The Boy Who Lived

(i wonder how many people will have blog posts about HP & more specifically w/ this title?)

On Saturday, July 16th at 2:40pm- Joel, me, mom & dad skousen went to see the FINAL installment of the HARRY POTTER series... Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows- Part 2. To say it was ah-mazing would be an understatement! I loved it so so much... you don't even know!!!

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I LOVE HARRY POTTER!!! If I could be a part of any book/ movie series, it would be Harry Potter... hands down! If you did not know about my HP obsession, well then... you do NOT know me at all!!! I use to wear HP underwear, I play HP UNO, I own all the books & most the movies (we're waiting for a blu-ray box set to come out & buy that... sa-weet!), and I have weekly dreams about the characters & going to Hogwarts... I think I must have been a HOGWARTS student in a previous life! Boy- do I wish that was true!
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Now I don't want you to be fooled... just because I did NOT go to the midnight showing thursday of HP, that in no way means I'm not a die-hard fan! I just know my limitations & that I had to wake up the next day at 5:00am in order to get ready for work! I so wish I could've... but if I did I most definitely would've had to call into work the next day. Even though I was subject to seeing HP 7.2 on Saturday, it did not make it any less wonderful! I thoroughly enjoyed the movie!!! The only complaint I have is that it should've been 2 hours longer or been made in to 3 movies. How awesome would that have been?
As far as movies go... I'm not going to have anything to look forward to each year!!!

happy b/c it was superb!!!

All of last week seemed to go by at a snail’s pace b/c I was so anxious for the movie. I knew it would be a difficult time for me though b/c I have such mixed emotions about the whole thing. I was bursting from the seams with anticipation to see the movie, but the reality that THIS is the VERY LAST HARRY POTTER movie was at the forefront of my mind! My excitement was stifled by the sadness I felt for my journey with Harry, Ron & Hermione ending after such a long love we shared! (we had a good run while it lasted) This was a very bitter sweet weekend for me... one which I shall NEVER forget!

*tear* sad that it's all over! *tear*

If only J.K Rowling would write a prequel to HP about Harry's parents & the Order of the Phoenix dealing with Voldemort (oops... I mean- "He who must not be named") back then... I think that would bring me out of this depression of mine!

Don't you think that's a "BRILLANT" idea?

We had a good run Harry & me... but I guess all good things must come to an end! [insert cheese factor here] Except for me & my Joel Reuby! [end of cheesiness] I will just have to join Harry in our special world through the books now... but I've ALMOST come to terms with this fact! The books are fantastic so I cannot get into too deep of a depression.
I will just have to convince Joel to take me to Universal Studios --

The Wizarding World of HARRY POTTER!!!

that'd be WICKED awesome

Doesn't this just get you all giddy... yet break your heart at the same time?

(i apologize for the excessive amount of exclamation marks... but can you blame me?)

St. Patty's Day

St. Patrick's Day is never anything special really. Don't get me wrong, I like it and all, but due to the fact that I'm not Irish and I don't drink myself unconscious, this day really isn't anything more than me wearing GREEN!!! But oh how I love the color green. It is my favorite color you know!

Oh and I do miss the days when people PINCHED those who did not wear green and participate in St. Patty's Day! This is a bonus of St. Patty's that i truly miss. Why can't i be in 2nd grade again? Ah well...

This year I decided to make a "GREEN" dinner!!! As in the color green. I thought it'd be something fun to do. Also, I had about 1-1/2 hours to waste until Joel got home from work and I never cook anymore (or pretty much since I married that handsome+amazingly sweet+excellent cook husband of mine) so I thought it might be nice to have dinner ready when he got home!

Well, I did it and it was a SUCCESS!!! Everything was delicious and everything was GREEN! We had fun with it and I think I'll probably do it each St. Patrick's Day now! I feel a new tradition emerging.

I made/we ate...
- tallarin verde (this is a peruvian dish that is mouth-watering)
- salad w/ cucumber+tomato+real bacon bits (i know it's not completely green but come on...that would've been a boring salad)
- green beans
- pound cake+mint chocolate chip ice cream (dyed the pound cake green b/c i'm awesome like that)
- GREEN "mocktail" (ginger ale+sprite+apple juice+lemon juice+2 drops green food coloring)

just the salad...nothing exciting

this is what I like to call the "GREEN HORNET" mocktail

the yummy meal

Joel thinking, "isn't my wifey the BEST!!!"

(really he was complaining b/c I insisted on taking pictures+he just got home from work & thought he looked grubby)

pound cake+mint ice cream=deliciousness

ignore the shine & deer in the headlights look

So we had fun with St. Patty's Day this year and enjoyed the delicious dinner I made!!! I don't want to toot my own horn or anything, but BRAVO BRIT!!! And I will oblige myself with a "pat" on the back (pat... b/c it was for st. patty's day... i didn't realize this at first but i made myself giggle so...what the hay).

