Blogkeeping -- Winter 2016/Spring/Summer/(Some Fall) 2017

Starting just over a year ago!  100 movies from December 2016 to July 2017.  Lots of so-so and also terrible library selections (two false starts!  Unheard of!), the end of Grimm and the beginning of Psych:

Captain America: Civil War [r] *** • Psych (Season 2) *** 1/2 • The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh [r] **** • Silver Linings Playbook *** • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 *** • Psych (Season 1) *** 1/2 • Doctor Strange [r] *** • The Amazing Race (Season 17) [r] **** • Anastasia [r] ***** • Gotham (Season 3) *** • The Secrets of Crickley Hall **** • My Cousin Rachel *** • Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End [r] *** • Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest [r] *** 1/2 • The Amazing Race (Season 29) ** 1/2 • Prison Break (Season 5) ** • Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl [r] *** • Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales **** • Split **** • Survivor: Game Changers (Season 34) *** • Lion **** • Cars [r] *** 1/2 • Documentary Now (Season 2) *** 1/2 • Bambi II [r] *** • Bambi [r] ***** • The Light Between Oceans *** 1/2 • Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens [r] *** 1/2 • Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi [r] **** • Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back [r] **** • Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope [r] **** • Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith [r] *** • Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones [r] ** 1/2 • Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace [r] ** 1/2 • The Scarlet Pimpernel [r] **** • Assassin's Creed (false start) --- • Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them ** • La La Land *** 1/2 • Bates Motel (Season 5) **** • Sense and Sensibility (1995) [r] ***** • Sense & Sensibility (2008) [r] **** • Jupiter Ascending * 1/2 • A Series of Unfortunate Events (Season 1) ** • Just Let Go *** 1/2 • Star Wars: Rogue One [r] ** 1/2 • Daria (Season 3) **** • Passengers *** 1/2 • Legion (Season 1) *** • Grimm (Season 6) ** • Napoleon Dynamite [r] **** • Arrival **** • The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials ** 1/2 • The Maze Runner ** 1/2 • Victoria (Season 1) **** • Beauty and the Beast (1991) [r] ***** • Beauty and the Beast (2017) *** • Moana [r] x2 **** • Tangled [r] ***** • Tangled Before Ever After *** • Warcraft (false start) --- • Into the Woods Live In Central Park **** • Grantchester (Season 1) ** 1/2 • Enchanted [r] **** • Deepwater Horizon **** • The Magnificent Seven (2016) ** • Jack Reacher: Never Go Back ** 1/2 • Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children ** 1/2 • Moana [r] **** 1/2 • Daria (Season 2) [r] **** 1/2 • Florence Foster Jenkins *** 1/2 • Newsies LIVE ***** • Ever After [r] ***** • Cinderella (2015) [r] *** • Sully *** 1/2 • Cinderella (1950) [r] **** • Pete's Dragon (1977) [r] *** • Daria (Season 1) [r] **** • A History of Violence ** 1/2 • Into the Storm ** 1/2 • The Help (mostly) [r] ***** • Star Wars: Rogue One ** 1/2 • Prisoners **** • Pete's Dragon (2016) *** 1/2 • The Bourne Identity [r] **** • The BFG *** • Jason Bourne ** 1/2 • Lucy *** 1/2 • Gone Girl *** 1/2 • War & Peace (2016) [r] **** • Anne of Green Gables [r] ***** • Sherlock (Season 4) *** • Doctor Thorne **** • The Hunchback of Notre Dame [r] ***** • Project Runway (Season 15) ** 1/2 • Office Space [r] **** • The Wrong Boyfriend (Wuthering High School) * 1/2 • Inside Out (mostly) [r] ***** • Kubo and the Two Strings **** 1/2 • Hail, Caesar! *** • Mickey's Christmas Carol [r] ***** • While You Were Sleeping [r] *****

100 books from January to October 2017.  More of the usual: lots of children's books (including probably the worst one ever written), and almost none of the other variety, ha ha:

