Oscar Wrap Up 2012

As you well know I watch the Oscars. It's a family tradition. We grew up having Oscar parties with fun food that we got to eat on a blanket in the living room while we watched the show. My mom would check off the winners in her paper and the rules were strict--no talking during the show.

This year the Academy Awards were extra special and extra anticipated because my mom got to be there! She directs with a private choir called the Southern California Children's Chorus. And this year they were asked to sing with Esperanza Spalding during the In Memoriam part of the 84th Academy Awards show. This means that last weekend she spent her Saturday at Capitol Records recording the song with the kids and meeting big wigs who produce the show and write scores for movies. Then this past weekend she was at the Kodak Theater (or as Billy Crystal hilariously quipped during the show the "Your Name Here" Theater) doing rehearsals and then performing and meeting stars!

Can you tell how excited we all were about this? It was quite the event. I don't have any photos from inside the theater, but here's my mom with the other directors who attended the show on their makeshift red carpet outside the bus behind the theater.
Mom thought that they would be in a holding room until their part and that the odds of them seeing any of the stars were pretty slim, but she was wrong! They were in a holding room above the theater for the first part of the show, but when their part got close they got to go out into the lobby to stage the 120 kids. They saw Sandra Bullock out in the lobby. She asked the kids if they were singing and told them good luck. Mom was also about 5 feet away from Sean Combs (not that she knew who he was until someone told her, but still).

Other celeb highlights included the individual comments and questions to each kid from Octavia Spencer as they exited the stage. They also got some encouragement from Michelle Williams who tried to ease their nervousness by telling them she was a mom and that everyone in the audience was excited to hear them. George Clooney even offered to lean forward and sing along if they got too nervous and forgot the words. During a commercial break Brad and Angelina came through the hall where they were standing and talked to the kids for a few minutes and Brad shot them a thumbs up. Billy Crystal was moved to tears during their number and sincerely thanked the choir after their song. It was a pretty exciting event for my mom to be a part of, especially after being such a fan of the show for so long. So glad it was a smashing success! You can even download their version of What a Wonderful World on itunes right now!

Other celebs my mom saw at some point during the evening:
-Meryl Streep
-Natalie Portman (who told the kids they did a good job)
-Cameron Diaz
-Gwyneth Paltrow
-Jennifer Lopez
-Nick Nolte
-Jonah Hill
-Christopher Plummer
-Jean Dujardin
-Christopher Lloyd

Ok, now onto the show. I thought it was a great year for the Oscars. I was excited about the show this year not only because of my mom's involvement, but also because I really loved so many of the movies that were nominated and I love Billy Crystal. I am so glad that they brought him back. His opening montage and song were great. For me that's exactly what the Oscars are all about. I especially thought that the bit of his song about Hugo and Marin Scorsese was funny. I like that the whole show just feels comfortable when Billy Crystal hosts. You're not on the edge of your seat waiting to see if the new host is going to fail miserably.

My other favorite Billy Crystal moment from the show was when he was reading people's minds. The camera angle and directing thoughts of Martin Scorsese were great, and I was rolling when it showed Nick Nolte and all Billy Crystal did was growl. Bahaha! Nick Nolte was so curmudgeonly that night that it was perfectly fitting. I also really enjoyed the little montages of actors talking about their experiences with the movies. One thing I did not love was the weird balcony band. I think maybe it was because of their super formal attire while playing drums and stuff or that I didn't think the style of their music fit the show very well. I just wasn't a fan.

One thing I was a huge fan of was the mock test screening bit they did with Catherine O'Hara, Christopher Guest, etc. So so funny. Most of the presenters did just fine. Most of the acceptance speeches were good. There were a couple that were kind of weird, but mostly good. I think my favorite acceptance speeches were Jean Dujardin who won Best Actor for The Artist. He was just so cute and excited and trying to express it all in English even though he seems to be much more comfortable speaking French. I also thought that the Dean from Community, Jim Rash, was hilarious as he posed a la Angelina Jolie during his group's acceptance speech for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Decendents.

Overall a really fun Oscars show. I was a happy girl. I was very happy with all the winners too. I was a little bummed that Viola Davis didn't take home Best Actress for The Help, but I couldn't be too upset about Meryl Streep winning since she is pretty much amazing as well. I have already raved about The Artist, but seriously it is just fabulous and I was very pleased that it won Best Picture. Definitely another great year for the Oscars!

