Movie Review Legend of Zorro

My motives for seeing this film were because of one line in the 2nd film from the trailer. Zorro's son makes a comment that I thought was pretty funny. Because of that, I wanted to see the 2nd show but thought it appropriate to see the first before I saw the 2nd. Go figure.

Anyway, not what I thought but a very good movie. From the previews that I remember, I originally though Anthony Hopkin's character to be the bad guy. (Not that I really paid attention, but I digress...)

Not an A+ movie, but it does have its funny parts. Hero's of all sorts have to have a comedic line on more than one occasion. The interaction between Catherine Zeta-Jones' character and Antonio Banderas character are hilarious but predictable. I like the choreography for the fight scenes but at no point do I feel that the bad guys may actually have the upper hand except at the beginning with Anthony Hopkin's character (can you tell I'm trying not to add any spoilers...)

I'm sure most have seen this but if you haven't, I would recommend the watch. Not an "I've got to have this for my collection" but it is a good Saturday night rental from the video store.

A Moment to Blog...

So my day has been really busy, and I've taken less time for "distractions" from work than usual. I haven't even done my daily Sudoku, weird. But I am listening to a song right now that I decided had to be the Song of the Day. Today has been one of those good music days, where my brain is very tolerant to all the music. But todays Song of the Day is from one of my top ten favorite albums in this world. (One day I'll have to blog my top 10, not today, not enough time.) So onto today's Song of the Day. It is Eye in the Sky, it is also the title to the album by The Alan Parson's Project. Great album, good song, check it out.

Good Weekend

This past weekend was actually pretty good. A few things were accomplished, some activities were done and I got to hold down my couch a bit also.

Saturday, Alythea had her training for Zoo Aide. It was pretty good for her. I think she's going to enjoy it. Her aquisition of new knowledge has given her a lot more to talk about and a new sparkle in her eye.

I took Niki and the other kids to the Zoo to celebrate Niki's b-day. It was a lot of fun. They took turns picking the animals they wanted to see and we went all over the zoo. After that, I took them to the playground where they had a lot of fun sliding, bouncing, climbing, and all the other things that make kids happy at a playground. The train had stopped running for a bit but while they were playing at the playground, the zoo train officials tested the track to see if it was dry enough to run and it was. So, the kids got a train ride to finish out their day at the zoo.

After that, I took the kids to get some lunch and we took it home and ate. They ended up taking naps while I watched some tv for a little while. Aly got home, we went shopping and got some movies. (BTW, I will do another blog on one of the movies called The Fog.)

Sunday we got up and relaxed a bit. Worked on some geocaching stuff and then got ready to go to Nicole's house to visit with mom and Bob and everyone else. It was a good time. Kids ran around, as usual. We bbq'ed, had cake and a general good time. Then we went home to finish getting ready to have cake/ice cream with the other half of the family. Watched another movie after that and then went to bed. (Almost should have a movie review website... The other movies was The Legend of Zorro.)

I enjoyed this weekend. The only bad thing about this weekend was the spring forward an hour for our clocks. I think Daylight Savings is a waste of time and unnecessary but that's just me.

Friday....YAY!!!

So it's Friday. Life is going pretty good, for the most part. I made it through a pretty busy week, alive and still feeling in one piece. I don't have anything special or exciting to write about now. Today is the last day of March and the first quarter has gone pretty fast. Hopefully, the rest of the year will slow down a little. I can't believe that in a little over 2 months, the baby will be here. I'm thinking sometime end of May more than the first of June. But that's just me, I'm sure Chels wouldn't complain. On to the Song of the Day. I've been listening all day and haven't heard anything that has hit me as a good song for the day, let's try the old hit next five times and find it. Just for kicks, the song I'm listening to is going to be it. The song is Basketball Jones, from the Space Jam soundtrack. This song is Chris Rock and Barry White. It's really dumb, but I'm laughing.

There is no winning in life, is there....

