Yesterday, I met Addison for the first time because Corey and I went up to Logan for her blessing. She wore Jen’s blessing dress, which was very pretty.  She was also blessed with the afghan I crocheted for her.

As stated in previous posts, she was only 4 lbs. 5 oz. when she was born. I was only 4 lbs. 2 oz. when I was born, so I wanted to see her to get a feel for how small I was. (It’s really hard to fathom a baby that small.) When I met her yesterday, Addison had almost doubled her weight. She now weighs 7 lbs. 12 oz. Even though I was a little disappointed because I didn’t get to see her when she was small, I’m glad she’s doing so well.

Jen had some professional pictures of Addison taken. Here are some of them. She’s so cute!

My other sisters and brother are probably going to be jealous or sad because of this post. However, honestly, I think LeAnn, other than a couple of my nieces and my in-laws, is the only one in my family that reads my blog. When I was writing the post “101 Facts About Me”, I had a hard time coming up with things and realized (now) how much I can’t sum up my life in 101 things and how much I forgot or overlooked. A few of those things, in particular, are regarding LeAnn. So, I decided to come up with a non-exhaustive list just about her and me.

1. Whenever I had a nightmare or got scared at night, LeAnn always let me sleep with her.
2. Some of my favorite memories when I was younger include hanging out with LeAnn. We used to go to the mall and movies together, have fun out in the yard, go to the roller skating rink, and lots of other things too.
3. When I was six or seven years old, LeAnn taught me how to play the top hand of “Für Elise.”
4. When I was about seven or eight years old, I was running down the hall in my house and LeAnn tripped me. (She didn’t do it to hurt me; it was a “just for fun” kind of thing.) After I tripped, I went sailing into the corner of a wall. Amazingly, I wasn’t hurt. The wall, however, wasn’t as lucky. There was a huge dent in it. We joke that I have a really hard head.
5. LeAnn joined the Marines when I was in the 4th grade and when she was sworn in, I was unofficially sworn into the Marines, too, because I wanted to be like her.
6. When I was about nine or ten years old, my childhood cat, Gus, was sleeping on LeAnn’s bed. She told me to leave him there while she used the restroom because she wanted to sleep with him. Well, so did I. While she was in the restroom, I snuck Gus out of her room and into my bed and hid him under my covers while I pretended to be asleep. She went back down to her bedroom and noticed he was gone. I heard her yell, “JENNI!” She came up to my room and asked me if I took him. I told her no. Even though I don’t think she believed me, she just walked away and let me sleep with him.
7. When I was a junior in high school, LeAnn lived with us for a few months because her husband was overseas in Okinawa. She, my mom, and I were talking in the living room when she decided to attack me with a newspaper. I got newspaper print all over my face.
8. One of my favorites memories is staying up with LeAnn to watch Quantum Leap when she was living with us in my junior year.

My niece Amber did this on her blog and I thought it’d be fun to do. Here are 101 facts you may or may not know about me:

