Movies for the New Year- SuperHero Fans will be thrilled

January
From Prada to Nada -twist on sense and sensibility-looks so cute!
Season of the Witch-Nicolas Cage is a knight sent to deliver a witch to her execution- interesting for sure.

February
The Eagle Roman Legion captain"s son travels to Breton to find out what happened to his father.
Waiting for Forever-this movie looks like it could be bittersweet.
Just go with it- Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler-need I say more??

March-Full of suspense, romance and drama
RedRiding Hood-a bit on the erie side..hmm not sure if I will see this one or not.
Jane Eyre I know i posted this before-but now you can watch the trailer!! HERE
The Adjustment Bureau - Matt Damon fights his fate while holding on to love.
Beastly-modern day take on beauty and the beast
Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2
April
Water for elephants-not sure what this one will be rating wise-but looks good!
Robert Pattinson/Reese Witherspoon
May-Adventure Month
Thor
Pirates of the Carribean
Kung Fu Panda 2
Men in Black 3 -man it's been a long time ..hope it's better than the second.

June
Green Lantern
XMen-First Class
Cars 2

July
Transformers-Dark of the Moon
Winnie the Pooh
The Smurfs-I really hope this one is not dissapointing.
Harry Potter-The deathly Hollows pt. 2
Captain America: The First Avenger
August-
Spy Kids 4
Conan the barbarian..This version supposed to be more accurate than Arnolds.

The Avengers (2012)-great cast full of superheros (Iron man, green lantern, incred. hulk, thor..etc)

Okay so all the guys who loved comic books/cartoons growing up are going to love 2011/12

I've read 21 of them..what about you??

My reading list for the future:
Have you read more than 6 of these books? The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books listed here.

• Bold those books you've read in their entirety.
• Italicize the ones you started but didn't finish or read only an excerpt.
Tag other book nerds. Tag me as well so I can see your responses!

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens - On my bookshelf for someday.
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma -Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe - CS Lewis (shhh...don't tell anyone)
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - A.A. Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas On my bookshelf for someday.
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Inferno - Dante
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - E.B. White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Haircut

Whitney has been begging me to cut her hair-so tonight I finally did.

Cut about 4 inches off.

Tis the Season....to be busy

That is one reason why it's taking me forever to get posts up. Well here is what I have been up to lately:

Brooke turned 3!!!


Decorated for Christmas-our nativity stockings!



Made ornaments!! My tree has a Nutcracker Theme!

Enjoyed this cutie!!

Creative Movement and Ballroom Classes

I will be teacing dance starting this week at Solace Wellness and Fitness Cetner

Creative Movement Class (age 3-5) starts THIS Thursday 1-1:45 Preballet and creative movement with a fun Thanksgiving theme!!!

Couple Ballroom Class starts Friday 7-9 includes 1 hour class instruction with 1 hour dancing to follow. I will be on hand to do some individaul coaching and answer questions while you enjoy dancing!! This week we will be doing Swing!

Cost is $10 a person and are drop-in classes. You can purchase a card of pre-paid classes at a discount ($4 a lesson)!!

Visit a time long ago...

Okay so I love historical fiction and have decided to list my favorite Period tv mini series, etc with their links so you can watch them if available.

Okay so here are a few of my favorite TV miniseries that I have enjoyed:

Lark Rise to Candleford- BBC miniseries about a small town Candlefor and it's neighboring country village LarkRise.
Cranford - a rural English town where etiquette rules, undergirded by a healthy amount of gossip. The move forward to a modern time has many residents questioning their traditional living. (based on the novel by Elizabeth Gaskill)
North and South-Also based on the novel by Elizabeth Gaskill, this is the story of one family's move to an industrial town where they are caught up in the drama of newfound money and fair rights to workers.
Downton Abbey-set before the Great War. This is the story of Lord Granthams' family and their struggle to keep the estate in the family while take care of the futures of their three daughters. Servants have their own aspirations and drama abounds and costuming, in my opinion is gorgeous.