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!

GRACE KELLY

I love old movies! You know, the ones with Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, James Dean, Humphrey Bogart, Marlon Brando, Marilyn Monroe, Gene Kelly, Jimmy Stewart, etc. The list goes on and on! Although I have not seen a lot of them, my "to watch" list is never ending. I just love the style back then...the clothes, the acting, etc.

Anyway, I recently received an email from my Aunt Lisa (she is the forwarding queen), which normally I would ignore, but I decided to take a glance at it and take this 10 question quiz which would let me know what movie star I am. As I'm sure you already guessed (based on the title of the post), I am...

GRACE KELLY!!!

She is absolutely the most BEAUTIFUL woman!!! I mean, look at her! I'm pretty sure she's universally appealing (at least as looks go). She's near PERFECTION! I just love her.

So this is what is says about Grace Kelly and why I am apparently "LIKE" her...

[You are a lover. Romance, flowers, and wine (canada dry for me though) are all you need to enjoy yourself. You are serious about all commitments and are a family person. You call your Mom every Sunday, and never forget a Birthday.  Don't let your passion for romance get confused with the real thing.]

a very SERIA christmas!

So this Christmas Joel and I made the 15 hour drive down to TEXAS with Grams & Papou Shapardanis. It was SUPER FUN to say the least! This was our first Christmas since we've been married that we spent it with my family, the crazy SERIA gang. We missed Joel's parents (especially since they had very few visitors for christmas this year) but loved having my ENTIRE FAMILY there!

10 adults + a 4 bedroom house = NEVER A DULL MOMENT! 

(plus my oldest sis, Karissa & her precious son, Roran (who I am obsessed with) were at the house the majority of the time)

Anyway, we didn't do anything super exciting but it was still fantastic being home...and in warmer weather! We went to the Dallas, TX temple and I wore a short sleeve dress without a coat... how amazing is that? I was in heaven!!!

Seria Christmas 2010 Activities:
-watched movies nightly
-had a Seria girls night while the boys played basketball at the stake center (we watched all 3 Twilight movies b/c Karissa had never really seen them). Oh one night we also watched all of North & South... yea we were up pretty late but Mr. Thornton transfixed all of us.
-played Wii Fit constantly...we brought it all the way from Ohio & got everyone addicted (my dad just bought one for my mom for her b-day)
-went to the temple...my grandparents work super hard at doing our genealogy so we all went & it was so special to be there together
-threw a Seria Shindig for old time sake (our house was the "party house" during high school. everyone always came over to hang out. it was so fun seeing so many of my friends for the short time we were in town)
-SHOPPED TILL WE DROPPED...the ladies of course
-played games+more games, but mostly the "name game"
-SERIA CHRISTMAS EVE PROGRAM 2010 (i always put together a program on christmas eve. everyone participates by sharing a talent, mom recites the Night Before Christmas, dad reads the story of the birth of Christ, grandparents share traditions they grew up doing at christmas in Greece & Germany)
-SERIA FAMILY PHOTO SHOOT...b/c who knows when the next time we'll all be home at the same time
-FHE w/ the Blacker family (we played "minute to win it" games...Kenna was the champion for sure)
-New Year's Eve Fondue Party w/ the family & my cousin Sasha's family... we adopted that from the Skousen gang
-Visit w/ the Kraus family (joel's sis, Liana+her hubby, Collin+2 adorable nieces, Lilly & Lucy)
-DANCE PARTIES w/ little Roran multiple times a day (roran absolutely loves dancing. unfortunately none of my videos were good enough to post)
-my sis, Amanda & I constantly fighting over RORAN PHILIP!!! this is a never-ending thing b/c we're OBSESSED w/ that child!!!

Derek & Joel

singing Away in a Manger in Spanish @ the Seria Christmas Eve Program

Joel got ice skates...he's super happy!

Joel & I opening presents Christmas morning/afternoon

Morgan, me, Kenna & Joel at FHE

Jared (bro-in-law), Joel, Dave (my good friend) & Derek: my adorable baby brother

at the Seria Shindig

RORAN PHILIP

he started this scowl thing which I'm pretty sure he got from his daddy

TEMPLE TRIP...notice no coats needed

mom, amanda, jared, grams, papou, me, joel, karissa & devin

Roran lookin' like a STUD!

