{One Year Older}

I remember turning twenty and feeling like it was a tremendous moment. I wasn't a teen anymore. I had my entire life waiting ahead of me. My best friend and I had decided to apply for the Disney College Program later that year. Life was about to get so exciting!

Turning twenty-five was another momentous birthday. But the thrill of that 'quarter of a century' milestone quickly wore off, and I feared I would be stuck in a life I wasn't super excited about. Mostly, I was incredibly lonely and afraid for the future as I got progressively older than the available men around me. Thankfully, Jake entered my life the very next month, and, well, you know how that went!

Today's twenty-seventh birthday wasn't anything thrilling. No big milestone, no significant change in daily life. I worked most of the day, and I've got a giant volcanic zit hanging out on my forehead. Which I 100% edited out in the below photo.

But my sweet husband had a gorgeous bouquet of white ranunculus and roses delivered to the front desk of the operating room, and I walked past it as many times as possible to remind myself how dang lucky I am.

I always treat my birthday as an opportunity to reflect on the past year, and work on goals for the coming year. But as I sat in a surgical case today browsing articles on Pinterest (which is currently articles on simplicity, minimalism, and happiness, considering Pinterest mostly shows you pins similar to the ones you've been pinning lately) when I came across a woman who doesn't set goals for herself every birthday, but makes a Bucket List! I thought, what a great way to look at it. Setting goals means potential failure, but a Bucket List?! If I don't accomplish a few items, they can go on next year's list, no problem! As an additional motivator to get them done this year, I'm sharing the list with you! All two of you!

Courtney's 27th Year Bucket List

• Travel light
• Take on more responsibility at work
• Work harder on maintaining friendships
• Eat healthy
• Live more mindfully
• Forget my phone more often
• Curate a wardrobe that is more 'Me'
• Declutter at least 20% of our stuff
• Let go of FOMO
• Read 27 books
• Cut off excess spending aka make a budget
• Camp/ explore/ hike frequently

The woman who inspired me had 28 items for her 28th birthday, but I couldn't even begin to think of 27 things I could be consistently working on and improving, so this list will be just fine for me.  

How about you? Is your birthday a time to reflect, or do you just save that for New Year's Eve?

Happy Unbirthday to you!

~Courtney

{ Angel's Landing }

I crossed something big off my Bucket List last weekend.

Something people thought I couldn't accomplish.

Something I wasn't sure I could do, honestly. 

But, guess what.

I made it to the summit of Angel's Landing.

And Jake did too, of course.

Don't think I would have made it without his support. 

I'd like to put these pictures around the house,

so I can remember that I can do really hard things.

The chain part wasn't nearly as scary as I had made it up to be,

though waiting for people to pass coming the opposite direction got really tedious sometimes.

When we got to the summit, I was absolutely awed by the view.

I really could have sat there and admired it all day.

And I was just do dang proud of myself.

I didn't think I would be able to make it.

Hiking wasn't really my thing when I was younger.

But if every hike ends in this same feeling of accomplishment,

I think I'll hike much more often.

(our summit selfie)

Knarraville Falls

On our way home from Saint George, 

we stopped in Knarraville to do my favorite day hike.

It's absolutely gorgeous.

  

If you're ever in the Cedar City area,

go check this hike out. 

It's absolutely incredible.

Jake Graduates!

Jake graduated from BYU last month!

We had a wonderful weekend celebrating his accomplishment.
Jake's family came in from California,
and my family was there, too.

We wanted to celebrate with a nice dinner,
but we were afraid we wouldn't be able to make reservations,
or have to wait forever for a table.
I decided I'd just prepare dinner for everyone.
I had my very talented coworker make Jake a cake as a surprise!

I am so proud of this stud and his hard work.
Next up: Graduate School next year!

Well Hello Again!

Hi friends!
I'm back!

And hopefully for a much longer stay this time.


This blog is going to be undergoing a few changes, mainly because so much in my life has changed these past few years. The biggest most important change? This man right here:

Jacobsen Miller. My literal Prince Charming. 

Guys, we have the best story. And I'm going to tell you. Way back in September of 2015, my roommate and I wanted to host a game night to meet people in our area and scope out some guys. We had an excellent turn out, maybe even too many people came. It was likely the promise of games and brownies, but I digress. Jake walked in with a few of his roommates, and he immediately caught my eye. But not (just) because he's gorgeous, but because I felt like I knew him somehow. So during our game night, I kept my eye on him, and ran through all the possibilities of how we would have met before. 

