movie night

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

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:

The 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.

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.

Life 365 | Week 39

Monday, September 20, 2010

It’s been hard to get into our new routine, but we are trying. Morning time has been a bit hectic and hopefully we will get used to it soon. It’s nice that we can get JJ off to school and then have a few hours before Beth has to get to school. Growing up, my mom always had hot breakfasts for us (of course I missed out on that most of the time because I had volleyball/basketball practice in the mornings). But around here it is cereal bars, yogurt, and cold cereal!

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

I signed up to be a room mom for both of the kids this year and its been interesting getting involved in the school. It was my job to collect all the items for Beth’s class basket for the Fall Festival and I was impressed with all the fun toys we got. This Toy Story Basket is so awesome and I hope we win it!

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Another soccer game for Beth today. She is doing much better about getting in there. Our team is so small and its been hard to have her motivated enough to work at it, but she is doing well.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

We visited Joey at work and brought him dinner again. We stopped in at the mall and walked around and a guy offered Beth a free jump on their trampoline. She loved it!

Friday, September 24, 2010

Today was the Fall Festival. The kids had such a good time playing the games, eating cotton candy, riding a pony, and shooting rockets! JJ was so excited to see Darth Vader there and he even won a cake in the cake walk! Of course it was a BYU Football cake and JJ had a good time teasing his dad about it. After the Festival we traveled to Payson and met with Grandpa and Grandma Sorensen, Lane, Cody, Becki, and Mallory. We visited and had dinner at the Cracker Barrel. It was fun to have Grandpa, Grandma, and Lane spend the night with us.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

We got to watch Lane run in the Orem Kiwanis Cross Country race today. While we were waiting for it to start, the kids had a fun time playing on the playground and just running around. Lane did a great job and we are proud of him. Grandpa and Grandma and Lane came with us to watch Beth’s soccer game before they had to head home. It’s always great to spend time with them.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Tonight’s movie night featured Benjamin Franklin and it was fun to share his story with the kids! We were glad to see another win for the Colts today!

Life 365 | Week 24

Monday, June 7, 2010
JJ and I left at 6:30am this morning to take Lane and Lance to Ogden for Boys State. It took us about an hour and a half and after we dropped them off we headed right back home. We arrived home at about 9:30am. Joey took Beth to soccer camp this morning while we were gone and she did much better than last time. The rest of the day was kind of a blur. I tried to get a little cleaning and laundry done, but didn’t accomplish a whole lot. We all took a nap in the late afternoon for awhile. And then I took the kids to the park where they played for awhile, we had a small family home evening lesson and laid on the grass and looked at the clouds. It was overcast and such a lovely day. I really enjoyed the time with the kids.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010
The kids played a lot this morning while I tried to get some housework and designing done. At about 6:30pm we decided to go to the park and the kids decided that they wanted to walk there. There are lots of parks around, but they wanted to go to the park we went to yesterday, so we could feed the ducks. I knew it would be a long way, but we all needed some exercise, so we decided to do it. We made pretty good time getting there and did it in about an hour and a half. We only spent about a 1/2 hour there feeding the ducks and playing on the playground and I realized that it was going to be really late when we got home. This was a very impromptu outing and if I would have realized how far it was and how long it took us – I wouldn’t have done it so late! We started for home at 8:30 and we didn’t get home until 10:30 at night. The kids were so tired and I felt so bad. But I think they had a good time. I tried to make it an adventure and we talked a lot during the walk home. I had to keep encouraging Beth – she was really having a hard time towards the end. I really wore them out. We quickly pulled something together for dinner and then they went to bed. They were asleep before their heads hit their pillows. I stayed up to get my kit in the store and finally crashed about 5:00am.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010
It was one of those days where I just couldn’t do anything right. I accidentally turned the alarm off and so I missed taking Beth to Soccer Camp and JJ to scouts. We were all so exhausted from yesterday that we just didn’t make it. I felt so bad all day. JJ’s scout leader came to our house later and gave JJ the supplies to make his Puddle Jumpers, so JJ played with them all day and it was fun to see him so excited about it! We were lazy all day and just played.

Thursday, June 10, 2010
This week we have gone to the park a lot and the kids have really loved it. We went to a different park today and the kids enjoyed about an hour of playtime before we headed off to the new Winco for some grocery shopping!

Friday, June 11, 2010
Joey and I got to go on a date tonight and Aaron came over to babysit the kids. We joined Curtis and Anne and we had dinner at Olive Garden and went to see the new Karate Kid movie! It was really good and I enjoyed being able to have some time away!

Saturday, June 12, 2010
I picked up another beautiful basket of fruits, vegetables, and tortillas from Bountiful Baskets this morning. It was really rainy weather, so JJ’s T-ball game was canceled so we just hung out all day at home.

Sunday, June 13, 2010
Today for family movie night – we watched “The Three Amigos” and had chicken burritos for dinner.

And here is my weekly layout:
week24 I used my Sweet Summer Sun & Digital 365 to create this layout!

Life 365 | Week 23

Monday, May 31, 2010
Joey’s mom left very early this morning and we didn’t even get to say goodbye – but we were glad she made it safely to Wyoming. We spent this Memorial Day being very lazy. Joey and I played/worked on our computers and the kids played and watched movies. Joey did do some work outside and got our swamp cooler working and some pipe connections fixed.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010
We went and picked up some Soccer stuff for Beth today. We got a package deal for signing up for the Orem Soccer and got Beth some cleats, shin guards, soccer ball, and sackpack. Beth was so excited!

Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Beth’s first day of Soccer Camp was today. JJ stayed home with Joey since he didn’t have to go in early and Beth and I headed over to the field. Beth was so excited until we got to the field and suddenly she got so nervous and shy. Beth is normally so outgoing that I was so surprised that she had that reaction to all the kids and coaches. After some tears and sadness and hugs – I finally got her to go back on the field. She wanted to go back home – but I told her to stick it out and that it wouldn’t be very long. She ended up slowly kicking the ball at the other end of the field by herself. I wasn’t sure what to do – but then I saw one of the coaches go up to her and talk to her and she became the Bethie I know again and started playing and learning. It was an interesting experience for her, but hopefully now that she knows more of what to expect that next time will be better!

Thursday, June 3, 2010
There is just nothing like a tea party with your bears and your daddy! I love seeing Joey play with the kids!

Friday, June 4, 2010
It was so nice today. The kids played all day outside and they loved it. I love hearing them play outside my bedroom window as I do some design work. I love that they use their imaginations! At one point, Beth ran into the house and told me that I “just had to see something so beautiful.” I grabbed my camera and took some pictures of the beautiful roses that have bloomed in our yard! Beth was so excited to have a picture of her with the roses!

Saturday, June 5, 2010
Joey took JJ to his Tball game today. I wasn’t feeling so well, so I slept in for a little while. JJ still gets very distracted in the outfield, but hopefully we can work with him and get him to focus better. Joey said that he hit better today, so that’s good. In the afternoon, I took Beth to her friend Baylee’s Birthday Party at Little Gym. She had so much fun and when I came to pick her up, she cried because she didn’t want to leave. It was fun to find that Jodi Price worked there now – her family was in our ward when we lived in Salt Lake City so it was a fun surprise to see her again! Then after the party, Beth and I got haircuts! I got enough hair cut off to donate to Locks of Love so it is quite a change! Beth loves her haircut and I do too – it will be great to not have to deal with so much hair – especially over the summer!

Sunday, June 6, 2010
After church, we decided to do our Family Movie Night early, since we were going to have visitors later. We watched The Wizard of Oz and it was the first time for my kids. They really enjoyed it. Later for dinner, we had Chicken Noodle Casserole for dinner – which is yellow and cheesy and it was our “yellow brick road.” For dessert, we made a large rainbow cookie!

Lane and one of his friends came and stayed with us tonight. They are headed to Boys State tomorrow so it was fun to have them come for dinner and stay with us. The kids were so excited to have Lane here!

And here is my weekly layout:
I used my Sweet Summer Sun (Digitals July 2010 Challenge Kit) & Digital 365 to create this layout!

Life 365 | Week 22

Monday, May 24, 2010
This is what our morning-afternoon looked like! I couldn’t believe it when I looked out the door. The end of May and we are still getting snow storms. JJ went off to school – Joey went off to work – and Bethie (who is still not feeling good) and I stayed home.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010
JJ’s Scout Pack Meeting was tonight. They talked about collections and they got to bring their collections with them. JJ is getting quite the collection of Cars Collectibles. His scout leader gave him a new “Doc” (it has eyes that move) and I gave him a new “Lightning McQueen” (that changes color in warm water) for tonight. He was so excited!

Wednesday, May 26, 2010
JJ’s school does a Dance Festival every year and this JJ’s second year to participate. This year he did a “Hat Dance” with his Life Skills class and he even go to join in the regular 2nd graders dance too! He was so excited and it was so fun to see him dance and enjoy himself!

Thursday, May 27, 2010
Beth has an ear infection now and so she’s on antibiotics and JJ’s starting to get that really bad cough. My poor babies – I hate it when they are sick. JJ went to school anyways, since it was his last full day and he really didn’t want to miss Field/Water day. They got to do all kinds of water activities and lots of fun. I was worried about him all day – but he came home happy and only really started coughing at night.

Friday, May 28, 2010
JJ’s very last day of school was today. He only had a 1/2 day and then he came home! To celebrate, JJ and Joey went to the Utah Blaze Football game tonight. They had a good time even though JJ was really not feeling too well and the Blaze lost. Beth and I had a girls night and we watched movies and had dinner from the couch! Beth conked out early so I got some design time in before the boys came home.

Saturday, May 29, 2010
We all went to JJ’s first T-ball game today. I was so excited to find an adaptive sports team that JJ could join. He did okay – when he is in the outfield he kind of just spaces out and he is a bit scared of the ball, but not too bad for his first time. I think he had fun – so that is all that matters.

Sunday, May 30, 2010
The kids are still recuperating, so we didn’t make it to church again. I hope we can get rid of this darn sickness soon!

It was such a nice evening tonight. I made a nice dinner and Joey’s mom came up to stay the night – she’s on her way to Wyoming to take care of Grandma Smith. Aaron came over for dinner and visiting too. And I was able to get a hold of Chelsea and her husband, Will, and Alicia and her fiance, Brian and they came over to visit. Chelsea and Will left before we got a picture – but it was so nice to visit and catch up. Joey’s side of the family don’t get together too often, so it was just really great.

For Family Movie Night (Joey’s mom joined us) – we watched The Princess Bride. That movie is always such a delight. We had meatloaf for dinner so it was our R.O.U.S’s loaf.

And here is my weekly layout:
I used my Sweet Summer Sun (Digitals July 2010 Challenge Kit) & Digital 365 to create this layout!