Moms New Home

I have not used this blog in ages and ages, I honestly should have closed it because I think blogging isn't really for me but I am glad I didn't because I need it today!! My mom is moving to Arizona to a new place that I have picked out for her, I have sent her some pictures and she has seen the web site but she is getting it based on my word. Augh !! Tons of pressure!! So this post is mostly for her (Hi Mom!!) so she can see more pictures than I can attach to an email along with my descriptions.                                                                        Remember everything is boring beige right now but we will be decorating and adding color all over so it will be much prettier!

This is the front door, the plaque with the sun on it will have your name engraved on the plate as soon as you move in.

 

This is just inside the front door and also the door for the hall closet

 

This is the inside of the hall closet, it is wider than the doorway and goes back a bit on either side, they said we are free to add shelves etc so we will be able to store a lot of stuff in this closet.

This is the bathroom sink

Bathroom picture from the door 

Shower and bathroom linen closet

Washer & dryer 

it may be hard to see but to the left of the washer/dryer is a reasonably sized space we could put shelves or stackers in for storage

the door on the right is the door to the bathroom 

This is the hallway open door on right is bathroom with laundry closet straight ahead doorway on left is bedroom and that is another hall closet on the right.

This is looking through the door into the bedroom. 

This picture makes it look smaller than it is, it's hard to get good angles that show the whole room

This is looking at the walk-in closet in the bedroom

This is looking at half the walk in closet there is identical hanging space to the left

This is looking out into the bedroom from the closet

This is the living room and the french doors out to the balcony

another angle of the living room

Emily and Jordan on the balcony

another angle of the balcony

This is your next door neighbors balcony so you can see there is enough room for a table and some chairs plus they have hanging baskets of flowers and potted flower/plants on the balcony

Here is the kitchen it is open to the living room and has a nice size bar you can get stools to sit up to 

under and to the side of the sink on the bar/counter are lots of cabinets 

(sorry I forgot to get a picture from that angle) Also you can see the wall at the end of the bar stops before the far wall, that is because there is a full length, decent sized pantry type cupboard in that corner.

Another view of the living room

View down the hallway it is nicely decorated and cozy feeling

This is the seating area pretty close outside your door

(in the opposite direction of the other picture)

So that's it hope it helps you visualize a little better what it will be like. 

I HOPE, HOPE, HOPE you like the place, everyone I have taken to it thinks it is great hopefully you will too! Love you tons Mom!!

25 Random Things and Such

Every once in a while something comes along Facebook like a virus and asks you to post things about yourself. I thought these were exactly the kind of thing one should be including in their blog (and I stole the idea from Rebecca...thanks!) So I clicked cut, and then paste. Definitely the easy way to write a post!!

25 RANDOM THINGS ABOUT ME
1. I am currently enrolled in college in a teacher prep program and if all goes right I should be
teaching by the fall of 2010 or at least 2011.

2. I got a 100 on my first college final in 23 years!

3. I read a lot, and when I don't have time to sit and read I listen to audio books on my Ipod.
Most of what I read could not exactly be called literature; they have about as much literary
value as the average movie but I love books that take you away to experience something new.

4. I watch/listen to a lot of TV, usually while I am doing something else I'd rather not do. ie:
laundry, moping the floor, cleaning bathrooms, ironing etc. you get the idea.

5. I am a big fan of 'Procedural' TV shows CSI, NCIS, Bones, Law and Order, Closer etc. if they
were real I would have a PhD in forensics and criminology, but unfortunately I am still only
qualified to watch.

6. I am the mother of 4, my kids are 23, 21, 19 and 7. I love them more than I have words to
express.

7. I find being the parent of adults wonderful, but also much more challenging than I ever
thought it would be. I am trying to learn to keep my mouth shut a skill needed in parenting
adults and one that does not come naturally to me.

8. I like to talk, with girlfriends, on the phone, with my kids, with my husband, with people at
church, with strangers in the video store, whatever. I often talk too much and too long and
offer too much information and have to constantly remind myself to STOP! Like now!

