Book Review: Sense and Sensibility: A Latter-day Tale

Description: Which is the key to love—passion or sensibility? Sensible Elly and romantic Maren are sisters trying to hold their family together in the wake of their father’s bankruptcy and death. As both unexpectedly encounter the madness and misadventures of love, they find out what true happiness means. This modern re-imagining of the Jane Austen favorite will capture your heart all over again.

My Review: I enjoy anything by Jane Austen, but Sense and Sensibility is one of my favorites. I think it’s because I relate so much to one of the characters. I’ll leave it for you to guess which one :). I’ve seen every variety of the movie and read the book several times, so I was excited to read this version.

I loved Jamison’s take on the tried and true tale. I expected it to be a little bit cheesy, because you have to admit that remakes sometimes are, but I was okay with that because, hey, I love a cheesy romance every now and then! However, Jamison’s Sense and and Sensibility was refreshingly sincere and surprisingly deep. The characters and their problems were real. And the way Jamison translated Elinor and Maryann’s experiences into modern day scenarios was interesting without being too contrived. I enjoyed the little twists she added to make the story her own.

I don’t want to say too much because I hate it when reviews give everything away, but I will say that I truly enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it without hesitation! I don’t know how I didn’t know until recently that Rebecca Jamison also published Emma: A Latter-day Tale and Persuasion: A Latter-Day Tale as well! I intend on reading both of those ASAP.

You can purchase your own copy of Sense and Sensibiliy: A Latter-day Tale here or here.

Happy Campers

Last weekend, our family took Kellen on his first camping adventure. Our ward had a camp out in honor of pioneer day. The campsite was perfect for kiddos. It had bathrooms, a pool, and nice lawns. It was great because the boys got to “go camping” without having to REALLY rough it. And it was quite close to home so we could make a quick escape in the night if they boys were having a hard time. But both of them did great! They loved every minute of their adventure.

First, Mason helped daddy set up the tent (which mostly meant trying to run off with the tent pole daddy needed at the moment). Then we had dinner and visited with friends. There was also LOTS of time for exploring. Mason, Kellen, and I roamed all over the place looking for duckeis (I’m not sure why Mason was so determined to find them, but he was certain that there were duckies SOMEWHERE around there), collecting rocks, playing on the swings, and run run running as fast as we could through the grass. Mason is is my little explorer, so he was in heaven. 


Kellen had a blast too. He loves being outside, and he loved facing outwards in the pack. He kept slapping his belly with glee and kicking his little legs as hard as he could. We were pretty confident that he would do okay sleeping in the tent, and he did awesome! We knew it would be a warm night, so we were all comfortable temperature wise. We set up pack n’ plays for both of the boys and set them on opposite ends of the tent. Kellen was so worn out from all our playing that he fell asleep right away and then slept through the night as usual. He woke up happy and ready to play some more!

Pretty much the only bad part of the trip was waking up to a BEAR inside our tent.

I kid, I kid. Obviously that was one of the best parts. Especially because he turned out to be a friendly bear.

So many ward members commented on what a good baby Kellen is. They were amazed that he was happy the whole time. That is just how he is; he is just content with life. He is so good natured and so easy going. I don’t think we would have attempted such an outing if we hadn’t been confident that Kellen would enjoy the experience. But we thought he would have a good time, and luckily he really did. 

Mason was SO excited to sleep in a tent. So much so, that he kept trying to pop into other people’s tents to see what their accommodations were like. He was so wound up that he had a harder time falling asleep than Kellen did. I sat outside the tent while they drifted off because I knew that Mason would never go to sleep if he could see me. But I could see him patting the walls of the tent and occasionally telling himself, “Go to sleep Mason.” He finally fell asleep, and then he got scared in the middle of the night when I had to unzip the tent so I could go use the restroom. I SO did not want to go because I feared that exact scenario. But I waited until I couldn’t wait any more. Luckily once he had Monkey and a song he was able to go back to sleep.

Mason and Spencer played in the hot springs while Kellen and I watched. I’d never been to a hot springs before, so it was interesting to see what they were like.

Mason wanted to go see the alpaca about two dozen times. Or as he called him “the goat.” Ha. He was a pretty cute fellow with his mop of crazy hair. Apparently, you get a free soda if you kiss him.

