The Sauser's

Christmas 2011

2012-01-28T14:49:00.000-08:00

Last post about 2011!! Yay!

We spent Christmas in Florida this year with my family and all of Dallins. We hadn't had a time all together like that in a long time, and never with all the cousins. I wish we could do it so much more often!!

We spent some down time at the park one day and had a blast watching the kids run around in the perfect weather.

Almost every night Olivia fell asleep out of pure exhaustion.

Christmas was a lot of fun! We spent the morning with my family and then headed over to the Sauser's. Olivia still didn't quite understand the idea of opening presents, but she sure did like playing with them. She was spoiled rotten (and not by her dad or me).

By the time the presents were open and church was over Olivia was over the day and just needed a nap.

We were all very tired.

We also spent a few days at sea world (Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Sauser).

We had a great time! We are already saving our pennies so we can head back again soon.

Thanksgiving

2012-01-13T12:23:00.000-08:00

I'm still trying to catch up.

For Thanksgiving we loaded up the car and drove the 12 hours to Utah. We first stopped in Tooele to surprise my little brother who has been living with the best family ever, the McNeill's. Then we headed to Eagle mountain to spend time with Dallin's sister and her family. We had a blast! Olivia sure loves being with her cousin Max (Maa). I wish we lived closer together so that they could be best friends. I didn't take many pictures with my camera, but I got a few of the cute cousins together on my phone.

We were lucky to catch up with some of our favorite people in the whole world the Bodily's. It was so fun to catch up with them.

We also were able to head to Temple Square in Salt Lake City to see all the beautiful lights that they put of every year. We had to bundle up because it sure was cold!

Thanks everyone for making our Thanksgiving great!

Halloween

2012-01-09T13:27:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know its already after the new year, but...ok I don't really have an excuse. Better late then never, right? And yes I still have a Thanksgiving and Christmas post coming soon to a blog near you.

For Halloween Olivia and I were visiting family back in Orlando. We had a great time. Olivia enjoyed all the attention and I enjoyed the much long talks with my parents. Olivia was Dorothy this year right down to the red sparkly shoes. I made her costume this year. It turned out a little big, which just means I might use it again next year. Here are some pictures.

Tender Mercies

2011-10-13T14:33:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been trying to focus on all the great things that I have in my life. I try to turn the T.V. off, stop cleaning, and get off the computer, and spend more time on the floor with my daughter, snuggling with my husband and studying the many sources of the gospel.

I recently came across a talk given by Elder David A. Bednar "The Tender Mercies of the Lord". This is an amazing talk. I wanted to included my "favorite" part of the talk, but I honestly couldn't pick one part. In this talk Elder Bednar tells us what a "tender mercy" is and that everyone has an opportunity to receive them. He also explains that not everyone will recognize it as a tender mercy, but if we are faithful we will be able to recognize them for what they are worth and they will be able to touch our lives.

While Olivia has been napping I have been reflecting on the my tender mercies...A phone call from a loving parent to tell me that I am loved just when I need to hear those words, a priesthood blessing and hug from a worthy husband, a kiss and a smile from a beautiful daughter, or a kind word from a friend. I feel so very blessed to know that my Heavenly Father is aware of me and that He has a hand in my life.

On a lighter note, here are some pictures of one of my favorite tender mercies...

I have no idea why she is naked in most of these

She is the most "tender" when she is sleeping

Future Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader

Blessings Amid Despair

2011-10-05T15:22:00.000-07:00

Many of you may not know that about a month ago Dallin and I found out that we were pregnant. We were very excited. However, about a week ago we found out that we had miscarried. Dallin and I have felt great despair as well as feeling very blessed. Physically and emotionally this experience has been very very difficult for me. I am happy to say that at this point I feel very at peace with the whole situation.

Looking back I now see some signs that it wasn't a viable pregnancy. For one I felt great. For those of you who knew me during my first pregnancy knows how sick I got. This time that never happened. I chalked it up to maybe it possibly being a boy, and decided just to be grateful for an easier pregnancy.

Dallin and I have prayed and thought a lot over the last week or so and have felt great comfort. We both know that we have a loving Heavenly Father who is aware of our sorrow and our sacrifice. We both feel that this was just part of the plan and that we will be blessed soon with other children.

This last weekend we were able to listen to modern day Prophets of the Lord. As I sat in our living room with our small family all I could think about was how blessed we really are. We have a beautiful baby girl who has brought so much happiness into our lives. Dallin has a job that allows us to pay our bills and put food on the table, all while I am able to stay home and raise our daughter. We both have loving families that have felt our sadness and comforted us during this time. We also have had friends who helped and supported us in all the ways that they could.

However, what I felt most of all was the arms of my Heavenly Father wrapped around me. I know that I am a daughter of God and I know that He is very aware of me and my life.

Dallin and I are both doing great and hope to have more children soon. Until then we are more than happy to enjoy the lives that we have.

On a happier note, here is a cute picture.

What does a sheep say? - Aaa

2011-09-04T21:20:00.000-07:00

Olivia loves animals so last weekend we decided to take a trip to the Oakland zoo. We had such a fun time that we decided to get a year pass.

They had a petting zoo area where we were able to pet some goats and kitty cats. When you ask O what a goat, donkey or sheep says her answer is "Aaaa". She also will say "booofff" for dogs and cows. (we are working on it)

She couldn't decide if she was beyond happy or scared to death, but in the end she didn't want to leave, because she couldn't get enough them.

I think all of our favorites by far were the spider monkeys. They were definitely in the mood to entertain and were putting on a great show.

We rode the sky ride and were able to get a birds eye view of some of the park.

By the end we were all happy and tired. Some more so than others.

I think we will be heading back tomorrow!

Grandpa Visit

2011-08-30T16:29:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago my Dad had to come out to California for business. Since his appointment was only 30 minutes away from us he decided to stay and make a weekend visit of it. We were so happy to have him here and had a blast.

Olivia's new favorite word is now Bam-pa (grandpa). If she sees a picture of him or if the phone rings she will say his name over and over. She now associates the computer, because of skype, with Grandma and Grandpa and every time we open the laptop she thinks it should be time to skype and see them.

While Grandpa was here we decided to do some sight-seeing.

On Friday night we headed to the Oakland Temple. Just like most LDS temple the grounds are beautiful and the Oakland temple is no exception. It has beautiful fountains, a stream and amazing flowers. You are also able to walk on the roof at this temple and see the gorgeous view. We walked around and then wandered into the visitors center. There we were able to see the Christus (large statue of Christ) and a touching presentation about families.

On Saturday we started with the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Dallins company built the building and does projects on it every now and then so we were able to get some free tickets.

Later that day we headed to Pebble Beach to see the golf course and the beautiful drive. We were able to walk down the the 18th hole and Olivia had a blast just running as fast as she could.

We then headed to San Francisco City and did some shopping, some sight seeing, and some eating.

The next day we headed to church and then sent Grandpa on his way. We had an amazing time and can't wait to see all the grandparents in October.

Trip across the country

2011-08-02T13:52:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, July 7th, we loaded everything we owned into the moving truck. Thanks to all that helped, we would have been in a lot of trouble if we hadn't had your help. Special thanks to my dad who loaded the truck like a pro! There wasn't an inch of free space. The door to the truck was closed as the rain started coming down. We sent Olivia home with my parents while we did some last minute errands and then head to my parents to spend the night. That is when the trouble began.

We didn't get back to my parents until pretty late that night and planned to leave early the next morning. We decided, even though it was dark and raining, that we needed to get the car loaded on the the tow dolly that night so we could leave the next morning without the worry of loading it up. However, when I went to pull the rope over the front tire I felt the radial of the tire. There wasn't much we could do about it right then so we choose to worry about it when we got to California.

We woke early the next morning and headed out. After a word of prayer and a goodbye to family we were on the road.

The first day was long but went great. Olivia did wonderful and almost never complained. Our plan was to drive that whole day stay in a hotel and then drive a little longer to spend some time with my grandparents in TX. We were ready to leave the hotel when Dallin went out to check the truck and the car to find what he thought were two flat front tires on the focus. Since it was a short day and we didn't want to risk it we took the car in first thing that morning to get the tires changed. It was a time and money set back that didn't make us very happy (however, it turned out to be multiple blessings in disguise). In the end we had to replace 3 of the four tires. Once that was done we were on the way again. We spent time with my grandparents, whom Olivia had never met, and were back on the road the next day to continue our journey.

Olivia spent most the the car ride hanging on to her dad's arm. We tired moms since dad drove most of the time and needed his arm free, but moms arm was not good enough and was thrown to the side right away.

The next day was long, but uneventful. Our last day on the road was the longest, most stressful. After getting gas and getting on the road we discovered that the gas gage on the truck was acting a bit funny. We had just filled up and after being on the road for a short time the gage would drop all the way down. Dallin pulled over turned the truck off, turned it back on and the gage jumped back up and was fine until we stopped for gas again. The next time we filled up we were not so lucky. The same thing happened and we decided to watch our miles. We started to get a little low on gas and decided to stop at the next exit. That, however, didn't happen when we ran out of gas in the middle of the California dessert about 5-10 miles before the next exit. We pulled over and made the decision to unload the focus (now with new tires that would make it to the next exit) and Dallin would go get some gas. Olivia and I waited in the heat with the truck. Dallin pulled up to the next gas station to find that it was shut down and he would have to drive roughly another 20 miles to the next gas station. In the end we were safe and watch over, but it was scary and not fun to be dealing with this situation.

We finally pulled into our hotel that we would be staying in until found a place to live around 11pm (18 hours of driving). We felt blessed to have made it there safe and sound.

Farewell

2011-08-02T13:00:00.000-07:00

During all the vacations and parties we found out that we would be moving across the country to Fremont, CA. We had about two weeks from the day we found out to get everything packed and leave. Before that though we were trying to spend time with my little brother Austin. He would be leaving for two years to serve the people of the Philippines two days before we were going to leave Florida.

Here we are at the airport saying goodbye at 5 in the morning.

My mom and I have started a blog here that will follow him along the way.

He is currently in the Missionary Training Center (MTC) where he is learning the language and how to best teach and serve those he will be coming in contact with. We love him and are so proud of him.

1 Year Old

2011-07-28T13:03:00.000-07:00

While Dallin's family was still in town and we had some family friends visiting, we decided to celebrate Olivia's birthday. We had a BBQ, went swimming, opened presents, and ate cake. I had a hard time editing the amount of pictures to put on here so beware...

Before the party even began, Olivia and her cute cousin Max found their own little party. They spent 20 minutes playing in this puddle. I guess they didn't know we were just about to go swimming.

I have no idea what they were all looking at, but it must have been interesting.

