flip side of the coin

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A wannabe dancer with no partner; fitting in everywhere and nowhere
Catcher of glimpses of possibility which no one else will see
Doer of the impossible but only when reality allows
Queen of a purple kingdom that does not exist
Wisher of wishes that can not ever happen
Thinker of thoughts that make no sense
Singer who can't actually sing
Leader with no direction
Taker of perfect risks
Anchor adrift
Ridiculous
Dramatic
Needy
Weak
Lost
Sad
Me



 

Movies, Pirates, and Singing

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Movies have a large influence on my life--probably a much larger influence than they should. My parents started it. I grew up going to opening weekend showings, and we had one of the very first home movie players: a Betamax. That just sounds important, right?

I don't really have just one favorite movie because there are so many that are so very good, but I will share with you my very first favorite movie.

I remember going to the hole in the wall video store with my mom to purchase our first movie. It was The Pirates of Penzance, and I must tell you that between my mom and my brothers and me, we wore that Betamax tape out! To this day, we all have a love for that particular comic opera that just hasn't faded.  At the end of 2011, I took my youngest brother to see a live performance of The Pirates of Penzance for his birthday, and we loved it so much that he turned around and bought us tickets to see it another night just so we could compare casts and enjoy it once more before it finished its run.

Some of my favorite parts of the movie include when Kevin Kline is being a buffoon during the Pirate King opening song, Rex Smith is wooing the maidens with Oh, Is There Not One Maiden Breast, and when the Sergeant and police do their big dance number before going after the pirates. The entire film is enchanting, but those are my top three favorite parts.

I admit to crushing on Rex Smith like crazy. There's just something about a man being able to sing and do it with animation and feeling (those leather thigh-high boots help a bit, too). It gets me every time.

A few YouTube clips for your viewing enjoyment:

Taytem's Teeth

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Taytem finally has gotten her teeth(yea!) After many miserable days and night the first tooth broke through. Last Monday I was holding her and she put my finger in her mouth and starting chewing. I was shocked to feel that she had #2 tooth, hopefully they all come that way when we can't tell they are coming. It makes it so much easier on all of us! She loves to chew on anything she can get a hold of especially someones finger (watch out she can chomp hard)

Sawyer's Big Day( 8 years in the making!!)

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So I need to get back in the swing of things and start posting again. We have had a lot of big changes in our family and it's about time I share them with you all. The first of big events in our family happened back in October of 2009.I think we started the process in January and through lawyers and the courts everything just takes FOREVER!Rob officially adopted Sawyer!!! I remember sitting at the dinner table just a short time after Rob and I got married and Sawyer said, "Rob should I call you Rob or Dad?"Rob replied,"Whatever you want to Sawyer."From that day Sawyer called him both or Rob I mean Dad.If you ask Sawyer he knows no different Rob has been like a Dad to him since they have met.Sawyer will also tell you that they are exactly alike and then proceed to list everything the both like and have in common... hair is the samesame glassesboth like to eat-Ice creamSteakcold cerealcrabNascarFootballTransformers.And the list could go on!The night before the big day our family got together at Brick Oven and had dinner. We knew not everyone could make it the next morning. Grandpa and Grandma Adams couldn't make it they were taking cows to Colorado for the winter. We tried to reschedule but once again the courts are impossible and it would have 2 more months.Sawyer with his Grandpa and Grandma Bushman and his Great Grandma Fisher.
Grandma Fischer and Sawyer

Most of Sawyer's cousins on my side of the family.Jaxon, Boston, Sawyer, Cy, Kelson, Bently, Taytem, Brielle,Gerhig, Quincey, Cassie and Gus.


We had Judge Hansen, and he was great. He asked Sawyer if he wanted Rob to adopted him and if he wanted his last name changed to Adams. Sawyer said yes but was very nervous. The Judge also told Sawyer how lucky he was to be adopted by such a great guy! Next the Judge went on to ask Rob a lot of questions. He then went on to say what a great guy Rob must be and is to adopt Sawyer. But we all know Rob is anyways don't we!!! Then we were able to shake his hand and take some pictures with him. Judge Hansen told Rob again that he was very proud of him for "stepping up the plate" as he put it. He said that it was one of his favorite days because most days are negative as where ours was such a positive.




