the past week I have managed to knock off three. They are kid/young adult books which is why I was able to breeze through them in a week.

I finished Goose Girl by Shannon Hale, which was highly recommended by Miss Chloe. I enjoyed it and I'm going to read the rest of the series. We actually gave Chloe two of the books in the series about three years ago and she's been bugging me to read them ever since.

I also finished the last book in the 39 Clues series- Into the Gauntlet. This one was a bit of a struggle to finish because I was so excited to see how the series wraps up, but the beginning of the book drags a bit. I actually stopped and picked up another book because it was dragging so badly, but then Jordan gave me a disapproving lecture and so I gave it another chance. I thought the end-all of the clue hunt was a bit of a let down, but it has a good message about families and forgiveness so I'd say it was worth the read.

I can't believe I waited so long to jump on this bandwagon, but Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins was incredible! I absolutely loved this book. I was shocked by the darkness of the world that Katniss, the main character, lives in. I could hardly put the book down as I was pulled into her world and journey! I definitely recommend this book!!! I am excited to read the next two books in the series & I can't wait for Hollywood to make the movies!

Fifteen Years

"Even time itself changes. It's the heart that stays the same." ~anonymous

It amazes me that we are celebrating 15 years of marriage on September 9th! We had planned to be in Hawaii for our 15th anniversary, but medical bills ate away our vacation money. We still had some money left to go play downtown for a few days- and play we did!!!!

We went to see The Lion King at the Capitol Theater. It was amazing. One of my favorite parts in that show is when the actors are dressed as the grass in the plains and are swaying like the wind is bristling through. It is so beautiful. The whole production is truly a work of art!

We tried to go to dinner after the show, which ended about 9:45, but who knew that downtown Salt Lake closes early?!? We ended up at the Red Rock Brewery Company which stays open til 1AM. They brew their own cream soda and it was yummy. My halibut was also tasty.

The nice part about staying at the Downtown Hilton is that it was perfect for walking everywhere. (Well, perfect for Matt to walk and push my chair!) The Hilton was nice, Matt surprised me with breakfast in bed. We then headed out for a day around the town, only as we were walking through the lobby to our surprise it was pouring rain. As we stood there discussing whether to take the car or risk a few rain showers as we walked, we got another surprise- Matt's mom coming towards us in the lobby! Apparently, she had a work conference she was helping out with. She introduced us to a few of her nice work friends and then Matt grabbed our umbrella and off we went just as the rain stopped. Lucky us!

We headed a few blocks over to The Gateway. We browsed some shops. Among my favorites, The Body Shop (they have my favorite coconut body lotion!), Coldwater Creek, and then the store of all stores- THE APPLE STORE!! Surprisingly I walked out of the store empty handed, and only because of the precious words that came out of Matt's mouth, "If you wait til April, I will buy you the V2 iPad." That's right ladies and gentlemen, you heard it hear first. In April, I will be the proud owner of an iPad!!! Can't wait!!!

We love movies, so of course we saw some movies. The first movie was Avatar in 3D. Luckily, for me, Avatar was brought back into the theaters with some newly added scenes. I know I am probably the last person in the country to have not seen it until now. Matt had seen it on his plane ride to Prague, but said it was much better on the BIG screen. It was another piece of artwork, so visually stunning. I really enjoyed it.

Dinner was a little disappointing. I'd been wanting to try the California Pizza Kitchen forever, especially since it is one of my good friend's favorite place to eat. It was not impressive. Maybe I ordered wrong, but my sandwich was not good at all and Matt's pizza only tasted ok to me. The Cesar salad and my strawberry coconut smoothie was delicious, though.

After dinner, we walked around some more before our next movie started. We didn't realize that we had a tradition to uphold- well, Matt had a tradition to uphold.....but as our second movie ended I turned to him and said, "You are not allowed to choose a movie we see on our anniversary, anymore!!" Matt wholeheartedly agreed with me that this is his 2nd time in a row to choose a stinker! The American with George Clooney, don't waste your time or your money!!

Walking through the city back to our hotel was fun. I also loved sleeping in the next morning! We made it to one last movie - Resident Evil 3D! I know I'm weird, but I like those kind of movies. Matt considers himself lucky to have a wife that will see the action movies with him!

We hurried home thinking our kids might want to come home, but our friends obviously spoil them or something because they begged to stay for a couple more hours. It makes me happy that my kids were well taken care of while we were gone and that they had so much fun with them!

I had so much fun celebrating our 15 year anniversary with the love of my life! I cannot believe 15 years has gone by, but I am looking forward to each and every year to come with this amazing man. He still makes me feel like the pretty girl in the picture above, after all these years- which clearly, I'm not. But it is so nice to have someone look at you and treat you like you still are! I absolutely love that man!!

Laboring on Labor Day

The best part of Labor Day is the extra day to sleep in before getting back into the school schedule that doesn't allow sleeping in!

We did a little shopping in the morning before heading to the in-laws to help restore their yard after their big remodel/new addition. (a little sidenote- we were the only ones on time for the designated 1:00 PM starting time!! This includes the in-laws whose house we were at!)