Olivia sure loved having her cousin Max around. Every once and a while she would go up to him and just lay her head on him (her way of giving hugs).

Here is Mr. Max, he thought this was the funniest thing.

Here is Olivia and her uncle Austin. He is now in the MTC in Provo, UT, preparing to serve the people in the Philippines.

Abi and Teresa were visiting for Austin's farewell. We were so glad they were here to celebrate with us.

It was then time for presents and cake.

Olivia wasn't a huge fan of the cake. Max tried to show her how it was done.

Thank you everyone who celebrated with us and bought gifts for Olivia. She is one lucky little girl to have you all in her life.

We're back, but not back in Florida

2011-07-27T09:10:00.000-07:00

So the last two months have been some of the busiest, most stressful, most emotinal, exciting couple of months of my life. I'll start at the beginning.

At the beginning of June my family did a small family vacation. We all wanted to get in one last vacation as a family before we all went our seperate ways. We drove up to north Florida. First we went para sailing (which I don't have any pictures of since they somehow disappeard from my camera). The next day we all did a ropes course.We then headed home and went rock climbing.Inbetween we went swimming, out to dinner, played games, and mainly just had a blast!

As soon as we got back, our second "vacation" started when Dallin's family came into town. We had a great time hanging out, going to dinner, the beach and the water park.

Olivia and her cute cousin Max. We had the most fun just watching them run around and play with each other.

More to come

May Happenings

2011-05-31T08:10:00.000-07:00

Here are a few scattered pictures and happenings of May.

Uncle Brady usually keeps a beard on his face. However, that tends to scare Olivia everytime she sees him. This day however, Brady being the tender hearted uncle that he is, had had enough and decided the beard wasn't worth it so he shaved it off. After that Olivia had no problem being held by him. Here they are as happy as can be.

For mothers day we spent time with each family and had a wonderful time. Here is a picture of Olivia after going swimming at Grandma and Grandpa Claibornes.

Uncle Garrett has started spring training for next years football. He is the place kicker and also plays wide out at times. We took some pictures from that night. I wansn't able to get any good pictures of Garrett out on the field, but here is a picture of him, #80, on the sidelines.

Olivia is getting so big and has been doing so many big girl things. Here she is on the swing.

Olivia turned 11 months old yesterday and here are a few other milestones that she has acheived
Walks (and sometimes runs) all over the place
Waves and blows kisses (sometimes her hand connects with the top of her head, but we get the jist) when someone tells her bye bye
She now has 5 teeth. Three of which just showed up this weekend
Her uncles swear that she has said "doggy", Mommy thinks she says "all done" and "Jesus", and of course Daddy still believes that her first word is "daddy". She probably hasn't said any of those words, but so far that is what we think we hear
She loves to watch other little kids. We have learned to sit in front of families with little kids at church so that she will stay quiet and sit still while she stays entranced by other little ones
She knows how to be "so soft". When someone tells her to be so soft she will pet whatever she was touching, i.e. your face, the dog, the book that she was pounding on
She still sleeps wonderfully taking two great naps during the day and sleeping through the night. She goes to sleep with no issues each time
She will eat just about anything you give her except formula. Since the age of 2 months she refused to drink anything out of a bottle. She finally started to drink "apple juice" (water with a smidge of juice). Around 8 months she refused to nurse. After trying just about anything she finally would take a bottle with whole milk and only if I put some strawberry or chocolate syrup in it
At dinner time she is like a little valture and assumes that everytime we eat she should be fed whatever is on our plate and if we don't feed her quick enough she will sure let you know
She loves to walk around with the crochet blanket that I made her over her head
One of her favorite things to do is climb the stairs
She loves bath time
She loves women, but takes her time to warm up to many men, except dad and both grandpas
She loves to talk on the phone
She has started to growl and thinks it is the funniest thing

Baby its HOT outside

2011-05-03T06:31:00.000-07:00

Lets face it! We live in Florida and the average between April and October is above 80 (usually above 90) with 100% humidity. I loved this growing up. There was almost never a day that I couldn't go to the beach or play outside. Now that I have been VERY pregnant during those months I can't remember why I ever liked it. However, Olivia is really enjoying it because I take her swimming. She loves my parents pool, because with grandkids in mind, they had a small ledge put in for little ones to sit in the water safely and play. Here are some pictures.

Oh, and did I mention that she is WALKING! She has been taking a few steps here and there for a few weeks, but the day before she turned 10 months she just started to take off! I can't believe I have a child who walks. I am loving the last few months and the stage she is in, but I wouldn't have complained if she waited a little longer to actually walk. Oh well!

Happy Easter

2011-04-27T07:54:00.000-07:00

“Did Jesus Really Live Again?” (Children’s Songbook, 64):

Did Jesus really live again?
Yes, when the third day came,
He wakened and he left the tomb;
He called Mary’s name.

Did Jesus come to those he loved?
Yes, people touched his feet,
And of the fish and honeycomb
He did truly eat.

And there were nail-prints in his hands
And a spear wound in his side.
Did Jesus really live again
After he had died?
Oh yes! And so shall I!

We had a wonderful Easter. It was our Stake Conference. Bishop Edgley was here and asked that everyone in the stake, including the youth, prepare a talk and to expect to be called on to speak. I was against the idea at first, but the scripture "if ye are prepared ye shall not fear" kept coming to my mind and decided it would be best to prepare something. I didn't get called upon to speak, but those who did really did a great job and the Spirit was felt very strongly by those who were prepared.

Olivia did a small hunt on Friday with some friends.

I made her basket. I love how it turned out, however, its a little small, but it will do.

Olivia had a blast tearing into her basket. I made the springy skirt that she is wearing. We had a bit of a swimming theme since the weather has been so hot and we need to get wet. She got a new swim suit, bubbles, a blow up pool, and some bath letters/numbers.

We hope you all had a great Easter Holiday and took time to reflect on our Savior and His sacrifice for everyone of us.

Strawberries

2011-04-16T19:53:00.000-07:00

My mom, Olivia and I went strawberry picking yesterday and we are so glad we did. We had a great time, mostly because we were able to just chat about anything and everything. We got a load of wonderfully sweet red strawberries. My mom has already made homemade jam and chocolate covered strawberries. I will be making jam tomorrow and Dallin can't wait to make some smoothies. Olivia was great and just played the whole time.

What We've Been Up To

2011-04-14T07:24:00.000-07:00

We have been very busy lately. Living so close to both families means that we never have down time. Here are a few pictures of our happenings. Olivia started to crawl when she was 6 1/2 months old and hasn't slowed down since. She has officially started to stand up all the time on her own. She took a few steps for the first time two days ago and yesterday. We are excited, but I really wouldn't mind if it took her 6 more months before she started to walk. I know it looks like she is falling in this picture but she was standing straight up. Also if you notice there is nothing around her which means she stood up on her own. She gets really excited every time and starts to laugh and clap her hands. She really is too cute!

My parents gave us this beautiful armoire that we decided to paint to match our bed and put it in our bedroom. We also bought all the wood for the nightstands that we will be building for our bedroom. I am so excited to finally have furniture in our room. We feel like such grownups. And of course a picture of Olivia.

While my brothers were out of school for spring break my parents took a day off of work and decided to get the boat out for the first time this year. The weather was beautiful and we had a blast!! My brothers had a blast out on the wake board!

Early To Bed

2011-03-21T16:29:00.000-07:00

When Dallin and I were married we had a tiny two door focus to move all of our belongings out to lil' ole Rexburg, Idaho. We were young and in love and didn't have a worry in the world. Of course this led to having a two camping chairs in the living room and an inflatable mattress in the bedroom. That lasted for a few months when we finally broke down and bought a mattress. Since then we have bought a few other furniture items and inherited a few others. One thing that we never bought was a bed or a bed frame. For the first couple of years we kept our bed on cinder blocks so that we could have more storage space underneath.

About two months ago I was searching the Internet and found this website. I fell in love with this bed. I showed it to Dallin and he thought it was something we could do. So that weekend we set out to work on it. We finally finished it the week we moved in. I am proud to say that not only did I help, but there wasn't anything that I didn't do.I used the chop saw and the table saw as well as all the other little tools. I am pretty proud of our finished project. Next up, these. We have the materials and we have cut them down. Hopefully we will find time this weekend or next to get them done. We are also refinishing a beautiful armoire my parents gave to us.

Oh Brother!

2011-03-17T05:56:00.001-07:00

I am so proud of all of my little brothers (I purposely call them "little brother" when talking to them even though they are almost all bigger than me)!! So don't mind me while I take a moment to brag...

Brady recently took the ASVAB test (military entrance exam) and scored a 97%! I think anything around 50% is above average. This score will mean that he should be able to have his pick. I am so proud of him. He is also so amazing with Olivia. He is probably the most gentle and sweet with her. He was the most nervous to hold her when she was born but he is really great with her. He talks to her in such a sweet calm voice (which is hard for any Claiborne) and really loves her!

Austin, who is in school right now at BYU, recently got his mission call. All worthy young men are asked to serve a two year mission when they turn 19 for our church to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with others. Getting the call of where you are going is pretty exciting. For those of you who are not familiar with what this is go here to learn more. Austin invited a few people over to be there when he opened his call and it was a very spiritual experience for all who were in attendance. Austin will be serving the people in the Philippines Manila mission for two years. He leaves July 6th, 2011. He is also great with Olivia. He was the first person who could get her to smile whenever he wanted her to. He misses her while he is away and has told me multiple times to not let her grow while he is gone. I try Austin, I really do!

Garrett is doing great as well. He is playing Volleyball on the Varsity team at his high school. He is such a goofball and can always make me laugh. Again, he is also great with Olivia, however not as sweet and gentle as Brady is. He is more of the "Baby stop crying! Baby knock it off!" (in a stern yet loving voice while rocking her into oblivion). Thinking that she will understand him and perk right up.

Tanner is doing Drama which he is great at as well as la crosse. He is in the prime of his teenage years and can be such a stinker! He also does great with Olivia and loves to hold her when we go out, however, we all think it is just for the attention that he gets from the "ladies". He is the cute little piggy on the left.

Thanks for giving me the time to brag about my handsome, smart, talented, dorky brothers!

New Home

2011-03-14T12:17:00.000-07:00

Currently, I am sitting at my home, with a beautiful little girl crawling around, bread in the bread maker, laundry is going and I couldn't be happier!!

Two weeks ago our little family finally moved into a home of our own. For the last 1 1/2 years we were living with Dallin's parents. We were so blessed that they were willing to open their home and hearts! We were able to save money and pay off some debt as well as spend a lot of time with our families. We couldn't be more thankful for all that they did! However, as life is, we needed some space of our own to grow our little family.