1. I was born exactly one month earlier than my due date.
2. If I would’ve been born on my due date, my cousin Pete and I would have the same birthday.
3. I’m in love with my birthday and, in my opinion, it’s the most important day of the year.
4. My birthday has been on Easter twice during my life.
5. My 17th birthday was the day of the Oklahoma City bombing. It was also the day Corey went into the MTC, which he served in Oklahoma.
6. My birthday has had more disasters/historical events occur on it than any other day, a fact that I’m very proud of. (If you don’t believe me, look it up on Wikipedia.)
7. I’m left-handed, a trait I get from my maternal grandfather. Aymee and Kilee, my niece and great-niece, are also left-handed.
8. Corey’s the first and only person I’ve ever kissed.
9. I’m the youngest of seven children and my closest sibling in age is eight and a half years older than me.
10. My four oldest siblings are old enough to be my parents. (My brother’s a stretch since he’s only 16 years older than me, but it’s still possible.)
11. I’m closer, relationship-wise, to my nieces and nephews than I am to my sisters and brother.
12. I became an aunt when I was three years old and a great-aunt when I was 21 years old.
13. I only have two cousins that are my age. The rest of my cousins are old enough to be my parents.
14. Ironically, because I’m the youngest, I was the first child to demand affection from my parents. My siblings and I knew our parents loved us, but they grew up in non-affectionate homes. My siblings were content with my parents not being affectionate, but I always asked for kisses, hugs, and to be told I was loved. (I still like receiving kisses on my forehead from my dad and hugs from my mom.)
15. I never had a curfew when I was growing up. My parents never had to worry about me because I was such a goody two-shoes.
16. I’ve only been grounded once in my life. (I don’t remember why.)
17. My dad wanted to name me AnnaLisa, so my name would be similar to my paternal grandmother’s name, Annabelle.
18. I was given an Indian name by my paternal grandfather.  It’s Singing Bird.
19. My oldest sister, Shari, has given everyone in the family a nickname. My nickname is Porkus, which I thoroughly detest!
20. I’ve collected names since I was 12 years old.  I have over 5,000 girl names and over 1,000 boy names.
21. My favorite girl’s name is MacKenna Elyse.
22. My childhood cat, Gus, was named after my paternal great-grandfather Johann Gustav.
23. When I was little, I pushed Gus around the house in my PlaySkool shopping cart.
24. I was in a Spanish immersion program for four years at my elementary school. Whenever I’d bring my homework home, I’d have to translate it into English before my parents could help me.
25. Because I had the opportunity to learn Spanish at such a young age, I have a love for learning languages. I took one year of Russian and four years of French in high school. I took three years of Japanese in college. I’m not fluent in any of them, but I speak and understand Spanish the best. (I suppose I just need to practice more.) Japanese is my favorite language.
26. For extra credit in my French class, I ate escargot. For those of you who don’t know what escargot is, it’s snail. As Timon and Pumbaa, from the Lion King, would say, “Slimy yet satisfying.”
27. When I was in the eighth grade, I wrote a short story for my English class called “101 Dill Pickles” with Evel Knievel as the bad guy. (We had to write a parody of a fairy tale.)
28. Other than languages, my favorite subject in school was math.
29. I had an algebra theorem named after me when I was a sophomore in high school.
30. I have a lifelong dream to go to Japan.
31. Sushi is my favorite food.
32. I don’t like sugar cereal. In fact, my favorite cereals are Shredded Wheat, Crispix, and Rice Crispies.
33. My favorite ice cream flavor is Pink Bubble Gum.
34. One of my favorite childhood memories is riding my bike to Baskin Robbins for an ice cream cone with my dad.
35. My left front tooth was missing for four years. It was pulled out when I was three years old because it was nothing but a giant cavity and it didn’t erupt again until I was in the second grade. The tooth only erupted because I tripped and fell on Aymee’s head, which cut my gum and allowed it to come through.



36. I played with Barbies and dolls until I was in the ninth grade.
37. Another one of my favorite childhood memories is playing Barbies with nieces Amber and Megan.
38. I once convinced my niece Kati to trade dolls with me because mine had a “scar” on it and hers didn’t.
39. I won a $100 bet against my dad when I was 14 years old because I knew the Colossus (a ride at Lagoon, an amusement park in Utah) had a lap restraint and not a shoulder restraint.
40. I wrenched my neck when I was nine years old on the Colossus and had to wear a neck brace for a couple of weeks.
41. I was 12 years old the first time I went to Disneyland.
42. I have a picture of me in a Daisy Duck hat and Corey has a picture of him in a Donald Duck hat.  It must have been fate!



