Hey Funny Guy, Tell Us Some Jokes!

For Christmas I bought my parents, Jared, and Maria (Jared's Amazing/Wonderful girlfriend) tickets to the Brian Regan show in Logan. I also got us a hotel room so we could spend the night. A little weekend getaway! We went up on Saturday and my parents went to a wedding reception while Maria and I went with Jared to find some food because he was STARVING!! We didn't have a car so we walked down main street of Logan in search for somewhere to eat. After dodging cars to get across the busy street, we found a little Polynesian food place called Pounders! It was awesome food! We all shared a Pounder's Burger and it was just enough to hold us over for dinner.

Once my parents got back we went to dinner. After searching for a place to go, we went to a place called The Beehive Grill... Or something like that. The reason I can't think of the name is because it wasn't good at all! The best thing there was the home brewed Rootbeer! And that was good. But the rest was very disappointing. We should have went to Pounders! Off to Brian Regan we went. We tried to come up with a plan to get a picture with him with our homemade Brian Regan Quote shirts but the only thing we could think of was stalking him after the show but that was a little creepy. The show was in the Ellen Eccles Theater and it was a really neat place. Brian's older brother, Dennis, opened for him and he was very funny as well. If you would like to hear some of funny stuff click here. After Dennis performed, Brian came out and he was as funny as ever! He had brand new stuff and my face and jaw hurt so bad because of laughing so hard the entire time! We were all laughing so hard. He was as great at usual. Here's a little sample of some of his stuff if you're not familiar with him. Over all it was a hilarious show and a great weekend.

Sporting our Brian Regan shirts after the show!

Brother/Sister Love!

Despite having the whole bed to herself, Maria took the very outer edge!!

Boondockers!

These are my great friends Britten, Skyler, Fred, and Ali. I met them all this year in my ward and I just love them! Friday night we went to Boondocks in Draper and we had a BLAST! Ali has a "connection" at Boondocks and we got to play a TON for free! And play we did!! First we drove the Go-carts and we had to wait in the cold, windy line awhile... but we kept ourselves entertained! Britten bundled up with cinching her hood, Skyler decided Ali and I needed our coats done up ALL THE WAY, so I gave Skyler a beautiful bowtie with his hoodie strings! We're a bunch a goobers but we have fun!! On to the Go-Carts! Besides being behind a slow family, Britten's car barely moving, Fred making Ali spin out, and Skyler not letting me beat him.... We totally loved the Go Carts!

Next we played a little laser tag. It was everyone for themselves... until half way through when the three girls had enough of the boys being sneaky so we ganged up on them! Didn't help much though. I lost TERRIBLY!!!!!! Definitely in last place! But Britten won so she showed those boys who was boss!!


On to the "Flight Simulator". Skyler and I went first and trusted the employee there when he told us what the best ride was. Yeah we were laughing and singing "Party in the USA" instead of holding on for dear life. It was THAT good..... NOT!!! I should have trusted Skyler when he said he wanted to do a "shooting" ride! Britten and Fred went next and there ride seemed a TON better, they chose for themselves. They even looked a little disheveled when they got out!



We went back to our childhood and played some Skeeball to earn some tickets!! Skyler and I also did a little car racing on the lovely arcade games which he beat me by three hundredths of a second!! Totally cheated! No big deal though, I beat him by several seconds the next time! We collected all our tickets and got our prizes, which included: Chinese Finger traps, silly bands, parachute safari animals, "Popper", erasers, and kiddie candy! Oh the memories of child hood that came flooding back!

We ended the night with a photo booth shoot which included us squishing into a 2 person spot and Fred's eye only showing the whole time while the rest of us hogged the space! We stopped at In n Out on the way home, which is always delicious, and Skyler flew his "Parachute Lion" out the window. Great night. Great Friends. Great Memories.

Happy Valentine's Day

"Think of the purest, most all-consuming love you can imagine. Now multiply that love by an infinite amount—that is the measure of God's love for you."God does not look on the outward appearance (see 1 Samuel 16:7). I believe that He doesn't care one bit if we live in a castle or a cottage, if we are handsome or homely, if we are famous or forgotten. Though we are incomplete, God loves us completely. Though we are imperfect, He love us perfectly, Though we may feel lost and without compass, God's love encompasses us completely."

Dieter F. Uchtdorf

I am so blessed to be loved by a Heavenly Father that loves me for the person I am & the person I am inspiring to be. Even if I screw up sometimes... He still loves me.

The only other people I know that love me this much are these two:

Aren't they the cutest parents you have ever seen? I think so. I am so grateful to have them as my parents. I don't think I tell them enough how grateful I am for them and how much I truly love them. I hope that one day I will find a man that adores and worships me as much as my dad adores and loves my mom. I couldn't find a better example of a loving and devoted husband. I hope that one day I will be as amazing of a wife as my mom. She has supported my dad for so many years and has been by his side thick and thin. Cooking, cleaning, raising 4 crazy children and making sure my dad is always taken care of and knows that he is love. They are the best example of how an eternal companionship should be and I really hope that I will have this kind love in my lifetime.

