2025 in Books

I cut my reading goal close this year but made it! I've learned when grief is fresh, I can't read.

My Year in Books... 
19,946 pages read

65 books read

Shortest book... "The Deal of a Lifetime" By: Fredrik Bachman (65 pages)

Longest book... "Saints: Sounded in Every Ear" By: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (831 pages)

Average book length in 2025... 306 pages

Most shelved book... "Daisy Jones and the Six" By: Taylor Jenkins Reid 

I LOVED the audio. It had a full cast. Really liked this one and discovered they made a show about it. Very entertaining. Language warning.

Least shelved book... "Courage to be You" By: Gail Miller
Gail came and spoke at my stake women's conference and I was amazed and impressed by her. I enjoyed learning more about her past.

My Top Reads
"The Correspondent" By: Virginia Evans

This book is about an elderly retired women. She communicates through emails and letters to her friends and that's how you get to know all the other characters. She is witty and passionate. I read this book in less than 48 hours. I was so glad I went to my book club book exchange and came home with this one.

"The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion" series Volumes 1-8 By: Beth Brower

This series has lots of hype. I read it before it was cool. haha. I had to get kindle unlimited to access the books, but they're now available on audible and at libraries. Hilarious with a love triangle that keeps you needing to know more. A little slow to start.

"The Poisonwood Bible" By: Barbara Kingsolver

I learned so much about Africa that I didn't know. Lots of the details and plot points in this story were jaw-dropping. Left me with so much to think about.

"Sunrise on the Reaping" By: Suzanne Collins

Captivating. Well written. Extremely sad but now I understand Haymitch and his story and why he's the way he is. Thought this was leagues better than "The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes."

"The House of My Mother: A Daughter's Quest for Freedom" By: Shari Franke

Highly recommend the audio. This book is read by the author. I could not stop listening. So fascinating and terrible. I thought the author did a great job not presenting the church in a bad light given her circumstances. Warning-- there is sexual abuse.

"Finding My Way" By: Malala Yousafzai

Listening to Malala say the words in her own voice was great. I love her vulnerability and story.

YA Books I Devoured and Loved
"The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman" By: Gennifer Choldenko (Nearly cried)
"Tig" By: Heather Smith
"Whistling Past the Graveyard" By: Susan Crandall (Glad I didn't give up because it was cute.)
"A Night Devoured" By: Jennifer A. Nielsen (Audio. Good balance making it not too sad.)
"The Talk" By: Darrin Bell (Important and relevant subject matter.)

Solid Reads
"The Matchmaker's Gift" By: Lynda Cohen Loigman
"The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern" By: Lynda Cohen Loigman
"Small Things Like These" By: Claire Keegan (Feel good. Only a 2 hour listen. Beautifully written. Good cozy Christmas time read and the theme was on point.)

"How to Solve Your Own Murder" By: Kristen Perrin (fun mystery)

"The Kamogawa Food Detectives #1" By: Hisashi Kashiwai (Loved the idea that food is memorable for years.)
"The Poppy Fields" By: Nikki Erlick (Thought provoking)
"Truly Devious" By: Maureen Johnson
"How to Seal Your Own Fate" By: Kristen Perrin (Not as good as first)
"Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping (On a Dead Man) Vera Wong #2" By: Jesse Q. Sutanto (Funny. Not a letdown after an awesome first book.)
"Go As a River" By: Shelley Read (Audio was good. There is some language.)
"How to Hide in Plain Sight" By: Emma Noyes (About OCD. I really liked it. There is sex and swearing.)

"Heart the Lover" By: Lily King (Sex and language! Absolutely beautiful ending. Very well- written.)

