Ho Ho Ho!

Merry Christmas!

Is everyone enjoying their toys?
I sure am!

Stick a fork in me....I'm DONE!!!

I'm too lazy to write about graduation right now, so just enjoy some pictures of my actual graduation and the events proceeding up to it!

PS. Church is canceled today because of the snow. I thought I left Rexburg???

dummm dum dum dum dummm dum

tomorrow.

I will be a college graduate as of 9(ish) pm tomorrow.

Oh joy!

(The title of this blog is the graduation song, in case you couldn't figure it out.)

Faculty Meeting = a very bored Courtney

I am. I am soooo bored. For those of you who don't know, I work in the Nursing Department here on campus. Every Wednesday all the nursing Faculty have a meeting, this meeting usually lasts 2-3 hours. I am happy that I do not have to take part in these meetings, because sometimes I am the one who has to type up the meeting minutes, and let me tell you...they are very dry. So here I sit, on another Wednesday, and I am bored out of my mind. There is absolutely nothing to do. I even resorted to doing a little homework, that's saying something. So, in hopes of curbing my boredom, I decided to tell you a few comical/embarrassing stories that have come from my everyday life:

Please travel back with me 4 years, to 2004....my second semester of college. I was 18. I am mathematically challenged, so I have taken advantage of the free math tutoring center on campus many a time. That tutoring center is the setting of my first story. I was there one fall day, struggling as usual with my college algebra homework. I raised my hand and this very cute tutor comes over to help me. I mean, he was way way cute. He helped me, and then I needed to leave to get to another class. Well, he was getting off work at that same time I guess, and so we walked out together. There are some stairs off to the right of the math lab as you exit and I was going to go down those stairs. We said bye to each other, then I turn to go down the stairs. The next thing I know, I am falling down the stairs. Well, it was more of a roll. I don't know what happened to make me fall, all I knew was that that math tutor had seen it all. I didn't just fall down a few stairs, I fell down ALL the stairs. We're talking maybe 12-14. When I finally got to the landing at the bottom and stopped, the math tutor ran down the stairs to help me up. I was mortified. He runs down and asks me if I'm ok, all i can respond with is "yeah, thanks." I got up and walked away as quickly as possible. About 10 people were around and saw me fall. Probably one of the most embarrassing moments of my life.

Next we need to go back 2 years, to 2006. I was 20. My roommate/bff Kyla and I headed to the grocery store (Broulim's for all you Rexburgians). We headed down the "feminine hygiene" aisle. While in that aisle, we spot this pink sparkly thing, called the Emergency Feminine Hygiene Kit. It was a little pink bag with "all the needed items for that unexpected emergency". We were totally making fun of it, opened it up, took a few pics, kyla recorded what was written on its cover sleeve, and texted it to a few people. After a few minutes, we put the bag back on the shelf, and went about the rest of our shopping. For some reason, we were acting really stupid that night, dancing up and down the aisles, pretending to knock stuff off shelves, etc. We finished our shopping and went up to the register to pay. We pay and head out to our car. We walk through the front door, and this guy wearing a black "broulim's security" jacket comes up to us and asks us if he can talk to us for a minute. We say ok, and walk off to the side. He pulls out the Emergency Feminine Hygiene kit from his pocket, and tells us about how he saw us on the security camera and how he noticed us handling the kit, and how we were in that aisle for a not normal amount of time. He then asks us if we took anything out of the kit, and if everything was still in it. We are shocked, and totally taken off guard. We say yes, everything was still in it, and no, we didn't steal anything. He said he trusted us and let us go. We couldn't believe this was happening to us, and we were embarrassed because he was probably following us around the store, and saw us being dorks and dancing in the aisles. We walked to the car laughing our heads off, and still laugh about it today. Yes folks, Kyla and I were accused of stealing.

The final story that I have to share with you happened just this last March or so. If you haven't had a Dryer's Fruit Bar in the lime flavor, you are missing out. They are seriously so good. I went to the freezer one night to devour one of these popsicles. I get it out, tear off the wrapper, and stick it in my mouth. To my surprise and utter astonishment, if freezes right to the inside of my lips. No joke. Just like on A Christmas Story when he gets his tongue stuck to the pole.

I try to take it out of my mouth, and it won't budge. It is literally frozen to my lips. I turn to my mom and tell her that's its frozen to my lips, and she just laughs at me. I don't know what to do, so I decide to just rip it out. Bad idea. It ended up taking my skin with it, and I started to bleed. I looked at the popsicle, and there was my frozen skin actually on it. It hurt so bad. Especially when I tore it off.

