Thanks for the fun

Our Thanksgiving was totally fun this year.  We stayed at my parents house for a few days and celebrated with the immediate family (We've gone from 6 to 9!  It's so fun to grow!)  We had Nana there as well, so it was an even 10.

We started off the day with all ten of us going to the movie "Tangled".  I have hoped that Disney would make a Rapunzel movie since I was little, so I have been excited about this!  It lived up to my expectations :)  I loved it, and cried at least twice (it doesn't take much). 

I take a lot of pics of Claire these days :)  Can't help it...soooo cute.

After the movie, we went home and had a feast...of Chinese food!  Ha ha, we all decided it would be fun to have a non-traditional meal.  So while others had turkey and stuffing, we had General Tsao's chicken and wontons.  The best part was, there were hardly any dishes to do!  Don't worry, we still had awesome homemade desserts later that night.

Scott took a nap for a bit and little Claire was kind enough to share her chips with him while he was sleeping.  Too funny!

As if seeing a fairy tale movie wasn't enough, that night the 'kids' (I use that term loosely since we are all 18-25) turned the clock back even further and played sardines (like hide-and-go-seek...but backwards) for hours.  It was a blast.  One round, poor Luke hid so well that no one found him for about 40 minutes!

 It was a great holiday, we had fun letting loose and not taking things too seriously.  It's nice to do that once in a while.

Cinema

How about a few movie reviews?

A few weeks ago we saw our first 3D movie. Has anyone else tried one? I was worried I'd get motion sickness but after a few minutes I was used to it. Probably a one time thing, but it was fun! Several times during the show Scott would look over at me and literally start laughing (I guess I didn't rock the glasses too cool-like).

We saw Alice in Wonderland, I'm a big fan of the story so I was excited to see this!(Emily C.- remember when we performed a scene from Alice in drama class? You were such a cute caterpillar!)

I really liked it! It was a new spin/continuation of the story and I thought it was clever. Definitely a good one! Wonderland looked awesome and the actors all gave great performances.

This weekend my little bro picked a movie, and 4 of us saw How to Train Your Dragon.
I don't think I've liked a cartoon this much since Finding Nemo! It was really well written, I loved the look of the movie, and the music was fantastic. I definitely recommend this one too!

Now, all that being said...I don't know how great of a "reviewer" or "recommend-er" I am because I actually rarely dislike movies. Case in point...I thought both of the Twilight movies were good and loved Paul Blart Mall Cop.

Road Trip

We had a lot of fun taking a short road trip to Elko, NV last weekend. We visited our friends Sean & Gracie Smith for a few days. They are having a baby boy in March; we're so excited for them! They found out they were pregnant after they'd been married 5 months- that's how long we've been married now. That's strange to think!

Scott lived with Sean for over a year and misses his cooking. He requested that Sean cook us carne asada- it was so good. We shot targets on Saturday morning; a few handguns and a shotgun. My first shot was a BULLSEYE...and then I didn't hit any target the rest of the time :) Scott shot a 9mm casing OFF of a bottle. Very impressive. That night we went to a movie. I wanted to see Bride Wars but was out voted, so we saw Tom Cruise instead of Kate Hudson. Valkyrie was pretty good- a one timer though. Has anyone seen bride wars? It got terrible reviews- I'm not sure if I even want to see it now.

I have LOVED the sunny weather! Scott is driving a snow plow for his work this winter so it has been such a relief to have a break from the snow. No calls saying "Go to work" at 2 am this week!

A girly week

Well I made it through a marathon week of nutcracker. This is my 4th year playing for it. I fall in love with ballet all over again every year. The music is so beautiful, I love getting to play it.

It was extra fun this year too because my brother Luke was in the orchestra with me! At 16, I think he is one of the youngest to ever play with them- he did great and was excited to actually get PAID for playing :)

I was so tired by the end of the run. My days consisted of SITTING at work for 8 hours, SITTING in the car to drive a 1/2 hour, SITTING while playing for 2 hours, and SITTING in the car again to drive home. How can sitting be so exhausting???

Scott came to see the show on Friday night, what a good supporter! Ballet isn't his favorite thing on earth. He doesn't understand why the men dance in tights. But he didn't fall asleep, he claims he watched the whole show.

So after a lovely ballet on Friday, he came with me to see Twilight in between my performances on Saturday! Ha ha, poor guy didn't have a choice. I bought him the movie ticket while he was hunting in South Dakota. I'm good :) We saw it with Marilyn and Jeremy, and yes...even Luke came too. He didn't have much choice either.

We saw it at the Junction in Ogden- can you say RESERVED SEATING?! That made it so nice. We didn't have to go early at all. The boys were ok with the movie. They thought the cars were cool and liked the baseball scene.

Before you think I'm completely mean...let me mention that I DID watch the 2 hour premiere of 24 on Sunday with Scott. Child soldiers in Africa- it was pretty intense.

Movies

I'm amidst my 'Christmas movie watching schedule'...I go through this every year. There are so many good Christmas movies, so little time. I'm not proud of last year's performance: didn't even watch Home Alone. Well, as soon as finals are over, I'm going to get serious.

I hit a glitch yesterday though, I watched Sleepless in Seattle. You're probably thinking, "great film...but since when is that part of a Christmas movie watching schedule?" I'm sorry! I don't know what I was thinking! I really thought it was a holiday flick for some reason...and, in my defense, it does start with Christmas, go to New Years, and end on Valentines Day. Definitely not Christmas enough to make the list though. What a waste. I could have been watching Mickey's Christmas Carol.