Of three things we were certain. First, Beth Ann was having a girl. Second, she would be darling. And third, we can't wait to fight over holding her..

I am a horrible liar. Ask my mother. As a kid I used to think she had some sort of freaky mom-ESP gift or something. Every time I tried to pass one over on her she'd just stand there and let seconds of silence pass before she'd say, "Wanna try that again?"

It's not until years later when it dawns on me: Oh, no ESP powers. I'm just really bad at it.

So that being said, you should all take a moment to be sincerely impressed that I was able to help orchestrate a massive surprise New Moon Baby Shower for my friend Beth Ann who I see and talk to close to every day. We even have each other authorized on our Google calendars, so clearly there are no secrets.
Not only did I have to put fake activities on my calender to mask days when I was working with friends on planning, banners, decorations, party favors etc, but I had to lie to her face most days. The surprise to me is not only how good I started to get at it, but how much fun I had doing it. My stories of what I was off doing, or what my plans were for that night began to become more and more elaborate. I mean, it was all for a good cause, so why not live it up, right?

"Yeah, I can't hang out today. A friend of mine has a private jet and she invited me to the Galapagos to learn how to scuba dive."

Oh Okay, maybe the lies weren't that elaborate, but, to hear her tell it, it's close.

Our group being massive Twilight fans, it only seemed appropriate to merge the opening night of the movie with Beth Ann's shower. I mean, how many mom's can tell their child that their baby shower lasted 7 hours?? I mean really.

The first of many lies was a fake invitation that I hand delivered to her. The real evite had pictures like these:

Before the woman (and baby) of the hour arrive, let's have a tour of the set up shall we?

Lauren and Xela sporting our New Moon flower necklaces. It was intended to be that baby shower game where everyone wears a necklace but they lose it if they are caught saying "cute" or "girl." Instead we ditched the idea of people being able to lose them because we liked how everyone wearing them added to the atmosphere.






Oh, you better believe when I found these labels online, I was all over it.



We also sprinkled New Moon quotes around. Given the tendency for us to go overboard, I thought this Alice quote was appropriate...






I found this picture of Edward holding a baby online and it unleashed what many behind the scenes can confirm was a bit of a hailstorm of photo shopping insanity. But our friendships have all survived my quirkiness, and they turned out really fun.

With this one I took a few liberties with a New Moon quote to help serve our baby shower purposes.


For our party favor we gave out Carmel candied apples in reference to the Twilight apple. Thank you to Gillian who per my request, diligently explained my symbolism to people.




The girl of the hour arrives, complete with candy and trays thinking that she is bringing snacks to a pre movie party at Stacy's. The one of many lies, and hey, this one was even a half truth!

Here is Beth Ann coming to the realization that there was never a private jet, and I never went to the Galapagos.

My personal favorite of the photo shopping frenzy. Best 3 dollars for an oversize print I've ever spent. That would be Beth Ann's husband Matt looking slightly annoyed, next to Edward. I informed them I wanted this hung somewhere of importance in their home.

Beth Ann (with some tasty Mountain Lion blood) Stacy, Me

Another favorite addition was the life size Edward cutout. Here he is with his smoldering gaze, getting in on the gift opening action.

Stacey and Stacy

Here are some of the PG rated poses with Edward. He put up with us amazingly well.

We had a baby shower meets Twilight quiz with questions like

Most of us know what Bella craved during her pregnancy…what does Matt say Beth Ann has craved most this pregnancy?

A. Donuts, Snickers and Reeses
B. Snickers and Sonic Ice
C. Snickers, Sonic Ice and Reeses
D. Milky Way and Ice Cream

and

What will be the main difference between Bella’s delivery and Beth’s?
A. Beth’s best friend Jacob will attend the birth
B. A friend will imprint on her baby and vow to protect and love Beth’s baby for her whole life
C. Matt will make small incisions and inject her with vampire venom
D. Beth will have an epidural

I had these copied off at Staples and when I went to pay for them the girl at the register looks at me a little guiltily and goes, "Okay, what WAS she craving?" The answer was C by the way:)


Basically everyone pictured contributed major help in some way or another to make this night a complete blast. Special thanks to Co-hosts Xela, Na Young and Stacy!!! And an extra special thanks to Beth Ann for being an amazing friend. We can't wait for little baby girl Sands to get here!

(Pictures by Mandy:)

Blogger Casserole (Reheated)

I know. Crazy right? But you did in fact read your Google Reader correctly...a new post! What can I say, I started to see the ever growing list of my New Year Resolutions, and thought if I had any hope of accomplishing all of them, I better attempt to tackle one or two a little early. I'm a go getter like that.

The hardest part of getting behind is not really knowing where to jump back in. Plus, it never ceases to amaze me how busy you can feel your life is, while simultaneously having very little to report.

I think my last post was around the beginning of October so here is what I believe you missed:

Hannah turned 9, even if she thinks it was 15. Nine darling girl. Nine.

Rhett's parents came for a visit which is always a welcomed breath of fresh air. Come back soon and often!!

Junk-food-Palooza. Or Halloween if you like to get technical. Rhett's work party+Trunk or Treating at the church+Trick or Treating in the neighborhood x's 4 kiddos=We have enough candy to both eat as well as pass out to trick or treaters next year. Oh don't think I won't.

Rhett's birthday. He was a bit freaked out about turning 35 this year, and it's possible that I may have fed the freakout a little by feeding him tidbits like, "Hey, do you realize that when you coach Jackson in football you'll be 40?" Or, "Hey, you're old enough that I'm probably considered a trophy wife, don't you think?"

My sister Stephanie came out for a visit sans children. Her mantra for the week became: Because I can, if that gives you any insight into the late nights, movies, and the general insanity.

Myself and her devoted friends threw our good friend Beth Ann a surprise New Moon themed baby shower on the opening night of the movie. Those of you who know me can appreciate that I may have become a bit obsessed with the planning. About 90 percent of my phone calls to my friends during the planning started with, "Okay, tell me if this sounds crazy..."
Pictures coming soon!

I think that gets you pretty much to current. I have a massive movie review post in the works... going through some old pictures gave me the idea of doing a Flashback Friday post which I'll start next week. Some of you may know my love for all things music, and my equal love of forcing it on people. (Tried a few times to say that better, but, eh. It is what it is.)
I plan on doing a post soon about some favorite current finds, and some of my all time loves. So see, things are coming very soon.
I haven't forgotten my blog, just neglected it a bit. You can blame the new school year, the latest Outlander book, the holidays, and shows like The Vampire Diaries for the recent backlog...

A Day In The Life Of SuperMom

In years past I've tried my best, but many a school year was spent in either a pregnancy fog, or a having-a-newborn fog. Very similar fogs actually. It basically translates into knowing full well that teachers think you are a space cadet, but being too tired to care.
Going into this school year with a little less of the haze, I felt empowered and did the one thing Anderson women love to do when feeling pumped up. I bought office supplies.
File folders, a cool standing folder rack, post its, sharpies, file boxes...yeah, it was great.

All notes, permission slips, future projects, book reports, competitions, clubs, library book due dates, and so forth would get filed according to importance. Daily I would check my filing system and send my child forth with all things required for that day. I would be the new golden standard in parenting. Teachers would make me the model of what other parents should be, and would discuss my system in meetings. I would of course make all attempts to be humble at first, but in the end, I would help other parents achieve my level of awesomeness.

AHEM.

Reality:

Last week I was packing the kid's lunches. We were at the end of a grocery cycle and I was trying to rationalize if chocolate chips in a Ziploc bag could be passed off as a "treat." Something starts to jar loose in my mind, and I kind of remember putting a project of Jackson's in the filing system the week before.

I check my fail proof system to discover that it is in fact, "due soon." If soon means it was due the day before. They had sent home construction paper, and wanted each child, (READ: PARENT) cut out a flower, decorate it and put a baby picture in the middle. I have about 7 minutes before the bus, so I hurriedly cut out a flower, color it, and race to the office to scrounge up a baby picture of Jackson. Ten years ago, that would have been successful. Unfortunately it's 2009, and all of my pictures live on the computer.
Still wasn't going to panic, even though I knew my printer was on the fritz. I have a couple of picture boxes in the cabinet.
I'm searching, I'm searching...Surely there are at least a couple of him somewhere. Surely...come on...any minute now....

It's now 2 minutes till the bus and I come across a baby picture that I'm sure is Jackson. A mother can always tell. I squint a bit at the hospital bracelet and see: Drew Taylor.

I know what you're thinking okay? You're thinking: Surely she didn't. Tell me she didn't!

Believe it. A few careful crops with my handy dandy scissors, a bit of tape and WHA-LA. Drew is now Jackson. Admittedly...it's an all new low. I realize now that I may be talked about in Teacher Meetings, but it may not be in the same way I had first envisioned...

To my small credit, we do seem to keep producing the same child...

Mel & Ray's Movie Reviews w/Guest Reviewers

So every week as I'm going through my fan mail, the same question keeps popping up...How is it exactly that I get out to see so many movies??
While there is certainly success in going at 10:30 on a Tuesday when no one even knows I'm gone...My movie calendar becomes quite full during football season with a little help from an invention called "NFL Ticket", offered by our satellite provider. Now, I don't claim to know how technology works, but I find it odd that we still don't have flying cars, or tele-transport systems, yet, a satellite in space can beam every football game in the world, to my living room.
All I really understand from it all is that it seems to matter less and less when I leave at night, and how long I'm gone.

Me: Hey, I was thinking I'd go to the movies tonight.
Rhett: Ok, when you gonna be back?
Me: Well, we might even catch two movies. You know, a double header. That okay?
Rhett: Uh, well--what?? Holding!! Are you kidding me? That ref is blind! Penalty! Oh man, Justin, did you see that?? Here, watch this again in slow motion and tell me that is not holding!

One could see how I might slip out for a movie (or two) undetected.

Here's a few for your consideration...

Post Grad

(w/guest reviewers Beth Ann and Gillian)

Whenever I see a movie like this, I always wonder if at a certain point in the film making process, the actors involved know pretty early on that they are making a bad movie, or if it's just a horrible realization at the premier. Is there just this moment when they have their popcorn, they're sitting with all their celebrity friends and then half way through their just like, "Oh. No."

I had been looking forward to this one for months, even though whenever I mentioned it to people, the most heard response was, "Huh. I've never even heard of that." I guess maybe it's a Gilmore Girls fan thing. If there is an Alexis Bledel movie, you just know about it. This movie was in a word: Random. No real meat to the story, no real direction, odd humor.

The trailer makes this film look darling. But at the end of the day, it's about a college grad who graduates with the idea of landing a dream job, and soon coming to see that life is hard and things don't just fall into your lap because you slaved away at school.

I guess if you enjoy watching a movie that highlights the obvious, this one would be a good one for ya. There is only so much you can do with a depressed, out of work college grad who spends most of the movie job hunting.

The burden then becomes: The movie can't be twenty minutes, Sooooooo, what else can we film for the other 70? The love triangle was too obvious and over done, even though Zach Gilford's performance was the highlight. Plus, according to Gillian, "The friend character was too good looking. In real life she would have liked him a long time ago!" If I had picked this up at a Red Box, I probably would have thought, "Eh. Pretty decent for a buck."

I gave it:

Gillian Gave it:

Beth Ann gave it: (I have converted yet another Prison Break fan.)