9. I love rock concerts!

10. I listen to NPR in my car. I know total nerd.

11. I am a procrastinator, I have gotten much better at getting things done, but it is still my
nature, later always seems like a better time.

12. I am a little; OK a lot nuts about weight issues. Its one of the central obsessions in my life.

13. I love working with the young women of our church, they are my favorite people.

14. I like candy, a lot!

15. I love my laptop its one of my favorite possessions

16. I like to please people maybe a little too much I hate it when someone is mad at me.

17. I use my hands when I talk, I am always trying to work on that one, but I can't seem to stop.

18. I love dogs, especially our dog buddy who is one of my best friends.

19. I love to scrapbook but NEVER find time; maybe I should cut back on the books and TV?
Nope don’t think that’s going to happen.

20. I could easily spend 3 hours in Barnes and Noble and not notice that much time went by.

21. I would love to see castles and art galleries in Europe but would be just as happy with new
sofas in my family room.

22. I feel naked with out my cell phone and keep it with me at all times see #8

23. I like electronic/techie things; I would rather get a shiny new laptop than a shiny new
diamond any day.

24. My husband loves seeing movies at the movie theater; consequently I see most everything
that’s not rated R.

25. My favorite place in my house is my office.



FIRST TIMES
1. Who was your FIRST prom date?
Never went - Jr. Year boyfriend broke up with me, used prom money to buy a new transmission Sr Year- I was already gone to BYU Ya I know I was scarred for life
2. Your FIRST alcoholic beverage? Champagne- My cousin Cherie's wedding reception... I was 10 .....BEFORE we joined the church :)
3. What was your FIRST job? Randy Jones Car Wash
4. What was your FIRST car? Brown 1976 Honda Civic
5. Who was the FIRST person to text you today? My 2nd Counselor Marisa
6. Who is the FIRST person you thought of this morning? Erin....we were both up at 4am cause we couldn't sleep
7. Who was your FIRST grade teacher? Mrs. Okoniewski... Yes, I had to look it up who can remember a name like that!!
8. Where did you go on your FIRST ride on an airplane? The Philippines - I was 6 weeks old
9. Who was your FIRST best friend & do you still talk? Shauna Butler age 7-10 went to primary (Wed. afternoons) with her she helped our family join the church....No, I would love to find her!! First Teen Best Friend - Pam Tyler still my best friend now, I'm thinking she is stuck with me.
10. Where was your FIRST sleepover? Shauna Butlers house
11. Who was the FIRST person you talked to today? Erin
12. Whose wedding were you in the FIRST time? My sister Bev
13. What was the FIRST thing you did this morning? Let out the dog....she was quite desperate
14. What was the FIRST concert you ever went to? REO Speedwagon and Journey at the Salt Palace I have never been the same :)
15. FIRST tattoo? age 4 ....oh can we include the ones from the Cracker Jack boxes?
16. First piercing? My ears...age 16
17. First foreign country you've been to? The Philippines
18. FIRST movie you remember seeing in the theater? Mary Poppins at a Drive In (I have been informed by my sister Bev, who was there, that it was not a drive-in. I must have my memories mixed up.)
19. When was your FIRST detention? 4th grade - I socked Stephen (I remember for some reason it was spelled with a ph) in the stomach because he spit in my friend Collettes hair. Also my first experience with injustice!
20. What was the first state you lived in? California
21. Who was your FIRST roommate? Laurie Vaughan at BYU Deseret Towers Spring 1981
22. If you had one wish. What would it be? I think the truth would get me in a lot of trouble.... so I guess I will go with being totally debt free
23. What is something you would learn if you had the chance? To totally rip on the electric guitar.....but given my deformed pinkies tis only a dream.

