Pillow Fort, Upgraded

Rollin'

The kids went to a stake youth skating activity on Saturday. I didn't get any action shots, but they all reported that they had fun!

Dancing Queen

Most of our kids have had to wait until they were old enough for church dances to go to school dances. But Miss Sophie found a loophole. She was elected to student government this year and one of her responsibilities was to attend the 6th grade dance. Well played, Sophie.

The dance was tonight and she had a blast rocking out with her friends.

A Dozen Years With Sophie

Sophie is 12! She got to celebrate her birthday over a whole weekend. She invited a few friends over for games and cookie decorating, then opened presents the next day, then had her cake the day after that!

Happy birthday, Sophie!

Choose to Serve the Lord

A new year means a new course of study at church and home. This year we're studying the Old Testament. In primary we're focusing on the heroes we'll read about. To reflect that, we switched out our Doctrine & Covenants bulletin board from last year and put up pictures of people and places the kids will be learning about this year. We plan to add a banner at the bottom that says "I will choose to serve the Lord," which goes along with a song we're learning. I love the way it turned out!

Personal Record

Cooper had another indoor track meet on Saturday. He ran the 800 in 2 minutes and 26 seconds, which I think is crazy fast. That's probably why he looked like this at the end of the race.

Those Were the Days

Christmas break is over, it always ends too quickly. 

We enjoyed the extra sleep and bonus family time.

I loved that the kids weren't bogged down by homework and had time to practice their musical instruments, not because they were required to, but because it made them happy.

I also loved not having to leave the house as often, it was warm and cozy inside.

And Topher loved being the first one awake every morning so he didn't have to fight anyone for the TV remote. 

Out With the Old

New Year's Eve was full of games,

gingerbread house decorating from

Topher and

Cooper and

Phoebe and

Sophie and

Peter,

viewing White Christmas and Singing In the Rain (which I didn't take pictures of), and a Bluey themed countdown.

Happy New Year to all!

The Biblio Files: 2025

My book total for 2025 fell well below my total for 2024, and I'm okay with that. This year I read/listened to (mostly listened) 153 books. Those that are underlined were especially impactful, those in italics were for book club, and the one that's in bold was an actual book, not an audiobook. 

January:

1. Mostly What God Does: Reflections on Seeking and Finding His Love Everywhere by Savannah Guthrie
2. Family Family by Laurie Frankel
3. Murder on the Brighton Express by C. J. Archer
4. Wind and Truth by Brandon Sanderson (This is a 63 hour audiobook. Even listening at double speed, it took several days.)
5. Of Boys and Men by Richard V. Reeves
6. The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill (I've lost count of how many times I've read this, I love it every time.)
7. The Keeper of Stories by Sally Page
8. The Sunlit Man by Brandon Sanderson
9. Greenwild: The World Behind the Door by Pari Thomson
10. Really Very Crunchy by Emily Morrow
11. The First State of Being by Erin Entrada Kelly

February:

1. The Improbable Tales of Baskerville Hall, Book 1 by Ali Standish
2. Embers of Hands by Eleanor Barraclough
3. The Happy Life of Isadora Bentley by Courtney Walsh (This was such a delight that I suggested it for not one but two book clubs!)
4. The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown (This was compelling and well-written and twisty and dark. I don't want to read it again, but I've also thought about it all year.)
5. The Rent Collector by Camron Wright
6. The Bill of Obligations by Richard Haass
7. Greenwild: The City Beyond the Sea by Pari Thomson
8. October 2024 General Conference
9. Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara
10. The Improbable Tales of Baskerville Hall, Book 2 by Ali Standish
11. If For Any Reason by Courtney Walsh
12. Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear
13. When Broadway was Black by Caseen Gaines
14. Every Thing On It by Shel Silverstein (read aloud to Topher)
15. The Twilight Garden by Sara Nisha Adams
16. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo
17. The Puppets of Spelhorst by Kate DiCamillo
18. Hotel Balzaar by Kate DiCamillo
19. Into the Uncut Grass by Trevor Noah

March:

1. Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl (This was hilarious!)
2. Everyone Who Is Here Is Gone by Jonathan Blitzer (This was about such a difficult subject, but I felt like a more complete person after having read it.)
3. Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate
4. Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear
5. Atonement by Ian McEwan (This was beautifully written, but SOOOOOO sad. And kind of icky in its premise.)
6. Slow Productivity by Cal Newport
7. Holes by Louis Sachar
8. Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
9. The Book of Mormon
10. The Siren's Call by Chris Hayes
11. The Murder of Mr. Wickham by Claudia Gray
12. Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green (This is one of my favorites of the year! In fact, I think it's time to read it again.)

