Maybe I should change the name of this monthly photo round up to the monthly book round up? haha! Books definitely seem to be the majority of the pics on this post this month. Books and skiing. I guess that sums up February.
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| 2.1.20 (I had heard so much hype about this one, I was nervous to actually read it. But when I found it on the popular shelf at the library, I snagged it instead of waiting for 13 more patrons to read it before me in the holds line (it had been in the upper 20s when I first put it on hold!). It was well written and I kind of liked how she didn't tell too much, she let the reader put pieces together without overtelling the story. At times I hated every character and the choices they made and then at other points I loved them all and could totally see what made them do what they did. Good read overall and one I want to talk about with someone if/when you read it!) |
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| 2.1.20 (We spent the day with Elwood cousins at Grandma's house while Gregg went skiing with his friend Suls at the Beav. And I got to hold babies all day and my arms were dead but my heart was happy.) |
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| 2.2.20 (my mom whipped up some of my grandma's magic cookie bars for Zoe's baby blessing lunch and I just had to snap a pic of these beloved recipes in my grandma's handwriting) |
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| 2.3.20 (the school district delayed the start of school for 2 hours this morning because of the big storm that was going to cause traffic issues during commute time. It was a whopper! (But I guess in Ogden it was much more necessary - somehow the valley got skipped on this one)) |
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| 2.3.20 (I started this one at my mom's house on Saturday because I knew if I didn't finish there I could finish at home since I have it on my own shelf. I also had a collection of essays by the author about reading and writing children's books but I figured I should actually read one by her first. I know! I've never read this book (that I can remember) till now! But I really enjoyed it (and so did Gregg, who picked it up at my parents' house and finished it on Sunday morning, too). Good story, well told. Enough said.) |
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| 2.3.20 (I LOVED this book! It's yet another cookbook (I'm on a kick!) and I skimmed the recipes (ssssh, don't tell!) but the short little bios about the grandmas were delightful and the photography was just amazing and rich and colorful. I thought this was so well done and a complete joy to read.) |
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| 2.5.20 (I set up a little salad bar for lunch and since Sam helped get it all ready he wanted to try it too. Look at that plate! He ate it all! (Eventually!) #proudmom but also look at that hair! It is about time for a hair cut!) |
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| 2.5.20 (checking in on baby Cooper - he does have eyes!) |
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| 2.6.20 (Sam, Gregg and I got up to Nordic in a blizzard one Thursday morning - the snow was so thick and heavy that Sam and I only did one run from the top (Gregg lapped us a couple times) before we were soaked and ditched the hills for dry clothes at home) |
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| 2.6.20 (one of my favorite valentine's day books. (I'm a bit of a scrooge this year and none of the others I've checked out have really done anything for me. But I still love this one.)) |
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| 2.8.20 (It's ballet time again - Kim treated us to a lovely day out with lunch first at Charlie Chows and then Giselle at the Capitol Theatre in Salt Lake) |
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| 2.8.20 (So fun to spend the day with these lovelies!) |
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| 2.8.20 (first time for all of us seeing Giselle - it was beautiful!) |
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| 2.8.20 (lots and lots of engines on the way home from Salt Lake - I snapped this for Sam, obvs) |
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| 2.8.20 (here's the collection of essays and speeches that prompted me to read Tuck a few days ago. I like her voice; she's got a lot of funny little asides in her writing that made me smile. And of course I love the subject she's talking about.) |
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| 2.9.20 (out for a Sunday afternoon walk - don't let Cal's light clothing distract you into thinking it was warm! It wasn't! But she's tougher or crazier than the rest of us!) |
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| 2.10.20 (our return stack this week is heavy on the nonfiction. Definitley Sam's favorite section of the library.) |
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| 2.11.20 (the shaggy and scraggly dos were just getting too out of hand for these two - so we had a hair cut date at Great Clips - ah! nothing like a fresh cut!) |
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| 2.11.20 (Gregg's mom had been wanting to come see the kids ski so we told her to meet us on this random Tuesday afternoon. Turns out the snow was suuuper sketchy icy so we did one run (very carefully) and then called it quits. At least she got a group shot for us!) |
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| 2.12.20 (here they are: the 2020 Newbery and Caldecott winnters! I really loved New Kid and think it's great that a graphic novel won the Newbery for the first time ever! I think The Undefeated also won a Newbery honor, so lots of medals around here.) |
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| 2.12.20 (the aftermath of the kids playing "Home Depot" this week) |
