Top Ten Movies

Alan and I enjoy many of the same types of movies. I'm actually a HUGE wimp when it comes to scary movies and even a lot of dramas, so Alan is sweet to watch the types of movies I like with me. However, out of all the movies we watch, there are several that are definitely "my" type, and some that are definitely "his" type. (I still don't get what is so funny about the movie "The Man Who Knew Too Little.") Here is my top ten movie list, in order:

1. The Parent Trap (Hayley Mills version)
2. Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea (yes, I'm going to cheat and group these together)
3. Pride and Prejudice (A&E) and Pride and Prejudice (Keira Knightley version) (more cheating going on, I know)
4. While You Were Sleeping
5. Little Women (Winona Ryder version)
6. Return to Me
7. Sleepless in Seattle
8. Beauty and the Beast
9. The Music Man (I don't even own this one! I just borrow it frequently from my mom.)
10. Meet Me in St. Louis

I definitely notice a trend in this list. However, I can watch these over and over again and not get sick of them! Alan's top ten list would probably include anything starring Bill Murray.

What are your favorite movies?

The Billies and How We Came to Be

Yesterday I saw my Billies. Well, two out of three of my Billies. What are the Billies? you ask. I'm glad you asked. My Billies are three of my many former roommates. We all lived together for practically two straight years (some of us more), and we have been wonderful friends ever since.

I actually stole the term "Billy" from my high school friend Ryan (inside joke and a long story), but somehow it transferred to my freshman roommate Ashley. I called her Billy the whole year. Then when Caroline and Ann-Marie joined us, they also became Billy. Sometimes for clarification purposes, we called Ann-Marie Billy-smalls. (Those who know and love her know why.) I could call on the phone, identify myself as Billy and ask to talk to Billy, and each of us knew whom I wanted. It was amazing, the connection we had with each other.

Then one day, Billy Ashley got married. She lived nearby for another year, then she moved far away to Indiana. All of us other Billies were sad. Here we are on her wedding day, along with Ashley's little sister Melanie:

Melanie, Billy Caroline, Billy Ash, Billy Ann-Marie, and me at the Nauvoo Temple

Yesterday, the other two Billies and I (and a couple of husbands and children--but they aren't really part of the Billy story, except for the fact that I suggested each of the Billies name their children Billy or Billie, after me) had yummy tin-foil dinners and s'mores at Caroline's house. It was so fun! They are such good friends of mine, and we always pick up right where we left off. Here is Ann-Marie with Caroline's son Lincoln and my little Buddy:

Lincoln, Ann-Marie, and Jared

I owe much of who I am to my sweet Billies! I love you guys!

A Few of My Favorite Things, or My Top Ten Everything

I have this mental list of my favorite things in life. When I think of a new addition to this list I'll say to Alan, "I'm going to add this to my Top Ten." Some of them are foods, some are places, some are objects, some are events (although I'm sure I could think of a Top Ten for each of those categories.) Anyway, I have decided to write them down to help keep my thoughts organized. You will notice that my list is incomplete. I'm still adding to it.

Here they are, in no particular order (I know, it defeats the whole idea of a top ten countdown):

1. Long, hot showers on a wintry day.

2. Breyer's peach ice cream.

3. Champery, Switzerland. I spent a couple of days of paradise here the summer after I graduated from high school. It is a tiny little resort town where it's snowy in the winter (good skiing, apparently) and green and lush in the summer. Every home looks traditionally "Swiss" and has flower boxes outside every window. I took a lovely walk with some friends around the town, and the people were so nice. One evening as I was in my hotel room I heard a man outside the window yodeling to himself just for fun. Someday I would like to go back. This picture does not do it justice.

4. Christmas music. Not the cheesy pop kind on the radio, but traditional songs sung by oldies like the Carpenters, John Gary, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, the Lettermen. . . my family knows what I'm talking about. I am one of those weirdos who pull out the Christmas music as early as September sometimes.

5. Singing in a good choir in a place with awesome acoustics. This has only happened to me a couple of times in my short choir career. To my fellow high school choir bloggers, do you remember singing "Walking on the Green Grass" and "Beati Quorum Via" in Gardiner Hall for the Festival of Gold?

