Friday, December 26, 2008

Did We Guess Right, Auntie Lin?

Auntie Lin made all the girls these cute aprons...She told us to take a picture of us in them once we picked the one we wanted because she wanted to see if we picked the ones they thought we would. How'd we do?!

(By the way, I had just been telling my mom I wanted an apron a few days for Christmas..I was so excited to see that Auntie Lin had made some!)

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Biggest Loser! Read for more information!

]So after talking with my sisters and brothers today, we decided we wanted to do a "Biggest Loser" type competition..We thought it would be fun to see if anyone else would like to join us! Below is all the information..If you'd like to participate, leave a comment with your email address, or send me an email at kaelba2008@comcast.net. On January 1st, I will send off all the information (spread sheets, detailed information, etc.) in the emails. The more the merrier, even if we don't know you very well, feel free to join; if you have any friends that might be interested, refer them. Hopefully some of you might like to join :)

BIGGEST LOSER: BARKER EDITION


Start: January 2nd, 2009

End: April 22nd, 2009


Rules:

  1. Record your weight every Friday in spreadsheet

  2. Log for at least 3 times a week at 30 minutes or more (For each additional thirty minutes, you receive 1 bonus point..if you get a certain amount of bonus points, you get rewards, like an extra day of sweets, pound deductions, etc.)

  3. Record everything you eat in Spark People http://www.sparkpeople.com

  4. Lose weight however you want! No limits on what you eat; just be smart

  5. Do measurements every two weeks and record BMI http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/

  6. Must eat within calorie range at least 3 times a week

  7. Take pictures of yourself on January 2nd, February 20th, and April 22nd

  8. You don't have to tell anyone what your beginning weight is; the only thing that matters is the percentage of weight lost overall. You must be honest though; with the entry form, you will have to sign a piece of paper, committing to being honest in everything you record.

  9. Everyone must pay 15 dollars to the pot. Whoever loses the most percentage of weight at the end of the contest wins it all!



Spark People:

--Register free account; after filling out a free profile, it will

show you the recommended amount of calories needed to

lose weight. There is a food tracker on this website that is

very easy to use—use this to track food and calories

Exercise Spreadsheet:

--Katie will create a spreadsheet where you can input what

exercise you did, how long, and heart rate. You need to try

to get within your HR range. To figure this out, subtract your

age from 220, and then if you are under 40 years old, multiply the number by .7 and .9 to get the upper and lower

limits for your heart rate, and if you are over 40, multiply

the number by .6 and .8.


Blog:

--Write about your triumphs, experiences, disappointments,

tips, recipes, anything, on the Biggest Loser blog that will

be created on blogspot.com. If you would like to, go to

tickerfactory.com and create a ticker. You don't have to show

your weight, just how much weight you are wanting to lose!

Teams:

--If we get enough people, we will put you on teams, such as

on the real show. The purpose of the teams is just for fun--

you can put together a weekly email to send to each other,

use each other for support, etc. There will be weekly

“prizes” for the team that has the largest combined weight

loss each week; prizes would be an extra day of sweets or

an extra pound taken off at the final weigh in. If you would

like to be a team leader, tell Katie!

Miscellaneous:

--Katie will make a form for you to fill out weekly with

weight, measurements, BMI, etc. You don't have to share

this with anyone, unless you want too.

--For those interested, a weekly email will be sent out with

inspiration, healthy recipes, etc. If you would like this, let

Katie know.

--To calculate percentage of weight lost, subtract current

weight from beginning weight and then divide the difference

by the beginning weight

ex: 140-134=6. 6/140= .042 (4.2%)

--This is for fun! Don't feel discouraged if you don't find a ton

of success. Just do the best you can and hopefully you will

result in a healthier life!


It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!



