2023 Reading

Books I Read

1. Christmas Baggage by Deborah M. Hathaway.

2. Love is an Art by Summer Dowell.

3. A Temporary Marriage by Summer Dowell.

4. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus.

5. The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave.

6. Alone by Megan E. Freeman.

7. The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth.

8. The Love that Split the World by Emily Henry.

9. When in Rome by Sarah Adams.

10. Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez.

11. What Was the San Francisco Earthquake? by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler.

12. Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano.

13. Holiday Romance by Catherine Walsh.

Graphic Novels I Read 

1. The Tryout by Christina Soontornvat and Joanna Cacao.

2. When Stars Are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed.

3. Mexikid by Pedro Martin.

Books I Listened to

1. The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren.

2. The Off Limits Rule by Sarah Adams.

3. The Temporary Roomie by Sarah Adams.

4. Meet Me in the Margins by Melissa Ferguson.

5. The Do-Over by Lynn Painter.

6. Space Case by Stuart Gibbs.

7. How Lucky by Will Leitch.

8. The Reunion by Kayla Olson.

9. What Lies in the Woods by Kate Alice Marshall.

10. Head Over Heels by Hannah Orenstein.

11. Twice in a Blue Moon by Christina Lauren.

12. The Guy at the Wedding by Katherine Center.

13. The Happy Ever After Playlist by Abby Jimenez.

14. My Oxford Year by Julia Whelan.

15. Must Love Books by Shauna Robinson.

16. Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull.

17. Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren.

18. Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun by Elle Cosimano.

19. Good Inside by Dr. Becky Kennedy.

20. The Cul-de-Sac War by Melissa Ferguson.

21. The Dating Charade by Melissa Ferguson.

22. Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid.

23. Someone Else's Shoes by Jojo Moyes.

24. Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid.

25. Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry.

26. The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel.

27. The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez.

28. Paris for One and Other Stories by Jojo Moyes.

29. The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides.

30. Have I Told You This Already? by Lauren Graham.

31. Beartown by Fredrik Backman.

32. Winning Balance by Shawn Johnson.

33. Lunar Love by Lauren Kung Jessen.

34. Maybe in Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid.

35. The Lonely Hearts Book Club by Lucy Gilmore.

36. Life's Too Short by Abby Jimenez.

37. None of This is True by Lisa Jewell.

38. Accidentally Amy by Lynn Painter.

39. Only the Beautiful by Susan Meissner.

40. After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid.

41. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid.

42. Hello Stranger by Katherine Center.

43. Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan.

44. Red Velvet by Carla Luna.

45. Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl.

46. Last Christmas in Paris by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb.

47. Practice Makes Perfect by Sarah Adams.

48. Nothing Else But Miracles by Kate Albus.

49. Beach Read by Emily Henry.

50. The Good Part by Sophie Cousens.

Books I Read to Logan

1. Danny the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl.

2. The Magic Finger by Roald Dahl.

3. The Twits by Roald Dahl.

4. The Witches by Roald Dahl.

5. The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me by Roald Dahl.

6. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl.

7. Boy by Roald Dahl.

8. Mystery in Rocky Mountain National Park by Aaron Johnson.

9. The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary.

10. Runaway Ralph by Beverly Cleary.

11. Ralph S. Mouse by Beverly Cleary.

12. Discovery in Great Sand Dunes National Park by Aaron Johnson.

13. Mr. Popper's Penguins by Florence and Richard Atwater.

14. Bunnicula by Deborah and James Howe.

15. The Chocolate Touch by Patrick Skene Catling.

16. Zack and the Turkey Attack! by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor.

17. Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor.

Books I Listened to with Peyton

1. Ruby Holler by Sharon Creech.

2. In the Beautiful Country by Jane Kuo.

3. Granny Torrelli Makes Soup by Sharon Creech.

4. Bloomability by Sharon Creech.

5. The Wanderer by Sharon Creech.

6. The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall.

7. The Last Mapmaker by Christina Soontornvat.

8. The Penderwicks on Gardam Street by Jeanne Birdsall.

9. The Penderwicks at Point Mouette by Jeanne Birdsall.

10. The Penderwicks in Spring by Jeanne Birdsall.

11. The Penderwicks at Last by Jeanne Birdsall.

12. Finally Seen by Kelly Yang.

13. The One and Only Ruby by Katherine Applegate.

14. Rescue by Jennifer A. Nielsen.

Books I Read to Corbyn and Peyton

1. The Rembrandt Conspiracy by Deron Hicks.

2. The Crown Heist by Deron Hicks.

3. Glitch by Laura Martin.

4. The Monster Missions by Laura Martin.

5. Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World by Jennifer Armstrong.

