Just so you know....

We went to the dentist today.

My teeth feel squeaky clean.
(My wisdom teeth are finally growing in... Yikes.)

Over the weekend we bought furniture/other stuff for our new place.

I got my senior pictures back yesterday.

(I love you, Missy!)

Kyle ran a marathon yesterday.

I bought a cute quilt.

I sat on the front row of Camp Rock! with Ayisha and Casey on Saturday night.

I played with Whit, Liam, and Avery over the weekend.

I got my graduation announcements, and they should be in the mail shortly.

We go to Lake Powell on Thursday.

Graduation in t-minus 15 days.

Moving day in 17.

Pictures to come.

A Letter to my High School Self

Dear 15, 16, 17 year old Brittanny,

I want you to know that you will make it through the next 7 years.

Even though break-ups will feel like the end of the world, they're not. You'll get through it. You will become stronger for it - though maybe not right away. You think that each boy you date is going to be your forever... In reality, you haven't even met him yet. It's ok to date boys multiple times. But give yourself room to grow without boys for a little while. Become your own person. But remember to stay friends with those who broke your heart or whose hearts you broke. They become some of your most valued friends.

Even though moving at age 15 seems like the worst possible thing at the moment, it is the right thing. So many beautiful things come out of your two years at Mountain View. Even though the first day of school seemed like the worst day of your life, it gets better. Keep your head up and you'll have friends in no time.

I'm proud of the way you will handle yourself in the face of vicious high school drama. Keep going strong, don't let it bother you, do what you want to do and what you believe is right. The friends who matter will stick by you.

Your friends become your family, but that doesn't mean you should abandon your real family. Spend more time with Mom and Charity. They love you. Chari looks up to you. Open up more to Mom.

You learn to love with all your heart. You love deeply and fast. While this seems like a bad thing once your heart is broken, it truly is a good thing. Believe in love.

Go to as many high school activities as you can. You will look back on those days with fondness and will be so happy that you were as involved as you were. Try out for musicals, teams, councils. You may not make it into all of them, but you will learn a lot from the try-out process. And you'll make the ones that you were meant to.

It is ok to cry, I promise. And don't forget to rely on the Savior.

Your high school years really will be some of the most fun and memorable years of your life. You will cry, you will laugh, you will grow and come out of it all stronger.

College will be a test of emotions. Love, anger, loneliness, depression, sadness, happiness, confusion will all be there. You will be ok and get through it, even on the days you think you don't have a friend in the world. Listen to your Freshman roommates, they're smart. You will enjoy yourself your Sophomore year. You go a little crazy, but it all works out.

Love,
your almost 22 year old self
(who may not be all that much more grown up than you)

"We all have a story of adolescence in all it's glory."

"Happily Ever After" - He is We

Me and Nae

This is me and Janae.

I love her.

She's having a baby soon. 

Can't wait!

HP Pictures

Sorry this were so delayed!

I've talked about HP enough... So I'll just post pictures.

Me and Sarah!

K and I

Ginger, Sarah, Steph, and Stef

Tripsies of course.

Stef, Steph, Ginger, Sarah and Me

Arches National Park

Last weekend Kyle and I hopped in our car and drove down to Arches for the weekend.

I had never been, so it was really cool to see the arches in person.

We had a great time, and were even able to stop by and visit Ryan, Lindsay, Ellie, Bracken and Tucker, and Grandma on our way back on Sunday! 

Enjoy our pictures!

North Window

Both of us at the North Window

South Window

Turret Window, I think

North and South Windows

Double Arch

Us with Landscape Arch in the background

Landscape Arch

Delicate Arch!

Countdown

I have a few things I need to catch up on - mainly the pictures from HP and from our trip to Arches over the weekend! But those require pictures... And I am at work... So that will have to be done later.

Basically all I want to say is this.... 3 WEEKS!

I have (not including today): 9 more days of work, 8 more days of class, one reading day, one midterm, and two finals until GRADUATION. Then there are two days of graduation activities, and then we move! Kyle also only has 9 more days of work.

This summer (especially this school term) has flown by. I am so ready to graduate, and we are ready to leave behind Provo and make the move up to Pocatello.

Other things we're excited about are our three day weekend coming up (spending time with family, and Kyle runs his marathon!), our Lake Powell trip coming up next weekend, our family coming into town, and of course graduation and moving. We're also excited to take a family trip out to California in September to visit Blaine, Brooke and Allie and meet Luke and Logan! I'm also excited for my good friend Janae to have her baby soon (due August 5th!). 

Lots is going on within the next 3-4 weeks, and we're ready for it! (Well, mostly.)

A Thought from one of my Favorite Musicals

"Child, hold on to what you know is true.

It's the storm not you, that's bound to blow away.

Child, hold on, There's angels on their way.

It's this day not you, that's bound to go away."

- The Secret Garden, "Hold On"

** I"m not stressed or sad, this quote has just been rattling around in my brain for a few days :)

MY HP STORY

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was released in the US in 1998. I first heard of Harry Potter in fifth grade, in 1999 or 2000. I was ten, turning eleven, Harry's same age. My fifth grade teacher read it aloud to us. 

I was hooked from page one.

I went home to my mom and we bought the first book together. My mom loved the books, as she is from England and found the British humor appealing. My dad got in on the HP action, and was always the one to pre-order the books for me. He also got me an HP Quidditch board game, and HP bookends. My mom and I would buy HP themed candy at Christmas (Bertie Botts, Chocolate Frogs, etc.). I don't remember necessarily counting down the days until the first few movies came out, but I do know I saw them semi-soon after and that I loved them. Kyle got me the set of #1-6 the Christmas we were engaged.

