TINA IS GOING TO FREAK!!!

Ok, so here is the deal.

Yes, it is the real Stanley Cup and no, I didn't meet any of the Mighty Ducks, they weren't around.

The school has a program with the Ducks that allows for freebees and special assemblies that allow the (mainly fourth graders) kids to participate in real accomplishments, for example the Ducks winning the Stanley cup. So, the Ducks take the cup around to the schools that participate in this specific program and they allow the kids to take photos and even touch the cup! No because the program is mainly for the fourth graders the 3rd graders do not get a class photo with the cup. The neat thing was this year they allowed parents to come and if they were there were allowed to take a photo (all at the same time of course) of their kids with the cup. I was there and took the photo of Kaleigh touching the Stanley cup and then the one of me in front of the Stanley cup was a staff photo, the principal said any staff can go up and since I am staff, I got to go up too. Of course this would have meant a lot more to Tina but I had to do it. So, Tina, I won't be offended if you put your head on my body and dream! Hee hee. I did learn a bit about the Stanley cup. It is the oldest sports trophy around today, 115 years old! There have been a lot of misspellings and even one name crossed off. The name that was engraved that was crossed off, however was the name of the engravers dad! He just thought it would be cool for his dads name to be on it! Sheesh! Anyway, it was pretty cool and I am just sorry, that my sis and bro in law, could not be present! I was really thinking of you guys!

Happy 80th Birthday, Papi!

Well, it may not have been too happy, but it was the 80th and we (Mom, Connie, Tina and I) tried to make it as happy as possible. Dad wasn't feeling very well, so when people came and he was asleep, they just waited and visited with us until he was ready to see them. They all wished him a very happy birthday and gave gifts to entice his taste buds! Since that was the worst part of his illness (didn't want to eat at all) we hope that the bad tummy goes away soon so he can enjoy all the treats that were given to him!

Tina made a gorgeous book (his autobiography beginning) and presented a bound copy to him. That was a definite winner and it won a smile!

Connie had a beautiful flag made up and Mom got a flag pole and a Canadian flag to fly on it. We all did the best we could to put him in good spirits. I helped Tina with the second half of the present. A digital voice recorder to tell the rest of his life story so he doesn't neccessarily have to get up and go to the computer. Good one again, my sistol! I on the other hand, did not have a cool present, although I came the farthest and that included a flight to Portland from the OC. That was a good present too I think! All in all it was a birthday to remember, for the good and the not so good. Fell better, Papi! Love you lots!

Ack, Too Much Hair!!!

Ok, as most of you who know me know, I have short hair, Carl has short hair, Cole has short hair, and Kaleigh used to have relatively short hair. I don't like long hair, on anyone in my house. It is yucky, because Kaleigh sheds sometimes and I feel it on my bare feet, it is all over the counter in the bathroom and in her room as well. Since she grew it this long, however, she really wants to wait until she has enough to give to locks of love. Unfortunately, that will most likely be in December! I don't know if I can hold out that long! It wouldn't be so bad if she didn't have a sensitive scalp. I have to brush her hair out since she is not used to doing it and never gets it all untangled. We do use the detangling spray but it is underneath that gets the tangles the worst. All I hear for 10 minutes is "ow, ow, OW!" So you can see why I can't wait to have her hair shorter again. She likes doing ponies and piggies but the rest is a pain. Sigh...

Cole in 4-5 years?

Ok, so maybe he doesn't look exactly like Cole but this Fantastic Sams Ad had this boy on it and it struck me that he looked a lot like what Cole would look like in maybe a few years!

Cole says, "he looks kind of like Connor", so hey, maybe there is a resemblence between Tina and my kids after all! Anyway, so Tina what do you think? Do they look like they could be brothers at least? I think so!

Anyone can comment of course but it kind of freaked me out a little when I first saw this ad in the mail!

Citizen of the Month

Well, here it is the first month of school and just like Kaleigh (though I am not comparing) Cole will be awarded the Citizen of the Month in his class! Way to go Cole! They get to go onstage and receive their award and of course I will be there with camera in hand to document this momentous occasion! Well, it is pretty cool! Kaleigh is doing awesome in her class, much better I guess than she would have done in one of the other classes (apparently the teacher in one of the other classes is very strict and doesn't really make the work fun). Her teacher is wonderful! Very laid back in an organized way, and just really nice and fun. Kaleigh hasn't had any anxiety over tests or anything (yet). We are hoping she will get everything absorbed without stressing about it. Afterall, these days 3rd grade is like our 6th grade used to be! Whew! The other night they brought home their social studies book, had to study 35 pages for a test the next day! However, they did go over stuff in class that week so....
Anyway, Cole has brought home a smiley face everyday which means it goes on his behavior chart at school. He lets us know every week that he stayed at "green" all week, which is their way of saying that he didn't do anything to have a card pulled. All you parents out there probably have seen or heard of similar systems in your schools. Anyway, he and Kaleigh are both doing great and my class of 4 year olds are doing fine too!

