Now the bathroom

Finished tiling the floor of the bathroom and grouted it so the vanity and toilet could be installed whilst we are in the land of sun. My brother came over Saturday and we were able to cut and lay the bathroom. Then after he left I laid all whole tile until I had to stop to get ready for a party. Sunday I finished laying all the tile down the hall while Kori grouted the bathroom. Some amazing coincidence the hallway's length is exactly divisible by the length of the tile.

So tomorrow I cut and lay the rest of the floor tile.



-Blake

My life is tile, tile is king.

Here are pics of the first tile job.

Tile selection:


The pattern (I fixed the triangles) of the runners:



This is not the way to lay tile. I laid the runners first and though I got one angle really well done the other was not so good.


Laid from the center (focal point). just turn your head for full effect.



Here is all the tile laid, just waiting on the grout.

Final Product



-Blake

A new post

Just a quickie.  Our illustrious contractor has finished his previous jobs and is now focusing on our basement.  We expect he will arrive promptly at 10... ish everyday... ish.  Demo fist taking the opportunity to rid ourselves of some unnecessary items.   I, me, Blake, Mr. otherhalf, will be doing some insulation installation this weekend or next, we will see.  So for the next 3 weeks (or months) this will be all we talk about I'm sure.  

Blake

My brother passed away this afternoon. He was such a wonderful thoughtful person. He will be missed.

Prayers Needed!

My brother is fighting right now. Things took a bad turn yesterday, he is in a drug induced coma. I don't know the details well enough so visit his blog HERE to read updates. He has been fighting cancer with such courage and such a great sense of humor. Please remember him and his sweet little family in your prayers.

And now... Mistress Noodles

I don't measure, so just guess.

1 chicken breast per person
a cupish of lemon juice
basil, oregano and marjoram to fill the palm of your hand
Lemon & pepper seasoning

Cut the breast into thirds, put in a bowl with the rest of the recipe. Get your hands in there and mix it up. No cheating, hands dirty for this one. Put all into a large wok or pan and cook over heat source. Once both sides of chicken are white and the juice has been bubbling for a bit drain the dish and cook each side until brown. This should let your chicken be really juicy.

1/3 cupish of olive oil
1/3 cupish of balsamic vinegar
1 small can of tomato sauce
3 big cloves of garlic, mashed

Mix and cook, stir often. The smell should permeate the entire house when done.

Some Egg based noodles, better known as mistress noodles.

Cook.

Fresh vegetables (string beans (uncut), eggplant, shittake mushrooms, regular mushrooms) can be cooked on the side (not with the chicken).

Base of noodles, chicken and vegetables and smothered in the sauce.

Serve with bagels, cut in half and toasted. Use sauce as dip.

Afterward you should feel guilty.

-Blake

Tile Chosen

The tile has been selected. Sonora Walnut is the tile color for the laundry room. We will jazz it up some how (not with jazz hands). We found a deal (0.89/sqft) on some other tile that we are using for the Bathroom, open storage area and mini-hallway. We also found a deal on some 18x18 tile to put on the wall around the tub for 0.99/sqft. So that is a change, an economical change. Here are the pictures. The floor tiles are the smaller ones. These are the two extremes of the colors. The wall tile is the light one. 2 pictures because of the flash so you can see the colors a bit better.




































The idea is with the extra floor tiles to break them up into small pieces and use that to create a border on the wall tile. We will see how adventurous we get. We will also have some accent strips with the Sonora Walnut in the laundry room.

-Blake

Into the Wild

Review of the movie, based on the book of the same name.  If you have not read the book or heard the story then there is a big 'spoiler' relevant to the story contained within this review.  Of course this isn't a movie that is hiding anything, there are no plot twists.  Not to say that there isn't a lot of movie and a lot that is being said, but I will get to that.

Synopsis:

The movie is divided into 4 (or 5 depending on how you understand the Magic Bus) parts dealing with parts of a person's journey.  The first part was the separation of the main character from his life.  Our character's real name is Christopher, and he chooses to go by Alexander Supertramp.  He is 23, highly intelligent, accepted to Harvard and has recently graduated from college.  He has no intention of going.  He has a vision of going to Alaska, escaping the bindings of modern life and the need for money and discovering something.  The narrative jumps back and forth between him and his sister, left behind to piece together the whole story from her perspective.  The story also jumps back and forth in time, but I'm going chronological in my explanation for a few reasons.  A couple concepts get painted throughout the movie concerning this time.  One being that he is fairly naive in what he is really hoping to find.  What I saw is that what he needed to find was not in Alaska, but in the journey.  Second is that this 'lure' of the 'wild' inherit in someone is a draw of safety.  Where most of us find safety in people, barriers, walls, other's find safety in removing all of those from their life, at least for a time.

