Summer Book Review

It's been months and months since I did a book post, but that doesn't mean I haven't been reading! I've read way to many to put together a review of all of them, so here is a list of the books I read over the summer, with a few highlighted:

We've been looking forward to "Breaking Dawn" by Stephenie Meyer since "Eclipse" was released. Will Bella marry Edward? Will Bella end up a vampire? I won't give anything away, but I do want to caution parents that this is not as middle school friendly as the first two books (if you can call the first two books, middle school friendly). I can't say more without spoiling the story. You will have to read it to find out!

"Here Be Monsters!" by Alan Snow was a wonderful surprise! box trolls, cabbage heads, sea cows, rabbit women, pirate rats and an young boy band together to thwart the cheese hunters. This book is fun and will delight everyone. This book would make a great read aload bedtime story. The next book in the series is called "Man in the Iron Socks." I'll be picking that one up too as soon as it hits the library.

I was prepared to like "Moloka'i" by Alan Brennert. It started off sad, and got sadder. I skipped to the end, figuring if it had a happy ending I would keep reading. The ending was sad too.... I like my books with happy endings. I guess that's why I like reading kids' books so much. I never finished reading "Moloka'i." The characters were interesting and "real." The story was well written... just be sure to have a box of tissues handy.


This is a delightful series about a young London girl, Mary. She was orphaned by the plague and taken in by a street gang. When the gang's leader is murdered, she decides to set off on her own and see the world as a boy named, Jack. The adventure starts on the high seas in "Bloody Jack," and continues in the "Curse of the Blue Tattoo." There are several more books in this series that I'll pick up and read one of these days.


Other Kids books:
This is still my favorite genre. I split the kids books I've read into kids and teens catagories.

Flora Segunda by Ysabeau S. Wilce	The Castle Corona by Sharon Creech	The Stone Fey by Robin McKinley
Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon	Horns and Wrinkles by Joseph Helgerson and Nicoletta Ceccoli	The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart and Carson Ellis
Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale	Prince Caspian by C. S. Lewis and Pauline Baynes	The Revenge Of The Shadow King by Derek Benz and J. S. Lewis
House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones	The Hollow Kingdom by Clare B. Dunkle

Teen books:
These are still kids books, but may not be appropriate for young kids.

Two-way Street by Lauren Barnholdt	Austenland: A Novel by Shannon Hale	Down the Rabbit Hole by Peter Abrahams
Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast by Robin Mckinley	Rose Daughter by Robin McKinley	Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier

Other adult books:
I took some reading time this summer to checkout some adult authors who I've heard a lot about, but have never read...

Anyone But You by Jennifer Crusie	Smoke in Mirrors by Jayne Ann Krentz	City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare
Devil May Cry by Sherrilyn Kenyon	All Night Long by Jayne Ann Krentz	Strange Candy by Laurell K. Hamilton
Morrigan's Cross by Nora Roberts	The Flame and the Flower by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss	Dark Possession by Christine Feehan
Taken by Storm by Tami Hoag	Ghost Hunter by Jayne Castle

Vampire romance:
After finishing Breaking Dawn, I went into vampire romance withdrawl. As a result, I ended up reading all the vampire romance that I could find at the library.

How to Marry a Millionaire Vampire by Kerrelyn Sparks	Vamps and the City by Kerrelyn Sparks	Be Still My Vampire Heart by Kerrelyn Sparks
The Undead Next Door by Kerrelyn Sparks	Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris	Sugarplums and Scandal by Kerrelyn Sparks
Sunshine by Robin McKinley	A Hunger Like No Other by Kresley Cole	No Rest for the Wicked by Kresley Cole

Couple of New Layouts

I've been wanting to finish a layout on Chris's track season, since track season ended last Spring. Finally, with motivation and inspiration from the 2ScrappyChixDesigns crop, I finally finished my layout!

Journaling reads: Chris started out in the 1600m (1 mile - PR 5:17) and the 800m (1/2 mile - PR was bad. He was too tired after running the mile. Chris was moved tot he 3200 (2 mile - PR 11:30). He came in third once, making his point total for the 2008 year - 1.

Here is another layout from the 2ScrappyChixDesign crop. Chris was just adorable in his XC sweats, lounging in his chair.

Journaling reads: For homework, for reading, for napping, and video games, PREFECT! It doesn't get any better than this!

Weekly Sports report

Chris had a XC meet today at Laguna Hills High School... he was incredible!!!
The meet was by grade level (frosh, soph, junior, senior). Since there wasn't a varsity race, the varsity sophmores ran the sophmore race. There were at least 10 schools running together. Chris came in 5th for his school (behind the three varisty sophmore runners and one other boy)... so that makes him the #2 sophmore runner this year! He finished the 3-mile course in 17:56... a new PR! That's over a minute faster than his fastest time last year (19:08). He was flying!!!

After his race we headed to his soccer game where he played most of the game. He played great, and the team won 2-1.

Chris's next soccer game is Saturday, 09/20/2008 11:45AM... then he has an XC meet that evening at Woodbridge High School in Irvine at 6:35pm.

Cheryl spent last weekend in San Luis Obispo in a college tournament. They won their first game 4-0, and tied their second game 2-2.

