Washington and Lincoln

I just finished reading two books that I really enjoyed; Being George Washington by Glenn Beck and Killing Lincoln by Bill O'Reilly. Both of these books are nonfiction and I really liked learning more about President Washington and President Lincoln since I've long forgotten many of the details I learned about them when I was in school.

Being George Washington is all about Washington's political and personal life. The book touched on lots of the major things that Washington was a part of (like the crossing of the Delaware and the winter at Valley Forge), and most importantly the qualities and characteristics that  Washington possessed that made him such a remarkable person. At the end of the book Glenn Beck talks about Washington's best qualities like civility, loyalty, honesty and humility. He said that we all have the opportunity to "be George Washington" if we choose to live by the same code of conduct that Washington did.

Killing Lincoln is about the assassination conspiracy to kill Abraham Lincoln. The book chronologizes the last two weeks of Lincoln's life, Lincoln's assassination in Ford's Theatre, the hunt for and capture of John Wilkes Booth, what happened to Lincoln's wife/family, etc. This book was actually really exciting, as far as nonfiction goes. I learned a lot from both of these books, and I would recommend them to anyone who wants to brush up on their knowledge of two really inspiring men.

EQ

If you're a regular reader of my blog then I probably sound like a broken record, but I have a new niece! My sister Sharon had a baby on Tuesday, March 27; a little girl named Emily Quinn. She was born at 10:42 AM and weighed 7 lbs. 1 oz. and was 19 inches long.

This makes 20 nieces and nephews for me (12 nieces and eight nephews). Needless to say, I'm very excited! Sharon was induced and everything went relatively well. She was hooked up to the Pitocin, and Emily was born a few hours later.

Here's one last picture of pregnant Sharon before getting the ball rolling, and then a picture of the brand-new baby!

I love this next picture that shows Emily howling!

I think Emily looks so much like Elizabeth in this picture:

Getting a good look at her babe:

Big sisters Elizabeth, Kate, Sarah and Rachel meet their new baby sister:

Big brother Matt:

New Shelf

I recently bought a new shelf to go in the corner of my room. I'm starting to run out of places to keep/display my things, so when my sister Kristin told me about a 4D shelf (made by 4D Concepts ) she'd bought for her home, I knew it would be the perfect thing for my mostly filled room.

I ordered my shelf back in January, but they must be popular because it was backordered for a few months. It arrived last week and my brother-in-law Brett promptly assembled it and mounted it on my wall. My mom helped me fill my shelves and I love it!  It's absolutely perfect for my needs and gives me a little more space to keep my "pretty things." (I love to collect things that I think are pretty, whether it's picture frames, knickknacks, music boxes or things that have some sort of sentimental value.

Here's a few pictures my shelf. First, an individual picture of each shelf, then two zoomed in pictures of the top two/bottom two shelves and then a long shot of the whole thing.

"The Hunger Games"

Last Saturday Chandra was off work so we went to see The Hunger Games. I'm glad it was her off weekend because I really didn't want to have to wait to see it! I'm not sure what the overall consensus has been from movie critics and die-hard fans, but all I can say is that I loved the movie!

I thought the movie was very well made and I thought it was really well cast, for the most part (I wasn't crazy about the actor that played Peeta). However, overall I think the characters were portrayed very well. Jennifer Lawrence did a great job playing Katniss, and Stanley Tucci (who I love, love, LOVE) did a great job playing Caesar Flickerman.

There was a fair bit of violence, considering the nature of the book, but I thought the killing scenes were very tastefully done. You knew what was happening without having to see a lot of gore. The Hunger Games was great and I really can't find much to criticize, except that the movie might've been a little confusing to people who hadn't read the book and didn't know the gist of the book. I can't wait to see the other two books come to life on the silver screen! Heather's rating: 9.5/10 stars

Followers

I'm now up to 101 followers on my blog. I know that I actually have a lot more than 101 followers, but I'm just talking about the "official" followers who have clicked the "follow" button at the top of the screen whose thumbnail picture shows up in the followers section on the right hand margin of the blog. I can't tell you how giddy it makes me each time I see that I've gotten a new follower. (It's only taken me 2½ years to make it to the 100 mark, but who's counting!) ;)

It feels good to know that there are people who actually read my blog and enjoy hearing my take on things. A lot of times my posts are silly, or maybe they aren't the most well-written literary creations ever, or they might be on the boring side or worse yet, annoying. But what I'm trying to say is that I appreciate everyone who reads my blog, whether they are regular followers or first-time readers… especially when they come back for more!

