July Holidays

July is the fun month. It was nice to spend time with family and friends over the holidays. We took it easy this year and didn't do too much but it was enjoyable none the less. On the 24th we spent the evening with Brett's family and lit fireworks that Jeremy and Brittany were kind enough to buy. Brett was a pyro, and kept lighting the dead grass in the gutter on fire... I can just see him lighting that field on fire when he was 8.... and I kept dueling with my "wand" (sparkler) with people until I realized I was the only Harry Potter fan at that get together. It was a good night.

On the 4th of July we spent the night with my family at a lake and had a picnic. It was cold for July and we didn't see any fireworks that night. We walked around the lake and spent time together. We missed Corey's family as well as Maire's and Cam's. It was really half the family but that's how life gets as you get older. The fact that I'm getting older is weird. I'll be 25 in October and I'm scared, but it's better than the alternative. Death. So bring it on, Age.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Sad News That The Movies Are Done

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

I am so sad the movies are done, I'm even more sad the novels are done although they've been done for awhile... I love Harry Potter so much. They are by far my favorite books of all time. I know, I'm a nerd but I don't care because if you don't read them you are the one missing out on the goodness, not me.

So, the last installment of the last move, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, came out and of course I got tickets to the midnight show. My friend, Laura Hales, loves Harry as much as I do so there really wasn't a better person to see the movie with, to carry on the tradition...like how we saw the last one together....

We got tickets to the 3D movie at 12:10 AM and our glasses weren't just dumb glasses, the were shaped like Harry's glasses!!!!! I was like, "WHAT?!!!" Very cool, or stupid depending on who you are.

I met Laura at her house around 8:30 to begin the festivities. I brought pumpkin pasties, those pumpkin desserts I was so excited about, well they weren't good. I ended up just eating the pumpkin filling for the next week. The desert wasn't near as good as pumpkin pie, and it just proves why the early American settlers left England, and aren't we glad!? Anywhooo, I brought wand making materials and butterbeer ingredients as well as my Gryfindor scarf.

Laura gave me a Harry Potter themed shirt and a couple collectible Harry Potter bookmarks! So that was exciting for me. We made Harry Potter cookies, and we tried to mold his face with cookie dough, it looked ok in the the pre-baked version, not so good in the baked version. His face morphed into some monkey face mixed with a human resemblance. The cookies sure tasted delicious though! The butterbeer on the other hand was the nastiest thing ever. It calls for creme soda, butter, and butterscotch syrup. You heat the butter and butterscotch and add it to the creme soda, and once you do that the smell is over powering and I couldn't handle more than a few sips. We drank it out of Laura graduation mug from her year teaching at Weber High School to get the feel of a real beer mug.

The wand making was so fun, we were really short on time by then and had to rush but i could have made a lot more just for the fun of it. I wish I had made them from the first movie, but that's ok. I went with the way I envisioned a real wand to be, made of wood and brownish. Laura went with brighter colors and more of a "magic" feel. I think they both turned out pretty good, if I must say so myself. oh we also dipped gummy worms in white chocolate because the store didn't have any gummy frogs. They were good but a little too chocolaty.. we should have tested some of these recipes beforehand. We had so much fun though, I was so excited all night and couldn't wait for the actual movie to start.

The movie was at the Junction and we drove separately there so I could just go straight home afterwards. As I was walking into the theatre I was alone and had my scarf and wand in hand, so someone yelled out their window at me and called me, Hermione. I took it as a compliment even though they were making fun of me. There were so many costumes and wands at the movie. The excitement was in the air for everyone! The movie in 3D was awesome, they really made it for a 3D experience. Of course there were parts that did not go exactly along with the books, but that's how movies go. I felt overall it was done well. It was rushed  and some extremely intense parts in the book were dumbed down for the movie, also they had to explain things from the book that a real fan doesn't need explained. Also, at the most intense part of the whole series (the most emotional part that I was looking forward to and made me cry so hard in the book) some idiot decided he wanted to chomp on popcorn. That idiot was right next to me and I was about to knock the bucket out of his hands. All I could hear was "chomp" and his fat fingers shuffling around in the popcorn bucket. He wasn't hungry before, he wasn't hungry right after the scene,so WHY, WHY did have have to ruin that moment for me? To me, the opening midnight show is for fans, true fans that live and love Harry Potter, and not for people who get hungry in the middle of a quiet, intense moment. The movies/books are not just books or a cool story, it's a movement. It's a religion. SO THANKS A LOT FOR RUINING MY MOMENT, POPCORN CHOMPER! But other than, that I really enjoyed it!

