#IMomSoHard

Have you seen the hilarious videos of the team #IMomSoHard on Facebook? They crack me up and really hit home on what the parenting thing really looks like. They use humor to discuss some of the more messier parts of parenting and womanhood. I especially liked their bathing suit video - I don't even know how many times I have watched that one - it makes me laugh so hard I end up in tears. The women of the videos, Jen Smedley and Kristin Hensley, wrote a book that carries on with their wisdom and humor of their videos. You also get to learn more about their childhood in the Midwest, their college years, and how they met and married their spouses. The book is all about "keeping it real" with no sugar coating. I honestly just love these women and wish that I could be best friends with them! It is my goal one day to go to one of their shows on their comedy tours, but for now I will just keep laughing and enjoying their videos. If you don't follow these ladies on #IMomSoHard then do it, do it right now!

The Light Between Oceans

Heart-wrenching. It is the only way I can describe the latest book that I read. 'The Light Between Oceans' by M.L. Stedman is a heart wrenching story of Tom, who is a light house keeper on Janus Island. Janus Island is half a days journey off the coast of Australia with supply ships only coming in every few months. It is a very isolated and lonely place for Tom to bring his new bride Isabel. After two miscarriages and a still birth, Isabel believes that the baby who washes up in a boat is a gift from God. However, there is also a dead man in the boat, and it is Tom's duty as a government employee to report everything that goes on on the island. Isabel pleads with Tom to just give her a little time with the baby, to heal her broken heart. Eventually time goes on and then it is too late, they have fallen in love with baby Lucy, and just can't bare to give her up. Not even when they discover that her birth mother is still alive. Still waiting for news. And still in desperate mourning for her lost husband and little girl.  This is a tale of heart ache, choices, binding love, and forgiveness.

I would highly recommend this book. As a mother, it was very hard for me to take sides in this kind of situation. Hindsight is twenty-twenty. Mistakes were made and people are human with human emotions. Half way through the book I just could not figure out how it was all going to end, is a happy ending even possible? You'll just have to find out for yourself. As for me, I can't wait to see the movie. I am bringing a box of tissues.

The Fault in Our Stars

'The Fault in Our Stars', by John Green, is about terminal cancer sufferer Hazel who falls in love with cancer survivor, Augustus at a cancer support group meeting. Hazel is afraid to let anyone love her because she thinks of herself as a grenade that is about to go off and will hurt anyone that is close to her. But when her support group friend Isaac brings his best fried Augustus along to the meeting she can't help but notice him. In the novel she says, "I fell in love like you fall asleep. Slowly and then all at once". Augustus teaches Hazel to be brave enough to leave your mark on the world and to live every day to the fullest. Augustus also allows Hazel to act like a teenager, something that she has never been very good at with her illness.

The thing I love about this novel is that it in no way romanticizes cancer. It's not one of those books that's like, "I have cancer but it's okay I am an upbeat happy person anyway. Yay!" 'The Fault in Our Stars' shows the nitty gritty side of cancer. The ugly stuff that authors avoid. It shows what cancer victims have to deal with on a day to day basis and how hard they really struggle. I also love that even dealing with this pure hell, they still find times to laugh and love. Hazel and Augusts have seriously funny sense of humors. And they are brilliant- mostly discussing books, poems, philosophy, and mortality. I absolutely love the language and the style of writing in this book. It may be sad but it is also funny, witty, romantic, heart wrenching goodness. And of course, like all good books are, it is being turned into a movie. And yes, I am excited for that as well.

Mary Poppins, She Wrote

I am a huge Disney fan.... HUGE! I love all things Disney. So when I saw two of my favorite actors starring in a new movie by Disney I was thrilled! I couldn't wait to see 'Saving Mr. Banks' and when I finally did I definitely was not disappointed! In fact I loved the movie so much that I started to read the book that the movie was based off of. The book is called, 'Mary Poppins, She Wrote' by Valerie Lawson. Unfortunately, unlike the movie the book did disappoint me... a whole lot. It was just soooo dry and factual. I honestly felt like I was reading a student's report that they handed into their teacher. And it wasn't even a good report. It was one of those reports that you find facts from google and then cut and paste words and sentences off the internet together to reach your assigned number of pages that had to be written. It was dull. It had no color. There was no magic whatsoever. I suffered through 25 pages before I gave it up. So my advice is to see the movie and skip the book, which NEVER happens!

