4 Years

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!