Harry Potter

Over 10 years ago I started reading the Harry Potter series with/to my youngest sister.  Every Thanksgiving when I was home from BYU the two of us would go see the latest movie.

I was once in a lecture by Orson Scott Card where he told us that we should all read Harry Potter because it will withstand the test of time.  Our children and grandchildren would be reading Harry Potter--so we might as well see what it's all about.

A "Harry" costume that James pulled together today... he says he wants a real magic wand for Christmas.

Now, I have my own children who are discovering Harry Potter.  They are obsessed with the first movie.... especially James.  He's always wanting to be Harry... especially now that we told him that Harry's middle name is James.  I am always "the girl" and he picks one of his brothers (whoever is around) to be "Weasle-y".  Of course, he's always willing to let William be Harry as well.  I can't wait until they can dive into the books themselves!

recommended reading

In the past months I have read the following two books. If you have a son you should definitely read:

And whether you are married, single, raising boys, or just want to understand the men in your life a little better let me recommend:

Happy reading!

breaking dawn

Friday night, instead of being asleep in my comfy bed (like any sane person would be), I was at Barnes and Noble with my cute sister-in-law, Lisa waiting for the release of Stephenie Meyer's newest book Breaking Dawn. There was so much going on! There was a costume contest, face painting (where you could get "bite marks" on your neck), and a trivia contest. Lisa and I thought we would do great at the trivia. Wrong. The questions were hard! So hard that, after seeing Lisa attempt, I decided to forgo the embarrassment of not knowing a single question! I was amazed that some of the kids actually knew answers!

There weren't many people dressed up which disappointed us greatly. We were hoping to gawk at some strangers dressed as Edward or Jacob or Bella. No such luck. There were plenty of people just dressed up for the heck of it though. We saw one guy walking around as a ninja chicken. Random. Here is Lisa with some of her crazy friends who dressed up--even though the costumes had nothing to do with Twilight.

And although there weren't very many costumes there were TONS of homemade t-shirts declaring either "Team Edward" or "Team Jacob". Actually, most were some form of "team Edward" shirts. Lisa and I, being bigger fans of Jacob were disappointed with the lack of support for our werewolf friend. Our favorite find of the evening was a girl that had a shirt reading "Edward Who?" (Of course I think we scared the poor thing to death with our enthusiasm.)

But let me tell you this: Despite the late hour and all the waiting...Really. I read it in just over 2 days. Just about everything ended perfectly... even though I never could have imagined the outcome.

And now that I've finished? I can get back to my normal life.

i am a MOTHER

I borrowed the most wonderful book from a friend on Tuesday night and finished it by Thursday morning. Every woman should read I Am a Mother. So so so good. Enough said.

Harry Potter

I just have to say that I love, love, love the Piedmont Public Library and its librarian, Miss Rhonda. You see, Saturday morning I raced on over and checked out my very own, never been read, brand new copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows which was sitting under the desk just for ME! It was such a nice surprise because I thought for sure my name would be half-way down the reserved list! When I arrived home with my prize Rich kissed me and said "I'll see you in a few days." Which, in all honesty, is probably true. I don't think much in the way of house work will be getting done anytime soon. It's a good thing all the laundry is done (for the time being). I'm about 200 pages into it... I can't wait to discuss with everyone once we're all done!!!

book worms

So what have I been up to lately? Let's see... reading, reading, and oh more reading. It has been rainy here nearly every day lately so William and I do a lot of reading. (The missionaries informed us tonight that it has rained 16 days in a row.) William has "read" close to 100 books since the start of the reading program (which doesn't even count the ones we've read more than once!) and I've been reading a lot myself. In fact, it's a good thing that I finished my latest because I couldn't put it down! The living conditions of my house have suffered a little as a result. For me it seems there are two kinds of books. First are the books that I can pick up casually when I get the chance... these usually take me quite a while to finish. Then there are books that, no matter how hard I try to convince myself that there are other things to be done, I just can't put them down. Twilight is one of those books. I finished the 500-ish page book in 2 1/2 days. A little crazy, I agree. I just can't help it! I get so involved with the story that I have to know what happens! It's a good thing that I won't get my hands on the sequel to this book for a week because Amy's coming to town and I need to get the house acceptable for guests. Anyway... here are the books I've read in the past month or so. I recommend them all (some more than others)--most of them fall into the children's lit category but are a good easy read.

• The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron


• The Sisters Grimm by Michael Buckley


• Cornelia and the Audacious Escapades of the Somerset Sisters by Leslie M. M. Blume


• And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie


• Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson


• Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

I have a ton more to read (my sister-in-law has a stack that she has recommended to me)... So, this should be a productive (or maybe not so productive depending on how you look at it) summer. I hope that you all get the chance to read a little something fun too!

women in the scriptures

"We are created in the image of God, male and female. I have seen God's majesty and strength in the great men I have known and studied. I have seen his purity in the guileless innocence of little children. But it has been in women that I have seen his heart."

For a few years now I have been fascinated with women in the scriptures. My sister, Amy, took a class at BYU regarding this subject and I have read much of the material she received in that class. I just finished reading Daughters of God: Scriptural Portraits by S. Michael Wilcox. He has so many great insights and I love that he gives examples of modern day Ruths, Esthers, and Sariahs, etc. He even discusses what we can learn from the more tragic stories such as Bathsheba, Michal and Potipher's wife. I highly recommend it.