Tell You [a] Little Story

I find this anticipatory analysis of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows quite intriguing, and I must say I think he's probably right on almost every count. It makes every bit of sense to me that Harry will die and be reunited with his parents and Sirius, even with Dumbledore. What a smart guy.

The Craig family -- Steve's family are naturals at this blogging thing. Written communication is how Steve and I largely stay in touch with what is happening throughout la familia. We should have had a family blog years ago. Pop on in and congratulate my mother-in-law for being sworn in as an American citizen. . . today . Yay for Pam! Christie -- She's sweet, lovely, sensitive, educated, funny, Southern, and she's our friend. She's the wonderful wife to our wonderful friend Jesse, who happens to have been my senior prom date. Christie and Jesse live far away from us, but I am thrilled that now she blogs and I can check in on them any old time I want. They always have and always will retain the title of The Nearest and Dearest of Friends. I think we've made arrangements to end up living in their basement, so hurry up and finish that residency, Jesse, so you can buy us a big old house. Emily -- I don't remember how I came to be a fan of Miss Emily and her fanta

I just saw that Forever 21 has shipped the clothes I bought online. Shipped them with UPS. I'm looking forward to making eye contact with the driver. . .

Michelle -- Maybe my most ambitious and accomplished friend, Michelle is most certainly not one of the roommates Pepper and I were trying to avoid living with as I alluded to earlier. (Now I'm hoping that the girls I was referring to do not read my blog. Oops.) Far from it, in fact. Michelle was a delight to live with, and she taught me a lot. She's an attorney, she's a ballroom dancer, she's a mother, and I hope she believes me when I say that she shouldn't be offended! Courtney -- I've known Courtney since I was 16, and she was the beautiful, smart, popular, sassy older next door neighbor of the guy I was crushing on. Now she's the beautiful, smart, popular, sassy, cute former neighbor of the man I married. She so very graciously welcomed me into "the cul-de-sac" with open arms ten years ago, and I love her for it. Visit her blog and marvel. Alice -- Alice is a cool chica. We have a lot in common: music, religion, kids, Suns. Our respective s

What is the greatest thing that has happened in our home this summer? It's not Norah getting teeth, I can tell you that. Possibly the greatest single event that has revolutionized our home and made summer in Arizona that much more bearable happened when I called the electric company and switched my on-peak/off-peak hours to their new plan. Really, if APS is your company, pay attention. It used to be that the on-peak hours at our house--meaning the time when electricity costs were sky-high--were from 9 in the morning to 9 at night. That meant that the first thing I ever did in the morning on the way out of my bedroom was grab a load of laundry and get it in the washing machine. There was a time when I was vigilant and got the daily load washed and dried before nine, but it has been a while since that happened. Lately, I had been washing it before nine, but drying would cross over into the pricey hours of 9, 10, 11. What a waste--of our money going to pay the electric bills. And don&

Last weekend my entire family met up for some fun times in Puerto Penasco, aka Rocky Point, Mexico. (I was recently surprised to learn that not everyone has heard of Rocky Point. My friend from Utah verified this for me. "Where do people go for spring break?" I asked. Her answer? St. George or Las Vegas. How very state-centric of me to not have known this previously.) We stayed in a great house just steps away from one of the finest beaches I have personally enjoyed. What was so great about it, you ask? We had it all to ourselves. Warm water. Delightful snorkeling (for some). Exciting creature discoveries. Great tide variations. Shells galore. But mostly: we had it all to ourselves. Here are a few pics. Here are a few more. And more. Don't forget these beauties.

Although, it is sure to be sad: a sad book, and sad that it's over. If you are so inclined, please signify in the comments what persuasion you are regarding Snape: good or evil? {Other books I hope to read this summer, all of which I'm halfway through: Isaac Jordan, The Red Tent, Word Freak, Life of Pi, Book of Mormon, The Tipping Point, Escape Into Darkness and Brainiac. Also, New Moon, but I haven't started that one yet. Finish what you start, Em, finish what you start.}

Yesterday morning at 6 AM, Sting hiked Camelback Mountain. That's what he told me. I kinda wish I had gone hiking yesterday. The Police concert was stinkin' fantastic . It was so cathartic to hear one of the greatest bands of all time playing songs, all of which I knew, live and really loud. Really loud, live, amazing music sometimes just makes everything right in the world. Last night scored itself a position in the upper echelon of my Best Concert Experiences Ever. Woot. {Amy June will appreciate this, I think.} I was fascinated all night with the average thirty-something, baseball-cap-wearing, pot-bellied, married, lyrics-knowing, out-with-the-guys dude in front of us who lit up a joint in the first couple of songs. His buddy--another settled-down, job-having, not-carefree-anymore sort of fellow himself--looked at him with raised eyebrows and a smirk and a you're-smoking-pot? kind of expression. The first guy seemed a little sheepish. Me? I was fascinated. I mean, where