All About Steve

(W/Guest Reviewers Beth Ann and Gillian)

This ain't your mama's Sandra Bullock movie alright?? Let's just make that clear from the get go. One of my all time favorite movies is "While You Were Sleeping." If that is the Sandra performance you are looking for, you'll be a little startled by this one. But let me say quickly, we really liked it. And I liked it despite every instinct telling me I shouldn't be liking it. You kept expecting Sandra to be her usual adorable quirky self, and instead you kept wondering which side of the crazy line she was going to wind up on.
She plays a character who is a very very smart crossword puzzle designer, very socially oblivious, and spends the movie following Steve around, convinced they are supposed to be together. While the show is far fetched to be sure, I just started to really enjoy myself with it. The more you come to understand Sandra's character, Mary, the funnier the things that she does become, as well as the actions of others around her. While it certainly isn't going to be winning any Oscars, it definitely gets my vote for heart, a moral to the story, and keeping us entertained.

I gave it:


Beth Ann gave it:


Gillian gave it:


Julie and Julia

So, you will have to pardon us on a technical difficulty. One of the drawbacks to going to movies late on slow movie nights is that: no one at the movie theater cares about you. Sad but true.
You being there late on a Thursday is a thorn in their side. You don't always get heat. You don't always get a clean theater. You just get what they give you, and don't complain if the popcorn tastes chewy. Case and point. We were enjoying ourselves just fine at this movie, when with about 30 minutes left to go the sound went out. Us, and the two other people in the theater were very annoyed. And apparently, you are also not guaranteed management to stick around. We called, we knocked on doors, and could find NO ONE to help us. We ended up leaving, knowing that we wouldn't sit through it again just to find out what happened, but wanting enough to know what happens that we'll rent it when it comes out and fast forward to where we left off.
From what we can tell, this is a really fun movie. Meryl Streep is just fantastic as Julia Child, and while Amy Adam's performance pales a bit next to Streep's, (and who's wouldn't?) I enjoyed her as well. Maybe more so because she was a writer and a blogger. (So funny when she gets her "first comment.") It's based on two true stories, and had a lot of heart, and the fact that Julia Child's life was pretty darn fascinating was another surprise. So, if you go see it, hopefully you get a better projectionist than we did, and uh...let us know how it ends!

We think we give it:



Tyler Perry: I Can Do Bad All By Myself

I found myself on a rainy Saturday with nothing to do. Jackson's Tball game had been cancelled, Rhett and Justin were watching football, Drew was down for a nap and Hannah was invested in rewatching The Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie. I ended up solo at this movie with zero expectations. I was just bored, and hoping for a good laugh. Not only did I laugh. And laugh. And laugh some more...I was blown away with what a touching, well written movie this was. The actors turned in moving performances. They were able to portray that desire to overcome one's shortcomings and be the person you want to be. Or should be. Or forgot how to be.

Not to mention that Tyler Perry could possibly be the funniest 450 pound African American woman on the planet. He plays the roles of Madea and her husband, and if I had one complaint about the movie, it's that I wanted more Madea than there was. The other characters truly stepped up though, and made this movie a wonderful balance of humor and silliness, and real gut wrenching emotion. The pastor in the movie gave a sermon that had me restraining myself from standing up and shouting, "Can I get an Amen?!" While some may not be a fan of the time that is taken for a couple of musical numbers (I for one enjoyed it) it's the most fun I've had at a movie in awhile.

Blogger's Casserole

This recipe is actually quite delicious:

1. Be running really behind with stuff. Like so behind, it becomes a mental exercise in trying to remember it all.

2. Take all good and fun stuff from your short and long term memory and dump in a blogger "New Post Draft" till boiling. Let simmer.

3. Add pictures that you obtain by visiting all your friend's blogs. Right click on all of the relevant pictures you need and then hit, "Save Picture As."

4. Mix in a dash of guilt and a dollop of sarcasm.

5. Bake at 350 until cheese bubbles or it "looks done."

Yummy! Let's dig in...

Anyone else having summer whiplash? It's June! Oh wait, nope, it's September! How did that happen? It's hard to believe everything we did happened in these quick blurs of months, but I guess they did. After YW Camp, (which seems years ago somehow) I got called as the Personal Progress Specialist in our ward and it immediately stopped my spiraling depression about not being able to be with the girls anymore. I'm a total nerd, but somehow they love me and I certainly love them so, you know... A-Woo-hoo!

After camp, a really crazy thing happened at the end of June. I somehow now have an 11 year old. It's like every year I keep getting older and older. What is up with that?? He is old and kind, and sweet, and old and fun loving, and old...


On the heels of Justin's birthday, we went to Utah for our annual trip to visit Rhett's family. It's so great to go back, especially in the Summer. I am always reminded that summer is actually a great season, and that one can even go so far as to enjoy it. A fact that I forget as I can usually be found shaking my fist at the Texas sun and yelling, "Why??? Why must you torture me???"

I admit it's a tad melodramatic, but I like to think the neighbors enjoy it.

This summer was definitely the year of the family. While enjoying Rhett's family, a house full of cousins, and nights out on the patio eating awesome BBQ, my lil brother Daniel was getting married to the woman of his dreams while we were out there, also referred to as: Natalie. So how is this for a Freaky Friday episode...not only do we love Natalie to pieces. (She couldn't be more adorable and well suited for our D Money) But get this:

She also comes from a family of 7 kids with the same ratio, 4 boys and 3 girls. They are a tight knit family, much like our own, and if that wasn't enough, we believe that our Dad and Natalie's dad are twin spirits of some sort. From their open and outgoing personalities, to their shared and much loved corny jokes. Needless to say, it proved for a fun and amazing time, combining the Anderson and Johnston families for a week.














Four brothers at a wedding, or the New Moon movie poster? You decide.






Amidst the family fun, and through the miracle of reconnecting through Facebook...I got to see one of my dear friends who will always be family to me. We laughed, we ate, we caught up on each other's lives, and of course, we took pictures of ourselves. Love and hugs Tara!!


After two weeks of wedding festivities, visiting with family, a trip to Vernal and a sweet visit with all the grand kids to "Trisha's Spot," we loaded up the car and headed back home. Oh yes. You read that right. The car. We braved the drive this year, and despite my whining that we wouldn't, we did in fact survive it. Thank you DVD player. Thank you IPod. Thank you Dramamine.

Texas greeted us with a sweltering 105 degrees, but the fun was just getting started. Not only was Caroline home for the summer, but Will's wife Jamie was able to come out with their darling little girl Ellie, who was soon followed by Stephanie and her four kids, who was soon followed by Daniel, Natalie and Natalie's parents, followed in a few weeks by Eric home from school. If you just pictured one of those Russian dolls that keep opening up to more and more dolls, that was more or less what it seemed like. So many people, and so much fun. We had a successful Open House for D and Natalie, and between UT and TX, I got all my sisters for the summer. A-Woo-Hoo!

I could have ended the summer there and been one happy camper, but wait, there's more....

So earlier in the post I think I mentioned that I am a bit of a nerd. But, I have always been fortunate enough to have amazing friends who for reasons of their own, love me anyway, and High School was no exception. In August I went back to Indiana to visit some of my very best friends growing up. It's so weird to me that I have now lived in Texas longer than I have lived anywhere. I have long considered the Chicago region as "home." My good friend Melinda has since moved from "The Region" (as Region-its can call it) to Indianapolis. I flew into the Indianapolis airport, and as we were descending, the man next to me said,

"You from here?"

His question caught me off guard and made me a tad emotional, and I said,

"Not anymore, but I grew up here." In my mind I was just thinking he meant Indiana but then he points out the window and asks,

"So, is that the Indianapolis Speedway?" I realized: Hey dummy. He meant were you from Indianapolis. Usually going home meant flying into Chicago. I knew nothing of Indianapolis. I think I have been to Indy once before for a choir competition when I was 16. So I gave him the only answer that seemed logical. "Oh yes, it is. Isn't it awesome??" Oh well.

Upon being picked up and safely locked into Melinda's car, she carefully chose that moment to break two vital pieces of information to me.

One: She had dial up Internet....

and Two: She didn't have cable or Tivo.

I cannot even recreate the conversation. I just remember laughing until my sides ached, and phrases like, "Do they even still have that?" being thrown around. I told her it was all good. I could just pretend I was camping. Besides, I had come for girly time. Facebook could surely survive without my updates for a few days.

Two of my other friends, Stephanie and Tiffany also came down to Indy and made it a weekend I will never forget. Just name something totally random and I'll bet you we did it.

Ate out? Did that.

Shopped? Done.

Pedicure/Facials? Done and done.

Semi trespassed at a Condo pool? We're such rebels.


Volunteered at a soup kitchen in downtown Indy? Naturally.

Found out that among other things, I want to be a Latin/hip hop dancer when I grow up? Yep.

Had my first fried Snickers? Oh yes. Glorious fried State Fair Food, how I love you.

Hiked at the State Park? My calves are still sore.

Saw Kelly Clarkson in concert? The girl can sing folks.




Ate shrimp marinated in, oh, I don't know, fire?? Most assuredly.

And let's not forget: Talked, watched movies, talked, organize a garage sale, talked, and I think ate some more. Love and miss you guys!!

I have to also make mention of our awesome Ward party my friend Beth organized.


Complete with an actual erupting volcano,


Tongan dancers,


Throw in a Hula Hoop contest and a hilarious Hawaiian Singing Bee, it wrapped the summer up nicely. I got to be in charge of the music, where my DJ name was, wait for it...DJ Gangsta Midnight. It was sweet.
And last but not least this summer, Rhett and I celebrated our 12, got that, 12 year anniversary. I love this Homer Simpson quote:

Marge: Homer, is this how you pictured married life?
Homer: Yeah, pretty much, except we drove around in a van solving mysteries.

There is much I could say about the past twelve years...that we have some amazingly cool kids, my gratitude that long ago he just finally put "Melanie's Extras" on the budget spreadsheet, that he admits I'm funnier than he is, that he still dates me, that he loves our kids something fierce, that because of him I know a ridiculous amount of sports knowledge that I have been promised will come in handy one day...I could go on, but I am afraid if this post gets any longer there is a real chance I may explode Blogger....Hope you all had a fantastic summer!

Caught on film: Drew Boo's first day of Preschool

Before you get any ideas that I have grown in responsibility over night or anything, know that this snapshot of Drew on his first day of Preschool is brought to you by Beth Ann. I'd like to draw attention to his stylish little boy haircut. I thought I could have him pull off the long haired hippy-ish look like all the celebrity's kids, but I have been informed otherwise. As much as it pained me to cut his beautiful (albeit long) curls off, I must say he does clean up nicely. Can you believe this year I have 3 out of 4 kids in all day school? I guess I am growing up or something.

I have much to blog about, and many things I am procrastinating it with. And while you and I both know my blogging promises are pretty vague and non-committal, I really do hope to get caught up this weekend...

Why My Children Will Probably Need Therapy, No. 17

Here is a confession. I have continually failed! to take pictures of my children on their first day of school. I usually remember to do it around the third-ish week of school, where I then make my children reanact their first day. They always act so mortified that I'm at the bus stop in my pajamas telling them to look excited. "Everyone smile and say First Day!!"
Whatever. I don't see what's so horrific about it.

Now, before you cancel your Friendship to Melanie subscriptions over this, let's do a quick reminder of why we love me:

1. You never have to feel bad about yourself, because whenever you've reached rock bottom, I've always found a new low.

2. Um...wow. Why can't I even think of two things?? This is really going to hurt me, come all my yearly friend renewals.

But in my defense, who is wide awake at 7:00 in the morning, let alone knows where their camera is? I mean really people. What, are you like planning ahead or something? Wait, don't tell me. You check the night before that the camera is A) charged and B) in a place you'll know right where it is? Please. Who does that? Oh. Right. Responsible people.

