"Happy Christmas, Ron!"

[Yes, a side note already: Does anyone else think this is the funniest line in the first Harry Potter movie?  Or even recognize it?  Zach and I make fun of it every time we watch it...]


Whilst caroling for my ward FHE last week, someone started singing "The Twelve Days of Christmas".  Ok, A) that song was NOT on the approved list, and B) it's reeeeeally long (or so it seemed--it was cold outside).  In rebellion, a friend *cough*Bradley*cough and I made up a Harry Potter version.  We thought it was hilarious--and I still think it is.  So, as a special Christmas treat for you all, I will share it with you.

You all know how the song goes, right?  So, get that going in your head and I'll supply the changes--I'm not writing out the whole song, because that would be ridiculous. 

"On the first day of Christmas Hermione* gave to me: A Phoenix in a holly tree..."
*Or whatever other HP character you want to use.  Bradley really likes Hermione.

Second Day: 2 Wrackspurts / Crumple-Horned Snorkacks (take your pick--we couldn't decide which one we liked better)

Third Day: 3 Deathly Hallows

Fourth Day: 4 Firebolts

Fifth Day: 5 GOLDEN SNITCHES

Sixth Day: 6 Fizzing Whizbees

Seventh Day: 7 Horcruxes (yes, we know this would not be a good gift, but they had to be in there)

Eigth Day: 8 Owls a-flying

Ninth Day: 9 Quidditch Cups

Tenth Day: 10 Hippogriffs

Eleventh Day: 11 Hogwarts letters (get it? 'Cause you're 11 when you get your letter?)

Twelveth Day: 12 Wands a-waving

Maybe some day we'll make a music video...

Pumpkins Single-Style

Rhonda, this one's for you. :)

Last week I was actually social.  (Disregard the fact that I was the only one home and therefore lonely for most of the week--that had absolutely nothing to do with it. *ahem*)  One of my outings involved my ward FHE and pumpkins.  Yay pumpkins!  I will admit, we cheated and used stencils, but we were not feeling creative enough to actually draw out faces.  Ha--I tried once (on a paper towel, not the pumpkin) and it looked pretty bad.  Yeah, anyways...picture time!

 Here's the pumpkin Brad and I carved:

Rhonda, Landon, and Devin* carved another one:

This is Rhonda's worried face, in case you couldn't tell--the only thing between her fingers and the carving knife is a section of pumpkin.  Carve carefully, Landon, carve carefully.

Note the beautiful eyes, freehanded by Landon.

Since we aren't allowed to have fire in the church, we headed over to Landon's house afterward and borrowed some candles.  Here they are all lit up:

Don't they look awesome?

This was the first year that I haven't carved my "own" pumpkin at home, and this one got moldy before Halloween night, so we didn't even have a pumpkin on our wall outside.  Man...the parents and I are getting lame in our old age.  But hey, only 100 days until Zachy gets home!  Yay!

Hope you all had a fun Halloween!

*Or did he?  Maybe he was just out washing "pumpkin dirt" out of his eye.  It's OK, Devin--we all cry sometimes.

Labor Day Weekend--So Far

Hi people!  Labor Day weekend is only halfway through (ish) and already a lot has happened.  I will attempt to fill you in.

Friday night, most of our family went out to First Friday to visit the Arizona Science Center.  (I love that place!)  We had issues finding a place to eat, so we didn't get to spend a whole lot of time there, but it was an adventure all the same.  I will now show you pictorial evidence of our night.

The Coke machine at Five Guys.  Is this not the coolest drink dispenser ever?

Now I understand why everyone sits at this exhibit and laughs hysterically.

I think we look like pandas.

This is one of my favorite things at the Science Center.  It looses something in picture (versus video) form, but it is still awesome.

I almost had more pictures to take, which brings me to my next story.  As we were walking in downtown Phoenix (is it really downtown?  I have no idea.  It is to me), we saw some statues coming up.  They looked like dancers.  I was just saying to Sarah, "Hey, maybe we should take some pictures with them!" when we got close enough to see that they were all naked.  Yep, a bunch of naked women statues on the sidewalk.  Creepy!  Thanks, Phoenix!  (You can bet we walked down the other side of the street on the way back.  *shudder*)

On the way home from the Science Center, we somehow got on the topic of drinks at Sonic.  My brother-in-law and sister were telling us about some flavors of cream slushes that they really like, so then we were all in the mood to try them (even though we were still really full from dinner--Five Guys gives you a lot of food!).  Behold:

Oceanwater cream slush with cherry add-in

Lime cream slush with blue coconut add-in

Yeah, they look like the same thing (I think the guy taking our order got a little confused...), but they tasted different, I promise.  And they came in shiny silver cups.  Woo!

Yesterday morning, we came to Big Event #2 for the weekend: I got a car!

Isn't it pretty?  I have decided to call it Lucy.  Don't ask me where that came from, because I have no idea.  It's pretty much the same car I've been driving (my mom's is 2 years newer), but blue.  I have broken free of our family's silver Honda tradition!  Ha ha!  It's still a little weird that it's mine (or will be officially once I've paid it off).  I'm super excited, though!

Who knows what the rest of the weekend might bring.  (I have work off tomorrow--huzzah!)  I plan on cleaning out my closet tomorrow--should I be hoping that that is a big adventure or not?  Hmm...

That Little Punx...

Happy Groundhog Day everyone!

Photo courtesy of Google Images

I must admit, I love Groundhog Day.  A bunch of people standing around to see whether or not a groundhog sees his shadow as a predictor for the seasons?  Count me in!  Add to it the fact that one of the biggest winter storms on record has hit today and it seems especially ridiculous.  Perhaps that's why I love it so.  Punxsutawney Phil will always have a special place in my heart...

In case anyone is wondering, you can see his prediction here.  (I will admit that I did not watch the whole video--12 minutes, seriously?!--but I laughed through every second I watched.  That's a lot of grown men standing around in top hats waiting for a groundhog...)