Harry Potter...no spoilers here!

Before everyone starts to freak out and not read my post because nobody wants anything in the final book revealed to them, it's okay...there will be no details of the book expressed in this post. But I wanted to take a moment to reflect on my experience with Harry over the last 7+ years. I watched an interview with J.K. Rowling where she was saying how difficult it was to write the last book because Harry has been with her through all her success over the last number of years and how she will miss the escape to that world. I thought it was a little cheesy when I saw it, but when I picked up the book and opened the front flap of the dust jacket and read "We now present the seventh and final installment in the epic tale of Harry Potter" I have to admit I got a little weepy. I realized I had started reading Harry Potter when I was still in college and have read it throughout 5 years of marriage. Suffice it to say, Harry Potter has been with me through a lot too.

A friend and I went to go see the movie for the 5th Harry Potter book the same night that the book was going to be released. We didn't do this by choice, it was just a coincidence, but as we walked through Barnes and Noble before the movie started, I couldn't believe all of the people that were in the store. About half were dressed up in Harry Potter garb, and old ladies were dressed up in witches hats. We couldn't believe people would hang around a bookstore for hours until midnight only to get the book and go home and probably fall asleep after read one chapter. And then we ran into three families from the ward. As we were sitting in the theater before the previews began I said to my friend "Ya know, if people are going to go crazy about something, it should be a book. It's better than going crazy over Lindsey Lohan or Paris Hilton right?"

I was able to pick up my copy the next day while doing my weekly grocery shopping at Wal-Mart. I read the book in three days while my child destroyed our apartment. I cried off and on in the last 1/3 of the book, and when Clark saw me, he just kept coming over to me and saying "uh-oh". So what I want to know for all you Harry Potter readers out there is, did you cry? Or am I a psycho? Or both? ;-)

So whether you like or loathe Harry Potter, everyone would have to agree that if there is one thing J.K. Rowling should be praised for, it would be that she wrote something that brought a love of reading to child and adult alike. Tanner said that when he was in the airport on the way home from Tampa, it seemed everywhere he looked people where reading Harry Potter. When was the last time you saw that happen, other than when the last Harry Potter book came out?

THE BAR: Part II

"I don't know"

That's pretty much all I have received in response to my numerous questions all at different angles to Tanner about how he felt about the Bar exam. He felt good about some parts, not so great about others. So well just have to see, but for now we are glad it's over and glad we are busy preparing for our move to Orlando so we can forget about it for now.

THE BAR

The time has come.

Tanner leaves tomorrow morning to fly to Tampa to take the Florida Bar exam on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.

It has been two months of grueling study and preparation, and we are ALL glad it will be over this week.

I don't normally like to solicit things from my blog, but any prayers offered on his behalf over the next few days would be greatly appreciated.

Unfortunately he won't find out the results until sometime late October, but hopefully he won't worry about it too much. I am very excited to have my husband 24/7 for the whole month of August before he starts work the beginning of September.
We are moving in a week and a half and are excited to turn the page and start a new chapter in our lives. Go Tanner!

Birthday Week

So my sister Tricia called me to see if I would be willing to watch her kids the first week of July while her and Dan took a much needed vacation. She said she would understand if I didn't want to do it because it would mean that I would be away from my husband for the 4th of July and my birthday. However, let me take a moment to explain the way our life has pretty much been for the last two months. Tanner wakes up and leaves the house by 6:30am, returns around 6pm. Eats dinner with us, and either continues to study or zones out doing something else. I'm sure a lot of you might be thinking, uh yeah, that is how it is when your husband has a full time job! And I realize that, but there is something that is different about this whole bar study thing...he breathes, sleeps, and eats it. And while some of you may be thinking that your husbands also breathes, sleeps, and eats their job, Tanner isn't really like that. He likes his down time and his relax time, and stressy is not one of the words I would ever use to describe him. But the bar exam IS the culmination of the entire law school experience, and he does have to pass in order to actually be a 'practicing' lawyer. He has been doing a great job studying, and I really feel badly for him. When I mentioned that Tricia had asked if I would watch her kids for the week, he said that it might be a good idea. He felt badly that it was during my birthday, but luckily, I have never been a huge birthday fan in general, so I wasn't heartbroken.

So off I went to Tricia's for the week. K, first of all, 5 kids under the age of 6 (and a half! ;-) is a little crazy, but the older three, Courtney, Carter, and Jonah can pretty much take care of themselves. I would just have to break up the occasional disagreement and make sure they were all fed. Having Clark (20 months) and Bella (12 months) was a little more dicey, which was compounded by the fact that Clark went from having zero siblings to have 4. He especially didn't like it when I would pass him on the stairs carrying Bella. I knew he was thinking "Why does SHE get to be held? And I have to get up these mammoth things all by myself! You used to carry me ya know!" Some things were easier than expected and some things were harder. But we had fun, and that's all that matters. I did want to make sure that we had an especially good time on the 4th of July. I printed off American flags for them all to color. We had a water balloon fight in the back yard, and I even hauled them all into downtown Charlotte for fireworks in the park. I made brownies for myself, lit the candles for myself, but the kids sang so cute for me and Jonah blew out my candles (on accident...or maybe not). Then we had root beer floats. Before you think too good of me, I have to admit that I was exhausted, and the next day I was a bit of a raunch since we had to clean up and get ready to go to Florida. But it didn't matter, after a day like we had, I could pretty much do no wrong in their eyes.