Chirstmas Giveaway 2010 Starts today!!

Christmas is just around the corner-so ofcourse-gotta checkout the giveaways!!

B-Ball

Trevor loves basketball!

I think this would make both of his grandpas smile!

Halloween Pictures!

My kiddos in their costumes:

Lobster

Megan and My little Pony- Unicorn Pegasus

Bullseye/Jesse (from Toy Story) and Veterinarian Whitney

The Whole Gang

Happenings

Wow I cannot believe how long it has been since I last posted...and how little I have taken any pictures this last month. I am going to try to do better at both in the future so hopefully you will all get to have more frequent updates on our family.

First off the girls are doing so good at soccer and tomorrow they will have their last games. They have both really enjoyed working with their teams and coaches and have had an amazing time. Whitney has grown so much-she went from not really liking soccer that much at first to now really loving it..I think it has to do with the 2 goals she has scored. Amber is getting better at focusing in on the ball and she does so well as goalie. Here are some pictures of them in their uniforms.

Brooke is really growing up and learning alot-still not potty trained..but when she's ready. She knows alot of the letters of the alphabet and loves to play on this computer that works with shapes, numbers and letters. We went to a pumpkin patch this week and she loved the hayride the best.

Trevor is getting to be a big boy..six months and he is already 21 pounds. He is a whopper but he is so cuddly too. He is now just giggling at everything now -It is so much fun to watch him explore his surroundings. He has rolled over and is now eating solids. He is at the stage where everything in his hand goes straight to his mouth-I am sure he's teething. He is still waking up in the middle of the night-and he takes maybe 2-20 minute naps a day (sometimes when I am lucky they are longer)

Last Few weeks..playing catch up

First Day of School

The girls started school three weeks ago and here are pictures of their first day of class. Whitney actually got through the waiting list we had her on for an art magnet school here and will be switching schools next Monday. So now the girls will be going to two different schools until next year when Amber automatically can transfer there. I really like Amber's teacher so far so it's okay that she wasn't able to get into the new school as well.

Soccer

Last week was the girl's first soccer games-unfortunately they didn't have their uniforms by that time yet. Fortunately Amber made 7 saves as goalie and Whitney got to play both midfield and defense. She was really aggressive too and stole the ball a few times as well. I loved that Amber made this pose without even thinking about it...i had to laugh and pull out the camera to catch it.

At Home

During lunchtime I get to sit across from this cutie and her duck family!

I also finally started to feed Trevor solids-here is a picture-he kept giving me these deer in the headlight looks each time I tried to capture him smiling. It was funny.

Movie Series and other great films coming out soon!

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hollows
Chronicles of Narnia-Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Pirates of the Carribean: On Stranger Tides-we finally get to see a continuation of this popular Jack Sparrow Series!!
You Again-fun girl comedy starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Kristen Bell, Sigourney Weaver and Betty White.
Ramona and Beezus-based on Beverly Cleary loved childrens book Ramona
Disney has done it again With Tangled-their new rendition of Rapunzel-looks so fun!!!
Charlie St. Cloud-Zac Efron demonstrates an amazing acting performance in this new drama.
Morning Glory-Comedy starring Harrison Ford, Diane Keaton and Rachel McAdams
How do you know-Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd, and Owen Wilson romantic comedy
Jane Eyre-Mia Wasikowska (alice in wonderland) plays governess Jane in this Bronte classic-oooh cannot wait for this one!

I'm doing it-for my own good.