We were looking for a home to buy, but after a few disappointments and a lot of prayer, we decided that renting would be the best option for us right now. We found a steal of a deal on a beautiful 2 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath townhome in the heart of wonderful Metro West (Orlando). We are 20 minutes from our parents, 5 minutes from the temple and still 30 minutes from Dallin's office (and of course withing 20-30 min of all the theme parks).

We really couldn't be happier with our family and the home that we are making together. In this rough economy we are very grateful that Dallin has a job that is able to support our family and allow me to stay home (except for a few nannying/subing jobs a month) to take care of our amazing daughter, as well as very supportive families that love our daughter as their own!

Check out that hair!

Olivia is learning how to clap and this is the best picture I could get.

i made a sale

2010-09-22T18:48:00.000-07:00

its official, i am now on etsy. i am selling my daiper bags and will have burp rags and pillowcase dresses coming soon. these make great gifts for your friends (or yourself). if you have something special that you want let me know! here are some pictures of what are for sale now and where you can get them.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/Ellasbows

slc

2010-09-21T13:43:00.000-07:00

So I don't think I will ever really get around to writing about our trip, because I have been so busy...so I will just post some pictures and move on. We had a great time with everyone and we wish we could do it again soon.

Thanks to everyone that let us visit, took us in, fed us, and helped us pack!

our beautiful daughter

2010-09-13T18:50:00.000-07:00

i still plan on getting a post up about our trip and our latest happenings, but until then, enjoy these pictures!

These are the faces that she seems to always have. She always has a smile for whoever is talking to her and loves to have her tongue out. Basically we are blessed!

Blessing

2010-09-01T09:35:00.000-07:00

Olivia and I have been out of town for the last two weeks and I haven't been able to update our blog, but I will get caught up.

The first big event happened on Sunday the 8th. Dallin was able to bless Olivia. It was an amazing experience. Because my little brother Austin was leaving for college at BYU he was ordained the week before to an Elder and was able to stand in along with both of her Grandpas. She is so blessed to have such a wonderful support system all around and to have an amazing dad who holds the priesthood and blesses our family.

the last 4 weeks

2010-07-26T10:28:00.000-07:00

Its been a crazy last couple of weeks.

It started here...

Then here...

Now here...

Olivia now weighs 8 lbs 12 oz and she is 21 1/2 inches long. She is in the 90th percentile for height and the 50th percentile for weight. She is still an amazing baby. She still sleeps through the night for the most part and rarely gets upset. She is very strong, can hold her neck up and can scoot on her tummy already. When she is awake she is always squirming. She loves to grunt. She has yet to loose any of her beautiful hair and mom hopes it stays that way. Her grandparents and uncles can't get enough of her (she already has them all wrapped around her little finger). She loves to take baths and when her mom sings to her. She also loves daddy's smothering kisses. She went on her first beach/boat trip and slept the whole time. Her first photoshoot was a hit. She is growing fast (to fast for her mom's taste). We love her more everyday!

Olivia June

2010-07-07T11:25:00.000-07:00

Our sweet little one has finally arrived and we are so happy to have her as a part of our family! Olivia June showed up after 23 hours of labor at 8lbs 14oz and 20 inches long on June 30th. She is amazing. She almost never crys and sleeps 5-6 hours through the night. We are very lucky to have such a happy healthy baby!

Baby Update

2010-06-25T10:01:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm still pregnant. Little Olivia June isn't ready to make her debut just yet. I went to the Doctor Monday and was told that everything looked great. I was dilated to a 1, 50% effaced, and at a -3 station. The next thing he said was that I was going to have the baby this week (note to doctors, don't ever tell your patient that). Since I'm not due until the 29th, that was really exciting to me, but I tried not to get my hopes up too high. I am so tired of being pregnant.However, compared to the first part of my pregnancy this part is a piece of cake. Well I went home that day and made sure bags were packed, laundry was done, and that I would be ready to go whenever it was time. Well, I woke up in the middle of the night that night with awful back labor and contractions that were between 5-7 min apart. Dallin and I headed to hospital. As soon as I was hooked up to the monitors and laid down of course my contractions slowed way down. After a few hours, and my parents coming out to the hospital, they decided to send me home. I was devastated!

Since then I have been trying to keep myself busy so that I wouldn't just stare at the calendar (which I do anyways). I have been a sewing maniac and made some really cute things.
Onesie Dress

Burp Rags

Nursing Cover

Quilt

Bumper for the crib

Anyway, we will keep you posted! Hopefully she will show up soon.

Diaper Bag / Fabric

2010-05-13T09:56:00.001-07:00

I made a diaper bag which we will be using for our little girl. I am pretty proud of myself and wanted to post some pictures.

I also bought all the fabric for the crib bedding, which I will be starting on today, and some other misc. items.

Busy Weekend

2010-05-03T12:49:00.000-07:00

I first want to say Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband! He turns 26 today, along with his twin sister Karen.
This weekend we finally bought a new camera and were very excited to get some use out of it. Saturday morning Dallin, his dad and some other friends participated in a 5K for the Habitat for Humanity. They did a great job and had a blast doing it.

Dallin and his dad before the race

Later that day I had my baby shower. Gladys Waters did such a wonderful job and everyone had a great time and enjoyed great food. Thanks so much to everyone who came and celebrated with me. We are down to 8 weeks and we still can't decide on a name. I am getting more and more uncomfortable each day and I feel like a whale.

While the girls were partying, the men put up some beadboard in the 3rd bedroom at Dallin's parents home. They still have some cosmetic touches to finish up, but I think it looks great!

All in all we had a fun time!

Its about time...

2010-04-20T08:23:00.000-07:00

I updated this blog. Today is Dallin and I's 3rd wedding anniversary! This year we went to Colorado Fondue and then to Cirque Du Soleil: La Nouba. We had an amazing time! (sorry for the quality of the pictures, we don't have a working camera currently so we have resorted to our phones)

Currently Dallin and I are making our life here in Florida. We are here to stay. Dallin is loving his new job and his co-workers in Winter Springs, FL. He has a bit of a hike to get to work every day and back, but we are hoping to move out there soon. I loved working a long term substitution job for about 2 1/2 months at an elementary school. I worked with children 1st-5th grade who had emotional and behavioral disorders(EBD). Every day brought something new and I quickly grew to enjoy waking up each day for work.
We are also working hard with the youth in our ward. Dallin is the Scout Master, as well as the 2nd counselor in the young mens. He works hard to make the program something the boys can not only enjoy but also learn from. He has taken them on camping trips and supports them in basketball. They love having a leader who makes potato launchers and brings them snacks.
I have really enjoyed being the young womens president, although its more work then I ever could have imagined. We are currently trying to raise money for camp and to provided service in all that we do. I am taking advantage of learning about girls while I can since I haven't had much experience with them and I am going to need all the help I can get with our little one getting closer and closer to her due date.
I have officially made it to week 30 and have only 10 weeks to go. Since about week 20 I have felt much better and have gained my strength and weight back that I lost during the first 20 weeks. After landing in the hospital because I was so sick I was ready to give, however, soon after I started to feel her kick. Each time I thought I couldn't do it anymore she would kick me in the ribs or jump on my bladder and I knew that it would be worth it in the end. I now feel huge, my back hurts and I get sick every once and a while, but I truly feel excellent in comparison and couldn't be happier.

She is growing and healthy as far as we know and hopefully will be here around the 29th of June. We went to have a 3D ultrasound done. She was a little stubborn (surprise, surprise) and wouldn't let us get a great picture, but we will be going back to try to get some more in a couple weeks but here are a few of the pictures.
One of her yawning

Side view of her feet

Already striking a pose

Blessings

2010-02-17T04:28:00.000-08:00

On Monday Dallin and I woke up and headed to the doctors office with the hope of finding out if we were having a little boy or girl. The technician spent the first 20 minutes or so doing measurements and checking to make sure the baby was happy and healthy. All was well. The baby was growing right on schedule and everything looked "beautiful" as she put it. However, the next 45 minutes were spent trying to convince our little one to move their legs so that we could pick pink or blue clothes. At the very end of the appointment the technician was about to give up when she got a glimpse of what looks like to be a girl. She decided that since she had that glimpse and nothing else could be seen that her guess would be that baby Sauser is a girl. We are both very excited. I have felt all along that it was going to be a girl. All my hopes and dreams of having a little boy first are down the drain and I don't even care!
After our eventful morning, Dallin rushed home to get ready for a second interview for a SWPPP (Storm, Water, and Pollution Prevention Plan) developer position. He was really feeling hopeful for the first time in months that this might be his chance. The company really liked him and offered him the position and he started the next day! We are very excited that he has found a job doing something he will enjoy and one where his degree will actually be useful!
We have felt that even though times have seemed pretty hard lately, we recognize that we have truly been blessed with wonderful family and the gospel of Jesus Christ to get us through those hard times!

Graduation

2010-01-11T17:22:00.000-08:00

So I have been trying to talk myself into getting more post up here, but it just seems like a daunting task. However, now that I have a little bit more energy again I feel that I need to do something. Even if I have a hard time getting out of bed I can type, right? So here is a very late post!!

Dallin and I finally graduated from college at the end of July '09. My parents came up to celebrate with us and join us in the different ceremonies.
We both worked really hard to get to this point and are still trying to figure out why since we have had no luck in the job field, but we both feel that it was the right thing to do. "For members of the Church, education is not merely a good idea—it’s a commandment" -President Dieter F. Uchtdorf. And so needless to say we believe that by following the commandments we will be blessed!

Now that the times of late nights of studying, hard tests, group projects, and falling on the icy sidewalks are done...we miss it!! However, walking across the stage and receiving our "diplomas" was a time I think neither of us will ever forget. We will always be proud of ourselves and be able to tell our children and grandchildren of the time we graduated college. We feel blessed that we were able to receive the education that we did, through our families sacrifices, but mainly though our own hard work and money we were able to do it!!

The news is true...

2009-11-23T09:42:00.000-08:00

I'm Pregnant! Dallin and I (as well as the rest of our families) are very excited! Baby Sauser is due July 4th.

So far I have been very sick (all day long), but I know in the end it will be worth it. Dallin has been an amazing husband to his sick wife and I know he will be a great dad. When my mom was pregnant with me, she was given a gift by a good friend of hers who told her that the first gift that she receives would determine the sex of the baby. So my parents went out to buy two different sets of bibs. They put them in two different bags and told me to choose one. I choose the girl one. Until that point I was determined that I would have a boy (because I don't know what to do with cute little girls), but now I think it might be a girl. We will see!

Yellowstone

2009-09-08T10:31:00.000-07:00

Toward the end of the semester Dallin and I decided to go to Yellowstone. It was on the list of "Things to do before we leave the west". We had a blast. I could drive around all day, every day looking at beautiful scenery. Here are some pictures:

We're back...

