My Gingerbread Creation!

Well i tried to make this one but it just didn't turn out how i wanted it to.

So then i went for a more tropical relaxed look, and as you can guess that didn't turn out any better.

Then i decided to go for a more traditional look. I think i finally found my true calling in life! ha ha ha a girl can dream can't she (:

Festival of Trees

Alta High School FCCLA tree

This was my first year going to the festival of trees. I though it was really cool! These are just a few of my favorite trees that i saw!

Washington here we come!

This year for Thanksgiving we drove up to Washington to visit Stacie. It was definantly and adventure. We got stuck at a McDonald's in Tremonton for a few hours because the wind was blowing the snow around so much it was really hard to see while driving. It took us 13 hours to get to Nampa Idaho, the drive normally takes about 5 hours. On Thanksgiving morning I did the turkey trot, which is a 5k, with some of the family. I can't even explain how freezing it was. It took us all day to make the Thanksgiving dinner because no one was smart enough to put the turkey in before we went to the race. We did the whole black friday thing, not my favorite part. It was just so much fun watching the BYU v. Utah game in a house full of cougars when you are a Ute. It definantly felt good to have us win it! We were there to see baby Mia Pratt get blessed. On the way home we got "grounded", i guess you could say, in Nampa. The highway between Idaho and Utah was closed due to wheather conditions. It was a trip i would not really want to take again, well thats due mostly to the driving in the wheather. But i was fun to see most of the family all together.

Halloween

I went to our Halloween dance at school with Tanner Jones. It was so much fun! We dressed up as vantrilaquist dolls. We did a video scavenger hunt for our day activity, went to kylee's house for dinner and then danced the night away at the school. After the dance we went to my friends house to watch a movie, we watched The Ring. IT SCARED ME FOR LIFE!!

Braxton Tyson and I went trick-or-treating! I still love it (: Braxton was a Hobo, Tyson was the grim reeper and i looked like a ice skater, well at least thats what i think. We carved pumpkins, and then went to get all the candy we could possible eat. We hit the JACKPOT at Nana's house! It was a fun Halloween overall!

BRAD PAISLEY!!!!!!!

My t-shirt

Alisa & I

(sorry the pictures are so blurry my camera wouldn't focus with all the lights)

This concert was defiantly one of my top 10 best nights!! It was such a good concert! It was brad paisley, darius rucker, steel magnolia and three other guys but i dont remember their names. Darius Rucker wasn't as good as i expected but Brad was amazing! in the middle of the concert this guy just came up to me and handed me a piece of paper and said "go enjoy yourself, have a good time!" so i looked at it and it was a sixth row ticket! i was so excited and i wasn't about to waste this opportunity. so i went down there but i couldn't get clear down to the sixth row but i go down as far as i could. It was seriously hand down the best night i have had all year. Didn't get out of there and home till 2 AM but i was worth it!

LAX

So braxton is doing fall lacrosse this year. he really likes it! it is so much fun to watch him enjoy something that he has to himself. This isn't the best season for his team right now they are 0-4 i think but oh well he is just happy that he gets to play the entire game!

My first UTAH game!!

So i (cortney) got to go to my first ever Utah game! It was a blast! I was way excited because we got to go down on the field, i can't wait to go to another one!

Saying good-bye to our puppy!

We had to sell Dakota he just ended up being more then we could handle. He ate through everything and he chewed up a mattress, shoes, bed sheets, and everything else. He was a cute dog but we are definitely a one dog family!

Family Time

This last Sunday we went up and took a walk around silverlake. My mother thought it would be a great idea. We get up there and it was 20 degrees colder then it was down here in the valley. But we all got used to it. It was kinda nice to get away from the city just for and hour or so. We had fun together. Next time i think i'll bring a sweatshirt :)

East Canyon with the Cannons

Me drenching Timberlake

Dax thought it was hilarious to pour water onto me

Throwing rocks into the river

Tal shoving Oreos into his mouth :)

We went up to East with the Cannons a few weekends ago. It was a blast! We all just hung out, made fun of Emilee's dance skills, had a water fight. That was fun! We all just started to gang out on Timberlake (aka Lance) and eventually he got us all back in one way or another. We sat by the river a few time throwing rocks in with Dax. We watched Dax treat the dogs like they were horses. He is such a cutie! We went swimming EVERYDAY, mulitple times a day. We did movie night outside with a projector and homemade screen. Overall it was a way fun get away!

Saddle Up Partner!!

My Dad actually got on the horse

Hazen had to help tyson out a little bit

Cj couldnt get on the horse because his pants were to tight. Jake just sat there and watched as i sat there and laughed :)

Braxton on Blondy

Me on Skeider and Hailey on Marshmellow

So I had never ridden a horse before, well neither had tyson, braxton or cj. So we asked our friend Tana if she would let us come and ride her horses. So i was super excited, i wasnt really nervous but that was before the horse started to trot a little fast, ya then i kinda freaked out. You dont know embarassing until you have a 5 year old telling you you will be okay. ha ha but oh well i had a blast. Tana's kids are the cutest! Hailey & Hazen are mini cowgirl and cowboys. My mom and i played steer wretling and roping with them(i was the horse). Everyone loved it! I am hoping she will let us come out again cuz it was so much fun!