Madeline (Ludwig Bemelmans) ***** • Get Dressed! (Seymour Chwast) *** • The Loud Book (Deborah Underwood) *** • The Quiet Book (Deborah Underwood) **** • Thank You and Good Night (Patrick McDonnell) ***** • Chloe (Peter McCarty) **** • My Bike (Byron Barton) ** 1/2 • Books Always Everyhere (Jane Blatt) **** • Boo, Bunny! (Kathryn O. Galbraith *** • The Heart and the Bottle (Oliver Jeffers) **** • Orion and the Dark (Emma Yarlett) ***** • The Not So Quiet Library (Zachariah Ohora) *** • Little Tree (Loren Long) **** • A Visitor For Bear (Bonny Becker) *** • A Few Bites (Cybèle Young) **** • Vanilla Ice Cream (Bob Graham) *** • The Red Hat (David Teague) ***** • Dog Loves Book (Louise Yates) **** • BabyLit: Emma (Jennifer Adams) *** • BabyLit: Treasure Island (Jennifer Adams) *** • BabyLit: Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp (Jennifer Adams) *** • Hooray For Today! (Brian Won) **** • The Very Clumsy Click Beetle (Eric Carle) **** • Chicken and Cat (Sara Varon) *** • Ragtime (E.L. Doctorow) *** 1/2 • Tell Me the Day Backwards (Albert Lamb) ***** • Your Hand In My Heart (Mark Sperring) ***** • Sam and the Firefly (P.D. Eastman) **** • The Lamb and the Butterfly (Arnold Sundgaard) *** • Otis and the Scarecrow (Loren Long) *** • Otis and the Puppy (Loren Long) **** • The Unholy Trinity: Blocking the Left's Assault On Life, Marriage, and Gender (Matt Walsh) ***** • The Nine Old Men: Lessons, Techniques, and Inspirations from Disney's Great Animators (Andreas Deja) *** 1/2 • All the Light We Cannot See (Anthony Doerr) **** • It's Only Stanley (Jon Agee) ***** • Polar Bear Night (Lauren Thompson) *** • To Market, To Market (Anna Miranda) *** • I Love You the Purplest (Barbara Joosse) *** • Twenty Big Trucks In the Middle of the Street (Mark Lee) **** • My Car (Byron Barton) ** • Feminist Baby (Loryn Brantz) * • The Bossier Baby (Marla Frazee) **** • Miss Rumphius (Barbara Cooney) **** • Go Away, Big Green Monster! (Ed Emberley) *** 1/2 • This book is out of control! (Richard Byrne) *** • The Airport Book (Lisa Brown) ** • The Five Chinese Brothers (Claire Huchet Bishop) **** • My Little Sister and Me (Maple Lam) **** • It Is Not Time For Sleeping (Lisa Graff) **** • Good Night Like This (Mary Murphy) **** • The Light Between Oceans (M.L. Stedman) ***** • Ben's Dream (Chris Van Allsburg) **** • Knuffle Bunny Free: An Unexpected Diversion (Mo Willems) *** 1/2 • The Hueys In The New Sweater (Oliver Jeffers) ** 1/2 • Just a Dream (Chris Van Allsburg) ** • Cars Go (Steve Light) *** 1/2 • La Luna (Enrico Casarosa) **** • Goodnight Everyone (Chris Haughton) *** • There Are Cast In This Book (Viviane Schwarz) **** • Cheetah Can't Lose (Bob Shea) *** • Officer Buckle & Gloria (Peggy Rathmann) **** • This Moose Belongs To Me (Oliver Jeffers) **** • Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing (Judi Barrett) **** • The Crayon: A Colorful Tale About Friendship (Simon Rickerty) *** • Jumanji (Chris Van Allsburg) **** • Round Trip (Ann Jonas) **** • This Is Paris (Miroslav Sasek) ***** • I Spy With My Little Eye (Edward Gibbs) **** • The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend (Dan Santat) **** • The Twenty-One Balloons (William Pene du Bois) *** 1/2 • Rescue Squad No. 9 (Mike Austin) ***** • Doggies (Sandra Boynton) **** • Harry and the Lady Next Door (Gene Zion) *** • Country Road ABC (Arthur Geisert) *** • The Napping House (Don and Audrey Wood) **** • We're Going On a Bear Hunt (Michael Rosen) **** • A Baby Sister For Frances (Russell Hoban) *** • Press Here (Herve Tullet) ***** • Little White Rabbit (Kevin Henkes) **** • Little Lola (Julie Saab) **** • Plant a Kiss (Amy Krouse Rosenthal) **** • Trick Or Treat, Pout-Pout Fish (Deborah Diesen) ** • A Greyhound, a Groundhog (Emily Jenkins) *** • The BFG (Roald Dahl) *** • The Art of Moana (Jessica Julius) ***** • C&L: This Is Actually My Party (Lauren Child) **** • Blueberries for Sal (Robert McCloskey) *** • Good Night Owl (Greg Pizzoli) **** • Goodnight Truck (Sally Odgers) **** • Giggle, Giggle, Quack (Doreen Cronin) *** • The Monster At the End of This Book (Jon Stone) ***** • Lambert the Sheepish Lion ("Walt Disney") **** • The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable (Patrick Lencioni) **** • ABC: A Child's First Alphabet Book (Alison Jay) **** • Professor Whiskerton Presents Steampunk ABC (Lisa Falkerstern) *** • I Spy On the Farm (Edward Gibbs) ***** • Five Trucks (Brian Floca) **** • Raindrops Fall All Around (Charles Gigna) *** 1/2 • Anything For You (John Wallace) **** • One Perfect Day (Steve Purcell, ill. by Matt Nolte) ****

