Commencement

Anybody who knows my father in law Mark, knows that this is a common expression of his.



Stanford got the coolest speaker ever for commencement. Her name is Susan Rice and she is the United States Ambassador to the United Nations. Needless to say, she is a really good speaker!

My Girls

Today was our last Sunday in the Valparaiso ward:( Although we are stoked to be moving back to Boise, I am a little bit sad to leave the Young Women. Here is a photo of about half of the girls after I taught the lesson today as my send off. We laughed so hard when I saw some of the girls/leaders went out and heart attacked our car during Sunday school.

Kelli's PROFESH Baby Shower

Ok, so before you go congratulating me for throwing this beautiful party you should know- I didn't. Kelli's friends from her ward threw the party. As you can see this baby shower was more like a wedding reception or something. (they did in fact call and ask Kelli what her colors were). When Kelli and I said that the flowers were nicer than either of us had at our weddings, the ladies laughed and thought we were joking... we weren't. Well that's California for you.

Shib's Graduation

Well baby Shibby graduated this week and we can't believe that the last child is done. This means that we no longer have choir concerts, sporting events, seminary, or calling the attendance office to excuse absences! The only people missing were Taylor and Brother(who is still on the mish). Smart little Shelby is of course pictured with her smart person cords which the rest of us pretty much only dreamed of.

Mormon Helping Hands

Well thanks to my friend Liz, I was able to steal this photo and post it. Last Saturday our ward participated in a state wide service project called Mormon Helping Hands. Wards all over the state of California spent the day cleaning up, weeding, and beautifying public parks and recreational areas. As you see we were fortunate enough to get to wear sweet yellow vests- which totally reminded me of the ones we had to wear during P.E. in middle school...yah.

Happy Birthday to Taylor

You know, I'm not sure why I even have this blog. Everybody that looks at it has probably already seen all of my updates on Facebook. Anyway- Taylor turned 26 on Friday April 30th! He feels like he has passed through the "young adult" phase into the "adult phase", and I have to agree. Graduating with your masters degree and getting a real job sounds pretty adult to me. (how depressing)

To celebrate the passing of youth, we took the train into the city for a Giants game. The train was an experience to say the least. I was thinking that it would be like the trains in New York...wrong. It was a double-decker, jammed packed with boozing screaming Giants fans. When I say boozing I mean people busting out 12 packs, passing around flasks, smoking joints(seriously), doing body shots, and puking all in full view. Note to self, do not take trains into the city on Friday nights. At least the Giants played a great game. However, the highlight was the over zealous fan that jumped onto the field. He was of course body slammed to the ground by an enormous police guard about .5 seconds later, but it was pretty sweet none the less.

Happy Birthday honey- even though you're an old man, at least you're a hot old man. That makes all the difference!

Dickson Family Visit

My Family came to visit and do the Stanford tour last weekend. The parents stayed in a hotel across the street, while Heather and Brooke were lucky enough to get to sleep on a blow up camping mattress in our HUGE apartment:) So here we have various photos of the Friday night sleepover party. Saturday the parents went golfing with Taylor and the girls got shopping and sweet pedicures(courtesy of the Deborah) Hooray for parents who still pay for their grown up children!

Here we have some typical photos. Me trying to rouse H&B and them pretending like they can't hear me. I finally just jumped on their mattress.

It's that time again...

Friends and fellow citizens,

Well I am speaking in church...again...much to my dismay! And the topic is actually a very hard one for me; Fasting. I am not exactly the most qualified to speak on fasting (i.e. I don't exactly fast much!)

So as usual I am posting this in hopes that someone out there will help me out and send me some advice/quotes/stories or anything at all that might be of use. And usually when I ask for help with this sort of thing NOBODY responds! (probably because I am anti-social, sorry about that) But please, please, please, if you can think of anything that would help feel free to post it.

Much Obliged,
Courtney

Just Love

In honor of Valentine's day I am posting some of my favorite love songs of the moment, from some of my favorite bands. For anybody who may need a little V-day inspiration or just some new songs on your ipod, give a listen.

Love,
Courtney

On Fire- Switchfoot

My Heart- Paramore

Miserable at best- Mayday Parade

Rescued- Jack's Mannequin

Inevitable- Anberlin

I swear this time I mean it- Mayday Parade

Air Traffic- Owl City

Forever & almost Always- Kate Voegele

Welcome Home Elder Bowen

Hooray, McKell came home from his mission last weekend! The whole family was in town so we had a Bowen Family Fiasco. The weekend was spent getting everything ready for Kel to leave on Sunday for Utah State. The semester started a week before he came home, so Emily went to all of his classes and took notes for him(talk about a nice sister!) My job was to take him to the mall and purchase an entire new wardrobe in less than 2 hours. (clearly my mother in law knows where my talents lie!) During all of the mayhem it was also Mark's birthday on Friday, and Ann's birthday on Saturday(and Kel's birthday is this week). We had a great time seeing everybody since we weren't able to make it home for Christmas. Since stake conference was on Sunday, Kel's homecoming talk is on Jan. 31 for anybody who might be in town...we won't ;(

Calling All Friends: Work Out Tunes

So today I finally decided that I had absolutely HAD IT with the holiday body. This was enough to actually get me out jogging for about an hour(gasp) I know Kelli and Aubrey...you can't believe it. Anyway, I have to run with my ipod and my super slicked out, tricked out Nike Flow ear buds or I can't stand it. Which brings us to the part where I need y'all...tunes. I am starting to get sick of my "Move it" mix and am wondering if everybody will kindly post all of your motivational loose 5 lbs tunes. I will list mine below in case anybody else is needing some new ones. Thanks!

"Courtney's Move it to lose it mix"
1. "Light up the sky" Yellowcard
2. "Hips don't lie" Shakira
3. "Show me the money" Petey Pablo
4. "Supermassive black hole" Muse
5. "Dirrty" (the Redman mix version) Christina
6. "Invincible" Ok Go
7. "Shake Remix" Elephant Man
8. "Calabria 2007" (club mix) Enur
9. "Check yes Juliet" We the kings
10. "Dance, Dance" Fall out boy