No News Is… No News.

Those who know me already know that I am not an introvert. I enjoy going everywhere and getting to know new people. I like having new experiences every day. If you saw my family calendar you’d understand. At one point we lived near our cousins. They are much more homebodies than we are. They’d watch us go in and out of the driveway everyday feeling exhausted with the thought of such a busy life. That’s pretty typical for us. I intentionally fill my days with people, places, and adventures. If I’m home doing the “same old, same old” for more than two days in a row be assured that I will not be home on day three. That’s just how I am. It’s the same with meeting people. I love making new friends. If a month goes by without new experiences, I begin to feel the need to move. Like… new home kind of move. I can’t stand it! I feel stagnant, like swamp perfectly ready for a mosquito infestation. Not that I don’t love the stability and friends that I have made. I just feel like I’m not growing as a person. So the fact that Ben keeps me on my toes every single day is actually a great thing. My life, due in large part to my actor hubby, is wild. Crazy even. And I love it!

I’ve never been able to blend into a crowd all that well as a youth and that trend has continued into adulthood. I probably have some sort of second child psychological need to seek attention from everyone. Or it might just be how I came into the world. My mother can attest to the fact that when I was a cute one-year old my favorite word was “mira” which is Spanish for “look!” There’s a frequently told family story of little one-year old me. I was sitting on my mom’s lap watching the Shamu show at Sea World when suddenly I turned to the lady next to me, grabbed her face in my hands, turned her to face me in the eyes, and yelled “Mirame!” Apparently I had been trying to get her attention for some time. She did not appreciate it. So you see… I’ve always been a bit of an attention seeker.

Of course when people get to know me they find out about my fun, albeit unorthodox, life. Often I draw lots of attention because of it. To be fair though… I could just say nothing. When they ask what’s new I could just not say anything about meeting Zachary Levi and dressing up as a Musketeer from BBC’s tv show at FanX in Salt Lake. I could skip the detail about going hiking with my kids up to Timpanogos Cave and losing two pounds while I was at it. I could totally just gloss over the fact that my hubby is out of town for work but not mention that he’s filming in his first motion picture with speaking lines. I mean… I could do that. But… I’d be lying. I would be shutting down connection with other people. So… I open up about my life. I intentionally let people in. And I’ve found that by doing so, they open up to me and I get to know them in return.

The fallout of talking about my life is that people think that Ben is a made up person. No joke. Everything I say sounds so ridiculous that I would hardly believe it myself. And what’s more, certain friend groups are likely not to meet him any time soon due to his availability. In fact, my neighbor… MY NEIGHBOR… finally met Ben after living here for two years and the first words out of her mouth were, “Oh good! You exist!” Wait, what? You questioned that?! How many more people in my life think I’m a psycho?!

It doesn’t help that I keep talking about a movie that is obviously not yet in theatres. Belated spoiler alert. The thing that I didn’t realize and I’m coming to learn is that these things take SO MUCH TIME! There’s a business plan. There are meetings galore and connections, and networking, and all the things. It’s all forward moving. Progress has not stalled. The updated timeline is for a movie next year. I know I said that last year. Sigh. If you’re annoyed and frustrated by that, imagine how I feel. This movie based on the novel “The Paper Bag Christmas” will bless many lives including ours. As a family we got to meet the author Kevin Milne, his lovely wife, and some of his family. They are all amazing people.

We believe that our first movie will propel the career forward. Hopefully the next movie will be easier because we figured out the formula. I imagine though, that every movie will be a fight and a claw and a drive to make. We’ll find out together.

I don’t always get to share info with you all in a timely manner… or even at all sometimes. Be assured that we’re working hard to get where we want to be. If you know any investors wanting to invest big bucks please send them our way. We do feel like we’re getting closer. But meanwhile, thanks for following us on this crazy, truly unbelievable journey.