Thanksgiving in Arizona

This year we attempted again to have Thanksgiving with Kelly's brother and his family in Arizona. We tried to last year and unfortunately right after we arrived there we got news that Kelly's Grandmother passed away, and we all had to return back to Utah. So knowing that all our family was in good health this year we headed down.

We left on Saturday morning at 5:30 am, and eventually arrived around 5 pm or so. It was a long drive, but the boys were fantastic. Thanks to the DVD system and a couple long naps.

Landon & Carter

We met Marty, Emily and Brynn at a sports grill in Mesa where we left Kelly and Marty to enjoy the Utah vs. BYU game. GO UTES!! (Lucky for us they won!!) Emily and I took the kids and headed to their home in Queen Creek. Landon and Carter were really excited to see and play with Brynn again. When Kelly and Marty got home Kelly hurried inside and hung his Utah blanket up inside. Marty is a HUGE BYU fan and so it was really funny to see him react and go tear it down. The funny thing is that we didn't see that blanket again until we were leaving on Sunday morning.

We played for the next couple of days and took it easy. On Sunday I think that all the exhaustion from the week finally caught up to me, because I slept for almost 5 hours that afternoon. Kelly was so nice and didn't let the kids bother me at all. I never take naps, so I really must have needed it.

Emily and I did some scrapbooking and a little craft project. We make Turkeys out of styrofoam balls, buttons, feathers and silk flowers. They turned out so cute and we had a lot of fun making them.

Me & Emily

Greg flew in on Tuesday and we all went to the airport to get him. Marty, Emily, Brynn & I rocked out on the way to the soundtrack from High School Musical. Kelly didn't want to participate in that, and I can't for the life of me understand why. ;0) Afterward we went to dinner in Mesa at a Mexican restaurant. I can't remember the name of it, but the food was great!

Greg, Kelly & Landon

Carter, Me & Brynn
Marty & Emily

The next day we all hung out and started preparing some of the food for Thanksgiving dinner. We went to the park and let the kids play and enjoyed our time relaxing.

Carter & Marty

Me & Brynn

Landon & Marty

Me & my Kelly
Emily & Me

On Thanksgiving day Emily and I did most of the cooking, while the boys entertained the kids and helped out when needed. Surprisingly it was not very stressful and the food turned out great.

Marty carving the Turkey

Kelly making the mashed potatoes

Emily's Cranberry Wreath
Emily's Sweet Potatoes
The Turkey
The Green Salad
Marty's home made rolls and honey butter
The kids table
The adults table
Landon, Carter & Brynn patiently waiting
Kelly & Landon after dinner. See how tired they are.
Brynn, Greg & Carter snuggled up on the couchDid I happen to mention that it RAINED while we were there? Yes. It did. A couple times in fact. When it rains the water just sits on top of the ground, because it's pretty much just clay. So after dinner the kids went into the backyard and played. Carter thought it was hilarious to run through all the water and in doing so tripped and face planted more than once. He was drenched. Landon ran through the water, but didn't get nearly as wet as Carter did.

Landon, Brynn & Carter in the back yard

Landon

Carter & Brynn
Carter soaking wet
Landon trying to dry off with his beloved blanketLandon, Carter and Brynn were all freezing, so we threw them into the tub. All three of them! Rub a dub dub, three kids in a tub!

Landon, Brynn & Carter

Kelly, Carter, Landon, Me, Emily & Brynn

Kelly, Marty and Greg also played A LOT of Play Station 2 and Tecmo Superbowl on the Nintendo. I have no idea how late they stayed up every night, but I do know that it was late. Emily and I eventually hid the Nintendo.

Greg and the Nintendo

Kelly and Marty and the PS2

Friday Emily and I went and did some Black Friday shopping. We each got some really good deals and had a great time. Neil also flew in on Friday to spend the weekend with all of us. That night Kelly, Marty, Greg & Neil all went to a Phoenix Suns game. When they got to the game they realized that the game tickets weren't in the envelope. They fell out in the house and so Emily, the kids and I all loaded into the van and met them in Mesa with the tickets.

The Christmas lights on the Mesa Temple were turned on that night as well, so we decided that seems as how we were in town, we'd drive by and take a quick look. The lights from what we could see were beautiful. We decided not to stop and just head home. I didn't have my stroller with me and there were huge crowds. I didn't want to worry about loosing the boys. There were also protesters there, and from hearing about past protests, it made me a little nervous. Had Kelly been there, I don't think I would have worried.

Saturday was our last day in Arizona. We just hung out and played games. I did all of our laundry and tried to get packed up again. We played at the park and Kelly and Marty created a
"Merman" out of Greg. Neil didn't like that so much, but it was hilarious!

Merman Greg & Brynn

Kelly and the evidence. Look at those hands!

Merman Greg with great ab's thanks to Marty
Marty, Greg & Kelly
Greg as a short sand man
Neil sleeping through it all
Emily when she first met the Merman

We left on Sunday early in the morning again. This time Greg and Neil rode home with us. That was nice to have them along for the ride home. We played a game in the car where someone thinks of a person and tells you their initials, and you have to ask questions to figure out who it is. It's really fun and you end up learning some interesting things about people.

