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You are here: Home / Archives for movies

movies

Movie NightZ | Intro

INTRODUCTION

I’m excited about this new blog series! Movie nights with my family are one of my very favorite things and what makes them better is when I take the time to really plan them out! So that is what this is going to be. Each month, I’ll choose a movie to watch, then I’ll plan out a fun night for my family, and then share that night with all of you! I hope that you will be able to use the ideas to have a great night with your own families!

Each month will include:
  • a short review with likes/dislikes
  • themed dinner/dessert ideas
  • themed craft/project/activity ideas
  • photos/info about my own family movie night
  • some new products with quotes from the movie
So this blog series will be on the 3rd Saturdays of each month – starting in January! I hope you will join me in this new adventure filled with movies and family fun!


What do you think?

Join me in January for the movie: The Princess Bride
and feel free to send in your ideas for what we should watch next!



Ideas for a great movie night

Third Saturdays

Filed Under: Blog Series, Movie NightZ Tagged With: family, ideas, movie, movie night, movies

Life 2012 | Family Movie Night & John Wayne

I share something pretty special with my Dad. He has passed his love of movies down to me. I remember growing up, some of my best memories were sitting down and watching movies. Sometimes it would include all of my family, but most of the time, it was just Dad and me. We watched a range of movies, but our favorites were westerns and included this guy:

rio-bravo-1959-08-gThe DUKE – John Wayne

To this day, I can’t really watch a John Wayne movie and not think of my Dad and the memories of watching these movies with him. John Wayne was always a bit of a hero figure for me. I loved that he was strong, Patriotic, great sense of humor, and just always stood up for what he believed in. I think I always compared him to my Grandpa Sorensen too. They were a lot a like. John Wayne died 18 days before I was born and my Dad and I used to joke that I must have met him in heaven right before I came to earth.

John Wayne’s grave shares a quote by him that I find profound and something to remember, “Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It’s perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we’ve learned something from yesterday.”

I don’t know when my Dad shared a movie with me for the first time. I pretty much think I was raised on it from the start of my life. I think it must be a family thing – I know my Grandpa Sorensen enjoyed movies and worked briefly on some movie sets and my Great-Grandpa Esplin worked on movie sets in Southern Utah. I know my siblings enjoy movies too, but I think that I can say that I am the only one that enjoys the same old movies/westerns like my Dad (though my nephew, Colby enjoys it too).

One of the traditions that Joey and I have implemented in our family is our weekly FAMILY MOVIE NIGHT. Sunday nights, movies, and family time have been ingrained into my children and if its Sunday and bedtime and we haven’t watched a movie together, we get all sorts of reprimands from JJ and Beth. It has been ingrained into their little souls and I guess its my way of carrying on the tradition of the movie lovers in my family. I’m blessed to have married another movie lover and its something that we share together.

We have slowly been introducing a few John Wayne movies to the kids through movie night. I have to honestly say that they aren’t exactly their favorites yet – but hopefully it will grow on them. Last Sunday, we watched one of Joey’s favorite John Wayne movies, THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE. I hadn’t seen it in awhile and I love James Stewart too, so its just a great movie.

manwhoshotspecialed I hope the love of movies keeps growing in our family and that one day, it is something that my children will pass onto their children. I admit that there is lots of bad stuff in movies, but I think there is good stuff in movies too. The trick is to focus on the good stuff that can come out of entertainment and can strengthen family ties and can bring you together.

Filed Under: Life 2012, Personal, Project Life Tagged With: dad, generations, john wayne, memories, movie night, movies, personal

Life 2012 | J.J. turns Ten!

JJ turned 10 on January 26th. I can’t believe my little boy is 10 already. He has gone through a lot in is young life as we struggled with his developmental delays and the eventual diagnosis of Autism. But I’m so proud of him for all he has accomplished and the person he is becoming.

I wanted to share 10 things about who JJ is at this time in his life:

1. He is so excited about everything. He always seems to have a inner delight about even the little things in life.

2. He has an amazing memory and can remember even the littlest things about life or things people say, even if you don’t think he is listening or noticing what is going on around him, HE IS.

3. He loves video games. Getting a DS for his birthday was a huge event in his life. The first thing he talks or asks about every day is that DS and the games. “Can I play the DS as soon as I get home?” He also loves to play on the Wii and computer games. He has a bit of trouble with the coordination of it sometimes, but he keeps trying and enjoys it even if he loses. He also LOVES to just watch other people play, especially his Dad.

4. He loves going to Cub Scouts. Its hard for him sometimes with the requirements and the things he has to do – but he still loves to go. I’m so grateful for the leaders and the other boys who are patient with him and make him feel like he belongs.

