15,000 Rolls And Counting...

In January I landed a few bakery accounts and without boring all of you TOO much with all the details, the bottom line is that I have been baking TONS for the past 5 months straight. No sick days. No one to fill in for me. I have standing orders that I have to hit 3 times a week or else! WHY? Why did I take on this madness might you ask? Well, with Zach's job being somewhat unpredictable, it has been hard to budget and save for retirement, trips, a new house, medical expenses, and just about everything else you might think about saving for. Since my last bout of work (babysitting for 2+ years) had been over and done with for a good 6 months, I figured it was a long enough break and time to jump back in to a new adventure. Well 60 dozen rolls a week is nothing short of an adventure my friends!

Anyway.... Here I am... 5 months in and going strong. My clients are happy, and my bank account was getting bigger every month. Last week on our way home from visiting my parents in St. George I was browsing craigslist (something I did often) looking for my "dream car". I've known for a couple of years now that once my mini van (regular 7 seater) dies or gets ready to die, that I wouldn't be upgrading from our Town & Country to a Honda like I thought. Even with a super nice, new Honda that could squeeze 8 people, those little vans weren't going to cut it anymore for our family. I wanted a van that could be as adventurous as us! So when I saw this beauty pop up under my search "12 passenger van" I almost screamed! 

(This wasn't the picture that popped up on craigslist OBVIOUSLY... rather this was taken 5 days after purchase. We had just gotten home from swimming (hence the swimming suit) and my friend was begging for a pic of the new ride. YES their is caution tape on the back side. Zach wanted to keep it on, but I told him only for one week! One more day to go and that sucker is getting ripped off!)

It WASN'T white! It WAS older (= less expensive)! It WAS in great condition (both inside and out). And it WASN'T sold yet!!!

21 hours later the van was ours. I've never seen my kids so giddy! We have been talking FOREVER about the "dream car" .... and thanks to my little side business I paid CASH for my first car.... and we are in love! Now this wont necessarily be our "everyday" car. But with summer here, and adventures to be had... I'm sure we wont have any problem filling the seats with family and friends ready to have fun!

My only problem is... I NEED A NAME! I'm going to the DMV SOON, and I need some suggestions on my plates!!! They can be up to 7 letters or numbers long, and can't be naughty or have a double meaning!

Since it took me selling 15,288 rolls in order to buy my new baby, I feel like "buns" or "rolls" need to be in the plate somehow. But I'm not limiting myself to that either. So if you have a fun, funky, or kate-appropriate name I could use for a license plate.... GIVE IT UP NOW! This mini contest will run for 1 week, and the winner will be rewarded with..... (drum roll please)......... ROLLS of course!!!! 1 Dozen of cinnamon or orange rolls will be delivered (by me or USPS) to YOU!

Just to give you an idea of some already submitted suggestions:

BKRSDZN

RLLTIME

LTSROLL

LTZOBNZ

L8 - K8

ALWSL8

Here is a look of the inside :) My tired little boy (20 months old) exhausted from 3 hours of swimming. Notice all the other kids in the WAY back. Apparently, the back of the bus is the BEST!!!

Bad Decisions

I made ANOTHER bad decision. What was it? Well, you're READING it. I have a baby who is teething, and could quite possibly have ANOTHER ear infection, who will INEVITABLY be up from 1-6am, and here I AM, BLOGGING, EMAILING, and ZONING OUT. I don't want you to feel sorry for me... or judge me for making 2,3,4 or 5 bad decisions tonight. Sometimes 9-12 at night is the ONLY peace and quiet I get. So here's to another sleep deprived, baggy eye day tomorrow :)

I just have to say....

....that SEEING that picture of the apple in the pale hands STILL gives me goosebumps! It is my favorite cover from all 4 books. I'm such a weirdo!!!

I can't WAIT for the movie, Breaking Dawn: Part 1, this November!!!

Save the date: 11.18.11

NY

Zach and I recently left our 3 crazy kids in the hands of our all-too-willing family members for 5 days so we could venture to the dark and dreary world of Bloomfield NY. Boy were we surprised! We left RAINY LAS VEGAS for dry and beautiful Upstate NY! The whole time we were there it was in the High 30's (warm for there) and sunny! It only rained on one day for a short time.

