Summertime

 Watching fireworks in the front yard, my neighbors had some crazy fireworks this year. 
Hanging out in the air conditioning, the only place to be when it's so hot outside.
Waterslides at Schlitterbahn, I think Jimmy was a little old for this one.
And lots of bbq'ing, I mean LOTS, probably a couple times every week. Jimmy will be happy to grill you up something if you stop by. 

New Family Pic

Say hello to our newest addition. This little pea is due on Darren's birthday. How did that happen? Well I guess we know "how" but isn't that crazy!

So far so good. No morning sickness, I just feel a little more tired than normal. I know people hate me, but I must be a birthing machine, my mother had 11 children after all. It's in the genes!

Hurricane Season

The start of another hurricane season has begun. This year I was asked what my hurricane plan was, I replied, "My plan is simple, I'm leaving town!" 

This is the easiest plan because then I don't need to worry about all the food supplies, power generators, gas, etc. Last year when Hurricane Ike took out power in Houston for two weeks I had all my food supplies ready. But when Day One of the storm came I showed Jimmy his choice of canned food and he said he wasn't eating that.  I agreed canned raviolis and ramen really didn't sound that great. We only lasted 8 hours after the storm before we left town and went to Austin. 

So I've ditched my food supply from last year and need to start over this week. Maybe I'll get something actually edible this year, because I learned I might actually have to eat it. Any ideas?

Hanging in Austin during Hurricane Ike

"Save Your Breath...You will need it to talk to the Devil."

Alright, as many of you know I am way into the Martial Arts. Recently, I have started collecting some serious old School Kung Fu Flicks. They are the bomb! Carol is probably really fed up by now watching all of these. 

I grew up watching these with my brother and my dad. Probably one of the greatest was The 36th Chamber of Shaolin. But man, there were a lot that I did not get to watch so I am catching up. I think my dream is to one day make an awesome contemporary martial arts film. Anyway, I don't really enjoy watching them English Dubbed because it is just silly to me. In English, the translations are known for being extremely silly. For example in Avenging Eagle the evil kung fu master is about to kill one of his opponents and laughs at him with this Great Line,  "...you are not gonna kill me that's for sure...save your breath because you will need it to talk to the devil..." and like that he kills him. Make sure you start it at 8:05 minutes into the clip. Since I have Kung Fu fever I will post some great clips from time to time.  

Any ways here are my favorites right now in no particular order except the first one. 

1. The 36th Chamber of Shaolin

2. Heroes of the East 

3. 5 Element Ninjas

4. 7 Grand Masters

5. Ninja Checkmate aka Mystery of Chess Boxing

6. Magic Blade 

7.  King Boxer aka 5 Fingers of Death

8. Avenging Eagle

9. The Master aka 3 Evil Masters

10. 5 Deadly Venoms

Nerd Coming Out this Weekend

The one summer movie I really want to see is Star Trek. Jimmy went and saw Wolverine last weekend and I told him I wasn't interested because I'm holding out for Star Trek this weekend. No I'm not a Trekkie, but I am a big fan of Sylar from Heroes and J.J. Abrams creator of Alias and Lost.

I'm also looking forward to the new Harry Potter, but not too excited about the new Transformers or Terminator. I just watched the first Terminator last week, and still need to watch the second one. Maybe then I'll understand all this doomsday robot stuff.

What summer movie are you looking forward too? Does anyone want to be a Trekkie with me, maybe we could dress up and be cool like this.

Favorite Things

Silhouettes

My sister Courtney did these silhouettes of DJ for me. It's a new twist on something old. I remember making silhouettes of people's faces when I was little by tracing their shadow on a piece of paper on a wall. They never turned out very good.  I'm going to put these pics in the baby's room.

Good Night Nobody

I just finished reading "Good Night Moon" to Darren before he was off to bed, and can't stop laughing when I think about it. This book has been around 60 years and is a bedtime favorite around here. I turn the pages and read, "Good night moon, good night bears," as the bunny continues saying good night to all the things in the room. And then a strange twist in the story comes, I turn the page to find it BLANK with the words, "Good night nobody." 

What! Good night nobody, I'm stumped. You would think I could easily follow and understand the meaning of a child's book. I don't get it. Does it have some deep literary meaning that is beyond me? Or maybe there's a simple answer, like the printer made a mistake and printed a blank page that they then tried to work it into the story. 

Anyways it remains a favorite of Darren's, he obviously gets something I don't.

Good night nobody?!?! 

One big month

Our little man turned ONE year old in February. 
He got to eat ONE cupcake. 

And he took ONE step on his own this month.

All before even getting ONE tooth grown in. What's up with no teeth yet?

Keep Smiling...

Okay so Carol and I randomly got to singing this song. I won't get into details but if you know me it was really random how it happened. While this song was fresh in my head I decided to Youtube the video and was amazed at how awesome a video it is! I have noticed two things which make this video great:

1. Gladys Knight Getting Down: After a brilliant set up from Stevie Wonder, once Gladys is up to bat with her verse notice how crazy she gets down at 2:40. I am sure glad she is one of my peeps...Mormon peeps that is. 

