the dark knight

So...Danny and I saw the Dark Knight yesterday on IMAX. Talk about WOW! We had never seen a movie on IMAX before and then to see this movie on it was amazing. The screen was so huge! You really felt like you were in the movie sometimes. And the best part was we only had to pay a couple bucks for the IMAX tickets. Our local grocery store was doing a promo where if you purchased so many groceries they gave you free movie vouchers for $25. See? It pays to have three kids who require lots of food! Who knew? :o)

Anyway, back to the movie. I cannot get over how incredible it was! Heath Ledger was absolutely AMAZING as the Joker. He was so convincing that I was never sitting there thinking, "Oh, that's Heath Ledger playing the Joker." In fact, he was unrecognizable. He just had the whole audience captivated. He was creepy but I couldn't stop watching him. Every little gesture and quirk was done so well. It was as if they were able to convince the real Joker to play himself. (I know that sounds weird but that's how good his performance was.) If he doesn't win an Oscar for that performance I will be shocked.

The director (Christopher Nolan--my new favorite director) did a fantastic job and the screenplay was so well written. My one complaint with the entire movie was that Katie Holmes did not reprise the role of Rachel Dawes. The part was played by Maggie Gyllenhaal. She just bugged me through the entire movie. She wasn't even that attractive in this movie and during some of the scenes she looked old enough to be Bruce Wayne's mother! Ick! And she had this kind of smug attitude about her--totally opposite of the "cute and sweet; I'm going to get the job done; I'm in way over my head" version that Katie Holmes did. I don't know. She just really bugged me.

Anyway, I can't say enough about how awesome the movie was (despite Maggie Gyllenhaal) . If you haven't seen it yet GO AND SEE IT! (Unless you haven't seen Batman Begins yet. In which I will say, "Why haven't you seen Batman Begins yet?? Go watch that first!)

cute kids

The kids have done a lot of cute things recently. The other day Shailey and Eli were playing "superheroes" with their stuffed animals. Shailey said that she was "Plump Girl" with the power to make things plump (I know!). Eli didn't say what his superhero name was. He did say that his superpower was being scared of people (I really hope he meant people would be scared of him and not the other way around!). I thought they were pretty silly.

They were outside sword fighting the other day, too. I went out there and asked them if they would do some fighting poses for me so I could take pictures. This is what I got (let me remind you that they came up with these poses entirely by themselves, completely uncoached).

On Saturday I sang in our Stake's Pioneer Day program. Since I couldn't sit with Danny and the kids he was left alone on a pew to entertain all three by himself (not an easy task). Anyway, Danny told me that Eli kept eyeing a cute little blonde girl sitting in front of them. No matter what Danny did, he couldn't hold Eli's attention. His eyes kept wandering back to that little girl. The following is the conversation that ensued:

Danny: Eli, is she cute?

Eli: Yeah. :o)

Danny: Do you like her?

Eli: Yeah!

Danny: Do you want to tell her you like her?

Eli: Yeah!

(Eli goes up to the girl, holds up his fist and grits his teeth)

Eli: ERRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!

(The little girl wrinkles up her nose, crosses her arms and shakes her head 'no')

Eli: ERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!

(Same reaction from the little girl)

I guess that's a three year old boy's way of saying 'I like you'. So funny!

On the topic of Eli, he gave his first talk in Primary yesterday. He talked on missionary work (we used your "Little Talks" missionary work talk, mom! Thanks!). There were a couple of times when Eli didn't quite hear me right when I whispered what to say into his ear. Here are a couple of those times.

Me: If I share the gospel with others...

Eli: If I share the gospel with mothers... :o)

Me: I want be a missionary now...

Eli: I want to be a missionary man... :o)

I thought it was pretty cute. He did a great job with his first talk.

Isaac had been sick the last couple of days. He needed a lot of diaper changes (if you know what I mean). Yesterday, shortly after Danny had changed him he says very quickly

"I need anudda diapa change!"

And Danny asks,

"You need another diaper change?"

Isaac says very quickly,

"No, I don't!"

Danny says,

"You don't?"

Isaac says,

"I don't!"

Well he did need another diaper change. So Danny changes him and is about to put the clean diaper on when Isaac says,

"I gonna need anudda diapa change." :o) Poor kid! It was still funny though!

trip to oregon

We just got back from Oregon on Sunday where we spent the last week and we had so much fun! Here are a few highlights from the trip.