We were initially supposed to leave on Thursday and come home Monday. We were prepared for possible flight cancellations seeing how we were flying into BUFFALO in the middle of January. We never imagined that our connecting flight in PHOENIX would give us a problem! Due to high winds and major rain ALL FLIGHTS through Phoenix were canceled. So we shifted our trip a day on both ends AND ended up getting a direct flight to and from NY (which weren't available at the time when I was purchasing the tickets 2 months ago), and our arrival and departure times were MUCH more convenient for those taking us to and picking us up from the airports!


Unlike most of our trips, we were NOT stopped at security this time. We hadn't forgotten to take all toy guns, and Swiss Army knives out of our carry ons. The only thing that was a little disheartening (while boarding a 4.5 hour flight), was realizing that Zach and I wouldn't be sitting next to each other! A grumpy old guy who was just in front of Zach took up THE only seat that had 2 spots together. UGH! I mean, really! He heard Zach and I trying to maneuver seating the whole time! After he sat down he looked at us like "Have fun sitting apart" ( I can read peoples thoughts by the way). I offered the back half of the plane as much alcohol as the flight attendants were allowed to serve as an incentive to move around, but nobody took me up on it. They probably thought I was a raging alcoholic, and had no idea that the closest I got to "the stuff" was rubbing it on my infants drying up umbilical cords. So we were left with two middle seats. As I made my way to mine I was slightly disappointed. Meaning: I almost started to cry. The 2 people I would be sitting in between were both larger than average and taking up 1 1/4seats. If there had only been one bigger person on either side it wouldn't have been too bad, or if they were both girls.But WHERE THE HECK WAS I SUPPOSED TO SIT? I don't mind being cozy with a couple of chicks, but another guy? No space between us AT ALL = uncomfortable Kate.I'm not knockin on bigger folks, in reality, I was more mad at MYSELF. Both of my "seat mates" looked nice and were super friendly! If I had checked us in sooner, we would be in the front of the plane NEXT to each other. I was overreacting. I was tired from not sleeping for 2 nights(Wednesday night when we THOUGHT we were leaving the next day, and Thursday night when I worried all night that our flight would get canceled again). I missed our kids. I was paranoid (in an unnatural way) that we were going to DIE. Nervous about getting sick on a plane (nasty recirculated air). Regardless I was an emotional wreck! After we settled into two middle seats, Zach directly in front of me, I joked (to try and dissipate to hysteria starting to creep into my head) that "at least I can reach between the seats and hug you every once in a while". Less than 5 seconds had passed when the woman sitting in the isle seat next to Zach turned to the larger man sitting in the isle next to me and asked him if he would mind moving into her seat, and that she would move into Zach's seat, so that Zach could sit next to me. WHAT? A nice person? Really? He was more than willing to move. They all shuffled seats as I was offering her granola bars, gum, free drinks once we were at 10,000 feet, money, ANYTHING as a thanks. She denied them all telling us that one time on the same flight with her husband, they had been separated and no one was willing to switch. I rummaged through our backpack and finally found the Reese's Peanut-butter Cup that I had thrown in at the last minute and insisted that she take it. She did. I overheard her and the man talking off and on throughout the flight... he was nice. And the Gal sitting next to the window next to me, shared her People magazine while I tried to reassure her that she wasn't crowding me (even though she was, she was a GIRL and I could lean into Zach a lot), and we had an enjoyable flight with no turbulence and lots of reading.


We arrived in Buffalo a little after 5pm. My Grandpa Gerry picked us up with his son Jim. There was plenty of conversation on the 1.5 hour drive back to Bloomfield. After checking in with Grandma at home for a few minutes, we bundled up and set out for our friends Adam and Jennifer's house. She had made a 7 course meal... I kid you not... and it was fantastic! We enjoyed their company and conversation until 10pm and headed back to Grams.


