A Year of Reading

Have you read any of these books from my 2008 Reading List? I'd love to know how you liked it. And if you're looking for a new escape, take a look and see if there's anything that might catch your fancy...

1 The Frontiersman-Daniel Boone's era about the invasion of the Indians. I loved it, my husband hated it. Some graphic battle descriptions.

2 Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy-About the Amish School Shooting. Interesting insight into the community.

3 The Mormon Way of Doing Business-As a Mormon housewife it was inspiring to see people in business who live their moral and religious values in every aspect of their life. Left me wishing I witnessed it more in my personal life.

4 Loving and Loathing Your Inner Housewife-Crude enough to shock me a little bit, (I should've guessed since the full title starts with To Hell with all That).

5 The Marketing of Evil-Purely propaganda. I was pained to get all the way through it.

6 The Year of Living Biblically-I love this author!!! Both his books I read this year were funny and interesting. I'm recommending them to everyone! This one was mostly about the Old Testament and he really did it while living in New York City. Very entertaining! 

7 Simplify, A guide to Caring for the Soul-Very good from a local author I met at an Enrichment meeting. A great self-improvement book meant to read and ponder one bit a time

8 Reading Lolita in Tehran-After all the hype this book got, I was expecting a lot more. It just didn't wow me. Maybe I missed all the political and women's right issues I was supposed to pick up on.

9 Eat pray love-Section 1 reminded me 100% of my friend Lori and I loved it. Section 2 was so foreign to me it was interesting. Section 3 had me begging her not to end it all by being immoral. 

10 The Know-It-All: One Man’s Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World-The second book from the author mentioned above. A little dry as he worked through the encyclopedia from A-Z, but still really interesting.

11 A War of Gifts, An Ender Story-Very fast read-good if you like the Ender series. 

12 Heyday-A great fiction read set in early New York and the west. 

13 Smile when you’re lying, confessions of a rogue travel writer-Grabbed me like almost all travel collections do, but honestly I didn't remember I had read it.

14 The Middle Place-A story of family illness, healing, and death. Uplifting and heartbreaking, but some of the chronology and geography was confusing.

15 Hungry Planet, What the World Eats-FASCINATING picture book of families around the world and what they eat in a week. 

16 Memo To the President Elect-by Madeleine Albright. Won't interest anybody who's not fixated on politics or Bill Clinton's presidency.

17 The Kite Runner-One of the best stories I read this year (with a little bit anticlimactic end). I hated the movie when I finally got around to watching it.

18 Material World, A Global Family Portrait-From the same photographer as the food book above and equally intriguing.

19 A Walk in the Woods-A satirical author with an Iowa connection. His experiences hiking the Appalachian trail and worth the read. 

20 Inside the Kingdom-Not deep writing, but a great insight into the Bin Laden family and the Arab culture. 

21 The Four Agreements-An Indian philosophy that clashed too much with the way I believe things. Not interesting at all. Skip it.

22 I’m a Stranger Here Myself-Written in New England before the Appalachian trail book mentioned above and also pretty funny.

23 Family Baggage-A really light read that I shouldn't have liked but I really really did. Love and travel wrapped up with oldsters and television actors. 

24 An Inconvenient Book-Written just like he speaks and I couldn't handle it. Glenn Beck is a great man with great ideas, but way too ADD for me to read.

25 Hitler’s Willing Executioners-This book is very scholarly and explains the psyche of people who went along with Hitler's plans. Too freaky for me to finish. 

26 Little Women-Who didn't love this story when they were little girls? It's still good, go ahead and read it again! 

27 Europe Through the Back Door: Italy-Full of secret information that really helped us along the way!

28 Anna Karenina-This is one of my all-time favorite books and one of the few books I've read more than once. I'm honest that it has some parts that really drag, but the end instantly wipes out all the drudgery. 

29 Rhett Butler’s People-Nothing spectacular, but good for the imagination if you liked Gone With the Wind. 

30 Shepherd of the Hills-The backwoods Missouri dialect was tough to read, but the suspense kept me turning the pages. 

31 One Hundred Years of Solitude-I didn't understand the overall message, but liked the story of family and trials. Set in South America, I couldn't get over the fact that I've read another story eerily like it and can't remember what it was. 