Even though I am probably not always the easiest child to love, they love me despite it all. Sometimes I feel so bad because of all my health problems, medical bills, hospital stays, etc but my parents have always made sure that I am taken care of and get the best possible care I could get. They were always there for the hundreds of hours in the hospital and doctors appointments, hundreds of swim meets, choir concerts, birthdays, family trips, and the little things they do to express to me that they love me.

Thank you Mom and Dad for everything and for showing me what it truly means to love a spouse and to love your children. I Love You Both!

My sweet Dad surprised me with these beautiful Tulips for Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I love you all!

Best Date Ever!!

Aly and I finally had our date/sleepover on Friday night and it was a BLAST!!! I hope my future 4 year olds are as awesome as Aly is!

To start off, Monica dropped Aly off to me at work and off we went to have some dinner. As we were driving to Provo Aly was a chatterbox in the back seat! We saw her parents driving next to us and she kept saying "Go away Mom and Dad!!!" It was adorable. We went to a sushi restaurant in Provo and Aly ordered for herself: "California Roll Please!". The waitress just smiled and thought she was adorable. We sat there and had fun chatting and eating sushi together. She tried the miso soup and did not like that at all!

After dinner we went to my apartment to meet my roommate Emma, who she loved!! We painted her fingernails and toenails and they were pretty fabulous with the colors and jewels she picked!! Then I think this is the highlight of her night: "Gerald" came with ice cream! I definitely think she has the BIGGEST crush on him!! She could not stop giggling and just wanted to be around him. It was adorable. They wrestled and had fun for awhile and I thought for sure she was going to be exhausted and fall right asleep after that.... Man was I wrong!!

We went to go sleep at my parent's house and she just loved Millie playing with the animals. We had fun watching Toy Story 3 and she snuggled right up to me. She was so excited to meet my parents and once they got home from their date she was a chatterbox again! She was excited to tell my dad that she saw him on TV. Finally 12:30 am and she finally settled down to fall asleep!

The next morning she woke me up at 8:00 ready to play! We played with the puppy a bit, watched Rugrats (I haven't seen that show FOREVER!) and then got dressed to go see the Chickens with Grandpa. She loved Grandpa and he was really cute showing her the chickens and letting her carry the eggs in after we collected them. After we collected them we decided to wash 18 of them so Aly could take them home to her family. She was so excited to get them ready!

We finished off our fun date by reading some stories together. Aly and I really loved the book "The Monster At The End of This Book" Starring Grover from Sesame Street. If you're not familiar with it, you can read it Here (I highly recommend it!). I did my best Grover voice and Aly was eating it up! After we read it three times... It was time to go home. Such a fun date/sleepover with Aly and I plan on doing it again soon. Such a cute kid!

Love you Aly Bug!

Love this cute girl!

Aly and her crush, Gerald (a.k.a. Jared)

Aly and Millie

Aly holding a Crazy Chicken (with Grandpa's help)!

Aly and Gordo!

Aly and Weenie

Washing the eggs!

Hanging out at Grandma and Grandpa's house!

Visitors from Across the Pond!

My dad served his mission in the England, London South Mission many many moons ago but he has kept in touch with a lot of his great friends over there. Jared and I were even able to hang out with them when we went on a Study Abroad in London. Sarah and her boyfriend Jon came and visited us this time and it was a blast! It was our first time meeting Jon and he was horrible.... Ok that's an absolute lie, We absolutely love him and think he's so "AWESOME" (inside joke: He kept making fun of us for saying awesome and its so great to hear him say "Awesome" with his British accent). We spent the 10 days going to dinner, playing Mexican Train, watching me crash miserably while tubing on our big snow hill, visiting temple square, snowmobiling, and lots of chatting! It was so fun and I'm so glad they came out. We've already planned our next meeting: Summer 2012 they'll bring Sarah's daughter, Hannah, out to visit then I'll go back there to go to the Summer Olympics (at least that's what I'm planning!!). I sure love them and I'm so blessed to have them in my life. Its so fun to have friends around the world! Thanks for the fun memories Sarah and Jon! Can't wait to see you soon! But Hannah better come with you next time!! And don't forget..... You're AWESOME!!!!!!

P.S. Sarah: Its "MCDONALD's" not "MACDONALD's". HAHA Love ya!

I'm Still Here I promise!!

I promise I haven't given up on my blog! My computer was getting some repairs done and I didn't have my normal access to my blog! So, stayed tuned until tomorrow where I will have plenty of updates!! Stay with me, I'm finally back!

