A Very Merry Um... Birthday!!

Yup! I turned twenty two yesterday!!

This was the first year that 1) I had to work on my birthday and 2) I wasn't with my family.

The first half of my day was uneventful. I went to work, yay.

The second half, though? That was fun. Leslie, being the awesome friend she is, invited me to see Tarzan the musical at Scera Amphitheater in Orem, which is about an hour drive for me from Price. I got stuck in some pretty bad construction in the canyon, and called her, totally frantic because I was hungry and worried we were going to be super late for the play.

Leslie, being the thoughtful person she is, bought us J Dawgs hotdogs while I was still on my way. After finally getting there I parked my car in front of her apartment, we hopped in her car and headed to the show, J Dawgs in tow. She got fantastic seats for us, and we had a fantastic time. Tarzan was mighty fine looking and the lady who played Kala was such a fantastic singer!

We finished with Dole Whip at Farr's Ice Cream, and stayed up til 1 AM talking in her room. Thanks Leslie for making my day something special!

And thank you to everyone that wished me a happy birthday! You all made my day!

~Courtney

Memorial Day

I thought my Memorial Day would be boring and uneventful, because I live alone... instead I had a really good day!

My ward started the day with a service project at a small waterfall about 30 minutes from my house. It required ATV's to get there, which explains why i've never been before. The new high school graduates must have partied it up there this past week, because there were beer cans and bottles all over the place. We all loaded up with thick plastic gloves and trash bags and went to work. My attempts at keeping my nice tennies clean lasted about 10 minutes, and soon enough they were covered in mud. Gross.

After getting everything cleaned up, we played in the waterfall and sat in the sun.We all headed back via ATV to our cars which were parked a few miles away. I was riding with one of the councilors in the bishopric, and he offered us a ride all the way back to the institute building in his ATV. We played around in the sand dunes for at least an hour before driving back to where my car was parked.

Then I had 30 minutes to clean up and head to a friend's for a BBQ in his backyard. We all sat around outside munching on hot dogs, chips and Oreos. I love eating food with friends! After the barbecue we went to a Mavericks gas station for Icee Creams. It's a combination of any flavor of Icee and vanilla ice cream. It looked disgusting at first, but tasted delicious! At about 12 we called it a night, and we all went our separate ways.

Pretty good day full of service and friends!
~Courtney

Grateful On Easter

Instead of focusing on the miracle of Christ's resurrection,

I'm going to focus on the miracles Christ is working currently in my life.

His resurrection was truly a miracle.

But He's not done working miracles.

He and Heavenly Father will never cease to amaze me.

Back when I was at USU, I took chem 1110, 

but their curriculum didn't include the 1115 lab. 

My teacher just did experiments in class, and class was 4 days a week. 

After getting accepted to the nursing program down here,

I noticed a paper saying I needed 1110 and 1115.

I knew I didn't have that chem 1115 class, and I figured I'd have to take it

over summer, down at SLCC.

I checked with the director, and she confirmed my fear. 

But then I checked with the soon-to-be director,

mostly because I needed to know the summer semester schedule

so I could schedule my lab with SLCC.

She gave me this confused look when I told her my situation,

and said she'd get back to me on the 1115 class.

Guess what, ya'll that USU prefix saved me.

I don't have to take chem lab over the summer!

On Friday, I took a computer test that determines 

the possibility of passing the NCLEX-PN

(PN is practical nurse, btw)

I had been stressing about it all week.

My practice test's result was horrid.

But the results of the actual test?

97% pass rate!

AKA: It's almost guaranteed I'm going to pass!

Hope you're having a good Easter Sunday.

~Courtney

Merry Christmas Ya'll

Today has been a really fantastic day.

This past week (not being in Price) has been really fantastic in general.

The one thing that made this Christmas unique from all the other Christmas' past was that my life-long (and I am not exaggerating here) friend/ Pen Pall/ roommate/ confidant/ fellow spazz got ENGAGED today to her perfect match!

I was lucky enough to be involved in the proposal!! It was a cute little 'treasure hunt' that involved stopping at my house and a few other houses to get clues, love letters and a single flower. So she shows up at my house totally out of her mind excited, and we jumped up and down together for a few minutes. I gave her the next clue and sent her on her way to the next stop.

