Jen's Blog

Little known fact about me...I was blessed Mormon when I was born.  My mother is Mormon, and originally from Utah.  I didn't know this until later in life when I was searching for a baptism certificate before I got married.  I didn't grow up going to temple and I didn't know a lot about the faith until I did some research, but technically I was Mormon. I love genealogy and have been working on our family trees, it turns out I come from a long line of Mormons, and some of my relatives knew with Joseph Smith and made the long journey from Illinois to Utah.  Also, there is quite a bit of polygamy in my family tree when it was allowed as part of the Mormon faith. It was interesting to me to read about polygamy from a more recent point of view, and to learn about the dark side of polygamy, and why it was ultimately outlawed.  I loved how Anna told her story and admire her for her bravery in having survived growing up with such a public polygamist father.  In...

As a frequent yoga class attendee and busy, working mom to three teenage boys the idea of this book spoke to me as soon as I saw the title.  I have been taking a yoga nidra class once a week (yoga sleep and guided meditation) and it's been making a world of difference in my mood and my days.  I just finished reading Breathe Mama Breathe and am so excited to add more mindfulness to my day when  I can't be in a yoga class!   I was a little worried about a book for busy moms, so many of them are focused on moms of just one age group, but this one is great for moms with any age kids!  There are so many places I can add a little calm in my day that I never had thought about before!   These quick breaks in the day are actually practical and I can see myself doing them on a regular basis!   I am especially looking forward to adding these mediation breaks to my day: Coffee Your Teen Driver STOP the Teen 'Tude Prepping to Launch Wonder W...

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy of this new book, Lists to Love by: for Busy Wives by Mark and Susan Merrill.  I enjoyed the book, but it wasn't quite what I expected.  It was filled with great reminders on marriage, and had some really good points in it.  It was a great reminder on how to love, how to honor your husband, how to live in a faith based marriage and how to remember why you married him in the first place.  It's well written and easy to read, and I liked the personal antidotes in the book. The downside was it wasn't really new.  I have read many similar books in the past, and the same advice seems to be in all of them. So it was good, but not groundbreaking.  3/5 stars on Goodreads.