One time I was going through the drive through at the bank, and I accidentally drove off with the little tube thing you put your money in to send over to them. Yep, it was pretty embarrassing when I had to turn around and return it. Especially when they had put an orange cone in the lane, so no one could use it. It was really fun getting out of my car and moving the cone so I could drive up there and put the tube back, that way everyone saw who the idiot was. Definitely a blond moment.

And that's all I have for you. Thank you and goodnight!

Now I can die....

Two words: LOVED IT!

10's

10 hours!!!!!

I will be watching this amazing (hopefully) movie in 10 Hours! I will be going home for 10 days. I will not have class for 10 days. I will not have to go to work for 10 days. My flight leaves in 4 hours and 10 minutes. I ate about 10 pounds of chocolate this week. I only have 10 days of school left EVER IN MY LIFE! 10, I tell you, 10!

3 days left.....

Only 3 days and 5 hours until I am on a plane home! I am so ready for this Thanksgiving break. That means 10 days of no school or work! I am totally on auto-pilot until I leave, my brain checked out long ago. Oh, and if anyone knows of an internship for winter semester in the Health Science field, I'm in desperate need. Thank you!

Super Dally

My little brother is so funny.

High School Tag

1. Did you date someone from your school? I went on dates with some of the guys at my school but didn't ever have a boyfriend.
2. What kind of car did you drive? A 1983 Honda Accord at first, and then a Jeep.
3. Did you pass your drivers test on your first try? Yes
4. Were you a party animal? Well, I went to parties, but wasn't really an "animal".
5. Were you considered a flirt? I don't really know.
6. Were you in band, orchestra or choir? Nope, I am musically challenged.
7. Were you a nerd? Not really, I mean, aren't we all a little nerdy sometimes?
8. Were you on any varsity teams? Nope, my high school was too big, and I wasn't one of the "favorites" or star players. But I was on the Top 12 for cross country once!
9. Did you ever get suspended/expelled? I think I got detention a couple times for being tardy. We just had to sit in the cafeteria and do homework.
10. Can you still sing the fight song? Nope, never really knew it. I remember R-I-C-H-L-A-NNNNNN-D, that the cheerleaders would sing.
11. Who were your favorite teachers? umm....probably Mrs. Stroup for American Lit junior year, Mrs. Rulon for Volleyball p.e. freshman year, and Mr. Staley for anatomy senior year.
12. Where did you sit for lunch? Freshman and Sophomore year I ate at the seminary building, Junior year in the cafeteria, and Senior year, Danielle and I usually went somewhere, or sat in my car.
13. What is you schools full name? Richland High School
14. What is your schools mascot and colors? Our mascot was the Bombers (as in the airplane), but they just put the mushroom cloud on everything. I loved it. And our colors were green and gold.
16. If you could go back and do it again would you? Probably not. I'm glad its over with.
17. What did you remember most about graduation? I remember walking into the coliseum and having everyone cheering for us. and i remember all the beach balls flying around, and someone brought an inflatable doll/girlfriend too.
18. Where did you go for senior skip day? School! They threatened that we would not graduate if we were not there that day, and none of my friends were skipping anyways, so what would i have done?
19. Were you in any clubs? Well, i kind of pretended i was in key club.
20. Have you gained some weight since then? A little maybe, i don't really know.
21. Who was you prom date? I only went to prom once and it was with a guy named Doug.
22. Are you planning on going to your 10 year reunion? I don't know. Maybe if some of my friends go, but the only ones i really care about are the ones that I see now, so probably not.
23. Did you have a job in high school? Lawn Mower for my family's lawn mowing business, and I cleaned the church bookstore. (but they were both more family jobs).
I tag Natalie Findlay, Kirbalicious Definition, and Jilayne Jenks.

SICK!

Warning: Not for the squeamish!

