If You Wondered Just How Popular

Okay, so if you were still wondering just how fabulous, and popular Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Saga is, read this...


The Breaking Dawn Concert (which Dan and I are going to in LA, on August 7th. Yay! :D ) sold out, in all four venues, in less than an hour!


And look at what the price of the tickets are going for now on eBay...

http://cgi.ebay.com/Breaking-Dawn-Concert-Los-Angeles_W0QQitemZ290240525188QQihZ019QQcategoryZ16122QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/2-Stephenie-Meyer-Breaking-Dawn-Concert-Tickets-NY_W0QQitemZ230264442705QQihZ013QQcategoryZ16122QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Can you say, mind blowing?! These tickets originally sold for $20 each. (Darn, I wish we had bought extra tickets. lol)




I just thought it was interesting, so I had to share. :)

Dan and His Dad's Tournament

Danny and his Dad fished a tournament together last month, on Lake Oroville. They've wanted to fish together, in a tournament, for a long time. And now that Dan finally got his bass boat, they were able to do it.

They ended up doing really well. They got 5th place! Here are a couple pictures of some of the fish that they caught.



And as an FYI, all the bass tournaments are catch and release. So all the fish that are caught, at the end of the weigh in, are let back out into the lake. Waste not, want not. :)

The Beach in Carmel

Before I write about Disneyland, I thought I'd post pictures of the kids, that Dan took from their visit to Grandma and Grandpa's house a few weeks back.

This is at the beach in Carmel. Dallin and Sierra love going there, every time we visit Gma & Gpa.

Reworked, Reorganized, Reconfigured

I decided that I wanted to put all my Twilight playlist songs in order, by book and storyline. I enjoyed listening to them at random. But the OCD in me, likes to have things in their right spots, in a nice orderly fashion. This way, it makes me feel, every time I listen to the playlists, that I'm reading the books all over again (which I do constantly anyway, but that is beside the point).

So after tweaking everything a bit, I came up with the playlist, in order of storyline, and separated into the three books: Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse.

Now the songs don't follow the chapters perfectly. Each separate song does not equate to one separate chapter. Some chapters have a variety of stuff happen in them, so the songs can relate to all those separate things. Some songs are an overview of what is happening at that time, or can relate to more than one person's point of view. So like I said, this list follows the storylines, but does so loosely. This way, I am giving you the fun of guessing what exact part of the book each of the songs relate to. ;)

Some of the songs relate to a specific person's point of view, namely Bella or Edward. A few are Jacob's, even though I like to think about him as little as possible. I have to concede that he is an integral part to the second two books, so I have grudgingly included a few songs from his point of view. Those specific POV songs will have the person's initial next to the song title; B, E, or J.

I also just wanted to note, that originally all three Yiruma songs were in the running as "Bella's Lullaby". But since I was splitting up the songs by book, I decided I had to make a choice. I felt "Love Me" was the best fit. I put "River Flows in You" in the New Moon part, because it had a more sorrowful feel to it. And so "Kiss the Rain" made it into the Eclipse part of the list. This song recalls another very special moment in the third book, actually. Can you guess what part I'm thinking of? Honestly though, I think all three would make beautiful choices, as the lullaby.

*All these songs will be playing, in order, in my flash player. So if you are interested in hearing a specific song, just find it in the flash player list (on the right side of my blog --->) and click on it, to listen to it.*

**If I can't find the song for the flash player, I will put a youtube link underneath the title, so you can listen to it that way.**


TWILIGHT
Twilight -Future of Forestry (This song is one that I could imagine playing in the "opening credits" so to speak. It is more of a poetical overview of the story for me, than a specific part of the book. If you had to have it in a specific part of the storyline, then I think it could also work as the part when Edward tells Bella about twilight being the safest part of the day.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiHfkggxd7Q

Rainy Monday -Shiny Toy Guns (B)
Animal I Have Become -Three Days Grace (E) (Midnight Sun Chapter)
Read My Mind -The Killers
Crashed -Daughtry
Secret -Maroon 5
Got You (Where I Want You) -The Flys (E)
Clare de Lune -Debussy
In My Place -Coldplay
Escape -Muse (E)
Nocturne No. 2 in E-Flat -Chopin
Silent Lucidity -Queensrÿche
A Message -Coldplay (B)
She's Got a Way -Billy Joel (E)
Falling Slowly -Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova
Iris -Goo Goo Dolls (E)
Possession -Sarah McLachlan (B)
Dreams -The Cranberries (B)
For You I Will (Confidence) -Teddy Geiger (E)
First Time -Lifehouse
I'm Kissing You -Des'ree
Standing Right Next to Me -Karla Bonoff
Just Like Heaven -The Cure
Somebody -Depeche Mode
Here with Me -Dido (B)
Come Away With Me -Norah Jones
Love Me -Yiruma (Bella's Lullaby)
Kiss from a Rose -Seal (E)
Time Is Running Out -Muse
Calling You -Blue October
Breath -Breaking Benjamin
Angel -Sarah McLachlan (B)
Existentialism On Prom Night -Straylight Run
Forever Young (Special Extended Mix) -Alphaville (I couldn't find the extended version in the flash player. So the original version is playing instead. The extended mix is peppier, and is the one I prefer. But the other one is good too.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This next song, I imagine happening between Twilight and New Moon. During Edward and Bella's happy summer together.

