End of Year Book Report

So I was just realizing how many books I have read this year.  2008 was a definite book year for me.  I read 25 books this year.  The last three with Dave and we are starting number 4 of the series tonight.  Its possible to finish it by Wednesday, but I am thinking we won't have time to read tomorrow night and New Year's Eve, so most likely it won't happen.  But still, I can't believe I read that many books this year.  I also started The Host by Stephenie Meyer that I plan on finishing, eventually.  I told Dave about it and he asked me to hold off reading it until he can join me, but the new series we just started has I think 14 books in it, so it might be awhile.  I have several other books on my list to start reading as well.  But we will see.  A new baby in the house might change that.  

Here is the list of books I read this year in order based on series/author, not chronologically:

1. One for the Money by Janet Evanovich
2. Two for the Dough by Janet Evanovich
3. Three to Get Deadly by Janet Evanovich
4. Four to Score by Janet Evanovich
5. High Five by Janet Evanovich
6. Hot Six by Janet Evanovich
7. Seven Up by Janet Evanovich
8. Hard Eight by Janet Evanovich
9. Visions of Sugar Plums (Holiday Novella) by Janet Evanovich
10. To the Nines by Janet Evanovich
11. Ten Big Ones by Janet Evanovich
12. Eleven on Top by Janet Evanovich
13. Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich
14. Plum Lovin’ (Holiday Novella) by Janet Evanovich
15. Lean Mean Thirteen by Janet Evanovich
16. Plum Lucky (Holiday Novella) by Janet Evanovich
17. Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich
18. I am Legend by Richard Matheson (also with Dave)
19. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
20. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
21. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
22. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
23. Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton
24. The Laughing Corpse by Laurell K. Hamilton
25. Circus of the Damned by Laurell K. Hamilton

Not that any of these books will make me smarter or increase my vocabulary or anything.  They were all for fun, and all fiction novels/novellas.  But hey, I still feel pretty good reading that many in one short year.  I don't know if I have done that since being out of school.  We shall see what next year brings as far as the reading goes.  Lets see if I can top it!

P.S.  25 days until I am due!

Holy Crow!

Today marks the 30 day mark from my due date.  I can't even believe it!  Before I know it I will have a bouncy baby boy!  : )  I actually can't wait to meet him, if only I could bypass the part where I deliver him.  Dave and I were realizing that next Christmas we will have an almost 1 year old.  We are so excited!  And its a year away!  We can't help it.  We know he won't understand what's going on, but we will and we will love it!  Its amazing to think that we will have this little one experiencing everything for the first time.  It will make it magical to us again.  We will get to see this child getting to experience everything and get excited and it will in turn get us excited.  We can't wait!

As a side note, Merry Christmas everyone!  I wish you all a wonderful holiday!  

Looky, looky!

Check out my way gorgeous family!  These are my brothers and sisters.  Man, do I love these guys!  Thank you family for being so wonderful!  This christmas season has made me think how lucky I am to have such a fantastic family and how much I love each of you wonderful examples.  I am so lucky to have siblings like you!

  

Movie Lines Fun!

I saw this on my friend Mirrim's website and just had to do it.  I love movies and guessing lines from movies has always been fun.  My brother Blaine and I have done it for years.  A fun game that we can do back and forth on long trips, etc.  He is really good.  And much better than I am.  And I hear Sani (his new wife) is excellent at it as well.  I challenge anyone to guess mine, following the rules and to do it themselves, so I can guess theirs.  Here are the rules: 

1. Pick 15 of your favorite movies.

2.  Go to IMDb and find a quote from each movie.

3.  Post them here for everyone to guess.

4.  Strike it out when someone guesses correctly and put who guessed it and the movie.

5.  NO GOOGLING/using IMDb search or other search functions.

6.  No looking at my favorite movies on my Facebook/MySpace/LJ/etc.  (I personally don't think I have any listed anywhere, but you never know --Angie)

Here are my movies, in random order:

1.   

D: So what do you recommend to encourage affection? 

E: Dancing. Even if one's partner is barely tolerable.

Pride and Prejudice (Melissa)

2.  

Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months. And then, one not-so-very special day, I went to my typewriter, I sat down, and I wrote our story. A story about a time, a story about a place, a story about the people. But above all things, a story about love. A love that will live forever.

Moulin Rouge!  (Melissa)

3.  You should never underestimate the predictability of stupidity.

4.  

Little beat big when little smart. First with the head, then with the heart. You can remember that? 

The Power of One (Melissa)

5.  Oh Sammy's so confused he don't know whether to scratch his watch or wind his butt.

6.  

Whenever I'm in a room with a guy, no matter who it is - a date my dentist, anybody - I think, If we were the last two people on Earth, would I puke if he kissed me? 

Girls Just Want to Have Fun (Melissa)

7.  

That woman deserves her revenge and we deserve to die.

Kill Bill Vol. 1 (Emily)

8. 

Don't you ever talk about my friends. You don't know any of my friends. You don't look at any of my friends. And you certainly wouldn't condescend to speak to any of my friends. So you just stick to the things you know: shopping, nail polish, your father's BMW, and your poor, rich drunk mother in the Caribbean

Breakfast Club (Melissa)

9.  

