So we've moved into my in-laws and while it's not quite the Brady Bunch, it most certainly isn't Everybody Loves Raymond! Far from it, in fact. I love my in-laws. They are some of the nicest and most generous people I've ever met. They have dealt with us moving in with the greatest of ease. And as if that wasn't enough, their entire, almost entire, first floor is being ripped up due to a delinquent dishwasher which decided to leak the same week we moved in. Below is a picture of all the fun! They (Servepro Restoration) had to move the blowers into the kitchen and seal off part of the kitchen so it could dry faster. I promise we are not being quarantined and are not setting up a clean room for any reason. I'm becoming a germophobe, but I'm not that bad! Jackson, however is taking it all in stride. We, with my sister and brother-in-law, explored California. We went to the beach, Disneyland (which is an entirely different experience with kids let me tell you) and have been furiously working and getting plum tuckered out!
Here's Disneyland with a pregnant lady and a mommy and a sleeping kid. Then comes us on the tea cups and finally, my new favorite picture. No prison is a match for Team Gage! Like father, like son! Jackson adores Eeyore! He'll hug him just as tight as he can! Funny thing is, he can barely get his arms around Eeyore. Here's my first attempt at interior design. I arranged the flowers! Yeah for me.
I wrote this for another blog but thought it was applicable.
So, we all know that our family is a movie family. We love movies and eat them up. We collect them as if they were trading cards. Some of us are even building Blu-ray collections to welcome the next phase of movie watching. We carefully select and test sound systems to make sure the movie experience is as real as possible. I want to be able to see the dreadlocks on Depp swing as he swashbuckles through the Carribean, to count the sparks coming from Harry's wizarding want and to see every flinch of disbelief on Elizabeth Bennett's face as Darcy delivers his dashing (albeit misworded) proposal. At least I feel this way and I know Annelisa wouldn't want to miss one detail of those chemistry driven moments, like in Secret Garden. Below are some movies that have come out or will come out and a little blurb/review/critique. Some are trailers and some are just posters. Enjoy!
HP 6 No trailer because Megan might see it. Go to youtube and watch it. I'm excited. I felt this book was a connection and build-up for book 7, but it's still good. Excited to see it coming to the big screen as well as the last book. It's the culmination of everything. I just hope they don't do a Lord of the Rings deal and leave us hanging!
Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen Well, the first one was okay. Michael Bay (the director) is more than adept at making "man-movies" (like Armageddon or The Rock). Thankfully he had Spielberg there to reign him in last time. I hope the same goes for this movie. The CGI looks amazing as it should and the action sequences look thrilling to say the least. I just hope they don't spend too much time on Megan Fox and displaying her figure or add any embarrassing conversations like in the first one. I want to see more Shia, more of that funny black guy with the doughnuts, and less of Megan Fox practicing her calendar poses.
Sherlock Holmes
This movie came as a surprise to me but with Jude Law and Robert Downey, Jr., how could it go wrong? The trailer sure looks intense. I've been a fan of RDJr since "Heart and Souls". He's just got this great dry humor and now, for reasons unknown, as resurrected his career starring in huge movies like, Iron Man, Tropic Thunder, The Soloist and now Sherlock Holmes. It's got a bit more other worldliness to it than I think is really in Conan Doyle's novels but why not? I've only read Hound of the Baskervilles because I made myself. Too much thinking and logic for me. This is a movie, I think I'd rather watch than read another Doyle book (No offense to the Doyle lovers out there!). End of the trailer is risque so be forewarned. Is Anybody There?
Michael Caine has been in so many movies and this one looks quite interesting. I'm not really one for seeing dramas in the theater but this one looks like it might be worth the trip. I am very glad they didn't use Freddie Highmore as the kid. For some reason, that kid just rubs me the wrong way. I think it's his nose. Anyway, it's about a retired magician who doesn't want to be sent to a nursing home. It's got the earmarks of being predictable as he goes through the home and livens up the residents. Sort of like Bucket List. I just hope it says one step ahead of being predictable. Even if it doesn't, hopefully Michael Caine can give it enough pizazz to keep it out of being overly sentimental.
Toy Story 3
This is just a teaser trailer but it's exciting. Disney/Pixar is bringing Toy Story out of the closet. Why not? It's been one of their most successful movies and now is back for a third installment. It follows the story of the toys when they get donated to a day care center because Andy leaves for college. Hope it works. Pixar's been known for doing full-length movies around a shaky plotline. A fish searching for his son, monsters in the closet just doing their job, and a rat that wants to cook? In my opinion the only real flop they had was about a trash-compacting robot who falls in love. Willie, was it...Whinnie...no...I forget. That's about how much I think it didn't go. Animation for Pixar is always a plus as well as creating loveable characters. Who doesn't like Buzz, Woody, Dory, or Dug. See below.
Up
Again with the shaky plot line. An old man who flies away in his house. Could have been boring, could have stunk. I was reluctant after Wall-e (that's the name). But Pixar delivers. One reviewer said that Up has more character building in the first ten minutes than most movies have in two hours. Loved it. If you haven't seen it yet, why are you still reading this? Go out and see it! If you listen carefully you'll hear Dug tell a really funny joke about squirrels.
