My thoughts on Harry. . .

So this week I completed a project of sorts that I've been working on for the last eight or nine months: listening to all seven Harry Potter books on CD.

Yes, I have read them before, and yes I mostly remember all of the story lines. But you can't beat Jim Dale's fabulous narration of the books, complete with different sounding voices for every character. He won a well-deserved award for those performances.

It's been a very long time since I'd read the first two, so it started with me wanting to remember those stories first. The third book is my favorite, so of course I had to continue on to that. And then I needed to read the fourth book too, a pivotal part of the series. The fifth book is always hard for me because it's my least favorite. In fact, I kind of hate it. It's so dark and so many bad things happen throughout that I've never enjoyed it. In fact, that book took me the longest to finish in the car (two months) because I had to stop listening for awhile. Eventually I convinced myself to persist and finished it, so I could then move onto the sixth and seventh books, which contain (drum roll, please) the resolution to the series.

This week I finally finished the seventh book. I don't know whether to feel relieved or disappointed. I suppose that if I want to catch a taste of Harry's magical world that I can always read "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" which I've owned for a couple of years and somehow have never read. . . And really I have a good picture in my mind of how things turn out because of the epilogue in book 7. Lots of people hate it, but I think it's a nice finishing touch for the story and helps those who would clamour for more Harry to feel satisfied.

I must say that I'm impressed with so many things about the series. For example, I have to admire J.K. Rowling for the sheer number of character she continues throughout the series. Literally hundreds of characters from book 1 all the way through 7. So impressive! I love the way the plot lines build and the quality of the story. I love the characterization and watching the characters grow. I love her portrayal of Harry in book 5 as such a clueless teenage boy! So great!

I think what I love the most is discovering just how much I still love the series even years after I first read it. I'm sure these books will be classics for years to come. And I must say that I think they deserve it.

My magic animal calling skillz

Once upon a time I took a little trip to Logan. Now, I know that I take many trips to Logan so I suppose I should specify which trip I'm talking about. It just so happens this was the one right before I went to Yellowstone.

Anyway, my sister and I both needed some exercise so we decided to take a walk around what she calls the "big block," which is 2.1 miles. It was dusk as we left, so not only was it getting pleasantly cool but we were also losing our light.

Along the walk is a field that has both donkeys and horses in it. Bumblebee always wants the animals to come over and visit when they walk past but has never been successful in getting them to do so. On this particular walk, I decided to be silly and bray at the donkeys just to see what would happen. To my astonishment, they both came running right over to the fence! Bumblebee was delighted, and the four of us (my sister, the Diva, Bumblebee and I) all enjoyed petting the donkeys and feeding them the weeds from right outside the pasture. I was laughing so hard at my newly discovered "skill."

Last weekend I went to Logan again for the Diva's baptism. It was great fun and a family reunion of sorts as almost my entire family was able to be there, with the exception of four people. It was awesome!

On Friday night, my two older sisters, my niece, my mom and I all walked the big block together. As we walked, I decided to try out my animal calling skills again. And not only did it work once, but it worked twice. See the pictures below.

Yup, this time my magic powers worked on the sheep too. Cool beans!

And here come the donkeys. They ran right over to us.

Ta-dah! I now present the animals that I called over with my special animal calling skillz.

Aren't they so cute? Their fur is surprisingly coarse too.

Okay, I didn't actually need my magic calling skills for this last one. Bumblebee hauled him in and put him on my lap. But since I'm a lover of kitties, I didn't mind.

Jamming with ABBA

I was very excited about a month ago to learn that the official ABBA cover band, called Arrival, was going to be playing a concert at the Sandy Amphitheater last week. I LOVE ABBA and really wanted to go. I called up one of my dear friends, and she and her little girl agreed to go with me. She was laughing about the whole thing and kept telling me her older sister and mother would be jealous, but I'm pretty sure she had a great time. And her little girl was so adorable, dancing to the music and making friends with the lady sitting next to us.

I was happy that entire evening and ran around with what I'm sure was the biggest, stupidest grin in my face. But who doesn't love ABBA? Their music is a classic. Did you know they were offered a billion dollars to do a worldwide reunion tour, and they turned it down?! That's crazy!

Of course the band played all the favorites from "Mama Mia" to "Knowing Me, Knowing You" to the great "Take a Chance on Me." I was overjoyed when they started singing "Fernando" which happens to be one of my favorites. I was slightly distressed when it looked like they were going to end without doing their most famous, "Dancing Queen," but it turned out to be their closing number. Wa-hoo! Here are a few pictures of the adventure.

Here's A jamming out to the music. She was so excited that her tongue got in on the action too. :)

The three of us

Here's the band jamming on stage in their 70s costumes and everything.

A and me being excited for the concert