The Awakening - L. J. Smith

So somehow I got sucked into this series of books about vampires.  I will say I think the twilight series was much better, but that is because those books sucked me in 4 times.  This book was a little slow to start and I feel that it was almost thrown together.  This is a good read if you like something light and fun after all it is meant for teenagers.  I can see that the twilight books seem to take a lot of ideas from these books.  These are really fast books and it seems that she doesn't really want to take the time to develop the story.  Other than that this is a fun book with all the typically vampire lore in it.

Yours Truly,

KP

Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

This book was very interesting in that she constantly changes the time period that the characters are in.  I have to say that I think she does this flawlessly and makes it very easy to keep track with where you are at in the story.  Having said that this book was really not what I expected and some parts were not particularly enjoyable.  Maybe I am flawed as I did watch the movie first, but I don't remember the vulgarity being so prevalent.  Niffenegger could have used better words to provide seduction, but instead the book just seemed rather dirty in some parts.  The love story was ok, but again I think the language took away from the romance.  Overall this was an ok read, but really just watch the movie.  Oh and be warned I usually hate the movies and love the books so this may be a first for me.

Yours Truly,

KP

Cheeseheads anyone...

So the packers seem to be doing really well and let me tell you it has everything to do with Mr. Rodgers and no, I am not talking about the friendly neighborhood guy.  I am talking about Aaron Rodgers.  This guy is just unbelievable.  He is the first quarterback to have 10 consecutive games with a 100+ rating.  That is absolutely amazing.  Now I am not a huge fan of teams that win an absurd amount of games especially since it is usually not my team, but I am thinking that I might be a fan of Rodgers and the Packers doing what the Patriots couldn't.  That is I would be excited to see them get the complete undefeated season, Super Bowl and all.

Anyways in other news Jacksonville is having a really crappy season.  I can only hope they have a record of at least 8-8.

Anyways this is KP signing out....

5000 Year Leap - W. Cleon Skousen

So yes I need to desperately catch up with my many book reviews.  I have huge list of books I would like to read and just recently went through quite a few.  Recently I read this book called the 5000 year leap.  It was about the 28 principles of freedom and this provided great insight into the reasons the constitution was formed.  I will let you in on why this book is called the 5000 year leap.  The idea is that due to the miracle of our constitution and the principles of freedom that the founders used, we as humans in the last 200 years made leaps and bounds that humans could not do over the course of 5000 years.  Now really think about that.  Humans have been around a long time, but it has only been in the last 200 years that we have been able to discover so many things.  I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that in our country we don't oppress brilliant minds.  I think it is wonderful that we live in a country that allows individuals to really think "outside the box".  Anyways this book is a little dry at times, but it does offer many enlightening ideas about our country and should give everyone something to think about.

Yours Truly,

KP

The Real George Washington - Jay A. Parry, Andrew M. Allison

So recently I read the book - The Real George Washington.  This book take the writings of George Washington and other fragments of what we know about him and pieces everything together to give you an idea of who this man really was.  I have to say I learned sooo much about our country and its humble beginnings from this book, probably more than I ever got out of history class.  Most people when you ask them who George Washington was they will tell you that he was one of the founding father and our first president and some may even know that he was the General in charge during the Revolutionary War,  but what most will not be able to tell you is who exactly this man was.  And let me tell you after reading this book and learning what kind of man he was,  I have to say that George Washington became my hero.  This man was humble and meek.  He realized that he did not know everything and depended on the counsel of those around him.  He love the quiet, domestic life that he constantly tried to be a part of.  This man was called out of retirement 3 different time to serve his country and he did so with a heaviness in his heart, but with the realization that he needed to guide the country to prosperity.  He made mistakes, not willingly or knowingly, but he made them and he admitted to making them.  He did not place blame on others for his shortcoming, but also held those around him to high standards.  He did not accept compensation for being the President.  He felt that it was an honor to hold the position and that that should be enough.  I would say to everyone that we should all take a moment and learn what our founding fathers were like and we should all try to emulate the honorable attributes that they possessed.  By the way, I highly recommend this book.

Yours Truly,

KP

Major Football Updates!

