Book Club

I started a book club this year with my friend Shaylee! I was nervous to be in charge of a book club, but I'm loving it! There are 24 people who are in the club; however, only about 10-15 people come to each meeting. I'm pleased with how many people come and am happy book club has been a success. I look forward to the first Thursday of every month.

Here are the books we're reading for the first 6 months this year:

January: "Out of My Mind" By: Sharon Draper

February: "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" By: Mary Ann Shaffer 

March: “When You Reach Me” By: Rebecca Stead 

April: "Tuesday's With Morrie" By: Mitch Album

May: "The 13th Tale" By: Diane Setterfield

June: When Breath Becomes Air" By: Paul Kalantihi

All of the people in the book club are from my ward. I posted about the idea on a playgroup page for young sisters in the ward. Something that has been hard for me is not picking what books we read. I have tried to give other people within the book club a chance to choose. It has been good for me to read books I wouldn't necessarily pick. Everyone has such different tastes in books. 

We only have books picked through June. I'm still trying to decide what I want to do after that. There are a couple of other books people recommended, but I'm not really a fan. I want people to know that I'm open to their ideas, but I also don't want to read a lengthy LDS fiction novel. That being said, I chose "Out of My Mind" and hosted the January meeting at my house. I thought it would be a good book to start with because it's a quick, easy read and has a powerful message.

Food is obviously a big part of book club. I made sugar cookies and had marshmallow frosting with fruit, for mini fruit pizzas. I also made 7 layer dip. 

What we have done at our first 2 meetings is have questions in a bowl and each person takes one. We use the questions as a guide for our discussion. I like this method because it allows everyone to participate in the conversation and read their question. (Whoever hosts decides how to do it, but this is what we've done for the first two months.) My mom is in a book club and she gave me this idea. It's so great because people who are less likely to speak up, have a chance to.

I loved "The Guernsey and Potato Peel Pie Society" which we discussed at our February meeting and it's becoming a movie! We are going to go see it as a book club together when it comes out. I can hardly wait! This is one of my all-time favorite books.

Something I want to remember for future book clubs is to discuss right off the bat peoples comfort levels. Do people only want to read books that are rated G? I didn't bring this up and then swearing came up. We have decided as a group to only read books that are "PG-13." People can only suggest a book that they have read before, so they know the content.

All in all, this has been a very positive experience for me. I love to discuss a good book and several people have mentioned loving the social outlet. Most of us have young babies at home and like to have some girl time out. My only problem is that I've been reading so much that sometimes I mix up the book we read for book club with another one. I love reading and escaping with the characters into a new universe.

St. George Half Marathon

On Saturday, January 13th, I ran the St. George Half Marathon with my dad. The temperature at the starting line was a balmy 35 degrees. I was grateful for gloves, a hat, and a jacket (at least in the beginning).

This boy loves to travel. He was fantastic on the drive and was fascinated with our hotel room.

I struggle with my shins when I run long distances and I wasn't sure if I would be able to handle another half marathon. I was able to work around my shin problems with new shoes and an appropriate amount of time off between runs. My shins aren't fixed, but I wasn't popping Ibuprofen throughout the half like last time. 

My dad has done several marathons, triathlons, and a half iron-man. We didn't train for the St. George Half together and didn't intend to run it together. (I'm not much of a chatter when I run.) I didn't want to slow my dad down by making him run with me. The morning of the race, my dad asked if he could run it with me. I was surprised, but happy. 

If my dad had not run the grueling 13.1 miles with me, I think I would have had a different outcome. I felt really great at the beginning of the race, okay in the middle, and horrible at the end. There were 3 miles in the middle that were far too hilly and they definitely took their toll. 

My ultimate goal was to finish the race in under 2 hours. I was 19 seconds off, but I'll take it. I was proud of myself and felt like I gave it everything I had. It was fun for me to compare my previous half marathon time with my new time and see that I knocked off 10 minutes.

I'm still nursing James which added another challenge. Staying hydrated was a concern while I was training, and my dad helped remind me to drink at every water station. I also had my first experience with nutritional goo. Not a fan, but who is? The flavor of my goo was even peanut butter, so if I didn't like it, who would?

At about mile 10 I was battling and at my dad's suggestion, I had some more goo, pineapple this time. I was pretty weak at this point and even had my dad open the goo for me. This is also about the time when my headphones died. Perfect timing. I had plenty of quiet, thinking time the last few miles. 