43. I love amusement parks and I’ve been to Lagoon, Disneyland, Knott’s Berry Farms, Magic Mountain, Universal Studios (California), SeaWorld (San Diego), Six Flags (Dallas), Six Flags (St. Louis), Busch Gardens (Tampa), and Disney World.
44. Whenever I was sick as a teenager, I’d watch all three original Star Wars movies or all three Indiana Jones movies.
45. I’ve been a Star Wars fan for longer than I can remember because Shari’s a huge Star Wars fan and I guess you can say it was sort of ingrained in me.
46. The Empire Strikes Back is my favorite episode in the Star Wars Saga, with The Revenge of the Sith being a close second.
47. I slept on the sidewalk for nine hours while I waited in line to get tickets for the special edition of A New Hope.
48. I waited in line for eight and a half hours to be the first person in the theater to see The Revenge of the Sith.
49. I get really mad when people say the last three Star Wars movies sucked or that Hayden Christensen was poorly cast as Anakin Skywalker.
50. I’ve watched Clue so many times I can quote it without even thinking about it. “What do you mean murrrr-derrrr?”
51. Another one of my favorite childhood memories is watching Clue with my nieces Cami and Kati.
52. My favorite TV shows include Charmed, 24, and Bones. (I get a lot more sleep thanks to my TiVo.)
53. Ewan McGregor is my favorite actor. I like listening to him speak because of his Scottish accent. I think his singing voice is amazing! And, most importantly, I think he’s extremely hot!
54. I have autographs from John Williams, Michael Crawford, and Debbie Reynolds.
55. John Williams is my favorite composer.
56. My favorite singer of all time is Michael Crawford, the original phantom in The Phantom of the Opera.
57. I saw Michael Crawford in EFX for my 18th birthday. He was absolutely amazing!
58. I met Debbie Reynolds at her hotel and casino in Las Vegas.
59. Music played in the minor key is usually my favorite.
60. “Für Elise” is my favorite classical composition because it’s basically my name–Jennifer Elyse. And, it’s really the only classical composition I can play on the piano.
61. I played the oboe for a year in junior high school and I’d like to take it up again.
62. Whenever I’m sad, I listen to music. I especially like listening to LDS hymns or other LDS music.
63. My three favorite bands are Linkin’ Park, System of a Down, and Green Day.
64. When I was a teenager, I was obsessed with the New Kids on the Block.
65. In the seventh grade, I had my hair cut and permed to look like Joey McIntyre from the New Kids on the Block.
66. I used to hate reading so much I’d buy cliff notes to help me pass my literature classes. However, surprisingly, I enjoyed reading The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
67. I can count the number of books I read in high school on one hand because I avoided reading at all costs if I could. I read The Scarlet Letter (enjoyed), Where Are the Children? (enjoyed), Dune (one of my favorite books), Fahrenheit 451 (disliked), and Summer of My German Soldier (enjoyed).
68. Because of Harry Potter, I started to read, which lead me to the Twilight series.  Because of the Twilight series, my outlook on reading has done a complete 180. Reading’s one of my favorite pastimes now.  Although, I still don’t read as often as I’d like. I haven’t really expanded my horizons outside of books written by Stephenie Meyer, JK Rowling, or Mary Higgins Clark yet either. I plan to remedy this soon.
69. My favorite books include the Harry Potter series, the Twilight series, and Dune.
70. I’m a perfectionist and I’m very anal when it comes to projects I work on. I couldn’t just write this list in the order I came up with the items; I had to organize everything by subject.
71. I’ll edit my blog posts, as well as my posts on the Twilight Lexicon, four or five times (or as many times as necessary) because of typos.
72. Marvin the Martian is my favorite cartoon character.
73. I can talk like Marvin the Martian. Just ask me to say, “I want to blow up the Earth because it blocks my view of Venus.”
74. I love talking in accents. Amusingly, my favorite accent to talk in, if you will, is my deaf accent.  I don’t do it very often anymore because I don’t want to offend anyone.
75. When I was nine years old, my sister Caryn and I were waiting for my mom to get off work. Caryn started talking to one of my mom’s co-workers, someone who Caryn thought was cute and had a little crush on. When the guy asked me my name, I acted as if I were deaf and started to sign my name and talk in my deaf accent. Caryn was really embarrassed.
76. I love animals! Once I meet an animal, I’m immediately attached to it because I anthropomorphize them. (Corey likes to say that Elmyra from Tiny Toon Adventures was drawn after me.)
77. I cry more when an animal dies than when a person dies in movies or books. Case in point, Hedwig’s and Dobby’s deaths were the hardest for me in Deathly Hallows.
78. Another one of my favorite childhood memories is feeding the ducks in the pond at Weber State University with my dad.
79. I’m deathly afraid of spiders.
80. Because of my fear of spiders, I’ll never go to Australia because the Funnel Spider is from there.
81. Because of my fear of spiders, I’ll probably never go to Africa or South America either.
82. I love playing games whether they’re board games, gaming system games, computer games, or active games (e.g. tag, capture the flag).
83. My favorite gaming system is Nintendo because it has the fun, non-realistic, not-too-violent games like Mario and Zelda.
84. All Zelda games are my favorite Nintendo games.
85. My favorite board games include Settlers of Catan with all expansions, Bonkers, Ticket to Ride, Monopoly, Clue, and Risk.
86. My favorite color is light amethyst.
87. My favorite color combination is light amethyst, lime green, and blue.
88. I love to roller skate and I hate to roller blade.
89. I love to ride bicycles.
90. I love the water and I love going to water parks.
91. When I was eight years old, I fell in a canal and would’ve drowned if Jennie, my best friend at the time, hadn’t jumped in to save me.
92. I love spending time with Jack and Sheridan, my friends’ children. They’re my surrogate nephew and niece.
93. I’m the unofficial godmother of Owen and Sadie, my friend’s children.
94. I write training manuals.
95. I’ve always wanted to write a novel.
96. Halloween’s my favorite holiday because I love to dress up.
97. For three years in a row (nine to 11 years old), I had a recurring dream on Halloween night. The dream was similar to “Night on Bald Mountain” in Disney’s Fantasia.
98. For Halloween one year, I dressed up as Bubbles from the PowerPuff Girls.
99. For another Halloween, I dressed up as a butterfly caught in a web.
100. When I was younger, I’d stay up every Christmas Eve and wait for my parents to put out my stocking and the presents from “Santa.” Once my parents went to bed, I’d go through my stocking.  I learned to do this from my sister LeAnn.
101. I’ve never received a speeding ticket.

