Eclipse: A Sneak Preview!

My good friend, Karen, invited me to a sneak preview screening of Eclipse on Tuesday night presented by Coca-Cola and Vitamin Water. (Her husband got these tickets from one of his vendors, and he did not want to go, which meant I got to go!)

I had such a great time! (Thanks, Karen!) We got to the Nokia Theater at 6:00 pm and there were people lining up (already). The wait wasn't too bad, though.


At 6:30, they started checking people in. We had to present our special passes. They gave us a couple tickets for the "Team Edward" and "Team Jacob" giveaways and our movie passes.

After we checked in, we walked down the red carpet to the Theater. I've only been to one other "premiere" with a red carpet. That was for Curious George premiere, but the red carpet was blocked off, because we are not celebrities. It was the "real" premiere, but we didn't get the star treatment like we did last night.

After passing through security (with metal detectors), we entered the theater. There were two boxes for us to put our tickets in for entry into the giveaways. Then we walked onstage where a lovely "Fire and Ice" reception was being held. It was quite a different atmosphere than my normal stay at home mom life. There were trees everywhere and the lighting made everything look surreal.



There were several tables covered with red and black satin tablecloths with fun centerpieces.



The food was fun. Most everything had red or pink look to it, but it may have been the lights, because it doesn't seem to show up in the pictures. I thought it was a play on the whole vampire theme.



There was a candy "bar" with goodies bags as well as a dessert table with all sorts of sugary treats (twinkies, various candies, rice crispy (and other cereal) treats, etc.).



Now onto the really fun stuff... There was a photo booth sponsored by Vitamin Water, and all those waiting in line ahead of us, had their pictures taken with water. Karen asked if we could have our picture taken with the Jacob cardboard cutout, and they agreed, provided we put him back after our picture. Well, we had opened pandora's box, because everyone after us had Jacob or Edward in their pictures.




Finally, we went around the room taking pictures, some with us, some without.

A New BBQ Grill!

When we moved out of the old house, we decided not to take our old propane grill with us. While propane is convenient, we like the flavor of a good, old-fashioned charcoal grill.

With summer (and grilling season) upon us, we decided to buy a new barbeque grill. Originally, I planned on buying a cheap $20 grill that sits on a table top. But as John and I discussed what we wanted to do with the grill, we realized the $20 grill would not cut it.

So after looking at many different grills at several different stores, we purchased this one at our local Sam's Club. (You can view it here on their website.) We hope with the dual chambers, we can try our hand at smoked meats in addition to grilling. We'll let you know how it goes once we've put it together.

A New Toy!

I usually do not get worked up about power tools, but since we moved into the new house, I've been struggling to get the yard in shape. I don't think the owners did much to the yard for the last few months before we bought the house. Needless to say the bushes are crazy big! I tried trimming them by hand, but the limbs were too big, and my hands got really tired (even with my best hand trimmer).

Saturday, John and I went to Home Depot and found this power trimmer. It is great! It didn't take long to figure out how to use it effectively while trimming the bushes into a nice shape. I only trimmed three bushes today, because they were so big, and it was getting warm. I'll tackle the rest tomorrow (and Wednesday if necessary). Here are some pictures of my new favorite toy and some pictures of the bushes before and after. (Well, they aren't really before, because I forgot to take pictures of the ones I trimmed, but these give you an idea of what they looked like, albeit they were a bit smaller than these bushes.)

Before

After

This is an after picture, but this was also my "learning" bush, so it doesn't look as nice as the others.

Scout Camp.

Michael is at Scout Camp in Catalina this year. He left yesterday with his troop. He was excited to go, and we are excited for him, even though we miss him. We can't wait for him to come home, but we hope he has a great time while there.

Michael's Gear

One Last Hurrah!

Two of my good friends are moving this summer, so we had one last girls' night out. We were going to go to Coco's for pie, but they had just closed when we arrived. So we hopped across Sand Canyon Road to the Denny's. They were great! I think the manager was the one to wait on us, and he was really nice and made sure we had a good time. (Thanks, Dennys!)

After filling up on dessert and an omelet, we headed home, but not before my dear friend, Kristina, hopped on a truck outside and we snapped a picture. Thank you my dear friends!

(Aimee and Jenna taking a picture of Kristina on Jenna's new iPhone 4.)

Kristina being her wild and fun self.

Oven Cleaning Troubles.

I don't know what my kids are doing in the oven, but this is the second grease puddle I've found in the bottom of my oven. Last time, I tried taking pictures of the flames in the bottom of the oven (while running the self clean cycle.) They didn't come out, so I posted pictures of my smoking oven (here).

This time I had the presence of mind to record a video of the flames in the oven. Enjoy!

Warm Roasted Pepper and Artichoke Spread

Several people have asked for the recipe for the dip I blogged about here. I've listed it below.

1 c grated parmesan cheese
½ c mayonnaise (regular, non-fat, or low-fat)
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
3 medium garlic clove
1 14-ounce can artichoke hearts, drained and finely chopped
1/3 c finely chopped roasted red bell peppers (from 7.25-oz jar)

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. In food processor bowl with metal blade, combine parmesan cheese, mayonnaise, cream cheese and garlic. Process until smooth.

2. Place mixture in a large bowl. Add artichoke hearts and roasted peppers; mix well. Spread in ungreased 9-inch quiche dish or glass pie pan.

3. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

4. Serve warm with assorted crackers, cocktail bread slices, or cut-up fresh vegetables.

The Trick Track Has Returned...

AJ received this Hot Wheels Trick Track set for Christmas in 2008. It is still one of his favorite toys. We finally got it out of the garage for him (for the first time in the new house), and he immediately tried to make the most extreme stunt he could imagine.

The car made it down the ramp, but flew off the track and didn't finish the rest of the stunts. Here's a video:

Fearless...

I was at the swimming pool with a couple of friends yesterday, when this bird landed on one of their purses and just sat there. It was fearless!

June Boy Scout Court of Honor

David and Michael were honored at their Troop's Court of Honor last Sunday. David received a couple of merit badges (auto mechanics and communications). Michael earned his second class rank, and he's working hard on his first class.

We're so proud of them!

Food!

David and I have been experimenting with some different recipes this month. Here are two of our more successful items. The top one is a cheesecake I made and brought to a group dinner with some friends and their families. The bottom one is a dip David has wanted to make. It turned out great! He brought that to the dinner too, and both were enjoyed by all.

May Cub Scout Pack Meeting

At AJ's Pack meeting last month, he received two activity "belt loops": baseball and gymnastics. His den, along with the Bear den, presented a play. He was "Darth Vader."

Jacob's Scholarship

Jacob received a scholarship from the MESA organization at the community college he attends this past school year. He had to work with a faculty advisor and complete and present a project. Below is a picture of the certificate he received. I also tried to get a picture of him, but this is the best I got...

Michael's Spring Band Concert

Michael played in his school's spring band concert in late May. He did such an awesome job! Here are a couple of (bad) photos.