The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

I got back late Tuesday night from my amazing trip to Harry Potter World with my best friend, Kristen. We had the BEST time! We've been best friends for 15 years, and this is the most uninterrupted time we've had together just the 2 of us, and it was glorious. 10/10 would recommend!

I won't go into all the details because I doubt most people care about HP World the way the 2 of us do. If you have any specific questions about what we did, what we loved, what we wished we had done differently, ask away!

Our trip was scheduled for Saturday - Tuesday with 2 days of tickets for Universal Studios on Sunday/Monday. We decided to add Saturday at Epcot Center once we arrived in Florida because they were having their annual Food and Wine Festival.

On the way to pick Kristen up, wearing my awesome HP shirt!

HAD to try poutine and we LOVED it!

Wine flight? Don't mind if we do!

The beignet that was not a beignet and we threw it away, sad.

Look at that funnel cake, yum!

We only went on 1 ride at Epcot.

We spent a lot of the trip looking like a couple, ha!

One great thing that we did on this trip was set no rules for ourselves and not go crazy with forcing in EVERYTHING. We slept in every day, took it easy, relaxed, and enjoyed ourselves. We didn't want to come home exhausted from our vacation and were on the same page the whole time. Such an amazing feeling.

So Sunday we did NOT get up early to rush to HP World and got there around 12:00 or so. There are 2 parts to HP World - Diagon Alley is in the main Universal Park and Hogsmeade is in Islands of Adventure, so we got a park-to-park pass to be able to enjoy all the Universal parks. We didn't go to the water park, so I can't tell you anything about it.

First thing we saw once we go to the HP side was King's Cross!

The Knight Bus

No. 12 Grimmauld Place with Kreacher peaking out

Our first view of Diagon Alley!!!!!!!

We might have been 100% freaking out here!

There are 4 Harry Potter rides - Escape from Gringott's, Hagrid's Motorbike, The Forbidden Journey, and Flight of the Hippogriff. We are NOT rollercoaster people but decided we would try all of these. And were scared sh*tless the whole time about it. On Sunday we did Escape from Gringott's and Flight of the Hippogriff. Gringott's was a mix of some rollercoaster elements but a lot of 3D stuff. 

Scared before we got on!

It was definitely scary but we survived and both said we would do it again. Now that we know what happens it would probably actually be fun the second time, ha.

After that we felt like we deserved a treat, so we had some lunch at The Leaky Cauldron and had our first taste of butter beer...the sweetest nectar of the Gods.

SO DELICIOUS

We went into all the shops in Diagon Alley and then decided to head to Hogsmeade. A definite annoying part was the line to take the Hogwarts Express. Took us an hour to ride the 5 minute 'train' ride - which basically covered what takes 15 minutes to walk. But definitely an experience!

Our first view of Hogsmeade! We loved the 'snow' on the buildings.

And more butter beer at The Three Broomsticks!

THE CASTLE!!!!!!!!!!

We shopped in Hogsmeade and rode The Flight of the Hippogriff, which is described as 'family friendly' but still scared us ha. We had heard there was a Death Eater show at 7:30 so we hung around for that.

One more butter beer while we wait!

A Death Eater! Run!

Islands of Adventure closed at 8:00 so we went back to the hotel, read, watched crap tv, talked and just vegged.

Monday we headed back to Universal to ride our last 2 rides - the 2 we were most scared about and buy gifts for the kiddos.

Is this cute or nerdy? Both? Ha!

We actually got a ton of comments on our glasses ha. Thanks, Target!

I had to take a picture in the Simpsons area because Trent loves that show!

I got him a Bart Simpson hoodie, ha.

Hanging out with the dragon

We didn't take many pictures on Day 2, but we DID ride Hagrid's Motorbike and The Forbidden Journey. Hagrid's Motorbike was a 50-mph rollercoaster and I wanted to cry through most of it. I'd do it again because it was way cool, but it was also very scary. The Forbidden Journey was a virtual adventure and I like those because I can close my eyes when I get freaked out ha. It was my favorite ride for sure!

We ended up getting wands for all our girls, the hoodie for Trent, and Rhett {Kristen's son} loves The Cat in the Hat, so she got him a stuffie from Dr. Seuss-land. Which also had some very weenie rides that we rode and LOVED ha.

We ended the night with pizza and Harry Potter trivia in our hotel room!

Tuesday we talked about hanging out by the pool but ended up just lounging in our room. Our flight out was at 4:00 so we checked out at 1:30 and headed to the airport. Super long day of travel with some delays but finally got home at 11:00, whew! So much fun! {And I guess I can't help share way too many details!}

Paige being extra cute Wednesday morning in my HP gear! XOXO

I couldn't get this to insert where I wanted it in the post, but it's really cool what the dragon does every 5 minutes!

A trip a decade+ in the making, and we had the absolute best time!