Thanks for reading, everyone, and here's to the next 100 followers, however long it may take me to acquire that many (if ever!).

Videos of Kristin's Boys

When my mom went to California when Kristin had her baby I asked her to take my Flip cam so that she could take some videos of Kristin's boys. It's been WAY too long since I've seen those kiddos and I miss them SO MUCH, so it was great to see them in "real life!"

Here are each of the boys in the hospital meeting their new baby brother for the first time:

A few videos of the boys:

Tour of Kristin's new home that they recently moved into:

Ryan James

My older sister Kristin had her baby, a little boy named Ryan James, last Friday, March 16. He was born at 8:32 PM and weighed 6 lbs. 13 oz. and was 21 inches long. I love these pictures of him. Even though Ryan is only a few minutes old in these pictures, I can already see a resemblance to his parents and some of his brothers. He's definitely a Hawkins!

Ryan's four older brothers, Kaleb and Ethan:

Jared and Aaron:

Above and below: Proud parents, Kristin and Scott. Bottom: proud Grammy (I'm so glad my mom was able to meet Ryan and be able to help Kristin with her boys.)

I can't wait to meet you, Ryan, whenever that day may be!

Happy Spring!

It's hard to believe it's already time for spring again because I could swear winter just started! But if I forget it's spring, all I need to do is look outside because it's definitely spring in Missouri! The grass has gotten so green (and long) in the past few weeks, and the trees are in full bloom. It's getting light so much earlier and getting dark later so much later, we've already had several thunderstorms , the daffodils in our front yard have already come and gone for the year (daffodils never last long enough) and spring's soundtrack of lawnmowers and chirping birds fill the day from sun up to sun down.

Part of the reason it's hard to believe that spring is already here is because our winter was quite warm. Whereas our previous winter was unseasonably cold and we got much more snow than usual, this past winter was quite the opposite. We didn't get near as much snow as we usually do (only 6 inches total) and the temperatures never seemed to get very cold. From everything I heard on the news it seems like most places around the United States had a warmer winter than usual. Weather patterns can be crazy and it makes you wonder if there really is something to global warming or not!

Speaking of global warming, winters definitely don't seem to be as harsh as they were in the 1800s, or even 50 years ago. I don't know if this is truly due this global warming, or just different weather cycles, but all I know is that it doesn't snow as much now as it did when I was a child, let alone decades ago. I guess that's a good thing in this day and age of cars and people's busy schedules, but I think it would kind of be fun to get snowed in every once in a while! Call me crazy, but I think it'd be fun!

Date Night

Last Friday evening I went on a date with my younger sister Chandra. We first went out to dinner at Panda Express. I think I've only eaten at Panda Express one or two other times before and that was many, many years ago at a mall food court.  I remember being underwhelmed and not very impressed with the quality of the food at the time, but a new Panda Express restaurant  recently opened not too far from where I live, so I decided to give it another go. I'm so glad I did!

The food was SO delicious! I ordered orange chicken and Beijing beef for my two entrées, with a side of chow mein noodles and an order of cream cheese wontons (that's Panda Express' version of crab rangoon). I loved my two entrées; and everything was really good. I loved the sweet sauce on the chicken and beef. I don't think I would get the cream cheese wontons again, however, because they aren't nearly as good as the crab rangoon I order from New China, my favorite Chinese restaurant. Chandra got an order of potstickers, and I would definitely order them again because they were really good.

After our dinner at Panda Express we headed to a fireside at our church for the single young adults in the St. Louis area to see Elder David Bednar, an apostle of the Lord. The evening was very enjoyable and it was great to see many of our friends that we haven't seen in several months.