I'm Not In Melbourne Anymore...

Yesterday was so lazy, it's not much to blog about. I slept in and then Skyped mom for about an hour. I went shopping with Naomi and her little sister, and I was so shocked to see the price of the clothes in Australia! Man, H&M here I come! After shopping we went back to her house, and I got to go to the MELBOURNE TEMPLE to do baptisms! It was such a cool experience to be in a temple on the other side of the world. I was there from 7-8:30 with about 10 other members from the Melbourne area. Definitely an amazing way to finish up my stay in Melbourne. Naomi picked me up and we ate really yummy fish loaf soup for dinner and talked until we fell asleep.

Today, Naomi woke me up to eat breakfast with her before work. We talked and talked, and she ended up leaving for work a little later than expected. I packed my stuff and weighed it to see if I would make the 22 Lb weight limit... my bag weighed 12 Lbs, guys. That's master packing if I do say so myself. Her mom treated me to lunch at Hungry Jack's, which is acutally Burger King, just a billion times better. They flame grill their burgers, and we waited almost 10 minutes to get our order because they were each grilled right then. 
After lunch it was time for my flight, so off we went to the Tullamarine airport for my flight to Brisbane. The flight was delayed an hour, so by the time I landed in Brissy, I was starving. Sharleen and her boyfriend, Matthew were there to pick me up, and it was off to the Gold Coast to our hotel on the beach. We stopped at McDonald's because we were all really hungry. On the way there, we had to go through a routine pullover thingy where cops check your driver's license and do a breath test. Apparently it's super common in that area, but I was still in the backseat a little freaked out. The lady cop welcomed me to Brisbane, and we went on our way.

So now Sharleen and I are lounging in our nice little holiday hotel called The Cosmopolitan, and Sharleen tells me the beach is literally a few hundred feet away. It's dark, so I'll take her word for it. We grabbed some supplies for food for the next few days at the Woolsworth grocery store, and Matthew just left to head back home. I'm excited for the beach tomorrow!!!

Vacation pt 1, Nate The Great

Nate, my parents and I took a fun 4 day trip to LA and Anaheim California this weekend, and I took so many pictures, I decided to break my journaling into 2 posts. We went so Nate could participate in a regional fencing competition. Yeah, that's right. My brother fences, and he's really quite good for less than a year's worth of experience.

Look at this stud. He's about 5'6 now, and still growing, which is rare for the Brown family. Seriously. Look at his studliness.

Unfortunately with fencing, you take a thousand pics and they end up looking the exact same. So I successfully took 3 pictures of his bouts, and here's one for you to enjoy. He's wearing the white shoes. Look at that reach! Go Nate!!

And of course, the obligatory pic of the father holding a sabre (the thing they poke with) and 'smiling' for the camera.

He competed two different days, once in his age group, and once in the age group above him. He did really awesome for being a novice, and we found out later that he is now in the top 50 national fencers in his age group! Holy awesome little brother! Seriously, he's had about 9 months of training and he's already in the top 50. I see great things in store for this kid.

He's the shorter one 

After the first day of fencing, we ran to the Los Angeles Temple so Nate could do some baptisms for the dead for some male family members.

It was a really great experience and we had a wonderful time as a family. We got dinner at California Pizza Kitchen afterwards, and slept not so soundly in our cozy hotel room. (Nate snores like a lawnmower. It's awful.)

So that's part 1 of our Cali adventure!
~Courtney

I Did It!

Last Tuesday, I successfully accomplished a New Year's Resolution for the first time in my life. 

Yes. That's right. First time ever.

50 temple visits in less than 50 weeks. 

I am so grateful I made this resolution this year.  The temple was a place where I could escape from school, work, living at home.  I shared many trips with a wonderful friend, and we'd always grab breakfast somewhere afterwards. I went to temples I wouldn't have gone to normally, namely Los Vegas, Salt Lake and Mt. Timp.

Mostly for my own records, but just in case you're interested, here's a breakdown of my visits

1-10 Draper Temple

11 Mt. Timpanogos

12 Draper

13 Mt. Timpanogos

15. Oquirrh Mt.

16- 17 Draper 

18. Oquirrh Mt.

19. Provo

20. Draper

21. Las Vegas

22. Draper

23. Salt Lake

24- 26 Draper

27- 28 Jordan River

29- 33 Draper

34- 42 Oquirrh Mt.

43. Draper

44. Oquirrh Mt.

45- 50 Draper

The Temple

At the beginning of the year, I made a goal to visit the temple 100 times in one year.  A few weeks later I realized that was an unrealistic goal, and cut it in half.  Yup, 50 visits in 52 weeks. 

I've done really well so far: today was my 35th visit.  I have primarily gone to the Draper Temple as it is the closest one to me when I am at home, but it looks like I will likely be finishing up my goal at the Oquirrh Mountain Temple for the rest of this year.  I've adapted the habit of going right after my microbiology class on Thursdays, and today I just felt inspired to go as well.  I feel so scandalous because I'm always changing in my car in the temple parking lot, and I'm always nervous someone is going to walk by and notice me pulling on my skirt.

The effort to make the temple and performing baptisms for the dead a part of my life has been so very worth it.  I feel so happy and calm after my temple visits, even if I know I have a thousand things that need to get done at home. This is likely one goal I will continue to do even after I make my 50 visits mark.

It was a gorgeous day at the Oquirrh Mt. Temple today.

To those readers who have no clue what I'm talking about, feel free to click on my blue I Believe link to the right to learn more about LDS temples, or go to mormon.org.

~Courtney