Book Review: Sixteen Brides

 According to the Publisher:

In 1872, sixteen Civil War widows living in St. Louis respond to a series of meetings conducted by a land speculator who lures them west by promising "prime homesteads" in a "booming community." Unbeknownst to them, the speculator's true motive is to find an excuse to bring women to the fledging community of Plum Grove, Nebraska, in hopes they will accept marriage proposals shortly after their arrival!

Sparks fly when these unsuspecting widows meet the men who are waiting for them. These women are going to need all the courage and faith they can muster to survive these unwanted circumstances--especially when they begin to discover that none of them is exactly who she appears to be.

My Thoughts:

This was a good read. It kept my attention, and I couldn’t wait to see what happened next. It was a bit difficult, in the beginning, to keep up with the story line of the different characters. The author switches view points frequently throughout the story. But, I thoroughly enjoyed the story. I enjoyed watching the characters grow past their insecurities into the women God meant for them to be.

Bethany House provided this book in exchange for my review. I received no other compensation, and all opinions are my own.

Relay for Life

In April (or May – I can’t remember now), the competitive teams from Emma’s dance studio performed at a local Relay for Life. I couldn’t take pics and video tape at the same time, so I only have before pictures. But, they’re still cute!

Wordless Wednesday

Isaac turned 12!!

If you can’t tell, I’m updating the blog as I sort through my pictures. So, I’m kind of updating backwards. Anyway, Isaac turned 12 in April. This year, he decided against a ‘friend’ party. He wanted to have a family dinner (at DQ so he could have a chili cheese coney and chili cheese fries). And, he wanted to use the money we would normally spend on him and the money he received for his bday to purchase a trampoline. So, that is exactly what we did! Here’s my silly boy in action…

Note to Isaac: You are such a sweet boy. I love you for your unique sense of humor. I love that you are so sure of yourself. You are you, and you are proud of it. You don’t worry about what anyone else thinks. I love how you look up to Logan, and I love how you are such a good big brother to Emma. I love you! I look forward to seeing what the upcoming year holds for you.

Emma’s Spring Recital ~ May 2010

May found us extremely busy gearing up for Emma’s dance recital! Because she’s on the competitive dance team, she was participated in the opening number at the recital. This required extra practices. So, between regular class times, class pictures, extra practices, and 2 FULL days of recital…we were so busy! Every single minute of it is worth it once I see her on stage. She really loves it!

Here are a few pictures from her recital…

Here’s Emma before the recital started Saturday.

Hannah and Emma are ready for tap. Emma’s class danced to Tony' Bennett’s ‘Stepping Out With My Baby’.

 

The studio performs an hour-long ballet at each recital (both days). For the winter recital, it is always The Nutcracker. For spring, it changes each year. This year it was Sleeping Beauty. Emma’s class was Little Red Riding Hood. (FYI for those who don’t know – at the end of the ballet when Sleeping Beauty marries the prince, Red Riding Hood and Puss in Boots are at the wedding ceremony.)

Emma’s jazz teacher picks the ‘funnest’ songs! This time, they danced to ‘Five Little Monkeys’ by Go Fish. I love GO FISH!

 

Here’s Emma after the recital on Sunday night. Her last number was her competitive routine called ‘Jive Bunny’.

Now, we are on the tail end of our ‘early summer’ break. We had two weeks off. Classes start again next week. The following week, Emma will attend dance camp. This is a required one-week ‘intensive’ camp for competitive dancers.  She will have classes through July and then enjoy another two-week break before fall classes start in August. She’s a bit excited about summer classes, because she will have a new teacher. I’m glad she’s excited instead of nervous about ‘new’.

Those summer nights

Emma and Isaac have been enjoying the cooler evening temperatures down here.

We’ve seen 100+ temps during the day, but cool nights.

Here they are enjoying their bikes and scooters with neighbor boy, C.

Remember when you were young and thought these tricks were soooo cool…

This is what I get when I try to take pics of Isaac these days…

Summer Nights

…Slowly…but surely…

Now that summer is here, I am slowly but surely getting back to blogging. Over the next week or so, I’m going to post pictures of what has been going on in our lives over the past few months. We’ve been mighty busy around here!