Well, I'm banking on the fact that 20 years from now they won't remember that all their "First day of school" pictures were either photoshopped, or taken in December. I mean, what are the odds they will remember random "tramatic" events from their childhood, piece them together and then blog about it? Yeah. I should be good.

Everyone's a fan of free stuff right?

As a sponsor for my friend Leslie's fantastic blog, A Room Somewhere, we are doing a Stella and Dot free giveaway. The lucky winner gets this fall season's Berry Cocktail ring.



It's a great piece that compliments a LBD or a casual sweater and jeans. Simply go to her blog post about the giveaway, leave a comment, and you will be automatically entered to win. She picks the winner Sunday night so hurry on over.

Oh, and I will just say 'Your welcome' in advance for introducing you to Leslie's blog. Basically it rocks!

Mel & Ray's Movie Review (w/guest reviewers)

While my list of well thought out excuses for my painful lack of blogging doesn't seem to fly with my mother, I can say that at least I have something to show for it. I have been at the movies after all. Of course there's always the possibility that I really am just a slacker. It's hard to know.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince *spoiler alert*

The HP movies are tough to review. Are they amazingly done? Yes. Are the actors only getting stronger and better with every film? Completely. Can you really not go see a movie based on books that consumed nearly a decade of your life to read? I mean seriously. With all that, it's really hard to ever say I didn't like the movie even if in my heart of hearts I leave a tad bit disappointed. I'm not even one of those book reader/movie goer that sits there in disgust if they don't get all the details from the book just right. It's an adaptation. I get it.
But--(hold on, where did I put my soapbox...oh, there it is) how do you do movie six and not include anything about Dumbledore's Army?! Not even a token mention. Nothing. Plus, Dumbledore dies and it just fades to black? That's it?? And don't even get me started on the actor who plays Dumbledore. He just like, doesn't get who Dumbledore is or something. I can't quite explain it. But aside from my grips, it's Harry Potter, so, go see it.

Mom gave it:

Jamie gave it:

Caroline gave it:


500 Days of Summer

How do I put this....oh yeah. I LOVE THIS MOVIE!! A Sundance Film Festival winner, this is an offbeat quirky romantic comedy, but as the movie professes numerous times: It's not a love story. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel turn in what I would describe as refreshing performances. So many romantic comedies follow the same tired formula. Here. Let's do a little experiment.
Think of the last romantic comedy you saw. (Unless it was this movie. Then, you know,... think of the one before this one.) I will now predict how the movie went. Boy meets girl. Girl meets boy. Boy and girl despise each other. Boy and girl are put in a situation where they must tolerate one another, and oddly, in the face of all their differences and initial hatred, they start to see glimpses of good in the other one. They then fall for each other, only to have some sort of misunderstanding/miscommunication/attack of conscience, where they are then torn apart. But not to fear. The last ten minutes has them talking to their quirky sidekick friend who tells them that they are crazy, and they should go after the other person. Girl/boy does that and are reunited in a happy and blissful ending. Oh and Girl and Boy are played by either Sandra Bullock, Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston, Brad Pitt or Matthew Mcconaughey.
I know. Am I good or what?? This movie is just so different. From the script to the directing, to the plot, I was just constantly in a state of not knowing what was coming next. How fantastic is that?
I don't usually read movie reviews before I write my own, but I was having a hard time verbalizing what I enjoyed so much about the movie. One critic wrote, "Together, [Gordon-Levitt and Deschanel] pull off the tough trick of making us root for their relationship to succeed and understand if it fails." Plus, the soundtrack is so killer. (If your taste of music lines up anywhere close to mine, just buy the soundtrack. You won't be disappointed.) This movie may not be for everyone, but if you want a break from the norm, I think you'll dig it.

*(I saw 500 Days with my friend Robin. I would have asked her to contribute, but quite frankly I have to walk her through opening up email attachments. I highly doubt she's gonna check out the blog! She enjoyed it though!)

My Sister's Keeper

Okay, remind me again that I'm not one of those people who dissect a movie line by line waiting to be massively offended if they stray in the slightest from the book?!.... This book by Jodi Picoult is such a moving, controversial, gut wrenching story. It was one of those that just stayed with me for days and days.

The book has such great material, and big unexpected twists that I just knew the movie was gonna blow people's socks off. Basically my plan was that I was gonna eat Milk Duds, cry and sob like an idiot and just not care. A plan that would have worked perfectly if they had decided to not change the entire ending!!!!!!! (I'm not sure how many exclamation marks would be sufficient to express my outrage and disappointment.) I mean, there were small little disappointments here and there as far as character development, but all could have been forgiven if they had gotten the ending right. And it's such a huge twist that I cannot believe Hollywood didn't eat it up with a spoon. I saw this with my mom and SIL Jamie. My mom had read the book also, and we had one of those slow motion, jaw dropping moments when it suddenly dawns on us that they've changed the twist ending. And changed it to something predictable and ultimately forgettable in the movie going sense. I honestly have no way of accurately gauging this movie fairly, and if you never read the book, I suppose you are none the wiser. Although my mom and SIL gave it one star, so, there you go.

Mom gave it:

Jamie gave it:


The Time Traveler's Wife

Time Traveler's Wife is a book I picked up on vacation last year. Sadly it found its way to a pathetic stack of books on my bookshelf that I had every intention of reading when I bought them. I would be so curious to know the opinion of someone who read the book. I saw this movie with some amazing friends from High School on my recent trip to Indiana. (More to blog on that later.) They felt like they were going to the movies with a celebrity movie reviewer and I can't really blame them. I get that alot. It's why I go to most movies late at night. Not so much for the convience of it, but the paparazzi are just relentless.

So basically with most time travel movies, I spent 80 percent of the time wrapping my head on the logistics of it all. "Okay, so, if he now he is here, but before he was there, then he passed himself on the way out..."
At the end of the movie, we were discussing how the time travel worked, and we had to talk over this loud buzz of everyone else in the theatre saying: "So he's in the future, but really he came from the past, but his younger self hasn't done that yet, so he doesn't know what he'll do..."
But don't let the confusion deter you. It's a wonderfully acted, oddly fascinating movie. If you are in the mood for different and unexpected, this would be one to see. I felt myself becoming attached to the characters, drawn in to the story, and ultimatley feeling very invested in their outcomes. For me, that is what makes a great movie, and it's what many can't quite do. My friend Stephanie says she gives it 3 confusing but strong Bradley Coopers, (we talked her out of Leonardo DiCaprio:) while Melinda totally followed it the entire time, unlike her slightly slower companions, and she appreciated how different it was. Between the both of them, I couldn't have said it better myself.


Stephanie gave it:

Melinda gave it:

Monday Morning Funnies

This is my peace offering to my mother. I will be blogging again. Soon. Really. No really! Pinky swear...

"You have to smile at idiots and children."-Harry Dresden

What do I like best about my new kickboxing class I'm taking with my lil' sister? It's certainly not the 8:30 AM time slot. (Does no one else know that it's summer?? I mean really.) It could be that the instructor is a 50+ year old Kenpo Karate instructor and he's so cute I just want to put him in my pocket. Or it could possibly be the eclectic group of men and women in the class who have been coming for years. Their comfortable banter with each other is so funny, some days I'm not sure if my stomach hurts more from the ab workout or from laughing so hard.
No, no, those things are great, but they're not the best thing about it. The best thing would have to be, hands down, the fact that everyone keeps assuming that Caroline and I are friends home from college, instead of sisters, 12 years apart.
What can I say? I officially no longer complain at the 30 dollar price tag for my Oil of Olay Regenerist cream. You better believe I'm buyin' that stuff in bulk now baby!

As fun as it is to see everyone freak out when I explain that I am 31, married and have four kids; it's also not the first time I have been mistaken for younger. You may have noticed I go to a few movies. Ahem. Without fail, when buying my ticket I'm asked, "Do you have your student ID?" At the grocery store I'm carded for cold medicine and super glue. I've been asked what High School I go to, and even at a HS Volleyball game was told to go ahead and go in without paying.

Students were free that night.

What's so funny to me about it all, well, there's several funny things, but I'll narrow it down. When I actually was younger, I was constantly being mistaken for being older. Something about being a 5'10" eighth grader tends to throw people I guess. If I had a dime for every time I heard, "Oh, you're only (fill in the blank age) I would have sworn you were older!" I would be, well, quite frankly I wouldn't be blogging to you people, I'd have been able to buy my own island somewhere.

It's nice to be mistaken for younger now. (Especially since a trip to Target with all four kids makes me feel about 80 by the time I get back to the car.) Wether or not we're actually old or young, time is going by fast. Rhett and I celebrate our 12th wedding anniversary this weekend. How did that happen? I am now officially someone who I would have considered old, twelve years ago. Scary.

I distinctly remember our first married ward. On our first Sunday everyone went around and introduced themselves and said how long they'd been married. (Since the average was somewhere around 6 months, it was still a very exciting thing to announce.) I'll always remember this couple that introduced themselves and then said that they had been married for two years. Two years. My jaw dropped a bit at the insane length of time they had been married. They suddenly seemed so wise and learned, and I secretly wondered to myself why they were in our ward. I mean, come on, two years. Shouldn't they be going to a family ward??

I'm beginning to think time has been going by so fast, we're not quite keeping up with it. Have you noticed how all the futuristic stories and movies are still taking place in 2000 something? Um, Hi. That's no longer the future. I just saw a preview for some apocalyptic, end of civilization movie coming out next summer called: 2012.

What the?

That's not the future, that's like next month. These kinds of things lose some of their effect when it's: ALIENS TAKE OVER THE WORLD AND EAT YOUR BRAINS IN: 2010!!!
I mean, come on Hollywood. That's just lazy. We need horrible and exciting things to happen to fake people at least a thousand years from now. We don't want to think about those kinds of things happening during our own lifetime. Where's the cinematic joy in that? Pain and suffering is only entertaining when it happens to past and future generations. Duuhh.

Anyways, what was I saying? I don't even remember. Something about kickboxing right? I'm also finding it a great workout companion to my Yoga. Apparently to achieve zen like peace you must balance mediation with beating the crap out of stuff.
Who knew?

Mel & Ray's Movie Reviews

Everyone brace yourself for two things. One, Rhett came with me to this movie. I know. Are these the last days or what?? Of course, is it a coincidence that the first movie he agrees to go to in years is one with Megan Fox in it? Hmmm...me thinketh not. I warned him that she may be a cute enough girl, but that her acting skills leave much to be desired. An opinion he now shares with me. Also about thirty minutes in he leans over and says, "So, are there good transformers and bad transformers?"

I blame myself.

When you have to explain the difference between Decepticons and Autobots, and give a condensed history lesson on Optimus Prime, you know you have failed the people you love most.
I have to cut him some slack. He didn't grow up with brothers, and he certainly didn't have anyone in his life so excited to get Transformers for Christmas, he looked like this:


(Note the gift and pajamas...I realize I will pay for this)

Second thing....I didn't like the movie. I'm as big a fan as the next person of fights between Transformers, but even I have my limits to how long I can stand to watch them. Two and half hours!! How long can these things beat the living daylights out of each other and NOT DIE?!
And can I just say again: Megan Fox is a bad actress. And not in the bad really means good type of way. I just mean...baaaaaadd. Most of the characters and relationships seemed contrived and forced, and certainly took second place to the Transformer fights. The plot essentially boils down to the defeated Decepeticons of the first movie getting to come back for seconds, with not much thought given to any other character or story development. They introduced some new Autobots who would have been more enjoyable, but alot of their dialogue seemed like they were trying too hard. Shia always turns in a great performance, and I enjoyed John Turturro in it, but ultimately I left underwhelmed and with the sound of metal on metal ringing in my ears.

