Here's to you, Moms!

In honor of Mother's Day, I thought I would just share a little bit more about two of the best Moms on the whole planet.

NAME: Linda Bingham
HOMETOWN: Granada Hills, CA
AGE: Forever Young
NICKNAME: Muzzy
SIGNATURE MOVE: Flying Clothesline
UNKNOWN SUPERHERO POWERS: Anti-gravity hair and the ability to always know when there are wet clothes in the washer that need to be put in the dryer.
NEVER WITHOUT: Chapstick, gummy snacks, any book by Mary Higgins Clark
HOLDS THE RECORD FOR: Being inadvertedly scared half-to-death 3 times a day for 2 years and continuing to live.
WHY WE LOVE HER: Always helpful, never critical, content, steady, great sympathizer, hard working, organized, strong testimony and seriously, you can scare her pretty much anytime you want and always get a good laugh. (and she does laugh with you)



NAME: DeAnne Sweeney
HOMETOWN: Salt Lake City, UT
AGE: 29
NICKNAME: Sparkles
SIGNATURE MOVE: Monkey Flip
UNKNOWN SUPERHERO POWERS: The ability to always be painting something and can "open" mini corn-dogs like nobody's business!
(Luke insists on them being "opened")
NEVER WITHOUT: Gum, "surprises", any food or drink item that includes pomegranate
HOLDS THE RECORD FOR: Consecutive days of feeding her grandchildren a diet of nothing but chocolate.
WHY WE LOVE HER: Absolutely selfless, great listener, kind in every sense of the word, light-hearted, sunny disposition, super smart, gospel guru, excellent organ player, home improvement wizard, and really, I think I have only ever seen her grumpy, like, twice in my life.


Am I the luckiest girl in the world, or what??! Anyway, I love both these ladies so much. Thanks to them for all they do :) Happy Mother's Day!

So that new Star Trek movie was....

TREKTASTIC!!! Wow, after so much waiting, speculation, wishing, hoping, waiting, praying, excavating, renumerating- wait, where was I?? Oh, I was just really hoping this movie could deliver and it definitely exceeded my expectations. I loved it! I won't spoil it for everyone out there, because I know you are all going to be seeing it in the coming week, but whether you are a fan already or know nothing about it- you will enjoy yourself (Two Words: Dr. McCoy). Jacob and I hit the 4pm showing yesterday afternoon and by the start time we had a pretty good group in the theater (mostly male or old people, just FYI). I would also like to point out that this movie now has a 95% Fresh Rating on the website rottentomatoes.com (the end all be all site for movie reviews)- making it the highest rated movie of the year thus far. So we are definitely anxious to see the box office numbers come Monday morning-sure hoping that it will be that pansy Wolverine movie....

And on a completely unrelated note, Cindy just came to ask me to help get Luke off of the living room couch because Dad promised that if he jumped on it again "he was gonna cut his legs off and I don't want that to happen." This is my life :)

It's Finally Here!!!!

I can't believe that the waiting is over! Jacob and I are hitting the movie at 4pm today. Can't wait to finally see it! Of course I will have a sweet review for you tomorrow, so in the meantime, I proudly present: (drumroll please...)


Top Ten Ways to Mispronounce USS Enterprise

10. Do your best, Minute Rice!
9. You just ate two dragonflies
8. Using less can't be wise
7. Toys R Us is selling lies!
6. Who doesn't like apple pie?!
5. Eat your crust, four eyes!
4. Luke is up, he swallowed dice
3. Show me the money!
2. The Sassafras! It hurts my eyes!
1. Where's my floss, oh great and wise?

Groaners

Seriously, I am not sure if these even qualify as 'jokes' or not. But read on because I know you can't not read them now :)


Question: Where do Star Trek fans go to lift weights?
Answer: The "He's dead, Gym"!

Question: How many ears does Captain Kirk have?
Answer: Three. A right ear. A left ear. And a final front ear.

