Grapes of Wrath Book Review

Ok well I am finally finished reading Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck. I wanted to read it because it is a classic and I enjoy reading. I like to keep my mind open to different authors and their styles of writing.

Summary: A family during the depression era moves west because they are kicked off their land and try to make their way to California and to a better life.

First of all I don't like when Steinbeck takes a whole chapter (usually just a couple of pages) to describe a certain situation or time. When I came upon those chapters in this book I usually just read the first paragraph, got the idea & moved on to the next chapter because these chapters were very repetitive. Yuck.

The hardest part was the middle of the book. But over all I did enjoy this book. I got close to all the characters and even after I was finished reading the book I found myself remembering things they went through. It sure made me grateful for all that we have. I TRY not to take what we have for granted.

SPOILER ALERT:
The end of the book was weird because it just left the family still in their horrible situation. But I also like the ending because it showed how real the book was, there was no magic fairytale ending.

Thats all I want to say about the book. I would encourage you to read it. Warning there are a lot of bad words. Thats about it.
Happy Reading!

More pics from the GARDENS!

Botanical Adventures

This morning we went as a family to the Botanical Gardens. Dad brought along the camera & we got some great shots! It was a beautiful day!

Emma loves to eat...........

This is it! Quaker Oatmeal Old Fashioned Oats! With 1 spoonful of white sugar mixed in. Thats it. She calls it her sweet oatmeal!

Can you quess?

Like most children her age (3) Emma is a picky eater. There are only a few things we can get her to eat. Can you guess what her favorite is?

Central Market

Would you like to receive this as a gift? Yummy. Well these are the type of little yummies they have at Central Market. This is our favorite place to shop. For those of you out of towners, it compares to a Whole Foods. But we seem to have found a few more favorites here at Central Market. Free balloons for the kiddos upon entry. Playground for the kids to play. Thevery yummy Italian Soda - Blood Orange Flavor. The yummy Cranberry & Orange Scones. The fresh flour tortillas, the curd cheese, bacon & blue cheese potato salad, many kinds of fresh bread & many more! Just wanted to make your mouth water, cause I know mine is!

Treasure hunt leads to the Big Prize

Well this is what I came home to on Saturday. Well I did not exactly find a chest full of gold coins, but I did find one clue that said "To find what you want, follow the clues." Then it had a picture of my new ipod nano (black). So it took me about 45 minutes (it was pretty hard) to get through 6 clues. With each clue that I found he left a piece of the prize with it. For example the adapter cord, the box, the instructions etc.

I want to thank my husband for being so creative and making it such a surprise and so fun to receive my early mothers day gift. I also want to tell him I am sorry for being such a pill while he was trying to surprise me. I Love you honey!

Form Blazing Sword!

Earlier post about Emma.

I am continuing my geek training for Emma. I am now getting her interested in Voltron. It was easier then I expected. I only had to mention that there was a show like Transformers, but with a princess. She was instantly interested. She picked up pretty quickly on the tiny mice. Voltron is one of the shows I grew up watching. At one point we had all of the toys, I remember a rather big metal black lion, that if we still had would be worth quite a bit. I was looking through YouTube for clips to show her and I came across an odd combination. Voltron+Sprite+Rap. I also stumbled across another older show, but I couldn't find any episodes for it. Thunderbirds 2086.

- Steve :)

I want IPOD NANO

This is my current want. Steve said he will probably get it for me for Mother's Day! I can't wait to have my own music when I workout & when we travel. Those are my biggest uses for it. So pretty much every other day it would get used if not more. I can't decide on the color, I might just get Silver.

Trinity Trails Park

Well this morning we were planning on meeting some friends for the mini train ride around Trinity Park. But we missed the train by a few minutes so we decided to take a walk around the trails and meet them at the park later. Well had a fun walk on such a beautiful day & they kids got to play at the play ground. We also brought our sack lunch. It was so nice to be outdoors. Maybe next time we will catch the train.

Spencer hugs & kisses

cute kiddos

And this one they are both crying!

Ceremony

I like this picture because they are both smiling!

Flower Girl (Hannah) & Ring Bearer (Jacob).

Kelly, David & Kathy (2 sisters & a brother).

Steve was the photographer & he stapped a shot of me walking in with the children.

David with (L)John (brother) & best friend Sam (R) (they have been friends since elementary school.

Here are the girls Kristen, Nevaeh, Emma! It was windy!

Cakes!

Here is Christina's cake. Simple & pretty (if you look close you can see the "U" for their last name on the front!

Since David is a fireman, this was his grooms cake. Love it!

David & Christina's wedding Saturday April 12, 2008. Seen here with my mom & dad.

