Sunday's With Sue

So, I thought this was a Wright Family Classic! I'm not a huge fan of this movie, but I thought all you guys were! I had more wrong guesses than Wright ones! Cat guessed Mr. Deeds, Matt guessed The Money Pitt and Amy and Haley guessed Groundhog Day. Geez Amy and Haley, it's like you had something else going on and couldn't focus on Sunday's With Sue! So Emily guessed it Wright first, then Dan! Way to go Em, chalk up another win!

Here is this week's movie quote:

Person #1- Jus hang loose, blood. She gonna be hoppin back on the rebound a du some medicide.

Person #2- Hey, what it is big momma? My momma didn't raise no dummy. I dug her rap.

Happy Birthday Travis!!!!

Happy Birthday Travis!! It is such a nice day today, I hope you're not stuck at work. Catherine sent me a list of some things that Travis likes.


Travis likes England. His mother is from there, and Travis has been able to travel there a couple of times.

Travis likes to watch the History Channel.

He also likes Martial Arts movies. I'm not sure if these 4 are ones he likes, but it was the only picture I could find showing more than one movie.

Travis likes art. Not only does he enjoy art, but he is an artist himself. I am a huge fan of Travis' art.

He likes a ton of different music, but Led Zeppelin is one of his favorites. He especially likes Jimmy Page and John Bonham. Cat says he mostly listens to Zeppelin when he is drawing.

Travis' favorite comedian is Dave Chappelle. Good choice Trav! He is one of my favorites too. I'm Rick James!

He loves the animated shows. Some of his favorites are the Loony Tunes, The Simpsons, The Venture Brothers and Metalocalypse. But his very favorite is Futurama.

And finally, one of Travis' favorite past times is playing pool. He plays it a few nights a week and really enjoys playing on Dad's pool table.

Happy Birthday Travis!!

Love you!!!! Kisses!!!

And as a little side note, it is also my cat Onan's birthday today too. Don't worry, I'm not going to do birthday tributes for all my cats. Only Onan, because he has the same birthday as someone in the family.

I love this picture of Onan because of the eyes of course and because he is meowing at me. Because that is what Onan likes to do best, is follow me around and meow at me. He also likes wet cat food in the morning and he is my task master. He lets me know when they are low on water or dry cat food. Cam and I love to watch Onan eat the dry food, because he will only eat it off the floor. He will knock pieces out of the dish with his paw and eat them off the floor.

Onan also likes to take naps with his little sisters.

Happy Birthday Onan!!

Love you!!!! Kisses!!!

Happy Birthday Mom!!!!

Happy Birthday Mom!! I know you're not a regular on the family blog, but I'm sure someone will show you this little tribute to you. I asked everyone to send me ideas on things that you like and everyone's suggestions made me smile, because it reminded me of you. You are the best mom and grandma, and soon to be great-grandma anyone could ask for. I always thought I had the prettiest, funniest mom out of everyone. You were also such a good sport. Whenever I talk to one of my old friends they always ask about you, and we laugh at the memories of you taking us toilet papering or cruising Center Street in Provo. Your Utah girls miss you very much, and we will hopefully be out there soon to visit.

Here is a little list of things mom loves:

This is probably the most obvious one! Mom loves quilts and quilting! And all of us have benefitted greatly from her love of quilting, we all have some beautiful quilts mom has made for us. Thanks mom.

Mom loves Scotland! She loves everything Scottish and loves studying our Scottish family history. She has passed this love on to her kids, because both Emily and Amy had a love for Scotland on their birthday tributes.

Apparently mom just loves mexican food! Almost everyone listed mexican food as something she loves. She not only loves to eat it, but she is really good at making it. Just last Sunday I made mom's enchilada sauce and refried beans.

Mom loves American Idol, and loves to watch it with the whole family. I am just going to keep this picture saved to my computer because I'm sure I'll be using it for most birthday posts!

Beatrix Potter! Mom loves Beatrix Potter and I have many childhood memories of her reading us these stories. I'm pretty sure all 4 of your daughters still love Beatrix Potter because of you.

Mom loves Celine Dion! Dad says it is pretty much the only CD she listens to in her car.

Mom loves all her grandchildren very much, but as B said, she has a special relationship with her Bookies! And he just adores her.

