Twilight....my thoughts

I don't want to overanalyze the movie to death (even though I prob will anyways), but I thought I'd give you my take on it. Overall, I liked it more than I thought I would. It was fun to see a book "come to life" on the big screen. Silly as it is--I was into it! The previews kind of had that "low budget" feel to them (climbing the tree looked so lame) so I didn't have my hopes up. And heaven knows my husband teased me every time one of them came on TV. :) How is this any more far fetched than Iron Man or StarWars? Anyways--here's the lowdown. THE CAST--I liked pretty much everyone except Jasper (what the heck were they thinking with this guy? he looked ridiculous!), Rosalie (she wasn't NEAR pretty enough as she should have been), and Jacob Black (he was one of my favorites in the book and I'm just not sure I like who they picked to play him in the movie. He might grow on me, though.) Alice was OK but she didn't really connect with me too well. Her "vision" was kind of portrayed in an odd way, I thought. I think lots of the cast didn't really know how to connect with their characters too well. There were many awkward moments. I was surprised that I liked "Edward" since I thought he was all wrong for the part. So that's good. Even though I thought he had some bad acting moments (like when the fan blew her scent across the room--I thought he looked strange). And a couple of times he did this weird eye-bulging thing. But I thought he got 100x better once they started "dating." Bella fit my imagination perfectly (thank goodness). I really think her character really carried the movie. She was probably the best actor in the film. I also thought Charlie, Bella's mom (just blanked on her name), and most of the schoolmates were cast well. I thought Charlie's house, the school, the prom, etc. was also a perfect match from the book's descriptions. I think with the next movie, New Moon, we will see a HUGE improvement since they will have LOTS more money to make it with due to this movie's success. I hear they made Twilight on a pretty tight budget (wasn't it an independent film)? It showed sometimes (a friend said at times it kind of reminded her of an after school special-ha ha), but for the most part they did a great job. Some of the story was out of order, but I figure they did that for time's sake. However, it did feel a bit rushed to me--but that is because the book is soooo much more detailed--and when is a movie ever quite as good as the book? Mostly I'd say it was entertaining, fun, and a very interesting love story. And a good time! Thanks, Krista, for joining me! I hadn't been to the theater in ages!

My Own Mini Grocery Store

Hi. So lately I've been thinking I need to get up to par on my food storage (for those of you who may not know what I mean, I'm referring to the LDS Church's recommendation to keep a year's worth of food in your home in case of hardship) . It has always been overwhelming for me, but in light of this economy and such, I have found some new motivation to get it done. I like to think I'd have my own little grocery store to "shop" at in times of need. Even if you don't experience any "hardship," you can just save money by buying in bulk and using some of your storage instead of doing your usual grocery shopping. I've been trying to cook more from scratch (especially breads) so that I can more easily rotate through flours, etc. Anyways, I've been doing a bit of online research and making a few phone calls for more info. If anyone knows of any cool websites that would be helpful in this area, I'd greatly appreciate a comment with the link. Here are some that I've found so far:

FEMA disaster preparedness - They have all kinds of tips on emergency supplies, how to store food, how to store water, etc. I was impressed! For example, you may want toilet paper, soap, toothpaste, etc. Another thing to think about is treats! Like chocolate chips, graham crackers, Snickers bars...whatever it is you normally eat (refried beans, corn, penne pasta, tomato soup). Just get the basics--see lds.org--then add all the fun/fancier stuff!
LDS.org - Basic food storage calculator, minimum food recommendations per person per year
The Red Cross

Jase's 1 Year Stats

"Is anybody in there???"
I know we're a couple weeks late, but that's when they made his appointment. First of all, his burned hand has healed up quite nicely, but the problem now is getting him to use it. It's still in a fist 98% of the time. And if you try to pry it open or encourage him to grab for something while holding his "good" hand down, he wigs.

Weight 26.5 lbs, 90th percentile (wow, this is the lowest percentile he's ever been)
Height 32.5", 98th percentile
Head 23.1", 100th percentile (so funny! though I have to say that his head doesn't look big to me, it looks just right--so go figure.

Some other fun things he's doing:
1. He "rocks out" to music. We're talking some major head bobbing (I have to catch this on video) and bouncing of the legs. And if I bust out the karaoke machine for my own entertainment, he just rocks out with me. It's so cute!
2. He says "nana" (banana), "meow," "ma" (which means "more") and a bunch of other non-word babbles. Well I'm sure he thinks they are words--but you know what I mean.
3. He will give you a kiss if you ask. But usually he only gives daddy a kiss. What the heck?
4. He can climb stairs (we have a gate in front of them now to prevent this).
5. Throws royal fits while getting his diaper changed.
6. Teethes on and off due to the front two teeth breaking the gums then retracting for the last few weeks now. ARGH. Which, by the way, is causing extra drool which is causing a little rash on his chin. Ouchie.
7. Sticks his thumb in one of his ears and "itches" it, I guess. We had it checked out just in case it was an ear infection--but everything's just fine.
8. Loves to use smushed food on his hands as hair gel (my personal favorite if we are just starting the day off).
9. Shoves food so quickly into his mouth you'd think he's preparing for the apocalypse! He puts so much in there that he has to use his other hand to keep it from falling out of his mouth!

Jase's Latest Accomplishments

Besides figuring out how to press his face against the sliding glass door (see picture on left), he has been taking his first few steps! I think he officially took the very first ones on November 12. He will stand, get his balance, then start walking. He only gets in maybe 3-6 steps then falls down. He kind of looks like a little drunk guy wobbling from side to side. If we say "Come walk to me" and hold out our arms, he will take like 2 steps and then "head-dive" squealing towards us. It's funny. The other thing he figured out how to do is drink through a straw. Roob just mimicked how to do it at a restaurant, and the next thing ya know Jase just did it. Yay! The last thing I wanted to mention was that he has started to join us in clapping his hands. The funny thing is that since his left hand is the burned one (it's pretty much healed up by now, but he still keeps it in a fist all the time) he just sort of claps by "punching" his fisted hand into his open one. Super cute, though.

One Year Comparison

Ha ha! I had to post this picture of him from last year's Halloween. We didn't do anything since he was only a few days old, but I had to dress him up for a photo. It was a build-a-bear outfit made for teddy bears! He weighed only about 9lbs then, but he was tiny enough to fit into stuffed animal clothes! I even had a little cap gun that we stuck into his pants, but I can't find the picture that shows the gun. Shoot (no pun intended)!
In honor of Jase's birthday I wanted to post his newborn pic to show how much he's changed in a year. Here he is only a day or two old in the hospital. He was so alert!
My friend Wendy took this picture of him in the hospital when she came to visit. I think he looks like a miniature Russian in it for some reason. I think it's the hat.
And this is a picture of him I took just a few days ago. Kind of jerks at my heart strings just a bit...my baby is SO big now! And those eyes are still blue. Yes (thanks to Roob's genetics)!