The BookWorm

Weight Loss Journey

2011-09-29T11:31:00.000-06:00

So it seems like in the last year of my life, about the only new thing going on has all been health related. I've been exercising and trying to lose weight, etc. But I haven't really shared much of that on here because I kept thinking that people wouldn't want to see nothing but weight loss stuff on my blog! Plus, if I was going to share that kind of info, I would want to do it in a way that I could share with anyone, and not be sharing lots of personal info on the same blog. Does that make sense? So, finally, I started a separate blog. It's going to be nothing but my weight loss journey. And hopefully on this side of things I can start sharing some other parts of my life! In fact, I actually have some really big news (job related) that some people are already aware of. But I'll be waiting another month to share it because I don't want to jinx myself before everything is official. If you are interested in checking out my other blog, I'd love that. The address is http://www.kas9913.blogspot.com I'd also majorly appreciate any advice people can give. Sorry again for the long absence. Hopefully that will change soon!

2 Races

2011-02-10T07:58:00.000-07:00

When you start going to the gym on a regular basis, one of the first things that happens (or at least for me) is you start hearing about all of the races, marathons, bike rides, triathlons, century rides, etc that everyone either has or is going to participate in. It's a bit intimidating! I keep hearing about all of these plans that so many of my friends have for the summer. Overall I don't feel ready for most of the things that they are going to do, but there were two events that did catch my eye.

The first is called the Dirty Girl Run and is held at Wheeler Farm. It's a 4 mile obstacle course with lots of dirt and mud! It's not a timed competition and is basically just something to go and have fun with your friends! The 4 miles part has me a bit intimidated, but I still have about 5 months to prepare!

The other is a couple of weeks after the first and is called the Utah Tour de Donut! This one is a completely fun and crazy bike ride. Ok, here's the gist of it. You ride your bike over a 7 mile course. Then you stop......take a break......and eat as many donuts as you think that you can hold down! Get back on your bike, ride the 7 mile course again, and repeat the rest stop/donut eating! Lastly you ride the course one more time! So basically, you are riding for 21 miles, with a couple of donut rest stops in the middle! Then at the end, they take off 3 minutes from your final time for each donut that you ate. Sounds crazy, sounds fun, sounds like something that I want to try out!

Even though I'm going to have to push myself to make sure that I am physically ready for both of these, they just don't seem as scary to me as some of the other more "serious" events that I know of. I think that's probably why I am willing to give these a shot. They are more for fun rather than for a serious competition!

Wish me luck! BTW - I made up a couple of little count down tickers for both of these events and posted them at the bottom of my blog. Help me keep track of how long I have to prepare!

Comfort Books

2011-01-17T08:22:00.001-07:00

Just about everyone who knows me, knows that I am a MAJOR reader! I was one of the few kids growing up that got yelled at for reading too much! After the first time that I moved, my Uncle informed me that he'd gladly help me move any time I needed him, but that he refuses to ever move my books again! I have a LOT of books!

Normally I am always reading something new. Yes, I have some favorites that get read over and over again. But at the same time I am always looking for a new story. But the last few months have been a bit odd for me. Anytime that I start something new, I find myself very quickly flipping back to something that I've already read and love.

I think part of it might be the time that I take out of my schedule to go to the gym. It's made most of my days so tightly scheduled that I just don't have that time to sit and read. But I can't blame the gym entirely. I mean, the vast majority of the "reading" I get done is during work when I listen to audio books. I was looking through my iPod this morning and I have 67 audiobook on there that I either haven't started or have only listened to the very beginning of! (This might also be a sign that I've become addicted to Overdrive.com through the library!) But every time that I flip to one of these many new stories, I find myself craving one of my favorites by Patricia Briggs, Kelley Armstrong, J R Ward, Karen Marie Moning or Vince Flynn. I'd have to say that 95% of the books that I have read/listened to in the last 3 months are by one of those 3 authors, none of which have a new book out! So, obviously I am just going back through the ones I've already read.

Not sure what's been going on with me! But I apologize to those of you that typically ask me for book recomendations! I just don't have anything new to recommend. All that I am reading right now are my comfort books, the ones that I know will put a smile on my face!

Word of the Year

2011-01-12T04:04:00.001-07:00

The other day I was reading the blog of one of my friends and she had done such a fun thing that I decided I wanted to copy it! I wish that I could take credit for the idea, but no such luck! Rather than making the same old, same old New Year's Resolutions, she picks one word each year to focus on for the year. It's not as easy as it seems to think of just one word that you would want to live for an entire year! But I took the challenge and found my word!

My word for 2011 is going to be DETERMINATION.

Definition -
* A quality that makes you continue trying to do or achieve something that is difficult
* The act of officially deciding something
* Firm or fixed intention to achieve a desired end
* Firmness of purpose; resolve
* A fixed intention or resolution

I have a lot of plans and goals for 2011 and I know that it will take great Determination in order to accomplish those goals.

What word would you pick to live by for a year? I challenge each of my friends to come up with one word that they want to focus on in the lives for the rest of 2011. Let me know what word you would choose!

Thanks for the idea Tib!

Kickboxing Therapy

2011-01-05T14:17:00.000-07:00

I've found a great new therapy! Kickboxing! I take all of the stress that I've built up over the week, all the frustrations over rude people and people that are mad at me for something that I have no control over, and I pour all of the frustration into my kickboxing. There's nothing better than kicking and punching your frustrations out! Of course, the last couple of weeks I really probably could have used two classes a week! It's just a fantastic therapy for my own mental health, and hey, I get a great workout too! Plus, plus! Love it!

New Year's Resolutions 2011

2011-01-01T20:49:00.002-07:00

I looked back at last years resolutions and realized that I made it less than a month before giving them all up!!! This year I'm determined to keep them all, so I need to make sure that I am realistic in my expectations!

#1 - Workout for 1 hour, at least 300 times during the year. As long as I keep up the schedule that I have been doing for the last month or so, I shouldn't have a problem with this one! I made a little ticker countdown thing that's at the bottom of my blog to keep track of how I'm doing!

#2 - Be more aware of what I'm eating. I'm going to start counting calories. I'm not going to say that I will stay on a diet all year, or that I wont ever have that piece of cheesecake, or that greasy hamburger. But I really need to be more aware of what I'm putting into my body!

#3 - This one isn't as straight forward as the other two, and yet it really covers them as well as other things in my life. I want to start living my new motto! "Figure out the results you want, and do what you can to get them!" I need to stop being so focused on the here and now. Need to look towards what I want out of my life and what I want for my future. And then I need to start taking the steps to get there!

There are a million other things that I could add to this list, but like I said, I want to be realistic this year and actually keep my goals! So here they are! Once or Twice a month I'll do an update and let you know how I'm doing!

I think that I'm addicted!

2011-01-01T02:13:00.000-07:00

I've got a new addiction! Thankfully it's an addiction that is actually healthy for me. I really hadn't planned on sharing this. I was even a bit worried about mentioning it on facebook. But I decided that I no longer care, and I want to share!

I have become addicted to exercise! About 2 months ago my doctor decided to put me on a medicine for 6 months that while helpful, also does some bad things to your body. A couple of those things are bone loss and weight gain. Both of which can be countered by exercise. I have NEVER enjoyed exercise! Typically you have to drag me kicking and screaming to any type of exercise. Because of my back issues, I never even had to take a normal gym class in junior high or high school. I've always avoided it and came up with excuses for not doing it. I've even had doctors order me to exercise in the past to help my back, but it just never happened. This time, my doctor convinced me. She was just the kick in the butt that I needed!!!

So I looked around at the gyms by me. I narrowed it down to Gold's Gym and the County Rec Center. I ended up going with the County Rec and I am very happy for that decision! It's just a great environment. Nice people, great equipment, clean, and I don't feel out of place among a bunch of super models and body builders!

The first two weeks I started out pretty slow. Walked on the treadmill, used the elliptical, and went to some water aerobics classes. Didn't really feel any different, wasn't really excited to keep this up for 6 months. But then came a lucky chance!

When I first joined the gym they handed me a schedule of aerobics classes, both land and water aerobics. I barely even glanced at the regular aerobics and just focused on the water. I was TERRIFIED to even think about the regular classes. I was assuming that I'd need to get in a lot better shape before I attempted them. But 2 weeks in, there was a Monday that the ONLY time I could work out that day was the 5:30am kickboxing class. So I showed up expecting that this wasn't going to go well! First thing I went to the instructor and asked her if it would be even possible for me to do or if I'd be better off heading to the fitness room and the treadmill. She was great, very encouraging, and told me that I could do it, and anything that I had issues with I'd just need to modify to my own ability! *That's been the biggest tip I've learned since! Modify, Modify, Modify!* Surprisingly, I had a lot of fun! And better yet, I could tell that I had gotten a LOT better workout than anything else I'd been doing for the last two weeks.

But this was going to just be a one time thing......right? lol, a couple of the people that were in the class that day started trying to convince me to come the next day at 5:30 again. I kinda brushed them off, went home thinking that there was no way I was going back the next day! While I'd had fun at kickboxing, I knew that the Tuesday class was Sports Cycling. That sounded even scarier! But all night at work I kept thinking about how encouraging they both were and the things that they had said to me. I somehow found myself heading back over there the next morning, and almost every morning since. I just finished my 5th week of going to the morning classes, and have only missed once! I'm loving it and am completely and totally addicted!

