Movie Review: Friends with Benefits

Friends with Benefits

   Great movie. Hilarious, fun, and entertaining. This is still your basic romantic comedy, you know how it's going to end, but you still want to watch.  Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis have great chemistry...they really make the movie.

   Basically, Dylan (Timberlake) is contacted by this head hunter, Jamie (Kunis), for a job opportunity in New York.  When he's in NY for the job interview, Jamie convinces him to take the job and move across the country.  They become best friends, then one night they were talking about how adding sex into a relationship doesn't have to be emotional. just sex.  So the friends make a pact not to make it emotional, and to remain friends no matter what.  But of course things get complicated..

The movie is rated R for mostly language, some booty shots, and adult conversations. :)

7.5/10 stars

Book Review: Water for Elephants

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Excellent book. I originally watched the movie, and then read the book.

The story centers around a traveling train circus in the 1930's. Right before Jacob is scheduled to take his examines to be a Vet, he finds out that his parents were killed in an accident. He misses his test, the bank owns the old home and vet practice, and he has nothing left. Eventually Jacob finds himself walking the tracks only to jump...unknowingly...onto a circus train. Now he's thrown into the life of a circus.

The story is sweet, romantic, sad, and exciting. Surprisingly, the movie follows the book very closely. Thourougly enjoyed the book.

Bountiful Basket #4

  Been a few weeks since I've signed up for Bountiful Baskets.  That's the gamble of getting these fruits and veggies, you never really know what you're paying for until you get it.  If you love all kinds of fruits and vegetables, then you will love it every week. Since I'm usually picky with both fruits and veggies, there tends to be some that I give to neighbors so it wont go to waste.  I've already given away the cucumber.  Anyway, wanted to share for those that are still unsure about the program. Love the program, love that I pay 16 and get this much fruit and vegetables...just wish it was always full of the stuff I enjoy.

Vegetables: cucumber, white sweet potatoes, little snacking tomatoes, romaine, string beans, celery.

Fruits: peaches, plums, mangoes, banana, little cantalope, strawberries.

Pagosa Springs/Silverton

 Pagosa Springs/Silverton Highlights.

   Last weekend started a little roadtrip to Pagosa Springs with my sister, her kids, my dad and his little family, me and my girls.  We were able to squish me and my girls in my sisters car for the ride down.  The trip down took 12 hours.  Would have been shorter, but we stopped in Arches National Park for a quick hike to stretch our feet. My sister will tell you that we HAD to stop since I have never actually been into the park, even though I drive through Moab quite a bit.

Delicate Arch.  quick upper viewpoint hike with the kids.

pretty view of the Devils Garden.

      Surprisingly the 4 little girls in the car did really well on the trip down.  Guess it helps when you have snacks and movies to bribe them.  Pagosa Springs is a cute little town in Colorado that has natural hot springs.  My dad was able to get 2 little condos for all of us to stay in just on the outskirts of town.

This was our view from the condo.

Saw this balloon every morning. The kids looked forward to finding it in every day.

   One evening, we took a drive up Wolf Creek Pass, and found the Continental Divide trail!  I think I was the most excited. Do you remember your geography??   The Continental Divide is like the backbone of the continent.

"The Continental Divide in the Americas is the line that divides the flow of water between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Ocean. Rain or snow that drains on the east side of the Continental Divide flows toward the Atlantic Ocean while precipitation on the west side drains and flows toward the Pacific Ocean."

   Another afternoon, we went into town to try these natural hot springs.  The smell of sulfur was terrible...like rotten eggs, but this little resort had 23 pools, each a different temperature.  One little pool was called the Lobster Pot, and was 111 degrees. OUCH. we put our toes in, but that didn't last very long, definitely too hot. The kids loved the other pools, and going down near the river where the hot springs flowed into.



a view of the hot spring resort and the river.

  On the last day before we had to leave, we all drove down to Durango to catch a bus that would take us to Silverton where we would catch the train back to Durango.  Silverton is a great little old town nestles in the San Juan Mountains.  Silverton used to be a mining town which started around the 1870s, and only stopped minig in the early 1990's, but a lot of the old victorian achitecture is still there. The roads are mostly dirt, they only put in sidewalks about 5 years ago, and there's a guy giving stage coach rides.  Very charming little town that I hope to visit again.