THREE THINGS
Three Names I go
1. Mom
2. Jennie
3. Sister Bradfield

Three Jobs I have had in my life
1. Car Wash Cashier
2. Furniture sales
3. Interior Design assistant

Three Places I have lived
1. Poway, California
2. Provo, Utah
3. Maple Valley Washington

Three TV Shows that I watch
1. NCIS
2. Burn Notice
3. Chuck

Three places I have been
1. Niagara Falls
2. Grand Canyon
3. The Philippines

Three of my favorite foods
1. Chicken Salad at Costa Vida
2. Fajitas at Chilis
3. Cake (chocolate, carrot, wedding, birthday, whatever)

Things I am looking forward to
1. Our next girls trip
2. Teaching
3. Kristi coming home

My First Final Exam (in 23 years)

I was really nervous to take this test, finals are a big deal. I did really well on my mid term but I was still pretty nervous, finals are usually harder and it was over more units. I have to get pretty great grades to get into and stay in this program, they want well qualified teachers. I get that, I wouldn't want a teacher who got D's in her education classes teaching my kid. Well I GOT A 100!!!!! That’s 100%, all points possible, I couldn't’t believe it! After I took the test I felt pretty good, I was nervous but I figured I knew it pretty well and I probably didn’t totally bomb it. But the test was all essays so it makes it really hard to know how you did. Did I cover everything? Did I use all the right terms? Spell them right!!? So add that to the fact I haven’t taken a real college Final Exam in like 23 years I was pretty freaked. It took my teacher 4 days to score the mid term which at the time felt like an eternity so I was expecting about that for the final but she was way faster this time. After the mid term I was checking my score on line every couple hours. Sunday morning (the day after the final) I checked, I didn't really think there was any chance it was scored, but it popped up and it said 100!! I squealed, (honest not scream just squealed, I’m not proud of it just giving you the facts) I couldn't’t believe it was a 100! I was so excited!! I was actually bouncy! I bounced into my room and told Robert who was in the shower, he looked over the shower door and said “good job” nice but not nearly enough. I understand excited is not one of Roberts regular verbs but I needed a little more enthusiasm. Hey this is a big deal to me, so I called Jessica and she was suitably impressed she has been pretty excited about this college thing since I started. But then I called my mom, now if there is one thing a girl, even a girl my age can count on it’s that her mom will celebrate with her in her good news, (I think its in the mom manual) anyway she was great she squealed and clapped her hands and made all manner of excited noises and of course said she knew I would do great cause again, that’s what moms say, but even though you know its coming from your mom who is only completely biased, it still makes you feel good. This is the first time ever I have gotten a perfect score in a class. I got all points possible on the midterm, all points possible on the homework and then all points possible on the final. Woo Hoo!! As you can imagine I am super jazzed about this development. Back in college (the first time) I was a solid B student, sometimes I squeaked in an A and sometimes I slipped and got a C. But even when I got A's they were like 93% A's never 100% A's!! I am so happy about the results and most importantly I have a lot more confidence now that I can do this crazy thing I have taken on. I may actually become a teacher.

I have gone back to school!!

I am so excited I have gone back to school ! I am going to be a teacher!! This is not a whim, it's not even a new idea, I have been thinking about this and planning for it for many years. I had it all figured out even to the point of filling out applications 8 years ago when I found out I was pregnant with Emily. Obviously that put things on hold for a little bit! For the last couple of years since Emily has started school I have been thinking of getting going again but the idea of spending thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars held me back. Then I was surfing on a state certification web sites and found a new program they started. After the 'No Child Left Behind Act' there were new requirements about the proportions of teachers that had to be 'Highly qualified' that meant a lot of teachers on provisional certificates had to go back to school and a lot of new applicants needed more credits. Before only 4 Schools in the state were approved to educate teachers, ASU, NAU, Grand Canyon and University of Phoenix. Now because they had to change the requirements many more schools were allowed to start programs just to handle the load. So I was looking at the list of schools and I saw Rio Salado. I almost freaked because Erin had taken classes there through her High School Dual Enrollment (you get college credit for advanced HS classes) I knew what their tuition was cause I had paid it for Erin and I knew it was affordable. They have what they call a Post-Bac teacher certification program. Which basically means if you have a bachelors already you can take 27 credits (about 2 semesters) of EDU classes, do a 9 week student teaching, pass all the teacher boards and you have a teaching certificate! All at Jr. college prices!! YEA!! So I jumped right on that puppy and signed my self up. Because it is mostly online it is really flexible and works with my Mom Job perfect. I am going to start part time and see how the family does, I will probably go part time year round instead of full time and take summers off like traditional students. But then there is nothing traditional about this student!! So in about 2 years I should be in a classroom somewhere in the East Valley teaching school. I am leaning toward High School mostly because I like teenagers, but I have a few classes coming up that have in class (observing, helping the teacher) requirements and am waiting to 100% decide till I have more info. I would love to also get certified as a Library teacher and run a library at a school. I have to teach for a while to be able to do that so it is a further-down-the-road-lets-see-what-happens kind of goal. So there you have it Jennie Bradfield, 46, college co-ed! (hey I even got into a movie cheap the other day with my student ID, how cool is that!!)