Part two is Adolescence.  Alexander first abandons his car and starts hitching across country.  He doesn't have the means to get to Alaska and knows that the best time to go is in the spring (it would be about May when he got out of school).  He meets some hippies, and after a time with them leaves.  He starts working at a farm in Iowa(?) learning the trade and enjoying the simplistic life.  That is cut short by the owner being taken into custody by the Feds.  He travels to the grand canyon and kayaks down the Colorado river taking him all the way into Mexico.  Loses the kayak in a 17 day wind storm in Baja California.  Walks his way back across the border (he has no ID).  Tries to live a day in the hustle and bustle of California and can't.  Leaves on a train out of LA and gets beaten up by an officer.  Finds himself going south for winter.  During these events the narrative of his sister describes the conditions the Chris grew up in.  Father was abusive of their mother, Chris and his sister were detached, all of them very intelligent.  You also find out that when Chris was 18 he drove across country to find where his parents met and discovered that the story they told had been a lie.  His father was still legally married to someone else with whom he had a child and his mother was the other woman.  Though none of this justifies anything this does provide the motivation for his abandonment of this life and complete rejection of contact.  

Part 3 is manhood.  Chris meets back up with his older hippie friends by chance in a trailer park in the deserts of California.  Things are slower now, at least as the movie goes.  He spends the christmas season with them and becomes good friends with a 16 year old aspiring songwriter.  In a moment of desperation the 16 year old tries to sexually attract Alexander, unsuccessfully.  There is also a scene where the female hippie devulges her past, having been left by her husband with a young son she was at a loss when her current partner came and they fell in love.  She raised her son, who at this time would be around 20 and has not heard from him since he left.  

Part 4 is obtaining wisdom.  Having left his hippie friends Alex starts to camp out near OMG (not the acronym) Springs, a nudist colony (he isn't apart of the nudist colony, as an fyi).  While at a gas station picking up more water he hitches a ride from an older gentleman who lives in the area.  Alex and the old man strike up a very deep friendship over the next few months.  The dialog here is rich and there are so many key points to the story that tears one up inside.  The old man is a widower.  While stationed overseas his wife and son were killed by a drunk driver. Both sides call each other on their situations.  The old man criticizing Alex's direction in life and Alex critizing the old man for not going out and living his life.  There is a distinct affinity between the two and when Alex finally leaves you can understand why the old man (the only child of two only children with no family) wants to adopt Alex as his grandson.

Finale.  Alex hitches his way to Alaska and travels into the wilds.  There he finds an old bus converted into temporary living quarters.  He calls it the Magic Bus.  He documents each day in the wilderness.  Setting up the shower, making a damn to fish, cleaning, clearing hunting routes and exploring the wilderness around him.  He reads extensively (probably Thoreau) and realizes how alone he is in this place.  He unsuccessfully treats the meat of a moose he kills and comes to his first real failure in life.  As of this point everything he had put his mind to he has accomplished.  After 3 months he starts to trek back but comes to a raging river where only a stream had been in the spring.  He is unable to find meat as the animals have migrated out of the region in preparations for winter.  In desperation he turns to foliage using a field guide, "calling everything by its right name".  He accidentally eats a wild sweet pea plant mistaking it for an edible plant.  He somehow survives this only to be left with no energy.  A few days later he dies.   To me this part was important, and the way the story was told it was important that he didn't die right off.  In his quest for discovering what was truly important he learned that true happiness was when it was shared with others.  Also in the end he called everything by its true name, including himself, a sign that he had forgiven his parents and himself.

Though I've given a rough synopsis and a few (very few) interpretations there is much more to the movie.  This story, and I'm assuming the book is included in this, has an array of possible interpretations and meanings for each person depending on situation.  This movie does not try to answer many of the questions, but allows you that priveledge.  It is powerful and leaves you filled with strong humanistic emotions.  Do not watch this in a group or with someone, see it alone.  Clean flix it if you can.  If the book is anything like the movie I would recommend to read it instead.  

Rated R for Nudity and Language.

