You Ruin Everything Nicholas Sparks.

So this week I found out that Zac Efron has started filming a movie "The Lucky One." Imagine my dismay when I found out this movie has been adapted from a Nicholas Sparks novel, and I use the term loosely. Strike one and big mistake Zac. The second mistake is related to Zac Efron's character. He is playing a solider deployed to the middle east so he has sheared his head military style. Not happy am I. This is strike 240 billion for Nicholas Sparks. Just look at the result of the hair cut.

You can't tell me you don't prefer Zac's longer hair in a faux hawk. Stupid Nicholas Sparks. He is so formulaic , he takes himself too seriously and his books, in essence, are all the same story. Observe:


In a recent interview with USA Today, Nicholas Sparks criticized Shakespeare, Jane Austin, Ernest Hemingway, and romance novelists in general for essentially writing the same story over and over:

"(Romances) are all essentially the same story: You've got a woman, she's down on her luck, she meets the handsome stranger who falls desperately in love with her, but he's got these quirks, she must change him, and they have their conflicts, and then they end up happily ever after."

But he claims that he is not a romance novelist. He is a fiction writer who writes love stories.

"You read a romance because you know what to expect. You read a love story because you don't know what to expect."

Really Nicholas Sparks? Really?

Just to drive the point home and review, I don't know what delusional universe he is living in or what illegal narcotic he is smoking but, as a fellow hater pointed out, here are the facts.
1. Nicholas Sparks is an author who churns out about one romance novel a year.
2. All of these books are almost immediately made into movies.
3. All of these books are the same book.

Christmas!!

So Christmas was great and I got some lovely presents.

I got a Novelle Watch set. I got 4 watches (one black, one white, one pink, one purple)

Adrienne got my name for Christmas and gave me this Dana Rebecca mini ruby necklace.

I got some awesome black Balance boots. As Jordan stated, they are pretty boss.

I also got an awesome Revue red wool coat and a Linda Lucia purple sweater/ jacket, which I will have to post pictures of when I get a camera with a charged battery.

We also all got to drive to Bicknell to see Grandma and Grandpa. We had dinner with Brad and Susan and drove around to see Christmas lights. Grandma stuffed us with a huge turkey dinner and we all got to go to church.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.

Have Yourself a Merry Christmas

This is one of my all time favorite Christmas songs. I was thinking of it tonight particularly as my family got together to have dinner (chicken noodle soup and rolls and salad) and have our white elephant gift exchange. It gets pretty cut throat, let me tell you. I ended up with a piggy bank and pennies, flashlights and a cheap-o make up kit. Isabel traded me an embroidered quote by President Monson for my piggy bank, and Jake traded me his book "Agent Bishop" for my flashlights. Lindsay still got the Starbucks gift card, if Jordan and I had planned better we could have traded it around 3 times and taken it out of circulation just to make Lindsay upset for fun ha ha. I know we are brats, but that's what younger siblings are for.

Anyway my point is the lyric in the song that says "through the years we all will be together, if the fates allow" reminded tonight of how much I wish Adrienne and Erin and their families could have been here in Utah for Christmas. Especially after a particularly pathetic text Adrienne sent us because Will was at the hospital til 9 tonight. We haven't all been in the same place for such a long time. They were all here this summer but Jordan was only here a day or two and then had to go back to New Mexico. Every Christmas Eve I think about how we'd celebrate Nick and Nathan's birthdays, when we were all still at home and spent Christmas together. We would get together with the Madsons and the Walters for dinner. Then we'd have a crazy game of Balderdash (family against family) or a canasta tournament. I miss that tradition.

But we all had a lot of fun and I can't wait to give my parents their presents tomorrow. Anyway I am about half way through A Christmas Carol. I try every year to finish that book but I never give my self enough time. I still have tomorrow, and we will see how far I get. Merry Christmas everybody. Enjoy the song.

Day 12

I am doing 2 songs again. I never really gave the hymn I heard the Bells on Christmas Day much though except for the past year or two. I fell in love with it when I heard the story behind Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, and I heard the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing it at their Christmas concert. This is a little more rockish than I would have liked but I hope you enjoy it.

The next song is Heirlooms by Amy Grant. This song always reminds me of my sisters. Not only is this a Christmas song but my sister's sang this at my grandma's funeral years and years ago. We all still have a hard time listening to this but its a very beautiful song with a great message.

Day 11

So I am doing two songs again today. O Little Town of Bethlehem. I love this hymn. I hear it in movies or sing it in church and it just reminds of Christmas. I also love Katharine Mcphee and was so excited to hear that she recorded a holiday album. I picked O Come All Ye Faithful as well because to me it epitomizes the Christmas story. The Shepherds and the Wise all came to celebrate the birth of Christ.

Weekend Trip to Idaho

This weekend my best friend Holly Wilder and Wayne Jackson got married. I was invited to their luncheon but unfortunately I had to leave early because my family was leaving for Idaho. We were going to hear my niece Faye sing in church. Of course there had to be a down pour of snow the night before.

The roads were pretty clear and not at all as scary as I imagined they would be. Just passed the Utah/Idaho border and going through Malad, we saw four cars off to the sideof the road. The driving actually very smooth, and the only low point of the trip was the Blimpies where we stopped near the Idaho border.

Frank and Jamie were great to chat with and the kids are just as cute as ever. Isaac has the greatest hair in the history of babies. He has this long patch that sticks up on the top of his head that you could make into a pony tail. He is one solid kid. He is 6 months old and already has 4 or 5 teeth. He is handsome one though.

Gracelynn is at that stage where she is learning to talk. We laugh at everything she tries to say. She loves sucking her thumb and showing me her belly button. Jordan tried to take a picture of her with his phone and she turned into the biggest ham. She is so cute.

Faye is very precocious. She is very smart, and very energetic. She is 6 going 30. She really took to uncle Jordan. Jamie said "Jordan, I think somebody wants your attention" and Faye responded "that's me!" All during sacrament meeting Faye was whispering times tables to Jordan. When she got up to the stand to sing Away in a Manger, she had never practiced with the microphone. So, before the piano started its introduction for her she turned to her Jamie and said into the microphone "what am I supposed to do just stand here?"

We had a great time playing with dolls, reading books, and fighting imaginary bad guys.I also came to one last conclusion after our quick trip: I think I want a St. Bernard.

Day 10-Baby its cold outside

Whoever is reading this I'd like your feedback. I really like the song Baby It's Cold Outside, but I have two different versions I like for different reasons. I'd like you to vote and tell me which one you like the best.

I have known about the Lady Antebellum version for quite a while, and I love how simple it is. I really like how the changed the line "maybe just one cigarette more" to "maybe just one little kiss more".

I like the more whimsical feel of this version done by the Glee cast. I also love that this version uses harmony at the end to build more of a climax. I really don't like that its two guys singing it for some reason. It should be a guy and a girl. If it was a guy and a girl, like it has been done traditionally, this version would be perfect.