Harry Potter 7.2 @ Midnight

I am a huge Harry Potter fan. I grew up reading the books, seeing the movies in the theater and wishing I was a wizard too. So naturally I was really excited for the last movie to come out. I had a lot going on the weekend it was coming out and wouldn't be able to go see it Friday or Saturday and knew I wouldn't be able to wait till Monday to see it. Therefore there was no other option, I had to go to the midnight show, and I couldn't go alone. So I had to bride my dear, sweet husband (who had to work the next day) with $60 from my own personal "stash." Plus I had to buy his ticket and pay for the treats with my own money as well. I know that is pretty steep. But I did it.

So we get to the theater in that is 5 blocks from our house at 11pm. They are completely sold out. I was pretty sad after all my hard work used to get Mike to go. So I used his phone to look up other theaters. I had heard there was one in Norwalk which was only 20 minutes away. I called the theater and they said they had tickets. Since I had never been there I asked for directions coming from the 95 (The main highway.) She was confused and said she couldn't get me there from the 95 but that it was right off the 5 and easy to get to. Now I was confused but I thanked her, hung up and got on the 95 hoping to use Mikes phone as a GPS. But it kept saying there were no matches found. Finally I started typing in the address letter for letter from the website when I saw Norwalk, CA. I called a theater in CALIFORNIA! No wonder the poor girl was so confused. Luckily I did find a theater that was close to the 95 and we barely got off at the right exit. That theater had tickets. We got our seats, Mike got his icee and popcorn and I was ready for the movie to start.

There was only one preview before we heard the following "Voldemort holds the elder wand and thrusts it into the sky..." We all laughed thinking it was some type of a joke. Then we all realized this was the actual movie and someone was telling us exactly what was happening. It was a movie for blind people!! I was so upset. Long story short, 1 o'clock am comes and we are in a new theater, and the movie is starting all over again. We watched the first 1/2 hour all over again (minus the "subtitles?") I LOVED the movie though. Mike slept through the whole thing. He would wake up every once in a while, give me a look of disgust and tell me to stop crying. I wanted to smack him.

I did cry a lot. Not only was it sad, moving, touching and amazingly well done for a book to movie adaptation (in my opinion) but I was sad to say goodbye. It was like a piece of me was gone and I wanted it back. I still wanted to believe in a magical world, muggles and owls that carry the post. Harry Potter it has been a great 15 years! You will forever be in my heart and on my shelf. I miss you already. xoxo

Cats and their catnip...

When we got back from Utah I decided I wanted to try and "potty train" our cats. You know like Mr. Jinx in Meet the Parents. The training kit came with a pack of cat nip. I left the kit on the bed while I went to get the bathroom ready. When I came back, this is what I found... catnip all over the bed and the cats licking it, rolling around in it and loving it. Then eventually fighting over it. I think they really liked the stuff, they were out of control for the next little while. Those cats are so sneaky, they sure know how to keep me on my toes ;-)

Farmington Festival Days Parade

On our way back to Farmington we stopped in Rexburg again to meet up with Mikes sister Becca (who lives there) and his twin Melanie and her family. They were also visiting Eric's (her husband) brother who goes to school there. We walked around campus and saw just how much has changed since the 3 years we have been gone. It was hard to even feel like it was our old school because so many things have changed. It was neat to see the progress and feel that the Spirit of Ricks was still there. We even witnessed a flash mob of the choir students singing "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." Aaron, Becca's husband, was a part of it. They sounded really good!

The day after we got back was Farmington Festival Days. They have a parade in the morning. The kids LOVED it because of all the candy they got. I on the other hand felt horrible, my sinuses were not friendly to me AND I had a cold sore. So I really struggled the rest of the day. I ended up with a sinus infection when I got home. But I'm glad all the kids had fun.

CT Family Reunion in Island Park ID 2011

One of my favorite parts of our trip out west was the 24 hours I got to spend with this cute little girls (and the rest of her family.) We had a little "CT family reunion" while we were in ID. We met the Stokes at the Johnson's family cabin in Island Park. We had an absolute blast with them. Twenty-four hours wasn't nearly enough time to catch up on all that has happened in the year since the Stokes moved.