Halloween Movie Review

Tis the season of halloween.   Thus the bane of my wife's existence: Horror Movies.  That means any movie that mentions death, blood, zombies, exorcisms, massacres, kittens and the number 13 on video store's shelves should be the perfect movie for this season.  And you would be wrong.  There Will be Blood, much to my dismay, had nothing to do with vampires.  How can you have a vampire movie with no vampires?  I think part of the issue was maybe they didn't have enough time to introduce the vampires.  There were maybe 5 scenes that took place during the night and I kept looking in the background to maybe find one.   There was also a lot of wood around which made it easy to make stakes, also one of the character had a cross around his neck.  Daring was the spurning of old mythos that garlic would deter vampires and replacing that with a new mythos of gigantic mustaches, but beyond that no mention of vampires.

I guess the movie was about something else.  Maybe it was hollywoods attempt to say that the only good people are young idealists that are deaf or who were abused as children.  Maybe it is a public service announcement that children should be wary of holes in the ground as they may cause sudden deafness.  Maybe saying to us that private bowling alleys are not the best place to escape from a madman.   Maybe that oil and milkshakes are great analogies for each other (I saw this in a Shell commercial as well).   Maybe it is saying Californians are evil.

I tend to see Daniel Plainview Day Lewis as more of a hero than an anti-hero.  Who wants to have friends or deal with people who are unable to make decisions?  'Friends' just let you down, move away, get married, hang out with other friends, have family activities, have to go to bed,  go to work, go on vacations,  eat,  etc.   Who wants to retire anymore?  Who doesn't get excited by fire?  These are qualities of a true hero.  Well the killing doesn't quite fit in there.   Nonetheless I think my point is made.

Hollywood seems to have a poor opinion of the early 1900s as well.  I can't recall a single picture I've seen covering that era that has a high opinion of those people in that time.  Especially those in the west.  They were all bible thumping, land grabbing, self-serving, weak people.  Maybe they are right, maybe it was a bad time for americans as we embraced our industrial phase.  Or maybe we are overly critical and use broad generalizations about a time and people we have a hard time understanding.  I'm sure it would make more sense with more vampires.

Arizona

I have been sick all week with strep and now that I am feeling better I am off to Arizona! Yay! I need a vacation.

Snow again

This picture is from the spring but I am posting it again because it demonstrates how much Ethan loves the snow. My sweet boy has been in the best mood and happier than he has been in a week and it is completely due to the snow. He loves the snow, silly boy. How in the world did I get a boy that loves the cold so much!

Snow

I hate snow.

To all the Moms and wonderful woman in my life...

I have been thinking about motherhood today and decided I needed to write a post on it. I first want to pay tribute to the woman in my life that I look up to.

To my Mom for always being there for me and helping me through all my difficulties. I would not be who I am if it weren't for you, you can decide for yourself if that is a compliment.

To my amazingly strong and courageous sister in law Emily. You amaze me every single day with how well you are dealing with Jeff's sickness. You truly are an inspiration of strength threw adversity.

To my wonderfully patient sister Kristen, you are basically a single mother with Freeman working all day and going to school all night. It is not easy and you handle it so beautifully. I am so impressed by Freeman's work ethic and by your ability to handle everything so he is able to go to school.

To my beautiful sister Katie, although this post is mostly on motherhood, you may not have any children of your own but you give so much love and compassion and so much of your time to those children who are lucky enough to be your students.

My awesome sister in law Maren (visit her very funny blog by clicking HERE, shamelss plug over) who can raise 7 of the greatest kids I know and still be willing to help me out whenever I need it. I don't know how I would survive without you!

And of course my amazing mother in law who is always so kind and compassionate to everyone, and yet can get my kids to obey better than anyone.  I don't know how you do it!

There are so many other woman I look up to it would take all day to name them all. The fact is we are all woman in our own situations in life, whether it be a working mom, a stay at home mom, a work at home mom, a single mom or not a mother at all. We as woman have been given so many wonderful gifts. The gift to uplift each other and our families. We are great multi-taskers, (as evidence by the fact that I have a baby crawling all over me as I type this post), we were given compassion and strength. All the woman I am fortunate to know are so wonderful in so many different wonderful ways. I love how we can support each other and help each other in raising the children that we have been given. Afterall, it takes a village....

