4th of July weekend

I have been so bad about blogging lately. Ugh! It's hard to find time to do anything but feed, change, and play with my little monkey! But everyone keeps saying the grow up so fast and to take advantage of this time, so I'm trying to do just that. So here's our 4th of July post...15 days later!We had an outrageously fun, but tiring, 4th of July weekend, I wish I would've taken more pictures. :-( Here's what our weekend looked like. Saturday, the 2nd, we went down to Stadium of Fire! We didn't actually get tickets and go in because a.) We don't have any money and b.) We thought Tiny would be happier on the lawn. So we sat on the grass patch just south of the cougar. It was actually a pretty great viewing area (although there was a tree in the way from certain angles) and we could hear most of what was going on inside which was fun. Isabelle had a great time. She loves the be outside so 2 and a half hours of playing in the grass was awesome for her. Caleb, my dad, and their step family joined us for the Fireworks. The Firework show was amazing and Isabelle LOVED it! She thought the fireworks were fantastic. I was so happy that she didn't get scared at all but she would get upset when they stopped for a little bit. If it slowed down at all she start bouncing and grunting and then she'd lay back and "ooo" and "ahh" as soon as they started again. She even laughed at some of them! :-) It was a lot of fun and brought back great memories, for me, of the times I spent there with my family. I'm so glad we did it!
On Sunday, in the AM, we went to Mila Brooks blessing. It was so great to get to see Jaren and Brenna again and be a part of their special day. We love them so much and hate that they live so far away now. We got some pictures with Alta, Izzy, and Mila and hope when they're friends later those pics will mean a lot to them! After that we went to Eric and Sandy's for an OBT 4th of July BBQ. It was ridiculous amounts of fun. We had lots of friends there and we never pass up and opportunity to hang out with the Jensen's, they're great people and amazing friends...plus Sandy makes delicious food! :-) My favorite part of the night was playing "The Totally Insane Card Game" which Clarence brought. Those of you who really know me know that I love games...SO MUCH! So when Clarence whipped one out I couldn't resist (Plus my baby just happened to be sleeping at the time...HUGE PLUS!). They told me this game was like "Uno" on steroids and they weren't kidding! Seriously, one of my favorite games now...I need to buy it! After it got dark we went out to do fireworks. The best part about that was Sandy taking pictures in the dark, I think we got some really funny ones! :-)On Monday, which was actually the 4th, we had a full day. We had a BBQ with Eric's family around noon. Eric is a master with the BBQ so he made some amazing meats and Allison brought a pretty delicious potato salad. We ate and talked and celebrated Julie's birthday, which is on July 6th. Then Eric, Tiny, and I got ready for an adventure up to Heber! :-)
Up in Heber we met Kristine Bethers-Jenkins her hubby Justin and 4 of his kids. We were going to have a BBQ but it rained all morning and afternoon up there so instead, Bethers treated us to the Dairy Keen which was delicious! Then we headed into Midway, Bethers was asked to be a judge for Midway's 4th of July dance contest and they asked her to find a couple more judges aka US! I was so excited and it ended up being a lot of fun. Tiny wasn't great so she was passed between me and Justin for the first little while and then Justin finally took her on a walk. Silly baby, doesn't know when to behave! Once Justin got the kid under control and I could focus on the dance contest I had a blast! The kids we super cute and there were actually some fairly talented dancers there. Who knew! ;-) After the contest was over we went to "The Store". Yes, it's actually called "The Store" and it's kind of adorable. I just found out that there are a couple in Holladay too and I kind of want to shop there all the time! Anyway, we stopped there and got some munchies then parked our butts on the grass to wait for fireworks. Naturally, it started pouring and we were worried they wouldn't light the fireworks, but they did...we just had to sit in the pouring rain for all of it. Luckily, Eric and I had brought our little canopy thing that we bought a couple years back. That kept us mostly sheltered from the rain, enough that we were happy to sit through the 15 minute firework show. I'll be honest, the firework show was actually pretty wonderful. It was one of the biggest, high variety, firework shows I'd seen a city do on their own. Kuddos to Midway! (Just a side note on Midway, Eric and I want to live there really bad!) I think we made some great memories for Tiny's first 4th of July!
P.S. It was the end of the day on the 4th that I started having some miserable pains in the "upper right quadrant" of my abdomen...but that's a story for another bloggy post...