April:

1. The Summer of Yes by Courtney Walsh
2. October 2024 General Conference
3. Stolen Focus by Johann Hari (This book started off strong and kind of lost the thread by the end, but I really enjoyed the first two-thirds.)
4. This Might Get Awkward by Kara McDowell
5. The Booklover's Library by Madeline Martin (I loved this one! It's set in the same literary world as The Last Bookshop in London, another lovely book that I recommend.)
6. Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters
7. One Way or Another by Kara McDowell
8. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins ( I finally read these because Phoebe picked them up. We watched the movies together after we read the books and agree that Sunrise on the Reaping is the best of the series. We're excited for the movie version of that to come out.)
9. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
10. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
11. The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt (Everyone I talked to loved this book. It made me, well, anxious. I can see the merit in some of what he advocates, but other points are just nuts.)
12. What's Next by Melissa Fitzgerald (This was a touching behind the scenes look at the TV show The West Wing and all the service that cast members have gone on to do.)
13. The Late Mrs. Willouby by Claudia Gray

May:

1. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
2. Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
3. The Healer's Apprentice by Melanie Dickerson
4. The Happy Life of Isadora Bentley by Courtney Walsh (See? Here she is again.)
5. The Merchant's Daughter by Melanie Dickerson
6. First: The Life and Faith of Emma Smith by Jennifer Reeder
7. Invisible Women by Caroline Criado-Perez (This was another book I couldn't stop talking about and I continued thinking about it throughout the year.)
8. Trust by Herman Diaz (This was amazing! I recommended it to a few people because I was so impressed with it. You do need to stick with it though, don't stop after part one.)
9. The Patron Thief of Bread by Lindsay Eagar (Sweet and lovely, it kind of reminded me of The Girl Who Drank the Moon.)
10. The Perils of Lady Catherine de Burgh by Claudia Gray
11. April 2025 General Conference
12. The Fairest Beauty by Melanie Dickerson

June:

1. A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray
2. Ten Thousand Skies Above You by Claudia Gray
3. The Chosen by Chaim Potok (I'm surprised I hadn't read this before. It's beautiful and I understand why it's so well-loved.)
4. The Book of Mormon
5. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
6. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
7. The Dubious Pranks of Shaindy Goodman by Mari Lowe (This was a book that Sophie recommended and it paired nicely with The Chosen.)
8. Bookish and the Beast by Ashley Poston

July:

1. Give Me a Sign by Anna Sortino 
2. A Million Worlds with You by Claudia Gray
3. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
4. The 10 by E.A. Hanks (This was engaging and funny and I enjoyed her writing style. It was a little more adult than I usually read, but much of the profanity came from things people said along her journey, so actual quotes.)
5. Be Where Your Feet Are by Scott O'Neil
6. The Riddlemaster of Hed by Patricia A. McKillip
7. Pretties by Scott Westerfeld

August:

1. New Happy by Stephanie Harrison (Serving others makes us happy, who knew? Seriously though, I really enjoyed this book.)
2. Library Girl by Polly Horvath (Sweet and quirky.)
3. David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell
4. Specials by Scott Westerfeld
5. The Rushmore Family Plot by Claudia Gray
6. The Penguin Lessons by Tom Michell
7. Pride and Premeditation by Tirzah Price

September

1. April 2025 General Conference
2. How to Menopause by Tamsen Fadal
3. The Matchmaker's Gift by Lynda Cohen Loigman (I loved this one! It's a multi-generational story told in two timelines.)
4. The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright (This is the first of a sweet quartet of books that I had somehow never heard of. They were mentioned in Library Girl that I read in August, so I added them to my reading list.)
5. The Book of Mormon
6. A Botanists Guide to Rituals and Revenge by Kate Khavari
7. Mrs. Harris Goes to Parliment by Paul Gallico (Mrs. Harris gets up to all kinds of trouble. This whole series is a delight.)
8. The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann
9. A Forgery of Fate by Elizabeth Lim
10. Sense and Second-Degree Murder by Tirzah Price
11. The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore by Evan Friss
12. The Four-Story Mistake by Elizabeth Enright
13. Mrs. Harris Goes to Moscow by Paul Gallico
14. The Girl Who Kept the Castle by Ryan Graudin
15. The Storytelling Animal by Jonathan Gottschall
16. Camp Cacophony by Jessica Khoury

October:

1. April 2025 General Conference
2. Set Boundaries, Find Peace by Nedra Glover Tawwab
3. 107 Days by Kamala Harris (This was fascinating. It was so interesting to learn that her religious mentor was a dear friend of President Russell M. Nelson, the prophet and president of our church who passed away in September.)
4. The Journal of a Thousand Years by C. J. Archer
5. Legacy of Roses by Melanie Cellier
6. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (Amazing! This is one of the best audiobooks I've ever listened to! Multiple people, including my brother, recommended this and I'm so glad I made time for it.)
7. Her Radiant Curse by Elizabeth Lim
8. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Volume 1 by Beth Brower ( A good friend has been trying to get me to read this series for at least a year. It finally came out on audiobook and I sped through them. The first book is kind of the prologue. The action really picks up in the third book. They are delightful! Emma is endearing and the whole cast of characters is quirky and fun. I suggested these for my December book club, which prompted a second listen of the whole series. These might fill that same niche that the Harry Potter books fill, comfort books that make me happy. Also, there are supposed to be 24 books by the time she's done, so there are lots of adventures to come.)
9. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Volume 2 by Beth Brower
10. The Witch Who Stormed the Palace by Paul Gallico
11. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Volume 3 by Beth Brower
12. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Volume 4 by Beth Brower
13. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Volume 5 by Beth Brower
14. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Volume 6 by Beth Brower
15. All Systems Red by Martha Wells

November:

1. Then There Were Five by Elizabeth Enright
2. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Volume 7 by Beth Brower
3. October 2025 General Conference
4. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Volume 8 by Beth Brower
5. Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell (Beautifully written, I'm leading a book club discussion on this next year so I'll be reading it again soon.)
6. The Life Impossible by Matt Haig (I adored his book The Midnight Library, but this one was just okay.)
7. Everything Beautiful in Its Time by Jenna Bush Hager
8. Spectacular by Stephanie Garber
9. Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber (I re-read these because I couldn't remember if I'd finished the series. Spoiler: I had. I listened to them on triple speed.)
10. The Ballad of Never After by Stephanie Garber
11. Spiderweb For Two: A Melendy Maze by Elizabeth Enright
12. A Cross-Country Christmas by Courtney Walsh (This was more poignant than I was expecting. It's my fourth book from this author this year, I enjoy her storytelling.)

December:

1. Snowglobe by Soyoung Park
2. A Lady's Guide to Fortune-Hunting by Sophie Irwin
3. A Curse for True Love by Stephanie Garber
4. Faking Christmas by Cindy Steel
5. The One With the Kiss Cam by Cindy Steel
6. Doctrine and Covenants
7. October 2025 General Conference
8. Lovely War by Julie Berry (This is beautifully written. It weaves several stories together, most of them work well, but the narrator's story feels slightly out of place.)
9. Falling Like Leaves by Misty Wilson
10. Having People Over by Chelsea Fagan
11. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Volume 1 by Beth Brower
12. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Volume 2 by Beth Brower
13. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Volume 3 by Beth Brower
14. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Volume 4 by Beth Brower
15. Doing Small Things With Great Love by Sharon Eubank
16. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Volume 5 by Beth Brower
17. Celebrating a Christ Centered Christmas by Emily Belle Freeman
18. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Volume 6 by Beth Brower
19. Come Follow Me Home and Church: Doctrine and Covenants 2025
20. Book of Mormon
21. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Volume 8 by Beth Brower

Looking Forward and Back

I checked my final post of 2024. These were my goals for 2025:

"In 2025 I hope to keep learning, reading, and strengthening the relationships that matter the most. And while it's probably useless to continue counting it on my resolutions list, I'd like to sleep a little more next year too."

I had no idea that I would spend the first two and a half months of 2025 in an exhausted stupor that left me sleeping many days while the kids were at school. After getting my thyroid medication straightened out in March, I felt more human. But when I wished for more sleep in 2025, that is not what I had in mind.

I feel like 2025 was full of learning experiences, both the happy and the difficult. I relearned that patience is a lesson I need to keep learning, exercise helps my brain and my body, it's important to serve others, and it's important to make time to take care of myself.

I read a lot (that post will publish tomorrow), but not as much as last year. And that's okay. I think there was a little more balance with how I spent my time this year. And by balance, I mean time listening to my kids instead of listening to books.

Did I strengthen my relationships this year? Hmmm, that requires reflection. I think I did. All that extra time listening to my kids helped. And I feel like Bryan and I have worked to carve out more time for each other this year. I've said yes to all the girl nights and book clubs I could squeeze in, which is maybe not good for my sleep but it is great for my soul. I've continued having regular family calls and writing on the blog as a way to maintain long-distance relationships. And continuing to serve in my calling, study the gospel, and spend time in earnest prayer has strengthened my relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

It looks like I met all my goals this year.

And what will I do in 2026?

I want to continue nourishing my spirit, mind, and body. I need (this comes as a strong and loving suggestion from Bryan) to find better ways to take care of myself. I want to spend more together time as a family without screens. And I want to get rid of enough stuff that I spend more time on projects that benefit our family and less time on managing our possessions.

I think that's enough to fill a year.