So it may seem that I have fallen off the face of the earth, but I have been quite busy and just have not been able to keep up with this.  Football has been amazing.  Tim Tebow has had some rough weeks, but seems to be taking everything in stride.  This QB is an amazing person and might just end up being a really great quarterback.  He definitely needs some time, but everything I saw in the game against Oakland was amazing.  He kept getting hit and kept coming back.  He definitely pulls off a nice fake and given the way he runs he definitely helps to open up many options for the Broncos in regards to passing and running.  I love his altitude and how he just gets up and keeps going.

On another note, I got to see my team, Jacksonville, finally win.  They played the Ravens on Monday Night and I thought for sure that they would lose, but the defense pummeled and did what they needed to to hold the Ravens to only a few points, while the offense somehow managed to get a few field goals.  The offense is horrible, but hopefully things will get better.

Yours Truly,
KP

Noom

Ok so I realize this is the second discussion of healthy decisions.   Let me clarify one thing:  I am not really that healthy of a person.  I have a good weight, but I do not eat very well and I exercise when I feel like it, which is rarely.  Having gotten that out of the way I recently acquired an app on my phone to track my weight, food, and exercise.  I mostly am doing this so I have a general awareness of what I am doing.  I think this is helping me.  I didn't completely do away with the bad things, but I am trying to incorporate more fruit and vegetables and other healthy alternatives to the crappy snacking I tend to do on a daily basis.  I have to say I don't really like eating healthy, but I do like how I feel when I try to do better.  I also like that it reminds me to log my food and reminds me that I should be exercising granted I don't always listen.  I understand we all get busy, but what is really nice about this app is that it is on my phone and my phone is with me everywhere and it is quick to log these.  I hope this helps someone, somewhere.

Yours Truly,

KP

Gold Gyms Workout Videos

So I have been lacking in motivation to work out or at least that is how it feels.  Sometimes I just need something a little different to get me motivated.  I did try to go to classes, but it seemed that the timing never really worked quite for me.  So I invested in some Gold Gym workout videos and I got to say if you even do just one of the 10 minute workouts a day you will be well on your way.  The workouts are super intense for a very short period of time.  It is nice and quick, but I definitely feel that I got a workout when all is said and done.  Anyways whatever you can do to stay motivated is always worth it.

Yours Truly,
KP

Gojee...

So last week I was introduced to a website called Gojee.  The idea is simple.  You have some ingredients and you enter them in and it can suggest something to make for dinner.  So lets say I enter hamburger in the search and Sloppy Joe is returned.  Or I can enter what I dislike so I will enter mushrooms for my husband sake and it returns a grahamburger.  Interesting randomization there.  You can also enter what you crave so I entered Avocados as I love avocados and it returned Mango and Avocado Salad.  Anyways I think the concept is super cool and thought I would share it with all.

Yours Truly,
KP

Lamenting the Demise of the Jaguars...

Ok so I am very sad about my Jaguars.  They are now 1-5 and there doesn't seem to be a lot of hope that this season will turn out well.  I am thinking that Jack Del Rio will be gone come next year and we will be rebuilding again. YAY!!! NOT!!!  I will be a die hard Jaguar fan for the rest of my life or their existence, but I would really like to see the win especially since I get to watch the game next week on Monday Night and I really don't want to be sad.

In other Football news,  Lions finally lost and we are down to one team left that is undefeated and that would be.....the Packers.  Oh and can I say it was wonderful to watch Tom Brady get sacked and intercepted yesterday even though they did win.

Yours Truly,
KP

Tebow Time

So last Sunday was kinda spectacular.  Broncos started off not doing so stellar and we were kinda getting bored with watching them loss when in the 2nd half John Fox decided to send Tebow out and holy cow, that guy can add some excitement to the game.  He brought Denver almost all the way back.  Anyways it was super fun to watch and he is now the official starting quarterback for Denver.

On a side note Jags have lost again and are 1-4.  I am kinda sad about this.