Parenting Book Club Reads
"Building Resilience in Children and Teens Giving Kids Roots and Wings" By: Kenneth R. Ginsburg
"How to Talk to Your Child About Sex" By: Linda Eyre
"The Danish Way of Parenting" By: Jessica Joelle Alexander
"Bad Therapy" By: Abigail Shrier (Disagree with what it says about medication.)
"The Anatomy of Peace" By: The Arbinger Institute 
"Crucial Conversations" By: Kerry Patterson

Neighborhood Book Club Reads
"The Small and the Mighty" By: Sharon McMahon
"Joe Nuthin's Guide to Life" By: Helen Fisher (Lots of language!)
"The Berry Pickers" By: Amanda Peters
"Rock, Paper, Scissors" By: Alice Feeney (Didn't like the plot. Thought the audio was fun.)
"James" By: Percival Everett (Didn't live up to the hype for me.)
"The Deal of a Lifetime" By: Fredrik Backman
"Here One Moment" By: Liane Moriarty (Led to quite an awesome discussion. Loved the message. Too long.)

Friend Bok Club Reads
"The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession" By: Michael Finkel (Surprisingly good! Audio)
"Weyward" By: Emilia Hart (Not my favorite. Very heavy. Lots of triggers.)
"The Wishing Game" By: Meg Shaffer
"Skipping Christmas" By: John Grisham
"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" By: Mark Twain

Rom Coms
"The Love Haters" By: Katherine Center (Cheesy, predictable, great escape.)

"Ruthless Vows (Letters of Enchantment #2)" By: Rebecca Ross (Read a long time after the first book and still grasped/enjoyed.)

"It's a Love Story" By: Annabel Monaghan (This author is usually clean so I was surprised by the sex.)
"The Wedding People" By: Alison Espach (Cute premise. Language warning!)
"The Husbands" By: Holly Gramazio (Pretty naughty. Language and steamy! Amazing plot.)
"Letters for Emily" By: Camron Wright (Squeaky clean.)
"The Exception to the Rule" By: Christina Lauren (Language!)
"Tangled Up in You" By: Christina Lauren (Swearing!)
"The Three Lives of Cate Kay" By: Kate Fagan (Wouldn't recommend to everyone.)

Non Fiction (Lots in the Parenting Book Club category too)
"Everything is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection" By: John Green (Liked this one a lot. Didn't expect tuberculosis to be so intriguing!)

"Strokes of Genius: Federer, Nadal, and the Greatest Match Ever Played" By: L. Jon Wertheim
(Go Federer!)

Books That Disappointed Me

"The First Ladies" By: Marie Benedict (Slow start for me and then I was disappointed/mad to find out at the end that some of the details were made up...)

"Rules of Civility" By: Amor Towles (Long and wordy. He's not my favorite author.)
"The Mystery Guest (Molly the Maid, #2)" By: Nita Prose (Huge letdown after loving the first one. Guessed the ending.)

Now it's your turn to tell me what you read and loved this year and I'll add it to my list!

Together at Last for the Holidays

Penelope was sad when we put the Christmas tree away. She asked where the tree went and gave it a goodbye hug. How is Christmas over already?

Isabelle wrote a paper at school about her favorite holiday tradition and she talked about singing Christmas carols as a family. I will miss the music and the nightly Christmas stories/chocolate advent calendars, and the excitement.

Thursday, December 25

This season was extra special because my parent's are back from Brazil! My brother and sister and their families flew in and we had giant party after party. 

My mom hosted all of my dad's side of the family for Christmas dinner. I made nearly 10 pounds of funeral potatoes, 48 rolls, and 7 layer dip. 

We also had birthday celebrations for Dorothy who turned 1 and Esther who is 10. The only thing that was missing was Joel.

Read on to see far too many pics of my favorite holiday of the year.

Choir

James and Isabelle had an amazing opportunity and got asked to sing in a children's choir. The director is in our ward and last minute got asked to get a youth choir together to sing along with the Draper Philharmonic orchestra. I'm grateful she included my kids. Isabelle was the youngest member of the choir and only 1st grader! She learned the 2 songs well and had the biggest smile the whole time on stage. One of the last choir rehearsals was canceled and she was upset and shed some tears. She wanted to go sing with the choir every chance she could.

The kids had several practices and 2 performances at Skyridge High in Lehi. My parent's and Grandma came. 

Friday, December 19

Christmas Sunday

This year I opted for getting new accessories instead of new dresses and sweaters. The girls got matching red velvet bow/headbands. The boys got Christmas socks. Andrew sang in the choir, and I sang in a small women's group and last second accompanied the primary children. After our church service, Izzy and I went to my parent's ward to watch their Christmas program since my mom wrote it and arranged the music.