5. Everyday when JJ gets home from school, I read little notes from his teachers and they always say how happy he is and how helpful he is with everyone. It’s so good to hear. Sometimes we struggle at home with him getting overwhelmed and overstimulated and it causes fights and grumpiness with his sister and us (his parents), but its so nice to know that he is so happy with everyone else. He’s happy at home too (most of the time), but its good to know he gets along so well with the teachers and the other students in his Life Skills Class.

6. He loves FOOD. It seems like we can never fill that skinny little tummy of his. He will eat twice as much as I do and still be hungry. He rarely has things he doesn’t like and its nice to just put something in front of him and have him eat it. Not sure what we are going to do when he is a teenager as he is already eating us out of house and home!

7. JJ ADORES the show Phineas and Ferb. His favorite character is Agent P/Perry. He just loves everything about it. He’s always pretending to be Agent P and playing with his Phineas and Ferb toys. He loves talking about the show and reading about the show and playing the show. It’s pretty much all we hear about from him.

8. JJ is very helpful. He hardly ever complains when I ask him to do chores and little things to help me around the house.

9. JJ has a movie bug just like his parents. He loves watching movies and tv shows. Even though you would think it would be an overstimulator (and it can be sometimes) – most of the time, it is something that actually calms him when he needs a little down time.

10. JJ loves to travel. While I can’t wait to take him on a plane someday, cause I know he’ll love it, but for now he loves to travel in the car and he loves taking the school bus everyday. And he loves riding on trains and the TRAX. He is very content to gaze out the window and see where we are going. I’m never sure what is running through his head, but I’m sure its inspiring and its fun to watch his delighted eyes as he gazes out that window!

I love you JJ and I’m so happy to be your mom.

JJ was so excited about his birthday and he had a great day! I just thought I would share some of the fun he had that day.

He was so excited that his birthday fell on a Thursday – which is pizza day at his school. Pizza is his favorite. Even better, it was parent teacher conferences this week and they invited parents to come to lunch with their kids. So I got to go have a picnic with JJ in his school’s gym on his birthday! I also brought donuts for him to share with his class and he was so excited about that.

schoollunchWhile JJ was at school, I spent the morning/afternoon (after going to lunch with him), creating a Agent P cake for him. I first made 4 mini cookie cakes. (I just made my red velvet cookies and put some cream cheese frosting in between each layer). I think I did about 5 cookies on each little cake. Then I frosted the cakes with chocolate cream cheese frosting. Then, I used fondant for the first time to create the Agent P, that I put in the middle. It didn’t turn out exactly as I had planned, but it was pretty good. I used green sprinkles on top of the cakes to look like Agent P was peeking out of the grass/ground to head out on a spy adventure. I admit that cake decorating is not my forte, but JJ loved it and that’s all that mattered.

cakeAfter school, JJ got to watch some movies and play. For dinner, of course, we had Pizza and JJ was so happy to have it twice in one day!

Then the moment he was waiting for…his presents. I wasn’t quite able to capture how truly happy he was when he opened his Nintendo DS. It was really like a dream come true for him. The rest of his presents were games and additional stuff to go with the DS. (Oh and of course he wore his Perry Shirt on his birthday).

presents1 presents2 presents3 presents4 presents5And then of course we had to blow out candles and eat cake and ice cream before going to bed! And JJ got overly excited about the blowing out candles too as you can see in the photos! I’m so glad JJ had such a fabulous 10th birthday!

blowingcake1 blowingcake3 blowingcake2

Filed Under: Life 2012, Personal, Project Life Tagged With: 2012, agent p, birthday, cake, family, food, happy, JJ, life, memories, movies, perry, phineas and ferb, pizza, play, scouts, ten

Life 2011 | Week 1

Monday, December 27, 2010
dec27
I’m so excited about my new Wii Fit! I can tell its going to be so great for me. This week will be full of playing on the Wii for sure!

Tuesday, December 28, 2010
dec28
It’s actually been so fun to find such great toys scattered around the house lately! The kids have really been having so much fun and its been a really great season!

Wednesday, December 29, 2010
dec29
More beautiful snow! It’s been nice to not have to go anywhere and just stay inside, drinking hot chocolate and being with my family.


Thursday,
December 30, 2010

dec30
On Christmas Eve, Joey made a huge list of things to do during this Christmas break with the kids. We have just about got through everything and the kids have loved having the list right on Joey’s dry erase board. They each have taken turns choosing off the list when they needed new activities and I have really enjoyed spending such great family time!

Friday, December 31, 2010
dec31
Our annual tradition of The Lord of the Rings in December is always so great! Joey and I have been watching them sporadically during the week and tonight we finished it. We both love the books and the movies and its such a fun way to be together.

Saturday, January 1, 2011
jan1
We rang in the new year with the Wii, board games, yummy food, and movies. The kids actually made it to the midnight mark and it was fun to take this fun photo of us together!

Sunday, January 2, 2011
jan2
We have played so many games this last week! It was fun to get some new ones for Christmas and I’ve enjoyed seeing my kids respond to playing together.