A New Crop of Kids

Well, here is the new crop of kids for this school year! I do have two from last year (fourth from the left and the far right, they are twins that only go to school on Tuesdays at our school) I had them in my 3yr old class and now they are in my 4's class. So far it has started out well. I have a couple that could listen better and one that may actually have a bit of a learning disorder, possibly ADD or something similar, I am not an expert but when I read a story, I have everyone's undivided attention except the one child. For those who know me well, my storytime is fun and very entertaining, so it is weird to have someone not be at all interested and just lays around or starts talking to themselves. This child also will hide her crayons under the table instead of doing their work etc. It makes teaching this child difficult to say the least. I also have to say that 8 out of the 10 kids have never been to school, so it is almost as if I am doing the same as what I did last year! They are all learning to function in a structured school atmosphere. Not something I want to continue to do. I was looking forward to doing more teaching and less training...ah well, we don't always get what we want. But they are good kids and there are a couple of real gems in my class too! I already get "I love you Mrs. Wyckhouse" from at least 2 of the kids! They are sweet and about 1/2 are up to snuff academically. I will work hard to catch the other ones up! Whew, it will be an interesting year! But hey it is only twice a week, so I have a lot of time for myself! Cole and Kaleigh are both in school till 3pm and so it goes.... more on them later.

My Friend Kristy

This is my friend Kristy. We have known each other for about 20 years now. We met at Disneyland while we were both working there and became fast friends. We hung out together, talked about guys and boyfriends together, went dancing together, and even roomed together for a bit, until my car blew up.... But that is a different story. Anyway, I got married, then she got married and we kept in touch. I had her in my wedding and she had me in hers. Now when I got pregnant the first time Kristy and another friend threw me a baby shower. It was wonderful! Very fun and lots of neat things came my way. Then when Cole came along she threw me another one! Wow, talk about a great friend. She knows that I don't have my family here anymore and she always is willing to fit in as a pseudo-sis! She has been trying for a while now to get pregnant and was a little worried (she is in her late 30's) that it wouldn't happen. But as you can see by the photo, she is happily 8 months along and I was honored to throw her a shower! We had fun, she got a lot of nice things and everyone enjoyed themselves! It was hot, but I cranked up the air so that she wouldn't be too hot! So, Kristy, Congrats and I am so happy that I could finally throw you a shower! Lot's of love to Baby Girl!

No Photo Yet - Haircuts

Well, some of you reading know that I have short hair. Sometimes it is really short (Pixie style) other times it is a little longer, enough to flip up the back a bit or scrunch it. Well, today it is short, very very short. Let's see, I would say about 1 1/2 inches on top and about an inch on the sides and about 1 1/2 inches in the back. I truly love it! It is easier to maintain and I don't get hair everywhere. Well, not MY hair anyway! Kaleigh is trying to grow hers out so that when she cuts it it will go to "Locks of Love" and organization that takes hair and makes wigs for children with cancer. It is a great thing she is doing though the hair everywhere is making me nuts! I mean 3 out of 4 people in this family have very short hair, and her hair all over is just yucky. On the floor, on the bathroom counter, and of course in the shower and so on. I will try really hard to let her grow it out, but it is not easy. She has trouble brushing the bottom of her hair and I usually have to do it. It gets horrible tangles and she is constantly saying, "ow!...OW!" whenever I brush it. We are going to try to get some more spray in conditioner, since we are all out. So anyway, we all went (the kids and I) to the hairstylist and I got mine short, Cole got his hair cut for school (has to be over the ears etc), and Kaleigh had hers measured. So far she is at 7 inches from a pony tail top. She needs at least 10 inches to make the "Locks of Love" thing happen. So I will try to keep my sanity for about 4 more months or so. Apparently hair supposedly grows approximately 1/2 inch a month. More so in the summer months. Her hair seems to be growing pretty quickly, but I think this is the last time we attempt this because she is not the type that has superfast growing hair. My hair did not grow that fast either. So around the first of the year we may try again, unless I measure it and it grows faster, then we will do it sooner! Wish us luck in that department! One good thing, at least there is one less payment a month for a haircut. Of course Carl cuts his own. His is about oh 1/8 of an inch all over! Hee hee.