Lucy & Lilly

lilly was apparently disgusted by lucy's poor little rash

Liana, Collin, me & Joel

we had fun w/ the Kraus fam. i showed them the best places to live (ie: where I want to live one day) b/c we want to live near them soon-ish

Devin (my bro-in-law) preparing for Fondue Night/ New Year's Eve

Joel, Jared, Amanda, Glen & Megan (my cousin)

Joel, me, Amanda & Jared toasting to the New Year!

Derek (the best little brother in the WORLD)  hittin' the road to head back to BYU-Idaho

SERIA FAMILY

clockwise: me, joel, devin, jared, derek, amanda, mom, dad, karissa & roran

SERIA SISTERS w/ their HUBBIES

SERIA KIDS

Roran at Target from Brittany Skousen on Vimeo.

Grams on Wii Fit from Brittany Skousen on Vimeo.

I seriously spent like 15 to 20 minutes saying this to Roran. Needless to say my throat was a bit sore afterwards. 

But he's a silly kid and a little entertainer/ mimicker. We had fun!

Anyway...we had a blast over Christmas with my family. A lot of memories were made and I'm glad I got to share some of them with you. Hope you all had a fantastic Christmas!

Posts to come...

So I've been working really hard on my post about the christmas holidays, so I have it saved for you to view...hopefully by tomorrow. But I have three videos I really want on there b/c they're that worth it, so I have to wait for them to upload on Vimeo. Anyone know why it's taking so stinkin' long???

Anyway, just wanted to let you know we are alive & well... and that quite a few posts are to come VERY SHORTLY!!!

Joel got into...

THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY 

SCHOOL OF DENTISTRY!!!

And we are ECSTATIC about it!!! It has been Joel's #1 choice since he decided to apply to dental school. We received the good news Monday, January 3rd in the morning while we were having a family breakfast before the rest of the holiday visitors went back to Utah. It was hilarious b/c we were talking with David & Emily (joel's cousin & his wife) just seconds before he received the call about how Joel could be accepted any day that week. It was serendipitous! 

So come September 21st of this year Joel will start dental school. His white coat ceremony is a few 

days before which will officially make him a BUCKEYE! 

He has mixed emotions about it due to the fact he, along with every family member on mom skousen's side, has always been a Michigan fan. I told him that he'll have to shift his allegiance to OSU but he 100% disagrees. I'm okay with him still liking Michigan but when OSU & Michigan play he cannot wear blue... he must wear scarlet & gray b/c I fully plan on it. Anyway, we agree to disagree for now. But we are super happy and feel blessed that Joel is able to further his education.

To celebrate Joel's acceptance mom & dad skousen took us to Montgomery Inn for dinner. It was delicious! I had never been but I've heard about numerous times so I'm glad I finally got to go. Joel and I shared the ribs b/c I guess that's one of their specialties...and I enjoyed it! Our waitress even put bibs on us...key word "she" put them on us! I thought it was funny.

notice how we're wearing scarlet to represent OSU?

So people have been treating to buy me a SNUGGIE for years now. I have protested of course. Yes I am constantly cold (i am like my mother) but come on...a snuggie? The name alone renders it to mockery. So due to the stupid name I am refused to own one. I mean everyone tried to buy me one: my hubby, co-workers, friends, parentals.

Due to my euphoria of Joel being accepted to Ohio State, while at bed, bath & beyond I said something which I thought I never would, "Joel, I will let you buy me a SNUGGIE if you buy this one..."

I know...but the snuggie and I were meant to be and now we're best buds! I love my snuggie!!! But there are some flaws to my new BFF therefore, I have thought of a new & improved snuggie which Joel thinks we should market as the CUDDLY!

As you can see we're already proud to be BUCKEYES and plan on making all our immediate family members get Ohio State paraphernalia. Beware family...especially you little Roran!

I LOVE THE INTERNET!

So our apartment complex cancelled our free internet...NOT HAPPY! But we'll be gone in two weeks, so we're just opting to go without for the remainder of the time. Right now I'm in the apartment lounge for a bit, but I hate coming here, so I will do updates when we're in Ohio... or if I desperately need a break from packing and decide to head to the campus library for a bit to visit Joel and blog. Not likely though!

I HATE MOVING!!! However, we are excited to move to Ohio and be near Joel's family and take advantage of Joel's parents never-ending hospitality. Moving/ packing stresses me out and I'm lacking the required motivation to get going on this packing business. Therefore, I will not have much spare time to post.  But I do have LOTS to blog about!!! So PLEASE stay tuned! To come...

• Joel's Graduation
• North Carolina Trip (with the Seria family...my fam if you didn't know that was my maiden name)
• Random stuff I must make note of for memory sake

It's really pathetic how out of touch with the world I feel when I do not have access to the internet. How sad it that? I know...extremely sad! But you know you'd be lost without it too. Enjoy your internet b/c we miss ours greatly!