Our wands, LUMOS! Mine is on the right, Laura's is on the left.

We joined the fight with our best friend, Hermione Granger.

Chocolate covered "frogs."

Harry's pre-cooked face.

Bottoms up!

Laura pouring her butterbeer! Notice her awesome Harry Potter themed t-shirt.



Harry Potter, Harry Potter, Harry Potter!

If you love Harry Potter, as I do, then you know the last movie is out tonight. I just painted golden snitches on my nails and I made pumpkin pasties (no, not the kind you think) last night. It's a British dessert, like  a mini pumpkin pie, and they didn't turn out that great unfortunately. I was just eating the pumpkin filling and that was better than the finished product. I have also been researching the best wands and how to make them and the best butterbeer recipes. Laura and I are having a HUGE party, well it's just the 2 of us, but it's because nobody else loves Harry Potter enough to have a pre-movie party, and then go to the midnight show; it's a shame really. So it's just us, and we'll eat chocolate covered frogs, drink butterbeer (also not what you think,) and make wands until we are ready to burst. I also will be wearing my Harry Potter attire. I'm as excited as a house elf who was given a sock!

Summer Vacation

Baltimore, Philly and DC

Brett and I flew to Baltimore last week to visit my brother, Corey, and his family. Corey goes to Johns Hopkins for Biomedical Engineering and moved out there about a year ago. It was so much fun to see where they live and all the historical sites back east. The first night we got there we went to Inner Harbor where the Star Spangled Banner was written. We ate outside and went on the dragon paddle boats because Conner wanted to ride on it so bad. Conner is the cutest kid, he is so happy and funny. He always says, "yep!" Apparently he got that from Corey. They have a really cute row home, we stayed in their basement which saved us a lot of money and it was more comfortable than some hotel anyway.

The paddle boat at Inner Harbor.

Inside a Barnes and  Noble that used to  be a power plant, the smoke stacks are still inside.

Corey had to work a few of the days so Brett and I went to Philadelphia one day on our own. There are a bunch of things to see, all within walking distance. The city had a weird smell, and it was so hot there. We saw the Liberty Bell, a Constitution museum that was a complete rip off by the way. There was a church that George Washington and Ben Franklin attended, the church is still a functioning church too. On Elfreth's Alley you can see the oldest residential street in the country that people still live on. The homes are very narrow, and very expensive to live on. It was so crazy to imagine living in a home that was there since before the Revolutionary War.

The Liberty Bell

Brett is sitting on the same pew, George Washington sat. Here he is singing a hymn and trying to be George Washington, I think he needs to white wig to really pull it off.

Here I am trying to be Georgie as well.

Well, I'm pleased to meet you, Mr. Bronze Statue. This was the museum that was a waste of money, so I tried to make the best of of.

Elfreth's Alley. The homes are very cute and very tiny, they've been updated and added onto but they are the original homes that were here in the 1700's.

Betsy Ross' home.

Corey, Conner and Becca at lunch. We went to market and brought food back to Corey's school.

The market we went to. There are tons of indoor food courts all over the place in Baltimore. It was an experience for sure!

Mount Vernon was a really cool place. It is George Washington's home and it is huge. This guy had tons of money apparently because the property was so large. It's right on the Potomac River, it had beautiful views and the forest was his back yard. We weren't supposed to take pictures inside the mansion but I did anyway, but they didn't turn out well at all. We walked around for a really long time but it was very informative. I learned a lot. He had tons of slaves, and treated them "fairly" according to some, but I found all the slavery to be so sad. There is such a reminder of it back east, I almost forget how bad it was when I'm in Utah. There aren't any slave houses here, but there are everywhere back there. It was funny when we were looking at George Washington's grave because we didn't realize there was a line to see it and we walked right up to it, took pictures and were there a few minutes before we turned around and saw the huge line we cut in front of ha ha! We went on an hour hunt for the slave house too. I really wanted to see it, and we kept taking the wrong turns, so it was an amusing experience!

View of the river behind Mt. Vernon.

In front of the mansion.

We went to see Brett's brother, Justin and his family on night. On the way there we went to see the Amish in Intercourse (ha ha) Penn. There were the funniest town names there. We ate the best ice cream ever at the Amish town, it tasted like Heaven. I think it was even better than Farr's to be honest, that's a big accomplishment. And I ate a whoopie pie, pumpkin flavored. I think my tongue went to heaven when I ate that thing. I looked like a pig, but I don't care, it was delicious!!!!!! We had hamburgers and played outside with Justin's family. The kids are getting so big! Miles wanted to keep washing his hands and making us all laugh! It was good to see them, we wish we had spent more time with them though.

