Hunger Games

3rd post in 2 days. I do believe the funk is gone!

This book club had it's monthly meeting last night and I missed it!Steve and I had a hot date. But I tried to catch up this morning and there were 400+ comments on the review post! Wow everyone! That is awesome. So now that we are all out in the open about the book, I am happy to get my feelings about it off my chest. I have been anxiously waiting this moment. And if you haven't read the book and plan to, I recommend you do not read further.

The book was:

I read the book in just a couple of days during my girls trip. I got through almost a third of the book just traveling to Emily's. It was a real page turner. It was intense. It was emotional. It was extremely well written. I did notice immediately how abrupt Suzanne Collins writing was. What a contrast to Stephenie Meyer! I loved that it was written in the first person. I loved that she didn't waste words. I loved that she just said what was needed to be said and didn't waste any of my time. I loved how quickly it moved. It was a great story.
However, it made me feel weird. Has anyone seen this movie?

If you have, you will completely understand how I felt while reading this book. So pretend it's a Saturday afternoon and you have nothing to do. You are trapped at home alone. Then you are flipping TV channels and you have no cable. But you find on one channel this old movie playing. You watch it because there is nothing better to do. (This is what happened to me many many years ago.) Come to find out it's a movie about the earth being inhabited by apes. You watch the movie with a sense of awkward captivation. Then Bam! at the end you find out it was really all about how the human race fell and apes took over America; and after sitting there for 2 hours thinking the movie was about the past, you find out it was really about the future. Then it abruptly ends. You sit there feeling sick and zapped of all energy, strength and desire to live. You take a look outside and it's still sunny and clear skies. You find yourself surprised because it feels like an entire day has passed and it was night outside or something. You finally see people out on the street and it seems strange to you as well, because you forgot how a normal life looked. This is what I call "Saturday Matinee Syndrome" or SMS.

So The Hunger Games was not quite like that, but that is how I felt... kind of. The story was sad! I took it personally or something. "Hey!" I was saying to myself. "This can't be! This could never happen. How could a government really get away with crap like this? Those poor kids. Those crazy adults..."

The whole stage for the book was sad wasn't it? But there were parts of it I loved. I loved when Peeta first admitted his love to Katniss on stage during his interview. That was beautiful! I adore Peeta. I thought his whole character and all he did was perfection. And Katniss was a pretty amazing chick herself. Although she was stupid about Peeta, she was amazing otherwise.

I like Suzanne Collins writing. But I am confident from reading this book she's a reality TV junkie. I hardly got into the book before I was picturing her studying endless past shows of "Survivor" as research for her book.

Would I recommend this book? Yes, but I would let them know it is gonna be kind of sad.

Will I read the rest of the books in the series? Absolutely.

Would I recommend this book club to anyone. ShaYES!!! It is rockin. And that is where the real discussion is. Or was. It's "totally non-exclusive" and anyone can join. Can't wait for the next book.

The end.

Halloween

I'm not a fan of Halloween. I don't really decorate for it, I don't dress up for it, and it's my least favorite holiday. I'm kind of like a Halloween Scrooge. I know, party pooper. But every year I try to put on a happy face for the kids and make it somewhat fun for them.
So this morning I took some shots of them before they headed off to school. Celeste is sporting my HS cheerleading uniform. This was kind of a last minute change of plans costume that I pulled out of a box this morning. In that same box, I found this little number for Jonah. My cap and gown for HS graduation. Circa 1996. He really liked it.

Eden is a butterfly. I got a great deal on this one and she was fortunately happy with it. Although it is a bit too small on her. She didn't notice though.

Becca's costume was also a great deal that she happily complied with too. She had wanted to be a vampire! This cute little thing a vampire - hmmm.

And here's all four of my favorite munchkins.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Our Family

So a very wise person told me I needed to blog my way through my blogging funk. So here I am trying to blog my way through it. I thought I'd tell you a little bit about what is going on with each member of our family today.
We'll start with Steve. Here is his award if you were wondering what it was like. It came with candy, but that part of the award is long gone now. It was well deserved!
He's doing great. I am so proud of him! The company he is working at seems pleased with him. I'm glad they appreciate him. He got a bonus on Friday! And yesterday his boss told him how happy they were with him. He's a hard worker, very smart, and overall an extremely nice person. We are hopeful they will hire him on once his contract is up in Feb. He's also been a great friend to me and great father. He's very sweet and tender and loves spending time with me. He treats me way better than I deserve. But I couldn't be more grateful to be married to him.

