Katie's Blog: I'm Just Sayin . . .

Moved

2011-03-01T09:39:00.000-07:00

Well, anyone that probably cares knows that I don't really update this blog anymore, and just primarly write on my husband and mine's blog. If you didn't know that and miss reading my wonderful (cough) posts, feel free to add our blog to your reading list! :) I may update this blog someday...but probably not. :)

Forrest and Katie -- http://forrestandkatie.blogspot.com

2011-01-06T11:46:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been quite awhile since I've posted something.

Why? Well, you know, I've been going skiing (oh actually, not really skiing, it was actually quite the terrible experience and I will never go again!), hanging out with the family, playing games, celebrating Christmas, flying to North Carolina . . .

Oh, and I got married! It was absolutely spectacular and turned out perfectly. And now I'm married to my sweetheart for time and all eternity. Nothing sweeter than that. We've been thoroughly enjoying the past few weeks together and just returned back to Provo last night around 10. Our house is a mess with presents, we haven't bought our books, and all we have to eat is a bunch of expired food, some left over soup from the wedding, and a giant ham my grandpa gave us . . . but we couldn't be happier. I love being married to my best friend, and I am constantly amazed by how sweet he is. Seriously, I'm the luckiest girl in the world. I sure love him.

I'll start posting about all of the winter break festivities on our other blog soon, but I thought I'd just post on update on here with a brief overview of what we've done. It sure was a few weeks of pure newly wedded bliss :)

Skiing at Copper Mountain--Catastrophe!

Receiving my Endowments in the Denver Temple the day before our wedding (beautiful experience!)

Wedding Dinner at Olive Garden...yummy

THE WEDDING! :) :)
Here are a few of our pictures, courtesy of Anna Gleave Photography, who we couldn't have been happier with. She's a great friend and an amazing photographer who, from the pictures we've seen so far, has captured everything so perfectly.

We also chose to have a wedding video done of our day, and seriously, I am SO happy we did! I can't get enough of watching it and Bethany Campbell was so great. You can watch the video here. Bethany is amazing!

Christmas Eve and Christmas in Denver with my family :)

A wonderful North Carolina reception!

The Beach in Wilmington, even though it was WAY too cold. Forrest braved the waters, but couldn't stand it for more than a few minutes.

New Years Eve on the Beach

My suitcase being left in Sanford, about 2.5 hours away from Wilmington. Sure was fun surviving on just about nothing for a few days :)

Trying out some yummy new restaurants!

Hanging out with Forrest's family a bit

Staying at a beautiful home of the nicest man in Forrest's family's ward back in NC

Canooeing

Flying back to Colorado on flights that I couldn't wait to get off of. I do not like flying AT ALL! Forrest was very sweet and let me squeeze his hand extremely tightly at different times.

Trying, and succeeding, and stuffing everything into our car and driving back to Utah in the dark.

:) Life is sweet...very sweet :)

Reflections from a Bride-to-be

2010-12-22T06:14:00.000-07:00

In less than 8 hours, I will no longer be a single woman. I will be married to my sweetheart. I will be Katie Clark!

I can't believe this day has finally come. Marrying Forrest exceeds all my dreams and expectations for the type of person I would marry. I didn't realize that I was deserving of so much love, of such a wonderful companion.

We met almost 1 year ago. January 2nd, 2009. When I first saw him, I honestly had no idea that he would eventually become the most important person in my life. However, soon after that first meeting, I found him to be quite charming and endearing. Before we even started dating, I knew that I wanted to be with him. I realized that he was different from any other guy. When he asked me to be his girlfriend, after I got in my car, I cried. Part of me knew that this was the start of something that could possibly last forever. The other day, a good friend asked me if I felt like I have known him forever, like he's always been in my life. And the answer is yes. I can't imagine what my life would be like without him, and I'm so happy I don't have to know. We're going to be together forever.

I'll admit, there were times where I didn't know where our relationship was going. I was frustrated, because, well, going to BYU where people get married after 2 weeks can get a person that way. However, I know, without any doubt, that the Lord guided and directed our courtship, and it went the way it was supposed to, according to His timing. 9 months might not seem like that long (or to the BYU-Mormon culture, it might seem too long), but it was perfect for us. I feel like we know each other very well, and are very well prepared to start our marriage and eternity together. He's my best friend. I never knew I could feel so much love for a person, and I know that will only continue to grow.

The past few weeks have been crazy, but totally worth it. Everything has come together so nicely, and I'm so grateful for all the help of everyone, especially my wonderful mother who worked so hard to make sure everything worked out according to what we wanted.

Yesterday was amazing. I was able to take out my Endowments at the Denver Temple. Beautiful experience. I've never felt the Spirit so strongly. I can't wait to go back. It was such a special experience to be there with almost all my family. My parents were there, all of my immediate siblings, and most of my siblings spouses, as well as Forrest's mom and his oldest sister, Meredith. There were a couple of times I couldn't hold back my tears. Being there with Forrest made it even more amazing, and I was able to see him in another sort of light, which confirmed my decision that us getting married is pleasing unto the Lord. I can't think of a better way to start a marriage. To anyone who hasn't made it to the Temple yet, prepare yourself, and do it. There is nothing more important that you can do, and I'm sure I will believe that even more and more as the years go on.

We had a wonderful wedding dinner at Olive Garden last night. It was great to be there with my family. The food was great, and we all had a good time. I got a little contemplative (not sad, as Forrest was convinced I was), just about how everything really is about to change, and when my dad said something, I just lost it, but it was wonderful. Forrest leaned over and was like "It's just like a rollercoaster ride..It'll be fast and crazy, sometimes crazy. But thank you for letting me ride it with you" (note that is not a direct quote. It's all I can piece together at 6 AM).

I can't wait. I love Forrest so much. And I'm so happy I get to be with him for eternity.

As Elder Bruce R. McConkie said, "The most important single thing that any Latter-day Saint ever does in this world is to marry the right person, in the right place, by the right authority." I'm sure marriage won't be easy, but I know it will be so worth it and we will make it, because we are getting married in the right place, by the right authority. And, to the right person :)

8 Days!

2010-12-14T16:49:00.001-07:00

8 days until I'm married! Woo hoo! People keep asking me if I am totally stressed out about it, and really, not anymore. Yes, there was a point about two weeks ago where I about had a breakdown, but since then, everything has come together so nicely. I just can't wait to get home on Thursday, because, then the real countdown can begin! I think everything is really starting to come together. I am going to be taking out my Endowments next Tuesday, the day before the wedding. I'm very anxious, nervous, and excited for that. Here is just a sneak peak of everything that is to come (mainly because I'm so excited and want to talk about the details!)

Tomorrow is my final dress fitting and then I get to bring it home! I got my Bridals done by Creative Wedding Events, and Amanda did a spectacular job! I wish I could post all of the pictures here, but being the traditionalist that I am (or maybe being as superstitious as I am!), don't want Forrest to see the dress until our wedding day. Until then, here is a very, very little sneak peak (haha, you can't even see the dress).

Our cake flavors? Well, we put a lot of thought into this. We wanted something delicious. We researched all different sorts of flavors, and this is what we came up with :)

Buttercream frosting on all the layers

First layer: White cake with Raspberry

Second Layer: Spice Cake with a whipped brown sugar panache

Third Layer: Pound Cake with a strawberry filling

Fourth Layer: Oreo

I only wish I could eat all of the flavors (maybe I can convince my mother to save us a piece of each :) It's going to be a surprise what it looks like! (mainly because I don't have a picture. We decided what we wanted it to look like by taking bits of pieces of cakes we saw)

My nieces, Alexis and Tori, are going to be my junior bridesmaids. We found this beautiful dresses awhile ago (okay, I found them before we were even engaged). They will, of course, have a cute little sweater to go with them. My other nieces, Lyla and Kaci, will have green dresses as well, that we got for an awesome price. I just don't have a picture of them!

