If These Walls Could Talk

So I've been trying to decide on some phrases/quotes to go on my walls. My sister-in-law knows this lady that has a machine that prints out things you can stick on your wall that make it look like someone painted them on there. My mom is trying to get all our Indian names done for the living room at the cabin and needs to place an order. I wanted to place mine with hers, thus I've been trying to find the perfect quote for me - one that reflects the very "essence of Britten", and at the same time portrays who my family is, what we've been through, what we like and cherish, but I also wanted it to be something no one else would have on their walls, be it in a framed quote from Far West or on a wooden board painted and sold to every Joe Smoe out there.

I went looking for it on the net and found it within seconds. It was waiting for me....meant to be.

Fairy Tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”

I thought this perfect because 1) My family's love of the epic, fairytale adventures like Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, etc. 2) The main reason why I love these stories is because of the message and life lessons they teach us. Whether it be a historical account of ancient peoples in the Book of Mormon or the Bible, or a fictional adventure of one small boy, they all teach us how to overcome this mortal plight and look to the future with bright hope. I love using examples from these parables in my class at church. And 3) Andy and I have had to beat a few "dragons" in the past...

So...this will be going high on my living room wall for all to see. In black, of course.


-Britten

Kaiya Laughing

 

Ari Laughing

I'm also putting a quote in Kaiya and Ari's room. One of my favorites from Peter Pan:

"When the first baby laughed for the first time, the laugh broke into a thousand pieces and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies.”
-J.M. Barrie

Shelbi, Brad, and Mustangs

So Brad and Amanda moved this week. I was sad but happy for their new little adventure. Mom and I agreed that their move didn't really hit us until we saw Brad's 69' Shelby Mustang covered and safely resting atop a trailer hooked to their moving van.

You see, no matter where Brad has gone and set up camp, whether it be his mission in Kentucky, Utah to be with Breena, back to Fresno, then to Utah again after he was married, then down to Victorville to have the twins, then up here to live for awhile, his beloved mustang has continued to live at my parent's house. A symbol of Brad's inevitable return one day or another - his anchor to us.

We have fond memories of Brad and that mustang or any of his cars for that matter. On those nights when we'd wonder "Oh Brother, where art thou?" we'd finally be able to rest well when we could hear the loud rumble of his car a mile away driving home at 3 am. And of course, there are the many wrecks he's been in. Whenever I can sense a crazy driver around me it's usually a teenage boy in a truck. I will never trust one again. I can gladly tell you that Brad's crazy driving days are over with his new little family in tow. The boy has become the man.

And now with the mustang finally leaving with him, his wings have been unclipped. Here's to a happy flight, Brad! I love you!


-Britten

3 Drunkards

Shelbi, Ari, and Savannah on the 4th.

Ahhh, So Melancholy!

Great scene! So beautiful and tragic...they could have lingered here a little more.

Triple Sword Fight

Loved this part!

Nice!

Orlando has grown into his Will character since the last Pirates. It's very nice to behold!! (Wish I could put the "batting-eyes" smiley in here)

My Second Favorite Character of All-Time

His performance = perfection...again....and this time he better be winning that Academy Award or there'll be hell to pay!

Yo-ho, Yo-ho, A Pirate's Life For Me!

Ahoy, Me Hearties!

Just saw the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie last night. Although it wasn't as fine-tuned as the first one (and let's face it, no sequel ever is unless it's "Empire Strikes Back") I still loved it nonetheless. The dark parts were darker and the sword fights and chases more zanny. It's jam-packed with everything, although I would have liked to see just a tad more romance. It's no wonder then, that I ate up the raindrops on the wedding party scene and the two brief encounters Will and Elizabeth had.

The humor in "The Curse of the Black Pearl" was the kind where you may not laugh the first time you see it, but you definitely go home and laugh about it afterward. I think that was mainly due to us getting aquainted with Jack and all his subtle mannerisms, most of which are not caught upon first viewing. "Dead Man's Chest" had a lot more slap-stick humor...the kind that has the whole audience rolling. I laughed me britches off! I loved the whole "Human Shish-ka-bob" and the 3-man sword fight on the beach and big water wheel sequences.