This post is already long enough, so I'll tell you about the different things that I'm doing some other time. For those of you wondering why I was reluctant to share this, it's because I always worry that people are going to start watching how I'm doing and judge if I'm not progressing fast enough. Please don't ask me how much weight I've lost. Most of the time, I probably couldn't tell you! I'm not focusing on the weight. In fact I usually only weigh in once or twice a month. I'm keeping track of how I am feeling. Can I workout harder this week than I did last week? Are my clothes feeling less tight? Do I have more energy? And am I just overall feeling better? As long as I can keep saying yes to these questions, then I feel great about what I'm doing!

Not a fan of Mother Nature right now!

2010-12-31T23:22:00.000-07:00

So for anyone that has either watched the news or followed me on facebook, you probably have heard that there was a bit of a storm in the northeast US this last week. In fact, it was one of the largest storms in decades! I found that one of the few downsides to having JetBlue's main hubs in New York and Boston is the fact that when weather paralysis those two cities, we pretty much can't fly ANYWHERE! It made for more cancelled flights then I've ever seen in the close to 3 years I've been working here. As well as massive numbers of phone calls, stressed out customers, every flight for a week sold out, mandatory overtime, and very little sleep. I really haven't been a fan of Mother Nature all week, even though half of the customers I talked to think that's my name! Can you control the weather? Hmmm...me either! But for some reason people just assume that I can! Oh well! Thankfully it appears that things are back to normal!

Now if only she'll be nice enough to not send us any new storms for a while!

Flying Standby to Hawaii

2010-12-24T06:58:00.000-07:00

So clear back in May I finally got a vacation that was VERY long in coming!!! My family went to Hawaii! Sorry that I haven't blogged about it before now! And honestly, I can't give you a day by day accounting at this point since I don't really remember everything we did. But here are some of the high points. In this post I'll just tell you about the joys of flying standby and then I'll do another post with stuff from Hawaii!

First off, while the rest of my family was flying first class to Hawaii, I was flying standby! It was the first time that I've used my flight benefits with a different airline than JetBlue. It was a bit nerve wracking and I spent more time in airports than I really would have liked, but it all worked out in the end! I flew Southwest down to Vegas without a problem. Ended up missing the Hawaiian Air flight though because I didn't realize that the airline wasn't in the regular terminal! So I had about 8 hours to kill in Vegas, but since I was lugging a suitcase around I couldn't do anything fun like take a taxi down to the strip! So instead, I hung out in the airport and read. Nothing too exciting! But considering how busy with work I'd been for the 5 months before this trip, I was VERY fine with just relaxing and reading! I made it on the late night Hawaiian Air flight to Honolulu and then an hour later got a connection to Kauai. If I'm remembering correctly, it ended up taking me a total of 18 hours to get to Hawaii. Not too bad.
Coming home was where the real fun began! I had built in a couple of extra days on my trip so that I could be a bit flexible about flying standby. Like, I flew out on a Thursday, got in Friday morning, but the majority of my family didn't get there until Saturday. Coming home, Scott and Kelli-Rae, along with some of her family, had flights to leave Saturday night. My parents, cousin Amy, and the rest of Kelli-Rae's family were all coming home Sunday night. So, I decided that I should attempt to go home Saturday on Scott's flight. If I didn't make it, then there were a number of options to try for Sunday. Scott then gets a phone call from Delta saying that their flight has been delayed 12 hours! Instead of leaving Saturday night at 6pm, it's leaving Sunday morning at 6am. So I ended up getting my extra night in Hawaii but had to leave very early the next morning. As for standby, the delay worked in my favor for getting on that flight. Lots of people had Delta move them to different flights because of the delay. So the flight went from having about 10 open seats to being half empty! Worked great for me. Well......it worked great until we landing in LAX!

BTW, I did learn that if I was paying for a flight, I'd proably pick Hawaiian Air over Delta. Their plane was much nicer and the people lots friendlier!

If the flight had left at the original time, we would have landed in LAX early enough that I had about 10 options that day to get home via Southwest. Only the last one of the day was currently sold out, so I wasn't worried at all! But, with the delay, we only got there in time for that last flight and of course I didn't make it on! So, we landed in LAX at about 4pm (if I'm remembering correctly) and the first option I had to get home wasn't until the next morning! Most sane people at this point would be finding the least expensive hotel in the area and checking in for the night. But the whole reason I was going standby was to save money! I don't want to now waste part of that getting a hotel! Instead, I decided to wait it out at the airport.

I have learned a couple of tricks. First off, instead of eating some of the way overpriced fast food in the airport, I took a hotel shuttle to a nearby hotel and walked around and found somewhere close by to eat. Then took the shuttle back! Also, thankfully since I am an airline employee it was fairly easy to get what's called a gate pass so that I could go back into the terminal and back through security. Lots more comfortable sitting in the gate area rather than the check-in area!

And when I got to the point where I could barely keep my eyes open, I walked, and walked, and walked! The LAX airport is basically in the shape of a U. The road running in that shape with a bunch of terminals along the way. I walked outside back and forth along the whole thing, over and over again! I lost track of how many times, but probably at least 10-15 times! Finally I just couldn't walk any longer and went inside one of the terminals. I was terrified of sleeping, thinking that someone would come steal my stuff! But then some security guards came and sat at a table not far from where I was. I asked them how long they'd be there and they said a few hours. So, I took a nap!

Luckily I managed to get on the first flight out of LAX Monday morning. But here was the really sad part. My parents and Amy had all Sunday in Hawaii, flew out that evening, landed in SL, got all the bags, got the car from long term parking, took Amy home, and made it back to the airport just in time to pick me up!

Hmmm...I'm still debating on if it was worth it or not!

The rest of my Hawaii stuff will probably take a few days to put together, so stay tuned!

Very uninteresting life!

2010-12-24T05:02:00.000-07:00

One of my friends, who is a great blogger, keeps teasing me about updating my blog! I guess that I just always feel like I don't really have anything to talk about! Basically my life is work job #1, work job #2, sleep, and repeat. But for Chelsea, I'll attempt to think of some things to talk about!

First off I just realized that I still have never talked about Hawaii! It's been 7 months since we got home, so I really need to get on that! But that'll have to be a different post, too much to say!

What else has happened in the last 7 months?

We completely redid the living room/kitchen at my parents house. Finally tore down the wall between the two rooms! My mom has wanted that done for years! I love how open it makes everything. Now when we have people over, we aren't so cramped in either the living room or the kitchen. Good thing that dad's really good with electrical things! Otherwise we could have had a real mess with the plugs and light switches in that wall! About a week after we pulled out the wall, we had a family dinner with the 5 of us, plus Grandma. And you can't forget Trinity, and Scott and Kelli brought Ali too! We had a big crowd for us! Even though none of the remodel was done other than the wall coming down, we could already tell that it was going to be great! I took some mid-project pics but I'm not sure where they are right now! And I've never taken any after ones. So I'll have to post those later, but it looks great!

Work at JetBlue was beyond crazy for the first 5-6 months of the year, but luckily since then things have finally calmed down and somewhat gotten back to normal! Thank goodness! I just about wanted to die during those months!

Hmmm...anything else? Oh, I completely chopped most of my hair off! I've had pretty long hair for a VERY long time. I have extremely thick hair and it takes forever to do! I finally just got fed up with all of it! I had basically been wearing it in a ponytail for about a year and I figured that short had to be better than that! Turns out that I love it short! It's so much quicker to get done! The only hard part is that I can't just roll out of bed, throw it back, and run to the store! Yeah, don't have any pics of the hair either! I'm really bad right now! But I'll be taking pics at X-Mas and will post them so you'll see the short hair.

Also, my parents finally bought a camp trailer! My dad loves to camp but since before I was born all that my parents have had is an old pop-up camper. My mom just isn't a fan! She put up with it for a number of years while Scott and I were growing up and then she just told dad that she wasn't camping any more until they got a real trailer! It's really nice! They bought it towards the end of the summer and still managed to use it 3 or 4 times. I'm happy for them! Of course, I have yet to go camping with them in it. I keep getting stuck at home taking care of Trin!

Speaking of Trin, back in March (on my birthday of all days!) she was diagnosed with diabetes. It's been really tough on all of us, her the worst I'm sure. You can't explain to a dog why it is that they no longer get all of the treats that they are used to, or that they don't get bits and pieces of whatever we are eating, and that 2 times a day she has to lay down and let us jab her with a needle, and let's not forget the weekly visits to the vet to check her levels. Amazingly enough, she has been lots better about all of this than I had expected. I think that she'd been sick for a very long time before it got bad enough for us to realize that there was a real issue. So maybe she understands that what we are doing is making her feel better. She certainly acts better! Sometimes I think that she acts like she's a puppy again! It's been pretty fun!

Well, I think that's all the big stuff that's happened! See, I told you, I have a very uninteresting lfe!

Catch Up!

2010-05-30T16:01:00.000-06:00

Wow! I have a ton of catch up to do! I just realized that I haven't updated my blog since April 1st, and it's already almost June 1st! I probably wont be able to completely get caught up today, but I'll try!

