HSM3 - You know it!

Because we have such big High School Musical fans in the house - there was no way we could miss opening day! I have to admit, I don't mind the first two HSM's. 2 wasn't my favorite, but I still sing along. Either way, I was a little skeptical about 3. I mean, seriously how are they going to pull of ANOTHER one? They have done everything they could possibly do in the first two. AND how are they going to be able to make a low budget tv movie turn into anything good enough for the big screen? These were the questions I was asking myself yesterday. But, as mothers sometimes you just have to suck it up a bit (ie Beverly Hills Chihuahua). I was sure it wasn't going to be as bad as that was, and I figured it would have some fun music that I would end up singing to with the kids in the car for the next year until the next HSM comes out. HA Ha HA Ha. However, I was pleasantly surprised. It was a really fun movie. It was entertaining and they were actually able to pull off a third. I think it deserved the 3 star and "B" reviews that I read. The outfits were cute - some of the skirts a little short in my opinion. However, they kept the romance clean - "disney" style. As a mother of a 6yr old "hopeless romantic" I appreciated that. The kids are cute and the songs were fun. The dancing was entertaining and the storyline was a little thicker than other two have been. I actually won't mind seeing it the next 500 times we watch it when it comes out on DVD! :)

Here is what the rest of the clan had to say (in their own words)

Josh

All of us realy liked it, but it was awesome I realy liked it it was better thenthe others good music to.

Abby

it was realy great. i liked the songs. i cant wait until I see it again.

(Took her 10 minutes to type that!)

Jantz

I liked that song thats at the first (Now or Never). I think it was pretty good. My favorite guy in the movie is Troy. I want some shoes like Troy and Josh has.

Dayt - the one who always thinks he is Roger Ebert

I would give the movie 2.5 stars out of 4. With kids movies, you're never going to get realistic plot or dialogue, so I can't be picky about that. But, I always judge musicals by the quality of the music. In this movie, I thought the songs were just average. Some good, some bad but not as consistent as HSM1.

(I am sure over the next year these songs will grow on him a bit and he will probably think otherwise!)

There you have it - Donahoe's OUT!!

Some fun with some old friends

We were absolutely THRILLED that some of our best friends from Queen Creek were stopping in for a quick visit! Amanda and Preston and the kids came through Salt Lake for one night only and we were very priviledged that they would spend that time with us. We took the kids to Gardner Village so they could enjoy the "fall" feel that we love so much about Utah. We miss a lot of things about AZ and the Strebecks are at the top of the list!

Here is the whole group...Abby, Collin, Josh, Jantzen, Ty, and Case

Ridin with a witch - I love Manda's purse in the picture because it is one of the cutest purses I have ever seen!

The kids had a great time doing the witch scavenger hunt. Here they are hanging out with one of them.

We LOVE Presto - especially because we know he can always act "himself" around us!

Collin and Abby at dinner - Rio Grande = yummy!!!
My best gal - Amanda

Jantzen and Ty

It was only a couple of hours so in a way that was worse than not seeing them at all. But OF COURSE I was glad they came! Yes, tears were shed, it has definately been way to long. Good friends are hard to come by! Hopefully we can see them all again before its been another two years. I'll shoot for spring break in Phoenix - no make that Rocky Point!! Miss you Manda! Thanks for the visit!

Workin with Grandpa

I caught Jantzen "helping" grandpa the other day. I really wanted to capture the moment because I thought it was so sweet. My dad was out working on his boat and Jantzen wanted to be right in the middle of everything. Of course, I am not so sure Jantzen was much help, but I DO know he brings with him plenty of conversation!

Stone Cold Visit!!

We were so excited to hear that our cousins were coming for a "quick" visit. So what do you do when you only have 3 hours and 20 minutes at grandma and grandpa's?

Here is the whole crew of cousins - Carly, Abby, Kelsey, Hailee, Jake, Josh, Brady, and Jantzen

The newest "cousin" was part of the entertainment for the masses. Jake, get ready for a whole lot of attention! This is Jake before he knew what was about to hit him.

Meeting Jake for the first time
Hailee spent her time doing only one thing - dress-up!
But others read books

Played games

Pictionary, bingo, all the best board games

Jumping on the tramp out back
Playing outside riding bikes and scooters - Kelsey is from AZ so she geared up for the cold weather with a big coat and some equally big glasses!

Taking turns on the Wii

Some Lego action

Eating some dinner - you can't get Little Caesars in Glendale people!

It was a whirlwind of a trip but we didn't care. Three hours with cousins is better than no hours with cousins! We were just glad there was a fundraiser in Salt Lake that Krista and Jim had to attend otherwise none of this would be possible - thank you Jerry Moyes!

