Jan 11, 2011

2010 Book Reviews

It has been awhile since I read these books so I hope that this review can still be worthwhile. Last year for one of my New Year's Resolutions I resolved to read at least one book a month (12 for all year) and review them for the blog.

My mom bought me Larry H. Miller's autobiography Driven for my birthday. Now I am not a huge supporter of the man. I do believe that he has done quite a bit for Utah but I did not see eye-to-eye on everything the man did. But I will say that his autobiography was fascinating. Driven is the perfect title for his book. His love of cars and his love of hard work are very apparent. His love of numbers was my favorite part of the book. Even though I do not agree with him all the time, I would love to work for him and I definitely respect the man. The chapters devoted to how the Utah Jazz came to Salt Lake were fantastic. He was also very honest in the book. He often regretted all the time he spent working and he regretted that he didn't spend enough time with his imperfect family. Miller is a man of integrity and I recommend this to any Utahn, any Mormon and any sports fan.





I finished my last book of 2010 reading the autobiography of Carrie Fisher, Wishful Drinking. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Boy is she whacked out! But I still love her. In fact, I love her even more after reading this funny and quirky book. If you are a Star Wars fan, you definitely need to check this out. The whole bras-cannot-exist-in-space thing is absolutely hilarious. One thing that I appreciated while reading this is how upfront she is with all the craziness of being from a celebrity family. And I had no idea that she dated Paul Simon. I definitely learned something reading this book. I recommend this one to Star Wars fans and for those that love train wrecks.





My next books will be the Thomas S. Monson autobiography and then the Belinda Carlisle one.

Jan 9, 2011

Logan: The Good Omen

I have to say that I am very, very lucky to have Logan. Since the moment he was born he has been a good omen. Even though he splashed me when he was born, he has been a good thing in my life.

The first night, after he was born, I spent the evening at the hospital. I held him as I watched the New York Jets defeat the New England Patriots for the AFC East Title.

Fast forward 8 years (or so) and another big Logan milestone was on the same day as a big game for the Jets. Yesterday, on January 8th, Logan was baptized.

He was a little nervous. That might be putting it a little mildly, he was pretty nervous. He wouldn't be quiet all morning until we got to the church. And then he zipped up tighter than the white jumper I had to wear. I am sure he became even more nervous when he had to share the dressing room with two other boys and two other dads. But we got dressed in our white jumpers and made it to the chapel and sat on the front row. I can tell he was still nervous. My jumper was a little tight, I had to suck in my gut the whole time and I had to get up slowly from sitting since that thing rode up a road that is not travelled much. I know, I know, too much information. I am sorry but I want to remember this special experience.

"Hurry! Take the picture before my gut explodes!"

Some of my family took part in the program. Logan asked Grandma Breinholt to play a special musical number on the piano and it was beautiful. It certainly set the tone for the meeting. Aunt Lynn was asked to give a talk about the Holy Ghost and she did so well. I am not sure if she was nervous or if she was a little emotional but I have never heard Lynn speak so softly (it is not like she yells all the time or anything like that). The talks were perfect and then it was time for Logan to be dunked.

When I was baptized, I had to go under three times! I wore a belt that was way too long and it kept coming to the surface when my dad baptized me. Logan didn't have a belt with his jumper and we practiced a ton of times beforehand. But according to Aaron and Gregg, Logan didn't make it the first time. His knee poked out of the water so I had to do it again. Logan is definitely my son alright!

I whispered to him that we did a test run and we did it again and got it right. Afterwards we dressed (again nervously in a crowded dressing room) and we went to another room for the confirmation. I am so blessed and so glad that Logan chose me to do both. The confirmation went very well, I could feel the Spirit. I am so proud of my special little guy.

After the confirmation, Bishop Hebdon asked Kristy if she would bare her testimony. That didn't surprise me at all, I think the Bishopric likes to get Kristy to bear her testimony. Then the Primary President spoke to Logan and then the Bishop concluded the meeting after he spoke a few words. My Bishop always says the perfect things. I asked his Aunt Sherry to say the closing prayer and then we met over at our church to have some lunch.

I love pictures of people eating.

See?

Renae looks so happy eating.

Such cute nieces and nephews.

Breinholt Relief Society.

The Bishop and his illegal family (not sure I want to blog this inside joke, I don't want him to get into trouble!) came along with my dad and his family, Jennifer and her family, my mom and most of Kristy's family.

I am very grateful for my family and my extended (in-laws) family. They treat me so good and they are always so supportive. It was a perfect day. Mom and Dad came over for a short visit and Renae and Gregg came over (so Renae had a place to feed Ty) and it was nice to sit and relax and chat. We made a quick impromptu visit to get some Aggie Ice Cream and then we came home to watch the Jets game.

A perfect ending to a perfect day. The Jets did win in the last seconds of the game, so yes, Logan is a good omen for me. But I would trade all the Jet victories to have a special day like this with him and my family again.

Jan 7, 2011

Upon Further Review: Wildcard Weekend!


The end of the NFL season sure snuck up on me. In fact I totally forgot about it. I didn't blog my picks for the final week of the regular season. I have blogged about the NFL for 33 weeks straight and I forgot about the last week! 

I am so embarrassed....

Oh well. At least I remembered Wildcard Weekend! 

