Talks

Today me and my wonderful husband gave talks in sacrament. I love speaking and have dreamed about the day we would speak together as a couple. I spoke first and gave a fabulous introduction on how we met and who we are and such. Its funny but i really have wanted to do that for forever. I always loved listening to people introduce themselves and how they met. We both spoke on covenants. Travis is an incredible speaker. He related covenants in our lives to quarters of a football game. It was really fun and made a lot of sense. He did it in honor of Football season starting. (just my luck) so you know what our days will consist of for the next 4 months. But we did a good job speaking and enjoyed it (even though travis will deny that) and i completed Goal #8. hooray.
obviously there is no photo because you don't take pictures in sacrament but i did find a fabulous talk which i will add the link too. Witness for God and Celebrating Covenants

New Bike finally

When we got back from Virginia our bike was gone. Before we left i asked the managers if we needed to have a bike permit and they said it just needed to be locked up. So i locked it up but while we were gone there was a small misunderstanding and bikes needed to be claimed. So since we didn't claim it it got donated. I like to think some little kid is riding my old bike and enjoying it as much as I did. My parents bought me that bike. I remember riding it everywhere with my siblings and best friends. Anyways long story short the Apartment owners bought me a new bike!! so here she is in all her glory!! Hot pink and flashy i know. ha now i just have to remember how to ride again!!

Up Date on the Mattoons

Dear Chris and Jim,
Thank you for inviting us to come to Pullman/Lewiston to meet the fam. I say it was about time. And i have to give credit to Travis he did a good job introducing me and showing me around his childhood town. It was quite the adventure hanging out with grandma Charleen and one i won't forget. Thanks for letting us borrow the car so Travis could watch the Cougs practice and for buying our merchandise. Now i can sport my "team spirt" with trav on game days. We had such a great time. We love you and miss you guys already!!
Love your suck up daughter in-law
Courtney




Dear Travis,
Thank you for the BEAUTIFUL necklace. It was such a surprise. I guess i over-estimated your inability to be creative and/or romantic.
your favorite wife,
courtney

Dear E-bay man,
Thank you for sending me the Sims 2 games i won. Now i can be completely unproductive until school begins. I am enjoying playing pets, business and having all the neat upgrades.
your friend in the bidding business,
specialkay*123

Dear bookstore,
Why are textbooks so dang expensive? it looks like your going to get a good 300 bucks from the Mattoon's this semester.
Sincerely,
The Mattoons

Regretting having children....

I tried this thing called Morphthing.com I tried to make it look better but they kept looking like this so... hopefully they won't have chubby cheeks like me.

Our visit to Yellowstone National Park

Well it was a bitter sweet trip. We were so excited to go and camp. We were going to get to see some people from travis' mission. Well when we drove the hour and a half up there i started feeling extremely sick. Within 5 minutes of parking i threw up. There were a million and ten misquotes out so the men hurried to put the tents up and we hurried back into the car. But then our friends couldn't see us so we went out to dinner just the four of us. I got a sprite to calm my stomach. Little help that did because i threw it up too. and i said "there goes 2 dollars" So we ended up just going straight to bed because of all the bugs. But we weren't prepared and the night was hard. We were freezing and we didn't have pillows. So it was pretty much a sleepless night. Followed by more barfing. 

So in the morning we got up to go see yellowstone. i still felt like crap but we went anyways. We ended up seeing geysers and old faithful. We saw this cool hot water pool where the tour guide said mice will go to the edge to warm up but get to close and fall in and burn and die. it was crazy hot and smelled like egg salad sandwiches.

Here is old faithful we waited an hour to see it go off so luckily it was worth it. I am not very patient when i don't feel good so i was really annoyed but it did its shooting thing and i was impressed.


 Lucky for Travis i wasn't feeling that good so he didn't have to be in a million pictures. But there will always be a next time. 

On the way home i was feeling a lot better and we ate at this really good pizza place and went into this really cool rock store that next time i am going to get some cool rocks!! (if you know this side of me you can only imagine how excited i was in that store. Like a kid in a candy store.) and then we came home to sleep in our comfy beds. It was a short but fun weekend. Lets just hope next time we go i am not so sick.