Here is the bridesmaid skirt! I love it so much! We also found a way cute cardigan to have everyone wear with it!

All the groomsmen and my nephews have really pretty green ties that we got from Cheap-neckties.com (awesome site, by the way)

Forrest is going to look mighty suave in a gray tux with a green tie. We are picking that up tomorrow!

We are going to have a delicious hot chocolate bar, soups with assorted bread, and spinach artichoke dip at the reception (and a few other things, I believe). I have to say, years ago (probably like...3?) I told my mom how much I really wanted to get married in December and have a hot chocolate bar and soups. I've seen several people doing hot chocolate bars lately, but just so everyone knows, I'm not copying them! haha. The reception is going to be beautiful though!

And most importantly, this is where Forrest and I will be married for time and all eternity. Granted, there will be no flowers like that, but if the weather report proves to be correct (oh please be right!), it will be 52 degrees and sunny! Almost unheard of for a few days before Christmas!

I'm so happy :)

Merry Christmas Straight To You

2010-12-14T16:28:00.000-07:00

I epically failed at posting a song, picture, or tradition every day of December. I've had more important things to be doing anyways :) (Check out Forrest and Mine's blog for those details!)

The other day as I was driving home from work, this song came on the radio. My mom has always loved George Strait, so I remember hearing songs from him quite often growing up. This is one Christmas song I remember from an early age (along with some song that's like "every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings..haha). One year my mom had us sing it while my dad recorded it and we sent it to my Grandparents because they weren't going to be able to make it for Christmas that year.

Random, but hey, I love this song!

2 weeks . . .

2010-12-08T19:54:00.000-07:00

In two weeks, I will be married for time and all eternity to my wonderful fiancé Forrest. I seriously can't believe it. The past month and a half has just flown by, but yet, the 22nd can't come soon enough. There are just some days where I feel so incredibly grateful for Forrest (okay, EVERY day I feel so grateful for him, but somedays are just even more :). He is so sweet to me. Really, I can't even explain it. He is the perfect match for me. Seeing him is the highlight of my day, and I can't wait to be his wife.

When we were up in Salt Lake the other day, we were walking around temple square. As we were, we looked up and saw the capital. Forrest mentioned "hey that's where we first held hands!", which was cute of him to remember. He then commented on how our relationship has come such a long way. It really has! When I first met Forrest almost a year ago, I never could have imagine the joy and happiness he brings into my life. He never ceases to tell me he loves me, and that he will, forever. And I know he means it. He is always so concerned about me. The other night I was having a rough time, and he just stood outside my apartment door and let me cry and hug him. He was so sweet. He sent me such a sweet text when he got home, and made sure I was feeling better the next day. I love him so much, and I know that our relationship is going to last through eternity. I am so grateful to have the knowledge that our relationship can last forever, and there is no one else I would rather be with. I know everyone else say they have the best fiance ever...but rest assured, I REALLY do :)

So, in two weeks, I will be Katie Clark! Before I even started dating him, my friend, Rachael (who likes to think she called our relationship from the start, along with our friend,and Forrest's old roommate, Kristian), was like "Katie Clark! That's so cute! It sounds like a journalist name!" haha. Let the countdown begin!!!! :)

(you can read our blog at http://forrestandkatie.blogspot.com)

50 Free Christmas Cards from Shutterfly!

2010-12-02T13:11:00.000-07:00

So I've personally never used Shutterfly, but I can tell their products are super cute! In fact, as soon as I get back our engagement photos (hopefully this weekend!), we will be creating our wedding guest book there (Diana sent us a coupon for a free one! Yay!). This year, they are offering 50 free Holiday Greeting Cards to anyone who will blog about the deal and website. All you have to do is fill out this form http://blog.shutterfly.com/5358/holiday2010-blog-submission-form/ and viola, they will send you a coupon for free cards! I've never sent out Holiday/Christmas cards before, but hey, if their free, we might as well start now!

On the First Day of Christmas . . .

2010-12-01T19:35:00.000-07:00

Today I'm going to talk about a Barker Family Christmas Tradition . . .

Around our house, we love Christmas, and had lots of fun, memorable traditions growing up and that still continue today. One of my personal favorites is looking at Christmas lights and getting pajamas from the elves while we were out on Christmas Eve.

Apparently when my sister Kristalyn (I believe) was little, my parents got a deal going with Santa's Elves that every Christmas Eve, while my parents took their children out to look at Christmas lights, they would arrive at our house and lay out brand new, comfortable pajamas for everyone that was spending Christmas Eve at the house that night. I loved going and seeing some extravagant Christmas light displays that some people would put up in celebration of the season, and then arriving home to pajamas. I remember when I was little I would be so nervous that they wouldn't come (and I'd be so nervous Santa wouldn't come--maybe I had a guilty conscience about something?), but without fail, they always did.

As the years have gone on, our trips to Christmas lights have shortened significantly, typically just to a neighborhood near ours, but I always look forward to the new pajamas. I pretty much love pajamas, and if I could, I would wear them all the time (I don't though). After we look at our pajamas, everyone goes to change, and then we take a traditional family Christmas picture in front of the tree, sporting our pajamas. As I have been scanning some pictures for Forrest and mines' wedding video, I've come across a few from over the years. Enjoy!

Not sure what year this is . . . Maybe 1991?

Christmas 1996

Christmas 2007

Christmas 2008; I couldn't find the picture of us from this year...so pictures of the pajamas will have to do!

Christmas 2009

Day 21 - A picture of something that makes you happy

2010-11-30T17:32:00.000-07:00

Day 21 - A picture of something that makes you happy

I epically failed at keeping this up--and I thought I was doing so well! Oh well. Maybe I'll finish this off this month. In addition, I decided I wanted to do something "Christmas-y" on my blog this year, so I think every day (or, every day that I can), I am going to highlight a specific Christmas song that I love, and write a little bit about it, talk about some type of family Christmas tradition, and/or other random Christmas topics. That will be fun!

Anyways, a picture of something that makes me happy. There are some obvious choices I could put up...Forrest, my family, the temple . . . but I do those quite often, so here is something random that makes me happy:

I'm getting married, in the middle of December, in Colorado. There have been very few December's that I can remember that weren't freezing anod didn't have snow on the ground. Thus, I'm preparing myself for a rather chilly wedding day. My dress is short sleeve (because really, I don't like long sleeve dresses all that much), and probably not the most conducive article of clothing for heat. Forrest suggested I wear long underwear my dress (he's always full of great ideas), but that obviously wouldn't keep my warm up top. So, as I was looking at the place I got my dress, Gowns by Pamela (by the way, go there to find your dress! Seriously gorgeous dresses and super amazing prices...renting sounds kinda ghetto, but it's worth it, I'm pretty sure), and they have these pretty "winter capes" you can rent. So, after talking to my mom, we decided it would be a good idea to have one of these at the temple. Granted, I probably won't wear it that much, since I don't want it to cover up my dress or veil or hair, but it will be good for some moments--maybe it'll make a few good pictures. Anyways, that is what has made my happy today!

Grateful

2010-11-30T13:39:00.001-07:00

I haven't posted for awhile--planning a wedding in a month and a half, trying to finish up a semester of school, and cuddling with my sweetheart, all while working doesn't leave much for much else. :) And I realize Thanksgiving is over, but I still wanted to write a grateful post, because, frankly, I have far too much to be grateful not to write it all down.