Turtle Bay Exploration Park - Part 2 The Fun Part!

To say that the kids enjoyed this part is an understatement! They really enjoyed this place and we could have probably stayed longer but the time was not bad, we got to see all that we wanted to, without doing things over (not that the kids didn't want to go back and do things again!). The best part for the kids was the Paul Bunyon fun camp. They really enjoyed the water feature that was a flume type thing that they could control the flow of the "river" and make a waterwheel turn and so on...

My favorite part was the bird house where we were able to feed the cockatiels and the parakeets, and of course the butterfly house was cool too. I, of course, got photos of both kids with the parakeets but the butterflies were not doing a lot of landing at the time we were there, maybe too early, not sure. But one of the workers noticed that Kaleigh really wanted to hold a butterfly and she found one to have Kaleigh hold, very nice, don't you think? If you are wondering about the banner behind the kids, in the first photo, that was a new part of the museum that had all sorts of planetary information about planets and stars and how they form and what they are made up of, that sort of thing, not much to do with aliens...weird advertising if you ask me. Maybe there will be more later... who knows. We know that it was a fun time!

The Last Leg of the Journey...Turtle Bay Exploration Park - Part 1

The Sundial Bridge

So since the drive home is sooooo long, we decided to break it up a bit. We stopped in Washington over night, then drove through Oregon and stopped for an hour to have ice cream with the Kiesters, (can't go through there and not!) and then stopped in Redding where when making reservations before we left, I discovered that Redding, CA has a place called, well it's in the title, I don't have to type it again, right? Well, we decided to visit this place and check it out. First stop was the Sundial Bridge, very impressive! The bridge goes over the Sacramento River and is really quite beautiful! Since we got to the park early that was the only thing open so far so that was the first thing we did. Of course in most cases like this the photos really don't do it much justice, the thing was enormous! The kids thought it was pretty cool too!

Tapas - YUM!

Ok, so Carl and I are usually not too adventurous with our choice of foods, but since Connie made the effort to

introduce us to a new place in Kettle Valley called the Tapas, Bar and Grill, we couldn't refuse! We all decided to pick one appetizer or Tapas from the menu. We really ended up all discussing them so we could all try each one. We ended up with this (first photo), from left clockwise (and Connie, don't get mad if I get the name wrong) Pear and brie on flatbread with carmelized onions, the salmon duo, with tarrow root, cranberry and goat cheese on flatbread and a metz platter, with olive tapenade, pesto and chipotle crush. At least that is as close as I can get to a description. All of it was good, but my favorite had to be the cranberry with goat cheese. It was delicious! Omi and Connie and Carl and I all had a taste of everything and we also had creme brulee and apple cheesecake for dessert! Ooooooh that was good too....are you drooling yet?

Fun With the Cousins...

The kids had a really good time with their cousins and were more than happy to hang out with them when we adults went to have a nice dinner and another time when we went for appetizers in Kettle Valley. They played at the park, at Omi and Opa's house and at their house. We even went to the lake beach in the evening and all the kids went in the water except for Kaleigh, who was far too busy making the perfect sand castle! All in all it was a fun time and Kaleigh even got some of Catherine's drawings which by the way, are now hung up in her room as I write this! Thanks for the fun!

The Birthday Girl

Well, as hard as it was with Opa in the hospital, we finally decided after much thought to go ahead with our plans for dinner for Omi's birthday. Omi and Opa had invited their good friends the Kohlgrubers for dinner

and we felt we didn't want to just stay home worrying about Opa, and Opa told Omi to go and have fun and that he would feel bad if we all didn't go to dinner. But wait, the morning before, Saturday that is, Connie and I took Omi to breakfast at the Pheasant and Quail Pub. A favorite of Omi's it has a nice brunch. So we did that on Saturday and on Sunday was the big dinner. Catherine was kind enough to babysit the kids and we all went to the Minstrel Cafe and had a wonderful meal! Some had Salmon, some had steak, it really was yummy! We then came back home to have delicious hazelnut and chocolate cakes! Of course the hazelnut cake was not as good as Opa's but hey, he was in the hospital! So we enjoyed a piece of cake and coffee and good company!

I think Omi enjoyed her birthday, but of course it would have been precious if Opa would have been there too!We did toast him at dinner and missed him at dessert!

