The Dark Knight

After my movie review of "The Happening," (See June's Blog), I received thousands of emails requesting that I continue my groundbreaking commentary on today's theatrical releases. Well,....maybe not thousands of emails. One, to be exact. But it was a fervent request, so here goes!

"The Dark Knight" A.K.A.- Batman and the Joker

Wes and I were excited to see this flick. We both loved "Batman Returns." Christian Bale is great, and he's a little bit of eye candy for the ladies who aren't so into action films. So we had a date night and waited for 20 minutes in the 100 degree heat to see the sequel. It was 2 1/2 hours long, but it kept my attention the whole way through. Without giving away too much of the plot, it was mainly about The Joker tormenting Gotham City, played by Heath Ledger who was pretty friggin' amazing. No kidding. I thought maybe his performance was hyped up since it was his last before he died, but he deserved all the rave reviews. If I hadn't heard before hand that it WAS Heath Ledger, I would have had no idea. He played a pretty convincing psychopath. The other "villain" in the plot is Two-Face. But Two-Face isn't just an ordinary villain, born out of nothing. The whole movie leads into why he becomes Two-Face, and makes it all somewhat realistic. (That actor graduated from BYU in 1994, by the way. A little bit of trivia.)

There were two aspects of the movie that I wasn't too hip on. First being the female love interest, formerly played by Katie Holmes and now by Maggie Gillenhal. Katie Holmes is obviously attractive. So why did the casting directors replace her with a...... well, not so attractive actress? The first time the camera showed her up close, Wes and I turned to each other and said, "What a downgrade." And then we chuckled to ourselves every time she was on screen. Kind of mean, I know. But really, she's supposed to be someone the two main characters are fighting over, and we just didn't buy it. Turns out the whole theater had been whispering the same sentiments. In one scene the Joker says, "Hello, beautiful!" to her character. At which point the ENTIRE theater starts busting up laughing. OUCH! Totally harsh. Poor thing just isn't that much of a looker.

The only other aspect of the movie that turned me off was this annoying voice that Batman used whenever he put on his suit. It sounds all dark and raspy. Similar to a smoker's voice in the morning before coughing up a ball of phlegm. He even used this voice around other character's who supposedly already knew his true identity. Lame, if you ask me. After 2 1/2 hours, his stupid Darth Vader voice really started to bug.

Overall, it was a good flick. I'm not that into big budget action movies but it had some good performances and kept my interest, which is hard to do since I have the attention span of a bug.

Two thumbs up. Good summer fun.

God Bless Grandparents

This is a long overdue blog entry, as I've been meaning to write this for some time. God bless grandparents, and just family in general!!! I just don't know what I'd do without them. I'm working 2 mornings a week, and I'm lucky enough to have my Mother In-Law here on Mondays, and my Mom here on Wednesdays. Not only do they watch Tay when I'm gone, but they allow me to nap when I get back. A nap is as valuable as gold, if you ask me. I'm DEAD TIRED these days. These Grandmas go above and beyond. My mom has cooked me many a dinner, and saved us a fortune in supplying Tay with a wardrobe that little Apple or Shiloh Pitt would be jealous of. Not to mention my Mother In Law who was willing to wallpaper 2 rooms one afternoon for us, all AFTER watching Tay. I can't tell you how many times these women have done a load of dishes or laundry out of the goodness of their hearts. So it's safe to say we're spoiled. And we're pretty lucky in the Grandpa department as well. My dad is here once a week to play with Tay, and is always up for a trip to Stone Fire or wherever Tay wants to go. Grandpa Pollard built a darn playhouse for the kids with his bare hands, and Grandpa Bruce will make elephant noises for Tay until he's blue in the face. What can I say? She is so loved, and I'm so thankful for everything our family does for us.

What's new with the Pollardos

Here's a quick update on the familia:

Tay: Is now in a big girl bed. Hoorah! And thankfully the kid actually loves it. Hallelujah. I have to admit that I'm going through withdrawals though. I rocked her to sleep almost every night for 21 months and now she says, "No rock, Mommy. Bed." So that's the end of that. I really didn't think she had it in her to be so independent, but she's been surprising me lately. I put her in bed awake, and she prefers it that way. She won't even let me sit and stare at her like I've tried to do. She also melted my heart the other day by finally telling me that she loves me. It was unprompted at 6:30 in the morning, about a centimeter away from my face and followed by a kiss. It just made my day. She's also been saying, "I love Daddy," and "I love Blues Clues." And boy does she ever love "Blues Clues." We've limited it to 2 episodes a day but she's addicted and can't get enough. We've been keeping her away from the TV with many a trip to the pool and planting seeds in our backyard. She's been spoiled rotten with Chuck E. Cheese trips and a visit to Underwood Farm this past week.