The photos of my kids I've put up on this post were all photos they took of themselves or each other. So they are not the most flattering. However, they are classic Bishop kid activities and emotions.

Becca. She is addicted to playing on the computer. She loves playing Poptropica! She would spend 12 hours on the computer without food, drink or bathroom breaks if I let her. She is enjoying school and has a booming social life with friends that come over on a daily basis to play with her. She talks a little too much when she and I are together. It's question after question until I want to scream.

Eden is a complete joy these days. She still misses Boise and on occasion will get sad about it. But here she is loved by all who know her as well. She has been the sweetest, most obedient, and thoughtful child. She loves to make people feel appreciated. We all went out to eat at Sweet Tomatoes this week. At the restaurant she insisted on telling every employee there she could, "Thank you." She would offer them her food too. The employees there enjoyed what a sweetheart she is and we left there with a bag of cookies that they sell - - for free, as well as pencil bags, pencils, stickers, and erasers for all of our children. Her teacher at school adores her too. All the kids in her class seem to like her. She is enjoying Anna's children's choir that she attends weekly. She is just an absolute sweetheart!

Jonah is doing better than he has done since he was a baby or toddler. He is finally on the right combination of medications and he feels a lot better. He still has his moments of feeling somewhat out of control, but it is a stark contrast from what we were experiencing just a few months ago. A few months ago it was quite common to spend 1-3 hours a day with him going absolutely psycho. Screaming, crying, flailing, and just without reason or rationality. And the hours when he wasn't going nuts, wasn't that pretty either. So we are grateful he is doing better. Academically he is doing well too. He still isn't the easiest child, but he is a whole lot easier! He has more friends here than he had before. There are a lot of boys around his age and they like him too. He's told me he's happier here than he was before we moved. This has been a good change for him. He loves scouts and is finally wrapping up his Wolf badge and working his way through those arrow points.

Celeste. Where to begin with this girl... Currently she is by far our most difficult child. Eden is so loved and is so sweet that it makes Celeste insane with jealously. She hates all the positive attention Eden gets. So Celeste seems to try to get her own attention but in a bad way. She is the moodiest 9 year old I have ever met in my entire life! She is like a defiant teenage girl who is PMS'ing a great deal of the time.

This image of her is typical Celeste these days. I found a bunch of photos on the camera that she took of herself or had someone take of her and half of them she was wearing this expression on her face of the victim of some abuse of some sort. (And to be honest, there have been times I've felt like making that a reality.) When we try to talk to her about what's going on with her, she relates these tales of woe and misery. Everything about her life, in her view, is miserable. I just don't know what to do with her. But I am thinking about it a lot and am beginning to come up with some ideas.
On the other hand she is well behaved at school, church and in public. She is a very smart girl. I'm continually impressed with her academic ability. She is taking piano lessons from Anna and I think doing ok with it. She refuses to practice at home but enjoys taking the lessons. Because she refuses to practice, I am sure she will not be a great pianist anytime soon, but I do believe she is learning something and I will let her continue the lessons for a while.

Finally there is me. I got this picture of myself off of my Aunt's blog. I don't think I had ever seen it before.

I'm doing good. I am not excited about Winter. I dread it every year. My running is going well, but I always have a tougher time in the Winter with exercise. I came back from my trip to Arizona having gained 5 lbs and I've put on a couple more since then. Big time bummer. My body naturally wants to be much heavier than it is and I have to battle that every day because I really don't like having the extra pounds!

I stay really busy. I've written about what my days are like before, so I wont go through that again with you. But I stay at a good level of busy. Not too much or too little.

I think I'll wrap this up now.

Love and miss you!

(If you are wondering if that comment was directed to you, it was.)