Okay so I fell off my healthy kick this week-horribly. Not once have I done zumba or lifted weights-(except carrying around my 19 lb son) and I have indulged in eating a bunch of stuff I really shouldn't have-it's birthday season at my house right now..and I have been just plain busy or too tired to do much exercise to counterbalance any of consequences. aaah. I had been doing so good-even got down to yes I am going to say it 145 lbs! I was 180 when Trevor was born and have lost 35 of it in the last 4 months. That sounds really good when I say it that way..but the reality is that 9 lbs of it was baby...at least another 10 was fluid (this I lost right away) and another 10 was probably water retention that I lost a month later. SO really I can only claim to have lost 10 on my own. I still am proud-considering that after the initial "right after birth" loss-I never lose any more until I am finished nursing. So this time around-since I gained so much, I had decided to kick myself into eating healthier -tons of fiber, low sugar, low fat diet (since I cannot really do much about limiting my calorie intake since I am nursing..I am also doing cardio for 25 minutes 5 times a week. Thus far it hasn't been bad-but this week hit and I haven't yet recovered. So I am going to periodically post about my journey to a fitter me ( i don't really like the word diet). Hopefully it will make me more accountable and motivated and one day I can look back and see my progress and feel wonderful about my accomplishment! Sorry if you read this and are like..bleh bleh bleh..I just needed to record it for my own sake. Mind you I do not expect to be twig thin like before my first child-so don't hyperventilate and tell me how wrong I am for wanting to lose weight and that I am okay the way I am...seriously i know my body and at 145-I am heavy for me. Consider I was at least 30 lbs lighter when I was married...and I have a small frame and I have serious back pain and plantar fasciitis-among other issues. For my own HEALTH and not Vanity reasons is why I am so determined to put less stress on my body. I am tired of the pain I feel from it...oh and guess what ?? I was this same weight when I was 9 months pregnant with Amber (she was 8lbs) and I remember just how miserable i was. SO please please please encourage me to be healthy and not to continue down a path of validating how it's okay to just let things go.

Birthday, Anniversary and Playing in the summer Sun!!

Amber Now 6 years old!!

She's into princesses and Dinosaurs!!

Last Saturday we went to Eagle Island state park

Trevor got to test out his shades!!

Girls betta watch out!!

Joe and I have been married for 9 years now-this was my present:

I love it!! Thanks babe!!

Here is a picture of Trevor next to Amber as a baby-they definately look similar except their coloring ofcourse
.

The Boy and His Grandpa

Here are some pictures of The Boy with his grandpa. I don't know why I like to call him that...maybe because he's our only one and it's kind of fun to say? Anyway enjoy..I totally love the face he's making in this one...so funny

It's been so long

since I posted at all but forever since I posted anything on SYTYCD-Like I had said earlier. I said Kent, Robert, Lauren and Ashley would make it pretty far and it's proving to be so except that Ashley got hurt. Well anyway..I still like my choices and here are just a few of my favorite dances this season: Seriously could watch these over and over and over again..love them.

Kent and Adicheke Contemporary
Robert and Alison Lyrical
Lauren and Mark Tahitian
Lauren and Billy Jazz
Kent and Lauren Contemp
Alex and Twitch Hip Hop
Ashley and Neil Contemporary
Ashley and Mark Jazz/Contemp.
Courtney and Mark
Alex and Alison Contemp
Billy and katherine's Contemporary

Have you ever wondered about ZUMBA???

Here are some videos that my sister posted of her Zumba class. You can follow along and see how you like it. She is awesome and makes it so much fun!!



Follow the Leader

Samba



So click and have fun with it!!

Baptism, Blessing and 4th of July

This was a crazy weekend. Saturday Whitney was baptized and comfirmed a member of our church and on Sunday Trevor was blessed. Combine that with the 4th of July fireworks plus 20 family visitor it makes for quite the weekend. There were a few things that went awry-like the stomach flu hit our house and Saturday morning at the park Whitney got ran into by a kid on a bike-which really hurt-hit her so hard she fell backward into the iron table behind her and tore her swimsuit she was wearing. Poor girl. Well we were so happy that most of our families were there in attendance and the kids had fun playing with all of their cousins. Other things occurred which I want to thank my family for being so understanding about-I love you all for the support! Here are pictures of the big events:

The whole family after the baptismGrandma and Grandpa StokerFather and SonThanks mom for making Trevors blessing outfit!

What we've been up to the last two weeks.