~There is finally a working heater in my apartment! For the past month I have been sleeping with a long sleeved shirt, a hoodie, and two pairs of pajama/sweat pants, and three blankets. Last night I actually went to bed without half of those things. Yahoo!~

~I got to go home for Thanksgiving and spend it with my parents and little brother, and, of course, Forrest. It was such a nice break and I just love going to Colorado!~

~We missed any major snow to and from Colorado. I feel very blessed about that~

~My wonderful family who I just love so so much~

~My friend Cortney for picking up our wedding announcements because they arrived in Provo the day after we left~

~Elegant Wedding Announcements for making our beautiful announcements, and at an affordable price!~

~That we won free bridal and engagement photos, which really cut down costs on photography by quite a bit~

~Even though someone coughForrestcough woke up later than originally planned on Black Friday, we were still able to get lots of great things (mainly for my mom)~

~Promises that come with paying tithing--everything really does work out!~

~The sweet couple that are teaching the marriage prep class we are in right now. We've only been once, but it was such a great class and we learned a lot. I'm excited to go to the last two!~

~The Gospel and the part it plays in my life. I am so grateful to have been raised in the Church and to know what I know~

~My English Language TA is letting me turn in my assignment late, but for full credit, since I had to miss class last Tuesday so we could miss the snow storm~

~My parents~

~My siblings, their spouses, and children~

~My future inlaws. Heaven knows someone as wonderful as Forrest had to have come from a wonderful family. I can't wait to get to know them better~

~That I can beat Forrest at Wii Tennis on occasion, and always Mario Kart (sorry Forrest :)~

~Pictures~

~The Temple--I am so blessed to live so close to one, and that in less than a month, I get to go there to be sealed to my sweet fiance for time and all eternity~

~Everyone that is helping us plan the wedding and helping it come together so smoothly~

~Car battery chargers~

~My job~

~Mint M&M's~

~Getting to see lots of old friends this last week~

~My boots that Forrest hates but I think look awesome with every single article of clothing I own (though I might be the only one who thinks this)~

~The pair of shoes I got at the bookstore three years ago for three dollars that keep my feet warmer than anything else~

and last (but certainly not least)

my wonderful fiancé, Forrest. I'm sure everyone is sick of sappy posts that I write about him, but he truly is the greatest. He makes me so happy by doing just the smallest things. I can't hardly believe we will be married in less than a month, but there's nothing I want more. Even when things are hard and I'm not quite sure how things are going to work out, I know they will as long as I have Forrest by my side. He watches Cake Boss with me and loves it as much as me. He drives my car because he knows how much I don't like driving. He teases me about how once 11:00 hits, I can't stay awake, especially if a movie is on. He holds my hands and cuddles me lots because I'm always so freezing, even when it makes him colder in the process. He is smart and informed about the world. He served a wonderful mission and I know he loved the people he served so much (and I know they loved him too!). I can be myself around him. He's goofy. He's my other half. My friend, Tasha, just got engaged, and she and her fiance both wrote on their blogs about how the others talents fill their gaps, and I love that. That's how I feel about Forrest. I can't describe how much I love this man :)

Happy (late) Thanksgiving!

Day 20 - Someone you could see yourself marrying

2010-10-30T09:23:00.000-06:00

Day 20: Someone You Could SEe Yourself Marrying

What great timing :) To read the story, click here

Day 19 - Nicknames

2010-10-28T00:14:00.000-06:00

Day 19 - Nicknames you have; why do you have them

Over the years, I have accumulated several nicknames. Not many of them are very exciting. But they are nicknames nonetheless. Actually, they are kind of awesome. Especially my nickname of "coolest most wonderful amazing person in the whole entire world." That's what most people call me, really.

Just kidding.

Well, to start out, Katie is actually my nickname, though it's what I've gone by my whole life. See, my name is Kathryn. If I am remembering me correctly, my parents really liked the name Katie, but they thought they shouldn't just name me a "nickname", which you know, is cool. I like my full name. Kathryn Eleanor Barker. It's nice. I like that Kathryn isn't spelled like most people spell it.

My name called/maybe still does call me, Katie Petunia. Not quite sure where the came from.

My Grandpa Park has always called me Katy Bug. I've always loved that.

Megan, my awesome friend, calls me Kathy. I really don't think she ever calls me Katie. I can't remember why she started calling me Kathy, but she has for a long time.

Freshman year of high school, my friend, Chris, decided to tell everyone at our lunch table what kind of animal their face looked like. He said I was a Koala. I still am trying to decide if I should be offended.

Same person decided that since my last name is Barker, he would bark at me down the hall. For the rest of the time I've known him, he's referred to me as Katie Ruff Ruff.

At one of my youth conferences in high school, we went up to the mountains in January. On the way down, there was a huge snow storm and we were stuck for like five hours. We got pretty slap happy in the car. And one of the young mens leaders, Brother Ballard, gave us all nicknames. My name was k-train. He still calls me that when he see's me.

Cortney calls me Tate. I can't remember where that came from, but it started sometime in high school.

I think my most infamous nickname though would have to be K-Bark. My freshman year, my roommates and I were thinking of our gangster names (first initial of your first name, and part of your last name). They all thought that K-Bark was pretty sweet, and ever since, they have called me that. It's quite endearing, actually. When I moved in with other people my sophomore year, it was a bit odd to be called Katie, to be honest. I remember one time freshman year, Christie had brought over her boyfriend. They all called me K-Bark the whole night, so he started to as well, because he thought that was really what I went by. It was pretty hilarious. A few weeks ago I was hanging out with these old roommates of mine and they discovered that, if Forrest and I got married, my nickname would still be pretty sweet and could just be changed to K-Clark, which sounds just as great. If that didn't seal my fate with Forrest, I don't know what else would.

And just to add a picture, here is a picture of my roommates and I freshman year when we dressed up "gangsta" and walked around campus one night. I assure you, we WERE the coolest kids at BYU that year.

(seriously, I miss my freshman roommates lots. Sometimes I just sit here and think about how great that year was, and if I could redo one year, it would be that one. You guys are the best!)

Day 18 - Plans/dreams/goals you have

2010-10-24T15:27:00.000-06:00

Day 18 - Plans/dreams/goals you have

I've heard a quote numerous times that says something like "If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans." For just that reason, I don't make plans. Because they don't work out.

Okay just kidding. That's totally a lie. I plan, a lot. More so than I probably should. I have a plan of how my life should go, though, in reality, I realize that there's no way I can predict exactly how my life is going to go. But I can have a rough draft kind of laid out, can't I?

Sometimes though, I fail to plan. Many of my friends frequently comment on how Forrest and I never seem to plan things, we just kind of go with it. This happened a lot when we first started dating. My roommates would be like "Oh, when are you and Forrest going to go to such and such?" And I would respond with "I dunno. Whenever he calls." I think we've gotten better at planning when we are supposed to be doing things. But a little spontaneity never hurt anyone right?

But as of right now, here are some of my plans/dreams/goals

1) Graduate from college (Despite what some people think, coughforrestcough, I did not come to BYU just to get my MRS Degree.)

2) Get an internship for journalism somewhere awesome, like at the New Era, or in Washington D.C. (as of right now, I'm leaning towards the latter)

3) Get married to the most wonderfulest person in the world (I wonder who that could be! ;)

4) Have cute kids

5) Live somewhere cool. I feel like I have lived in pretty much the same place forever. Because, well, I never moved from my house in Colorado until I was 18, and even then, I moved to Utah. Not the hugest culture change. I think it would be neat to live in another part of the country (or world!)

6) Serve a mission with my hubby someday

7) Go to Disneyland (again. I love that place)

8) Share my testimony more

9) Get caught up on my sleep (I realize this probably won't happen until I'm like 70. But that's okay)

I'm tired...so with that, I'm done.

Day 17 - Someone you would want to switch lives with for one day and why

2010-10-24T15:16:00.000-06:00

Day 17 - Someone you would want to switch lives with for one day and why

I thought about skipping this day as well since I can't really think of anyone that I want to switch lives with. I've thought of celebrities, friends, family, etc., and while there are many people I know (or know of) that have wonderful lives that anyone could certainly be envious of, I still don't know if I'd want to switch. Everyone has their insecurities and struggles in life, and I'm not sure if I'd want to experience what someone else is going through underneath their outward appearance. Who knows if I could handle it! haha. Just kidding. It would be interesting to see how others think and view the world. I think I'd like to switch places with someone really tall, just so I can know what it feels like not to have stand on my tippy toes when I'm standing behind some tall person, or crane my neck to see something in classes or church. Who knows. It would be fun to switch with just about anyone, because, it's just for a day, right?