Some of my favorite and not so favorite sayings from the week were:

Courtney: "Chez, you are like a real baker!"

Carter: (yelling from upstairs) "Chez!! Jonah pooped in his underwear!"

Jonah: saying something completely unintelligible.
Me: Jonah, you need to speak more clearly, I can't understand you.
Jonah: I SAID I want cookie crisp for breakfast (in completely perfect English).

Carter: "I want my dessert RIGHT NOW!"
Me: "Is that how you talk to me?"
Carter: "Chez, may I please have my dessert now"
Me: "of course you can!"
Carter: "Thank you Chez"

Courtney: "Carter, come here so I can smash this balloon on your head!"
Carter: "OKAY CORK!"

Courtney to Carter: "Carter, you color every other stripe red and leave the other one white. There are 13 because there were 13 original colonies." (that girl is seriously smart).

I'm so glad...

We do this every night together...it warms my heart and I never get tired of it.

Sink Gifts

Other presents have included but have not been limited to:

Wipe Boxes
Hairbrush
Remote Control
Any size ball
Diapers
Any and all toys

Family Reunion Week

This week was the White Family reunion, which is held at Tanner's Grandparents' house in Perry, Utah every year. With the passing of Tanner's grandfather in January, this was an particularly poignant reunion for the entire family. We arrived a few days before the actual beginning of the reunion to spend some time with Tanner's immediate family at Heath and Stephanie's house in South Jordan. We had a great time and Tanner, Heath, and I had an especially good time playing Scorched3D against each other on computers! Clark loved playing with his cousins and because most of them were girls, they took very good care of him!

On Thursday night, we were able to get babysitters for our kids, and we were able to go to a session together as a family at the Jordan River temple. It is always nice going to the temple with family.

Friday was the start of the reunion, so we all packed up and headed out after lunch. Tanner and I rented a car, and I was driving so Tanner could finish an essay he needed to submit for Bar Review. We were cruising along I-15, and suddenly I smelled something. I turned around and Clark had thrown up ALL over, and I mean ALL OVER himself and his carseat. Luckily, we were in a little bit of a traffic jam, so it was easy to pull off to the side of the road. We cleaned him and the carseat up and changed his clothes. Tanner's family were in other cars behind us, and they all stopped to see if they could help...but honestly, how fun is cleaning up throw-up?! It's not exactly the kind of family bonding experience and memory you want to have with everyone. I was just grateful knowing that they knew exactly what we were going through, since they have all experienced this kind of thing before.

I thought it was a one off thing with Clark that maybe he had just eaten too much lunch, but boy, was I wrong. He threw up one more time just before we got to Perry. When we got to the house, we threw everything into the laundry, and Clark and I got in the shower. Clark proceeded to throw up, albeit very little about another half a dozen times that night, so we just kept him in a diaper. Oh yeah, did I mention we were also camping outside in the backyard?! By the end of the night, Clark had it coming out of both ends and I will spare you of any further details, but it continued for the entire reunion. He seemed to act okay energy wise, but I was kind of worried about him. the face of my sick child...he's still so cute.

Then, Saturday night, Tanner started to feel unwell after the cousin dinner. We got back to the house a little early, and Tanner started in with the same thing as Clark. Great. He laid on the couch in the fetal position all night, and his dad and brothers gave him a blessing. He started to feel better the next day. Despite everything, we had a good time visiting with the rest of the family. Everyone predicted that I would get sick on the plane ride home, and I prayed EVERY NIGHT before we left that I would not get sick. And I didn't. It took Clark another week to be back to normal completely. After doing some internet research when I got home, I think he may have had Rotavirus. I called the nurse and she said as long as he stayed hydrated than he would be fine in a few days. I don't know if Tanner just got a mild form of the virus, but I was also hoping and praying no one else in the family would get sick. From what I have heard, Tanner's mom was the only victim of being exposed to the sickies, and it sounds like she had a terrible time with it as well. It was kind of a whirlwind trip and definitely a memorable one for better AND for worse. Below is a slide show of some captured moments by Grandma and Grandpa from the reunion. From making father's day ties, to family campfire skits, to just general hanging out, it was a week to remember.