Jessica Got Married!!

Jessica and Steve

February 7, 2009

I can't believe Jessica is married!!

So here's the story Jessica and Steve got engaged right near Christmas. The plan was they were going to get married at the end of May or first of June because Steve has an internship with the Clinton foundation in Boston till the end of May and Jessica was going to be doing her student teaching in Arizona till the end of May. But unfortunately ASU messed up and Jessica wasn't allowed to do her student teaching this semester so she decided she wanted to go to Boston with Steve. That required moving up the wedding date.....a lot! Instead of 5 months to plan we had 3 weeks. We got to work and were able to pull it off, it helped that Jessica fell in love with the second dress she tried on (I think we set a record of quickest bride at Davids bridal...ever) and she was amazingly easy to please and decidedly not bridezillaish. I tried out my floral arranging skills and did all the flowers for the wedding, I think I found a new talent, they all turned out really good. (Am I allowed to say that?) We had the wedding and luncheon at a restaurant in Tempe and it was really pretty. The wedding was really, really small, basically just our immediately family, Steve's parents, my mom and a couple of Jessica's girl friends. She and Steve plan to have a reception in June after Steve's internship is over so hopefully we will be able to share that with a lot more family and friends.

I really can't believe she is married!!! I am sure all mothers feel this way and I am not alone, but I still can't believe my little girl is married, that she is old enough, grown up enough, to be married. I know, I know she is 23! But this girl has always been such an independent person, since she left me without even looking back on her first day of nursery to her and her best friend making plans to move out and get an apartment after HS graduation (they were making these plans when they were 16!) she has always been ahead of me. I have always been trailing behind saying "Are you sure you are ready?" "Do you really think you can do this" and she has always been saying "no problem Mom, relax!" So once again she is ready before I am, but as always I will give her a hug, smile, hold my breath, say a prayer and reluctantly let go, wishing her everything wonderful in her life, and wondering where all the years went.

All the Bradfields

Erin - the beautiful maid of honor

Three generations

Mom, Jessica, and Grandma Weingard

Miss Emily

the cutest Jr. Bridesmaid around

Jessica and Erin
Sisters and best friends


Jason and Kelsey

I'm Blogging!!

Ok I know it has been 2 and a half months since I posted on my blog so I am officially a super lame blogger. I know in my last post I said I was going to only post when I wanted to and not feel guilty about it, but I never intended to go this long. That being said a whole lot has happened in the last few months so much so I should have been blogging all that much extra but I do not seem to have the skill of chronicling my life and living it at the same time. Since the last time I blogged my daughter got married (and I planned and did much of the wedding), she moved all the way across the country to Boston, I started college and finished my first couple of classes, and changed my major! I just finished my class and I did really great! So now that I have a break in school I have a little time to catch up here. There is more of course but these are the highlights I imagine I should cover each one with a separate post, hey good idea see you there.