32 The Road-The only Oprah's Book Club book I'd ever read and the writing was exactly what I expected it to be (not great), but the end of this book made me cry for an hour and the message should really inspire anyone who knows they should be preparing for an emergency. 

33 The Portrait of a Lady-Incredible look into European society in the 1800's.

34 The Brothers Karamazov-I'm discovering that I love the old Russian authors. I didn't think this story ended as powerfully as it could have, but it was a great read (and Laura Bush's favorite book). 

35 The Secret Life of Bees-Fun to read because it had been recommended to me and I did like it. I'm still not convinced the end would have been realistic in real life. 

36 Bel Canto-A storyline about foreigners in a terrorist hostage situation was weird and I don't think it ever would have happened the way it did in the real world, but I loved it anyway. I wish there had been a different ending. 

37 Peace Like a River-The librarian told me it was an unusual story, but it didn't seem that strange to me. Family Tragedy, honesty, and independence made this book perfectably readable.

38 The Book of Mormon-It took me 18-months this time. Worth every minute!

Looking Backwards Forwards

Writing inspiration has been on hold for, oh, let's say the past several months. I know it's in there hibernating, and I'm going to coax it out one of these days, but for now let me look back to my New Year's entry from a year ago... Still being fairly new at motherhood, a few of my resolutions last year focused on much-needed me-time. This blog is proof that I at least got a start on putting my mind back to use and my "Recent Reads" list reached nearly 40 books in 12 months. Using those as launch pad, I also taught myself to sew, experimented with all kinds of cooking, and got in quite a bit of purely indulgent shopping (well, clearance-rack indulgence). For Michelle as an individual, it was a pretty productive year. My proudest accomplishment of 2008 was our family goal of planning and taking a European vacation. What an incredible experience that we still think about everyday! Traveling completes me and it enriches our family immeasurably. I love my family. Sharing with them this passion enriches me. The last of my four desires for 2008 was focused on supporting Ben in his endeavor to find work he loved and get our family settled in wherever that may be. This is the item on my list which I could have done better and am still working on. The excitement of graduation turned into the reality of the working world and the adventure I had my heart set on turned into new opportunities right here in Utah. The struggle to see Ben's job here as what is meant to be isn't always easy for me, but as I was driving back into the Utah Valley a few weeks ago I looked towards the mountain and remembered that this is where my home is. My life is here and my family is here. I need to engage in living here. This brings me to my goals for 2009: 1. Live where you are. Looking for adventure, living off-the-wall, and exploring nooks and crannies are what life to me. There are a million activities and opportunities for Ben, Beck, and I right outside our door and we're going to grab at every one of them! 2. Be in bed by midnight every day. I'm blessed that Beck sleeps pretty consistently until 8:30 in the morning. I should take advantage of that and get the full night of sleep my body needs. Trust me, getting to bed early is not easy (yes, midnight is still early for me). That being said, this goal will have the added benefit of cutting down on hours of completely useless activities. 3. Let people in my life know how much they mean to me. I want to actively share with my family and friends how their talents and gifts are noticed and appreciated. I'm grateful for the time and energy people share with me and want to stop overlooking those special moments. 4. Get my affairs in order. Ben and I have a lofty goal to get out of debt-pay off our credit cards and the car. At the same time, we're actively trying to build our food storage 3-months at a time. More importantly, though, we need to get our official paperwork taken care of-wills, guardianship, and records of our personal information. I recently watched my brother-in-law and his family sort out the red-tape and business drudgery that came along with the unexpected passing of his father and learned how important and helpful it is to be prepared for anything. These are not easy or pleasant things, but I want to make life as easy as possible and be reassured that Ben and Beck will be taken care of if anything ever happens to me. To end this entry and get started with the new year, please let me express my gratitude for the people who read my thoughts and have their own thoughts to share. You encourage me and give me new ideas to ponder throughout my day. I hope that 2009 is everything that you dream it will be!

I was just hoping...TAGGED!