Since it was only 7pm VEGAS time I knew I had a while before I could fall asleep. So we talked to our kids before THEY went to bed (they were so excited to be having 4 back to back sleepovers with their cousins we hardly could say it was "talking"), then we talked and hung out with Grandma and Gerry for a while (they are night owls and I love it!), and since we still weren't tired we stayed up and read a book together. Now, Zach doesn't know I'm posting this, and I don't really think he would care. Some think reading young adult book involving love will slowly diminish their manliness, however, this isn't a book JUST about Romance. Sure it's laced and woven throughout, but it's mostly about killing and surviving. Think about the t.v. show Survivor (one of our favorites). What if they dropped everyone on an island and dumped a bunch of weapons and said "There can only be one winner. Fight to the death. Last man standing wins. Go!". Last year I read The Hunger Games and Catching Fire. I LOVED both of these books and thought that Zach would actually be able to read them without vomiting (unlike Twilight where he got bored 2 pages into my read-aloud and fell asleep. I prefer sleep to puke). I think that I like Hunger Games as much as Twilight... maybe even more... let me tell you why ( I just figured it out myself after reading them again).

SPOILER ALERT:

The main character's name is KATNISS (Kate/Katniss... we share the first 3 letters of our name... WOW). She lost her father when she was 11 (I did not). She eventually learned to survive though the hunting skills he had taught her before he died (I think I've survived on financial skills my father instilled into me when I was young. Reiterate... my father is NOT dead. He's alive in Africa). One day when she was hunting, she ran into GALE (Zach) who grew up in her small District, District 12 (Bloomfield, Victor, both small towns we grew up in). He was 2 years older than Katniss but it seemed like more because he was supporting his large family (Zach is 5 years older than me). He is an avid and smart hunter, especially snares (So is Zach). They started off as friends, hunting partners. They figured the could get twice as much game together then if they hunted alone. It started off as friendship (so did we) however Gale started liking Katniss before she ever suspected it (Ditto for Zach with Kate). Katniss went to the games (Kate went to college). Katniss came home and Gale kissed her (Kate came "Home" and Zach kissed her). I obviously know OUR ending... I can't wait to read book 3 (August 24th) to see what happens with Gale and Katniss! So anyway... there is the love comparisons of Hulets & Hunger Games. But more than the love aspect (every girl loves a good love story), the concept of the book is so fun, and not that far off to what could happen to any country these days.

I'm sure that Zach has not even come close to comparing the characters to us, like I just did. He liked the book because it was time that we spent together... silently reading... and their was a lot of killing and conspiracy.

View from my Grandma's front window

Saturday, it was BEAUTIFUL! We woke up and just hung around the house all day talking and cleaning until it was time to go to Ericka's wedding. She got married at St. Paul's in Geneva at 3pm followed by a beautiful wedding dinner and reception at Belhurst Castle. It was a delicious dinner where we sat with some of my old friends from high school (Go Bombers).

It was SO fun catching up with old friends! It's hard to believe that this year is our 10 year class reunion. It was more than a little embarrassing when I had to introduce myself to DOZENS of people who really actually knew me. After a "double take", we would hug and catch up and update our lives with each other. Have I changed that much in 10 years? Ok, so maybe I used to dye my hair blond instead of dark brown (it's not black people!). And I used to wear it long, and now it's short with bangs.

NOW
THEN

Poor Zach got the worst of it! He was such a trooper. Meeting people he'll never see again. Hearing "Katie" stories over and over. Talking about our business and the economy in Vegas to other husbands and boyfriends of girls that I was talking to. He even took me out on the dance floor MORE times than than I made him promise he would.

Cutting the cake... they were nice! ( And so were the cakes... they had 5 different ones to choose from)

Her dress was just as AMAZING as she is! We had SUCH a fun time!

By 9pm my head was about to burst! I had a cold that got worse as the night got long. We took off early to head to Wal-Mart (one of the 2 stores that is open 24 hours there) to get some cold medicine. We read until the "pm" part of my meds kicked in and I passed out without notice.

Sunday was funday! We went to church and saw a ton of familiar faces. Came home and relaxed for a while. Went and hung out with Ericka and her husband and her family for a few hours (they were leaving Monday morning for a 2 week honeymoon in the Virgin Islands... sweet!). Then came back to Gram's for a family birthday dinner for Rosemary and Remington a.k.a the twins! It was so fun to see Joel & Jaylene, and Matt & Erin, and all the kids! It's hard to think that I was once apart of those Sunday dinners more than 10 years ago. Grandma would make her special salad dressing (that I STILL can't make it taste as good as hers), we would drink her bottled Vermont spring water, eat delicious cakes with ice cream, enjoy great company which included dozens of kids! Man, I feel old.

Monday we visited a few friends and family members while Grams went to the doctors. Ate a snack at a fantastic Cheese steak joint in Canandaigua (YUM). Had the rest of dinner & dessert with Grandma and Gerry.

Tuesday it was packing time! After a little housekeeping (Grandma saves the hard stuff for younger able bodies), we hit Parkside Pizza & Subs. Still good. ALWAYS and FOREVER!

We packed a small lunch and headed to the airport.
On the road again...

A storm was getting ready to move in, and I was worried we wouldn't make it out in time. Like always, there wasn't anything to worry about. The snow didn't even get there until the next day! We boarded earlier than last time, which wouldn't have mattered, because the plane was only half full. Zach and I shared a row of seats and 3 cokes on the way home.


We are SO fourtunate to have such fantastic family members who all helped get us to and from the airport. Took our kids. Fed them. Got them to school. To preschool. To church. To bed. And loved them all the while! When we came to pick them up, there were actually HAPPY to see us, but SAD to go! I think they would have started losing their personalities if we had stayed one more day! (Note to self: 5 day limit on Mommy/Daddy vacations)


A special thanks to Grandma and Gerry for letting us come and visit. For arranging airport shuttles (Thanks Jim!). And for putting up with my fast talking, and quick cleaning!

Happy Day!

Zach didn't have to work on Saturday (rather... he chose NOT to work) and to hang out with the family! Before we started a house overhaul we made homemade doughnuts! The kids loved cutting them out and loved coating them in cinnamon & sugar or powdered sugar EVEN MORE!!!! We made doughnut holes out of the centers and didn't waste any dough! For sure a REPEAT activity! Thanks Em for the idea!

NO! I did NOT catch him off guard when taking this picture. For some reason he likes to make faces like that almost every time I snap a shot of him! (He's not tired OR stoned either)

Messy helpers! I just love it that they like baking and cooking with me! I've learned to stop caring about the mess, and start enjoying the time we spend making it!

Tie-Dye-Die

For our family reunion... we decided to make tie-dye shirts for everyone who wanted them! That ended up being about 27 shirts. I took on the project and am happy to say that I am a TIE DYE EXPERT now! It wasn't as bad as I thought, but I never could have done all these shirts without some help (thanks Sarah, Liz, Savannah, Chris, Amy & Zach). It was really fun to create different patterns and mix different colors. My kids LOVE them and wear them ALL the time! It was well worth all the rinsing, dying, drying, washing, and wringing!

Birthday Weeks

The past 2 weeks have been a blur!

Friday March 27th, Zach and I went out for his birthday dinner. We knew we wouldn't get much time the next day since we were expecting our families coming into town.

Saturday March 28th (Zach's Birthday) we started off the day right by going to Chuck E Cheese! Zach even wore the sticker that told his name and age, plus he got 3 extra tokens! We were only there for 3 HOURS! Jeff and Rachelle were there with their clan, and we had a BLAST! Then after quick naps, and the arrival of my sister Emily and her family, we headed off to the park. It was SO beautiful outside and we actually made it home without any injuries. My other sister Kim (Kim and Emily are the only siblings who DON'T live in Vegas) arrived from their Disneyland/Beach trip minutes after we got home. LET THE PARTIES BEGIN! We had been counting the days until our mini family reunion. Ok, so there is NOTHING mini about my family... if we're being honest! And I am SO GLAD! You can pretty much count on a roaring good time when you get us all together!

Sunday was a full day packed with church, the blessing of baby Josephine (Jeff and Rachelle's latest bundle of joy) and a family dinner all over at Rachelle's house.

Monday was cousin play day at our house and then dinner and F.H.E at Greg and Whitney's house.

Tuesday my friend Anita brought over her amazing bunt birthday cake for me and Easter baskets for my kids. Minutes after she left my Mom came over to make some sweet necklaces (she brought hundreds of pounds of beads back from Africa), followed up by a baby shower that night for Amy (my brother Christian's wife, due with baby #1 in a few weeks) at Rachelle's house.

Birthday Breakfast

Wednesday was my birthday, which started out with a birthday tradition of coffee cake (made by my MOM! which hasn't happened since I graduated high school) and Emilee, Denett and Natalie bringing me birthday breakfast at 7:30 in the morning! (See Photo) My day got better when another friend dropped off 44 oz of my guilty pleasure... Diet Dr. Pepper from Sonic. By lunch time, I had a visit from Whitney and her kids, and my visiting teacher. Rachelle and Kim came by in the late afternoon, and Zach got home from work early! By the time I had dinner I was EXHAUSTED! Too many late nights and family parties. I was excited to open my gifts from the kids, but not half as excited as they were! A new door bell chime (well 25 to be precise), tile for the kids bathroom and a pedicure! I thought that was a pretty good end to my 27th birthday. But man was I wrong! At 7pm some friends showed up. Blindfolded me. And drove around like mad women for 10 minutes. They led me inside to a SURPRISE party! There was yummy food and sentimental gifts. I couldn't believe it! I was TOTALLY SHOCKED! I have NEVER had someone pull something off like this for me. I had been 100% clueless and it was SO fun! We relaxed, ate, laughed, ate, laughed, ate and laughed some more. It was perfect.



Thursday was quiet . Thank Heavens! I was on sugar overload!

Friday was over productive. I started AND FINISHED 8 loads of laundry. Spot cleaned my entire carpet upstairs and thoroughly cleaned my house. I was expecting a quiet weekend at home in my nice clean house, but that wasn't in the cards for me. At 7:45 Zach pulled out a video camera and there was a video message from Becky and Jenna. All they said was that I had 30 minutes to pack specific items that were on a list (that Zach then handed to me), and that I better hurry!

I was filled with excitement, anxiety, and surprise. My poor kids just wanted to watch Star Wars Episode 5 with me, and I knew that I wasn't coming back that night, or the next for that matter. They were so cute, and McKinley was the only one who got sad when Jenna and Becky showed up at the door.

After we got loaded in the car Becky asked me if I could choose ANYWHERE to go this weekend where would I go? I answered MY obvious answer "CALIFORNIA- the beach!". That's right. In 8 years of living in Las Vegas I have never made it South of St. Rose Parkway! I haven't even been to State Line/Primm. That answer was all it took to start off our screaming, laughing, driving, reading, shopping, eating, snacking filled weekend. Jenna summed up our weekend best so CLICK HERE to jump to her blog for a complete update and fill in!

Mostly I just feel really lucky to have great family and friends. I was so excited to get so many emails, phone calls and stopper by's! What a great way to start off April!
And that's no joke!

Relief Society Rumble

So much fun! That just about sums up the people in our ward. Relief Society Rumble was a blast! Everyone did so great! Zach ended up making a board for me (thanks Hun!), and our neighbors (the Downer family) had a buzzer that they had made for a Family Feud game a few years ago. The first one to hit their button would light up their side of the buzzer box and it would make a buzzer noise. It was perfect. I just love playing games, and this one was fun! Let me know if any of you are up for another round! Thanks to everyone who helped and played!

Kate

Grocery Smarts: Part II of the success story

I know that I have just posted a MILLION posts for my game show thing. But I had to update my grocery smarts status!

I went to Smiths on Monday (huge sales goin' on ladies).
And yes, I went looking LIKE THIS, brown pants, black sandals, not showered, hair pulled back with Reagan, McKinley, Madilyn & Kyra (she was dressed). I was anxious b/c I REALLY wanted to make sure I hit the sale, but was running out of time. I left my house at 10:45. Stopped by a friends house to sign some paperwork for scouts at 10:55. Walked into Smith's store at 11:00. Walked out WITH a FREE REDBOX MONDY at 11:36. Went home. Unloaded. Got to the bus stop at 12:00! It can be done :)

Total Cost: $117.73
SMITH'S Savings: $35.26
Coupon Savings: $43.90
Total Out Of Pocket: $38.57
Percentage of Savings: 67%

It's not too late if you haven't gone shopping yet. The promotion they have going on now, is still good until midnight TONIGHT.

What did I walk away with?

24 (1 lb bag) Pasta .............................. $ .49/bag
3 Tampon/3 Pads/3 pantyliner ...........$1.00/box
1 Q-Tips ...........................................$1.20/Box
3 Ken's Salad Dressing ..........................$.49/bottle
3 Ken's Lite Accents .............................$.49/bottle
3 Colgate Toothpaste ...........................$ .25/tube
3 Colgate Toothbrushes........................$ .25/brush
1 Cheetos/ 1 Fritos ...........................................$1.50/bag (bribery)
1 Fiber One Bars ..............................$ .89/box
Kroger Froot Loops .............................................$1.66/box

(b/c we were all out)


Some of these used coupons from my Sunday papers. The pasta (DEAL OF THE WEEK), was a "buy 10 items get an INSTANT $5 off at the register". I love it when they can take the money off at the register instead of ME having to do a million transactions and have to roll my transactions one after another!

I must have been using the Smiths by my sister Rachelle's house recently, because when I went MY Smith's (Rainbow & Windmill), they checker was so impressed that she told everyone else in the line behind me. I could tell she was SO proud of me! She kept asking me questions about how I was saving all this money! I need make and keep some cards in my purse that have Jill's information on it (my Grocery Smarts lady).

Anyway... hope you enjoyed seeing and reading about my success. So far... my up to date success for saving money is as follows:

Albertsons ..................... $67
$10 Target Gift Card .......$10
Smith's ...........................$44
Walgreens .......................$22

Total Savings: ..................$143

Seriously... I paid $85 for my newspapers. So far I'm $58 AHEAD, and I still have 3 months left. Has it been worth it? YEP! Am I going to keep my subscriptions? Probably. And I'll probably add another paper to the pile :)

P.S. I just went to Jill's "advance coupon class". She gave me the info on how to work Walgreen's and CVS. My savings should start SKYROCKETING! We'll see. That might be overstating it a LITTLE, but I have high hopes!

Until the next shopping trip......

P.P.S. Lincoln REALLY wanted to take the picture. I'm not super stoked about it, but he checks out the blog too, and wanted to have a picture on here that HE took.

Grocery Smarts: My House Tuesday January 6th @ 8pm

If you spend more than $200 a month in groceries, I've got a hook up for YOU!

3 weeks ago I went to this Grocery Smarts class. It teaches you how to shop sales and use coupons to save 50-75% on EVERY GROCERY STORE PURCHASE. The class is FREE. There are no hidden fees to attend the class or obligations. If nothing else you learn a few tips of the trade. I wish there was a class like this at BYU or in Home Economics in high school "How to beat the high price system and get lots of things for almost FREE". Even if you are skeptical... COME! I was (I'm not about to lie), when I went to the class too. But after it was over I thought... EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT THIS. I want all my friends and family to be able to save AND stock up on their pantry for way less than they were before. The time you invest is well worth it.

Check out Jill's blog. She is the one who will be giving you all the info that night.

www.zabbysmomsaves.blogspot.com

THE ONLY CATCH IS: She wont come if their are less than 8 people there. So please RSVP. Bring friends. Bring a sister. Bring a neighbor. Bring your husband. Just come!
Please arrive at 7:55 so we can start promptly at 8:00.

RSVP on my Blog.
In an email: thehulets@gmail.com .
Or call me 997-4587.

IT'S OVER!

The title of this post means sooooo much. The wait. The anticipation. The let down! The fun filled night! It's all over! To make my long story short. I didn't love the movie. Yikes. Don't hate me friends who LOVED it. It's just my tiny opinion. Don't be sending hate mail. But would I change anything about the night (other than the quality of the movie)? NO WAY BABY! If you want the long version... here is the play by play!

Here is the crew in the suburban on the way to Walmart
to grab some snacks before the show!

Way in the back is Melissa (Emily B.'s sister-in-law) and Emily Bowman. In front is Sara Steele (my cuz) Jenna Hibbard and Myself.

In the Front Front, Driving is Rachel Simpson and shotgun is Ashely Bailey.

(Side note: Amazing picture going 55 miles an hour. She didn't even swerve. I would have killed us all!)

This is the crew outside of Walmart after making a few essential purchases.

Family size bag of Reeses Pieces: $2.68
Cheddar Cheese Pringles: $1

1 liter of a fantastic generic diet cherry coke: $1

Going to see the 12am release of your favorite book Twilight:

Priceless

There are somethings money can't buy. For everything else there's WALMART!

(I love AMERICA and I'm not afraid to say Merry Christmas either.
Show some pride! Hollaaaaaaaaaaaaar! Sorry, the movie buzz hasn't quite gone away)

This is us in our "first" line. When we arrived at around 9:45, we could tell that the chances of us getting seats together, let along GOOD seats were pretty bad. Next time we will arrive MORE than 2 1/2 hours early (note to self... what were we thinking?)

After some smooth finagling, we switched our tickets from the 12:00am show to the 12:30am show which wasn't sold out yet. Therefore we got to be in the FRONT of the 12:30 line, and only had to wait an extra 30 minutes for PERFECT SEATS. In the long run... way worth it!

So since we had nothing but time, we all sat down and played the "guess who: name game". We even had some other twilight fans join us. They were rad fun, and we had a good time killin' time!

This is us standing in the 12:30 line just a little after 11pm getting ready to go into the theater.

2nd Shot. Front of the same line.

FINALLY. After months of anticipation. The moment of truth. We were all almost falling asleep and had lost our steam. That lasted until the disturbing previews which woke us all up from laughter or terror, it was a good mix of both! We were the first ones into the theater and it remained half full for a while (hence no one in the back of this photo). But by show time, the place was packed! From what I could tell, we were one of the biggest group of 20-30 year old people to go in together. GIRL POWER. We wanted safety in number in case we had to lay the smack down on retarted teenagers who would be texting or screaming to ruin the movie. Truth be told, we did a lot of screaming and oooooo'ing and ahhhhh'ing ourselves.
Thanks ladies, it was a blast!

DISCLAIMER: DON'T READ IF YOU LIKED THE MOVIE

Before I go into my thoughts on the movie I have to tell you that I anticipated a train wreck for the movie TWILIGHT since I heard it was being made into a motion picture. I have been reading books that have had movies made after them, and the only movies that haven't totally "bitten" (twilight humor slippin' in) are THE NOTEBOOK, and THE DA VINCI CODE. I haven't tried anything huge like LORD OF THE RINGS, or HARRY POTTER, but from the 5 or 6 others that I have compared (not claiming to be an expert), they just haven't lived up the books.

So, my official take on the movie. UNDER BUDGET. Money can buy EVERYTHING. Great actors, great directors, super sets... you get my drift.

Things I thought were actually good:
Esme's Character

Carlisle's Character
Alice's Character
Jacob's Character
Bill's Character
Bella's Circle of Friends
Bella's House
Bella's Truck
Forks School
The Wandering Vampires.

I did LOVE Port Angeles. That was one of the best 5 minutes of the movie

Here are a few of my negatives:

I thought they rushed the "meadow" scene. I thought they rushed the relationship part in the beginning. I didn't feel the attraction between Bella and Edward. Edward just looked like he was going to puke most of the time. The only reason I knew what was going on was because of the book.

I was totally bugged that Bella came off as annoyed half the time instead of unsure of herself. She was supposed to be more awkward and self conscience. Instead she came off as pissy and put off.

Why didn't "going to the prom" stay a surprise? That was half the reason it was awesome! That would have built on Bella's and Alice's relationship a bit too.

Did anyone else think that Jasper came off as TOTALLY FREAKY? OH MY! I thought he was a mute. He reminded me of Edward Scissor Hands! Crazy!

I didn't think Rosalie's character was very good. Enough said.

I know there were a few other good parts, and lot more bad parts, but I only have so much time.... and the napping kids are almost done napping! So, I didn't Love or even like the movie. Maybe if I saw it again I would think differently. In the words of Randy Jackson "It was just OK for me Dawg"! But you better believe that I will be at the 12:00am showing of New Moon. No doubt. I can't let these opportunities pass by. I had never gone to a midnight release of a movie before. Now I can see why, even though the film itself wasn't the best. Besides, Victoria was AMAZING. I can't wait to see what she'll be like as a more active part in the next movie. The last 60 seconds of the movie gave me the chills.

Please feel free to comment. Agreeing or disagreeing! It's all good to me.
I love having something to analyze other than "what did my kid eat that would make their poop that color?"!!!

Hollaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar!

Kate

Harvest Weekend

Harvest Holiday

This past weekend we took a trip up north to St.George and Paragonah. And by "we" I mean that Zach dropped me off in St. George for a little R&R with my two best friends from college (Megan and Melissa), and He took the kids up to his parents house in Paragonah.

Saturday I was..... Hiking around Zion with my gal pals




and almost getting killed by an Elk that was fenced in!


Meanwhile in the mountains near Paragonah,
Zach was going hunting with his dad, his sister Riley and Lincoln


And the girls were having a good ol' time with Grandma Ginger!! Grandma gave Reagan a makeup box WITH makeup in it! I've never seen such glittery beautiful girls!


Sunday afternoon my friends dropped me off in Paragonah
(not before a few games of Yahtzee could be played)



on their way back to SLC, and I reunited with the fam. The kids had TONS of fun stories to tell me about the 30+ hours they had spent away from me. They always seem to have more fun when I'm not around (to stop them?).



Monday was "Harvest Day".
Harvest day is an official day off for those in school in Southern Utah. I guess it might be equivalent to NEVADA DAY here in Las Vegas. During the morning hunt I took the girls across the street to the playground. Of course we were the only ones there!
It was so nice outside and the girls had a blast.





Riley went to take her permit test (and passed! Way to go lady!) and we headed over to the fishing pond to catch a few fish.



Everyone caught their own fish, however not everyone wanted to touch theirs and throw them back. Lincoln had enough guts for everyone, so he did the dirty work.

Reagan getting as close as she can, by only POINTING to the fish.

McKinley was at least game to hold the line for the picture.

Lincoln liked to feed the ducks, and sometimes he liked to try and kill the ducks with rocks.
Here is a picture when he was being nice.
I tell ya, when it's hunting season, he has a hard time turning off the "kill" switch.


After fishing we stopped by Grandma Cora's house.
After a few Schwan's Ice cream treats we headed home for naps and clean up and MORE hunting.


Lincoln could honestly NOT GET ENOUGH. He doesn't complain at all about riding around for 5-10 hours at a time. Here are a few phrases that Zach told me about. I only wish he could have recorded them!

"I bet when other people drive by our truck they think 'there goes 3 hunters', but they're wrong. There's actually 4 hunters. ME. I'm the 4th one. But actually I'm like the biggest hunter in the truck because I don't just want to kill a deer, but I want to kill EVERYTHING"

Sobbing on their way home the last day.... "Dad, why can't mom just FLY home so we can stay and hunt more? Then when we finally kill a deer we can drive home and meet her there."

"Hit the deer with the TRUCK dad... NOW! Hit it! Hit it! Hit it!"

" I know, we can just make a cage. Then we can catch a male deer, and then next year when deer season comes along, we can just go the cage and shoot it!"

"Riley, it's okay if you shoot a spike...."

While I packed up shop and got ready for the hunters to come back home (sometime after sunset when you LEGALLY can't shoot anymore), Grandma Ginger kept the girls occupied by playing duck duck goose, and painting fingernails and toes! Side note: Reagan wants nothing to do with me when her Grandma is around. I can't take her to the bathroom, put her shoes on, or cut up her food. ALL SHE WANTS IS GRANDMA!!!


How did it all end? Did we have a good time? Well, you can hear for yourself. The kids pretty much summed it all up. I took this video a few minutes after we left Grandma and Grandpa Hulets house. I turned all the lights on inside the truck but you still couldn't see them. So I snapped a few still shots. Play the video and then scroll down through the pictures of the kids.

Yes, that's a tear streaming down Reagan's face onto her neck!

I had to laugh to keep from crying myself. We really feel lucky to have such wonderful friends and family!