When I blog I try not to get to political or religious. I have a belief and you do too, and we all have the right to believe how, who, and what we want too. I believe that's what the founding fathers fought for. But I wanted to share something that has been kind of on my mind for a couple months. I guess I've already kind of said it. Let me believe what I want to believe and I'll let you believe what you want to believe. We all have the choice to do that. If you don't like something on TV, turn it off, don't cause a stir, it's free publicity. If you don't like the thought of a cross on the side of the road for a fallen officer, and claim it's mixing church and state, that's your belief. It's what's been done for years, just chill out. Anyway, if you want to start a bunch of comments blasting me for this, go for it, I really don't care. I can moderate them anyway, haha. Now that's off my chest, have a good day.

This arguement is based on two things that have been in the news as of late, the HBO show Big Love, it's all over KSL.com. The other one should be obvious from the rest of the blog.

Eatin' and Jammin'

Food is good, music is good, and if it's not I can change it. I do have that power. Anyways, not much going on today, just working on my project and trying to pass the time. It is noon'ish finally and I'm eating. Time has gone a little slower than I like today, but we'll see how it goes. I'm going to spend some time with my kids tonight, it has been a crazy week and I haven't spent much time with them. So it will be fun.

So I picked today's Song of the Day yesterday, but knew it would be today's Song of the Day when it played again today. Sometimes the iTunes random stinks and you hear some songs multiple times over different days. Anyway, on to the Song of the Day. It comes from one of my kids favorites. It is done by the Veggie Tales people, which include Pa Grape, Mr. Lunt, and Larry the Cucumber. Veggie Tales is great. The song is The Pirates That Don't Do Anything.

That song is funny, Larry is so funny, and there is a comment about Cap'n Crunch. It's pretty funny. And I just used funny 3 times in a very short paragraph. Haha! (I guess techincally 4, but who's counting.)

First Lost Tooth!

I have decided to post something. Amazing huh! Since everyone who reads this blog knows that Tiaree lost her first tooth, I thought I'd share how it happened. It's actually pretty funny. This all happened on Tuesday. Tuesday was a bad day for Tiaree, she had had the flu all day and had thrown up two or three times. Well about 7:00 she came, I'd say running, but it was more of a stumble, up to me and she had her tooth in her hand. She said it just came out when she was wiggling it. I had an idea that it might happen like that because the tooth was barely hanging in there but she wouldn't let me get close enough to pull it, or even look at it. So I take the tooth from her and she is kind of nervously giggling. I put it in a ziplock and then get her a tissue for the little bit of blood that was coming from where the tooth used to be. Now if any of you know my daughter, you'll know that she is the biggest gagger in the world. You can say gag and she'll gag. Well when she realized that she had blood in her mouth, that didn't sit very well. With her abnormally high gag-reflex and the flu she'd been suffering from all day, it was a very good thing we were standing right by the kitchen garbage!! The poor little thing procedded to empty her stomach for the 4th time that day. I felt so bad for her. But, when she was done, her mouth had stopped bleeding, she had her tooth for the tooth fairy and she was feeling a little better.

So that is the story of Tiaree's first lost tooth! It was pretty funny, and a little bit sad since she didn't feel well. I hope I don't have to look forward to throw up in the kitchen garbage for all the rest of her teeth! That would not be fun!

Here's the picture

Life never slows....

I got up this morning, against my better judgement, and got showered and ready for work. After the last weekend, all I want to do is sleep in and take a day off to just veg out and do absolutely nothing. So I started to think about when my next possible day off would be. Here is the schedule I came up with:

I work today at Delco and tonight at Albertsons. No time off there.
3/31 - Work at Delco and have a double date with some friends that night. Not really a veg night.

Sat 4/1- Take Niki D. to the zoo for her b-day. Aly has training at the zoo for that time. I also need to take Niki D. to get he a b-day present (actually a couple. Her grandma sent her a gift card that she needs to use also.)

Sun 4/2 - BBQ with family (my side) and then cake/ice cream with other family (wife's side.)