First, I want to say that I love how blogs help me keep in touch with people I normally don't talk to on a regular basis. There are a lot of people in my life that mean a lot to me, but it's just not in my nature to call them up and chit-chat. So, if you're reading my blog, you're probably one of those people who let me peep in on what's happening in your life and I want to say, "Thank you-you're special to me." My sister-in-law Shauna had a blog post last week about being "tagged" and I thought it was so cool and have been secretly hoping someone would "tag" me. Then, today, I had some free time and realized I hadn't read Annie's blog for quite some time. As I scrolled down I found her "tagged" entry and realized my name was at the bottom. Now, Annie knows a lot of people and Michelle is a pretty popular name, but I'm pretending there's only me and here are my 7 weird things: 1. I rode on the head of an elephant in Thailand because I was the only one in our group wearing trousers. 2. When I have insomnia I flip upside down in the bed and fall asleep in minutes (which freaks Ben out when he wakes up with my feet in his face) 3. I rub my nose up and down like a rabbit when it itches. 4. I usually only have 1-2 friends at a time and they change as I cycle through life and that doesn't make me sad. 5. I use the Internet to find recipes for 90% of my meals and then never remember to make the same thing more than once. 6. I hate being cold-and am pretty much always cold-but I LOVED living in Fairbanks in the winter. 7. I was born with an extra thumb on my right hand and had it removed when I was 6-weeks old. That's me. Now I tag: Brooke, Kathy, Maren, Dawn, & Jody

What We Do

Okay, so the title is a little bit stolen from my family blog, but it fits perfectly... I've been thinking a lot lately about the different activities I enjoy doing and how they compare to what I used to like to do or what I might like to try in the future.

When someone asks what things you like to do, how do you respond? When I was growing up I remember loving to play softball with my family and the neighborhood kids. Sometimes we would play on a baseball diamond with sisters, parents, aunts, and uncles taking turns rounding the bases. More often, though, we played in the yard with the tree as home plate, the house as first base, the playhouse as second base, and a random item thrown in the grass near the street as third base. We would fight, some people got hurt, but we loved to play and could be heard throughout the neighborhood late into a summer day.

I loved reading and writing. My family will try to convince you I never read a page or wrote a word, but, instead, used these mediums as a ruse to spy on the hunky neighbor boy. They're partly right. I did love books, though. My most memorable project was alphabetizing and categorizing our 200+paperback book collection. Also, I have notebooks full of imaginary stories (okay, one era of my writing was pretty much also made up of how I imagined being with the aforementioned hunky boy).

Fast forward and it's interesting for me to think about what intrigues and captivates me now. Growing up I was not an athlete and had no inkling of desire to work my body. Music was much more my cup of tea. Now, though, I really do enjoy getting out and riding my bike or hiking or throwing around a Frisbee. Sometimes I surprise myself as I'm trudging up a mountain or sweating with a smile. Don't get me wrong-I complain a lot and talk myself out of getting off my bum a LOT, but once I am out there I thoroughly enjoy myself. Athletics will never be my #1 choice for an afternoon's activity, but I've even become quite enthralled with watching some sports on tv and will always do my best to attend events where a Utah team and an Iowa team are playing together (Go I-Cubs!).

I still love writing and reading. Bliss to me would be having nothing else to do but pour through the library catalog and bury myself in far away lands. I don't typically read a lot of fiction anymore, but can lose myself in a myriad of different subjects. I love learning (and school, by the way) and I love trying to express the way I'm thinking. A lot of times, as I observe the people around me, I realize that I understand topics and events a little bit differently-due to my own personal experiences and background-and writing helps me to share my opinions fearlessly.

Nothing I can think of right now intrigues me more than travelling. I was introduced to the foreign world in high school as my parents attempted to separate me from an abusive boyfriend and growing up in the midwest afforded me a plethora of opportunities for road-tripping. Yet, no one could have expected that the travel bug would bite me so infectiously and I'm not sure that many people understand it even today. I love traveling!! It's exciting to be surrounded by people who live differently, eat differently, and speak differently. It's scary sometimes, but the thrill of figuring it out makes it even better. I love the getting there and I love the being there!

