Books

I can't wait for the 24th of August, the third book in the Hunger Game series, "The Mockingjay" is being released on that date... the bummer part is I will be on a wait list at the library to read it (gotta love having a budget, or else I would buy it!). In the meanwhile, I am trying to find some good books to read. I have most recently finished reading "The Simeon Solution" and found it inspiring and uplifting. I found the concept of the solution very helpful, to have faith as Simeon from the Bible, who waited his whole life in anticipation of witnessing, with his own eyes, the Savior of the World in flesh. His faith was simple, and unwavering. He was promised that he wouldn't die without seeing Christ, and he believed in that promise, and looked forward to that day. It was a wholesome book, and I enjoyed how she used experiences from her own life to illustrate her points.
Right now I am trying (key word) to read "The Scarlet Pimpernel". I love the movie (introduced to me many years ago by my cousins Sarah and Rachel), but haven't been hooked by the book yet. I'm not going to give up... If I made it through 1000 pages plus of Les Miserables (which I did enjoy), then I can make it through this! Recently I tried to read "The Chocoalate Wars" but just couldn't overlook an underlying theme of sexuality... although it wasn't pervasive or provocative, I just wasn't enjoying it so much, and decided not to finish it.
I read "The Secret Life of Bee's" and enjoyed it, for the most part. The only part of it that weirded me out, for lack of a better term, was the worshiping the Mary, the mother of Jesus. The other book, along with "Mockingjay", that I really want to read is "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett. I have been on hold at the library to read it for 3 months, no kidding. If the hold is that long, it has to be a good book right? At least, that is what I keep telling myself. What are ya'll reading now? I know that a lot of my readers are avid book junkies... also for lack of a better term:)

A Marathon of a Vacation

Georgia Trip 2010

Day One, July 15th:
After a good nights rest to re-coop from Wednesday's travels, we started our vacation out with a visit to the Fernbank Museum of Natural History in Atlanta on Thursday. It was a fun trip, we went with Nate, Mia, Kevin, and Mia's cousin John Luke. I have SO many pics from the trip, but rather than waste time uploading each and every single one, I've picked my fave's, as is my custom.

Nate pretending to be eaten by a giant clam shell?

Mike became friends with the stuffed turkeys

Kevin was suspicious of all the animals on display
in the glass cases, he kept thinking they were moving

Monkeys in their natural habitat:)

After the Museum we visited the famous Varsity fast food restauraunt... "What'll ya have?" (www.thevarsity.com). After that we went back to Griffin and I spent the afternoon with Mia while the boys went out and played some soccer. We enjoyed the rest of the evening with Mia at her house, getting to know some of her family.

Day 2, July 16th:
Mike and I were on our own all day, so we decided to go to Atlanta again and visit the World of Coke and the Aquarium. I made Mike go get our pic taken with the Coke bear... I thought he was cute. After the Aquarium we went on the most BORING tour of the CNN center in Atlanta, never again will I endure that!

We met up with Mia and Nate that evening for a nice dinner at an authentic Italian Pizzeria, Fritti's. Mike really enjoyed practicing his Italian on his trip to Georgia! He spoke Italian with the owner of Fritti's, the owner of another Italian bistro Bongiornos, in Birmingham, and then again at the Aquarium with an Italian tourist family. Anyways, after dinner we made our way to the Historic Fox theater in Atlanta, where I finally experienced "The Phantom of the Opera" on broadway! Words cannot describe how awesome it was... so I won't even try! Here is a pic of Mia and Nate before the show.
Day 3, July 17th:
What would a wedding celebration be without all the ladies going to get pampered before the wedding, and we did just that! Mia found an affordable nail salon and all the ladies went to get their nails done, and Mia suggested I get my toes painted green, so I did... Neon green. It was fun, my first professional nail experience. We then met up with Mia's family and close friends at a pre-wedding meet and greet. I snapped some good pics while there, here are a few:

Marge and Marty, chillin on the patio

Alyssa getting a pic of me

Mia was so kind to think of my birthday, and even got
me a birthday cake, which was yummy!

Day 4, July 18th (The BIG wedding day and my B-day):
The wedding day turned out to be overcast and cool, for a Georgia summer day, thank heavens! The wedding ceremony was nice, their vows were touching, I couldn't help but get teary eyed... you could feel their love for one another! Here are the pics of the wedding day:

This is the "Tea Room" in the reception house,
where little girls get dressed up and have tea...
Steve felt left out:)

The Kiss

The Groom's cake, pretty cool huh?

