Time to Read

It's funny how things happen sometimes. In early December I couldn't sleep. I was worried about things that I couldn't fix or change and so I turned to books to keep my mind preoccupied and distracted. I was reading like crazy. I had caught up, read and reviewed all the 2016 books that I had scheduled and so I decided it was time to enjoy my some books on my To Be Read shelves. I read a few so fast and was reading so much that I picked up Lonesome Dove.

Now, Lonesome Dove has been taunting me from my shelf for years! My grandpa only had a handful of movies on VHS--Crocodile Dundee II, Incredible Journey and a recorded from television copy of Lonesome Dove. We watched it nearly every time we visited. He loved it and I loved it. I bought a copy of the book years ago. But now seemed the perfect time to read the epic novel. I was making great time with those cowboys as they herded their cattle north when Rand got the job offer and everything stopped.

Now I was spending my precious reading time searching for and obsessing over houses for sale or rental homes or house plans or decorating ideas or couches or moving vans or storage units online. And then as a became a single parent, sometimes it was just easier to watch television (I really enjoyed the Hatfields & McCoys miniseries) at night when I was completely exhausted and still couldn't sleep. Anyway, it took weeks to read Lonesome Dove but I loved it.

Once we finally moved out of our house I was able to read more. Some of the books I will indeed review in more depth later. Many I loved.

During the month of March, I spent HOURS in the car driving the kids to and from school and then driving to Sanpete County to look at houses and sign papers and all that jazz. When the kids were with me we primarily listened to Hamilton. They have it memorized. I'm not kidding. When I was alone I listened to audio books. The Lake House is TWENTY ONE hours long! That's a lot of time in the car.

Hopefully, now that we're starting to get settled, life will get a little more normal (hahaha, oh my) and I can return to a more normal reading and reviewing schedule. Happy reading!

Life Happens

I haven't really sat down to write on this blog for so many months. To simply catch up on what's been happening lately, I'll share a quick timeline.

Mid-December 2016 : Rand is offered a new job at Snow College in Ephraim, Utah. Ephraim is about two hours from our home in Eagle Mountain so we decided that our family would need to move closer to Ephraim. In the next few weeks we celebrated Christmas and the holidays and tried to get Randy ready to start a new job. He worked from home for over ten years and as all our neighbors know, his primary wardrobe was pajamas. He needed a completely new wardrobe.

January 2017 : Rand starts his new job. Because of yucky winter weather and the length of the drive, Rand rented a car (we only had one) and stayed in motels during the work week and came home each weekend.

We initially hoped to rent a home in the area. He started searching for a rental home adequate for our family and I started packing. Rand wasn't having much luck finding a rental. His brother Dennis helped me get our home ready to sell. By the end of January, the garage was loaded with boxes and the house that I loved was ready to list for sell. Our fabulous real estate agent sold it the first day.

We weren't having any luck finding a rental home and we started to considering buying a home. We found a house that needed some work but was adequate and we made an offer that they accepted. Everything seemed to be going just right. We would sell and buy on the same day and be able to move right into our home. Unfortunately, once we got the inspection back we started to be unsure about the house we had chosen to buy. We couldn't quite explain it but Rand and I both felt like we weren't supposed to buy it so we backed out and started looking again.

February 2017: We found the house hunt frustrating and unfruitful. As the date to be out of our Eagle Mountain home loomed we were getting worried. Eventually, we found a lot in Ephraim and felt good about building a home. It was an idea that we had been thinking about since we first decided to move to Sanpete County. It wouldn't be easy but we felt right about it. My brother Nick is an architect and he started working on plans based on our dreams.

Unable to find a house to rent in Sanpete, I found a house in Payson. It was small but would be just right for a few months while we built a house. It was close to the temple and the schools. It wasn't an ideal commute for Randy but it would be a place to live much closer than we were. Then, the day before we were to move out of our home in Eagle Mountain, the rental in Payson fell through. I hurried to reserve a storage unit for our stuff. Our neighbors and family came to help us move out and into the storage unit. We were officially homeless. While we were moving the last of our things into the storage unit. Rand got a call from a man from Manti, Utah. He was on a mission with his wife and heard of our plight. He had a rental home that he was willing to offer us but it wouldn't be available until April 1st. Relieved that we at least had somewhere to go eventually, the kids and I moved in with Rand's parents in Salt Lake City.

March 2017: I drove the kids from Salt Lake City to Eagle Mountain (an hour) to school for a week and a half. The older kids finished up the term at high school and junior high so they could get credit. Then, I checked them out. For the next few weeks, we spent our days doing field trips and work sheets.

I reserved a house through Airbnb in Moroni, Utah for a week so that I could check the kids into their new schools in Manti when the new term started. We stayed in the Airbnb house for a week.