I would like to add now that I went into this movie review as a good sport knowing that I would have to let Rhett choose a celebrity of his choice as his rating system. I told him I wasn't going to care, and he could choose anyone he wanted. I promised to refrain from such comments as, "Her?! Really?? She's alright, a bit trashy but, alright..." That being said, I swear I did not put him up to this...

Rhett gave it:


The Proposal

It has been my experience that Sandra movies rarely disappoint. She just has this crucial comedic timing that so many others who attempt to do what she does, fall short of. I also walk away from this movie an official Ryan Reynolds fan. I have seen him in other things, but this just solidified him in my mind as a real contender. I laughed alot at this movie, and I enjoyed the story as a whole. I was a bit shocked that they could show one of the scenes in a PG-13. Lines are definitely being pushed and I couldn't say I'd recommend it for young teenagers. I don't know why Hollywood does that, but don't get me started on a rant.

Great cast, funny movie, a strong PG-13.

Year One

Oh brother. Seriously. There is just so much. Let's start with what I did like because it's a shorter list. Michael Cera and Jack Black are very funny people, and as two clumsy caveman sidekicks, they prove very lovable. They get banished from their tribe, and as they make their way into unknown territory, they come across several different Biblical stories in progress. Cain and Able, Abraham and Issac, ultimately finding themselves in Sodom and Gomorrah. Yeah. It doesn't take much to guess the direction of the story. The movie actually had alot of potential. At the end of the day, the script felt like Jack Black and a bunch of his buddies wrote the movie in someones basement while inebriated. I'm sure it all sounded very funny at the time.

I think we felt like the movie was trying too hard for shock value. If they would have let the stories happen in a more natural way, it could have been really good. They just couldn't leave well enough alone. They had to keep pushing the jokes and innuendos until you arrived at an uncomfortable, nervous type laughter. You now forget why you were laughing hysterically a few moments before, and just want the scene to be over. It was sad really. If only I were in charge of these types of things, I could have counseled them that less is more.

Caroline gave it:
(That's half a Zac Efron...)

Land of the Lost

Here is how to enjoy this movie:

1.Be asked to be YW Camp Director
2. Spend four days coordinating 40 people in the bugs, wildlife, dirt and endless heat.

3. Come home and nap for four hours.

4. Wake up and go to the late show with another Camp Director.

5. Be so delirious with fatigue that you find the mildly funny jokes entertaining.

6. Be so grateful to be in air conditioning that you don't mind that you just wasted 8 bucks.

So bad people. So very, very bad. Maybe there is a huge piece of the puzzle missing for me since I never watched the original series, but I can't imagine that's it. There was one line in the entire painful hour and a half that made me laugh to the point of tears but, again, see #5. Run, don't walk, away from this movie.



Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian

I enjoyed myself at this, but this is the kind of role Ben Stiller excels at. It's more of the same, which ultimatley is a good thing since the first one was so great. Do I seem as underwhelmed and noncommittal to you as I think I do?? There's just not a whole lot to say. Was it fantastic? No. Was it the funniest movie I've seen in a long time? Not particularly. In fact, probably the funniest part of the whole thing was my sister and I convincing my mom to come see it with us at the late show. She agreed, but only if she could take a nap earlier in the evening to prepare. While driving there, we passed a couple of cop cars who had pulled someone over.

"See! See! We're up at the time when the criminals come out."

"Seriously Ma, it's 10:15."

It's a bit like driving Miss Daisy.

Hank Azaria made this movie for me. Without his hilarious performance as the villain, it would have fallen way short of the first one's glory. All in all I really enjoyed it, and I think kids would enjoy it even more.

Caroline gave it:

Mom gave it:


Angels and Demons

Here is a well directed movie with Tom Hanks doing his thing. It's a tad violent, I will say that. But the story is fast paced, interesting, and I enjoyed Mr. Hanks (and his hairstyle, as long as I'm critiquing) in this Dan Brown story more than I did in the Davinci Code. I went into the theater convinced I had read this, but realized after the first 30 minutes that I had in fact started this book, and never finished it. Not sure how that happened, but I suddenly realized I couldn't remember what happened after a certain point. I found the end a bit unbelievable, but exciting none the less. That's all I ask for in a movie really. You can be over the top; just sell it to me. The acting was great, and the story sucked you in from the beginning. Made me want to read the book. From beginning to end this time....




Hopefully you're enjoying yourselves at the movies. I'm really looking forward to My Sister's Keeper. The book is fantastic, btw. And of course Harry Potter next month!! Anyone else hear that it's supposed to get a PG rating? Seems a bit light for the heaviness of book six...

"To her the name of father was another name for love."-Fanny Fern

I got a message yesterday asking if Rhett and I could be at the church this morning, half an hour early to meet with one of the Bishopric. I was getting a new calling.
Translation: A Sunday morning of complete and utter mayhem. On a good day...no, let me rephrase...on a great day, we get there five minutes late. Ideally this early apt time would mean I get the kids all bathed, lay out clothes, and find shoes the night before. Instead I read my book till way late and caught the tail end of a Saturday Night Live rerun.

If there was any vision of a homemade Father's Day breakfast dancing in Rhett's head, it was replaced with frantic shrieks of kids not finding socks, Drew running around in his diaper, me having a meltdown because I couldn't find my eyeshadow, and orders for everyone to get in the car and start thinking reverent thoughts, while throwing Gogurts at their heads.

We arrived only fifteen minutes late, where I was asked to work with the Young Women of the ward doing their Personal Progress. The end of church found me chatting it up with all my new teenager pals as I finally made my way to the car where Rhett had picked up all the kids and was keeping them entertained in the car.

He then made lunch for all of us like he usually does, and I believe now is currently sweeping the kitchen floor while I blog. How did I get a man like this you ask? I think I closed the deal by promising him a lifetime of baked goods (and he's a sucker for the sweets.) I seriously feel sometimes like you do when the insurance agency mails you a refund check. They claim you overpaid and now you have this fun surplus you never expected. A big part of you even thinks it's probably a mistake so you hurry and cash it before they can figure it out.
What can I say? Rhett, you are our undeserved rebate check and we love you. Your day will not be a complete loss. I made this video for starters, AND....wait for it....I plan to make some brownies later.

I've been blessed with great men in my life. I know I'm lucky. I know I'm blessed beyond my inadequate way of expressing it. In the impressionable years of youth, my dad taught me without even always saying it, that I could do anything, be anything, and that pretty much I was the greatest thing since sliced bread. Was I really? Could I really? No, but I would never have known that. Even now, when it looks like Rhett is annoyed by something I'm doing, I'm all, "What do you mean that's obnoxious? Don't you think I'm the greatest thing since sliced bread?...Wait...why are you rolling your eyes?"

My thanks to my Dad who loved me for me. No strings. My thanks to Dads everywhere who empower and love their daughters. My love and thanks to my husband who pretty much thinks his kids are the greatest thing since...

Notes from the Director

I am back from YW camp and have done little else but shower and nap for the last 48 hours. 40 girls, 5 days, tornado warnings, mice infestations, sweating my body weight, being constantly dirty and smelly, Raleen's car falling into the river, and home with a smile on my face. Rhett sent me this picture of Drew and thankfully my phone didn't get service where we were. Was he trying to break my heart??
I have been to YW camp as a leader serving in Presidencies over the last few years, so when I got asked to be Camp Director for our ward I did one of those arm swipes, combined with a confident snort...no problem, piece of cake, what else ya got?
Boy, that whole "pride cometh before the fall" scripture is earning it's keep with me lately. Thinking I knew what went into being the one actually in charge of getting 40 people up and taken care of at camp just because I had gone in the past, is like passing firefighters on the street and being all, "Hmm, just stand there in a big coat and shoot water at the fire. I could totally do that, nothing to it."

Yeah. I'm an idiot.

The theme for this years camp was Dr. Seuss' "Oh the Places You'll Go." And did we ever go. The camp was spread out over what I can only guess was a small city. There was never just a quick jaunt up the trail. Take a buddy, your canteen and we'll see you in 10-20.

The camp required two Certified Lifeguards at the pool at all times. Who knew the decision to become a lifeguard at 15 would serve me that many years later. It's the second time at camp I've been able to offer up my lifeguard abilities, and it's the funnest place to be. Everyone is happy at the pool. Especially when it's 103 and 80 million percent humidity. (Thank you to my girls who faked a cramp so I'd have to jump from my lifeguard chair and "rescue them.")
By the end, everyone was exhausted but happy and somehow I walked away with the nickname "Gangster Sauce." Teenagers. They're funny!
I always maintain that nothing empowers women more than feeling loved. At the end of the day, I think that is why YW Camp is such a powerful thing. A concentrated time feeling the love of each other and their Heavenly Father. It's amazing stuff.
Now I'm back to my full time job of keeping four kids entertained in a Texas summer until our yearly trek to Utah. (Yeah!) With camp now over, the only scary thing left is what calling is next...

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” - Winston Churchill

I woke up this morning, the first day of summer vacation, with complete and utter joy that I did not have to pack lunches, find misplaced shoes, sign binders/permission slips, or get a last minute note that oh BTW, your child is responsible for 20 cupcakes today. And to top it all off, I slept in uninterrupted until 7:05. It was glorious. (My inner teenager is horrified that I think 7:05 is sleeping in, but whatever. I'll take it.)

I thought I'd blog about my OC Half Marathon to celebrate the fact that I finally put my suitcase back in the attic after being home a little more than a month now from my trip to CA. See people, never worry about how pathetic you may feel at any given time. I assure you there is always a higher level of pathetic out there, and that I most likely have achieved it. So get out there and feel good about yourself!!

Kay, for starters, if I can stop my uncontrollable laughter just thinking of it, this is NOT me.

Knowing what I know now about surfing and the extreme level of difficulty, I just naturally assumed you would know that this picture is light years away from what I could do on a surfboard. But for reals, a serious THANK YOU to all those who made the leap that this was yours truly. (Rhett actually had to hold the computer an inch from his face to verify that it wasn't me. I needed a good laugh.)

So through a series of scheduling conflicts and knee injuries, it was finally decided upon that I would run the OC Marathon this past May 3rd in SoCal. (That's what us locals call it.)

Fellow runners out there can attest to the fact that once the race bug bites, the itch is not satisfied until you see it through. Doing the race there provided an excellent way to visit family. And let me tell you, if you ever would like to be a minute from the beach, have chance encounters with celebrities, be fed till bursting with great food, go to Disneyland and be driven everywhere, no matter how early, go stay with my cousins Alan and Kristina. (Email me. I'll give you their cells.) It was a much needed week of relaxing and fun. (Well, except for that whole running 13.1 miles thingy)

So even though the surfing picture was the result of a Google Images search, I did get some surfing lessons from my cousin. Well, he was wise to give me "ocean lessons" before we attempted surfing lessons. A city girl most of my life, I couldn't remember ever being in the ocean. Every time I got water in my mouth and it didn't taste like a lake, it was a shock to my system all over again. The water wasn't exactly bath water temps and the power of the waves was a bit startling as well.

So, I'm playing around in the waves with a Boogie Board for no more that 15 minutes before I start to notice Alan looking over his shoulder repeatedly. I don't think much of it at first since he had described the whole being careful to not drift to far away from where you start thing. But the more he looks, the more I start to remember that I am in the ocean and oh yeah, sharks live here. I finally ask him in a slight panic what he keeps glancing back at thinking at any moment he's going to say in that relaxed, chill SoCal way: "Now I don't want you to panic, but you see that dorsal fin swimming towards us? We're going to want to swim away from that."

