I love books!

I love to read! I don't read as often as I'd like to though. At the beginning of this year, I decided to make a goal of reading 30 books I've never read before between January 1, 2018 and December 31, 2018. I know to some that may not be a lot, but that is a stretch for me. I haven't reached my goal yet, but I think I will. :)

As of today (August 6) the books I've read so far this year are:

1. An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
2. Lucky Man by Michael J. Fox
3. Dodger by Terry Pratchett
4. The One-in-a-Million Boy by Monica Wood
5. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
6. When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
7. The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman
8. His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik
9. Confessions of an Imaginary Friend by Michelle Cuevas
10. My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand
11. Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
12. The Humans by Matt Haig
13. Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate
14. Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
15. The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
16. Fairest by Marissa Meyer
17. Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier
18. Sapphire Blue by Kerstin Gier
19. Emerald Green by Kerstin Gier
20. Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
21. The Paper Magician by Charlie N Holmberg (updated August 11)
22. The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner (updated August 22)
23. The Princess Bride by William Goldman (updated September 2)
24. Cinder by Marissa Meyer
25. Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
26. Cress by Marissa Meyer
27. Winter by Marissa Meyer
28. Jackaby by William Ritter
29. Beastly Bones by William Ritter
30. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
31. The Selection by Kiera Class
32. The Elite by Kiera Class
33. The One by Kiera Class
34. Ghostly Echoes by William Ritter
35. The Dire King by William Ritter
36. Educated by Tara Westover

Do you have any book recommendations?

This is my final list of books that I read in 2018. I made my goal!

Randomness!

In June, I went to California to visit my sister, Kristina and her family. I got to meet these two cutie pies while I was there! Aren't they adorable?!

While I was in California, I went on a hike to the beach with my sister and one of her friends and it was awesome! It was an eight mile hike. I was tired and sore afterwards, but it was worth it. :)

 Part of the trail of the hike!

 We made it to the beach!

I love this picture of me and this cutie pie!

I'm thankful for the time I had to spend with Kristina and her family in California.

I like going on walks! I found this nicely landscaped median on a walk near my house.

One Sunday, I really needed to go on a long walk with a change of scenery. So I convinced my younger brother, Tim, to go to Lake Accotink with me and walk the trail around the lake.

It was hot outside, but I still enjoyed the walk and it helped me feel better!

One Saturday morning, my sister, Lara, my niece, Ellie, and I hiked from Carder Rock to Great Falls, which is 7 miles round trip. We also borrowed bikes at Great Falls and then biked for 4 miles round trip. The weather was quite nice that Saturday! It was still warm just not as warm as it had been up to that point.

I have the Wolf Trap calendar taped on my bedroom door. I'd been wanting to see Straight No Chaser (a men's a capella group) for quite a while. So I invited some friends and we went to their concert one Tuesday evening!

I love Wolf Trap! I love getting there early to save space on the lawn, bringing dinner or snacks to eat while there, a book to read (if I'm by myself), and just chatting with friends.

Straight No Chaser was awesome and very entertaining! They definitely had us laughing at times. :)

My niece got married!

My niece, Cami, got married this past weekend!!!! I am so happy for her and her husband Garrett! They looked deliriously happy all day Saturday (their wedding day). :) 

I didn't take many pictures this weekend, but my sister, Heather did. Most of these pictures are from her camera.

The only picture that I got with Cami and Garrett that day. At their reception! The whole day was beautiful and such a happy day! :)

While we were waiting for the photographer to finish, we had to take some silly pictures of our own. :)

I love my sisters!

All of my siblings were there except Tim. I think they're pretty great! 

The flowers outside the temple were gorgeous!

 I got lots of cuddle time with this little guy last weekend! Isn't he adorable?!

Nate, Pete, McKenzie and I surprised our Aunt Marva and Aunt Valerie at their ward on Sunday before we all flew home. 

Overall the weekend was a lovely one! A beautiful wedding, a lovely day, and lots of family time.

Randomness (Cami returning home, Pi Day, my new niece etc)!

Here are a few pictures from my phone from the past couple of months. 

 My niece, Cami, returned home from her mission at the end of January! Yay!