So, my roommates and I have become big fans of the Discovery Health Channel lately. There are just so many interesting things on it! I could seriously watch it all day. One of our favorite shows is "Untold Stories from the ER." On it there are all the freaky/gross/weird things that you don't hear about often. Well, the other night did not disappoint. On the show, there is usually one doctor narrating, and then they will re-enact what happened (they are all really horrible actors, by the way). So, the doctor starts to talk about how this one attending physician always gives him the gross cases. The attending tells him that the patient is a homeless man, who has something wrong with his leg. So the narrating doctor goes into the room, and it shows the homeless man's leg. It was COVERED in maggot's from his toes to his knee!!! It was the most discusting thing I have EVER seen and I really thought I was going to throw up, and I don't have a weak stomach. But it was soooo gross. Just thinking about it gives me shivers. Apparently the homeless man had some infection on his leg, and then the maggot's came. The doctor asked how long his leg had been like that, and the homeless man's response? 4 or 5 DAYS! Why would you wait 4 or 5 days like that?!!??!?! SICK! But, it ended up ok at the end, because the maggot's were actually good. They were eating all the diseased flesh, and left the good stuff. So the doctor said that if the maggot's weren't there, his leg would be a lot worse. I don't know about you, but I don't know what's worse than a leg covered in maggots for 4 or 5 days! YUCK!

P.S. My mom bought tickets for the midnight showing of Twilight! It's really happening!

DON'T let it snow!

I don't really have a whole lot to say. I am just procrastinating, which I am usually very good at. It's beginning to turn cold here in Rexburg, and I woke up to 3 inches of snow on the ground yesterday morning, which ended up freezing overnight. So it wasn't very fun walking to class in the morning on the ice. I almost fell like 10 times. I walked out of my apartment and saw a guy trying to shovel the sidewalk (I'm thinking he was maintenance), it was a nice gesture, but it was just ice, so nothing was happening. Oh well, can't blame him for trying!

I have senioritis so bad, its not even funny. I am so sick of homework, I could literally throw-up. Only 2 more weeks until Thanksgiving break. Hallelujah! I really don't care if it's going to be just me and my parents this year. I just need a break! So, I'll be home from the 20th to the 30th. Ten whole days. I can't wait.

I am going home on the 20th one day early because that is the night Twilight comes out and my mom, my cousin Tammy Bybee, and I'm guessing other people, (Kurt and Ashley?) are going to the midnight showing. I can't wait. I just hope I'm not too disappointed. I know it's going to be different from the book, but I hope they don't change it too much.

OK, why do people think they can make-out in public? I am in the library right now and the two next to me are really going at it. I have tried to clear my throat and make lots of noise, but they are just not getting the hint. Get a room!

So I left my cell phone charger at the hotel this past weekend at my cousin's AMAZING wedding in Texas. I'm going to blog about it later, once my parents send me some pics from it. Seriously, it was the fanciest wedding I've ever been to. I loved it. Anyways, so I left my charger at the hotel and they are sending it to me. My phone has been dead for 3 days now and I'm going nuts! I feel so cut off from the world. (That's why I haven't been answering, mom.) What did I ever do without it? Renton and Lisa, you guys are crazy for getting rid of yours. I'm thinking you'll regret it later. There have been so many times where I have needed to tell someone something, and I can't text or call them! The charger is actually here in Rexburg, but I didn't get home in time last night before the post office closed to go get it. They sent it COD (no, not cause of death like my roommate thought), so I have to go to the post office to pay for it, so hopefully I will be able to get down there today. Cross your fingers.

I am so excited for Christmas! I love the holiday season. We have already started listening to Christmas music in my apartment. They put up a Christmas Tree in the bookstore on campus yesterday, so I told my roommates that I wanted to put up my Christmas tree, but they wouldn't go for that. Ba humbug!

Happy Election Day!

Don't forget to vote!

And make the right choice....vote McCain!

p.s. I left my cell phone charger at the hotel this past weekend, so now my phone is dead. So, if you are trying to text or call me, I won't respond until the hotel sends me my charger and I get it charged. Just fyi....

A little friendly competition...

I work in the Nursing Department on campus, and the application deadline for the summer 2009 semester is coming up here on Saturday, November 1st. We always get tons of applications that come in the last few days before the deadline. We decided to start a little pool and we are all predicting how many applications will come in, starting today, until next friday, to allow all the ones coming in the mail to get here (they just have to be postmarked by the 1st). Carmelita (my boss) is guessing 30. Candice, the other girl who works here, is guessing 39. And I am rounding out the competition with a guess of 42. We're not sure what the prize will be, but I really hope I win! So, tell all your friends to apply to get that number over 42, even if they really don't want to be a nurse, they can pull their application out later, or they can always decline if they do actually get accepted. I really want to win! I'll let you know the outcome sometime next week.....and hopefully it will be good news!

