2009: In Pictures!

January: A trip to New Orleans with the family and a Sugar Bowl win!!

February: Katy Perry with Kelsey

March: My first Festival of Colors!

April: I cut my hair!

May: My 20th birthday at Build-A-Bear with all my favorite people!

June: Temple Open House with Nichelle, Kristen, and Emily! And then again with my parents and Lee! :)

Also in June: Acceptance into the Nursing Program!!

July: Koda joined our family.

Also in July: Family Reunion

P.S. Also in July I got a new job!

August: Annual "Get a Ton of Free Food" with Emily!

September: Utah Football is back!

October: Nichelley-Poo gets married!

November: A lot of fun with the roommates!

December: Finished my first semester of nursing school. And had a wonderful Christmas with my family!

A wonderful year it was!

Happy New Year!

Here's to 2010 being even better than 2009!

Koda Bear

{Koda and I}

This dog is the coolest! I get really mad at her sometimes! She can be pretty obnoxious every once and awhile-like the time she drank out of my hot chocolate or the time(s) she goes crazy! And she gets hair everywhere. But really who doesn't have their obnoxious moments and shed their hair everywhere??

She is so silly. She will steal things that aren't hers and that she knows she shouldn't have, like socks and apples, and then she runs outside. It's really hard to get them back from her. She's fast and big. You can chase her around the back yard for hours trying to get things back. But I'm pretty much a pro at it. My parents have to use treats to coax her to give stuff back. I'm so good I don't even need the treat. My parents aren't going to know what to do when I go back to school. Probably they'll have to buy more treats. Or I'll get calls from them saying "Court we can't get her to drop the sock. Can you come help?" Today she stole an apple and they couldn't get it from her but I (we) cornered her and I got the apple out her mouth. It was the most slobbery apple you've ever seen. Gross!

She is so cute. She will wait at my door in the morning until my mom opens it for her and they she will jump from the hallway to my bed and start licking my face. Then she will lay in bed with me for a bit. I like it when she just lays there with me.

She is so loving. She likes to give hugs. She will burrow herself into you to say how much she loves you!

She is so fun. She will chase me around the house. And she's not even going at full speed. She could totally over take me but she just chases me until I run onto my parents' bed. Then she jumps up there with me and we attack my pops!

She has these toys that squeak. Boy, they are annoying! I vow now that my children will never have squeaky toys!

She likes to make new friends! She gets really excited when new people come over. She kind of goes crazy. My mom is trying to teach her not to, but let's just say she's not learning very fast.

I think she doesn't always realize how big she is. We weighed her on Wii Fit. It said she weighed a whooping 92 pounds!! But then we weighed her on our scale and she weighed 78 pounds! But sill 78 pounds is a big pup!

For the most part, she is a top dog!

I call her Koda Bear.

Merry Christmas!

Happy Birthday Jesus!

What will you give Him this year?

Please watch this remarkable movie:

What Shall We Give?

I wish you all the very best Christmas. Keep the Spirit of Christ in your hearts! He came to save us all. It is Him that we celebrate at this time of year. Please remember that as you open your presents tomorrow. Don't forget to open at least one for Him. :) Merry Christmas!

Fame

I want my blog to be famous. How do I make it famous?

It Doesn't Get Better Than This-Part 2

Here's part 2 of my shout out to those people (or things) that helped me get through this semester!

My bathroom buddy:

It's been fun sharing a bathroom. You've been so great! Especially that time I got out of the shower and you said "How was it?" and I said "HOT!". Yes. Good times. I'm glad I live with you.

Any of the girls in my ward who wrote me a brownie note:

We have these things in my ward called "brownie notes". You can write a note to whomever you would like in the ward and then you put it in the brownie box and it gets delivered. I look forward to their delivery every Sunday cause I hope that I will get at least one from one of the girls in my ward. They seriously make my day! They are so sweet and kind to me. And I just love them. I keep all the brownie notes they write to me. I don't think they know how much it means to me when I get a note from them. It makes me think about how happy God must be when we pray to him. He must get so excited!

My new nursing friends:

(I don't think any of you read this, but I still want to include you) They've been so great! I've met so many great people already. And some people who help me realize that everyone can teach us something. Like the girl who said she wants to graduate college with straight A's. She taught me that it's okay to have really high goals, but we need to be realistic. Or the girl who only showered once during finals week. She taught me that you really DO need to find time shower. (Although, I already knew that, maybe I need to teach her something). Nursing students are crazy, but they've been really great to me too. I'm excited to spend the next 2 1/2 years with them and to meet even more great people!

A weekly email from Ukraine:

Hey kiddo. You rock! I loved those times I got a personal email from you. It seriously made my day! I'm so proud of you. And I miss you. Oh. And hey, it's been a while since I've gotten a letter....Checka!

Emily:

She's awesome. And I miss her. She's in France now. (As you saw below). She was so understanding when I couldn't stay up late talking to her on gmail chat cause I was just too tired. And she gave me Lyle to take care of while she's gone. She always has such great advice for me!

All my blogger friends:

I loved getting on and reading what you had to write. I hoped everyday that I would open my google reader and there would be lots and lots of items for me to read. I looked forward to it so much! It was such a nice break to read about your lives. :)

My bed:

I loved getting into you after a long day! Feeling your warmth was magical. I'm sure we'll have many more great nights together!

Dr. Pepper:

Thanks for helping me not fall asleep when I was really tired. You are a true friend.