1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot Chocolate, most def. Well actually, I don't think I've ever had egg nog, but it sounds gross, so I'm sure hot chocolate would win over
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Santa doesn't wrap presents. He sets them out strategically around the family room so we can see them right when we come down the stairs.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? It depends on what your decorating. Sometimes I like white, sometimes I like colored!
4. Do you hang mistletoe? We have like plastic mistletoe..haha
5. When do you put up your decorations? I wasn't here when we put them up this year :( But usually we put them up right after Thanksgiving!
6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Ohh I don't know! Everythng!
7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? Probably looking at Christmas lights on Christmas Eve and then coming home and seeing the pajamas that the elves brought! Not a favorite holiday memory, but one that i'll never forget, is how I would always throw up on Christmas morning up until i was like 12.haha
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Yep, when all my siblings lived at home, that is when we opened the one that the person who drew our name got us,but now we just pick one to open.
10. What's your fave stocking stuffer? Everything! They are always different
11.How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? We put all of our ornaments collected throughout the year
12. Can you ice skate? Yes. Can I do it well? not realy.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? As a little kid..hmm..i'm drawing a blank, but I know I got awesome stuff! Probably my American girl bitty baby. I liked the Zune I got last year a lot!
14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Family!
15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? All of them. I can't pick just one!
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Looking at Christmas lights on Christmas Eve and getting pajamas (because, if you look at my pictures, the majority of them have me wearing pajama pants..haha)
17. What tops your tree? We used to have a star. For the past while, we have had nothing. We are all too short to put something up there without a chair i think
18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? Is it bad to say both? Because I like both!
19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? There are so many I love! Probably O Come All Ye Faithful, and Where are You Christmas
20. Candy Canes? Love them!
21. Do you feel Christmas is too commercialized? Yeah, pretty much. A lot of people dont' even know the real meaning of Christmas!

Thursday, December 18, 2008

All those late nights..

Finally got to me

(This isn't posed either...I was sitting in a chair by my computer at my house last night, and I guess I fell asleep..I wasn't really coherant until the next morning. My little brother was kind of enough to capture the moment, thus enabling me to create this blog..haha. And yes, I did fall asleep with my cell phone under my chin)

I guess that staying up all night looking at flair and pictures with Linds and Kenzie isnt' the best idea..haha

Sunday, December 14, 2008

A momentary break from studying


Because my head is about to explode from studying, I decided to get my blog fix for the day. All I have to say is that I hate Biology. It is quite possibly the worst class ever, and BYU should discontinue it from their GE requirements. Actually, no they shouldn't, because I have finished it (almost), and I would hate to see others not have to go through the pain and tears (maybe not tears) that accompanied this class. Yeah, I'm not very nice--I don't like people getting off easier than me! Anyways, I just wanted to announce that I went to the Library for the first time ever to study yesterday. And guess how long I was there for? Four hours. Longest amount of time I have ever spent studying for anything. In my life. And want to know how much good it probably did? Nothing. I wish I could go back to my high school education, where I never had to study for anything and still pass with flying colors. Blahhh...Maybe I better try harder to get my M.R.S. Degree, I don't think there are any hard tests for that ;-)

Oh, and here's a funny story. Last night I had been studying for my tests kind of late int he kitchen, as were Kenzie and Lindsay. When I got up to go to the bathroom, they say something like "well, i think katie probably used to be a little bit of procrastinator before college, but not as much as she does now. We are such a bad influence" It makes me laugh that they think that I want to be like them so much, that I would sacrifice sleep to be like them! Sorry guys, I've been a world-class procrastinator since day one..Don't flatter yourselves ;-) haha

Friday, December 12, 2008

I Love to See the Temple


Today I went to the Temple! Some of my roommates go every Friday at 4:50, and today was the first day I joined them. Now, for the past three months I have always intended to go with them, but for some reason, I'm not a morning person and really struggle getting up early. Well, last night I ended up pulling an all nighter with Lindsay, and figured that with finals coming up, what better time to go to the Temple. Plus, earlier last night Andrea, Lindsay and I had been talking about the Temple and what not, and I realized I needed to make more time to do baptisms! Anyways, we went over to the temple at around 450, and there was already about..oh 20 some people in front of us. The only times I have done baptisms was when I was with my ward's youth group, so this was a little bit different experience, but neat none the less. I have actually never done baptisms in a temple besides the Denver Temple, so that was also cool. I really liked the set up of the baptismal font area. It was really pretty! So we waited for a bit in the pews until it was our turn to go into the confirmation room. While I waited, I decided to read some of the Book of Mormon, which was nice. Just being in the temple, I felt extremely calm and at peace. During confirmations and baptisms the spirit was so strong. Honestly, this was probably one of the best Temple Trips I have been on. When I was in the room where they were doing confirmations, I just felt so happy and it was reaffirmed to me how true this Church is. It was a wonderful feeling. After coming back to my apartment, I feel totally relaxed and not as stressed out about my upcoming finals. I also decided that I want to make a better effort to do baptisms next semester. I mean, I live SO close to a temple, and there is so much work to be done...why not take advantage of the opportunities I have? Anyways, I just really enjoyed doing baptisms this morning, and I'm grateful that I was finally able to go. What a beautiful place the Temple is. I can't wait to one day go through it in its entirerty; what a great day that will be! As for now...I'm exhausted, so I'm gonna go sleep until noon, when I have to go to training for my job. The real world calls, unfortunately!