HSM3 and Kyla's weekend

One of my BFF's Kyla came to visit me this past weekend here in Rexburg. We were roommates for 4 semesters, but sadly she had to graduate and leave me last July of 2007. But, being the great friend she is, comes to visit me regularly, wherever I may be. She got here on Friday night, and left Monday night. Thank you Allegiant Air with their cheap flights for making this weekend all possible! We had a blast. We started the weekend off right with a little Bajio. Yes mom, I know you're jealous. We saw High School Musical 3 on saturday, which was great and we loved it! Other than that, just hung out with old friends, made movies for our friend Kara who is on a mission in Cambodia right now, and just had fun. Thanks for coming Kyla. You rock my world.

Enjoy the pictures!

Attempting to do a hand-stand off the coffee table.....and not succeeding.

My roommate Carly, giving the death stare.

Kyla and her footie pajamas...which she bought.
The view from my apartment.
I bought red clip-in hair extentions for the movie. They looked awesome.

A bad week...

A girl in my ward told me tonight, that around 9:30 pm last night, a girl was raped on campus. The girl in my ward's friend works for University Police, and he told her. Yes, it still happens at church schools! So, please don't go anywhere by yourself, and lock your doors. She also told me that there have been reports of a guy coming into girls' apartments at night, restraining them, and not doing very good things to them, so please be safe! That's the last time I walk home from the gym or library at night by myself! Oh, and the guy is still out there, they haven't caught him yet.

Also, last Friday afternoon, my old roommate Rachael Morris was killed in a car accident. If you go to school here, you probably got an email about it. Rachael and her cousin Lisa, (who also happens to be my old roommate), were driving down to Utah when they hit a moose, in broad daylight. The road they were driving on had a steep embankment on the side, and the moose came running up over, and they didn't have time to react. Rachael was killed on the road, and Lisa suffered minor injuries, but lived. Rachael was a super fun roommate, and good friend of mine. We lived together in the summer and fall semesters of 2005. Please pray for Rachael, Lisa, and their families as they go through this difficult time...and please, drive safely!

Spooktacular

I went to the Haunted Mill with some friends last night. Oh. My. Gosh. I don't think I've ever screamed that much in my life. Holy crap. If you live in Rexburg, or anywhere near, you must go. It was well worth the $10. I had already been there before a few years ago, but I was still scared to death. The Haunted Mill is about 15 minutes outside of rexburg in a little town of like 500 people called Teton. It is an old flour mill that a family turned into a haunted house about 10 years ago. It is a major attraction for students around Halloween time. It takes about 40 minutes to walk through it all. You go outside, over bridges, out into a field, and through 3 different buildings. I almost died on one of the bridges (really, i almost fell off, ask my roommates), and got water sprayed in my face on another. They only let you go in groups of five, so it was me, 3 of my roommates, and 1 guy. We made him go in the front. I had my arms wrapped around my roommates waist the entire time, and my other roommate had her hands around my waist the entire time. I feel bad for my roommate Stephanie, she was in the back the whole time. So now today, I have no voice. But it was so worth it. For FHE on Monday, my group is going to another haunted house called Dr. Slaughter's. Sound's promising, right? It is supposed to be scarier than the Haunted Mill. Will I survive? I really don't know, because I think I had multiple heart attacks last night. I'll let you know how it goes. BOO!

Here is a picture of the main building of the Haunted Mill, and that is the bridge I almost lost my life on.

For more info on the Haunted Mill, or for directions, go here. Really, do it. It will scare the crap out of you, but it's so scary its awesome. But be sure you go with at least one guy in your group, and with someone that doesn't mind you touching them inappropriately the entire time, because I'm pretty sure I was all over my roommate, sorry Carly.

President Hinckley, inflatable rafts, hot dogs, and supermarkets

I have weird dreams,and last night was no exception. I dreamed that I was living in Hawaii (awesome). My current roommates, some former roommates, and some friends from high school were there. We were all just hanging out at my house when there is a knock on the door. I get up to answer it and who is standing on my front porch? President Hinckley.



