Maybe She’s a Reader

If you’ve been hanging around this blog for a while, you might remember a time when I was an avid reader. I used to read 2-3 books a week until I turned 40, and something weird happened to me. 

Well, I’m 42 now, and I’m happy to report that I’ve recently read a few books! In fact, I’ve read four so far this year and have three more well under way! I hope I’m turning a new leaf, and that I’ll be able to figure out who I am again (I’ve been a bit lost the past two years), but I don’t want to jump the gun. I also don’t want to abuse any cliches, so perhaps I’ll stop with the idioms now.

As I’m dabbling in reading again, I’ve been doing some maintenance work on my “to read” list. Whenever I request book recommendations, people always ask, “Well, what kind of books do you like?” which is exactly what I do when someone asks me about books. I never know how to answer, though, because I like many genres and types of books. It’s actually easier for me to tell you what I don’t like in books:

I don’t care for books that take place on ships or boats. 

I’m not a fan of mythology.

I’ve not taken much to magical realism.

I rarely enjoy books written in letter format. 

I don’t care much for books within books (i.e. when a character has written a book or is reading a book, and that book is written within the book). 

I sometimes struggle with coming of age and slow burn.

I immediately become judgmental if the main character’s name is Nora.

I’m not really interested in books where sports or athletic achievement are significant. 

I prefer stand alone novels to series (I didn’t used to feel this way, but as I’ve gotten older, I’ve become less interested in series). 

I’m very picky about fantasy and anything supernatural. 

I don’t enjoy stories with long journeys because it’s just travel, problem, travel, problem, over and over until the end. And whether that’s trying to take a ring to Mordor or the toys trying to get back to Andy (I have the same problem with movies), I get annoyed with the pattern. 

I rarely like anything rated less than 3.8 on Goodreads (that’s one of my deciding factors when researching a book to add to my list). 

I prefer books that are under 400 (ish) pages.

Now that probably makes everyone terrified to ever recommend a book to me, but there are always exceptions, so sometimes I’ll still read something that might not seem like my cup of tea (oh shoot, the cliches are back). There are always surprises! And who knows! After two years, maybe my tastes have actually changed! I guess we’ll see if I can keep up with reading now that I’m so old and wise!

Currently reading:

Slow burn, coming of age, and 579 pages long, but no ships or Noras so far.

The ABC’s of Vacation

We just returned from a family vacation to California. We left on a Friday after school and spent a night in Cedar City. Then we hit a few fun sites in Nevada on Saturday and arrived in  California that night. We spent one day at Universal Studios and five days at Disneyland. Then we headed home the following Saturday. Here are some highlights from our trip - alphabet style:

A is for Area 51

We didn’t go to the actual Area 51, but we went to a couple of nearby gift shops where I experienced one of the worst bathroom emergencies of my life (second only to this one) (the first gift shop wouldn’t let me use their restroom so I had to hold out for the second gift shop, and I damn near died). 

B is for Bentonite

We stopped in Panaca, Nevada to see Teapot Arch (formed from bentonite clay). It was a quick hike a short way off the road (just my style)!

C is for Cathedral Gorge State Park

Also on our way to California, we stopped at Cathedral Gorge State Park in Nevada. The formations there are bentonite clay as well, and our mountain goat kids had a blast climbing all over the place. 

D is for Donut

We enjoyed a rather large donut in Springfield in Universal Studios.

E is for Eat

We did our fair share of eating. Eva really wanted a Krusty Burger, and she ate almost the entire thing for the first time in her life.

F is for FaceTime

Nicky was able to call us on Monday while we were in Disneyland. He “rode” Tiana’s Bayou Adventure (formerly Splash Mountain) with us from the inside of a Ziploc bag. 

G is for Grandma

My mom and her husband came on our trip with us (but they took the less adventurous route and flew).

H is for Hot Dog

I took grilled hot dogs in a cooler (among many other foods) so we could heat them up for dinner in our hotel. That worked well until we stayed at a hotel that didn’t have a microwave! Luckily that was only for one night (apparently fancy people at fancy hotels don’t bring coolers full of food to microwave in their rooms), so we survived on carrots and dip and Pringles.

I is for Infinity Cream Puffs

Zoe loved these and convinced Grandma to buy her a second helping.

J is for Jurassic World

Scotty picked out t-shirts for all of us to wear to Universal Studios. He picked a Jurassic World shirt for Daisy because she loves Chris Pratt.

K is for Kiss

All our love to Chief Wiggam.

L is for Lines

The lines weren’t too bad, thankfully.

M is for Mickey

One of our favorite snacks at California Adventure is the sour dough bread. Zoe was our foodie this trip and had a list a mile long of everything she wanted to eat. Sourdough was one of her tops.