Double edged sword

I was blow drying my hair yesterday and got to thinking (I have to take whatever opportunity to think that comes along) about my giant list of to do's and everything that needs to be done for my kids, Young Womens, school, the house, Robert, Christmas, our finances, my blog, my to be read book list, my diet - or lack thereof, the environment, ......... AUGH! I feel a bit over loaded, I think that is the normal for moms, at least the normal for me but it has become much more intense lately. In that moment I realised that this blog has become a lot like my journal, this wonderful place to express myself (here publicly, my Journal, a little more privately) a place to connect and share. But it has also become just like my journal in the pressure I feel just by it's very existence. It is always on my to do list always nagging at me, sometimes silently and sometimes actually (through comment by readers, honest I am not that crazy yet hearing voices from my blog) . This blog has become a double edged sword for me something wonderful when its good but something dark and draining when its bad. So I have decided to shake free of all of it. No, I am not shutting down my blog I am just rejecting the pressure, I will post when it makes me happy, period. If that is once a month, great, if its once every 2 months, fine, if its 3 times in one week, great! I am taking it off my to do list and taking it off my guilt list!!! Honestly I need to do this with many, many more things in my life but here it is manageable, controllable, and absolutely no one will be harmed in anyway if I am an inconsistent, undependable, blogger. I think I need to save my dependability and consistency for other things I would hate to run out.

We Start Young Aound Here!

Emily went to her first rock concert tonight!! We had so much fun! A couple of weeks ago I bought tickets to see Goo Goo Dolls on the 16th and Sheryl Crow on the 21st of October. These concerts have seemed doomed for us, I was going to see Goo Goo Dolls with Erin but she and I both got sick and couldn't go. Then Jessica was going to go see Sheryl Crow with me but she got sick today and couldn't go. I really didn't want to go by myself and Erin and Joy both had things they had to do. I figured I was just out of luck, then I thought "hey maybe Emily might want to go!" She did and we had a blast. It was so cute to see her out of her seat dancing to the music clapping along and totally loving the experience. Hey she is my kid after all!! The Concert was at the State Fair so afterward Emily went on a few rides and we had a really great night together. I think I have found a new concert buddy!

Maroon 5 and Counting Crows

September 10, 2008

Maroon 5

Counting Crows

Emily Johnson and Erin

Us Girls having fun

About 2 months ago Emily Johnson, one of the laurels in my class, came into Young Women's a little sad and unhappy. She had found out that Counting Crows was coming to Phoenix in concert but none of her friends wanted to go and her parents understandably didn't want her to go by herself. Then she remembered that I like Counting Crows (we talked bands on the drive back from the Trek) so she said "we should go Sister Bradfield". I am not sure if she was serious but I thought that would be fun so I told her it sounded like a great idea. When I got home I checked on tickets and talked to Erin and texted Emily and just like that we got tickets. It has been fun talking about it and looking forward to it and then it finally came. It was so much fun Emily is a blast to be around so sweet and fun and she and Erin together are even crazier and funner than each of them alone. The music was great Maroon 5 was way better than I expected and Counting Crows was great of course. This is the third time I have seen them in concert and they never disappoint me. I love live music you feel it rather than just hear it. Hmmm who should we see next.

My Gift of Perspective

I have been wallowing a bit lately its not pretty and definitely not something I am proud of but still true. Our ward just got moved to another stake which in and of itself is a good thing. All my girls in YW are now in the stake that most of the kids they go to school with are in. They will be with their seminary friends etc. for stake events. But as I began to hear murmurings and they are just that, murmurings it looks like there is a good chance the ward boundaries in the stake will be changed. We live in a tiny little jut of our ward, right on the border which would easily be split off and put into another ward. If this happens I of course will be released and I will be in a different ward than 90% of the people I have grown to love and be friends with in our ward. I have built my life around the Young Women, and my work there, maybe too much but still true nevertheless. Thinking of my life without my girls AND my friends in Elliot ward was bleak. So I wallow. As I was wallowing I was doing some blog stalking, checking out the blogs of friends of friends etc. I happened onto a Blog by Bethany's brother, Trey and his wife. (Bethany is one of Jessica's really good friends.) As I read I began to cry and then before long I knew I was done wallowing. I had been given the gift of perspective. Sometimes we can get so focused on tiny little things that the big picture becomes unclear. On this blog I read about how Treys wife Amber lost her baby sister, her mom delivered early and the baby was just not strong enough to survive, she lived a very short time and passed away. This baby was only 2 weeks earlier than Emily was and as I read I could see myself in Amber's mothers place and I felt so grateful for our Emily and all she has brought to our lives and so grateful she has been so healthy considering she was more than 9 weeks early and so ashamed I forgot all I have and all the Lord has done for me. If the ward splits it does, I know the Lord will look after me and make it OK or make me strong enough to find a new way. He always does I don't know why I can't hold on to that. I hate how easy it is to forget the big picture and I am grateful for this blogging medium so I could read baby Jades story and be reminded of how much the Lord loves all of us. Reading Amber's testimony through this, the hard questions and the loving acceptance of Gods will. It is amazing and testimony building. I felt the spirit so strongly in her words. There is so much of true importance in this life and it is so easy to get caught up in the unimportant, I am grateful for the Lord and his way and for my gift of perspective.