Arriving at Omi and Opa's

Well, the visit with Omi and Opa would have been better if Opa had been feeling better! He was doing so well too!

We arrived on the 1st of August and started to visit a little, when Opa said he didn't feel so well. He went upstairs and then Omi went to check on him and he really was feeling poorly and said he wanted to rest. He had a bit of a fever and Omi decided that the next morning she would call the doctor. Well, the next day he was in bed most of the day and got up to eat a couple of times. Then on Friday we decided to go to the lake and rent a speed boat. That way the kids would have fun and Opa could rest quietly. Well, when we arrived home, Omi let us know that Opa was in the hospital. The blood work from that morning's doctor's appointment showed his white blood cell count was again very high. So there he stayed the rest of our time there. Carl and I visited a few times, mostly Omi and I or Connie. He seemed in good spirits and I am really glad I sent along more Ellery Queen and Alfred Hitchcock mags! The kids had fun with their cousins and with Omi, and I think they cheered her up a bit too? More later...

And now the Kiesters!

Well, once we left Craig and Nancy's place, we headed for Tina's place. Kaleigh decided to ride with Tante Tina and I am sure gave her an earful of interesting vacation information?! Who knows. We arrived to check in to the Holiday Inn Express, Roseburg, which was very nice by the way, with a beautiful view of the Umpqua river (that we failed to appreciate until it was light the next morning)! We met the Kiester family for dessert at Denny's and then headed back to the hotel to bed! The next day was very nice! We went to the River Fork Park (sorry if the name is wrong, Tean Bean) and had a picnic and played in the river (where fishies were nipping at our toesies), and had a grand ole time! Then back to the hotel, to meet with Tina and Connor to swim in the indoor pool at the hotel. The kids had a great time! Then we all went out to dinner at Alexander's Greek Cafe where we had really yummy food! Now, I did enjoy the food, but I didn't enjoy the spider falling from the ceiling onto me. Ick! It didn't ruin the evening though, I was quite impressed with myself that I didn't scream and cause a scene! I did get up and Lee killed the ucky thing for me. So that was that, we went back to their house and had delicious Umpqua Ice Cream for dessert! I think for the second time that day, heehee, can't get enough of that ice cream let me tell you! So, all in all a good visit. As Tina and family would say, it was a bit short and we plan to rectify that next year! Thanks for a great time, Kiesters!

OUCH - Get Off!!!

Hee hee, sorry Carl but that is exactly what Trinity seemed to be saying as soon as you got on!

Carl decided (at the insistent urging of his children) to take a ride on Trinity too after the kids were done. I rode too, but you don't have to see me on the horse, I did fine, though I couldn't get Trinity to go more than a few steps. But when Carl tried to get on, the first time the saddle almost slipped off! Well, that was easily fixable, Nancy just tightened it. Now that should have given Trinity a warning that the person getting on was not as light as the others...but no, when Carl got on, she literally had to get herself stabilized! All her legs kind of spread apart a bit, to get a bit more leverage. It was pretty funny to watch... almost like she went "whoa, what was that?" I am not being mean, people, well just a bit, but hey he is my hubby, I can tease a bit : ) Anyway, he managed to get Trinity to move a little, but the poor horse kept trying to come back to let him off!

Next Stop - The Ranch

Our next stop was Oregon. But we didn't head to Tina and the Kiester home first. Well, it was a Kiester home, just not Tina's! We had planned to stop near Medford in the nice little town of Shady Cove to go and see Nancy and her horses! Tina said we might be able to ride a horse or two so we stopped there and the kids were able to ride Trinity, a nice calm horse....well, so calm that she didn't want to move! But the kids had a great time! As you can see "Cowboy Connor" was an old hand at this and he showed Kaleigh and Cole how to do it! They really had a fun time trying to get Trinity to go! The kids did all get on at one time too! We had a really nice visit with Craig and Nancy and we had a very yummy spaghetti dinner there too (except for Cole who had yummy chicken instead)! Thanks again, Nancy for your hospitality!

Onto The Jelly Belly Factory!

After San Francisco, we stopped in Fairfield, about 45 minutes east of S.F. We stayed in a Holiday Inn Express and the next morning we drove bright and early to the Jelly Belly Factory. We did the tour, but since you can't take photos in the actual factory, I took a before the tour photo and an after the tour photo. The kids and Carl and I found it very interesting. It is truly amazing to see a room with over 5 million Jelly Bellies in it!

