Twilight Movie

This is the bad guy? He plays the tracker vampire that is after Bella, the main character. His face is shown here as eye candy for some of my followers :) His name is Cam Gigandet.

You may have read my book review of this some time back, but now the movie came out and yes, I saw it. From the ticket sales, it sounds like many others went to see it this weekend as well. I liked it, but enjoyed the book on a more personal level. It was a mom's night out for me, thanks to all my ladies that shared the moment with me. We actually saw it for free because the theatre gave us each a free ticket to come back (the movie stopped, it was hot, and a few sound issues). It sounds like there will be a sequel movie coming out next year!

Birthday time in November

Michael lighting the 9 candles on his cake.

Libby watching Uncle Jon lighting her 7 candles.

Here's my big brother (I think this is his debut on my blog!)

Today we had a family birthday dinner to celebrate the birthdays of Libby and her cousin Michaelson. Everyone made their own pizza and cooked it in the adobe oven that Aunt Jessica built (sorry if that is not what it is called). All the Long Beach/Lakewood cousins were there, as well as my brother, his wife and daughter (visiting from Utah). They each had their own cake: Libby a yellow with stawberry frosting, Michael an Oreo cake that we made up as we went along (thanks Sage). They were both excited about their gifts, thank you generous family.

Diablo: Chinese Yo-yo

Perry bought a diablo after watching a presentation during his PE class. It must have been a great infomercial. The students even got to touch the product! Well, I must say he is pretty good at it already.

Picture time is here again

See if you can guess which pictures are from 2007 and which are from 2008?

Check us out. Three of us have lost teeth this year, Brooke is waiting not so patiently. She tells me she thinks she has a loose tooth. Some of us have longer hair, some have shorter. You may even notice a few more freckles. One thing is certain, we have all grown!

Birthday party fun

Jed's cake was so delicious. After 1 piece of pizza, Brooke asked, "Where's the cake?" I think she ate as much cake as she did pizza!

Kelly and Brooke

Mommy and Brooke

Kelly's mom as well as Jed's aunt, Laura Wilson Doud (Brooke took this picture)

Brooke went to a birthday party on Friday night to celebrate Jed's 5th birthday. Yes, he is the one she is sometimes addicted to. In fact, after he brought the invitation to Brooke, she would ask everyday, "How many more days until Jed's party?" It was painful to keep explaining the days to her. She thinks any time frame is a "long time". Jed likes Star Wars, so notice the light saber on his cake...so cool. Brooke enjoyed herself for 3 hours at Chuck E. Cheese's: climbing, spending tokens, eating pizza and cake. She wanted to drive this car game that required her to use a foot pedal. At 41 inches, this was not possible, so she asked me to sit under her and control the pedal while she took control of the wheel. This would be fine, except that when you move, the seat you are sitting on moves as well. Many of you know, I get car sick...we drove only once. I was glad to get back to the land where the ground doesn't move (you know what I mean). She was so excited to leave with a goody bag along with a frog and 2 suckers that she earned with her tickets!

Book Reviews: Uglies Trilogy

I need to be better about reviewing the books I read. This series is written by Scott Westerfeld, a sci-fiction young adult writer. Funny thing about this trilogy; it has a 4th book (Extras) that I am currently reading. This series has plenty of action with teenagers escaping many tight situations on hover boards. The story line takes place 300 years in the future with everyone having plastic surgery at 16 to become what the society believes is pretty. They also alter their brains to not think for themselves, therefore being happy all the time. Ask me more if you are interested. My mother's cousin, a 6th grade teacher, recommended this author to me (since I liked the Twilight series).

Help me out if you can. They claim that all 4 books in this series have been New York best Sellers. What does that mean? Are they great books or do they just sell a lot of books?

Duke's in Artesia

Does anyone have a favorite restaurant that you ate at as a kid? My parents were divorced by the time I was 3, so my dad would pick us up every other weekend. We would go to places such as Carl's Jr. and Duke's. It is a great hamburger/everything place. Funny thing is, I used to order their huge bean and cheese burrito with no sauce. Today the kids were out of school for Veteran's Day, so Grandpa took us to Duke's for lunch. We sat in the same booth my brother and I used to sit at as kids. Some of the same people still work there (I think they own it) after 20 + years. The kids loved their burgers, fries and sodas. What a treat! This is not a usual event, but Grandpa showed us a good time. He even talked and showed "push-ups" with Perry (what muscles are being worked out). Since Perry is taking PE at school (my Dad being a retired middle school PE teacher), he can ask Grandpa all his questions.

Hair cuts for all the girls

Libby before & after

Brooke before & after

Sage before & after

No, my mug is not going up, but it is shorter and feels great!

It all started when I knew it was time to get the yearly photos taken of the kids and the hair needed to be cut. A girlfriend that I play tennis with, is also a hairstylist. In order to give me the big friend discount, she came over to our house and cut all 4 of us in less than 2 hours! I shampooed their hair and then let her cut away. She had some really cute, more current ideas for their hair. Libby's hair will grow more into a blunt bob to frame her precious face. Brooke's hair needed evening out. Sage got the big makeover. This is the shortest she has gone in years. Sage requested her hair to be shorter and lighter/thinner. She has so much hair, it really makes her head heavy (wouldn't we all love to have that problem). So she got layers and texturing (which I think means thinning). If she ever decides to donate a 3rd time to "locks of love", I think we have a few years of growing out.