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| 2.12.20 (he ran a half mile home from school!) |
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| 2.12.20 (we took a quick walk/bike ride after dinner this evening, and it was pretty darn chilly, but just look at those clouds!) |
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| 2.12.20 (and look again at a slightly different version of the first pic - and don't worry! there are more below, too!) |
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| 2.12.20 (bright clouds and blue skies just makes me happy) |
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| 2.12.20 (last one!) |
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| 2.13.20 (after reading about Louisa May Alcott's family's love of Pilgrim's Progress, I thought I'd like to read it. But then I learned it was written in the 1600s and was over 400 pages long and I just didn't feel like tackling something that intense. In my searching I found this version, though, written by my new fave, Gary Schmidt! It was very accessible and quick to read and I really enjoyed it!) |
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| 2.15.20 (she's been dying to work on her newest kiwi crate (I wasn't going to keep going with the subscription, but when I went to cancel they offered me such a great deal I decided to keep it one more month. They really are awesome - I just am a cheapskate haha)) |
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| 2.15.20 (it's a mechanical sweeper with bonus water color art whales to decorate the sides) |
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bonus video!
2.25.20
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| 2.16.20 (sunday dinner done right - homemade french bread and meatball orzo soup) |
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| 2.16.20 (I didn't mean to pick two books that have islands as settings to read one after another, but here we are. Both by authors that I love. Both heavy at times. Both end with such hope. Both incredibly beautiful!) |
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| 2.17.20 (Cal blew through these beginner Humphrey tales and she is ready to fill up her library bag with more at our next trip.) |
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| 2.17.20 (This is such a good, good story of love and generosity and friendship across distances. And it's based on a true story (I love when that happens)!) |
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| 2.17.20 (Our president's Day reads. (Dancing Hands isn't directly about Lincoln, but he does make an appearance in the book (and the title) so I'm counting it.) Both are really well done picture book biographies (one of my favorite genres!).) |
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| 2.17.20 (a few more that were in the Caldecott guessing lists. So you know the art is nice. My fave was Water, most definitely.) |
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| 2.17.20 (New-to-me Sandra Boynton! yes, we still check out and giggle at her board books on the regular.) |
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| 2.17.20 (Sam is flying through these babies! I am super loving that they now come with a whole set bound in one little book rather than loose in a box (where they are easier to lose).) |
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| 2.17.20 (after a quick trip to the library on President's Day afternoon we took a drive up to Causey to see it in winter since we've never really been up there during the white season) |
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| 2.17.20 (still lovely even when it's frozen over) |
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| 2.17.20 (our audiobook of choice on the drive back home - very fitting for the day!) |
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| 2.19.20 (Sam begged to ride his bike to get Cal after school so I caved and he was thrilled. also note: meltage on our property at least!) |
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| 2.19.20 (we got there a bit early so we cruised around the plowed parking lot for a few minutes) |
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| 2.19.20 (sooooo happy to have the blue skies back after having some really cloudy overcast days for a while!) |
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| 2.19.20 (after school we headed up to Nordic for a couple of runs, back home for an early, quick, leftover dinner, and then up to Logan for the last Aggie game for us of the season - whew!) |
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| 2.19.20 (it was so great to see our fave Sam Merrill playing live one last time before he graduates - and the Ags pulled out the W over Wyoming, which was just sweet) |
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| 2.19.20 (a must stop photo op) |
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| 2.19.20 (for Callie, too) |
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| 2.20.20 (on Thursday morning I texted Heather and asked if we could come down to play/visit - it was a very last minute decision, which actually worked well since the last two times I was planning to go (well in advance) got canceled due to Gracie having the flue (twice) and Cal throwing up (once) - we met up with them at their library for story time and what a story time it was! They have the most exuberant library lady I have ever seen!) |
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| 2.20.20 (making steering wheels in the craft room after story time) |
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| 2.20.20 (an afternoon bike ride (for these two) slash walk (for Heatha and me) slash stroller ride (for Coop) was just what we all needed) |