One of the best parts about the whole movie is the visual effects of the crew of the Flying Dutchman (Tori song!). I simply relished all the men taking on the likenesses of shells, coral, blowfish, sharks, eels, and other creatures of the sea. Davy Jones is fabulous with his tentacles and barnacles, especially the little popping sound he made with his lips! Gollum-real, Maties! Some of the best work ILM has ever done. Superbly creative!

And just like all those other big epic trilogies, this one leaves us hanging with anticipation for the 3rd and final installment a-la "Empire Strikes Back" and "Two Towers" style, complete with a visit from an old friend just before the end credits appear. Waiting for another installment of me favorite epics...it's the story of me life really.

Check out these swashbuckling Pirate Remixes . Perfect work-out music!

Aye! Here be some savy little tidbits from the movie.

And if yer lookin' to talk like a pirate, visit : Evil Stevie's Pirate Game Did you know that September 19th is the official "Talk Like a Pirate Day"? I'm gunna have to mark me ol' calendar!

And don't forget to check out the site I found for loads of pirate booty under my links to the left. Don't want to be lookin' like a pirate all by me onesie.

-Britten a.k.a. Red-Handed Jill the "storyteller"

I love links!

Check out my new links list to the left! Go ahead...click on a link...you might discover a new little adventure!

Mommy and Me

Some things change...some things stay the same

My dear friend Katrina is the friend I've had the longest...since Kindergarten. She's the first friend whose house I hung out at...almost non-stop. Her parents would call us "space cadets" cuz we would "go into orbit" and find various things to occupy ourselves with inside and outside her house ALL DAY LONG!

This is the friend with whom I played barbies, house and learned to play monopoly for the first time. We would pretend her swingset was a jungle in which we would swing from branch to branch. "Don't let go or else the crocodiles in the swamp down below will eat you!" Or somedays it was a ship sailing on the high seas. There were countless nights I would spend the night and we'd be up giggling until we got in trouble. I can still remember the way the moon would shine through the sheer drapes at her window. I can still see the way Katrina would sleep...with the covers up around her ears cuz she was throughly convinced this would protect her from the boogyman.

We would also pretend that we were roommates in College who were dating and would eventually marry two guys who were also roommates. And most of this little scenario actually came true. We did become roommates at college in Utah (and yes, she still sleeps with those covers around her ears! Hee hee!) and one night we even went out on a double date with our then fiances (who were not roommates. I know, way to ruin the story!). I remember turning around in the passenger's seat and saying to Katrina, "Look! We used to pretend this very thing!" Imagination or did we already know our own destinies at 6 years of age? Maybe both...

Living far apart we have managed to keep in touch mostly once a year through Christmas cards, but recently I kept trying to remember a poem her mother had in a framed cross stitch hanging in their hallway in that house I spent most of my lower-grade years in. I could only remember the last couple lines and I wanted so desperately to remember the whole thing because it has had an impact on me ever since and with the birth of my 3rd child, now more than ever I feel the need to enjoy every second of Ari as a baby. It is so evident to me now how fast kids really grow.

So as we have tried to keep in better touch with one another she was able to give me the whole poem. She says she receits it to herself daily and now that I have it I will to. It comes in handy when your sink is full of dishes!

Cleaning and scrubing
can wait til tomorrow
For babies grow up
we've learned to our sorrow
So quiet down cobwebs
Dust go to sleep
I'm rocking my baby
and babies don't keep

Katrina says her mom, after all these years and several moves, still has it hanging in one of her hallways. I love that! That feeling of consistency in an ever-changing world...something from childhood that you find out is still the same today. It's like the prize that still comes in the Cracker Jack box. :)

Britten

I Wonder Where She Got Her Smile?