Now just a few words about the fashion. I'm not big into fashion or designers, but I know who I think looked gorgeous and who didn't.
My top 5 least favorite dresses/looks were . . . (in no particular order)
1. Jennifer Lopez. I rarely like her style, but her Oscar dress was particularly unflattering. The open cut outs in the upper arms did not do her any favors and the dress was way to tight. I know the woman has curves and I have zero problem with that, but there are definitely ways to accentuate them better than just squeezing them into the tightest dress you can find. Yikes.
2. Angelina Jolie. I actually have always thought Angelina was one of the most beautiful actresses ever. She seems to be able to make anything look sexy, but she was looking more sickly than sexy at this year's Oscars. She just is way too skinny. I especially noticed while she was presenting. Her arms just looked like toothpicks and even her hair looked unhealthy. It was not attractive and it made me want to go eat a cheeseburger for her!
3. Rooney Mara. I don't know if I've ever seen her on a red carpet before, but I was not a fan of her dress. It was odd looking and made her look kind of gaunt. The back was especially weird. Just not a fan.
4. Jessica Chastain. I know that she is on all the Best Dressed lists, but I just didn't really like her black and gold gilded dress. I also didn't really like her hair. It's the most gorgeous color, but I didn't like the wisps coming down from each side. Reminded me of high school formals.
5. Sadly, Emma Stone. Not my favorite red dress. I think she is adorable and beautiful, but I was not a fan of the big bow at the neck of her dress. Too fussy.

My top 5 favorite dresses/looks were . . .
1. Tina Fey! Wowza! She looked amazing. I loved her dress, but even more I loved her hair. I have a thing for big hair and if I were ever to attend the Academy Awards I would want my hair just like hers.
2. Penelope Cruz. She is always beautiful, but I just really liked the lavender, classy dress she wore. She looked amazing.
3. It's a tie between Natalie Portman and Michelle Williams. I loved both of their red dresses. Michelle's was kind of frilly and fun, but I really liked the simplicity of Natalie's strapless red dress with polka dots. And holy cow Natalie's bling was gorgeous!
4. Viola Davis looked wonderful. I am partial to kelly green, but seriously her dress really was fantastic. I loved the detail and the color on her. I also loved that she wore her natural hair. She looks great with short hair! What a stunner!
5. Kristen Wiig. I really liked her tan dress with the feathery bottom. I thought it looked great on her, and even though her hair was kind of dressed down just long and wavy, I think she just looked really really pretty. Way to go funny ladies for dressing it up for the Oscars!

Playing Hooky

Yesterday I let Weston skip school and I skipped housework/laundry. He had his 6 year old well visit in the morning while Davin was at school. It went just fine. He is getting to be such a big boy and loves going to the doctors. It might be getting time to stop posting his stats, but for old times sake here goes . . .
Weston 6 Year Old Stats
Height: 43 inches (he totally tried to be on his tip toes and almost got away with it!), 15th%ile
Weight: 42.5 lbs., 25th%ile
So he's not huge, but about in the same percentiles as he's always been so growing just fine. Weston got his eyes checked and got to be up on the table like a big kid all by himself to get the rest of the way checked out. I'm so so grateful to have healthy children.

After his doctor's appointment we had to run over to Ian's work so I could sign a form for the offer we got on our house! That's right we finally have an offer. This doesn't really mean anything, but it's the next step in the process, so I'm excited. And it's possible that if the bank approves this offer we could be moving in as little as 30 days (but more likely it will still be a couple months)! After our quick stop off we picked up Davin from preschool. I had planned to take Weston back to school at this point, but it was 60 degrees and beautiful outside and I just couldn't make him go to school.

Instead we came home for lunch and then went to Gardner Village again. Weston wanted to go back to the fun toy shop and get a Webkinz. The boys each got a Lil' Kinz Webkinz at the toy store. Weston picked out a tomato clown fish and he loves having an underwater room for Goldie! Davin picked yet another frog. This time a bullfrog named Sammo. We also enjoyed the best chocolate donuts in Utah at the bakery and picked up some bread ends to feed the ducks. The ducks were hungry and Talia was going crazy watching them scampering around and fighting over the bread. It was great fun and I'm really glad we did it since the warmth is gone and it's 20 degrees colder today.
Things kind of devolved with the kids' behavior around dinner time, but it was still a nice day. Last night I got to have a girls' night in watching Once Upon a Time, which was great. And Ian came home! I slept so much better with him here.

Today it was back to school for Weston. Davin and I just hung around catching up on laundry and housework and playing. I even got a nap! Davin and I did the Mater puzzle, played Cars, and watched Cars 2. He's kind of of obsessed with it right now. I am feeling so happy with my little stay at home mom life right now and I'm going to enjoy that feeling since it's kind of rare. :)

President's Day Weekend

We had an extra long President's Day weekend because Weston was off of school on Friday too. It was pretty fun to have him home and relax. It was a bummer because Ian is swamped at work this month and had to work every day except Sunday. It would have been more fun if we had been able to spend some time all together, but we made do. Friday we went on a haircut outing. Nothing too exciting, but it was really really fun. The boys were just so well behaved the whole time. They were great for their haircuts, they agreed with me on where to go for lunch, they didn't fuss when it was time to leave the playplace, the played nicely together. I couldn't have asked for better kids.