Sunday, December 21

Santa Take 2

The first time we went to see Santa, Penelope wanted nothing to do with him. Good thing there was another chance at school/daycare. Apparently she had no fear and went right up to Santa and was very brave.

Friday, December 19

Spongebob

I wouldn't recommend this movie but I've never really been a Spongebob fan. Penelope made it through the movie! I didn't have to take her out once. This movie wasn't too long. My kids had never seen Spongebob and James was especially intrigued. Chris, Rob, and Andrew went to see the new "Avatar" movie too. That doesn't tempt me in the slightest. It is 3 hours and 15 minutes long. Need I say more?

Tuesday, December 23

Gingerbread Houses

Jessica had us over for a Christmas craft, hot chocolate, pizza, and decorating gingerbread houses. Oh what fun we had!

December 13

Christmas Eve

My girls helped me make dozens of sugar cookies to decorate! We went shopping for each other at "Five Below" this year instead of the dollar store. James got Isabelle a K-pop Demon Hunters poster. She exclaimed "this is the best gift you've ever given me James." Isabelle got James a water rocket. James got Penelope a squish mellow. Isabelle got me makeup brushes. James got Andrew checkers. On Christmas Eve, we had pizza, the kids got matching pajamas and cousin crew tshirts, acted out the nativity, did cousin/sibling gifts, and sang karaoke. Jill brought a new fun game that we've been playing lots called "First to Last."

Penelope got a custom, "I want chips" tshirt embroidered by Lindsey! And Ms. Rachel jammies! She did not want to take them off.

Christmas in Color

Watching lights in the bed of a truck is pretty cool for little kids. Though hearing the music back there was tricky. They didn't care too much.

Friday, December 26

Christmas Wrapping Paper

Can you guess which kid got which paper?

Christmas Card

Anniversary

We've been married for 13 years! Woah! We celebrated on Saturday, December 27 (instead of Sunday, December 28). We did sealings at the temple and got Mexican food at a restaurant we hadn't tried before--Chungas which has excellent reviews and friends have raved about. My mouth was on fire and I didn't even get the spicy sauce. I'll order something different next time. We were impressed with the place and got free drinks because it was our first time. Andrew got the hot sauce and started to sweat but loved it. Many thanks to Jeff, Lindsey and Esther for watching our kids! We don't always get to celebrate our anniversary in December due to the business of the season, so we are extra grateful.

Saturday, December 27

We've found time for pickleball and we continued our tradition of making salsa for my parent's friends/neighbors. The grandkids helped deliver it. This post made a dent in what we've done (and I didn't cover everything), but there is still more to come. Here we come Luminaria and Soldier Hollow. 

Windy pickleball day!

Salsa delivery Friday, December 26

Monday, December 29

Luminaria Tuesday, December 30

Soldier Hollow bust Thursday, January 1

New Normal

Life goes on. Yes, I'm still grieving. Penelope has seen me cry plenty and kept asking why. I told her my brother died. She'll still randomly say, "your brother died?" to me. It sometimes makes me laugh because it's so cute but it's also a sad reminder and truth. 

Having my older siblings in town for Thanksgiving wasn't planned, but they were still around after the graveside so it was fun to have them here. We played pickleball Thanksgiving morning which might be a new tradition! We enjoyed it so much we played the next morning on black Friday too. Penelope cherished her time with Jeff and Jill and continues to ask where they are.

This purple dress (from Anthropology) I'm wearing is Joel/Jolyn's and I found it in her house. On Thanksgiving, my sisters and I all wore it (in varying colors/ versions) in Jolyn's honor. Joel/Jolyn's death has been heavy. I've been thankful for some distractions-- basketball, the aquarium, Santa, the movies, Cirque Du Soleil, a Ditto dinner, and a puzzle.

Basketball

James tried out to be on a club basketball team. We learned they held 2, two hour practices a week in addition to games and the practices weren't close by. It was also really expensive. Needless to say, we didn't do it. Instead, we signed James up for I9 which is another league that's more low key but a step up from Jr. Jazz. I9 actually keeps score! I'm happy with our decision.