In front of Justin and Amber's house with Kade, Kenley, Marcus and Miles.

In the Amish town!

At Ritas, it's a custard and icey type thing. It's so good, we had it two nights there.

Conner just loved Brett, he wanted him to push his stroller, to hold him, get him in and out of the car seat and everything. Here they are playing on the steps, they were there for a long time just talking it was so cute. My favorite was was Conner loved me and wanted me to read to him and he'd point to every picture and say "What's that one?" He's a curious boy just like his father! Corey and Conner are so similar it just makes me laugh.

So Corey is a genius scientist but he also is making a joke book. He has started to draw some of his jokes and he read a bunch to us and had them rate them on it's funny factor. His drawings were hilarious and added to the jokes a lot. He had a joke about everything, you should all ask him some of them! We went to his lab as well, and we saw breast cancer cells and monkey kidney cells under a microscope, and watched him feed his cells. I knew he was a scientist and all but to see his lab was really weird. I don't even know what anything in there does, and here he was feeding his cells ha ha!

Here are the two buddies chatting away :)

Washington DC was awesome. We saw all the monuments, a bunch of museums and my feet were killing me by the end! We saw more art museums than we did of the other ones, and they were the ones with the least amount of people, which is sad. I saw some amazing art and bought a few art books as my souvenir for the trip. We also went to the Baltimore Museum of Art earlier in the week and that museum was free too! I love free art! Corey showed us all the sites and we had lunch on the lawn that Becca was night and made for us. Luckily it wasn't too hot that day, I was sick of sweating so I didn't complain that it was cool. It was packed with tourists though, Corey said it was the busiest he'd ever seen it. The line to see the Constitution was 2 hours long so we had to skip it. I felt that the Vietnam Memorial made the biggest impact on me compared to the other memorials. It really is an amazing memorial.

Outside the train station in DC.

Where's Obama?

A real crystal ball.... I'm seeing into the future and I see a giant hammie.

The Lincoln Memorial was pretty cool as well. It was a big reminder of what he did for the country.

On Sunday we went to Loch Raven which is a really pretty lake surrounded by forest. Conner was wearing his dinosaur hat that was so cute. It felt like we were in the mountains, even though it's not. I didn't realize that Utah really is a desert. I mean, I know it is, but when I saw how many trees Baltimore had I couldn't believe it, they're everywhere. You can't tell where you are in relation to other places, or what direction you're facing. Everyone talks about the amazing sky in Utah and I forgot how other places you look up and see a piece of sky but here we can look from one end of the valley to the other which really is pretty. It was hard to say goodbye, we had so much fun and miss Corey, Becca and Conner!!

Baby Vonny! It's a boy!

So I am a mother once again to an adorable baby hammie named Vonny. He is 2 inches long and about .2 ounces. He isn't as calm as Hoppy was and he doesn't really sleep in my hand, but he is sweet and I love him. I named him Vonny because my grandma's name was Yvonne but my  baby is a boy so I had to change it up a bit. Check out some pictures!

Peeps and Massages Make Life So Nice

Easter is so fun! Brett and I colored eggs with Brittnie and Matt, well really Britt and I colored eggs while they just watched the NBA finals. I made the cutest egg I've ever made, I drew a Peep on the egg! On Saturday we went to my family's for our annual Easter egg hunt and Marie won the jackpot eggs, both of them. She hauled it in, and I got the worst haul ever, but it all evens out from year to year. Laugh all you want, but I love our egg hunt. All my siblings and the spouses, and now my nieces are running around like idiots, pushing each other over and clawing each other to get the eggs, the precious money eggs. There is always a jackpot egg or two with about $20 bucks in them and Marie found them both, and her husband only found 2 eggs, each with a dollar in it. I thought that was funny. My nieces are 3 so they aren't pushing or anything since their eggs are just on the ground for them to pick up. The eggs are hidden really well, some are buried and you have to just guess where they are. Some are under rocks, in pine trees, weird places. One year the jackpot egg was in the back of the toilet, the tank area wrapped in a plastic bag. But the challenge is what makes it fun. Also I have eaten enough Peeps to turn me into one. I am shocked with how many people actually don't like Peeps!  I don't understand how you would not like a delicious marshmallow treat, it boggles my mind! Even Vanessa said, "I don't like Peeps." What child doesn't like Peeps?? Well apparently my adorable niece doesn't like them.