(Oh just a side note I thought of..I love pictures of Temples at night time! Whenever I am trying to find a picture for a particular Temple, I am quite drawn to the ones taken at night. I just think they look so beautiful!)

Hallelujah, the end is near!



I have no idea what this picture has to do with anything, but I googled last day of class BYU, and this was one of the pictures that showed up on the first page. So I decided that this was the picture I would use. Yeah.

Today I finished my last class of my first semester of BYU. It was my communications class. What a good class to end with. Not only is it my favorite class, BUT, my teacher went through the final and told us the answers to all the questions. It's an open book, blackboard test. I'm pretty sure I'm gonna get a 100%, cuz I wrote down every word he said. Yay!

It's too bad the end of classes doesn't mean I'm done with school for semester. The worst is yet to come. Finals. I'm dreading my Biology final. My teacher is very. very. vague. So I talked to my TA. She told me what to study. Cross your fingers and say a prayer for me around 3PM on Tuesday.

I had my choir concert for University Chorale today. Freaking long. We sang 10 songs, and I could not feel my feet half way through. I thought I might pass out. Someone did pass out. I had to suppress my laughter. It was difficult. This choir was fun. Never gonna do it again though. I'm done with choir!

Another discovery was made tonight. I have impeccable aim. One of my roommates (I won't mention her name name to respect her privacy..coughChristieBeckcough) was saying some kind of rude comment towards me (I actually don't remember, but for the stories sake, she was saying a rude comment), and of course I couldn't stand for that, so I threw one of my brand new...

and I hit her every single time. It was a great moment in my life. Everyone was cheering for me. It was amazing. It definitely taught her a lesson to never mess with K-Bark.

(My roommates who were present would tell you a different story about what happened. They might even say that I have no aim. But don't believe them. They lie. About Everything)

Sunday, December 7, 2008

What a great day!

Today was such a spiritually enlightening day! I really loved Church. We had fast and testimony meeting, and there were so many wonderful testimonies born. I am truly amazed by how strong the people in my ward are. I was talking to my wonderful bishop, Bishop Armstrong, during tithing settlement, and he was saying how this ward is truly the cream of the crop. I really believe it! I have met so many wonderful people, and they all teach me something new and inspires me to be a better person. I mean, I've got 5 angels as roommates. Yes, I know that sounds really corny, but it's true. Continually I am strengthened by their testimonies, just by how they act and treat others. I am so grateful that I was led to be in the apartment I am. Deciding where I wanted to room was something I prayed about for a really long time, and even though didn't know exactly where I was going to end up in the end, after everything that happened during that roommate fiasco I know the Lord's hand was in it. There's this song, Unanswered Prayers, by Garth Brooks, and the line where it says "Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers." I truly believe that..because when I first was praying about where I should live, I was asking that I would find a roommate that I would be compatible right the day I chose. Well, those of you who I've told about that, know it wasn't the case. I was so distraught and worried about starting at college, and I really wondered why I couldn't feel at peace. I began to wonder if I hadn't had enough faith when praying. But then, after a series of events, I realized that if I hadn't chosen that initial room, I wouldn't have been brought to where I am now. So yes, although it didn't seem like my prayer had been answered in the beginning, everything that I went to had to happen, and in the end, my prayer was answered sevenfold. These girls have definitely become some of my dearest friends, and I am so grateful for them. All of them have such fun personalities and we get along so well. My life wouldn't be the same without our late night conversations, silly pranks, fires in the kitchen, and dance parties! I never really tell people how I feel about them, but I hope they realize that they have affected me in more ways than they could even realize, and they truly are answers to my prayers...And more importantaly,they have succesfully shown me that Andrea and I cannot put pull of a prank...hehe, that will be getting its own blog though. Hah, the song "For Good" from Wicked just come up on my playlist, how fitting for this blog. Well, since I doubt most of you even know who my lovely roommates are...I feel inclined to give some shoutouts to them, so ya'll see how great they are...In alphabetical order...lol


Andrea Marsh:
Andrea is from California. She has a boyfriend named Chris. haha. I love Andrea to death. We have a lot of fun together, whether it be trying (and failing) to play pranks on people, or staying up til 3AM talking about everything and anything. We go on weekly dates to Creamery every friday for dinner. We like to make fun of people that we don't know. We realized that's probably why we have no friends and no wanted to sit by us on the bus to Salt Lake. haha. I'm also getting married at her house on Christmas (not to her, of course). She likes to cook food, play the piano, talk to her boyfriend, and do random stuff. She's such a great roommate and I'm so happy that we've gotten to be friends.!