Yours Truly,
KP

Time Out For Women - Saturday

So here is the list of things I learned on Saturday.  Hopefully I can share some enlightenment with the rest of you:

• Mariama Kallon taught us that we should forgive with her powerful reflection on her past coming from war torn Sierra Leone, in which she had seen her parents and sister had been murdered.  She expressed her absolute joy in life and expressed her testimony in regards to the power of prayer.
• Hillary Weeks was the musical artist for the day and she was witty, entertaining, and has a beautiful voice as well as beautiful songs.  She also explained how we can accomplish anything we think about.
• Emily Watts had several tips in regards to our habits as follows:
• Develop thick skin as people will always be judgmental and will not see the big picture.
• Do your children the honor of allowing them to accomplish hard things as this is the only way we grow as humans.
• Pick a few well chosen traditions as they will provide stability for your family
• Treat yourself as a person
• Work very hard at catching your children doing something right
• D. Kelly Ogden provided some enlightening things in regards to happiness and in particular he talked about the optimism of the prophets and how they are optimistic because they have a greater view of the big picture.  They realize we are on the winning side.  In the end everything will be alright.
• Merrilee Boyack talked about Blazing your own trail and using Become gave us a map
• B - Bold
• E - Eternally-Minded
• C - Creative
• O - Outward-Focus
• M - Meek
• E - Enlightened
• her last thing was a U - Unique
• Emily Freeman gave me the best message possible and that was that I am Worth it!!!  Actually it was that we are all worth it.

All of the presenters at Time Out For Women were funny and entertaining and I really have not done them any justice in the last two posts, but that is because I really think you should check it out for yourselve.  It really was an amazing experience.

Yours Truly,
KP

Time Out For Women - Friday

So this weekend I went to a wonderful Conference.  The conference is called Time Out For Women and they tour through several cities a year.  A friend of mine recommended this conference and I am so entirely glad for her constant reminders.  This provided me with an uplifting and spiritual retreat that was badly needed.  I also got to hang out with old friends and I made a new friend.  I was absolutely delighted in the opportunity provided to me.  Every year there is a different theme and this year was about "Choosing to Become".  Here are some highlights and some things that I learned on Friday night:

•  Mary Ellen Edmunds talked about identity theft and in particular Satan's goal to steal our identity.  She further explained that we are children of God not adults of God and this should imply that we still have a lot to learn.  I really super enjoyed her.  She was really funny and her message definitely hit home.
• Heidi S. Swinton relayed her experience in writing President Thomas S. Monson's biography - she asked the question:  What do you plan on doing differently after listening to President Monson?  I had never really thought about what I would do differently and now I really need to do that.

I will post about Saturday soon, but give some thought as to what you choose to become and I will do the same.  Also remember who you are.

Yours Truly,
KP

The Lions - WOW

So this last weekend we watched the Lions play the Cowboys and the Lions will play on Monday Night,  but I thought I would touch on the insaness of the season.  I realize insaness may not be a word, but I am making it one anyways....  The lion's was not really a game I would have picked to watch, but unless I purchase the NFL Sunday Ticket, I don't get much of a choice.  Anyways, it was an awesome game.  Pretty soon the Cowboys were up 27-3 against the Lions and I was thinking that the Lions may get their first loss that night.  Now most of the time in a football game it is really not expected that teams will come back from that big of a deficit granted you will always hope for it because it does make the game more exciting.  Anyways the next thing that happens in this game is that Romo (Cowboy's quarterback) is intercepted back to back for touchdowns and the momentum had turned.  From there it will go down in Lion's history as they overcame the 24 point deficit to win the game 34-30.  It is absolutely amazing and now the Lions are 4-0 and the only other team undefeated right now is the Packers.  Also on another note the Colts are 0-5, which is unheard of, but it is mostly due to Manning being out of the game for the last 5 weeks.  It is going to be a CRAZY football season!!!

KP

Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

So this book I took the liberty of reading this last week and it was a very quick read.  Having read the Grapes of Wrath, I had expected that Steinbeck would be very descriptive in this book and I was not disappointed.  I have noticed that when he describes the scene that it is done in a way that is very interesting and it pulls you in to what is about to happen.  The other thing that I noticed is that when he describes things it is for two reasons or so it seems.  One is to give you a picture of what the setting is, but second is to set up an event for later on.  Anyways this book was very well done.  It is a short story, but he definitely takes his time to set up the plot and you can see the friendship all the way from the very beginning of these two mens' lives all the way to end of this story in few pages it took to write.  Most of all the story doesn't feel rushed and you definitely feel the emotion of this story.  I guess that is what impresses me the most about this story is that there is a depth of emotion to be felt in the pages of this book even though it is so short.