Making Memories; Movie Memories - Alice in Wonderland (cartoon), Aliens and Avatar

We love movies and we're having a blast going through all the movies in order. It's just as much fun as I hoped it would be!

Alice in WonderlandRelease Date- July 28, 1951 (We're 11 days away from it's 60th Anniversary)
Directed by-Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, and Hamilton Luske
Produced by- Walt Disney
Written by-Winston Hibler, Ted Sears, and Bill Peet
Staring-Kathryn Beaumont, Ed Wynn, Richard Haydn, Sterling Holloway,
and Jerry Colonna
Gross Revenue- $7,789,000

Summary- Disney version of Lewis Carroll's Children's story. Alice becomes bored and her mind starts to wander. She sees a white rabbit who appears to be in a hurry. She chases it into its burrow and then a most bizarre series of adventures begins.

Kia's Review- Kia likes this movie! True, it's not the same as it was when I was little but it's still a lot of fun...it actually made me wish that the new live-action version were as crazy!!! I love the old, non-computer animated art, it is classic and amazing, and I really miss seeing that. I LOVE the Cheshire cat; he's the best for sure! One thing this movie had that I don't miss in newer movies is the old Disney chorus. Why they thought it was necessary to have ridiculous singing happening through the movie, I'll never know, but I'm glad they've done away with it. My favorite thing about this movie is the name Alice! :-) I like it but I don’t love it. Sure am glad we have it though, Isabelle will really enjoy it! ***-- 3 out of 5

Eric's Review- I like this classic Disney because it is the most bonkers. It never fails to give strange dreams when you watch it on a late Sunday afternoon and fall asleep during it. Fun literal interpretation of the book in places. Stand outs for me are the voice of Winnie the Pooh playing the Cheshire Car and the entire Mad-Hatter sequence. I LOL every time. However, I feel like once the scene with the Mad-Hatter is over it's kinda downhill from there, for me anyway. Cool show though, one of my favorite Disney classics. **** 4 out of 5 stars.

AliensRelease Date- July 18, 1986 (Yesterday was it's 25th Anniversary)
Directed by- James Cameron
Produced by-Gale Anne Hurd, Gordon Carroll, David Giler, and Walter Hill
Written by- James Cameron
Staring-Sigourney Weaver, Carrie Henn, Michael Biehn, Bill Paxton, Lance Henriksen,
William Hope, and Paul Reiser
Gross Revenue- $131,060,248
Awards- Academy Awards: Best Sound Effects Editing and Best Visual Effects.
Also won 8 Saturn awards

Summary- Fifty-odd years after Ellen Ripley survived her disastrous ordeal, her escape vessel is recovered after drifting across the galaxy as she slept in cryogenic stasis. Back on earth, nobody believed her story about the "Aliens" on the planet LV-426. After the "Company" orders the colony on LV-426 to investigate, however, all communication with the colony is lost. The Company enlists Ripley to aid a team of tough, rugged space marines on a rescue mission to the now partially terraformed planet to find out if there are aliens or survivors. As the mission unfolds, Ripley will be forced to come to grips with her worst nightmare, but even as she does, she finds that the worst is yet to come.

Eric's Review- Aliens is a classic action film that was way ahead of its time, over shadowed by great films like Empire strikes back and Return of the Jedi in the 80's Sci-Fi genre. Love him or hate him, James Cameron makes a mean movie! The plot is solid, the character work is good and the action and suspense are top notch. The first film 'Alien' was a snoozer to me, but this film keeps you on the edge of your seat and takes you for a wild ride. Even Bill Paxton's whining didn't ruin this show for me, in fact it made me LOL this time around. I love this film and would put it in my top ten action films of all time. Great show! ***** 5 out of 5

Kia's Review- This movie is actually really cool! I saw "Alien" a few years ago and that movie was balls! Since when are Alien, sci-fi, action type movies boring? Sure, some of them are lame but boring?? I didn't think it was possible, till I saw that movie. UGH! Anyway, this is not a review of that movie; this is, in fact, a review of the sequel, which is, in every way, better than the first one. I think Sigourney does a great job. It's nice that she found her niche in sci-fi cuz she's talented just not super attractive and that's not usually good in Hollywood. I think the little kid that played Newt also did a good job...her scream was piercing!! I loved the robot guy, I think his name was Bishop; he was a good character and him lying on the ground, sliced in half, saving Newt so PRECIOUS!!! That was probably my favorite part of the whole movie! Sci-Fi not totally my thing but I liked this movie a lot. 4 out of 5 from Kia! ****-

