If you've seen "TWILIGHT" then you may keep reading. If you plan on seeing it and haven't gotten there, come back and read this after you're done. I was lucky enough to go to the midnight showing of the movie in Billings. Mind you, I was still on my NKOTB high, so I was thinking that the movie would, perhaps, take my obsession with men in their mid-late 30's away. Alas, it did not. I am a stickler for details, and there were so many things that were changed in the movie that I was irritated, sad, mad, hurt, and so many other emotions. I decided that I needed to go to it again, so that I could try and watch the movie for what it was, instead of spending the whole movie thinking how it was leaving important details out and changing things that were so much better the way they were in the book. So I went tonight, and I dragged Jaran along with me, and we brought Amanda with us too. I didn't comment on it to him, and only made a few comments to her. It was so much better the second time! When I just watched the movie and didn't think too much about the book, it was actually a decent movie. Don't get me wrong, I still have my issues, but, for what it was, it was alright. Now to get to the fuming part. WHY DID THEY CHANGE SO MUCH!?! So many things didn't make sense unless you read the book! For example... they didn't talk about the Volturi at all, they didn't mention that Jasper can control emotion, they left out so much of the build up to Bella and Edwards relationship! What about when they go back to school and he listens through Jessica's thoughts... and "watches" her in gym class... what about when they do the blood testing? And why in the HECK did they change so much about her figuring out what he was? She is supposed to find out from Jacob at the beach, go research on the internet, and have it figured out by Port Angeles! Then they talk about it on the way back home! And they left out the HUGE build-up to the meadow scene. IRRITATING! grrrrr... there are so many other things that I could point out, but I need to stop and calm down, and realize it is fine. I am just hoping that they do a better job on the next screenplay. Keep it more like the book. I wonder what Stephenie thought of it, and if she felt a bit betrayed by all of the changes. Anyway- we are in Utah for Thanksgiving, and we are loving being able to hang out with Jaran's family. I really love being around them, and it makes us both want to move to Utah. Not just to be around family, but being able to drive 2 minutes to shop or go to a movie or the temple... or buy underwear if you need some! Ha ha ha- maybe someday I will be able to buy underwear in the town I inhabit! We are going to go and watch Zak wrestle tomorrow, which I am SURE the boys are going to love! We have been thinking about taking them to the children's museum thing and the aquarium or something. McKie is OBSESSED with Lizards, so we have already taken him to petsmart to look at them. I think we'll probably get him one for Christmas... he will be so excited! I am also pretty pumped for all the places I will be able to go on BLACK FRIDAY! Woo hoo!!! Well folks, I'm out. Happy Thanksgiving and Take Care!
Shan
PS- Did anyone else think that Bella was not a very good actress? She hardly changed her emotion from mad to happy to elated... and she eneded every sentance in the same way!
I love my husband, and I love my children. The day I got married to Jaran is my best DAY ever, followed by the birth of my children close behind. The best NIGHT of my life happened on November 15th, 2008. What happened to make it my best night ever? Rose(my sister-in-law) and I had been planning a trip to SLC to watch... wait for it... The New Kids On The Block... which I will start referring to as NKOTB from this moment forward... until she sent me a message on Wednesday telling me she was soooo sick there was no way that she was going to be able to go. I can't tell you how bummed I was, because I don't do things alone, without children, pretty much ever... unless you count the occasional movie with Jaran. I have not been away from my children for any amount of time to do something for myself before. I did go to Utah once with my mom and Gma to do some genealogy and Jaran took the boys to daycare for a couple days. I did a garage sale with Rose this summer and was away from Ansleigh for A NIGHT. So you can imagine how excited I was for some me time. Not only that, but I used to enjoy NKOTB. I was NOT a fanatic, at all, but I was a young girl when they were around, and it's hard not to be swept up by things when you're young and all the girls around you are crazy in love with "Joey Mac." I was so bummed out that we would not be able to go. I went about my day on Thursday in a SUPER bad mood, and I was determined to make Friday better. So I called up Steph(Coble) and asked her out on a lunch date to Chinese. On the way there, Rose called and said the Anti-biotic finally kicked in and she was feeling wonderful, so we could still go. I wanted to, but I had canceled the plans, and I was going to help my dad with the apartment they are trying to fix up to live in, so I was a bit reluctant. Finally, we decided to go ahead and take the trip. My sisters-in-law had planned on going with us, so I had told them we weren't coming and to find someone to take our place... then asked if they had found anyone cause we WERE coming... and lucky for us, the seats were still available. So Rose drove down to Byron on Friday night. We left around 8 on Saturday morning and, knowing that we had 8 hours of driving ahead of us, started the NKOTB tunes to get pumped up and pass the time. She had also downloaded the TWILIGHT books onto her IPOD(which was a genius idea!) and the trip passed by so quickly it was amazing. We got to SLC and went to the gateway mall to pick up some much needed Bangle bracelets and some other accessories. Then we met up with my awesome in-laws and proceeded to drive around forever to find a place to eat, which ended up being Subway(eat fresh). Rose and I split a meatball sub and we were ready to go and get our NKOTB swag before the concert started. We got there and found our seats. They were nosebleeds clear in the back, but we were just pumped to be there. While waiting for the show to start, these two chics come up to us and tell us they have ONE ticket for the 17th row on the floor, and they got better seats, so did we want the