Only for Jane...

Only for our dear and beloved friend, Jane...

could I talk my husband into basically abandoning our beloved boys for over half a day...

ignoring the freshly powder-laden mountain, softly beckoning...

braving the snowy roads...

and driving "all the way" up to Salt Lake for a Movie Marathon,

not to mention "strange" exotic food and entertainment.

Trust me...

My man had to be well-bribed!

(Sitting through TWO movies in a day

and the uncertainty of dinner at a new, somewhat questionable-sounding restaurant

is NOT his forte!

He'd much rather have chosen an afternoon of skiing!)

But alas, he let me win this one...

And off we went.

While everyone else in our group saw "The Tourist",

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(which we saw and I LOVED a few weeks ago)

we opted to meet Danny and Angi for "Country Strong"

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which I thought was great, and Matt thought was... well, grueling.

In my defense I make 4 points.

First, I do love Gwyneth.

I just do.

Second, she made me want to be a Kelly Canter fan.

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Really.

She was darling.

How could you not love her rockin' those leather jeans in this scene

with that eat-him-up cute little Travis?

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Third, I found myself, against my better judgement, really wanting

her to pull her mess-of-a-life together and get well...

(Which must mean she did a very believable job of being a mess in the first place, right?)

And lastly...

I am almost ashamed to admit how much I LOVED that gold dress from the Dallas Concert...

Wow.

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A-MAZ-ing...

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I could totally wear it at the kitchen sink doing dishes, right?

Or while I fold laundry?

{Sigh}

I guess it is best that my life holds no event worthy of me ever wearing such a gown.

Temptation gone.

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But on to dinner...

To try something different, Dusty chose Cedars of Lebanon,

which turned out to be a cozy little place with great ambiance,

fun, not-your-ordinary-everyday entertainment

and

INCREDIBLE food!

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Here are half of us...

Our party of 13 included the Blanchards, Us, Rhodes, Taylors, Birchalls,

Danny & Angi and Becky.

Who knew we'd be fans of Lebanese?

But yum!

It makes my mouth water and my tummy rumble just remembering it!

We will definitely make a return visit!

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We also learned some very valuable life lessons...

Like...

Always wait to tip the belly-dancer until the music tempo slows...

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And never accept an invitation to share a hookah

with the aging gentleman at the next table over.

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(Seriously, Angi... what were you thinking?)

And lastly, that 35 can look amazing if you welcome it and accept it with grace.

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So Happy Birthday, again, Janey!

We loved sharing it with you!

(And please forgive me for swiping these pics off your blog...)

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Our evening concluded with full bellies,

grateful that only the birthday girl had to participate in the belly-dancing spectacle,

a darling birthday cake

(Way to go, Dusty!)

and then off to another movie.

The late show was this little number...

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which I still can not ever remember the name of

and was surprised not to love.

I thought it was just... ok...

But interestingly enough, Matty actually liked it better than the first!

Ha!

I guess we're keeping things even, at least!

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So chalk up another super fun evening, friends.

Great company!

My belly still hurts from laughing so hard!

"Hoo-hoo" has an opinion?

I LOVE that my boys are strong willed.

I LOVE that they are driven, assertive and know what they want.

I LOVE that they stand up for what they believe in, without backing down, I really do.

I even LOVE their over-stated, sometimes quite surprisingly, very strong opinions...

Especially the ones that make me chuckle...

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Well, we've been meaning to see this movie for a while and just hadn't made it yet.

You know, other priorities first.

But somehow it finally snuck up to the top of our list.

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So we took the boys out to the Buck-Flick...

We thought they would all LOVE it...

Ha!

Well, the big boys sat glued, as expected...

And Bronson, wild monkey,

took advantage of the nearly empty theatre

and ran up...

and down...

and back...

and forth...

and through...

the aisles...

just his little blonde head silently bobbing up and down,

glowing above the seat tops in front of us.

{Sigh}

Honestly...

Who ARE his parents to allow that sort of behavior?

So anyway, he and I missed half of it...

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But it was our D who was the surprise!

...He is such a movie buff!

He'll watch anything!

And he has LOVED every other 3D movie that he's seen,

which is why this came as such a shock!

Halfway through,

upon my return from yet another run to the Lobby

with my crazy little maniac,

I found D slumped and scowling in his booster,

glaring at the big screen over the tops of his 3D glasses.

"D, what's wrong?", I whispered.

He gruffly and not-so-quietly whispered back,

"I want to go home!"

"What?", I asked, genuinely surprised.

"I hate this movie!", again, not-so-quiet.

"Why? What's the matter?", trying to soothe him.

Then this, increasingly louder and with pure and unmistakable spite,

"I HATE owls!"

Snickers from the handful of other theatre-goers within a few rows' vicinity*...

Well, there you have it...

Hooooo knew?

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*My apologies to anyone who was there, trying to quietly enjoy their night out...

But hey!

