Summer Days

Summers are my favorite.

These pictures are from a day in 2015, but days like this are perfect in my book.

I spent the day swimming with The Circus, and then we hit a movie in the park that evening.

I could live forever in a summer day.

Giveaway: The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies On Blu-Ray.

My Circus can't grasp that when I say I studied "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy in Jr. High School, I mean we really studied it.  We read them all the way through, tested on them, wrote essays on them, and spent class after class talking about them.

For three years.

Being the lucky soul that I am, I was in a certain program in Jr. High which led me to have the same teachers in every subject, year after year.

Generally that was okay, I was a good kid, and an excellent student, and my teachers were pretty cool, but it's a wonder that I actually still like JRR Tolkien , as I had a strong aversion to my English teacher.  It took a certain level of patience and tolerance to stand her personality, none of which I was willing to give her in all my adolescent glory.

To be fair, she didn't like me either and was always making underhand remarks about me to the class.

So I think my intolerance was justified to say the least.

As it is, this post isn't about my Jr. High English teacher.

It's about JRR Tolkien.

More specifically, it's about me giving away a blu-ray of the The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.

Argue if you must that the books are always better than the movies.  Argue if you must about the storyline changes.

Argue if you must, but frankly, I find myself being a solid fan of both the books and the movies.  And I'm pretty stoked to be giving this movie away to one of you.

Here's what you have to do:
Take this quiz and see if you're brave like Bilbo. (Warner Home Video's rules, not mine, so go with it.  It was kind of fun in that cheesy quiz way so I can get behind it.  For the record I am brave like Bilbo.)



Now tell me in the comments, are you?

I will choose a winner from the comments on Thursday April 9th at 11:59 pm.  Or if I'm being honest, I'll choose it on Friday April 10th around 8:30 am, but I'll be looking at the comments that hit before midnight... so either way, get your comment in before the end of April 9th.  Winner will be notified by email, so please make sure I have a valid email to contact you.

To be fair, there are some rules. Each household is only eligible to win One (1) Blu-ray The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies via blog reviews and giveaways. Only one entrant per mailing address per giveaway. If you have won the same prize on another blog, you will not be eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification.  Open to the US and Canada.

Also, this:


I didn't receive anything for writing this post, but Warner Home Video is fronting the prize, so there's that.

And guys!

Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them,
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

Which isn't The Hobbit, but The Hobbit begins it all and it's now time to geek out and re-watch the trilogy.  All.  Weekend.  Long.

The One Where I Meet Groot. And Weeknight Movies Just Became A Thing.

On a day filled with final philosophy papers, or the procrastination thereof, I received a text from The Man.

Dinner and a movie tonight?

The answer is always yes.  Dinner and a movie is my most favorite kind of invite, albeit a little unusual on a Thursday evening.

As it turns out this wasn't just an ordinary invite.  This was a celebration for those who had participated in the building of the homes for Salt Lake City's Parade of Homes.  A VIP event put on by the Home Builders Association.

The Man happened to build a playhouse for the parade for McArthur Homes.

The playhouse happens to be sitting right smack in front of the movie theater.

The evening began in an upstairs room of the theater with food and drinks.

And Groot.

Which might have excited me more than it should have.

We got to be a part of the awards ceremony for the builders of the homes (sadly, there was no category for playhouse) and afterward, we got to watch Guardians of the Galaxy.

Which for the record, is completely worth it.

And also for the record, Groot was by far my favorite character.  And I'm not just saying that because I met him.

I've decided if there's one thing I like better than dinner and a movie date night, it's dinner and a movie date night on a week night.

The exciting thing about dinner and a movie on a week night is Megaplex has just made it even more sweet.

Beginning Tuesday, August 5th.  I don't know about you, but I know what I'm doing next Tuesday.

Who knows, maybe I'll run into my old pal Groot again.

Bits and Pieces of Life.