Passenger Seat -Death Cab for Cutie
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NEW MOON
River Flows In You -Yiruma
Papercut -Linkin Park
With Or Without You -U2 (E)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEfSnjL0pd8

Pictures of You -The Cure (B)
I Will Remember You -Sarah McLachlan (E)
Hyper Music -Muse (B) (The chorus of this song, is what Bella thinks/believes she hears Edward telling her, before he.. you know. And if you don't know, well then you better just start reading, now shouldn't you?! ;p)
Come Undone -Duran Duran (B)
Moonlight Sonata 1 Adagio -Beethoven
My Immortal -Evanescence (B)
Dreaming With a Broken Heart -John Mayer (B)
Who Knew -P!nk (B)
Over My Head (Cable Car) -The Fray (B)
Where Are You Going -Dave Matthews Band (J)
Everybody's Changing -Keane (B)
Best I Ever Had (Grey Sky Morning) -Vertical Horizon (B)
On A Bus To St. Cloud -Trisha Yearwood (B)
Fix You -Coldplay (J)
Into the Ocean -Blue October (B)
Tautou -Brand New (B)
Release -Pearl Jam (E) (New Moon extra)
To Make You Feel My Love -Garth Brooks (J)
Unintended -Muse (B)
The Scientist -Coldplay (E)
Sing for Absolution -Muse (E)
Ever After You -The Gabe Dixon Band (B)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhS8u9NRnSI

Far Away -Nickelback
The Reason -Hoobastank (E)
Sound of Pulling Heaven Down -Blue October (E)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ECLIPSE
All I Want Is You -U2 (B)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-TssRlmmBE

Savin' Me -Nickelback
Overweight (Clean Version) -Blue October (B) (I can not find the edited version of this song in either the flash player, or Youtube. So you'll just have to trust me, when I say it is a great song. The clean version is at least. I'm actually really digging Blue October right now. They've become a new favorite of mine.)
Map of the Problematique -Muse
Ever the Same -Rob Thomas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-70ywoLntQ

Down (Single Version) -Blink 182 (J)
Muscle Museum -Muse
Mandolin Rain -Bruce Hornsby & The Range (J)
Disappear -The Gabe Dixon Band (This is a brand new song, and I can't find it in the flash player or on Youtube. You can hear a clip of it on iTunes. It is a beautiful song.)
The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face -Roberta Flack
Kiss the Rain -Yiruma
Vindicated -Dashboard Confessional
Hysteria -Muse
Uninvited -Alanis Morissette (B)
All That I Am -Rob Thomas (E)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiYWOU9j9w0

Requiem for a Tower -Clint Mansell
Butterflies and Hurricanes -Muse
Blackout -Muse
If You're Not the One -Daniel Bedingfield (J)
All Fall Down -OneRepublic
The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot -Brand New (E)
Stolen -Dashboard Confessional
My Name Is Love -Rob Dickinson
Starlight -Muse

One last thing, some of the songs, I think can relate to any, and or all of the books. I just had to make a choice of where I felt each song fit the best. And also, a few of the songs, in the Eclipse part of the playlist especially, I bought with the gut feeling that they will fit with Breaking Dawn. We'll see if I'm right come August 2nd. If I am right, then those songs will be migrating. Until then though, they stay where they are.

TwilightMoms Picnic

The TwilightMoms picnic in Fresno was a lot of fun. My friend Peggy and I drove up to Woodward park, at about 10 AM. It was right off Hwy 41 practically, so it was very easy to find.


All of us posing for pictures. :)
The TM's Kirsten, and Britten aka: EndlessTwilight, were the ones that had organized the get together for all of us. They did a fantastic job.


Kirsten and Britten handing out some gifts they made us.
The natural scenery we were around was very lovely. We were by a little stream and under big oak trees. The setting looked very cute. Big tent like shades were set up, with blankets and pillows to lounge around on. It reminded me of the picnic scene in Emma.




There was a ton of yummy food. And the tables were set up so cute as well.






Special brownies made, with Emmett in mind. After all, grizzlies are his favorite!
A bunch of TM's ended up coming. Some as far as Southern California, and the Bay Area. It was so fun to get to know people face to face. Without the computer screen.


Sarahpat and the famous Twilight Baby doing an impression of a spider monkey! ;p

Twilight Baby got kissed by Emmett, and almost bitten by Edward. Seriously! That is why she is now famous. Not to mention she is adorable.
And we were even honored to have the creator of TwilightMoms.com, Lisa Hansen, fly in from Utah to attend the picnic with us. That was very cool to meet her in person.

So we visited, and ate the yummy food, and talked about all things Twilight (of course!).





