Love and Happiness of the Fourth Kind

Happy 4th of July!! I love my country! I love that we celebrate that love with fireworks and barbecues. I loved sitting out on my porch last night with my family watching the town fireworks below. (Good thing the town fireworks were on the 3rd because there's a big old thunder storm going on tonight.) It was hilarious to hear Nina wowing and aahhing and exclaiming very loudly "OOh a PINK one!!" every minute or so. Then there was also the throwing of pops at the ground by Sophie and Ben (Nina opted out of throwing pops - she still doesn't like loud sounds), followed by them stomping around to get any pops that hadn't popped. We all took turns taking pictures of the fireworks and of course I made everyone pose for a couple of pictures too. We had fun. Hope your 4th of July weekend was fun and full of love too!

Eclipse Fest

I still have a bit of an Eclipse hangover, but it's coupled with complete Twihard giddiness so I'm okay. On the 29th I got to go to a fabulous Eclipse party at my friend Tracy's house that started at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Wonderful friends, food, and treats and every possible surface and wall in her house covered with Twilight paraphernalia (she has 4 very Twi-enthusiastic teenage girls). It was awesome in every way! Thanks Tracy!!

Jenny and I went together (and quickly became known as "the Jennys" - the curse we share having the most popular name from 1975-1985). After the party we all headed to the theater where we watched not just Eclipse, but Twilight, New Moon and then at midnight Eclipse. Oh it was heaven! I was the only person in the theater to cheer for Edward's horrible pastiness when he takes off his shirt in New Moon, but that's okay, he deserved a little cheer after the applause and hooting that Jacob gets during his Chippendale's moment in the motorcycle scene. I couldn't believe how quickly Twilight and New Moon flew by. You would think watching 3 movies in a row would be too much, but no it was absolutely fun and the time passed so fast. Of course the intermissions were also lots of fun. Chatting with fellow Twihards. Nice.

Then Eclipse. Oh it was GREAT!! Really really. I loved that the whole movie had lots and lots of Edward. The newborn fighting was fun times and there was even a plug for waiting until marriage during the famous (and yes quite steamy) "compromise" scene. I thought the whole thing was awesome. Okay now, the most awesome awesomeness was about a 25 second scene with the original vampire the Quileutes faced played by none other than PETER MURPHY!!! He really was in it!! He was billed in the credits (which I stayed to watch on my second viewing) as "The Cold One"!! Ha!! Don't I know it! Yes, Peter Murphy is The Cold One and always will be! I want to make myself a "Team The Cold One" shirt!! Woohoo it was great! And Bryce Howard as Victoria I think was a good choice. If you remember in the books she has a sweet child like voice which I think the other Victoria chick didn't even try to do, whereas Bryce Howard nailed that evil sweetness. Rosalie's and Jasper's back-stories were just awesome. Jacob's and Edward's fire and ice scene in the tent was pretty good (I wish Edward would have been a little more verbose shall we say, but hey I guess at this point I really shouldn't expect Rob to be book Edward so I let it go). One problem. Can they please figure out what color they want the good vampires' eyes to be??! In this one they were almost orange and that bothered me a little. I think I like the color in New Moon the best and of course think Twilight with their brown contacts clearly visible was the worst. We'll see how it will be in Breaking Dawn though I cringe to even think of that book becoming a movie - Monster Baby pregnancy?? Oh it's gonna be gross. But of course I'll watch it anyways. Anywho, I thought Eclipse was fab. And it was so fun to see it with Jenny and Tracy and other new Twihard friends. I swear half the theater was Mormons.:)

And of course as per tradition Adrian and I went and saw it last night again (in IMAX!!) so I could see it twice on opening day. It just wouldn't have been right not to. We had Olive Garden before, with mushroom ravioli again and it was great. Adrian still refused to fully embrace the part of Edward and not eat and give me his Coke, but oh well.:) We had a great time together and Adrian genuinely liked the movie. He smiled at my reaction to Peter Murphy's 25 seconds and laughed that I wanted to stay for the credits just to see Peter's name up there as a vampire. I also think he liked that TwilightSagaEclipse (we say it like that now too Cami!) was more of an action movie than the other two.