Mon-Fri - Work Delco and a couple of those days I have to work Albertson's also.

Sat 4/8 - Lagoon Opening Day - Aly has training so I will probably take the kids and go with some friends (maybe, depends on what they are doing.)

Sun 4/9 - Since Aly is missing Lagoon Opening Day because of her zoo training, she is going to want to go on Sunday.

Mon-Fri - Work Delco again and then a couple of days at Albertson's.

4/15-16 - Not sure what's going on here, but this looks like a possibility. Aly will have zoo training on Saturday so it could be a zoo day or Lagoon day. Depends on how well 4/8 went without Aly.

Anyway, not sure if I'm happy about having lots of things to do or whether having a day off is more important. I'm excited to be able to do things with the family. The other concern is tasks around the house plus gym time during the week. Hopefully we can accomplish a lot over the next couple of weeks. As I start to think about the day off thing and all the other stuff I could be doing, maybe if there is a crappy weather weekend, I can decide that I can take a day and veg out in front of the tv but as long as its nice and I have stuff to do, might as well keep doin' it.

Braindead

So yesterday I was a little braindead. Don't know why, but I missed the song of the day. So today, I'm more awake and will remember to do one. As a matter of fact, I'm listening to it right now and those of you with kids can realate to this song. If you don't have it let me know, I'll let you hear it. Anyway today's song of the day is by another local band, that is starting to make it big, they have two videos that have played on CMT. The group is Ryan Shupe and the RubberBand and the song is Serious 2 Year Old Attitude.

So that's the song for the day. If you have kids, even nieces or nephews, that are that age, you may know that the 2 year old attitude isn't the funnest one in the world. Here's a quick picture of my 2 year old and her attitude.



That is a serious 2 year old attitude.

I Think I'm Alone Now...

So with the current creation of Thoughs From the Clan, I think that I'm going to be the only one posting to Whadda Blog. It's good to see that people have just fallen off or spread their wings and flew the coup. Sounds like Whadda Blog is becoming one man's thoughts and other inspirations. So readers, please add a bookmark to Thoughs From the Clan and keep updated on what B and fam are doing. As for the other "contributors" on Whadda Blog, contributions are always welcome. B, you are also always welcome to contribute here as long as you'd like.

Night O'Fun

So last night we went and celebrated Jarik's b-day. No picts, someone forgot the camera, sorry. (Yeah, I'm to blame for that too.) So we were going to go somewhere that they would come sing happy birthday to Jarik and make a semi-big deal of it. So the first choice was IHOP. We changed our minds, after having breakfast there on Friday, we thought it would be nice to go somewhere else. Jarik mentioned McDonald's, so he could play on the toys, and Sizzler, he likes the pizza at the salad bar. So being the wise parents, we asked him if he'd like to go to Chuck E. Cheese. He wanted to so we headed down to the nearest Chuck E. Cheese and had some fun. After eating pizza and using up most of the tokens we figured it was time to leave and head to Wal-Mart. We needed some Ice Cream and a few more gifts for Jarik. He got an outfit, which I think is really cool, it's a Superman shirt and some gray and black camo shorts. They are pretty cool. While we were at Wal-Mart Jarik decided that he needed to try and hang from the Harry Potter DVD display, which I'll warn you now, isn't latched down. As it came crashing down on top of him, I had a few emotions run through my body. I looked over right as it started to fall and noticed that Tiaree's arm looked as though it was giving it a little help down. After getting after her for touching stuff, I was told that Jarik did it. After finding out he was ok, and watching the Wal-Mart employees scramble around to get it cleaned up and make sure Jarik was ok, Chels and I proceeded to laugh about the situation. That was our "Night O'Fun".

Adventures In Hiking

I have several different blogs and have written all about of adventure at Thoughts from the Clan. Please read and enjoy the pics that I have placed there. I will place our entire collection of pictures from this trip in an online photo album once they have been labeled and cut down.