Have compassion for those in situations that differ from yours. I worked until Chloe was 2 and GASP I put Chloe and Elijah in daycare. I could name a thousand reasons for why I did this, but the fact is I don't have to. I did what I knew was necessary for my family. I live in a state where working as a mother is generally not considered ok. I worked with some less educated men that felt they needed to tell me nearly every single day that what I was doing was detrimental to my family. Then, I went to church where it was brought up quite often that woman were not supposed to work. If anyone thinks for 1 single min. that it was easy for me to leave my children at daycare and go into work and deal with these close minded individuals you are wrong. I AM A TRUE MOTHER! We are all true mothers and I am standing up for motherhood in all the different forms that it may take.

Tile Colors

Melinos - Walnut                     Sonora - Beige

Sonora - Grafito                           Sonora - Walnut

Make sure you click on the picture and see it against a white background as our wall colors downstairs will be very mild and light to make it brighter down there.  The tile looks darker on this site then in real life.

Public Service Announcement

People lock up your dogs! I know to you they are sweet and cute and friendly, but my 4 yr old does not know that the dog that is almost as big as her is nice. I dropped her off a preschool this morning and usually she runs to the door all by herself because she thinks she is so big. Well, this morning as she was happily running to the door I see the big huge dog start toward her. I jumped out of my car but before I could get to her she had screamed, thrown her backpack and lunch box and was running for me. So, I had to get a hysterical child and all her stuff into preschool while this huge dog kept bugging us. I have nothing against dogs but my Chloe is scared of all of them, even the cute little ones so please stop making my life harder by letting your wild dogs roam my neighborhood!

Its been....

Almost a week so I am trying to think of something to post but I've got, nothing. Big fat Nothing. Oh well, Liam can now pull up to standing and when you hold his little hands he tries to walk around. Not bad for being 8 months old tomorrow. My camera is broken and its on its way to be fixed, I hope it gets back soon, so no pictures for awhile. I played the flute in church today, don't ask how it went, I am not thrilled with my performance. Blake claims it sounded fine. He could just be being nice.

Other than that we have just been busy little bees and having a fun time.

Jekyll and Hyde

So, if you have children you probably have witness this phenomenon, and if you haven't well you are luckier than me.

This evening I decided to take Chloe out with me. BIG mistake. I should have known better. I had to run to the store to buy tape to fix the library book Elijah ripped and then take it to the library because it was already late, of course.

So, we get to the grocery store and Chloe says, "I want to buy food, but not apples or carrots." I said, "But Chloe we already have food we don't need food." I do finally consent to buy bananas because we were out of course. She happily skips through the store holding her bananas. I head to the checkout line because I was done. Chloe says, "I want to buy more food" I say, "No Chloe are hands are full." She then throws the bananas on the floor along with herself while screaming "I want to get a cart I want a cart."

At this point I figure I have to buy the bananas that are now hopelessly bruised. I hurry to pick them up, and of course drop them and they bounce a few times. I rush through the check out line while Chloe is still laying of the floor screaming. I then pick up my 45 lb 4 year old and drag her out of the store. At this point I am angry and cussing myself for the brilliant decision not to leave her at home with the boys. I told her I have to take her home because I can't take her to the library while she is behaving this way. She instantly stops, smiles, and ever so sweetly says, "I am sorry Mommy I am ready to go to the library now".

Again, in my foolishness I take her to the library, partly because I just wanted to get it all done without having to go home. We went in and headed down the stairs to get a book I wanted. Again she was all sweetness and light skipping and singing and smiling at everyone who walked by. Now, I am afraid of elevators. I hate enclosed spaces and sliding doors and all that. I do use the elevator when I have the stroller but today I was so happy to be able to use the stairs. We start to walk up the stairs, get up about 2 stairs when Chloe decides she wants to use the elevator. She immediately throws herself down on the stairs and starts screaming "I want to go on the elevator." After a min. I said, "fine we can go up the elevator but you can not check out a book for yourself." She immediately stops, says "sorry Mommy" smiles, jumps up and walks up the stairs. So, we check out the books get out of the library and get to the car.

Everything seems good until we are driving down the street. Chloe then says, "I want to listen to the Dancing Queen song." Now, we have already listened to this song enough times today for me to be very sick of it. I said, "can we just listen to something else?" I hear the low whine at the back of her throat that signals angry Chloe and because I am just done I quickly turn on Dancing Queen and we listen to it 2 more times on the way home.

I hand her off to Blake to deal with bedtime and went and had some Pepsi. I was so done. This is why I say she is harder than my 3 boys put together. I am so thankful I only have 1 girl. I must say though, when she is being sweet she is as sweet as an angel.

Missing the mark.