What actually happened is going to be lost on so many since so few people in my life are fans of the show Prison Break. I love the show, and even sent my DVDs to Kristina and Alan and all but forced them to watch it, threatening guilt and family loyalty. My demands paid off with two new highly dedicated and enthusiastic PB fans. As it turns out, one of the stars of the show is Dominic Purcell, avid surfer, and local resident. Alan had seen him a couple of times around town, once being on the beach, and was pretty sure that a one Dominic Purcell was now walking our way down the shore.

We quickly devised a plan with no real structure once I got there, but that I would ride the next wave in on the Boogie Board and confirm that it was in fact him. I ever so coolly and not the slightest bit dork-ily, walked out of the water, got within five feet of him, turned excietedly back to Alan and gave him a big thumbs up while mouthing: "That's him!"

Later we started to construe this elaborate story that I had actually approached Dominic, we got to talking, became total BFF's, was asked to do a guest spot on the show...there was even talk at one point of Photoshop and putting together some doctored photos, but all that work and effort to make you all green with envy would be wasted on a mass part of my viewership who could care less. Dominic who? It pains me. But just know that it was very cool.

(Here is a rare picture of him smiling. He typically has all the trappings of the dark and brooding.)

A couple days later I attempted the real surfing deal. While the hardest part just might be getting in and out of the wetsuit, this sport is for real. I took a couple of spills that scared the living daylights out of me. It made getting eaten by sharks, fall down the list of things to be worried about. You walk away giving the ocean and the surfers out there making it look easy a little "Namaste" bow of respect.

We continued on my list of firsts by also going to Disneyland. That's right. Never been. I was experiencing the park much like my younger cousins, Ethan and Amara; Complete with being awestruck with the big costumed characters. My favorite ride of the day (and keep in mind I didn't ride everything) was Space Mountain, followed closely by Indiana Jones. My little cousin Amara helped me be brave during the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, by hugging me tightly throughout:)

(Ethan and Amara)


The place where all the magic happens.


Welcome to Liforni! You get the idea;)


This Star Wars show was awesome. Amara got chosen (by no small feat of the three adults all but tossing her out there during the picking process) to go get trained at the Jedi Academy. As it so happened, Darth Vader and Darth Maul showed up!! Can you believe the timing?? They had just learned how to fight with their lightsabers and not a moment too soon. There were some tense moments, but she stayed true to the Force and did not fall away to the Dark side.




Surfing, hobnobbing with celebrities, and Disneyland is a full and complete trip in and of itself, but there was still that business of 13.1 miles.

Training for a race is the meat and vegetables. Race day is the dessert. Especially if you can do it in a scenic place by the ocean. The course was beautiful, the weather was great, and my Ipod was full of good music. I started the race around 7am and ran it around a 2 hour pace. There was a loneliness to my training that I didn't like and so I worried I would feel a bit lost in a sea of runners, but I actually thoroughly enjoyed myself. It reminded me that race day is a solitary run for everyone, even if you have a partner with you. A race ultimately against yourself. Training for a race is setting an intention for who you want to be at the end of it, and race day is the accountability for that intention.

Part of our course was through this Wildlife preserve. I don't know why I thought this sign was just the funniest. It made me wonder who put it there. The people,or the birds...


I had such an excellent time and can't wait to figure out another excuse to go back. Besides, I promised Ethan and Amara I would up my Lego's Indiana Jones game skillset. It's painfully lacking. Thanks again you guys, for everything!!

"What distinguishes those of us at the starting line from those of us on the couch is that we learn through running to take what the days gives us, what our body will allow us, and what our will can tolerate." - John Bingham

Blogger Rehab

Yes, this a new post! (Insert all snarky comments about my blog slacking here) Lately I've even taken to just "stalking" blogs. Hello?! What's up with that? I'm a comment junkie! Love comments. Love getting them, love leaving them. That was when I realized I was in a serious blogging funk. (The first step is admitting you have a problem right?) So, sorry if I haven't showed you blog love in awhile. My prepared list of excuses are as follows:

-I have two blogs. Not sure what genius thought that a daily story blog would be manageable. Oh. Wait. Right....

-End of the school year MADNESS. Jerry Seinfeld would joke that if aliens looked down at our planet they would assume the animals were in charge since we were the ones walking around picking up their poop. I think the aliens could also make the assumption that the children were in charge if they looked down their giant alien telescope between April and May. I mean seriously people. Just how many "end-of-the-year" parties do we need? Maybe it is a Texas thing, but if I have one more "this is it, this is the last sugar and gift injected celebration before we don't see each other for two and a half months" party, I'm gonna lose my cotton pickin' mind.

-My next excuse I have to phrase carefully since my children do read my blog. So, I have this friend, (wink, wink) and she has a son in football. She was telling me that between the two practices a week (for two hours each time) and games on Saturday for weeks and weeks on end in the heat and humidity, she actually silently cheers for them to lose in the championship games so they can be done with the insanity already. I mean, can you believe that?? Wanting your child to be crushed by the sorrow of defeat just so you wouldn't have to feed, wrangle and manage the incessant cries of children for concession stand food from the bleachers for 2 and a half hours anymore? I mean, what is she thinking right? Personally, I love it.

-I am YW Camp Director and camp is in less than two weeks. If I say more, my carefully constructed facade of being on top of everything; being losing held together by sarcasm and denial, may just crack into a million pieces. There is so much to do in the next nine days. Anyone own a portable fire pit?

-My TV shows are over and I am now trying to pump muscle back into my brain by reading. I've read some good stuff lately...well, like Stephenie Meyer type good. Nothing super strenuous, but page turners none the less. (See my list on the side) Don't want to overtax my brain right out of the gate. It has been 9 months of shows.

-And lastly, I did just run my Half Marathon in California a few weeks ago. You would think that no longer having a time draining running schedule to be a slave to would free up a good chunk of time. As it turns out, six days of being fed and entertained by my cousins who I stayed with while in CA, turned me into quite the Diva. It has taken me awhile to get back into the swing of things. Back at my house, apparently, I am in charge of food and entertainment. Or so they keep telling me.

So stay tuned for details of my race and trip. While I was there I was a picture taking failure, but there is much to report on. As a teaser, here is an amazing shot captured of me learning to surf...picked it up pretty quickly I'd say...

“There is no way to be a perfect mother, and a million ways to be a good one”-Jill Churchill

The other day my mom says to me: "So, you don't think your posts about your childhood make me sound crazy do you?"
"Not at all!" I say, "They just make you seem funny and cute."
"Really?"
"Yes! Of course!"

Well, ok. Between me and you...maybe just the tiniest amount crazy.

I then told her that in some countries in the world, there are parents who go to bed with never getting blogged about and she should be thankful.

A sign of a good childhood is one where you didn't know how good you had it until you are no longer a child. I had no idea growing up that childhood could be ever be a scary or dangerous place. Traumatic things for me were if you didn't hear the call for ice cream and by the time you got downstairs, six other siblings had already devoured it. Animals! Or maybe it would be road trips where my sister would look at me. Or how about being forced to go to bed at the usual time during Daylights Savings. You'd lay there and hear your friends still playing outside and have to hang a sheet over the blinds to block out the sun.

"I can't sleep! It's not even dark!"
"Close your eyes and then it will be!"

Dying of thirst during church, and Mom telling you to just swallow your spit.
Not being able to talk on the phone until chores and homework were done.

I know. It was rough right?

One of my earliest memories is my mom helping me keep a journal. It was a wooden journal bound with leather strings. I couldn't write of course, but Mom helped me recall my day and I'd draw it in pictures. You might even say she helped me write my first stories. (And if I ever make it big and rich as an author, someone will say that.)

For my sixteenth birthday my Mom had me watch the kids while she ran an errand. I spent the next couple of hours in bitter resentment that my life was so unfair. I didn't know anybody who had to babysit their brothers and sisters on their birthday. Turns out Mom's errand consisted of braving a snowstorm to pick up 16 long stem birthday roses.

Once in college, I had lost my job and was just feeling stressed out and low. I called my Mom and told her I felt lost and confused and was losing faith. She told me to read my scriptures and find one that reminded me of how much my Savior loved me. The comfort I received from that experience is a defining moment in my testimony.

When Justin was born I flew back to Chicago to visit my family. I told her I couldn't believe how much I loved him. That it was instant and powerful but that I didn't always feel like I knew what I was doing. What if I screwed this up? She hugged me, smiled, "Welcome to the club."

Now I'm 31, and there are times I'd still like to climb onto her lap, have her play with my hair and tell me everything is going to be okay. But people tend to look at you weird. Instead I draw on my memories and the things she instilled in me that no amount of eye rolling or foot stomping could prevent. I remember to be firm but fair. To mix mercy with justice. To keep my sense of humor. To teach my kids how to work and how to be strong against the hardships of life. And some days...just a liiiiittle bit of the crazy.

I took for granted on a daily basis that what we were was safe and warm, loved and cared for. What an awesome thing to never know any different, and to think that one of life's great tragedies was never getting sugar cereals. Thank you Mom for the patience and love, the laughter and support. And lest we ever forget, the 36 hours of labor.

Mel and Ray's Movie Reviews (w/Guest Reviewers)

I've never been so happy to be at the movies lately. It's like my very own Movie Fairy Godmother has come to make all my theater going dreams come true. With Raleen and mine's hectic schedules the past few weeks I have exciting guest reviewers this round with their own fun rating systems.
From the movies that came out of left field and suprised, to the highly anticipated ones that did not disappoint. Well. I could gush forever, so, on with the reviews.

17 Again

So, my first question is: Where has Zac Efron been hiding? Oh that's right. On the Disney Channel. That my kids watch. That my eight year old has a crush on. So when Beth suggested we go see this with a group of our friends on the same night that State of Play came out, I did my best to suggest that maybe we go see a "grown up" movie. So happy she typically ignores my pleas like this, and makes me do things anyway. This. Was. So. Good.
It was hilarious, well acted, amazingly touching and even satisfied my inner sci-fi geek. (Beth and I even snuck off for a matinee and saw it a second time. It only gets funnier.) The movie is kind of like Big, but in reverse. Matthew Perry is the adult who made choices at 17, that now at 36, thinks have derailed his life. With the help of a "spiritual guide" he gets to go back to being 17, but with his 36 year old mind fully intact. He thinks this is his chance to take a different path, but instead
is a heartwarming and hilarious journey to put his family back together again.
I know cynics out there will say that this type of movie has been done again and again. (I know, cuz I was one of them!) But I promise you. Go see it. Zac has some serious acting chops, and the entire cast is as talented as the writing is brilliant. I mean, who of us wouldn't love to go back to high school knowing what we know now? Go and live vicariously. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll think Mr. Efron is oh so dreamy, and you'll thank me later.


Beth Ann gave it: (5 Lin Manuel Miranda's for non Broadway buffs)


State of Play

While I wasn't disappointed with this movie, it had it's pros's and con's. I absolutely love a good conspiracy story, and while this was definitely that, I struggled a bit with the pacing. Russell Crow, Helen Miren and Rachel McAdams turned in great acting performances. Ben Affleck...bless his heart, he's a sweet spirit, but he's, well, Ben Affleck. All in all he pulled it off, but would have loved to see someone more believable and gritty in the role. I think I wanted to be on the edge of my seat with this one, and while it had it's moments, sometimes I felt it dragged just a bit at times. Plus, if you're going to do the whole political conspiracy, (which has been sooo done) you need to really surprise us, and the twist at the end left me a bit underwhelmed. A highlight for me was a small role played by Jason Bateman. I just adore him.
He does what he does so well, and I believe he goes under appreciated because he always makes it look easy. He is such a smart funny actor who pulls me into whatever character he is playing every time, and his role in this didn't disappoint. I don't know if I would say go run and see this in the theater, but if you rented it, I think you'd really enjoy yourself.