BTW, as far as the bet goes, Aurora did complain a few times but given our adventure she did REALLY well. I'm not going to claim that she lost because by the time we got done with our adventure, she had earned the right to complain.

Monday, again...

Well today is Monday. I usually like Monday but for some reason today, I'm having a hard time getting into it. It might be that my little vacation wasn't as fun as it could have been. I did spend a lot of time with the family, which was the #1 plan. Hang with the kids and wife. But with the funeral and what not, I don't feel we had that much fun during the weekend. Chels' grandad's funeral was very nice. Her mom sang really well and her uncle played this cool song he wrote on the tenor sax. It was pretty cool. It was a nice day on Saturday for the funeral. Anyway, things should get back to normal now. The family is all getting over the virus that was going around, Jarik was the last to really have it. Chels' turned into a ear infection, which she got some drugs to help. Overall the weekend, even with the two extra days is graded a C, maybe a C+. Enough of my rambling, now I'm ready for...The Song of the Day. Today's song is from a Utah local group called Voice Male. If you like acapella you'll like them. The song is I'm in a Hurry and Don't Know Why

That is all for now, have a great day!!

Chronicles of Narnia ***UPDATE***

Got a wild hair today and decided to start looking up the actors/actresses from the Chronicles of Narnia. I enjoy seeing which movies they have been in before to see if I have seen them in other movies.

Well, I have discovered the next in the Chronicles to be created. The next one is to be released in 2007 and will be the book Prince Caspian.

Now that I think about it, that is usually the next one in the series. I don't think I've seen The Horse and His Boy. Its possible that it has been done, but not that I have seen. The BBC combined Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader for their series.

Anyway, excited to see the next one. I should probably go back and read the books. Unfortunately, my books are in the original order with The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe first instead of The Magician's Nephew.

Movie Review - Chronicles of Narnia

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe was written by C.S. Lewis and is the first written of a 7 book series. Originally the first book, it has been superseded by The Magician's Nephew as The Magician's Nephew is a pre-quel to The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.

This movie was released in 2005 by Disney so knowing that, you know that they had a decent budget for special effects, music, etc. This movie runs 140 minutes and is well worth sitting through. For those of you that don't know the story, here's a brief synopsis.

Four British children are moved from war-torn London during WWII. They are sent to live with the Professor who has graciously opened his home to these children to keep them away from the war. In this house is a room with a wardrobe closet that magically transports these four children to the land of Narnia, a magical place dominated by a witch who makes it always winter and never Christmas. This magical place has fawns, minotaurs, cyclops, giants, talking animals, and every magical creature you can think of. (My favorite was the griffins mostly because the wolves were portrayed as evil creatures but we won't go there.)

This movie was was well produced and the music and visual effects were very wonderful. Comparing this to other movies of the same title, this one is more "adult" than the others but the kids will like it. I would give this 4 stars as well as a rating of "must own on DVD."

No rumors yet of other books being turned into movies. This could go one of two ways if they do. (1) The Horse and His Boy which is next in the series; or (2)The Magician's Nephew where they go back, do the pre-quel and then move forward. It is my hopes that they go in order of the original series of books meaning that The Horse and His Boy would be next on the list.

We will wait and see what happens.

A Weekend Off

I am taking the next two days off of work. Tonight we are headed up to Logan to spend the night up there. In my eyes we are going up to Logan for 2 reasons, 1. Angie's has this Chicken Cordon Blue soup. It's yummy. 2. We want to go swimming and have a good time playing in a pool and hot tub. I'm excited to go. Chels has an appt today and then she is picking me up and we are out the door. I think the kids are excited to go and have some fun too.

This is the 300th entry in Whadda Blog so to celebrate, I'm going to do a little dance, and have a Chocolate Caramel candy bar and probably a Dr. Pepper. So take time to celebrate in your own way.