Glad we could help entertain you for the evening!

How is it possible?

I put a toy sword to Kaden's chest this afternoon and said jokingly,
"Hello.... My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my Father... Prepare to die."
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He looked at me like I was an idiot and said, "Mom... What are you talking about?"
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I realized with horror that my boys had NEVER seen the best movie of all time!
Never even heard of it!
A travesty! I could not believe it!
We rushed upstairs to remedy that little problem... right away!
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I quickly introduced them to Wesley and Buttercup...

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Two hours later, I breathed a sigh of relief...
And, as I knew they would, they'd LOVED it!
(Really... Pirates, a Fire Swamp, sword-fighting, a giant, The Pit of Despair... what's NOT to love?)

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They spent the rest of the afternoon dressed in black chasing each other around with plastic swords and really bad spanish accents! :)

Wall-E...

CUTE!

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With the exception of Dayne

(who wanted to roll on the floor during half of the movie),

my boys loved it!

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They are still quoting and laughing at some of the "funny parts"!

(For the record, our family will never litter again OR buy a Hover-chair...)

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And if only the Theatre hadn't been 120 degrees... Alli, Matt and I may have enjoyed it too!

Movie Night SLEEP-over...

So the guys have been so excited all week...

Cousin Kaylob is sleeping over for 4 whole days!

(We picked him up today and get to keep him until Sunday.)

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They've talked ALL day LONG about their fun Movie Night tonight.

Yeah... Here's the view of the Beanbag by the time I got back with the Popcorn...

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Well, for a SLEEP-over, I guess we're off to a good start!

(And thanks again to "Blankets by Jane" for the cute, cozy covers... they're our FAVE!)

Buck Flick...

What to do on a cool Summer afternoon..?

Take 9 bored kids...

(All under the age of 8, mind you!)

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Add 2 desperate Moms...

(Both with wild 1 year olds... And notice I left mine HOME with a sitter!)

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What do you get?

How about a good Dollar Movie Day?

(Thanks, Cheryl for braving it with me!)

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Thanks to Austin, for being Kade's pal...

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And to Rock and Danny, who came with Trev!

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Somehow we had all missed Nim's Island when it came out in the regular Theatre...

so it was the perfect adventure!

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My guys had a great time...
(They all want to move there!)

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And, I have to say, if I ever get to raise a daughter...

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I hope she's as spunky as Nim!

Night on the TOWN...

We finally made it out for a fun Date Night with Krista & Tom,

who we adore and don't see nearly often enough!

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Yummy dinner at our special half-way spot:

La Vigna

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and then a great flick:

What Happens in Vegas !

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I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard at a movie!

It was rolling-in-the-aisles-funny!

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...Which had pros & cons for us Mamas-to-be!

(We laughed so hard I thought we BOTH might really pee our pants!)

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Krista, my long-time BFF

(since High School! ...And aka: My Twin Sister),

and I have been friends through thick and thin...

Yeah... This is one of those "thicker" periods...

We are both due to have baby boys, again, just a few weeks apart!

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We topped off our fun evening with a treat... Matt-style...

Cookies & Ice Cream from Smart Cookie

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The evening ended way to quickly... We love and miss you guys!

To Celebrate the Last Day of School...

Each of the big boys got to invite a buddy out for a fun night on the town...

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Trev brought his best-est pal, Hudson Eady...

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Kade brought his fave-or-ite friend, CJ Hirsche...

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and I brought my handsome hubby!

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After a quick bite at Bajio's (YUM!), we all headed for the Feature Presentation...

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

(or as T calls is "Narnicles of Narnia: Prince Thaz-peon").

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The boys were GLUED to their seats for the entire movie!

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They LOVED it! (So did we, actually! It was great!).

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Totally worth the price of admission... not to mention a hard year's work at school!

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Funny thing...

When I "buddied" the boys up for the evening,

we noticed that our boys were both in camo shorts & green t-shirts

(totally unintentionally, I swear! They dressed themselves...)

and their pals were both in plaid shorts & red t-shirts...

Their was one of each "uniform" in each "pair"!

Doot doo-doot doo... WEIRD!

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They all got a good laugh at this as they stumbled through the Parking Lot pretending to be "Siamese Quadruplets" connected at the hip!

Indiana Jones and the wha, wha WHAT?

Okay, I do not consider myself MUCH of a critic...

I am usually pretty easy to please, and I admit, I WAS entertained

(so I didn't walk out or anything), but really! REALLY!?

This, THIS was the script they've been waiting on for 20 years? Aye...

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Loved all the classic "Indie-style" action & suspense,
although I could DEFINITELY have done without the flesh-eating ant scene.

(I fear I will have nightmares for weeks... )

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And Matt can't wait for the Disneyland ride... but ALIENS?

Okay... "Creatures from another Dimension" ?

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Sigh... another 20 years...

Let's hope Harrison is still up for doing his "own stunts"...