ticket? Rose took it right away and headed down to check it out. We planned on taking turns going down to see how awesome it was. She got down there during Natasha Beddingfield(who was fabulous) and saw there was an empty seat right next to her. So what did she do? Came up and got me. She went down, showed the ticket, then I went by the fence and grabbed it from her to make my way down. Although the seat was vacant, we didn't have ticket, so we had to be sneaky. As soon as we got to our seats, the place went dark, and EVERYONE(sans the boyfriends and husbands who were made to go take their girls) started screaming. It was so awesome! Once there, we realized that we couldn't leave our seats cause as soon as they started the security guards checked EVERYONES tickets to make sure they were supposed to be there. So we couldn't leave or one of us wouldn't be able to be there. I felt bad leaving the rest of our group up there and not letting them join in this most fortuitous adventure... but we couldn't go. We spent the whole concert in the 17th ROW!!!! We screamed and yelled and I whistled as loud as we could... and finally during the last song, we snuck up to the front and stayed and yelled to them. I was about 4 inches from touching Joey's hand, when some horrible woman pushed her way in front of me, and got the touch that had once been meant for me! Terrible, I know... so I did the next best thing. Looking into Donnie Wahlberg's eyes, I blew a kiss at him! And, ladies, hew blew it right back to me... them pointed at ME and gave me a little wink. How do I know he did it right to me? Everyone else around me was reaching out for Joey and screaming... I was the only one where I was looking at him and blowing kisses. I am in love with Donnie Wahlberg... and it makes me feel like a 10-year-old little girl! HA HA HA! I know I sound like a crazy person right now, but unless you could have experienced that, you will never know how incredibly FAN-freakin-TASTIC it was! If I were to read this on someone elses blog, I would be embarrassed and giggling at how silly they were, so you can go on ahead, but let me say this- you know a tiny bit of you wishes you could have been the one there- don't lie- I know it's true! I can honestly say, and I know it's blasphemous(cause I have seen Tim McGraw, Keith Urban,Weezer) this was the BEST concert I have EVER been to. They did ALL the songs that you wanted to hear, and even did Joey and Jordan's singles. They did all the dance moves, they all have great voices, and they look amazing! For guys in their 30's(Jaran I love that you're 30!) they were completely AWESOME! The whole time they put their all into it, and it was just so much fun to have 30-something women screaming and crying over these men! Rose and I are researching how much blood we would have to sell to get to another concert(because I am convinced that Donnie wants to give me the BIGGEST hug ever, yes, he's in love with me) and re-live this once-in-a-lifetime experience. I am not ashamed to say that I am a NKOTB FANATIC! I embrace it, I love it. Don't be afraid of it girls, they are wonderful! And they definitely have- THE RIGHT STUFF! HA HA HA! I will post pics as soon as I can- thanks to all those who made this night possible(Jaran, Kade, Rose's Dr for giving her medication, Joey, Jordan, Jonathan, Danny and DONNIE)- I'll be lovin' you FOREVER!
Take Care!
PS- I am not going to re-read this to make sure it makes sense or that I said everything right... I will make more sense in a day or two when I have come down from my NKOTB high... and my sickness(I have a HORRIBLE cold) goes away... so enjoy the madness! (We had better seats that the person who took this video!!!) Don't forget to pause the AWESOME NKOTB music on my playlist!
I just wanted to let you all know about my Dad's fire. It burned his whole house down, but they weren't staying there yet, as the plumbing wasn't finished. They were about four feet away in a camper, and tried very hard to get it put out, but just couldn't. So they lost pretty much everything! We are trying to go throught the ruins to find the smallest thing(those of you who know my Dad will either be laughing at this or crying) but there isn't much left to find. People have asked what they can do. All we can ask for is prayers! They lost a lot, but they are still with us, and that's what matters. Shelly has almost no clothes and dad lost almost all of his nice ones. He has NO more suits or dress clothes, and they both only have one or two pairs of shoes. So if anyone would like to help- those things are needed, or they would appreciate anything you can do to help! Thank you all!
I think that just about EVERYONE voted for this one, and I think it's pretty darn cute, so this is the one! Erika(and anyone else interested), any vinyl is $.10 per inch per letter. So if you want something that is 3 inches tall it's $.30 per letter. So say you want it to say FAMILY... that would be $1.80. You get the picture? Yes we see... that's when I fell for... the Leader of the pack! HA HA HA... sorry, I couldn't help myself. All other Leader of the Pack Alums will know what I'm talking about!
Decorating cookies... a glob fell onto the table so I quickly scooped it up, popped it into my mouth, and realized there was a bunch of food coloring in it... my teeth are also green, kind of hard to see! My boys eating cookies after decorating them Brens decorating pumpkins Kies decorating with Gpa's help This is Kies' class... I helped with the party My jack-o-lantern Daddy and the kids on Halloween night Captain Jack Sparrow aka Kies Ansleigh and her Halloween bows Ansleigh and her cousin Brittly just after kisses Batman aka Brensyn Ansleigh and Mommy at Gpa Rand's house My little Butterfly Captain Jack My little masked hero
Jaran had a little accident at work and hurt his eye at work and is having problems with it, so everyone say a little prayer for him. We are hoping it won't be permanent, so we appreciate all of your thoughts!
The Baker Gang, the fantastic five, whatever you want to call us! Well, not whatever, only if it's nice! We are headed by Jaran, who will turn 31 on the 20th of September, I-Shannon- am 26, McKie is 5, Brensyn is 3 1/2 and Ansleigh just turned two in August. We are currently residing in Byron, and Jaran is busy building houses! We are renting our house in Three Forks, and hope that the renters will buy it at the end of two years!