AvatarRelease Date- December 18, 2009
Directed by- James Cameron
Produced by- James Cameron and Jon Landau
Written by-James Cameron
Staring-Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriquez,
Joel David Moore, Giovanni Ribisi, and Sigourney Weaver
Gross Revenue- $2,782,275,172
Awards- I can't list all the awards this won, click here for the page of accolades.

Summary- When his brother is killed in a robbery, paraplegic Marine Jake Sully decides to take his place in a mission on the distant world of Pandora. There he learns of greedy corporate figurehead Parker Selfridge's intentions of driving off the native humanoid "Na'vi" in order to mine for the precious material scattered throughout their rich woodland. In exchange for the spinal surgery that will fix his legs, Jake gathers information for the cooperating military unit spearheaded by gung-ho Colonel Quaritch, while simultaneously attempting to infiltrate the Na'vi people with the use of an "avatar" identity. While Jake begins to bond with the native tribe and quickly falls in love with the beautiful alien Neytiri, the restless Colonel moves forward with his ruthless extermination tactics, forcing the soldier to take a stand - and fight back in an epic battle for the fate of Pandora.

Kia's Review- I'm so hopelessly in love with this movie, it's one of my favorites of all time. Extremely well written, directed, and acted...everything was perfect! And what a beautiful movie it is! The colors are so vibrant (watching it on Blu-ray on our 42' HD TV probably helped) and there is so much attention to detail. Everything from the avatars themselves to the bugs and the way the grass moves is breathtaking! The only bad thing I can say about this movie is that I saw it the first time in 3-D, which means they released it in 3-D, which means they suck a little. :-) Other than that, flawless, in my opinion! *****

Eric's Review- Speaking of James Cameron, WOW! I know it's trendy to hate things that are popular but I'm sorry, if you don't like Avatar, you are not a person. The film is amazing, it has everything an epic film should have. There is a reason this is the top grossing film of all time according to IMDB:

Worldwide Box Office
1.	Avatar (2009)	$2,781,505,847

http://www.imdb.com/boxoffice/alltimegross?region=world-wide

Um... That's 2.7 BILLION DOLLARS world wide. BILLION! As in if our government was in the movie business and made a bunch of films as good as Avatar, we could be out of debt! Ok maybe that was an exaggeration, but the point is this move made more money than any other movie in history because it is one of the greatest films ever made. Period. It was fun watching these two films back to back as they both come from Mr. Cameron. There are many similarities between the films and I loved the continuity of his vision of the future. ***** 5 out of 5 stars and it almost broke the star scale just so you know.

Making Memories; Movie Memories - Airplane, Alice in Wonderland, and The King's Speech

We watched 3 movies over the long Holiday weekend, but one was from Netflix so it doesn't fall in line Alphabetically. :-) First movie we watched was movie number 6...which actually should be 7 but the next movie in line, Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, we let Scott Butler borrow for a bit in Kung Fooey and we haven't been up to OBT to get it back. Anyways, here's movie 6-7 :-)

Airplane

Release Date-July 2, 1980
Directed by-Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker
Produced by- Jon Davison and Howard W. Koch
Written by-Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker
Staring- Robert Hays, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Julie Hagerty,
Leslie Nielsen, and Peter Graves
Gross Revenue-$83,453,539
Awards-In 2000, the American Film Institute listed Airplane! as number ten on its list of the 100 funniest American Films.

Summary- This is a spoof of the airport disaster movies. When the crew of an airplane are struck by some form of virus, the fate of the passengers depends on an ex-war pilot who is the only one able to land the plane safely! The passengers represent a selection of interesting wacky characters who seem to take every word for its literal meaning.