Emily's Broken Arm

Emily BROKE her arm!!! It was the weirdest thing a totally regular childhood fall, she tripped while she was getting out of a chair. She only fell like 2 feet onto carpeted floor! But it was unfortunately enough. At first I didn't take it totally seriously it just looked like a regular everyday kids fall, brush her off, kiss the owie, and on with the day. She was crying pretty good but Emily can be a little....shall we say whinny at times and Jessica was here so I figured she was putting on a good show for Sister. But then she started to look not right and she got all clammy and cold and sweating profusely at the same time. Well my crack first aid training kicked in (that would be from like a jillion years of girls camp) and it looked to me like she was going into shock. Well in my experience kids don't go into shock for regular everyday falls so I made a call to the doctors office. They thought she should be seen and of course they had no openings so we were off to Urgent care. I was still thinking this was just precautionary she was looking better and I couldn't imagine that fall had actually broken anything. But when the xrays came back I was wrong, she had broken both the radius (the big bone in your forearm) and the ulna, (the little one next to the radius). They are both incomplete breaks which means they were only broken partway through the bone, (about 75% of the radius and about 25% of the ulna). I guess this is fairly common in kids they call it a green stick fracture because it breaks like a green stick off a tree, it just bends and splinters instead of a sharp break. Fortunately it is no where near her growth plate and it should heal really well. They had us go to a pediatric orthopedist to get her cast which she will have to wear for a month and then she will get a brace that she will wear for another 2 months. It sounds like a long time but they said the healing should go really well they just want to protect it so there is no re injury. We have changed things a bit around here because she can't play actively much so we got her some Webkins and have been reading a lot, she is hooked on the Magic Tree house books and I have become well acquainted with Jack and Annie (the main Characters). I guess that is the story of life, something bad happens and then when you look hard, sometimes you have to look really, really hard you can see the good. So far in my life that is always true. Emily and I are really enjoying our time together reading and playing on the computer and just being together. She is such a joy in my life. I will be forever grateful for the Lords intervention on this one. :)

Emliy and her broken arm, just the splint, before she got her cast on. Look at that smile! Thank goodness for pediatriac pain meds!!

Emily getting her cast. (Thats Brownie in the backgroung getting her cast too)

Emily and her doggie, Brownie, Emily adopted this sad pup the day she broke her arm. Brownie broke her arm the very same day, imagine that! So these two are going through all this broken arm business together.

Weekend in Forks

Considering I told everyone I would be spending this weekend in Forks visiting with Bella, Edward and Jacob I figure I should report. I will give no spoilers I would hate to ruin this fantastic book for anyone but I just have to tell you I had a great weekend!! Breaking Dawn is sooooo good it is better than Twilight, definitely better than New Moon, and even better than Eclipse, my favorite up until now. I got the book Saturday at 10AM but couldn't start reading in earnest till 3pm and I finished up it's 754 pages this morning (Monday) if that gives you any idea how good it is. Everything I had hopped would happen happened but I never would have dreamed HOW it happened. Now those of you who aren't weird about books like me may wonder about my sanity right about now but we bookies are happy in our fantasy worlds. Don't knock what you don't understand, it's nice in here. Unfortunately the laundry and the dishes and the rest of my responsibilities have patiently awaited my return from Forks so I guess I better get back to my real life. But I will be searching for the next great adventure in the pages of a fantastic book.

