Total Eclipse of the Heart?

My wonderful friend, Bridget Reed, offered me a free pass to a 9 PM showing of Eclipse on opening night. I thought...sure...why not? Honestly when she called and asked if I liked Twilight I kind of said, "Mmmm...yeah...whatever." Here's my problem - when I watch the movies, they just make me feel embarrased I ever liked the books. Bridget put it appropriately when she said that putting a romance novel to a film script just makes it seem cheesy and ridiculous. But hey, it was a free pass and a night out with some girls. And not to look a gift horse in the mouth, I graciously say: THANK YOU, BRIDGET!

Here are some pictures of us at the movie. They were all taken from my new iPhone 4. As you can see, the regular camera takes way better pictures as compared to the front facing camera.

Bridget Reed and Kelly Nordfelt holding our sweet badges we had to wear in order to get into the 9 PM showing:

Jill Fellow and Me:

Jill, me, Bridget and Kelly:

Ok...now to give an honest review and appraisal of the movie. First off, there were far too many crazy girls there who were obviously obsessed with the Twilight phenomenon and the "team Edward" or "team Jacob." I think because I didn't want to associate myself with these types, I had a hard time letting go of my skepticism and just enjoying the movie. After it was over, I thought it was similar to the first two movies - poor acting with sappy and cheesy dialogues. My first thought of what I actually liked was the action and fight sequences...Which I thought was funny being a girl who attended a romantic drama or whatever category it falls into. However, after some deep reflection (cause come on, it was a deep movie) I decided there was more to it that gave it some semblance of quality. I would say any scenes with Bella's Dad were classic. He was probably the best actor in the whole movie, and quite charming and funny. I also enjoyed some of the interactions between Edward and Jacob. Although somewhat contrived and having to deal with Bella's horrid displays in those scenes, they still provided a few laughs. Overall, I would give the movie a B-. Not the worst movie, but definitely not the best. And it was great to get out of the house for a while although I still thought about Owen about 50 times while I was there and worried if he was ok after his traumatic day. So, in the end, Eclipse was only a partial eclipse of my heart.

Wright Family Reunion - Family Photo Shoot

On the second day of the reunion, Grandma and Grandpa hired a professional photographer to take family photos. Grandma and Grandpa have a quote in their home above pictures of all their posterity that says, "All because two people fell in love."

This picture shows how extensive the family is "all because they fell in love." This does not include a number of grandchildren and great grandchildren that were unable to be present:

The men of the family:

The women of the family:

Grandpa and Grandma with all the grandkids and great grandkids:

Four generations of fathers and sons. Grandpa Mark Wright, Great Grandpa Bevan Wright, Daddy Miles Wright and baby Owen Wright:

The men of the Mark Wright family. Miles, Owen, Matthew, Grandpa (Mark), Jonas and Mitchell:

A tuckered out Owen after a long morning of picture taking:

A lovely shot of Aunt Darlene:


Grandpa being silly:

Also, before we left, Grandma wanted to get some photos of all the babies together. It was kind of difficult to get all of them happy and smiling at the camera, especially since they were tired, hungry, or otherwise disinterested. But here are a couple shots of the "baby photo shoot."

This is Owen with his cousin, Declan. Declan was due the day after Owen, but was born three months premature. He is now a happy, healthy baby at about the same developmental stage as Owen is (or about the stage he would have been at if born on his due date).

Wright Family Reunion - Retiring Grandma

Grandpa Wright decided to do a special ceremony "retiring" Grandma Wright from her duties as "CEO" of the Wright family. He gave a little speech about how she has worked so hard over the many, many years to take care of the children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. He said that she has been in charge of family reunions, has cooked, cleaned, and given all of herself to the family. He said it is now time for her to retire, kick back, relax and enjoy her life. He passed the torch on to other members of the board (his children) to take on these responsibilities. Grandpa presented Grandma with roses, a plaque and a gift. Grandma got teary. It was very sweet and thoughtful. I have only been a part of this family for about three and a half years, and I can attest to the fact that this woman works her little tail off! I hope that this really does give them more time to relax, enjoy their late years and hopefully spend more time with the family...including us! :)