Wes: Wes is tired and beat up at the end of the day. His hands are swollen from the jack hammer, and he's been cursed with a lot of overtime lately when he'd much rather come home at the end of the day. It's not easy being Daddy, and we really appreciate how he provides for our family.

Nikki: I'm tired, and I've been eating my fair share of Funyuns lately. But mainly I'm just really tired. It's the second trimester so I'm waiting for that burst of energy to kick in. So far, nothing. I did the obligatory wait to get my hair dyed so as not to taint the fetus with hair color, or whatever lame reason the doctors say to wait, and I'm getting it cut and colored Saturday. Goodbye roots! The summer session at work is winding down, and I'm feeling kind of guilty. The professor I loathe, Professor Butthole as you may recall, may have some sort of fatal disease. He announced it last week in class. I don't care for him much, but I didn't wish any harm on the poor guy. I have to watch my karma. Life's too short to have so many negative thoughts.

Primary is kicking my butt. I've been preparing lessons like mad, and trying to get the kids ready for our music program in September. I just don't think they'll be ready and I'm stressing. I've never put so much into a church calling before. I work every day on lesson plans, and on putting together games to help them learn the gospel AND memorize songs. It's grueling. Wes thinks I go overboard, and I think he may be right. I have totally earned whatever blessings I get from this calling.=)

Other than that, it's Grandpa Bruce and Aunt Ashley's birthday this weekend! Happy Birthday to them!

O.k., I'm slightly worried. I use a website that lets me know who looks at my blog. I don't ever know exactly who, but I do know what town, state, and country they're logging on from. I just checked it and someone from Iran has been a frequent visitor. Uh..... Who the heck do I know from Iran, and why are they reading my inner most thoughts? Not that I'm not a big fan of Iran or middle Eastern culture in general. Don't get me wrong. I'm ever so jealous of that culture and the fantastic way that women are treated. By all means, if you're reading this in Iran, keep on reading. But know that I disagree entirely with your country's stance on nuclear weapons and your eagerness to point them at my country, as well as your prehistoric view of women. There. Now that I've got that out. Enjoy the blog, my Iranian friend.

Oh! And someone from New York has been visiting my site. Slightly creeped out by all the strangers visiting, and may be putting my page on private very soon. So leave a comment to let me know who your are or you'll be getting the boot!

Hungry and Tired

Today was my 13 week check up and everything's fine. It took the doctor about a minute to find the heart beat but it felt like ten. As he moved the little stick around on my belly, I was holding my breath and almost in tears. I was nervous because I haven't had any typical pregnancy symptoms other than exhaustion, but I attribute that to Taylor. No morning sickness. No nausea. Nothing. But he found the heartbeat and said that all was well. Phew. It was such a relief. Kind of strange but I've lost 3 pounds. Again, he said it's nothing. Especially since I lost 6 pounds the first trimester with Tay. It just gave me an excuse to pig out today with my dad at Stone Fire which was fine by me. I think I may have gained those three pounds back in one meal. We find out the sex the first week of September, and I'm so excited! It'll either be a little more testosterone in the house, or more estrogen than Wes will be able to handle. Either way, we'll be happy. I'm trying not to worry as much this time around. I did freak out a little after eating a tuna sandwich and having the Doc tell me today that tuna's on the forbidden list. I doubt one sandwich will do any harm, but heck, it seems like everything's forbidden these days. With Tay's pregnancy I was constantly on the Internet, freaking myself out about all the things that could possibly go wrong. How lunch meat can make your baby have two heads, and how standing near a microwave when pregnant causes the fetus to have seizures. I worried myself sick. Luckily, I don't have the time to worry about all that stuff this time.

It's summer time, summer time, sum, sum, summertime!