So there you have it. My 32 hours of serious Eclipseness. It was great. It was fun. It was fabulous. And I'm so glad I got to share it with good friends and my ever supportive husband.

Aren't the ribbons in our hair cute?! That was Jenny's fab idea to match the ribbon on the cover of the book. Jenny had a very cute "La Push Cliff Diving Team" t-shirt that she made herself. The necklaces were favors from Tracy's party - little tiny Eclipse book covers on scrabble tiles. So fun! I got Eclipse party swag!:)

Brace Faced Cutie

Yep, Sophie got braces and now officially looks like an adolescent child to me. Between that and middle school she is making me feel old! She opted for silver braces versus clear ones which is a mystery to me, but I think most of her friends have metal braces so they were cooler to her. Go figure. Sophie's orthodontist is very nice and all the staff is very friendly so we are really happy! And on top of that the office has a cute little play area for Ben and Nina to hang out in while we wait during her appointments. Sophie I think you look adorable with your braces and you will be so happy with your new smile when they come off! (Isn't that a classic mom thing to say?! But it's true!)

Father's Day 2010

I'm behind as always in posting, but here's a couple of the most embarrassing pictures of Adrian on Father's day. (Sorry Adrian, we forgot to take better pictures later in the day!) We have 9am church so breakfast in bed was bright and early, but I think the chocolate donuts smoothed it all over with Adrian. Adrian you are an amazing dad to our kids and an equally amazing husband. Thanks for being you!! Happy Father's Day!

Wishing I Was Here

I would love to be in Florida right now! The Wizarding World of Harry Potter opened up today at Universal Studios! I'm sitting here glued to The Today Show and their coverage of the opening! Wouldn't it be awesome to be there?! I'm sure it's not as spectacular as I would want it to be (I wish it was like a whole amusement park and not just a section of Universal), but it looks like a lot of fun and I need to start planning a trip there, for someday... All the hoopla is also making me excited for movie number 7 to come out in November (#7 part 1 that is, don't get me started on how annoying I think it is that they are breaking book 7 into 2 movies - LAME). Did you know that Caius from the Twilight movies is playing Grindelwald?! And that he and the chick that plays Ginny are engaged?! Fun little bits I discovered from a little trip through the HP blogs out there. Funny how many 7-Degrees-to-Kevin-Bacon-like links there are between HP and Twilight. Fun stuff.

Well I guess I'll get over wishing I was somewhere else with some distractions. We're planning on seeing Toy Story 3 today or tomorrow with the kiddos. Fun. And I still haven't watched this weeks SYTYCD episodes so there's that too. Is anyone else freaking out with complete glee over Maaarrrkkk!, Pasha!, and Neil! being back this season!!! YAY!! And then of course there is my growing Eclipse mania to help with the coping. Only 12 more days!!!

Sting and the BEST concert EVER

Last night Adrian and I went to see Sting at Red Rocks. I can't even explain accurately how amazing the concert was. It was hands down the best concert that I have ever been to (better than the Tori Amos concert for Under the Pink, just Tori and her piano, which I believed was the concert to beat all concerts until last night). It made me love Sting even more than I did before. Sting is AWEsome. His voice was as clear as a bell and because of the acoustics at Red Rocks it sounded amazing. AMAZING! He sounded better live than he does on his albums. How is that even possible? It was incredible to witness.

This Symphonicity Tour is a world tour that Sting is doing with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra. It was like the "Best Of Sting" live with a full orchestra. Each song was just different enough with all the beautiful layered sound that it took a minute to figure out what song it was. Fields of Gold - so beautiful and touching. Why Should I Cry For You - gorgeous. And then Moon Over Bourbon Street - SO cool. I was tickled pink when he said "And the next song is about a vampire..." I started clapping and "WOOO"ing! You can't imagine how cool it was to see Lestat singing Moon Over Bourbon Street!! Let me 'splain. As you may know by now I like vampires. I love vampires. This love did not start with Edward or even Dracula, no it all started with Anne Rice's Interview With the Vampire in about 1993 and my mental image for Lestat was Sting and always will be Sting (sorry Tom Cruise, but you are no Lestat). So to watch and listen to my Lestat sing Moon Over Bourbon Street live was indescribable. Cool cool beans!