This was something I didn't realize, but mom loves earrings! I knew mom owned a lot of earrings, and always wears them, but I didn't know "earrings are her LIFE!" (B told me that is a direct quote from mom).

Mom loves the Food Network. Rachel Ray and Paula Dean were the specific shows that were mentioned.

Mom loves English Gardens.

Mom loves woodland creatures, which I think is about the cutest thing ever. It directly ties in to her love of Beatrix Potter.

Dad says that mom loves lobster. She has it once or twice a year for special occassions. Hopefully dad is taking her out tonight for lobster.

And finally, mom loves The Bee Gee's! This is also a childhood memory of mine, mom playing the Bee Gee's on the living room stereo. (and sorry, I just had to pick this picture! Look at all those kittens crawling around on their chests!)


Mom also loves her family of course. She loves to hang out with us all and talk and laugh. Mom has the best laugh. The thing I love the most about that video of Kelly and Sarah that Matt posted is hearing mom laugh in the background. Emily said that Scout pointed out mom's laugh too. You are a lot of fun to be around, and I think I can speak for all your kids that we all have great childhood memories because of things you did. You always made holidays and birthdays so special and what I loved most were "special days" with you. And who else's mom would take her kids to the midnight showing of The Holy Grail?


Love you!!!!! Kisses!!!!!

Cats and naps

For you cat lovers.  Just a quote from a book I am reading.  "The hammock is particularly on my mind.  I mean to string it between two old walnut trees.  I can see myself lying there in the afternoon shade with a couple of cats on my belly.  I'll be napping, of course, because there's nothing more conducive to napping than having a dozy cat or two around.  Cats have the skill of the thing and can teach you all you need to know about snoozing in a genuinely professional manner."

       "Whrlwind" by Joseph R. Garber

Thats for you peeps that don't think that I am literate or sensitive.  hahaha

Ohhh Baby......

Well, it looks like we might be having a baby today! Haley started contracting at about midnight, called me at 2:15. They were about 10 min. apart. She slept a little and at 5:00 they were about 4 minutes apart so they went to the hospital. They said she is in labor but not progressing very quickly. She is about 1 cm. They sent them on a walk and told them to come back in an hour. It looks like this is it and I'm sad to say she may be taking after me in the long labor business :(
I'm trying to rearrange my life today and preparing to head to Idaho sometime today. I'll try to keep you posted, but it might not be easy. I might just have to text some of you or assign someone to keep the blog posted. Yesterday was about 70 degrees and today it's snowing like crazy!! I hope I can make it to Idaho. I hope I'm making sense...I'm kindof spazzing out.

Sunday's With Sue

There's Something about Mary! A classic by the Farrelly Brothers. They did such gems as Dumb and Dumber, Kingpin, Shallow Hal and Stuck on You. If you haven't seen There's Something about Mary because it is rated R, well I suggest you watch it when one of the cable stations runs an edited version of it. It is such a good movie! The whole story is great, Ben Stiller is hilarious and Cameron Diaz is actually okay in it.

Out of all the Sunday's With Sue, this has been the biggest stumper yet! I was kind of surprised because I took this movie off the Wright master movie list! Someone sent this title to me as a Wright classic movie! And, the 2 hint quotes I did would be easily recognized by anyone who saw the movie, or so I thought! Dan got it right first! Then Emily, and that was it! Way to go again Dan! Looks like you are going to be a contender for the Matt and Em wars.

Alright, let's see if you guys do better with this week's movie quote:

"I would rather be with the people of this town, than with the finest people in the world!"

Good luck everyone!

Who's Going to Kill the Spiders?

Those of you on Facebook probably saw my little blurb the other day about how Cam might be running a job in St. George. For those of you not on Facebook, what I said was "I just found out Cam might be running a job for 4 months in St. George! That's going to suck! Who's going to kill the spiders?" Well, we found out Friday, it's pretty much for sure that Cam is running the St. George job. And we also found out that it's not 4 months, it's more like 9 months! So, probably starting in May, Cam is going to live in St. George for 9 months! He will be able to come home for most weekends, but aughgaughaughaughaugh!!!!

I've had a couple of days to process all this. The one big obvious thought is, at least Cam has work. The construction industry is one of the hardest hit in these bad economic times, and so I can't complain that he is guaranteed work for the next year. And Cam is definitely good enough at what he does, that his bosses are willing to send him out of town to do a job. That means they have a lot of confidence in him to do the job right, and I am so proud of him for that.