I was going to look further into the book talked about below so I could more fully understand his point of view & then the more I thought about it................I said to myself. I am sure there is some truth in what he says but I am not going to spend my time searching for his bits of truth instead I am going to focus my studies in the scriptures and of the words of the prophets, where everything they say is truth. I will not have to try to decide if it is true or false.

Oprah's Church Leads People Astray

THIS BOOK IS FALSE! THIS BOOK IS FALSE!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=JW4LLwkgmqA This link explains more about the things they are teaching.


Ok before I start I want to say I used to like watching Oprah (sometimes). I am very shaken by what I have just learned. The new Oprah Book club book is this book, A new earth. Where do I begin. I wanted to read this book because I thought it would be uplifting and inspiring. But instead it is teaching, "a different creation of earth"(CHAPTER 1 PAGE 1), "There is no one God" "Jesus is not the only way"! Wow I can't believe people all over the world are buying into this propaganda. Very sad but it reminds me of so many scriptures that for told of people being Led Astray! Here are a few:
ALMA 30:12-13
12 And this ^aAnti-Christ, whose name was Korihor, (and the law could have no hold upon him) began to preach unto the people that there should be ^bno Christ. And after this manner did he preach, saying:

13 O ye that are bound down under a ^afoolish and a vain hope, why do ye yoke yourselves with such foolish things? Why do ye look for a Christ? For no man can ^bknow of anything which is to come.

Deut. 4: 2	(Deut. 12: 32; Prov. 30: 6; Rev. 22: 18-19) Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you.
Deut. 13: 5	hath spoken to turn you away from the Lord.
Job 21: 34	in your answers there remaineth falsehood.
Isa. 30: 10	speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits.
Jer. 14: 14	prophets prophesy lies in my name.
Jer. 23: 16	vision of their own heart, and not . . . of the Lord.
Ezek. 13: 22	with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad.
Acts 20: 30	shall men arise, speaking perverse things.
Gal. 1: 9	if any man preach any other gospel unto you.
1 Tim. 4: 1	giving heed to . . . doctrines of devils.
2 Pet. 2: 1	shall be false teachers among you.
Rev. 13: 5	speaking great things and blasphemies.
1 Ne. 13: 26	they have taken away from the gospel of the Lamb.
2 Ne. 3: 12	confounding of false doctrines.
2 Ne. 28: 9	shall teach . . . false and vain and foolish doctrines.
2 Ne. 28: 12	because of false teachers, and false doctrine.
Jacob 7: 2	that he might overthrow the doctrine of Christ.
Alma 1: 16	they went forth preaching false doctrines.
Alma 30: 6	preach unto the people against the prophecies.
D&C 10: 28	wo be unto him that lieth to deceive.
D&C 43: 5	receive not the teachings of any that shall come.
D&C 50: 2	false spirits, which have gone forth in the earth, deceiving.
D&C 50: 23	which doth not edify is not of God.
D&C 123: 12	blinded by the subtle craftiness of men.
JS-H 1: 19	professors were all corrupt.

OK there were so many I just could not choose one! Anyway, this experience has made me realize how much time I waste paying attention to things of the world. I want to be closer to the Savior and I want my family to be closer to him. I know that Christ died for us & that Heavenly Father has a plan and that all these doctrines do make sense and I know this church is Heavenly Father & Jesus Christ's church. I hope you will also come to a greater love for our Savior!

Book review

Ok so I just finished I am Legend. If you saw the movie, it was better than the movie. It was interesting and rather short. Now for the short stories he wrote after this one. Blah!!!!!!! Need I say more!

Our day trip!

We have been wanting to travel for a while so we decided on Tuesday and left on Friday!

This is us in Minnesota. We visited the Mall of America this weekend.

This is a picture of me on the light rail on the way to the airport. We had so much fun!

Emma

This is Emma in her favorite night gown.

Spencer

New couches & bows

ok so we have never bought a couch a day in our lives. We have always been blest to be given someone's old one. I have wanted new couches since we moved here but we decided that with small kids & messes it just was not something we want to spend money on & have them ruined. But I will say the Lord bless us in abundance. This lady from our ward was getting new leather couches and emailed everyone to see if anyone wanted her old ones. FOR FREE! I jumped right on it thinking they would be crappy since she got new ones, but low & behold they are really close to what I would have chosen if I could have bought them in the store, new. What I really love is the pillows on the back are attached and the seats cushions are velcrowed on. We have had them for one week and the kids have not taken the seat cushion off. Yeah! We are more strict now & won't let the kiddos bring food of any kind onto the couches. What a blessing!

I have a few hairbows for Emma but have been wanting some more and my friend Katy said, "we can make those" SO WE DID. Here are the bows we made! Thanks Katy!