Sunday, December 2, 2012

Mother's Wedding

My mom got married!  Saturday, August 11th, 2012.  She found the man of her dreams and is so happy, which in return, makes me sooooo happy.
They originally met 30 years ago while in the MTC.  They had small crushes on each other, wrote a tiny bit, but nothing happened from there.
For a couple of years, Kevin has been trying to find my mom.  One day, my mom decided to add her maiden name on Facebook, which made Kevin able to find her.  The rest is history.
Here is sweet Rodger with my cousins little boy, Adam.
The adorable Covington family.
Rodgie & I
The happy bride & groom!
It was a beautiful day, hot, but beautiful.

Kevin fits right in, as you can see, from above.

They got married in the Bountiful Temple.  Aren't they adorable?!

Our "Date Night" gift to the newlyweds!
Kevin is a pilot and lives in Denver.  My mother now resides in Parker, Denver.  
It has been an adjustment, but because Kevin is a pilot for Frontier Airlines, she comes out here lots.  It couldn't be a more perfect situation.  
I'm so happy for the both of them.
*The best part of this new happy family, Kevin's son is dating Lindsey.  Yes, you heard me correctly, Lindsey is dating her step-brother.  We love to tease her.

The BAER Gutsman

Ashley & my crazy self decided to do the Baer Gutsman.  Last time I did this, I was 14 years old, almost 15.  I decided that 10 years later, I should enjoy it more, right?
The race was on Saturday August 4th.
Haha, this picture explains the early morning start.
Here we are, not knowing what we were getting ourselves into.
Ask me how many times we did the trail before the race? 
Once....one...uno.
We hiked it ONCE for about 2 miles.
The total mileage for the race is about 12-13.
As we are approaching the starting line, this kind gentleman informs us that he did the trail last week and saw a cougar in the "ferns."  The "ferns" are named like so, because they are about hip length and green and gorgeous.  He told us the cougar was sitting to the left in the ferns.  I wanted to crap my pants.  He then continued on by saying, be careful, act big, because with you girls being smaller than guys, they tend to go for you.  Thank you Sir.
Luckily, we didn't spot one coug.

You start at the Fruit Heights City Building and run your way up to the start of the trail head.  We were barely to the 1st crossing (there are a total of 3, meaning you cross the stream) and Ashley couldn't take anymore.  She could barely breath, since she had been suffering with a cold the day before from her dear, sweet, Charley.  She told me she was going to turn around and go back.  Surprisingly, I wasn't scared, because Ashley was my partner, we needed each other to map out the trail and not get lost.  I knew I could stick together with a group and power through.

This year you went to the top (the towers at the top of the mountain near Farmington) and had to go straight back down.  Typically, in year's past, you get to the top and run about halfway down.  Family, friends, and others cheering you on, drive up Farmington Canyon to the spot where you would continue on to Bountiful, that is the finish line.  Because of the mud slide last year, we couldn't go this way.

Once I was at the top, it took me 2 and a half hours, I was so pleased with my time!  I was feeling great, not crazy tired, I was just beyond thirsty, and dreading turning right back around.  I wasn't prepared for the impact on my knees.

As I am coming down "Death Row," which is a straight shot incline up to the very top, some guy says, "Are you Cortney?"  I said, "Yes." And he then told me that Ashley was just a little ways down.  I got a huge smile on my face and started going as quick as I could, without falling.
The cute little thing couldn't bare the thought of giving up and not completing the race.  When I saw her, I almost wanted to cry.  She had my camera in her pack so I took a few snap shots.  We talked for probably 3 minutes, she drank my entire water bottle that I had just filled up at the top (which about killed me later on), and we went our separate ways.
The view alone makes it well worth it, almost.
There are the towers, up close and personal.
We finished!
When I saw Rodger, my mom, and Char at the finish line, I almost wanted to burst into tears.  Going down that blasted mountain was the worst thing of the my life.  I kept telling myself in my head, "I feel so sorry for you."  Haha, it's the truth though.
I finished at 4:43.  Ashley at 5:08.  10 years ago I finished at 4:57, 3 minutes before they cleaned up and went home.  Granted, my time this year could have been much better, had you not had to go all the way back down.  It took me just as long to go down as it did up, could you tell I was burned?
My dad and the girls missed me coming in, but were there for Ashley.
I LOVE Rodger and am so thankful that he supports me and my crazyness.
So proud of us, Ash!
Love this picture.

And of course mother was there as well!  She has done this race a handful of times, her #1 favorite.  I'm sad she couldn't join us this year, with her foot issues.
Check out the awesome medal and shirt we got!  LOVE them.

Ash and I decided that if next year, the mud slide is fixed, and we don't have to run back down the mountain, we're IN!

First & Only Camping Trip...of the year.

We took a weekend camping trip with Cole & Gab the last weekend in July.
On Friday, Gab & I left early in the morning, while the boys took a half day at work. We had to leave early enough to find a spot.  We got one of the last spots and one of the best!  
We sent up camp, took us nine years to figure out how to put up my Mom's tent, but we finally did it.
We went to Smith & Moore House in Kamas.  It was beautiful there.







Pretty sure the boys wanted to go to work on Friday, only so they could ride their bikes up separately.  Silly things.

We went fishing quite a bit and I caught my very first fish!

Cole's parents came up for half a day.