Wright Family Reunion - Shooting

Friday was the first official day of the family reunion. We started off with the traditional trip to go target shooting with Grandpa Wright. Grandpa used to be the Chief of Police in Blanding, Utah, so he has quite the arsenal. I, personally, am not a huge fan of guns, but I do enjoy going out for target practice. Grandpa is always sure to make comments about my "gun-hating" ways and how if he had known this about me he would have reconsidered letting me into the family. While we were out shooting, I was taking photos. Grandpa yelled, "Get the paparazzi out of here!" Then while looking down at an imaginary list in his hand he said, "What is your name?" I said, "Kendra Bevan Wright." {Bevan is Grandpa's name and there is an ongoing joke about how if you give your child the name Bevan somewhere in their name that Grandpa will give them a gun when he passes away. When Mitchell was little, he told Grandpa his name was Mitchell Bevan Wright (which it's not) and he thought it was so funny he has promised one of his guns to Mitchell.} So anyway, Grandpa said, "Hmm...Kendra Bevan Wright..." and looked down his list, "Yep! Gun hater! Get out of here!" Luckily Grandpa still loves me enough to let me go shooting with him.

Me showing off my horrible form just to bug Grandpa:

Much better form:

Miles trying out "his gun" that will one day be passed on to him:

Cousin Josh doing some sniper shooting:

Matthew shooting a handgun with a lot of kick:

Mitchell looking tough:

The real gunman, Grandpa Wright:

Miles's 28th Birthday

This is way belated, but I need to catch up on the Wright Family Reunion from June...
To start it off, we got together with the immediate family to celebrate Miles's 28th birthday. It was the first time all of Miles's siblings had been together since Christmas, and since Owen's birth. We met up at Z-Tejas in Salt Lake City at the Gateway Mall and had dinner before heading off to Tooele for the family reunion. Here are a few family photos we took after dinner:

The fam. From left to right: Miles & Owen, me, Margaret (Mom), Mitchell, Marci, Mark (Dad), Megan, Matthew & Jonas, and Natalie.

Brothers and proud Daddys:

Matthew, Natalie and Jonas:

One of our first "family photos":

Miles is hard to buy for. He always wants things (typically electronics) that are way out of the budget. This year, his birthday fell right around when the new iPhone 4 was coming out. So I thought I would get that for his birthday. Problem is, when Miles wants something he believes to be affordable, he just buys it for himself anyway. So he bought one for himself...and for me (even though I told him not to) and that's what he got for his birthday. It's very anti-climactic to buy your own b-day present if you ask me. Oh well. He seems pleased enough.

The Elusive Ruth's Chris

Miles has been dying to go to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse to experience one of their famous, and rather pricey, steaks. He's been talking about it for at least the past 18 months, if not longer. But we certainly weren't going to go without a good reason to drop so much cash. So I decided to surprise him for graduation and tell him that we were going out to celebrate his graduation at Ruth's Chris. Well...come to find out, the Ruth's Chris in Salt Lake City got closed down for embezzelment. I was devestated. I had been so excited to take him there as a reward for his hard work in school. So we did not go.


A few months later, we learned that there is a Ruth's Chris in Park City. Horray! I was so excited! I told Miles and we discussed when we should go, but since it was winter time, driving in the snow did not sound appealing. Finally, once spring hit, we decided we should go but were advised to bring another couple with us with whom we could share the "family style" sides. We were stumped as to who would come with us and throw down that kind of cash for a meal. Finally, we remembered that our good friends, Eric and Laura Horne, enjoy a good meal and have excellent palates. We invited, they accepted, we discussed a plan, and a date was set!...May 1st, 2010...one week before my baby was due to arrive. On April 30th, Owen decided to alter our lives as we knew them...and of course our plans to go to dinner went by the wayside as I was recovering in the hospital. Six and 1/2 weeks later (once I figured I finally had things under control) we made plans to go...and we FINALLY MADE IT! And it only took 10 months to get there! I must say it was well worth it. Here are some pictures of our Ruth's Chris experience...

Yay! We made it!

Seared Ahi Tuna appetizer:

Lettuce wedge with bacon and bleu cheese appetizer:

These two photos are of the view from the deck right outside the table where we were seated. We were actually glad that we found out about the Ruth's Chris in Park City. I mean, what a fabulous view and atmosphere. Much better than Salt Lake City would have been!

Owen taking a brief nap in between his meals:

Me, Miles and Owen. Letting our meals settle before dessert:

Our good friends, Eric and Laura Horne:

Laura's berries with cream:

Miles's chocolate cake, provided gratis for his birthday. (Hence the birthday candle poised on the corner of the plate):

My cheescake:

WOWZA! This was the bill at the end of the meal. Let me remind you that we typically don't (meaning never) spend this much money on a single meal. It's fairly amusing, however, that the tip alone was more than we pay for what we consider an expensive meal. However, we had much to celebrate from this past year (graduation, new baby, new job, Miles's birthday, etc.) that we felt justified. Feel free to judge all you want. We left satisfied!