It Was Fun While It Lasted

Still dressed in cozy sweats and the good ol' baggie boyfriend hoodie, I arrived to work at the usual early hour of 7 o' clock. Sorting the daily occurance of letters, flats, and packages has gotten to be a ritual I can do half in my sleep (Which is good, because that is definitely what I was today). After accomplishing a days work at BYU Mail, instead of going home at the designated time, I had the wonderful opportunity to begin spring semester at BYU after less than just a week of the winter semester finishing. Going directly from work to my 1:00 Doctrine and Covenants class, then the 4:00 ESL Foundations class, and THEN ending with the 7:00 ESL Acquisitions class completed my day at the late hour of 9:30 pm. Yep. Count the hours. That would be a grand total of 14 1/2 hours spent on BYU campus today. That is how my Tuesdays and Thursdays for the next 5 weeks will be.

Sounds like fun, doesn't it?

Kate's Day of Birth!

Happy Belated Birthday Katie!

Pink ballet shoes, flashy costumes, and a gorgeous grin is what has encompassed much of her life. She might be clumsy while trying to pour a glass of milk or trip going down the stairs, but she never ceases to amaze me with her graceful fluid movements on the stage while she dances across the floor. Her long elegant fingers were made to glide across the piano and pluck the strings of a violin. Not only does she excel in peforming arts, but her mind is a factory for creative ideas and a warehouse of math equations, stories, and memories of the past. I love her distinct laugh. Most importantly, she is one of the most kind, patient, thoughtful and sweet people I have ever had the honor of being friends with.

Happy Late 20th Kate!

Life Sketch. 300 Words.

I recently had to write a biological sketch about my entire life for a scholarship application.

For kicks and giggles and because I love my blog so much, I decided to share it with you all. It was hard to write about an entire 20.02 years of my life in 300 words. I feel like I've lived more than just one paragraph. But maybe I haven't.

This is my life. In 300 words:

I was born on the first Tuesday of April in 1989. I inherited a body and a family—all at once. I grew up in the dry Utah air. As a kid, I lived to “play pretend”. I imagined myself as a doctor, a princess, a teacher, and a world-renowned rodeo star. During my middle school years, I broadened my horizons and grew to love the creative English language through writing. I experimented with music as my fingers stretched over the fingerboard of a violin. I dabbled in culinary arts, piano-playing, basketball and softball. My life was shaped by new things during my seventeenth summer. That year, I participated in a nationwide competition in Tennessee. While competing, I grew in ways unbeknownst to me. My eyes were opened as I met people of different races and cultures. My competitive nature became apparent as I presented what would become a national gold medal project to differing judges and most of all, I found myself as I re-evaluated the values that had been instilled in me since I was born. The Gospel truths I’d been taught all my life quickly became more than just teachings—they became the immovable foundation of my existence. I realized who I was meant to be and took a stand for my beliefs. But that wasn’t the end of the story, I kept growing up. I graduated from high school and accepted a scholarship at Brigham Young University in Provo. Now, as an elementary education student in my second year, I am still just growing up. Through it all I’ve learned that the first Tuesday of April in 1989 was more than just a good day where I was given a body and a family. No, I was given much more. I was given a beautiful life.

April Updates

Catherine made me this bag and brought it by last week. Amazing, isn't she? Wanna see more of Catherine's craftiness? Go here!

On my day of birth last week I recieved these

To go over my new set of these

(I'm itching to start marking them up and filling in the margins already!)

My sisters surprised me with John Wayne Memorabilia like one of these

My hope chest now contains one of these bad boys

And my bank account now has a handful of these

All in all, a great birthday and an AMAZING weekend full of the LDS General Conference. I feel so uplifted and ready to keep going strong! After hearing L. Tom Perry's talk on missionary work I have a revitalized feeling to go out and do some missionary work! Here's my regular shout out to all of the missionaries around the world and to those of you getting ready to serve missions. I truly admire and respect you to no end.

As an afterthought... I figured i should probably come up with some type of organized system for marking up the new scriptures (instead of the regular blue and red pencil system with cross references and thoughts in the margins).

What do you do when you mark your scriptures and write in them?

Happy Birthday Alex!

This studly looking young man is one of my very best friends in the entire world and it's his 19th birthday today! We grew up playing power rangers, doing crazy "experiments" with dirt, worms, and countless stuffed animals. He introduced me to putting salt on my tomatoes and eating them as a snack, we've done countless FHE's of swimming and going to the library. Together we have planned group dates, bike rides, and we have even supported each other all those times when our poor little fishies died. Primary was always a blast when it came to listening to Alex's talks; in the time it took one kid to give a 5 minute talk, Alex could do a talk of the same length in 30 seconds flat.

