Our New Home

Samuel and I moved in to our new place on Tuesday. We really like it so far and if we continue to like it we will probably be here for the rest of our time here. The apartment was already furnished except for the bed so that was really nice. The furniture and design is more old fashioned but it is cute and homey so I like it. I took some pictures for those who want to see them:

It is a house that has been turned in to a couple apartments so it is pretty neat. There is a big lawn out front which we like too.

The entry way

Our apartment is up the stairs

The couch and coffee table in the family room

Samuel's Chile wall and the entertainment center



The bookshelf and the tiny kitchen

The kitchen is really small but there is a lot of storage with all the cabinets so that is nice.

The bedroom

The bed with the nice quilt that Samuel's mom made and the dresser

Bed, desk, and bathroom... the bathroom is pretty big with lots of storage

Samuel's favorite part of the apartment is the bench by the window with secret storage under the cushion. He wanted to be the one to organize that because it made him feel like a spy. We also have His and Her's closets... I bet you can guess which is Samuel's.


The second bookshelf(which we already had) and the printer


Well that's all! It feels like home already and we think we will like it!

I Met the Man

I finally met the man who has been the inspiration for a lot of my blog posts...

Richard Paul Evans!

Anyone who has been reading my blog posts in the last while knows that I have read a lot of his books, I use a lot of quotes from his books, and reading his books usually puts me in an inspirational and contemplative mood which often leads to a blog post. For anyone who does not know, Richard Paul Evans is the author of over 20 best-selling novels including his first and probably most famous book The Christmas Box. I have read all but three of his books. So when I found out that he was coming to the Provo Library I made plans to be there. The event was to celebrate his new book that came out last week. This book is the first in a new series and really different from his other novels. It is a Young Adult adventure novel whereas his other books have been inspirational stories geared more towards adults. This is a picture of the book:

It is definitely still created to be inspirational though. I got to the library early and was able to get a front row seat. It was really cool to see Evans in person and to hear him talk about his new book. He talked for about an hour and I always love hearing about the creation and process of his books because it is unlike any other author I have heard. He is an LDS author but his books are not LDS, although he does usually have some mention of God and general religion in his stories. And as he was talking about all the amazing things that happened and fell in to place he made it clear that he knew there was a higher power guiding him along the way. It was pretty amazing to hear his stories of things that definitely fell in to place too perfectly to be coincidence. He also shared a little more of the religious symbolism and things that he had put in to the book since we were a mostly LDS audience.

It was also really inspiring to hear about the difference that his book has already made for people who were advance readers and people who had already finished it. The main character in the book is a boy with Tourettes Syndrome (which Evans and his son both have) and so he wanted to give a voice to that since a lot of people don't really understand what it is and also empower the boy who had been picked on a lot by kids at school just as Evans, his son, and many other people with Tourettes have been. Evans has gotten a lot of response from such kids that told him that for the first time they felt special for who they were. So that was really cool to hear about.

After listening to him I waited in line to meet him and get my book signed


I am excited to start the book as soon as I finish the book I am in the middle of now!

Birthday Wishes

Today is my Dad's birthday and I wanted to dedicate a blog post to him, showing some of the many things I love about him...

He has never lost his child like excitement for life


He is always up for an adventure and often turns otherwise average occurrences into adventures



He loves my mom a lot


He is one of the happiest people I know


He makes being a nerd cool



He has an eye for the wonders all around him



He is always a good sport



He supports his kids in all that they do



He makes everything more fun


He tells me that I will always be his pretty, precious, princess



I love you Dad!! Happy Birthday!!

Tribute to Harry Potter Saga

I had wanted to write this blog post earlier, right after I saw the last Harry Potter movie, but I didn't get a chance. In the days before the last movie came out I was thinking a lot about the last decade of Harry Potter: when I first started reading Harry Potter and got hooked...how many years the saga has spanned ...the fans of all ages who love Harry Potter ...the times I have reread Harry Potter and been amazed at how thought out it all was ... the fact that J.K. Rowling was told her books would probably never sell... the years that the movies have been coming out with almost entirely the same cast every movie despite the huge number of minor characters... and how Harry Potter has become a household name--you would be hard pressed to find someone in the developed countries who hasn't heard of Harry Potter.

I actually was a little bit of late bloomer in becoming a Harry Potter fan. My third grade teacher read us the first book in our classroom soon after it came out and I really liked it, but he never read another one to us since one of the mothers of a kid in my class was opposed to it being read in the class. I don't know why I never read the next book when it came out since I have always been an avid reader. Maybe it was the crazy girl in my class who made Harry Potter seem like a freaky cult as she worshiped Hermionie and chewed out anyone who would refer to Voldemort by anything other than He Who Must Not Be Named or You Know Who. But I had a lot of people tell me I would really like the series, so finally, for my 13th birthday I asked for the first four books in the series. After that I was hooked. I flew through the books, wondering how I hadn't read them before. I especially remember reading the third book, Prisoner of Azkaban, as it was my favorite. I remember where I was when I finished it: on the bus to Albuquerque for a school field trip. The fifth book had come out earlier that year and I got that book for Christmas. I remember that Christmas morning I was playing with my brand new Harry Potter Lego set when my dad came in and asked, "I know I just gave you the book as a gift, but do you think I could start reading it?" In the previous months my dad had been reading the books to Wes every night in the rocking chair in the living room. But one night my mom and I noticed that after their time reading Wes had already gone to bed, but my dad was still out there. We went out to the room and sure enough my dad was out there reading ahead in the book and he looked up at us with a guilty smile and a little laugh. From that time on, he kept two bookmarks: the spot where he was with Wes and the spot where he was by himself. When the last two books in the series came out I read them on the day they came out and read them all the way through. I have reread all of the books several times.

My copies of all the books

Other than the first two Harry Potter movies(since I wasn't an avid fan yet) I have seen all of them in theaters, and the last three movies(ever since going to college) I have seen at the midnight showing. To prepare for the last movie Samuel and I had gone back and watched all the previous movies in order. It is pretty cool to see all the same cast grow up with the movies, from when they were just little kids until now...




For the three midnight showings I have gone to I have had a special t-shirt, courtesy of Kylie's dad. And for the sixth movie and for this last movie(7th movie part 2) I have thrown a Harry Potter party to celebrate.

For the sixth movie, Kylie and I threw a Harry Potter party at our apartment with lots of awesome Harry Potter treats and some Harry Potter Scene-it ...we had lots of people come and it was fun!

We had chocolate frogs, licorice wands, cauldron cakes, acid pops, and more!

In the movie theater with Kylie and my cousin Chloe

The seventh movie(part one) came out last November. Rachel designed the shirts and Kylie's dad printed them.

For the last movie(seventh part 2) I had a party at our apartment with Samuel's siblings and Kylie. Once again, Rachel designed the shirts and Kylie's dad printed them.

I made butter beer, a Harry Potter cake, and pretzel wands

We waited in line for about five hours!

It's pretty hard to believe there won't be any more books or movies coming out, but the next thing on my Harry Potter list...

Harry Potter World Theme Park!!