2.Elton John aka Spanish Priest aka Kung Lao from Mortal Kombat: After a brilliant delivery from Gladys the "Spanish Priest gets all crazy in his Spanish outfit.  Sir Elton also reminds me of Kung Lao from Mortal Kombat. I have attached a picture so you can compare the two. This all goes down at about 3:18. 

I hope you enjoyed my analysis of That's What Friends Are For. I am laughing so hard while writing this. If any of you know me then you will probably be laughing too. 

Christian Bale Meltdown

Meltdowns are funny but this one takes the cake. By now all of you have probably have heard of Christian Bale's Meltdown on the Terminator 4 set when his Director of Photography distracts him in the middle of the scene. Well anyways, one of the things I miss about L.A. is the Kevin and Bean morning show. They are hilarious well anyways, they like to have fake interviews with people and one of those people happens to be Christian Bale. Check out the link below and have a good laugh at this impersonator. On a side note, Christian Bale actually did make his first public statement on the Kevin and Bean show to address this. I hope you enjoy it. 

LINK

Left 4 Deej

Over Christmas we made a Horror film with our nieces and nephew. Nothing makes you feel the spirit of the season more than a nice horror film, check it out.

California vs Texas Beaches

While visiting California for Christmas we made a stop at the beach. Jimmy misses the California beaches and complains that Galveston is a lake not a beach. Then when we got back from California my family went to Galveston for a day. My conclusion, I think I have to agree with Jimmy on this one.  

First a picture from Galveston, aka the lake. 

And a picture from California, see those waves. 

Atama Tournament 2008

I finally completed the video of Jimmy's jiu jitsu tournament from the beginning of November. He ended up winning two matches and losing two, not bad for his first time. 

What is it?

1 canvas

20 magazines

2,000 strips of paper

1 modern art piece

I don't consider myself an artist, but check out my skills in cutting and glueing. Proof that everything I need to know I learned in Kindergarten. 

Over half way through  Jimmy told me I should have just put the magazines in a paper shredder to get it cut small.  My response, "Yes that would have worked, too bad you're just now telling me!" So next time I make one (which will be never) I'll use this idea. I cut out my magazine pieces with a x-acto knife and ruler. 

Halloween Pics

With the cousins


How do you think an Obama/Palin ticket would do?

Jiu Jitsu Advancement

As you all know I am pretty into Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I love it! To progress in Jiu-Jitsu there are 5 belts in this order: White, Blue, Purple, Brown, and Black. If you train at a legit school then you know that it takes about 10 or more years to get a black belt, especially if it is from a good school. Good BJJ(Brazilian Jiu Jitsu) instructors don't just give these out like candy. At my school to progress in within the belt system they issue stripes. After three stripes, you get the next belt. Now I digress.

Currently, I am training under the great Vinicius "Draculino". He is considered one of the best instructors in the world and lucky for me he chose Houston as his home away from Brazil. Well, I have been training at his place for about 4 months and last thursday, he advanced and gave me all three stripes at once! I was extremely honored by this gesture and know now that the competition is going to get tough. I plan on competing in November at a BJJ tournament and see how I do. I added some pics and a video about Draculino's school in Brazil so you get an idea who he is and how awesome an instructor he is. I will keep you posted on tournament results with maybe a cool video.

Secret Loves

When you ask Jimmy and me about our favorite bands the names might not seem familar to the average radio listener...like Fleet Foxes, Black Kids, Band of Horses are some the ones that currently occupy our cd player. We like to listen to bands that don't even exist yet, but every
once in a while we fall from our indy music ladder.

Jimmy discovered Hanna Montana's brother formed a band and I catch him listening to the songs all the time. Check out Metro Station here. Her brother is the one with all the tatoos.

I, on the other hand, have been going around humming American Idol's David Archuleta's new song. Yes it's really good I promise :)

Do you have any bands you secretly like, I know Jamie was a big fan of Hanson Brothers for a long time!

Hurricane Ike!

We stayed through the hurricane, and taped up our windows and stuck the kid in the walk-in closet the night of the storm. We heard the wind all night and then it suddenly stopped, I thought the storm was over...no that was the eye, because it came back even stronger. We were hit with 60 mph wind and 90 mph gusts. Here are a couple pics of what I saw the next morning.

These are trees around my apartment, big trees like this came down everywhere, what a mess.

But after a day and half without power we called it quits and drove out to Austin to visit my sis and her new baby until the power came back. We got power on Wed., but my parents' hood is still without power. A power guy on the news this morning said, "The name says it all, take Kingwood...there is king-size wood on the powerlines!" I think he's saying my parents aren't getting power for awhile. 

Jimmy has had work cancelled all week, he thinks hurricanes are great now.  Yeah great if those trees didn't end up in your house.

Dress Up

Darren as Batman.

Darren with Mr. Potato Head glasses.

He's gonna LOVE me for this one...