Life

Books I Read in April

Filed Under: Books

Apr302014

Okay, so it’s the end of another month (how did that happen?) and I’m going to share the three books I read this month. I was on a roll early this month because I flew to Louisiana and back and finished two books on that trip. I thought I might actually read more than three books this month, but I didn’t read at all while my mom was visiting and just finished my third book for the month tonight.

It’s great because I’m reading a lot faster now than I was just a few months ago. I’ll read instead of watching TV at night or while we watch TV at night. And I read every night before bed. And I am getting the best sleep of my life!

I read three fantastic books in April and I would recommend all of them.

Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple

I found myself smiling all the way through this book. I know it was very different and oftentimes downright strange, but it was quirky and fun. And I think I liked it because it was unlike anything I’ve ever read. I just found Bernadette to be so charming and, although strange, I loved her transparency and honesty. And I felt awful for her. I felt like I was watching episodes of Arrested Development, which totally makes sense because the author wrote for the show. I highly recommend this book, but also understand that it’s not going to be everyone’s cup of tea.

Defending Jacob by William Landay

Another fantastic book that kept me fully engaged the whole way through. This book is about a father who has to defend his son against a murder charge. It made me really stop and wonder what I would do and how far I would go to defend one of my own boys. The ending left me stunned and I still find myself thinking about it at times.

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

I read The Husband’s Secret last month, so I was excited to read What Alice Forgot. I was hooked halfway into the first chapter of What Alice Forgot. With every single turn of the page I wanted to know more about what Alice forgot when she bumped her head in her spin class. She has completely lost her memory from the past ten years and it’s so interesting to read and see things unfold. I’m a fan!

What about you? Have you read any of these three books? What did you read last month? It’s almost time for beach and pool reading, so I’ve been collecting fun books specifically for the summer season, too.

To see more books, here are the post for February and March:

Books I Read in February

Books I Read in March

Filed Under: Books, Life

Mar282014

I’m still on a roll with my New Year’s resolution to read more. And this month I loved loved loved what I read. Seriously… why do I ever fall off the reading wagon? It relaxes me so much!

The Anteloupe in the Living Room by Melanie Shankle

This is such a great book of essays by the writer of the hilarious Big Mama Blog. If you’re not reading Melanie’s blog you absolutely should start now. The stories are so relatable and I found myself laughing out loud every five minutes and then reading entire chapters aloud to Todd. This is an easy, quick read full of real stories of marriage. I highly recommend it!

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Oh my word. I read this entire book on my flight to California a couple of weeks ago. I couldn’t put it down. It was a fast read because the characters were written so brilliantly. I could hear them and see them and wanted to know them more. It’s such a sweet story full of passion and it honestly made me think very differently about life. Hurry up and read this one before you see the movie!

The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty

I am so happy to say that I loved all the books I read this month, which means it will be easy to continue this reading habit into April. The Husband’s Secret is so well-written and has the slightest bit of suspense and drama, and it connects these three incredible female characters together in a dark way. I can’t say much more without giving big things away. So just read it! I loved this one.

In April, I’m planning to re-read A Million Little Ways by Emily Freeman, Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple, and What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty. We’ll see if I don’t change my mind and switch to something else.

What have you been reading?

Books I Read in February

Filed Under: Books

Mar32014

One of my New Year’s resolutions was to read more. Fiction, non-fiction, reading through the Bible in a year. I just wanted to start reading again.

I write more when I’m reading more. I rest better when I’m reading more. And I just enjoy it. I feel connected to something and committed to finishing.

I read three books in February, and would like to share them with you. I hope that I can do this each month along the way, rather than doing a long post at the end of the year. (The books I read in 2010, 2011 and 2012)

Allegiant by Veronica Roth

This book is the third and final book in the Divergent series. I read Divergent and Insurgent way back in 2012 and have been impatiently waiting for Allegiant since then. It had been so long since i’d read the first two books that I had kind of forgotten what happened, but it wasn’t long before it all came back to me.

I enjoyed the book. It was easy to read, fast-paced, and I loved getting to know Tris and Four even better. I highly recommend this series to anyone who is looking for an easy, entertaining read. I didn’t love it as much as The Hunger Games, but I liked it a lot.

The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks

Nicholas Sparks books are my go-to when I need a kick start to start reading again. His books are such easy reads and I’ve read every one of them. I really liked this one.

The book tells two simultaneous love stories, the story of an elderly man and his wife and the story of a college girl and a rodeo cowboy she meets. It kind of reminds me of The Notebook with the dueling love stories and the young characters with the older characters. I appreciated that this book didn’t follow his typical formula. I liked it a lot.

Love Does by Bob Goff

Love Does is the only non-fiction book I read this month, and I will say that this book is one that I will want to read again and again and again. Bob Goff wrote a book all about living a life full of intention and whimsy, and says that if we’re paying attention, God will use ordinary people to make a difference and “do.” The book is full of entertaining stories about how Bob Goff said “yes” and the incredible opportunities that have come out of that decision to say yes. And he issues a challenge to the reader…. Every morning we get to wake up and we have the opportunity to live a life of complete engagement….a life where “love does.”

This book was just such a great reminder. Call the people you love. Don’t just offer to help someone. Show up on their doorstep with a meal and surprise them. Don’t wait for them to say yes. When you see someone that looks like they need your help or your love or to see Christ in you, don’t waste your time wondering what to say. Just love them.

Love Does gives such a beautiful, real-life picture of how we can be more like Christ. How we can show people who Jesus is.

What did you read last month?

I’m excited about the stack of books I have sitting around here, and feeling challenged to try to read four books in March.