Caroline gives it:


X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Okay, we have arrived at the part of the review where you may be embarrassed you know me. I love comic book/sci-fi movies. Not just like as a friend them, but LOVE them. And my love for X-Men stems from my childhood, and my loyalty is deeply rooted. I don't know why it's a surprise to me every time, when it's a challenge to get my girlfriends to go to them with me, but I keep forgetting that I'm a little nerdy. I ended up seeing this in the middle of the day, by myself. I'm pretty sure we can file that under Dedicated, and not Ridiculous. While I'm sure you can appreciate that there is some bias on my part, I can say, for the most part, I really enjoyed myself at this. It was well acted, tons of great action, and they told Wolverine's story well. While critics were disappointed with the lack of development with some of the other mutants stories, I thought the focus given them was appropriate given that this wasn't their story. The title is Origins: Wolverine, after all. It was so fun to see some of the characters I grew up with, like Gambit and The Blob, but ultimately I was there for Hugh. Er, I mean, Logan aka Wolverine. Another actor who makes what he does look easy. If you are a fan of the series, I believe you will walk away happy campers.


Star Trek

The best for last my friends! Probably the only other show we were more loyal to growing up than X-Men, was Star Trek. While I've never made it to a Convention, or know more than basic Klingon or anything, the Anderson's are a bunch of Trekkies. I cannot even convey to you how good this movie is. I am a huge fan of J.J. Abrams who directed the movie, and he continues to prove his genius time and time again. If you are a fan of the original series, you will just not even believe the casting and the writing. I can't even find words to describe it. They have their older characters down to a science. I had to physically restrain myself from standing up at times and saying things like: "Yes!! Oh my heck, yes, that is (fill in character's name here) exactly!"

The writing was perfect, the story was incredible and fun, visually stunning, and the actors were, in a word, amazing. I am trying very hard not to oversell it here, but probably failing miserably. Hands down my favorite movie so far this year. If I was a total geek I'd say something right now like: Set a course for this movie. Warp Speed.
But of course I won't. I mean, how lame right??....(Um, Engage...hehe..)

Mom gives it:

Caroline gives it:

I give it:




On deck: Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, Night At the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, The Soloist.

Why My Children Will Probably Need Therapy, Reason 44

Growing up, we were not allowed to sit on the couch. If you looked in the windows of the Anderson household any given night, you'd see us cozily huddled around the 19 inch TV while sitting on the floor, next to the couch. Furniture was expensive. The one couch that we had for years was continually being reupholstered. It was at least a two week process that consisted of batting, fabric, and a fully loaded staple gun. (Home improvement projects were a huge element to my childhood. If you came home and saw a pile of wood, a hand sander, and an economy size tub of turpentine, you would know your weekend was pretty much shot. But that's a post all in its own.)
Our excitement to finally be able to come into the family room again was met with a wild crazed stare and frantic arm gestures like we had all gone and lost our minds.
"Don't sit on it! It needs to stay nice!" Sometimes we'd be allowed to sit on it, but there were rules. You had to sit all the way back, no slouching, no laying, no eating, no rough play, no bouncing, no sliding off the front of it, no resting your arms on the armrests. Eventually Mom couldn't take the stress of it all and we were ordered back on to the floor.

There was also a formal couch in the living room that you were not allowed to even look at, lest you somehow wear it down with your eye gaze. I remember wanting to sit on this couch more than anything. I can't remember where she had gotten it, but there were few things worse you could do than try and sit on the living room couch. I tried to date before I was sixteen, hang out with friends my parents didn't approve of, say my term paper was done when it wasn't, but you wouldn't catch me within a twenty foot radius of the living room couch. I may have been a tad rebellious, but I wasn't crazy.

I would take this opportunity now, 20 years after the fact, to confess I once waited until she was gone on errands, and the kids occupied elsewhere in the house (couldn't trust those little snitches) and secretly sat on the couch for like four or five glorious minutes. But I won't. Even at 31 I know I can somehow still get grounded. It's like her superpower.

Anyone who's spent any time in my house over the last five years can appreciate that I may have some "couch issues." I've bought and sold five different couches looking for the perfect one. Somewhere along the way, I must have construed that the couch is revered and treasured. I buy one, and then quickly am convinced it is not "the right one." Whatever that means. To his credit, Rhett puts up with it amazing well. As long as I sell them, he's indulged me in the couch craziness. Personally I like to pretend I'm Indiana Jones and this is my own personal Quest for the Grail.

As I spent a good portion of the other morning cleaning, I realized that any trauma or baggage I may have associated with never being able to sit on a couch, is small potatoes to what I stress over with my own family.
After hours of housework, I don't want anyone to use the entire house.

"Wait! What are you doing? Don't use the bathroom, I just cleaned that!"
"What is your plan for those shoes? You weren't just going to leave those right there were you?"
"Uh ba-ba-ba-ba, why are you making a sandwich? Didn't you just eat a few hours ago at school?"

After a good scrub down of the kitchen the other day, I couldn't bear for any food to be made in there just yet. I piled the boys in the car and headed for the drive thru. I'm in my scrub clothes, hat pulled down low, dark glasses (since the drive thru workers light up when they see me like we're old pals) and was busy contemplating if my children will be traumatized by never being allowed inside a clean house. As we pull up to order, Drew, who says a total of about four words right now (Mommy, Dada, Uh-oh, and socks) says words five and six, that I had been suspecting for about a week that he could say: Chiggen Nuggies!

It's possible we are there a bit too much.

In the journey to becoming my mother, my understanding for why she did the things she did increases. Motherhood and running the household is a tricky business. So much of your hard work, blood, sweat and tears goes into cleaning up after everyone. It's also full of back breaking projects to beautify the home while trying to save a few dollars. There's this satisfaction that comes along with your work, and it can be heartbreaking, literally, to see it ruined after every one's been home for an hour. Buried in the realistic part of your brain, you know you can't escape the fact that it's not any one's fault. It's simply the place where everyone lives, eats, sleeps, plays, and relaxes. Dang it!
I tried to explain it to Rhett once like, "What if you had spent all day calling and meeting with clients, selling ads, making deals, resolving problems, only to come back to the office to see me on your phone and email systematically undoing everything you had spent the entire day getting accomplished? While he saw my reasoning, he pointed out that the house getting used and messed up is not a premeditated diabolical plot. Hmm. I suppose that's true.
When I was younger my mom's BFF, Pam Gower had a magnet on her fridge. It said: Housework is something people only notice when you don't do it. I have no idea how I remember that. My subconscious must have recognized that those were wise words and tucked them away until a day off in the future when I would truly appreciate them.
Maybe Mr. Incredible said it best: No matter how many times you save the world, it always manages to get back in jeopardy again. Sometimes I just want it to stay saved! You know, for a little bit? I feel like the maid; I just cleaned up this mess! Can we keep it clean for... for ten minutes!

"Fear is the path to the dark side." ~Yoda

No offense Master Yoda, but you are three feet tall, wear the same tattered smock day in and day out and live in a tree. You have a lot less to fear. My laundry load on the other hand...extremely scary. What's even scarier is that I spent more than six hours the other day doing nothing but folding laundry, and there was a new batch in the dryer this morning. I'm convinced we don't even own that many clothes. I think the laundry is now growing itself.

It's like those ridiculous trick birthday candles we always buy. After about the fourth time the flames come back, the jokes over, the birthday person is annoyed, and you're ready to just dump the cake in the sink.
Between never ending laundry or having to pull a star ship out of a swamp with my mind, I'd take the ship any day of the week. I'm sorry, what was that?...My geek is showing? Yeah, well, whatever.

Life in general has been a bit nuts lately which in turn has affected my blogging. Yet another thing to fear. As the days pass without a suitable update, I praise the invention of Caller ID. A week with no new post and I decline all incoming calls that say "Mom." She reminds me of Mike Meyers in that old SNL skit; Coffee Talk with Linda Richman?
"What? You're still not posting? Why not, you don't love your mother? You're out of topics? It's not that difficult. Here: the peanut is neither a pea nor a nut. Discuss."

Fear has also taken the form of my twenty month old who no longer naps, has become a finicky eater,(I resorted shamefully to feeding him a pudding Snack Pack for breakfast the other day) and has figured out in quick order, how to take off the doorknob protectors. He has been getting into everything. The laundry room, the pantry (for the sole purpose of either getting into food, or throwing food in the trashcan.) Closets, bedrooms and his own personal favorite, the bathrooms. He is drawn to the toilet and has determined that any consequence coming to him will be totally and utterly worth the two minutes of playing in it until I discover him.

We thought we were pretty clever for about twenty minutes after we installed the doorknob protectors. He couldn't get into anything, and was just going from door to door with this panicked and bewildered expression on his face. In my most loving and motherly manner I said, "Take that, punk."

He responded by figuring out how to take them off in no longer than half an hour. Sometimes, he just walks up to one, takes it off, throws it on the floor and walks away. I believe it to be the toddler equivalent of, "Who's the punk now?" Touche, Drew, Touche.

I suppose while I'm hanging out in Parent Rehab over here, it couldn't hurt to mention that we are also having an endless struggle with bedtime. It's kind of turning into the Taylor Bedtime Lottery. Some nights my firm no nonsense tone gets all four into bed with that small hint of fear in their eyes I so diligently work for. Other nights I pull my Sergent routine around 8:30 and it's all:

Hannah: Who is this clown?

Justin: I don't know, but she's blocking the TV.

Jackson: Can I have cake?

One night, I came across this scene in the office. I'm not sure, but if I had to guess, we could be doing better.

Let's see, what else? Did I mention that I'm training for a Half Marathon in like three weeks, (cannot wait for CA!) followed a week later by knee surgery? I'm also the YW Camp Director for my ward, along with Assistant Activity Days leader, Justin is in football, Jackson doesn't understand why he is not automatically in Kindergarten now that he is five, my brother is getting married in July, I started a Story blog, and oh, did I mention Drew doesn't NAP anymore??

I think about this time, Master Yoda would instruct,"Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will." Hmmm...true, true...but at this point, I'm thinking if the Death Star is quiet and equipped with toddler proof bathrooms, I'm in.

I best go for now. I think I hear the laundry forming a Union.

The Apostle Jeffrey R. Holland: None Were With Him

Mel & Ray's Movie Reviews

Since I'm behind with most things lately, it would only follow suit that I'm also behind in getting out movie reviews. If I'm going to be undependable and a slacker, I figure it's best to just fully commit. (The rating is out of 5.)

New In Town

This was funny. Was it the best movie ever? No. Does Renee Zellweger have a weird lip scrunching habit that annoys the living daylights out of me? Yes. Is Harry Connick Jr. pretty much hilarious just showing up to work? Absolutely. The story goes that the city girl is needed to streamline one of their production plants in Small Town, USA. She is ultimately transformed from the cold hearted business professional to the warm, lover of all things Minnesota. It is very formulaic (and seriously Renee, with the mouth, what is up with that?? So annoying. ) But at the end of the day, this was a pleasure to watch. I probably related to it on a deeper level seeing as Rene's character comes to Minnesota during the winter. People only think they know cold until they go to the Midwest. The supporting cast was an absolute delight and kept us laughing the whole time. I think in the end those characters were the difference between fun and touching or feeling stale and "done before." For sure rent or buy it when it comes out. It really is worth your time.



