March, April, May, and June Book Lists

MARCH

Aftermath by Ann Aguirre - 307 pages
A Perfect Blood by Kim Harrison - 438 pages
Unholy Ghosts by Stacia Kane - 339 pages
Half the Blood of Brooklyn by Charlie Huston - 223 pages
The Night Circus by Eric Morgenstern - 387 pages

TOTAL - 5 Books - 1,694 Pages

 APRIL

Fever by Lauren DeStefano - 341 pages
Fair Game by Patricia Briggs - 293 pages

TOTAL - 2 Books - 634 Pages

MAY

A Clash of Kings by George RR Martin - 728 pages
Lover Reborn by JR Ward - 572 pages
Deadlocked by Charlaine Harris - 327 pages

TOTAL - 3 Books - 1,627 Pages

JUNE

Timeless by Gail Carriger - 386 pages
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline - 372 pages
A Storm of Swords by George RR Martin - 924 pages

TOTAL - 3 Books - 1,682 pages

I haven't ready so many long books in quite some time.  It feels good to get something I can sink my teeth into!  Looking back over the past four months worth of books, I'd have to say that my favorite was Ready Player One.  I just couldn't put it down.  The Night Circus also sucked me in as did both George RR Martin books.  Unholy Ghosts was the biggest letdown.  I had seen rave reviews of the book all over the place and was really excited to read it, but it felt a bit flat to me.  Maybe my expectations were too high.

I finally got around to reading the second Song of Fire and Ice book so that we could watch season two of Game of Thrones.  I think I'll be glad that I read book three well before season three airs so that the differences between the book and the show aren't quite so glaring.

San Rafael Swell

We took a couple of friends camping with us to the San Rafael Swell this spring.  They are usually forest campers, so it was a bit new to them.  Our trip started out with a flat tire on their truck.  That was quickly swapped for the spare, then we found a close spot to camp out of the wind (mostly).

The next day we went exploring and found a ghost of a mining town.  The buildings here were mostly standing and had random old appliances scattered about.

We also explored the remnant of the mines a little.  We didn't go far because we didn't have flashlights.

This one was big enough you could drive a four wheeler around in it.  It would be lots of fun to explore more one day.

 Hondo Arch

We went for a brief hike with the dogs.  Their favorite part was splashing in this small puddle.  I'm sure the water is completely gone by now.  The hike was down Crack Canyon, which is a slot canyon, and we didn't get very far before we had to turn around because the dogs couldn't maneuver the six foot drop-off we ran into.

We had a really good time, though I don't think our friends fell in love with the desert the way we have.  Maybe it has to grow on you.

Nesting

Some cute little birds decided to build a nest at my house this spring.  As cool as I think that was, I would have appreciated it if they had built it somewhere other than the wreath on my front door.  By the time I noticed, they already had eggs in it and I just couldn't bring myself to take it down.  We managed to get a couple of egg shots and a couple of little bird pics, but they grew up a flew away really fast!

All five eggs hatched and they all survived.  I don't know how they all fit in the nest though.  Now my wreath is destroyed and my porch is covered in poop, but it was fun while it lasted.

SLC Nerd

We heard about the SLC Nerd convention one weekend and thought it might be fun to go check it out.  There was one vendor selling games, but they were pretty much all the ones we already have.  It was mostly fun to see all the costumes everyone had put so much hard work into.

Moab St. Patrick's Day

For St. Patrick's Day this year Pat and his Aunt signed up to do a five mile run as part of the Canyonlands Half Marathon.  It was the first organized run he's ever done, though his aunt used to do lots back in the day.  He did really well for his first time out!  He came in 46th overall, and 5th in his age group.  Total time was 42:05.

My brother Paige was down there at the same time cheering on some friends who were also running.  After the race was done we went out to do some wheeling.  He hadn't done any of the trails and really wanted to try out his truck because he did a bunch of work on it, so we did Hell's Revenge and Poison Spider again.  No new trail stickers for the Jeep this trip!