2009-08-27T14:50:00.000-07:00

in more ways that one. I have been so bad at updating this thing, because there has been so much going on and now that things have calmed down I have needed to talk myself into getting started again. We are both back in Florida now that we have graduated. After some close calls with a few jobs, we are both still unemployed.

I am going to back track and start with the 4th of July weekend.

It started with an awesome camping trip with the Bodily's...

We then went to Craters of the Moon National Park

We then spent the night in Malad. We were able to meet the rest of the Bodily's, enjoy Malad Idol, the Malad Drive-In and the fireworks. We had a blast!!

my poor husband

2009-06-01T15:49:00.000-07:00

I don't have a little time but I have to blog about this. This weekend we went with some friends to their grandparents ranch. Dallin helped put up a fence with Jordan. Becca, the baby and I, however, wouldn't leave the cabin out of fear of being ate alive. There were more mosquitoes then I could have ever imagined and I am from Florida. Well our men risked it to get the fence done and this is what Dallin came home with.

That is just his arm, gross huh? He started to count them and ended up with over 120 on one arm. They also got his other arm, face and back (through two shirts). He said it was worth it though and we had a great time. Thanks for taking us Bodilys!!

Second post in one day, but we have Big News...

2009-05-29T09:48:00.001-07:00

And no I am not pregnant, but we are moving back home to Orlando! Its officially been decided that Dallin and I will be moving back to Orlando the week after we graduate, which is the last week of July. We can't wait and are very excited. The plan is to live there for about a year with the hope of Dallin getting a job offer in his field. However, he will be studying for and taking LSAT with the plan of going to Law School if he doesn't get a job offer. He would start in the fall of 2010. We are happy to be back around family, but we have to make it through the last two months of college first.

Dallin installed a hitch on our Blazer in anticipation of the move. Didn't he do a good job?

Camping

2009-05-29T09:16:00.000-07:00

One thing that Dallin and I both love to do is to go camping and one of the great things about Idaho and living out west is the oppurtunity to find great camping sites. Some of our first big purchases after we got married involved getting everything we need to have a great camping trip. We went on our first camping trip of the year a couple weeekends ago with some friends and had a great time. Here are some pictures.

My handsome husband

Our amazing dutch oven

Starting the dessert

Our friends Abe, his wife Andrea, and her cousin Court

Jordan, Becca and my favorite little guy Porter trying marshmallow for the first time.

Birthdays

2009-05-17T20:48:00.000-07:00

So I am finally going to follow up on my last birthday post. My parents got me a beautiful picture of the Savior for my birthday and I wanted to post a picture of it.

Dallins birthday was this month on the 3rd. He had a great time!

He received a lot of money and gift cards from family and had a great time shopping for himself. The first thing that he decided to buy was a charcoal grill. Here is a picture of him making some steaks for our dinner, they were so good! And can I just say that this was one of my favorite presents that he picked out, because he now makes dinner 3 times a week just to use his new toy.

He also bought, the newest season of the office, 2 new drills, a large car jack and my all time favorite, a new vacuum. He was walking around the store with some money left in his pocket and couldn't think of what else to buy and he knew that I had been asking for a new vacuum for the last year or so, so he bought me a new one. Isn't he the best husband ever!!

My parents also got him a really funny card!

Our last first day

2009-04-22T21:31:00.001-07:00

The day has finally come. On Monday Dallin and I went to to our last first day of college. It's true July 23rd will be the day that we both graduate from College. Although we cannot wait to be done with classes, test, teachers, and parking, we are also going to miss the college life (we hear real life is harder).

Monday was also our 2 year wedding anniversary! We can't believe how fast time has gone by. We celebrated by going out to dinner and talking about what will be coming up in our near future. It seems like just yesterday Dallin was knocking on my door to "check" on the girl from his dad's ward that was new to BYU-I.

Dallin has just got a job at walmart working the night shift. It may not be a very glorious and/or convenient, but we are both grateful for the opportunity. Many people, especially here in Rexburg, are struggling to find any kind of job right now. I will miss him at night, but it will all be over soon enough. He also had a great interview today down in SLC for a job that he will be able to start after graduation, so keep him in your prayers. Hopefully we will be able to make plans for after graduation soon enough.

Until then though we try to enjoy the life that we are having, we hear that it will be the some of our best years and we try to remember that daily as we struggle financially and emotionally through the stress of school and an uncertain future.

Safety First

2009-03-29T12:19:00.000-07:00

A couple weekends ago we went out to the sand dunes in Saint Anthony, just north of us, to do some shooting. Our friend Jordan has a few guns that he brought so that we could shoot some clay pigeons and other various targets. We had a blast!! Before doing anything Jordan gave us a quick safety lesson, which I was grateful for. I don't think you can ever be too safe when it comes to guns. I really enjoyed the .22 rifle and the 9mm. Dallins favorite part was being able to shoot the 300 rifle. We have been hoping to be able to invest in a gun for a while now and will probably seriously look into it now that we will be graduating soon. I have always grown up with a love for having a dad who hunts and has knowledge about guns. I used to love going to the shooting range. Thanks Jordan and Becca for taking us out!! Hope you enjoy the videos!! Oh and did I mention that it was freezing outside...because I was so cold even in three jackets and gloves! I can't wait until summer!!

Pillows and Pants

2009-03-08T17:59:00.000-07:00

So this semester I am taking a sewing class and have really enjoyed it. I have made a few things such as pillow cases, PJ Pants and I am currently working on a shirt/blouse. I also made some pillows for the couch on my own last weekend. Here are some pictures.

Happy Birthday to Courtney

2009-03-08T17:39:00.000-07:00

My birthday was on Tuesday and even though I had a cold I had a great day. When I got home from work Dallin had cleaned the apartment and also had made me a cake. He also bought me some flowers and surprised me with a gift card to go and have a message. Dallin and some of our friends went out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse and had a great time. I also got some other great gifts such as gift cards and movies. My parents will be getting me a beautiful picture of the Savior, but I need to pick out the one that I want first.
Here are some pictures

Skiing In Jackson

2009-02-17T08:30:00.000-08:00

Dallin was gone all week for a school competion in consturction management, so he missed Valentines Day. We decided to go skiing in Jackson Hole on Presidents day in replace of valentines. It was a beautiful day under the Teton Mountains, sunny, great snow and around 30 degrees. Of course our camera died as soon as we got there. We got one picture of us on the ski lift and then I found a one on line.

This was the smallest hill, but it had a ton of jumps as you can see. We didn't do any of them, but we did higher hills.

Dallin says he was surprised how well I caught on, since I haven't been since I was about 14. He was also surprised at how fast I liked to go, in reality I just wasn't that wonderful at stopping so I got used to going faster. Dallin was much better than I had expected and surprised me at how great of a teacher he was. We had such a great time and we can't wait to get back out there.

10 Reasons Why

2009-02-14T08:42:00.000-08:00

I love him...

1. He wakes up every morning and starts and scrapes my car for me. He has been doing this since before we were dating, I had a 7am class 4 days a week and when I would head out to my car it was already ready for me. I have really learned to appreciated this since he has been gone the last couple days and I have had to do it myself.
2. He almost always lets me have the remote.
3. He can't wait to finish school so that he can get a job that will support his family without making me work.
4. He can always make me laugh.
5. He never complains.
6. He finds enjoyment in my happiness.
7. He is great with children!

(This is Dallin with 2 week old Porter, our best friends new little boy, he can't get enough of him when we are around them)
8. He loves the gospel.
9. He lets me complain when I need someone to just listen.
10. He loves me and doesn't let a day go by where he doesn't tell me so.

It's About Time

2009-02-10T08:12:00.000-08:00

So its has only been forever since I have updated the blog. I will give just a quick update (Dallin is going out of town this week and I will do a longer post then).

We are now back in Idaho. We left California and made the icy drive back to Idaho on December 19th. The day after we moved in we left for Florida for a much needed Christmas brake! Dallin and I both had a great time with each of our families...some of which we haven't seen in about a year and 1/2 and some, such as our nephew whom we had never met. After that we flew back to Idaho the day before we both started school up again. We are so excited to be able to say that we will be graduating in July. I don't think we would be able to last much longer...at least I know that I wouldn't.

It has been hard getting back into the swing of things and to leave our "California" life behind. It is back to living on a tight budget and going to Wal-mart on the weekends for a fun night out.

Over all we are happy and healthy. We love and miss you all and promise to keep you updated!

Before and After...

2008-12-07T13:33:00.000-08:00

10 inches! Dallin has been bugging me about getting my hair cut and I finally took the plunge yesterday, and I actually like it. I had so much hair to cut that it really didn't end up too short.

BEFORE

AFTER

New Entertainment Center

2008-11-28T12:29:00.000-08:00

Don't you love our new entertainment center that we bought for $50? I know we do!

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-28T12:17:00.001-08:00

Dallin and I stayed home this year and decided to make our own thanksgiving. I made dinner and he cleaned up! It was so fun and for my first turkey it actually turned out pretty good. We spent time to reflect on all the things we have to be grateful for and had a great day together!

We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and took a minute to remember all the blessings that we have living in this country!

Keep Scrolling

2008-11-10T19:26:00.001-08:00

More to come, please keep scrolling down

Fall Deco

2008-11-10T19:17:00.000-08:00

I love to decorate and I made some cute pumpkins that go on our coffee table and found the cutest welcome sign that is hanging on our door. Festive...at least I try.

Football and Hockey

2008-11-10T19:03:00.000-08:00

One of the things I love most about the Fall is sports! Lucky for us Dallin gets free tickets for the 49ers and for the Sharks. Here are some pictures!

49ers

One of the games we went to was Steve Young day and they retired his jersey.

Here he is with his Beautiful Family. He is in our stake, but I have yet to see him.

Sharks

Golden Gate Bridge and Full House

2008-11-10T18:54:00.001-08:00

Dallin is out of town tonight for work, so I thought I would get some things done that I have been putting off.

Dallin and I went to Downtown San Francisco again a couple weekends ago and we drove on the golden gate bridge and took pictures of the "Full House" house. Here are some pictures.

Where's Waldo?

2008-11-08T21:17:00.001-08:00

If you didn't read the book as a child (or an adult) then your childhood was very, very sad, and I would like to have a talk with your parents. Dallin and I dressed up for Halloween this year. Dallin made the shirts (which add only about 20 lbs) and I made the hats. I think they turned out pretty good! For those of you who don't know Waldo really does have a a sister in the book, her name is Welda, and that would have been me!