I took a quiz to see what religion I should belong to based on my system of beliefs. Here are the results: 1. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (100%) 2. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (89%) 3. Jehovah's Witness (87%) 4. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (86%) 5. Bahá'í Faith (74%) 6. Orthodox Judaism (70%) 7. Orthodox Quaker (63%) 8. Eastern Orthodox (61%) 9. Roman Catholic (61%) 10. Seventh Day Adventist (58%) 11. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (56%) 12. Islam (53%) 13. Liberal Quakers (52%) 14. Sikhism (52%) 15. Reform Judaism (45%) 16. Hinduism (43%) 17. Unitarian Universalism (42%) 18. Jainism (38%) 19. Mahayana Buddhism (37%) 20. Theravada Buddhism (36%) 21. Neo-Pagan (31%) 22. New Thought (30%) 23. New Age (29%) 24. Scientology (22%) 25. Secular Humanism (19%) 26. Nontheist (16%) 27. Taoism (15%) I'm not as close to Seventh-Day Adventist as I would have thought. But more Quaker tha

Abby -- she's my sister. She's my sister! Far across the sea, or right next door to me, wherever she may be, she's my sister. . . . She's my sister. She's my sister! She's my friend. Claire -- the very cool sister of my very cool friend Jordan. Claire is all the time thinking about interesting and/or hypothetical curiosities and articulates these things that swirl around in her brain quite nicely for the rest of us to enjoy. From what I have gathered in the few short months I've known her, Claire gets fantastically preoccupied (obsessed?) with new things, which explains why she wrote about 752 posts the first month she had a blog. Lots of fun, that Claire! La familia Godfrey -- I think I've mentioned this before, but Pepper, of yesterday's links, once said that I only make sense in the context of my family. I think that's pretty cool, because I like my family, and why would I want to make sense anyway? Unfortunately, this blog does not very ac

Stephanie -- I discovered the delightful blog of this girl through the delightful blogs of her siblings, and then I discovered that she is my brother-in-law's sister-in-law and we have two nieces and two nephews in common. And if that weren't enough of a connection, she's also best friends with an entirely different brother-in-law's sister-in-law. Whew! And then she moved to Arizona and every few months I have the delightful privilege of getting to hang out with her in person. Delightful. Pepper -- Miss Pepper is one of my spicier friends. We were roommates in college and connivingly figured out a way to move to a new apartment, still live together, and ditch a few of our other roommates who were dragging us down. Rude or prudent? You decide. Pepper and I were bridesmaids in each other's weddings. She is a generous, kind soul and an especially gifted hostess . Carina, aka Azucar -- She's smart, she's sassy, she's intimidating, she's talented, she&

Neil and Diana -- my little brother married my best friend. Lucky me! Lucky her! Lucky him! Two fantastic and smart people. Everybody should know them. Emmie -- she had me at her Like the Award post . Scroll down to read it. Emmie and I haven't met, but I'm looking forward to the day we do and the intriguing dinner conversation we are sure to have. She is an actor and played the stunning role of Mary Fielding in the Joseph Smith movie you may have seen. Sarah -- aka Suzie. We lived across the hall from each other in the dorms; I have incriminating photos of her; we wasted mucho time together playing with phonemail, of all archaic things; she let me wear her wedding dress; our husbands love each other; her daughter once threw a drawerful of underwear on Elliot's head; we go way back. Oh, and hers has the distinct honor of being The First Blog I Ever Read and the reason why I blog today. More to come.

Elliot got baptized by his dad on Saturday and it was a beautiful occasion. I am very proud of him for being such a wonderful son and a good kid. Here he is with a few of the other children who were also baptized. The girl's siblings and I have arranged for the two of them to get married, so this picture will be included with the wedding announcements. Aren't they darling children? I especially love that R has a stuffed monkey, and Elliot is playing with his cookie. The captured innocence will make it all the better to look back on and show to their children. (Agency? What agency?) And here are the four crazy children who make my life complete. Contrary to what a lady at Discount Tire last week might believe, the boys are not triplets and Isaac, on the left, is most certainly not the oldest. Thanks to all of you who came to the baptism: we love you. And thanks esp. to N and D for your excruciating work and contributions to the After Party. Yo th be. P.S. -- I'm loyal to