Mockingjay

IF YOU WANT TO READ THIS BOOK AND HAVEN'T READ IT YET

STOP READING NOW!

This is my review of Mockingjay, the final book in the popular HUNGER GAMES series.

I liked this book, but it wasn't my favorite ever and this is why:

My biggest complaint is the lack of development and growth Katniss experiences. She doesn’t seem to have grown at all from the first book to the third. I guess I just expected her to be like Luke Skywalker going from naive farm boy to master Jedi, leader of the rebel cause. But Katniss just never seems to be able to figure herself out and decide who she is. She should have been able to see the rebellion was more important than her own selfish quest for revenge. She should have been able to feel more compassion for Peeta when he got all messed up in the Capitol. She should have been able to see it wasn’t Gale’s fault Prim died in the bombing. What upset me the most in the end was that she voted FOR the Hunger Games and then said it was for Prim. Prim never would have wanted that. It was pure selfishness on Katniss’ part.

However I am really glad she shot Coin in the end . Katniss was right, she was just as bad as Snow. Which brings me to my next complaint. District 13. At the end of Catching Fire when I found out there really was a district 13 I was so excited I couldn’t sleep. I imagined District 13 to be a bustling nest of zealous, passionate rebel activity. But no, District 13 was the worst possible rebel base ever. There were so calculated and reserved. Even Betee had more zeal than the citizens of District 13. I can see why they needed Katniss so badly to be the mockingjay. A rock could have been more inspiring than ANYONE in District 13. Then on top of that they let all the other Districts do all the work. I wish more of the story would have taken place in District 11. In Catching Fire when the Victory district 11 and the old man whistles rues tune and the rest of the crowd gestures to Katniss, it gave me goosbumps. District 11 seemed to capture the fire of the rebellion.

Now I have to give my two cents about Collin’s love triangle. I hate love triangles and have to say I couldn’t have cared less about who she ended up with (even though I felt we got to know Peeta better so I liked him a little more). I feel though, that she should have been happier than she was about who she ended up with. I felt like whether is was Gale or Peeta, either one of them at least deserved her happiness about being with them.

While I do have quite a list of complaints I actually thought it was a pretty good book. I like Colllin’s style of writing. She kept me on the edge of my seat and did not disappoint when it came to unpredictable twists and turns.

I also really liked the cast of characters. Cinna was my absolute favorite, his character was perfect. Haymitch and Peeta tie for second. Peeta was my favorite in the first and second, he showed the most promise of human nature, but I hated that he never completely recovered from torture. On the other hand I didn’t like Haymitch in the first book but he came such a long way and was almost noble in the third book, I love to see characters develop like that. I loved Fnick and Gale too, I wish they both would have had bigger parts in the books, they had so much potential to be great leaders. I am glad that Finick got his happy ending before he died though. And then there is Prim, to me she was really the symbol of the rebellion, she embodied everything good and pure, she had all the characteristics I wish Katniss could have found by the end of the book. I guess I can just hope Katniss will honor her sisters memory and aspire to obtain those qualities later in her life.

Not my favorite book ever, but I did like it a lot and would definitely recommend reading the whole series! The second book is definitely the best.

Heidi and Jentry's Fabulous Trip to Flagstaff

With jobs obtained and houses unpacked and somewhat put in order, Jentry and I finally got some free time to do as we pleased. We were ecstatic to get out of the house (and out of the heat!). We packed up our toys and our dog and headed up north.

We spent two nights in Oak Creek Canyon just out of Sedona and two nights at Upper Lake Mary outside of Flagstaff. It was an absolute blast.

These were some of the activities we enjoyed!

Hiking Pump House Wash

Warding off the numerous skunks in the Oak Creek Canyon Campgrounds

Hiking the West Fork of Oak Creek Canyon

Enjoying Egg McMuffins cooked on a Camp Stove

Windsurfing at Upper Lake Mary

Watching the thunderstorms roll in over Upper Lake Mary

Racing to set up our tarp over our camp before the thunderstorms hit

Playing cards and doing crosswords under our tarp during the thunderstorms

Going to the Lowell Observitory in Flagstaff

(where both Pluto and the expanding nature of the Universe were discovered by Percival Lowell)

Eating at Salsa Brava in Flagstaff

(delicious burn your face off mexican food!)