The money from the egg hunt was even better when it paid for the best massage of my life yesterday. I treated myself to a massage to celebrate the end of the semester and my hard work. I may have made that excuse up but me no care. I was in heaven. Let me just tell you how wonderful this was, so I went to Beyond Spa in Layton where the 60 min. massage is only $39, yes just $39 with no membership required-take that Massage Envy! Anyway Amy was my massage therapist and she had hands of wonder. She worked out about 50 knots in my shoulders and back, the most were on my right side, probably because I'm right handed. But it hurt so good. It hurt but it feels so good at the same time. But I walked out of there feeling so relaxed I felt like I was half asleep. Anyway I will be going back shortly, well I hope to at least.

The best egg ever colored, it's hanging out with some sexy "chicks."

Brett and I coloring our eggs at our place. Ahhh how cute.

Brittnie and I, she is so festive I just love it! We like holiday parties obviously.

Matt, Brett and Britt.

A Good Night

Friday night was a good night for me, I received a $1500 departmental scholarship for next year! My parents came up and Brett of course was there. It was announced during the BFA Thesis show and Holly got one too, so we were hyper and just had a good night. I showed my parents my artwork I've been working on and then we went to Javier's to celebrate. My mom took a lot of pictures and my dad videoed Holly and I dancing like little idiots because that is what we are. It was fun though, so I felt good. I have 3 semesters left of school. I will have my BFA next semester then I'll just have the education certification to complete, I can't believe it.

Congratulations Brett!!!!

Brett interviewed for the airport manager position with Enterprise. He interviewed Friday and was told yesterday that he received the position!  Brett has improved the numbers at the Layton branch where he is now, by huge amounts, the highest they have been in about 6 years. The interviewer, the area manager of the airports, said that Brett did very well in the interview and was very impressed with him and how he has impacted the branches and employees of where he has managed. So it was a pretty big deal to get the airport position so early in his career with Enterprise because it's one the hardest manager spot to obtain. He was surprised to get it, even though I knew he would lol. I am proud of him.

Lady GAGA!!!!!!

So I went to Lady Gaga on Saturday night with my friend, Brittnie Gallegos, and had so much fun! We went to California Pizza Kitchen at the Gateway then went over to concert. There were so many funny people dressed up like Gaga, and some who just looked crazy. When the show finally started (we had to wait an hour between the opening act and the main show) I was so excited, I was screaming and jumping around and my adrenaline was pumping! It was so exciting to see her and hear her. She puts on a good performance and she can really sing. She is just as crazy as I expected and she definitely likes herself a lot. She would just talk to the audience and say the most random things, it was funny. Britt and I both lost our voices and I felt like I was deaf afterwards. Mother monster was great! And we little monsters loved it! PUT YOUR PAWS UP!!! All we little monsters put our paws up and scream and it was awesome! I kept saying "put your paws up!" all Sunday and I taught Nessa to say it haha! There were a few things that bothered me about the show, she was pretty sacrilegious at some points, and I hated that. But other than that it was a good show. She knows how to perform and she really can sing!

Mother Monster!

Bad Romance!

I took this upside down so I could reach the camera but I can't get it to flip around! This is me and Brittnie!

An example of the weirdos at the show, this guy was old and dressed up like Michael Jackson and he was by himself! We kept running into him. There were the funniest outfits there!

Kidney Stones, Ouch!!!

Brett has a kidney stone. Ouch. I guess it seems to run in his family because his mom, and two sisters have had them all pretty recently too. He said it felt like someone punched him in the kidney and then the worst pain hit and he couldn't stand up. It kept coming in waves but most of the time it's just been aching really bad. So that sucks! I feel bad for him, hopefully it passes soon. It has kept him up a few nights but he is able to function and go to work at least :) Well Spring break is coming up this week but I will still be painting most of the time so it won't be too much of a break but at least I don't have class right!? I don't have any other stories to tell, so talk to you later!

Birthday Dinners Galore!

To celebrate Brett's birthday with his family, we had everyone come over for pizza and icecream on Saturday night. It was a nice relaxing night. It snowed that  night so I felt bad that they all had to drive home in it.

Sunday my parents had a huge birthday dinner for Brett, my grandpa Bishop (who is exactly 50 years older than Brett,) Carly, Petra and Brittney. We also had to sing to each of them individually! It was a fun weekend though! So happy birthday everyone!