PS–This is harder than it looks. It took me nearly five hours to come up with the entire list. You should try it because it’s kind of fun.

This was originally posted as a “main” page. Before Deathly Hallows was released and as I was reading the previous six books, I decided to create a list of unanswered questions hopefully answered in Deathly Hallows. Now that Deathly Hallows is here, I decided to post the questions as a regular post, so I could answer the questions.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

1. Why is it so important that Harry has his mother’s eyes? We find out that Harry’s eyes are so important because of Snape. With Snape being in love with Lily, detesting James, and Harry looking and acting just like James (therefore, detesting Harry as well), Harry having Lily’s eyes allowed Snape to remember Lily and remember his vow to Dumbledore to help keep Harry alive.
2. How did the Bloody Baron get covered in blood? Seamus asked Nearly Headless Nick at the start-of-term banquet, but Nick answered delicately, “I’ve never asked.” We find out the Bloody Baron is covered in the Grey Lady’s blood because he murdered her and then killed himself.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

1. Harry asked Dumbledore, “What made you think [Snape had] really stopped supporting Voldemort, Professor?” Dumbledore replied, “That, Harry, is a matter between Professor Snape and myself.” I guess I’m going to ask the same question as Harry. Why does Dumbledore trust Snape so much? Well, because Snape loved Lily and wanted to avenge her death, he made a promise to Dumbledore that he’d help protect “Lily’s son” or Harry.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

1. Dumbledore tells Harry there is a room in the Department of Mysteries that is always locked and that it “contains a force that is at once more wonderful and terrible than death, than human intelligence, than forces of nature.” Dumbledore also says, “It is the power held within that room that you possess in such quantities and which Voldemort has not at all.” What force is this? We never find out. JK Rowling may include it in the encyclopedia she plans to write.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

1. What were Snape and Dumbledore arguing about when Hagrid overheard them? Snape was angry with Dumbledore because Dumbledore asked Snape to help protect Harry just to sacrifice him for the greater good when the time came.
2. Who is RAB and why did he take the locket? RAB was, indeed, Regulus Black. He took the locket because he stopped admiring Voldemort after what he did to Kreacher in order to get the locket to where it was hid.
3. We know Tom Riddle’s diary and Gaunt’s ring were Horcruxes and that they were destroyed. We know Slytherin’s locket and Hufflepuff’s cup are as well. Dumbledore thinks Nagini is one. So, what is the last Horcrux? Where are the other three Horcruxes hidden, other than Nagini being with Voldemort? Nagini was a Horcrux and was always by Voldemort’s side. Ravenclaw’s Diadem was a Horcrux and was hidden in the Room of Requirement at Hogwarts. As a surprise, the final Horcrux was Harry.  Slytherin’s locket was taken by Regulus Black and then later stolen by Mundungus Fletcher.  Its final hiding place was around Dolores Umbridge’s neck.  Hufflepuff’s cup was hidden in Bellatrix’s vault in Gringott’s.

I created my first animated banners. I use them in my signature for my posts on the Twilight Lexicon. I thought they were a lot of fun to make and I plan on making more.

The Edward and Bella Forever banner is something I did so I had something Twilight related in my signature. The Harry Potter quotes banner is something I did to house all my favorite inspirational quotes from the seven Harry Potter books. Of course, most of the quotes are by Dumbledore.  There are 18 in total.

One of my favorite poems is “Footprints.” When I was younger, I had a copy of this poem hanging up in my bedroom. Whenever I had a bad day, I’d read it. This poem has been a source of strength throughout my life, so I wanted to post it on my blog.

One night a man had a dream. He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the Lord. Across the sky flashed scenes from his life. For each scene he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand: one belonging to him, and the other to the Lord.

When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand. He noticed that many times along the path of his life there was only one set of footprints. He also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times in his life.

This really bothered him and he questioned the Lord about it. “Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you, you’d walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life, there is only one set of footprints. I don’t understand why when I needed you most you would leave me.”

The Lord replied. “My son, my precious child, I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.”

I wanted to post something regarding President Faust’s death this morning. However, I really don’t know what to say because I don’t feel like I’m all that articulate or “deep” when it comes to these types of things.

His death was kind of a shock to me because I didn’t know he was sick, other than him having a hard time with his mobility in the last few years. One of my co-workers Alan told me that the speaker at a CES Fireside he attended this weekend mentioned President Faust had been bed-ridden for the last couple of weeks.

I can’t help feeling a sense of loss because I enjoyed listening to his talks during General Conference. However, at the same time, I do feel comforted because I know he’s in a better place and surrounded by all his loved ones.

The Deseret News has a couple of articles about him, which you can read here and here.