Paige and Rhett's Baptism

Yesterday, we baptized Paige and Rhett! The more children Kristen and I have, the harder it is to coordinate anything, so I'm so happy we finally got this accomplished. {grin}

I knew I wanted to have Schuyler and Kristen be Paige's Godparents. They are also Trent's {his baptism is here} and Drew's {her baptism is here}, and she has always been more than a best friend to me - she's also helped me in my faith journey in countless ways - so it's a no brainer for us to choose them. [And to quote Drew's baptism post: I joked that they better not get sick of Gurley children because if there are more, they are stuck being Godparents again!' See? No brainer.]

What makes it super special is I'm Beau's Godmother {her baptism is here}, and this time they asked Brent and me to be Rhett's Godparents. Originally Kristen wanted Rhett to be baptized at their childhood parish in Pensacola {where Beau was baptized}, but it was way too hard to coordinate that, so I suggested the double baptism, and we both got INSANELY excited.

Terrible picture, but see my face? 

That's how my heart has felt ever since we came up with this idea.

Other fun facts about Paige's baptism: she is wearing the dress my mother-in-law, Janet, made for Drew's baptism, and Beau also wore the dress. I love traditions like this! I plan on saving it forever, and I hope I have granddaughters who will wear it someday! Also, Janet bought Paige the same bonnet she bought Drew - you untie the back of the bonnet and it becomes a handkerchief for her to carry down the aisle on her wedding day - I mean come on! - but Paige kept pulling it off her head the minute we got it on, so no pictures in the bonnet, ha.

So enough talking - let's see this ceremony!

Fr. Adrian was a little confused when he called us up to the front of the church because he was expecting 2 sets of parents and 2 sets of Godparents. We had to explain we were the parents AND Godparents, ha!

I don't think we have any great pictures of this, but Beau and Drew are wearing matching dresses. I sent Kristen a text of the dress I bought for Drew to wear, and she said Beau had it, so since they were baptized in the same dresses, it seemed perfect to have them wear matching dresses to their little siblings baptisms.

Playing with Rhett's feet is so fun!

You can see the matching dresses here a little bit.

All smiles!

Yay!!!!!!!

Yay again!!!!!!!

Busy drawing

Trent was really proud to help out and light Paige's candle.

A blessing for the mothers

Presenting the babies! Another cheesy grin from me!

Afterwards, everyone came to our house and we had pizza and cake! 2 mamas with full-time jobs and 5 kids between us meant we wanted an easy celebration! I did bake and decorate the cake, but it was 100% store-bought ingredients and not my best decorating work. Drew helped me decide the design, and she put the sprinkles on - she's a great assistant!

It may not be the prettiest, but it sure means a lot!

Not the easiest to read, but it's the babies monograms with a heart in the middle.

Now we are 100% done baptizing Gurley babies. We'll see what those Williamsons end up doing... {grin}

Life Lately

I haven't done a Life Lately post in a while, and I have lots of randomness to share.

My friends, who own Southern Peach, got invited to be on a local news show, and I was asked to be one of the models {hahaha}. We had such a blast!

 Dinner with this girl always fills up my cup!

My in-laws' new house finally getting started! Can't wait!!!!!

Brent's cousin and his family came into town with their boat, and we went out on the lake one day. So much fun just relaxing and enjoying good family time.

Poor Paige had to stay home with our nanny, ha! 

Sweet cousins

A new take on double fisting {green beans and a toothbrush}

Snow cones and popcorn at the pool

Paige got to snack on goggles

It took Rhett less than 4 months to overcome his 2 pound birth deficit from Paige and overtake her.

4th of July parade in our neighborhood - don't you love my patriotic children?

Friends in the parade!

When I graduated from college, Brent's mom gave me a sewing machine. I always wanted to learn how to sew, and she was going to teach me. 14 years later, we started our first project together - matching dresses for the girls!

Working on my July workout goal! It's hot in Texas. {grin}

'Mom, will you get me some water? With a straw. A blue straw.'

Wants to crawl sooooo bad!

Pure sweetness

3 kids in the grocery store - rocking this motherhood business!

And Paige's first time in the cart. She didn't like it at first, so for a while I was carrying her while pushing the cart. But she warmed up to it!

Glitter slime

First time at VBS, she's growing up so fast.

More cousin time. I love that Paige is eating with the big girls!

Someone is about to get an appliance to work on his tongue thrust...

This should be fun for us all. :/

More pool shenanigans with this crew

Drew's first selfie!

Summer is hard work - staying up late, lots of swimming...

Brent was in a golf tournament this past weekend, and I let the bigs sleep with me.

We went to a family reunion on Saturday. These 2 are such goobers.

She keeps pulling her headbands down and eating them.

I love that she looks like a horse with a bit between her teeth, ha.

He taught her how to play Minecraft. I love when they play together nicely.

They used to ALWAYS play together and were almost always sweet.

Now? Not so much!

{Tattoos courtesy of Saturday's family reunion. Trent wore a tank top to show them off!}

Summer is flying by - I can't believe we have just over 1 month left. Lots more to pack in though!