Question: Did you hear about the singing contest for young men at Starfleet Academy?
Answer: It's called the Kirk Tenor Prize.

Question: How many landing party members does it take to screw in a light bulb?
Answer: Only one, but the extra red-shirt will die in the attempt.


And just for fun, some interesting Star Trek trivia...


In 2000, the show was listed in the Guinness Book of Records as having the largest number of spin-off productions, including the feature film series and the numerous TV series.

Contrary to popular belief, Captain Kirk never said, "Beam me up, Scotty," in any episode

In the hallways of the Enterprise there are tubes marked "GNDN", these initials stand for "goes nowhere does nothing".

When NBC was promoting "Star Trek" (1966) in magazines, all shots of Spock's pointed eyebrows and ears where airbrushed out of the pictures because NBC thought that no one would watch the show due to Spock's resemblance to the Devil.

Now THIS is a profile picture!

Good ol' Cheez-its is sponsoring a widget that lets you Trek yourself-



Much better than my previous homemade pic!

And since you know you want to do it too here is the link...

http://www.trekyourself.com

When I start to get worried....

A few months back Jacob and I watched a documentary called "Trekkies"- which is all about the Star Trek wackos out there. It covered everything from weird fan mail, homemade costumes and the conventions to merchandise, characters and, of course, the Ken Starr jury member who wore her Star Trek uniform every day to the trial. So when I start to get a little worried that maybe I like Star Trek a little too much, I remember this movie and think, Wow, I am no where NEAR crossing the line. This video is a clip from that movie. It is the scene where I almost wet my pants because I was laughing so hard. Anyway, check out this guy and his love affair with Trek. The best part is Radio Shack and watching him go home after. Priceless. (Even more priceless if you have seen the episode with Captain Pike- which I have because we have all three seasons on DVD. No, that was not a typo :)

SALUTE TO STAR TREK WEEK!

As further evidence of how Jacob has turned me into a gigantic nerd, I give you Exhibit A: changing my blog for the week to celebrate the new Star Trek movie that opens this Friday. Whoo-hoo! So to start out, today I give a top ten, written by my dad, myself and even Jacob pitched in for one of them. (I'm so proud of him!)



TOP TEN WAYS STAR TREK WOULD BE DIFFERENT IF GENE RODDENBERRY WERE LDS

10. Klingons serve on the bridge, but not allowed to hold the Priesthood
9. Federation presided over by First Quorom of Romulons
8. When faced with a difficult decision, Dr. McCoy would say "Darnit, Jim! I'm a Doctor, not a High Councilor!"
7. On-board computer voiced by Lloyd K. Knewel
6. No beaming up allowed on the Sabbath
5. Chekov would get all the lines about Joseph Smith so he could say "First Wision"
4. Instead of stun, the crew would set their fazers to "Peace, be still"
3. Kirk and Scotty almost come to blows when Scotty replaces dilithium crystals in warp drive with Urim and Thummim
2. President of the Federation is sustained as prophet, seer, revelator and the only person on earth authorized to use the cloaking device
1. Kirk constantly referred to as "Menace to Society"

Now back to your stations.....

The Name Game

Yesterday's post about The Curse sparked my thought about the tradition in my family to name some of our cars. My family has had a TON of different cars over the years- seriously I should make a list- but here is a run down of some of the more memorable names we gave those cars...

