Best Classic Films

Breakfast at Tiffanys - Holly Golightly is so spontaneous, so whimsical, and yet so sad...
Holiday (1938) - Katherine Hepburn & Cary Grant, need I say more?

Cool Hand Luke - Paul Newman was such a man's man but still so hot.  Probably the newest on this list (1967) so probably the only one originally filmed in color.
His Girl Friday - Another great Cary Grant film, GREAT dialogue, and as you should know, I love stories about journalists
Topper Returns - yes it's a sequel, but you don't need to see the first one (though it's good too)
The Thin Man - Nick Charles, the detective, and his wife Nora, the wannabe detective, oh how I love them!
The Country Girl - An alcoholic Bing Crosby with wife Grace Kelly.  I don't know how such a goofy-looking man could have snagged a woman who looked like that!  Bing proves his metal as a dramatic actor.  Also stars another of my favorites, William Holden.
Little Women (1949 & 1933 versions) - narrowly made the list over 1944's Jane Eyre.  The story is a classic and perhaps I love it so much because I have four sisters.

Love in the Afternoon - Audrey Hepburn and Gary Cooper, another winning combination of two of my favorite actors.  An incredibly frustrating movie about an innocent young woman and a caddy womanizer...

Alice Adams - Katherine Hepburn in an uncharacteristic role.

As an addendum to this list, I must add on my favorite Alfred Hitchcock films:

To Catch A Thief

Strangers on a Train
The Lady Vanishes (1938)
Spellbound

Rear Window
Dial M for Murder

The Birds
Psycho

(Critics may argue that Vertigo is his greatest movie, and although I see that it was an incredible piece of work, I did not enjoy it.)

I think I may finally be out of film-list ideas;)

Update on the Kiddos

This morning I woke up to Elora saying, "Mommy, where ya ARE?"

JONAH'S FAVORITES: (age 3 1/2)
foods: broccoli, cottage cheese, avocado, yogurt, popsicles, suckers, chocolate, cake
books: Owl at Home, On the Night You Were Born
shows: He likes everything we have, which is mostly Disney animated movies.  He also likes Super Why and Word World.
words: "n'cause" (kind of like 'because'), no
phrases: "I three.  I can do it.", "And when I five, I go to school!", "I can't do it!",
activities: playing outside, riding his bike, playing with the kids in the neighborhood (I think five-year-old Corinne might be his favorite though he often calls her Christian, her brother's name), hanging out with Vivian, talking

ELORA'S FAVORITES: (age 2)
foods: broccoli, cauliflower, avocado, suckers, licorice, oranges
books: she really likes stuff with cats in them right now and she also still loves Where the Wild Things Are
shows: Winnie the Pooh (aka: Silly Pooh), Aristocats (aka: kitty one), Curious George ("monkey one")
words: "moy" (more),
phrases: "I do it myself!", "Go 'way" (when she's mad), "I love you" (to everyone now!) or "I love you hair" or "I love you earrings", "I do!" (her response to anything you tell her NOT to do), "I to like it" (meaning she doesn't like something)
activities: (though it appears her favorite thing to do is trip and fall down, that is not true), buckling herself into anything, coloring on herself and things she shouldn't, washing her hands, jumping on the "jumpoline", sucking on the three fingers of her left hand and twirling hair with her right, putting on anything "fwancy" (aka: playing dress-up)

Island Park, ID

Population: 218

Saturday morning we got in the car at 10am to take the annual (only my 3rd year going actually) Jensen family fishing trip.  Five hours later (of a whole lot of whining and a great lunch of smoked pork sandwiches in some small town just over the Idaho border) we were in gorgeous Island Park.

After getting settled in at our lovely condo, we went to dinner with Alan, Linda, Uncle Verl, and Aunt Margene.  After getting the kids to sleep, Andy and Brandon arrived to take over our second bedroom.

The next morning my little family, Andy, Brandon (aka: Coach), Alan, and Linda piled into the fishing boat and spent five hours fishing but not catching.

Jonah and Elora had their own child-size fishing rods and Jonah is quite the caster!

Elora just wanted to play with the worms the whole time:)

The last hour or so the boat was feeling awefully crowded and Brandon and the kids jumped off to explore the shore for awhile.

This is how we found them when we came back to pick them up!

Monday while the rest of the group went fishing on Henry's Lake, I took the kids to West Yellowstone, MT.  We spent an hour or so at the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center.  Lots of fun!

The kids howling like wolves.

The kids being bears in a cave.

Andy and Alan caught fish but the rest came home empty-handed.