Heaven Is For Real

I was sitting in the movie theater when a preview for a new movie came on the screen. As I was watching it I leaned over and whispered to my husband, “I bet this is based off of the book ‘Heaven is For Real”. Just as I finished this sentence the movie title popped up on the screen, and in giant letters were the words, “Heaven is for Real.” Yes. Nailed it. And then my husband turned to me and called me a book nerd haha. I personally hadn’t read the book but working as a librarian I have seen it come and go many times. I decided I better read it if I was going to watch the movie because that’s just kind of a rule in my book: Read first, watch second.

I loved this book. I would highly recommend it. It is a book of hope, love, family, and faith. But it is also a story of struggle and overcoming our trials. It is written simply and beautifully and makes you realize how much our Father in Heaven really does love little children. The book mentions a little girl prodigy who has visions of heaven and then paints them. I had to look her up on youtube and she really is amazing. I’ll post a video of her below too. It’s stories like these, among other things of course, that leave me with little doubt that heaven really is for real.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vzRpYp7WME

Pride and Prejudice

There is a book that I have returned to many times when I need some really well spoken English in my life. That book is 'Pride and Prejudice' by Jane Austen. I love the taste of the words in my mouth. Austen's writing is almost poetic in a way. And if her humorous style of writing about serious political issues wasn't captivating enough, she also creates the most lovable characters imaginable. From Mrs. Bennett to Miss Bingley, Elizabeth to Darcy, every character's personality pops on the page. This is such an amazing classic and everyone should read this at least once in their lifetime.

And of course, I am a huge fan of the movies as well. Here is a trailer from one of my favorite versions of 'Pride and Prejudice'.

Librarian Life

This is my life at the library some days.

Beautiful Creatures

Lately I have been trying to get through the series 'Beautiful Creatures' by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. I finished the first book and most of the second one, but then I kind of lost interest and they became a chore for me to read. Books shouldn't be a chore to read in my opinion because there are too many amazing books out there. So why try and drudge your way through them right? In the beginning the story was captivating and held my interest, but then it started to kind of drag on and on. Each book is more than 500 pages and I feel like there is just a lot of fluff in there that doesn't accomplish anything other than taking up space. Some of the tangents the authors go on definitely do not hold any importance to the plot line, and there were many times when I just wanted to scream, "Will you get to the point already?!" However, I am sure there are plenty of people who love these books, I am just not one of them. I think they are something that you have to kind of judge for yourself though.

Having said that, I still do want to see the movie. It looks really good and there are some pretty awesome actors in it. I have heard good things about it so I will definitely be giving it a chance. Here is the trailer so you can check it out for yourself.

The Scarlet Pimpernel

'The Scarlet Pimpernel' by Baroness Emmuska Orczy is another one of my very favorite books. It is the story of Sir Percy Blakeney, an English gentleman, who sneaks into France and rescues the French royals from their fate with madame guillotine during the French Revolution. Although this book's setting is a dark and dreary one, the author manages to throw humor and romance into this story that leaves the reader completely captivated. Everyone should read this novel at least once in their lifetime, so put it on your list.

Also, this just happens to be one of my very favorite movies as well, but if you watch it you need to watch the 1982 version with Anthony Andrews and Jane Seymour. They are amazing together. Ah! I just love, love, love this story!

Catching Fire

Are you excited? Cause I sure am!

Let It Go

Have you ever read a book that completely impacts your life? When you put the book down it never really leaves your thoughts. You think about it in the shower. You think about it on your drive to work. And usually it’s what you are thinking about right before you fall asleep. Well, I have read just such a book. It is called ‘Let It Go’ by Chris Williams. This book is a true story of one man’s tragedy and his continual effort to find peace and happiness after it.

Chris Williams was taking his family out for ice cream one Friday night when a drunk driver crashed into their car, instantly killing his pregnant wife and two children. This is the story of the healing process that he had to endure after that event and how he ‘frankly forgave’ the teenage drunk driver that killed half of his family.

This book was utterly inspiring to me. This man is absolutely incredible. I honestly do not know if I could forgive someone so completely after they hurt my family so terribly. He had enough faith to put this burden in the Lord’s hands and just let his Savior heal him. The whole time I was reading his story I kept thinking about how many grudges I am carrying on my shoulders. I can still remember some insults that I received in kindergarten from other five year olds. How pathetic is that? If this man can forgive, then I can too.

Before Williams wrote this book he created a ‘Mormon Message’, which is just a short video clip about members of the church and the experiences that they face in their life. In the clip you can see Williams speaking with Cameron, the drunk driving teenager. I posted it below so that you can get a little taste of what this book is about. If you are curious about the LDS Church you can find out more information at lds.org. 

Harry Potter as a Teen Comedy.

Through the Pensieve