Before

AfterWe frequent Sport Clips for the boys' cuts and a new one just opened near us and sent us a free haircut coupon, so we headed over there to get the boys' hair cleaned up. They actually both do really well with haircuts and kind of like them. I think the main motivation for liking them is that I let them spike their hair for the first few weeks after a cut then when it grows out a little we comb it down. It had been awhile since they had spikes so it was pretty exciting. Weston even got his hair shampooed for the first time! I think he enjoyed the head massage. He said that next time he wanted to get his hair cut with Dad so they could both get shampooed together. You know, boy spa day. :)

After Sport Clips we went to Carl's Jr. for lunch. I hadn't been there in a long time and it was yummy. The boys sat at their own little two top table and ate and chatted while I fed Talia endless bits of french fry and sips of fruit punch at the girls' table. She was pretty happy despite it being very close to nap time. The boys played in the playplace and even Talia got to wander around the outside and bang on the plastic. Definitely a fun outing with my kiddos.
After our outing we spent the afternoon chillaxing at home. Talia napped, the boys watched Megamind tucked in on the couch while I napped and pretended to watch it with them. So sneaky. We managed to get the house cleaned up and vacuumed later in the afternoon too. I decided Ian and I really needed a date night and I really needed to see some more Oscar movies before the show next Sunday. I found a babysitter and Ian and I grabbed some dinner at our favorite Mexican food Leatherby's before seeing The Artist.
I really loved the movie. It was such a fun experience watching a silent film in the theater like that. I kind of wished I was dressed up all fancy. It took the very 21st Century audience (including me) about 20 minutes to settle into being quiet, but after that it was very engrossing despite the lack of talking. I loved the story and the acting was truly wonderful. I hope it wins some Oscars because it is very deserving. If you are looking for a fun, clean movie to see on your next date night I highly recommend it.

Saturday was a quiet day. We went to the library in the morning while Ian worked, then when he came home he took Weston out for the afternoon to The Leonardo museum. Davin and Talia and I watched Cars 2 at home and then went out to dinner at McDonald's. That night after we all got home we went over to our ward's game night activity. It was a fun night with friends.

Weston made some chemical compound goo

Playing with the green screen exhibit

Trying to walk in prosthetic feet. This was one of his favorite exhibits.

Getting educated about the Civil Rights movement through a fabulous photography exhibit. This was another favorite.

After seeing The Artist on Friday I was hankering to watch Singin' in The Rain, so that was our Sunday afternoon movie. That Gene Kelly always makes me smile. Monday Ian worked all day again. I had thought about braving the dollar theater with the kids to see Puss in Boots (another Oscar movie), but decided against it since Talia is pretty much at the worst age to take to the movies. Instead we ran a couple errands, went out to lunch, and then the boys wanted to go to the dollar store to spend their Valentine's dollar from Grandma Denny and Papa. Weston picked out these gross teeth, Davin got a velvet poster you color with the tiny markers, and Talia got a pink heart mylar balloon. Success!
So we didn't have the most exciting weekend, but Weston was kind of sad to have to go back to school today so it must not have been too boring. I am mostly just wishing Ian could have been home more, but alas, we probably won't be seeing more of him until March. In the meantime we will be weathering the cold with lots of movies, Wii, and Candy Land.

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day definitely snuck up on me this year. It always seems to come up pretty quickly after Weston's birthday, but with the girls' weekend right before it this year it was extra sneaky. I barely managed to put up a banner the week before. The kids woke up to Valentines on the couch. I got them each a new shirt, as per tradition, and a treat bag with a heart brownie in it and a box of conversation hearts. They also had a couple of Valentines from grandparents to open that had come in the mail earlier. It was a fun morning. I can't believe it but I forgot to get a picture of the kids in their new shirts! I'll work on that.
Davin had done his Valentine's Day celebration at school on Monday, so on the big day he was home with me. We made sugar cookie dough in the morning and then went and met up with Ian for lunch at Kneaders. When we got home from lunch Talia took a nap while Davin and I rolled out the cookie dough and baked all the cookies. We finished with just enough time for me to lay down for a few minutes before picking up Weston from school.

