Harry Potter World!

Today was the day that the Peterson family went to Hogwarts! We purchased Universal Studios Hollywood passes, and we got to choose our first day from any day on the calendar (no blackout applied). The Kohanek family were also having their first experience, and we chose a date that worked for both our families.

We spent HOURS in the Harry Potter portion of the park. The village of Hogsmeade and Hogwarts were simply magical. We rode the Quidditch experience inside the castle and the Hippogriff rollercoaster. And then we shopped and explored. The girls purchased interactive wands in Ollivanders, we had butter beer, and we had lunch at the Three Broomsticks. We visited Honeydukes and bought candy, and the Weasly's shop also. We spent some time roaming and checking out every alley and shop, and the girls had a great time using their wands.

We did explore a bit of the rest of the park and took the back lot tour, but by far, the day belonged to getting lost in the Harry Potter experience.

The Host

We had the opportunity to go to a pre-screening of The Host tonight.  I've been looking forward to, yet dreading, this on-screen adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's novel.  There have been way to many book-to-movie projects that have fallen flat in my opinion.  I really enjoyed this book, and it was not certain in my mind that they could do a decent job with it since a lot of the dialogue between the "soul" and the "host" takes place in the mind of the host.  If that was confusing, read the book.  It's a great read once you get through the first 100 pages or so.  The movie releases at the end of March.  It was well-done and visually pleasing.

Instagram - Snapshot of Life This Week

 The girls on the way home from our Yosemite hike - And they're still playing together...

 The weather has been very strange for July.

 No one ever complains about homemade taco dinner.

 Needed to clear out a side of my closet to make room for some indoor book storage.  What a mess!

Ended up with two full bags of trash and two giveaway bags.

Sorted the books and labeled them so I can find what I need when I need it.

The newly reorganized side of my closet

Lots of cleaning for party and company

 Teaching Sunday School is keeping me in my scriptures

 How the girls spend many summer mornings

 Still wondering what to do with an old friend...Kelly's aunts hand quilted this king-size quilt for our wedding 25 years ago.  It's falling apart, but hard to part with.

 Just finished this book.  It was a good one!  Clean and Austenesque if you like that time period.

 Kelly found out Heather never built her Hagrid's Hut Lego.  He promptly took care of that problem with her.  She was grateful for the help.

The girls jumped in the pool at 8:45PM the other night.  It wasn't even warm; they just wanted to swim together.  I'm so glad they're having fun with each other.

The Book Hook

It's so fun to share books I love with friends or family who love reading. The dangerous part is the hook. I've hooked both my aunt and uncle this week. Auntie is almost done with her book, and since this picture was captured, Uncle has moved on and downloaded Catching Fire on his Kindle. They've only been here two days. Just think what I could have done had they been here longer...tee-hee.

Sequels

Did I post about this already? I can't remember. Yesterday I told you about my newest book discovery. I called the two books a "duo". Ha, ha. Yesterday, I also found that the third and fourth novels to this series are due out in the Fall of 2011 and 2012. I'm not sure why I thought I'd found a series that only had two books.

Does anyone write just one or two books anymore? I am always thrilled to have the fun go on and on, but I realized that my children are growing up in a world of sequels. Books and movies all have multiple stories. This fact was driven home last year when Jenna caught the writing bug. She loved to write stories, get a construction paper cover and staple the whole thing together. We have many of these gems lying around. What was funny was when she showed me her first story in "published" form and said, "Now I'm going to start on Book 2 and Book 3!" She wasn't talking about her 2nd and 3rd books, she was talking about the sequels.

I suppose a hundred years ago, people did write their stories in "volumes". I grew up with one story in one book at a time. Maybe the pendulum is swinging like it always does. What will our children do one day when they find out that some people only write one story and put it all in the same book? I wonder if they will like that or want their multiple volumes that they grew up with? Personally, I am good either way. We'll have to wait and see what our kids think in the years to come.

Latest Favorite Books

This duo by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl are awesome! If you are looking for something to read and haven't read these yet, I highly recommend them!

Fallen & Torment

Two books I've just finished in the Fallen Series by Lauren Kate. Can't get these characters off my mind. I read a ton of fantasy, but nothing so far with angels as the subject matter. Very creative and refreshing. Fallen moves a bit slowly in the beginning to where you wonder if it's going to be worth the read, but it doesn't remain so for long. Paradise will be out next summer. It will be a long wait!