I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about. Truth is, I don't want to know. Some things are best left unsaid. I'd like to think they were singing about something so beautiful, it can't be expressed in words, and makes your heart ache because of it. I tell you, those voices soared higher and farther than anybody in a gray place dares to dream. It was like some beautiful bird flapped into our drab little cage and made those walls dissolve away, and for the briefest of moments, every last man felt free.

The Shawshank Redemption (Melissa)

10.  

It's about fairness, Curtis. It's about people paying their dues. Isn't that what you keep telling me? "Get in line, Effie. Wait your turn". So why am I sitting here without so much as a B-side on a 45, when an amateur like Martin Luther King Jr. gets his own freaking album? I mean, can he even sing?

Dream Girls (Melissa)

11.  

I'm sure there's nothing I do that you'd find exciting. I don't open beer bottles with my toes, I don't sit around and count what's left of my teeth, hey, I don't even enjoy a good tractor pull. It's been a limited existence, but I've gotten used to it.

The Cutting Edge (Melissa)

12.  I think I would probably come to the conclusion that I'd like it for a while... but in the end, I'd still prefer the sound of the wind in the firs across the brook more than the tinkling of crystal.

13.  

I was wondering, just between us girls, what did you say to Pai Mei for him to snatch out your eye? 

Kill Bill Vol. 2 (Jen G.)

14.  

I ask for so little. Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave.

Labyrinth (Melissa)

15.  You had a gorram time bomb living with us!  Who we gonna find in there when she wakes up?  The girl?  Or the weapon?

Good luck everyone!  Just post the name of the movie and the number of the line and I will let you know if you are correct.

My whittle brover Blainey's wedding!

Yep, the final Nielsen has gotten hitched.  All eight have done the wedding thing.  Congrats, Blaine and Welcome Sani!

The wedding was beautiful!  And had some neat parts.  Because of Sani's Polynesian heritage they wore lays and wreaths on their heads.  And the music she walked down the isle to had a Polynesian feel to it.  They wrote their own vows and the tears were flowing.  Not just Sani, but me as well.  And I think Dave might have even been a little teary eyed.  President Orgil of the Grantsville West Stake, performed the ceremony and did a fantastic job.  It was very well done.  Then we had pictures, and ate dinner.  The dinner was so yummy!  I couldn't get enough.  And the groom's cake was awesome.  Not the taste because they didn't even cut it, but because it was a star trek cake!  I wish I would have taken a picture of it.  It was in the shape of the com buttons that they use to communicate on the ship.  Perfect for Blaine!  He is a major Star Trek fan.  He loves it!  He even dressed up as Jean Luke Piccard one year for Halloween.  Shaved his head to fit his hair style even.  It was pretty awesome!  They cut the cake and were nice to each other.  No shoving the cake in.  And finally at the end of the night Sani sang Jason Mraz's song "I'm Yours" to Blaine.  See my post below "New Found Love".  I thought that was really neat.  And she sings beautifully!  I was so impressed!  Overall it was a wonderful wedding!  And off they went to Lake Tahoe!  Have fun guys!  

Blaine and President Orgil.

Blaine waiting for Sani.

Sani being escorted by her brother.

The Beautiful Sani!

Thanksgiving and Surprises!

This year was really nice.  We were able to have all of my siblings at Thanksgiving this year!  Plus we had the newest additions with us.  Emily's new husband Jared and Blaine's finance Sani.  And it has been years since us eight siblings were all together with my parents too.  Needless to say it was a full house.  Two parents, 8 siblings, 7 significant others, and 12 grandkids.  I think with my mom being home after being gone for two years helped.  That and Blaine's wedding on the 29th.  Alan came from Texas and Melissa and Ben came from Seattle.  It was nice to see everyone.  

We also got to surprise my eldest brother Alan with a surprise birthday party of sorts.  We all submitted clues about Alan for a Crossword Puzzle and we did it all together.  I didn't get any pictures of that, but it was really fun.  My brother Alan has done some interesting things in his life.  I even got to learn a few new things about him that I didn't know.  To me it was pretty cool.  His birthday is actually on the 7th of December, but he was home now, so...  He turns 40 on the 7th, and we hope to be able to continue the tradition with each sibling as they turn 40.  

Thanksgiving was yummy!  There was lots of great food, family, fun and laughing.  It was a good time!  The big guys even got to go our shooting.  I think that was fun for them.  Dave was excited to shoot a muzzle loader.  Thank you, Jared! 

Here's a few pictures of the big table the teenager table and the little "guys" table.  

Mom explaining "how to get your food in the proper order".  Yes, there is a correct flow.

Mom still explaining, she shows us how to walk soon after this.

Here's one side of the table with our food.

Other side of table with food.

Ian, Maddy and Shayla at the "teen" table.

Kara, Savannah, Kamille and Mallory at the "teen" table.

Quinten, Connor and Rowan at the little "guys" table.

Alan sucking his helium from his birthday balloons.