Star Trek Not a Trekkie fan, but loved this movie. Chris Pike does a great job and Spock is great. This movies just a fun summer blockbuster that has enough trekkiness for the die-hards but is still general enough to pull the audience and hopefully line up for a sequel. Even though it's an even numbered movie, supposedly those have a curse, I think this movie deftly dispels any such sequel slip-ups. Go see it. Worth the full price.
Well, tomorrow is the official day and this is the last official post before we dismantle the computer! Yikes! We'll be up and blogging again in no time, I'm sure. For those of you that have just moved, my sympathies! But loading up is the hardest part! Sunny California, here we come!
Well, it's the last day and students are still frantically trying to make up grades. The school came up with a crazy schedule and I was half an hour late because I misread the schedule! Crazy. This is a picture of my Honors class. We had a lot of fun the last day and had the best discussion ever! The irony!
Well in a couple of weeks we'll be moving to Orange County. While I'm very excited to finally be moving out of Utah (it's just time to move) there are a few things that I'll miss. 1) THE OREM PUBLIC LIBRARY! I will miss that library soooo much! It's like a giant Redbox and has an amazing selection of all kinds of books. 2)There is almost no possible way to ever truly get over the beauty of the mountains. They create a feeling of security and solidarity. 3)Our crazy ward is also something we'll miss. We've got neighbors that keep goats and now have babies; as I was walking to my car heading to work I heard the cow bellow a couple of times, the other neighbor's dog charged us with ticks all over; our other neighbors also have pygmy goats and rabbits as well as importing agave...but crazy and all, they're great people. 4)I'll miss our neighborhood. No matter the time, whenever you are driving in our neighborhood, people will wave at you! That's awesome! 5)While I have gotten lost several times in using this grid system, it's still pretty handy. You'll never really get lost because you can always count your way back down to State/Center street. But the grid system is infuriating when it changes cities. Example: 2000 N/200 S in Orem/Lindon. Once you've got it down, you know where you are.
Sometimes I like to surf Amazon.com. They have recommendations and a fun search engine. I just love to see what comes up. Well, as I was refining my recommendations yesterday, they reccommended this book to me: Really? Maybe it was just because I rated Twilight and Sense and Sensibility so high. What's next on the list? Romeo and Juliet and vampires...oops! Already been done. Don't want to tread on Stephanie's toes!
But really, it seems like such an unusual plot that it almost couldn't have gotten off the ground. They have excerpts on amazon.com. It's pretty funny; in the section I read online, Elizabeth Bennett is racing off to see Jane, but comes across a human massacre done by the zombies, curses the zombies and continues on her journey to see Jane. Not only does our dear Lizzie have to fend off the ambitions of Mr. Collins while being snubbed by Darcy, but she has to do it while wielding a katana and fighting an army of the undead! Brave Lizzie!
Thanks for all the birthday wishes; It's been great! Our neighbor's goat had triplets and we were all having fun! Our friends the Onofrios, the Alkemas and of course the Merrills came over. We played Hand and Foot and got slaughtered by the Onofrios. Megan made a brownie cake (which everybody loved) and Jackson and Sadie got to hang out together in the play pen. They actually had a really good time and nobody got injured! Thanks so much for making today a great day, everybody! Another year with family and friends! I'm so blessed. And, Jackson's b-day is coming up in a week and you can tell he's growing up so fast. We'd better think of getting him some shaving cream instead of toys, my little man! Be ready for lots of pictures! Gah! 26, it rounds up to 30! Sadie and Jackson Megan and Jared Erin and Ryan Shelley and Ben My Birthday and Sadie and Jackson in the playpen (or as Ben calls it: baby prison). We found out that Sadie is a lovely alto and Jackson loves the falsetto!
Close encounters with the LeBaron's farm animals
The Alkemas (Sorry, Erin. I know the picture cuts off Ryan's head but in the other one, Sadie's blinking!)
Jackson checking out Lizzie and us with the baby and kid.
The Onofrios and their kid~They probably had no idea their first would be so hairy! My little man is growing up so fast! Check out the manly chest hair and the French moustache! He'll be one year in a week! Crazy!
Well, we certainly did Italy. We tramped all over that country and had a blast! First stop was Cinque Terre in the Italian Riviera. We stayed there for a few days before the kids came. And then, they descended. It really wasn't all that bad. The kids were great! We went to Venice where our gondolier (not knowing that we spoke Italian) sang random things like, "Penne, I hate you," and other such blasphemous things. We also fed the pigeons in St. Mark's Square which was the absolute highlight of Venice. It's the simple things in life. Then onto Florence. We got to see the David which a couple of girls didn't like because "he was naked". One of the male chaperones in an aside to me and another woman chaperone wisely said, "There's going to be a naked man at some point in these girls future and this naked man is the best-looking naked man they're ever going to see!" Pretty sound logic, I thought. We also got to see San Gimignano which is located in the heart of Tuscany (or Tuskany) if you're my students. San G is one of the best preserved medieval villages. We also found the home of the 06-09 gelato world champions. That was good stuff. Assisi was the best food and Rome was the most impressive. We loved the Pantheon! Anyway, we love Italy and are glad we went but we're definitely, absolutely, indescribably glad to be HOME! We missed Jackson like CRAZY!