My New Office

I really love my kids and I am not in any huge hurry to get them out of our house. I love having them around and am not looking forward to having an empty nest. (Now that we have Emily the nest won't be totally empty for awhile.) But there is one perk, lets call it compensation for missing them, and that is space!! Our house is not tiny, no one needs to feel sorry for us but with 4 kids and a dog our 2000 Sq ft were feeling a little cramped. When Jessica moved out it wasn't so cramped but there really was no extra, now..... Jason has moved out (he found a place with several friends) and we have an EXTRA room. Woo Hoo!! Ok honestly, I will miss the kid but he is 20 after all and I am just trying to look at the bright side here. So very quickly before anyone got any ideas I claimed his room and moved in. Now I have a place for my computer, all my Young Women stuff and for scrapbooking! Yea! I put a bed in there for guests, (I can share) and the random nap which you can see Buddy has already claimed. I have a litttle tv, my computer, and a place to sit and read, what more could a mom want. Oh guess what? It has DOORS too! that CLOSE! and LOCK! oh boy I think this may just be too much!

Breaking Dawn

OK while I am on a the subject of books and sharing my "addiction" with all of you I have to mention 'Breaking Dawn' the new book by Stephanie Meyer. Yea!! Hooray!! It is coming out in 2 weeks it is the 4th and supposedly final book in the Twilight series.

So I am planning to reread the first 3 this week and next so everything is fresh. I did that when the 7th Harry Potter came out and it made it soo much better. (I told you its an addiction fortunately there are no rehab centers for psycho readers because I am not interested in any kind of recovery.) This is a series I started reluctantly, very reluctantly! It is basically about vampires and a girl that is in love with one. I hate vampires, I won't watch vampire movies, and of all the mythical creatures out there the idea of a creature that thirsts for blood really freaks me out. But after enough pressure from all my YW, Pam and Megan, Kristi and a slew of others (yes peer pressure still is a problem for grownups) I gave in just to... well shut them up. It is a testament to the writing ability of the author that I got hooked. I had to find out what happened to Bella, and Edward and Jacob too (yes I am one of the weird ones who really like Jacob). I have shared the obsession with many, it is one of those books you have to tell people about just so you have another person to talk "Twilight" with. Jason's girlfriend Kelsie is my newest convert and she is totally hooked!! As you can probably guess Saturday after next I will be at Costco when they open, buying my copy of Breaking Dawn, and I probably won't get much of anything done that weekend but I will have a wonderful visit to Forks, Washington.

FABLEHAVEN

I have a new favorite book series!! I know I have said this many times before so I think the position is not a permanent one. The book series is Fablehaven and they are sooooo good. I have been in a bit of a reading frenzy this summer, I have read like 18 books since school got out, (some of them I listened to on my Ipod). I really don't know why I have been reading so much more than normal, maybe its the heat, or I am trying to keep my mind off of everything I can't eat (I am trying to lose a few pounds but that's another post) or maybe its the looser schedule because school is out. But I have immersed myself in these characters worlds, a family of Penderwicks, a crazy funny bounty hunter, a dead girl watching her family recover, a school shooter, a few couples in love, a kidney transplant patient figuring out how to live again, a ranger studying wolves and solving murders, and a author revealing her real past. In this company you would think it would be pretty hard to stand out but my new favorite really shines. There are 3 books so far in the Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull so I am a little late to this bandwagon. Several of the girls in my ward had read them and raved so I took the first one with me to girls camp thinking I could read at bedtime, big mistake, I read all the way on the bus there and was so hooked by the time we got to camp that it was all I could do to do my job there and not sneak off and read. So this week I have finished book 1, read book 2 and 3 and am now so sad to be done. (book 4 doesn't come out till spring) The books are about a preserve for magical creatures, the caretakers of this preserve and the adventures and trouble they find trying to keep the preserve safe. It is the perfect mix of fantasy and reality to grab your imagination and make you want to escape to the world they live in. I know I am a huge book nerd but I have come to accept that and love it anyway. Join me!! It's fun! Drink the milk!! (Fablehaven reference)