Ignorance Isn't Always Bliss

2008-10-18T16:12:00.000-07:00

This week Dallin and I fought, what my mom would call a "battle". Many may know about Proposition 8. It is a proposition that proposes that "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid and recognized in California." Many of you may or may not know, however, that The church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has asked all its members to donate of their time and efforts to do everything possible to help this proposition to pass. Read more here. On Sunday we were all offered signs to post in our yard or in our case on our balcony or in our window. That afternoon I went home, put the sign on the balcony and didn't think of it again until Tuesday evening. That evening Dallin and I received a knock on our door from our apartment manager telling us that we were not allowed to have the sign up. When asked why he responded "I'm not going to get into that right now, but it is in your lease." He would not give us a straight answer and acted as though we had no right to question him. I asked a few more questions and received similar responses. We chose to pull the sign down until we read through our lease. As soon as he left I pulled out our copy of the lease and to my amazement found nothing regarding posting a sign of any kind. I was of course upset and even felt a bit attacked.
The next day as soon as I got home from work, I gave him a call to ask him where is states in our lease that we can not post any type of sign. After searching for a full five minutes he finally responded with "Well, the closest thing that relates to it is the section that says we are not to harass, annoy or endanger any residents of the complex." My immediate thoughts and my first response was, "So it doesn't specifically state that we are not to have a sign posted? And did anyone complain about the sign while it was up?" He told me know one has complained, but felt that it should be taken down and that he could decided what harassment was or was not. I was very offended by this, I had not knocked on anyones door or posted a inappropriate sign that would warrant me being accused of harassment. I felt that I had a right to freedom of speech, and I was being denied that right. I explained this to him, and after many moments of interruptions and bulling, I told him that I would like to speak to his supervisor and until he could prove that we signed a lease stating that we would be denied freedom of speech and the option to post a sign then we would be putting the sign back up. He then threatened me with a 3 day notice if he did see that sign and he would not give me any contact information for his supervisor because he "knew what they would say the same things". After some research and a few hundred phone calls to my parents, we found that he had no legal right to tell us to take the sign down. My mom even has some attorneys at her office do some research and they found a bill (AB 1525)that was passed in 2003 stating that it was unlawful and unconstitutional to prohibit residents of a common interest development (apartments/condos) the right to post signs, flags, or banners on or in an owner's separate interest area.
The next day Dallin got off work early and went to confront him about this and to tell him that we would be putting the sign back up. With no apology, the ignorant apt. manager stated that he spoke with the complexes attorneys and that there was nothing in the lease about signs and he couldn't legally ask us to take it down and that they would be adding it to the lease. Once it is added then we would receive notification that the sign is to be taken down. Even though the election will be over before the new lease is made up, Dallin has taken it on himself to make sure that they are aware that by law then can not add the stipulation to the lease. Here is a picture of our lovely sign.

For more information on Prop. 8 please visit this website The most unsettling article on there is about the kindergarten field trip to the gay wedding.

Football, Football, Football

2008-10-17T23:06:00.000-07:00

Have I ever mentioned that I love football? Well, just in case I haven't, I love football! I would like to brag about one thing (while it last, who knows what will happen next week). I am #1 for the Sauser Fantasy Football (see below). My family would be so proud!

Rank Team W-L-T Pct GB Strk Top PF Back PA Home Away Waiver
1 Orlando Outlaws 4-1-0 .800 0.0 W4 1 560.0 0.0 423.5 3-1-0 1-0-0 6
2 Los Monitos Luchadores 4-1-0 .800 0.0 W2 2 516.7 43.3 454.6 1-1-0 3-0-0 5
3 Irritable Grizzlies 3-2-0 .600 1.0 L1 0 549.1 10.9 484.8 1-1-0 2-1-0 4
4 Taylor's Titans 3-2-0 .600 1.0 W1 0 449.1 110.9 464.9 0-2-0 3-0-0 3
5 The Disemvowelers 2-3-0 .400 2.0 L1 0 455.6 104.4 495.7 1-1-0 1-2-0 2
6 Under Estimated 2-3-0 .400 2.0 L2 1 435.4 124.6 493.5 0-2-0 2-1-0 8
7 Mighty Mucus 1-4-0 .200 3.0 L4 0 422.8 137.2 448.4 1-2-0 0-2-0 1
8 Grief Society 1-4-0 .200 3.0 W1 1 415.2 144.8 538.5 1-2-0 0-2-0 7

I am not sure if you can understand all this mumbo-jumbo, but if you look above to convientently bolded #1 spot you will see the Orlando Outlaws (me of course) leading the pack! I love football!
**WARNING-DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT, mention last Sundays game (Cowboys v. Cardinals) to Courtney at any time-WARNING**

Employment, Marriage, and Disneyland

2008-10-02T14:10:00.000-07:00

For those of you who haven't heard, I did finally get a job. I am working a little more than 30 hours a week for an insurance company taking down claims and doing paperwork . I am really enjoying the job, even though it can be pretty depressing at times. The most common claim that I get each day is for Hurricane Ike that hit Texas less than a month ago. Its hard to listen to people stories and not want to fly down right that second to help them out. They love to hear that I am from Florida and have a small idea of what they may be going through. Those who have been through a hurricane would agree that you really can't understand what it feels like unless you have lived through one.

Now that we are both working we have a little more money to save and a little more money to spend and have fun with. I'm happy to say that this move has helped to strengthen our marriage. Instead of going out with friends and having homework to do every night we have time to spend with each other. We have worked extra hard at studying our Scriptures together and working together to make our apartment feel like a home for the little time that we are here. Dallin has tried extra hard to make me happy, because he knows how much I miss home, which I am truly grateful for.

Dallin was asked to fly down for his first business trip to help some other employees prepare for the LEED test (if you remember from an old post this is a test
Dallin took a while back and passed which is a great feat) in the Irvine office. We decided to make a weekend of it and to fly down early together and go to Disneyland. It was a blast to feel like kids again and to have fun just being silly.
We miss you all and hope to see you again soon! Thanks for keeping us in your prayers they can trully be felt!!

New Apartment

2008-09-24T20:08:00.001-07:00

Dallin wanted me to take a few pictures of our new apartment and put it on the blog...so here they are.

Please scroll down

2008-09-23T15:39:00.001-07:00

I have posted a few times very recently and there will be more to come. So please check back for more!

Mosaic

2008-09-23T14:14:00.000-07:00

This is a fun mosaic I made while I was un-employed:

I went on one of the websites that you upload photo's to (of course I can't remeber which one now) and searched each of the following items. The all had pretty interesting pictures, some didn't have anything to do with what I was searching, but I liked them so I used them anyway.
1. Name: Courtney
2. Favorite Food: Flauta's (not the dessert kind, but this is the picture it gave me)
3. Favorite Flower: Tulips
4. Favorite color: Orange
5. Favorite Actor: Shia Labeuf (sp?)
6. Favorite Drink: Water
7. Favorite Sport: Football
8. Favorite Dessert: Cheesecake
9. What you want to be when you grow up: A mom
10. Favorite Emotion: Love
11. What you are feeling right now: Tired
12. Favorite Place to be: Home, this fit because either home is really far away (Florida) or its on the road because we move a lot

Alcatraz

2008-09-23T13:57:00.000-07:00

As soon as I found out that we were moving to Redwood City, right near San Francisco, I knew right away where I wanted to go first, Alcatraz. For those of you who know me well, would know that if I didn't want to be a mom so bad, then I would probably want to be a criminal investigator of some kind. I think that is why Alcatraz has always intrigued me a bit. Dallin and I went our second weekend here and took some pictures. If you are ever in this area I would highly recommend going.

In this picture you can see Dallin holding a little tape player thing. As we walked through the prison area of Alcatraz we would listen to a narrator, as well as some old prisoners, talk about the prison and direct you where to go. The picture you see is the four prisoners who we listened to on the player as we walked through.

This picture I thought was funny, because the prisoners used to crochet when they got bored. Can you imagine some of the roughest guys in America sitting in jail crocheting.

This is just a pretty picture of the city that I took while we were on the island.

For those of you who know a little bit about the island, would know that there were escape attempts, but as far as anyone knows no one escaped from the island and lived to tell about it. This is a picture or the heads a few prisoners made when they tried to escape. The heads were found by some guards who at first really thought that the paper/concrete head was a real prisoner.

9/11

2008-09-11T11:13:00.001-07:00

You have heard million of stories about where people were when they found out about the September 11th terrorist attacks. Mine isn't too different then most people my age.

I was sitting in my first period 9th grade math class when my teacher got a phone call on his cell phone. This wasn't too unusual and I didn't think anything of it until he turned on the TV to the news. There was a tall building with smoke billowing out. I had no idea what building it was or even what city it was in. Even after my teacher told us what and were it was I still had no idea the magnitude of the situation. I now feel bad that my thoughts kept thinking "what is the big deal?"

As the day wore on I went to various classes, some had the TV on some didn't. I wasn't receiving much more information and still didn't understand what was going on. My english teacher even asked us to write down out thoughts in our journal for the daily entry that day. I remember sitting there feeling dumb because I still didn't understand what was going on and feeling too stupid to ask.At lunch two girls were crying. I was told that it was because their brother was in the army. I once again thought to myself "whats the big deal, we aren't at war or anything."

This continued until I was sitting in choir and had learned a little more. It then hit me. My dad travels all the time, in fact, most of the time he leaves in the morning and is back that night. I rarely knew when or where he was going. While I was sitting in choir I realized I had no idea where my dad was that day. I began to cry and didn't even know what to do. When I got home later that day and learned that my dad was in town all day I finally calmed down. However, by then I realized that I needed to find out what the hype was all about. I remember sitting in my parents bedroom for most the afternoon and evening watching the news and learning about the World Trade Centers.

Now as I sit here today on the 7th anniversary of this event, I am happy to set all political opinions aside. I feel so blessed to be a citizen of this free country. I pray for those soldiers who are fighting to keep that freedom and for the families of those soldiers. I want to say thank you to them and for all that they have sacrificed for this country.

Job Hunting

2008-09-11T10:35:00.000-07:00

Not my idea of fun. Even though we are only here for a little more than 3 months I feel obligated to get a job. If I get a job, we earn more money. If we earn more money, we save more money. If we save more money, we get to have a baby.

So far...nothing and I have only applied to, oh, about a thousand places.

Ok, I shouldn't say nothing. I found the perfect job. I would go around to different schools who signed up with the company called SoccerShots and teach children between the ages of 3 and 5 the different skills that are involved in soccer for about a half hour. I am sure you are saying to yourself, "Courtney, that is the prefect job for you. You love sports, particularly soccer and you love kids even more." I nailed the interview and the pay was great. Why don't I have the job you ask...because I would only be working about 6 hours a week. It just wasn't worth the time and money I would be putting into it to drive all around.