#1 - The end of March was a pretty tough time for our family's dogs. First off, the 24th one of my brother's dogs, Sara, passed away. She was the sweetest dog! And I felt really bad for Scott and Kelli-Rae. Sara had been dealing with seizures for quite a while, but we think that she must have had a brain tumor or something like that. It's probably what was causing the seizures and eventually killed her. She had been at the vet for several days before passing away, but ended up dying at home with Scott and Kelli with her. I think that she was holding on because she didn't want to be alone when it happened. It was a pretty sad thing. She'll be missed!

That same week, my parents and I were noticing that Trin has just not been acting right. She was sleeping a lot more than usual. Not being her happy, hyper self. And had been drinking a ton of water. So, on the 25th we took her to the vet and he decided to do a full blood work-up for her. It ended up that she had two major problems, diagnosed on March 26th (Happy Birthday to me!). One, she is diabetic. Two, her thyroid is all out of whack. So we've been giving her insulin shots and thyroid pills twice a day. It's not fun having to give her the shots, but within a week to two weeks we could see a major difference in how she is acting and feeling. She's has to get her blood tested every week and she's doing fantastic!

#2 - Now for some great news! One of my best friends, Michelle and her husband Ryan, had an adorable baby boy! He was born on April 23rd, and is named Brigham Tyler Steineckert. I stole a few pics off of her blog of the cutie!

I am just absolutely thrilled for them. It's been a long, hard road. But I can't think of two people that will make better parents. Congrats! I can't wait to finally get to meet Briggs!!!

#3 - I FINALLY got a vacation!!! Lol, for those that really know my schedule, this vacation has been long overdue! My family all went to Hawaii for just over a week. I'll have to do a separate blog post for everything about Hawaii. I'll just say that flying standby is......interesting. The beach is gorgeous. And the zip lining through the rain forest was quite a thrill!

#4 - We have a new addition in our family. This last week Scott got a new puppy. Her name is Lola, and she's two years old. I still haven't had a chance to go see her, but from what I hear she is extremely hyper. But seems to get along well with their other dog, Ali. I'd post a pic, but the only one I have of her is on my phone, and I'm not really sure how to get it off of there! Hopefully I'll get to meet my new "niece" soon!

#5 - Lastly (I think), I have been working on two major projects. One is a gift for Briggs. Yeah, I know! He was born more than a month ago and I'm still not done with his gift! I really need to get my butt moving on that one! The second project is a HUGE project! This last Christmas, for my Grandma Richins gift for everyone, we interviewed her all about her personal history. I then typed up the whole interview and we made it into a book. Well, my dad and two of my uncles decided that they wanted to have something similar for their own parents. Both of my grandparents on the Severinsen side of the family have passed away, but we have two different old recording of them talking about their past. And guess who is typing them all up. Yep, me! Lol, I'm happy to help and do this, but it's become a lot bigger thing than I thought it'd be! Just to put it into perspective. My G-Ma Richins had about 1 1/2 hours of recording. For my G-Ma and G-Pa Sev, we have about 8 hours of recordings! But even though it's a ton of work, it'll be so nice to have it when we are all done! I just need to find the time to get it done between now and the end of the summer when our family reunion is.

Hmmm...Ok, other than Hawaii, I think that I've just about got everything caught up! I'll try to get around to posting about Hawaii either tonight or tomorrow.

Happy April Fools Day!!!

2010-04-01T17:03:00.000-06:00

I LOVE April Fools Day! Ever since I started my blog, I've wanted to tell one of my favorite stories. But I had to wait until today to tell it!

I have two birthdays. One is on March 26th, the other is April 1st. And depending on which member of my family, or which friend you ask, you'll get different answers of which of those two days is my birthday. And no, this is not an April Fools Joke! LOL! Anyone that knows me very well knows that I have two birthdays. Let me tell you why!

As I mentioned back in October, I am adopted. 28 years ago, adoptions were pretty closed. They weren't like they are today where the adoptive parents typically meet or at least learn the story of the biological parents. Today, many adoptive parents are even there at the hospital when the new baby is being born. That's not the way that it used to be. My mom and dad never met my biological parents. We don't know their story, and know very little about them. I was born on March 26th, but my parents weren't told that. I was a little bit sick and so had to stay in the hospital for 6 days. At no time during that 6 days were my parents told that I had even been born.

Then, on April 1st, April Fools Day, my mom was at home and she got a phone call. It was the adoption agency telling her that they had me at the office and my parents could come pick me up in a couple of hours. Of course, my mom was so excited! The first thing she did was call my dad at work to tell him. He immediately starts going around the office telling everyone there that he is getting his daughter today.

Well, his co-workers thought that he was playing an April Fools Joke on them! None of them would believe him! Finally, he convinces them that he isn't playing an April Fools Joke. So, they tell my dad that if he isn't playing one on them, then my mom must be playing one on him! LOL! My dad has the nerve to then call my mom and ask her if this is an April Fools Joke!!! She got so mad at him and told him of course not! Why in the world would she ever play that kind of joke on him?!

Ever since that day, I've been my parents little April Fools Joke. My mom refuses to even acknowledge March 26th as my birthday. To her, it's April 1st. In the Senior Salute of my high school yearbook, they even wrote something about me being their little April Fool.

So, that's why I have two birthdays! And typically I claim both of them! And we pick whichever of them is the more convenient day for celebrating each year. Of course, I've always said that if I have two birthdays I should get twice the presents, but that never seems to work.

Here's a picture of the four of us (Me, Mom, Dad and Scott) at the adoption agency when they picked me up. I just love the look on Scott's face. I think that he wanted a brother!

Books Addicts Anonymous

2010-03-25T15:32:00.001-06:00

Hello. My name is Kelley Anne. And I'm addicted to books. I can't get enough of them. I don't think that I have ever gone more than a day without reading. I love regular books, audio books, and I'm starting to like e-books. I own so many books that I basically have no room for anything but books. Whenever I think about getting rid of some of my books, I can't handle losing more than a handful of my books. I never go anywhere without at least one book. Even if I am just running to the bank or to pick up dinner somewhere, I always have a book in my purse. You never know when you might have a minute or two to read!

Part of my addiction is about to get a bit out of hand though! Whenever one of my many favorite series comes out with a new book, I always want to first re-read all of the other books in the series. So, I usually plan ahead of time to get all of the book re-read before the new one is released. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately, not sure) a bunch of my fav series are all about to release new books! The first one comes out on Tuesday, Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs. This is the 5th book in the series, and I just finished re-reading #3. So, just 1 more to get done before Tuesday. (BTW, here's a link to my review of the first and second books in case you are interested! Moon Called and Blood Bound) Next, The Reckoning by Kelley Armstrong comes out on April 6th. It's the 3rd book of the Darkest Powers series. So, that's 2 books that I need to re-read. Then that same week, April 8th, Radiant Shadows by Melissa Marr is being released. It's the 4th book in a series (This is my review of #1 Wicked Lovely). So, I have 3 books to get caught back up on. Then a book that I have been dying for, #8 in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series, Lover Mine, by J. R. Ward is coming out on April 27th. Luckily I've already started the re-reads on that, but still have 5 books to go! Next, for all of you Sookie Stackhouse fans, Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris is coming out May 4th. It's #10 in the series! I really hope I get the time to read the first 9 again, but when a series gets this long, it's a bit difficult to pull of sometimes! Lastly, Spirit Bound by Richelle Mead. This is the 5th book of the Vampire Academy series (this is my review of #1 Vampire Academy), and it'll be out on May 18th!

Here's where the number really looks crazy! If you add all of those re-reads, plus actually reading the new books, that's 30 books between now and the end of May!!! Do you think that I can do it? It is doable for me. I've read 44 books so far this year (in three months), and luckily I have almost all of those books on audio so I can listen to them at work. But wow! This is the first time that I've really listed the books that I'm planning on reading, and that's a lot! One good thing for those of you who are also readers. Since I'm going to be re-reading them anyways, I'll try to get reviews written on them all and posted on my other blog. I've gotten a bit behind over there!

For those of you that knew that I loved to read, but didn't actually realize just how much of an addict I really am, you should know now! I truly am addicted to books. They are my drug of choice, and I have no plans to ever even attempt to break this addiction! I enjoy it immensely!

St. Patrick's Day

2010-03-03T15:07:00.001-07:00

Ever since I was little I have always had a thing for anything Irish. I love St. Patty's day, enjoy reading books about Ireland, or that are set in Ireland, enjoy funny Irish blessings, and have just always been fascinated by all things Irish. I'm not really sure why. I think that at one point I even had it in my head that my biological parents were Irish, but I have no idea if that was true or not! Probably one of my greatest wishes is to one day visit Ireland. I love the pictures that I've seen of it! Looks amazing!

So here we are! It's March! Time for St . Patty's Day! In honor of that, I just thought that I'd share some of my very favorite Irish Blessings. Some are funny, some odd, and some just nice. Hope you enjoy!

For each petal on the Shamrock
This brings a wish your way-
Good Health, Good Luck, and Happiness
For today and every day

As you slide down the banister of life,
May the splinters never point in the wrong direction!

May your troubles be less
And your blessings be more
And nothing but happiness
Come through your door

May you have all the happiness
And luck that life can hold
And at the end of your rainbows
May you find a pot of gold

May your blessings outnumber
The Shamrocks that grow
And may trouble avoid you
Wherever you go

May the best day of your past
Be the worst day of your future

May your pockets be heavy-
Your heart be light.
And may good luck pursue you
Each morning and night.