Christie Beck:
Christie is from Murray, Utah, and is tall. Like, 10 inches taller than me. haha. She is a highly entertaining person who is very easy to get along with. I really enjoy talking and hanging out with Christie, even if half our conversations consist of sarcastic remarks towards one another. She's one of those people who you immediately know has a good heart and cares about everyone, and her testimony of the Gospel is very evident. I really look up to her (more than just height wise). She plays sports, is smart, likes to clean, is really fun to hang out with, and most importantly, comes from an extremely good looking family. Her most distinct talent, however, is keeping the beat of songs. Seriously, pure talent. Anyways, she is a very wonderful friend. You haven't lived til you've meet Christie Beck!


Lindsay Irion:
Lindsay is also from Murray, Utah! She has a twin brother, Russell, who is on a mission in Germany. Lindsay is my late night buddy. We both thoroughly enjoy staying up late, doing absolutely nothing besides browsing through facebook flair (so much better than homework!) She loves to have a good time and laugh. She's definitely a kid at heart (good thing for sure!) I love chatting with her and going to midnight premiers of movies. She has a wonderful testimony and is so sweet. Whenever I am feeling kind of down, just being around her cheers me up because she always seems to be so happy. She's a really wonderful friend and a great example to me. She loves her family and little kids a lot. She wants to be a preschool teacher when she grows up. You can almost always guarentee laughter and fun when Lindsay's in the room! She doesn't really show it off all that much, but she she can sing really well! She likes the Office. Just so you know.


Mckenzie Boyle:
Mckenzie is from Sandy, Utah. She also has a twin brother, McKay, who is going to school in Salt Lake (thankfully, not to the U). There are many adjectives I would use to describe her, but the ones that describe her best are: Fun, crazy, energetic, and hilarious. Kenzie is a really talented person; she has an incredibly beautiful singing voice. Me and her love to sit around and talk about boys that we wish we had in the kitchen(specially them Beck brothers ;-)), and creep on peoples facebook. She's so much fun, I've never met someone with so much energy! She's really outgoing and nice. However, she does have a serious and spiritual side, and I love it! We are visiting teaching partners, and always gives such wonderful thoughts during visits to our girls. She always knows how to welcome someone when they come back from class, and makes everyone feel so loved! She's a great example to me in many ways. Plus, she has the coolest hair ever, I'm basically very jealous of it.



Shalece Kehl
Shalece is also from, you guessed it, Murray Utah. She's small, but loud! Shalece also has an amazing voice, and it becomes quite obvious because she is not afraid to belt a song at the top of her lungs! She is really fun, but also very dedicated to school! She's quite the actress (haha), and always tries to include everyone! She has the most interesting way of telling stories, she makes everything seem so excited! She also has a very strong testimony of the Gospel. She was one of the people who bore their testimonies todays, and it was very powerful. She loves to laugh and have a good time, and is very charismatic. Everyone loves being around her! She loves Nsync Christmas music and is a great dancer. I just love being around her, the happiness level of the room goes up about 20 notches, you can't help but be cheerful!




Ha, that sure was a tangent from the original intent of this blog. Well, like I said, Church was very good. I also had the opportunity to participate in tithing settlement tonight, and had a chance to chat with my Bishop. He's so awesome! Seriously, he really knows how to make someone feel good about themselves. Like, I never really think I make a difference to anyone, but for after talking to him, I at least felt like I contributed to the ward and others, at least in a small way. He told me how they "requested" that the BYU 13th ward boundaries would consist of the buildings with the best freshman at BYU, and that he was so happy that happened. ha ha. I love the Bishopric! I also love our relief society presidency. The relief society president, Cali, is amazing! She goes out of her way to make sure every girl feels loved and truly cares about everyone.

The last part of the night that was great was the Christmas Devotional. I have never actually watched the Christmas devotional (since KBYU didn't play at our house in Denver, it wasn't so convenient to watch as it is here). There was such a great spirit watching it. I love the first Presidency of the church. All of their talks had something in them that I had needed to hear. They made me really want to try and be more charitable, and serve others more often. I think I am going to make that my goal next semester.

This has definitely been a spiritually uplifting week. We went to Temple Square as a ward yesterday, and saw the Joseph Smith building..I'll write a blog about that later. I found out today our ward will be going to the Draper Temple before it's dedicated to take a tour..that will be a very cool experience. Needless to say, I love BYU!