Kia's Review- Airplane was actually very funny. I was a little reluctant about it because I'd seen it once when Eric and I were dating and couldn't remember anything from it so I figured it was lame and I blocked it out. But that was not the case! This movie was a goofy, raunchy comedy and I loved it! My favorite part were anytime anyone was speaking jive and this sequence "Dude says: My orders came through. My squadron ships out tomorrow. We're bombing the storage depots at Daiquiri at 1800 hours. We're coming in from the north, below their radar. Chick says: When will you be back? Dude says: I can't tell you that. It's classified." I don't know why, but that was seriously funny to me! Also, I laughed at...well...just about everything else in the movie! So so so funny! Glad we own this one for sure! ***** 5 stars from Kia

Eric's Review- For me, Airplane is one of those classic comedy's that will never die. In my opinion it was the chief of the so called "raunchy" comedies of its day competing with movies like Caddyshack. What puts Airplane in my top 10 comedies of all time is two main things: 1- They went for every joke possible. If there was something even remotely funny there, no matter how hard it was they went for it, even if it was for a two second laugh, they made it happen. That's dedication to the craft that a lot of comedies don't have. 2-Universal appeal. This comedy attempts jokes along the full spectrum of comedy, from word play to physical comedy to just ridiculousness. Doing this allows it to be funny to more people as everyone has a different sense of humor, and this show has something for all kinds of tastes. ("Holy Grail" is another movie that uses these two to it's great advantage,) It two gets a 5 out of 5 *****

And since it was mentioned, I thought I'd add Eric's current top ten list for Comedy:

(there is no order as they are always jocky-ing for position and it depends on his mood at the time) :-)

-Monte Python and the Holy Grail

-Airplane

-Ghostbusters

-Spinal Tap

-Office Space

-Anchorman

-Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

-Ace Ventura 2

-Wedding Crashers

-The Hangover

Next movie....

Alice in Wonderland

Release Date- March 5, 2010
Directed by- Tim Burton
Produced by- Richard D. Zanuck, Joe Roth, Suzanne Todd, and Jennifer Todd
Screenplay by- Linda Woolverton
Staring- Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter,
Crispin Glover, and Mia Wasikowska
Gross Revenue- $1,024,299,904
Awards- Academy Awards: Best Costume Design and Best Art Direction, Kid's Choice Awards: Favorite Movie Actor, Teen Choice Awards: Best Fight

Summary- Alice, an unpretentious and individual 19-year-old, is betrothed to a dunce of an English nobleman. At her engagement party, she escapes the crowd to consider whether to go through with the marriage and falls down a hole in the garden after spotting an unusual rabbit. Arriving in a strange and surreal place called "Underland," she finds herself in a world that resembles the nightmares she had as a child, filled with talking animals, villainous queens and knights, and frumious bandersnatches. Alice realizes that she is there for a reason--to conquer the horrific Jabberwocky and restore the rightful queen to her throne.

Eric's Review- Great show, I really appreciated the Tim Burton style on this film. Alice has always been one of the strangest fairytals out there and if any of them deserved Burton's spin, it was this one. Great colors and themes and I really enjoyed the costume work, especially the last outfit she wears on the boat at the end. Depp was good although maybe a bit over the top at times but I suppose the character asked for it. We originally saw this movie in 3-D which was a great dis-service to the show. For me 3-D doesn't allow the watcher to soak in perifrial details in the same way because our eyes are forced onto whatever prevelent 3-D Item is dominating the screen. For this reason and for the headaches it causes, I dislike 3-D in every way. :-) Anyway I was glad to be watching this show in beautiful 2-D HD. ****- 4 out of 5 stars

Kia's Review- Fun movie. I'm kind of disappointed that Disney got a hold of it, I'd like to see what Tim Burton could do with it if he didn't have to appeal to Disney's audience but, overall, I don't think Disney ruined it. I agree with Eric that it's much better in 2-D but I think all movies are so...there's that. My favorite part of this movie was all of Alice's costumes. She got to wear so many fantastic outfits, my favorite being her blue coat outfit at the very end. (It's Eric's favorite too!!) Here's some pictures that I stole from the interwebs so don't mind the signature going through them, just look at the awesomeness that is her outfit.:-O Seriously? Such a luck girl. Anyway, I thought, with the exception of Anne Hathaway, the casting was good, the story was good, the movie was beautiful to look at...even Johnny's creepy make-up. I believe this movie was a success, despite Disney taking over. ****- 4 out of 5

And thirdly, our netflix movie...