Exploring Lava River Cave

Eating at Miss Zips

(an adorable little diner in Flagstaff that serves aweseom burgers and fries!)

Now its back to the real world, starting work again on Monday :( But we really enjoyed our time off!

Lake Powell, Tabuli, Paint, and Cactus Trees

Jentry and Heidi finally made it to Arizona! Well, actually we have been here over a week now but our stuff did not come until this past Monday and, today, Thursday, we finally have most of our stuff unpacked. MOST of it. Our new house is finally starting to feel like a home.

We have been pretty busy the last week and a half. It's hot here in Arizona, but surprising not unbearable. We are so glad our house has a pool, we (me, Jentry, and Bella) have been swimming in it pretty much every day! Anyway, here are few other things we have been up to.

1. Lake Powell

We broke our 11 hr drive to Glendale into two days and stayed overnight at Lake Powell. Well sort of, it was the KOA in Page. I think the rest of the people there thought we were crazy people with how much stuff we had. Not the most glamorous of camping spots, but we had fun grilling hot dogs, roasting marshmallows, and sleeping out under the stars.

2. Tabuli

What the heck is Tabuli? Deliciousness, thats what it is. Parsley, tomatoes, mint, and spices, mmm mmm. Yesterday Jentry and I went the the Twilight Farmers market. I felt kind of bad dragging Jentry along, I'm kind of obsessed with Farmers Markets and am always dragging him to different ones all over. But, come to find out, Jentry secretly LIKES the Farmers Market. He seemed to be having a great time chatting with all the vendors as they fed us sample after sample. It was tough not to buy everything we tasted, it was all SOOOO good! In the end we left with Blackberry Lavender Sauce, smoked salmon straight from Alaska, and yes, TABULI. What a treat!

3. Paint

Before we moved into our house, Jentry mentioned to me that the land lord had said that it would be okay if we wanted to some painting. I thought to myself, "Why would I want to paint? I don't really want to put any sort of effort into a house that is not mine. No color can be so bad to make me want to paint a rental house!" Then we arrived at our new home in Arizona. Within the first hour we were there we had already decided to repaint. Luckily, it was only two walls and since our stuff had not arrived yet it was pretty easy. But it took a long time. We also painted all the baseboards in the house. And Jentry made me scrub the grout (pretty much the entire house is tile). Bleh. Grout scrubbing is the worst job in the world. I am never putting tile in any house I ever own.

4. Cactus Trees

In Arizona, the cactuses grow bigger than trees. We happen to have one such "Catcuts Tree" on our street. And it is full of holes. It is like the Bird Hotel. Like the Bird Belagio. There are birds running around all over the place. I love it. I like the cactus tree a lot too.

P.S. I know that there is one picture on her 3 times, in funny places, the computer is being goofy

Heidi is Inspired

Today I read an article in Runner's World called

"A Magnificent Mile".

It was so incredibly inspiring.

It was about a women who, in 2007, started a 30 mile run to raise money to help women who were victims of the terrible violence in the Congo. Over the years people have joined her cause. Her run has grown and others have started events all over the country and they have raised a significant amount of money for Congolese Women. The money helps them to buy food and medical supplies and learn trades like cooking, sewing, and farming so they can support their families.

Last year this woman traveled to the Congo to meet the women she had helped and to do a 30 mile solo trek in place of her annual 30 mile run.

But when she got to the Congo her plans changed.

The women she met, women who were struggling to feed their children and get by, women who still lived in fear of violence everyday, these women wanted to know what THEY could do to HELP other women.

So instead of of 30 mile trek, she organized a one mile run. Forty seven Congolese women who had been victims of rape and violence themselves participated. They ran in the rain and the mud, in bare feet and their best skirts. And they sang and danced, before, during, and long after the run.

""Come let's run and dance for others!" they changed in Swahili as they circled around a woman squatting on the ground, poinding on a plastic oil can."

