Movies and Books...

I'm not going to argue against the old "books are way better than movies." We all know it's true. Knowing this, I watch movies made from books with as much distance from the book as possible so I can 1. enjoy the movie's plot and acting and 2. enjoy the cinemetography. See, I already know that the movie is going to suck compared to the book as far as detail and mind captivation so I just want to enjoy the movie because, well, I paid 50 cents for it! (We have a 50 cent Tuesdays theather! It rocks!)

Also, I will say that I've been a huge Jane Austen fan since my junior year high school lit class. My teacher loved her and so do I, now. I've read her main novels (except the unfinished one) and truly love her sardonic attitude. I could've been friends with her!

Anyway, I finally saw the newest Pride and Predjudice. I LOVED it! Seriously, I LOVED it! Kiera Knightly wasn't just a boob-a-licious babe (like in Pirates of Caribbean) but she truly resembled Austen's original character. And her counterpart, Mr. Darcy, was just perfect. Again, not too Hollywood overkill hunk, but the best of the leading men. And the scenery was amazing. This is a definite go see.

I also just rented Failure to Launch. Not cute. Not funny. Not anything even remotely agreeable about the movie. Sorry.

PYO Farms

This week we went to a Pick Your Own apple and berry farm. We were able to find a few blackberries (I used my sweet children as slave labor) and lots of Jonathan apples. I hope to make apple butter and apple sauce on Monday. Yummy! And the kids just love running and playing. Plus, they get to have tractor rides.

John Fountain

I just loved this watercolor of John's (http://www.johnfountain1.blogspot.com/). So, without asking or getting any kind of permission at all (it is copyrighted!), I stole it and put it on my site for you all to see. I love this watercolor!

30 weeks and counting

I've already done 30 weeks of pregnancy and I cannot tell you how fast it went by. Honestly, it just sped by. I think it's because it's summer and we've had such a busy time that I forgot to count the months, which I usually do religiously. There are 10 official weeks left but 11.5 in actuality. Hopefully, they're faster than I'm thinking they'll be.

My babies in the flower field...

We get to pass this field on the way to the bakery almost everyday and all summer I've thought about stopping and having a photo shoot. Finally, I did it yesterday. The photos are great but now I wish I'd waited for an overcast day to decrease the shadows. Maybe I'll try again in a few days. But I still love the photos of the kids!

Flotsam and Jetsam

Yes, we got ourselves a couple of barn cats. Why would a family with 3 of the 4 members very allergic to cats get cats? Because we want them to eat the voles and rabbits in our yard. However, until they're big enough, they're eating premium cat food from Wal-Mart. As the preggy in the house, and as the very allergic cat-hater, I simply refuse to have anything to do with them. And I actually think that the area coyotes and foxes will have themselves a tasty treat at our kitties expense. Although I hate them, I'd like to name them. Listed are a few of my favorite choices:

• Dumb and Dumber
• Frick and Frack
• Flotsam and Jetsam
• Fox Food and Din-Din
  

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you put a highly allergic child in the same room as a cat? Well, now I know. Poor Bug had a very bad day. Thankfully, we took the cats back to their barn the very same evening. We no longer have the little pests.

Josh Day 8:

We thought we'd go to Lantern Waste in Narnia today. I seriously love this photo!

Josh Day 7:

I have the coolest dad ever. He took Josh on a motorcycle ride and they had a ball. One of the best things about Dad is he loves blowing bubbles and Josh got a great photo of him doing just that! Now, Josh can't say all he did was work while he was here! He's had a few moments of pleasure.

Josh Day 4:

We finally did something relatively fun with the lad...we played games. Settlers of Catan, to be exact and the kid learned the game so fast I couldn't believe it. While the Catan series is my favorite, it's fairly complicated. And he certainly picked it up fast!

Quotable:

"ICP (Insane Clown Posse is a music group) has some songs about having sex with dead women but their beat is, like, good." --Josh

Yes, I was discussing music with a young 14-year old and that was my biggest mistake of his visit so far. A sentence like that is enough to throw a cardiac arrest at a reasonably healthy (although pregnant) younger woman. All I can say is that there is no possible musical note and instrument combination on the planet that compensates for such hideous lyrics. Furthermore, there is no possible way to take those lyrics and form a decent band. Was I actually having a conversation with a Christian young man or a freak? I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and say that he was just trying to show off his "knowledge" of the outside world.

Josh Day 3:

Most people would think that cousins are basically the same rank on the familial social ladder. However, since I have 17 years on Josh, the balances are tilted highly in my favor. And, even worse, since one of my pet-peeves is inappropriate phone usage (during mealtimes or in the middle of other conversations), the poor kid got his phone taken away a few times while he was here.

What exacerbated the issue was listening to conversations that went something like this:

I know you think I'm ugly.

Yeah, you think I'm ugly.

Seriously, it's okay that you think I'm ugly.

And that kind of talking would go on for about 5 minutes. Honestly, my conversations are mostly minutia but this was more than I could bear. What made it worse were the awful conversations with two 14-year-olds giving eachother relationship advice. Yes, relationship advice. Apparently, 14-year-olds are chock full of relationship advice. Hmmmm. Maybe that's why the teenage years totally sucked for all of us.

Josh Day 2:

Josh Day 1:

The slopes of Breck in the summer. They're still a gorgeous sight!

What a good cousin!

We went to Breckenridge for the day with the high hopes of finding a cabin to buy then rent out later. We did find a few very promising places but thought that maybe we ought to wait until later to make the decision to purchase property that far away for renting. But my cousin still had quite the time going up and down Main Street and in and out of the mostly quaint shops. And, for lunch, we ate delicious hamburgers and fries. On the way home we stopped in a not-so-cute ice cream parlor and gorged. YUM!