It's a Wonderful Movie

As a kid my cousin, Amy, and I went through a throwback era where we had sleepovers (sometimes 2 or 3 nights in a row) and would watch whatever old musical or movie we could find at the Sounds Easy Video Store. We saw literally every Gene Kelly, Doris Day, Audrey Hepburn, Judy Garland, Fred Astaire classic we could get our hands on. Some were good, some were great, and some were terrible (those were the ones we'd take out about a half hour in and replace with Troop Beverly Hills [not a throwback]). We saw West Side Story at least 50 times and laughed every time at the "Chino" dance move that only a true fan would notice. I blame this era of time for adding 2 of my top 10 movies of all time (although, now that I'm thinking about it, I may have to add West Side Story to my list), and it is probably also the reason that I never saw (and have still never seen) a Star Wars movie. Those two movies: 1. Singin' in the Rain and 2. It's a Wonderful Life. The latter is the topic of this blog post. I watch this movie every year at Christmas time. This year while watching (and doing dishes and folding laundry) I noticed some things:
1. Jimmy Stewart is the biggest over-actor there is. Hands down. I just don't think he would make it in today's Hollywood.
2. Donna Reed is the prettiest person Hollywood has ever produced.
3. Is this show socialist or what? Made right after FDR.
4. It is a tragedy when George Bailey sees that Violet has gone to work as a "dancing girl" in downtown Pottersville, but it is a TRAVESTY to see that Mary has become an "old maid who works at the library." Anything but that!!!
5. This show doesn't have that much to do with Christmas at all.
6. We have become very sloppy as a society. George Bailey wears a full suit every day and Mary a dress to do her housework.


And yet, I still cried. Cried like a baby. Here's to next year.

A Saleswoman I'm Not

Anyone who knew me during my days at 1800Contacts can tell you that I couldn't sell free food to a hungry man, but here's my shameless attempt. Rusty and Tara, my good friends and entrepreneurs, started The Blog Frog about a year ago. It's a service where you can go to list your blog/facebook page and find the blogs/facebook pages of people you'd like to contact or reconnect with. Not only that, but there are some sweet widgets you can add to your blog like the chat wall and news feeds that I have added to this blog. It's totally free too. In fact, since adding the chat wall, I think I'm done with Facebook altogether (I'm beginning to think that people who claim to be my "friends" are really just kind of nosey; I can say that because this blog is private). Anyway,Check it out.

Red Letter Day

Lucy was blessed December 7, 2008 by her dad during the sacrament meeting of the Mount Mahogany 4th Ward. She was an angel as always, and Paul gave a great blessing. We live for days like this and realize how lucky we are to have the friends and family that we do to share in our joy.

Creature of Habit

Sabrina is turning into the funniest little person you could ever imagine. I think the age of 2 gets a 10 on the "comedy" scale and about a 3 on the "willingness to comply" scale. She insists on doing things her way or no way. Not only this, but things are to be done the exact same way every time. Like, for example, every time we pass the temple this conversation occurs:

Sabrina: I see the temple!!

Mom and Dad: Yep, there it is.

Sabrina: It's about Angel Ni Ni (Moroni).

Mom and Dad: Yep, Angel Moroni's on top.

Sabrina: And pretty dress.

Mom and Dad: Yep, when you get married you wear a pretty dress to the temple.

Sabrina: And Jesus.

Mom and Dad: Yep, Jesus wants us to go to the temple.

Sabrina: And getting married.

Dad: Are you going to get married?

Sabrina: No, I'll just stay by Luce (Lucy) Dad.

It cracks us up every time. In my head I imagine my two spinster librarian daughters riding in the same positions in the back seat of our car forever. It's a sad thought, but funny all the same. This conversation, by Sabrina's insistence, happens the exact same way every single time. The other day, Paul thought he'd spice it up a little and mention Angel Moroni before she did...not a good idea. He was yelled at, and the entire conversation had to start from the beginning again. Gosh, we love her!

Thanksgiving '08

You would think (it being my favorite holiday and all) that I would remember to take some pictures, but in true form...I forgot the camera. Here, however, is a picture of Lucy (we call her "Loose" but there just isn't a good way to spell that...suggestions?). This was taken on my new least favorite holiday, Black Friday. More on that later. This year we had Thanksgiving with the Sampsons (DenDen, Carolyn, Nate, Aryn, Dan, and BillieJo). The food was fantastic. The company was great. We ate too much and came home with even more. Uncle Max shared a visit and kept us laughing ("I call that figure skating").

The next day Lucy woke up at about 5:00 AM. I fed her, then remembered that it was Black Friday. "Why not," I thought. "I'm up." I headed to the worst place in the world (aka WalMart) because I had seen that they had a screamin' deal on a digital camera. And since all of our pics are rather blurry (admit it...you've noticed), we thought this would make a good Christmas gift. "Bad idea." "Never again." These are the thoughts that were running through my head as I rammed my cart through crowded isles of tired, not nice people, who seriously needed some perspective. In the end, I did NOT get a new camera. That's all I'm going to say about that. I feel that I needed to post this story so that next year when I'm tempted by all the ads, I'll remember this phrase... "NOT WORTH IT."

Happy Holidays Everyone!