Rare Finds

I began packing this week for our move to Florida. Yes, I know, it is still about two months away, but I really want to be organized and not just chuck a bunch of stuff in boxes and not know where anything is once we move. I amassed quite a large pile marked for goodwill/DI/whatever you call it. Our DI is right down the street and is called the DAV (Disabled Army Veterans). I decided to go drop of my first of many piles, and as I was doing so, I noticed some furniture that they had placed on the outside curb. I walked over and saw this wooden high chair. It seemed to be an exact replica of the high chair that my parents used for us girls, and still have that the grandkids sometimes use. The worker outside came over to me as I was gawking at it and said, would you like to know the price? I said "Oh sure"...thinking it would be at least $40. He said $2.99. I looked at him and said "$2.99 as in 2 dollars and 99 cents?" He said "Yeah, I looked at it myself...you can't find wooden high chairs anymore and I thought it was pretty cool". I said "I'LL TAKE IT!" I was so excited I could barely contain myself. We never bought a high chair for Clark because we lived in Florida when he really needed one and we used my parents' wooden one. When we got back from Florida, we just bought a chair that sits on top of a regular chair so he could eat at the table with us. I ran home, got Tanner and Clark and we came back and picked up the chair. While we were doing that, Tanner noticed a water ski that had been dropped off. He asked the worker how much that was and she said $7. Tanner said "I'LL TAKE IT!" As it turns out, it is a womens ski. YAY FOR ME! Tanner was a little disappointed, but hey, it's a ski! I can't wait to try it out in a couple of months!!

I am finally up to date on my blog! Please see 5 new posts below from the end of May!

Bar Review and The Battering Ram

After graduation and a week of vacationing with family, it was time for Tanner to get down to studying for the Florida Bar. It is worse than any finals week during law school AND it lasts for 2 1/2 months, not one week. Lucky him and lucky me! He is out the door by 6:30am and comes home between 5pm-6pm. It really is just like a job, so I guess it's good preparation for me of things to come, although, I am sure his job will be more exciting than reading, outlining, and taking quizzes all day. He did take a break the other day and we went to Busch Gardens for a couple of hours. We mostly take Clark on all the kiddie rides, but we had heard that another couple in our ward took their 2 year old on the Battering Ram with them. She told me that he flipped out, but I thought Clark could take it. He was under the height requirement and Tanner was trying to see if he could slip him by, but he accidentally hit Clark in the back of the head with the turnstile as he was rushing him through. Clark grabbed the back of his head and started moaning in pain, thus getting the attention of the worker. But she didn't seem to care, and she just said, "Let us know if you need us to stop the ride". It started out okay, but as we got higher and higher, he tensed up a little bit. When we got really high, he started to shake a little when we would get butterflies in our stomach from being so high. People also started alternating screams whenever their side was higher. Clark didn't like the screaming...and he started to cry a little bit. We covered his ears and as we slowly got lower and lower he relaxed. Everyone sitting opposite us and the workers watching below us were cracking up laughing at this little boy with his wide eyes and red pacie in his mouth. When we were all done, we took out his pacie and he immediately started clapping and saying "Yay!" Everyone laughed some more, and commented as we exited how cute he is. I thought it was great fun and wanted to go again, but then we decided that we had tortured Clark enough for one day.

Happy Birthday Moo!

Dear Moo,

Here are a few things that I love about you that I wanted to tell you on your birthday!

I love that you put pigtails in my hair when I was little even though I hated you touching my sensi head.

I love that for my 6th birthday (I think) you redecorated my room. It was the beginning of your amazing talent as an interior decorator.

I love that you have always called me your happy baby.

I love that when I was in high school, you prayed for me the morning that I was going to find out if I won the competition to go to a leadership conference in Valley Forge, PA...and I did against all odds...seriously. I remember thinking I won because I had the mom who prayed for me that morning.

I love that you never ate anything low fat, including margarine (yuck!) and that I had never had macaroni and cheese from a box until I went to college. Unfortunately, I don't think my kids will be able to say the same for me!

I love that you were the first one I thought to call when I was breaking up with a boyfriend for the first time. Somehow you transferred courage to me over the phone...I still don't know how you did that.

I love that you have always known me better than I thought you did.

I love that you always made me go places even when I didn't want to because you knew I would have the BEST time once I got there.

I love that you love traditions.

I love that you support Dad in his endeavors even though it almost always means that you get the shaft.

I love that when I was a new mom and you were here visiting, you made me 'get up and go' showing me that you can have a baby and still do stuff the very next week...including church.

I love that one night when Clark wouldn't stop crying, you told me to go to bed and you took care of him. I woke up the next morning to find you asleep on the couch and Clark fast asleep in his car seat. I was amazed at your skillishness!

I love that you love Tanner and Clark almost as much as me...although sometimes I think Clark provides stiff competition ;-)

I love that I have a wonderful Moo! I love you! Happy Birthday!


p.s. check back for more posts previous to this one...I am a little behind on my posting.