She texted me a few hours later announcing she was officially engaged, and stopped by with her new fiancee a few hours after that to show off her stunning ring.

Congrats Brianna!!! We've been talking about our 'perfect matches' for so many years now, I'm thrilled you found yours! You two are so perfect for each other, and will be soooo~ooo happy together. 

This year my parents went overboard with the gifting, and I could not be more grateful! I'm writing this post on my new MacBook Pro!!! I am so thrilled to be able to have a computer in class to take notes, follow along with the slides, and Google stuff that comes up in class! 

THANKS MOM AND DAD!!

I head back to Price tomorrow morning for my 4 day work week, then back to Draper I go Saturday night to spend New Years Eve with my mom and Leslie!!!  

I am so blessed to have such generous parents, and wonderful friends. This truly has been a magical year.

~Courtney

P.S. Thanks for our lunch date yesterday, Eric!! 

The Laborious Day

My Labor Day was filled with anything but labor. (Thank Heavens!)

I drove home on Sunday night after church and spent the night with my family. Then, bright and early Monday morning, I picked up my friend, David, and we headed up to Utah State University so I could meet up with old friends.

David was kind enough to drive, and seeing as I had a test Tuesday, I took advantage of the time to study while David hummed to the radio.

Once we got to Logan, we headed to Reeder Hall, where Chris lives and met up with my guy friends Eric, Sal and Brinton.

We ate at Firehouse Pizzeria, which is my absolute favorite place to eat in the entire planet. We all split some pizzas and the Logan-famous FH'zookie for dessert.

And, before David and I left, we walked around campus, stared at 2 new buildings that were built since I graduated, and took some pictures on the ever famous Aggie A.

It was so incredibly good to see my guys again! It had been almost 2 years since seeing Sal and Eric, and I hadn't seen Brinton since High School. I'm so lucky I got to spend my holiday with 5 amazing, funny, awesome guys.

~Courtney

{Easter Sunday}

Taken from http://sarahdawndesigns.blogspot.com

Hindsight is an awe inspiring thing, isn't it?

Jeffrey R. Holland (a member of the quorum of the twelve apostles, a part of my religion, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) gave this quote in the Sunday afternoon session of conference exactly one week ago. 

I was sitting on Leslie Loo's couch, trying desperately to focus on his talk. None of us watching were paying a lot of attention, we all seemed so fidgety. But then, this quote came ringing out of his mouth, and I couldn't tear my mind away from it.

Sunday night, after saying goodbye to Leslie and her roommates, I walked home with his quote reverberating through my skull. I walked in to a sleeping apartment and knelt down in the living room and prayed my heart out.  I told Heavenly Father that I believed I would be an amazing nurse, that I believed in myself, but most importantly, that I believed in Him to direct my life.

He heard my prayer.  I'm going to nursing school. 

So on this Easter Sunday, a plastic egg, chocolate bunny, neon basket-less day, I am so grateful for my Heavenly Father and for my Savior.  I am so grateful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I'm grateful for my upbringing in the church and the values it has giving me.

I'm grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ, who took upon himself all my sins, and felt every pain I will ever feel. He died on the cross, and rose again on the third day. He gave me Eternal life.

Happy Easter, Ya'll.

~Courtney

(P.S. Check out the blue I Believe button on the right for more info on the LDS church)

my Brother, Nate the Great

This handsome young man turned 12 yesterday. 

I still remember waking up 12 years ago and hearing my grandparents talking on the main floor. This was when Dana and I shared a room upstairs, and we were almost finished on my room in the basement. I assumed that grandpa was here to work on the room, so you can imagine my excitement when grandma walked in and asked us if we wanted to go meet our little brother. 

Nate, I held you for hours on end. You liked to play 'snatch Courtney's glasses from her face', and you always stopped crying when I held you. 

Nate the Great is my absolute favorite brother.

I"m sorry I'm all the way across the United States for this big birthday.

I'm sorry I don't have a birthday present for you.

I love you, Naters. Of all the brothers in the world, I'm so glad you're mine.

happy birthday, Nate!