Day 16 - Another picture of yourself

2010-10-22T15:27:00.000-06:00

Day 16 - Another picture of yourself

This picture was taken at the Festival of Colors in Spanish Fork, UT last March or so. Forrest and I went to it, which was an adventure in itself...You can read about that here. Since we got there late, we didn't get as covered as most people, but here's the little bit of pink that was on my face. I kind of like this picture. Thus, why it's being posted today.

Day 15 - Put your iPod on shuffle: First 10 songs that play

2010-10-21T09:41:00.000-06:00

Day 15 - Put your iPod on shuffle: First 10 songs that play

Well, I don't own an iPod. Because I'm not rich enough for something like that. I do own a san disk sansa though. However, that broke and I'm sending it back to get it replaced (yay for year-long warranties!). But since I would hate to leave you all without a list of random songs I listen to, I'll put my playlist.com playlist on shuffle. Here's what came up!

1) Can't Help Falling in Love by Ingrid Michaelson (okay, it's originally done by Elvis, but I love this version. It's beautiful!)

2) Never Gonna be Alone by Nickelback (okay, I don't care what people say about how all their songs are the same, I absolutely love Nickelback. It's all about the lyrics! This song is awesome though. First time I heard it, it made me tear up again. Another song of their's that I like is Gotta be Somebody. I feel like I discovered both of these songs at times in my life that they were rather applicable. I put it on Daniel and Charbel's wedding video back in May. Which reminds me...I need to make a copy of that for Charbel like I said I would)

3) The Great Escape by Boys like Girls (Last year I went through a phase where I was obsessed with Boys like Girls. I pretty much thought they were thebomb.com.)

4) Forever and Ever, Amen by Randy Travis (Don't laugh. It's a classic. I remember watching this music video on GAC when I was younger. It's pretty much the best video/song ever. I think it just has a timeless, cute message :)

5) Outside my Window by Sarah Buxton (Not much to say about this song. It's kind of a fun one!)

6) Love Bug by Jonas Brothers (I know...It's kind of shameful I like a few of their songs. But I think it's cute. I heard this song when I first met Forrest, so, of course, I listened to it over and over again because of course, I'd caught that love bug ;-)

7) Don't Stop Believing done by the Glee Cast (LOVE Glee's song. Not so much this season. I think the episodes are getting a little too sketchy for my taste. It was funny; the people in my FHE group were talking about how they thought the episode on religion was SO good and SO well done. I just had to keep my mouth shut. I thought it was totally sacreligious and irreverent.)

8) Don't Write Me Off by Hugh Grant, in Music and Lyrics (Cute song. Cute Movie.)

9) Everybody by Ingrid Michaelson (Obviously, I love Ingrid. Her music is so happy and cheerful. I really want to see her live sometime!)

10) I'd Rather be With You by Joshua Radin (Another one of my favorite artists. One of my favorite songs too.)

There you have it! If you want to listen to them, the playlist is at the bottom of the page!

Pumpkins

2010-10-20T17:41:00.001-06:00

Today, I came to a realization.

Today I realized that I'm addicted to pumpkin.The taste, the smell, the look of it. It's amazing.

I think it all started with the pumpkin cookies. The ones that Cindy introduced me to a few years ago, that I've referenced several times this year. There was just a very delicious taste to them that I can't get enough of (which reminds me...I haven't made some for awhile...)

Whenever I see pumpkin as an option, I pick it. Pumpkin pie? Amazing! Pumpkin scented candles? Even better.

Yesterday I went to Zupas with my friends Cortney and Rachael. When I go there, I typically don't venture out on my soup selection. It's typically either chicken enchilada soup, or tomato basil. But when I saw the advertisement for this soup, I couldn't resist getting it:

It was a really yummy, vegetarian soup. It had pumpkin, coconut, red peppers (I think), black beans, and some yummy spices, and topped with macademia nuts (my personal favorite). I feel like it was really healthy, but had a delicious taste to it. I ate it really slow, just to enjoy it even more than I think I otherwise would have. Definitely recommend it.

Then today as I was leaving the Wilkinson Center to walk over to work, I noticed a sign advertising the "Limited Time Only: Pumpkin Spice" smoothie at Jamba Juice. I debated getting it or not, and I decided I had to try it at least once. SO good. There was pumpkin, cinnamon and nutmeg in it, and totally worth the wait (and having to practically sprint to work because the line was deceptively long and took longer than I was expecting). I didn't drink all of it, unfortunately, but it was so good.

So, I love pumpkin. In case you needed a reminder. Maybe it's because I was born at the beginning of November, when pumpkin is definitely very much in the air. I'm sure that's it. Anyone have any suggestions for other yummy pumpkin foods?!

Day 14 - A picture of you and your family

2010-10-20T09:33:00.000-06:00

Day 14 - A picture of you and your family

Most of you have seen this picture, since I'm pretty sure it's been posted before, and it's on my sidebar, but it's the most recent one of my family. The only person we are missing is Benji (who, I must say, is the cutest baby. I just love him!) :) Hopefully we will be getting a new family picture in November at Benji's baby blessing, that's maybe a bit more professional and organized than this.

Day 13 - A letter to someone who has hurt you recently

2010-10-19T09:33:00.000-06:00

Day 13 - A letter to someone who has hurt you recently

I considered skipping this one, because 1) I can't really think of someone who has hurt me recently and 2) I don't really feel it's necessary to write them a "letter" on my blog. That just seems kind of vengeful and silly. The only person that comes to mind that I would like to possibly write a letter to, to tell him or her how much they hurt me...well, they are in the past and I've forgiven them. And honestly, if they hadn't hurt me the way they did, I wouldn't be experiencing the happiness and joy that I do right now. So in a way, that was a hidden blessing. Maybe I should thank them...Just kidding. That might be a little much.

Day 12: How you found out about blogs and why you made one

2010-10-18T16:20:00.000-06:00

Day 12: How you found out about blogs and why you made one

I think my first post, on February 4th, 2008, pretty much sums up this:

Well, after reading my sisters and relatives (and actually, a lot of random blogs of people I don't even know), and having my sister Cindy tell me, I decided to join the blogger world. I'm not gonna promise any amazing insights (even though i am quite amazing..just kidding!), but hopefully someone will find it interesting. I'll post a post today..or tomorrow..or eventually. Enjoy!

Oh..and don't forgot to vote tomorrow in Super Tuesday if your states participating. Go Romney!!!

You can see what an exciting person I was back then (I've only got more awesome, as I'm sure). I proceeded to write a post about how my mom, Michael, and I went to some Mitt Romney pep rally. That was probably the most exciting thing of my life. Anyways, I'm glad my sisters told me to start a blog. It's a pretty good way to keep a history of my life...I was going back and reading some of my posts from when I first started writing on here. It was kind of fun to read about fun things from my past and see how I've grown and changed over the past 3 years.

Day 11: Another Picture of You and Your Friends

2010-10-16T12:39:00.000-06:00

Day 11: Another Picture of You and Your Friends

The other day, I was looking through some old pictures, and I came across my graduation ones. It was fun to look through them! It's sad to say that I've grown away from most people from high school; I talk to maybe like three people I graduated with. These were some of my best friends all throughout elementary, middle and high school. Emma is going on a mission to New York in December, Max will be getting home from his mission soon from England, and Megan will be heading back up to Idaho to finish up school in January. I feel like this picture displays quite nicely how many of my friends were pretty tall, and I've always been the short one. Now that I'm looking at pictures from the past, I just want to post more! Maybe I will do a "Flashback" day one of these days!