This week Tuesday, they had a game in Ventura and lost 0-3. Cheryl was center defender against a girl they named "Amazon Girl." She was over 6' tall and huge! Cheryl held her own during the first half. The coach put a more agressive player into center defender in the second half, and Cheryl was moved to left defender... the other team then scored their three goals. Cheryl was happy the goals were not her fault...

Friday, Cheryl stayed in the left defender position and made some great runs up the side. The team tied San Diego 1-1.

Cheryl's next game is Tuesday 9/16 at Rancho Capistrano at 3pm, against the #1 college team in their division. She plays again on Friday in Riverside.

Very Cool!

Look what I got!!!



I got this award from my friend Mara. I love visiting her blog too, but it wouldn't do for me to pass this right back to her! LOL!

Here is what I need to do:
1. Pick 7 of your favorite blogs
2. Winners can put the logo on their blog.
3. Link the person who gave your award to your blog.
4. Name the 7 that you are giving the award to with their links.
5. Leave a message on their blogs so that they know they've won!

And here are my picks...
flutteringby: Mary is my bestest Chix! Unfortunately, she had to make her blog private because her work place doesn't allow their employees to have public blogs.
ElephantFreak: Susan is a Message Board friend. She is a wonderful mom and scrapper with a new baby. I always like to check in to see what her family is up to! I also have to checkout what she's reading... we like a lot of the same books.
Brisinger: Becky is another one of my Message Board friends. Just like Susan, she is a mom, and scrapper with a new baby. I love seeing the pics of her family, and her great layouts!
CindeeQ: Cindee is a crafty, working mom, and my former Circle Journal buddy. She has cards, layouts, and she's a CTMH consultant. Her blog is always great for inspiration.
WhoopsieDaisy: Jane is stamper extraordinaire and an SU consultant! She has lots of great project and card tutorials on her blog. I got to meet Jane when she was with her family at Disneyland. She is even nicer in person than she is online!
FarNorth: Jan is my friend from Alaska and another amazing stamper! I love her technique tutorials that she gives on her blog. Her cards and projects are beautiful!

That's it for now!! Thanks for stopping by!

Half-Marathon Photos

The professional photos from the Disneyland half-marathon were posted today. Here is one of our wave starting. I put a circle around Chris and me.
Here are a couple more of Chris and me taken by a photographer.

My mom and dad showed up at Angel's Stadium to cheer us on, And take photos... THANKS MOM!!! Angel's Stadium was at mile 10. You can see the Mile 10 marker behind us.

Recipe to share

Chris and Jim were going to soccer practice last night and Cheryl had a night class. Here's a recipe that I made for my family last night that I found on my friend, Susan's, blog. It's easy, it's fun, and my family loved it!


Beef Cups
1 lb ground beef
2 T water
1 pkg taco seasoning mix
1 cup cheese
1 cup corn
2 cans refrigerated biscuit dough (20 biscuits)
1 tomato diced
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease muffin tin lightly. Brown meat, drain, and remove from heat. Stir in taco seasoning mix, water, cheese and corn. Flatten each biscuit and pt into cups, making sure that the dough reaches the top of the cup. Spoon in meat mixture and garnish with diced tomato. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Enjoy.

Susan made hers with beef, BBQ sauce, and minced onion.
I think next time I'm going to try sloppy joe meat... YUMMY!

Half Marathon results

We finished the half marathon! It was fun. There were lots of Disney characters running around and tons of people!

We left the house at 4:30am to get to the race before the 6am start time. Traffic was so bad that Cheryl and Jim had to drop us off. We walked to the start to find our corral, while they parked the car in the Mickey and Friends parking structure. Jim and Cheryl were waiting at the start line, but they said the start was such a huge mob of people (10849 in the race plus spectators) that it was impossible to pick us out.

People were stopping to take pictures with the Disney characters, and lots of runners were dressed as characters themselves. It's amazing how many men were dressed as Minnie Mouse and Tinkerbell. They are either very confident or kind of weird. There were radio stations, marching bands, cheerleaders, hula girls, boy/girl scouts, and a mariachi band all along the course. With all the spectators cheering us on, it was a very fun time!

Chris and I started in the the third wave of Corral F (2:10-2:15), because we had no idea how long it would take Chris to finish. He took off and left me after the first mile. Chris finished in 01:50:43 with a pace of 8:26. Based on his finish time, I should have started him in the first wave of Corral C. He ended up having to dodge around people for the entire race, so he may have finished faster if he started earlier. I finished in 02:16:57 with a pace of 10:40. When I met Chris at the finish line, he already ate and had his picture taken.

*EDIT*
Chris finished in 1:50.43
Chris finished OVERALL in the top 7% : 770 out of 10849
Chris finished 30 out of 123 in his age group

I finished in 2:16:57
I finished in WOMEN in the top 25% : 1627 out of 6407
I finished 192 out of 717 in my age group

Saddleback College Soccer

College soccer started today, and Cheryl was in the starting lineup as Center Defender (Sweeper), the last defender before the goalie. She played all 90 minutes. She had never played that position before, so was very nervous. She got especially nervous when the Right Defender was injured and had to leave the game. The other girls were very encouraging. The home game against Palomar today ended in a 0-0 tie.

A new layout

I had such great plans to scrap all summer... But here it is, only my second layout and summer is just about over. This layout only uses one piece of patterned paper by Rouge de Garance called "Make Your Mark", one photo, two stickers, and a grungeboard swirl.