Boy are we enjoying the summer! We spent the 4th of July up at Lake Nasiamento with my family where we rode around the lake on their boat, played in the sand and soaked up the sun. Tay liked the boat for the most part. She wasn't too hip on seeing her Nana scurf or knee board behind the boat though. I suspect that in her two-year-old mind, she imagined that Nana was running after the boat and Grandpa Bruce wasn't letting her get on. Taylor did enjoy seeing Uncle Colin wake board, and overall she just loved Uncle Bryce and Colin. Taylor survived another long car ride. 5 hours, to be exact. The kid's a trooper, and God bless the man or woman who invented DVD players for the car. She lost it a little about 20 minutes away from home. Daddy, who always has good intentions, was singing a little diddy to Tay and apparently she wasn't too hip on Daddy's singing voice. She took out her binky (Yes, we gave it to her for our own sanity), and heaved it up at the front window. I guess we should have been mad that she actually threw something at us, but it was pretty darn funny. The kid is a blabber mouth too. We're talkin' 5 word sentences out of nowhere like, "What are you doing, Nana?" I feel like I'm just busting with pride for her lately. And she's no longer clingy.**GASP** I dropped her off at nursery at church on Sunday and told her I was leaving. She said, "Bye bye, Mama. Kisses." And that was it. Off she went to play with her little friends and some spectacular pine cone that captured her attention. If I knew that a pine cone of all things, would've made the transition easier, I would've given her a bag of pine cones 2 months ago when she started nursery. Sunrise, sunset....Sunrise, sunset..... She'll be wearing makeup and dating boys next week.

Poor Wes is back at work. He was happy to go, but he could have done without the 100 degree heat on his first week back. He comes home tired and sore, and I know better than to ask him to help out right now. He'll be back into the swing of things in a couple of weeks. We miss him around the house.

Oh, does anyone know if butt hole is one word or two? I ask because I'm currently working with one on Monday and Wednesday mornings. I'm interpreting an English class with a teacher who I loathe!!!! He is a pompous arse (spelling it that way makes me feel like it's alright to curse.) He is a Dr. of something or other, Harvard graduate, reading specialist, who believes that he is the know all be all of English teachers. It's a 3 hour class and he takes up 2 hours of it by talking about himself!! He starts a half hour late, so he holds the class a half hour over. Mind you, these are adults taking a college course! Butthole! I'm not sure he likes me too much either. Last week, a student asked him what DNA meant. He didn't know. Said it wasn't important. I replied, "It means deoxyribonucleicacid." The teacher and the student just looked at me. Partly because I actually knew the meaning, and partly because they'd never heard me speak before. The teacher, or "Dr." as he prefers to be called, made some snotty remark about how it wasn't important to know what acronyms stood for. I didn't care. Maybe they don't teach that stuff at Harvard, but they do teach it at Pierce Jr. College baby! What a shmuck! So I'll be suffering in his class for another 4 or 5 weeks. Arghhh.

We are loving the pool everyday, and make a beach trip once a week if anyone's interested in joining us.

Taylor The Terror

Wes spoiled the girls this weekend, and took us on a getaway to Sea World. Taylor was just getting over a summer cold, but had a blast seeing all the attractions. We stayed overnight in a beautiful hotel that looked like it was straight out of Hawaii, and had a king size bed with a beautiful view. This hotel was so gorgeous! We had waterfalls, and coy ponds, and even witnessed a couple getting engaged. Daddy did good. Every picture we have of Tay is pretty funny. She's starting to smile on command, and it looks like she's trying to catch flies in her mouth.

Taylor makes me laugh everyday. Today she sang almost the whole theme song to "Big Comfy Couch," and danced around the living room. However there's a side to Taylor that's been coming out more and more as she approaches the terrible twos. Her evil twin, Taylor The Terror, makes an appearance at least once a day. She's whiny, a total drama queen, and worst of all SHE HITS ME! Wes and I've talked about our approach to discipline, and we decided a long time ago that hitting or spanking just wasn't a good strategy........ But I went back on my word a few days ago. While I'm changing her diaper, she decides she wants to get up. I tell her to lie back down. Taylor says, "I kick mommy." I say, "No kick mommy," and give her the look of death. The little bugger then kicks me in the face and yells, "No mommy!" I lost it. I smacked her little bare thigh. She gave me the saddest look I've ever seen, and burst into tears. I felt like the scum of the Earth, but still thought I was justified in spanking her. It was like she premeditated the whole thing! Methodically thought it out. Weighed the pros and cons, and still chose to do it. I don't think I'll spank again though. I'm not sure it taught her anything, and I just can't take the guilt. So Taylor continues to hit me when she doesn't get her way, and I'm taking her by the hand and firmly saying "No hit." I try to look sad so she gets the idea that it hurts......What to do? How do you discipline a toddler? Batman had the Joker. Superman had those evil dudes in black spandex with kryptonite. I, as it turns out, have Tay as my arch nemesis. Check out the video below. She hits me, for no reason, and then attempts to act cute saying, "Where's Tay Tay?" Stinker!Advice please.