Movie Review: I Wanna Dance With Somebody

 Allison and I snuck in 1 last movie of 2022 a few days after Christmas. We are both suckers for biopic films and were excited to see this one about Whitney Houston.

Plot: A joyous, emotional, heartbreaking celebration of the life and music of Whitney Houston, one of the greatest female R&B pop vocalists of all time, tracking her journey from obscurity to musical superstardom.

Review: 'Heartbreaking' was the exact way to describe this! Allison and I both enjoyed it so much and obviously knew it didn't have a happy ending, but to see the way it all played out...ugh...so, so, so sad! I teared up several times. The acting was strong, hearing all her songs again was so nostalgic, too. My only complaint {and this is nit-picky} was the last scene - they cover a 10 minute performance Whitney Houston did in 1994, but it was the actress 'singing' - Allison and I both found that weird and thought for a 2.5 hour movie they should have actually showed the recording of that performance. Overall, though, it was a great movie!

That's a Wrap: Christmas 2022

We had a great Christmas 2022! I'm sad - and a little bit in disbelief - that it's all over! I go HARD for Christmas, and it never feels long enough. But I know that's part of what makes it so magical, that it's such a small window of time. We have a lot to pack in, and we did our best to make the most of our time.

The kids got out of school the afternoon of December 16 {the day I had Lasik} and Paige's party was December 17! So we definitely started our break off with a BANG. In our first few days off, we played with friends, made bath bombs {one of Paige's birthday presents}, celebrated Paige officially turning 6, went shopping in Salado with Nana, and went to look at Christmas lights in a town about 45 minutes away, also with Nana. 

Christmas Eve we went to my parents' house to open presents with my parents and my sister's family. We stayed until almost midnight! It was hard to leave because everyone was having a blast together.

Babs and Pops and #theSwopesix

Patnode clan

The Gurleys

The OG Swope 4

Cousins opening their gifts

Drew has wanted LED lights for her room - she was so excited!

Our annual Christmas wreaths picture

Babs hit a homerun with this Manga hoodie!

Christmas morning, we opened presents here. Then I wanted to go back to my parents' and the kids all wanted to come too, so we got more time with the Swope family, yay!

Santa got Paige an Instant Camera

Drew got a Cricut Joy - very excited to get her craft on!

And AirPods for the teen!

Lots of koalas for Paige, including a new Kate 

{her FAVE stuffed animal that got left in Hawaii}

She was so excited to get a bunch of fidgets, ha

Not sure where this came from but Trent asked for some Star Wars Lego sets!

Our matching pjs pic - what stands out to me is NO GLASSES!!

Already building!

We had to get new Baby Blues books!

He asked me to help him build, swoon!

We got back from my parents in the midafternoon and got ready to go to Brent's parents' house for dinner with his brother's family. I didn't take very many pictures, but we stayed there until midnight visiting. Paige's meltdown over macaroni prompted us to go home!

5/6 Gurley grands

All the Gurley grands! Branden came!

Trent was pictured out ha!

The kids all slept in on 12/26 - no one was awake before 10:45 AM! We had a great time but were WORN OUT!