Naturally, we invite him in (who is going to turn away the Prophet? Honestly.) He sits down and we start talking to him. Not about spiritual/churchy stuff, but about the TV show The Office. Apparently he is a big fan as well. After we talk for a while, he decides he wants to head down to the beach. He invites us all to come along, but no one wants to go but me. So Pres. Hinckley and I head down to the beach, all the while he is wearing a Hawaiian t-shirt and board shorts, I might add. We stay down at the beach for a long time, like 5 hours. We return home around dinner time, and we get back and find that every missionary in the area is at my house because they all heard the Prophet stopped by. So we walk in and everyone is really mad, and they are all like "Where have you been?!?!". I decide I've had him to myself for long enough, so I leave him out with all the missionaries in the living room. All the girls follow me back into my bedroom and they are still mad, and why are they mad? Because we were "alone" together. They were all like, "He's married!" I of course am shocked at this accusation, and I'm like "uhh....#1 he's 97 years old! and #2, he's the PROPHET!!!" all the girls calm down after a while and they start asking what we talked about. I tell them that they didn't want to go to the beach with him in the first place, so I'm not going to tell them, and i go to sleep. I wake up the next day and President Hinckley's gone. My roommate Kirby asks me if I want to go on this water ride at this amusement park. I say OK, and we head to the park. We get there, and I discover that the ride is actually a white water rafting/waterfall ride, and you ride in a dinky little inflatable raft, like this one: In the ride you go over all these big rapids, and if you survive the ride, you win a prize. The odds of surviving are not good. I tell Kirby that there is no way I'm going on this ride, but she begs and begs me to go. So I say fine, and get on. She makes me ride in the front. Jerk. So we start going, and the water is really calm, so I'm thinking, "oh, this isn't bad." I thought too soon. We hit some huge rapids that flip our raft vertical in the air, but we manage to stay on. By this time I am freaking out, and Kirby is in the back laughing. I'm so mad at her, and I am yelling profanities at her and blaming her for making me come on this ride. Might I remind you that we do not have life jackets on. We finally make it through all the rapids, or so I think. A voice recording comes on, and is telling us all the facts about this last rapid, but mostly how only like 3 people have ever survived. OK, so now I am really freaking out and I am clawing at the walls trying to reach the top, so I can stop our boat. All the while Kirby is lounging in the back. The ride is in like a big hallway type thing. So i continue to freak out while the voice recording is telling me how I'm going to die. So I grab onto the raft for dear life, and hold on. We finally come to the waterfall, and it's only like two feet high. So I'm like, that was the waterfall? piece of cake. But the waterfall emptied out into this big lake thing, and the lake starts to turn into a whirl pool and our raft is starting to get sucked under. So I start freaking out again, because I realize that this is how everyone dies on this ride. Kirby meanwhile is still cool as a cucumber. So I'm screaming at her to used her hands as a paddle to try to row our way to the shore, but she won't. So I'm still freaking out, but then I'm like "wait...I just hung out with the prophet for 7 hours. I think I'll be OK." So our raft finally gets sucked under, and I settle down long enough to realize that I can breath under water. I also realize that Kirby disappeared. I look around me and see a bunch of other people just swimming around, and I finally realize that this is an underwater grocery store, and that there are hot dogs floating around everywhere.

So I start to swim around, and then I find my boyfriend. So we start swimming around holding hands. Well, apparently holding hands is against the law in under-water-grocery-store-land, and so they say that they are going to put my boyfriend on trial, and if they find him guilty he will be kicked out. I don't want my boyfriend to be kicked out without me, so I find a guy to pretend to be my boyfriend, so that he will get kicked out, instead of my boyfriend. So we I go to the trial with my fake boyfriend, and I realize that this isn't a trial to see if he will be kicked out, its a trial to see if he will be killed or not. I guess hand holding is a pretty big crime in under water grocery store land. I of course don't want to make my poor fake boyfriend die, so I start crying and I'm like "Don't kill him! I love him!".........then I woke up.

What do you think this means?

Why?! Why?!

Why do I procrastinate?!?!!?!!?!?

Oh man...

Go watch this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7Ev1TkiRNo

I think I am going to explode with excitement. For a refresher of how much I love these books, go here.

On a sadder note, I woke up to an inch of snow on the ground and 28 degree weather. It's times like this when I wonder why I don't go to BYU-Hawaii. And no, it's not the first time it has snowed this year. BOO.

urgent!

Everyone please pray that it will be possible for me to go to Mexico or Hawaii this weekend. I need to get out of this place.

BFF

I love these girls.

Commencement

I applied for graduation today.

74 DAYS!!!!

New "do"

I cut my hair.

This is the best picture I could find showcasing my "before" hair.

After

Me and the mastermind behind all this.