N is for Nintendo 

This was our first time seeing Super Nintendo World at Universal. It’s cute, but not all that great (in my opinion).

O is for Officer 

I don’t have a picture for this one, but we got pulled over for speeding in Nevada. The officer and Scotty bonded over Disneyland, and we got off with a warning. I was worried Scotty was going to invite him on Brocation.

P is for Pickle

Eva doesn’t like pickles, but she really wanted a pickle. As expected, she took one bite and said it was gross, but the rest of us took care of it.

Q is for Quirky

In Nevada we stopped at a place called RyanHenge. There’s a guy (named Ryan - imagine that) who owns a landfill, and he made his own Stonehenge. There are also some animals, train cars, and other art attractions. It was a fun and quirky little place.

R is for Rides

Six days in theme parks means lots (and lots) of rides!

S is for Stairs

Several staircases in Cathedral Gorge led down to, well… a gorge. Daisy and I went all the way down and followed the riverbed, and Scotty came and picked us up at the end.

T is for Throw Up

Daisy got really sick on this trip, and one of the days she tried to stick it out at the park. Right as we were about to get on the Guardians gantry, she got hit really quick with nausea and had to puke in the garbage can. Scotty took her out, and the cast members gave her a return pass to come back later and ride again via lightning lane. If she’d gotten sick one minute later, we would have been on the ride, and I can’t even imagine what that would be like tossing your cookies while going up and down in a car full of people in the dark!

U is for Universal Studios

Universal Studios Hollywood is fun to visit about every ten years, and we were due.

V is for Valuables

Since we didn’t have Nicky with us to find all the treasures around Disneyland, Scotty had to fill in. These were his findings.

W is for Wizards

Of course we had to visit Hogwarts.

X is for eXtraterrestrials

The Area 51 gift shops are full of old beef jerky and alien-themed merchandise that is covered in dust. 

Y is for Yummy

We ordered the Great Feast and some toffee pudding and frozen butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks in Universal. 

Z is for Ziploc

I’ve been known to feed my family from Ziploc bags on vacations. It ain’t pretty, but it tastes just fine. 

——-

We had an awesome trip! Now we have to figure out how to return to regular life after months of holidays and a vacation. I don’t remember how to do it!

Apres Noel

The last weeks of the year are insane. Amiright? For us, the chaos is amplified by the 40 birthdays we have in December and January. We party hard. We eat too much. We forget how to work and go to school. 

Here is how we spent the rest of our Christmas break:

On Friday after Christmas, we went to the zoo. The baby primates were adorable. Then we saw a female gorilla poop into her hand (twice), smell it, and carry it off somewhere. 

Not babies, but yawning titi monkeys are still cute

(until they pee on themselves)

Sorry for being gross, but I just had to tell you how it is.

Saturday was Nicky’s birthday, and it was weird to not really celebrate it. I have always tried to have Christmas put away before his birthday. This year it didn’t really matter, but I still had Christmas put away except for a few odds and ends. 

We had our friends over to play games that night. Daisy went on a date, and Zoe and Eva went with friends to see Zootopia 2. 

On Sunday we went to my dad’s house. My sister came to visit for a few days from California. We got to see some week-old baby goats.

On Monday we got to talk to Nicky. I took Zoe on a kid date. She wanted to go to Scheel’s and Leatherby’s. That night we went to Texas Roadhouse and ran into my aunt and uncle.

On Tuesday I took Eva on her kid date. She wanted to

Go to Panda Express and Swig and on a shopping spree at Dollar Tree (I let her spend $10).

Daisy went to a sleepover with her cousin on Monday night, and when she came home on Tuesday and found out that we’d gone to Texas Roadhouse without her, she was livid. She didn’t talk to any of us for hours! Scotty and I took Daisy and Zoe to the temple Tuesday night to do baptisms, and she pouted the whole time. 

Hopefully no one is keeping track of how much we’ve gone out to eat. Because there’s more… (and I didn’t even tell you about us going to The Habit for dinner after the temple because I’m starting to get embarrassed). 

Wednesday was New Year’s Eve. I had a telehealth appointment with my sleep doctor at 7 am. No matter what I say, there is no convincing her that I don’t have sleep apnea. Scotty worked for a few hours in the morning and then we went to Arby’s to redeem some free kids meal coupons (we used the week to cash in all our promos that were expiring on December 31). Then we went to a cabin for the day with some of our neighbors. The kids played in the (very small amount of) snow, and we played some games, including a few intense rounds of Don’t Break the Ice and Sorry.

We got home around 7:00 that night. We snacked, played more games, and watched some shows. We all passed out long before midnight.

Thursday was New Year’s Day and my birthday. I got up early and went to Walmart and Hobby Lobby to check out the Christmas clearance. I got a bunch of gift wrap supplies, which is what I was hoping for. 