I've got some other favorite Irish Blessings, but I'll save those for another day!

I can be so mean!

2010-02-20T02:05:00.000-07:00

I can be really mean sometimes, but dang if it didn't make my day! So, as I mentioned in my last post, I've been extremely stressed lately! Tonight, I was driving home from work and something happened that normally would have made me even more mad. Instead, I had some fun!

Background, for those of you that have never driven in a car with me, I am not a slow driver. I hate to drive slow! Don't get me wrong! I'm not a huge speed demon either. I mean, I've been driving for almost 12 years and have only had 1 speeding ticket. But I always drive between 5-10 over the speed limit. I go crazy if I have to go too slow! But, one of my main pet peeves are drivers that tailgate. Usually when that happens, I just get mad. Tonight, I had a bit of fun.

Anyways, so I was driving home from work. I was on a regular street, one lane each direction, 35 mph speed limit. I was going 45. This girl pulls up RIGHT behind me. She was so close to me that I couldn't see her headlights! That's pretty dang close! For a minute, I was livid! I just wanted to yell at her to get off my ass! Then, I had a better idea. I slowed WAY down. In fact, I slowed down to 25 mph! She was getting so mad. Stayed right on my tail, starts swerving back and forth. I was laughing so hard! Then, when I got to the light where I should have turned left. I figured that I didn't want my fun to be over yet! So I went straight, and stayed right in front of her! She finally went taking off down a side street that I'm pretty sure wasn't her original destination.

I know, I shouldn't be mean to people. But sometimes it just feels really good! I needed a good laugh, and I got one tonight!

The Craziness of 2010

2010-02-19T02:04:00.002-07:00

Wow! Has it really been over a month since I last updated my blog? I don't know why that surprises me. So far, 2010 has been an extremely crazy/busy/stressful year!

I'm sure most of you know (or at least could guess if you follow me on facebook), that my job with JetBlue has been a bit stressful right now. Ok, "a bit" is an understatement! Last summer they announced to all of us employees that we would be switching to a brand new computer/reservations system. At first, I was pretty excited. I love learning new things, and looked forward to the challenge. It was quite a long process to get all of the reservation agents trained on the new system, over 4 months! My two week training were the last two weeks of December. I finished on January 3rd. The new system was scheduled to come online January 30, so I figured that I had a month to relax before the cutover.

Nope! I was wrong. My trainer emailed me several times asking me to consider doing an advance training to help out with a specialized team, called RED (Refunds / Exchange Desk). That sounded like fun. So that was another 5 days of training. Next, I ended up being picked to cross-train on another specialty team IAD (a help desk for the rest of the reservation agents). Another 3 days of training. By this time, I had a few days off, and then cutover!

I had no idea how difficult things were going to get!!! Let me explain this the way that I try to tell our customers when they don't understand what's going on. On the day that we switched from one computer system to the other, the thousands and thousands of reservations that were in the old system all had to be moved over and converted to the new computer system. Well, those reservations aren't quite compatible with the new system. So, when a customer calls to change or cancel their reservation, it causes major issues! Not to mention that it took a couple of weeks to get some of the bugs out of the new system, plus we were still amateurs at this system. Not a good combo!!!

Those first few days of cutover were probably some of the most stressful days I've had. It took an average of an hour to just change a customer's flight! Very nerve wracking! Also, in one day I went from being extremely good at and confidant in my job, to feeling like I knew absolutely nothing! My mantra for that weekend was "I can't quit! I can't quit! I can't quit!" Believe me, I was tempted to! I think that I threatened to quit probably 20 times in that first weekend. Added to this stress was the mandatory Overtime that we all had to work. Because of that, in the first two days of cutover, I worked 23 hours! Still not quite sure how I survived!

Thankfully things have improved immensely! Part of that is because a lot of the glitches have been fixed. But also, now when I get those odd errors, I know how to fix them! Or at least most of them. I still have a reservation every once in a while that pops up and really gives me fits, but I can handle that. As long as it's not on every call!!!

Also, I have to say that this whole thing has just reminded me of why it is that I LOVE working from home! I had to work at the center for the first couple of weeks. I really missed working in my PJ's! Plus, when you work two jobs it's really nice to not have to worry about two separate commutes! So glad to be back home!

That has basically been all that I've done this entire year so far! Oh, one afternoon I had a great lunch with my cousin Amy. But other than that, I literally have done nothing but work for the last 6 weeks. Hopefully things will calm down a bit now!

BTW, I fell completely off the wagon with my New Year's Resolutions. Been a bit too stressed to be thinking about them! But it's time to get back on track! Wish me luck!

Happy Birthday Trinity!

2010-01-15T18:16:00.002-07:00

It's Trinity's birthday today! Ok, so honestly, I'm not really sure that it's her birthday. When we got her, we were told that she was born mid-January. So, we've just always said that her birthday is January 15th. She is 10 years old! That just doesn't seem right. She's still just a puppy, right?

I swear, I think that is was just yesterday that Scott brought her home. Mom had been saying for years that we would never have another pet. We currently had a cat that was 14 years old, and that was supposed to be the last one. Then one night, Scott shows up at the house carrying a box. And in the box was Trinity!

She was just so dang cute! I guess that one of Scott's friends had bought her for his girlfriend. But the girlfriend's parents wouldn't let her keep it, and the friend lived in an apartment that didn't allow pets. So, Scott brought her home! He insisted that it was just until he could find another home for her. My mom told him that he's supposed to show up on the doorstep with a dog when he's 10, not when he's 20! For two weeks, supposedly Scott was trying to find her another home. I'm not really sure if he actually was looking or not. All that I know is that I was keeping my fingers crossed the whole time that he wouldn't find anyone and that Mom would let us keep her! And guess what! She did!

Trin is extremly spoiled, but she's also one of the sweetest, most loving, and smartest dogs I've ever seen. I have no idea what we'd do without her! Life would certainly be a whole lot more boring! Trin is a complete daddy's girl. She will sit for hours by the door just waiting for him to come home. And the second that he pulls into the driveway, she will run and get whoever is home to open the door to let her outside. She can't possibly wait until he comes in! But that's fine, the feelings mutual. I had an apartment for a while that I could take her to. So, every once in a while we'd have a sleepover. And every time, Dad would be calling me at 9am wondering when I was bringing Trin home! She is certainly well loved!

Hope that you like some of the pictures that I've posted of her. Unfortunatly, for the life of me I couldn't find one of her doing her favorite trick - Going down the slide at the park. Maybe we'll have to go over there and play some time in the next few days so that I can take some new ones!

Resolutions Update - Week #1

2010-01-09T21:23:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I know! I still haven't posted my pictures from Christmas. But for some reason my camera is having issues downloading the pics. I've got the ones that my mom took with her camera, but not mine. Maybe I'll be able to figure out the problem later tonight, but no guarantees!

Anyways, time for my first update on how I'm doing with my New Year's Resolutions!

#1 - Eating 3 Meals a Day - So far, so good! But this isn't as easy as it seems! I've had to really think ahead of time to what my schedule is for that particular day and then try to plan things out! Plus, several times this week I had to pretty much force myself to eat breakfast. But I'm sure that eventually it'll become habit.

#2 - Eating Healthy - So, so. Overall, I've eaten better than I typically do. But the one huge mistake I made was not throwing out all of the leftover Holiday goodies before the week started! They are all gone now, so next week should be better!

#3 - Exercise at least 4 times a week - Uh oh! I just remembered that I had meant to get up early today and exercise so that I would make this goal. And I didn't get up early! Well, I worked out 3 days this week. Next week I'll shoot for 4!

#4 - Finances - Staying on track! :)

Hopefully if I keep making myself accountable to post updates on here, I'll stick with these goals! Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Off topic, I just have to thank my friend Chelsea! Yesterday, I emailed her with a problem that I was having on the format of my book reviews blog. She went above and beyond and fixed everything and designed a new template and it looks great! Thanks!

2010 - Update and New Year's Resolutions

2010-01-03T00:44:00.005-07:00

Wow! It's been quite a while since I've posted anything! Life has been extremely crazy this last month what with working at the Post Office, training at JetBlue, Christmas activities, Christmas shopping, working on a project for my Grandma, and of course I had to try to squeeze in a little time to eat and sleep!

I took a ton of pictures at the family Christmas party, some of which I've posted on facebook, but a lot of which haven't made it on there yet. I have every intention of posting info about Christmas. Hopefully that'll happen within the next few days!

2010....really?....Are we sure?....Where in the world did the last ten years go!?! It seems like it was just yesterday that everyone was freaking out about Y2K and talking about how odd it'd be not to say 19..(whatever year). Now we've entered a whole new decade!

So, new decade, new year, seems like the perfect time for some New Years Resolutions! I don't think that I've ever once truly stuck with a New Year's resolution before. But it's a new decade! What better time to finally succeed?! So, here's the plan. Typically I don't share my resolutions with anyone. Maybe that's why I always fail. There isn't anyone that I feel accountable to besides myself. So, first step: Share my resolutions with all of you! Or at least share it with the two people that read my blog! :) Next step: For the first few months, I am going to post once a week with updates about how I am doing with my resolutions. Maybe if I feel accountable to someone else, I'll actually stick with it! After that, at least once a month I will again update you on how I'm doing! At the end of the year, we'll see how I did! Here goes!