I'm not doing this post because I want to complain how lame it will be to basically live alone for 9 months. I've got Tosh, the cats, the fish and the massive head-wound mexican to keep me company. I may need to take up a hobby, but I'm actually pretty good at being alone. What worries me most is...What is Cam going to have for dinner?

The Menloves, his bosses, are putting him up in a place that has a kitchen, but it still worries me. When he comes home from work, he is so tired, and I always make sure that he has a good dinner. He hates eating out and he hates frozen dinners, but he's going to be too tired to cook for himself. Does anyone have any ideas on what I can do to help him? Any ideas will be most welcome.

And I guess I will have to be brave and kill my own spiders. It was pretty funny, the day after we learned Cam is doing the St. George job, I found 3 spiders that needed to be killed. Cam killed them for me.

So Funny.

Did you guys catch The Office this week? This just killed Rob and I, had to share.

Top 5 Lazy/Rainy/Sick day movies

Em mentioned in the recent Sunday's With Sue comments that there should be a Top 5 list of lazy/rainy/sick day movies. I was kind of waiting for you to do it Em, but I've made my list, so I'll start it. On afternoons that we feel like watching a movie because we are being lazy, or it's snowing so hard our dish doesn't get signal, these are the top movies Cam and I own that we are most likely to watch. And they aren't in any kind of order.

5- Fargo- I love this and pretty much all Coen brother's movies.

4- The Unforgiven- Clint Eastwood is pretty much my favorite hollywood person and this movie is the best!

3- Lord of the Rings movies- Surprise! I'm including all 3 of them in this one.

2- Mystic River- I love this movie! Sean Penn is wonderful, so is Tim Robbins and Kevin Bacon. It's also another Eastwood classic, he not only directed it, he composed the music for it. (is there anything he can't do?)

1- It's a 3-way tie! I could not decide, so I just have to list all 3: Zoolander/Open Range/3:10 to Yuma. --

I guess I like westerns, because there are 3 of them on here. If Cam were here he would probably insist on the Star Wars movies, but for some reason, we don't own any of them. My idea behind this posting is movies you own that you can easily just pop in the player and watch.

Sunday's With Sue

Footloose! Kick off your Sunday shoes! (oh man that was cheesey!) Yes, a movie all us Utahn's must love. And all of us Springville High alumni must love because it was filmed at Payson High which is exactly the same as Springville High. I did like this movie back in the day, but I watched about half an hour of it a few months ago on cable and thought, man this is kind of lame. And it doesn't help that Cam's niece, Melanie, was in 2 seperate productions of it in less than a year and we went to both! So I am Footloosed out!

I had a lot of wrong guesses with this one at first! Dad and Amy both guessed Caddyshack, Cat guessed Annie Hall and Em guessed Blades of Glory. All of those guesses made sense to me, so it shows you guys were thinking. But Dan was first to get it right! And I don't know if you read the comments Dan, but the consensus is that spousal help is okay. (sorry Cat) Cat was 2nd to get it right, then Dad, then Em, then B. I cannot believe Amy didn't get this one! How many songs did your drill team do dances to from this soundtrack? Anyway, way to go Dan. Welcome to the blog and way to kick everyone's butts.

Here is this week's movie quote:

"On behalf of the entire South Carolina law enforcement community, I would like to offer our heartfelt apologies for any pain or temporary inconvenience we may have caused you."


And as a quick sidenote, I'd like to say I had such a great weekend! Booker stayed with us, and we always love having him here. It makes me sad to think that in a few years he will be a teenager and probably won't want to spend weekends at Aunt Sue's. And then, to make it even better, Emily and Scout came over this afternoon so Em could show me Ipod tricks. And while they were here, Cat and Travis came over to get Booker. So all the Utah peeps were at my house today! (except Rob, he was napping and watching games).

Thanks for helping with the puzzle Em! Look I finished it!

But not without help from Pedro and Tosh.

Happy Birthday Amy!

Happy Birthday Ames!!!! With the help of your other sisters, a couple of your daughters, and a sister-in-law I think I was able to put together a good list of things you like. We had a lot fun going back and forth on different things.

Purple has been Amy's favorite color since I can remember.

Amy loved Where the Red Fern Grows so much when she was young, she named a dog after one of the dogs. Little Ann (is Annie kind of named after this too?)