After Weston got home we frosted cookies. Talia threw a fit the entire time because she wanted to eat the cookies. I did share with her but she has quite the sweet tooth and wasn't really satisfied with one cookie. Must be my daughter. :) Anyway, we got the cookies done and took a plate over to our neighbors. Weston and Davin both made Valentines for Ian and I. I think they are really cute and definitely funny. Can you tell who's a mama's boy?
I made a nice dinner of salmon, mashed potatoes, and green beans. It was yummy, but I barely had time to do the dishes before running out the door to Young Women's. Sometimes I wish that Ian went into work earlier just so he could be home in the evenings a little earlier. Oh well. Young Women's went really well. We made a bunch of Valentines and wrote nice notes, then took them to a couple of the widows in our ward and visited with them for a bit. They seemed to really appreciate it and the girls had fun being crafty and doing some service.

Ian and I capped off the night by watching Castle before falling into bed. We were both pretty exhausted. Ian has been doing video shoots this week and those always make for long days. Hope everyone had a nice Valentine's Day!

Just for fun, here's a pic of Talia rocking my sunglasses during Sunday School a couple weeks ago. She loves wearing everyone's sunglasses except her own.

Girls' Weekend!

This last weekend was awesome. My mom and all of my sisters drove to Utah so we could have a girls' weekend! It was just what I needed. Everyone got here on Thursday and we ate dinner at my house and celebrated Melanie's and my birthday with chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting and presents. Then we headed over to the hotel. Our room was huge and we really loved the hotel.

The mission of the weekend was to find a wedding dress for Julianna, who is getting married in June to the wonderful Rick. She had made a couple of appointments at bridal shops on Fridays. That morning we all got up and got ready for the day pretty early, went down and ate breakfast then still had time for some Bananagrams before heading out to wedding dress shop. We started at Gateway Bridal. We helped Jules pick out several dresses to try on, but in the end she only ended up trying on three dresses. The second one was the winner! It is absolutely gorgeous. She is going to be a stunning bride.

Waiting for the bride to try on the first dress.

After finding the dress we went to lunch at Jason's Deli. Since we didn't have to keep wedding shopping we headed to the mall for some everyone shopping. Mom had given Mel and I Bare Minerals makeup for our birthdays, so we went to Sephora to get the right shades. We also, of course, hit up See's. Then strolled through H&M and Crate and Barrel. By the time we were done at the mall we were tired, so it was back to the hotel for naps/screen time. We lazed around in our sweats talking and playing Scramble with each other on our phones. Good times.

We decided to go see "We Bought A Zoo." It was very sweet and we all enjoyed it. By the time the movie was over we were starving, so we walked over to Iggy's for dinner. None of us had eaten there before. It was pretty good and we had a really great server. After that we called it a night and headed back to the hotel for some more lazing and talking and some sleeping.

Saturday morning we were a little more lazy. Well, except Joy. She got up and worked out while the rest of us slept in. Finally we managed to get ready for the day. Next up was temple dress/Deseret Book shopping. That was successful too! Jules is all set for June and we all can't wait! We did a little wandering and shopping at Target then ate lunch at Cafe Rio. After one more temple dress store (for Mom) we went back to the hotel for our afternoon lazy time. It was great. We actually stayed in on Saturday night and ordered pizza and worked on making the centerpieces for Jules' reception. They look so beautiful! Our friend Natalie came over and helped and hung out with us. It was great fun.
Sunday was kind of back to reality day for me. Mel and I came back to my house pretty early so that Ian could go to meetings in the morning. We got the kids ready for church and we all went to my ward. It was fun having my sisters and my mom there. Saturday night Ian texted me and asked what we were planning on singing in Sacrament meeting the next day (half jokingly?). We decided to go ahead and sing as long as we were all together. It was nice. Sunday evening we had dinner at my house and played Things after the kids were in bed. I had to say goodbye to my Mom and Joy and Jules that night. It was sad. I almost cried. Luckily I still got to see Mel on Monday for a little while.

Saying goodbye :(

Mel came over Monday morning and hung out with me until it was time for her to leave for Rexburg. I'm so grateful to have such awesome sisters that I am such good friends with and for our truly amazing mom who makes sure we get to be together every once in awhile and who sets such a good example for us all. Thanks for yet another wonderful girls' weekend ladies! Let's do it again soon!

As Big As Our House

Davin is such a sweetheart. And he says the most adorable things. I will just watch him and out of the blue say "Davin I love you." I used to show him with my hands how much I loved him, then one day while trying to one up me on how much he loved me back, he said "Mom, I love you as big as our house!" I laughed and told him I loved him that much back.

It has become a pretty familiar phrase around here. And I couldn't love it more. Not because our house is really all that big, but it's probably the biggest thing Davin could think of. My worldview is a little larger and my love for Davin is more on par with at least as big as the ocean or as big as the universe, but for now I love saying and hearing "I love you as big as our house." Makes me smile every time.