I wrote a fan fiction in junior high, all about Harry's younger sister, Allison Potter. (She was secretly raised by Dumbledore, no big.)

I literally grew up with Harry Potter. He was my age. We went through friend drama, school, teenage angst, etc. together. He was a best friend. A constant. Multiple times I have pictured Hogwarts being real, I have pictured myself there as a student, I have pictured myself receiving an acceptance letter of my own.

My love for Harry has grown throughout the years.

I feel lucky to have been able to be a part of the Harry Potter generation.

Not only have the books and movies been great entertainment, there is just so much to learn from the books.
I'm not a great writer, so I'm going to end with a link to a well written blog post from a blog I follow.
http://jakeanddanirugg.blogspot.com/2011/07/thank-you-harry-potter.html

Thanks, Jo.

And thanks, Harry.

Source: None via Britt on Pinteres

On Harry Potter 7.2 (yes, there are spoilers)

Here's my blog post about Harry Potter 7.2.

Or at least, my thoughts on it. I will also post about what HP means to me, and post about our experience waiting in line (with pictures). I'm a little behind since I had no time to post last week, so I'll get it all out today.

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS

I loved everything to do with McGonagall and Neville

Loved that they showed us the Chamber of Secrets happenings and the Ron/Hermione kiss was perfect.

I loved the last shot of the golden trio before the epilogue started

I loved when the teachers put up the shield around Hogwarts, I also loved when the Death Eaters started breaking it down. It was just so well done and I had the chills.

Molly killing Bellatrix went too fast for me, but I still liked it. Also I had always pictured her shrieking her line instead of using it as a threat, but that's ok.

I loved Snape's memories, although I wish they would have done the scene were Severus says "I thought we were supposed to be best friends" and Lily says something like, "we are, but I can't keep sticking up for you" - I feel like that would have helped the audience see that they really were like BFF. And that Snape is not Harry's dad. WTF people who thought that? Lily Potter is not a skank.

I liked Snape crying out his memories.

Snape holding Lily with crying baby Harry in the background made me sob.

I loved Snape looking at Harry in the eyes and saying "you have your mother's eyes."

Basically everything to do with Snape I loved.

His death was violent, shocking and appropriate.

Fred and George's moment on the roof made my heart break.

When Harry walked off to sacrifice himself and Ron and Hermione stayed back and cried. Except I wish there would have been a three way hug. 

I wish Dumbledore's life would have been addressed.

I also wish the Hallows had been addressed.

I also kind of wish that the House Elves and Centaurs would have been in on the fight.

I have not decided how I feel about Harry popping out in the Great Hall to taunt Snape.

Loved Harry and Ginny's kids in the epilogue, but that was really it. Epilogue was not my faovrite scene, but that's ok. I still enjoyed it.

Helena Bonham Carter is awesome - her acting as Hermione as Bellatrix was so well done.

The Forbidden Forest scene was perfect. From Lily, Sirius, James and Lupin, to Harry dying.... It was great.

I wish they would have used more of the original music. 

I'm so happy they kept all the great lines of the book in.

I actually really liked the Kings Cross scene.

The final battle between Harry and Voldemort I half liked, half hated. I wish there would have been more cursing and talking and less flying around together and such.

I wish it would have been more like the book, but I also kind of liked that it was just the two of them at the very end.

HP

I have a lot of things to blog about, but for right now all I'm going to say is this:

Harry Potter was epic.

"Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean it is not real?"

"The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. 

All was well."

You Should Probably Read This

The chosen ones (Or, a life spent with Harry)

CRYING

Updates

* First and foremost, we found an apartment! I have been stressing like no other. Yesterday at work was the worst. I had found a few places we liked and then a few hours later they were taken off the website. We found another place, but it was a hassle to fill out the application and then we realized it didn't have a washer and dryer and it was far from campus. I was frustrated and upset. Then I got an email from a woman named Trissa whos facebook ad I had replied to a week before. She apologized that she had been out of town. She sent me some pictures, we talked on the phone, I talked with Kyle, and then called her back and said we'd take it. 

The basics? It's a 2 bedroom basement apartment just 2 blocks away from campus. Our landlords live two houses away and are LDS (which is great!). It's $500/month and that includes utilities. There is no washer and dryer, but we decided that the pros outweighed the cons. We're excited about our new place! And of course, it was another testimony building experience. I really feel like this will be a great place for us.

* Kyle ran a half marathon this morning! I was a bad wife and stayed in bed instead of going to support him (it's hard with only one car!) but he did great. His time was 1 hour and 59 minutes. He's looking forward to running a full marathon on July 25th.

* I colored my hair. I got the bottom of my hair dyed a dark brown-black (called a window). It was time for a little bit of a change, so that's what I decided to do! 

I think that's about it. We move 5 weeks from today! Charity is coming over for a sleepover tonight. We're going to go to Color Me Mine and just have a good time. I love that little sister of mine :)

8 is Great!

Saturday, July 2 was Charity's baptism. 

Wow, I cannot believe she is that old! She was baptized by her dad in my mom's ward in Spanish Fork. We're so grateful to have such good family and friends who came to support her in her decision to be baptized.

After the baptism we went out to eat at Tucanos and then later that night me, Kyle, Mom and Charity all went to the Stadium of Fire! 

David Archuleta and Brad Paisley were both awesome and we enjoyed the fireworks a lot.

Luke and Logan

Yesterday our sister-in-law Brooke gave birth to our two new nephews!

Luke Evan and Logan John

Luke was 8 pounds and Logan was 8 pounds 2 ounces. 

She delivered at 39 weeks, and they're all doing well!

We're excited to meet the twins sometime in September!