Somewhere I'm losing my vibe for life.  Mostly, if I had to put a finger on it, exactly, I would have to say... I'm bored.  The days and weekends are full to the max with bits and pieces, and those are fun, but generally speaking...  I could sum it up by saying the alarm went of this morning and I had no thought of rolling out of bed and facing that daily grind.  Again.  An hour later I finally did.  Of course I did.  How can I not?  I can't.  So I do.  I'd like to say a change is in order, but frankly, where do I even go?  I still can't pinpoint what I want to do with my life, and the ever frustrating fact remains: the things I try for fall flat so where does that really leave me?

It leaves me bored.

And over-sleeping by an hour.  Which turns out to be no big deal because I still made it to work on time.  Professionally dressed and pulled together, I might add.

But if we look at the bits and pieces it turns out okay.  The daily grind isn't a bad place.  It's actually one I'm very grateful for.

Saturday was filled to the max with bits and pieces and by the time we cried "uncle" and crawled into bed, I was declaring it, out loud to The Man even, the perfect day.

Even if Saturday started with an alarm clock ringing at 5:45 am, which generally is absurd and unconstitutional.  A baseball cap and some flip flops later I was driving my butt up to the church to set up the gigantic yard sale we were calling the youth fundraiser.

At least I brushed my teeth.  To my neighbors, you're welcome.

And to my neighbors who also drove their butts up the church at the awful hour of 6:00 am on a Saturday morning, thank you.

And to my neighbors who got to sleep in and show up around 9:00, or even 10:00 to buy the wares we had spread across the lawn and parking lot of the church, thank you.

Because honestly, who wouldn't want to spend a Saturday morning surround by neighbors, who are truly friends, raising money for the youth that we get to spend so much of our time with?  Plus, a McD's Coke might have helped my attitude quite a bit.

From the yardsale, where I scored a treadmill (be still my heart!), and an argyle scarf (be still my heart!), I fixed my hair from the 6 hour hat hair of the yard sale, and drove downtown for the Five-o Fest with The Man.

The Five-o Fest which debuted in its first year, this year, as a trial effort.  The new Public Safety Building giving the Salt Lake City Police Department a place to host such an event.  Five-o standing for Hawaii Five-o, where participants sang out the Hawaii Five-o theme song for Boondocks passes.

Filve-o Fest which promoted anti-bullying and was supported by companies and organizations that promote as much.  Bullying is never cool.  Not in any form, or at any age.  Life is hard enough, without us making it harder for each other on top of it.

Throw in a mixture of Batman with the Batmobile, The Drum Bus, Fantasy Con, SWAT Team, Bomb Squad, The Jazz Bear, free face-painting, several food trucks, and, our personal favorite, Beyond 5, you have yourself a pretty fun time with a good, uplifting message.  Also, what does it say that every song Beyond 5 sings can be used to fight against bullying and promote self-worth?  Chew on that one for a bit and then go check them out if you haven't yet.

The Man and I topped the evening off with Huhot for dinner and then Maleficent for a late movie.  Oh Disney Villains, you are part of my bits and pieces.  And this movie?  Yes.  I'm certain I'm going to have to make a Maleficent costume now.  Right after I make my Sanderson Sisters costumes.  What?  I haven't made those yet?  I know.  I have no excuse for this.

It's the bits and pieces that make life flow.  That make me smile.  That make life... life.

What are your bits and pieces?

Summer So Far

So far summer has looked a little bit like this for us:

The Drive-in, Monsters University and Man of Steel.

Which also meant over priced movie nachos which are the best thing ever.

And cheap dollar store glow sticks which are not the best thing ever because we always have an issue with them breaking on us when we crack them to start glowing.

Though the splatter that happened when Cali cracked hers was pretty impressive.

The waterpark.  Or Cowabunga Bay with Granny Suzann to be exact.

We've been avoiding that place forever because we heard that the water was just so cold.  Come to find out that we've been missing out on a whole lot of fun.  I kind of love that place now.

Jayme

A great big, huge thank you to Granny Suzann for that perfect day at Cowabunga Bay!

And Brynn's friend from Vernal came and hung out with us for five days.  But eventually we had to give her back to her mom agian.