So I am now still looking and praying that I can find a job soon, because if it doesn't happen soon it won't be worth it.

Until then I have been working out, catching up on some Christmas presents I am making and trying to be the perfect wife, i.e. have the house clean and dinner on the table when the working husband gets home from work...remember I said trying...old habits are hard to brake.

A New Day In A New Place

2008-09-08T08:51:00.000-07:00

Dallin and I have safely made it to Redwood City, California. We have settled in to our new place and are starting to get our feet wet in the new city. Dallin loves his job as an estimater for a company called Rudolph & Sletten. I am still jobless, but I hope to find something soon.

We drove in Sunday afternoon and got the keys to our new home for the next four months. Its a cute little apartment that has been recently renevated. The next day (Labor Day) Dallin and I set out to buy a kitchen table for the first time since we have been married and enter the world of adulthood. I told him before we started out that day that I love higher and square tables. His response was "I don't like either of those!" I knew it was going to be a long day. However, you can see for yourself who won that one.

He actually saw the table that I pointed to and actually liked it. I really just got lucky!
Saturday, we drove up to the city of San Francisco. Word of advice don't ever drive there...take the bus. After we drove around for 30 minutes trying to find parking, we got out to walk around and tour downtown. We decided to play tourists for the day and got tickets to go on a duck tour (the vehicle that takes you on land and water). It really is a beautiful place with a great history. I took some pictures...

The Golden Gate Bridge (which we have yet to be on)

Alcatraz...We are going this Saturday and I can't wait

A beautiful church (no its not crooked that is just how the streets are there)

A pretty picture of some buildings

The city from the boat

Cupid's Bow and Arrow with the Bay bridge behind it

Another pretty picture

That is it for now...we will keep you all posted!

Family Vacation

2008-08-24T17:31:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago Dallin and I went home to Orlando to visit my family. We had a great time. We went out on the boat, drove to Georgia, stayed in a beautiful cabin, went white water rafting in Tennessee, saw some old friends, stayed up late on my parents bed, talked, laughed and even argued a bit, it was perfect! We had a blast and can't wait to see everyone again at Christmas. Here is a picture of us at the cabin (don't ask my why all of my brothers were being dorks):

Hopefully there will be more pictures to come soon.

New Hair, New Plan, New Blanket

2008-08-16T15:37:00.000-07:00

I changed my hair about 4 weeks ago and here is what it looks like...

Also, Dallin and I have changed our plan about moving. Dallin left yesterday and safely drove down to Redwood City, where his company is putting him in a extended stay hotel for two weeks. While he is down there he will start work and hopefully find us an apartment. I will keep working for two more weeks and pack up the apartment, then he will fly back and we will both drive the U-haul down. So as of right now I am lonely and bored, but we are both excited for this phase in life!

Plus right before we left for Florida (update coming soon) I finished my first crocheted baby blanket (no, I am not pregnant). Take a look.

Asian Babies

2008-08-15T12:28:00.000-07:00

I keep telling Dallin that we are going to adopt a Asian or Black baby one day. A co-worker showed me these clips on Youtube.com and they have confirmed my decision! These are so cute you have to watch them!
Whatever

Hey Jude

We're Moving to San Fran

2008-07-11T08:51:00.000-07:00

Dallin and I will be moving to Redwood City (right near San Francisco), Cali. Dallin got a great Internship there for the fall and we are both excited (even though our rent will be 4 times as much as we are paying now). I will finish this semester on the 18th and then we will be heading to Florida for some much needed family time. We are also going with my family white water rafting! We will get back to Rexburg on the 2nd of August and work for two more weeks. On the 15th of August we will head out for our new destination. We feel blessed to have been given this opportunity and we are looking forward to the experience! We will keep you updated!!

Allergic Reaction

2008-06-27T12:53:00.001-07:00

Last week I woke up with lips that people pay money for, but they were making me miserable. I couldn't eat, drink, close my mouth, talk and I was in so much pain. I went to the doctor who wrote me a prescription. He told me that I must have has some kind of allergic reaction, but we couldn't figure out what it was to. He also mentioned that it could have been sun poisoning, but that didn't make sense to me since I am a sun baby and I have never had that kind of reaction to it. After I took the medication the swelling started to go down and now a week later things are pretty much back to normal. Here are some pictures of a couple days AFTER I started to take the medicine, YES, it was worse before, if you can believe it. The first one is a "normal lip" picture so you can compare.

Snow, Airshow, and the Ice Caves

2008-06-15T20:08:00.000-07:00

This Wednesday I walked out the door to go to class and much to my surprise (not) it was snowing. ON JUNE 11th IT WAS SNOWING! I was so upset, I just wanted to walk back inside and crawl back in bed. Luckily, it was made up for when it hit the 80's this weekend. It was the perfect day so Dallin and I got together with friends to go and watch the airshow that was going on at the small Rexburg Airport. I was so fun to watch the planes do amazing things and to spend time with friends. Dallin and I both have pretty bad sunburns, but it was completely worth it. After going home for a quick nap we met up with the same friends to head out to the Ice Caves and have some tin foil dinners and smores. We had such a great time!! I took some pictures and video of the Ice cave adventures (see below). We went with two other couples and split up so that we had three girls in our blazer and the three boys were in the truck. I was so great to take the Blazer out through the rough trails and the mud. Once we got there we had to literally climb down into the Ice Caves. The floor was covered with ice and half the time we were on our backs scooting along on the ice because the cave was so small. At the end there was a huge block of ice that people could slide down.

American Idol Guitar Hero Commercials

2008-06-02T20:44:00.000-07:00

I loved this season of American Idol, but if anything it was worth it just to see the following commercials!! I loved both David's and I think they both deserved to win! In the end I think they will both go far!!

Mesa Falls...Almost

2008-05-16T11:57:00.000-07:00

A couple of weekends ago, Dallin and I, as well as Jordan and Becca, decided to head up to Mesa Falls. It is a beautiful water fall in North East Idaho. Well we got about 5 miles from the site and found that the road was covered in about 4 feet of snow. We decided to get out and walk around instead, since we couldn't make it to the actuall falls. Dallin spoted a abandoned railroad tunnel and we decided to hike out to it. It was beautiful. The boys tried to throw snowballs into the river that had to be at least 50 feet (I could be way low on that number) below us. Here are some pictures that I took while we were there.

Update

2008-05-16T11:52:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I know the pictures below have been up forever without the information of what they are. The first pictures were taken the weekend before our 1 year anniversary. We decided to drive to Jackson hole and spend all Saturday there. The drive there was beautiful. Once we got there we realized that the season was over so the town was pretty dead. We made the best of it though and had a great time. The next group of pictures was from the weekend of our Anniversary. Dallin, the wonderful, sweet husband that he is, suprised me and rented a room at a local AmericInn Hotel which has themed rooms as you can see in the pictures.

1 Year Anniversary

2008-04-20T20:26:00.001-07:00

Picture's now...text to come soon!

The Girl in a Whirl

2008-04-04T14:39:00.000-07:00

The Girl in a Whirl by 'Dr. Sue' (a.k. A.. Vickie Gunther)

Look at me, look at me, look at me now!
You could do what I do if you only knew how.

I study the scriptures one hour each day;
I bake, I upholster, I scrub, and I pray.

I always keep all the commandments completely;
I speak to my little ones gently and sweetly.

I help in their classrooms! I sew all they wear!
I drive them to practice! I cut all their hair!

I memorize names of the General Authorities;
I focus on things to be done by priorities.

I play the piano! I bless with my talents!
My toilets all sparkle! My checkbooks all balance!

Each week every child gets a one-on-one date;
I attend all my meetings (on time! Never late!)

I'm taking a class on the teachings of Paul,
But that is not all! Oh, no. That is not all,

I track my bad habits 'til each is abolished;
Our t-shirts are ironed! My toenails are polished!

Our family home evenings are always delightful;
The lessons I give are both fun and insightful.

I do genealogy faithfully, too.
It's easy to do all the things that I do!

I rise each day early, refreshed and awake;
I know all the names of each youth in my stake!

I read to my children! I help all my neighbors!
I bless the community, too, with my labors.

I exercise and I cook menus gourmet;
My visiting teaching is done the first day!

(I also go do it for someone who missed hers.
It's the least I can do for my cherished ward sisters.)

I chart resolutions and check off each goal;
I seek each 'lost lamb' on my Primary roll.

I can home-grown produce each summer and fall.
But that is not all! Oh, no. That is not all,

I write in my journal! I sing in the choir!
Each day, I write 'thank you's' to those I admire.

My sons were all Eagles when they were fourteen!
My kids get straight A's! And their bedrooms are clean!

I have a home business to help make some money;
I always look beautif ully groomed for my honey.

I go to the temple at least once a week;
I change the car's tires! I fix the sink's leak!

I grind my own wheat and I bake all our bread;
I have all our meals planned out six months ahead.

I make sure I rotate our two-years' supply;
My shopping for Christmas is done by July!

These things are not hard; 'tis good if you do them;
You can if you try! Just set goals and pursue them!

It's easy to do all the things that I do!
If you plan and work smart, you can do them all, too!

'It's easy!' she said...
and then she dropped dead.

Dallin's First Blog Entry

2008-03-30T14:15:00.000-07:00

After seeing how much fame Courtney was getting from this blog, I thought it was about time for me to get in on some of the action. So here it is Dallin's first blog ever (and possibly last). This week has been a very busy week for Courtney and I. As winter semester finally ends, we began trying to plan the best we could for the rest of the year. With my new job about to start in Idaho Falls and Courtney about to begin the summer semester we decided that "mater" (our 1980 Ford pickup) just wasn't going to work anymore. Tear :(. It wasn't a an option for Courtney to drive around and it would of cost a fortune for me to drive to Idaho Falls everyday (8mpg). So we decided to start looking for cars and seemed to find nothing but options that were just too expensive or cars that seemed to be too much of a risk (bad condition or really high miles). We started to get discouraged until finding out that Taylor’s Sister and Brother-in-Law were selling their 2000 Chevy Blazer and was willing to sell it for $4000. This was the top of our price range but after finding out that the blue book was around $5,500 we decided that this was an excellent deal that we should consider. After talking it over we decided, if the offer still stood, that we would take it. So Saturday morning we went to take out a loan and found an excellent rate from a credit union and headed down to Provo to purchase the Blazer. Kyle and Aubrey (Taylor’s Sister and Brother-in Law) had taken very good care of the Blazer and it was in excellent condition. While we were driving it around and checking it out, all we could think about was how great of a deal it was. They gave us all the information that we needed to know and after doing the paperwork it was now ours (along with the payments). Now that we are home in Rexburg, we are even more excited about our new purchase.
In other news, our one year anniversary is approaching which we are excited about. Back when we were married, we agreed that Courtney could get a wedding band for her ring at our one year anniversary and so we went and got her one this week. Below you can see both pictures of our new and improved “Mater” and Courtney’s new and improved ring. Enjoy!!!!

