Disneyland and a Sprint Triathlon

Hey hey hey! So I know we have been total slackers with writing posts the last few months. We've been really busy... having fun! We went down to Disneyland with a bunch of family and then the following weekend we did a Sprint Triathlon with more family. Here are some pictures.

Our first treat at Disneyland... Beignets! They were so yummy (and messy too)!

Sweet little Tayla was glued to her Aunty Emily the whole time we were there. 

The three musketeers (Collin, Chase, and Ethan) getting ready for Toy Story Mania!

Enjoying our time on the merry-go-round.

This Disney worker just started dancing with his broom with the music in the background. It was pretty awesome and it just goes to show that you can have fun no matter what your job is!

Emily, Rachel, Jess, Collin, Chase, and Ethan got soaked on the Grizzly Bear Rapids ride.

Tower of Terror picture. We (my mom, Jess, Emily, and I) were in the front and liked our picture. It was Jess's first time on it and she loved it.

The three musketeers again... It's funny how Chase is always in the middle in all my pictures. 

Probably the best Splash Mountain picture I have ever been a part of. It's hard to explain the awesomeness of this picture... I'm regretting not buying it. The look on Rachel's face is priceless. Good memories!

Of course we had to go to the Lego store. I wish I would have got a picture of the Lego set each one got, but a picture with Gandalf the Grey will have to do.

Oh yeah! I did a whole sprint triathlon in my Hawaiian board shorts!

This was the last part of the race... the 5k run. As you can see, we were having fun!

Well, we went not thinking we would set any records, and we didn't. However, we (Courtney, Emily, me, and Aunt Tricia) can all say that we have completed a sprint triathlon (500 meter swim, 12 mile bike ride, 5k run). Wait, except for Emily...

About three miles into our bike portion, Emily got a flat and we forgot to bring stuff to fix it in such an occasion. Although it was frustrating and a little disappointing, she got a ride back in a truck and met up with us for the running portion. I'm sure we will be doing another one of these things soon.

Well, expect more fun pictures next week. We have the Bobs, Emily's dad and Anna coming to stay with us for about a week. Until then, enjoy your week! Much love!

The Happiest Place On Earth!

 So we just got back from an amazing week at Disneyland, Sea World, and Universal Studios with my (Emily's) side of the family. It was a blast, and we can't wait for Thanksgiving and Christmas when we will see our fam again. We miss them already! We will let the pictures do the talking this week.

Getting all ready for Grizzly Bear Rapids at California Adventures. Mom is so wise and brought us all ponchos...not that they really did any good, but at least we looked semi-cool.

My crazy hubby and Sarah Palin (aka Mom with glasses)

Michael is...nervous?

All the girls had floppy hats. Mine was a bit too floppy, so I was so clever and used a pen to keep it out of my face. It ended up looking like a sombrero though...kinda weird.

Michael stylin the floppy hat.

Apparently, I am most like Alice. This is a big change from the last five years of trying to be most like Belle. Usually, I end up with Lady (like from Lady and the Tramp...yeah, not even a human)

Mom and Anna on Dumbo

Me and Dad on Dumbo

Car crash! Michael and Sarah look incredibly calm for such a tragic wreck...but I adore Anna's face in this picture.

The San Diego temple. We tried to go, but they were closed for two weeks for renovations. Then we tried the Newport Beach temple...also closed. So we are headed to Portland this Saturday.

Sea World. This was such a magical place for me. I'm not sure James really loved it as much as I did, but I would love to go back and spend days there.

Getting ready for the Shamu show.

This picture is significant because last time I went to Sea World, I wasn't able to sit in the soak zone because I had a cast on my leg from running through a glass door. I was so thrilled to be in the soak zone this time...and oh boy, we got soaked!

Completely magical!

Dad's big surprise - a swim with the dolphins. Here he is in his wet suit getting ready to get in the freezing cold water. He was so cute - just like a little kid on Christmas. Anna was thrilled for him too.

Dad giving the dolphin a high-five.

Dad hugging the dolphin.

