Angela Goes to the Movies

I actually went to the movies two weekends in a row!! The first weekend I went with Nate and we saw, I Am Legend.

The second weekend, I went with Kylee and Lindsay and we saw, National Treasure: Book of Secrets.

Here are my reviews.

I Am Legend

I didn't love the film, but I did like it enough. It kept me entertained the whole time, which is good right. It was suspenseful, but not too much, which is good for people like me who don't like scary movies. I have heard people say they didn't like the ending, but I was totally fine and satisfied with it. I did appreciate the fact that the movie is under two hours. I don't sit still very well. I would recommend this movie.




National Treasure: Book Of Secrets

Now this film I did love!!! It has everything. First of all, it is very funny, super funny in fact. The characters are easy to love. It has some very suspenseful moments and a little bit of romance too. It also kept me entertained from the very beginning. Grab your special someone or just the girls like I did and go this this movie right away!

P.S. And I tend to love Nicolas Cage movies. I think he looks like Nate. :)

Busy Busy Busy

It seems like we have just been going going going ever since Christmas! That is why my blog has been neglected. Christmas was fun. I heard Gage get up and so I ran to his door and told him that Santa had come, to wait one minute for Mom to get ready, and to get Kyah up. I went and got Nate and the camera. I heard Gage on the monitor telling Kyah that santa had come, progressively getting louder and louder. Too cute. We got Kyah out of bed and let them run into the living room. Kyah went straight for her trike and Gage went for his purple and yellow ball, not the guitar. Gage had told us previously that all he wanted from Santa was a purple and green ball. I could not find one. I even told him that Santa called and said he didn't have any. Then, a few days before Christmas, we were in a Nike outlet store and Gage was mesmerized by a bin full of purple and yellow soccer balls. I asked him if that was like the one he wanted from Santa and then quickly said that it probably wasn't because it didn't have green. He told me that purple and YELLOW was what he wanted. Needless to say, we got the ball. ANYWAY. The kids loved all their loot. Kyah got princess dresses, shoes, books, purses and makeup. She is quite the little diva! Gage is really enjoying lots of new race tracks and games. We did got to Chehalis to meet up with all of my cousins on my Dad's side. We ate, sang, played volleyball and basketball, but we had to leave early because it was snowing pretty good! It was scary for a while, but cleared up after Olympia. Thank goodness! The day after Christmas, we went to my mom's for dinner and games with everyone. We went down to Sumner again the day after that for a little playdate with some girlfriends from High School. Then last night I had Kylee and Lindsay here and we went to see a movie. Oh it's been a fun week! Here are some pics.














Like I said, total DIVA!



Girls from High School. So fun to see everyone.

Merry Christmas!!!!!!!

This is my virtual Christmas Card. :)


May you remember the reason for the season.
Love You All, Nate, Angela, Gage and Kyah

Confession

It doesn't get any better than watching the finale of Biggest Loser while eating soft serve ice cream from your new machine. :)

Big News!

My brother Rocky got engaged today! He fiance is Janelle. She is so great. She is very thoughtful and sweet. Not to mention BEAUTIFUL. We all love her already. Rocky is my third brother to get married and so far, all of them have made fabulous choices for wives! I couldn't ask for better sisters in law! I love it. Janelle, welcome to the family! I couldn't be happier for you and Rocky. Here is a picture I took of them tonight when they stopped by to give me the news and show me the ring. (I felt honored!)

Hawaii: Day 2

On our second day in Hawaii, we got up at 6:00am to catch the 6:40am bus the North Shore. Our plan was to do a session at the temple, then head to the Polynesian Cultural Center. The bus ride was FREEZING! It was pouring rain outside and it was still dark. The bus ride took 2 hours. I was kind of thinking, what the heck is going on? I did not come to Hawaii to freeze my buns off. Anyway, we got to the temple at 8:45 and it was freakishly quiet and empty. Turns out it was closed because the power was out. The day before they had a huge storms and tons of people lost power. So we just took some pictures. We had a couple of hours to spare so we went across the street to the beach. But what were we really going to do in our church clothes. So we make our way to the BYU Hawaii bookstore. CLOSED for devotional. So we made our way to the PCC and waited until it opened. We ended up buying lunch there. I walked around the whole day in my dress. Nate had his church pants on, but at least he had a polo shirt to change into. We had a really good time at the PCC and the weather was really great. The only problem was my video camera broke when I went to get it out during the Horizons night show. Bummer. Here are tons of pics. Once again these have not been edited at all. So don't judge. :)











Random Surfer.