 Almost all of our family that live in the area were at the airport for her arrival. :)

The Washington D.C. temple is now closed for over two years while they do some updates and renovations to the inside. After 2-1/2 years of volunteering there, this picture was taken on my last day I worked there before it closed. Isn't it beautiful?!

I love Pi Day (3.14/March 14). Any excuse I can get to make pie, I'll take it. :) I asked one of my friends if she would host and then we both invited a bunch of people to join us for a Pi Day party.

I haven't had a pie party every year but I want to make it a tradition! I made 6 pies (Key lime pie, 30-minute fudge pie, Chocolate peanut butter pie, and 3 quiches)

 At the party!

I had to try a little piece of all of them! I loved them all. :)

The only box of Girl Scout cookies that I'll buy this year. I love Samoas, but I try to not buy them because when I do, I tend to eat them all very quickly. ;)

I bought a new rug for my living room and I love it!

We had a snow day! Although I don't know that the roads were really all that bad, I didn't want to find out, so I just worked from home this day.

 I have a new niece!! Yay! She is soooo cute! Her name is Anna Juliette.

 Look at that adorable face!

 And here's Anna's adorable big brother, Ben!

I got to do some dog sitting for my sister and her family while they were out of town. Some times this dog is a little stinker, but for the most part, he's pretty cute. :)

 Cherry Blossoms at Hain's Point in D.C.

 Spring time is just so beautiful!

 I got to visit little Anna again!

Anna's big brother, Jack, saying Hi to me for Anna. :)

Lincoln in his bear costume before bed. He sure is a silly nephew. :)

Some flowers from my walk today!

I love my family and friends and am grateful for them!

The Greatest Showman Soundtrack

I've been slightly obsessed with the soundtrack from The Greatest Showman recently. I bought the cd last week and haven't stopped listening since. :)

I especially love this song!

And this one!

And this one!

Turn up the volume and enjoy!

Electricity!

I am so thankful for electricity! On Friday, there was a big wind storm here in Virginia. We lost power at my place on Friday at 8 AM and didn't get it back until that night at 9:30 PM. Not having electricity for a while made me realize how much I use it and love it! I couldn't cook anything, the heater didn't work, I couldn't watch a movie, I couldn't get on the internet, I couldn't charge my phone.

There were a lot of things I couldn't do, but I did finish a book that I hadn't been able to read in a while. I did spend some quality time with some family members in the area. I did write a card to my parents. I did go to Mod Pizza for dinner with Coldstone ice cream for dessert. :) I did get to use my flashlights and emergency candles.

My candle-lit living room. It was actually quite bright, but not quite enough to read a book without a flashlight.

I am glad for what I did on Friday without electricity but I am so thankful to have my power back!

Cookies!

I love cookies, baking them and eating them. :) I feel like I've had lots of cookies in my life recently and I love it!

Someone posted about these cookies on Facebook and I decided to try them. They're Brown Butter Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies. They were soft and delicious! A little more time consuming to make than I'm used to for cookies, but still really good. :)

I brought them into work the next day and they were gobbled up quickly.

I've heard about cookie exchanges before but I've never been to one or hosted one. I've actually been thinking about hosting one for a couple of years now, but it's never worked out... until this year.

I think it was a success! I had each person bring 4 dozen cookies, 1 dozen to sample that day and 3 dozen to divvy out evenly between each person. We had 9 different kinds of cookies. Jam filled Cream Cheese Cookies, Sugar Cookies, Chocolate Toffee Cookies, Mexican Wedding Cookies, Classic Spritz Cookies, Spicy Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies, Peppermint Shortbread Cookies, Chocolate Peanut Butter Bites, and Gingersnaps.

I made the Chocolate Toffee Cookies.

I might have bought this Cookie Monster shirt just for the cookie exchange, but I feel like it might be appropriate, in general, for me to own this shirt. :) 

I wish I had gotten a picture of all of us who were at the cookie exchange, but, alas, I did not. 

I went to visit my parents in Utah for a week at the beginning of this month. They had warned me before coming that they wanted me to do a lot of baking while I was there. I was happy to oblige. :) 

I made Hot Chocolate Cookies, M&M Pudding Cookies, Toffee Crunch Cookies, and Fudge (not pictured). My parents had a list of people they wanted to give cookies to so we divided them up according to how many people in the families and then they delivered them to friends and neighbors. 

Cookies are awesome! :)