The run generated more than $47,000 to aid women in the Congo. This was such an amazing story about courageous, strong, beautiful women. It made my heart feel full. Even in the darkest, most disparged parts of the world, there is beauty, kindness, and love.

If you need to feel inspired, check out this article in the August edition of Runners World and then listen to ONE DAY by Matisayu and then I'll STAND BY YOU by the Glee Cast.

I promise you'll feel like you really can make a difference :)

Heidi Faces Her Greatest Fear

Those who know me well know that my greatest fear in life is getting bit by a rattlesnake while running or hiking on the trail. People might say, "Really? This is your GREATEST fear?" Yes. It is my GREATEST fear, because out of all the things for me to be terrified of in life, being bitten by a rattlesnake has the greatest probability of actually happening.

To prove my point, just today I was running on the Bear Gutsman Trail in Kaysville and I very very narowly excaped this fear becoming a reality.

I was running down the switchbacks not paying much attention when I rounded a corner and there it was, a little black and brown guy with a rattle on his tail all COILED (yes he was COILED) up on the trail. I was moving fast and didn't have any time at all to think. I just lept into the air and hit the ground running as fast as I could. I heard him hiss behind me but I but did not chance stealing a glance behind me.

I am not really sure how I did not get bitten. I was awefully close and he was ready for me. It was kind of a miracle.

What I still don't understand is that Bella, my trusty beast who is supposed to protect me from such calamities, was about ten feet in front of me and she never showed any sign that she was even aware of this little guys existence. She did not run, jump, start, growl, or bark. She just trotted down the trail in her lackadaisical manner as if she had not seen, heard, or smelled anything out of the ordinary.

As for me, it took a long long long time for me to relax and it will probably be a long long long time before I will be able relax while running on a trail again, especially now that we are moving to Arizona, the land of the rattle snakes!

PS - I was going to find a picture of a rattle snake to put with this post, but it makes me sick to my stomach to look at them so you will just have to use your imagination!

Iron Girl - Lake Las Vegas Tri

Swim

Bike

Run

Finish

Swim 15:01 T1: 4:15 Bike 1:06:51 T2 1:33 Run 24:32

Final Time 1:52:12

2nd in Division

47th of 645 overall

Team Blonde Runner Girls Brandy and Carolynn

Awesome job Ladies!

My Biggest fan and supporter

This was such an awesome event, I am so glad I got to be a part of it. It was so empowering to be there with so many other women to celebrate being strong, active, healthy women.

I owe all of this to my mother, who taught me to always be proud of being a woman and that as a women I am strong and I am powerful and NOTHING is beyond my reach.

Thanks Mom! I love you!

ACLS Inspires Me

Some people are inspired by music, some by art, others by architecture, or nature, poems, books, photography etc. etc. So what am I inspired by?

Quality Chest Compressions and Advanced Airways.

Its weird. I know. I can't help it.

I went to my ACLS renewal class this week and talking about the pulseless v-fib/v-tach and bradycardic algorithms all day got me so excited that when I got home I couldn't shut up about it for like three hours. And three days later I am still talking about it. Poor Jentry. He puts up with a lot.

When I was 15 years old I took my first BLS class. I remember thinking, I hope something never happens while I am around, I don't think I could ever do this to a real person.

Eight years later, even though I use BLS and ACLS skills a lot in my job, I am dying to use my skills in the outside world. Don't get me wrong I don't go around hoping someone will keel over or get in a car wreck, I just know these things happen and I go around hoping that one day in the right place at the right time.

I just can't explain the feeling that you get when something goes wrong, and for a moment you panic, but then your head clears and you know exactly what to do. Or when you are drilling into the medial tibia with the I/O drill or delivering a shock. But the best feeling is when the patient comes back, and then they wake up, and then when they get well enough to leave the unit. It truly is amazing, and humbling. A lot of times it doesn't end up that way and thats hard, but then you can honestly say you did everything you could.

Please don't think I am morbid. I am not. I just love what I do. I am so grateful I have a job that has given me the skills and knowledge so that I can help people.

