YES, WE ARE NERDS

Andrew and I have read all of the books out loud together several times, own all the movies, and watch them more often than any others that we own...

And we have been anxiously awaiting this day for a very long time. We are nerdy enough to be one of those crazy midnight premiere ticket holders you saw on the news waiting in ridiculously long lines to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. However, we are still a level lower on the Geek-O-Meter than those who showed up in full Wizard costumes. (But if we were being completely honest here, if I was younger and still single...I would totally be one of them.)

Here we are getting in line at about 9pm.

Check out all the people who got there even earlier than us to stand in line...




... the line kept going around the corner of the building...

...and back behind the theater.

Every screen in the theater was devoted to Harry Potter...3,000 people in total! Crowd control was handled surprisingly well. We were seated and ready to go about 2 1/2 hours beforehand. Though I have to say...that's a long time to wait. As you can see, things got a bit crazy. Andrew resorted to digging through women's purses for sunglasses to entertain himself with. (Jared looks like he was beginning to lose it too!)

Despite the show starting about 45 minutes late, the movie was FABULOUS. It diverted from the book a bit, but Andrew and I were not disappointed in the slightest. Check out what time we stumbled into the car afterward! By the time we drove the 30 minutes back to Rexburg and fell into bed, I could see streaks of sunlight on the horizon in the east. If you are judging us right now...you can just get off your high hippogriff! The experience was TOTALLY worth it.

SUMMER SCHOOL

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I have been working in a summer school kindergarten class since the beginning of June, and the last day was Friday (hooray!). Cool thing to happen this week: The principal arranged for an Apache helicopter to land on the school grounds. The captain used to be a third grade student of my principal's back in the day!

Here it comes!

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You wouldn't believe the wind this machine picked up! It was blowing over large speakers and small children.

After the captain got out and introduced himself, the students were able to walk around and touch the helicopter. The kids...not to mention I...loved it!
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ALSO:
I wanted to share a few things. Kindergartners I have learned, are VERY different from the 3rd graders I am used to.

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1. I had to get after a kindergarten student for repeatedly licking the bottom of her shoe . She was just sitting on the ground with her foot up to her mouth...licking away like it was an ice cream cone. What possessed her, you ask? Only goodness knows.

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2. I also wanted you all to take part in the following conversation. Maybe you can help me make sense of it:

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I am sitting at a table painting with 5 kindergartners. They notice a boy pouting on the floor (who was recently in trouble), and they begin to discuss amongst themselves what could be making him upset.

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BOY #1: Oh, he's just depressed.

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{pause}

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(to the rest of the table) Do you guys know what depressed means?

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BOY #2: No...what does it mean?

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BOY #1: {very matter-of-factly} "It means he's in love with someone, but he's just too sad to admit it."

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MRS. ASHMORE: (To BOY #1) Have you ever been depressed? (I just had to ask)

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BOY #1: No...I've just been pissed at my brother.

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{pause}

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If you're depressed to a cop than you'll go to jail.

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MRS. ASHMORE: What does that mean?

(I'm kind of confused at this point)

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BOY#1: You know (with a shrug)...it means he's being a pouty bum, or he's in love.

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Can any of you shed light on this poor child's logic?

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A SUNDAY DRIVE

I thought about putting these on my photo blog, but these kept within the theme of small town Idaho so beautifully that I put them here.

Check out that rising full moon!
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Can you see the moon? If only I had gotten there 5 minutes sooner...the Tetons would still be lit up by the sun!

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And then the storm clouds rolled in and covered up the moon.

Beautiful Sunday evening.

THE 4TH!

Hope you all had a happy Fourth of July!

'Cause we sure did.

I. Parade on Main Street

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We sat with the coolest friends Tim and Alex

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...and some other coolest friends: the Grimmers.

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Favorite Parts include when this big army truck got in a water fight with a fire truck.

(the fire truck lost)

Ray's Car Wash chose a beauty queen from their workers.

{notice "her" sash is from boy scouts}


The rest of the the employees performed their own hip-hop "sexy" dance. Yes, it was hilarious.



Creativity award goes to the giant grocery cart from Broulims.

These planes made several appearances that morning. I wish I could have captured all of the planes when they were in formation.

Second favorite float goes to a gym whose entire float was a long trampoline. The continuous cycle of flips and handsprings were pretty sweet.

II. Watermelon Carving

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Our friends invited us to try this out. It was actually really fun! I think we've found ourselves a new Independence Day tradition.

After cutting a hole at the top, we scooped out all the insides into big bowls.

Then we carved our own patriotic designs!

Jared, Amanda, and Ashlyn show off their creation

With a candle on our front porch, it looked so cool!

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III. Fireworks

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The towering thunderheads made us nervous in the afternoon. Luckily, the worst of it missed the city and didn't ruin any of our fun.

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The fireworks in Idaho Falls claims to be the best show west of the Mississippi, so it was {as usual} packed. We were lucky enough to get a really nice piece of grass reserved for the ward right by the river.

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We had a lovely view from where we sat.

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Lots of geese hanging around.

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Andrew and Jason: A couple of crazies if I ever saw any. =)

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Andrew, Rich, and Bishop. They aren't nearly as dignified as they seem in the picture.

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Just a taste of an incredible show. I've never been to a better one than Idaho Falls.

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BEHIND THE SCENES

Most everything about the Brown Reunion this year revolved around Austin and Tikla's Wedding...but a lot was sure going on behind the scenes as well. We cousins had all sorts of fun!

We spent quite a bit of time setting up and decorating for the reception . Here, Tara wires origami flowers to branches.

After a time, we gathered at a nearby park. A mini Olympics were held with events in Frisbee throwing, sprints, and three-legged races.

Above: Alexa, {pink shirt} deserved a gold medal for her freakishly fast running skills in her age division.

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Cousins wandered through this ICE COLD stream to cool off.

{Tara, Janaya, Becca, Samuel, and Alexa}

{Alexa, Samuel, and Becca}

After dinner at the church, David (newest RM of the family) gave a great Family Home Evening lesson about the Book of Mormon. Above is an object lesson illustrating that the BOM as the "keystone" of our religion. (The chairs got pulled further and further away from Karsten in the middle until the girls standing on them could not let go of Karsten without falling down.)

Then Paul and Lisa put on a supa' fun family version of "What's My Line?"

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Whose underwear dropped out of their locker in front of cute classmates of the opposite sex?

Heather, Me, or David??

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Most definitely Heather. She has a gift for such things. =)

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The next day, Tikla became a Fife.




Aimee and her little men: Miles and Ethan




Jaiden wants to help pat Miles too!




Killing time between the wedding and the reception:
We kept to tradition. The cousins played lots of games...and I laughed til my sides hurt.


Davin and his nephew Samuel



We were pleased to come across an empty high council room. It was perfect for rousing games of Psychiatrist, What If?, and Mafia.





Playin Games
{Hyram, Sammy, Davin, Lexi, Jaiden, Audra, and Micheal}

Karsten: There just aren't any words.

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Watching the Fifes drive away after the reception.

Which cousin will be next?

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FIFE WEDDING

My cousin got married this weekend...

Check out my PHOTO BLOG of all the pretty pictures of the prettiest of brides. She was gorgeous I tell you!

Rexburgian Grafitti

"In matters of conscience the majority has no place" --Gandhi

Andrew and I were just taking a walk and happened by it.

Only Rexburg (that I've ever seen), has such uplifting grafitti. I mean, it could be so much worse, right?

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LITTLE CONTEST:

Look familiar? 100 points for the first person who can guess correctly which downtown store has this graffiti on the side wall.