Movies Watched This Weekend

Over the weekend, I watched five movies. Two were picked by Angie and three were picked by Deb.

The first one we watched was the Disney Classic Cinderella. It has been years since I have seen this movie. Angie loves this movie. For Christmas, she got a princess dress-up kit that she has to wear while watching the movie. This movie is very clever and stands up through time. The way the mice are portrayed are very entertaining. Being a classic, I gave it 9 out of 10 stars on IMDb.

The second movie was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Angie doesn't like this as much as she does Cinderella. In fact, having sit through it all for the first time in a long, long time, I was surprised at how dark the movie is. The evil queen who turns into an old woman has some very dark scenes and then the demise of the queen is also morbid with buzzards circling above her after her demise. All in all, though, it is still a classic and on IMDb, I gave it 9 out of 10 stars.

Mom had given us a copy of 9 to 5 months ago and we finally got around to seeing it. I have seen it several times, but Deb had never seen it. It is a very entertaining movie, however, the one scene of doing drugs is a big downer for the movie. It really relays a very wrong message about drugs (and totally unrealistic). Aside from that, it is a fun movie. On IMDb I gave it a 5 out of 10 stars rating. The drug scene dragged the rating down by several stars.

While waiting for Lilli's bedding to dry, we watched Dreamgirls. It was a little different from what I expected. I found it very interesting how the musical numbers were used. In many scenes, the musical numbers started out as a performance on stage but then segued into the story-telling part of the movies. At first, it was a little confusing, but by the end I saw how clever it was. The performances of all the actors were strong and I felt attached to the story. I was impressed with it. I rated it 7 out of 10 on IMDb.

The last movie we watched was Pretty Woman. The most entertaining part of this movie was not the movie but watching Deb watch the movie. She LOVES this movie. She has it memorized. Despite the adult theme and some unnecessary "love" scenes, this movie really feels like a fairy tale. I think that is why Deb loves it so much. The adult nature of the movie brings the rating down to 7 out of 10 stars on IMDb.

Illness Ravages Gambles Household, Part Deux

Just as we thought all was getting back to normal, sickness struck our home with a vengence! Right after Deb returned from the library, she got sick a threw up. So, she slept most of the time. Meanwhile, Lilli was moping around and very tired. At about 8 p.m., I put Lilli to bed. At about 10 p.m., Lilli started to cry. I walked in with the lights out just to settle her down and get her back to sleep. While she was standing in her crib, I noticed something dark on her head. In the darkness, I thought it was blood so I quickly turned on the light. It wasn't blood--it was chocolate. Lilli and Angie and eaten some M&Ms prior to Lilly going to bed. Chocolate puke was everywhere in Lilli's crib. She had it all over her, her bear, her blankets, her crib bumper pad, and, of course, her sheets. I grabbed Lilli and undressed her and bathed her while Deb--still nauseated--started to scrub the quilt given to Lilli by her birth grandmother. Let me tell you, chocolate puke almost made me not want chocolate any more! So, while we washed and dried Lilli's bedding, we laid her on our bed to sleep. When we finally got the bedding cleaned and back on her bed (we had watched Dreamgirls while waiting), we got Lilli out of our bed. Well--she had an attack of diarrhea and pooed all over herself and our bedding! Back into the tub went Lilli (this time at about 2:30 a.m.) and we stripped our bed of the bedding. After we got Lilli cleaned up and into her bed, I went to get Angie who had fallen asleep on the floor in the front room. When I picked her up, she was wet. She had peed! So, off her clothes went and into the tub to clean her up. By the time we had bedding cleaned and children washed, it was 6 a.m. We basically had been up all night taking care of the kids. It was Sunday morning and Stake Conference was at 10 a.m. I told Deb I was going to bed and not worry about Stake Conference since I would sleep through it anyway. So, just as I started to doze off asleep, Lilli started to cry. I went into her bed to see what was wrong, and she was wide-eyed and bushy tailed--ready to go for the day. I grabbed her and put her in bed with Deb and me. I then fell asleep until about 10:30 a.m. It was a very, very fun night! I love parenthood!