***Note: This post is pretty long since there are a lot of pictures. Also, the pictures were lined up perfectly in the preview and magically they were all screwed up once I posted it. That's blogger for you! Oh, well!

SATURDAY

When we arrived the kids wanted to play in the sprinkler. We didn't have Eli's swim trunks handy, but that's what underwear is for, right? Lucky for Shailey mom had a swimming suit lying around for her! :o)

We basically spent the day relaxing and recovering from the 14 hour drive up!

SUNDAY

On Sunday we went to church with the Lukes and the Bomans. Then we got together for dinner to celebrate Danny's birthday! Happy Birthday Danny! :o) (Sorry, I didn't have any pictures from Danny's birthday...Sorry, Danny!)

MONDAY

On Monday we drove up to Portland to visit Danny's sisters. We went to OMSI first. Unfortunately we didn't have our camera at OMSI. I was so bummed! Natalie, Nick, and Erica met up with us there. The kids had a blast! I try not to think about all the cute pictures I could have taken of them. They enjoyed the Inventor's Ball Room in the Innovation Station but their absolute favorite place was the Science Playground. There were so many interactive activities there that we could have stayed for hours. I never liked science as kid but if I could have gone to OMSI everyday instead of my science classes it probably would have been my favorite subject!

After OMSI we left for Natalie's house. Amanda and her two girls, Katie and Aimee, came over along with Lisa and Claire. And then Danny's parents came up with Halli (who was visiting from Sacramento). We tried to get a group shot of the kids. It was pretty funny trying to get all of the kids to look at the camera and smile! With the exception of poor little Aimee (obviously distressed!) this one turned out pretty good.

Here are a few more from our visit to Natalie's house that I thought were pretty cute.

(Shailey cracks me up in this picture! It looks like she has Austin Powers teeth or something.)

TUESDAY

On Tuesday we went to Skinners Butte Park to play. I met up with one of my good friends, Brenda, and her two kids who were visiting from out of town, also. Another friend of mine, Amy, wasn't able to make it. But when you're a popular and talented hair dresser who comes from out of town to visit family, obviously you're going to be in high demand! :o) I'm sure everyone in your family looks fabulous now, Amy! Sorry you couldn't make it.

Here are a few pics from the park and the tractor rides Grandpa gave the kids before the park.

Shailey was trying to catch the water on her tongue in this picture.



























Isaac just woke up from his nap in this picture, which explains the scowl.

Kara's hair cracks me up in this picture!































After the park we headed over to mom and dad's for family pictures and a BBQ. My mom had a few ideas for pictures that turned out pretty cute. Besides the standard family photo, we also did a family pyramid (the process for that was pretty funny) and a Brady Bunch grouping. Here are a few of the pictures.

(Back row from left to right: Ammon, Kara, me, Corinne, Chris. Front row from left to right: McKay, Mom, Hyrum, Dad, Jesse.)

The whole family!

And now the pyramid photos. I know there are a lot but it's really fun to see how difficult this actually was to put together! We were pretty much cracking up the entire time. :o)

SUCCESS!

And then we all came tumbling down...but I'll spare you those photos. There were some very embarrasing yet completely accidental chest grabs happening as we fell. I won't name names. :o)

And now the Brady Bunch photo or should I say "The Luke Bunch". I had to put in all together on a page to give you the full effect.

WEDNESDAY

On Wednesday the girls went shopping. It was me, my mom, Grandma Berta, my sisters Corinne and Kara, and Shailey. We found some cute things and had fun eating lunch outside in the courtyard of the Oakway Mall.

(There are four generations of girls in this picture!)

Shailey got tired of shopping after awhile. On our way home she said, "Maybe I will like shopping more when I'm 6...or 7....or maybe 9." :o) Silly girl!

THURSDAY

We went to see WALL-E on Thursday. The kids liked it...except Isaac who fell asleep halfway through. It wasn't my favorite Pixar movie but it was still good. And the Pixar short before the movie was great, probably one of my favorites. :o)

FRIDAY

On the 4th we went to Grandma Berta's and Grandpa Mel's for a BBQ and fun and games. We played croquet, archery (which I found out I'm not very good at), a treasure hunt, swimming, hay rides, basketball, a parade, and table tennis.

That evening we went to Brownsville to watch fireworks. It was a great 4th of July!

SATURDAY

We were all sad when Saturday rolled around because it meant our trip to Oregon had come to an end. We had so much fun visiting with everyone and look forward to our next trip to Oregon this Christmas! And we look forward to having my family come down to visit us next month!