"Did he work at Disney? No, can't be that."

"Maybe the same high school?"

"What about my hometown?"

"Or college?"

"San Diego? We left California nearly 20 years ago, can't be that either."

So I sat there ruminating on all those possibilities for nearly two hours, when another girl at the party invited everyone to her backyard for a bonfire. As we all picked up our stuff and walked across the street, I worked up the courage to approach the handsome somewhat-stranger. Our conversation was as follows:

me: "Hi! You look so familiar! Did you grow up in San Diego, or something?"

him: "No. I'm from Canada."

And that was that. 

I'd definitely never been to Canada, so there was no way I had met him in the past, and his blunt response practically screamed 'NOT INTERESTED', so I backed off.

Friends. I admired him from afar for almost an entire year.

There was likely some divine intervention in early July of 2016, because I finally caught his attention. But, of course, I was planning a move to a new area of town August 1st, and I had already begun packing up my life. But suddenly, Jake asked me out on a date! We had the most stereotypical Provo first date at the BYU Creamery, and we talked for hours.

I think I knew he was the one that day.

He proposed on December 17 at the park where we had our first kiss. It was perfect and simple, just like Jake. I couldn't have asked for a better proposal.

Excuse the crazy blurry photo, but it's a screenshot from a video of the proposal. So look past that for me.  Jake had asked jokingly if I wanted to climb the tree we were standing under, and i'm not a huge fan of tree climbing, so when he tapped me on the shoulder and i turned around to see him on one knee, I was so dang relieved to know I didn't have to climb that dang tree. And to see that he was proposing, of course, but that face is mostly relief mixed with excitement.

{Just Checking In}

A quick recap of this past year:

• I returned to Orlando, FL for my SECOND Disney College Program!
• Spent a month exploring the rivers of the world at the World Famous Jungle Cruise
• Ran back into the loving arms of Mickey Mouse and spent the rest of my program in entertainment. 
• Made countless memories with incredible people from around the world
• Met some wonderful girls that I am so grateful to call my friends
• Endured the stickiest, hottest summer of my life
• Moved back home in January
• Took the NCLEX-RN 9 months after nursing school graduation, and passed with the minimum 75 questions
• Accepted a job offer as a circulator in the Operating Room at a large hospital 30 minutes from home

So there you have it! I am enjoying my new life, but I miss the magic of Disney, too!

I'm excited to start this blog back up, and I hope to keep you entertained along the way!

~Courtney

The Beginning Of The End

During the lifetime of this blog, 

I have considered writing my last post

at least a dozen times.

But this website became my internet journal, 

and I couldn't find the desire to officially shut it down.

Now, the time has come.

I've decided that it's time to close the book on this little piece of the world wide web.

I have my reasons for this decision.

I know it's the right thing to do at this point in life.

I'm happy that so many people have visited this blog,

even though I'm just another blogger

with no claim to fame. 

I know I will come back here to reminisce on old posts,

because this blog is full of so many precious memories!

I love thinking about where I've been in life,

and it just gets me so excited for the future!

There's so much for me to go do!

There's a great big, beautiful tomorrow!

Thank you for reading, for commenting, and for loving me.

All my love,

Courtney

Mother's Day

Just became my favorite holiday!!!

Not because I'm a mom.

Or a "future mom" for that matter.

But because Mother's day is one of the TWO days we get to talk to our missionary!

(and I will be in Florida for Christmas, so I might only get this one time this year)

It was a rough go for Hermana Dana to find an internet café that had a good quality headset.

We originally planned for 2 PM, but didn't successfully talk to her until 9 PM. 

It was wonderful to see her face and hear her voice!

She spoke some Spanish to us, and we clapped like idiots afterwards. 

We are so proud of her! 

We talked about her new lifestyle,

she shared her frustrations about the language barrier,

and she told us about her tiny bunk-bed,

and the headless, featherless chickens that often occupy the dining table.

(Yuck)

She made us laugh,

and she made me cry.

I've always seen the mom as the focus when a missionary leaves. 

I never anticipated that being the sister is just as tough.

I miss her, yet I don't want to tell her that too much.

Nothing like encouraging staying on a mission by saying "I miss you!", right?

I ams so proud of the work she is doing,

though she doesn't feel like she is doing much.

She can't see the improvement she's making,

probably because there's no one around her that speaks English well enough to tell her!

Press Forward In Faith, Sister Brown!