#1 - EAT 3 MEALS A DAY - Yeah, I know that probably sounds like a REALLY odd resolution. But here's the thing. I want to work on losing weight, and one of my big problems is that I don't eat often enough. For at least the last 5 years, I have typically eaten only once, maybe twice a day. That's not a good thing! My body always thinks that I am starving it. It doesn't matter how good I start eating, or how much I exercise. If my body thinks that I'm starving it, I wont lose any weight!

#2 - EAT HEALTHY - Pretty self explanatory. I need to cut out most of the junk food and fast food. I wont say that I am going to cut it all out, because honestly that just wont happen. But instead of being an every day occurrence, it needs to become a rare treat!

#3 - EXERCISE AT LEAST 4 TIMES A WEEK - This is a big one for me! I really need to start exercising a lot more than I currently do. So, whether it's walking on the treadmill, Pilate's, balance ball, or playing on the Wii Fit, I need to start working out at least 4 times a week.

#4 - STAY ON TRACK FINANCIALLY - Not going to go into detail here, because honestly I don't understand when people share all of the details of their finances. I'll just say that a few months ago I set some goals for myself financially. So far I've done a pretty good job with sticking with them. So, I just want to keep on track with that!

So, there we go! Those are my New Year's Resolutions. Hopefully this year I can finally stick with them! This Saturday, I'll give you an update on how the first week's gone.

Happy New Year to everyone, and good luck with your own resolutions!

Update

2009-12-09T20:44:00.004-07:00

I don't really have much to talk about this week. Work is getting busier, what with the Christmas season. I've just about finished my Christmas shopping. YEAH! We've had our first big snowstorm of the year. That would be great if I could just sit and look at it. But when you have to drive to and from work in the snow, not so much fun! For those of you who check out my other blog, the one with book reviews, sorry that I haven't added anything new lately! I have a bunch of books that I want to talk about, but just haven't had the time to write reviews. I think that's just about the extent of the current excitement in my life!

Oh! One other thing. For those of you who have blogs of your own, a couple of my friends just started a new website with blog backgrounds. Right now most of them are winter scenes, and a lot of fun! In fact, they designed the background that I'm currently using. Everyone should check it out! The address is: www.intothebackground.blogspot.com

Anyways, hope everyone's having a great December so far!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T01:33:00.012-07:00

This month, on Facebook, someone challanged me to post one thing each day this month that I was Thankful for. Just a way to be thankful all month, instead of just one day. So, seeing as today is Thanksgiving, I just thought that it'd be fun to post a few of the things that I've mentioned being thankful for. Some are serious; some just fun.

* I am thankful for my parents always being there for me no matter what.

* Today I am grateful for a brother that I can look up to. I am extremely proud of him!

* Today I am Thankful that K-Bull 93 played the CMA awards on their station last night! I left for work very frustrated that I didn't get to watch the awards, and found out that it was being broadcast on the radio! It just made my night!

* Today, I am thankful for the chance to spend a fun day with my mom. We went to the Family Christmas Gift Show, a yearly tradition. And then out to lunch!

* Today I am thankful that I get to work in my pajamas! On a morning like this, it's so much better to just stay comfy in my p.j.'s!

* Today I am thankful for the fact that I have two good jobs. I have been pretty frustrated with things lately, but I just have to keep reminding myself that it could be LOTS worse! I could be jobless! So I have that to be greatful for!

* Today I am thankful for my very cute puppy dog! She entertains me quite a bit throughout the day!

* Today I am thankful for Caffeine. I'm going to need it tonight!

* Today I am thankful for long, hot showers! Perfect way to warm up on a cold day!

* I am thanful that my grandma is finally letting us interview her for her life history. I am learning so many things that I never knew before!

* I am thankful for computers. I really don't know how I would get by without one!

* Long "Thankful" today so bear with me! Today I am thankful that I live in this amazing country. I am thankful to live in a country where it's all right (sometimes even encouraged) to have a differing opinion! I am thankful that I don't have to agree with everything that my government does. I am thankful for every man and woman who has ever fought for our country. I'm thankful for both those that have served in the past to make our country what it is today, and those who are currently fighting to continue to keep us free. I am also thankful for every friend and family member of every service man and woman. Sometimes I feel like the sacrifices made by those left at home are at least as great, if not greater, than the sacrifices made by those in our military.

I am thankful that I was able to grow up in a place and time that encouraged me to think for myself, make my own decisions. And I'm thankful for family and very good friends who stand by me, even when the decisions I've made aren't things that they would necessarily agree with. And I am thankful for all of the blessings that I've had in my life. There are too many to even begin to name.

And lastly, I am beyond thankful for my family, for their love and support. I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that they will always be there for me. Even when I've done things that I'm not proud of, I know that I can turn to them for help.

I hope that everyone has a great Thanksgiving and truly takes the time to think about all of the things that you are thankful for.

Friday the 13th

2009-11-13T17:09:00.000-07:00

So, since there wont be another Friday the 13th until next August, I figured that I'd take a minute to mention the date! Traditionally, everyone always considers Friday the 13th to be an unlucky day. Some of the radio stations that I listen to even do whole segments of their shows for people to call in and say all of the bad things that have happened to them on Friday the 13th. But for me, I think the exact opposite is true! I LOVE Friday the 13th. I've always found it to be a lucky day for me. And even if nothing necessarily lucky happens, it's at least never a bad day. *Knock on Wood*

I don't know when it started, but ever since I was little I have always found 13 to be a lucky number for me. I've always loved that my lucky number is one that most people don't like. Even look at my email address, and my blog address: kas913. That is my initials and my two lucky numbers 9 and 13! So, I hope that this Friday the 13th, some of my luck will rub off on everyone else. Hope it's a fun one!

Hmmmm.....Sleep? or Read?

2009-11-10T01:22:00.003-07:00

You would really think that after 27 years, I would have FINALLY learned my lesson! NEVER, NEVER, NEVER start reading a new book an hour before you need to go to sleep!!! Because if you do, instead of going to sleep in an hour, you continue to read, and read, and read. And then the next thing you know, you are looking at the clock and you have to be awake in 1 hour! I think that I would probably be shocked if I knew the exact number of nights that I didn't end up sleeping, all because I was too busy reading. I can think of MANY times even as a kid when on a weekend or summer night, I stayed up until 8am reading. Have I learned from all of those sleepless nights? Nope! Just yesterday, I was off at the Post Office, so it was a rare night when I could actually get a good amount of sleep. Considering that most days I survive on far too little sleep, you would think that I'd take advantage of this chance to catch up! Nope! I started reading a new book. 5 hours later, I finally forced myself to put the book down so that I could get at least a little bit of sleep. Will I never learn? It's a good thing that I've learned to function on very little sleep!

BTW, for those interested in knowing, the book was "The Summoning" by Kelley Armstrong. I'm a huge fan of her Otherworld series, and this book is the first book of her new Young Adult series. Look for a review of it on my other blog within the next few days!

Target Practice in Henefer

2009-10-25T11:36:00.005-06:00

Traditionally, at about this time each year, my Uncle Mark and his sons would come into town. Then my dad, my brother, two of my uncles and a lot of my cousins (all boys) would go deer hunting up in Henefer. As all of the boys have gotten older, they tend to do their own thing now when it comes to hunting. And the older guys no longer care to stay in a camper all night out in the cold! This year, instead of hunting, they just decided to go target shooting for the day up in Henefer. And, for the first time ever, a couple of girls were alowed to tag along! Me and my cousin Kelsey. Once it finally stopped raining, we had a really fun time. We had a number of different types of targets, including shooting clay pigeons with the shotguns. I have to say that Kurt was probably the best shot, with Kyle a very close second! Hopefully we do this again soon. It was great!

Disneyland and the joys of flying standby!

2009-10-25T10:41:00.008-06:00

So about a month ago, my family decided that we wanted to take a quick trip to California to see Disneyland all decorated for Halloween. Our family LOVES Disneyland! I couldn't even guess at how many times we've been. I think that my parents have been at least once a year since they were married. Or if they've missed a year, that's not too common. In fact, they've now been twice this year. Anyways, as Scott and I were growing up, we visited Disney most years as well. But I haven't been back for about 6 years. So this trip was long overdue! Since I work for JetBlue, we can fly standby down to California. Perfect! None of us really had a lot of time that we could take off of work, so we decided on a very fast trip. Down early Thursday morning, spend the day in Disneyland, fly back early Friday morning!

Ahhh...the joys of standby! For three weeks, the flights looked fantastic for us to get on. There were about 50 seats available on the flight, and only 6 people besides my family on the standby list. Plenty of room! 2 days before the flight, about 25 seats had sold on the plane, but that still left 25 and still only 11 people on the standby list! Perfect! Then comes the day before the flight! Every time I checked, things looked worse. More and more people we signing up for standby! By midnight there were over 40 people listed. I was just panicking! We can check in to the flight up to 4 hours before, and the order you get on board goes off of who checks in first. So I knew that it'd be a race to get checked in. Somehow, miracle of miracles, I got all 5 of us checked in fast enough that we could get on! But there is nothing more stressful than being up at 3:30 in the morning, fingers crossed that you can all get on a flight in 4 hours! I didn't want to let my family down by not being able to get us on!