Waiting for the Canoe Parade to start.


Canoe Parade.


The Tahitian girls. I love their fast hip-shakin dance.


I don't know what I was thinking doing this in a dress!




Nate's Ukulele lesson.


This is the pig we ate at the Luau.


This is a stone statue of a face outside of the Horizon's night show. I couldn't help myself.


The fire dancers were our favorites!

Another Reason I'm Going to Gain Weight!

We went to Nate's work Christmas party tonight. It was casino night. I had fun playing Texas Hold' Em. But I'm not to great at it. I had half my chips at the end of the night. You trade in your chips for raffle tickets. I only got two. Since last year Nate and I won a prize that we couldn't use, a cheese and wine picnic set, they did the raffle a little bit different this year. They put bags next to each prize. If you wanted that prize, you put your ticket in it. There were two prized I wanted, so I put one ticket in each bag. ( A Coach purse, and a soft serve ice cream machine.) Lo and behold, I won the ice cream machine! I of course screamed, put my arms in the air, and screamed some more. Everyone else just accepted their prized like normal. I like to keep it entertaining, and I really was stoked!!! This ice cream machine is intense!

It has a holder for your cones and little condiment dispensers. So Much Fun. Who's coming to my soft serve ice cream party???





P.S. I am going to post more Hawaii trip pics, but life has been busy and it is going to take me a while to sort through my pics and decide which ones to post. So I'm waiting until I can dedicate a good chunk of time to the Hawaii posts.

I am going to be a Nookachamp!

In one month from today, (don't look at the date of this posts, I'm posting after midnight) I am going to run my second half marathon. It is the winter Nookachamp Half Marathon on Jan. 12th! It is so exciting. My sister in law Lindsay has agreed to run it, along with my brothers TJ and Jordan. Also, my friends Elizabeth and Debbie have agreed to run along with two of my Marathon Mommy friends, M&M and Suziepetunia(Kelly and Sarah). Isn't that fun!! I have lots of running buddies this time. I can't wait.

Hawaii: Day 1

We got to Hawaii on Wednesday Dec. 5th and here's what we did.

We took a shuttle to the hotel, got settled in and immediately went out to explore Waikiki. I was a little disappointed as the weather was kind of gray and cloudy. It was still very warm though. We went straight to the beach and took a few pictures of us wading in the ocean.





(P.S. These pictures have not been edited in any way, shape or form.)

Then we went shopping at the International Marketplace. A fun place to shop with great deals. This lady was not about to let Nate leave her stand without him buying something. Every time we went to leave she gave us a better deal on something. She even hit Nate a few times. (In a funny way.) Nate gave in and bought something that will be a gift, so I can't say what. We ate dinner at the Marketplace and it rained while we did so. I felt lucky that it only rained then and not while we were out walking. Little did I know the rest of the trip would not be laced with good luck. After dinner we went back to the hotel and swam and sat in the hot tub. Then we went to bed as we knew we would be getting up at 6:00am the next morning.

I am a Snorkeling Machine.

We went to Hanauma Bay today. Oh my word. It is the most beautiful place I've ever been. The weather was beautiful today too. (Finally). I snorkeled like it was going out of style. At first I had a bum snorkel. I kept drinking ocean water. YUCK. Then I turned it in and got one that worked properly. I had so much fun. I found this really big, super pretty, rainbow kind of fish, and I followed it around the ocean. LOVED IT! My favorite day so far. (Yesterday we went to Pearl Harbor and all the tours were sold out.) Oh and because it's been stormy and I've been worried I would come back to Washington without having any sort of tan, I didn't wear any sunscreen today. Ummm, big mistake.


Can't wait to show you my pictures.

We Made It....... Barely!

Yes, I'm posting from Waikiki. Nate is sleeping and I can't fall asleep just yet. So I came down to the lobby to do a quick post. The day started rough. We slept in majorly and just about missed our flight! What is up with that? Nate woke me up panicked saying it was 6:30. We were suppose to leave at5:30 and go get Lindsay, then go to the airport. I frantically called my mom and told her to get in the car, go get Linds and meet us at the airport as we no longer had time to go and get her. Luckily everything worked out and we made it. No joke, we were the last ones on the enormous plane! Thank you mom and Linds for saving the day. Nate and I had a great first day here. We shopped, ate, and visited the beach. It is Oh So Amazing! Even if it is stormy and windy. Yes, we got rained on as we sat in the hot tub outside. It is a warm storm though. Funny. Our room is small, but super nice. The towels are better than any I own! Anyway, I really should try to sleep. Tomorrow, Polynesian Cultural Center and the Temple. Fun fun.