Day 10: Songs

2010-10-15T12:07:00.000-06:00

Day 10: Songs You Listen to When you are Happy, Sad, Bored, Hyped, Mad

I could probably give you a million songs for each of these categories. I love music! I listen to music a lot, and I can often convey my feelings through the words of a song. There's so many talented artists out there and a lot of amazing songs. There isn't just one specific genre that I listen to all the time, though my definite favorite is Country. I love listening to church music on Sundays. One of my favorite things growing up is how my mom always was playing some kind of church music throughout the whole day on her stereo. I've started doing that myself as well. The playlist at the bottom of my page has some of the music I listen to on a regular basis, but there's definitely a lot more. Since

Happy: There isn't one specific song I go to when I'm happy...pretty much anything uplifting and happy will do! I guess it also depends on what type of "happy" I am. Going through my playlist, I just saw a song that I absolutely love, Pop Goes My Heart, from Music and Lyrics. I also really love the song, Vanilla Twilight, by Owl City.

Sad: Whenever I'm having a bad day, I always listen to the song "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter. I loved this song when I first heard it several years ago on American Idol; they would play it anytime someone was sent home. Since then, I just always like to listen to it when I'm sad! It always makes me feel better. Occasionally, I'll listen to the version that was in the first Alvin and the Chipmunks movie...I think it's so cute and it makes me smile. I usually really dislike movies with talking animals, but Alvin and the Chipmunks is definitely an exception. I could watch the two movies that have come out over and over again.

Bored: Pretty much I'll just listen to anything that comes on. Sometimes I take being bored as a time for me to go out and search for new music to listen to!

Hyped: There are a few songs that are particularly fun to listen to when I'm feeling hyper, or restless. Last year, my roommates and I would always listen to music as we got ready for dances, or just for a fun night. I think one of our favorite songs was "Tonight's Gonna Be A Good Night" by the Black Eyed Peas. My friend, Eric, had this awesome mix of songs that we would always blast when we would drive around in his sweet car. There are also certain songs that always just pout me in a real go-get-em mood, like Rockstar by Pink, Your Love is My Drug by Ke$ha, and one that Forrest recently introduced to me, The World's Greatest by R.Kelly. I listen to that song when I get ready in the morning. haha.

Mad: Well, it depends on what I'm mad about. Honestly, I don't get mad hardly ever. And when I'm mad, I usually don't want to do anything, even listen to music. Luckily that doesn't happy often at all. When I was in high school, there were a few Relient K songs I would blast when I was angry about something...but I haven't done that since, well, high school.

If you ever need recommendations for music though, let me know. I have tons of suggestions! ;-)

Flashback Friday!

2010-10-15T00:43:00.000-06:00

As I was reading Busy Bee Lauren's blog yesterday, her post reminded me of something I did in high school. I had forgotten about it until now, but I thought I'd share it...you know, from back in my super rebellious days ;-) haha.

One night I was hanging out with my friend Cortney. Our friend, Kelly, called and asked if we wanted to hang out with her and this guy from our stake (I think people called him Smiley...I really don't remember). We had nothing else to do, so we decided to meet up with them and hang out. Because it was a Friday night, we were up for finding something fun to do, rather than just sitting around and watching a movie. I can't remember who brought it up, but someone suggested that we "gipetto". I had no idea what this was, but I am all about trying new things, and after they explained it, it seemed harmless enough. So I was totally on board with the idea.

What is gipettoing? Well, because, it's putting a cardboard (or wooden) cutout of a cat in the middle of a street when it's dark outside, staking out somewhere that passing cars can't see you, and wait for cars to approach. Pretty much all you do is wait and see if cars slam on their brakes to avoid hitting the "cat". Boy was it funny! Cars would swerve out of the way and slam on their brakes, or they would just slow down really slow, to try and figure out what was in the middle of the street. At one point, a group of guys jumped out of their car and tried to grab it, because they realized what was going on. My friend, Kelly, jumped out of our car and booked it towards the cat and grabbed it before they could. It was pretty funny.

Now that I think about it, this probably isn't the best thing to do...making cars slam on their brakes. But at the time, it was pretty much the coolest thing ever.

Fall!

2010-10-14T19:07:00.000-06:00

Autumn, Fall, the season between summer and winter...whatever you may call it, it is my favorite season of the year. The temperature is perfect. The leaves on the trees are so pretty. It starts getting darker earlier, and there's just a nice, comfy feeling about everything. I've really enjoyed just walking around outside and enjoying the crisp cool weather. The air just smells so good. It also is the season for Halloween, which is one of my very favorite holidays...even if it's not as fun as when I was little :)

One of my favorite things about fall is all the yummy foods you can make. Obviously, I could make the foods during other times of the year..but for some reason, they just don't fit. My personal favorite is pumpkin cookies, which my sister Cindy started making a few years ago and I have copied her. It took me forever to find pumpkin, but eventually I found it at Macey's. I have made at least a couple batches of these cookies, and I'm slightly ashamed to admit how many of them I ate ;-) Forrest thought they were some of the best cookies too.

A few weeks ago, Forrest and I participated in a food co-op, with Bountiful Baskets. We got lots of fruits and vegetables, some of which were kind of random, like Asian plums. One of the less-than-normal vegetables was an Acorn squash. I had never heard of this before, but it looked interesting--just like an acorn, but green and a lot larger. It has been sitting in the box that the vegetables came with, pretty much untouched.

Well, a few days ago Forrest suggested that maybe I make a soup out of it. Since he has been sick the past few days, I decided to Google it and see what I came up with. After a few searches, I came up with a couple of choices. I eventually knocked one of them out, because it required a dutch oven. I finally decided on this recipe, after reading a lot of reviews on it. Can I just say that Allrecipes.com is probably my favorite recipes? I'm pretty sure most everything I've made lately has come from that website!

Anyways, I decided to improvise a little bit on the recipe, because, cooking is more fun that way. I think that the recipe turned out pretty well; it smelled delicious and I thought it tasted delicious! I texted my mom and told her about it, to which she proceeded to tell me sounded gross, but it definitely wasn't. This will be a recipe I will be adding to my collection for sure; it was really easy to make as well! If I had a blender, I would have used it to mash up the acorn squash, but since I didn't, I just used my hands. It probably would have been a finer consistency otherwise. Here is the recipe, with my alterations:

Acorn Squash Soup
1/4 medium sized onion
About 1/2 a stalk of celery, chopped
2 tbsp of butter or margarine
About 4 tbsp of flour
1 tsp dill weed
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp red cayenne pepper
1 tsp nutmeg
1 can of chicken broth
About 1 to 1/2 cups of fat free half and half
2 medium sized acorn squashes, mashed
1/4-1/2 lb cooked sausage

Start by bringing a pot of water to a boil. Put in the acorn squash, divided into 1/4's. They are kind of tricky to cut; I would recommend looking instructions online. Let the squash boil until you can put a fork through it. When you can do this, put it aside and let them cool in a bowl. In the mean time, melt the butter and saute the veggies. Once they are sauteed, add in the 2 tbsp of butter, the dill weed, curry powder, and cayenne pepper. Once these are mixed well with the veggies, add in the chicken broth and half and half. Bring to a boil, and then let it simmer. Go back to the acorn squash and mash or puree it. You will want to remove the skin at some point, either before or after mashing it (I would recommend before. I did it afterwards and it was kind of annoying). Add the squash to the soup and bring to a boil again. I added two more tbsp of flour to make it a little thicker. End by adding the sausage (you could leave this out if you want, or add bacon, chicken, etc.). and Enjoy!

Day 9: Something You're Proud of in the Past Few Days

2010-10-14T12:57:00.000-06:00

Day 9: Something You're Proud of in the Past Few Days

I got an A on my journals for my English class that we turned in, I was pretty happy about that. I've mentioned before, I never do very well on tests. I've been feeling pretty discouraged about that lately, so doing well on this writing assignment really boosted my confidence. It also helped that my teacher wrote comments like "Perfect, Excellent job, So well written" on all of the journal entries (when I say journal, they aren't personal journals. It's like...answering a writing prompt for something). I felt pretty much like a rockstar. It's good to focus on your strengths, and I don't give myself enough credit most of the time. I am a pretty good writer. My good friend, Ammon, before leaving on his mission, told me "You have an amazing ability to write. I know that you will affect many people for the better because of that--you already have with me" (he was a loyal reader of my blog...haha). I think it's hard to not focus on what we're not good at, instead of remembering the talents we have been blessed with. Especially here at BYU, where it seems I feel like everyone but me is super smart, super good looking and have amazing talents. But that's a terrible way to think, because I truly am so blessed with so many things, and I often do the opposite of what the scriptures say, and hide the talents I do have under a bushel. Kind of random, but whatever. I think one of my other goals should be, recognizing the talents I do have and cultivating them; praying to see my strengths, and how I can make the weak points my strong ones.