I've done incredible things while traveling that I never would have considered when I was at home. I jumped out of a plane over the geothermal landscape of New Zealand and went blackwater rafting in a Kiwi cave. I ziplined through the Costa Rican rainforest while I was pregnant, ate fish eye curry while I was in Thailand, and sat on an elephant's head while elephant dung splashed all over me. I watched my husband and my son chase pigeons in a Gibraltar courtyard and trekked with them along the most beautiful coastline I've ever seen. These are the things that are intriguing to me. It's those experiences that have made me who I am and sometimes make it hard for me to consider what activities might interest me next.

Ben and I went paragliding for my birthday. Part of me (in addition to the part called "my husband") thinks it'd be amazing to invest in and learn how to do that on my own. I've thought recently it might be fun to actually try mountain biking instead of insisting it's not for me. And, don't tell Ben, but I think I might be ready to again try skiing.

Life is full of opportunities. If I could stand in the same room with teenage me, she wouldn't know what to make of who I've become. I'm proud of my interests and that I've had the courage to try new things. At the same time, I'm glad I've held onto some of my childhood vices. I wish more people would step out of their comfort zones for a brief moment and imagine trying something new. Just let the adrenaline flow, make a decision, and in that moment where doubt begins to creep in, take a huge flying leap! You'll be amazed at where you land.