1. Jean Claude Grand Am- My first car. We really called it Jean Claude, never anything else.
2. Pepe Le Prelude- The little college car of my brother Chris.
3. Gluteus Maxima- The white Nissan Maxima my family had years ago and it really did go by that name. Only my Dad could come up with something like that.
4. Brian's Crappy Saturn- Ha! I asked my mom what she called my brother Brian's white little saturn and she looked at me kinda confused and said "Brian's Crappy Saturn??" I am still laughing!
5. Rocket- Cindy named our Honda his after the red spaceship in Little Einsteins, we used to floor the gas pedal and "take off" in it. She loved that. She actually loves Rocket, she thinks he has feelings and cried when we got into an accident in him.
6. Superman- That is Jacob's silver Toyota Tacoma, again Cindy named it.
7. Boss Hog- Grandma Sweeney's Red Truck, I fought for this one with Cindy, she hates that name, but it stuck.
8. The Smokin' Arab- This was a nickname for my brother Dave's Mitsubishi Galant that developed a big exhaust problem. Arab? I have no idea.

And I wanted to name our little Geo Prizm 'Tergat' after a famous Kenyan distance runner, but it never stuck. That Geo is probably still running out there somewhere...

So anyone else ever name their cars? Give me your best!!

The Curse

Friday I had a little adventure with our Honda Accord. The radiator hose burst, the car overheated and I spent a good few hours trying to remedy the situation and get the car home. It wasn't really that big of a deal to handle- thanks to good friends and family that help out in a pinch :) I think just a radiator fan is really the culprit and that is any easy enough fix. But the events of Friday have reminded me to blog about something in our family that I believe is a real force of nature; something that Harvard should study and document; something that I am sure can be proven with the right tests and studies. In the Bingham family we simply refer to it as "The Curse." (When I told Jacob I was writing about this he begged me to clarify it as The 'Bingham' Curse, because he wants no part of it ;) The Curse in question has to do with car trouble and how each of us is doomed to have car trouble follow us throughout life. While my family has seemingly escaped major trials when it comes to health problems, family drama, unemployement, inactivity in the church, or being born without senses of humor- the Curse seems to be our alotted trial in life. It all started with my Mom and Dad. I am convinced that with the union of my parents, the planets aligned, mountains were moved and there was the creation of the Curse- the vexing power of car trouble upon the Bingham Family. Over the years we have had just about any kind of car trouble imaginable it seems (and I do mean all of us- Mom, Dad, Dave, Chris, Me and Brian). Flat tires, fender benders, drooping headliners, dead batteries, missing mirrors, windows that don't roll up, windows that don't roll down, smoking engines, check engine lights that never go off, seatbelt latches that don't buckle, cracked engine blocks, accidents with each other (oh yes, my friend), lost hubcaps, overheating radiators, electrical failures, broken headlights, cracked windshields, faulty starters, defective transmissions, leaky sunroofs, horrible radios, faulty gagues, ripping upholstery- and that was all just last week! Ok, not really, but serioulsy, every single one of those items has been experienced. (The fact that we all have owned weird, used, cheap cars is not lost on me, by the way...) Another example of the curse in action is that several times when one of us has had car trouble and called someone else to come help, the rescue vehicle then breaks down on the way! Classic Curse. I had thought that by marrying into a non-curse family I could break this pattern, but days like Friday remind me that it may be too powerful to overcome. But I guess when faced with the alternative trials in life I could have had, I will take this one any day. I just have to be reminded of that fact once in a while.

Rub-a-dub-dub

Two nights ago the kids were in the bath and Jacob was getting them all set up with the new Elmo bubble bath I got Luke for his birthday. About 5 minutes later I hear hysterical laughing- from Luke, from Cindy and also from Jacob. I went in to see what all the hubbub was and I guess those bubbles work pretty darn good because the kids were totally covered in them, including Luke who had not only a bubble hat, but sideburnds, beard and matching jacket. And he was LOVING life! A total tub maniac, we just watched and laughed ourselves silly. Here are a few pics of the moments...






















This also reminded me of being a little kid and taking baths. One thing in particular I thought about was how my Dad would let us make the bath water different colors (using the little kitchen food coloring sets). We would get to make the water red, or blue or orange and we thought that was so awesome. I have consequently carried on that tradition with Cindy. She loves to choose purple, but it always ends up looking like grey mop water. Red is best because pink water is sooo beautiful :)