Maddux, Sawyer, and Trail


All of our wonderful family that could come to support us on such a big day!!I don't have any pictures but Sawyer was able to go spend the rest of the day with his Grandpa at work. Grandpa's work if you don't already know consists of BYU sports. Sawyer first went to basketball practice and hung out with the team. He was able to go on the court and shot around with all the big guys. Next it was off to football practice where Coach Mendenhall shook his hand and congratulated him on being adopted and signed a helmet for him. He was also congratulated by Coach Doman who told him all of his kids were adoptive and he knew just how special the day was for Sawyer. But I think the highlight was when Coach asked him what position he played in football and then sent Sawyer off with those guys to run drill and practice the rest of the time with.I sure think it was one day Sawyer will never forget!!

Taytem's Circus/Carnival Party!!( Feburary 21, 2010)

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For Taytem's 2nd Birthday we had a Circus/Carnival theme party!I got these cute custom invitations online at http://www.blogger.com/www.etsy.com each one of thekids got their own ticket to the party.


Taytem with her favorite gift- a doll and stroller from her aunt and uncle and cousins.



We stared out with a "Photo Booth" photo op when you first came in the house. We had balloons to hold and clown noses to wear! I had a Polaroid camera we started using until it jammed and we couldn't get it to work. Oh well!



We had LARGE ENORMOUS balloons and this cute flag banner I made.





Sawyer and Taytem opening her presents. (Sorry it's blurry)






Sawyer was so excited to wear his clown nose can you tell!!





For party favors we had a candy buffet table and everyone got a bag to load up on the candy!!







Candy buffet table




We had so much candy leftover I was passing it out to the neighbors.


Taytem and her flower made by Dot the Clown!! She was great and also painted faces.Taytem was not into the face painting.






Taytem's birthday cake, I tried to make. We didn't eat it, it was just for looks.












Brielle getting her face paint by Dot the Clown. We also had carnival games for the kids to play, hot dogs, hamburgers, and fresh made popcorn!



Marcus and Jake (Taytem's hot cousins!)



Maycee and Brooke(Taytem's half sister and cousin)



Side note: We had just moved in the night before to our new house. We were up all night trying to get the house ready for the party. Slightly crazy but it was fun.

Laura and Oscar: Week 4

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Summer

Electric Night
I was sent off to spend the Summer with my nieces who were close to my age, making our relationship more like cousins than anything else. I remember receiving letters from Laura almost daily, in purple stationery, adorned with hearts she drew with an ink pen. I must say I didn’t appreciate those little touches and I wish I had kept all those love letters.

Most of the summer was pretty uneventful. I spent my days watching TV, bickering with my nieces, and waiting for the summer to end so I could see Laura. I also promised her I wouldn’t cut my hair since she thought I’d “look tasty with long hair”. It drove me crazy and I started to look like a middle-aged woman’s hairdo rather than a 14-year-old boy. 

So there I was wasting my summer days. My sister surprised me with a visit to Disneyland. We arrived early in the morning and I couldn’t wait to get in and away from my nieces and my sister. I got along with them okay, but it was starting to get old seeing them everyday.

...to be continued next week. 

A visit to Mark Twain's Hannibal, Mo.

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Reporting from Hannibal, Mo. — It was long after dark when Henry Sweets brought me to Hannibal's Old Baptist Cemetery, "a graveyard of the old-fashioned Western kind." No moon. Ragged weeds, crumbling gravestones. We tried to tread lightly, but it had been raining, and mud grabbed at our shoes. Down at the bottom of the hill, the Mississippi churned. I had to smile, because here I was, three decades removed from 11th grade, still slogging through American literature.

This, as Sweets explained, was the cemetery Mark Twain remembered when he imagined the midnight murder of Doc Robinson in "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer"— grave markers leaning every which way, Tom and Huck hiding behind a tree, and the treacherous Injun Joe burying a knife in his victim's chest.
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