That afternoon Brandon took the kids swimming, fed them, and put them to bed while I went fishing on Henry's with Alan, Linda, and Andy.

It was gorgeous and even though I didn't catch anything, I had a great time.  Andy brought a nice brook trout back.
That night the adults enjoyed Linda's famous/traditional pecan-crusted trout with orange sauce for dinner.

Tuesday morning the kids and I went hiking and to Big Springs while Brandon and the rest of the gang took a final fishing run at Henry's.  

Success!  

Brandon caught about eight fish (threw most of them back), everyone caught lots, except for Linda who caught a single beauty but was pleased as punch cause she'd finally succeeded in catching something on the paddleboard!

We had lunch and birthday cake over at Verl and Margene's condo to celebrate Verl's 75th birthday.  The drive home was uneventful but lovely.

Best Sci-Fi Films

Star Wars: A New Hope - although according to one movie buff's blog, this is not a sci-fi film at all but a fantasy film set in space.

The Emperor Strikes Back

Return of the Jedi

Avatar
Star Trek (2009)
Back to the Future
Signs - what can I say, I love M. Night Shyamalan movies
Gattaca

The Matrix
The Abyss - honestly I barely remember this movie, I need to see it again, but I have a feeling it belongs here on my list.

Best Family Films

My Top 10

The Sandlot
The Princess Bride
Babe
October Sky
Clue
Darby O'Gill and the Little People - see Sean Connery before he was James Bond:)

Swiss Family Robinson
The Parent Trap (1961)
Back to the Future
The Rocketeer

All Pixar films
Most Disney animated films
Most Christmas movies
Many musicals (namely Annie, Newsies, etc.)
Muppet movies

And quite frankly, I really like all the Harry Potter movies.

Though they appear in other lists I must also mention: Willow, Anne of Green Gables, and Anne of Avonlea (aka: Anne the Sequel).

Best Musicals

Singing in the Rain

White Christmas
Annie
The Music Man

Funny Girl
Chicago

Wizard of Oz
Ray

Fiddler on the Roof
Sound of Music

It was really difficult narrowing this list down.

Best Dramas

My Top 10

All the President's Men - I'm a sucker for movies about journalists

Fried Green Tomatoes
I Am Sam
Mary & Max (on dvd 6/15) - despite being stop-motion animation, this is not a children's movie.  And despite being a drama, this is incredibly funny.  I saw this at Sundance last year, it was their opening film.

The Country Girl

The Family Man
Cool Hand Luke
84 Charring Cross Road - 2nd book on this list about pen pals.

Alice Adams
Somewhere in Time

This list seems sort of weak somehow since my favorite dramas are mostly period pieces and a lot of these are on my classics list too.

And what category does Stranger Than Fiction belong in?  I know that technically it is a comedy but it doesn't really feel like one.  And it's a bit of a fantasy film isn't it?

Memorial Weekend

First off, I took 252 pictures on my camera in May.  That's insane.
Secondly, I want more comments on my Best Movies lists. Pronto.
And now onto Memorial Day weekend.  Originally we were supposed to go camping in Lake Powell, then we were supposed to go camping closer to home, finally we just decided to go up to the cabin on Sunday night and spend the day there with Brandon's immediate family on Monday.  Plans continued to change moment to moment.
Saturday afternoon we decided that we would go spend the next three nights at the cabin.  Saturday night Linda made us a yummy dinner, I did some reading, and then Brandon and I hot tubbed and talked for an hour or two, it was heavenly.  Sunday I managed to sleep in til 9:00 by some sort of miracle.  I went to church and tidied up the house before heading back up to the cabin.  Katie, Jason, and Vanessa were at the cabin when I arrived and Kathy, Bryson, Bailee, Andy, Brandon, Oakley, Derek, and Tianna all arrived that evening.
It was a full house and we had fun hanging out and talking and staying up way too late.  Monday we had a big, delicious breakfast, went four-wheeling, etc.

Brandon and Jonah kayaking on our pond.

Vanessa and Elora enjoying breakfast.

Jason and Katie making blueberry pancakes.

Hanging out on the deck.

Elora lovin' on Cody.

A very serious game of Blokkus.

That afternoon Tianna, Vanessa, Katie, Andy, and I played a new game called Captain Clueless.  It was pretty fun.  Alan bought a smoker that morning and smoked ribs all afternoon.  Kathy and kids left early but Bobby and Ian replaced them for the evening.
After a scrumptious dinner which Elora didn't eat, she came down with a fever.  We assumed she'd caught Jonah's cold until she threw up.  We decided to go home for the night afterall.  It was a relaxing and fun weekend.  Thank you all!