He's Just Not That Into You

The casting call for this movie must have gone out as, "Aspiring actors need not apply." With the exception of Hugh not being in it, they had a star studded cast, and even had a few of my favorites. I was thrilled that Justin Long was in it. He's been a favorite of mine since Ed. He was kind of the "player" who ends up dispensing hysterical straight forward advice to Ginnifer Goodwin's character. Lines like "An excuse is a polite rejection. Men are not afraid of “ruining the friendship.” or "Hey, let’s meet at so-and-so’s party/any club/friend’s house” is not a date."
Bradley Cooper was another favorite, has been since Alias, but I was disappointed they gave him the sleazeball character. And whoever was dressing Scarlett Johansen had a fixation with the 90's. I literally swear to you that I wore every single outfit she wore in the movie at some point between the years 1993-1998. Maybe I'm just weird, but I found it distracting the whole movie.

("Why is she wearing high waisted jeans with a belt?!" "Is that a flannel tied at her waist?!")

The movie provided some great lines and overall I'm pretty sure I liked it, even though I think Raleen enjoyed it a bit more than I did. For me it lacked a bit of cohesiveness between the stories, and with the exception of Long and Goodwin, the characters didn't give you a whole lot of good reasons to like or enjoy them.

My favorite line was delivered by Drew Barrymore's character:
"I had this guy leave me a voice mail at work, so I called him at home, and then he emailed me to my BlackBerry, and so I texted to his cell, and now you just have to go around checking all these different portals just to get rejected by seven different technologies. It’s exhausting." Makes me appreciate my high waisted jeans and flannels. The future of dating sounds hard.




Taken

By the time I saw this movie I really really needed a good movie. I had loved the trailer, and I just really didn't want this movie to disappoint. In the end, it didn't really, but I can't say it was what I expected. Liam Neison is hard core. I mean, he is Qui-Gon Jinn, trainer of Obi-Wan Kenobi for crying out loud. What else would you expect?! His performance carried the movie hands down, and ultimately that is why you enjoy it. His no mercy, no nonsense approach to getting his daughter back is a bit shocking at first. You expect him to be a tad nicer, but when you catch on that he's not going to be, you end up going along with it. He's a parent and he's mad as all get out. I get it. Raleen was less impressed with it. While she liked aspects of it, she thought he did alot of the same moves to get out of trouble. By the end she was a bit tired of him throwing his standard karate chop to the throat. I guess I thought, hey, if ain't broke don't fix it, you know? (The bad guys were just lucky he didn't pull any lightsaber action on them.) The actress playing the daughter was laughable at times. (To those who have seen it, what was up with the way she would run??) But the story really revolves around Liam's character and that is what is worth your 8.50. Or your 3.99 Pay-per view, or a spot on your Netflicks queue...




Duplicity

I looked up the word duplicity in the dictionary and it means: contradictory doubleness of thought, speech, or action; the belying of one's true intentions by deceptive words or action. Which is odd. After seeing the movie I would have thought it meant: long mediocre movie with two A list actors and a bad ending. Yeah! Zing! Got em!
There was no denying the chemistry between Clive Owen and Julia Roberts. But then again Clive Owen could most likely have chemistry with a couch.

It could have been better if the supporting cast was more fun and involved. It could have been better if the pacing was faster. It could have been better if they didn't throw in scenes that were clearly intended to confuse the viewer, but then never really came back and explained coherent reasons for doing it. We found the whole thing a bit of a mess with the added perk of Clive Owen as eye candy. This storyline was way beneath both of their acting ablilites and in the end, I don't know about duplicity as much as we know about feeling a bit duped.

"Because I knew you, I have been changed for good."-Elphaba & Glinda the Good Witch

A few years ago I ran a Marathon. (See, I really never get tired of saying that.) The day of the race it was cold, rainy and icy. (I also enjoy recalling that little tidbit as well. And YES, I'm pretty sure we had to go uphill both ways...) The weather deterred lots of the normal spectators and only the die hards were there along the route cheering us on. My family being one of them. As my friend Becky and I ran along, we quickly realized that we had no idea how much it would mean to have people there for you, cheering you on, supporting you, loving you...It ended up being as essential to us as our water and Goo packs.

It just happened to be that around mile 13 or so, we noticed a couple of spectators that we now recognized from earlier in the route. Each time they saw us they'd cheer and clap and tell us to keep going. I remember making a comment how nice those people were and how funny it was that we kept seeing them. We ended up seeing them probably five times throughout the course, and every time they cheered and encouraged us like old friends. Becky and I had stopped speaking around mile 23, trying to conserve energy, but incredibly, there they were again at mile 24. We let out a huge, "THANK YOU! YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST!" It surprised even me how emotional their support felt. They were strangers to us at the start of the race, but we were connected now. They were invested in us and us in them. Truly we all felt it.

That experience broadened my understanding of the people we meet in this life and why. I look back at my life's "course" and see the Lord's hand in the people he has placed on my route. A time, a year, a season, where certain people have touched my life and changed it forever. From high school friends, to college roommates, to extended family, to the kind hearted stranger who helped me to my car when she saw I was struggling with groceries and babies. Heaven does that. Gently loops and connects us to individuals throughout our life in ways that are sometimes fun and helpful, and in other ways truly profound. Sometimes these people are an answer to prayer, other times the Lord just sees fit to give us people that bless us in ways so big, we could never have even known to wish for it.
When I married into the Taylor family I was instantly aware of two things. First, I had gone from the beginning of the alphabet (Anderson) to the end, and second I had immediately acquired four new sisters. They were people I had never known in my previous twenty years, but since then, have come to touch my life in ways I could never have imagined. Probably none more than Rhett's sister Trisha who passed away last Sunday. She came into this world with physical and mental limitations, but her spirit was healthier and stronger than most. She was kind, and loving, funny and genuine. My mom has always said, "You love those, who love your children." Although she couldn't have kids of her own, Trisha loved ours with a mother's heart. She came to this earth so that we could learn from her, and I hope we learned well. Take heed of your life's cheerleaders and supporters. Love, acknowledge and treasure them everyday.

My heart is full that Trisha was placed on my "course" for the time that she was and I am changed for the good in knowing her.

Monday Morning Funnies

I would just like to point out that without fail, this is always Rhett's and Justin's expressions in pictures when clearly the photographer has yelled out, "Okay! Everyone act silly!" Cracks me up everytime.

"What day is my birthday going to be on next year?"-Jackson

Jackson: Can everyone come to my birthday?
Me: Everyone like who?
Jackson: Just, everyone.
Me: Does everyone have a name?
Jackson (shrugging his shoulders): We can go knock on all the doors and ask them their names and then invite them to my party?
Me: Ahh. So actually everyone. Yeah, no. Pick five friends.

Yes world, Jackson is five. Thought I would announce it here, although if you watch any of the cable news networks, it should make the scrolling ticker.

Currently he thinks he's reading Harry Potter like Justin. Truth be told he's actually "reading" The Magic Treehouse series, but it's been too cute to tell him any different. Justin brought home a random Magic Treehouse book from the library. The cover showed a boy with dark hair and glasses, flying on the back of a dragon. He'd see Justin reading Harry Potter and sit next to him on the couch with this MTH book and say he was reading Harry Potter just like Justin.

At the end of the book there are pictures of the next book in the series and he'd point to it and say, "Mom, I going to need the fourth Harry Potter Book." Thinking I had never heard anything more precious, I went out to Barnes and Nobel to add to his faux Potter collection. What could it hurt to play along? On a whim I asked the sales lady how many of these Magic Treehouse Books there were.

"Oh, I think around forty?"

Can't you just seem him in third grade, talking Harry Potter with his friends?
"What's your favorite Harry Potter?"
"Um, three was great, but if I had to choose a favorite it's probably 27."
He'll come home ticked, and I'll have to scrounge up a pen and my running list of reasons my kids will need therapy.

Surly we all traumatize our kids to some degree by not correcting them on things sooner. Growing up my mom always refereed to ponytail holders and barrettes and such as, "hair pretties." One day during high school my brother Will was walking with a group of friends. One of the girls started to complain about her hair. Will noticed the scrunchy on her wrist and without breaking stride said, "Why don't you just pull it up with your hair pretty?"

Yeah, after being thoroughly laughed at and teased, mom had some explaining to do.

If you've ever watched the Emeril cooking show, you will apprecitate that Jackson is the "BAM!" in our family. He keeps things interesting and entertaining, but comes up with just enough crazy shenanignas that I tuck away a little money here and there that I like to call, "The Jackson Bail Money Fund."

He is so full of life, I'm not sure how it all got squeezed into his little body, but he is a treasure for sure. Happy Birthday Bud, you are finally five. It's all downhill from here.

26.2 And Lived To Tell The Tale

Meet the four courageous souls who decided to tackle the Cowtown Marathon 2009. Daniel, Natalie, Caroline and Kellianne. I did this race three years ago and was going to run it with them this year but had a knee injury setback. Instead, I went with my Mom, Dad and younger brother Michael to cheer our hearts out. This is the pack right before the race. I gave them all the advice I could, but in the end, there's no understanding until you do it.

As it unfolded in the day, these four were fast and hard to track. We felt a bit like cops chasing convicts. Speeding, taking side roads trying to cut them off, communicating by walkie talkies (cell phones)..."do you have the subjects in sight?" Stuff like that.

Mile 19 still looking good and strong.

Dan and Natalie at 19.

Kellianne at 7.

This was mile seven and we were lucky to catch them here. The purple tags are the half marathoners and the yellow are the full. We got ourselves trapped down on the race course where the half-ers break away from the full course. Before we knew what had happened we were cut off by a sea of purple and couldn't seem to get back to the kids till mile 16. They were also a bit too fast. I informed them that if they had wanted better pictures they needed to have slowed down! We got GREAT pictures at my race. I'm just saying.

When I ran the race a few years ago, my family was there following and cheering me on. Daniel would always be yelling out ridiculous sentiments of encouragement. About mile 13 he shouted, "Melanie! Take your pain, put it in an envelope and mail it to the finish line!" I'll tell you, I rarely ever get a chance to wax poetic. Sarcastic, Sardonic, all the time. Poetic? Hardly at all. You better believe I loved telling him to mail his pain to the finish line around mile 16. Sorry about the yelling and screaming in the following video we captured around mile 16. It's a tad obnoxious.



There are few things more emotional than running that final stretch of a Marathon. There are so many elements of the race that test the conditions of the human spirit. Hundreds of miles run during months of training. The highs and lows of strengthening and pushing not only your body, but your mind and spirit. Everything culminates into this perfect storm of excitement, anxiety, adrenaline, hope, despair, and finally accomplishment. To hear people screaming for you at the end that you did it, you really did it. Well. There are just few moments like it.


Here's our crew flying up to the finish line.

I know I am looking a little gangster here. If you weren't running, then it was VERY COLD! Grabbing Rhett's BYU sweatshirt at the last minute was a great choice. Turns out alot of BYU fans ran the race. "GO BYU!" I ended up being very popular.

When the high wears off you think: Holy cow I just ran 26 miles. I'm hungry and really need a nap.

My Brain Child: The Story Blog

I have had this idea for a “story blog” for quite some time. (came up with that complex name all by myself--Impressive, no?) A place where I could write, push myself creatively and have others read it. The idea felt like a Yin and Yang of excitement and insanity. It stewed and festered in the "idea pot" in my mind. The problem with us creative types is that we dream and dream, and only come down out of the clouds long enough to look around to see if all our dreaming resulted in something actually getting accomplished. Many a night I have sat in front of my computer with every intention to just start, and have literally stared at my computer. Like, Homer Simpson-esq staring. As it turns out, if you have an idea, you must then DO something to make it come to fruition. I know, weird right?