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| 2.22.20 (THE best day on the snow yet - we took 6 laps on the triple lift together as a fam till the kids' legs were toast then Gregg and I each took another one (me) or two (him) on Apollo solo while everyone else soaked up the sun on the picnic tables because it was just too good to quit!) |
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| 2.22.20 (bluebird day!) |
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| 2.22.20 (we decided it was time to do a refresh on the ol' walls in the living room, but before we took everything down, I had to snap a pic of all of Cal's and Sam's artwork - they're really getting good!) |
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| 2.22.20 (we took a post-dinner walk/bike ride to the park and got to check out the YM/YW's snow sculptures that they made earlier during their Eden Winter Games activity - pretty impressive stuff!) |
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| 2.23.20 (then on Sunday we took an afternoon walk/bike ride to the park again so Cal could check them out (she didn't come along with us yesterday) - it was another gorgeous blue-sky, warm afternoon and a bunch of folks from the ward came by while we were there to see the masterpieces, so we had a good chat with some neighbors as well as filled up our Vitamin D tanks) |
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| 2.24.20 (leftover lunch of champions! this is Mel's stuffed sweet potatoes (I used leftover cafe rio pork instead of BBQ chicken, but either way it was Amaze-balls! and you should totally try it)) |
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| 2.24.20 (I mean seriously, it's photo worthy with all those colors! And it tastes even better than it looks!) |
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| 2.25.20 (first time skiing at Powder! They had a great 2for1 locals deal so we pounced on it for some fun laps of "night" skiing on Tuesday afternoon) |
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| 2.25.20 (first time on a quad chair!) |
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| 2.25.20 (we took a break for dinner on the picnic tables, but should have done it in the car because it was darn cold up there (15 degrees when we left a couple runs later)!) |
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| 2.25.20 (eating sandwiches with mittens is a tricky skill!) |
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| 2.27.20 (Sam and I needed something to do on this random Thursday, so after getting gas and groceries, we made a visit to the train museum - and had the place to ourselves!) |
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| 2.27.20 (this boy loves the train table) |
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| 2.27.20 (gotta get down on eye level) |
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| 2.27.20 (look how long that train is!) |
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| 2.27.20 (one of the displays by the model trains is of groceries that may have been available during the time of the trains - I had to laugh at this box for processed cheese - same shape these days!) |
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| 2.27.20 (interesting tidbit about how Wall Ave got its name) |
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| 2.27.20 (it was a lovely blue-sky day) |
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| 2.27.20 (getting a pic by the elephant ears steam enginge) |
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| 2.27.20 (catchy motto) |
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| 2.27.20 (our first time walking all the way around the station on the back side to get up close and personal with the snowblower engine) |
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| 2.27.20 (this one reminds us of Harvey the crane engine from Sam's fave Thomas books) |
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| 2.27.20 (Wow! This book was eye opening and heart breaking and just really good! After watching the Bill Gates mini series thing on Netflix, the first thing I said was, "I want to learn more about Melinda!" So when I heard that she had this new book and then I heard from a couple people that it was worth reading, I knew I had to check it out. I liked the personal stories from her life to give a glimpse of where she is coming from, and then of course the personal stories that she shares from women all over the world just blew me away! I sometimes get frustrated with "feminism" stuff, but I can definitely see myself agreeing with Melinda's version of empowerment and connection. I love what she's doing!) |
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| 2.28.20 (we had to get out and enjoy the "warmth" and blue sky with friends and ended up on the frozen lake) |
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| 2.28.20 (Sam and Charlie checking out the little inlet stream) |
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| 2.28.20 (Sam rode his bike for Callie pickup) |
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| 2.29.20 (no blue sky and still tons of snow in our backyard) |
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| 2.29.20 (but the disc golf basket has a new home in the outside world and the jump Gregg and the kids made for skiing has melted enough to make a great tee box for practicing.) |
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| 2.29.20 (a brand new YA novel that takes place in 1989 Romania! Full of history, folklore, fairy tales and suspense, I really enjoyed this story.) |
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| 2.29.20 (Cal and Sam have been busy busy busy making and wrapping presents for my birthday, which is still 12 days away! Cal said to me today, "I think 20 presents is enough, don't you?") |
Great as always, LOVE the roundup!!!
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