The King's Speech
Release Date- 7 January 2011
Directed by- Tom Hooper
Produced by- Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, and Gareth Unwin
Screenplay by- David Seidler
Staring- Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, and Helena Bonham Carter
Gross Revenue-$414,211,549
Awards- Winner winner, chicken dinner. Academy Awards: Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actor and Best Picture. Golden Globe: Best Actor.

Summary- Tells the story of the man who became King George VI, the father of Queen Elizabeth II. After his brother abdicates, George ('Bertie') reluctantly assumes the throne. Plagued by a dreaded stammer and considered unfit to be king, Bertie engages the help of an unorthodox speech therapist named Lionel Logue. Through a set of unexpected techniques, and as a result of an unlikely friendship, Bertie is able to find his voice and boldly lead the country through war.

Kia's Review- Honestly, this film was cinematic perfection. The acting was flawless, the whole movie was flawless. Kind of expected it to be boring...boring it was not. It was amazing. No question, 5 stars. *****

Eric's Review- We were unable to see this film in the theater and now I wished we would have. This show was a triumph in film making. Perfection in almost every way. Not much to say about it other than if you have not seen this show, it is time. It is the type of film that alters you, you will be a better person because of seeing this show. All of the awards given to this film were well earned. The acting was exquisit, the script was great and the film making well executed. ***** perfect 5 out of 5

Happy Birthday Eric!!!

Happy Birthday Daddy!! Here's....

Why We Love Eric So Much

• Eric works so hard for our family. He goes to work everyday, even though he doesn't want to, and works his butt off! He's going back to school, which is hard, just so he can provide better for our growing family. And he's doing it now so he doesn't have to have time taken away from Tiny when she's old enough to really understand. How thoughtful is he?
  
• Eric is always looking for the positive in life. He's one of the most optimistic people I know! It benefits our lives so much that he's willing to look past what sucks and focus on what is awesome!
  
• Eric is so talented! Seriously, I know a lot of talented people and Eric is really high up on that list! His singing, acting, dancing, directing, and improv skills are crazy. I delight so much in watching him perform, so much so that even if I never get to perform again I could die happy as long as I get to keep watching him!
  
• Eric can cook! Yes, he is a better cook than me (and that's hard for me to admit, cuz I want to be awesome...I'm just not)! He can come home from work, find food I didn't even know we had, and make a delicious meal for us. Nutritious...that's a different story. :-) But there's always protein!
  
• Eric know how to make us happy. Eric can brighten even the gloomiest days. Sometime all I need are some cuddles from him and everything is better. He can always make me laugh and can usually make Tiny laugh too!
• Eric has amazing calves! I just had to throw that one in there....cuz it's true!
• Eric does what needs to be done. Even though he hates it, Eric knows when chores need to be done and he helps out. He's so good about mowing the lawn and helping put away laundry. He doesn't hesitate to change Tiny's diaper or wash out her bottles. He even changed the litter box while I was pregnant!
• Eric knows a lot of stuff. I know this seems like a silly reason to love him so much but it's true. He's always got info about everything. He's constantly telling me new things and it makes him so much more interesting to talk to!! Plus, he'll be an excellent teacher for Tiny because he knows so much random stuff!
  
• Eric is a great daddy. Tiny gets so excited as soon as Eric walks through the door! She knows her daddy's home and it's time for kisses and toys! Even though he had no baby experience he tackled all of the baby tasks head on and learned quickly. He's so good at feeding and changing her! He's learning more everyday about how babies work and is loving all her new stages. He's so sweet with her and I can tell how much they love each other!!
• Eric is a phenomenal husband. I know everyone who's married thinks they're married to the best person in the whole world but for me, it's actually true! :-) Eric has been there for me through so much. He's stuck by me no matter how awful things got. No matter how stubborn, or whiny, or happy, or grumpy, or immature, or silly, or sad, or pathetic I am he's always there. He makes me a better mother, a better wife, a better person. Knowing that I'll always have him is the most comforting thing in the world. Eric is, in every way, the perfect man for me and I feel so blessed to have him!

Happy Birthday Sweetheart! I cannot wait to see what this year brings us! Isabelle and I love you more than we could ever express!!! Here's some of our favorite pictures of you!