I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I would say that this book had the perfect amount of humor, intense moments, and bonding between characters. It had interesting twists and turns and I have to admit that at times I did not expect some of the things that happened. This book definitely keeps you on your toes. Not only does it have a great storyline but it is also a great allegory and at times had me really thinking about something or noticing similarities between Amara's Wulder and Our God. The Grand Parrot Beccaroon reminds me of a protective uncle, trying to protect his girl Tipper, but also not wanting too much loving attention. Tipper is easy to relate to and has a great personality and the dragons are an interesting touch. Sometimes they almost seem like key characters. I personally enjoyed the Wizard Fenworth's addition to the ragtag group. Always seeming to sleep yet he stays very in touch with everything that is going on. He and Lady Peg had me laughing out loud at times and kept the book light. I found it interesting that in Chiril they regarded their minor dragons so cooly until the Amarans told them otherwise. If it were me I would have loved the little things to pieces. It is a fun and easy read, great for any ages really.

If you go to this website, you can get the first chapter. :)
http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/2011/03/25/sneak-peek-the-dragons-of-chiril-by-donita-k-paul/

I recieved this book from the Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing group through their Blogging through Books program in exchange for an honest review.

Some Things I Like

I just figured I would list some of my favorite things, that way you all can get to know me better.

Movies I like:
-The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy
-The Chronicles of Narnia movies
-Sherlock Holmes
-Iron Man 1 & 2
-Twilight
-New Moon
-Eclipse
-Percy Jackson & The Olympians, The Lightning Thief
-Transformers 1 & 2
-Spider-man 1, 2, & 3
-Nancy Drew
Mind you, these are only a few of the movies I like, but they give a pretty good idea of what I like.

Bands I like (music):
-The Newsboys
-TobyMac
-Hawk Nelson
-Group 1 Crew
-F.M. Static
-Skillet
-Red
-Disciple
-Jeremy Camp
-MercyMe
-Casting Crowns
-Kutless
-Switchfoot
I also like other bands, but they are too many to count. These are all christian bands.

Books I like (Meaning I have read them multiple times):
-Percy Jackson & The Olympians Series
-The Kane Chronicles
-The Lost Hero
(All 3 of these are written by Rick Riordan)
-The Twilight Saga
-Anything written by Karen Kingsbury
I read a TON of books, but these are my very favorites.

Our Garden

Here is our garden at the church near our house. We have been working on it  all summer and it is finally starting to show some life.

These are our zucchini plants.



These are our pea plants.




These are our green bean plants.



This is one of our broccoli plants.



This is our row of lettuce.




This is one of our tomato plants.




These are our strawberry plants.




This is our first strawberry, which I ate yesterday and it was very good. :)




This is one of our corn stalks.




This is the start of one of our carrots.




This is a close up on one of our lettuce plants. We cut our lettuce the other day and got a whole grocery bag full of it.


Our garden is organic and 25% of our crops will go to our local food bank. It is a great program and it is especially nice for those of us who don't have big yards or space for a garden.



Summer Fun

Well first off I just wanted to say "HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMANDA!" My little sister turns 6 today. Also happy late 4th of july, I had a great 4th of July this year and I hope everyone else did too. My friend Sienna and I went to our other friend Caroline's house boat out on Lake Pend Oreille for the weekend. We went jet skiing (my first time, I even got to drive it and got up to 40 mph) and swimming. Unfortunately I got a bad sunburn. (I burn easily) But in spite of that, I had a great time and would encourage any of you to go jet skiing sometime. We got to watch a great fireworks show that we were practically right under and we jumped off the top of Caroline's house boat. I love the summer time.