Grey's:

I loved my escape every Thursday night for an hour. Thanks!

Well I did it! I made it through my first semester of nursing school. But I didn't do it alone! And I'm so glad.

It Doesn't Get Better Than This

I. Am. So. Blessed

Here's a little shout out to some peeps who made it possible for me to make it through this crazy, busy semester!

My mommy and daddy:

They have always been there for me. Through everything! And they give me lots of money so I can go to school and become a nurse. Thanks for letting me call and vent or be excited. Thanks for letting me come over to get food and do my laundry and to talk to you about my life. Thanks for coming to jump my car. More than once! Thanks for letting me still be your pumpkin' and baby doll. Thanks guys! You rock!I promise I'll talk care of you when you are old and can't take of yourself :) I love you both. A lot!

my dad helping my mom walk around the nurses' station a year ago after her back surgery

Kristen:

This girl is pretty much amazing! I would not have made it through this semester without her. I'm so glad I get to live with her. And she feeds me. Good food too! I love her. A lot. And I can't imagine what my life would be like without her and I'm sure glad I don't have to. Thanks for always telling me that I'm going to be a good nurse and for calming me down when I start to freak out. And for telling me that I'm a good relief society president. You are simply the best! And I love you!

My Savior:

Prayer is fantastic. The gospel is truly amazing! My testimony and faith have grown ten fold in the past year and I'm so grateful. Being the relief society president has given me a whole new perspective on the love the Savior has for each of us. I'm amazed! I can't imagine doing this earthly experience thing without Him! I know He lives. I know He loves me. {and you}. Life is fantastic!

p.s. there are many more people (and things) that have helped me this semester. Look for installment 2-coming soon!

I Miss Her

{A lot.}

I'm so proud of her though.

She's in France!

Spreading the Gospel! How freakin' cool.

I can't wait till she gets back and we can gorge ourselves with junk food and go to rodeos and play guitar and gossip about people from high school and pick up free tables on the side of the road and go to the temple and watch mindless tv and talk about dumb boys. I miss her.

War's End Kiss

I'm so close to the end of the war {at least my fall semester war}. If only I had a cute boy to kiss me like this after my last final tomorrow night.

{a girl can dream right?}

beautiful life

What a great day today has been!

I totally ROCKED my anatomy final!

And

I made dinner! I'm so proud of myself.

I hope your day was as good as mine.

XOXO

Courtney

a little bit of everything

Remember this?!

A year has passed since I posted that. A year is a long time. But not very long at all.

How is that?

My little mortal mind has a hard time comprending time.

Finals. They start tomorrow. Wow. This semester has gone by so fast. And so slow.

How is that?

I'm excited for Christmas. And more snow. And to go home.

Can I tell you how much I love the girls in my ward?

They are just fantastic!

{p.s. I'm addicted to blogging. Not that I wasn't before. I've just been blogging like crazy lately.}

{oh. and here's a picture just for kicks and giggles. enjoy.

I love you all!}

Just To See You Smile

I studied anatomy for 8 hours today!

{a picture to relieve some stress}

I sure do love this guy!

We may both look a little different.

But some things never change

I'll always be daddy's little girl.

a letter to a (not so) dear friend

Dear Finals,

It's on like donkey kong. You're going down! I will show no mercy.

Love,

Courtney

-2 Degrees

I love the cold! I really do. It's so wonderful. I feel so comfortable bundled up tight to walk out the door into it. I love putting on so many layers until it feels like I might burst from the pressure.

This morning when I left for school it was -2 degrees outside! How wonderfully crisp it was as I walked to the bus stop.

Want to know my favorite part about it being so cold? It's kind of weird. And you'll probably think I'm crazy and you'll probably laugh at me. But I really do love it. It's when you walk outside and you take a big wiff of the cold air through your nose and your nose hairs FREEZE! I love it. I love that feeling. Call me crazy, but I just love it!

Welcome Winter! I hope you stay for awhile!

The Champion In Me

I realized that I have never posted this video and it is definitely blog worthy. For those of you who don't know I'm the RS president in my ward. And at our ward opening social at the beginning of the semester the activities committee asked myself and the EQ president if we would sumo wrestle each other....

I said I would if he said yes. Well he said yes. And guess who won.....

That's right-Yours truly was the champion!

{those suits were SO hot}

just the 3 of us, we can make it if we try

I love us!

{kristen, melissa, me}

p.s. i'm not screaming...i'm laughing...go figure

Because I Don't Say It Enough

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!!

I love you both. A lot. And I appreciate SO much all that you do for me. I wouldn't be able to do everything that I'm doing without you. You support me in every way possible!! Thank you, thank you, thank you. You are my rocks. I don't say it enough-

I love you!

All I Want For Christmas

Dear Santa,

I've decided what I really want for Christmas. All I want is Jimmer! Thanks.

Courtney

P.S. I've been a good girl all year long!

To The Man Upstairs: (Part 3)

Dear God,

Thanks for everything! You rock!!

Courtney

To The Man Upstairs: (Part 2)

Dear God,

It's me again. Thanks for helping me today. I think I didn't fail. I hope so. Can I ask for another blessing? Please bless that I don't fail my microbiology lab final tomorrow. Thank you so much!

Courtney Sue

P.S. Do you know how much I love you? Of course you do! :)

To The Man Upstairs:

Dear God,

Please bless that I don't fail my anatomy final tomorrow. Thanks.

Love,

Courtney

P.S. Thanks for everything! You are the best.