Sunday Night Sofa Surfing

So Christian is into surfing these days. He decided that if he is living in San Diego, there is no way he is not going to get into the sport. He also decided that he is going to practice popping up on his surf board 10 times a day indoors. So last night, he brings his surf board in the house, takes our coach cushions and puts them underneath the board (so as to not mess up his fins) , and got in surfing position. He was in his church clothes until I jokingly suggested that he try on the new board shorts he had gotten this weekend. Before I knew it, he was back in our family room with nothing on but his board shorts paddling on the carpet. He wouldn't let me take a video so I don't have it all in action- which is a total shame, but you can imagine.

Life out of a Suitcase

We have been living a crazy life ever since graduation. There have been so many people who have opened their doors to let us crash in their living rooms during our travels. Thank you to the Smoots, the Samuelians, the Bennions, my parents, and Christian's grandparents. We've had a ball. A little recap of the last month:

April 24th- Road trip to California with the Dyers.

April 25th- Left for Mexico on little cruise with the Dyers and the Checketts.

May 3rd- Flew from California to AZ to spend a few days with Christian's family.

May 6th- Went to Utah to Pack up our apartment.

May 10th- Drove to California with Christian's car and a moving truck (that my angel brother, David, drove the entire way.)

May 11th- Moved into our Apartment in San Diego.

May 15th- Flew to DC to spend a little time with family and celebrate Paul and Whitney's wedding!

May 23rd- Back to San Diego.

May 25th- Drove to LA and spent the night with Grandpa Chris and Grandma Tony.

May 26th- Drove up the PCH all the way to San Francisco to stay with the Bennions.

May 29th- Drove back to San Diego.

And we're to stay! For a while...

We have had so much fun together for the past month. It was fun to see so many family members and friends. It was especially fun to spend every minute with Christian before he started work. I didn't take hardly any pictures, but here are some.

Above: (this is a favorite of mine.- Lauren had a

stomach pains and is laying on the floor of a drug store

in Mexico. HILARIOUS.)

BYU Grads

For some reason I was never that excited about graduating from college. I guess it always felt so far off and a little impossible to do. I never saw myself in a cap and gown in the Marriott Center at BYU. However, just a few short weeks ago, We did it! We are college grads. Not that amazing for most of you out there, and I don't think for Christian either, but I'm pretty excited about it. The whole process was a lot more fun and exciting than I thought it would be. It was especially exciting for my parents that 5 members of my family (1 of those is not so official but we happily claim her) graduated all at the same time. Thank you to our families for being so supportive and excited for us. We had a great graduation weekend because of you!

Goodbye Provo!

We had our final provo dessert party last night. A little bit heart breaking, but a little bit exciting. I can't believe how many people we love here and how much we will miss everyone. To end things right, Christian put together a few "minute to win it" games to play (Minute to Win It is a game show on sunday nights at 7 on NBC - you should really check it out- its pretty awesome). We had a few great contestants last night, but Jonathan Pratt did an exceptional job winning the game "junk in the trunk". The object of the game is to get 8 ping pong balls out of an empty kleenex box that is suspended to your belt. Check out the video below for his live performance. (I apologize for the sideways video.)

13.1

MILES. Yes, you read that right- 13.1 miles. That is how far I ran today. Well, not just me, 6 of my good friends and a few thousand other people in Salt Lake. It may not seem like that big of an accomplishment for the marathon runners out there, but that was a first for me. It was huge accomplishment in my life. I'm so happy it's over, but I'm equally happy that we did it. There were definitely moments along the way that I wasn't sure how I was going to finish. I had to give myself some serious pep-talks and pray really hard at some points. But we all did it, and we did it well. The feeling of crossing the finish line was something wonderful and worth feeling. I will however say, that the pain I have felt since about 30 minutes after I was done, and that I am still feeling right now - extreme exhaustion, aches, and pains all over- is not one bit pleasant. But emotionally, I feel good. Thank you to my dear friends that did this with me. Without you, I would have never done it.

7:00 am start from Olympic Stadium

Finish line was at the Gateway in SLC.

Only 3 more days...

until our HALF MARATHON!! Today was our last day of running before Saturday's 13.1 mile run! Though I've contemplated giving up various times during the course of our 10 week training program, I am proud to say that I've made it this far. (I realize that the worst is still yet to come.) If it hadn't been for my awesome running group, I would never have been able to do it. I'm a little nervous for Saturday. Pray for me.

Seniors!

BYU senior night was a HIT. David, Karla, Christian and I- the four almost BYU grads - took full advantage of all that was going on in the Wilk last friday night. Christian was in rare form (well, not that rare) but was cracking me up. He was running around trying to enter into every raffle, collecting all the give-aways, and participating in every activity available. He was all business when it came to the raffle. Christian was asking people for their raffle tickets when he saw them leaving early, making us split up to go to each raffle drawing not a minute late, and making loud disappointing noises every time he was "so close" but didn't win. I can't give him a hard time for it though, because I was PRETTY PSYCHED when my number was called for the racquet ball rackets, balls, and goggles. When I say "my", I mean the person who's number I was holding who had just left. I felt like a million bucks running down the aisle past hundreds of students in the WSC ballroom holding up my ticket. I will say though, that I was a little disappointed that they didn't even want to check my number to make sure I wasn't lying. It kinda made it less of an accomplishment, and I was tempted to run up there with my non-winning ticket for the knife set prize. They wouldn't have even checked. I should have done it, and I think I would have, but Christian said "no, Courtney" when I asked.

I can't believe our BYU days are really almost over. We've loved it here.

Check out the next American Idol stars...

State Street Tacos and Passion Pit

If there are two things in life that Christian really loves, they are authentic Mexican tacos and music. Around Valentine's Day Christian came up with the idea that romance is a celebration of the life of the one you love- celebrating what makes them who they are. So for Valentine's Day, I thought it would be a good idea to celebrate Christian's love of music by getting him tickets to the Passion Pit concert, which was last night. We started the night off right with State Street Tacos (the best little taco stand on State Street in SLC), headed over to Gateway to check out the iPad, and then rocked out at the Passion Pit concert. We had a great time.

The Duck Hunt

Jonathan decided that it would be an "Easter miracle" if he caught a duck from the BYU pond. So, he tried. and he tried. and he tried. Despite great effort, he was unsuccessful, but I have pictures to prove his many attempts.

He thought it would be "easy" to catch these little guys...

But he soon found out that they were much faster than he was...

So he tried changing his method.

Unfortunately, that didn't work either.

Maybe next Easter, Jay.

Easter

When I think of Easter, I think of easter dresses. I think of easter egg hunts, eating dinner outside surrounded by cherry blossoms, the smell of green grass, and spring blooming everywhere. More importantly, I also think about the resurrection of Jesus Christ, his atonement, and the blessing that it is in my life. Thankfully, yesterday we listened to General conference and heard many talks on Jesus Christ and were filled spiritually. However, I woke up on Easter morning to fresh snow on the ground, cloudy skies, winter clothes, dead grass, bare branches, and what felt like freezing temperatures. I was just a little disappointed. Luckily, all was not lost. Easter was saved by Christian's Grandma, who had us over to decorate Easter eggs and for a delicious Easter breakfast, and the Dyer's who invited for a fun Easter dinner with family and friends. Despite the winter weather, it ended up being a wonderful day.