The flight was great. Gotta love those TV's! So, we picked up the rental car, checked in to the hotel, walked to Disneyland, and then it was time for fun! There were pumpkins and Halloween decorations EVERYWHERE! It was so much fun to see!

Here's dad at the entrance to the park. If you look closely you can see that they made Giant pumpkin versions of some of the Characters above the entrance.

The Haunted House was one of the things that I was the most excited for! I love The Nightmare Before Christmas! It was great to see how they had completely changed all of the decorations both inside and out to go along with the movie!

Over in California Adventure, they had an entire area called "Candy Corn Acres". Everything was done with giant candy corns! They had windmills, corn stalks, flowers, and lots more! Candy Corns are one of Scott's favorite goodies, so I had to take a couple of pics of him and Kelli with the Candy Corns. Sorry, one of the pictures is a bit dark.

The rides were all great. I hadn't been on Pirates since they updated it with characters from the movies. And Scott got to go on the Matterhorn. He was pretty insistent that we needed to get on it asap, because it seems to always break down before we get a chance to go on it! We went on the Tower of Terror a couple of times. Even convinced dad to go on it the second time! The park wasn't too busy so we got to ride everything that we wanted to. I think that the longest wait we had was about a half hour. It was a really fun day!

Surprisingly, the best part of the day was probably the fireworks show! I have NEVER seen such a fantastic show! I really wish that I'd had a video camera with me! It was all Disney Villains. They had music and lights and images projected on a big screen. Even fireballs! Also, they lit up the castle with all of these different colored lights that somehow transformed it into looking like a haunted house! It was just such a fantastic quick trip! I think that we need to make a Halloween visit to Disneyland a new tradition!

Halloween at Disneyland

2009-10-20T18:45:00.004-06:00

I am really excited! My family is heading out Thursday morning for a quick trip to Disneyland! I haven't been to Disneyland since the Jay Break-Up trip! And that time I was so stressed out that I couldn't even enjoy myself. So, I'm pretty excited. I've never seen Disney all decked out for Halloween, but the rest of my family has. And they say that it's great! Space Mountain and the Haunted House have all been changed for Halloween. The Haunted House is the Nightmare Before Christmas theme! Considering that I've been working for JetBlue for 18 months, it's about time that we finally made time to take a trip to Disneyland. I'll take lots of pictures and post them when we get back!

Book Reviews

2009-10-04T13:23:00.006-06:00

So I decided to make a bit of a change to how I do my blog. I am part of an online book club, and I've had several people talk to me about a blog that is strictly book reviews. Well, I don't really want people that I only know online reading about my personal things in my regular blog, so I'm going to start a second blog that's reviews. I'm sure that I will still be talking about books quite a bit on here, but the second blog will only be about books! On that blog, I'm also going to open up the comments section so that anyone can comment, instead of only people that have the right accounts. So, for those of you looking for some good books to read, I hope that you check out my other blog! The link for it is up on the right hand column of the page. For the next few weeks, there will probably be a ton of new posts over there as I write reviews of a lot of my favorite books! I hope that you enjoy it!

3 Important Anniversaries

2009-10-02T11:21:00.006-06:00

The next three days are all very important milestones for my family. All for very different reasons, and kinda fun that they are all together!

The 1st Important Day - Tomorrow, October 3rd, is my dad's Birthday! I'll refrain from teasing him about his age, because I'd hate to embarrass him! LOL! Instead, here's a little blast from the past pic of him. This was taken only a couple of years after my parents were married. I've always gotten a kick out of this picture, with his Mr. Tough Guy look. Plus on more than one occasion, I've seen my brother looking the exact same way! Just thought that it was kinda fun!

The 2nd Important Day - The next important day has always been called My Special Day. On October 4th, 1982, when I was 6 months old, I was sealed to my family in the Jordan River Temple. As most of you know, I am adopted. My mom and dad got me when I was 6 days old (on April Fools Day, but that's a whole other story!). I'm not sure what the waiting time is now for adoptions to be finalized, but back then you had to wait 6 months. This first picture is of our family outside of the courtroom that morning. The judge had just declared the adoption finalized! Sorry about the smudge on the picture! Someone had their finger over camera, and this was WAY before digital cameras!

From what I've been told, we practically went straight to the temple after leaving the courtroom. I, of course, don't remember anything about it. But I think that Scott, who was 3 at the time, has a couple of brief memories of it. I'm not sure though, we haven't really talked about it in a number of years! Here's our family, dressed all in white, standing outside of the temple!

The 3rd Important Day - October 5th is Scott and Kelli-Rae's 7th Wedding Anniversary! Wow! 7 years! That still seems crazy to me. Seems like they just barely got married. I am still so happy for them. They are perfect for each other. Scott dated a lot of girls that I really liked before he met Kelli, but none of them really seemed to complete him. I never felt that he seemed completely himself around all of them. The first time that I saw him with Kelli-Rae, I just knew that they would be fantastic together. They are just like two peas in a pod! I still have to laugh at them every time that I see them together. They are just constantly laughing and teasing each other and goofing around. I love it! I think that Kelli-Rae is the best thing that ever happened to Scott. And the great thing is that he'd be the first person to whole heartedly agree with me! This is one of my favorite pictures with Scott and Kelli and my parents.

So, those are the 3 important dates that my family will be celebrating this weekend!

October

2009-09-27T11:15:00.005-06:00

I really hate changing the backgrounds on my blog. I'm just not as creative as some people! And I'm not very good at matching up all of the different colors to make something look good. So I figured that I found a background and color layout that I really like, and I had no intention of ever changing it. But I had to change my mind when it came to October. I mean, I have to have a Halloween background! When it comes to decorating, I think that Halloween is probably my favorite holiday. Now hopefully once Halloween is over, I'll be able to get my background back the way that I like it!

On my online book club, someone mentioned the other day that October really should be my favorite month because of the kinds of books I tend to read! I guess that's true. I mean, Vampires, Werewolves, Witches, Ghosts, Fairies, Immortal Hunters....hmmmm sounds like a Halloween costume party! lol! So, in honor of Halloween, throughout the month I'll try to share some of my favorite Halloween books, stories, poems, pictures, etc.

So to start things out, here's just a fun little poem:

Halloween Warning

On Halloween Evening, one night in the year,
When ancient graves open, all the ghosts then appear.
We flit through the shadows, we moan and we groan,
We pounce on the mortal, straying too far from home.
So Humans be wary, stay safely within
Lest a Halloween ghost scares you out of your skin!

FYI - The picture at the top of the post is the cover to a book called Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs. I love the covers of her books! They are all so great looking!

4 Years

2009-09-14T13:10:00.002-06:00

Wow! Today I hit my 4 year anniversary at my job with the Post Office! That is huge for me! I tend to get jobs, have fun while I'm learning all of the new stuff, get bored doing the same thing every single day, and finally quit after about a year or so. In fact, the second longest that I have held a particular job was with Marriott. I quit 2 years to the day that I was hired. So, I've now officially doubled my old record!

I actually really love my job. There are a few things about it that bug me to death, like the fact that even after 4 years I'm still not considered a full time employee with benefits and everything. But other than that, I couldn't ask for a better place to work. I have a great manager. She's always willing to help me out when I need it and she's great at telling you when she a appreciates a job well done. The other managers that I interact with are really nice too. Plus, the best thing about my job, I basically get paid to read!!! I thought that I would get really bored doing data entry. I mean, all that I do all night is type! Nobody to talk to, no real challenge once you've figured it all out. But, I get to listen to headphones. So, I always listen to audio books! It's great! Basically, it's my dream job! Now let's just keep our fingers crossed that one of these days I can finally become a "career" and get benefits!

Proud to be an American

2009-09-11T17:10:00.007-06:00

Today is an anniversary that none of us should every forget. It's a day that changed so many lives forever. I know that I will never forget what I was doing at that time or the feelings that I had later on. I was working for Marriott at the time as a reservations agent. I was on the phone with a lady when she said that they had just announced on the TV that there was a fire in one of the Towers. Well, Marriott had a hotel that was right in between the 2 Towers, and connected them each. So, immediately I pulled up the page where we would get updates on anything happening at any of our hotels. There wasn't anything. I thought that it was a bad thing and was worried about everyone being able to evacuate, but that was as far as my feelings went at that point. I had to work, so didn't really have time to wonder about why the tower was on fire. Then, while I was helping someone make a reservation, she started to kinda freak out. She just kept saying "No, No! It can't be!" Finally, she calmed down enough to tell me that she just watched on the TV as a second plane hit the other tower. I just froze! This obviously wasn't some random event! I got off of that call and quickly went to the break room so that I could watch the coverage on the TV in there. I remember how panicked I felt after the Pentagon was hit! What was going to get hit next? Were we a possible target since the Olympics were only about 5 months away? I ran to the phone and called my dad, who was working in the middle of downtown Salt Lake. I begged him to go home. I was just so scared that we might be next.