Mason spent a good chunk of time running around with some of the youth in the ward, and by the end of the trip he was walking everywhere like this:

He thought he was SO COOL to strut around with his hands in his pockets. I’m pretty sure he thinks he’s a teenager already. Especially, because another ward member let him sit on their motorcycle. He didn’t want to ever get off! Mason kept pointing to the road saying, “Wanna ride dat way.” I have no idea why he thinks motorcycles are so awesome because I can tell you that Spencer and I have never encouraged that one. But Mason is obsessed. He can hear even the faintest hum of a motorcycle and will not rest until he’s spotted it out the window.

By the end of the trip, both boys were exhausted and ready for sleep in their own beds. They were happy until the end, but all that playing certainly wore them out.

Mason has asked to go camping every day since we got back. Looks like we’ll have to plan another trip!

Update on Mason Bug

It’s time for an update on the Mason Bug! I have been trying so hard to make sure I keep up on Kellen’s updates every month, but I realized It’s been a few months since I wrote just about Mason.

Mason is at such a fun stage! He is so excited about life and is enthralled by the simplest joys. The two’s haven’t been so terrible at all so far. The biggest difference I have seen in the past few months has been in Mason’s efforts to test boundaries. He will hesitate to obey instructions (usually with a big impish smile on his face) while watching us to see at what point we’re going to start implementing consequences. Or he will decline to do things that we know he loves (like eat his dinner or get his shoes on so we can go), just so he can have the power of refusal. Oh, and he does NOT like to let me take his picture these days, which is a bit ironic because he loves looking at pictures of himself. I think it’s mostly that he just doesn’t want to be still long enough for me to snap a photo. In fact, the times he will willingly smile for a picture are when I am trying to take a picture of Kellen. Then he does this:

He has photo bombed so many pictures. Stinker.

But, those are the biggest typical “two” behaviors I can think of. Overall, he is just a happy kid and our days together are a lot of fun.

He still is very interested in doing whatever we are doing. He loves to help out if it’s an activity he can participate in, be it making something in the kitchen or taking care of Brother. And it it’s an activity that he’s still to young for (like mowing the lawn) he will watch with complete fascination. He is just so desperate to be big (all while I’m so desperate for him to stay small).


Mason LOVES water. He has been taking swimming lessons and we have been so proud of him for being excited to try new things. He has learned a lot in just a couple weeks and has had a lot of fun doing it. He will jump in the water and paddle, blow bubbles, go all the way underwater, and float on his back with a little help from Mom or Dad. He needs more practice, obviously, but he is doing great.
Mason also enjoys splash pads, our kiddie pool, the hose, and sprinklers, whether or not he’s in a swimsuit. The other day we were sitting on a park lawn enjoying shaved ice when the sprinklers came on. Spencer grabbed Kellen, I grabbed the camera, and Mason went dashing straight into the spray with a look of joy on his face. If there is water nearby, we absolutely cannot keep him out of it. He will be drenched head to toe in minutes.

Mason still loves reading.

And he’s recently picked up a new hobby: scrapbooking :). He likes to paste papers and place stickers while I work on Kellen’s baby book. I have tons of old scrapbooking supplies and scraps I have saved for this very purpose. It’s actually really fun that he’s old enough to create with me. I always have to have some or other creative project in process, and I’m so happy that he enjoys doing his little projects while I work on mine. Sometimes he’ll color, paint, or play with play dough during our “crafternoons” while Kellen naps.

His favorite toys currently are his cars, tractor, tools, blocks, and puzzles.

It’s cute to see his imagination developing. Sometimes I laugh when I stumble upon the toys Mason has been playing with. There’s just something about seeing the result of his play when I’ve missed some of the process that makes it especially funny. Like here:

Or here:

Kellen and I both think it’s pretty cool to watch Mason play. We like to join him on the floor and vroom some cars around too.

Mason loves hats. People sometimes ask me how I get him to leave his hats on, but the thing is he just likes wearing them. His Mickey hat especially because he also happens to adore Mickey. He wants to wear that thing EVERYWHERE. He wears it around the house and has insisted on wearing it to the grocery store.


He really likes sunglasses too. He is always trying to steal mine! He does have a few pairs of his own (which he seems to always put on upside down).

Cool dude.


This guy has boundless energy and endless enthusiasm. He runs, never walks, everywhere we go. He is my little daredevil and I swear he’s going to give me heart attack someday. But I love him so.