Happy Easter

2008-03-24T12:57:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter

Dallin and I spent our first Easter together as a married couple yesterday. Although, I was homesick, and I missed the great traditions and baskets that my family would normally do, I was still able to remember the purpose of Easter...

15 April 2006 SALT LAKE CITY — The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has released the following Easter message:

"At this wonderful season of hope and renewal we testify of the glorious reality of the atonement and resurrection of the Lord, Jesus Christ. The empty tomb brought the most comforting assurance that can come into man’s heart. This was the affirmative answer to the ageless question raised by Job, "If a man die, shall he live again?" (Job 14:14).

"As stated by the angel on that first resurrection morn, "Why seek ye the living among the dead?" (Luke 24:5). "He is not here: for he is risen, as he said" (Matthew 28:6).

"This is the promise of the risen Lord. This is the relevance of Jesus to a world in which all must die. Of all the victories in human history, none is so great, none so universal in its effect, none so everlasting in its consequences as the victory of the crucified Lord, who came forth in the resurrection that first Easter morning."

We did dye eggs that I made deviled eggs out of Sunday night, here are some pictures of our creations:

Dallin also just got a great internship/job for the summer. He will be working for Idaho National Laboratory, doing drafting, and he will also be making twice as much as he is now. The only down side to this is he will need to drive to Idaho Falls everyday, which just isn't feasible since his truck only gets 8 miles to the gallon. I will also be in school and working, and with a busy schedule I will need transportation during the day and I refuse to drive that truck. So we are in the market for a cheap vehicle that will last us at least through the end of the year.

We found a great deal on a car that was just a little more than we are willing to pay. We called my parents and got some great advice and in the end we decided to keep looking. We will see how it goes. All I know is that I hate car shopping and I can't stand sleazy used car sells people.

We attended church yesterday and really enjoyed the messages that were shared there. When we attend church Dallin and I purposefully find a spot behind a family with cute younger children. Dallin especially loves to make faces at the younger children and get them to smile and giggle. This Sunday we sat behind the 1 1/2 year old girl that we have donned as the cutest in the ward. Halfway through the meeting, while the choir was singing a beautiful Easter song the little girl climbed up on the bench and started poking Dallin and I. A little while later she pointed to me and called me mom, then she tried to climb under the bench to come visit us. When her dad stopped her she had a fit and was taken out to the foyer. We can't wait to start our own family, but until we can we are happy to borrow others. Dallin and I have also started working in the primary as substitutes and I even did the music last week. I loved it, even though I was very nervous since children can be the worst critics. I think it went well.

Last Thursday was offically the first day of spring, and people are very excited here to know spring is finally here. Personally I think they are all crazy. My idea of spring is no snow!! It has started to warm up (to the low 40's woo-hoo--not)and the snow is starting to melt, but not fast enough for my opinion!

School is starting to get pretty stressful as it nears the end on April 10th, but we can't wait to get one more semester behind us.

We love you all and hope everyone had a great Easter!

Birds -- Music To My Ears!

2008-03-06T11:23:00.000-08:00

I heard birds today. I didn't even realize they were missing until this week!! They must not be very smart, because if I left somewhere to get warm for the winter, I don't think I would come back!!

Sniffles, Smiles, and New Toys!

2008-03-05T12:53:00.000-08:00

Last time I wrote Dallin was out of town in Reno competing in the Lead competition for the Construction Management program here at BYU-Idaho. Please don't ask me what he did there because everything he tries to tell me about it comes out sounding like a whole different language, one that I do not speak, at all. From what I do understand, he was in the Lead group, which was one of a few different teams that went to compete from our University. His team was given a problem and a certain amount of time to come up with an answer and present their findings. February 14th, our first valentines as a married couple might I point out, they were in solitary confinement, where they each worked on different parts of the problem. Dallin's did a great job, but they didn't place in the top 3, but I believe 3 other teams from our campus placed 2nd (better than BYU and Dallin would like me to add that it was better than the Florida team). Now, if all of that sounded like something foreign, I'm sorry I tried.

Dallin just got a new job building houses in Rexburg. The pay isn't the best, but he doesn't have to travel far to get to work and he can use it for one of his internships in the summer if nothing else turns out. It may not be his favorite job for the time being, but we are counting our blessings and it gives us each more motivation to get our degrees.

School is going well for both of us, but we are both ready for it to be over. Dallin is still enjoying construction management and is applying for internships for this fall. I am really starting to enjoy my major of Child Development. We worry about our future children and how much fun they will actually have with the knowledge I am gaining about everything that affects children, however, I am also learning great ways to teach children in ways that they will love and enjoy. With the plan of both of us graduating next summer, we are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

My seasonal depression is starting to melt away along with the 4 feet of snow. Slowly, but surely the temperatures are rising out of the negatives and are even reaching the low 30's. I never thought I would enjoy 30 degree weather, its sad if I think about it too much.

My birthday was on Monday. I found out the week before that one of my favorite restaurants had a location in Orem, Utah. So we decided to go and visit Dallin's sister for the weekend and go out to the restaurant for my birthday. When my in-laws found out our plans they sent me a gift card for that restaurant for my birthday. After heading out Friday afternoon, we got a phone call letting us know that the restaurant closed about a year ago. Well, me being the optimistic one (not) wanted to turn around and go home to sulk for the weekend. My loving husband, however, convinced me that we would still head down and have a relaxing enjoyable weekend. Well, by Saturday afternoon, I was feeling miserable with a new cold that lasted me through the weekend and kept me flat in bed on my birthday. I did get a new sewing machine from Dallin and a gift card to the local glorified craft store from my parents, I am happy for my new toys despite the actual birthday.

A beacon upon the top of a mountain

2008-02-13T12:08:00.001-08:00

Yesterday Dallin and I had the amazing oppurtunity to attend the Rexburg, Idaho temple for a session on the very first day that it opened. It was great to be inside those temple walls with my eternal companion by my side! The temple truly is a "beacon upon the top of a mountain" (Isa 30:17) here in Rexburg and can be seen from anywhere in town. Sometimes Dallin and I like to go for drives at night just to see the beautiful structure. Not only is it beautiful on the outside, but the minute you walk through the doors there is a camling peace that surrounds you. In a talk I gave in church a couple weeks ago I mentioned that there are very few places here on earth that you can call home and truly feel at peace and close to our savior in a stormy world and one of those places is the temple.

Here is a great video of the temple where you can see how beautiful it truly is inside and out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PotAd3Gcgt8

Here are some other pictures of the temple where you can see that it sits high above everything else:

I found a few facts about the Rexburg temple on the LDS.org website:
Adjacent to the Brigham Young University–Idaho campus, the five-story Rexburg Idaho Temple soars high above its hillside location—creating a striking landmark visible for miles along the Highway 20 corridor. It is the finest, most notable building in this rural community. West of the temple lies a beautiful garden area open to the public for quiet strolls or moments of reflection.

The Rexburg Idaho Temple was the third temple built in Idaho, following the Idaho Falls Idaho Temple (1945) and the Boise Idaho Temple (1984).The announcement of the Rexburg Idaho Temple came three and a half years after the announcement that two-year Ricks College would become four-year Brigham Young University–Idaho. The other two Brigham Young University campuses in Provo, Utah and Laie, Hawaii also have adjacent temples.

While most temple groundbreakings are limited to invited guests, the groundbreaking ceremony for the Rexburg Idaho Temple was open to any and all who desired to attend. Over 8,000 people crowded on the field where the temple now stands, making it the largest group ever assembled for a temple groundbreaking.

The Rexburg Idaho Temple features beautiful ordinance room murals by Rexburg artist Leon Parson reflecting the wildlife and landscapes of the Upper Snake River Valley.
A wheat motif, created by Utah artist Tom Holdman, is used throughout the Rexburg Idaho Temple including most of the 700 art glass windowpanes. The wheat stock symbolizes the widespread agricultural industry in the area.

The finest materials were used for this House of the Lord including wood imported from Africa and stone and tile from Israel.The exterior walls of the Rexburg Idaho Temple are made of 637 pre-cast panels from 45 different molds, including the retaining wall. The material is called China White—a white quartz finish (mined in Washington state) on concrete panels. A water-proofing compound allows dust to wash off in the rain, keeping the temple a radiant white.

Interest in the open house of the Rexburg Idaho Temple was so high that additional early-morning and evening tours were added to each day.

The Rexburg Idaho Temple dedication was delayed one week due to the passing of President Gordon B. Hinckley on Sunday evening, January 27, 2008.

One week after his installment as the 16th president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, President Thomas S. Monson dedicated the Rexburg Idaho Temple as his first official act. The dedication began late, as dense fog forced President Monson's pilot to land in Pocatello, Idaho. The remaining 80-mile journey to Rexburg was resumed by car.

Meet Dallin Sauser, My Husband

2008-01-18T14:57:00.000-08:00

1.What is your husbands full name? Dallin Brent Sauser
2. How long have you been together as a couple? 1 year and 3 months
3. How long did you date? 3 months before we were engaged
4. How old is he? 23
5. Who eats more? Dallin, by far
6. Who said I love you first? Dallin
7. Who is taller? He is 6'1" and I am 5'5"
8. Who sings better? Umm, not sure, we both have our moments
9. Who gets their own way most often? Me, but not as often as I would like
10. Who does the laundry? We both do (with my encouragement)
11. Who does the dishes? Usually me
12. Who sleeps on the left side of the bed? If you are laying down in the bed, then me, if you are standing facing the bed, then Dallin.
13. Who pays the bills? I do
14. Who mows the lawn? If and when we have a lawn to mow I am sure we will share the responsibility
15. Who cooks dinner? Mostly me, but Dallin's a great cook too!
16. Who drives when you are together? Almost always Dallin
17. Who is more stubborn? I am, but he does have his moments
18. Who is first to admit when they are wrong? Dallin used to, but it has been me lately
19. Whose parents do you see more? I don't think we see either of them enough (they only live 5 minutes from each other, so we see them pretty equally)
20. Who proposed? Dallin. When he finally got ahold of my dad to ask him permission they were on our steep roof acting like they were trimming tree branches. Dallin claims he was more scare of falling off then he was of my dad. That night he took me to the board walk at Disney and asked me why I love him. He then told me all the things he loves about me and got down on one knee to pop the question.
21. Who is more sensitive? I am
22. Who has more friends? Ummm, we are both pretty friendless right now.
23. Who has more siblings? Me, with 4 brothers, Dallin has 2 brothers and a twin sister.
24. Where did you meet? Our first official meeting was in my home ward (which his parents moved into while he was on his mission), but neither of us was really interested until he tracked me down here in Rexburg.
25. Where was your first kiss? Outside my apartment
26. What was the first thing you said to him? I asked him what he thought of BYU-I
27. Where was your first date? It depends on who you ask
28. Where did you get engaged? see question 20
29. Where did you go on your honeymoon? Florida Keys
30. If you could change anything about it what would it have been? I wish we would have stayed in only one hotel opposed to traveling to many different ones on different islands.
31. Who wears the pants in your marriage? We share them

Happy Thanksgiving

2007-11-21T09:22:00.001-08:00

~ The Sausers

Happy Birthday!!

2007-11-20T15:40:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Little Man (Tanner Claiborne 11 Years Old)!!

Hunting

2007-11-14T09:43:00.000-08:00

Some of my favorite memories as a kid is the times when my family and I would go camping with my extended family in the Utah mountains and the "men folk" would go hunting. The cousins would all get togther and have sleep overs in each others tents or campers and put on plays. Hunting is something that my dad continues to do at least once a year. This year he took my little brother Brady and they had a great time. This was Brady's first hunt and he also got his first deer. He shot a 9 point buck that wighed about 180 lbs. the morning they were leaving. My dad let him use his 30-06. My dad shot a 6 point deer, but after they tried tracking it for two hours they weren't able to find it. He was using his 243 (a smaller gun) and says that he needs to get better if he is going to let his son use the larger gun in the future.

Here is a picture of my brother with his first deer.

I'm curious to see if they will be able to talk my mom into mounting it on the wall.

Long Time No Write

2007-11-11T19:52:00.000-08:00

So I am finally getting on here to put up some updates! Sorry it has taken so long!!
Dallin and I drove down to SLC on October 20th to go to the BYU vs Eastern Washington game. We met up with Dallin's twin sister Karen and her husband Taylor as well as a few of my old roommates. The game was a slaughter and I think we ended up beating them 42-7 (or close to it). It was a freezing cold day. It started off rainy and not very fun, but soon the sun came out and it was beautiful. As the game progressed, however, the snow started to fall. It was so much fun. Here are some pictures that I took. Oh, it was also Dallin and I's 6 month anniversary...We made it!
This is before the snow...

And during the snow.

This is Karen and Taylor...

And Dallin and I.

I also cut Dallin's hair (after many days of convincing) and I think it turned out pretty good!

This was our first Halloween together as a married couple. We made pumpkins and I cooked pumpkin seeds. We also had spaghetti, the claiborne family traditional Halloween meal!
Dallins picture is of the grim reaper and mine is a ghost with the word BOO at the bottom.

Things have been going well for us. Dallin is going to Reno in February to compete in the LEED competition. He has been doing great in school as usual. We have also switched our tracks for school so that next Fall we will both be able to do our internships for school, which we are leaning towards going to Minnesota for.
We can't wait to head home to Florida for Christmas in 37 days where we will spend 3 weeks.
We have also decided to move our records over to the home ward in our town, so that we are no longer attending our family ward. We have attend this ward a couple times and really enjoy it.
The weather here has been great so far, which it grrrrreat for me since I have Florida skin, and great for Dallin since he works outside everyday building houses. It hasn't snowed since the first week of October and gets into the low 50 almost everyday.
I just found out that my brother Austin broke his collar bone. He did it in the first quarter of his last football game. He will be down for about 6 weeks and probably won't be able to play in the next sport season (whatever one it may be), so keep him in your prayers.
Well I think that is all for now. We love you all and hope all is well.

Quote:
"Just as a fish in a mountain stream must be careful of the luresplaced in its path to avoid being pulled away from the water, so must youand I be wise in order to avoid being pulled away from a happy,gospel-centered life. Remember that, as Lehi observed, the devil'seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself' andobtains 'power to captivate' (2 Nephi 2:27, 29) us when we involveourselves in unclean and evil things. Thus, do not be deceived into evennibbling at unworthy things, for Satan stands ready to set the hook. It wasthe very real risk of the hook being set subtly or suddenly that let theancient prophet Moroni--who actually saw our day (see Mormon8:35)--to pointedly warn you and me to 'touch not the evilgift, nor the unclean thing' (Moroni 10:30). "There is muchthat is evil and unclean in music, the Internet, movies, magazines, and inalcohol, drugs, and tobacco. As to any evil and unclean thing, my youngfriends, do not even touch it!"
-Marcus B. Nash, "The Great Plan of Happiness," Ensign, Nov. 2006, 49-50

New Wall

2007-10-03T14:30:00.000-07:00

We finished this wall last night and I just wanted to put a picture up!

Mater

2007-09-23T20:18:00.000-07:00

School started two weeks ago and we both are really enjoying our classes. One of my favorite times so far this semester was my first day in my foundations of child development class. After the professor handed out slips of paper with ages and characteristics of our age we were then asked to be that age (I was five). We spent the first half hour of class playing with toys and having story time. Dallin is excited about an application that he has submitted for a LEED Construction competition. If he is accepted he will be traveling to either Reno or Orlando to compete with a few other classmates. As for me I am hoping to graduate by December of '08 at which point I have no idea what I will do. I would still love to do something in Child Psychology, but I am also starting to lean towards teaching pre-school or Kindergarten.

This Friday Dallin got a new toy. He called me on his way home from work with a "I love you and I hope you are in a good mood" attitude. He shyly asked if we could just go "look" at a truck that was for sell in IF. I complied with no expectations. He told me that it was a 1980 Ford F150 and was in a tow trucks lot because the DUI owner wouldn't pay the storing fees and now the tow truck man owned it and was selling it for cheap. I about laughed at that. A 1980?!?!? Are you kidding me. It's 7 years older than I am. To my surprise however we pulled up and I quickly found the charm. It runs great and the heat works (which is good since the high was 50 degrees today). We bough it for $500 and now that is all Dallin can think and talk about. The best thing is that I won't have to walk home from work now because Dallin will be able to take the truck...or Mater which we named the truck after the movie "CARS".

We have also finally gotten around to decorating our apartment, a little.

Now, let me talk to you about Fantasy Football. Dallin and I are a team on the "Sauser League". My main request was to have Tony Romo from the Cowboys be our main QB, which of course they all got a laugh out of. However, today we didn't play him and the QB that we did put in got us negative points and of course we lost the game. Dallin and I quickly realized that we had made a mistake putting in our back up QB and we will end 3rd week with a 3rd loss. O, well.

I got a new calling in church last week. I am now the RS music coordanator.

We went to my old roommates wedding this weekend also and I was able to get some pictures with my new hair so let me know what you think.

I think that is all for now. We both got new cell phone numbers:
Dallin-208-357-6493 Courtney-208-357-6494

We love you all!

Quote: "I find that if I pray not only to have a witness of the truthfulness of the scriptures but also to have the Spirit with me as I read, my sensitivity is heightened, and I see ever so much more clearly. I can see where I am in my life and where my Heavenly Father wants me to be. I can understand principles of truth, and I can see how to make the needed changes in my life. I can feel assured that the Lord will help and strengthen me to accomplish the task. Thus the scriptures become written in my life."When we read the scriptures we are hearing the voice of the Savior. He is not absent from our lives. He is actively positioned in the verses of these holy books."
(Cheryl C. Lant, "My Soul Delighteth in the Scriptures," Ensign, Nov. 2005, 77)

2007-09-23T16:40:00.001-07:00

Football Temples and Rain

2007-09-04T07:11:00.000-07:00

This weekend, since it was a 3 day weekend, Dallin and I headed down to Utah to visit his twin sister, Karen, and her husband, Taylor. Saturday morning Dallin and I went to down town Salt Lake to walk around the Gateway mall (in all the time I have spent in Utah I have never been there). I loved it. I have decided that despite all the ugliness all over the rest of Utah they sure take care of downtown SLC and it is very pretty right now. On Saturday we watch the BYU vs. Arizona game at Taylor's parents. BYU played a good game and won (of course). I can't wait until football season starts, because I am very excited about fanasty football.

Dallin came home last week and asked if he could go buy a gun to go hunting. To his suprise I told him that would be great and then he and his friends from work could go out to my dad's hunting land in montana. We will see if that happens.

Last weekend we went to get our hair cut and I went to a dark brown color again. I'll get a picture up soon so everyone can see it and tell me their opinion.

I found out two days ago that the Rexburg temple will be done and avaiable for the open house starting December 29th. The dedication will be February 3rd and then open the next day for sessions. Dallin and I are both very excited. Here is a picture of what it looks like so far!

Bonny arrived safe and sound yesterday and she is very excited about school which starts for all of us on the 12th. She showed up on the coldest day so far since Dallin and I have been here. It was in the high 50's and very rainey. Once again I am dreading cold Idaho weather!

Thats all for now...

Quote of the day:

"Let us all recognize that each of us is a son or daughter of ourFather in Heaven, who loves all of His children."

(Gordon B. Hinckley, "The Need for Greater Kindness," Ensign, May 2006, 58)

A New Life

2007-08-21T09:54:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone! So I thought I would start this page so that we could keep friends and family informed of our lives all the way out here in Rexburg Idaho. Sunday Dallin and I finally attended our ward for the second time in a row. We have been here for almost 3 months, but seem to find ourselves in utah every other weekend, so we haven't been able to attend our own ward more then every other weekend. Despite that we love our ward.
We also celebrated four months of marriage yesterday. We spent the night driving around town talking. We drove by the beautiful Rexburg temple. It is really starting to come along. Dallin and I have our fingers crossed that it will be done sometime this fall. I will have to go take a picture and get it posted up here. What a blessing it will be to have a temple within our town.
Dallin is still working in Rigby building homes. He likes his job, but it sure wears him out. I just started a new job at BYU-Idaho Alumni and Friends center. I love it so far. It allows me to feel of the spirit of the gospel. It also allowes me to become more involved in the structure and history of the school.
Dallin continues to be an amazing husband and is very patient with my moods. I am still struggling with being homesick and I am sure Dallin thinks I have a little OCD when it comes to keeping the apartment clean and money in the savings account. Nevertheless he always humors me.
Daily quote:
"Sometimes we just lose our focus and drift away. Sometimes we have our feelings hurt or some other problem occurs. It all ends up the same,and we fail to claim the blessings that can be ours. Pride, distrust,deceit, discouragement, and many kinds of sin can be removed by a change in our hearts and by following the path that the Savior has shown us. . . .The Savior has paid our ransom. He loves each of us and reaches out to all who will come and follow Him."
Elder Ned B. Roueché, "Feed My Sheep," Ensign, November 2004, 30

2007-08-17T22:36:00.001-07:00