The place smelled yummy too! They gave out a few samples and we ended up getting a case of Belly Flops (these are Jelly Bellies that are not "perfect", they are either too big, too small or misshapen) They still taste great and they are more than half the price of the normal Jelly Bellies! Just to give you an idea, a small bag of Jelly Bellies cost approx. $5.99 and that is for about 1/2 a pound. Buying a case of Belly Flops (which is 12 2lb bags) is $36.00. Which as some of you "math-in-your-head" types will know is only $3.00 for a 2 lb bag! It really was a great buy and they turned out to be great gifts! The first to benefit was Lee's brother Craig and his wife Nancy! They were kind enough to let us ride a horse at their farm, and they served us dinner as well!

But I am getting ahead of myself, that story is next!

In the Beginning....

Our first stop was a visit with Carl's brother Craig and his family. As you can see by the first photo they are a very cute family! We had a lot of fun in San Francisco with them! Will, (Kaleigh and Cole's youngest cousin) really enjoyed having his cousins there to play with! He especially liked tickling people! The kids also got to go to the park with their dad and their uncle while the mommies got to have some tea and rest and visit awhile! We had yummy chinese food for dinner and the ladies enjoyed a little shopping trip too! The visit was really nice and the weather was wonderfully cool! Thank you to Craig and Lisa for a terrific time!

Almost Ready....

I know you are all waiting for a new post and as soon as Carl gets my photos on this computer from the laptop, I will post something new and exciting! Well, maybe not that exciting but something new anyway!
Ciao for now!

Getting Ready to Go!

So most of you know we will be doing our annual road trip up north to visit friends and family. The kids are so excited and they wanted to pack early so I typed them up a list of things to bring. First thing out of their mouths was, "what? Fifteen pairs of underwear?" So I explained that even tho we will have access to a washing machine at Omi's one should always be prepared to not have access to a washing machine. It isn't like we have to pack super light, I mean we have an excursion for goodness sake! Might as well fill it up!! It is extremely helpful when bringing sisters and nieces clothing and so on...We don't have to re arrange anything a bunch of times and Carl can actually bring along his bike so he can ride in beautiful areas of Canada. So after I typed up the list, they packed all the summer clothes they have, not much I am afraid, but good enough for this trip. Cole gets hand me downs from friends but Kaleigh doesn't so she is shy a few pairs of shorts and so on. She has a few capri's so those are going too. They each get one new toy for the car, this year they got hand held games ($10.00) at Walmart. Cole got Cars racing and Kaleigh got SpongeBob Yahtzee. That should keep them occupied for a while and they have their lapdesks too, with paper, crayons, markers, pencils etc.

Kaleigh and Cole both picked out books at the local bookstore and have not seen them since they picked them out. I will give them to the kids once we are in the car and then there is another part of the drive taken care of. Especially for Kaleigh since she is really into the Geronimo Stilton books, they are chapter books and even though she is a pretty speedy reader, they take her a bit to get through. Cole will be done with his too fast but hey he likes looking out the window at different things and listening to CD books too. They do really well most of the time and they know the cost of complaining....hmmmm what privileges can we take away? No pool when we get to the hotel? No more yummy snacks? No souvenier? Lot's of things keep them from complaining, which makes it a really fun and easy time. And no, we are not driving Lightening McQeen, I just like blogs with pictures...heehee.

Never Again!

I took on the task of throwing my friend of many years her first Baby Shower. I figured it can't be that hard, I have done games for showers many many times and I even have help with the food and such. I don't even have to get the cake! So here I am trying to come up with the invitations....she doesn't have a theme, so we start from scratch. I ask what she would like to have on the invites and she says, "well maybe pink flowers?"

Ok, that can't be hard to find, I figure I go to an office supply store and find some nice pink flowered card stock that I can print on my computer. No go. Not even anything remotely near what I am looking for... ok, try something different. Find a flowery pink print on print shop and print my own..again not gonna happen. Everything on Printshop looks cheap and no cute little pink flowers anywhere! Now you have to understand, I am doing this for an interior decorator! So I really want to get it just right. As you can see, this was the best I could do on my budget. Scrapbooking card stock sheets with vellum on top with bows and flowers. So I hope they look nice. Kaleigh said they looked "elegant". Thank you Kaleigh! We will see how the shower ends up, but the invitation thing, I will never do again, that was a lot of work and a lot of money! Whew!