Amy loves musicals. She has loved them since she was a kid. She and Ben and Dave used to act out Camelot for the babysitter.

Amy loves to read, especially the classics, and especially Jane Austin.

Amy loves dogs. Her favorites are Laboradores and Newfoundlands. I found a picture of a mix between the two breeds.

Amy loves the Spicy Hula pizza at Perrett's.

Amy loves to play board games with her family.

Amy loves Scotland.

And she loves American Idol.

Amy loves to garden, Haley says she especially loves to plant flowers.

And no list of things Amy loves would be complete without a picture of her kids.

And finally, Amy loves the moonwalk! Bronwyn says that Amy taught her how to moonwalk before B even met Matt!


We love you Amy! You are the best big sister anyone could ask for.

Love you!!! Kisses!!!!

UNDER THE RADAR "CONRACK"

I caught part of this old (1974) movie on cable the other night and remembered how good I thought it was and that many of you peeps might like it.  It is autobiographical of the early life of Pat Conroy one of my favorite authors.  For two years he teaches a class of black students on one of the outer islands of South Carolina in the 50s.  Pretty good stuff and I thought Jon Voight was teriffic.  Conroy wrote "The Lords of Discipline", "Beach Music" "The Prince of Tides" and of course "The Great Santini"  (Any one remember that Christmas morning?)  The Prince of Tides is one of my top ten books ever!  Not withstanding the hud sauce movie that got made with Barbra Streisand and Nick Nolte,  So bad and a waste of a great book.  So now that you are most over the Pot Pot, Twilight series and the underground Hobbits, and are looking for something to read, try Conroy and Tides...you will enjoy some really good storytelling.

3 3/4 Stars - Australia

I know this movie came out a few months ago, but Marcus and I watched it Monday night because it was finally in a Red Box! We had heard from many people that it was really good so we decided why not. We really had no idea going into it what it was about at all. I must say, I was very pleasantly surprised! It was a very well done movie, with beautiful cinematography, great acting, and a great story. It takes place during WWII and it depicts the "romance" of the Australian Outback, where cattlemen were king. It really has everything, love story, adventure, action, comedy, very heart warming moments, and some very heart wrenching moments, along with some very intense moments. It also depicts how unjustly the Aboriginal people were treated in Australia at the time. I thought that Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman were great in it. It does have some violence, but nothing overdone or out of place. It is during a war after all. We all know that I am sensitive to that kind of thing and I wasn't too bothered by it...but a little. It also is very clean..up until the end then they (of course) have to drop the f bomb (the only swear word in the entire movie!) and there is a brief love scene. It also is a very long movie, over two hours. All in all, I thought it was really good and would recommend it to all of you if you haven't seen it. If you have, I would like your opinion on it, also if you do end up watching it. Enjoy!

An unexpected new addition!

So Travis and I have been saying for a long time that when Kurt dies, we aren't going to get a new dog for a long time. We've lost 3 Boxers in 6 years and just felt we should take a little break from dogs. Well...a funny thing happened today. Travis and I got home from work at about 6:00 and there was a Bassett Hound pup in our yard!! She had a collar and a leash but no tags. She's really skinny and first thing we did was get her food and water which she wolfed down like we couldn't believe. I went in to call Animal Control. But they were closed except for emergencies. She wasn't hurt and hadn't hurt anybody. So I was like, let's keep her! I couldn't believe how easy it was to convince Travis! He just looked into those puppy hound dog eyes and was sold! So I've bathed her, haven't named her yet, gave her Gracie's old collar and Travis is going to go to PetSmart to get a crate and dishes. I can't believe how cute she is. We'll take her to the vet soon to get aged and checked out, but I bet she's only like three or four months. I took a few pictures, but she is so fast and hard to get a good picture.

Everyone should be a bit more like Dee Dee Ramone

Matt and I watched this documentary last night and LOVED IT!!! Oh my goodness, so bittersweet. This followed the Ramones from their formation until their induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002. Let me just say, they are one of those bands that never got the success and recognition that they deserved (New York Dolls style). Maybe I'm just excited because I'm lame, and don't know that much about any band, but WOW!! They weren't musical geniuses; Tommy Ramone had never played the drums before, Dee Dee hadn't played the bass, and Joey hadn't sang, but put that together with short, fast songs and there is just a unique sound that I LOVE!!! Something Matt and I found out is that they aren't British. HAHAHA!!! We both thought they were!!! Even though Joey sings by only pronouncing 45% of the words, they are all from New York. Here's a rundown of some of their awesomeness:

Joey Ramone: Matt is going to be this tall, skinny punkrocker for Halloween. He was OCD his whole life, painfully shy, and never let go of a grudge, but he really loved what he did. Died in 2001, but even 4 days before he died of cancer, he wasn't letting himself be fed through tubes so that he wouldn't hurt his vocal cords.