I am proud to review my latest movie. It is called "THE KINGDOM" duh duh duh (evil sounding music). It's a pirate's R for violence and language.













Let us venture down a road. A road where you have a setup for a storyline that is a bit implausible, yet has a potential to say something without pounding into your head. Or maybe not you, but them, or maybe both. This movie COULD make a few points. Such as, America is right in punishing aggressors overseas, America's foreign policy is flawed, Americ'as foreign policy is okay, other nation's foreign policy is stupid, oil is bad, oil is good, oil is immaterial people are the real problem. Hey they could make all points at the same time and really throw both conservatives and liberals for a loop. Instead, instead, instead, after having suffered through some pretty horrific violence and our main character's struggle to follow a bread crumb trail that he is not allowed to see, we slide into amoral (immoral?) TV ending.

SPOILERS INCOMING.

Most of you are the type of people who avoid R rated movies so I'm not going to worry about spoiling anything in this movie. And if you are going to take time to watch an R rated movie if you are that type of person then this is not the one to do it with.

The beginning credits are a quick history of Saudi American and US oil relations. History Channel stuff, maybe a good place to end.

This piece of flop opens with the killing of over 100 americans who work in Saudi Arabia in a walled off area separating them from the Saudi population. Lots of violence here.

In washington or some such place a group of FBI bombing specialists are reacting to the bombing and are eager to get out to the sight to start discovering the what, who and hows. Something happens here that I'll tell you later. Jamie Foxx's character is the leader and works out with some fenagling his team to the bomb site. The Saudi's are cautious and have their police chief assigned to keep them from doing anything. Blah blah something about the bombers getting ahold of police uniforms and the chief in hot water, but he is a good guy.

So ensues the Americans discovering evidence while being kept from the site and slowly earning the respect of the police chief and then the local royalty and success, we have Saudi's and Americans working together and barriers broken and stuff. Now, dear reader, you may be starting to feel good and that you are on the verge of some altruistic point. The nobleness of humanity will giveway and we will have cooperative progress.

HAhahahHAHAHahahahahahahhahahahaHAHA. oh, you are wrong.

Instead the terrorists who have not 1 but 5 people infiltrated into the police blow up the convoy that is escorting the americans and steal Jason Bateman. Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner and Chris Conner with the help of the saudi police chief chase them down and before they can slice off Jason Bateman's head in front of a camera they kill the whole terrorist organization.

While they are recovering from this harrowing experience they take refuge in an apartment with the leader of the terrorist org, but they don't know it until some clue gives it away. Then the son of the guy shoots the Police Chief and they shoot him and the terrorist guy. This is where we hit the strange ending. The youngest son goes to his father and hears something from him. After the american's are back in US the rest of the crew asks Jamie Fox what he whispered to Jenn Garner back at the beginning when he was consoling her after they heard the news. "We will Kill them all". Which is the same thing the old bomb terrorist whispers to his youngest son before he dies.

This is baffling. Is this glorification? Is this shock value? You answer it yourself I guess. Instead I feel like a contrived storyline lost a chance to make a point. Should I have expected different?

A Book Review

If you know me well you know I read obsessively. I read a book a week on average. So, to shake things up a bit I thought I would post a review of the book I read for my book club.

The Measure of a Man
a spiritual autobiography
By Sidney Poitier

I was very excited to read this book. It is not something I would normally pick up. That is the beauty of book club, it exposes me to books I might otherwise pass by.

I like Sidney Poitier as an actor, he has played some very great roles. He has also led a fascinating life.

This book is a look at life in general from what he deems a spiritual point of view. He definitely has a lot of good things to say.

Overall I enjoyed reading this book. It made me think and take a look at life from a different view. I did feel it was very disjointed at times. He would often veer off the subject. I do wish there was more specifics about his life, but I guess I should read one of his other autobiographies to get that. There was pointless cussing at parts in the book, so if that offends you this book might not be fore you.

I give it 3 1/2 stars out of 5.

And they say overscheduling is bad.....

I did not intentionally over schedule Chloe's Mondays that is just how it happened. I first signed her up for preschool because she is 4 and I need a break. Then, I signed her up for dance because she loves it. I was told that if she did dance she had to do the Mon. Wed. class because the teacher who is so good and wonderful only teaches on Mon. and Wed. I thought well that is ok she can handle that. Then speech came up. She needs speech badly. We tested her and she was only in the 4th percentile. This is something I feel is important to get taken care of as early as possible. I wish I would have noticed the need last year, but well I was pregnant with a young toddler and life was pretty hectic. There is a new speech program in our school district. It is specifically designed for her particular issue, don't ask me what that is because I can't remember the name. It is an hour a week and only on Mon. We went to our first class today and it was wonderful. I will blog more about that some other time. I am exhausted. So, Chloe leaves the house at 9:05 on Mon. and does not get home until 4.