The Second Coming and the Millenium

Sacrament Meeting Talk given September 28, 2008 My husband Ben came home last Sunday and told me we had been asked to speak in sacrament and the topic was to be “The Second Coming and the Millennium.” Right away I thought about how I never get a topic I feel confident and knowledgeable in like “Procrastinating Your Scripture Study” or “Perfecting One-Minute Prayers”. Honestly, I haven’t studied this topic much at all so it has been great opportunity for me to study the scriptures and the words of the living prophets. I read a fictional book series in high school about the rapture and end times. That’s pretty much the extent of my knowledge on the subject so first I decided to ask, “What is going to happen in the second coming?” I found an answer in D&C 88:87, 91-92, 95-97, 110. These scriptures read: “For not many days hence and the earth shall tremble and reel to and fro as a drunken man; and the sun shall hide his face, and shall refuse to give light; and the moon shall be bathed in blood; and the stars shall become exceedingly angry, and shall cast themselves down as a fig that falleth from off a fig-tree…And all things shall be in commotion; and surely, men’s hearts shall fail them; for fear shall come upon all people. And angels shall fly through the midst of heaven, crying with a loud voice, sounding the trump of God, saying: Prepare ye, prepare ye, O inhabitants of the earth; for the judgment of our God is come. Behold, and lo, the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him…and the face of the Lord shall be unveiled; And the saints that are upon the earth, who are alive, shall be quickened and be caught up to meet him. And they who have slept in their graves shall come forth, for their graves shall be opened; and they also shall be caught up to meet him in the midst of the pillar of heaven…and Satan shall be bound, that old serpent, who is called the devil, and shall not be loosed for the space of a thousand years.” I think it’s safe to imagine that the events and circumstances surrounding the Second Coming will be similar to when the Lord appeared to the Nephites in the Book of Mormon. The scriptures describe earthquakes, floods, calamities, and wickedness. Reading the accounts of these events taking place in an earlier time give a great example of how what we can expect and how we can deal with them as they come. When the Lord appears a lot of people will be filled with fear because they do not know what is happening. Indeed, it may be a scary time, but the righteous will see and know that what is happening if the fulfilling of promises. The Saviors return will begin the 1000 years of righteousness and peace known as the Millennium. Satan will be bound and Christ will be in charge of world politics and will head the government. He will not always be on the earth but will instead travel back and forth, with the other resurrected beings, doing work both here and in the immortal world where he resides now. These are a few of the other things which will happen during the Millennium: · The earth will be restored to its original glorified beauty as it was in the Garden of Eden. · Everyday life will continue to be the same as it is now-We will still eat, drink, garden, and go to work. Things will still grow and there will still be a need for things to be built. The difference will be that all these things will be done with a purpose in righteousness. · It’s important to know that the citizens of the Millennium will not all be members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The population will consist of all the good and just people who have inhabited the earth. This will give us a wonderful opportunity to further the work of the Kingdom. · During the Millennium it will be our privilege and responsibility to teach the gospel. Our two main goals will be missionary work and temple work. Temples will continue to be built and more family history work will be completed. · For anyone who gets discouraged with family history work, it is encouraging to know that the job of the resurrected saints will be to help correct mistakes that have been made in our research and help us, through revelation, find more information until our family lines have been traced all the way back to Adam and Eve. · The last thing I want to mention is that there will be no disease or death during the 1000 years-generations will live to an old age and then simply pass over to continue with furthering the work of the Lord. At the end of the1000 years of righteous living we will have gained the strength to conquer Satan and will have the opportunity to prove that to ourselves and to the Lord when Satan is released on the earth again. For this talk I have chosen not to say much about the signs and events leading up to the Second Coming of Christ to the Earth. When I do think of them, I choose to focus on the many positive things like the restoration of the Gospel, the bringing forth of the Book of Mormon, the coming of Elijah, the gospel being preached to all the world, and the building up of a righteous city. We can see that some of these things have already come to pass, and we will be able to put a quantitative finger on some of the others to know without a doubt that promises are being fulfilled and the end times are near. Also prophesied are the calamities, destructions, and horrors that we seem to be already seeing. We have to be aware of what is happening in the world around us, but it’s essential to be reading our newspapers and our scriptures hand in hand. Shortly before he passed away, Neal A Maxwell wrote: “Prophetically, President Gordon B. Hinckley said to us at a recent general conference that current events in the world did not constitute the ‘all-consuming calamity.’ President Hinckley also cautioned: ‘Peace may be denied for a season…We may even be called on to suffer in one way or another…Our safety lies in repentance. Our strength comes of obedience to the commandments of God…This is the crux of the entire matter-obedience to the commandments of God.’”[i] Our church leaders encourage us to not get bogged down in the tragedies of the world. Many saints will fall away during the events leading up to the coming of the Lord. If we keep our eyes on the Savior and follow his commands we can use the events in the world as an opportunity for service. Elder Bernard P. Brockbank wrote: “The Church of Jesus Christ is never again to be taken from the earth. This is one of the great signs of the times-it shall continue to grow and flourish and cover the earth. The Holy Ghost and the priesthood of God will continue to be on the earth. There shall be in the last days living prophets and living apostles chosen and called by Jesus Christ.”[ii] We can find courage and hope in knowing that the days on earth without the priesthood power are past. From this point forward we will always have righteous servants of the Lord to follow and boost us up. My last thought on the Second Coming and the Millennium is that we each need to have courage to do our best to live righteously so that our children may live righteously. D&C 45:57-58 reads: “For they that are wise and have received the truth, and have taken the Holy Spirit for their guide, and have not been deceived-verily I say unto you, they shall not be hewn down and cast into the fire, but shall abide the day. And the earth shall be given unto them for an inheritance; and they shall multiply and wax strong, and their children shall grow up without sin unto salvation.” If I had the ability to bring about the Second Coming tomorrow, I would do it-not for me, but so that my son Beck would not have to grow up in our increasingly sinful world. Obviously, this is not in my powers and he needs to have the opportunity to grow and learn here. What we can do is try to live righteously in hopes of not only finding ourselves in the last days, or the ancestors whom we do the work for, but also the generations of our families yet to come who will have the opportunity to live in a world and a time without sin which is presented to them because of the choices we have made today. I bear you my testimony, brothers and sisters, that Jesus Christ lives and he will return to the Earth one day. I have a testimony of the plan that Heavenly Father has given us that enables us to live with our families eternally. I share these things with you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.[1] [1] This talk was prepared from the Gospel Topics section on LDS.org. Search: Second Coming & Millennium. Material found there included references from the magazines listed below, Gospel Principles, and Gospel Doctrine manuals. [i] “These Are Your Days,” Ensign, Oct. 2004, 26-31 [ii] “The Leaves Are Commencing to Show on the Fig Tree,” Ensign, May 1976, 74