Book Review Outcasts Thomas Nelson review/Booksneeze

I was intrigued by the premise of the book Outcasts. I admit science-fiction/futuristic books are not really my choice of books, but this one showed some promise. I guess in requesting it, I didn’t realize it was a series, so I hadn’t read the first one. This posed somewhat problematic for the first third of the book, because I wasn’t familiar with “the world” or the terminology used. After the first third, I had somewhat caught on to most of what had happened in previous books, but it was still challenging when they referred to previous incidents.

Overall, the book was just okay for me. Maybe since this category of genre isn’t my normal choice, that made it longer and more drawn out for me. The only character I really identified with was Shaylinn in her choices that had been taken away from her through higher powers. I enjoyed the escape near the end, but several of the story plot lines were confusing to me. This may be because it is in a series and I hadn’t read the first, and probably won’t read additional. I did find the technology and weapons and lifestyle to be quite interesting though. It took quite awhile for me to read the book, which usually means it’s a struggle for me. Can’t rate this one super high. 

Ogden Dinosaur Museum

 Recently, we went with some friends for a day up at the Dinosaur Museum in Ogden. The boys were so excited, because even though we have seen "fossil" museums, we have NOT seen dinosaurs "with the skin on them". It was really, really cool.

 They gave you these little books that you could pretend to be paleontologists as you walked around to find all the different dinosaurs.

 This one had dinosaur eggs by it. Liam did not like his picture taken apparently.

 It was a cooler day, so the weather was perfect, and you could eat food walking around....SCORE for us!

 They also had a huge dinosaur playground that you could play on dinosaurs. We discovered this near the end of the outdoor walk. The boys loved it.

 Sliding down a dinosaur is pretty cool.

 It was a really fun day. You could also dig for fossils, and they had a whole section inside with more dinosaurs, and a REAL t-rex that moved. We didn't find that out until right before we were leaving and it was Collin's favorite part. It was a robotic t-rex.

 For little boys that love dinosaurs, this was really a cool place. And NO one was hardly there when we went. I LOVE going to stuff in the off season.

Bear World May 2014

 About 20 minutes from my parents' house in Idaho Falls is Bear World. The last few years we have gone when they have the baby bears out and so we can ride the rides. The boys, and my nieces, LOVE it.

 You could touch the Bear skin.

 There is hardly (at least in the times we have gone) tons of people there, so the rides, it's like you can ride on 50 rides in a couple hours. It's a HUGE hit. Nobody ever wants to leave.

 Liam has no fear of any ride. It took Collin almost the whole morning to get up the bravery to ride this ride above that just went down. Once he did, he was so proud of himself!

 These are just cute pictures of Liam :) riding the train.

 The baby bears are really cute. And playful. Two of them were totally wrestling. Reminded me of the boys. A lot.

 Here is Collin once he got brave enough. Then he had to ride the ride about 10 times in a row.

Liam got to chug the bell! Yeah! And he loved that Daddy rode in the car with him.

New van, ninja clothes, and Easter 2014

 Mid-April we finally buckled down and got a second car. We have gone basically 4 years with one car, but with baby #3 coming early September, it was just a matter of time.

 We found a great deal at a place in Clearfield, so drove up and got it and came home. The boys LOVE it.

 Another thing the boys love, footie pajamas, even when it's warm outside. They are ninjas or powerangers in these clothes....ALL THE TIME.

 We do Easter celebrations low key at our house, but the Easter bunny brought some fun small things in baskets....

 And he did hide eggs with candy.

 The candy was eaten within an hour, I'm pretty sure. The boys love that they just randomly got candy.

 Don't you love Collin's attire for church? He got that blue tie from the Easter bunny, and even though it didn't match really, it looked too "Collin'esque" to change.

Collin had about 10 of these pictures after. Hope everyone had a fun Easter!

Wheeler Farm visit in April

 At the beginning of April, I took the boys to Wheeler Farm. We had been before, but never when it was really "alive" (like after dinner or when the animals weren't out apparently). We had so much fun!

 Feeding the ducks was a big hit.

 Seeing inside the stinky potty was also a big hit.

 The cows were big, but stinky of course.

 We also got to see some baby goats and baby lambs.

 We also chose to ride the wagon around the property. We didn't get to play on the playground nearby, so that will be next time!