Here's a quote that I really love:

"So if you have problems in your life, don't assume there is something wrong with you. Struggling with those problems is at the very core of life's purpose. As we draw close to God, He will show us our weaknesses and through them make us wiser, stronger. If you're seeing more of your weaknesses, that just might mean you're moving nearer to God, not farther away." -- Bruce C. Hafen

A few weeks ago we had a regional conference here in the Marriott Center. We were able to hear from Sister Julie Beck, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, and President Boyd K. Packer at that time. Sister Beck gave a great talk where she said something like "You're doing better than you think you are, but perhaps we are not doing as good we we could be. We need the kind of faith that creates miracles."

I think that deserves to be put on a block of wood....haha. But really, both of these quotes remind me that it is okay that even if I"m doing the best I can right now, but I still feel like I'm falling short...because I am doing well, and that struggling is how we become stronger. That doesn't really make sense now that I re-read that...but hopefully you all get the point. :)

Day 8: Short Term Goals for this Month

2010-10-13T12:45:00.001-06:00

Day 8: Short Term Goals for this Month

1) Go to the gym at least 4 times a week

2) Read my scriptures in the morning right when I wake up

3) Get more sleep

4) Stop biting my nails

5) Read The Undaunted

6) Learn how to lead music...since it's kind of essential for my calling

7) Get an A on some test (if I have one...I don't know if I even do, haha)

8) Be the best girlfriend ever!

9) Look at the silver lining of everything

So I just made those up as I went. I haven't done most of them so far, but I will start trying to accomplish them now!

Day #7: A Picture of Someone/Something that has the biggest impact on you

2010-10-12T12:00:00.000-06:00

Day #7: A Picture of Someone/Something that has the biggest impact on you

I thought for awhile about what I was going to do for this post. There are so many influential people and things in my life, so it's hard to pick just one. All of those things and people have a big impact on me and who I am, but usually for different reasons. However, most of those things lead back to one greater power in my life, my religion. As probably everyone that reads this knows, I'm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I was born into a family where the Gospel was very prevalent, and I am so grateful for that. The picture above is of the beautiful Salt Lake City Temple. The Temple is a constant reminder to me of my goal to obtain eternal life and return to live with my family forever in the presence of Heavenly Father. Whenever I am struggling or having a bad day, I always turn to the Gospel of Jesus Christ to help me, and more often than not, I go to the Temple, whether to do temple work or just to sit on the grounds. It's one of the only things that can always assuredly bring me peace. Most of the important things I have in my life--my parents, my family, many of my friends, Forrest--I have because of of being a member of this Church. I know that my greatest happiness does and will come from the truths, promises, principles that I have obtained through my knowledge of the Gospel, and I am so grateful for that.

Day #6: Favorite Super Hero and Why

2010-10-11T12:00:00.000-06:00

Day #6: Favorite Super Hero and Why

Spiderman! One of the biggest reasons? I never fell asleep during any of the Spiderman movies, which is saying a lot. I tend to fall asleep in most movies. Particularly superhero movies...such as...Iron Man (the first one and second one...I don't know what it was, but I was out in about five minutes). I am pretty sure I just thought that Tobey Maguire was super attractive so that kept me captivated...just kidding. I actually really like the plot lines of the Spiderman movies. I realize that there is much more to superhero's than just a movie, but that's pretty much all I'm basing it off of. I think a close contender would have to be superman. I remember growing up watching that awesome show, Lois and Kent: The New Adventures of Superman with my family. Pretty sure we watched it every week! But yeah, I'm not too opinionated on this subject, but Spiderman is definitely super epicly awesome.

Day #5: A Picture of Some Place You've Been to

2010-10-10T12:00:00.002-06:00

Day #5: A Picture of Some Place You've Been to

Veracruz, Mexico; August 2009

One of my very favorite vacations was during August of 2009. My big brother, Daniel, was married to his wonderful wife, Charbel, at that time in Veracruz, Mexico. I was more than thrilled when I found out we would be able to attend it. I had never been to Mexico before! I loved the city of Veracruz. It's not as much of a tourist town as other places in Mexico, which was nice. This picture was taken one night when we were walking from our hotel to find a place to eat. It was just as the sun was setting and it was super beautiful! I would love to go back someday. I sure am glad Charbel lived in such a pretty place and that they got married there :)

Day #4: A Habit You Wish You Didn't Have

2010-10-09T12:25:00.000-06:00

Day #5: A Habit You Wish You Didn't Have

I bite my nails. It's a terrible habit that I wish I could break. Last Christmas break, I thought I had. I went about 1.5 months without biting them and then I fell back into it about mid-January. It was so sad, because my nails had gotten so beautiful and healthy looking. About the only thing to keep me from biting them is to have a french manicure...and that's definitely far too expensive (though, I did discover the beauty school here does it for five dollars).

Back when I was in middle school, I had a friend who bit her nails. I didn't understand why she did it. It was so weird! So one day I bit my nails, just to see why so many people did it. And from then on, I have had the terrible habit. Isn't that the most ridiculous reason? From today on, I am going to try and break it. Let's see if that happens.

Day #3: A Picture of You and Your Friends

2010-10-08T12:19:00.001-06:00

Day #3: A Picture of you and your friends

This is a picture taken at the beginning of this semester. Four of these girls were my roommates last year, and one of them is from this year, Megan. Love them! We don't get to hang out as much as we should, but it's always a blast when we do get together.

Day #2: The Meaning Behind Your Blog Name

2010-10-07T12:15:00.000-06:00

Day #2: The Meaning Behind Your Blog Name

I'm not sure if this is referring to the URL, or the title that is in my blog header...So I'll explain both!

Kaelba2008. Well, back in high school we switched email providers from AOL to Comcast. I was finally able to change my email from beaniepack (my brother and I shared an email for awhile. I was younger, and for some reason I wanted it to be beanie babies. He loved wrestling, so he wanted it to be named after some wrestling team, the wolf pack. Enter: beaniepack). I decided I wanted something creative, but not super lame. So I decided to take the first two letters of my first, middle and last name, and throw the year I graduated on the end.

Now the name of my blog according to my blog header. It changes on occasion, but for awhile now, it's been "I'm Just Sayin'". Basically, it's because I noticed I would say that a lot, both on my blog and in real life. So I figured, why not put it as the name of my blog? I know, really unique.

And that's about it.

Another Challenge

2010-10-06T18:44:00.001-06:00

Obviously, I failed at the last blog challenge? Reason for that--the topics either didn't interest me, or I felt weird writing about some of them, OR I couldn't think of anything to write. It just was lame. However, as I reading the blog of some girl in my ward from last semester (who is randomly in Forrest's ward now), she had a "blog challenge" up that looked a whole lot more fun. I won't put a time limit on it, or even commit to doing all of it, but maybe I'll use it for catalysts so I post more. We'll see.

