Our California Vacation!

WARNING: This is an incredibly long post. We won't be offended if you only look at the pictures :-)

Tuesday, April 27th, we picked up Blake in Salt Lake at 6am to drive to Vacaville after only 2 hours of sleep the night before. While the boys slept I drove through Nevada (the entire state was one big sandstorm...the whole state) and California (which was a huge snowstorm). Needless to say, I was quite tired when we finally arrived at our destination.

In Vacaville, we took baby Grant to the Jelly Belly Factory. He loved all the free samples!

After 2 days there we drove to San Jose, where I had my first encounter with the Pacific Ocean. I definitely prefer the warmer FL beaches.

Sara and Steve's wedding was wonderful. We're so glad we were able to be there to celebrate with them.

After the wedding, we spent a couple days in San Francisco.

Seeing Wicked:

Taking cool pictures:

Spending time on the beach:

And hanging out on the Golden Gate Bridge:

Next stop during the California road trip: San Diego.

We saw Sea Lions:

We visited the San Diego temple:

We took a little trip down to Mexico:

And we went scuba diving in 54 degree water:

Finally, on our way back to Provo we stopped in Las Vegas!

After a 2 week long vacation, we are finally home at last:

love, Brad & Courtney

graduation

We GRADUATED!!

While Brad was pretty reluctant to participate in any graduation exercises, I finally convinced him!

Looks to me like he ended up having a good time!

My parents came all the way from Tennessee to support us! They went from 80 degree weather to 30 degree cold and rainy weather ... welcome to Utah Mom and Dad.

Curt and Malinka gave us these super cute bobble heads.

Brad gave me these gorgeous pearls.

And I gave Brad a tortilla press. I actually made him go with me to get it because it was at a Mexican store, and I was afraid that they only spoke Spanish. Not much of a surprise, but he was glad to finally have it. He's been pressing his tortillas by hand for years, so this press will make homemade Mexican food at lot easier.

love, Brad & Courtney

the benefits of a large measuring cup and a large purse

A Large Measuring Cup

A couple days ago Brad kept saying he wanted something to eat, after giving numerous suggestions that he didn't like I finally said, "How about hot chocolate?" He decided that he didn't want just a mug of hot chocolate but 4 cups of hot chocolate!

The sad thing is...he drank almost all of it.

A Large Purse

Last night after I got out of class at 6:15 we decided to go to a movie, which started at 7:15. We got to the theater at about 6:30 and bought our tickets. We didn't want to wait for 45 minutes, and we were pretty hungry. So, we drove down the street to Noodles and Company and got our dinner to go. I carefully placed it in my purse before we got back to the theater. We sat down with about 15 minutes to go before it started. So while watching previews we had pasta.

The Final Countdown

Days till...

the LAST day of classes: 7

my PARENTS come: 15

GRADUATION: 16

Sara and Steve's CA wedding: 25

our ONE YEAR anniversary: 30

we leave PROVO: ~45

Brad starts his JOB with Hewitt: 62

One of our favorite traditions

For the past three years we have gone to Holi, the festival of colors at the Hare Kishna temple in Spanish Fork, UT. Holi is a festival in the Hindu religion, which welcomes the coming of spring by burning the winter witch (I think they try to make her as ugly as possible).

Going to this crazy festival has become somewhat of a tradition for us:

2008, dating

2009, engaged 

2010, married

I don't know what it is about throwing colored chalk at people and getting insanely dirty, but we love it! It's like a human coloring book. We were really disappointed that this was our going to be our last year of Holi, but I just found out that Evans, GA (a suburb of Augusta) has a Hindu temple that also celebrates Holi! We're so happy we get to keep this tradition alive in the coming years!!

Beating the System

Last June I signed up for an independent study class - SFL 160 (a prerequisite to all the other classes I have to take for my major). Thinking I'd have plenty of time to get it done eventually since they give you a year to finish them, I kept putting it off. Well, come March 1 I realized that in order to graduate (because I HAVE to take this class to graduate) I had to have the class completed 3 weeks before graduation. So basically I had one month to do a semester's worth of work. Instead of buckling down and doing it, like a good student should, I decided I would try everything in my power to get out of it.

Well, after an infinite amounts of emails pleading my case to different authorities I finally got out of it!! I beat the system!The professor who signs substitutions waivers is actually teaching a class I'm enrolled in this semester. I basically told him that I obviously didn't need this pre-req to do well in his 300-level class since I had aced both of his tests. He thought I presented a good argument, I guess, because he let me substitute a finance class (which is COMPLETELY unrelated) for the 160 class!

Sorry the picture is sideways, it's the only way I could fit it all on here. Basically it's just highlighting my victory.

Woo-Who!! Now I can graduate (which is in 28 days, by the way)!!

A New Charger

A couple weeks ago our computer decided it didn't want to charge anymore. Luckily I have a husband who knows a little something about computers. Brad cut open the part of the charger that hooks into the computer only to find the wires were completely frayed. He simply twisted them back together and miraculously the computer immediately began to charge again.

 

The only problem with this ingenious solution was that whenever we moved the computer at all (or even bumped the table) it quit charging. Isn't the point of a laptop to be able to take it anywhere and sit it on your lap? I particularly like to cuddle up on the couch under a blanket to do my homework, but, alas, I could no longer do that. Instead I had to suffer through doing my homework at the table (isn't homework already bad enough??). 

