I may be almost 40 but I'm still a teenager at heart....

Darren and I have never claimed to be contestants for the "Parents of the Year" prize.
I also can extend this claim to "Spouse of the Year", "Employee of the Year" or "Family Member of the Year". 
My confessions on this blog probably have you all nodding your head in agreement.

A few weeks ago Darren and I drove to Lagoon where E2 and E3 were performing at a dance competition.   We told the kids "see ya... have fun!" then we kicked them out of the truck and LEFT THEM. 

ALL. DAY. LONG.  

We broke a cardinal rule in our family.... when someone is performing YOU ARE THERE. Period.  I remember living in Duchesne and having my Aunt Peggy and Uncle Burke drive all the way from Moab for a lame-o dance recital.  My parents have suffered through a mind-boggling array of piano performances, award ceremonies, sporting events, and cultural programs.  It is just something you do when you are a Taylor.

Darren and I went to his parents house. We spent several hours doing various tasks such as spraying off the patio, washing dishes, filling pill boxes, and general cleaning. We then changed clothes and headed out to our new favorite Japanese restaurant (Mt Fuji's in Sandy) where we had fabulous sushi and a Bento Box to die for.  After we rolled out of there, we went to Rio Tinto stadium to see RSL play Vancouver.  

And the entire time we didn't talk to the kids ONCE.

It was a blast. I've said this before, but I just have to repeat that my husband is the BOMB. He is seriously so funny and I love just being around him.

So as you can see, we're not the greatest of parents as we didn't spend our day following the kids around and video-taping their performances and etc.  But I do think the time with just them together was actually a really good thing too.

Anyway,  when we were at the Soccer game I confessed to my husband I have a mini-crush on the keeper, Nick Rimando.  I really really really want an overpriced official keeper shirt (black) with his number on it (18).  

 

This guy is seriously awesome. He is an amazing keeper and honestly just seems so NICE.  To see him in action is inspiring.  


 
I was not afraid to admit this crush to Darren... he is very understanding... in fact once in a dark theater he whispered to me that Orlando Bloom as Legolas was actually pretty "hot".....

If you know Darren you also know that Wonder Woman turns Darren into a pile of quivering man-flesh, and that Alessandra Ambrosio is welcome in his dreams ANYTIME. 

So anyway, I was writing my previous blog with my book list, and got thinking that I also have a mini-crush on John Grisham, the author.  And I got wondering just how many mini-crushes I have....

For some odd reason I think this should be documented for posterity.

I'm sure this list will grow, but for now, here are a few:

NICK RIMANDO (as mentioned above)
 


JOHN GRISHAM ( amazing author extraordinaire ... brilliant AND funny)

 

ZAC EFRON (oh the sadness when Zanessa broke up)  He made it worth suffering through "The Lucky One".



ROBERT PATTINSON (it's the profile... really.  As a person I think he's really rather odd... but I admit I'm strangely fascinated.  Of course part of it could be the whole Twilight connection)
 

WORF from STAR TREK  ( don't laugh people)








 
CHANNING TATUM ( I have loved him since "Step - up".  Not for the muscles but the craaaazy dance skills... and the jaw twitch... ) 

And last but certainly not least.... the amazing Viggo Mortensen... actually it isn't even Viggo I love... it is Aragorn.



Who are your mini-crushes?

1. 

The Racketeer by John Grisham / A / ****

Ahhhhh John Grisham is back.  This book with all it's intricate twists and turns, shameless womanizing, and irreverent view of the legal profession shows to me that Grisham has his groove back. While still not as amazing as "The Firm" or "The Pelican Brief", it was up there with some of his best.  

I've said on this blog before that John Grisham is one author that I'll automatically buy this books without reading them first and he doesn't disappoint.

2.  

Sacred Scars (A Resurrection of Magic, Book 2) by Kathleen Duey / YA / ***

This is the sequel to "Skin Hunger".  It again alternates in the point of view in children growing up under terrible circumstances while imprisoned in a training gestapo for wizards (where they must learn or die) and a story in the past leading up to how the school was created in the first place.  The story would go on and on about tiny minute details of day after day and then all of a sudden skip 20 years.  It was odd.  It felt kinda tedious at the end. I really lost a sense of who the characters in the past are and felt more in the know about the current characters.  Maybe this was intentional?  I do plan to read the sequel.

FINISHING UP APRIL / STARTING MAY

   
1.

Running Wide Open by Lisa Nowak/ YA / **1/2

I think this book was supposed to be about how a teenager headed down the wrong path finds a new life when sent to live with his Uncle.  About 2/3 of the way into the book the story suddenly veers off in a different direction and sounds like a research paper about the stages of grief written in a story form. The story is coming to a satisfying if somewhat predictable ending when WHAM all of a sudden there is going to be a sequel....

I like the book, I really did. Even though it was about stock car racking which I have ZERO interest in.  But it filled the time while driving to SLC.

1.

A Storm of Swords: A Song of Ice and Fire: Book Three by George R.R. Martin / A / ***

This book had 1200 pages and I was reading it as fast as I could so I could read the next one (listed below) before my 14 day loan period expired.

The story alternates between different characters ( and trust me there are a LOT of them.... each book has lengthy lists of people as you invariably at some point in the book go WHO IS THAT?).  The war for the kingdom is still going on and each chapter builds as the story reaches and exciting climax.  There was so much going on that I found the book a little tedious... when the author is having the reader follow so many story lines for so many people you find yourself not really caring what they are wearing or what they are eating... you just want to know the nitty-gritty so you can move on.

2.

A Feast for Crows (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 4) by George R.R. Martin / A / ***

This book was a little flat for me.  This book still alternates between characters for each chapter, but the author this time only focused on about half of the characters in order to provide some focus.  I wish I had realized this as the beginning as most of the book I was wondering what in the world was going on with the other characters.  The story was a little flat... nothing really happened... and since it was also 1200 pages that is some pretty impressive filler. This book kinda felt like the second book of a trilogy in that the setting is set, the characters are in play, and we are just kinda setting up some stuff before the final story happens.  

3.

Defending Jacob: A Novel by William Landay / A / ***

This is our book group choice for the month.  The girl that chose it said she picked it simply because she HAD to talk about the ending with someone.  And when the Boston Marathon bombing suspects were apprehended my friend Susan called me at home that day and said it reminded her so much of this book that she was looking for someone who had read it all the way ( I hadn't at that time) to talk to about it.  So what I'm trying to share here is that I fell victim to the pre-conceived notion that the ending was going to be AWESOME or at least SHOCKING to the point that when I got there I was like... meh.  That's it?  I think my sister Ashlee would like it as it had so much psychological "stuff" to it.  I just didn't love it.  For a good legal thriller I'll stick to my old stand-by John Grisham.