6. Float by Laura Martin.

7. Vanishing Act by Laura Martin.

8. Hoax For Hire by Laura Martin.

9. The Mona Lisa Vanishes by Nicholas Day.

Books I Listened to with Corbyn

1. The Labors of Hercules Beal by Gary D. Schmidt.

Books I Listened to with Peyton and Corbyn

1. The Clackity by Lora Senf.

Books We Listened to as a Family

1. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling.

2. Framed! by James Ponti.

3. Vanished! by James Ponti.

4. Trapped! by James Ponti.

2022 Reading

I shared the books I read on Instagram as I read them this year. It was easier for me to keep up on it that way. And it felt a little like I was in a book club because people would send me messages about the books I was reading. My friend, Rachel, did the same thing and I enjoyed seeing what she was reading too! I'm just going to list them out here without any commentary. 

Books I Read

1. The Vanderbeekers to the Rescue by Karina Yan Glaser.

2. The Vanderbeekers Lost and Found by Karina Yan Glaser.

3. The Vanderbeekers Make a Wish by Karina Yan Glaser.

4. A Happy Catastrophe by Maddie Dawson.

5. Celebrating a Christ-Centered Easter by Emily Belle Freeman.

6. Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty.

7. Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez.

8. Belly Up by Stuart Gibbs.

9. By the Book by Jasmine Guillory.

10. The Bodyguard by Katherine Center.

11. On Schedule by Summer Dowell.

12. The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood.

13. The Vanderbeekers on the Road by Karina Yan Glaser.

14. To Sir, With Love by Lauren Layne.

15. Love From Scratch by Summer Dowell.

16. The Elle Project by Summer Dowell.

Graphic Novels I Read

17. Dancing at the Pity Party by Tyler Feder.

18. Dragon Hoops by Gene Luen Yang.

19. Measuring Up by Lily LaMotte.

20. American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang.

21. Garlic and the Witch by Bree Paulsen.

Books I Listened to

22. Finlay Donovan is Killing It by Elle Cosimano.

23. Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead by Elle Cosimano.

24. The Secrets of Midwives by Sally Hepworth.

25. Just Haven't Met You Yet by Sarah Cousens.

26. Words on Fire by Jennifer A. Nielsen.

27. Room to Dream by Kelly Yang.

28. If It's Perfect by Summer Dowell.

29. It's Just Business by Summer Dowell.

30. The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth.

31. What the Wind Knows by Amy Harmon.

32. Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter.

33. One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle.

34. Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker.

35. The Things We Keep by Sally Hepworth.

36. Piecing Me Together by Renee Watson.

37. Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney.

38. Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci.

39. In Five Years by Rebecca Serle.

40. The Mother's Promise by Sally Hepworth.

41. Sweet Home Alaska by Jennifer Snow.

42. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt.

43. Sisters in Arms by Kaia Alderson.

44. The Edge of Falling by Rebecca Serle.

45. Key Player by Kelly Yang.

46. The Cheat Sheet by Sarah Adams.

47. Thank You for Listening by Julia Whelan. 

48. We Met in December by Rosie Curtis.

49. Forty Autumns by Nina Willner.

Books I Read with Corbyn and/or Peyton

50. The Ickabog by J.K. Rowling.

51. President of the Whole Sixth Grade by Sherri Winston.

52. New From Here by Kelly Yang.

53. The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.

54. Some Places More Than Others by Renee Watson.

55. Charlie Thorne and the Lost Equation by Stuart Gibbs.

56. Charlie Thorne and the Lost City by Stuart Gibbs.

57. Charlie Thorne and the Curse of Cleopatra by Stuart Gibbs.

58. The Van Gogh Deception by Deron Hicks.

Books I Read with Logan

59. The BFG by Roald Dahl.

60. Matilda by Roald Dahl.

61. Esio Trot by Roald Dahl.

62. George's Marvelous Medicine by Roald Dahl.

63. Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl.

64. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl.

65. Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl.

Books I Listened to with Peyton

66. A Place to Hang the Moon by Kate Albus.

67. The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick.

68. Efren Divided by Ernesto Cisneros.

69. Sweet Home Alaska by Carole Estby Dagg. 

Books We Listened to as a Family

70. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling.

71. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling.

72. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling.

73. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

74. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins.

It was a great year of reading! I listened to a lot more than I actually read myself, but I still read a good amount - more than 1 a month. I'm looking forward to another great year of reading/listening in 2023!

Phillips Hike 100 Miles

One day just before summer last year we were sitting in Sunday School and a lady in our ward made a comment about how her daughter made a goal to hike 100 miles as a family. I thought that sounded pretty cool, so I asked the kids and Rog if they were up for that. The kids actually thought I said 300 miles and they still agreed to it. 😂 Of course they had no concept of how many miles 300 miles (or even 100 miles) is, so they didn't really know what they were agreeing to. Originally I wanted to hike all 100 miles by the end of summer, but as the summer went on, we realized that wasn't going to happen, so we amended our goal to be 100 miles in 2021.

May 31, 2021

Trail of the 10 Falls, Silver Falls Stake Park, Oregon

5 miles

We didn't do the entire path and only saw 6 of the 10 waterfalls. Someday we need to go back down and catch the 4 waterfalls we missed.

June 5, 2021

Dry Creek Falls, Columbia River Gorge, Oregon side

4 miles

We hit a little rain and it was extremely muddy, but still a fun hike.

June 12, 2021

Falls Creek Falls, Columbia River Gorge, Washington side

3 miles

This was quite possibly our favorite of the whole 100 miles. We drove over the Bridge of the Gods to get there which was fun. (If you've read Wild, you'll know what I'm talking about.) It was an easy hike and the waterfall was just spectacular!

June 27, 2021

Neahkahnie Mountain, Pacific Coast, Oregon

3 miles

This was the first day of a crazy heat wave and I knew there was no way we could hike in Portland. We went to the coast (where it wasn't too hot yet). The view from the top was amazing. 

July 3, 2021

Timothy Lake to Little Crater Lake (and back), Mount Hood National Forest, Oregon

3 miles

 We did this same hike in 2020 except we started at Crater Lake and hiked to Timothy Lake (and back). It's an extremely easy hike. Totally flat and shaded most of the way.
 

July 11, 2021

Hidden Falls, Happy Valley, Oregon

1 mile

We took my parents on this short (calling it a mile is a bit of a stretch), but not easy hike. (It's super steep on the way back!)

July 17, 2021

Pittock Mansion, Forest Park, Oregon

3 miles

We did this hike on my dad's birthday with the Hobbs. It was one we've done before (and I'm sure we'll do it again).

July 24, 2021

Lacamas Park, Columbia River Gorge, Washington side

3 miles

We did this hike on Easton's birthday with Blake and Skyler. I took a turn carrying Easton. It wasn't anything special, but we got in a few miles.

July 31, 2021

Tamolitch Blue Pool, Willamette National Forest, Oregon

4 miles

This was one of the hikes I was looking forward to most and it did not disappoint. The water was close to freezing, but everyone except Easton jumped in at least once.

August 7, 2021

Latourell Falls, Columbia River Gorge, Oregon side

3 miles

This is another favorite hike we've done a few times before. Rog had done a Spartan race that afternoon, so I carried Easton.

August 16, 2021

Silver Falls, Mount Rainier National Park, Washington

5 miles

This was the first hike of our epic summer road trip. It was 4 miles roundtrip to the falls and then after dinner we hiked down to the Ohanapecosh River.

August 18, 2021

Devil's Punch Bowl, Spruce Railroad Trail, Olympic National Park, Washington

3 miles

Everyone loved this hike. Crescent Lake is gorgeous and jumping in from the bridge was a highlight. We hadn't come prepared for swimming on this leg of our road trip, so the kids wore their pajama shorts and I ended up jumping in wearing my sports bra and Rog's shorts (he had some spandex ones on underneath) after changing in the bushes.

August 18, 2021

Hurricane Ridge, Olympic National Park, Washington

3 miles

We had planned to do this hike on the last day of our Olympic National Park trip in 2018, but Rog got sick, so we couldn't do it then. We were so glad we got to do it this trip. The views were just spectacular and we lucked out with cloudy skies, so it wasn't hot.

August 20, 2021

Tumalo Falls, Bend, Oregon

6 miles

A flat, easy hike. We did the 6 miles in 2 hours which was much faster than our normal pace. We had hot dogs and watermelon at the trailhead when we finished.

August 21, 2021

Paulina Creek Falls, La Pine, Oregon

1 mile

We had planned to do the Paulina Creek Natural Water Slides, but it was only 43 degrees when we woke up, so we just did a quick hike to the falls.

