Ten Best Books of 2010 and a Bonus

You know those bucket lists, you all have them, right? Well, one of the "things" on my bucket list is to read my age in books every year. I started in 2008 with 50, and then was supposed to read 51 in 2009, but 2009 was an incredibly busy year, so I only managed 45 :( However, this year I did it! 53 books, and I wanted to share my list of which ones I thought were best. So here you are, the best of 53 books I read in 2010:

THE ANATOMY OF PEACE ~ This book, written by The Arbinger Institute, of whom James Farrell, author of The Peacegiver is a member, should be read by every member of the human race. At least once a year. It is interestingly told in story format, so as it teaches, it also entertains. The insights and principles are like turning on a light bulb. I really loved this book, and plan on reading it again. At least once a year :)

THE SILENCE OF GOD ~ by Gale Sears is about a family, the only members of the Church in Russia during the Bolshevik Revolution and is seen through the eyes of nineteen-year-old Agnes Lindlof and her lifelong friend, Natasha, in a powerful, extraordinary story of devotion and loyalty. It was a book I couldn't leave alone until I was finished

AM I NOT A MAN ~ by Utah's own Mark Shirtleff is the story of Dred Scott, a black slave who took his issue of freedom before the supreme court and won . . . and then lost. His case became the catalyst for the election of President Abraham Lincoln. This is another book I couldn't put down, and although I knew the ending, because it's history, after all, I found myself rooting for a better ending right up to the ending that had to be.

THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY ~ by Mary Ann Shaffer. Jill didn't care for this book but I loved it. Another book about World War II has to be pretty good to hold my attention anymore, but this is one of two about that time period that I fell in love with this year. A very charming story that one of my friends placed right up there with To Kill a Mockingbird!

THE GREEN GLASS SEA ~ by Ellen Klages is a book you will find in the children's literature section of your bookstore or library, but it held this adult's attention very well! Although not one of the two books I loved this year about the World War II era, this one takes place during that time period. It is about the building of the atomic bomb seen through the eyes of children whose parents were part of the team working on it. A great story for children or adults.

SEVEN MIRACLES THAT SAVED AMERICA ~ by Chris Stewart. After reading his Great and Terrible series, I'll read anything Chris Stewart wrote, but this book was very well thought out and written, about seven miraculous events that saved our country in the past, and in the end, it gave me hope that there are still miracles out there for our country if we live worthy for them to occur.

MY NAME IS ASHER LEV ~ by Chiam Potok. I used to wish I was an artist. Now I just wish I could see the world the way Asher Lev sees it, through an artist's eyes. This book was poignantly sad but at the same time full of all the greatness and beauty of the world. I hope in the end Asher Lev, a Jewish boy and gifted artist, finally found peace and acceptance in his life. He deserves it.

THIS JUST IN ~ by Kerry Blair is a book that probably will never make anyone's literary books list, but it gets to be on mine because it made me laugh. It is a story of unlikely LDS heroine who happens into a kidnapping because the boy who was taken was in her primary class. Oh, and she's a news reporter. A little mystery, a little romance, and a lot of smiling at the cute humor in this book will make for some light but enjoyable reading.

MRS. MIKE ~ by Benedict Freedman. I'm a little bit embarrassed to admit that I've not read this book before. It's been around forever, apparently, but I finally read it this year. The story was great, I felt myself living within it, experiencing the incredible life this young wife experienced. Even the sad parts left you with hope instead of just that feeling of sadness that so many books written to try and manipulate your emotions do. It was a feel good book, I thought.

THE PEACEGIVERS ~ by James L. Ferrell. This was my second time reading this book, and it got me through a pretty hard time in my life. I love the ideas in this book and the way they are presented in story format so it's easy to parallel those ideas to your own life. I will always love this book for the healing and peace it gave me.

First on my list for 2011. Because my birthday is at the end of November, that's when my reading year starts. So, I've already added several books to my 2011 list. Here is one I loved!!

THE UNBROKEN ~ by Laura Hillenbrand. This is the true story of Louie Zamperini, an Olympic track star before the war, but once the war started, the athlete became an airman, embarking on a journey that led to his doomed flight, a tiny raft, and a drift into the unknown. Ahead of Louie lay thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, a foundering raft, thirst and starvation, enemy aircraft, and, beyond, a trial even greater. How he endured those trials as he was driven to the limits of endurance will leave you shaking your head in unbelief. Told in Laura Hillenbrand's great writing style reminiscent of Seabiscuit, this book is just too good to keep quietly on a list for a whole year!

The REAL Running of the Hole in the Rock

The beautiful desert you only get to see if you are brave . . . or stupid. We're not sure which :) There is a slight rainbow, which is why I took this picture, but it doesn't show up, really. Just the beauty that surrounds you if you can unhook your shaking hand from door frame, look out and enjoy.