It was so peaceful and relaxing.  We had a great time.
Next year, we need to go AT LEAST 3 times.

Happy SURPRISE!

Since January, I had been holding in a secret.  I booked a 5 day trip to Orlando, Florida for Rodger's 25th Birthday, which landed in July.  For 6 months I held this secret in.  I couldn't believe it!
Tuesday, July 10th, Rodger thought we were going golfing with my dad at Oakridge.  I secretly packed us the night before, left out most of the clothes I would bring for Rodger, so he wouldn't notice they were missing.  I went to work on Tuesday, like any other day, and left early to go "golfing."  I changed into golfing attire, but accidentally left my necklace on, see above, apparently this was a big red flag for Rodger.  My dad pulled up, I told Rodger our clubs were already in my dad's car (another red flag), so we loaded in.  Soon after we were in the car, my dad got a "phone call" from Fred, one of his good friends.  He played it off very nicely and came up with a story of how he had to go pick up Fred from the airport, because he couldn't get a hold of his wife to give him a ride.  My dad apologized a number of times and said it will only take a minute, and that we should be okay with our tee time, Oakridge was wide open.  We continued on our way to the airport with normal conversation.  My dad made a small slip and said, after I drop you guys off, I'm going to go see my brother, Doug.  My neck started turning red, as it does when I'm nervous or embarrassed, and I carefully looked at Rodger, who was in the front seat.  I could tell her noticed what my dad said and his mind started racing.  He was getting uncomfortable in his seat.  If only he knew!
We pull up to the curb and my dad gets out, as do I, saying I was going to move the carseats into the trunk.  My dad grabs our suitcase out of the trunk and rolls it around to the passenger side of the car where Rodger was starting to get out, to allow Fred to sit in front.  He sees the suitcase, pauses for a minute, and myself with all smiles says, "Let's go!"
I was so excited and thrilled and couldn't believe the day had come and I finally got that huge secret off my chest.  He was so surprised, confused, anxious, any of the above.  He desperately wanted to know where we we going....I made him guess, until he saw the luggage tag on the suitcase.  ORLANDO, FLORIDA here we come!! 
Rodgie was a little panicked at first, due to work purposes, but I reassured him that his dad and Holly were aware and ready to cover him while he was gone, plus we were still in the U.S. where he could easily use his phone. 
We flew in late Tuesday night and got to our hotel, luckily it was right by a Denny's, so we grabbed dinner because we were starved! 

Careful me was so nervous to book this trip in the first place, the room I got didn't fly with Rodger.  It was just a simple La Quinta.  We stayed there the first night and when we woke up, Rodger was on the phone, working his magic, transferring us to a different hotel.  He said if he had to come home to this each day, while we were there, he would never want to.  We laughed about it and still do to this day.
Here we are, happy as ever, in our new room at Disney's Dolphin.
Downtown Disney was a treat, in and of itself.  We walked that most every night, enjoying the sights and people watching.  Of course, I had to get my picture taken with Winne the Pooh.  My all time favorite.

The first full day, Wednesday, we took a cab to some Outlets and did some shopping.  It was a relaxing day, just what we needed.

On Rodger's actual birthday day, we went to Universal Studios.  He wanted to celebrate with Harry Potter.
HP land was magical, just magical.  The details and atmosphere were very impressive.


This ride, in the Hogwarts Castle, made me sick!  My eyes were closed 93% of the time.  Rodger sure loved it though.
The "Butterbeer" was delicious.

My favorite part of the entire trip was definitely coming out of the "Hogwarts" ride.  It was POURING rain, I mean DOWNPOUR.  We waited it out for about 5 minutes in the clasrobopic castle and I finally turned to Rodger and said, "Let's go."  We walked hand in hand through the park just letting the rain devour us.  Everybody around us was either running, standing under shelter, or walking with an umbrella or ponchos.  It seriously was so much fun, not worrying about my hair, because let's be real, the humidity had killed it earlier, or my makeup, or the fact that we were completely drenched.  I had never done that before in my life, just let the rain take over, and now it is definitely in my top favorite things of all time.  As we were approaching the exit, towards "The Boardwalk" with all the restaurants, clubs, and shops, I turned to Rodger with a big smile on my face and said I am LOVING this.  He couldn't agree more.  
Rodger decided on Bubba Gumps for his birthday dinner.  We walked in, soaking wet, and ate a delicious meal.  

On Friday, we went to Blizzard Beach.  We both came here with our families years ago, back in our fresh teenage years.  We remember loving it so much, we wanted to go back.  We thought about doing Typhoon Lagoon instead, the other waterpark, but we decided whichever bus came first (the free transportation to all Disney theme parks), that would be our decision.  And it just so happened to be Blizzard Beach.

It was a blast!

The pictures below were from one evening where we went to Downtown Disney.  We saw a movie, Ted, which was extra hilarious because of the two gentleman sitting next to us with the contagious laughs, and then enjoyed walking around seeing the live entertainment.
The picture above makes me giggle.  This is where Rodger told me to take a picture of him, because he was looking "damn good."  I couldn't agree more baby bear bear.

The last full day, Saturday, we hung out at our hotel pool, which was great.
It was beautiful.
And the best part about it, the water slide, duh.
It was such a fun trip, I couldn't believe I pulled it off.
Happy 25, my baby bear.  I love you so much.