As many of you know Chloe does not sleep. Ever. And I do mean Ever. I sometimes hear her singing primary songs at 2 in the morning. I am very strict about bedtime. She goes to bed at 7:30 every night, but rarely falls asleep before midnight.

Well, it is now 7:40 and she is asleep. Yup, a miracle has occurred. I have finally sufficiently worn her out. Maybe I will have to make every day as busy as Mondays. I am not sure I can handle that.

Be Kind Rewind Review - Blake

Views of poster does not reflect the views of Kori, nor does it reflect the views of those in this household, Lindonites (Lindononions?, Lindings?), Utahns, Americans, North Americans, Western Hemispherians or earthlings.

Unfortunately for those of you familiar with my previous post, this will not be as funny. In fact it will be the opposite of funny, but I hope you still read.

Now for the review.

Before I extol this movie to a sickening degree I want to say what is bad in this movie. The acting was okay, nothing super special. The story took a bit too long to get going, the relationship between the lead characters was a bit inept and in some cases not as genuine as one would have hoped. The last 20-30 minutes of the film seemed a bit out of place as well as the movie changed from one point to another.

**Spoiler Alert** I'm not giving away much more than what you can see from previews or guess.

Now onto the meat and potatoes, or rice and beans for those vegetarians, squash and corn if your trying to reduce your carbon footprint.

Be Kind Rewind is making three points in this film. Two of these points are real cuts to the hollywood machine, to production companies and to anyone trying to make more than just an extra buck from movies.

• Point 1: Movies do not belong to any company.
  With the latest attacks from RIAA and MPAA over copyright infringment and a push by production companies to keep people from stealing their movies there is a fundamental question that is faced when it comes to the artistic element of the media. Certain actors, certain filmmakers, writers, makeup specialists, costume designers, key grips and others that truly want people to have a visceral experience with their efforts. This point comes across in the movie as Mos Def and Jack Black recreate 20 minute shorts of every movie using junk and equipment from around their neighborhood. I felt the film lightly touched over this point and missed a few key opportunities to drive it home. The fact that characters were recreating these films from memory shows a real love of cinema. When the evil lawyers swoop in to destroy their creations they hardly have a reaction other than stunned silence. For a light-hearted comedy I wouldn't expect (for good reason) to have the characters break down into sobbing conniption fits in this scene, but not a single tear was shed and that seemed unlikely. So for me I saw a great message and not enough follow-through.
  
  
• Point 2: This is a call for more independent films.
  Not just a call but an appreciation for the efforts. Let me reiterate that. Make more indie films. Anyone want to make a movie with me? Just bring the camera and a cast.
  
  
• Point 3: A call for regional films.
  Around here it was Napoleon Dynamite that really started a nationwide appreciation of regional quirks. Be Kind Rewind shows through some effort that our stories that we share in our communities is part of the glue that keep us together. Though universal concepts are easy to rehash and create movies from, the regional stories can evoke a more visceral experience. In Be Kind Rewind, Mike (Mos Def) uses the entire community to help retell a story made famous by constant retelling by his mentor Elroy Fletcher (Danny Glover). As more and more people are involved with the storyline, adding to its absurdity, the more apart of them it becomes. In the end their existence in the world is confirmed by the films existence. AND, the purpose of the art is fully realized.
  

I love the message of this film and encourage any film lover to take an evening and watch it. The film isn't a work of art (at least to me) but an appreciation of art. It allowed me to remember and internalize some of my favorite films as my own. It also told me to let other people love their films and not be too critical that connection. Don't worry, that doesn't preclude me from truly hating some films.

Blake

My Amazing boy

My 7 month old Liam thinks he can climb stairs. I left him in our sunken family room by himself for a min. and when I came back he was climbing the stairs. He got up one step and then rolled off. Being the good Mommy that I am rather than picking the poor kid up I ran and got the camera for pictures. Unfortunately the second time he made it up the step I just missed the picture. I am just amazed at the things this kid can do. He really keeps me on my toes! Just when I thought it was safe to leave him put for a min. he has to follow me!