Filed Under: Life 365-2011, Personal, Project Life Tagged With: christmas break, exercise, family time, games, kissing, list, lord of the rings, midnight, movies, new year, play, snow, tradition, wii

Life 365 | Week 52

Monday, December 20, 2010
dec20
Joey came home in the middle of the day with an amazing surprise! He received one of his company’s employee awards this year! And what did he receive – AN IPAD! And not just any iPad – the best one that they have out right now. WOW! He was so excited and I’m just so proud of him. He totally deserves it. It is so fun to see him enjoying it!

Tuesday, December 21, 2010
dec21
It snowed again – and it was the best snowman-making snow – so of course we had to get out in it today! It’s fun having the kids home during the day. We made our Frosty and made snow angels and had a snowball fight and just had so much fun. Unfortunately, it got warmer later in the day, and some of the snow melted away, along with our Frosty. I was so glad we didn’t delay in getting out there and playing!

Wednesday, December 22, 2010
dec22
Today’s activity was to read and watch the movie of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever! So in between playing and cleaning, we read the book and before bedtime we had it done, so we got to watch the movie! It was so fun!


Thursday,
December 23, 2010

dec23
We did laundry and cleaning today and the kids got to play games on Joey’s little computer. They loved it!

Friday, December 24, 2010
dec24
What an amazing day today. Joey completely surprised me this year – many times he is quite the grinch around Christmas – but this season, he has been so wonderful. I think its because as a family, we have really focused on teaching the kids the real meaning of Christmas – we have been reading scriptures every night and the kids have really responded to Jesus and the Christmas story. Joey went shopping and came home with Uncle Aaron and a whole list of fun things to do today. I did some cooking so that all I had to do was stick the potatoes in for tomorrow’s Christmas dinner and did some last minute cleaning. I also made up a batch of swirl cookies for Santa. We played games, and did puzzles, and watched movies, and read books and just spent the whole day together. We were glad to have Aaron join us. We also took the Trax up to temple square and saw the lights and the wonderful nativity scene they had there. There was such a wonderful spirit on the temple grounds and it was so fun being there on Christmas Eve. On the way home, we picked up Chinese food from our favorite place – Mings Garden – and then we came home and ate it. We opened our new pajamas and got a picture of us in them before bedtime.

Saturday, December 25, 2010
dec25
It was a fabulous Christmas! The kids had so much fun. From Santa, JJ got Buzz and Beth got a Rapunzel doll. And they also received from us – Jessie, Woody, and Bulls-eye, lots of games, movies, and other fun things and we just spent the whole day playing. The Toy Story movies have meant a lot to me and the kids so it was so fun to see Beth and JJ play with their new Toy Story characters! Joey surprised us all with the Wii Sports Resort Game and he gave me the Wii Fit Plus – which I have wanted for a long time! It was a great day!

Sunday, December 26, 2010
dec26
It’s just so much fun to have new things to play with! It was a relaxing day – just spent at church and together.

Filed Under: Life 365-2010, Personal, Project Life Tagged With: 2010, books, christmas, clean, countdown, employee of the year, family, family time, games, gifts, ipad, life, lights, magic, memories, mings, moments, movies, nativity, play, presents, proud, read, reason for the season, santa, snow, snowman, toy story, tradition, wii, winner

Life 365 | Week 45

Monday, November 1, 2010
nov1
After the weekend of replacing the floor, its nice to see the kids room clean and organized. At least for today!

Tuesday, November 2, 2010
nov2
We still have leftover Dirt Dessert from Sunday and its such a delicious treat!

Wednesday, November 3, 2010
nov3
I hate the season of being sick. We have all had a hard time getting rid of our colds completely. These wonderful little vaporizers are awesome!


Thursday,
November 4, 2010

nov4
Our lawn is filling with leaves and I am reminded again that I am totally becoming a Fall person!

Friday, November 5, 2010
nov5
More snowflakes today – but it didn’t last long. I spent some time taking some pictures around the house.

Saturday, November 6, 2010
nov6
A fun Saturday. We took the kids to Megamind and then after the kids went to bed, Joey and I went out to dinner and brought home some Redbox movies which we watched together. I love it when we get to have date night!

Sunday, November 7, 2010
nov7
My little JJ is getting so big. After church today, I took some photos of JJ for his baptism program and I was delighted with this one!

Filed Under: Life 365-2010, Personal, Project Life Tagged With: 2010, baptism, clean, colds, dirt dessert, fall, family, JJ, leaves, life, memories, moments, movies, olive garden, organize, photography, sick, snowflakes, treats, vaporizer

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I'm a wife, a mom, a blogger, a lover of crafting, and a graphic designer. I believe in living life to the fullest, sharing your heart and talents to enrich the lives of others, and then telling your story to leave as a legacy for those that come after you.



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