Then we were given a bunch of goodies to remember our time together. We got "Edward Kisses" Apple Flavored Lip Balm, a CD of music all having the title Twilight in each song that Britten had made for us, a couple of apple pencils from Sarahpat, and "Edward on a Stick" from Jenny (this is a running joke with the TMs, which started with another get together in Oregon).


Also a special cake was made by one of our TMs; Donna aka: jaevenstar. She wasn't able to be there with us, but she still wanted to make a cake for us. It was a beautiful cake.



Our lovely coven mother, Lisa, going psycho on the cake. lol
After eating and visiting, Peggy and I decided we needed to go home. It was just so stinking hot out, even in the shade of the trees and canopy. It was well over 100 degrees. Uggh! So we missed the games and podcast that were going to occur after lunch. That's OK though, what we did get to participate in was very enjoyable. If there is one again in our area, I just hope that it will be at a cooler time of the year.

Daddy's Special Day

Yesterday was Father's Day. Dan and the kids came home from Salinas around 12 PM. They were supposed to have come home Saturday night, but didn't get back to Salinas from the family BBQ, until almost 11 PM. So I just told Dan to stay the night there, and I'd see them in the morning. I didn't want them driving home so late, when I knew they were all exhausted. So no breakfast in bed for Danny, like I had planned, but that's OK.

I did give him his special brownies I made him, and his card. (Look at my pitiful attempt to write on the brownies with icing that I made. It didn't turn out too well. lol) When I saw the card I knew it would be perfect for him. And in it I wrote, that I even loved him more than Twilight. LOL When he read that he said, "Yeah, right". But honestly, it is true. ;p


I had to rush off to Church so we didn't get much time together before Church. That evening, I made him one of his favorite meals. And we all spent some time together, before he had to leave for work. Dallin and Sierra both made their Dada cards, as well.

And in honor of Father's Day, I thought I'd make these videos of the kids, answering a few questions about their Dad. Thanks Jodie for the idea. :)

Here are Dallin's answers


And Sierra's


I love you Danny Boy, and I am so blessed to have you as my husband and the father of our children. My love to you for eternity.


Also a Happy Father's Day, to our fathers, grandfathers, and great grandfathers. We wouldn't be who we are today without you. May Heavenly Father continue to watch over you, and bless each and every one of you. Our prayers and love go out to you.

Busy Busy Summer

We have a lot of fun and exciting things going on for us this summer. Many trips planned.

The kids and Dan are going tomorrow to Salinas, to see Grandma and Grandpa. Then on to Livermore for a family BBQ on Saturday. While they are gone I will be having fun with friends, and on Saturday I'll be going to a Twilight Moms picnic in Fresno.


Then in a couple weeks we are going on our annual trip to Disneyland. It will be just the four of us for a couple days, and then a bunch of our family will join us for a couple days as well. We Love Disneyland! :D


In July, Dan and I are going on a special trip, just the two of us, to Las Vegas for a few days. Staying at the Bellagio this time, eating yummy gourmet food, seeing the Cirque de Soliel show; Ka, dancing, spa, the Las Vegas Temple, the works.


Mid July, myself and a few other girls, are going to Comic Con in San Diego for a day (leaving Wednesday coming home Thursday night). The cast and director of Twilight, and Stephenie Meyer the author of the books, will be there! We will get to see them (and hopefully meet them), hear them talk about the movie & books, and see a bunch of goodies. And we will probably, if there is time, check out San Diego. I've never been and would love to check out some of the scenery. I'm super excited about this trip.


And in August, Dan is taking me to LA for the Breaking Dawn concert and book signing, with Stephenie Meyer, and the band Blue October. Woohoo!


We will also be going "home" to visit family in Chico, we just don't know exactly when yet.

I can't wait for it all. This summer is going to be a blast!

Swinging

Sierra has gotten really good at swinging by herself. She got a lot of practice at her preschool. Now she just needs one push to get her going, and she's up, up and away.




Swinging next to Marcie, and her kids, Brookley & Evan.

She hasn't mastered stopping yet though, since her legs are still too short to really reach the ground when she's on the swings. So she yells at me to stop her, when she is done swinging.

Swinging was always my favorite thing to do on the playground, when I was a kid (actually, I still enjoy it). I am glad Sierra likes it so much as well.

Nice Way to Cool Off

At the park near our home, there is a really fun, big fountain that the kids are able to play in. It is perfect for the hot summer days we have here. The whole park actually is really nice. It has three large play areas, one designed by kids even.


A week ago, my friend Marcie, and I took our kids to play in the park. Here are some pictures of the fun that was had by Sierra.




It was chilly after getting all soaking wet!
Dallin was still in school, so I didn't get any pictures of him this time. We have since been back, so he could play in the water too. So don't worry he isn't deprived of all the fun. lol

Just for Fun

Take the Quiz here!

I do think this is true, but also with a little bit of Elizabeth Bennet, and Emma Woodhouse thrown into the mix. And a teeny tiny pinch of Marianne Dashwood to add flavor. ;p