When we were getting close to Flagstaff, Kelly asked if anyone would want to go to the Grand Canyon while we were so close. After debating a bit, we decided to go. We took the detour and went to the South Rim. I had never been to the Grand Canyon, and was amazed at the size of it. Especially because what I was looking at wasn't even all of it. Having the boys there without railings, made me super nervous, but they love it too. Mostly because they could run around and weren't trapped in the car.

Kelly, Landon, Me & Carter

Kelly & Landon

Carter
Kelly
Carter, Neil, Landon & Kelly walking back to the van
Landon & Carter
The view
Greg

We eventually made it home around 10:30 that night. It was a long ride home, but well worth it.

Landon & Blanket

Carter & Puppy

We had so much fun on this trip. Thanks Marty, Emily and Brynn for allowing us to spend so much time with you guys. We love and miss you!

A SuRpRiSe

We discovered a few days prior to leaving on our trip that the boys had stuck a dime in our CD player in the van. It was only partially in and I thought I could get it out while we were driving and ended up pushing in in all the way. Kelly was thrilled about that. It made the radio short out or turn off every time we went over a bump, and the radio stations all reset every time the we would start the van. Needless to say it had to be taken care of before we left.

So I called the dealership and they wanted $95 just to look at it, plus additional fees to fix it. Needless to say we decided not to go that route. Kelly instead asked around and researched online how to take of the paneling and do it himself.

This is what he found.

It's no wonder the radio and CD player wouldn't work!!

A Week of Chaos

The week before we left on our trip to Arizona was insane for me. That was the week of the Twilight premier. Being part of Team Alice for the TwlightMom's premier at the District meant that I was spending a lot of time making final preparations. That on top of getting all of us packed and the house cleaned and the laundry done, for some reason wasn't enough for me to do. I decided that I had better get all my Christmas stuff up before we left too. Yes, I know I am CRAZY!! But I did, I did it all.

I went to see the midnight showing of Twilight!!!

Kim, Shelley, Me & Shauna in the theater.

We held the largest Twilight premier party west of L.A. The movie premier was a success and we had so much fun doing it. I maintained the Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation charity and had a lot of fun doing it.

Me & Alex's Lemonade Stand

Me & Kim at Will Call

The cast that showed up for photos!

I managed to get all my laundry done, my house cleaned and Christmas up. I even finished making the Cars ornaments for the boys tree.

My Christmas Tree

Landon's & Carter's Tree they decorated themselves.

Kelly got the lights up on the House
My village of Christmas Trees on top of
my cabinets with vines of red berries
On top of my entertainment center
My side table in my kitchen

It definitely was insane, but I am happy that I did it all. I felt good about leaving at 4 am the day after the premier, knowing that I had accomplished everything I had set out to do. Now would I do it all over again? That's something to think about.

Twilight

We're finally home, and my first order of business is my Twilight movie review.

To begin, I have to say that for days before going to see the movie, I kept telling myself over and over again that the movie would be the book, and I needed to keep that in mind. I think that I was a little worried that I was going to be disappointed, and I of course didn't want to be. So that was my way of preparing myself for it. Needless to say, all that prep was for nothing. I LOVED the movie!

There were some parts that I felt were a little cheesy, like "Hold on tight spider monkey" I've hated that ever since they showed it in the previews, but like I said before I knew it wouldn't be the book and I prepared myself for that. They included lots of details from the book, and at times it just didn't seem to transition smoothly to the next scene. There was never anything that I thought was horrible, it was just a little choppy here and there. Obviously things were left out, and new things added, and overall I thought that they did a great job in adapting from the book. I still felt the same emotions watching the movie as I always have reading the book. Some parts were even more intense. I personally think they did a great job.

I thought the cast was outstanding!

• Robert played Edward incredibly... ahh... sigh... I could have watched the movie a thousand times over again!! And I'm sure I will. He was perfect!!
  
• Kristen (who I was a little worried about) also was fantastic. I didn't know if she would end up pulling it off, but she did, and I have no complaints.
  
• Jackson did an amazing job playing Jasper. He was so rigid and uncomfortable around Bella, it was great!
  
• Nikki made Rosalie even colder than I thought she could be, that was a little surprising.
  
• Ashley was a perfect Alice. I wish that they would have included her character just a little more.
  
• Kellen I am convinced is Emmett. He looked the part and was exactly what I would have imagined him to be.
  
• Esme was portrayed just as I would have imagined by Elizabeth. Super sweet and kind. She made me happy.
  
• Peter made Carlisle even more dreamy than ever. I like others, was in awe when he first came on screen. He was excellent!

My favorite part of the movie, had to be the kiss. Wow! It was intense and amazing!! I know that sounds crazy, but seriously, it was that good. There were so many great parts of the movie, but that was my favorite. If you haven't seen it yet, (I might think you're a little crazy) trust me, prepare yourself for it.

Some other parts of the movie that I loved were:

• Edward bringing Bella to meet the family. It was great, very funny!
  
• The baseball scene. I thought the special effects were well done. And besides that... who wouldn't love watching Edward play baseball?!?!?
  
• The ballet studio. It was intense and everything I imagined it would be. Bella was great in this scene and the action was perfect. I also loved the special effects they did in the studio as well.

I would absolutely recommend that you go and see the movie. Even if you didn't love the books, the movie was really well done, and I think that you'd enjoy it. I am a little biased so obviously I think that it's great, but go and see for yourself. I can't wait to go and see it again in the theater. I hope that I'll be able to convince Kelly to go with me, but I'm not going to hold my breath.