Blogging Challenge:
Day 01 - A recent picture of you and 15 interesting facts about yourself
Day 02 - The meaning behind your Blog name
Day 03 - A picture of you and your friends
Day 04 - A habit that you wish you didn’t have
Day 05 - A picture of somewhere you’ve been to
Day 06 - Favorite super hero and why
Day 07 - A picture of someone/something that has the biggest impact on you
Day 08 - Short term goals for this month and why
Day 09 - Something you’re proud of in the past few days
Day 10 - Songs you listen to when you are Happy, Sad, Bored, Hyped, Mad
Day 11 - Another picture of you and your friends
Day 12 - How you found out about blogs and why you made one
Day 13 - A letter to someone who has hurt you recently
Day 14 - A picture of you and your family
Day 15 - Put your iPod on shuffle: First 10 songs that play
Day 16 - Another picture of yourself
Day 17 - Someone you would want to switch lives with for one day and why
Day 18 - Plans/dreams/goals you have
Day 19 - Nicknames you have; why do you have them
Day 20 - Someone you see yourself marrying/being with in the future
Day 21 - A picture of something that makes you happy
Day 22 - What makes you different from everyone else
Day 23 - Something you crave for a lot
Day 24 - A letter to your parents
Day 25 - What I would find in your bag
Day 26 - What you think about your friends
Day 27 - Why are you doing this 30 day challenge
Day 28 - A picture of you last year and now, how have you changed since then?
Day 29 - In this past month, what have you learned
Day 30 - Who are you?

Day 01: A recent picture of you and 15 facts

Fact #1: Overcast, rainy days are my absolute favorite

Fact #2: I'm super cool and can type about 90-100 words per minute. In the 7th grade, I got the fastest typer in the school award.

Fact #3: The only sport I can play semi-well is Badminton. Though some coughForrestcough, don't count it as a sport. All other sports...I look like a fool playing.

Fact #4: When I go to the store or shopping, I will put lots of things I think I need/want in my grocery cart, but as I mentally start adding them up, I end up putting most things back.

Fact #5: I wish I read more than I do. I just started The Undaunted by Gerald N. Lund. Hopefully that will get me back into my love of reading.

Fact #6: I'm a closet nerd when it comes to electronics and technology. I love reading reviews on Cnet.com. When Forrest introduced me to popularmechanics.com, I was blown away.

Fact #7: The shampoo I got last week makes my hair really greasy. Let's just say I won't be using that anymore.

Fact #8: Some people think I'm really shy, and I find that unfortunate. I really enjoy talking (my mom claims that I never stop) and getting to know people. The other day I told my friend Audrey that I think sometimes some people think I'm shy, and she couldn't stop laughing. haha.
Fact #9: I love music. The end.
Fact #10: Church history absolutely fascinates me. Back when I was a teenager, I read all of the Work and the Glory books, and that really made me super interested in learning all about the history of the Church.
Fact #11: A dream that I have more often than not is that all the sudden, half way through the semester, I realize that I have forgotten to go to a math class all semester long, being taught by my high school statistics teacher. By the time I remember, I look at the class schedule, and I realize I missed the mid-term by one day.
Fact #12: I love pillows. My bed is full of them. When I'm sitting on a couch, if there is a pillow close by, you bet I'll probably be holding it or leaning on it at some point.
Fact #13: I have the best imitation hillbilly/redneck southerner accent that only my mom, dad, and Michael have been able to witness. I just think it's too awesome for just anyone to hear.
Fact #14: I really love to learn, but I'm a terrible test taker. Like, really bad. I wish grades weren't based so heavily upon tests (alas, why I picked a major with pretty much no tests!)
Fact #15: This past week, all I've eaten for breakfast was pumpkin cookies, and it's usually what I've had for lunch too. When there's a week between when I pay my rent and my next paycheck...That's what happens.

Things that make me smile

2010-09-29T15:39:00.005-06:00

My mom bought me this quite little sign the other day:

There are so many reasons I'm happy right now; so many reasons to smile. I've found that when you truly start to look for the small miracles in life, the tender mercies, and appreciate them, the harder things become somewhat easier. As one of my favorite scriptures goes, ". . . By small and simple things are great things brought to pass, and small means in many instances doth confound the wise"

Reasons Why I'm Happy

1) My keys that I thought were lost forever, turned up. Some kind person found them somewhere in the streets of Provo (how they got there...I have no clue), called the library back home (because the only identifying thing on my keys was an old library card key chain), found out my home phone number, and called my parents. Even though I already made new copies of all my old keys, I sure was grateful to have these ones back :)

2) I got a B+ on an essay in my Geography class that I really thought I would get a D on. I guess writing a 5 page paper at 6 am, 3 hours before it was due, still works for me ;-)

3) I got to spend time with ALL of my family last week. Love them :)

4) Taylor Swift's song "Mine" just came on my playlist. Forrest doesn't like this song, but I loveeeeeeee it.

5) BYU Women's soccer won their game tonight. It was so much fun. Forrest thinks I got so into it because it was girls...haha.

6) I found an apartment to live in in the Winter that is super cheap, super nice, and coincidentally (really; I had no idea where the place even was when I contacted the person!), even closer to Forrest!

7) My pumpkin cookies turned out to be absolutely delicious! Forrest said, "These are the best cookies ever!"

8) I have a secret parking spot at work that is always empty because people think it's Faculty parking...even though it's not :)

9) I have the best boyfriend in the world who I love so very much (and he's pretty fond of me too

10) This weekend is General Conference

11) I get to go home at Thanksgiving, and Forrest is coming with!

12) I discovered The Quilted Bear last week when my mom was here. If I had money, it would be spent there. Cutest place ever.

13) I've felt super motivated to eat healthier and go to the gym every day. I was actually super excited when I went to Gold's today.

14) Forrest actually has posted on our blog

15) I get to see my mom again this week!

16) I made yummy chicken soft tacos the other night

The list could go on forever, but I think I'll stop at 15. Hope everyone else is having a good week :)

Yummy Chicken Alfredo!

2010-09-16T14:23:00.004-06:00

This semester, my roommates and I have each taken a night to cook dinner for each other. Mine is on Wednesday nights. This last Tuesday, I was trying to think of what I wanted to make, and I was drawing a blank. So, interupting him being extremely studious, I asked Forrest what I should make. He said, "How about...Chicken Alfredo...with bread sticks...and a vegetable, like brocolli?"

And that is exactly what I made! The next day (during class...I guess I should have been paying attention!) I searched through a bunch of different recipes online, I came across this one that sounded absolutely delicious. However, after realizing it had about a million grams of fat, I decided to read through the comments that others had made on the recipe to see if there were any suggestions on how to lessen the fat content. While doing this, I came across some really good tips, and along with my own awesome ideas, I came up with a slightly more healthy, but delicious, version of it. The thing that I love about this is that it took only about 20 minutes to make, but it tasted really good! It made a lot! I entered the recipe into My Fitness Pal and it looks like it's about 380 calories per serving. I even ate the leftovers today for lunch and it still tasted super yummy! Just in case anyone wants to try it, here is the recipe (with my edits!)

Ingredients:

3 tbsp butter

3 tbsp flour

2 garlic cloves, minced (I used this pre-minced garlic from the store my mom told me about. Best idea ever!)

2 1/4 cups of fat-free half and half (the recipe called for cream, but that sounded really heavy, and I think it tastes just as good this way!)

1 cup shredded parmesan cheese (I actually used about 1/2 cup shredded, 1/2 cup powdered...because that's what I had on hand)

1 cup part skim milk mozzarella cheese

1 box of fettuccine

2 cups of cooked chicken (I used 2 tenderloins I had in the fridge, plus a can of chicken from Costco)

1 package of frozen chicken

Garlic salt

Nutmeg

Italian Seasoning

Heat a skillet over medium-high heat and make a roux with the butter and flour. When this is created and starts to boil, add in 2 cups of half and half. Bring this to a boil. After it is boiling, add in the cheese, and stir continuously. You have to keep stirring it, or else it will start to stick to the bottom of the pan and clump together. Add in some shakes of garlic salt, Italian seasoning, and nutmeg (and anything else you think sounds yummy!) until you get the desired taste. It takes about ten minutes for it to get to the right consistency, and I added 1/4 cup extra half and half at the end just to make it a better consistency. Either before, or while you're doing this, bring a pot of water to a boil, and cook the pasta until it's tender. Also cook the chicken and the brocolli. When everything is done cooking, mix it all together in a big pot or bowl, and serve! Super easy and super yummy!

the leftovers today :)

Decisions, Decisions

2010-09-15T16:07:00.002-06:00

I am quite possibly the most indecisive person in the world. I hate when people make me pick which movie to watch, or where to go out to eat (coughAJcough). When I'm buying something at the store, such as hair curlers, I spend so much time deciding which brand to buy as if it's the biggest decision I will ever make. However, other times, I make extremely impulse decisions. I've probably mentioned before, I used to be quite the sucker for those kiosks in the mall (though I've gotten better at just saying no and walking away before they can say anything else).

