two brothers

last friday night, b and i had a real live date night!! with a babysitter and everything! it rocked and i think we need to do that way more often. i was in a good mood for the rest of the weekend just because we had such a fun time.

[tangent: another recent revelation of having a 14-month-old is WE NEED DATE NIGHTS. we've been dragging jack along to movies, restaurants, museums, etc ever since he was born -- but holy cow, now that he's more mobile and more opinionated, it's so much more work. i still like to bring him places with us, but when we do both b and i are so focused on / distracted by jack that we hardly ever talk about anything else. now i know why parents say non-kiddo date nights are a must.]

we had dinner at lot no. 3, a swanky comfort food restaurant in downtown bellevue [i had a gruyere & carmelized onion grilled cheese, b had chicken & waffles -- yum!] and then we drove to seattle to attend a private screening of a new documentary, two brothers.

two brothers is part of the 5000 days project, a compilation of yearly interviews with hundreds of kids over the past 10 years. the director, rick stevenson, hosted a small group of us in his gorgeous sound-front home as a sneak preview and i loved hearing about his experiences in filming. mr. stevenson focused on these two mormon brothers -- luke and sam -- for this film, which debuts on BYU-TV this sunday at 4 p.m. MST right after general conference.

i LOVED this film! it is so touching to see the lives of these two boys unfold -- the bulk of the movie is about sam's mormon mission in chile [during which they had that huge earthquake] and luke's pursuit of getting a spot on BYU's football team. it's not technically a "mormon" movie -- the director isn't even mormon -- but more of a documentary of the lives of two boys who happen to be mormon. such great messages about faith and commitment and family. i seriously loved it.

in particular, all the footage from sam's mission was especially touching. mr. stevenson got permission to film sam IN the missionary training center (a big deal, since that place is typically locked down better than fort knox) and on his mission in chile. there are interviews with his companions, his mission president, families he taught. sam even kept a video diary. all of this combined creates such a unique, personal look at his mission, something i don't think we've ever been able to see on film beyond a corny "called to serve" music video if you know what i'm sayin'. i think EVERY person who's served a mission for the mormon church would love to have their work documented in this way, or at least will be able to relate to sam.

here's a peek at the trailer:

i TOTALLY recommend setting your dvr to record this film on sunday -- or you can watch it online here.

two brothers

BYU-TV

sunday, october 2

4 p.m. MST