Funk

Yeah, I'm in a bit of a blogging funk. I am totally not in the bloggin mood. I feel no creativity in me. I feel like my blog is wildly unpopular as it is anyhow. I'll hopefully pull out of this soon, but for now, this post is just funky.
So I came back from my trip with my sisters to an inbox with about 50 posts I needed to catch up on. Can I get a temporary reprieve from my own personal rule of reading every word of all those posts and commenting on all those blogs? If I can get that reprieve, I think I will feel a little less overwhelmed by my own blog obsession.
If you'd like to hear about my great trip with my sisters, Anna, Emily and Molly posted about it on their blogs. Yes, I did actually win that talent show that Emily wrote about and I am very proud of myself for doing it. I did also finish the Smart Remarks book club book, which I think is part of my problem. I haven't been able to really talk about it with someone who has finished it yet and I want to. Oh Peeta, you are so sweet! And Katniss, what am I supposed to do with you? I was disturbed by the book, but couldn't help but be totally hooked until I could get it finished.
If you were wondering Steve did indeed win the "Husband of the Year" award for the 10th consecutive year. It's my own award I give out so don't get all in an uproar that your husbands haven't gotten one. I pretty much figured Steve had it in the bag anyways.
I understand that this weekend is the long awaited Forks trip for some other lovely ladies and hope you all have a flanktastic time! (Don't do any weird misreading into that gize. I meant it. k?) Look forward to seeing your posts about it when you get back!
Well, I guess that's all.
Sorry for the dumb post. But it is a post right? And no, I am not depressed. It's a blog kind of depressed. Otherwise, all is well.

Fave Foto Friday

This photo was taken today. I am with 3 of the most beautiful girls on earth. (They are beautiful inside and out.) Anna, Molly and I are visiting Emily right now to meet her new little baby boy Tait. We have been having a great time. I miss my sweet little family back at home and want to give them a little shout out as well. Love you guys!
Note to Steve: Remember, if I come home to the house looking as nice as I left it, you have for sure sealed the deal on getting the "Husband of the Year" award for the 10th consecutive year. You'll probably get it anyhow seeing as you are letting me take this little trip. Not to mention all the other fabulous things there are about you.

Celeste has been blogging more than her mom this week! She got her hair done today and posted about it but didn't include a photo. Celeste: Can you put one up sweetheart?
Love you Steve, Celeste, Jonah, Eden and Becca. See you Monday!

To the rest of you blogging buddies, I'll catch up with you later.

Last Race of the Season

This morning Steve and I and his big brother Brent ran a race. I say it's my last race of the season because it is getting cold here and I am not a cold weather runner. The frigid air does a nasty number on my throat and lungs. I don't know if I'll ever adjust to cold weather after growing up in California. Thus the reason for the treadmill now in our garage. Which I am pretty excited about. I got a free TV from someone and spent $13 on a TV stand and a VCR and cable at DI. So I've got a sweet little setup in the garage now. I ran on it today for the first time while watching a movie and it's great!
Back to the race. It was the Cougar Run 5k and there was a pretty good turnout for it. Lots and lots of runners and some pretty good ones too. Brent and I both got 7th place in our division. Steve got 8th. I think Brent finished about 50 seconds before us (he's a really great athlete,) and Steve and I finished together. Our time was 24:42, just under 8 minute miles. The course was good and there were plenty of cheering spectators to make you feel like a champ.
That's about all.

Fave Foto Friday

I chose this photo because I am taking this opportunity to prove to Jenny that I love her more than she loves me. I am dedicating a post to her. I did not have the inspiration like her to save every photo anyone has ever given me and I regret that. Because this is all I've got of her. Jenny is on the left, my old BFF from HS Liz is next, then Sara, then me.
Not only am I dedicating this post to her but I am going to dedicate a post to her that should not embarrass her or make her look like an idiot. The post she did for me was done with a good heart and fun intentions, but it did make me look pretty darn stupid. Regardless, I hope she knows me well enough to know that I was not offended and I have never been offended by any comments she has made to me :) I just respect her deeply and really want her opinion of me to be a good one. Got it?
So about Jenny.
Here are the things about her that I appreciate the most:
She is HILARIOUS! Growing up I peed my pants many a time in her presence because she made me laugh too hard.
She is brilliant. I didn't know how freakin smart she was until recently. Although I've always known she was smart.
She is an amazing writer. You all know this if you visit her blog. If you haven't seen her blog, get on it. You will love it.
She is a good person. She lives an exceptionally good life and so does her husband.
She is so cute and pretty. Always has been. She seems to get prettier and prettier all the time too.
She was a huge influence on my incredibly fun childhood memories.
I love her to death!

