Midway Ice Castles

Tuesday January 9
Derek and I went with the Nelson's to Midway Ice Castles.
We watched Frozen on the ride up.

It was raining but that's no big deal. 

The Nelson family.  TJ just wasn't having it and wouldn't smile for Derek.

Lots of slides!

Oh yes.. I paid the ridiculous amount for coco and "souvenir" mug.. only because it's a triangle. 

Then we watched Beauty and the Beast on the drive home. 

You'll see Thalia and Sabrina mostly in the video and photos because we were watching them while Tyler went on the bigger slide. 
Surprised that Derek actually made a family video within 5 years of the trip? Well because he was also making a camera lens review and using footage from this trip. 

I'm sure if we went during a more wet winter where Utah actually had snow.. this would be more impressive.  It was fun going with the kiddos but overall kinda a let down. I do however want to go swimming in the crater. 

Books to Movies & The Best of 2017

Books to Film and the Top 7 of

hyperlinks included

Books read that have movies/tv shows:

Island of the Blue Dolphins in the 1964 version.

Books for Psycho (1960) and also Bates Motel tv show.

Invisible Cities is based on the travels of Marco Polo.. several movies and a tv series made. 

Fairest of All is a Snow White story.
The Beast Within is a Beauty and the Beast story.
Poor Unfortunate Soul is a The Littler Mermaid story.
A Wrinkle in Time from 2003, but a re-make is in the works to come out in 2018.
Girl on the Train came out in 2016.
The Three Musketeers and 1993 version.
The Monuments Men came out in 2014
The Zookeeper's Wife came out this year 2017
Washington's Spies was a TV series that started in 2014 and ended this year 2017. I know that the war ends, but the way they had started plot lines and such seemed like they were planning on a 5th season and so the 4th and last season felt rushed to close off ties and not really tell how everyone fared after the war.  Sometimes I just get too emotionally tied to books.
The Call of the Wild has several movie adaptations .
I Am Not A Serial Killer came out in 2016 but I just happened upon it randomly looking for the movie I Am Number Four and I got really excited to watch it. And then I was super disappointed 5 minutes in, just the way the actor/writing team portrayed John was just horrid.
Hidden Figures book wasn't as fun as the movie.
The Witches: Salem 1692 and it's classic movie.
The Outlander books have tv series on Starz so you've been warned.
The Neverending Story and it's 1984 movie.
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. We listened to this book on one of our adventures and both of us were not impressed.  It had so much potential, maybe if a different person wrote the book. But the movie was ok.
Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage has many documentaries and a few movies/mini tv series.

Top 7 of 2017

1) The Trails of Apollo books 1 & 2 by Rick Riordan.  The rest of the series haven't been published yet.

2) The Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter by Laurell K. Hamilton series is quickly becoming an addictive read.
3) The Nature Principle: Human Restoration and the End of Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv. I've read many books that discuss the importance of having nature in their lives and every time it just makes me more of a believer, that I fear my kids will be tree huggers. 

4) Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
5) Heartless by Marissa Meyer
6) The Turn #0 by Kim Harrison. Oh man I was so excited when she decided to do some back stories! Bonus I won this book.
7) I Am Not a Serial Killer (The John Cleaver Series #1-3 are the better ones) by Dan Wells. 

December 2017

The month of December 2017

Friday December 1

Gingerbread house and sugar cookie decorating with the Nelsons.

 The night before the big game.. gotta rep my T-Birds! (Even though they choked in the playoffs).

 Tyler getting serious about his house..

 To which Derek had to get in on...

 Derek showing off his skills...

 Tyler trying the gingerbread house...

 Immediately regretted it.

 Their house fell apart..

 But the girls still had fun decorating the sides afterwards.

Saturday Dec. 2

Madison's birthday date to see Despicable Me 3 and then Holy Smokes for dinner!

First she wanted to go to the nature center but when I told her we'd be outside in the cold, she quickly changed her mind to a movie. 

Monday Dec. 4

It snowed.. and it stuck around this time.

First time trail running in the snow since surgery... still had to go slow because of my paranoia but it was amazing all the same. 

Actually took my phone with me too so I could show Max.. he said I looked like a minion. 

Ragnar got some new doggles. 

Monday Dec. 11 Jingle Bell Run
Man I love these kids!

 Tuesday Dec. 12 Zoo Lights with Nila

Wednesday Dec. 13 
Tree of Life in Draper with Derek and Austin

Got stuck behind Santa...

Became a season ticket holder for the first time in my life..

Friday Dec. 22

Took my dad and the Clegg girls up to Solitude to see an avalanche dog demo and to play in the snow. Elise was the only one who wanted in on the car selfie. 

 Madi started a snow angel competition with the snow patrol guys while we were all waiting. There was more snow patrol guys than there were people.. but only one dog.. 

 Lumen is a lab/short hair pointer mix. 

 So cute! And she was so cold! She was shaking the poor thing.  The demo was about 20 minutes but we stayed probably another 20 just talking to the handlers.  My dad was wanting to know about their training and ya know.. Austin was a handler so my dad wanted to compare.  The handler was super nice and interested in the things my dad had to say too.  I chatted with him on doggie winter gear and the guy thought Derek was crazy for his Peter Sinks trips.

 Played in the snow... 

 The many faces of Elise...

After grandpa bought us happy meals we started to head home.

Elise wanted to sing Christmas music because it was dark and she was scared.

We sang Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer like 10 times...

So we took a pit stop at the Layton park to look at the lights...

  

 A sign a can support! And they were big cups for only $1.. I couldn't say no.

 We hunted for the elf and found it on the trunk.  It's a creepy looking elf... the girls got candy canes from the city workers as their prize. 

Saturday December 23
Traditional Christmas movie with the family.. Star Wars in 3D!

Sunday December 24, Christmas Eve.
Thought I'd go take Ragnar around to look at lights and stopped at the parents. 
Mom wanted to see the Layton lights after she saw dad's pictures from when we took the girls.
So we went and took the dogs!

 I took like 50 photos (thanks iphone) and my parents looked the same in everyone.. 

 Then I went by Amy's house to finish off the night.

 Ragnar seemed impressed.. but then Amy told me she just let out the cat..