The Proposal

I knew from the first time I saw the preview for this movie that I would love it. And, I was right! This movie was so cute. I LOVE Ryan Reynolds's sense of humor. His facial expressions crack me up! This is the #1 movie in America for a reason. It's worth the $8 you spend nowadays for a movie in the theaters. It's funny, sexy, well written, and touching; all bundled together for your movie viewing enjoyment. I've heard that some critics say that Betty White steals the show. I would have to disagree. She only has a few scenes and some of them are awkward. I would give most of the praise to Ryan and Sandra. Their on-screen chemistry was brilliant. They should do more movies together. Five stars in my book.

I'm not trying to turn my blog into a movie review page, but I've seen so many lately that I'm having a hard time talking about anything else. I'll have a nice long post to put up after Howie and I return from Yellowstone. We're going there this next week to celebrate our first anniversary! I'm SO excited! I've looked up pictures of things I want us to visit and I just can't wait to show them to Howie. He's never been so it will be fun to show him around. I'll post plenty of pictures, I'm sure.

Gran Torino - Waste of time.

This movie is probably the worst movie I have ever seen. I have NO idea why it got even semi-good reviews. The acting is horrible, the language is horrible. It's full of nothing but racial slurs. The only reason why we even watched it was because my Father-in-law picked it out to watch for Father's Day. I don't think he cared for it either. Please don't waste two hours of your life on this movie like I did! This movie is right down there with Vanilla Sky on my list of ridiculously bad movies.

On a good note, I'm going to see The Proposal tomorrow night! I'm so excited to see it. I love pretty much everything Sandra Bullock does. It should be a fun girls night out! Plus, I'll get to get this horrid movie (Gran Torino) off of my "last movie I saw" list.

Happy Father's Day!

I love my Dad. He's been the best Dad ever. He's always been there for me when I'm in a bind. If ever I need a handy-man, I know who to call.In this picture, below, he doesn't look too happy, but he's never been big on having his picture taken. I LOVE the look on my face. So funny. My Dad has asked for money towards a new camera lense, so that's what we're all chipping in for. He has gained a fairly new love of photography and I want to help encourage that as much as I can. I think it's important for my parents to find new hobbies in their older age to keep things interesting. That way they won't get bored. Here's my Dad at my wedding. I love that our photographer caught him with his camera. I love you Dad! Thanks for all that you do for us. Happy Father's Day!

Howie's Army Party - 6/20/09

I organized a surprise party for Howie to celebrate him finishing his 8 year contract with the United States National Guard. It couldn't have gone any better! We had such a blast with close family and friends. I'm so glad I decided to do this for him. He really enjoyed it and we had an awesome turn out. I rented a game room at Noah's in South Jordan. Here's what the room looked like.

It had a pool table, ping pong table, a huge projector screen for watching movies or playing video games, shuffle board, and an arcade game shown below. Don't let the single arcade game fool you. It had over 100 games on it to play! My contribution to the food was a 6' sub from Blimpie. Howie loves Blimpie so it was only appropriate that I get him a monsterously huge sandwich from there, right? Yes, it was as tall as a person. It was yummy though! We got the Blimpie Best.

Best part about it was that Blimpie already had it nicely sliced and ready for us to serve. That saved a lot of heartache for me because I thought I was going to have to do it all. I was so happy to open it up and have it ready to go. Thanks Blimpie!I made a banner for Howie.

This picture is a little dark, but at the back of the room was my family's contribution to the food. We had a fruit tray, chicken noodle soup(which really came in handy due to the inclement weather), rolls, 7-layer bean dip(huge hit!), chips and dip, cookies, potato salad, and green salad. We had SO much food! It was perfect.

Here is Howie with his immediate family. His Dad, Barbara(his step-mom) and Sharon his step-grandma. We're so glad they could come and celebrate with us. I wish we got the memo that it was Hawaiian shirt day!

Now let the games begin! Here's my Uncle Kevin and Howie battling it out on the ping pong table.

I thought, for sure, Howie would spend most of his time playing video games. That's why I told my brother to bring every game console he had! But, really, Howie was most interested in pool and just hanging out and talking to people. I actually, believe it or not, played more video games than he did. Here's me rocking out to Rockband.I even provided the drums for one of the songs. I failed us on the first song because it was too freakin' hard! Then we did a slower song and I did ok. It's harder than it looks!

My Aunt Patty and my cousin Brandy singing No Doubt. They are so awesome!

We even got my Grandma in on some Wii Bowling action. Yes, that is my Grandma playing Bowling on the Wii. It was funny to watch her because she couldn't quite grasp the controler right and every time she went to take a turn, her character would drop the ball backwards. Haha! She still had fun though. She actually beat me on the second game we played.Overall, Howie had a really great time! He kept thanking me through-out the night and telling me how much fun he was having. I'm so glad I did this for him. I'm glad he enjoyed it. I'm the bestest wife ever. ;) I'm so thankful to everyone that contributed and came. It was a blast!