End of 2017/Start of 2018

Time to (finally) blog a bit about Christmas!  It was a very busy and eventful couple of months, which was at once a bit frantic and a lot of fun.  There were the usual traditions (family musical soiree wherein I led a sing-along of Rutter's Angels' Carol, pajamas from Nana, more Santa excitement than ever, sooooo many treats, Christmas movies and shows, ward choir program, etc. etc. etc.) but there were lots of exciting new happenings too.  I'll just let the Instapictures tell the story.

Wherein I offer a 50% off commission sale and have a nice response!  See our art blog for a collage.

Wherein we go to the Christmas In Color drive-through light show!  Feliz Batty-Bat!

Wherein we go to the adult ward Christmas party and I sing Mele Kalikimaka/Christmas Island and wear my favorite shirt and hat (repeat picture post but it's relevant).

Wherein we brave the crowds of downtown SLC and have fun but decide never to to the Temple Square within a week of Christmas again.

Wherein we watch a Christmas classic and are forcibly reminded by Cindy Lou Who of a certain someone.

Wherein we go to the kids' ward Christmas party and it's our best roller skating outing yet. 

Wherein Wife and Baby come hear me sing Bach and Williams with the TSO.

Wherein my favorite Primary tradition continues for the 4th year!

Wherein I am amazed at how marvelous this movie is.

Wherein Little Mister and I are vest buddies on Christmas Eve.

Wherein we try out our new phone with a front-facing camera!

Wherein I try out my new at last running shoes.

Wherein I pose cheesily with my favorite Christmas present, which I call Coco.

Wherein we go to a merch pop-up of the Wizarding World of HP.  Almost like almost like the real thing!

Wherein this wasn't anywhere to be found in stores so we bought it ASAP (even though I know you can listen online... it's just nice to have).

Wherein we cling to the gingerbread feeling by finding any and all local light displays (this was at University Mall, er... Place).

Wherein the NYB pulls through yet again.

Wherein the kids are very fancy with their breakfast beverages.

Wherein The Wife figured out an ingenious way of getting the Christmas cards to stop falling off the front door every ten minutes -- take them off and hang them up somewhere else. 

Wherein The Boy Who Lived rings in the New Year on my desk at work.

Every time I have choir things coming up I have this underlying and ominous dread that something will happen the day before and I'll get really sick or lose my voice or whatever, but luckily another Christmas season has come and gone with much singing and no serious illness, so I think that's reason (for me at least) to rejoice.  It was a really lovely Christmas with lots going on and so much fun and going to church the day before was a perfect way to keep grounded amid all the festivities and remember the Point in the first place.  2018 is going to be just marvelous.

P.S. These days we get sleepy pretty early and one or both of us heads to bed shortly after the hour hits double digits, but this year I totally scored my NYE midnight kiss. ;*

4! (And 3*)

(It's not that she's all ashamed of her age, it's just not my place to go splashing it around online and such.  I also realize I did something similar last year.  How old even are we?)

Quick, before it's June!  Um... before it's July?...

We had two more birthdays!  It's tricky how the kids' birthdays fall within just days of our own, but it does simplify things when you get behind on blogging about it, which, let's face it, is the most important thing (it is 2008, right?  People still blog?  Well, I do, now and then anyway).

