I Have Finally Read Twilight!

So, after hearing so much hype about Twilight I decided it was time I read the book. Chris got it for me for my birthday and I got the second book for Christmas. I have read them both and I thought I'd stir up some opinions in my comment section by voicing my opinion! (:

I have to say, I was really unimpressed as far as the writing goes. I'd heard that the series is really popular among high school kids and I could tell it really was written at an easy level and to their mentality. It is really a straight story line. Not a whole lot to the plot, just the one brief showdown in Arizona. The whole thing is written from Bella's point of view and I found that a bit tiresome. Plus, I am really annoyed that she is so obsessed with Edward. It goes so contrary to what I hope to teach my daughters about guys. You just can't let them take over your life. She went into such a depression when he left. I just kept thinking, "Get a grip!"

Shouldn't we teach our daughters not to let a guy define who we are or depend on a guy to feel happy? She didn't begin to emerge from her depression until she had renewed a relationship with the other guy who is in love with her. On top of that, she is willing to give up everything and become a vampire for him? It reminds me of Hercules. It always drove me crazy that he gave up immortality for a girl. Isn't our eternal life and exaltation most important? Don't we want to marry someone we can share that with, not someone who will take it away?

I know that I sound so unromantic. I get the romanticism involved, that they love each other so much they are willing to give up so much for the other person. Love is a very powerful thing. I am usually a sucker for romantic stuff, but this one just goes too far for me.

That said, I did read the second book--though I found myself speed reading a bit to get to the main points. (A lot of it just reminds me of reading a long-winded diary.) I will admit that I am interested to see how it turns out--mostly because I hope she redeems herself and finds inner peace apart from Edward. I'm just not sure I want to sift through all the repetitive stuff to see what happens.

So, now it's your turn. Tell me why you agree, or most likely, disagree with me and why! I am curious what all of you think!!!

A Different Kind of Sunday

So today I had the realization that I have to get used to being the "caregiver" of my baby during church. I was released as the primary chorister (this is where I get sentimental... sigh...) two weeks ago and called as the RS Pianist. So, that means that Chris no longer has to take care of Jenna during church. My experience with tending the "baby" during church is quite limited as most of our marriage I have had a calling in Primary. So, today I got to do some hall wandering of my own. It made me very appreciative of my husband. He's had to do this with all four of our kids. Now I know why he always wanted to take the baby and "just go home" after Sacrament meeting. To his credit, he never did. I guess as parents we know that our kids won't ever learn to deal with three hours of church if we take them home. Plus, we can hope that we do absorb a bit of the spirit while wandering the halls.

After church we were finally headed out the door when Courtney got two of her fingers shut in the church entry door. The door was completely closed! My sweet girl was crying quite hard when we finally realized and got the door opened. The many onlookers rushed to her side and we had many people to help us tend her and the other kids as well when we took her back inside. Thankfully they did not get broken, just dented quite badly. We iced them a bit before we left church, had a quick exam by Sister Laird (Courtney's primary teacher last year who works in the ER) and headed home. She is feeling much better, but I'm sure her fingers will be a bit tender for a few days.

I did leave church feeling grateful for the love and concern so many showed to my little girl and for my family. What a great group of people we have in our ward. Thank you!

So anyway, a strange day at church for me. Courtney is fine and I know that I'll adjust to my new routine. I think I'll feel a longing to be back in primary for a while, though!

Baby #4, the good and the bad

THE BAD:

So, Jenna started crawling a week or so before Christmas and it didn't take long for her to start getting into stuff! I found her "sampling" the dog food. Before I swiped it out of her mouth I had to snap a photo! See the lump in her cheek? yup, dog food! She keeps going for more too! I watched Brianna like a hawk and she never had a chance to get into anything!

THE GOOD:

I am WAY more leniant on food with Jenna than I ever was with Brianna. I confessed to the doctor at her 4 month appointment and I got his blessing! "Give her whatever you want, just hold off on honey and cows milk until she's a year." This was said only because we have no family history of allergies at all.

So Jenna, maybe you get away with eating dog food, but you also get to have YOUR OWN ICE CREAM CONE! She's in heaven!

Christmas!

So it is a bit past Christmas, but we've been having too much fun playing to bother with the blog! Besides, Chris was able to take the full two weeks off from work and enjoy being with the kids. It really was a vacation even if we did stay home this year. The kids got exactly what they wanted (we limited their lists to just 2 things or so they really wanted because we were getting some "family" gifts) and we've had a ton of fun! The major family gift was a Nintendo Wii with lots of accessories and games. We've had a lot of fun with it! I got the Wii Fit to go along with it and a new bicycle! Santa brought one to me AND McKayla! I was quite suprised and very happy as I had just noticed on a bikeride the day before that I was "squeak sqeaking" down the street (it was like 16 years old)! It is VERY NICE! LOVE IT!!!!

Chris' parents were here for Christmas and we even got them enjoying the Wii. It is pretty amazing to see them having fun playing video games! Here they are enjoying some bowling.

We've also been enjoying the karaoke machine we got for the family. Chris and I have shared a LOT of laughs already with that thing! The girls got new jump ropes including long ones for double dutch and such. We took them out front and had the neighbor kids joining in. Lots of fun!

Here are the kids with their "treasured" gifts. Chris and I were woken by Jenna at 7:00 and it didn't seem right to be up without the kids, so we pulled them out of bed to go downstairs with us. They were still quite groggy (too many late nights with Grandma sleeping over!), so we didn't get that classic Christmas morning reaction (well, except for McKayla, she never disappoints), but they were obviously happy.

Courtney wanted "a rudolph with a nose that lights up, a dalmation, and a unicorn." She also got the highly advertised Littlest Pet Shop Fitness Center! You can see a peek of my new bike-it's got shocks and everything!

McKayla REALLY wanted a new bike! She wanted one so bad she was stressed out that Santa might not come through and she just couldn't bear the thought of having to ride her small one any longer! Thank goodness Santa found one, because her birthday in July would have been a long wait! (see my old bike behind it--this picture was taken later after McKayla's bike was moved out to the garage.)

Brianna wanted a bike/skateboard ramp and a skateboard. She also wanted an MP3 player from mom and dad. We got her the Sansa Clip--it is awesome! Very reasonably priced and the reviews are great. It is WAY BETTER than the Ipod Shuffle. She loves it!

Overall, a peaceful and fun Christmas!