How you holding up after all that attention Jake?

The only sad part of the trip is knowing that at first the trip was scheduled to be a sleepover but got cut back to just an evening. So we thought everybody would be able to make it to Jake's blessing the next day - and less important but still exciting for out-of-towners - a snowstorm! Unfortunately, the snow was just a mere couple of hours too late. This is what we all woke up to the next morning.
We miss our cousins and can't wait to see them again!!

Something to LOVE

FALL! My most favorite time of the year. The other night we went to the pumpkin patch (more pics later). The sunset was awesome. Check out the fields and fields of pumpkins. So this picture was just a quick snapshot and I wish now I had taken more time to make it a little bit better. But I love the chill in the air and the smell of pumpkins and straw - and the pumpkin spice car candle in my van! All the fall colors around.

I wish everyday felt like this!

Definately something to love this week.

It begins!
My attempt to catch-up on blogging the last quarter of 2008.
I know it seems crazy, but last week as I started going through the process of uploading my blog to a site that prints and bounds it for you into "journal" form, I realized that it wouldn't make sense to print a year that wasn't complete. I didn't really want to have to go back and post everything that I was missing - AAARGGGHH what a mess! However, it's all about the memories and they are only young once - right? I can't skip the holidays, after all, the fall IS my favorite time of year. So sorry to those of you who read this for recreation (if there are any of you in the first place) this is all about the story of our lives.....
So here starts the entire month of October 2008 in a nutshell - in no particular order!!

October 2008
Jantzen on a fieldtrip to the Pumpkin Patch with his preschool class.

All the kids wanted to "drive" the cart at the same time. I'm not going to lie, there was a little pushin and shovin going on!

More halloween fun with the Erikssons
One of the best traditions we have in the fall is spending a night with our dear friends the Eriksson's. Our families have been hanging out for many years now - try 9 -wow! Anyway, they are close to our hearts and we miss living across the street from them. Each fall Beck invites us over to make carmel apples. She is the best! She can make an apple pie apple like you wouldn't believe - it rivals Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory - fo' sure!

Here is a picture of my sweet little Sammy - he just wanted to wander. How sweet - life is just better with Sammy around!

Josh and his bestest buddy Ryan - whom Josh says have been friends since he was 2 months old.


My sweet daughter - her sweet mother is too lazy to alter the picture

Becky tried to take Sam's picture like 950 times and he kept running the other way because he was afraid someone was going to take his hand and take him home. We finally got one...

Running through the hay maze - couldn't catch the boys - all their pics were too blurry
Love the sunset

Let the party begin - Beck always has lots of "toppings" to choose from. Check out Jantzen's face! He was saying - Oh ya baby!

Yum! Thanks Becky Crocker! he he he What a fun night - looking at these pics again it's making my mouth water - am I on a diet? Can't wait till next year to get my apple pie apple!

Halloween at school

Abby and her BFF Rylee at their class Halloween program.

Josh in his costume at his class halloween partay - with a *spider* cupcake-big shocker!

Halloween Fun at the Fronks
Ty's friend Fronk's family always puts on a special little haunted house each year. They have done it for YEARS! So many people started attending the city asked them to do it on a larger scale. This year we hooked up with Melanie and Sam to check it out.
Here the kids were having some fun with the cardboard cut-outs.

Josh is into drama and spiders - he LOVES them. He knows a bazillion facts about all sorts of different species of spiders. Here he is pretending that the spider is injecting him with some venom. Good times!

Here are all the kids in the graveyard...we took them through the woods before it got dark

60th Anniversary
Not ours - thank heavens - ah ah ha - I am so funny! Just kidding - it was Grandma and Grandpa Jackson's 60th anniversary. WAHOO! That should deserve something special in this day and age. We love grandma and grandpa J and are so happy for them. 60 years together is awesome! We had a nice little get-to-gether in the backyard at grandma and grandpa Mac's. It was so great that the weather was still cooperating this late in October.

Yeah yeah yeah - they are sideways - oh well. At least it is journaled now. I love both of these pics of them because they turned out so natural.

Off to WENDOVER for the weekend!!!

Just taking some fun pics of the kids - I love Abby in her natural state. She was just sitting so quietly on the grass listening to adult conversations, she looked sweet - so I snapped one.

Jantz too! It's hard to get Jantz to sit still - so I snapped one of him too!
Then she decided to get active...this is one of my favorite pics of her this whole year. I almost look like I know what I am doing right? :)

Josh just stayed in the same place for the whole afternoon - huge surprise! Nice lay-up J-man!

Congrats to Grandma and Grandpa J - we love you! Thanks for sharing your special day with all of us!!