My dad literally helped coach me to the finish line with encouraging words. I was set to make the time I hoped, but I slowed down near the end. Right after finishing, I immediately wanted to sit down. I was exhausted and relieved. I have been asked if I'll do another half. As of now, I'm in no rush to embark on such a difficult task in the near future.

Here are some things I always want to remember about this race experience:

• My Dad asking in the middle of the race what I wanted to eat after. My response was "anything will taste amazing after this goo."
• My Dad trying to be encouraging when we hit mile 8 by telling me, "Only 5 more miles to go. That's like what you typically run on Saturdays." Although he was being positive and had good intentions, I realized I was already exhausted at this point and I was concerned about what would lie ahead.
• Having goo in my jacket pocket (which was tied around my waist) bruise my thigh from hitting it for 13 miles. 
• The super "peppy" lady at the beginning of the race who was so loud and annoying. She even went and spanked 2 strangers butts. 
• Thinking I only had 1.1 miles left of the race, but in reality having 2.1 miles remaining. (Our course overlapped with the 5k course and some of the signs threw us off.)
• Volunteers and cheerleaders at the halfway point loudly saying, "You're halfway there!" Little did they know how discouraging these words were.
• Hearing my mom and Andrew cheer for me at the finish line and not even looking at them. I was so focused on getting to the finish line.

On our way to St. George, we stopped at the Cedar City Temple and did sealings. A family friend is attending SUU and was able to babysit James, so we could go. It was stunning and this temple might have my favorite interior of any temple I've seen.

We had a short, but fun trip filled with good food, lots of laughs, and plenty of soreness. Rumor has it that Andrew and my mom get to do the half next year. I'm excited to be their cheerleader!

Out of the Dark

Saying our family room was dark is an understatement. The lighting was actually so bad that I was embarrassed to have people over. I told Andrew something needed to be done.

Andrew suggested that we get new, brighter bulbs which was a cheap solution. We tried it out and I still wasn't satisfied. 

Can you tell how weak the light is?

Making decisions has never been a quick or easy process for me. I felt a lot of pressure in picking out a new light. Luckily my Mom helped me. We went with a light that has 18 bulbs. What a difference it makes! Lots of people have been complimentary about our new fixture. James is intrigued by the new light and loves to stare at it intently. 

Why didn't we do this sooner? I actually bought a new light fixture right when we moved in, but returned it when I discovered it wouldn't work well in the space. It only took me over a year and a half to replace it.

I started a book club and the first meeting is in January at my house. I told Andrew that before we have all my friends in the club over, I also want a new light over our kitchen table. Check out what we had below and you'll see why.

Our ceiling is pretty low in this area. I dislike the look of a hooked chandelier which is what we had. Finding a light that worked for this space was challenging, but we finally found one. Although it took way too long (3 hours) to put up due to a poor design, even Andrew can say he likes it.

Unfortunately I don't have fantastic pictures of the transformation. Just know that I'm no longer ashamed to have people over. We still have some other light fixtures we need to replace, but for now I'm thrilled with the progress we have made.

O Christmas Tree

Andrew and I have had 5 chances to get a Christmas tree. Our statistics are improving because we are now 1 for 5. We got our first tree ever this year! We aren't anti-Christmas by any means, but we have never purchased a tree until now.

We both have different ideas about what we want in a tree. I told Andrew we could get a real tree (for him). Our plans changed due to the appendectomy. Andrew can't lift much for 2 weeks, so getting a real tree would be tricky. We didn't want to wait 2 weeks to get a tree, so Andrew told me to buy a fake one which is what I wanted all along.

I bought a $39, 6.5 ft tall tree from Walmart. No, it's not our forever tree. It works for now though. 

We put it in our front room, so you can see it through our window when you drive by. What a difference a tree makes! I love turning the lights on at night. I feel much more festive than usual. We even bought stockings and lights for our stair banister. To top it all off, we have a Christmas wreath on our door and a Christmas centerpiece on our table. It's like a whole new house this season!

There are some presents under the tree, but not many. James is enthralled by them and I'm lucky they haven't been destroyed (yet). Andrew is too good at guessing what is in a wrapped present. I learned this the hard way. Now, I usually wait to give Andrew his gifts until the day of. They are not on display under the tree. I'm dying to show Andrew what I got him this year because I think he will be pleased.  It helps that he is one of the easiest people to shop for.