It's now time for The Song of the Day...iTunes is once again on random, the next song is going to be the song of the day. And while I listen to the rest of the song that is playing, I want to warn you, I have a very wide variety of music. I'm in the debate mode that I get to have a skip or two to get a really good song for the day. My other idea was that the song of the day would be the first song that played when I got to work. I'll decide and let you know. Now time for the song...Quit Playing Games (With My Heart) by the Backstreet Boys.

So I'm going to open it up to the general population as to what the rule for the song of the day should be. First song listened to for the day or allow 1, 2, or 3 choices.

A Couple Things...

First off, a movie review followed-up by a new feature, The Song of the Day.

Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story; starring Kurt Russell, Dakota Fanning, and Kris Kristofferson
So I'm not a big fan of the underdog that wins it all, but this movie was good. It was inspired by a true story, not a remake of the story that once happened. So Kurt Russell plays a horse trainer that owns a horse farm with no horses on it. He works for the classic big money boss that thinks the world revolves around him and that his money can talk, in other words, he's a jerk. Anyway the story is about a horse whose name is Sonador, which is spanish for dreamer, or dreamy, something like that. Anyway, Kurt Russell's character tells the jerk boss that Sonya, Sonador for short, isn't ready to run in a race. The jerk boss thinks he knows it all, tell him to race the horse. She's in the lead when she breaks her cannonbone, or something like that. Kurt Russell doesn't let them put her down, fixes her up and then races her. Sonya gets bought and the family is ticked, espically Dakota Fanning's character. They get Sonya back and the owner of the horse is Dakota, she gets to decide to do with the horse. Dakota fanning has some great lines in this movie. Anyway, it ends good, and me and the whole family were cheering her on. If you haven't seen it, go get it, it's out today...

Now for the Song of the Day: Basically this is going to be a song that I hear when I start the song of the day. Now that it's after 2 the day is almost over. So, iTunes on random, next song is the song of the day...drumroll please. The song of the day is Song For Dad by Keith Urban. If you haven't heard this song, it's pretty cool. It really makes me think of my dad and how much I think I'm like him. At least the good qualities he had.

That's it...have a good rest of the day!

Hiking Preparations

This weekend is our first official hiking trip. Aly, Aurora, Mason, Harold, Vicki and I are going to the Escalante area for the weekend and plan to hike about 11 miles. It is exciting to plan and prepare. We are taking extra precaution planning this trip because we have not done a trip like this before and we are hoping to learn from this for future adventures.

I know that the kids are excited about this trip. They aren't as much into helping prepare but hopefully they will help a little more this week to make sure that everything is taken care of and packed. I hope that this weekend goes well and that we are able to have a good time. We will hopefully take notes on what worked and what didn't and plan better for next trip. As we get a few hiking trips under our belts, we could hopefully get more proficient and have a better idea of what is really needed.

I'll keep you posted on the planning and then next week I will post on the results of our little adventure.

BTW, Aurora and I have a bet that she will not complain the whole trip. I informed her that our bet includes food as we are eating MRE's for the entire hiking portion of our trip. The bet is $5 and honestly, if it keeps her from complaining the whole trip, it'll be worth the $5. Somehow, I think I'll be the one that is $5 richer.

Living a Dream

I have this friend that I work with, well not currently, who is living his dream to ride his bike through the 48 contiguous states. His dream is coming true because of the Ascensia Dream Fund, a dream fund for people with diabetes. Peter, the rider, is a friend that I work with and wanted to spread the word through my blog that he is fulfilling his dream with the help of Bayer HealthCare. If you are interested, you can keep tabs on Peter and his trip by reading his blog The Dream Tour!

Zoo Update

Well, I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that Aurora and I were not accepted to help volunteer at the zoo (Alythea's status is still unknown at the moment), but the good news is that we are now free the Saturday of opening day at Lagoon. This works out better since the other 2 girls would need babysitters during those Saturdays for training and then when we are doing our volunteer work.

This way, we can do things together as a family like opening day and while we won't be "volunteering" at the zoo, we would certainly be able to go and visit.

Anyway, will post more later.