K got to have some good bonding time with Uncle Mike and Aunt Kristin.

As well as Aunt Cynda and Uncle Ben. It is hard to believe that she has grown up so much. Last time we saw her she was barley talking and now she is potty trained, talking, and FULL of personality.

The men also enjoyed some bonding time. There was a water trampoline (jumpy) on the lake and they had a lot of fun playing 500 together. I was surprised at how well they could catch the ball while jumping on a trampoline.



The ladies enjoyed bonding in the form of gossip (well not really gossip, just filling each other in on our lives in the past year.) We also got to spend some time with Tucker. It was our first time meeting him and we feel in love. He has the brightest, bluest, most beautiful blue eyes!

Of course it would not have been a real reunion if bocce was not played numerous times.

After a while we decided to take the boat out on the lake for some tubbing.

The Stokes family went first. I was surprised how fast Ben was driving with the little ones on board but they LOVED IT!

Mike and Jared went together and they were hilarious to watch. They were screaming like little girls. They had a ton of fun though and got a lot of air on the tub.
Then Mike and I went. I was a little nervous and 100% sure than Ben was going to try to flip up and I was terrified to be stuck in the lake with who knows what lurking around my feet. I don't know what got into me but I was so scared and ended up almost in tears. It was fun but not being in control of how fast we were going really got to me. I know, I'm a baby.

We stayed up late into the night talking, laughing and reminiscing. I didn't want to go to bed. But for the record. This is what happened when we tried to go to bed. Ben and Cynda shared their room with us and we slept on an air matters on the floor. Long story short 20 minutes later Mike and I ended up on the floor in a completely defaulted air mattress. All while Ben and Cynda slept in there luxurious king size bed soundly beside us. We got a good laugh about it in the morning.





It was really hard to say goodbye to the Stokes. I still get teary thinking about it. We were really lucky that the Johnson's let us crash their family gathering for a day to spend time together. It was just like the good 'ld days when we first moved to CT. What great friends we are blessed to have. Until next year guys! xoxo!

Rexburg Reunion

While we were out west we couldn't pass up the opportunity to head up to Rexburg. On our way up we stopped at the IN-N-OUT Burger they just built in Centerville. Mike and I had a bad experience with them a year or so ago, so we wanted to give them one more chance. They won us back. It was delicious for a fast food burger, mine was gone before Mike had a second bite. :)


Once we got to Rexburg we drove around to a few of the places that we have fond memories off. So naturally my old building at The Ridge was one of our stops. Mike and I had our first kiss on valentines day right at the very top of the steps. *sigh*

For dinner we meet a few of my old roommates for dinner at Cragio's. It was fun to see them and catch up a little bit. Unfortunately, we didn't get to hang out to long. My poor friend Abby came straight from vacation to the pizza place with her family. Her kids were ready to be home so they had to leave a little earlier. But it was nice to be together for a while. I hope to one day get all of my old roommates together for a reunion.

The next morning another one of my old roommates (Steph) met me at my hotel for breakfast. It was fun to be able to catch up with her. I felt pretty lucky to see 4 of my old roommates all in 24 hours.

4th of July

This year we were in Utah for the 4th of July. We started off the day by watching a few sisters and cousins cross the finish line after running a half marathon and a 5k. We were planning on running it with them (the 5k.) But I was way to sore from my cousins personal training class, I could barley walk, let alone run.

After a nap, a great BBQ and quite a few games of pinochle we went and had a little firework show. It was fun to watch the kids get excited over the fireworks. Even funnier to see how much our 2 year old nephew LOVED them and how scared his 5 year old brother was of them.




At one point Lincoln was even crying because Ben was getting to close to the fireworks. He was so scared for him.

After the show we went to the back deck which overlooks a good portion of the valley. We could see tons of fireworks going off. A lot from people just lighting them off on their own. This year Utah made the big ones legal so everyone was lighting them off. I have to say though my favorite part of the day was after all the firework show. Heather and I sat at the piano and sang some fun broadway songs. It was a lot of fun to sing with someone who loved broadway as much as I do.