Anyways, I highly recommend this book.

KP

Monday Night Football

My timing is awesome, right!  So a couple weeks ago we got to go with my in-laws to see the Monday Night Football game here in Denver.  It was a great way to end the summer although the Broncos did lose. YIKES!!!  I thought I would share a few pictures from that evening of fun.

The newly named Sports Authority Stadium!!

Raiders getting ready to hike the ball.

Down the line of scrimmage.

Part of the Halftime show.  A silent drill platoon.

Tebow, possibly the future of the Denver Broncos, but lets hope they aren't that smart and they trade him to Jacksonville!

Anyways I am checking out, enjoy!!

KP

Summer Pics Part 2

Here are some pics from my wonderful 14er hike last month:

Made it to the top of Mt. Democrat!

Summer Pics Part 1

So I thought I would show some pics and there are some promised 14ers among them but probably not in this post.  I decided to break this up a bit.

Me and Jer in Idaho Falls

Watchers - Dean Koontz

So here is the latest book that I have been reading and just finished.  This book is by Dean Koontz as the title suggests.  This book was awesome.  I absolutely devoured it.  The characters are just so awesome.  You can really understand them and the emotion they feel as they experience the problems they are faced with.  Some of the characters are absolutely crazy, but some such as Einstein, you will absolutely fall in love with.  Koontz is known for his ability to bring to life absolutely wonderful characters and he doesn't fail here.  The story is well written and every detail is carefully executed.  I have read some of Koontz previous works and while I really love the Odd Thomas series and Odd himself, I have to say I think this is the BEST Koontz book that I have read up to this point.  So go check it out....

Checking out myself,

KP

14ers - Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, and Bross

Ok, so I am super late on this post.  Totally meant to post this back in the beginning of September, but I just got way too busy.  Anyways me and my husband, Jeremy, went and almost conquered all 4 of these 14ers.  Technically speaking I am going to count all of them and I will explain my reasoning for this in a second.

Anyways we took off at about 7:00 that morning and headed for Alma, CO.  Arriving at the trail head at about 9:30 we were ready to experience the extremely crazy hike in the high altitude of the Rockies.  Anyways, we made it to the summit of Democrat at approximately 11:30, which had me slightly worried considering I had wanted to be on my way down by 1:00 to avoid thunderstorms. 

Football, Football, and more Football....

So I love football.  I am somewhat sad as my favorite team may not end up doing well.  My team is the Jacksonville Jaguars and they ended up dropping their starting quarterback at the beginning of the season which basically means they have to fall back on a quarterback that has been playing backup for several years.  Broncos, my husband's team, is not doing well due to a ton of problems that I don't think can be overcome by just by replacing the quarterback.  Although I must say it would be awesome to see Kyle Orton benched and Tim Tebow set up to play, but what do I know.  We are in week 3 and the Patriots have no chance of an undefeated season, which is absolutely awesome.

My Fantasy league is taking off and it seems that my sister-in-law and I are leading everyone.  I guess we will see what happens at the end of this week.  Overall I am super excited.  There are some shakeups and definitely lots of excitement as the season gears up.  Anyways I will occasionally rant about football so if you need a little insight check it out.  Although it will possibly revolve around Jacksonville, Denver, and New England.


Checking out,
KP

The Joys of Walmart...

So I know many people do not really like Walmart, due to the fact that it is a big bad corporation, but really.  I mean, while I don't suggest buying everything there, Walmart does have some great deal.  I recently went to my local grocery store to pick up a special kind of vitamin.  This bottle of 90 pills cost 25 dollars, holy geez,  I really didn't think that was necessary.  So I went to Walmart and I could get 240 pills for 8 dollars, I mean I get that apparently Walmart is evil, but that is a deal and a half.  So if the rest of you all want to that much for vitamins, fine go ahead, I don't care.

Yours Truly,
KP

PS.  Sorry for the spastic blog post and I really will try to be better at writing post in this blog I just am having some difficulties as I am super busy with plenty of home improvement projects at the moment.