The men dug trenches for the new sprinklers, the kids picked up concrete pieces and old nails. I was amazed at what good workers the little kids were- I shouldn't be too surprised because they come from my sister-in-law, who is an amazingly hard worker. Speaking of this hard worker, she hung pictures, put vinyl on the wall, and even put in a doorknob and dead bolt!! Girl Power!!

I wish my camera on my Blackberry would cooperate. I had some awesome photos, but it said the file card was full. Which is not true, I even deleted 10 pictures hoping to get them to save....I had pictures of "Wes-man" helping dig the trenches. "B-Tone" picking up concrete with Jordan. "Garre-Bear" holding a garbage bag for Grandpa. " "Little Miss Ballerina" & "Izzie" also picking up concrete pieces with Chloe.

After the guys had worked for many hours it was time for a yummy feast from Grandma. She promised the men some steaks or chicken in exchange for hard work. And a feast she delivered, complete with fruit, chips, salads, corn on the cob, & more!!!

The remodel/addition is really nice! The nice part is that they even added a ramp in the back. Totally unexpected, but much appreciated from me! We even had a ribbon cutting ceremony, which I firmly resisted at first, but I'm so glad I went along with it because when Grandpa cut the first ribbon on the entry side the kids went wild with cheers! It was adorable! And then the kids went wild again with cheers when I cut the ribbon to the ramp! Very cute!

I'm excited to go to the holiday parties and especially the super bowl party with their big screen tv. The family room is big and spacious with enough room for all of us & best of all no more going downstairs, a plus for me!! The only downside is that I wish all of the cousins could be together. My kids have so much fun with the cousins- I have so much fun watching the cousins!! I miss the DeVoogd's and Omaha Roblyers, and New York Roblyers! Can't wait til the 2011 reunion, where we'll all be reunited!

I forgot to mention the highlights of my day- playing with "Baby B". She is so stinkin' cute!! She even took a catnap in my arms. Awwwww! "Izzie" entertaining me & Chloe. She was deleriously tired and cracking us up with her antics! "Garre-bear" kidnapping me in my wheelchair. As he took the brakes off he said, "Are you ready to go for a ride, DeeAnna?" Accompanied by his mischevious giggle! I was only truly terrified for a minute when he almost steered me into one of the trenches, where my knight in shining armor (Matthew) came to the rescue!

Family is what makes these holidays so much fun!

Hola World!!!! (though I should put Nihao cause I take Chinese)

Yay!!! I have wanted my mom to put up a blog that I could write on forever! :) Its awesome!!! Mostly I will just talk about stuff that's happening to me (just not too detailed!)
So stuff that's going on..... Last Friday was my friend Sam's birthday so me and my other friend, Jarrah, went and tagged her car at 9:00 at night with ballons that we wrote messages on and happy birthday wrapping paper. It was a lot of fun. :) Sam has a window right in front of her house and she walked past it a couple of times while we were working on her car. We would always freak out and duck down hoping she wouldn't see us. It was awesome! :) I always try and do something special for friends birthdays because I feel like it shows how much I care about them. :)
Also this week my school will be starting to put together a dance team! I am really excited! :D The coach says for try-outs we will probably just have to put our own dance together and do it in front of some judges. I am hoping I can try out with my friend Jarrah. :)
And lastly my parents are going out of town this week for their anniversary so I am going to stay with my parents friends. They have a 3 kids and a cute kitty and I am excited to "hang with them."
So....yup. I think that's all the exciting stuff for this week and last week.... well there's more that's just the main events. ;) Hopefully I will write again soon ;) (my dad wants me to post a letter I wrote to my school during my free write in Journalism. Trust me, my school has some minor issues. )

Another School Year

It's that time of year again....the kids have just finished up their first two weeks back at school for the new 2010-2011 school year. They both seem to be enjoying this school year thus far. Though no one is complaining of the three-day break we have for labor day!

Chloe is currently in 8th grade. Her favorite class is Science with her favorite teacher, Mr. Wilder.

Jordan is currently in the 7th grade. His favorite classes are English, Math, & CTE. And he loves all the teachers for these classes (he couldn't narrow it down!)

The PRESSURE

Now that we have the blog up, the pressure is enormous to come up with something interesting to post. I had a bunch of ideas, but now that it's time to write every idea has left my brain.
The only thing on my brain is Jordan and his migraines.....Poor fella came home from school with a doozie of a migraine. I thought we had finally narrowed down probable causes and he is on medication and vitamins, but once again here we are with him miserable on the couch with his throw-up bowl in hand. So Frustrating!!! Matt says the medicine and vitamins need more time to build up in his system. Hopefully this is true and this will be the end of the migraines.

Hello World!

Matt finally got around to making me a sweet header for a blog, so I am starting to blog again! Plus, the kids wanted to participate in this blog. So, here we are. Expect amazing things to come in the near future, probably even a picture of our cat, she is pretty cute.