August 22, 2021

Fern Canyon, Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, California

1.5 miles

This was a family favorite. The kids loved climbing over and under logs and crossing the stream multiple times.

August 22, 2021

Trees of Mystery Trail, Klamath, California

1.5 miles

Different than most of our hikes because it is commercialized and you take a gondola ride for part of it, but we still got in plenty of hiking and saw some incredible trees.

August 23, 2021

Simpson-Reed Trail and Stout Memorial Grove Trail, Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, California

2 miles

The longer hike we wanted to do was closed, so we just did a couple short hikes among the giant Redwoods.

 

August 24, 2021

Trillium Lake Trail, Mount Hood, Oregon

2 miles

The trail that goes all the way around the lake was closed at one point, so we ended up hiking one mile along the east side and then back before playing in the lake.

September 4, 2021

Moulton Falls, Moulton, Washington

1 mile

We did this quick mile loop with the Hobbs. Most of our time was spent cliff jumping and playing in the water.

September 6, 2021

Umbrella Falls and Sahalie Falls, Mount Hood, Oregon

4 miles

We enjoyed the short hike to Umbrella Falls and then continued on to Sahalie Falls. 

September 17, 2021

Timpanogos Cave National Monument, American Fork, Utah

3 miles

This is not an easy hike and the kids were troopers! Unfortunately our cave guide was terrible and ruined that part of the experience for us. Easton fell asleep and we had to carry him down.

September 20, 2021

The Y Trail, Provo, Utah

3 miles

This is a pretty difficult hike. Logan, who is normally our complainer, did awesome while Corbyn and Peyton complained the whole way.

September 25, 2021

Vancouver Lake Park, Vancouver, Washington

4 miles

This hike was so easy (totally flat and paved almost the whole way). After doing so well on the very difficult hike we did earlier in the week, Logan surprised us by having a total meltdown.

October 3, 2021

Old Salmon River Trail, Welches, Oregon

3 miles

We fit this hike in after the Sunday afternoon session of Conference. It was a very easy hike and the kids kept wanting to go back and hike it again to get in more miles.

October 9, 2021

Angel's Rest, Columbia River Gorge, Oregon side

5 miles

This wasn't a particularly easy hike, but the views were just spectacular. (They got better at every turn!) I promised the kids Salt and Straw if they didn't complain and that helped make it much more enjoyable. 

October 16, 2021

Mount Talbert, Happy Valley, Oregon

3 miles

This hike is right by our house and we've done it countless times over the years, but we started at a different entrance and that made it feel different.

October 30, 2021

Scouters Mountain, Happy Valley, Oregon

3 miles

We didn't have time to drive far for our hike, but it was a beautiful day, so we did another close-to-home hike that we've done before. We explored all the trails until we reached 3 miles.

November 13, 2021

Witch's Castle, Forest Park, Oregon

2 miles

We hiked this one with the Hobbs. I thought the kids would be more interested in the Witch's Castle, but they weren't terribly impressed.

November 26, 2021

Punch Bowl Falls, Columbia River Gorge, Oregon side

5 miles

We did this hike with Grandma Lori and Papa George while they were here for Thanksgiving. We stayed on the upper trail and viewed Punch Bowl Falls from above because we definitely weren't going to be swimming in November. (We need to go back and do this one in the summer for that!) It was a nice hike and we saw lots of bonus falls along the way.

December 17, 2021

Wahclella Falls, Columbia River Gorge, Oregon side

3 miles

We loved this one! We did the loop twice to give us a little extra mileage and we got to see the waterfall twice. 

December 29, 2021

Tryon Creek Triple Bridge Loop, Tryon Creek State Park, Portland, Oregon

4 miles

This wasn't the hike we had planned for our final hike, but the weather didn't cooperate, so we did this one instead. It was so cold and Easton cried for most of it, but we got it done!

December 30, 2021

100 miles Celebration

The kids talked about what they wanted to do to celebrate completing our goal for months. They finally settled on swimming at the North Clackamas Aquatic Center, a National Treasure movie marathon, and pizza from Papa Johns. 

For a few months after, Peyton refused to hike at all, but now she's recovered and will come with us again. 😂 It wasn't an easy goal and I think everyone in the family would have given up on it except for me. But I was determined to make sure we finished because I thought it was a good opportunity to teach the kids to follow through with their goals even when they get hard and seem like too much!