Here is the Durango/Silverton train in Silverton before we left.

The whole crew on the gondola back to Durango on the train. 

   The next morning we packed up everything, all the kids in the car, and headed home.  We barely stopped, made good time with 9 hours to get back home.  Colorado is a very beautiful state, and we had a lot of fun with the family.  The kids all get a long...which is a bonus.  (If you are a friend of mine, I have more pictures posted on facebook!) 

8 of the 9 kids, in order of height, eating popscicles.



Movie Review: HP and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

  My friend was able to get some pre-screening tickets to the show and she was soo nice and asked me to come along.  The movie was showing at the new cinemark theatre in Draper at 6:30.  soo excited! But first, my afternoon started with losing my car keys, looking for hours, finding them in the most "really?!" of places, and luckily having a few minutes to spare before I had to leave to meet my friend at the theatre.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

  How do I describe this movie without giving it away! Finally...Harry Potter's climatic fight with Voldemort is here! and Harry has to make the ultimate sacrifice.

  I thought it was a great ending to a magical series.  Although, I will say there are quite a few things I wish they would have put in the movie from the book, but you can't always get what you want.  Overall, I thought the movie hit the spot.  Can not wait to see the movie again...but with watching Part 1 first.  8/10 stars. 

  

  

HP Cast Before and After

Love LOVE the Harry Potter Books, always have.  In my opinion, most of the movies have been fine representations of the books (can't have everything..).  So with the last movie release for the series around the corner, here's a look at the cast before and after!! Amazing what 10 years will do. These kids have grown up to be very handsome and beautiful adults. (have you seen Neville! wow..) The now pictures are from the London premiere earlier this month. (click on picture to make it larger)

Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe)

Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint)

Hermione Granger (Emma Watson)

Neville Longbottom (Matt Lewis)

Ginny Weasley (Bonnie Wright)

George and Fred Wesley (James and Oliver Phelps)

Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton)

Luna Lovegood (Evanna Lynch)

Slurpees Anyone?

Slurpee at 8:30am?? sure, why not!

Today is 7-11 Day! 

They have these cute little cups just for today,

and once they are gone, they are gone. 

Spartan Race

The Spartan Race

The boys before the run.

   How do I describe this race!  The Spartan Race is a crazy 8.5 mile race and obstacle course.  Almost every 1/2  mile they would run into a different obstacle .  Different obstacles? my husband would be able to describe it more. I know they had walls to climb, javelin throw, target shooting, jump over fire pit, crawl under barbwire in a mid pit, off-set monkey bars, rope climbing, and gladiator Spartans at the end blocking the finish line.  Oh and for every obstacle they don't finish right the first time, 30 burpees ( push-up + jumping jack). craziness.  From the website, "An obstacle course race is designed to test your resilience, strength, stamina, quick decision making skills, and ability to laugh in the face of adversity." 

Here are a few pictures from the event.



finish line.



my husband crawling in the mud under barbed wire

javelin throw into hay bale dummies



the guy on the right is using a firehouse and keeping the wall wet.

 

mud covered boys at the end.

If you enjoy this kind of race, that is fantastic. You won't find a more challenging, fun, obstacle race out there. My husband did very well and I'm very proud of him and his friends!  I'm sure he's planning on entering again next year, he loved the race.

the UP house pics

   My older sister shared a link to a news article in the Trib, here.  How could I not go find this house?! The neighborhood is close and we didn't have anything else going on today. So I packed up my girls, parked at the library, played at a park for a little bit, then walked across the street to find THE house.  Do you remember the Disney movie Up? where the house takes flight with hundreds of balloons? Loved the movie.

   How cute! LOVE the house. Bright colors, fun details, adorable.  They didn't have the cute mailbox out, but they are still working on all the details before the parade of homes at the end of the month. (the guy in the picture is wiring for the doorbell.)  From the article, it says they are hoping to have balloons on the top of the house on the weekends.

Loving the rainy weather

   Mixed with this heat we're getting some rain! Loving it. The other night, I took this picture of the passing storm and rainbow.  Just think it's really pretty view from our backyard. The storm was quick and the rainbow was big and bright (didn't get the camera out in time for the double full rainbow).