2 wide-mouth frogs!

Daddy's Little Angel

I love this picture. It was taken on Ari's blessing day. Kind of out of order with all the rest, but I found it and just had to post it. 

The Land of the Free?

Trooper and Kaiya wearing their Liberty Tax Service hats. Land of the Free? I think not! Taxes stink! Actually, we still get a considerable amount back every year, but the Tax Service fees can really bite the big one!

We took a little excursion to Wild Water Adventures last night to see the Star Spangled Review held there every year. We thought with it only being the 3rd of July it wouldn't be so crowded...heh heh. After walking over someones lost pair of chonies and sitting through an Elvis impersonator sing his 15th song and cracking jokes in between that would give Bob Saget a run for his money, I suddenly remembered why I never went to the Star Spangled Review FOR FREE when I worked at WWA for 4 years in row. Actually, last night didn't cost that much since the kids and I have season passes and if you come on a SSR night after 7pm, regular tickets are only $10. So Andy was only $10. But after the picnic dinner we brought, the snow cone, the cotton candy and the glowing thing-a-ma-jigs the kids had to have, it was no longer as cheap a night as I anticipated.

And even though the freaks, baring more skin than should be allowed, come out of the woodwork and flock to major theme parks around the holidays, and even though I watched my children like a mother bear to her cubs the whole night, I was still very touched by the music, lazers and bombs bursting in the air. It never fails... every firework show always gets me a little vaklempt when I think of this great country that we live in and the freedoms we enjoy. This time it was the country song "An American Child" that got me going. Partly because I know that our kids have it so good compared to other countries where you have, for instance, little girls being sold into prostitution by their own families or little boys taking up arms and killing entire villages. At least in America our children can hold on to their innocence a little longer and play all day and take piano lessons, go to soccer practice and become primadonna dancers by age 5. But another part of me was sad to think that I enjoyed so many more freedoms than my children ever will with regards to just being able to walk or ride my bike and explore town with my friends. These days with all the pedifiles living in our own neighborhoods no mother in her right mind would let her children, be they 6 or 16, out of her sight to go roaming the streets alone or with a few friends.

Is it really worse now or are we just more afraid? When do we start becoming slaves to our own fears and when will men stop becoming slaves to their passions for child pornography and the like?

As Satan's grasp takes hold of more and more lives, Freedom slowly dies...it is such a delicate thing. Satan smiles when our free agency is lost by the enslavement of bad choices. May we always make the right choices...to remain free.

Freedom... may we cherish it, fight for it and give thanks for it every day and never let is slip away from us.

And may we keep keep flocking to those annual firework shows that stir our hearts and souls and remind us of the great country we are a part of...where you can walk around in a bikini no matter what you weigh and show more than ANYONE wants to see, leave your wet, grass-stained underwear on the ground where everyone has to walk over them or fulfill your life-long dream and become an Elvis impersonator.

AND, last but not least, where you can watch your children's eyes light up with wonder at the sparkling, colorful, freedom-ringing fireworks in the sky and become overwhelmed with joy in your heart for your own little American Family.

Happy 4th everyone!

-Britten

Girls in Ribbons

Okay....I must say it's official...I make the best bows ever! If you have any requests, send them my way...

That Random Darth

He's always showing up unexpectedly. Ari looks like she's cracking up at him!

Playing House

Kaiya got this little stroller at Toys R Us for her birthday and said one day, "To heck with those babydolls, I got the real thing!" I turned around from the computer one morning and there was Ari all slouched over in the all-too-tiny stroller...she didn't seem to mind though.

Anyone recognize the shirt Kaiya has on? That's what you do with that part of your wardrobe from high school that is so out of style, but so nostalgic you just have to hang on to it. Makes great dress-up clothes!

-Britten

Trooper's Secret Message

I let Trooper play with some of my Star Wars Buddies the other day. After about an hour or so, and after he had left to go play with something else, I walked over and found this. I think he is trying to tell me something...