James has rocked the season and has an awesome coach Jason! James has scored every game! The games are walking distance to my parent's house and they have come to support James all season. James does the cutest victory run after he scores. The goal is to catch it on film. He sprints full speed and swings his arms up.

Game 1: Saturday, November 8, James scored 2 points

Game 2: Saturday, November 15, James scored 2 points

Game 3: Saturday, November 22, James scored 4 points

Game 4: Saturday, December 6, James scored 10 points

Game 5: Saturday, December13, James scored 4 points

Game 6: Saturday, December 20, James scored 6 points

I told James if he scores 12 points this season, he would get a prize. He got a watch and tried negotiating another prize for more baskets. So far he's made 22 points. On Black Friday, the league had a special discount going, so I signed James up to play again next season too which starts in January. Watching James play basketball is a highlight each week.

Aquarium

For Christmas this year, my parent's gifted us a membership to the aquarium! I love experience gifts and it's close to our house too. Going to the aquarium was one of our first outings since my Joel/Jolyn's passing and it was needed.

Saturday, November 29

Santa

Penelope would not give Santa a chance. She was there though. James requested a drone from Santa and Isabelle an axolotl giant squish mallow. I wasn't up for going.

Monday, December 1

Zootopia 2

Why did I think Penelope could handle a movie? She talked about going to the "heater" aka theater for days. She lasted about 30 mins and then started chasing George around at full speed. Eventually, I had Andrew stop working and come get her. James asked to go see Zootopia 2 again!

"Twas the Night Before Christmas"

We went on a double date to Eccles theater and saw "Twas the Night Before Christmas" by: Cirque Du Soleil. My parent's gave us their tickets and watched our kids so we could go with my sister. So sweet of them! There were some amazing tricks! The couple roller skating was talented. All of the dancers could bend in ways I can't fathom. One girl was hanging upside down on a rope at the top of the stage only by her hair. Another performer danced using a bike as a prop.

A highlight of the show was when one of the performers was trying to amp up the crowd. The performer kept raising and lowering his hands to get the audience to cheer louder and softer. After about 5 minutes of cheering, the performer was ready to move on. Andrew was ready to give cheering his all and didn't realize we were done. The instant the performer moved his hand, Andrew full voice started screaming in a really low, deep voice, and planned to get higher. I could NOT stop laughing. Nobody else was cheering. The rest of us had stopped. I worry Andrew startled the poor boy sitting next to him.

If you want to enjoy a show to the fullest capacity, I strongly encourage taking Andrew along with you. He laughs at everything, and applauds graciously. He's your dream audience member and would enjoy every moment being called to the stage.

Friday, December 5

Ditto Dinner

We had our nieces and nephews who are living in Utah over. They are a nice crew and my kids love it when we host them. Andrew and I love it too. Penelope cried when everyone left and was in her element with so much attention. She kept giggling and saying, "again" after having various cousins toss her up in the air. Unfortunately, Isabelle threw up while our guests were over and James did later. We played jackbox games and "Santa, cookie, elf, candy, snowman."

The menu:

-Deviled eggs

-Double batch of grilled terriyaki chicken with rice

-Pinnapple x2

-Salad bag x2

-Rolls

-Lemon pie x2

Sunday, December 14

Puzzle Tradition

My parent's give each family a puzzle to start on December 1. This year the puzzle is a 1000 piece puzzle of the city of South Jordan. We race and see what family finishes first. A couple of families finished within 2-3 days. Andrew and I came in last and took a week and a half. Much to our dismay, we learned that we're missing ONE piece of our puzzle (thanks Penelope). I was bummed and planned on gluing and framing this puzzle to display in our home. I've found a solution. Thanks to Jess and Chris for letting us take the piece from their puzzle. I've found this missing puzzle piece to be a metaphor for my life lately. A piece of us is missing Joel/Jolyn and will be forever. Joel/Jolyn you've left a big hole and unfortunately I can't buy a replacement piece.

Can you spot the missing piece?