Evening Walk

 It was a beautiful night tonight, so a friend and I took a walk while our daughters came along for fun.

 They had a different method of transportation...

I love HB summer evenings!

12:05 am...AMAZING MOVIE!!!  We are big Harry Potter fans over here.  We just finished a week of watching all of the Harry Potter movies and we were so excited go to the midnight show early this morning. 

 Alex and her friends got in one of 3 LONG lines to hold our places at around 5:00 in the afternoon yesterday.  She said it was fun, especially when they realized Starbucks was making Butterbeer Frappuccinos!

 The rest of us arrived around 10:30 pm.  I was sure I would fall asleep.  But there was so much excitement in the air, it felt like the middle of the afternoon.

 Matt ended up going on a young men's three day trip, so looks like we'll have to go again!

 They let us all in around 11:00.  At that time all the phones came out to play games to pass the time.

 Notice the method of keeping kids awake??

 Husbands too...

I don't usually eat much after midnight, but I made an exception for my favorite dark chocolate covered raisins.  YUM.

Us parents passed the hour finding out what "color personality" we each were.  Two blue wives and two white/blue husbands.  

BLIMEY!  THIS MOVIE DID NOT DISAPPOINT!!  I didn't even yawn once!  Sophie was even glued to the screen.  I believe I must see this again.  Just to understand the whole "Harry at the train station then going back to Hogwarts" thing.  I didn't get it even when I read it.  Any insight would be appreciated!!

Angels Game

 We love the Angels!  Especially on Friday nights when they have fireworks.

Harry Potter Countdown!!!

 Yes...that is a treacle tart (pie because I don't have a tart pan) that you see before you.  And, yes, those are wizard wands (chocolate caramel pretzels) in those cups.  HARRY POTTER MOVIE MARATHON!!!

 For the first time, the Arnolds are going to a midnight showing of the last Harry Potter movie.  We started off Monday night with plenty of pizza, butter beer and other goodies to help us make it through the first two Harry Potter movies.

 Here is Sophie making herself a cold butter beer:  ginger ale/cream soda, butterscotch syrup and a scoop of vanilla!

 Mmmm...

After a night of sugar and British accents, we all crashed during the second movie and woke up in time to watch Harry board the train home to the Dursley's.  Since then, we have watched #'s 4, 5, 6, and tonight is 7 part one!  

We are hard core.

old photos and figuring out the scanner

For Christmas my mom gave me some of her old family pictures.  It was my favorite gift...

I love these pictures! Above is a picture of my Great Grandpa Ernest David Archibald Carnegie.  How awesome is that name!  He was a piper and taught all of his boys to play the bagpipes. They are in the picture below in a parade in Manitoba, Canada.

My Grandpa, Donald Carnegie, is the piper in the front and center of this picture and his brothers are piping around him.  His kids are in the picture below.  My mom is the babe with the lighter hair and glasses on the left.  She was around 16 years old in this picture.  Her mom passed away not long before this picture was taken.  My grandpa remarried and his wife's children are the kids are the little girl in front of my mom, the littlest boy in the front and the little girl to his right.

This is a picture of my dad, Lyall Smith.   Good lookin'.  

This is an old picture of my family with my Smith grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.  I am the frizzy haired girl standing between my grandparents in the middle of the picture.  My sister, Kelly, is in the matching dress on the floor. My parents are standing on the left side of the photo and my brother is leaning up against my mom (who I think is pregnant with my little sister...maybe).  It is so fun to see pictures of the past!  I remember that dress, that hair, those shoes, and even my mom's Avon pink flower necklace she is wearing. It really seems like yesterday to me!  I can't believe we are all grown up.

bribe-em with cake

 When the Stake asked the youth to join a choir for upcoming Stake Conference, Alex had no problem signing up.  Matt, on the other hand, was NOT into the idea.  I told him I would make him any dessert he wanted if he would go.  He requested chocolate cake with caramel frosting.

 If you haven't tried it, MAKE THE CHOCOLATE CAKE RECIPE ON THE BACK OF THE HERSHEY COCOA CAN!!!!  It is so good.

Frosting was Nicole Quealy's apple cake frosting recipe.  G.O.O.D.

we heart wrestling!

When I saw Matt's first wrestling match I had to watch through little spaces between my fingers.  YIKES!!!  It looked totally unnatural for a mom to be cheering for her son to beat down another mom's boy!  Now, Matt can hear me cheering from the stands. ( I still cover my eyes though).  It is so fun to watch!  I now see the art in it!  Here is Matt with some of the other Freshman/Sophmore team.  Love it!!  Go Chargers!

Just Dance and Happy New Year!

 I am already behind a good 12 days when it comes to blogging...so Happy New Year!!

We danced our way into 2011 playing Just Dance on the Wii.  It is such a great game! Everybody loves to play (even those that say they don't!)

count down to this...

6 more days...Pierens here we come!!  Love these kiddos! 

Monday!!  Spokane!! Sadie, Norah, Jude, Crew!!  YUM!!

caramel apples

 ...with peanut butter cups of course.

YUM.

Phantom...woo hoo!!

In the 90's I bought the soundtrack for this production. I listened to it all the time! I had no idea what the story was but I loved the music. When we found discount tickets for Phantom at in LA, I bought 5 right then! We went to an 8 o'clock show (barely made it cuz traffic was heavy), and we loved it! Except Matt...he slept through the second act after "Masquerade" . I think it was because of early morning seminary paired with wrestling practice after school. he was pretty tired, but I am glad he at least saw the first part! I'd love to see it again :)

summer family movie faves

With the weather not being its sunny self, we have found ourselves hangin' out at the movie theater a bit more than usual. These two movies are AWESOME!!! I liked what I saw of Toy Story 3, but since it was after 8:30 when I saw it - I fell asleep for a lot of it (dark + after 8:30 = sleep) - so I can't include it in my faves.

These are both really great family movies that I would see again and again! I was really surprised since I had no desire to see either one - but these are keepers! I actually got teary in both - which is weird for me (think Cameron Diaz in The Holiday).

*Side note - I must have Ginnifer Goodwin's (Aunt Bea in Ramona and Beezus) wardrobe!! It is SO cute :)

Sophie's new vocabulary

In an attempt to show Sophie some "innocent" entertainment, I have started ordering movies from WAY back when.

So far, she has loved each movie we have watched together. She really loves the Shirley Temple movies, which kind of surprised me!

Her comments are so interesting! She notices the clothes, the hair, the language, and loves it! She wishes she could dress like Shirley Temple (hooray!).

She asked me, "Why does everybody say 'ought to' instead of 'should'." I just told her it was the way people used to speak back then. She likes it, I guess, because this morning she used that phrase about 10 times! (You ought to use that toothpaste, Matt). I think I'm going to search for old episodes of Leave it to Beaver next.