The Olympics

So as a swimmer i am drawn to the Olympic swimmers. It just blows me away how absolutely fast they are. We watched the prelims and drove through Nebraska where they were taking place. Whether it is Michael Phelps or Dara Torres i am constantly impressed. But wow Dara Torres is insane. If you don't know who i am talking about i put a picture. But here are some fast facts that will prove how amazing she is. She is 41 years old making her the oldest woman to ever qualify for the olympics, she's broken swimming records in the Olympic Trials & is competing in Beijing in one month!! She has already competed in 5 Olympics & won 9 medals!! She was once Bulimic and overcome it. She's also overcome numerous surgeries and has a Daughter. Crazy. What a wonder woman. I hope i look this good when i am 40!! ha ha 

Sweet 1 dollar steal!

Yesterday we went to the Dollar Tree in town and scored some sweet 1 dollar glasses (ones some gas stations couldn't sell) I was so excited. We each got 2 pairs. We figured if they broke we wouldn't be out much!! I also got some near sighted glasses so I don't ruin my eyesight while I cross-stitch. They are very grandma. ha ha. oh the pleasures of being a poor married couple.

A Shout out to my Girlies!!! idea from Britt

I don't give near enough credit to my amazing friends so i thought I'd give them the recognition they deserve!!

They aren't in any order and if there aren't pictures its just cuz i don't have them on this computer.

First... My freaking Best Friend Opal

We have been fbfs for going on 6 years pretty much since we met. Opal is the only person that can be completely brutally honest with me and i will still love her to death. We have plenty of adventures and memories and i am lucky to have such a righteous best friend!!

Britt is actually a cousin by chance but a friend by Choice. She is BRILLIANT and so freaking nice. I look up to her in so many ways. She will laugh with me when no one else thinks i was funny which i appreciate. and of course she has a good weirdy radar so she can warn me!! ha ha

Ashley is my co-worker but defiantly my best school friend. We understand each other is so many ways. Its so fun to have these deep conversations that we agree with one another completely. Plus she uses my advice which makes me feel important!

Nicole is my closest Married friend!! ha ha we get out of frustrations... well my frustrations ha ha and funny stories you have to be married to laugh at. oh and she always looks absolutely Amazing.

Jenna and i clicked instantly. We only hung out for about 3 weeks until we were transfered but we have kept close since. Which is good because our husbands are good friends too which if anyone knows isn't the easiest to find.

Cham is my newest friend and got me through the long summer months of selling security. She is such a good mom and tells the funnest stories. And she always is full of compliments making me feel so loved.

Sam and i have been friends since high school and its always nice to have a friend like her to look up too. I laugh because she does everything before me (marriage, baby birth... etc) and still does it amazing. there is always so much to learn from her.

Heather and i are as close as sisters. I love her so much. We have so much fun no matter what we do. i can not wait for her to move to Rexburg. Her older brother Aaron is one of my best friends as well and he is on a mission in England. All three of us were inseparable in high school. 

Orchid is my "dark Friend" we joke a lot. she is so sweet to everyone but herself... were working on that though ha ha. she makes everyone feel so good about themselves even complete strangers. she's great.

Mindy keeps me sane when our husbands are on there newest idea. I am so luck to have a friend that can chat with me through the endless sports games. And her excitement on all the little things cheers me up no matter what mood i am in.

ok i think that is enough for now!! i love you girls and i am so lucky to have you!! 

Trip TO Washington to see the FAM!!

We were back for less than a week in Rexburg when we got a great deal on Plane Tickets so we took the trip To good Old Washington. We drove to boise and then flew to seattle. We spent 6 days in Lake Stevens. Its so nice because our Families live like 3 miles apart so there is plenty of time to see and spend time with both. We got to go shopping and eat like kings (salmon, lobster, steak YUM!!) we sure do love Our Parents and Siblings and were so so glad to see them!! It was so fun.

We Had a team Bowling event with some family friends. They were red and we were blue!! We got shirts that match. It was so fun even though i am so bad at bowling i didn't even get over 100!!!

Here is the whole fam!! matching and by height. Notice that Chase is the only one that hasn't passed me up yet. Christian is taller than my Mom!! It is crazy to see them grow up!!
The "Kids" 

We went out on Travis' Parent's boat. It was super fun sunny day on the Lake. I love boating and It was so fun to spend time with Travis' parents and brother's family.