Cole and Sparky

Ok, so Cole has had Sparky the dalmation from around the time he was about 20 months old. The second photo was taken last year when he was 5 years old. He has become very attached to Sparky, even so far as having birthdays for Sparky and bringing him on every trip we go on. Sparky has seen more than most people I would say. However, Sparky is getting a little grey, I do wash him in the washing machine, on gentle and I am hoping he will last that way for a while....at least until Cole gets too old for him. Of course right now Cole is saying he will keep Sparky forever. I have decided if Sparky doesn't fall apart before Cole is too old for him, I will keep him as a reminder of how much Cole loved him....

So now, to the point. Is there anyone out there that knows a really good way to clean a stuffed animal that is white? Sparky is now kind of grey and with normal washing he doesn't really get that clean....we have gone so far as to look for a new Sparky and we know that he used to be from Toys R Us, but they no longer carry Sparky...sigh...isn't that always the way?

Anyway, if anyone has a good stuffed animal cleaning method let me know.

Remembering what used to be....

Take a good look at that picture. Kaleigh loved smoothies from Juice Stop! I was just looking through some photos before digital that Carl scanned and this one was in there. I remember going to Juice Stop (now long gone) and getting a smoothie. Kaleigh would hold out her hands and say "Peasse?" Adorable. Well, both my kids still like smoothies and with our Vitamix it is really easy and they have fun helping make them. They taste better than most of the smoothie places. However I still can't figure out how they made the #15 at Juice Stop, that was my favorite. I can't seem to find Pineapple sherbet and that is what I think they used. So I am trying to just freeze some pineapple and see if that works. Well, I looked for a photo of Cole drinking a smoothie but there weren't any, so he will get the billing next time. For now have a good laugh over Kaleigh the smoothie girl!

Loosing teeth, left and right and left again...

Ok, so Kaleigh has had two loose teeth for about 2 months, and I was noticing they weren't getting any looser (she doesn't like to wiggle them) and were starting to look kind of weird. One had a red streak through it and when I asked the dentist about it he said teeth become more transparent the longer they are dead in the mouth. So yesterday Cole complained his tooth was "looser" than before and within 5 minutes had pulled it out himself, good for him! Kaleigh on the other had went in today to have both teeth pulled. One problem was that her mouth is so crowded that the teeth were either pinned against the permenant teeth or they were being pushed straight out. So she was a little nervous going in and it took a while (but we found out later it was mostly wait time) but they are out as you can see by the red area it was a little inflamed. The other sides tooth was already there, you can see it already and the other tooth that was pulled was kind of just hanging on behind it. Of course eventually the dentist will be pulling both eye teeth to make more room on top, but I was glad it wasn't today, she had enough with the two that were mostly healed already! We will also make sure we don't let her know ahead of time what will be happening. She does great when it just happens on the day we bring her in with no notice.. Hmmm.... a lot like someone else I know....the worst part of the dentist is the anticipation of what is to come...yikes!

Well, I just thought I'd share this bit of growing up with a 6 and 8 year old! Though a lot of you are past it! Now we are all done with doctors and dentists and ready for our vacation! wOOT!

A New Favorite Author- Kay Hooper

I have a bit of trouble when it comes to reading books. I run out of them! I have a few authors that I really like and I read all of their books, and then have to wait for the next one. Well, being the impatient person that I am, I look for new authors in the same genre that appeal to me. My latest method is to go to the library and read the back of the paperbacks in the Mystery/Thriller section. I read the back of a Kay Hooper novel and it sounded interesting so I borrowed it. I read it and had a really hard time putting it down (a sure sign of a good book). Some of the authors like that for me are Stephen King, Dean Koontz, James Patterson, Patricia Cornwall and Kathy Reichs. Kay Hooper, however, is a bit different. Something new that I find that I like. Hers is the typically serial killer murders with the detectives baffled but smart, but they aren't getting anywhere, so they call in a special FBI unit, the SCU Task Force. Special Crimes Unit. Now of course no one knows why they are special until they start using special abilities like Clairvoyance and Telepathy. It makes for a very interesting read. What I really like is that the killer (not always serial) is always someone you've met in the storyline somewhere, sometimes a bit part or in other cases a major role. I don't think any have ever been made into movies but it would be one I would see! So if you are a Thriller/Mystery/Crime reader, these books are for you! There are Trilogies, "Stealing Shadows", "Hiding in the Shadows", and "Out of the Shadows", then "Touching Evil", "Whisper of Evil", and "Sense of Evil" The trilogy I haven't read yet is the Thief Trilogy. There are a few others too, which I will be looking into. But these are definitely a good read!