My desire to do it has always remained constant. My reasons for doing it have been all over the map. To give you a quick tour of the inner workings of my brain, (and trust me, you WANT the quick tour), my reasoning’s went something like this:

“I like to write. I should write a story and post it where people can see it. Maybe get some feedback, some constructive criticism...yeah, I should totally do that.”

(Sometime later, with no progress and a need for motivation…)

“I should write a story blog, and then maybe, just maybe some famous publishing company will somehow stumble across my blog and be so wowed that they offer me a publishing deal. I could stash all my earnings in a hidden compartment in my closet, and forever and ever be able to buy as many shoes as I wanted for the rest of my life and no one would know how I was doing it. Oh man that would be so awesome.”

(Some more time later, at Yoga class, sitting in Child’s Pose…)

“What is my problem? My diabolical and genius plan of being able to buy endless shoes is going to be way less fun if I can’t implement it till I’m 80.”

(Some even more time later, brainstorming my idea with my mother over lunch…)

Mom: (raising an eyebrow at my writing exercise/shoe conspiracy idea) "You should do this. Speaking as a reader, I want you to do this."
Me: I've lived in your uterus, i think you HAVE to say that.
Mom: If creatively you have something to say, what's the hangup about saying it?

(Weird how your mom can always cut through the nonsense and get you to do something productive, even when you’re old and grown.)

Truly, this will be an exercise in writing, and a place for me to both express myself and grow as a writer. Yes, I am a writer. (I’m trying to say it more) I mean, why not? Why don’t we get to define ourselves? Why must we wait for the world to define us by their standards? We are always waiting on other people to tell us when we are a good student, a good daughter, a good son, a good friend, a good person. What if we just know ourselves, and call it how we see it?

Creatively, this story blog is exhilarating. As a human, it’s nothing short of completely terrifying. Many of you, who will hopefully be reading this, read my own personal family blog. You should know that many a post is me up late at night—
Bordering on giddy with the sounds of silence and solitude, I’m totally okay with the fact that I'm probably just amusing me as I’m typing and chuckling to myself. It’s an outlet and it’s fun and quite honestly, kids are so hilarious and real, I rarely have to try very hard.

But this. Well, this feels a bit like that awful dream where you end up at your high school and somehow arrived with no clothes on? There’s a moment in that dream where you’ve noticed you have no clothes, but no one else has noticed you just yet in your birthday suit. It's a small, slow motion moment where you wonder if there is any way to get out unnoticed and fix your slight oversight. No harm no foul. But inevitably, just as your dream-self thinks it, that first person sees you and then it’s all pretty much downhill from there.

Yes, this feels a bit vulnerable, a bit like reaching that point of no return in your naked dream where you come to terms with the fact that you did this. You’re the idiot who came to school with no clothes. Why in the world did I not get dressed this morning?, you think to yourself. Nothing left to do now but go to your classes and try and make the best of it. Maybe people will forget by tomorrow and things will just go back to normal.

Yeah, because that could totally happen.

The Story Blog idea is based on a writing exercise I did in my Creative Writing class, my senior year in high school. Every day we'd sit down and Mrs. Whitehorn would have a different word written on the board. (Mrs. Whitehorn seemed to be like 20 years past retirement, didn't take much nonsense, and taught me much. I miss and think of her often.) From that word, we would relax our minds, quickly write the first associations we had with that word, and from those first initial thoughts, construct a short story.

And as they say, "that's where YOU come in." That's right, you. Think long and hard (or not, how am I gonna know?), of a word and leave it in the comments. On a rotating basis, I will use them and that one word will be the jumping off point-the inspiration if you will, of a short story. Each story will consist of at least 3 posts, and dedicated to the one who's word I used.

I'd love comments whenever possible on the story blog. A huge part of this is to see if I am making the connections I want to, are things coming across clear and coherent, are you enjoying yourself? It can be a paragraph, or it could just be as simple as,

“Good.”
“Enjoyed it.”
Or
“Total garbage.”

The feedback would be super helpful and maybe your comment would bring enjoyment to someone else. Maybe it’s possible to solve the world’s problems one blog at a time, one comment at a time.

What?? You don’t know.

If you choose to read and not comment that’s also fine. Just know that I will know, my soul will be crying silent tears, and I’ll be eating chocolate to fill the hole inside. But you know, whatever you think.

Even more than being critiqued, I really just want to write something people will enjoy. To have joy in being creative. To put something out there that people would look forward to reading, and really strengthen my "voice" in my writing. Man. All the chocolate in the world wouldn’t come close to something like that.

(Click here for The Story Blog.)

Why My Kids Will Probably Need Therapy: Reason No. 23

I've decided to just make a running list of all my parental screw ups. While this may seem morbid and depressing, I think in the long run when I'm able to just hand over a list to my children's future therapist; I'd like to think I'd be seen as efficient.

We're at church on Sunday and Drew is, wait for the shocker--acting horrible during Sacrament Meeting. (First hour of three, with one more week until the sweet release of Nursery for the last two hours.) Rhett happens to be on the end of the row holding him, with the other 3 children in between us.

*Side note*--When Rhett and I were newlyweds we'd see couples who'd sit at church with their kids in between them and we'd make each other promise that we would never let that happen to us. Even if we had 10 kids, we would always sit and snuggle next to each other. I mean, why sit all the way across the pew from each other when the children could just sit next to us quietly and reverently?? How sad to let the romance die like that.

So Drew starts to squirm and fuss and Rhett gives me that quick glance of: Your week to take him out. I then put my hands up in an exaggerated (and kind of fake) shrug like: I would, but I'm stuck, see, I can't get out.

I then enjoy a lovely meeting with great speakers and a beautiful musical number. I walk out into the foyer after the meeting, filled with goodness and love for my fellow man, to greet Rhett who looks like he wants to tell me just what I can do with all my goodness. Fair enough. Drew has been awful he reports. Worse than the usual Sunday jitters.

"Did he eat this morning?"
"Yes! Of course!"
"Well something is off, he is acting crazy."
"He had to have eaten. You fed him after his bath right?"
"No. Did he eat anything after you dressed him?"

Yeah, we forgot to feed him. The poor thing isn't stir crazy, he's starving. My mom says there's something to that fourth child. You're always forgetting stuff. She pointed out that our family's fourth is Eric and I'm all, "Oh yeah, we used to forget him at the church all the time!"

Bless his heart we really did seem to forget him places. You'd think with seven kids, it wouldn't be the same kid forgotten over and over. But oddly enough..... At least Drew will have someone to commiserate with when he's older. For now, if you happen to be at the church and see Drew walking around, and our car gone...call me.

Forgetting Eric one year after picking out a Christmas tree.

I Will Soon Be Visited By the Ghosts of Valentine's Past, Present and Future

I go into this post full heartily knowing that I am most likely in the minority with this opinion and also in serious jeopardy of getting my "chick card" revoked. Or suspended at minimum.

I don't get Valentine's Day. In fact, I'm somewhat of a Valentine's Day Scrooge. Every year when the store isles start to take on that red and pink puffy look, the eye rolling begins. I mean, help me understand. The highest declarations of love must be made on this day?? Why?

Our toddler took his diaper off during his nap the other day, played finger paint with the contents, all over himself and his bed. I had to bathe him twice to get rid of the funk coming off him and quarantine his room similar to how they drape off a biochemical spill, complete with donning a homemade Hazmat suit. Also, I didn't act on my first impulse and put him on the front porch with a sign attached: Free to a Good Home.

If THAT doesn't convey love of the highest standard, no box of chocolates or new shirt ever will.

In my day, valentines were homemade. If Sally Jo was Best Friends Forever with Dorthy Sue, she'd make this massive, multi layered heart complete with doilies, glitter and candies pasted all over it. She could then move onto you where maybe you'd get a red square that said: Happy Valentines Day. Could have just as well gone to the lunch lady for all the sentiment to it. It would usually end up sticking to everything else in your box because it had random glue transfered onto it from Dorthy Sue's Valentine monstrosity.

In high school girls would work themselves up into a fine frenzy if it was nearing Valentine's Day and they didn't have a boyfriend. I seriously knew people who broke up in say December, but got back together in February when it occured to them they'd be alone on V-Day. It made no sense to me. I had half a mind to stop some random guy in the hallway:

"Hey, you, with the hair, you have a girlfriend?
"No."
"Do you have any money?"
"A little, but--"
"Great, meet my friend. Just for today, hold her hand in the hallway and buy her one those Flower Gram thingys floating around."

I swear she would have been just as thrilled and it would have saved me from having to call and break up with her boyfriend for her. Again. In March.

I will say that I don't mind Valentine's Day as a tool to weasel in an extra present for the year. I can vie for something on my wish list using the phrase, "Can I get it? It's almost...Valentine's Day." That seems to work better than saying, "Can I get it? It's almost...Wednesday.

Maybe it's because I've been fielding class parties, candy, baked goods, gifts and holiday projects since Halloween and my holiday spirit is running a tad dry. Or maybe this holiday reminds me of those times when my siblings and I would fight and my Mom would stick us together and say, "No one is leaving this room until you realize how much you love each other!"

Being my free spirited self, I tend be spontaneous in my gestures of affection. It must be my inner hippie that just wants to have us all love everyone all the time. Being told to love, and be loved on this day feels a bit contrived to me I suppose. I can appreciate what the holiday is attempting to do. Life moves fast. Sometimes we take for granted that the people in our life know we love them and that they love us. I suppose Valentine's Day is an attempt to slow us down and take stock of it all.

Aww, wouldn't ya know? I think my inner Scrooge and my inner Hippie just exchanged Conversation Hearts.




My friend Beth is young and hip and only has boys. So when she came across a blog that illustrated cute Valentine's Day hairdos for little girls, she was all over it. She invited my Hannah and like 5 other girls over to do their hair for Friday. This is a huge variation from Hannah's daily hairstyle which consists of her climbing into my bed at 6:30 in the morning, where I brush her hair back into a ponytail or bun before I have even reached full consciousness . Beth's house was full of girls, ribbons, treats, hairspray and giggling. I think we reached the cap on girliness allowed in one place! Thanks again Beth, you rock.

Hibachi: Coordination Required

I was picture tagged by Tara...the rules were to go to your sixth picture file and take the sixth picture in that file, and blog about it. Whatever it was. Thankfully I chose to do this one from my laptop that is usually full of random pictures sent to me by friends. Case and point this one. This was hibachi with some fantastic friends. Left to Right, Lo (Lauren), Beth Ann, Xela, Jenn and me. We had gone to this Hibachi place before and at the end of the meal, our chef had cut up a piece of shrimp and tried to have everyone catch a small piece in their mouth. Sounds fairly straightforward, right? I knew, I knew this was not going to go well for me. It's why I was never any good at softball--I can't keep my eye on the ball. Objects start flying at me and I get all flustered. Even after we all had tears streaming down our faces at my failed attempts with me waving "no more! no more!" he still sent shrimp flying at my head. Finally he resorted to putting the spatula like 1 inch from my mouth and tossing it in. That wasn't humiliating at all.

So we meet again (this night) and I'm running late. When I walk in, my Bishop and his family are sitting at the table right across from us celebrating their son Blake's early graduation. The chef serving them is ironically doing the shrimp tossing thing right as I walk in and, OF COURSE, has one piece left. Seeing me head over to our group, he wants me to be the one to catch the last piece. I'm like a stinkin magnet for these shrimp throwing people. I of course didn't catch it, but it was pretty funny circumstances given our last experience.
Hibachi night is turning into a tradition, along with laughing at Melanie getting seafood thrown mercilessly at her head. It's good times.

BTW I take my revenge, er, I mean, I tag Xela, Lo, and Beth Ann