The following week was Spring Break for the new school district so we returned to Salt Lake. We finally bought a second car.

April 2017: Our family came to help us load up two Uhaul trucks, my parent's horse trailer and my brother's trailer with our stuff from the storage unit to move it to Manti. I hadn't seen the inside of the rental home until we started bringing in the first load. It's an older home but completely satisfactory for our family and we are very grateful to have somewhere to live close to Rand's work and close to the kids' schools. It really couldn't be in a better location. Since then, we've tried to prepare the house and adjust to our new home. Deep sigh. I'm exhausted.

This House I Love

Previously shared on Facebook in January 2017:

We moved in to our house over ten years ago. We only had three small kids. Neal was just starting kindergarten. It was a little house but it was just right for us. We planned to stay about two years. Then, the real estate market collapsed and we stayed because we had to. And then we stayed because we loved it. 

I love that the house is situated right on a turn in the road so I can watch my kids play in two directions. 

I love that it faces just the right direction to catch the sunlight and the snow melts off my yard very first. 

I love that it's a blue house in a tan neighborhood and every little kid wants to play at the "blue house".

I love the view from the back of my house. The sunsets are incredible. 

I love that the great horned owls taught their babies to fly off my roof. I love that at night I can hear the coyotes howl. I love that I can look out my bedroom window and regularly see eagles, pronghorns and jackrabbits.

I love that my kids only have to walk a block and a half to the elementary school and they don't even have to cross a street. It's so close that I don't even feel guilty making them walk home in a blizzard. And I love the elementary school. The principal and teachers and staff care so much about each kid. And the PTA is particularly amazing. 

I love that my neighbor drives my kid to high school every morning. And they always have random things like corn starch and beef bouillon when I run out. 

I love that my dad built shelves and shelves and shelves to hold my ever-growing, really ridiculous book collection. 

I love that Rand and I completed so many home improvement projects even though he hates doing them! I love the laminate flooring in all the bedrooms. It makes cleaning up vomit so much easier. 

I love that Rand got his MBA while we lived in this house and for years supported our family from his "office" in the corner of our bedroom. And that the ravens would "dive bomb" him in the window and fly away laughing. 

I love that we added two more babies to our family while we lived in this house. While they've grown up we've also watched so many adorable neighborhood babies grow into really great kids. 

I love that we grew tomatoes and corn and peppers and beans in our backyard garden. I love that because our house is little, our yard is big!

I love that for the majority of eight years, I hosted book club in this house every first Tuesday of the month and that all the neighborhood women were welcome to come and eat and laugh and visit nearly all night.

I love that I've made the very best friends anyone could ever ask for in this neighborhood. These friends would do anything for me and have bailed me out countless times. And I love them desperately. 

This little house that I love is for sale. **The house sold quickly and easily.

It Happens All the Time - Book Review

I've been absent from this blog for the past three months because Randy has accepted a new job in a different town and we've been in the middle of trying to sell our house, pack, find a place to rent and move. I'll write more about our ridiculous adventures later but I didn't want to miss this chance to tell you about a very important book. (I don't have internet yet so I'm writing this on my phone—yikes!)

It Happens All the Time by Amy Hatvany is about a young woman who comes home from college, engaged and ready to start the next chapter of her life. While home Amber spends some time with her best friend from high school. Tyler has been a devoted and good friend for years. He knows all her struggles and triumphs.  He gets her. They have a history together. At the 4th of July party, they've had too much to drink and begin to kiss. Amber tries to stop him, but Tyler rapes her. Devastated and conflicted and broken, Amber must face to realities of being raped by a trusted friend.

There's so much I want to say about this book. It's a topic that has been on my mind a lot lately. Randy had been attending Title IX training and there are cases in the news and even among those we know personally. He and I have had many discussions regarding this topic.  There is a growing problem. As a mother of sons and daughters, I realize that not only must I teach my daughter about rape and trying to avoid it but I absolutely must teach my sons about consent.

One of the things that Hatvany does in her book is show that more often than not rapists are just normal guys. They often don't even think they've done anything wrong. They justify and use a plethora of excuses. This does not excuse them of their criminal and destructive actions. There are consequences that must be paid. But even better would be if men were taught and understood what rape really is. That no means no. We must teach our sons.

Hatvany explains this so much better than I can in her essay here : http://www.cosmopolitan.com/politics/a9192287/talking-to-my-son-about-sexual-consent/

Anyway, It Happens All the Time not only discusses an important topic but it is also a very readable novel with characters who are very real. Hatvany is an excellent author who focuses on character and plot while sharing a message.

It Happens All the Time by Amy Hatvany is published by Atria Books and released on March 28, 2017.