17 Years Ago Today!

17 Years ago today.......

June 21, 1994......

Courtney Carol Ann was born.

Time is definitely an optical illusion, 17 years seems so long ago, but also it seems like yesterday.

Here are 17 amazing things about Courtney

17... Her stories...., Courtney can turn ANY situation into the best story... Everyday something happens in Courtney's life I look forward to a entertaining moment when I get to hear it!! Sometimes they make absolutely no sense at all... But they are soooo entertaining!

16.. Her Smile... Anyone that knows Courtney, knows that she is always smiling!! No matter what the situation and she has THE BEST SMILE EVER!!

15... Her Laugh.. She can laugh at anything, and she can always make you laugh. I LOVE HEARING HER LAUGH..

14.... She is so kind... Courts always thinks of others.. one time when Courtney was about 8 yrs. old, I was talking about someone... in a not so kind way.. and Courts said in a very innocent voice, "Yes, but she has a very hard life, her mom isn't very nice" It just shows that she always thinks the best of people...

which brings me to..

13.... She sees the best in people.. Everyone that she knows she can see whats good in them. and she will often tell people how amazing they are just out of the blue.

12.. She Brings out the best in yourself.. Courtney always make you want to be a better person.

11... She looks for ways to help others. I can always count on her to see when I need the house cleaned or the dishes done or even just something little. Usually I never even have to ask... What an amazing quality to have! She volunteers all the time to help people in church, at the hospital and at school.

10.. She loves her sisters... Courtney has total and unconditional love for her sisters. She is totally protective over them. No matter how much the "fight" or disagree.. Courtney would do ANY thing for Jessica and Carly

9.. She is very forgiving.. Part of seeing the good in people she forgives so easily. It is such a christ like attribute to have. If I am a little snappy, instead of snapping back, she immediately knows I am having a hard day and will ask what she can do to help.

8... She has a strong testimony is Jesus Christ... Courtney has had many opportunities to show how strong her testimony is. She has given up some big dreams, because they take her away from her church activities, She has had to find new friends, when others started making bad decisions, she has very high standards for herself, and often teaches me. I see her quietly reading her scriptures, and saying her prayers. She is an incredible example to me.

7.... She is amazing at Softball... I L-O-V-E watching Courtney play softball! She is intense and devoted to what ever team she plays on. She Loves the game, and you can see that each time she steps on the field. There is something about that girl on the green field in a cute uniform.. just gives me chills

6... She is a great listener... I often hear Courtney on the phone with all her many friends (boys and girls) who turn to her for support. She knows just what to say to them and she know exactly how to say it. She can cheer people up when they are sad. And help them see things in a different light. She is  %100 devoted to her friends so they KNOW they can tell her anything.

5. She is silly with me... Of All my kids, Courtney is the one who will always laugh at me... Now we all know I am hilarious.. but Courtney cracks up when I tell a joke, she'll get in a food fight with me, and she will join me (instead of rolling her eyes) when ever I break out in song and dance, which actually happens quite often. Hehe

4... She know what she wants.. She has her goals set and she knows what it will take to get there. She makes herself a plan and does whatever it takes.

3.... She Loves to sing... She has a great voice and loves to use that voice. When she was little she would sing EVERYWHERE she went, from the time to woke up, at breakfast, on the toilet, in her car seat, at the dinner table, with her sisters.. ANY time, all the time.

2...People love her.. It doesn't matter where you come from, it doesn't matter what you are into, she can be friends with everyone because people LOVE her. She radiants a spirit that people are drawn to. She makes people feel at ease and comfortable, she makes people feel welcome and accepted. She doesn't even know she is doing it, it just come natural to her.

1... The Circle of life... I know this is a strange one.. But when Courtney was 1 week old we all went to see the Lion King. And you know that part when Simba is born and the song "the circle of life is playing, and Rafiki holds up that cute little tiny baby lion? Yes, I lost it.. right in the middle of the theater. (ok.. I know I was hormonal..) But the whole show about, finding out who he is really is, and taking his rightful place in the circle of life.. I think Courtney has learned that lesson so well.. She KNOWS who she is and she KNOWS what that means and she lives up to that honor!!

I am so proud of her and I can't wait to see what she does in the next 17 years.

Love ya Courts!

And I am on a different computer, so I can't even add a picture to this post. It will have to be on the next post! :O)

Clean Plate

So the last few months have been totally crazy I have had so many millions of things going on I can hardly keep track of what's next. When life gets crazy like that you have to keep everything at your figure tips, because you don't have the time or brain waves to go look for it... And the more things that fill up your plate, the more things you are trying to keep track of. Then of course that wicked cycle of clutter build up keeps piling and piling and as things slowly pass and you get closer to the end it It gets harder and harder to stay on top of it all.Every time I have logged onto my computer the last few months I have had to save all the projects , designs, letters, flyers, and ideas and of course to make it right at my finger tips, so that I don't have to go search for it I just save it on my desktop. As crazy as it may be, it s

eemed easier for me to pile it all up there. Until about a month ago, after Young Women's Senior dinner, before Jessica's graduation, in the middle of making 4 different t shirt designs, I couldn't find a volunteer sign up sheet I made... Searching everywhere on my computer for the file, I couldn't remember what I named, I realized, that my computer looked just like I felt... the desktop screen was one big mess.

