Christmas 2014

I love Christmas. The family togetherness, the fun traditions, the focus on the Savior, the great memories made. Here are some of ours...

2014 Books

I read far fewer books than usual this year--only 17. Not sure what happened, but I'm okay with it (I have a sneaking suspicion I forgot one or two as well).

• A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
• The Boys in the Boat - Daniel James Brown
• Edenbrooke - Julianne Donaldson
• We Were Liars - E. Lockhart
• Blackmoore - Julianne Donaldson
• Anthem - Ayn Rand
• The Secret Life of Bees - Sue Monk Kidd
• Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
• Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
• The Invention of Wings - Sue Monk Kidd
• Bear in the Back Seat - Kim DeLozier
• The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman
• Austenland - Shannon Hale
• Night - Elie Wiesel
• Small as an Elephant - Jennifer Jacobson
• The Forgotten Garden - Kate Morton
• Cleaning House - Kay Wyma

Three of these were Emma's summer reading books, a few were others my kids were reading, several were book club selections, and a couple I picked up after seeing my cousins like them on goodreads. Three books were repeats, which is unusual (two I knew it, the other I completely forgot I'd already read till I was a third of the way into it). As usual there were winners, losers, and meh-ers.

Biggest letdown: Cleaning House (looked so good, ended up so lame)

Winner: A Tale of Two Cities (only the second Dickens book I've read, so subtlety funny at the beginning, so chilling once it got going, such a masterfully woven plot, I loved it. I need to pick up more of his collection, it takes a little more work to read him than others, but the payoff is worth it)

Ragnar Relay Tennessee 2014

It was our fourth time running Ragnar, and it may have been the best year yet. The weather couldn't have been more ideal, I slept at least three hours straight, our teammates were awesome (it's the people really that make this such a fun race), and best of all, Emma ran with us! It was such a treat to bond with our first born over 200 miles of running beautiful Tennessee countryside. She got along great with all of the adults in the van, and totally held her own on the course. She's a believer now and is already talking about next year. I may have taken a lot of photos of her, don't judge. Ben is anxious for the year he'll be old enough to take part as well, and I have no doubt he'll be a valuable addition as well. Here's the photo essay, keep scrolling for the highlight film...

Before we left Knoxville.

The teenagers.

Day 2, feeling tired.

Waiting for last runner (me) to finish up the final leg.
Looking a bit like they've been up all night running. Ha!

I like how Emma's watching me in the background.