The next week was one of the most difficult weeks that I've been through. We started to get phone calls from friends and family members of the employees and guests that were at our hotel. It was the hardest thing telling someone that we had no information about if their loved one made it out or not! And there were several phone calls that I received with people canceling trips because of family members being killed. One of the hardest calls I received was canceling a group booking because of a wedding being called off. The groom, his brother, and his best man were all currently missing!

Since that day, I have never been prouder to be an American. I look at the sacrifice that our troops and their families make on a daily basis in order to keep us safe. It would be impossible to truly express the depth of my gratitude for them all. There is no sacrifice more honorable!

I don't want to go into a political speech, because I know that a lot of my friends have differing opinions than I do. But I just feel like so many people in our country have truly forgotten what that day meant. I think that many have truly forgotten exactly what it is that the men and women in our military are fighting for on a daily basis. I think that the lyrics to Darryl Worley's song, "Have You Forgotten" express my feelings completely. Here are just part of those lyrics:

I hear people saying we don't need this war
I say there's some things worth fighting for
What about our freedom and this piece of ground?
We didn't get to keep 'em by backing down
They say we don't realize the mess we're getting in
Before you start your preaching
Let me ask you this my friend.

Have you forgotten how it felt that day
To see your homeland under fire
And her people blown away?
Have you forgotten when those towers fell?
We had neighbors still inside
Going through a living hell
And you say we shouldn't worry 'bout Bin Laden
Have you forgotten?

I've been there with the soldiers
Who've gone away to war
And you can bet that they remember
Just what they're fighting for

Have you forgotten all the people killed?
Some went down like heroes in that Pennsylvania field
Have you forgotten about our Pentagon?
All the loved ones that we lost
And those left to carry on
Don't you tell me not to worry about Bin Laden
Have you forgotten?

My love and prayers go out to everyone that lost someone that they love on 9/11 and to all of the soldiers and their families that have fought to keep us safe and free!

Goals

2009-09-11T00:23:00.003-06:00

Anyone have any suggestions on how to keep the goals that I set? Sometimes I just really get frustrated with myself! There are a few things in particular that I am working on in my life right now. And time after time, I set these goals for myself. And they are even pretty realistic goals, nothing crazy! But it's like I just keep sabotaging myself!

There will be a particular thing that I shouldn't do. And I know that in order to stick with my goals I shouldn't do it. I sit there and tell myself that I shouldn't. And yet, for some reason, I do it anyways! I start to rationalize it all in my mind, or just tell myself that this once wont hurt and I'll get back on track tomorrow. But then a few days later I'm telling myself the same thing again!!! I just never get anywhere with it all.

Honestly, I've never really been one of those people that ever sets a particular goal. I have never cared for New Year's Resolutions or anything like that. So, I really don't have any experience in making and keeping goals. But I know that things will really improve in my life if I can just reach these goals, so I know that in the long run it will be worth it! Anyone have any help you can give me?

Happy Birthday!

2009-09-07T12:04:00.004-06:00

It's my mom's birthday today! Just wanted to wish her a happy one. I told her that she needs to just relax and take it easy all day! And then Scott and Kelli-Rae are coming by tonight and we are all going out to dinner. So that should be fun. Also, I want to wish my best friend Michelle a belated happy birthday. Her's was last week.

As a side note, it seems like my cousin has decided that she is going to get married today too. So congrats to her.

Dystopia

2009-09-03T23:00:00.007-06:00

So I learned something new the other day and wanted to share it. And yes, I'm also going to talk about books! Anyone surprised by that? lol On the website for my online book club, you can track all of the books that you read. Rate the books, write reviews, read other peoples, and other things like that. Also, you can make as many categories, or bookshelves, that you want to sort out your books. In other words, like I have a bookshelf that is audio books. So, if you wanted to know every book that I've listened to on audio, you'd just click on that shelf.

Well, several of the books that I've looked at and read recently, one of my friends has added to a bookshelf that she titled "Dystopia". I had no idea what Dystopia was, so I finally got curious and had to find out! According to wikipidea, "a dystopia is the vision of a society in which conditions of life are miserable and characterized by poverty, oppression, war, violence, disease, pollution, nuclear fallout and/or the abridgement of human rights, resulting in widespread unhappiness, suffering, and other kinds of pain." So basically, the opposite of Utopia, and somewhere that you would never want to live! Why in the world would someone want to read about a world like that? Except, then I started looking through all of the books that I have rated on the website, and was shocked when I realized just how many of them could really fit into that category, especially books that I 've read lately. So why is it that I keep reading these kinds of books? What about them makes it worth it?

I was thinking about all of the different types of worlds that some of these books portray. In "The Hunger Games" and it's sequel "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins, the world is a vicious place where the government controls everything. The citizens can't even stop the Capital from taking 24 of there children every year, and basically murdering them for sport. All while the citizens of the country have to watch and pretend to enjoy what they are seeing. (Quick side note, I just finished reading "Catching Fire" and it was better than I'd hoped for! Fantastic!) I also just recently read the first book of the "Ender's Game" series by Orson Scott Card. In that world setup, when children are just toddlers, a device is implanted in the back of their neck so that they can be watched and examined at all times. Then the smartest, most promising children are taken away from their families at around the age of 6! They are thrown into Battle School, where they learn war techniques at a time in their life when they should be just enjoying being kids. They have no contact whatsoever with their families and probably wont even see them until they are 12-16 years old. In the "Shadow Children" series by Margaret Peterson Haddix, the government wont allow people to have any more than 2 children. So any additional children that are born are forced into hiding. Imagine the type of hiding that the Jews experienced in Germany during WWII, but it has to happen for a child's entire life! If anyone learns about them, they and their families will be killed. And the list just keeps going on! Including, "The Host" by Stephenie Meyer, the "Uglies" series by Scott Westerfeld, "Poison Study" by Maria V Snyder, or "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury and more.

Why do I read these? Why would I want to read a book about kids having to kill other kids just to try to survive? These worlds and situations are horrific, but there is just something about them that is compelling! I think that it must be the triumph of the human spirit that I love. These are characters that you feel like you can identify with in some way. Then you watch them be put into an impossible situation, and you just have to hope that they can survive and thrive! You get the chance to watch how someone can rise from the worst situation and become great! There is just something about this genre that is so heartbreaking and yet completely wonderful! And after reading some of these books, all that I can say is that I sure am glad that they are just fiction!

Severinsen Family BBQ

2009-08-27T14:38:00.006-06:00

Last week, some of my relatives that live out of town were here for a visit. We ended up using that as a perfect excuse for a Severinsen Family BBQ. There were a lot of cousins and spouses and kids that I have not seen for quite a long time! Plus in the last year, there have been 8 new babies born. So it was really fun to have a chance to all catch up. Just about everyone was able to make it and we missed those that couldn't be there for one reason or another.

Here are the pics that I took of each family. I somehow missed taking the picture of my Uncle Lynn's family. I didn't realize what they were all doing until too late. If I can get one of my cousins to email me the picture I'll add it later.

We really had a nice turnout. Of the 65 members of the family (my family, aunts, uncles, cousins, theirs spouses and their kids), 56 were there! 4 family members that live out of town weren't able to make it. And then the timing overlapped with a couple of previously planned trips. So, not too bad! The BBQ was great. Everyone brought fantastic food, and best of all, there were 3 kinds of homemade ice cream! YUM! Here are just some random pictures that I took throughout the evening.

It's been way too long since we all got together or even communicated in some way other than blogs and facebook! Hopefully we can make this a tradition in the future!

Pictures

2009-08-20T13:05:00.004-06:00

Today, I was downloading pics off of my camera so that I could make room to take pictures at a family BBQ tonight. I decided that while I was at it, I should finally figure out how to do some of the fun picture albums that I've seen on other people's blogs.

These pictures are from the 4th of July up in Henefer. I went riding 4'wheelers with Scott, Kelli-Rae, my cousins Amy and Eric and some of their friends. Let's see how this works out! My favorite one has to be the close up of Amy! We all had a blast and were extremely dirty by the end of the day!

Travel Agent

2009-08-11T02:57:00.002-06:00

Sometimes I feel like I really should have gotten a job as a travel agent. I mean, I'm pretty much my families unofficial travel agent already! Whenever my parents want to go on a trip, either with the family or just the two of them, I'm told where they want to go and when. Then it's up to me to find flights, hotels, car rentals. I even help them find what attractions are near by. I used to always have to figure out all of the maps and directions to everything as well, but dad's learned the joys of map quest and so he usually takes care of that himself.

Anyways, my parents are currently in San Diego. They decided to take advantage of the JetBlue flights there before it gets cancelled. There is a particular hotel that they've stayed at numerous times, and loved. So of course, that's where we booked them. Then yesterday morning, I get a phone call about how horrible the hotel is this time, and the staff are just completely rude. So now, I'm scrambling to find them something better! I'm happy to say that I succeeded! I got a phone call about 20 minutes after they had checked into the new hotel, and it was like night and day. But now I just need to get them new maps and directions of where to go!

lol, Maybe I missed my true calling! I should be planning trips! I guess for now though, I'll just be content with being the family travel agent. Time to start planning for Hawaii in May!

Favorite Authors and Genres

2009-08-09T16:11:00.005-06:00

So, I thought that it'd be fun to add links to a few of my favorite authors websites and blogs onto my own blog. But as a started adding, I just couldn't narrow it down to only a few! LOL, I think I've ended up with over 20, and I would be surprised if I don't think of a few more to add later! I just wanted to mention some of them briefly for anyone looking for some new authors to read. I'm sure that some of them I'll end up bringing up in more detail later, especially when they have new books released.