On my way home, Scotty called and said to hurry up because I had some visitors. When I got home, my friend Christie was there, and she presented me with… drumroll please… A GIFT BASKET!!!

I couldn’t believe it! She got every single item on my list! Even cash! And crock pots! I laughed so much! And felt so guilty. And loved. But also guilty.

We spent a good chunk of the day cleaning the house. Then some of our friends came over, and we had Thai food and watched the finale of Stranger Things. Then we played a few games for good measure.

On Friday, my friend Julie brought me another birthday present inspired by my gift basket list. I love it so much! 

That night we went to dinner with my in-laws for my birthday at the Old Spaghetti Factory and then played some games at our house.

We didn’t have any plans on Saturday so we called in a spontaneous game night with friends. They came over, and we grilled hamburgers and hot dogs. The kids did an art project competition. I made random bags of junk for them to be creative with and then had Daisy and her friend be the judges and give everyone an award. 

Saturday was my night! I won or tied every game we played (Agricola, Ark Nova, Everdell, and Bohnanza). 

On Sunday we lounged about all morning in celebration of our new church time (11:30 - previously 9:00). Scotty smoked some beef jerky. We went to church. Then we went to Scotty’s dad’s birthday party. We played BINGO and ate charcuterie. 

At this point, you might be thinking yay! This post is finally over because it’s time for Britt’s kids to go back to school. Oh no, friends. My kids didn’t go back to school until January 7th!!!

By the time Monday rolled around, I felt like I was losing it. I had no patience left and no ability to entertain kids. I worked a five hour shift, and then we talked to Nicky on the phone. I put out the Valentine’s decorations hoping it would give a little spark to my day. It didn’t. Dance classes started up again. Baby steps back to real life. 

I worked again on Tuesday, then came home and crashed.

My friend Michelle stopped by with another gift basket inspired birthday present. 

She was just in time, too, because an hour before she showed up, I finished my last three Dove chocolates!

I had a bit of an emotional breakdown on Tuesday and just needed to cry (hence my need for Dove chocolates). Even though I love the holidays, and I’m so grateful for the wonderful experiences I’ve had over the past 10-12 weeks, it’s also a lot. It’s chaotic, gluttonous, and spendy. It’s a long time to be out of a good routine. The holidays also make me have to face unhealed wounds and disaccord among extended family. After all of it, I just needed to have a good release of tears, and then I can wipe myself off the floor and start a fresh new year. I have to go with Lunar New Year, though, because I’m never ready to start fresh January 1st. That gives me about 40 more days to prepare. 

Currently (January 2026 Edition)

Reading:

Wearing: a black sweatshirt and black sweatpants with brown socks.

Annoyed by: everything about my hair.

Singing: “What’s Up?” by 4 Non Blondes

Craving: something noodle-y and possibly teriyaki-y.

Watching: nothing. I’ve started several shows and haven’t found The One. But I’ll be watching The Pitt on January 8. 

Buying: makeup for Daisy. We just placed a Walmart delivery order a few minutes ago. 

Eating: grilled cheese sandwiches. We had two loaves of bread to use up.

Suffering from: cold feet.

Excited for: our upcoming family vacation.

Cooking: beef stroganoff tortellini. 

Procrastinating: making a phone call to the junior high.

Listening to:

Enjoying: my birthday presents. 

Feeling: defeated and discouraged. The world is getting me down.

Wanting: a 72 hour nap that I wake up from feeling refreshed and ready to start anew. 

Laughing about: Eva telling me I smell like Cafe Rio (I have an herbal oil in my hair that she says smells like cilantro).

Needing: to keep my mouth shut in a situation where I really don’t want to keep my mouth shut. 

Playing:

I got Everdell for my birthday last year, and we just barely learned how to play it.

Grateful for: new days. 

Ten Commandments

As recommended by Britt:

1. Thou shall not wear any clothing on vacations that identifies where thou art from.

2. Thou shalt post thine business hours in large enough fonts that thy customers can see them from their cars as they drive past thy doors.

3. Thou shalt not tape wrapping paper to thy gifts. 

4. Thou shalt move thy shopping cart to the right of the aisle.

5. Thou shalt not mix fruity candy with chocolate candy, nor should minty candy go in the same vessel.

6. Thou shalt have a single line that filters into registers as they become available.

7. Thou shalt offer “cheeseburger” as an option for a kids meal in thine app so thy customers don’t have to manually add cheese to a “hamburger” and pay 20 cents extra for it.

8. Thou shalt not wave me to go at a four-way stop when thou arriveth there first. Take thine right of way. 

9. Thou shalt honor the zipper system at the multi-lane drive thru.

10. Thou shalt not inflict thy phone sounds upon the ears of others in public places (wear thine earbuds whilst watching thine Tik Toks at Chick-Fil-A).