Wuthering Heights

I have to say I absolutely LOVED this book.  One because the premise and the ideas in it are so far from reality yet so close.  That it is also one of the most original book I have ever read probably has something to do with it.  Anyways I realize that most of what happens in the book really isn't a common day occurrence, but the idea of two people being in love and either understanding that it will never be able to work or forever trying and hoping that it will, no matter the circumstances, I think this idea does happen to people.  Sometimes it is one sided, but sometimes both people feel the same, but there are circumstances that stand in their way.  This is sad and beautiful at the same time.  I don't know that I truly understand these things, but the writer, Emily Bronte, brings to life such real emotions and honesty to this book that I almost understand and feel the power of the love between the two characters.  Anyways I highly recommend this book, but be warned it is most definitely not your typical love story...

Yours Truly,

KP

Def Leopard = Great People Watching....

So last night me and my husband went out with a few friends to the Def Leopard and Heart concert.  It was super interesting.  I got to see the old-school rockers, little teeny boppers trying to get in the 80's group, and then there were quite a few older people trying to pull of the young hip look.  It was great and super entertaining as was the concert.  Nancy Wilson of Heart can really tear it up on the guitar.  I seriously doubt I could ever be as good as her on the guitar.  Ann Wilson, her sister, has an amazing voice.  It was absolutely one of the most powerful things I had heard in a while.  Def Leopard was good.  Over all it was just a really nice night for a pretty chill concert.  Highly RECOMMENDED!!!

Yours Truly,
KP

Kickboxing hurts the abs....

So I tried a Kickboxing fitness class for the first time yesterday.   I have to say this was a lot of fun, but holy cow did I feel the pain today.  It was very energetic and I really liked the motivation provided by actually going to the class.  Halfway through we had to get these gliders out and I had no clue what they were for and thought oh these will be fun.  I warn you now these things are of the devil.  You place your feet on them and use your legs to slide your feet either out to the sides or you act like you are running only in push up mode the entire time.  These actions, I thought, would actually kill me so I had to take a little break at that point in the program.  I plan to get better at this some day......But kickboxing is fun and I think all should give it a try.

Yours Truly,
KP

Retaining Wall....

So I feel I have spent most of my summer building this:
My Beautiful Retaining wall:

Trust me, the way it looked before was not pretty.  Just an ugly mound of rocks that had to be removed beforehand.

I have NOT forgotten to Blog.....

So, yes I do realize that I said I would blog every other day, but unfortunately I forgot to account for my sometimes crazy hectic schedule that can and does creep up on me.  This week has been crazy busy between work, picking out tile, visiting with friends, and trying to make it to a yoga class.  Also this is the first week of classes at the nearby college which is putting a serious cramp in my traveling time getting to and from work.  Anyways I hope to be back at this tomorrow with the promised post of the wonderful retaining wall I built this summer.

Yours Truly,
KP

Xtra-Life

Ok, so I am trying to make sure that I am writing every other day and was really going to spend time discussing the wonderful retaining wall I built, but alas I waited till too late and can't take a picture of the wonderful wall.  So I will tell you about a little event me and a few friends are planning for on October 15th.  It is a 24 hour long video game marathon to help raise money for kids.  I am joining a team and all the proceeds that anyone donates to our team will go to the Children's hospital here in Denver.  If anyone would like to donate you can follow the link below:

http://www.extra-life.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.team&eventID=501&teamID=5257

Thanks for all your help!!!!!!

Yours truly,
KP

Grapes of Wrath

I really love to read and lately I have been trying to read classics.  Grapes of Wrath has been among the books that I have read.  This is a tale I strongly recommend for our society today.  Especially with so many people that feel they are entitled to something.  This is a fictional tale that shows many of the hardships of the great depression.  You will find dear characters that truly want to work and take care of their family, but what they found was a cold hard world that didn't care.  I learned that while we need welfare programs to prevent starvation of our people, we also should in some way instill the value of work that these people had.  I loved this story and highly suggest it to anyone.

Yours Truly,

KP

My Very First Blog Post!!!!

Ok so maybe this post is lame, but I thought I should have a proper introductory post to my Blog.  So this is my blog (in case you haven't figured that out yet)....BEWARE  I can be very opinionated sometimes.  Also know that this is a blog about anything and everything that makes up my life.  So when you get on here and it seems that my thought are a scattered, jumbled mess...Well WELCOME to my life!!! I hope you all enjoy!

Your Truly,
KP