Well, finally, I convinced Brad that it was time to retire the poor thing (the charger, not the computer). His handy work bought us about a month, but we had to get a new charger. We were really worried about the price of the stupid thing, but Brad, being the deal-finder he is, found one on Amazon for 9 bucks (granted we had to pay $5 for shipping, but $14 isn't too shabby)! Our new charger just arrived in the mail a few days ago, and I am finally able to once again cuddle up on the couch under a blanket to do my homework (and write blog posts)!

I got in!

For those of you who don't know, I applied to Aiken Technical College, which is in South Carolina about 30 minutes away from Augusta where we'll be moving. They have a radiology technician program, and I just recently decided at the beginning of this year that that's what I want to be when I "grow up". The application process was tedious and completely unorganized. I didn't even get an acceptance letter; I had to call and check the status of my application this morning, because I hadn't heard anything from them for almost a month. Good news! I got in! If I hadn't gotten in I would have been completely shocked though. I'll be attending their school with a Bachelor's Degree from an accredited four year university, and most of their applicants are right out of high school. In fact, I had to send them my high school transcript, which I thought was pretty ridiculous seeing as how I had already sent them my college transcript. But, no matter, I got in and that's all that counts.

Unfortunately, they don't have a lot of night classes available, so it might get a little sticky with work, but I'm sure everything will work out!I can't actually apply to the radiology technician program until next fall, because I don't have TWO of their pre-reqs done. They require you to have all the pre-reqs done before the application deadline, which is June 1st. If only I had known I wanted to do this a few months sooner!! Oh well. So, for the next year I'll just be taking a few classes and bidding my time until I can apply to the program. Here I come Aiken Tech!

Happy (late) Birthday Brad!!

Brad's 25th birthday was 3 days ago! We had a ton of fun (minus tests and papers that had to be completed on that day, but what can you do). 

Brad was awaken to a wonderful breakfast in bed

 

(orange juice, banana, French toast, eggs, and a bran muffin)

Later that night, Brittney, Blake, Sara, Steve, and Emily came over for dinner (chili and cornbread). We played A LOT of Mario Kart and ate A LOT of food. Here's the birthday boy cutting his Funfetti cake:

 

He got some pretty awesome presents. This is loot from Blake:

 

And the hug from Steve:

 

And the e-somethings (a delicious Spanish dessert) from Brittney:

And a shoe horn from me:

Thanks to everyone who made Brad's birthday so fun for him! It wouldn't have been the same without you!!

I'm so grateful for Brad. He treats me like a queen even when I probably don't deserve it. He is patient, loving, and kind and supports me in whatever ridiculous dream I want to pursue. Tuesday night I was super stressed out for a midterm I had to take on Wednesday. Instead of going to his soccer game I stayed home and studied. He came back with 7-11 slurpees.

If it was me I would have been thinking about what wonderful things he had planned for my birthday the next day, but he selflessly thought about me and how worried I was about my test. I love you wonderful husband of mine! Happy (late) Birthday!!

Thanks Blake!

Blake and Curt went to visit Jenna this past weekend in Hong Kong (that's Brad's extended family for those who don't know). Since Malinka is a flight attendant they can go pretty much anywhere for FREE! Lucky, I know! Most of you know I'm not a big chocolate fan, but I do like Twix, and Blake always kindly surprises me with a Twix (or another of my favorite candies - Sour Patch Kids/Watermelon) at work when he comes to visit me. While he was enjoying his free flying and touring China, he thought about me!

 

Yes, that's a Chinese Twix! Here's some proof:

 

the search is over

For probably about the last year or so I've been on the hunt for a pair of green tennis shoes. Once I found a pair at Journey's that I absolutely loved, only to discover they were being discontinued (i.e. no longer being made) and no store in the entire state had any left in my size. Every time Brad and I pass a shoe store, no matter where we are, I always have to go in and look for green shoes. I had all but lost hope when my dear friend Sara texted me this morning with the following picture:

 

 

I rushed to the store to find only one pair left in my size! I quickly snatched them up and came home the proud owner of a new pair of green tennis shoes. The search is now over! I will probably have these on my feet almost everyday until I completely wear them out.

 

For any of you also on the hunt for green tennis shoes I got these lovelies at Old Navy for 20 bucks, yes $20 for an awesome pair of shoes. They also have other colors as well. You should definitely check them out!

finally using my Christmas present

With the help of Sara, Steve, and Brad I made my first skirt!! (yes, it took 4 of us to figure it out.) Sara is seamstress extraordinaire and helped the most, but it definitely wouldn't have gotten done without Steve and Brad. So, finally, one month later, I actually got to use my sewing machine that Brad got me for Christmas! I'm so excited to be learning such an invaluable skill like sewing (and especially using patterns), and I'm so grateful for my fabulous friends who are so willing to help me pursue my goals!

 

After the skirt-making extravaganza we celebrated its completedness by going to see Avatar.

 

We saw it in 3D which was definitely a new experience for all of us. I would recommend saving the extra 2 bucks and just seeing it the normal way. There were parts that were really cool in 3D, but it took a long time for our eyes to adjust and it wasn't what we expected it to be (we thought it would be like 3D movies at amusement parks when things jump out of the screen at you ... it wasn't like that). But overall, it was awesome! I would definitely go see it again. Just this past weekend it officially became the highest grossing movie EVER, surpassing Titanic's 9 year winning streak. And I'm proud to say that I contributed to that, even if it was only 22 dollars.