I love the #lighttheworld challenge and we have been doing that again this year. It really helps change your mindset and make you remember what is most important during this time of year. One night, we gave out neighbor gifts. We finally met some neighbors that we should have introduced ourselves to ages ago. I love #lighttheworld because it suggests things to do each day and makes me step out of my comfort zone.

Here is what our neighbors and friends got this year:

I took this picture after we had already delivered some. Oops.

May your WRAPPING be MERRY and BRIGHT

Getting the mail at this time of year is my favorite. Almost daily we have a new Christmas card from family or friends. It's enjoyable to look at the pictures and to display them on our fridge. For the first time ever, we sent out a Christmas card. I now have an adorable baby to show off. I believe I ordered these cards at the beginning of November because I could hardly wait to see them.

What a wonderful time of year this is and there is still plenty more to come!

Appendectomy

As per usual I left my blogging until the end of the month. I had intentions of publishing a post on Thursday, but instead spent the day in the hospital. (The subject was going to be something exciting like COOKIES, but now is titled APPENDECTOMY. That's reality for you.)

Wednesday night, Andrew went to bed and mentioned his stomach hurt. Neither of us thought it was more than a stomach bug. His stomach worsened as time progressed and Andrew was up at 1:00am with pain and was in and out of sleep/pain the rest of the night. His alarm went off at 6:15am and he turned it off and immediately went back to sleep. At 7:30, I woke Andrew up and asked if he was going into work or not. 

He was unsure about what to do. I suggested that Andrew shower and see how he felt afterwards. At this point all I knew was that his stomach was upset and he almost threw up twice. It became quite apparent after the shower that work wasn't an option as the pain progressed. Walking seemed to cause a lot of stress.

I quickly got out of my pajamas, so I could drive Andrew to the Emergency Room. We didn't bother taking the time to change James out of his jammies. (I drove faster than usual which Andrew later commented on.) We arrived at the E.R. at about 8:00am. It didn't seem particularly busy or crowded, but took a long time. 

When the doctor came in, he pressed all over Andrew's stomach. When he touched near the appendix, Andrew screamed out in lots of pain and the doctor apologized. The doctor said if it was the olden days, they would have sent him back to surgery right away, but they needed to do a cat-scan just to verify. The results of the cat-scan took FOREVER it seemed. 

Lots of waiting

Andrew's last time holding James for 2 weeks

The nurse was supposed to give Andrew some morphine so he would be more comfortable. "I'll be right back with it..." After a long time (1 hour), I went out and asked if he could get medicine. All the nurses assumed he already had it. Finally, Andrew was able to get some relief.

The morphine had kicked in here

Right before surgery

One of the nurses came and found us before we were transferred out of the E.R. She said something like... "I didn't think it was actually your appendix. I thought it was just kidney stones." We both thought this was weird. Last time we were at this hospital was when I delivered James and the nurses didn't believe me when I told them my water broke. They must have lots of patients who have false alarms? 

We were lucky that Andrew was able to have the surgery at 12:30pm and it was just under an hour long. Apparently there usually aren't openings until later on in the day. Both of my brothers have had this surgery before, so we knew what to expect and weren't too worried. Andrew has 3 incisions on his stomach. For the operation, they shaved his belly button hair. I was surprised when Andrew came out of the operation with orange (ish) iodine all over his tummy. 

The surgeon said everything went well and Andrew has a follow-up appointment in a week. We left the hospital as soon as we could which was at 3:00pm. Many people mentioned how fast this whole surgery process was. Although the timing worked out in our favor, it was a very long day. (The little amount of the sleep the night before didn't help.) What a relief that we didn't have to spend the night in the hospital!

James was a trooper spending so much time bored in the hospital. He charmed all of the nurses and they even gave him a teddy bear. I'm so grateful we live near family. My sister came and stayed with me and helped with James during the surgery. My Mom brought food and followed us home from the hospital to make us delicious chicken noodle soup. We had friends bring by cookies and family order us pizza the next day which was such a treat. We are definitely watched over!

The recovery process hasn't been too bad. (Coming from the wife, not the patient.) In fact, Andrew is back at work today. Although I would never wish surgery on anyone, I was happy to get to see Andrew more than usual.