An Update on My "Date"

I just took my Statistics test tonight (once again, I hate Stats) & after I looked at my phone to see this email from my friend Monica (Aly's Mom) & it totally made my night & helped me get over my stupid test!:

Aly wants me to send you this letter. Try not to laugh too much. This is word for word what she wanted me to say.

Dear Courtney,

I hope you make up a day that is good for you to have our date. And I hope you like the day, and don't forget the day. Dear Courtney I hope you had a great Christmas. I love you. I hope I meet your mom and your dad. And I hope I meet your brother Garrett and I hope you guys find him; and when you guys find him tell him I wish him a Merry Christmas. What did you get? Done.

Love-Aly

P.S. Can you watch your other grand daughter, Graycie, with me one day. (The picture is Aly enjoying some sushi!)

I'm going to say it again: Oh how I love this girl!! My dad was in charge of a search for a boy last week and I was on the news helping him. Aly saw me and asked her Mom why on was on the TV. Monica tried to explain to her what happened to Garrett. When the boy came home on Monday, Aly asked if she could meet Garrett when he came home. I love how sweet and innocent kids are. I sure miss this girl and I think I'm going to be having a sleep over next weekend! I can't wait!! Love ya Aly-Bug!

(Ok one more cute Aly moment... Sorry I can't get enough of this girl... When she met my brother Jared for the first time, she couldn't remember his name and kept calling him "Gerald"!! Hahaha)

Happy Birthday Daddy-O!!

It's my amazing dad's birthday today! I won't tell you how old he is... but he was born in 1958! But he's got the energy, personality, and love for life like a 30 year old! For his birthday, I thought I would do a "Top Ten List" of why I love my dad (I could do a Top Ten Million List but I don't want to brag too much about my amazing father!).

10. How many girls can say their dad was "Hero of the Year" in AMERICA!! I can! But you'll never hear him telling people about it because he is so humble and just does what is right without needing recognition for it.

9. He's very funny! Even though I tell people not to laugh at his jokes because "it only encourages him", I think he is a funny guy and he usually can always make me laugh.

8. He is the hardest worker I have ever met. I've never met anyone that can work as hard as my dad and keep up with him! He's an energizer bunny!! He taught me the value of work from a very young age and I appreciate that so much. I hope I can teach my kids that lesson as well as he taught me.

7. He can be soft-hearted and emotional and isn't afraid to show it. He is a real man because he can share his emotions and show his emotions without being embarrassed of them.

6. He has a very strong testimony of Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father. It took him a little longer than a lot of young LDS men to gain that testimony and to decide to go on a mission but I think he is better because of it and values his testimony more because of it and it has been an amazing example to me.

5. When my dad puts his mind to something he is going to do he does it and is amazing at Self-Motivation. The past year he has lost a lot of weight and is a Triathlon Maniac!! He has done so well and has worked so hard to do better at working out once or twice a day and his swimming has improved ten fold! He is amazing! I wish I had the self motivation he has.

4. He is a worthy priesthood holder and it has blessed my family so much.

3. He is the biggest example to me of Service. He is always serving those around us, even when he doesn't know them. After Garrett went missing, instead of sulking in his own despair and loss, he turned it around and started an organization that helps other people and their families who have people that are lost in the mountains. He is so amazing and so giving. He has taught me and my brothers the value of service by taking us on Humanitarian trips, Builder's Without Borders, Sub-4-Santa, etc. He is always doing something for someone else. He is always willing to help me out whenever I need something or just need a little extra help on something.

2. He loves my mom and supports her in everything she does. I hope I find someone that is at least half as supportive and loving to me as he is to my mom. He truly knows how to be an amazing husband and treat his wife with respect and love.

1. He loves me and would do anything for me. He supports me in EVERYTHING I do. He would go to the end of the earth if it meant I would be happy for eternity. When I went through my cancer he was always there for me and made sure I had the best care I could possibly get. He is amazing and will take me to have "retail therapy" when he knows I really need a pick-me-up (when really, the real pick-me-up is the daddy/daughter time I get with him). I don't remember a single swim meet he missed and everyone knew when I was swimming cause everyone could hear him (including me in the water)! I loved going on daddy/daughter dates when I was little and in my teenage years. I will always cherish those times. I love going to the Real games with him and its fun to have something we enjoy together and spend extra time doing together. I feel so loved by my dad and I know that he would love me and do anything for me no matter what.

I hope my dad knows how much I love him and how much he means to me. I wouldn't be the person I am today if it weren't for him and my mom. I am so blessed to have him as my dad.

Happy Birthday Dad! Thanks for being an amazing dad & being my hero!

Love, Your Favorite Daughter/Princess!

What Was I Thinking?!

I hate Statistics.

I hate Microbiology.

Why did I take them in the same semester?

Still trying to figure out the answer to that question...