New Poster!

I know you are all so excited to read this....

I have invited Blake to post on my blog. I don't know if he will much but I guess the blog now no longer belongs to just me. So there you go. Start posting Blake!

First Day of school and other things.

So, I am falling behind with the blogging so I will catch up with everything.

Today was Chloe's first day of preschool. She loved it. She is going to the same teacher she went to last year. She was so excited to see all her friends again. I also enjoyed the 2 hours I had this morning with only my little boys at home.


Last Monday was Elijah's first day of 1st grade, so he has been back for a week now. I was sadder than I thought I would be with him being gone all day. He loves school of course and has lots of friends in his class. His teacher seems great and it should be a great year. The night before school started he lost his first tooth! He was excited to start 1st grade with a missing tooth!
Last Friday was Elijah's birthday. Aunt Maren threw a party for him and Grandma Pat, because they share a birthday. It was so much fun and Maren made the most delicious cake. Elijah loves spending time with his cousins. After looking at my pictures it occurred to me that I did not get a picture of Grandma and Elijah. I am very disappointed. I was very frazzled that night after spending the afternoon in melt down city.

Here is Grandma and the girls, Chloe, Emma, Rachel, Hannah, and Jessica.
Elijah got remote control cars for his birthday, he loves them.

Jeff

I am just posting to have everyone remember my brother in their prayers. He is now going through another round of Chemo. I know they will get through this but my heart goes out to him and his family as they deal with this trial. He is such a thoughtful brother and great father. If you are interested in his progress you can check out their blog, Stronger Than Cancer. We will be praying for you.

Jane Austen

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Travelogue by Blake

Yes, it is your travel narrator here, Blake. I have traveled near, but not far. I have heard of the seven wonders of the world. I have thought of places unimaginable. I am rarely heard but never seen. If you are ever somewhere historical, geologically significant or fascinating I am probably not there.

Anyway, I should start at the beginning in this travelogue. Kori and I decided a weekend without the kids would be a good idea. If we were to abandon these kids, we speculated, it would be best to leave them with a supervising adult. My parents have requested that we bring the kids up to their house, so we dropped them off with them. That put us in Logan around 6:30 PM on Friday. Our initial decision was to go to Yellowstone and spend a couple days around the park. We thought about camping in the campgrounds above Logan, but decided with some direction from my Dad to go up through Idaho and to Alpine, Wyoming to camp. I am familiar with the area and even though we arrived well after dark we were able to find a campsite and setup the tent without too much problem. It wasn't more than 20 minutes after we got ourselves zipped into the tent and settled when a thunderstorm arrived. Though uninvited, it was not a party pooper. Rain poured for a good hour before we all fell asleep. Though the sleep was not the most comfortable we did sleep some.

Day 2: Saturday

So I woke to some unnecessarily loud talking in the camp next to us before the sun had come up. Kori got to wake up to someone else who thought the F word should be in every sentence no matter what the subject matter. After being annoyed for a few minutes we quickly got all our things together and packed the car. The tent was soaking wet so we left it lightly folded in the back of the van. We were able to leave Alpine around 8:30 and in less than 2 hours we were at a point where we could see this:

Once on the road to Yellowstone we pass the friendly ranger station where they were so kind to take $25 of our US dollars (foreshadowing alert). After traveling a few miles we both decided a pit stop was in order and stopped at this now infamous gas station and turned off the engine.


As you may have noticed the objective of why we stopped is clearly visible in this picture. After accomplishing my goal I went inside to get a muffin. When I came out Kori was ready for her turn and I watched the baby. See, see how well I watch the baby...


Now when Kori had returned we thought it prudent to continue our journey to the more fascinating sites of the park. So I turn on the engine... or attempt to. Click, click, click, click, click. The dashboard lights are flickering and the dials are spinning. Some would say it was ghosts, but it is midday and we are in a national park (I'm sure that means something). So we have the local service station (1/2 mile down the road) guy come by and he tries to jump the van. No luck. Then the other guy at the service station comes. He also tries to jump the van. All that happens is that the clicking is faster and more prevalent. The dials also seem more lively (maybe we were powering the ghost). So our genius mechanic pulls out his best tool for working on cars, the hammer. Mr. Hammer Mechanic beats on the battery, beats on the starter and probably beats on other parts of the car that have nothing to do with the problem. Well needless to say he is unable to start the car. Our option? Call a tow-truck in Jackson and wait until Monday to get it repaired. Once we track down a tow service we find out is going to be 2 and a half hours before they can arrive. Lucky us. So we take this opportunity to hike a mile down to Colter Bay on Jackson Lake. Down in Colter Bay we discover that there is a Visitor Center, an Indian Museum and a boat launch. See photos, see them all, mwuahahahahaha.