Parade #2 of the summerThe 2nd half is a water fight! Parade #3
Whitney got to invite a friend!

Whitney's Birthday!

She picked out this horse cake-that some little fingers

got into as soon as the horses got put on.

Whitney in her new dress and liahona necklace.

The liahona is supposed to represent the Holy Ghost.

She is getting baptised on 4th of July weekend!

She is growing up fast!

Grandma with Trevor *We got to see gamma & papa that weekend*Fatty Boy in the Bathtub-So cute!

Can you believe this is the 1st time I was able

to get pictures of him taking a bath?The last two mutual nights I've brought Trevor along

because we were to be gone for almost 4 hours each time.

This is him hangin out with us at our Waterslide activity last night!Looks like fun, no?

Remembering When...

Remember when Disney played movies every Saturday or maybe it was Friday evenings. Anyway here are some of my favorite oldy but goody Disney Flicks:


The Parent Trap
The Gnome Mobile
The Moon Spinners
Bedknobs and Broomsticks (Amber's fave)
Summer Magic
LT. Robin Crusoe
Mary Poppins (Brooke's Fav)
In search of the Castaways
Swiss FamilyRobinson
Follow Me BOys
That Darn Cay
The Happiest Millionaire
Babes in Toyland
Savage Sam
Apple Dumpling Gang
Hot Lead and Cold Feet
Condorman
Flight of the Navigator
White Fang
The Mighty Ducks
Iron Will

Any of these would be great for a family movie night!!

Kindergarten Graduation and School Awards!!

Amber graduated from Kindergarten last Friday and the program was jungle themed and quite fun. Here is my favorite song-you can hear Amber singing out above everyone else it is so hilarious-and cute ofcourse!

Plus on Tuesday was the 4th quarter awards assembly and Amber and Whitney both received awards for citizenship and Whitney received a Student of the Year award. She will get her name engraven on one of the plaques in the schools hallway. This is the second time she has won this award. I am proud of both of my girls for the hard work they put in this year and it was so nice to see them both be rewarded for their efforts! I love you girls!!

On a side note: Trevors weighs 14 lbs. 12 oz and is 24 1/2 in long-Big Boy!

California

My family with my Grandmother
My grandfather passed away a few months ago and my family decided to hold a memorial service for him on Memorial Day weekend so down to California we went. This is my mother's side and I haven't seen some of them for a good long while-not since Jr. high and some longer than that. It was so nice to see everybody again and catch up. I was a little apprehensive about my large family (4 kids is large if you aren't LDS). But all in all they did okay. The trip down took a bit longer than we had anticipated as we wanted to schedule bathroom breaks around the time we'd feed the baby-but Whitney thought she needed to go every hour for the first half of the trip...and she soon realized that there wasn't rest areas that frequent along the way. My brother flew in from Germany and my sister Ashley flew in from Arizona and I hadn't seen either in two years so it was nice to see them and meet Ash's daughter Carly for the first time. She treated me with a Pedicure Friday night-the first one I ever had done. Thanks sis!!Saturday was the Memorial Service and it ws very nice. My favorite was the slideshow my cousin put together of my grandpa. Later we had a nice dinner in my Aunts backyard and visited with family. My grandfather was an amazing person and will be missed. I didn't get much sleep at all on this trip -waking up to feed baby plus Saturday night Brooke came down with a nasty stomach bug and was throwing up all night. Needless to say I went to the nearest laundromat and washed as much as I could so we didn't have to smell puke all the way home. Sunday we spent in quarantine at the hotel-hopefull that no one else would get whatever Brooke had. . Monday we packed up and spent about an hour or two saying our goodbyes and taking pictures-knowing that it will probably be a good while before we will see each other again.

Grandma liked to hold Trevor alot!My parents and siblings +niece CarlyMy siblings (Me, April,Ashley,Arica, Austin)

At the hotel

Brooke slept alot..poor thing.

My parents with grandmaA picture of everyone taking pictures.he he