The Matusek Family (minus Kimball and Brandon)

After the wedding events, and seeing the Bride and Groom off on their Honeymoon, we followed Chris and Steve up to Atlanta to try Glady Knights Chicken and Waffles Restauraunt. The wait was super long though, 2 hours to get seated. Mike and Steve were soaked to the bone, from the storm that passed through while they were walking to the ATM. In lieu of this, we decided to forgo the wait and just get our food to go. It was interesting, to say the least, eating fried chicken and waffles in the same meal... We went to a movie that night, Inception, and if you haven't seen it you should go, you won't be let down. In fact, I want to see it again in theaters...

Day 5, July 19th:
Our trip was winding down at this point, and we really wanted to get home to our boys. But we decided to have one more day of fun, so we headed to the zoo. Right by the zoo was a Civil war museum, and this cannon out in front. I told Mike to go stand by it, and so he did, and this is how the pic turned out, gotta love my Mike!
I don't know why I posed in front of a Gorilla statue, but I did, and there you go:)

It was truly one Marathon of a Vacation, from which I am still recovering! I wouldn't change a moment of it, it was so fun to spend time with Mike, Mia, Nate, Marge, Marty, Kevin, Alyssa, Chris, and Steve, and also to meet Mia's family and friends and attend their wedding.

4th of July 2010 (Late as usual)

What a whirlwind weekend the 4th of July was, starting on Friday July 2nd up until the following Monday, everyday jam packed with fun activities and lots of memories made. The annual Keith and Nadine Moore family reunion was held, that weekend, hosted by Marla and Mike Biddulph at Table Rock campground, past Kelly canyon ski lodge. Camp set up started at 2:00, and we thought that before we headed up the canyon we would spend our morning and early afternoon at Heise Hot Springs. I have SO many memories from my childhood at Heise, while it may not be the most extravagant springs ever, it is so much fun! Perhaps I'm biased though, because I have great memories there.... I took so many more pics than I am sharing, I am just sharing my favorites. Out of all my Heise pics, this is my favorite. Kimball was so cold, from the water and slight breeze, but he also wanted to go down the slide SO bad. He would be shivering, teeth jattering, and would still be begging to go down again!

Kimball after going down waterslide

We got to Table rock shortly after 2:00 and set up camp. Mike and Marla were already there, getting organized and setting up their tents as well. They did so well with the Reunion, it was perfect! I could probably take up a few paragraphs describing all the fun and activities, but I won't (I kinda need to go to bed soon)... Here are some pics though

Grandpa Moore with his custom-made walking stick

L-R: Oliver, Alex, and Brandon

Campfire gathering, Grandma & Grandpa started the evening
around the campfire by giving all her children and grandchildren
a gift, which was my Grandfather's personal stories and history,
which he has written in the past few months.... I am thoroughly enjoying
my reading time, curled up with his words!

A silly animal noise game... you put on a blindfold,
get spun around, and then sit on someones lap
while they make an animal sound. You have to
guess whose lap you are on by the sound... this is
Mike on my uncle Dennis's lap

Saturday's 4 mile mountain run Medalists for the
"Older guys" (Levi and Jared, Right) and the "Young Guys" (Derek and Blake, Left)

Saturday's 4 mile mountain run Medalists for the
"Older ladies"(Teri and Cheryl, Left) and the "Young ladies" (Lindsey and Amy, Right)

My Aunt Gwynn "found" a lollipop tree, and she took
all the youngsters to pick their special treats from the tree...
ahh the memories! At least they didn't get lost like me searching
in vain for the lollipop tree

On Sunday the 4th My Grandparents hosted a BBQ at
their house, which was a lot of fun... complete with roasted Mallow,
roasted bisquits with fresh jam, "fireworks", wiffle ball game, a new
game that my grandpa made, and of course the piggies. Brandon's
favorite is the last one who went "wee wee wee all the way home"

And the kids with the sparklers...

It didn't end there, on Monday we had a BBQ at Mor-Mor's with Matt and Katrina and their kids and then enjoyed some great fireworks that Matt bought on the Indian Reservation. Needless to say, it was a 4th to remember, that much is for sure!

Recycling

For some reason, when I thought of what I would post next, recycling came first to mind. And what I want from my awesome readers, is for you to share your own experiences with recycling, your thoughts on it, whether or not you have recycled, currently recycle, or if you ever plan on recycling.

The other day I sent in a request to our city recycling program in Pocatello, just wanting more information on their program. The funny thing is, the next day on our curb was a large blue recycling bin, to match our dark green city trash can. I read the information that was left with the bin and was SURPRISED how easy it was to recycle, at least here in Pocatello. There was a magnet of recyclable materials and short instructions on how to go about it. Basically, rinse out the product, if messy, and then put all products, regardless if it is plastic, paper, or what not into the bin. Every other week put the bin out with your trash can for pick up. So simple, I always took recycling as something difficult, time consuming. But our local program has changed my mind about it.

Anyways, now is the part where I want your input, by comments left, about your own experiences and thoughts, can't wait to hear from you!