~Courtney

11 Things 2011 Has Taught Me

In no particular order of importance

11. It takes the IRS years to pick up on ID fraud on tax returns (3 years to be exact)
10. While it's hard, I can survive an entire year  physically separated from a loved one
9. I loved my car, Maxwell, more than I knew I did. I miss my car every single day.
8. My parents love me enough to let me live rent free at home during this transition year
7. Working full time and going to school was a lot harder than I anticipated.
6. I now understand why pneumonia kills elderly people. It kicked my trash, and I'm only 20.
5. Getting wisdom teeth removed hurts, but the fear of a dry socket is worse.
4. I loved Disney as a child, this year has made me realize that I still love Disney as an adult.
3. Being rejected from nursing school twice was difficult. Tasting the bitter makes me desperate for the sweet.
2. Preparing six different nursing school applications is really stressful. Hopefully I'm accepted to at least one!
1. 2011 taught me a lot about myself. I feel more confident in myself, but also have learned a lot about my weaknesses and short comings.

I'm excited to see what 2012 has in store for me!

Happy New Year!
~Courtney

{Christmas!}

Christmas was interesting this year.

First off, It didn't feel like Christmas to me until around 9 pm Christmas Eve when my entire family sang Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer together on the way home from Grandparents Griffin.

Then we had church at 9 am Christmas morning, so I saw presents lying around the tree while eating  my breakfast, but we didn't even venture into that room until after church. 

This was the first year where my mom did not photograph every single present we got before, during and after opening it. I was okay with it, though I think it would have been funny to capture my excitement when opening this beast of a suitcase.

It's huge (I used my tennis shoes for size reference) and I was thrilled.  It has the 360 degree spinner wheels and will be perfect for my upcoming move. (2 weeks from yesterday!) 

We also didn't keep up on our advent book this year. We usually read one door a day and read two on Christmas Eve. We ended up reading the whole book Christmas Eve and calling it good.

Other than that, I got some awesome presents and enjoyed watching Cars 2 and Psych episodes with my family.

Here's the gift I was most surprised about.

The most beautiful, shimmery Fossil purse EVER. I saw it at Fashion Place Mall with my mom last week and fell in love with it. It's a nice sized purse that will be great for work and play in Disney World. I was planning on a very small blue Mud purse as my play bag, and a bigger bag as my work bag, but now I think I'll just stick with this one.  When we saw it I told my mom I loved it, but did not need it. You can imagine my shriek when I opened the box to find it nestled along with it's matching mini wallet. 

Now, here's the most amazing present of this year.  Take a look at the following picture I borrowed from Google.

 This is my favorite painting. Period. It's of Joseph and Mary on their journey to Bethlehem. If you can't tell, Mary is very much 'with child', and Joseph looks absolutely exhausted. 

I know I haven't mentioned this on the blog yet, but I have a very, very good friend serving a mission in Houston TX. He asked me a few months ago what my favorite church related painting was, and I answered with the above painting. 

 I opened my Christmas present from him a day early and almost cried when I pulled this leather scripture case out of the box.

These pictures don't do this case justice. It's absolutely amazing. I can't stop staring at it. It's simply stunning.

Hope you all had a merry Christmas!

loves to you all
~Courtney

Christmas Eve

Give Thanks

Yes, yes. The corny Thanksgiving post.

But honestly, I am really thankful today.

I'm thankful that my micro and chem tests are over (for now)
I'm thankful I've finished my chem essay. (seriously, a chem essay?)
I'm thankful that my semester is over soon.
I'm thankful for friends that will always be there for me.
I'm thankful my parents allow me to live at home during this awkward period of life
I'm thankful for the job that has made me financially stable
I'm thankful for the opportunity to move across the country.
I'm thankful that Leslie Loo is coming with me on said opportunity
I'm thankful to be an American.
I'm thankful that my nursing pre-requisites are done.
I'm thankful to be turning in nursing school applications, and feeling confident I'll be accepted somewhere.
I'm thankful for the love and support of my parents.
I'm thankful for my vision.
I'm thankful for surgeons and medical advances.
I'm thankful for my life.

Hope you had a beautiful Thanksgiving.

Now bring on Christmas!
~Courtney

BOO

Hope you had a Happy Halloween!

Here's a little Halloween creativity from
Medical Towers Family Practice.

Any guesses as to which one's mine? If you guessed Minnie Mouse, you'd be right!

~Courtney