P.S. I miss the babies already. I know they are missing me too. Linds told me that Kyah was yelling from her pack and play when she was suppose to be sleeping, "Where's momma, why isn't she coming?" And Gage already had a melt down today during a little scary part in a movie and he started crying and saying, "but Momma's not coming home for 5 days!" And then he asked Linds if she knew how to sing because Momma sings to him. Cute little kiddos. They couldn't be in better hands!

I'm really going now. I love Hawaii.

Aloha.........Almost.

Well in about 12 hours I can say that! Can I just tell you once again I am freaking out about flying in an airplane. What is my problem? All day today I kept kissing my kids and thinking about what they would do without a mother. Dumb huh. Then I kept telling myself that people fly over the ocean to Hawaii every day and no one crashes. I'm gonna be fine. Anyway, I am also very excited and it just seems so surreal that I'm going to Hawaii in the morning. Honestly, I kind of thought in my mind that it could be one of those places I would never be able to go to or at least not until I was 55 or something. I feel very blessed to have this opportunity! Thank you a million times to TJ and Lindsay for taking the kids for four days and to my mom who will have them for two! You guys are the best.

I obviously will not be posting for a week! But you know I'm going to have a million pictures to share when I get back!

Love to All! Angela

Christmas Card Craze.

Here are some more pics from some of the shoots I've had lately. Michelle, if I posted the picture you chose for your card, please let me know and I'll take it off the blog. Which one is everyone's favorite?

Gingerbread House.

Last week we made a gingerbread house for Family Home Evening. Kyah refused to pose with the house. (Which is weird because lately she asks me to take her picture. Gotta love that!)

So here is Gage with our work.

The end of a college career, a first snow, and a note to self.

Today we got up early and went to TJ's house to watch Rocky play in a quarterfinal game against Appalachian State. It was exciting and intense. We all cheered just like we were at the game. Unfortunately, they lost 35-38. What a game. What a tough loss. This means that was Rocky's very last game as an Eastern Washington University Eagle. What a college career Rocky has had! He was all American as a freshman and voted newcomer of the year-the first time that award has gone to an offensive lineman. Three of his four years, the team has made it to the play-offs. Two of the four years, they were big sky champs. It has been soooooooo much fun to go to his games! I'm going to miss it next year for sure! Love you Rocky!







Probably my favorite fan photo.


When we were driving home, we encountered snow, and lots of it. At least by any Washingtonian's standards! The kids loved watching it come down. It was fun, and pretty.




And finally, a Note To Self:

Please do not ever go to the grocery store under the following circumstances.

1. It is dinnertime and you still haven't eaten lunch. Therefore you are starving and want lots of food.

2. You just ran 7.5 miles on the treadmill. Therefore feeling like you deserve a treat because you just burned so many calories.

Going to the store under these circumstances will result in purchases that contain something like this:

A box of powdered raspberry filled donuts
One package of double stuffed oreos
One chocolate milk
One bottle of strawberry lime Jone's soda
A package of gummy fun bugs
Four boxes of hot pockets
and one microwavable Chinese dish of peppered beef

Who's Laughing Now.

Last April Nate and I took a trip to Utah. We were there for a couple of days and then we left the kids with Nate's mom and we went to visit Harvard and Yale. For this portion of the trip, Nate packed his stuff in with my bag. When we got back to Utah, we still had four more days before we headed back to Washington. For those four days, I noticed Nate did not take his toiletries out of my bag. Everyday I got ready, I would see Nate's toiletries and then laugh thinking of how Nate must be scrounging around for deodorant in his brother's things. I wasn't worried about his toothbrush because I knew his mom had several extra new toothbrushes lying around he probably used one of those. I kept meaning to remind him that his stuff was still in my bag, but kept forgetting. A couple days after getting home I asked him while laughing hysterically what he used for deodorant those last couple of days. He said he used whomever's he could find. (Just as I suspected) I laughed even harder. Then just to confirm he got a new toothbrush from his mom I asked him what he did for a toothbrush. He smiled and said, "I used yours!"


Not so funny anymore.

The M family.

I've been shooting a lot of Christmas card pictures lately. Here is a couple from my Monday shoot. Isn't this one cute family?!! Their Mom and I go way back. :) Her name is Jenn, she is linked on my sidebar.