And that bush behind Aiden isn't on fire. It's a trick of photography. Don't ask me what trick because it was an accidental trick. But pretty cool, don't you think? Camping in the desert.

Right off let me just say that we didn't make it to the Hole in the Rock, but we DID make it further than that park ranger we saw on the way in said we would. So THERE park ranger. Don't tell us we can't. To Dave, that's just a challenge.

Here Dave drives across one of the washed out parts of the road that the aforementioned park ranger said we would NEVER get across in the vehicles we were driving. Not as exciting in photographs as it was to watch in person. It was a Landcruiser rodeo!

We DID make it as far as Grey Mesa, which means we got to hike up the "road" the pioneers built down off it. For those of you not buffed up on your Hole in the Rock history, when the pioneers came across Grey Mesa and started looking for a way down, well, they couldn't find one.

They were exhausted, hungry, and some more than a little bit pregnant! So it was imperative they find a way down from here. While searching they spotting a mountain sheep. Dave thought it showed pretty good restraint on their part that they didn't just kill and eat the mountain sheep since they were out of food, but instead they followed it and then built a road down off the mesa on the trail the mountain sheep had showed them.

Kimbrey and I walked the road those pioneers made down off the mesa. How they got wagons down there . . . well, as my friend at work says, I hope when we get to heaven there is a rewind button and we can go back and watch stuff like that happen.

Because that is going to be a show that will put today's reality TV to shame!

As bad as some of the stuff we drove on was, the road went around this part of the trail. So, much of it is untouched, such as these hatch marks that were carved in the rock for the wagon wheel to fall into to slow them down as they came down this steep incline.

Here Kyle comes down a steep part of the trail. Look scary coming down? You should be in there when it's time to go back up!

And this, for your pioneer information, is how little pioneer boys . . . well, get rid of their water on the trail. Just so you know. And an appropriate time to say, The End.

PreRunning Hole in the Rock

Reading The Undaunted is what brought it all back, the memories of walking where faith filled people have walked before. And we are going to do it again. We are driving the old Hole in the Rock trail next week!!! We've done it before, once in our Landcruiser with ME, myself driving the thing while Dave rode his motorcycle. We went with some friends, and most of the other women were out walking while I drove those technical hard spots, of which there were many. This time I'm just along for the ride.

But my control neurosis wouldn't let us just go out there and wing it. No, we had to do a prerun, because if we're the guides, we really should know where we're going, right? Right. Because this isn't a nice dirt road with signs showing you right where to go. Sometimes the trail is apparent . . .

And sometimes the only thing you have to go by are little faint paint marks on the rock.

Because see, the road we came into the Hole in the Rock trail on before is gone. That's right, gone. Vanished. Washed away by flood and you can't here from there anymore, so this is the new route. This, right here is what you have to drive on before you even GET to the Hole in the Rock trail. Notice the far back tire up in the air. Just so you know, we couldn't get our truck back UP this spot on the way out. We had to find a different way to go. But don't be scared!!

We made it to the trail.

And then we camped. Just like pioneers, only in a tent . . . with an air mattress to sleep on.

And this is how Dave had planned to blow up our air mattress. An elaborate system of jumper cables hooked to the truck . . .

Then hooked into a converter that turns the truck power into air pump power . . . .

Then an extension cord running from the converter to the air mattress in our tent. In theory, it should have worked. Only it didn't, and we ended up blowing the air mattress up by mouth. Which wasn't as easy as it sounds, if it sounds easy to you. There was a valve on the air mattress that the air pump was supposed to push down out of the way so the air could go in, but not come back out. And since there WAS no air pump, my thumb had to push the valve out of the way while my mouth tried to fit around the quarter sized opening on the air mattress AND my thumb while still allowing air to get into the mattress. But I was not going to attempt to sleep on the hard ground. I was motivated, let me tell you!!! I figured it out.

It was beautiful out there.

And there is a wonderfully peaceful feeling that comes with knowing you are one of only a few who ever get to see this part of the world.

And then a storm moved in and that's when we felt like real pioneers. Sitting in our tent with the great expanse of desert around us, at the mercy of the elements, knowing those pioneers did this every day. For six months. There was no going home tomorrow for them. My heart swelled with love and I felt a kind of kinship to them.

So pack up your gear guys, and pack it well, because this is not for the faint of heart. But it promises great adventure and wonderful picture taking opportunities. You know us, we don't do Disneyland, and we're out of our element in Europe, but out here, where only the brave have trod, we are home.

Camping and My New K-7

As we were sitting in our little hallway at work on Friday my friend and I realized the summer was half over and we had spent it sitting in a little hallway at work. So I started looking at trips to Israel, which would be really great! But just not feasible. Dave and I came up with a better solution. Camping!! In the LaSals!!! Without a cabin, or even a camp trailer to sleep it!!! What an adventure.

What I really needed was an opportunity to play around with my new K-7. So Friday evening we took off, just Dave and I and the Landcruiser for sleeping in. . . and driving, of course.

