Today was Rees’ last soccer game. He did great. He really wanted to play and was disappointed when Coach Dad gave him his turns on the bench. Very cute. He got a little MVP trophy that he loves and is carrying around with him everywhere. Bryan was a great coach and all the kids loved him.
We came home to find the Gregory family helping themselves to our apricots. This is perfectly acceptable, since we have way too many to manage by ourselves. Thayne, Jakson, and Kassidy were daredevils, climbing the tree and onto the roof of the garage to get the ripest ones. Camillia was content to watch.
The boys had a sleepover tonight with the Gregorys. We took them over at about 7 and then went up to Market Street Broiler for dinner. We ordered artichoke dip with spinach and crab to start, then shared a dinner of filet mignon and a lobster tail. Yummy. We lucked out - a table on the patio opened up right when we arrived. Very nice dinner.
Then we went to Sandy to see The Dark Knight on IMAX. Unfortunately, I read the theatre map upside down when ordering tickets, so we were on the front row rather than the back! My horror was offset by all the people around us who also did the same thing. We were all able to laugh about it. The couple next to us purchased the very first tickets of the show - on the front row. Honestly, the first three of four rows of that theatre should not even exist. I was having serious flashbacks about my major hotel reservation error on our recent trip to San Diego (always save your original Expedia itinerary if you’re coming back later to buy, friends!).
I was able to mostly forget about that, which is a testament to the movie. It’s been said a million times, but Heath Ledger is off the charts - which is good, since he’s probably in it more than Batman/Bruce Wayne is. I have always liked him. He was excellent in Brokeback Mountain (I practically dragged Bryan to see it, and I think he may have ended up liking it even more than I did). My favorite quote, however, was from Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman):
Let me get this straight: You think that your employer, one of the richest men in the world, is spending his nights running around the city beating criminals to a pulp with his bare hands? And your plan is to blackmail him?
Good luck.
July 19th, 2008
Today we went to see Kit Kittredge with my mom in Provo. She had seen it with a friend and thought that Rees would like it. He did, but much of it was over his head. He was good at the theatre though. He seemed to understand the ending pretty well - that was the part that interested him the most. He didn’t understand the more subtle storyline of the families having trouble making ends meet during The Depression. Or Kit wishing to be a real newspaper reporter. James was happy, but talking too loudly, so I spent the last half of the movie in the corridor with him (still inside the theatre). The story was cute and would be perfect for a kid a few years older than Rees.
In the afternoon I got a massage here. Inexpensive and not bad. We stayed over at my mom’s so Bryan could have a night to himself. He went shopping at Cabela’s for some fishing gear and then went to see Hancock. He says he thought it was okay.
July 16th, 2008
Rees played well in soccer today. He is not really kicking the ball, but he runs with the other kids and at least pays attention to where the ball is. Except during the second half, when he spent most of the time wrestling and playing “ring around the rosy” with his teammates. Rees was in charge of snacks and brought juice, pretzels, and grapes.
In the evening Jeff, Cashell, Liam, Kegan, and Quinn came over to play. Cashell brought these really good baked spinach-phyllo appetizers. The filling was spinach, some kind of cheese, garlic, and probably something else wrapped into triangles of phyllo. Really good. Bryan made his excellent Superior Hamburgers. He asked me to get some ciabatta rolls when I went to Harmon’s this morning, and when I couldn’t find any, I was concerned that divorce papers might be drawn up when I got home. However, I managed to locate the last four ciabatta rolls they had. Phew.
The five boys (ages four and under) had so much fun getting filthy in the dirt piles out back and playing on the swings and hammock. What will the kids do for entertainment when the dirt piles are gone? And speaking of dirt gone, we’ve decided to fill in the area under the apple tree with “Sof’Fall” playground wood chips and move the toy box and bikes over there. It will be a nice little area and will keep us more organized. Perhaps we’ll tackle that next weekend…
After the kids were hosed down and in bed, we watched Charlie Wilson’s War. I liked what I saw of it. I fell asleep about halfway through.
July 12th, 2008
Today I made myself a new skirt, based on a pattern for a tiered one in this book my mom gave me. I changed it a little - I did three tiers (the example had five), used one fabric (the example used five), and I stitched the ruffles on inside-out, leaving raw edges on the outside. I also added a muslin lining - I like more fabric between me and the world (it must come from being such a jeans girl). It turned out really well, I am happy about it.
Bryan hooked up the TV antenna today to his new TV. He is excited to have everything finally hooked up (he also bought this and he got this for Christmas last year). Now we need to install a mantle shelf and try to clean up the cables and stuff a bit.
We went out with Jeff & Cashell to see The Incredible Hulk tonight. It was okay. I thought that they skipped over all of the interesting stuff (in a flashback at the beginning) and then dwelled on a simple chase story for two hours. I liked the actors, but couldn’t really get emotionally involved in two CGI hulks fighting each other. I liked Iron Man better. And of course, nothing touches Batman Begins. Can’t wait for The Dark Knight (we’ll be there on opening night).
After the movie we went to one of our favorite restaurants, Sampan, in Sugarhouse. Mmmmm. Bob babysat for us while we were out, and the kids had fun playing with him. What a guy. We got him a vanilla frosty, Coke, and chicken nuggets as payment.
July 5th, 2008
Rees had soccer this morning with the Blue Beavers (he’s still struggling, but we’re hoping for a turnaround). They also had team pictures today.
In the afternoon we worked in the yard. Bryan went on an errand to Best Buy and ended up calling me, asking me to “talk him down” from buying a new flatscreen TV. Long story short, I didn’t talk him down, so we have a new TV. It will be mounted above the fireplace upstairs, and the ancient bigscreen in the basement will go.
In the evening we went to visit Sarah in the hospital in Orem after the exciting birth yesterday. Michael, Allie, and my mom were there as well. We dropped off flowers and a birthday gift for Michael, held the new baby girl (no name yet) and visited for a while.
At home we enjoyed our first movie on the new TV - a Berrett family favorite.
June 14th, 2008
Tonight we watched No Country For Old Men. I love me some Coen Brothers, but man, this movie is dark. And super-violent and tense. I liked it, it had great performances, but it’s definitely not for repeat viewing.
March 20th, 2008
Today the Hansen family (sans kids & Sarah) went to see U2 3D together, at my dad’s urging. It was really cool. I have seen U2 live on tour three times - PopMart (Rice Stadium, 1997), Elevation (Delta Center, 2001), and Vertigo (Delta Center, 2005).
The movie very closely approximates the feeling of a live U2 concert. Yes, it’s preachy. Yes, Bono is melodramatic. Yes, I loved every minute of it.
March 1st, 2008