Also, Cali decided she was going to do a back flip into the pool.

And then she actually did it.



Brynn decided she wanted to try a flip too.



I love summer.

Aren't you a little old to be doing this and of course we had phones

Sometimes when Halloween is your favorite holiday, you don't mind stretching it into November a little bit.

We had no kids and we had no definite plans but we left the house with the thoughts to find something.  We ended up at the movie theater for a matinee, bought our tickets, loaded up with drinks, popcorn, and milkduds (because you can't eat popcorn without milkduds.  Or vice versa), and proceeded to the ticket taker.

He takes the tickets from me, looks us up and down and says, "aren't you a little old to be doing this?"

I promptly reply with a "never!"

The Man laughs and says "yes..."

With that we entered the theater for Hotel Transylvania.

Don't tell the kids.

The weird thing about this is that I wore flip flops all weekend long.  It's November and I'm still wearing flip flops.  And only a hoodie. 

I remember trick-or-treating in the snow as a kid.  I also remember snow up to my thighs on a regular basis.  Of course, being a kid my thighs weren't as high off the ground as they are now, but still...

I remember a couple of winters where, with the shoveling and piling up of snow, there was enough that it was as tall as I was on the sides of the roads and the driveways and sidewalks.

What is happening to our weather?

Because we don't get snow like that anymore.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a fan of the cold and the snow and the ice (holler! The Man put our trailer in storage for the winter so I can actually use the garage!  We have enough room in the driveway to get both cars past were the trailer stuck out now.  No scraping icy, snowy car windows for me this winter!), but I am worried about drought.  We at least need something.

It's not like me to say this at all, but I hope we get snow soon.  Our water levels need it.

On a different note, the other night Brynn asked me what year I was born in.  To which I replied "'79."

You'd think I'd learn (HERE).

Brynn then asks me, "Did you have phones when you were a kid?"

And I balked.  "Brynn, 1979 not 1879! We had phones and color TV."

I should have seen it coming, she started out by asking me about World War I...

{pic source}

Of course we had phones, they were just all attached to the wall...

The Haunting Hour

Have I mentioned how much we love Halloween around this house?

Well, most of us anyway.

This week we had the fun opportunity to host a party for R.L. Stine's The Haunting Hour. 

You know, R.L. Stine who's the author of Goosebumps... and The Haunting Hour.

The Haunting Hour is now a TV series (check out The Hub and The Haunting Hour HERE), and we got to preview two episodes at our party. 

So we decorated the basement,

 invited best friends and neighbors,

bought a bunch of party food,

and got dressed up like vampires (since the episodes that we got to watch were about a Grampire).



To start the night off we made sure everyone had a pair of vampire fangs.



And with those fangs we decided to have a little contest, since The Hub sent us a whole box of goodies to give out, and we figured a contest to win one of the t-shirts would be a great way to start things out.

We weren't wrong.

All the kids sat in a circle, put their fangs in their mouth, and I dished out a scoop of jell-o on a plate in front of them.

Okay everyone, plates on the floor.

Hands behind your back.

Get ready,

get set,

go!

And with fangs in their mouths they raced to be the first to eat their jell-o.



Can I just say that if you happen to have a bowl of jell-o and some plastic fangs lying around... I would highly suggest doing this activity. 

I love having parties because it means making the kids do crazy things like this.

Our proud winner starting the night off right.





The Hub sent us a box full of t-shirts, stickers, glow in the dark fangs, and glow in the dark slap bracelets.

We had the kids put their names in a bowl and drew names out, giving away all of the stuff.

And then we got to watch two episodes of "The Haunting Hour."

I have to admit, the kids were spell bound by the show. 

And I might have been too.

We loved it!  But with R.L. Stine and Halloween, what's not to love?

And guess what?  If you want to check out The Haunting Hour, it's on The Hub now, Saturdays 6 p.m. ET.

I was selected to be a MommyParties host as part of a promotional program with MomSelect. All words and opinions are my own.
We loved doing this party and we loved watching the show.