To my friends and family in Idaho

So I got wind that there are some people there that may be curious how I was doing here. Really doing; If you know what I mean.
I thought I'd tell you.
I am actually doing great! And it's not the manic kind of great. Of course I've had my moments where I have felt down, but they were very short lived.
Here's what my life is like now. I get up at 6:30am. I get my kids ready and off to school. Then I go running. I have worked up to now running 10 miles a day and I love it. Running around here has been so much fun. I love the views and the lack of traffic. I can run the entire 10 miles without stopping and it feels nice. Then I go home and shower and spend the remainder of my day getting random things done. Becca gets home from kindergarten at 10:53 am. Strange time hu? The rest of the kids get out at 2:15. We work on chores and homework and other misc. things. Then I make dinner and Steve comes home and we hang out with each other. That's what most of my days look like.
I like my calling, (YW Personal Progress Advisor.) It's not too demanding and yet it is something. I was able to go with the girls to the Temple today. That was nice. I think I may learn to love them as much as I love my girls back in Idaho. We'll see.
Steve likes his job. I like his job too. He comes home happy and not stressed out of his mind.
The kids are all doing well in school. It helps that the school is a lot easier than it was in Idaho. They seem to be like a grade behind. It's a bit boring for Celeste, but good for my other kids who could use a little leg-up.
I love where we live, with the exception of Steve's commute.
I love being near our family here.
I love my new friends. I've got a couple. One old, one new. And a few semi-friends borrowed from Anna or getting to know through church service.
I like our ward now. Not the Primary, but I won't start on that. I may not sound very nice if I do.
Overall, I am feeling quite well. I feel healthier mentally and physically than I have ever felt. That's right. EVER.
I do miss my friends and family in Idaho and think about them a lot too. The night before last I had a dream about my young women and the other YW leaders from the Franklin Ward. It is what made me want to make this post.
Steve's parents and sibs and their families are missed a lot too. I beg them to blog more. It would be so nice!
Well, that's about it.
Boring post I know, but I've done little updates on how I really am doing lately and thought it was about time.

Official Church Doctrine Announced

So today in General Conference I heard the most amazing counsel given. I've never heard the Church come out with any statements on blogging. But Robert D. Hales of the Quorum of the 12 did today. He said, and I quote, "leave a comment on a blog". Scouts honor, that's what he said! Read it yourself when your November Ensign comes out and I will pay you cash if I am wrong. So you all know we could be doing a little bit better; standing a little taller and reaching a little higher. And yes, leaving more comments on blogs. Thanks Elder Hales for the inspiring message!


On a different topic, but still Sunday worthy:

A long time ago I went to a great party that Steve's Aunt Cindy put on. It was a wonderful time. Cindy asked us some tough questions just for the fun of it. And I've thought back on those ever since.



If you could meet anybody who is alive or who has ever lived on the earth who would you choose?
My answer was immediately Christ and Eve. What would I say to them?

I don't feel like there is anything adequate I could say to Christ. But I would love to hug him; if I could remain on my feet that is.

I am dying to ask Eve what it was like being the first woman on earth. I have a million questions for her. I would ask her what her first pregnancy was like. Did she wonder what was going on inside of her? Did she have a clue as to how long it was going to last? What was the delivery like? and so on. I have thought many times about her and what it must have been like being the first woman not having your mother there to tell you about all those things.



If you could live one day in history when would you choose?
I would say either in Adam and Eve's time right at the beginning of the earth's existence. Wouldn't it be fascinating to see how drastically different things were then? No roads, buildings, cars, electronics, toys, etc... I bet they could see many more stars in the sky than we can today with all of the light and air pollution we've got.

Or if not then, I would also like to see ancient America at about AD 34.



What about you guys?

Fave Foto Friday

Emily, please don't hate me for this! This photo needs no commentary. Without fail this image brings me sheer delight every time I see it.
Circa 1998. Love you sis. You were the greatest roommate EVER!

In Accordance with Blogging Edict #6

So here it is. I actually don't own the photo of just me and my date. I probably burned it because it was so horrible. But here's my group. I only went to ONE of my HS formals. This is the one. We had a really fun night. I almost held hands with my date! It was a real heart racer kind of night. I went through all of JH and HS never kissing a guy. Lost a couple of boyfriends that way. But I was "saving" myself :)
All of your prom dresses (those who posted yesterday about it,) were designed by Molly Mormon herself. Mine made me look like a floozy comparatively.

Just following the crowd

I guess ManicMandee it is. Thanks for all the input.

I was going to copy Anna and put up a few photos for you to choose from, but got too lazy. The pickins were too slim anyhow. So here is my new profile picture. In accordance with edict #5 of the cool crowd of bloggers. Can I get suggestions on a new screen name too in accordance with edict #4? Any ideas?