You can't really see it but I am terrified and Trav is thrilled!! Every year I try tubing again but still I hate it. I just don't like bouncing around until you flip out. It was fun to watch Travis and his Brother get thrown around. 

This is my niece Karissa and nephew Alex hanging out on the boat. They went way faster then me on the tube!! they are some brave kids!!

We went out to eat with my Aunt and visited my cousin. He just got a kitten and named her princess. He is getting so big!!

I got my hair Done too. It darker although you can't really tell in this picture. I am working it back to my natural color since my cousin moved I don't have anyone to do it. So my other cousin in Washington did it for me. What will I do without Anna??

Last we saw Mount Rainer from the plane and it was GORGEOUS. I just love the Pacific Northwest. It is so green and beautiful and so nice. I wouldn't mind living there forever.

It was a great trip!! I can't even wait for Christmas!!

Floating the River

July 5th we floated down a river in Ashton with our friends Tom and Mindy. It was a fun lazy time in the sun but the water was so cold. But best of all we took a few Pictures!!! i was so happy so i thought i'd share them!!

Random but kinda true

So my cousin thinks travis looks like Jack from Lost and my sister and Mom thinks he looks like Nigel Barker well-known fashion photographer from America's Next Top Model. I am starting to see the resemblance and it makes me feel lucky. Ha Ha good times

The Adventure is Over

Well its been a while since my last post... record length for me. But i had a good reason. I surprised Opal for her birthday for coming back to rexburg. Her face was priceless and i was so happy to see her again. 

So the last 2 weeks in Virginia were tough. Travis started hating knocking and wasn't selling so we came home before we lost anymore money. We really had a great adventure though and have no regrets. We may do it again sometime too.

I loved my job i worked at. It was a summer camp inside a Jewish Community. I worked with an adorable 4 year old named Rose. She was so fun and made me so excited to have a job working with children like her.

So we made the trip back to the Burg and couldn't be happier. We got to stop in Indianapolis to see our friend Jenna and Andrew. It was super fun. We went out to breakfast and lunch and ate at this place on the water for dinner and watched the sunset. It was a great day. (MnM or OREO!!!!)

But we do have sad news. We had to get rid of Neiko. I called over 50 places in Rexburg and No one would let us keep him with out a ridiculous deposit. (were talking 6000 dollars) So we made a craigslist post and gave him to these really nice people a new couple like us looking for a new addition to their family. It was so sad. I bawled and bawled.

SO now were home and enjoying our hallway home!! Were going to Washington on Thursday to see our families. I can't wait. Its been 6 months.

So that is the lengthy update on us. Hope you enjoyed it!!!

Happy Father's Day

My adorable Husband who is so bad "A", Thanks for being the best husband I could ask for!!

THANKS DAD FOR BEING SO GREAT!!! I LOVE YOU!!! You raised me up so well!!

My father-in-law  Jim has done a lot for us!! Thanks for Everything!!

An eventful Weekend

So finally after much begging for travis to take a picture with me on the beach he let me. Well with him and his sandwhich but hey who's complaining. SO much over due here is us on Virginia Beach. I am wearing my new J.crew Swim Suit and as you can tell my hair does very well in the humidity. not really it is quite the frizzy mess now a days.

We had a little accident at the beach as well. Travis and I have been trying to learn to skim board. We saw these little kids surfing with theirs when the waves were about to break on the sand so trav gave it a try. The board collided with the wave and banged into his face. He wouldn't let me take him to the doctor so lets hope its not broken. It was bleeding like crazy and i put an end to all skim boarding activities. we sold it to our boss. 

But of course giving something away must make room for something new so we bought a Dart Board. A real one with steel darts. Trav is some kind of champion but i am slowly learning. I got a double and triple 19 in one hand. thats pretty good for sheer luck of the throw. Now if only we could get nieko to stop thinking we are playing fetch with him... oh and it is on the couch right now until we get better... well until i get better so i don't hit the wall. :o) travis is such a thinker!!

Our little baby was sick all night and made his first mess on the carpet. I had to take him out 3 times. He is just resting and i am hoping it goes away and he is feeling better soon. 

And finally we drew all over each other's feet before going to the beach. Travis loves me and according to this picture i love him so much that i am letting him get a tattoo and a motorcycle. But for the record BOTH are not happening.