And So It Begins

For those who don't know, I've decided to do a double concentration in school. I am in the Media Arts program with a concentration in digital design and film production. This term I am in a filmmaking class. There are no test, no homework, no books to read. The whole class is filming the Senior capstone projects. While this definitely has a certain appeal to it, there are definitely some draw backs. Like the schedule. Our first day of shooting for the term was last night, on a production called "Touchy" written and directed by Ari Jones. This is what things looked like:

8:30pm   Meet on campus to pick up gear. It starts to snow as I am driving to campus. For once the
               weather report is right. Thank goodness for my traction tires
9:15pm   Leave for Elgin (I was the last car to leave, we had to wait for a crew member getting off of
               work).
9:58pm   Arrive in Elgin. Although we were the last car to leave, we were the first to get there. The
               equipment van that was leading the caravan (minus us) got pulled over.
10:15pm All of the equipment is brought into the house we are filming in. Space is tight. The director isn't
               here yet.
11:00pm Second actor arrives from work. Her and I look eerily similar. We could be sisters. I didn't
               believe it at first, but the consistency coordinator took it upon himself to snap a picture of her
               and then me to compare. Unknown to us. We are doing the same smile/head tilt. Flipping back
               and forth between the pictures is odd. She looks more like me than my own sisters.
2:00am   Finish filming the first scene (scene 8). 3 more scenes to go
3:00am   Finish filming the second scene (scene 3). 2 more to go. Break for dinner.
6:15am   Filming is going over schedule even though we have cut 1 scene (the original plan was to film 5
              scenes tonight). Filming an EXTREMELY emotional high strung scene. The actors are doing
              great. The long night and running through the emotional scene over and over again is taking its
              toll though. We need to give the actors a break. One more run though before they get their break.
              A crew member falls asleep and starts snoring ruining the sound and throwing off the atmosphere
              The actors are trying to create. They get their break now.
7:30am  The final shot done. Time to break down. Greeted with 3 inches of snow. Finally pull out of
              Elgin.  Only 1.5 hours behind schedule (from the original 5 scene schedule)
8:00am  Arrive back on campus to unload gear. Director show up because some of her equipment got
              packed up with the schools equipment. She leaves as soon as she finds it. I guess it's up to us to
              manage and put away all of the gear.
8:30am  Finally make it back home. Dylan is awake but still in bed. I change into sweats and a sweatshirt    
              and fall asleep in the middle of a conversation.

Next shoot: Tuesday morning, 3-6am.

The Months Summed Up: December

December was CRAZY! And I also didn't take very many pictures. Dylan and I had finals the first full week of December. Kimberly and Sean came at the end of finals week. While it was a blast to have them here, we realized our house wasn't really kid proof. And we didn't have any kids toys.....luckily Glenda came to the rescue and brought some toys and coloring pages over for the kids! 

My gingerbread house. (I didn't get pictures of the Janeway's :\)

hahahaha this was in Asher's coloring book

Right after Kim and Sean left (literally the next day) my parents spent the night on their way to Utah to help move Steve and Jenny to Washington. I went with them so that I could catch a ride from Provo to California for Caitlin's wedding! I was in Utah for just one day before we hit the road for California! We got there Thursday afternoon and the wedding wasn't until Saturday so we were able to have a little down time. Amber and I cleaned and baked and helped out as much as we could so that Caitlin's mom didn't have so much on her plate. Caitlin was such a beautiful bride, and Kevin looked pretty sharp. I love that couple so much and I am so glad I was able to be there for them! I am so glad Caitlin found someone who loves her so much and will treat her right. The wedding was beautiful. I got to go to the sealing (my first time in the LA temple!) and, of course, balled like a baby. Cait's mom told me she had to stop looking at me because I was making her cry.

In the meantime, while I was gone, Dylan was home hunting lots. Also, Lisa and her 5 kids stayed the night on their way from Seattle to Orem and Steve and Jenny and their 3 girls spent the night on their way from Provo to Seattle. Right after I got home, Quinn stayed the night on his way to Orem to meet up with his family. Then we celebrated Christmas with Dylan's family here in La Grande. We went to Tom and Glenda's for Christmas Eve and had a nice little program. The next day we had an excellent sacrament meeting in La Grande then went to Grandma and Grandpas for Christmas lunch. The next day Will showed up! As part of his Christmas present, Mom and Dad (Harston) let Will borrow my mom's car so he could come visit us and go duck hunting with Dylan. We had fun spending a few days with him. He left Saturday and Lisa and Quinn and their kids came back Saturday night. They stayed for a night on their way back home. A few hours after they left, Kyle arrived on his way from Seattle to Rexburg. We had fun with him here too! He left early Monday morning. Since then, Dylan and I have been cleaning and getting ready for school to start on Monday! We feel like we've had a revolving door for the month of December but we sure loved seeing all the family! School is about to start and we are ready for some normal back in our schedule. We had an interesting month but very fun!

The Months Summed Up: November, Thanksgiving in Washington

Dylan and I went to Enumclaw this year for Thanksgiving! It took us a LONG time to get there! The drive is normally 5.5 hours but we were stuck in Snoqualmie for avalanche control for 3 hours! It made for a long day but it was worth it. We really enjoyed the time with my family.

Natalie was house sitting and they had a viz named Zolie! He was
such a great dog! I wanted to keep him. He loved to lay in front of the fire

Asher and Brayden playing with the animals and army men

Look at Everett's face!

Our "grateful" tree

Adding more leaves

Paul's very classy hat

"Fire! Fire!"

"Helping" Lisa make pies

Grandpa with an armful of grandkids!

Watching the Polar Express from inside the fire engine

The tree just keeps growing!

Everyone helping deboning the smoked turkey (the 3rd smoked
turkey of 4. Plus 1 regular baked turkey. It was a small Thanksgiving this year)

Okay, maybe more eating then actually saving the meat for Thanksgiving
dinner tomorrow. Apparently this is the only way we know how to "help" with the food.
This is why we need so many turkeys!

Asher reading to Grandpa. Grandpa is very attentive as you can see ;)

Dylan trying to find a quiet place to take a nap

Uncles Will and Dyl sword fighting with Paul

Guess who is winning!

Thanksgiving Dinner

So much yummy food!

Pies!

Lots and Lots of pies!

Lance the tree frog

Everett and Aunt Heather being a caterpillar 

Can't believe this boy is crawling already!

Target shooting the next morning

Dylan brought his Dad's clay pigeon shooter

"Pull!"

"Can you handle this?"

The girls all went to 5th Avenue is Seattle that night to see
Roger's and Hammerstein's Cinderella!

Love this theater

We were only 14 rows from the stage! There isn't a bad seat
in the house.....but ours was excellent!

Dad and Kayla napping the next day

Tycen builds the coolest things out of just paper and glue! He built a
castle and a knight. Everything stood on it's own!

More music!

Stone Age! A family favorite