So this year it was all a big to-do to get things sorted out because The Boy's birthday was actually on Sunday and The Wife's birthday was on Saturday but we wanted to have his party on Saturday, so then do we just switch completely this year?  But then when he goes to church will he be confused when we're like SHOUT HOORAY! and he's like, but it was yesterday??  And then does Julie not get presents on her actual day but then has to wait until HIS birthday and then HE doesn't get any on HIS actual day???  As you can see, it was a web of confusion.  So we ended up just kind of mashing them together -- fun cousins party on Saturday afternoon with delicious car cake, saved a few of his presents for the actual day and did our best to explain, then longsuffering Mommy was just patient and opened hers and had her amazing Lucky Charms marshmallows cake the next day.  It was a fun and busy weekend, but it might make things easier next year when the days are different, but who knows?  Anyway, here are some pictures!  Again in mashed-up style:

So much fun at his (first?) official birthday party!  The KSL sandbox was a huge hit, and the slide from Auntie Jellyfish was even bigger.

Leeeeeet's just get a better look at that amazing cake.

He bought Blaze with his very own birthday money!  I think he was pleased with his purchase.

Cute birthday girl.  I kind of dropped the ball this year, but I will make it up to you!

Leeeeet's just get a better look at that cake too...

And so, just like that our boy is 4.  For some reason this is an age I always remember my younger sisters being, so maybe there's something about this age.  Anyway, he's a great kid and amazes me all the time with how much he knows and retains and grows and loves and shouts.  Here's the Insta slideshow:

One day, Boy... One day.

Having so much fun at the carnival!  He's getting more fearless as time goes by, but he's still pretty cautious about certain things.

He loves Cousin Jack (and not just because of the cars he often so nicely brings) 

His faces!!!  So fun to visit Great-Grandma in Logan.

I kept these Atlantis figures in their boxes for yeeeeears after buying them cheap at the WDW Cast Member store, only to open them up so this guy could enjoy them.  Worth it.

Did I say he's still cautious?

Anything with wheels!

With wheels and lights?  Even better.

He often says cousin Link is his best friend.

Potty training was kind of a fiasco but The Wife (with help from Daniel Tiger) prevailed!  She is amazing, because thiiiiiis was pretty bad at first.

Going to work!

Dressing his friends for nap (which he only very occasionally takes anymore).

Super Boy!  Love those sidekicks.

This might have been the best thing ever for him so far.

Where did our baby boy go???

We wondered how he would do in Primary... and he did perfectly fine.  I wonder if it helps that I'm in there with him?  Or maybe hinders... Anyway, Kitty is the Primary mascot and usually sits on the piano, and he finally was "ready" and started singing a couple months ago...  Maybe one of these days he'll sing around the house or at bedtime with us.

Helping Mommy with her knitting.

Helping Daddy with the painting!  He's a good helper.

Life changed forever after experiencing Chuck E. Cheese's.

All tucked in for movie night!  We needed to rewatch the original Beauty and the Beast for reasons, and he's loved the books for months so it was time.

Neighbor Renner gave him a turn of his very own!  Again, the best thing ever... until it was time to get off.

A year later and his teeth are looking just great.  Amazing.

Taking a turn at Nana's watercolor station.  He's actually becoming quite the artist.

True to his Asian roots, he knows exactly how to use chopsticks (which of course Hmong people don't even use).

The arts!  The letters!  This boy.

There you have it!  Mostly these are for me/us to enjoy and look back and remember things but if you made it through hopefully you enjoyed it too.  Our boy has some real highs and lows in his toddler emotional roller coaster, but mostly highs, and he's even getting easier to reason with, which is refreshing, since Baby Girl seems to be going just the other way in some respects, ha.  He's handsome and clever and bright and loves life so much, it just makes me want to match his energy and joy and exuberance, which we do our best to do.  He's a great big brother and a good helper around the house and a delight in Primary.  His voice gets increasingly not only louder but also higher the more excited he gets, but I love how he uses words ("we goeded" "I learneded" "I playeded"). He loves visiting aunts and uncles and cousins and always wants to go to a "fun place" (wherever that is, usually anywhere will do) when I get home from work.

Until next time!  We love our boy.