A few of the authors are ones that I've followed since I was a teenager. They are LDS authors that I've always enjoyed, like Anita Stansfield, Jennie Hansen and Rachel Ann Nunes. Their books are some of the first that really got me hooked on reading. A couple of the other authors that I've loved in the same genre are Gerald N Lund and Nancy Campbell Allen. They don't have their own webpage's, so I couldn't add links! Of all of those, my favorite series was probably Allen's "Faith of our Father's" series. They are set during the civil war, and highlight characters both in the North, South, and a little bit from the church members already settled in Utah. If you really aren't into LDS fiction, but still love history, give these a try. The Church is only a very small part of these books, mostly because they weren't affected by the war too much since they had already moved to Utah.

Dan Brown, John Grisham and Vince Flynn are my favorite authors when I'm looking for a great action novel. Flynn is by far my favorite in this genre. He writes political thrillers, with his main character, Mitch Rapp, being a CIA agent. The first book of the series, "Transfer of Power", revolves around a group of terrorists that are intent on taking over the White House and killing the President. It was extremely intriguing to see the way that different members of the government react in very different ways to the crisis. Vince Flynn is one of the best action writers that I have ever read. Once you've started reading his series, you'll want to read them all!

Just about all of the rest of the authors that I have links for would fall into either the Urban Fantasy or Paranormal Romance genres. I find it really kinda funny that I am so into those genres lately. When I was growing up, I hated fantasy novels! If the things in the book couldn't happen in real life, then I didn't want to read it. I never even read the "Chronicles of Narnia" when I was younger. I was more of a Nancy Drew and Thoroughbred Horse Racing girl. When Harry Potter really started to make a name for itself, I did read that series, and loved it. Same with Twilight. But still, I really wasn't into reading anything else fantasy. Then, Kelli-Rae told me that I had to read the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris, and I have been hooked ever since! For about the last year and a half, that's about all that I've read! I just can't get enough of vampires and werewolves/shifters. Throw in a few witches, wizards, and fae and I'm happy!

3 favorite authors in the genre:

Charlaine Harris - Her best series is her Sookie Stackhouse books. It has lots of different paranormal elements, but vampires are the main focus. The first book is called "Dead Until Dark." If you've watched (or heard about) the show True Blood on HBO, this is the series that the show is based off of. I also really like her Harper Connely series, but it's more of an acquired taste. Not everyone would probably love it. I haven't read her mystery series yet, but hopefully I'll get around to them soon.

Patricia Briggs - Her Mercedes Thompson, shifter series easily tops the list. I just love her characters. Mercedes is a were-coyote and most of her neighbors and friends are either werewolves, vampires or fae. If you've never read Urban Fantasy, this is one that I'd recommend. I love novels with a strong, kick-ass female lead. That perfectly describes Mercy. She never lets anyone push her around, not even her neighbor and friend, Adam, the Alpha of the local werewolf pack. WARNING THOUGH! I have had a lot of people not want to read this series because of the covers. For some odd reason that I really can't fathom, the covers make Mercy look like she's a slut. She is FAR from it! In fact, while there is some romance in this series, it plays just a tiny part in the story. And all of it's clean. Please, don't judge this book by it's cover! Start with "Moon Called"

Richelle Mead - Her young adult series, "Vampire Academy" is an all time favorite. It's one of those series that just keeps getting better and better. So far, there are 3 books released. And I have been waiting very impatiently for the 4th book to come out later this month. Mead has several other series as well. I've only read the first book in her Succubus series, but enjoyed it. And I've heard good things about her other books as well.

Hope this gave some ideas to people of what to read next!

The Hunger Games

2009-08-02T01:47:00.006-06:00

I just finished re-reading one of the best books that I've read all year. It easily makes the top 5, possibly even the top spot. The book is called "The Hunger Games", and it's by Suzanne Collins. This is the first book of a Young Adult trilogy, but really it's a book that anyone would love. Kelli-Rae originally read it and lent it to me. I really apologize for how long this post is probably going to end up being. I usually don't like really long blog posts, but I'm pretty passionate about this book! So, it's going to be hard for me to limit myself on what I say!

Before I talk about the book, let me just give an example of how engrossing it is. My mom really enjoys reading, but she's never been someone that will just sit and read for hours on end and finish a book in just a few days. Typically, it takes her a month or so to read a book, especially if she's reading it during the school year. She's too busy with work and everything to read. She's never really understood how I sometimes would rather stay up all night finishing a book instead of sleeping. Also, if she isn't really interested in the book, she's not likely to finish it. I can't tell you how many books she has with a bookmark about 100 pages in, that she's never finished. Anyways, after I finished The Hunger Games, I told me mom what a great book it was, and she decided to give it a try. I believe that she started reading on a Thursday afternoon once she got home from work. For the next couple of days, I rarely saw her put it down! She would walk around the house carrying the book, and when she had a minute or 2, she opened it up just to read another page. She was done with the book sometime on Saturday. I have NEVER in 27 years, seen my mom read a book that fast! Especially not a book that's almost 400 pages long! If that doesn't make you want to think about reading this book, hopefully my description of it will.

The book takes place in an alternate reality. Imagine our country in the future. There have been wars, famine, natural disasters, and a completely and total breakdown of our government and country. What is left is a country called Panem, which consists of the Capital and 12 districts throughout the nation. While the Capital is very wealthy, the districts are very pour. There's no welfare system. You are completely on your own. And the laws are brutal. If you break them, you'll either be subjected to a whipping or more likely be killed. This is not a fun country to grow up in. The main character is a 16-year old girl named Katniss. She is quite the survivor. At the age of 11, her father is killed in a mine explosion and she becomes the soul provider for her mother and little sister Prim. Every day, Katniss and her best friend Gale risk their lives by breaking the law, sneaking under the fence that surrounds their district and going into the woods to hunt, fish, and gather plants and berries. Anything that their family doesn't need for food gets traded on the black market for essentials. Although life is far from pleasant, Katniss and her family are surviving well enough.

But then comes Reaping Day when everything changes. Once a year, the Capital holds The Hunger Games. It's basically their way of showing the districts who is in charge, and who has all the control. 1 boy and 1 girl (called Tributes) from each of the districts has to compete in the ultimate game of survivor. Only one of the 24 will leave the arena alive. Katniss becomes one of the tributes and now she is literally in the fight of her life. She just has to hope that her brains, and nerve, and talent will be enough to keep her alive. She also has to decided who she can trust, or if she can trust anyone. What are people's ulterior motives for what they say and do?

This book has everything! Action, suspense, mystery, friendship, romance, humor in the most unlikely places, and a great psychological element! Once you start reading, you can't put the book down. And then you come to the last page, where it says "End of Book 1" and you wish that you had a time machine to go forward to the day the next book is released! I can't even tell you how much I recommend this book to everyone! Also, as a side note. After I finished reading the book, I ended up having to find a copy of the audio book. It's a fantastic version as well. Also, the second book, Catching Fire, will be released on September 1st.

LOL, I did warn you that I am passionate about this book! I wasn't exaggerating!

Happy 24th of July!

2009-07-24T12:28:00.002-06:00

I hope that everyone has a great Pioneer Day! I can't help but think of those years that I marched in the Days of '47 Parade. Both lots of fun and completely exhausting! Have fun and stay safe. As for me, I'll be working all day. Oh well, I guess that someone has to do it!

100th Book

2009-07-22T17:11:00.010-06:00

This year, for the first time, I decided to keep track of how many books I read throughout the year. The other day, I finished my 100th book of the year: Anne of Green Gables by L M Montgomery. I have no idea if that's a lot of books for me, or just typical! I guess that next year we'll just have to see how it compares.

What a fun and cute book this was! I'm really not sure why I've never read it before. I grew up reading everything that I could get my hands on, had this entire series sitting on my bookshelf for years, and loved the movies. And yet, I never read it! I can easily see why this book is such a classic. It was just a great read! I understand that Anne's ramblings could bother some people, but for me, she just reminded me of myself when I was her age! Of course, my mom would probably say that it reminds her of me now. Who knows! Maybe Anne and I are "kindred spirts". I mean, I do have her name, even spelled with an "e". And yes, I agree, it looks so much better spelled that way! Loved it and can't wait to read the next book in the series!!!

BTW, you might notice that 2 of the things that I have on the right side of my blog say goodreads. That's a website that my friend Michelle got me hooked on! As for the favorie quotes that it shows, if you don't like the one that's up, just refresh your page and it'll change!

Hello!

2009-07-22T05:32:00.002-06:00

So, I finally gave in and created a blog! I'm not sure why I've never had one before and the only excuse I have for starting one now is that I was bored while working! I guess that I've always felt like I would never really have anything to talk about on a blog, but my mom is always telling me that I never stop talking so hopefully I can keep things interesting! Honestly, I have a feeling that at least half of my posts will end up being about books. I'm always having people ask me what books I would recommend, so I'll probably use this blog to do that. Also, with my crazy work schedule, I have a really hard time keeping in contact with everyone that I wish I could. So, hopefully this will help.

I really have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to designing a blog, so any suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated!