A Baby Blessing

Most of you know that Rick's family isn't active LDS or just isn't LDS. His younger brother happens to be married to one who IS active. She raised her girls in the church and they are still basically active. One is married and has 2 children. Baby 1 was blessed by his uncle and Rick's niece asked him to bless baby #2, who we fondly call #1 seeing as his name is Ryker.
This was Rick's first baby blessing. It was such a fun experience.

Twilight - Includes Spoilers!

Alright I finally saw Twilight - It was ok. I liked the book so much more. There definitely were parts that were great. I loved it when Edward puts his arm around Bella when the first walk into school together, when he has on his sunglasses and mentions that he is already breaking all the rules. Yeah I think that was my favorite scene. I thought his running up the hill...LAME! Yeah I have issues with the running. Also, what's the deal with the car? Yes it is a silver Volvo but it isn't the S40 or S60. It so should have been a 4 door.
I am not so big on how old Esme and Carlisle make me feel. Seriously Esme is 1 year older than me in real life and she seems like she is 10 years older. Also Carlisle...he was in Scorpion King and Can't Hardly Wait. I had a really hard time watching him be some serious character since I watched Can't Hardly Wait just last week and he is a total jerk in that movie.
I loved the Cullen home. That was more than perfect in my opinion. Emmet is great and Jasper isn't even the least good looking. Alice and Rosalie...they were all good but dude, Rosalie has a HUGE butt. Seriously, check it out in the baseball scene.
I think they needed more of Edward and Bella's bonding but whatever.
In the end, I am really and excited to see New Moon. Even though I liked it least of all the books. I thought it was decent enough. The filming over all seemed to be a lower quality than many movies out there but that too was to be expected. I guess they wanted it to look that way.
I enjoyed it and will watch it again I am sure at some point.

Something I Need to Get Out

This is a difficult post for me to write. I have been thinking about it for some time this morning and think that in the end it will help me and that is what matters.
I don't know if many of my friends who read this realize that I have suffered from "depression" for most of my life. Not only that but that I have been on medications for most of that time too. Seriously, since I was about 17. I was told to go off all my meds last August when preparing for the IVF. After Rick and I were discussing and we decided that I would stay off them. As most of you know, I am generally happy. Because of being off my meds my emotions range on a scale from 1-10 from 3-9 now rather than just 4-6. I feel like I am alive. Rick told me that he would rather have me cry everyday for a little bit and be able to get those 9 from me than just have me numb to life anymore. I agreed with him.
For years my mom told me that I had to be on them. I remember trying to go off them at one point in time and she would yell at me. She told me that I had no right living in her home without being on them. She would call me a bitch all the time. (She still does but that is another story.) I remember my doctor telling me, you can't change a person's personality with meds. It may calm the traits but it will not change them. My mom was trying to change me.
I am proud of who I am. I think most of you would even say that you like me being who I am.
SO back to the issue on hand. Yes most of the time I am very happy and optimistic BUT I do have my days and today is one of them. I don't like feeling like this. I don't feel like it is me. I also hate being a complainer but today I feel like that is what I need to do to help me feel better.
Let me make a list...

I want to be a mother but I can't afford for it to happen. Even if I have a job it will be a stretch as it already was a miracle that we could afford to do IVF even once. I know that Heavenly Father is watching and has a plan and all that but you know sometimes I just don't like it.

I don't like feeling worthless. Not having a job is great fun. There are so many things for me to do that I am never bored BUT I feel like I am not contributing to our family. This is compounded by the fact that my old job owes me back wages and really I have no legal way to "make" them pay me.

For many years I had to be the strong one in my family. I did not feel like I was allowed to have feelings such as the ones I am having today. In fact, if I were to share these I would probably have them discounted by most of my family members as being selfish. I am reading a very good book right now and it is teaching me that it is ok to feel this way. I don't feel sad because of anyone else, just because. It will go away and I will be fine again, proably by this afternoon knowing myself, nevertheless, these feelings are real. I hurt. And I am not going to just brush them aside and discount them.

I guess I just need to cry today and get out the emotions. Please forgive me for rambling and complaining. It really isn't in my nature to complain, even though rambling is. :)

A Genealogy Tale

I realize that there are very few family members who read my blog and so you have no idea who I am talking about but I thought I would share my Family Ancestry adventure. I don't want to rewrite the email I sent to my family members so I have just copied and pasted it here.
For reference purposes...Mernie = Mary Jane = My great aunt and only sister of my grandma. She never married and never had any children therefore, my mom, aunt and uncle are her next of kin and I am the oldest of the next generation. I should also point out, we all loved Mernie but she wasn't always the easiest person to like so there are parts that are tongue in cheek directed towards my cousins who lived with her during the last few months of her life.

It has been 11 years ago since Mernie left us *sigh* I thought it fitting that I would have a Mernie Tale to share during this week of reflection of her life and how much we all miss her….

As most of you know I have been working on genealogy for more than a year now. Last week I finally took the next step in going to the family history library at my stake center so I could start seeing what Temple work actually needs to be done. There were a few gaps in information for Mernie, Grandma and Grandpa since they have died so recently (which have now been fixed). I came across Mernie’s record - was cross referencing it as one does and saw that in her endowment someone had “cleared” it for them to do her endowment. I thought, WHAT? She did her own endowment. This put me on a quest to find out when she took them out. So I do all the research I can short of going downtown. Still nothing. (For sake of the story…there is an old program called DOS (I don’t think it is in dos though.) Her information was NOT there. Then I moved on to Family Search. It too was not in there but the “cleared” was, just egging me on to do more research.

SO today I went downtown. First I met with a lovely librarian who had access to the NEW family search, which is NOT available on the Wasatch Front. (It probably won’t be until 2010. When the Church opened it up to the LA Temple and Vegas Temple districts it about crashed due to the overwhelming use. They figure they need to do some more updates before they can bring it online in Utah even though it has been mentioned in the Ensign several times now.)

In the mean time she recruited some others to come and help just in case. She pulls up Mernie’s record and it shows that her initiatory was done April 3^rd 2007 in the Timpanogos Temple and that her endowment was done June 13^th 2008 in the Provo Temple – not only did they do unnecessary work, they did it under the name Mary Jane Hair, they left off the Stewart. (Someone please correct me if I am wrong but wasn’t her full given name Mary Jane Stewart Hair?) First of all, the NEW family search is awesome! Because of the way it is set up and the information that is put into it, it will stop repeat ordinances being done. If it were up and running and had all of the correct information such as Mernie’s live endowment and someone held a card from prior to it coming online, they would go to the Temple, have the card zapped and be told, sorry this work has been done. In my research I can’t tell you how many ancestors had their endowments done in the Endowment House and then someone did them again in our life times and sometimes more than once.

I was then told, well since you knew her and you know 100% sure that she did her own endowment you need to go to “Special Collections”. I thought, alright so I headed down to basement #2, not just the basement but the DEEP basement. As I walked in I saw micro fisch. I thought, oh crap! The other problem was, I had NO idea what year to start looking through. So I sat down with the librarian and we start looking through this book and she said, you really have no idea? I said, “nope I think sometime in the 80’s but that is it”. She said, “It will take you hours and hours so I have a suggestion for you, you go home and call the “deceased membership records” and see if they can find it. And if you get someone who won’t look it up, wait a few hours or a day and call again because some people are really nice there and they will look it up.” She went on to tell me that there is no reason for me to spend the hours going through the micro fisch looking for this information when someone can quickly look it up and I can move on to those who need the work done, not that getting records correct isn’t important. I thought that was a great idea and came home.

I called and received the nicest lady. I explained what I was trying to do expecting her to transfer me to someone else and she asked her name. I gave it to her and she said yes, I have it in the deceased records. Then asked what information I needed, I said her endowment. The next thing I knew she was giving me the date, almost before I could write it down. October 18, 1979 in the Salt Lake Temple. I could have spent days and days looking through micro fisch and obviously never found it. In less than 30 seconds this lady gave me the information needed. She asked if I needed her baptism, which I didn’t but hey, she was all for giving me whatever I needed!

In the mean time, two people have updated/contributed to OUR family records and obviously didn’t know what they were doing. Their log ons are wjgriffin and medargan Obviously someone printed off a Temple card and took it to 2 different Temples to do her work and obviously they didn’t know her very well. While talking with the 3 who were helping initially I learned that not only does the Church want us to only work on our DIRECT line we are NOT to do Temple work for anyone outside of this direct line unless they have been dead for more than 100 years, this includes siblings of our direct line which I found interesting. So one could do a person’s grandparent and have them sealed to your great grandparents BUT you are not to do your aunt or uncle unless they have been dead for more 100 years.

I appreciate that someone wanted to help Mernie out as I am sure everyone does, but it is a bit odd that someone was even aware of her and I wonder what other ordinances have been done for our close family members that didn’t need to be done. (I haven’t found anything else like this though but it makes one wonder.)

I am sorry for the long email but thought that all the details needed to be included. Just so you all know as well, I have tons of great information I plan to share with everyone. I am working on compiling stories and photos of people so that they are just random names you hear growing up and know nothing about them.

Maybe I will start writing a monthly newsletter with these stories…hhhmmm maybe. ;)

As we come to the end of our tale, I hope you all take some time to reflect on Mernie and what she was to you in your life. Hehehe

Love

Michele

Guitar Hero

After our visit to Seattle we decided that we needed a music game in our home. My brother bought Rock Band and so we decided to get Guitar Hero. We decided this was the best way to go since there are only the two of us and we could just get guitars. Well Rick happened to buy World Tour for me...which makes it so we CAN add drums and a mic, eventually.
I have become addicted to the game. I beat it on easy in less than 10 days. I have now moved on to playing most songs on medium and tonight I even tried hard on my favorite song. I failed miserably on hard but still had fun. It is going to take some time for me to really become good at Hot for Teacher and Crazy Train even on easy.
The other thing that is great is that Rick plays with me every night. This is Rick who really does NOT like video games at all.
I thought you might like to see me in my costume... Yes, those are my Harry Potter goggles.

Videos on You Tube

Rather than trying to post my videos all on here I have started a www.youtube.com channel. It is under michelenell. If you log on to youtube, search for michelenell it will bring up a video - Probably Bellevue Botanical Gardens. You can theh click on my name to go into my channel where I have other videos posted. Right now it is public but once I figure out how to update my private settings, I will probably take it private. Enjoy!

Rock Band - Seattle Tour

I finally was able to figure out my video editing software so that I could break this down. Enjoy!

Love and Marriage - My 200th Blog!

I ripped this off...

What is your husbands name? Richard Arnold - Don't call him Richard he really does NOT like it. My sisters thought for months that he was Ricardo - he is ok with that. Arnold is his mom's maiden name and he is the only boy in his family with it.

How long have you guys been married? 2 years as of last month!

How long did you date? FOR-EVER - Valentine's Day 2005 until December 14th 2006

How old is he? 49 - he will be 50 this year - We HOPE we can go to Lambo Field for his birthday

Who is taller? Rick

Who can sing best? Our iPods- I am not paid to sing, I pay to hear other sing

Who is smarter? Me - DUH! No wait, he married me so he must be the smarter one

Who does laundry? Rick - Let's not even get into this...

Who pays the bills? I do

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? The right side while laying in it or while looking at it? If you are laying in bed, I am on the right - it is closer to the bathroom

Who mows the lawn? I mow and he edges. Then when he is done he finishes the mowing if we are at my mom's. When we did his sister's lawn - He mowed and edged while I pulled weeds. I am MEGA picky though if it is a big yard. I want my lawn to look like the outfield of a baseball park.

Who cooks dinner? I cook and Rick does the dishes

Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? I am usually the one who is wrong and yes I can admit it.

Who kissed who first? Rick totally kissed me first...well maybe it was mutual by then ;-)

Who wears the pants? He has one leg and I have the other. We just don't always face the same way all the time.

January Goings On

I can't believe I haven't posted anything on here yet this year...Oh wait, yes I can. I am now unemployed and not dieing of boredom at work anymore. I have things to do. Places to go. People to see. Actually - I have had 2 interviews this week. I really would like to get the one from Monday actually so please pray for me.
On another note, I started making a quilt back in September. I have had one thing or another come along that has made it go so slow. This week Rick brought over from his brother's house quilting frames. We set it up and it took me about 6 hours to get the entire thing done. First of all somewhere along the line I ended up cutting the back piece WAY too big so it was on the frame and so was the batting when I laid the quilt on it and I was way off. BUT this actually excited me. It meant I had room for a boarder so I spent about an hour of that time cutting and adding a boarder. After that I ended up not having too much extra. Good thing. This weekend I am going to get some black boarder and finish it off. Rick's sister in law is a major embroider. I am going to have her embroider in the corner something like my initials and the date. Afterall, it is my first quilt.

Today after my interview I went to the family history library at my stake center. I decided it was time to move on to the next step in organizing my information and getting information ready for ordinances. I learned a lot in the time I was there. 1st - Many things have been duplicated. It was interesting to see things being done for say my great great grandparents in the Washington Temple. I also saw that some people are just retarded - someone has a "card" in their possession to do the Temple work for my great aunt, Mernie. (She never married and never had children.) There is someone out there who obviously didn't know her. They have gone through the work to be able to her Temple work. Well let me tell you - she did it all herself. I know. When she was old and dieing I helped her with her garments. I know that she was wearing her Temple clothes when she was buried. I have a good idea of who did this too - all I can say is - Retard! It was all very interesting though and I will be able to get much of my file updated. #2 It is really cool seeing that many of Rick's and my relatives had their endowments done at the Endowment House. #3 The organization that I have been doing with getting birth certificates, marriages certs, etc all electronic is a great place for me. After talking with the ladies working at the library, I know that this is very rarely done. I am grateful I came up with idea and place for myself.

Now for the rest of what has been going on - I won't blog much about the awesome Utah game - Just post this fun picture of Rick taken at our very exclusive party.

Most importantly though I have the photo of my car. Yes this is MY car. Not some photo pulled from the internet. I fund a picture of Jeff Gordon, I had my mom who works for a company which can create stickers make this for me. Then I ordered the stick figures. I wish they had arms to wrap about Jeff - my mom didn't really have anything for stick figures - but I still think it gets the point across ---That I am a dork.

2008

My friend Darci wrote about things that happened in her family over the last year month by month. Maddy also had something similar on her blog. I was talking with Rick over dinner about this and didn't come up with that many things BUT I figured I would give it a try too. This is more a test of my memory than anything. (I actually started this on Dec 31st!)

January
I know it snowed a lot and it was really really cold beyond that...oh yeah, Rick was still on crutches.

February
Rick was hired at Third Dimension

March
I turned 32

April
Uh....This is when I started getting Rick to go look at headstones with me for my genealogy. I also started my blog this month.

May
My brother graduated after 12 years of college with a 4 year degree. =) My dad, stepmom, sister and brother in law all flew into town for the occasion. We had a great time in Logan. Rick and I also made it to the Smithfield Cemetery for some photos.
Rick and I had our first visit at the fertility clinic at the University of Utah. It was very informative and got us on our way.

June
Baby Katie was born on the same day my grandpa died. It will now always be an even more special day. I think this might also be about when I joined facebook and reconnected with the 2 greatest friends from high school, who I wasn't even that close with back then. Thanks for being my friends!
We also celebrated the 85th birthday of Rick's parents. (Their birthdays are the 29th an 30th) I was able to finally meet the last of Rick's 4 brothers.

July
It was nice a warm.... Rick and I went on our first hike and a good chance, our last hike together. I also became hooked on a radio/internet show Thursday afternoons from 1-4. It is hosted by my friend in England's neighbor 2 doors down. I have so much fun requesting songs and actually having them played not to mention getting my shout outs.

August
It was still nice and warm...
We began steps towards IVF...I had to be on birth control for 2 weeks prior to starting the shots. Rick painted some of our walls blue and it has made living here so much nicer. The color just brings so much happiness to my eyes.

September
Rick and I went to Seattle. It was awesome. (Please see my previous works for more information on this vacation.) It was so good that we decided to think about looking for a job there...
We started the shots for IVF during the first week of September and really felt like we were on our way. I had the transfer of embryos on Sept 30th.

October
The days are starting to get shorter
On Oct 12th I had a blood pregnancy test done and found out a few hours later that I was pregnant. On Oct 30th I had an ultrasound done and found out that I had miscarried.

November
This was such a difficult but happy month. On the 3rd I had my D&C and for those of you that don't know, it was done with no pain killers. No one was able to find a vein and I was fully dilated so the doctor wanted to just get things done. Rick was laid off the week before Thanksgiving. Rick also had his birthday on Thanksgiving. We spent the day at his sister's house and had a great time. I decorated my first cake with frosting tips. Spending time with family was a great blessing. I became much closer to my nieces because of the trials of this month.
We were also able to go to a BYU/Utah football game party and pie-night.

December
One of "my" dogs that lives at my mom's house had to be put down on Dec 6th. It was a difficult day.
Rick and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary and had a wonderful time at the nutcracker. Something we hope to make a bi-annual tradition.
We had an incredible Christmas. We knew that I was going to be unemployed on Dec 31st but still we had an incredible Christmas. (So yes Rick and I are BOTH unemployed as of Dec 31st)

Obviously the later half of the year, heck the last quarter, had the bulk of our activities/things that happened to us. I hope that everyone has a wonderful 2009!

Blog Slacker

I have been a blog slacker lately. It is mostly cause I haven't felt like taking the time to blog about anything. Well that and because I received Guitar Hero for Christmas. Rick had no idea the beast he was unleasing in giving it to me. I seriously played for at least 8 hours the day after Christmas.
Back in the real world, we had a wonderful Christmas.
On Tuesday before Christmas we went to Rick's younger brother's house. We hung out for a bit eating homemade caramel and chatting.
We spent Christmas Eve with Rick's sister and her family. Sharron has 4 girls, well 3 as one passed away in 2004. She has 11 grandkids and everyone was there on Christmas Eve. It was SO much fun.
Christmas morning Rick started a fire and cooked breakfast for us. Then we opened up our few gifts. After going to Seattle, Rick knew I needed a Rock Band/Guitar Hero game. He also gave me a bra. The Guitar Hero really is for both of us and Rick was given some tennis balls. We are ready for summer! For those of you who don't live in Draper, Utah...the snow started to fall around 8:00 that morning. It wasn't just a small snow storm either.
After we headed to his parents' house. We had much of the same family there from the previous 2 nights. It was great to have everyone together even if 3 other brothers and their families were missing.
Then last but not least we went to my mom's house. She lives in "The Inn" as I now call her house. She has all sorts of people sleeping there including her boyfriend, a friend from out of state and my cousin who is attending BYU. We opened up some presents there including some great things Maddy picked up in Mexico over the summer. I had forgotten she bought my brother and Rick soccer jerseys and I had no idea she bought all the girls silver necklaces. It was very kind of her...especially since she spent Christmas in Hawaii! We had dinner and then Rock Band came out!
Jimmy brought over Rock Band for us to play and again, we had a great time. Let me tell you that having 7 people singing Bon Jovi at the top of their lungs is just plain fun. Not to mention watching the 3 year old sing Eye of the Tiger and get 97%.
This Christmas may have been lean on the gifts, but it wasn't when it came to joy and family. We truly as so blessed to have family around and that we were able to spend time with them. We are so grateful for the many friends we have as well and for your love and prayers.

A quick job update...still nothing for Rick and I don't know if I will have a job as of this Thursday or not. Hopefully I will have more info tomorrow. But in the mean time, we appreciate your prayers and keep 'em coming!

MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR

Talon's Adoption Story

I realized the other day that I have a few friends who read my blog but are not on facebook. I have been talking on facebook the last few weeks about my friend Heather, her family and especially her baby Talon. Many of you may have read my stuff on facebook or have seen some of the stories on the news.
Let me give you some back ground...
Heather has been my brother's best friend since they were 12 (and I was 14). (Heather's mom was my aunt's Mia Maid and Laurel's teacher too.) She lived on the street next to us and dated at least one of my brother's best friends but never him. I have all sorts of crazy funny stories about her and she is a dear friend of mine. Apparently many many moons ago I told Heather that "If you are crying over a boy, he isn't worth having." Many many moons later I was crying and she reminded me of that. I haven't forgotten it either.
Heather and her husband have a wonderful 7 year old son but have been unable to have more children for one reason or another. (This is another way in which Heather and I have bonded.) She went through LDSFS and was not "picked" for adoption. They finally decided to go privately and were picked to be the parents of Talon. Talon was born on June 9th (6 days after my baby niece Katie was born.)

All of this is on Heather's blog as well...Talon was born to a mother who was a drug addict. He was in the hospital for several days after birth getting off the drugs that were in his system when he was born. During this time, the birth mother lost her other two child, she was deemed unfit to have them in her custody. She also happens to be part Native American and lives on the "res" in Minnesota. Talon is only 3/16 Indian and therefore technically does NOT fit the rules and regulation on keeping him with the tribe but for whatever reason, those in charge decided to fight the adoption.
Just over a week ago, Heather and her family had to had over baby Talon to the Indian authorities. This has been a horrible ordeal for everyone involved. I just wanted to let my friends know more about it. I know that you all are so supportive of me and pray for me...I ask at this time that you too pray for Heather and her family. They are also trying to raise money to appeal. There is information on her blog pertaining to this if you are able to do anything. If you do watch the news story of when they gave Talon up...be prepared to cry. It is heartbreaking!

This of course is the abridged version. On her blog is much more information, many of the interviews they have had and photos of this adorable baby.

Movie Tag - Ripped Off from Facebook

Put an X next to all the movies you have seen:

(x) Rocky Horror Picture Show
(x) Grease
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest
( ) Boondock Saints
(x) Fight Club
(X ) Starsky and Hutch
() Neverending Story
(x) Blazing Saddles
(x) Airplane
Total: 8

(x) The Princess Bride
(x) Anchorman
(x ) Napoleon Dynamite
(x) Labyrinth
( ) Saw
( ) Saw II
( ) White Noise
( ) White Oleander
() Anger Management
( x) 50 First Dates
(x) The Princess Diaries
(x) The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
Total so far: 15

() Scream
() Scream 2
() Scream 3
( ) Scary Movie
( ) Scary Movie 2
( ) Scary Movie 3
( ) Scary Movie 4
(X) American Pie
(X) American Pie 2
( ) American Wedding
( ) American Pie Band Camp
Total so far: 17

(x) Harry Potter 1
(x) Harry Potter 2
(x) Harry Potter 3
(X ) Harry Potter 4
( ) Resident Evil 1
( ) Resident Evil 2
(x) The Wedding Singer
() Little Black Book
( ) The Village
(x) Lilo & Stitch
Total so far: 23

(x) Finding Nemo
( ) Finding Neverland
() Signs
(x) The Grinch
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
(X ) White Chicks
() Butterfly Effect
(x) 13 Going on 30
() I, Robot
(x) Robots
Total so far: 28

(X ) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
(X ) Universal Soldier
(x) Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events
(x ) Along Came Polly
( X) Deep Impact
(X ) KingPin
(x) Never Been Kissed
(x) Meet The Parents
(x) Meet the Fockers
( ) Eight Crazy Nights
(x) Joe Dirt
(X) KING KONG
Total so far: 39

() A Cinderella Story
() The Terminal
() The Lizzie McGuire Movie
( ) Passport to Paris
(x) Dumb & Dumber
( ) Dumber & Dumberer
( ) Final Destination
( ) Final Destination 2
( ) Final Destination 3
(X) Halloween
(x ) The Ring
( ) The Ring 2
( ) Surviving X-MAS
( ) Flubber
Total so far: 44

() Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
(x) Practical Magic
() Chicago
( ) Ghost Ship
( ) From Hell
( ) Hellboy
() Secret Window
( ) I Am Sam
() The Whole Nine Yards
() The Whole Ten Yards
Total so far: 45

() The Day After Tomorrow
(X ) Child's Play
( ) Seed of Chucky
(X ) Bride of Chucky
(x) Ten Things I Hate About You
() Just Married
( ) Gothika
(X ) Nightmare on Elm Street
(x) Sixteen Candles
(x) Remember the Titans
() Coach Carter
( ) The Grudge
( ) The Grudge 2
(x) The Mask
( ) Son Of The Mask
Total so far: 52

( ) Bad Boys
( ) Bad Boys 2
( ) Joy Ride
( ) Lucky Number Slevin
(x) Ocean's Eleven
(x) Ocean's Twelve
(x) Bourne Identity
(x) Bourne Supremecy
( ) Lone Star
(x ) Bedazzled
(X ) Predator I
( ) Predator II
( ) The Fog
(x) Ice Age
( ) Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
(x) Curious George
Total so far: 60

(x) Independence Day
() Cujo
() A Bronx Tale
( ) Darkness Falls
( ) Christine
(x) ET
( ) Children of the Corn
( ) My Bosses Daughter
(x) Maid in Manhattan
(X ) War of the Worlds
(x) Rush Hour
(x) Rush Hour 2
Total so far: 66

( ) Best Bet
(x) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
(x) She's All That
(x) Calendar Girls
() Sideways
(X) Mars Attacks
( ) Event Horizon
(x) Ever After
(x) Wizard of Oz
(x) Forrest Gump
(X ) Big Trouble in Little China
(x) The Terminator
(x) The Terminator 2
( ) The Terminator 3
Total so far: 76

(x) X-Men
(x) X-2
(x) X-3
(x) Spider-Man
(x) Spider-Man 2
(x) Sky High
( ) Jeepers Creepers
( ) Jeepers Creepers 2
(x) Catch Me If You Can
(x) The Little Mermaid
(x ) Freaky Friday
(X ) Reign of Fire
( X) The Skulls
(X ) Cruel Intentions
( ) Cruel Intentions 2
(X ) The Hot Chick
(x) Shrek
(x) Shrek 2
Total so far: 91

( ) Swimfan
() Miracle on 34th street
() Old School
() The Notebook
() K-Pax
() Krippendorf's Tribe
() A Walk to Remember
(X ) Ice Castles
( ) Boogeyman
(x) The 40-year-old Virgin
Total so far: 93

(x) Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring
(x) Lord of the Rings The Two Towers
(x) Lord of the Rings Return Of the King
(x) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
(x) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(x) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Total so far: 99

( ) Baseketball
( ) Hostel
() Waiting for Guffman
( ) House of 1000 Corpses
( ) Devils Rejects
(x) Elf
( X) Highlander
( ) Mothman Prophecies
( ) American History X
( ) Three
Total so Far: 101

( ) The Jacket
( ) Kung Fu Hustle
() Shaolin Soccer
( ) Night Watch
(x) Monsters Inc.
(x) Titanic
(x) Monty Python and the Holy Grail
() Shaun Of the Dead
( ) Willard
Total so far: 104

( ) High Tension
( ) Club Dread
() Hulk
( ) Dawn Of the Dead
(x) Hook
(x ) Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
() 28 days later
( ) Orgazmo
( ) Phantasm
(X ) Waterworld
Total so far: 107

() Kill Bill vol 1
() Kill Bill vol 2
() Mortal Kombat
( ) Wolf Creek
( ) Kingdom of Heaven
( ) The Hills Have Eyes
( ) I Spit on Your Grave aka the Day of the Woman
( ) The Last House on the Left
( ) Re-Animator
(X ) Army of Darkness
Total so far: 108

(x) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace
(x)Star Wars Ep. II Attack of the Clones
(x) Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith
(x) Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope
(x) Star Wars Ep. V The Empire Strikes Back
(x) Star Wars Ep. VI Return of the Jedi
( ) Ewoks Caravan Of Courage
( ) Ewoks The Battle For Endor
Total so far: 114

(x) The Matrix
(x ) The Matrix Reloaded
() The Matrix Revolutions
( )Animatrix
( ) Evil Dead
( ) Evil Dead 2
( ) Team America: World Police
( ) Red Dragon
(x) Silence of the Lambs
( ) Hannibal
Final Total: 117

Who created this? There are so many horror movies on here?! What's up with that?

Santa

I was just checking out a friend's blog. She went to see Santa with her cute little boys and not only did they see Santa, they saw Santa Ray! Santa Ray is THE best Santa out there. I used to work with him while at CR England. Months before Christmas he would start whitening his beard. No stuck on things for him. It was the real deal.
This guy is so incredible...not only does he work a full time real job, he does the Santa job all December too. He had a party the night of our wedding and still took time to visit us and take photos with us.

Santa - Believing, or Not

I have to admit something, I don't think I ever believed in Santa Clause. Seriously. My mom never really did stuff to make him real. I remember there being gifts that had a different wrapping on them and of course the cookies were half eaten. If I did believe in him it was long before I really remember life. I remember my mom filling the stockings in front of me. I know that I was the one doing it by the time I was 14. I was the one eating the cookies and drinking the milk too. Even though I remember taking my youngest sister and helping her put them out. I don't know how my brother and sisters felt/though. I am going to have to ask them...hey Maddy...did you believe in Santa?

I mentioned this to my mom one day. She said that she never did anything because she didn't want to lie to us. (She thinks she is a hippy but she isn't a very good one.) Anyway, she said that if she were to do it over again she would make a big deal about Santa because it is a good learning experience for kids to learn and figure things out on their own that he isn't real.

Then there is the flip side. I have a friend who loves Christmas and Santa so much that I know at age 12 his son still 100% believed in Santa. He would get in fights with kids at school about it. I think my friend was going to tell him before he started Jr High but seriously....there has to be a stopping point.

As for the other Holiday people...nope never believe in them either. I knew my mom was the tooth fairy. I knew she hid our Easter Baskets behind the drapes and I was also doing that by the time I was 14.

I don't think of this as being sad though. Well maybe a little but it is the way it was and not much I can do about it know. I will tell you this, I sure as heck did NOT like sitting on Santa's lap! (I had to clear all my photos off my hard drive this week or I would post a photo.)