Foot Update!

Saturday had to be one of the most painful days of my life. All the numbness was gone and i swear the pain pills weren't doing a thing. I sat and was screaming for about an hour and a half straight because the pain was so bad. All day Sunday i had it up and elevated because there was a post trek fireside i really wanted to go to. So i went to that, i was planning on just putting my foot up on the bench while it was going on. A girl sat down next to me and i didn't notice until our whole row was filled, by then it was to late to put it up. So i just ended up having my foot down for two hours, it was the most painful thing after i got home. I didn't know you could have to much blood in your foot :). Monday was pretty good, i just layed around all day then went to CJ's baseball game. They lose traumatically 1 to 26 or something like that all i know is that their team was only 1. On Tuesday i went to the doctor. He said that everything looked great, there was no infection. I was so shocked how much my foot was bruised(sorry didn't have a phone or camera to take pictures). My ankle is non-existent, it is now a cankle. ha ha ha!! Went to another baseball game Tuesday night, luckily our team won 22-6 this time. I was trying to walk without my crutches. I could only do one step before it would start to hurt. I was so frustrated. This morning was a huge achievement, i was able to walk from my room down in the basement up to my parent room without crutches! I was so so excited! I am just happy that i am being able to see progress happening. Thanks for all the support from all of you guys. Love ya all tons.
-Cortney

Foot Surgery

This morning i had foot surgery at Alta View. It was for a tailors bunion on my left foot. I had to be there at 6:30 AM, i haven't woken up that early since school ended. So we get there and the nurse takes me back to do the weight, blood pressure, and all that fun stuff. Then she tells me that she needs to take my blood. I was nervous cuz i've never had my blood taken before. So it kinda hurt but then the part that hurt the most was the tape, she put it on so tight! I have an extreme dislike for surgical gowns, they are so uncomfortable. The anesthesiologist came in and told me what he was planning on doing. Then he stuck the IV in my hand. That had to be one of the most painful things. Even now it still hurts where he put it in. They only put me to sleep for the numbing and for a little bit of the surgery for the rest of it i wasn't fully asleep we were talking. After they took me back to a room, gave me some apple juice and let me wake up a little bit more. I was in and out of the hospital within 3 hours. I think i set a new record or something. So i am only in a boot, no cast for me what a luck person i am! Right now my foot is kinda tingly but i can't tell if it is just starting to come un-numbed or if i am cutting of circulation. So everything is going well but i am not really excited for tomorrow, i've been told by a lot of people that it will be the worst. i'm just happy my foot is going to look normal.

Trek

I went to pioneer trek this past week. It was so much fun! i really didn't want to go when they first told us about it, thinking about it i didn't want to go the morning i got there. we go to the place we were going, which was Deseret Live Stock Ranch, which is just about ten miles before you reach Evanston, Wyoming. AKA: the middle of no where! we then met our families, mine was amazing! There was this one girl who i connected with the second we met. Her name is Teighlor Melton, she is like my clone, we are so much alike it is kinda scary. We walked 6 miles the first day, i was so exhausted and sore. The best part is that our food was catered by Apple Spice Junction. It was delicious!!! The second day we walked about 8 miles. I wasn't as sore but we did something so much fun that night. We did square dancing! i was hesitant at first to do it but once i tried it, it was a blast. we were all exhausted after that so we went to bed. The third day we was the hardest, longest, best, and worst day of the whole thing. We had the women's pull at the very beginning of the day. It was so neat to see all the guys at the top of the hill just mad that they couldn't help us up the hills we had to do. After it was over one of my friend came up to me and gave me a hug and told me he was proud of me. i wanted to start crying. After that the wind started to blow so hard. by the time we got to lunch my eye was swollen shut from the dirt and crap i had gotten in it. we all wanted to quit, but we just kept going. by the end of the day we had walked about 10 miles. that night was testimony meeting, it was great! overall it was a great experiance, i would do it again in a heartbeat!

New addition to the famiy

We got a new dog!! He is a 9 month old boxer(we think he might be some kind of a boxer mix). We decided to name him Dakota. He is so cute! Him and coop get along great. Now we have a family of eight.

Our "new" trailer

I slept inbetween the tabel and the wall
this is how the boys slept(including brent)

Tyson slept in the closet!

This year while our grandparent are on their mission we are using their trailer. There is only one bed, which my parents get. so they bought us these mats that we sleep on. It is fun!

Academic Letter

so i got an academic letter for having a 3.7 or higher for three quarters. Pretty exciting!!