By the way, these little units work MAUVALOUSLY!!! There were flies and misquitoes in abundance where we camped and hiked, but not one mosquito bite on me!!

Somewhere in this forest of trees is a tree my Dad carved his name into when we first moved to Moab. He took us up there once, stood at the top of the mountain, pointed way down to the very bottom and said, "it's right there." And we walked right to it! But we didn't have a camera that day, so Dave and I have tried and tried to find it again to take a picture.

But we are starting to think it's one of these downed trees :(

We separated so we could cover more area, and I kept getting caught sitting on a log reading my K-7 how-to book. I am a quick thinker, though. I just told Dave I was faster than him, I could cover more area than he did, and I was just waiting for him.

When Dave sat down to rest he wanted me to take a picture of him. When we got home and he saw the picture, he said, "That's a pretty good picture of me, don't you think?" I said, "It would be if you had smiled in it." He said, "I AM smiling." So here you are ~ a picture of Dave . . . smiling.

We did find a "True Love Tree". So we carved our names in that one so someday our kids can hike to the very bottom of a mountain ravine and traipse around trying to find it.

In case you can't tell, these trees started out as two and grew into one ♥♥♥♥ Just like Dave and I did.

This tree we dubbed The Love Seat Tree. Pay no attention to that somber man sitting beside me. He thinks he is smiling.

I was also able to work on my '"smooth water" picture taking ability. Here are a couple that turned out pretty good!

My new K 7 has a shake reduction system built into the camera body. It works pretty good. These are both hand held shots.

It was a fun camping trip, I learned a lot about my new camera, and Dave found the skull from some dead animal to bring home. So, even if we DIDN'T find the tree we were looking for, we still had an eventful time. The End.

A Wedding Continued . . .

Here are a few more pictures of the cutely (which is the marriage of two words, cute and newly) married couple I got to take pictures of.

This is one Kimbrey expertly photoshopped. Isn't it enchanting?

This one is moments after they exited the Temple. Do they look happy or what?

And just a cute shot of a cute couple.

The beautiful cake and the cutting of the beautiful cake . . .

Now that a few days have gone by and the stress is gone, it was kind of fun to do. And it inspired me to finally upgrade my camera. Because that's what Dave wants for Father's Day. For me to get a new camera. Really. He told me so himself. What a great guy, huh?

A Wedding . . .

When my friend Danny asked me to take pictures at his son's wedding, it was the closest I have ever come to saying no to something. But I just couldn't do it ~ say no, I mean. So, after making it clear that I was NOT charging for the photography, but "You get what you pay for!" And after he told me that I only needed to take six pictures, and if ONE of them looked good I was fine, I consented to be their wedding photographer. Considering that I don't have the right equipment, the right knowledge, and the pictures were going to be taken at 11:30 AM when the sun is at it's worst AND I would be photographing a girl in a white dress standing next to a white Temple, I was really, really, really nervous.

But now that it's over, it was kind of fun, and some of the pictures turned out not too bad. After having gone through only one of four memory cards, here are a few of my favorite so far . . .


Whew!! I don't think I ever want to do that again.

These Fergalicious Shoes

Last fall when Marie-Laure, our French guest was staying with us, she and I went shopping in Grand Junction. They were having one of their BOGO sales at Famous Footwear and I convinced Marie-Laure that if she would let me buy her some shoes, I could get some for half price. Great reasoning on my part, don't you think? So cute, hip, stylish, 19 year old Marie Laure picked out these shoes . . . Fergalicious brand ~ and although I knew a little about Fergie the rap singer, but only because Marie-Laure was living with us, I had no idea these shoes were hers, too. So, I started looking around the store for some shoes for ME! Now, shopping with Marie Laure always went something like this. Me, "Marie-Laure, look at this. Isn't this cute?" Marie-Laure, ( with a French accent) "Pfff, is for old person." Me, "How can it be for an old person? We we are in the juniors section of the store." Marie-Laure, shrugging, "If you waannt!" And that would be my cue to put whatever I thought was cute back and walk away. Looking for shoes was no different, so when Marie-Laure suggested I just get another pair of the same shoes she picked out so we could have matching shoes, I followed her suggestion. That was last fall, and since then I have become just a little bit obsessed with these shoes!! They are cute, comfortable, cool, you don't have to bend over to tie them, and every day when I'm getting dressed I look in my closet at my millions of pairs of shoes and inevitably I pull these out and wear them. They have become by far my most favorite pair of shoes. Ever. So today when I slipped them on my feet yet once again and realized they were starting to . . . . wear out ~ YIKES!!! I jumped on line to try and find another pair JUST LIKE THEM. I didn't find another pair in my size :( but I did find a review several people had written about my shoes, so I read the reviews just to see if these people loved my shoes as much as I do. One of those reviews went like this: "I really love these shoes, although my husband says I am too old to wear them (I am 27)" . . . . Wow! If she only knew.