Johnny Ramone: Kind of a jerk, but is one of the main reasons the band stayed together as long as they did. Really looked after all the business sides of the band, and their image. Was the only one who had actually played his instrument before the band formed. Died in 2005. Inspired to Joey to write "The KKK took my baby away", after he married Joey's former girlfriend.

Dee Dee Ramone: I LOVE this guy. Oh my gosh. SO cute in his younger years. Always very innocent and fun loving, but blunt and real at the same time. Struggled with drug use his whole life, and finally died of a heroin overdose 2 months after the Hall of Fame induction. At the ceremony, he said "I'd like to thank myself. Without me, none of this would have happened. Give myself a pat on the back." Funniest thing ever. While he was kind of flaky, he really was good friends with every one of the members, and stayed away from most of the drama. He did leave the Ramones and have an atrociously bad rap career, but nobody's perfect.

Tommy Ramone was the original drummer, but then became their producer. Marky Ramone followed, and was their drummer for a long time. Then they had Richie and Elvis as drummers, and C.J. Ramone replaced Dee Dee as bass player for a while.

Anyways, you should all watch the movie. It rocks!! I give it 4 stars, because I'm not sure how much everyone else loves the Ramones. Gabba Gabba Yeah!!

Sunday's With Sue

Du dum, du dum, du dum, dudum, dudum dudum! JAWS! To me, by far, the scariest movie of all time. Actually, I watched a show once that counted down the top 100 scariest movies of all time and Jaws was #1. Scared me so bad as a kid that for years bathtubs and swimming pools scared me, to this day lakes kind of scare me, and I still won't go in the ocean. A couple of years after this movie came out Dad took me deep sea fishing with a couple of his friends for some reason. I was pretty scared, but was trying to be brave. All of a sudden a grey fin came out of the water, not far from our boat, and I fainted! As I fell, I knocked over the bucket of our bait, which was a bunch of small fish, and I woke up with fish all over me. Turns out it was a dolphin, or a porpoise, whatever it was I don't care! It scared the crap out of me! That is the one and only time I've ever just fainted! Do you remember that Dad? Jaws is to me what Pet Sematary is to Matt.

Anyway, Matt got it first! Then Cat, then Dad, and that was it! Well, I guess I could say cousin Dan got it 4th. Haha! Have you guys read his comment on the last Sunday's with Sue? I guess we should explain the rules to him! Good to know he reads our blog sometimes! Way to go Matt! Em should be getting nervous, you're catching up.

Here is this week's movie quote:

Hey I like that hat! Do they sell men's clothes where you got that?

RIP, old man

Kurt Vonnegut Thulin

May 3, 1998 - March 6, 2009

I had Travis make a vet appointment for Kurt today. I was certain that he wouldn't come home. He got really sick, really fast. Two weeks ago, he just stopped being Kurt. No life except laying on the floor. He didn't even greet us when we came home. He didn't eat for several days and couldn't even hold down water. Travis just called and said that his X-rays showed a tumor on his spleen that was as big as his head. We are going to have to put him to sleep. We've been ready for this for quite some time. We had to. He's almost 11 and the last few days have been really hard to even look at him anymore. He's just a bag of bones and in so much pain and very, very sick. We were very lucky to have in our family for almost exactly 10 years to this day. We got him at 10 months old on our wedding anniversary (March 8th). Remember, Sue? A lot of you were in Scotland at the time. He was a wonderful friend and listener, and an awesome dancer and singer as well. Kurt was proceeded in death by his Aunt, Liz Wright; and his little sister, Gracie Thulin. He is survived by his parents, Catherine & Travis Thulin; his brother, Booker Thulin; his sister, Sissy Nar Thulin; and his boyfriend Matt Wright. We will miss him very much. Love you. Kisses.

I took these pictures last night...