Then there was Red Rocks which was in itself an experience. As we watched the concert we also could see all of Denver down below us and lightning lighting up the distant clouds. Breath taking. Put that with Sting and it was just a spectacular night. And it was a 2 1/2 hours of music with 4 encores. Wow! I'm so glad I got to go and share it with my best friend and fellow Sting fan hubby. We had such a fantastic time. I wish it was like a movie and we could go over and over again. Is there such a thing as a Sting-head? I think we should be Sting-heads and follow Sting's tour around the world... I think we both wish we could after last night!

As you can see I had an extra-special kind of person in front of me who kept standing up at the beginning of each song because she was "feeling it". BTW Red Rocks isn't a good venue for standing because you totally block the person behind you if you stand. But I didn't let "my-favorite-lady-in-the-world" as she became know through-out the night ruin it for me. I was feeling it too and began to appreciate her grooving - it was funny!

This was from Moon Over Bourbon Street.

Mother's Weekend 2010

First off, happy happy Mother's Day to my mom! And to my grandma! I talked to my mom tonight and could hear my family - my dad, sisters and brother, their spouses and kids - all in the background and it made me feel happy that everyone was together celebrating my mom and I was on the phone with her too. Of course I wish I could be there and having dinner and treats with everyone, but it was nice to talk and hear those familiar sounds of a big family gathering in the background.

Today was a lovely day. It really was. I had my breakfast shake in bed (not a big breakfast eater) and all of my children took me aside sometime during the morning to give me special little presents and cards they had made for me (Nina had actually hid her present for me under the ottoman in the family room and when I came downstairs reached under with flourish and said "THIS is for YOU!!"). As I was getting ready my i-Pod, set to shuffle, seemed to play all my favoritest songs, and Adrian got all the kids dressed and ready (aside from hair which I did) and we got to church only about 5 minutes late which is kind of a record for Mother's Day. I'll be the first to admit that sometimes Mother's Day is not my favorite holiday. I love the special treatment from my family and hugs and kisses and "happy Mother's day Mom!" in the morning, but I do not love it when it feels like a guilt-fest at church. And guess what, today was not a guilt-fest or even guilt-twinged at church. It was really nice. I got to go to Relief Society. I got a big cookie and 3 Musketeers bar and all of my children went up front to sing Mother's Day songs (a first since Nina is a Sunbeam now). Then I came home and took a nap. Ahhhh.... Adrian made dinner and a fantastic chocolate mousse for dessert and I got to open presents (America's Test Kitchen Baking Cookbook and See's chocolates). And now tonight I am blogging and watching America The Story of Us and the kids have been happy and generally non-whiny. I can't image a nicer day.

Oh and I didn't even mention how my Mother's Day weekend actually started on Friday when I went to see Babies (which was the cutest movie!!) and out to dinner with Jenny. It was awesome and I love our girls nights! Then on Saturday after a primary activity which I was partially in charge of with the rest of the primary presidency, we had a day where I got to do "whatever I wanted" as Adrian put it. So we went to See's Chocolates in Denver of course and then window shopped at The Cherry Creek Mall which is the coolest mall. I am in LOVE with the store Sur La Table. It is my mecca. I used to think The Container Store was my mecca, but I was wrong. I loved Sur La Table even more. BUT it is an incredibly over-priced mecca so I just soaked in all the wonderful cookeriness without buying anything. The kids got to play in the same play area that Sophie played in almost 10 years ago when she was a little under a year old and we lived in Colorado. This play area is so cool - it looks like a big breakfast spread with softish-sculptury-things of bacon, eggs, sausage, strawberries, and a big bowl of shredded wheat cereal. Super super cute play area and Nina and Ben had a blast! Sophie is now too tall and old for play lands so she had as much fun as Adrian and I had watching Ben and Nina treat the sausage links like balance beams. Then after window shopping and frozen yogurt we went home and the babysitter came and Adrian and I went on a date. We had Chinese and saw Iron Man 2 (which just may be the loudest movie I've ever seen - man I'm getting old) and it was great. All great and fun and lovely.

Big thanks to my family for making me feel special and pampering me all weekend with all my favorite things including snuggles and hugs and kisses. I love you all so much and am so grateful to be a woman and a mom. Happy Mother's Day!