Once back at the gas station we grabbed a couple sandwiches, ate in the sun and talked to the manager. Everyone at the gas station was very nice. We waited and waited. Oh and took pictures.



And decided to rename plants and animals that we saw.

This one is Purpulous Droopingous Floweronic (not a good picture, it is wiley like the yeti).
Decayous Treeifer

Don'tic Eatoun
Mossous on Rockus
Mossus on Treeifer
Scarinious the Wifeifer Bugus on windshield.

So after waiting a bit longer our tow-truck arrived. Jonk (explaination to come later) asked us what was wrong and decided to jump us with his truck. MIRACLE, it started. We were shocked and after turning it off and trying to start it without a jump our hopes were dashed. It didn't start. The problem after some quick armchair diagnostics is that the computer has gone haywire. We were able to start it by using the extra battery that a tow-truck has, while other cars do not have that extra battery thus not giving enough juice to bypass the computer. Jonk also told us that staying in Jackson would not be worth our while. It is too expensive, and the repair shops are not that great. So he said, don't turn off the engine and drive somewhere else. On the 40 minute drive back to Jackson we decided our best option would be to get to Provo. Our only hitch is that I left my car at a co-workers house in Salt Lake.

We also decided to see if we could get a raincheck or refund on our park admission. We stopped there briefly and I ran over to the station only to be denied with a smile.

We passed our geometicrically baffling ranch on the way.

(Triangle X Dude Ranch)

Something afoot at the 1 Hour Photo.

Grass on the roof is the new pink.

After a slight problem in Jackson, which I won't talk about, that cost us $75, we were on our way. We noticed on the receipt at this time that the name our Tow-Truck driver put down was Jonk. We both said 'Jack', but as most of you already figured out it was 'Jon K', but he will be Jonk to us. A tattooed slightly overweight fellow (non-swede) who was really nice to get us going.

We were doing great. Though the drive back to SLC was not the shortest in the world it did pass uneventfully until we were past Evanston. Soon we came across an interesting sign. I-80 West bound is closed all weekend and we were to be detoured on I-84. No problem, an extra 11 miles. How bad could that be. They didn't mention that there was not 1 but 2 pockets of construction on I-84. Go UDOT, you really know how to make thing better. So the first pocket of construction was not bad, 15 miles of one lane traffic was okay because we kept moving. After we passed Morgan, though, we came to a complete stop a mile away from the next construction zone. Well without the engine pumping away the car was more reliant on the battery to power itself. I kept popping the car in neutral and revving the engine, but one time I was too late and the car died. And it was dead. Dead dead. We pushed it to the side of the road and called another tow service. We also called the Heywoods, our saviors. It was dusk when we got stuck and in no time we were without any light except the constant traffic lighting our trial. Bruce and his father came to pick us up and arrived within 5 minutes of the tow-service. After dropping off the Van at a service station at the mouth of the canyon, Bruce drove us to a gas station. We had not stopped since Jackson and were in dire need of a stop. We picked up the car and sent the bishop home, unfortunately he was going to have to wake up early the next day. It was 11:30 PM.

At this point we realized the last place we had eaten was at Colter station. So we stopped at Wendy's.
I said "Number 1 w/ cheese with a Diet Coke, er Pepsi, no wait Coke."
They said. "What Size?"
I said "Medium. I also want a ... Number... um... 6 with a Dr. Pepper"
They said. "What Size?"
I said, "Um... Medium also."
They said. "Okay. That will be 7.35" That should have been a clue considering Kori's meal was 4 bucks and mine was 5.50.
We paid the money, got our drinks (plural) and got a bag of food and took off. At this point we had bad headaches and had been on the road for 15 hours. Kori looked in the bag and was dismayed to find 1 burger and 1 fry. We almost went back, but we decided to eat them and see if we were still hungry when we got off the freeway near our house. We did end up stopping at Del Taco where they were able to get our order right and got home around 12:15.

Day 3: Oh wait there is no Day 3 of this vacation.

So now we are going to have to take care of the van on Monday and pick up the kids Tuesday. Wish us luck, as we obviously need some.

Blake