6. Spending time with Alan, especially if we are going out to dinner at an Italian restaurant. :)

7. A short, lesser-known piece of music called "In the Christmas Tree" from The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky. It is such a beautiful segment in between the battle scene and the snowflake scene where the Nutcracker is first transformed into a prince and he and Clara dance together. Anyone who knows me well knows my obsession with The Nutcracker in general, but I honestly think this is one of the most beautiful classical pieces ever composed. It has such beautiful French horns and violins, and I listen to it over and over again at Christmas time. You can listen to a few seconds of it here on track number 9.

8. My cute little Buddy sleeping or resting with his head on my shoulder. He does this every time I am about to put him down for a nap or at bedtime while I sing him songs.

9. ??

10. ??

There are plenty of things I love not listed above (such as chocolate, Disneyland, picnics, Arches National Park, naps, the Anne of Green Gables movies), but I don't know if they are good enough to make my Top Ten Everything list. Maybe they are runners-up.

What is your Top Ten Everything list?

Happiest Ten Months Ever!

My little boy is growing up so fast!

Jenny needs...

I saw this on one of my friend's blogs and thought it was kind of funny. Have you ever googled your name? Well, this is sort of similar. You go to Google and type your first name and then the word "needs" and then search. Here's what I need, according to the world wide web:

Jenny needs...
1. a roadbike
2. a job
3. space
4. help
5. some sleep
6. a good spanking

I actually agree with a couple of those.

What do you need?

Mother's Day

Jared at about 4 months

I had a wonderful Mother's Day yesterday. It was my first real one. We had a wonderful time with our families. My husband is so good to me--he was the main chef at our big family dinner!

Last year Alan wrote me a beautiful sonnet for Mother's Day. I was pregnant at the time. He is a very talented poet, and I enjoy the romantic that he is. I'd like to share it with you. (You English critics should appreciate the iambic pentameter and rhyme scheme!)


How wonderful that special thrill I feel
To know that our pure love will never cease.
I marvel at this bond we share: so real,
So pure, so true. Can anything increase
Our happiness and harmony complete?
God's gift of life will cause our love to grow
As we behold the marvelous and sweet
Miracle of birth. We will come to know
Far greater joy than we can comprehend
As we devote our hearts and hands to him--
Our precious son. This love will never end,
But saturate our souls up to the brim.
Dear, I cannot comprehend another
Joy so grand as seeing you a mother.

Recurring Dream

Last night it happened again.

I get called in to the principal's office. No, I'm not in trouble. The school is short on teachers. They know it's last minute, but they would really love it if I would take the last available position. Please? Okay, I say. When does school start? Next week, they say. My heart starts beating a little faster.

I go and talk to the department chair. What classes am I going to teach? Geometry. Great. I haven't taught geometry since I was a student teacher, and the textbooks are new. I go to talk to my mentor teacher. She taught geometry last year. I ask to borrow her outlines and lesson plans so I can start to prepare. What lesson plans? she asks. I sigh.

I start to make a mental list of everything I need to do: find my classroom, put up my bulletin boards, write a disclosure document, make thousands of photocopies. . . I start to panic. Then suddenly I remember that I am a mother and I have to figure out what I am going to do with my child since I spontaneously agreed to teach again!

The dream sometimes ends here. Or, it will take me all the way to the first day of school where I realize that I am still dreadfully unprepared. I wonder how long these "nightmares" will continue. I used to have them all summer long when I actually was a teacher, and I sort of figured that they would end when I "retired." Hmm. I guess I will take this one over the recurring dream I had when I was little. No, it did not have E.T. in it, but it did have those freaky green pig-looking creatures from Star Wars. I will spare you the details.

Do you have any recurring dreams?

Cute Video

I really wanted to post a YouTube Video to my blog, but I couldn't figure out how to do it. So I will have to send you here to see it. However, it is darling! It is a cute little 2-year-old girl singing the Lord's Prayer. (I don't think that the tape my family has of me singing "I am a Child of God" when I was two comes even close!) Watch it to the end! (Thanks to my mother-in-law for sending it to me.)