Illness Ravages Gambles Household

A stomach virus hit the Gambles household in Downey. It started with Lilli when she threw up several times. Then Angie got sick and lastly Ted came down with the bug. So far (knock on wood), Deb has avoided it. As usual, Ted was a big trooper and did no complaining and was out of his sick bed helping Deb with the kids!

Stuart Little Video Review

On Sunday, our family decided to watch a video. Angie picked it out, so we watched Stuart Little. Even though Deb and I have seen it before, we decided to watch it together as a family. For a synopsis of the movie, click on the blog title to go to the IMDB web site.

The movie was entertaining. I had forgotten how much fun this movie was. It was cleverly written and even quite entertaining for Deb and me. Angie and Lilli both enjoyed it. The best line in the movie is: "Talk to the butt." The cat is saying this to Stuart Little as the cat is walking away. I rated the movie 7 out of 10 stars on IMDB.

Grandma Gilbert Rememberances

In Sunday School, Rick Armstrong, our Gospel Doctrine teacher, was discussing the importance of writing down our personal histories and the consistent use of a journal. He asked class members to share stories about ancestors and their written histories. Several mentioned about histories and journals written by their grandparents and how it brought them closer to them. While in this discussion, I reflected on how I came across Grandma Gilbert's diary. A big majority of the entries were just one or two word entries with most of them being "sewed." While going through the diary, I noticed that Grandma started the diary just prior to World War II. I then eagerly turned to Dec. 7 to see what she had written for that day since Uncle Keith was stationed at Pearl Harbor. Nothing was written. I looked for several weeks beyond that date to see if she had written anything about the day and her feelings. Again, nothing was there. It was a little disappointing. I sure wish she had written something.

However, some years prior to her death, our conversation turned to the attack on Pearl Harbor by the "Japs"--she always referred to the Japanese as "Japs" throughout our conversation. I asked if she was scared for Uncle Keith's life. Of course, she said she was. She said she was very nervous and upset. That evening, she had a neighbor call and asked if she would babysit for them. She said the name of her neighbor, but I cannot recall it. The neighbor had to be somewhere and needed a sitter. Grandma said she thought it would help her get her mind off of the attack so she said she would do it. She went to her neighbor's place, but her neighbor never left the house. She stayed with Grandma and talked to her and kept her busy so that she would not worry so much.

I asked her how she found out that Uncle Keith was OK. She said she got a letter a few weeks later and it was a big relief. However, the censors had cut out a lot of his letter so she said that really disappointed her. She also said that after a few weeks, she realized that if Uncle Keith had been killed, she probably would have known it by then, but still she worried for him.

After her passing, I had wished that I had written everything down that she had told me. Better yet, I wish I had a tape recorder to record the conversation. It was a special bonding moment for me, much like I imagine those who read the words of their passed ancestors bond to them.

Angie's Dance Competition

Angie competed at Malad High School in the first dance competition of the year. She did wonderful. Her mother and father were extremely proud of her and the great job she did while dancing. Jackie and Grandma Don were also in attendance and they too were pleased with Angie's performance.

I think Angie is starting to understand what performing in front of an audience is really like. She had to go potty several times before her big performance. I think it was a little bit of nerves.

Randy Pausch

I have recently been introduced by the media to Randy Pausch. He is a professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He has pancreatic cancer. As a tradition at CMU, a profressor is asked to give "the last lecture." It is a lecture that a professor were to give if it was the last one. For Dr. Pausch, it really was his last one since just prior to giving the lecture the doctors had told him his illness was terminal. Since he was "outed" by the Wall Street Journal, he has been on Oprah, ABC's PrimeTime, and featured in many magazines and journals. His story is powerful and moving--an inspiration to all. The video below is a synopsis of his lecture from the Wall Street Journal.

Parade Magazine published an article written by Dr. Pausch. The entire "Last Lecture" can be seen on their web site or on YouTube. Dr. Pausch was also asked to give a lecture on time management at the University of Virginia. It is also available on YouTube. A book, The Last Lecture, has been written and released. ABC did a special on Dr. Pausch on April 10, 2008.