Alyssa Jo: July 2009

On Saturday night I attended quite the party! I have been told I need to start calling it more of a small gathering since there were only four people in attendance, but it was a party to us! Hollie and her sister Krista decided to throw a Harry Potter themed party in anticipation of the 6th movie, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, which comes out this Wednesday! I am actually not a huge fan of the Harry Potter movies thus far, but I still get into the spirit and go to the premieres and what not. The previews always trick me into thinking they are going to be amazing, but they just can't get as good as the books! Anyway, the party was quite a night to remember! I want to thank Krista and Hollie for all the hard work they put into making a truly magical night!

This is what beheld my eyes right when I walked through the door. It's so festive! I love it! The golden snitch isn't too hard to find this time..that's right people, that is a golden snitch cake! Yum!

Guests at the party included...

Mad-eye Moody, or Alastor is probably what he would prefer to be called.

Professor Trelawney

Moaning Myrtle...now let me explain my lame costume. I could not decide for the life of me who to be when my friends so brilliantly suggested Moaning Myrtle. They think I look like her. Is that good or bad? I'm not really sure. Anyway, in the movie she wears the robes, but I didn't have them so I tried to go for the student look instead. She is in Ravenclaw so I wore blue and I tried to make my face pale with this stuff from Fun Daze that apparently sucks. It mostly just looks like I have a weird skin disease. So it didn't come together very well but me posing by the toilet should be a dead give away.

And of course Harry Potter himself had to make an appearance!

Did I say four guests? Silly me. I meant five. Uncle Vernon joined us via satellite. Isn't this hilarious? Since Holly is now living in Boise, she couldn't be at the party in person but she didn't let that stop her from dressing up! And I would have to say I think she definitely wins best costume.

Here are the five of us ready for a night full of magic!

First on the agenda was finding a wand for each of us. We all had to try a few until we found just the right match!

This wand was obviously not the wand for Moaning Myrtle as it seems to be causing some sort of disaster!

Ooh it looks like Professor Trelawney found her match!

And Harry is conjuring something truly magnificent with his perfect wand! I don't have a picture of Mad-eye testing wands but I am confident he found a good one.

Next up was to get sorted into houses. The sorting hat couldn't make it so we settled for a simple internet quiz that is just as accurate.

GRYFFINDOR!!!

RAVENCLAW? Hmm...

Here is Myrtle again with all her goods she stole from the party. Butter beer, firebolt, wand, HP glasses, and HP stickers are just a few of the prizes for the party goers.

After we were sorted it was time for the costumes to come off for an intense game of Quidditch!

Teams: Krista and Alyssa vs. Hollie and BreeAnn

You can't see my shirt very good but it says Gryffindor Captain. I think I proved that I deserved this position during the match.

Since there was only four of us we had to make a few minor adjustments to the game. It went as follows: Two people would play a chaser/beater combo hitting a rubber ball with plastic bats and brooms inbetween their legs across the designated goals in front of Hogwarts.(aka the church next to Hollie's house) This is not as easy as it sounds. Bree actually scored more goals then me but only because she violated the one rule, kicking the ball across the line! While this was taking place the seekers would search for the golden snitch that the beaters had hidden before the match started. When the snitch was found, the match was over!

Bree and I hid the snitch in the dirt. It wasn't completely buried but almost, making it very very tricky to find!

Hollie and Krista made the snitch actually fly by placing it in the trees.

These poor souls got their trash kicked!

Yea for Gryffindor!!! Victory!

Funny side note: a cop saw us playing in front of the church and turned around to see what mischief we were up to. We hurriedly grabbed all of our quidditch supplies and started heading back to Hollie's, but once he saw the broomsticks and our Harry Potter shirts, he just said he was making sure we were having fun! He started to pull away, stopped, rolled down his window, and said,"Harry Potter?" Maybe he was confused as to why four girls in their twenties appeared to trying to create a fantasy game. He chuckled and drove away though!

Sometimes I have the nerve to think that people that really love Star Wars or Star Trek or some other weird show like that are total nerds, but it is very apparent from the evidence above that I am right along there with them! I can't help it. Harry Potter just makes me giddy! My favorite quote of the night was spoken by Deb Marshall, Hollie's mom. She looked around and said, "I just want to remind you guys that somewhere in the world, there are a bunch of ten year olds having this exact same party." Ha ha! Oh well! It was a great party!

On Monday we celebrated my Grandpa Gunter's 80th birthday with a surprise party at their house. The big surprise wasn't as exciting as I had hoped because my dear grandma put 5:00 on all the invitations, but told my uncle to have him back to the house at 4:30 so he could get washed up. So there wasn't really anyone there when he walked in the door and he was just confused by the random decorations. Ha ha! But eventually he caught on and the party was great! He is quite the popular guy cause he had a great turn out! My grandpa is the cutest man ever and such a good example to our family. I think that he forgets that he is 80 because he tries to do so much! Like he can't see or hear but he continues to drive. Scary? Pretty much. He is always looking for opportunities to help people. I love him very much! Happy birthday Grandpa!

This is when he first walked in with the few people who were there.

My cousin Kent and his son Spencer.

Both of my adorable grandpas.

Me, my cousin Ally, and my cousin Carly. Oh, and Ruby! She was a naughty girl at the party. She chased my little cousin around and made him cry and everyone stopped talking and watched me chase her around the tree. It was a pretty embarrassing mom moment.