New Orleans at Seattle:
History was made, the Seattle Seahawks made the playoffs without a winning record. History could be made again. But it won't. Seattle will be tough to play especially at home but the Saints want to prove to everyone that they are still the Superbowl Champions.
Winner: New Orleans Saints

New York Jets at Indianapolis:
I don't think the Jets figured in facing the Colts so early in the playoffs. But if you are to slay a monster, you might as well do it right in the beginning. The Colts will be a handful but I think the Jets can be just as much as an issue for the Colts. The Jets loaded up in the offseason to be able to take care of the Colts in the playoffs. These are not your daddy's Colts.
Winner: New York Jets

Baltimore at Kansas City:
Oh boy. This could be quite the slugfest. You have to give Coach Haley props for making the Chiefs contenders so quickly. I do think that the Ravens have more talent but with the young Chiefs team playing at home, they certainly will not be pushovers. This will be a tight one but the Ravens will win the game... ...barely.
Winner: Baltimore Ravens

Green Bay at Philadelphia:
This could be quite the entertaining shootout. The Eagles should have won that final game against Dallas and I believe that will ultimately hurt them. The Packers are soaring and have all the confidence to go to Philly and put a hurt on the Eagles.
Winner: Green Bay Packers

So history will be made. The road teams for all four games will come away the winner. At least I hope so.

Jan 6, 2011

Comic Book Day

So I might have already broken a New Year's Resolution.

I might not blog 5 days this week and I blame this entirely on my comic book obsession hobby.

I order all my comics online (and I save about 35-43%) and to save even more money, I have them all shipped to me in one easy end-of-month package. And today was the happiest day of the month, it is Comic Book Day. And I almost didn't want to blog forgot.


But I have a good excuse. My all-time favorite X-Man has returned from the dead. I think I will tweak my New Year's Resolutions and say Comic Book Day is also an official Blogging Holiday.

Jan 5, 2011

Yellow Submarine

I don't know which is worse. Putting up all the Christmas decorations or taking them all down?

We have a ton of Christmas decorations and while I don't have a problem with that, I do have a problem with how we pack it all back together. Every time I think I have a handle on it, I find a new pile of stuff that has to be put away. But what really irks me is that everything fit the Christmas before! We only have maybe one extra decoration to pack away. How can that small little ornament cause such a packing logistics nightmare?

Every year Logan gets a new ornament. This time Santa choose to give Logan this:


Can you tell what it is? If you can't look at the topic dummy!

Lately Logan has really taken a shine to singing and to music. Nothing warms my soul more than hearing him play some games on the computer singing along with the likes of Alice Cooper and AC/DC. At first he also disliked music in school but now he has taken a liking to that. He also will join me in singing when I have to practice for a musical number in choir. He learned about the Beatles in his class and they sang Yellow Submarine.

I am so glad that he likes music. I could have a new partner in crime!

Jan 3, 2011

2011 Resolutions

YAY! 2011!

I am so glad to see some of my fellow bloggers come back to their blog and I am also glad to see that some of them has used the opportunity to blog to come up with some goals and resolutions. Reading them has motivated me.

I really like the way my cousin Jeremy posted his so I am going to steal it.

I RESOLVE...
  • to take the time to write more. I have three unfinished novels that are just sitting around. I also have a children's story that is just sitting in my filing cabinet. My goal is to finish at least two of them and continue the third. I will also so another round of NaNoWriMo this November and I will need to figure out what I should write. And I will participate in another round of Script Frenzy this April. I am not sure what I will do for that competition. I might continue my comic book or try something completely different like a TV episode or a musical.  And this blog will continue 5 days a week.          
                               I RESOLVE...                                 
  • to take the time to read more. I really liked reading a novel/book once a month last year and I think I would like to continue that resolution for this year too. One thing I have learned by blogging daily is that I can do anything daily if I just put my mind to it. If I can blog daily, I can read something daily. So I resolve to read my scriptures daily. I also resolve to read the Ensign (a church magazine) from cover to cover every month. I also resolve to read a good book once a quarter. I have a bunch waiting.
I RESOLVE...  
  • to take care of myself. I am no spring chicken and I need to watch what I do (and what I don't do) to my body. So yeah, the ugly E-word. Exercise. I have been a slacker the last month and I need to get going again. I resolve to exercise 5 days a week if possible. I have some fun walking programs that I can do (and will do!) during the cold winter months and then get back into running when the weather gets a bit warmer. And speaking of running, I also will run my first 5K race this year. I will run the Top of Utah 5K on September 17th. I will have all spring and summer to train so I have no excuse not to make it. I will also watch what I eat and try to slim down my portions.
I RESOLVE...  
  • to pick up a pen and draw. I want to draw and I want to be creative. Last year I wanted to reactivate my Queen blog (Sheer Art Attack) and post some art based on Queen songs. I was going to do it once a month and I think that may have been too lofty a goal. So I will see if I can do something quarterly.
I RESOLVE...  
  • to continue to the play the bass guitar. But instead of just playing it by ear, I may borrow some books from the library and really teach myself how to play. And to also continue to sing with the choir and look for some other opportunities to use these talents.
I RESOLVE...  
  • I have some other things that I want to do this year but they are private or they are too mundane and boring to list them here.
That should keep my plenty busy for this new year. I will blog monthly how I am doing. I am not a huge fan of such disclosure but I think that really helped me accomplish these goals last year. I also want to wish all my fellow bloggers that have also blogged about some resolutions and goals the best and that I will do my best in supporting them.

Jan 1, 2011

C'mon 2011... Make My Year!

HAPPY 2011!

I hope everyone has a better, a more successful and healthy year. I am looking forward to this year and making new resolutions. Looking back at 2010, I can say that I had somewhat a successful year and I owe it to this blog. Who would have thought that writing this blog would have made me a better person?

I have some new resolutions that I want to complete this year. But I am not ready to share them just yet. Sometime this week I will blog about it. I recommend this to my fellow bloggers. Knowing that there are people who read this blog, I feel that I HAVE to walk that aisle and get in the ring. It felt that I should be accountable for what I blog about. It is also good to review what you have done and make some tweaks.

All I know for now is that this blog will stay around and will stay current. At least 5 days a week.

And I will have more pictures too.