One of my most favorite experiences with Alex was when we both received the Kiwanis Award for teenagers that will make a future difference in the world. To stand up there with my "brother" and get surprise awards that we had no idea we were getting was an event I will never forget. Alex was smiling his classic Alex smile-where you can see every bulging vein in his neck and he has this huge cheesy grin on his face. I didn't really care about the award, I was just pleased to be able to stand with a kid that I really do think will make a difference for the better in this world.

Sure, he's a little quirky, but he's the best friend anyone could ever ask for. Alex is always there to stand up for a friend in need, he can move his hips like none other, he's friends with everyone he meets (and I mean EVERYONE), and you can't help but laugh at most things that come out of his mouth. If you have never met Alex, I give you just one suggestion-meet him! He is one of those people in live you will NEVER forget!

So... Happy 19th Alex!

Go Green

Everything and I mean everything in Oregon is green. You know the song, "It's Not Easy Being Green" by Kermit the Frog? Well, apparently for Oregon, being green is extremely easy. Beginning with the leafy green treetops traveling the length of the moss encrusted bark finishing with the grass covered roots as they disappear into the ground. Everywhere you go it's green, green, and more green. My mind was going into green shock. As much as I love green, I was glad to finally be back in Utah where God generously used a full pallette of colors around the state. Don't get me wrong though, Oregon is a beautiful state to visit! It was a much needed vacation from school and some great sister bonding time! The trip itinerary consisted of...

Day 1

Goodbye to Mom and Grandma at the airport

(Misty's first plane ride-she, of course, loved it. It was NOT my first time, but I still freak out because I hate flying.)

Picking up our fancy schmany Chevy Malibu from the Rental Place

Finding our way through the one-way streets to our hotel for the first night-The Aloft.
(and rescuing Codi from insanity of her week conference for work)

Day 2

Multnomah (yes, that's how you spell it) Falls. Gorgeous, wet, and you guessed it-Green!

Multnomah Falls Gift Shop where we picked up some sweet awesome souvenirs for the parents and for ourselves, of course!

Waiting for Misty to get off the phone...

My favorite falls; it really looked like a horsetail coming out of the rock!

The Dalles (where they higher/lower the water for ships on the river) we crossed the bridge so we could say we'd gone to Washington, then crossed right back over into Oregon.

Day 3

Seaside! The word "beach" means that no matter what the weather, you HAVE to take off your shoes and socks and run in the waves.

It's hard to tell, but my toes are bright red and numb from the freezing Pacific Ocean water.

Visitor center at "The Column"

(it really was just that... a column)

Look close, you can see the pictures and a story is told around the entire column.

Day 4

The Portland temple! The spires stick out from behind a vast array of pine trees and you can sneak a peek of Captain Moroni standing tall and blowing his trumpet from certain spots on the freeway.

Day 5 (Homeward Bound!)
Met an older gentleman on the plane ride home who was on his way to Grand Junction. He was this amazing architect and traveled the country for his company. When the stewardess came down the aisle we both couldn't decide between the airline peanuts or the cookies. He got the peanuts, I got the cookies. We ended up halfing them and sharing with each other. He helped me out with my American Lit. homework and I sat and listened to his presentation about budgets, stats, and the logistics of running a company. Definitely an entertaining 2 hours of flight time (all the while the guy next to the window fell asleep before the plane even took off! If you're going to hog the window seat, you'd think you'd stay awake long enough to enjoy looking out it...)

The plane landed. No crash landing. I was alive. But... we were welcomed by a blanket of snow on the airport ground and swirls of snowflakes around our heads as we headed to the baggage claim area. A girl just can't seem to get a break! At least it's snow and not rain... right? Ha!

All in all a great vacation, great company, great memories! Thank you Big Green Oregon!

Rex Lee Run 2009

Two Thumbs Up for Cancer Patients!

Can you spy Jamie?

What a cold day to have to run on this year! It was definitely worth it though! For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Rex Lee Run, it is a 10K/5K race that honors the late cancer patient and president of BYU-Rex Lee. It has since grown into a race that honors all cancer patients and survivors and all proceeds are donated to cancer research. I ran with my wonderful cousin and his wife (who generously made me choc. chip pancakes after the race) and I beat my time of last year by 5 minutes. Pretty good, eh? The best part of the race? Honoring the cancer survivors and those who have passed on because of it. My wonderful adopted Grandmother was one of these amazing people. Char Currie is someone who I miss more than anyone. She was the best Grandmother a girl could ask for and after 4 rounds of cancer she was able to go home to live with Heavenly Father last summer. I ran for this amazing woman this year and I was proud to have her name on my back. She was at my side the entire race! For those of you who have ever battled any kind of cancer, know that I admire and respect you so much. Shoutout to Mama Johnson for overcoming her cancer years ago and for my good friend Mike who battled it in the 5th grade.