Sundance

The obligatory festival picture in front of the Egyptian theater on Main St

So this last weekend was busy, but fun. John and I drove down to Bountiful on Saturday morning to meet up with Shylow and Greg and headed up to Park City to see some Sundance films. This is the first year I have gone to the festival with actual tickets to shows since John and I were both lucky enough to get time slots to buy tickets for the locals lottery. I've gone in past years to wait list films, and that has always been successful, but it was still nice to have tickets.

Anyway, we went to the Animation shorts spotlight in the afternoon. Besides the fact it was freezing in the theater, the films were pretty good. It was interesting to see the variety of animation styles and techniques and of course the randomness of the the film subjects. They were all good though...the final film was the craziest of all...someone's version of US History that involved an epic battle between cowboys and astronauts in Las Vegas.

After that, we decided against wait listing another film and just headed to Main Street to find some food and see the sites. We ended up eating at a pub called Doolans or something and the food was pretty good. Shylow got a "stinky burger" though (that's what it was called on the menu, or maybe the smelly burger). It had garlic and bleu cheese...it lived up to it's name. Good thing I had some gum for him afterward.

Eating at Doolans

So then we just walked around for awhile because we had plenty of time to spare before our second film. We stopped at this little deli, so I decided to get some ice cream for dessert. I should have waited though because later we saw a place with Gelato, but I was so full and I guess you only need ice cream once a night. We also checked out this mall place, where we found this giant boot, so of course I made John pose for a picture. If any of you have ever seen the giant show he has, you'll understand why it's fitting.

John and the big boot :-)

We finally headed back to the theater for our second film, which was the Jury Grand Prize Dramatic film and ended up being "Frozen River" which was really good.

At the end of the night, we were very tired but we had a good time. And no, we didn't see any "stars" but I've never really been star struck anyway so I didn't care. I'm planning to take a few days to see films next year (since I won't have school...finally) if I can get tickets again...so for you planners, plan ahead if you want to come along.

Family Fun

Izzy holding Heidi-she's going to be a great big sister!

Heidi Ruth- about 3 weeks old-so cute!

Leah and Heidi

So for those of you who don't know, I have the cutest nieces ever. Leah and Izzy just keep getting cuter and cuter as they get older. They are both talking all the time and they say the funniest things. We went to Idaho this last weekend to celebrate with my Grandparents...they have been married for 65 years! My Grandma also just turned 84, so a good number of my family got together to have a party on Saturday. It was fun to go to Idaho, especially because it's been over a year since the last time I was there.

My cute Grandparents-65 years together!

Me and my awesome Grandpa

My family (but not all of them...we keep growing)

Nick and Jess, Alison with her not so happy baby Brooklyn, Ryan and Kaci

Emily, Grandma, Kristin and her little girl Alexa

One interesting thing is that no one's spouses came with them. My dad got sick, so he didn't go. Dan had a scout thing or maybe had to help his dad with something. Debi just had a baby, so of course she couldn't travel. And Sean is just lame. Just kidding. :-) I'm not sure why he didn't come, but I think it could have something to do with him being in his last semester of law school and being really busy or something. Plus they have 2 dogs they can't leave home alone.

Kayla, Rebekah, Me, Rachel, Grandpa, Izzy hiding, Grandma, Leah, Mom, and Matt

Two of my little cousins (what do you call your cousin's kids?) Madison and Briana

Anyway, it was weird to have it be just the 5 of us again...but it was also cool because I think my brother and sisters were cooler before they got married (marriage seems to make most people a little bit lame) and being without their spouses seems to bring out the "kid" in them more and it was just like the good old days when we could all be silly and laugh and make fun of Kayla. We're very mature. :-)

Rachel, Kayla, Me, and Bekah at the party

Overall it was a great weekend and definitely good to spend time with family. It's nice to be home again...but work and school are very busy.

Coming up: this weekend I'm seeing a couple of films in Park City, which should be exciting.

Update

So I haven’t blogged in a long while because, like always, I’m a big slacker. I’ve been meaning to post something since Christmas, but I just never seem to find the time. I feel like a lot has been going on though, so I thought I would do a quick update for my 3 readers. :-)

Anyway, Christmas was really great…very low key with my amazing family and I even had time to hang out with friends too. The weekend before Christmas, I went to a get-together with my oldest and best friends: Anna, Sarah, Natalie, Bethany, and Erin. Kirsha couldn’t make it because she lives far away in Cali. It’s been awhile since all 7 of us have gotten together, but if we can get 5-6 at once I still think that’s pretty amazing because we are all doing different things in different places (except Nat and Beth, they live next door to each other). Anyway, we just had dinner at Nat’s house, but it was fun to see everyone and catch up on our lives.

Erin, Bethany, Me, Sarah, Anna, and Natalie

Christmas was really quiet this year, which was very nice. Christmas Eve was just me, Kayla, and my mom and dad. We had planned to go downtown to see the lights, but then it was snowing like crazy and my mom was getting a cold, so we stayed home and watched a movie and just hung out.

Santa was good to me this year and I got some great loot. The usual socks and gift cards, but I also got this barbell set I wanted so I can keep up with the workouts I used to love when I was going to 24-hour fitness when I was in Salt Lake. I will post some pics of my sweet guns as soon as they get a little more toned. :-)

Leah and Izzy on Christmas morning in their pjs

New Years was fun too-I just stayed in Logan and played with everyone here. The New Year has gotten off to a good-but busy-start. I started my LAST semester at USU last week and I am so excited to be so close to being done. My 2 last classes are both pretty intense though, so I will be busy all semester. This is our busiest time at work too, so my days are long and I basically crash at the end.

Me and Scuba...up to no good I'm sure. :)

John and Me on New Year's Eve...cheesy as always

Other news: Heidi is the cutest little girl ever! She looks so much like Leah did as a newborn and she is so sweet. I was happy to get to see her finally and I wish I were able to go down more to see her (and my other sweet nieces).

New hair and my new niece Heidi on 1/5/07

Oh, and I cut my hair! I guess that’s the biggest change for the New Year. I think I ended up chopping about 14 inches. It was just time for something different…I’ve had long hair for too long. I’m getting more used to it now, but I’ve had to learn how to use a blow dryer again, but I’m getting better.

New hair cut!

Well this is really long. This is why I should blog more often I suppose. I think that is all. It is really cold in Logan and it snows almost every day. Who wants to go skiing?

Oh, and I found out we are having our 10-year reunion this summer. I can’t believe it’s been that long already! We have a reunion blog now if anyone wants to check it out. It’s been fun to see other people’s blogs and see what everyone has been up to these last few years. I’m betting money I am one of maybe 5 single people left in my class…but I’m very proud of that. Steve and I are planning on going together…it will be funny to see who thinks we’re a couple and who thinks I’m a lesbian. Neither of course! So hello to any of my fellow Wildcats that might read this…and see you this summer I hope.

All right, I am done because I’m boring myself. :-) Enjoy…