Heidi and Jentry say Goodbye For Two Years

Today Jentry's brother Dallin is leaving to serve an LDS Mission in Costa Rica. Last night we had the privilege of being present as he was set a part and given a beautiful priesthood blessing by our Stake President. Then we went to Dairy Queen (of all the great places in the world - - Dallin's choice) and got to spend a little quality time with him before he departs for two years.

We like Dallin. We will sure miss him. But Costa Ricans are lucky to be having him around. Serving a mission is all about sharing Christ's Love with his children (according to Heidi NOT the officialness of the LDS church). Dallin will be a great missionary. He loves people and he works hard.

In Dallin's own words: SEE YA IN TWO YEARS!

Heidi Learns an Important Lesson

WARNING: While multitasking is an important skill, making your BREAKFAST should not be one of your "multi" tasks!

This morning I thought I would get a jump start on cleaning by straightening up the living room while toasting my bagel. When I finally returned to the kitchen after straightening, my bagel was burnt to a crisp. :( Sad days for me. Luckily, I had another bagel. I popped it in the toaster oven and decided this time I would stay close to my breakfast and do some dishes while it cooked. Turns out proximity to your cooking breakfast does not guarantee you can keep it from burning. :( My bagel was burnt again. Unfortunately I had no more bagels so I just had to suck it up, slather it with cream cheese, and choke it down.

Sad Sad Sad days.

Weathering the Storm

Last night, I went running in a giant storm. And I liked it. . .sort of. Why did I do this? Well. . . it wasn't storming when I left my house. I had gotten home from work and for whatever strange reason I felt great, which is a rare rare occurrence. I decided to take advantage of this and get in my long run for the week. It was a little drippy when I started, but a little rain never hurt anyone. Right?

The majority of the run was beautiful. The temperature was perfect. It rained off and on, sometimes it rained pretty hard and I did get wet, but the wind wasn't blowing and it wasn't cold enough that I couldn't stay warm from my own physical effort. I watched the sun go down and was entertained by Bella trying to splash through all the puddles.

In one word, it was

BLISSFUL.

Oh how quickly things can change.

I was on my way home, about ten minutes from my house. It was getting very very dark. All of a sudden the wind started to blow and the sky opened up and HAIL started pelting down on me. The bad news was (no, I haven't even gotten to the bad news part yet!) the wind was blowing in my face and the hail was pelting my eyes out. Bella started running BEHIND me so I could block her from the storm, I felt bad I had taken her with me. To make things worse I was back on Main street and it was unusually busy for nine at night. I was running into the traffic so the cars headlights were blinding me. There wasn't much room on the shoulder and I was really nervous the cars wouldn't be able to see me.

In one word, the next 10 minutes were complete MISERY.

I was soaked to the bone, freezing, and I couldn't see a thing. I just wanted to quit. But I knew the only way I would get home, was to keep going. So I focused on putting one foot in front of the other and I did keep going. After what seemed like forever, but was really only ten minutes, I did get home. And it was warm and safe and Jentry had a big plate of warm bacon waiting for me. I was so HAPPY.

I really enjoyed this little experience. Well. . . I'm not sure if enjoy is exactly the right word, because I wasn't really enjoying myself at the time, but you will see what I mean.

One of the things I love about running is that pretty much everything about it can be related to the Gospel and Spirituality. I do like to have runs like this occasionally, because it strengthens my testimony of my Heavenly Father and His LOVE for me. This experience reminded me that no matter how bad the storm of life may get, even when it's dark and cold and windy and hail is pelting me in the face and care headlights are blinding me, no matter how miserable I am, no matter how much I really want to quit, if I just focus on putting one foot in front of the other like I did when I was running, and have faith, Heavenly Father will lead me home to his presence. And it will be warm. It will be safe. And there will be a plate of warm bacon waiting for me.

Maybe.

Okay i'm not sure about the bacon part, but the rest of it I KNOW I KNOW I KNOW is absolutely TRUE without a doubt!