So instead of cleaning it up.. I kept moving forward. The files kept piles, and my life was slowing. I only had 2 more weeks, of Jessica's graduation, Jessica packing and moving, family coming, Young women's, Hosting a two day Gymnastics meet, organizing volunteers, Carly's first level 6 meet, driving Carly to Ventura, 300 Craft kits, driving to every home depot and Lowes in a 30 mile radius to look for 300 wooden knobs, 1 week of camp, driving Courtney up and down the hill to Summer school, and then going to pic Carly up in San Luis Obispo. (5 hours away). JUST BREATH..

Now finally for the first time this year, I feel like my plate is finally cleared. Yes, we still have tons of crazy daily life stuff to deal with, but thats do-able. And the first thing I did.. cleaned my desk top and took and nap. :O)

Looking forward to a great summer!

Back in the saddle Again!

Well, It has been quite a while since I have actually been on here..

I have decided that the reason I haven't posted lately is because I kept getting farther and farther behind. Then it was harder and harder to get caught up.. So maybe I will post whats been going on the last few months AND maybe I won't.. But I will start posting updates on our family and what we are doing..

SO here we go again.

WDW DAY 2 .. THE MAGIC KINGDOM

Day 2 Started off with a delicious breakfast of.....

BAGELS mmmm

And then off to spend the day at ...

THE MAGIC KINGDOM

(insert music here) :O)

The plan was to get up "Early" and go explore a little of the Magic Kingdom while Ron was still in Meetings. Then he was going to meet up with us when he could.... Well it turns out early morning to us was about 10 am...

Hey, we were on Vacation. Try getting me and 2 teenagers up early on California time... Forget a 3 hours difference.. it would have felt like 5:00 am if we got up at a normal time.. :O)

So we got to the MK a little later.. a little hotter... and a little more humid... no biggie.....

It was still a blast... You definitely have to ignore the fact that there are millions of people everywhere and just enjoy your time. We did that...

well....

We ENJOYED all the main rides.... and left out the rest..

We even got Carly to ride on Space Mountain. She had no idea what to expect, but in the end she LOVED it and is now a veteran Roller Coaster Rider... (what till you hear about Rockin Roller Coaster)

We Explored all the hidden spots... (there wasn't as many people)

Stood in line for Jessica's Favorite...

The HAUNTED MANSION

with all the Ghosts..

.

(notice them enjoying the little fans that they laughed at me for bringing..)

Out comes Rons true Personality

We enjoyed some great parades, dancing and music.

And stayed into the Night!

Night time at the Magic Kingdom is Nothing but MAGICAL.

We waited on the curb for the Famous Main Street Electrical Parade,

Then Enjoyed the Fireworks up close and personal in Full Glory!!!

By that time we were Famished after not really eating all day. ANYTHING would have tasted Great.. So we Grabbed dinner and then headed out for some Extra disney Hours..

Back at the Hotel we crashed and burned.. while visions of Magic Danced in our heads...

Ready for day three EPCOT

Walt Disney World Vacation

This Summer Our Family was Lucky enough to take one Last Hurrah!! Vacation. Next Summer, Jessica will be getting ready for college, and moving away and we feel like this upcoming year will bring lots of changes as our family moves on to the next stage of life.

Ron had a convention at Walt Disney World in Florida and we got to join him. So Jessica, Courtney , Carly and I flew out to Florida & of Course getting there is half the fun!!

We flew into Orlando and then to the Disney Magical Express to

DISNEY WORLD

It was a week filled with Fun, Magic and lots of Memories.

We started our vacation with a relaxing day out to

TYPHOON LAGOON

Complete with a HUGE Wave Pool! DUUUUUUDE!

Then Back to the hotel to shower, get dressed up and head down to the Fantasia Ball Room for "Drinks & Dinner" Compliments of BRS Union.

Instead if hanging out with the boring Adults, Carly got to attend "Kids Night Out" in full Disney Fashion!

Complete with, dinner, an over flowing buffet including pizza, mickey nuggets, mac and cheese, & Ice cream Sundaes!

Face painting, miniture golf, Wii, Radio Disney Dance Party, Hands on Art projects, hula hoops, and TONS more..

We all agreed that we wish we could have hung out with Carly instead!!!

She had so much fun and said over and over again, "I'm so glad I got to go to Kids night out!"

After a 5 course meal, and a Comedy/Magician act, ( that of course the Teenagers bailed out on... I can't believe it was more fun running around the hotel, than hanging out with railroad people haha)

We headed back to our Room... Our hotel was part of the Magic Kingdom so every night we were lucky enough to see the Funtastic Summer Night Fireworks over the Castle! And they ARE FUNTASTIC!!!

AND that was just the FIRST day!!! It was a great way to start off a Wonderful Week!

More Pictures

WOW! More Amazing pictures of my girlies on

Wunders in Focus Blog. Thanks Kev!

Photo Shoot!

Taking pictures of my girls can be very challenging. First of all, we have to do it at a time that we are all together. (never happens when the light is right) THEN Getting everyone in a good mood... YYYYa....

And don't forget the simple things like, what to wear, where to go , how to do the hair, makeup and ... lalalalalala.....

BUT THE PLANETS DID ALIGN...

(sorta) and while Celena was here with her Marvelous camera, she took some fun amazing pictures of the girls... took them home and Kevin played a little with them and wahla! Perfect pictures. These are a few previews. THanks Cea, and Kev... And Kaniela who was an amazingly good boy during all!!