Longing for Home

So many books to talk about!! I've been in a romance mood since...well...pretty much since Edenbrooke. I can't get enough! So I have a few favorites I would like to share with y'all. I will be posting about a few different romances over the next few days but first is....

Longing for Home by Sarah Eden

I read this one a week or two ago and was so happy I loved it. I have read Sarah Eden's other books which are regency romances and was nervous about this one because it is set in Wyoming. I even held off reading it for a few weeks after getting a copy because I really didn't want to not like it! But now I can't believe I didn't read it the second I got it!!

Katie Macauley is a woman with a torn past. She feels she has a debt to pay to her family, and she cannot return to her home in Ireland until she has repaid that debt. She takes a job as a housekeeper in Hope Springs, WY but is surprised by what she finds when she gets there. Hope Springs is a town at war with itself. Half the town is Irish and the other half is not. The two sides hate each other, and Katie is caught in the middle! As she makes a home for herself and develops relationships with the people in Hope Springs, she must decide if she should "stay and give her heart a chance at love, or return home and give her soul the possibility of peace."

Such a riveting storyline and enchanting characters! Katie is the perfect mix of delicate lady and tough heroine. And I can't even tell you how much I loved the men in her life! Tavish is the charming, flirtatious Irishman, and Joseph is the wealthy, sensitive father. I love them both! I can't tell you how much I want everyone to read this book...and then come talk to me about it!!

I'm still here!

I haven't forgotten! But sorry it has been so long. The last few weeks have been a roller coaster. So many things going on in life! This post will be more like a journal entry than anything else, so if there is anyone reading this, it will most likely be insignificant to you. I apologize. But one of the main purposes of this blog was to better record what is happening in my life, so here we go.

Family: We recently celebrated the 24th of July. So fun! We had the day off so we woke up and went out to breakfast (kind of a tradition in our family for small holidays.) We drove to Evanston, WY for the Jackson family reunion. I know- we leave Utah to celebrate the 24th. The irony kills me. Such a good time up there though. Except we had to basically hold Buzz the whole time because he had been fixed two days earlier. Oh well. He's all healed up now! After Evanston we drove to South Weber to visit my family, picking up a few fireworks before we re-entered Utah. We had an excellent evening with my family. We did fireworks and made snowcones. Overall a very fun day.

             This week, August 1st to be precise, Ava turned 2. She is getting so big! Except not really. She only measured at 22 lbs which puts her below the 3rd percentile for kids her age. She is just so small! But that is ok. The doctor wants us to start giving her vitamins with iron to make up for the fact that she thinks she is a vegetarian. We almost got a bit of hotdog in her yesterday. She put a corndog nugget in her mouth, chewed for a little bit, and then spit out all the hotdog parts. Somehow she got the cornbread down without swallowing any hotdog. It was kind of impressive. We are also going to be starting her in speech therapy. She still only says about 5 to 10 words regularly and she should be popping out small sentences by now. So we are going to see if we can get her a little extra help. I'm actually really excited about it. She is super smart and understands everything we say. I think she just needs an extra push to start really talking.
        To celebrate her birthday, we drove down to Davis county where our families live. We went to the gateway in Salt Lake so she could play in the splash pad, which she loved, and then took a short nap. :) We had a birthday party for her that evening. Thanks to everyone who came! Sorry to all those who couldn't make it! We went to a park and had pizza and cupcakes. Ava had a great time and enjoyed seeing so many people she loved.

School: Phil and I are both enrolled in summer classes. I had a huge project due last night for one of mine. The final product was 22 pages long to give you an idea. It wasn't particularly hard, just a lot of work. I'm glad to have it turned in.
              Phil spent last night studying for a Health and Wellness test. He is taking the test today, and I expect he will do pretty well. This coming week is finals week for the semester so he has his big business statistics final on Wednesday. I will be happy when that is over. This is his last math class- ever. So excited.

Work: Lots of things going on at work. Specifically, I interviewed for the Deseret Book Riverdale store manager position three weeks ago. I found out on Wednesday night that I did not get the position. Bummer. But it was not unexpected. Although I wanted the job, I had felt from the day I interviewed that it was not mine. I had no reason for this, but I continually had a feeling that it was not the right fit for me or my family at this time. Thursday morning, however, I received an email from the regional manager over the Cedar City store asking if I was interested in the store manager position down there. I emailed back immediately saying I for sure was! He responded that he would love to meet with me this next week. He said he wants to fill the position without having to post it. Hopefully that means I am only up against a few people. That would be great. I already feel so much better about this job than I ever did about the Riverdale store. I'm sure there are reasons, even if they are beyond me.

Sorry this was so much!! Like I said, lots has been going on around here!