Heidi and Jentry and the Spring Sprint Triathalon

before

This past weekend Jentry and I participated in the Kearns Spring Sprint Triathalon. We had a very good time. I was extremely nervous, not really about racing, but about being cold. Silly, I know. But I was making myself sick all the way up untill the start of the race trying to decide if I was going to throw on my jacket for the bike ride and wondering if I would regret not wearing my biking gloves. All my worrying was in vain. It was beautiful, the perfect tempurature. I did not get cold at all!

We started the race by swimming in the Oquirr Park Aquatics outdoor Olympic pool. It was a 400 meter swim. I didn't swim great but I was still the second lady out of the pool so I didn't feel too bad. Then we hopped out of the pool and ran up the hill to the parking lot where the trasition area was.

We got on a bikes and road North, up a really big hill! But like I said the weather was really beautiful so even though I couldn't breath I was really enjoying the ride. Finally the hill crested for real and it was flat for a little ways. Then the course went east and we got to come down the really big hill. I hit 34 mph on my bike, the fastest I have ever gone before! I decided I did not want to go any faster, so then all these guys started flying past me. Some crazy guy even yelled, "Go baby go!" at me as he flew by. We reached the bottom of the hill and turned back towards the Aquactics center. "Oh good I thought to myself, it should be pretty flat from here on out," I thought to myself. WRONG. There was a second climb, this one even longer and steaper than the first. The beautiful weather and scenery could not distract me from my misery anymore. Luckily about half way up the hill I found a buddy to climb the hill with. If it hadn't been for her motivatin me to keep going I probably would have been going so slow I would have just fallen over and given up.

Finally, the 12 mile ride was over and we got into our running shoes and started up yet another hill for our run. But the run was pretty enjoyable actually. It wound through some very pleasant neighbor hoods and had a nice variety of ups and downs. And I just couldn't stop thinking about what an incredibly nice day it was. When I rounded the corner and the Olympic Oval came into view I couldn't believe it. I though, "I can't really be that close can I?" I kept thinking I was being tricked and that the course would vear off in another direction. But it didn't, the course brought me down a grassy hill and right up to the oval. I really was that close. Then I saw Jentry. Wait a minute, "When did you pass me?" I yelled. "On the bike, down the hill, I yelled at you, didn't you hear me?" I yelled back. Oh, so it wasn't just some crazy guy yelling at me. What a relief! The last couple hundred meters was on the track at the Olympic Oval, and then finally I crossed the finish line and was done! Yay!

Jentry and I did pretty well considering it was the first race of the season! Jentry came in 18th overall with a time of 1 hour 13 min and I cam in 80th overall, but 13th out of the women with a time of 1 hour 22 minutes.

And once again it was a gorgeous beautiful day!

after

Jentry Teaches Bike Maintenance

Embarrassingly enough, before yesterday I did not know how to change a bike tire. Correction, I did not REMEMBER how to change a bike tire.

My mom, who always taught her girls to be self sufficient, showed me how a long long time ago.

Unfortunately if you do not practice your skills you lose them, which is what happened to me. All I rememberd is using some kind of funny tool and then listening to the tube to see where the air is coming from.

This knowledge did not prove helpful to my on Monday when I got two flat tires on my bike ride.

Last night I decided it was time for me to become self sufficient again.

Jentry showed me how to change the first tire. Then with a little bit of helpful guidance changed the second.

Honestly, not too hard.

Now I can make my mother proud again. :)

Heidi Likes Flowers

Yesterday, I got mad at Jentry for something I shouldn't have been mad about. I wanted him to put the bike rack on the car so I could take my bike for a ride in Bountiful yesterday. He forgot to do it, so heaven forbid, I ended up putting it on myself. This was no big deal, but I am silly, and I was mad. Did Jentry get mad because I was mad about something I shouldn't have been. No He didn't

He bought me these beautiful flowers on his way home from work. And he came to rescue me from my tragic bike ride, on which I got notONE, but TWO flat tires.

He didn't complain one time.

He is wonderful. I'm so blessed to have him.

Heidi and Jentry and Bella Enjoy a Spring Day