Friday, December 5, 2008

I'm somewhat embarrased to admit this...

You know you are the hugest sap/pathetic person. Ever.

When you get teary eyed.


Multiple Times.

In this movie:


On a similar note... Elf Yourself is back for the Holiday Season! I get a kick out of it every time I watch it...

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Tag!

Man...I love these things!

5 TV Shows I Love to Watch:

1)
American Idol
2) Reba
3) What I Like About You
4) Anything on the food network!
5) Disney Channel shows! (Wizards of Waverly Place, Suite Life of Zach and Cody, Hannah Montana..)

5 Favorite Restaurants:
1) Red Robin
2) Zuppas
3) Hacienda Colorado
4) Tepanyaki
5) Qdoba

5 Things That Happened Yesterday:
1) I got a job!
2) Went to the BYU Bookstore with my roommates
3) Made some soup for my brother
4) Went to "Big Kid Mutual" with Christie, Kenzie, and Christie's brother, Austin
5) Various things with roommates (sat and gushed with Kenzie about certain members of the opposite sex ;-), played a prank on Kenz with linds, christie, and shalece, talked with all my roommates, planned exciting things..lol)

5 Things I Love About Fall:
1) It's SO Beautiful!
2) The weather is perfect
3) It gets darker earlier (I'm weird and like when it's dark outside..cept when I have to walk in it!)
4) Start of my favorite holidays (I agree Cindy!)
5) Making yummy goodies that just don't taste as good other times of the year

5 Things On My Wishlist:
1) Wii fit!
2) New clothes and boots
3) Fun cookbooks
4) Panini Maker
5) A boyfriend..jk..but really?

5 People I Tag:
1) Michael
2) Jared
3) Daniel
4) Lindsay
5) Christie

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Winter 2009 Schedule

I registered for classes mid-November, but I only just finalized today exactly what I want to take...Yay! I'm actually pretty excited for my classes next semester..None of them start until 1:00, and I have no classes on Friday!!

Book of Mormon with Stanley Johnson: I have heard nothing but praises for this teacher! I loved my teacher this semester, but sadly, he isn't teaching the second half of Book of Mormon during winter semester. I'm really excited though, because Brother Johnson sounds like an excellent teacher :-) My roommate Lindsay and I had originally signed up for a class with Brother Judd, only to find out it was an RM class..we switched out of that immediately! Unfortunately, there were limited classes open at that time. After I put myself into the only open class that would work with my schedule, I checked on ratemyprofessors.com (I love this website!), and found that the teacher I signed up for was really really hard and no one liked him! I was freaking out...So I refreshed the registration page religiously, and magically, one spot opened in Brother Johnson's class. Which was so great, because he was who I wanted in the first place!

Principles of Journalism with Kevin Stoker: So I have to take this class before I can apply for the Print Journalism program here at BYU. Seems pretty exciting. I loved my communications 101 class this semester, so I'm hoping this is equally as enjoyable. My brother Daniel and I are in this class together, which will be fun, unless he decides he's too cool for me and ignores me :-P

News Writing with Dennis Romboy: Another class I need to take to apply for my major..I'm hoping to apply by the end of this semester! Wish me luck :-D This should be a pretty fun class; at least I'm hoping it is!

American Heritage with Matthew Mason: The dreaded American Heritage class that everyone at BYU has to take...I'm hoping it turns out to be better than what the rumors say. However, I did read about this teacher on ratemyprofessors, and everyone seemed to really like him..Hopefully the class is more interesting and easier than I'm expecting!

Healthy Living Online: Another GE. I either could have taken the class that meets three x a week, or this online class and take two PE classes..I chose the latter option, because I was taking PE classes anyways, and I heard the online class is way easy..Woo hoo!

Dance Aerobics: LOVED this class this semester, so I figured I would take it again. I can't wait!

Human Development with Nelson: It's not entirely necessary for me to take this class, but everyone I have talked to thinks it is the best class ever. I am seriously looking way forward to it. I am also considering doing Home and family life as my minor (I'm feeling a bit hesitant about Nutrition cuz there is a lot of science involved..and as it became very obvious in biology this semester..I should probably steer clear of anything relating to science), so this class is required for that..Yay!

Intro to Guitar: Hey, I've wanted to learn for a long time, figure I might as well take it next semester!

So I think I have a pretty balanced schedule of fun and academic classes..Wish me luck!