So we went to Universal Studios a day after we finished in Disneyland. I asked Jess to make her "How do you feel about Universal Studios" face and this is what we came up with. Lame. Totally lame. Not a magical place.

How many monkeys does it take to buy Jess a soda?

This and the Jurassic Park ride were the only things worth doing at Universal Studios. This ride was only fun because Michael got to watch contraband episodes of the Simpsons through the whole line. We were never allowed to watch that show as kids.

No, Michael is not sweating profusely. He and Jess and I went on the Jurassic Park ride three times in a row and got completely soaked. Think of Splash Mountain on steroids...with hilarious tourists that can't understand enough English to know there is an 80-foot drop and tidal wave coming just around the corner. Hilarious.

Jess and her Brother Husband...yeah, I didn't get a picture with MY hubby in front of the castle. I guess they figured this was enough :)

The Lego store. 

James's birthday gift from both me and his mom was a new Lego set. He declined twice, saying it was a waste of money and that he didn't need it.

But that all changed, and this is him right now as I write this post. Gotta love him!

We start right back into work and school tomorrow. Hope everyone has a great week. Love to all our family and friends!

To the Most Magical Place on Earth!

What's more magical than Disneyland? Well, maybe Disneyland on your birthday! I'll come back to that thought in a second...

So Emily successfully finished her first term of graduate school. I'm so proud of her and very glad. Although it was a short term, it was very mentally demanding on top of a new area, new people, and finding jobs. Life in Eugene is starting to really feel like we've been there for a while, which is nice; we've made some friends and everything! To celebrate the end of a term and the successful transition to Oregon, we are going to Disneyland!

We left right after Emily got out of class and I finished work and spent a few days in the Bay Area with my family. By tonight, we'll be in southern California getting ready for a week full of magic! 

While visiting my parents, my mom had bought some monster Lego sets for Halloween. Between Bo (brother-in-law), Chase (nephew), and I, we made them all. 

Pictures don't really do the sets justice... They are pretty cool and have some sweet things they do.

We've been really bad at taking pictures this week, but I'm sure we'll have plenty of pictures next week. Sorry for the short post, but not a whole lot has been going on. We love you all lots and hope that you will enjoy the next week as much as we will!

Trying New Things.

Branch Conference


Every Friday night we set time aside to have date night (and we do pretty well at keeping it). We switch off every week planning some kind of activity for the evening. In the past they have been usual things like watching a movie or going out to eat, and other times it has been pretty unusual (at least for us) like having a candle-lit dinner or going out for a walk and eating yummy Japanese treats. Well, this week it was Emily's turn to plan. She found this place where we could paint some candles that are famous here in the town we live in. However, when I went Friday right after work, I found out that we needed to have reservations and that we needed to make them a week or so in advance. Bummer! I thought to myself, "here is Emily trying to get us to try something new, and it didn't work out... I wonder what we'll do instead." I emailed Emily the news about needing reservations for the place. She wasn't worried but instead was excited to try something else, french onion soup. That may not seem that cool, but we love trying to make new foods (mostly Emily does... I just help out by cutting up the vegetables or stirring things so they don't burn). So for date night this week, we went shopping and made steak, some veggies, and french onion soup. Although the soup took some time, it was amazing! Lighting some candles for the table made it a fun and enjoyable dinner.

When toasting the bread and cheese on the top of the soup, we decided to through it in our toaster oven praying that the bowls wouldn't explode. We were lucky and everything turned out great!

Aizu Wakamatsu hosted a Fukushima festival on Saturday. There were tons of people watching making it almost impossible to walk down the main street with the parade.

Although we didn't see all of the groups, there were several traditional Japanese dancing groups and a group from Tokyo Disneyland. We were sad that we missed the Disney group. :(

Earlier today we had branch conference at Church. They asked me a few days ago if I would speak. Luckily it was only a 3-5 minute assignment and they gave me the choice to speak on whatever I wanted to. I ironically talked about the importance of preparation because Emily and I had read some messages earlier in the week about that. It went well and it was nice to see so many people at Church.


We hope that everyone is doing well! お元気で (good health be to you all) and good luck with the upcoming week. Much love!