New In Town

What a great movie. I know you're probably thinking the same thing I did from the previews. Big city girl is forced to move to a small town for work and does not anticipate getting emotionally attached to the place or the people in it. She's there to do a job and nothing else. Inevitably she falls in love and finds a reason to stick around. Yes, that's what the movie is about. It's pretty predictable. But what I didn't expect was for this movie to be so stinkin' funny! I love Renee Zellweger and just about every movie she's done. She's one of my favorite actresses and this movie only adds to my list of movies I love with her in it. If you didn't give this one a chance in the theaters, rent it. You won't be sorry you did.

Wasatch Woman Love Your Body 5K/10K 2009

I heard about this event from something I got in the mail. It's funny because I don't usually do things like this, but as soon as I saw this ad I thought "I'm going to register for that." And today, I did! Running a marathon is on my bucketlist. This isn't a marathon, but hey, it's the closest thing I'll have done to one by the time it's over.

I've called a few people to ask if they would want to do it, too. I would hate to do something like this alone. I'm most excited about the Diva Night the night before! Here's more info.

Brief Description: The Love Your Body race was created by Wasatch Woman magazine for women who care about their health, fitness, community, friends, families and especially about themselves. By treating yourself well, you are able to achieve your personal best and be an inspiration to others. Be part of the largest women’s only run. After your run, join us at the Love Your Body EXPO and post-race party. Runners & walkers are welcome! Women only.

Full Description: Last year we sold out and, unfortunately, had to turn away about 200 women because they waited too long to register. We expected 400 participants, but we ended up with over 600 runners and walkers. This year, we expect the turnout to be even bigger. Because of that, we’re going to hold the event at Sugar House Park and encourage women to sign up early. We hope you’ll find whatever reason you need to decide to do something good for your body and join us this year.

Diva Night: Join us on Friday night, August 21 for Diva Night. You’ll want to come for great food, inspiring speakers, lots of great prizes — a night out with the girls to get ready for the next day’s race. You will get your t-shirt, bib # and race packet at Diva Night, too. Watch for more details on Diva Night to plan your weekend.

You can go here for more info: www.wasatchwoman.com

The cost is $20 for the 5K run or walk and $30 for the 10K run. I don't think they offer a 10K walk.

This should be fun. It will be nice to accomplish something that I've never done or even attempted before. Looks like I'll have to start building up my endurance!

Oquirrh Mountain Temple

Today I got the wonderful opportunity to attend the open house for the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. My ward decided to do this as their summer primary activity, so we got to go. I went with my best friend, Genelle, and her baby, Jake. Howie had a late night last night and was too exhausted to go. He'll get to see it some day. This Temple is beautiful! (as they all are) But we really enjoyed this one. The celestial room and bride room were my favorites. Those usually are in every Temple. We had a great experience, but I will say this DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT GOING UNLESS YOU HAVE A RESERVATION AND YOU HAVE PRINTED OUT THE PAPER TO PROVE IT. I arrived late to our ward building this morning and did not get the paper to prove I had a reservation. I thought "no biggie". It's not like they're going to turn us away. Boy, was I wrong. We were sent down the street to the nearest stake center where they had people waiting to help you with a reservation. I had to explain our story several times before we were finally allowed to attend the open house. They are a lot more strict on this one than they were with the Draper Temple. They said it's because of the way they did the Draper Temple, some people were waiting 4 to 6 hours just to see it! Crazy. So, don't even think about showing up unless you have that golden piece of paper.

Loss of A Loved One

On May 31st, 2009 my Aunt Janette passed away. She was a mere 56 years old. On Thursday I have the priviledge of paying my last respects to a great woman. She raised nine children, one of them was down syndrome. She had a great love for her friends and family. This is the second Aunt I've lost within the last six months. The first was just last December, my Aunt Lynn. Both are from my Mother's side. My Mom came from a family of nine kids, her being the seventh. My Mom's older sisters were more like Mother's to her. They have always been a very close family so to have two pass in such a short time is really a shock.

Death has a way of putting things into perspective. There are many questions that have gone through my mind the past few days. I tend to think of it most while I'm driving home from work. That's my "thinking time". Am I being the person I've always wanted to be? Am I being the person I SHOULD be? Have I kept the focus on what's really important? Are my goals that I'm making today going to get me to the celestial dwelling above that I so desire? Am I making my Father in Heaven proud? Do the people around me know how much they mean to me? If my life is limited to a mere 50 years, will that sit alright with me? Will I feel accomplished enought to be ok with that?

I believe that every person in my life is in it for a reason. I love and appreciate them all. My heart goes out to all of my cousins in this difficult time. I can only imagine what it feels like to lose someone so close. Janette was a sweet spirit on this Earth and will be greatly missed. Thanks for reading.

SO Excited!