Carrolls do Disney World: Days 5 & 6

Filed Under: Life, Travel, vacation

Feb102014

Day 5- Hollywood Studios

The morning that we left for Hollywood Studios was the first rainy morning of our trip. Thankfully, we packed the boys’ raincoats and Todd went to get us some Disney ponchos. We were surprised at how cold it was that day, but, again, the crowds were really manageable.

Hudson wanted to pose with this frog at Wilderness Lodge before we left.

When I reserved our Hollywood Studios fast passes a few weeks prior, I made sure to get an early morning Fast Pass for Toy Story Midway Mania. So we headed straight there when we arrived for our 9:30-10:30 fast pass.

When we got to the ride, we saw Buzz and Woody at their character spot right outside the ride, so we hopped into that line. We probably waited about 15 minutes to meet our favorite friends.

All of the lines at Disney World have fun things to entertain your kids. When else can you strap your child to a rocket?

My boys are obsessed with Toy Story and Buzz and Woody. Hayes, especially, but Hudson really loves them, too. They met Woody the day before at Magic Kingdom, but it was so fun to see them together. And they were so big!

We told Buzz the story about Hudson giving Jessie a big kiss, and he had so much fun with it. He found Jessie’s autograph in their autograph books and drew big hearts around her name and put his name next to it. (Buzz Lightyear doesn’t use a pen to sign his name. His costume makes it too hard for him to write, so he uses a stamp.)

These guys just did the best job hamming it up and giving each kid a good amount of time without feeling like we were holding up the line.

After we met Buzz and Woody, we headed across to the Toy Story Mania ride. Todd and I loved it! I think Hudson and Hayes didn’t really get the hang of the game and couldn’t quite figure out how to rack up points by shooting at the targets. It was probably a little advanced for them, but they were highly entertained all the same!

When we left that ride, we saw the Lightning McQueen and Tow-Mater characters. When it was the boys’ turn to get up there, Hudson was very very disappointed (as you can see) that they didn’t talk and didn’t even move. Ha! I’m not really sure how else they would do a Cars character. But we laughed about it. We officially have photos of a pouting child at Disney World!

Hollywood Studios has a ton of fun attractions, but not a ton of rides. We had reservations at Hollywood and Vine for lunch to meet the Disney Junior characters. It was a really fun, interactive character meal and the boys just went nuts for Jake.

I loved that the restaurant had the theme songs from all the shows playing inside. It’s fun to sing-a-long with your kiddos. Doc McStuffins!

Before Sofia walked up, Hudson declared that he didn’t want to meet her because “she’s for girls.” And he officially melted when she walked up. I’m telling you. My boys love the Disney ladies.

We don’t ever really watch Handy Manny, but they still knew who he was and were excited to see him!

After lunch, we headed over to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground, which I remember being one of my favorite things from my last trip in 7th grade. The boys loved it. They crawled and climbed and slid and we followed them everywhere… crawling around on our hands and knees, too, just to make sure we didn’t lose them.

And then we lost Hayes. For about 90 seconds he was out of our sight. He had gone left in a tunnel too quickly and we didn’t catch which direction he went. Luckily, they were wearing bright-colored rain jackets and when his green jacket popped up out of a tunnel we scooped him up. Super fun playground, but also full of anxiety for every parent there!

We headed over to the Disney Junior Live show and Hayes dozed off in my lap before it even started. But he woke up just in time for the show and it was a ton of fun!

This rainy day was kind of tough on them because they just got so tired and we were really cold, so we were ready to go earlier this day. The boys took long naps in the room and we went back to Magic Kingdom that night to ride a few more things.

Day 6- Animal Kingdom

We were so excited for our day at Animal Kingdom. Columbia has an amazing zoo, but I had heard such great things about the safari at Animal Kingdom and about so many of the rides, that I really wanted to go.

We started our morning at the Tusker House character breakfast in Africa. And it was, by far, my favorite character meal of the trip. The food was yummy and the characters were just having a fun time. They finally got to meet Daisy and Donald and got to see Goofy and Mickey again.

After breakfast, we headed straight for the Kilimanjaro Safari. It was another rainy day and Animal Kingdom was so empty that day, but it was barely raining and we were so happy to be able to see so much!

The safari was one of my favorite things of the whole trip. Getting up close to so many enormous animals was so much fun for the boys!

Next, we did a fun walking trail to see a few more animals. And then we went over into Asia to ride Expedition: Everest. We had a Fast Pass, but, again, no lines. So we saved the Fast Pass and jumped right on the ride. Todd stayed back with Hayes while Hudson and I rode. And we both loved it! And then lucky Hudson got to ride it again with Todd. We came back to it a few times throughout the day because of the lack of lines and Hudson rode it a total of six times. Whoa boy.

Can’t you tell how much fun it was? (That’s us in the third row)

We ran into Baloo and King Louis a little bit after that and Hayes kept saying, “Bye Balouie!”

Okay, then we went over to the Nemo musical and we all absolutely loved it! Wow! It was just incredible. The performers were amazing and the costumes and props were just so creative. Definitely worth seeing.

We rode just about everything they could ride at Animal Kingdom. They loved Dino-land, but the Dinosaur ride kind of scared Hudson… and me, too! Yikes!

We had the best day there! Definitely one of my favorite days at Disney World. And we ran into Tigger and Pooh again.

We headed back for a late nap and an early dinner, and then we caught the Celebrate the Magic show and the Wishes fireworks show at Magic Kingdom again. It was late, but we were able to do it because of naps. And then we took Hudson on Space Mountain for the first time and Hayes got to do the Buzz Lightyear ride again. Todd and I each rode Space Mountain with Hudson and I just love this picture of Todd and Hudson on it! (I had to reach over Hudson’s shoulder and hold his hand the whole time. Nervous mama.)

It was such a great day!

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