Well, one of the areas of the most indecision in my life has been with my major. I've probably switched it about 6 times, each time just swearing on my life that it's the major for me. However, after I get somewhat into the major, I decide that it's really not, and then I plunge into another one. For the most part, I've been pretty set on journalism for awhile. But the past few months, I've just really not been excited about it. I just turned in my application for the program last week, and I'll be hearing in 4 to 6 weeks. Sometimes I get excited about it...other times, not so much.

When I was talking to my mom the other day, after telling her about all the many millions of things I want to do, started laughing and said, "You either don't want to do anything or you want to do everything." I'd say that's pretty accurate. Sometimes I really wish I had kept going with the Marriage and Family Therapy route. Other days I want to be a teacher. A lot of the time I really want to work for the Church Magazines...even though I have no intentions of living in Utah forever. Right now I'm taking an intro to the English language class for my Editing minor. So far, it's probably my favorite class I've ever taken so far. Each class I come out just totally fascinated by the material taught that day. Who knew that the English language could be so exciting? We talk a lot about speech disorders and I think it's so interesting. At the clinic I work at, part of it deals with communication disorders. I've always thought it was really interesting, and after learning the stuff I have been in my English class, it makes me want to either major or minor in communication disorders. Because the classes seem super interesting. Pretty much, I have no idea what I want to do, and even when I do have an idea, I change it. I guess in some ways it's good, because I am learning about a lot of different areas...but it's hard, because obviously, I should probably graduate by Summer of 2012, and I'd like to have some kind of major. Who knows. Sometimes I think about how much I wish I could go back to my freshman year, and I really know about all the different majors available here at BYU. There's this extremely interesting one I've looked at off and on, Recreational Management and Youth Leadership with an emphasis in either Leisure Services Management or Therapeutic Recreation. Haha. One of these days I'll graduate...and hopefully it will be in something I love :)

New Obsession

2010-09-08T16:56:00.002-06:00

Last night, my roommate, Hilary, made an absolutely delicious dinner with the crock pot. Maybe it was just because I was super hungry and hadn't eaten much all day, but I just couldn't get enough of it. Even so that I had leftovers for lunch today (and that's saying something. I'm not a huge fan of left overs). My mom used the crock pot a lot back home, and until yesterday, it never really dawned on me to use it for yummy and pretty easy meals.

I remembered one of my sisters posting a link to a blog called A Year of Slow Cooking that features tons of delicious crock pot recipes. So this morning, I found that blog again and starting looking through all the archives. Can I just say, everything looked absolutely delicious! Since it was my turn to make dinner for my roommates, I decided that I would pick one of the recipes. It's perfect, because since it's Wednesday and I work until 8, I'm just letting it cook while I"m here so it'll be nice and done when I get home. I narrowed it down to two recipes. Orange Chicken or Green Pepper Chicken, mainly because I had pretty much all the ingredients. I decided this in the middle of my Joseph Smith class (while listening, of course!) and I let Forrest pick which one he wanted. He picked the green pepper chicken, which I was excited to make. Unfortunately when I get home, I realized that for this dish I had to have some kind of blender...and I lacked that. So I'm going to have to head to DI one of these days and find one because it looks delicious. So I found another recipe, Lazy Chicken, which is probably the easiest thing on there. I put it on to cook before I left for work, and I can't wait to go home and try it! I am seriously obsessed with that website; I can't wait to try all the new and yummy recipes on there. I'm really excited about some of the more involved ones. Yum!

Day #5 Your Dreams

2010-09-07T13:21:00.003-06:00

Day #5: Your Dreams

One of my favorite Disney songs goes, "A dream is a wish your heart makes, when you're fast asleep. In dreams you will lose your heartaches, whatever you wish for you keep."

While I don't believe all of the dreams I dream are my innermost desires (because really, I'm pretty sure I don't secretly wish to be driven off a cliff, or trapped in my house with a murderer), some of the things I dream about I wish would happen. My dreams are incredibly lifelike, and often times, I have confused a situation that happened in my dream and with reality. Afterwards, I think about how the dream seems all fuzzy and I wonder why I ever thought it was real, but during it, it might as well be real life. I had some of the strangest dreams growing up . . . and a lot of them were recurring. One of the most memorable ones in my mind I had for years, even into my teenage years.

In the dream, my family had just gotten on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney land. However, towards the end, the fake flames turned into real ones, and we had to jump out of the boat and swim to safety. There was only one way out though, and it was slowly being engulfed by flames. Well, there was a mad rush to try and get out, and my dream always ended with my family all getting out, and me being left behind just as the flames totally covered the tiny way out.

Another dream I had a lot when I was a teenager shows what a nerd I am. For some reason that I never quite remember, I got send to jail. I sit in the cell just crying and crying, and the only thing I ever remember saying is, "Now BYU will never accept me if I've been sent to jail."

Obviously, that dream never came true. Since, I'm here. At BYU. With a clean criminal record.

Beyond dreams that come from sleeping, I have other dreams. Those things that I know I want more than anything in the world, but haven't happened yet. Some of the are silly, some are not. Some are more in reach than others. But where's the fun in not having any dreams that are totally outlandish? While some of my dreams haven't happened yet, I'm excited for the day they do, but I'm grateful for the things I've wanted so much, that actually came to pass.

Day #4: My Siblings

2010-09-07T09:13:00.000-06:00

Let's be honest. This has turned into a "30 posts that will eventually get finished" project instead. Haha.

I tried to find a picture of me with just my siblings, but alas, that did not happen. For some reason all the pictures I have are of either my whole family, or all of us with my parents. I'm pretty sure my family is due for a new family picture sometime soon, and when we do, hopefully we can take ones with just the siblings.

My siblings are the best. As I've gotten older, I have gotten even closer to them, and I'm sure as the years go on, that closeness will only grow stronger. My siblings are some of my very closest friends and I always look forward to the time we get to spend together, even if it's not incredibly often. It's always weird for me to think about people who only have one or two siblings, or are even only children, because there are six kids in my family. I couldn't imagine having any less siblings! For this post, I figured I would post a picture of each of my siblings so all you can see some of the most incredible people I know :)

Kristalyn

Diana

Cindy

Daniel

Michael

Ace of Cakes....but not really.

2010-09-03T17:31:00.003-06:00

I'll admit it, I will never be on a show like Ace of Cakes, Food Networks Ultimate Challenge (the cake ones), or Cake Boss. Sure, I can make cakes that taste awesome, but they never quite look right (with the exception of the raspberry cake I referenced in my most recent post). Usually there's something lopsided about it, or the frosting looks kind of weird. Well, a few weeks ago was Charbel's birthday. I volunteered to make the cake. I was thinking about this awesome kiwi type cake my cousin Claire had at her wedding (like two years ago. Don't ask me why I was thinking about it), and I really wanted to make something similar. So I searched out a recipe. It was kind of complicated and everything was in ounces so I had to do some conversions.

Well, I made it. It looked smaller than it was supposed to. But that was okay. I was okay with it being small. Then came the time to frost it. My frosting kind of melted a little bit, so I made some more. It didn't look to incredibly wonderful, but it looked okay. Finally, it was time to put on the white and dark chocolate drizzle. I had Forrest put the white chocolate on after I put on the dark chocolate. For some reason, as soon as he started doing that, the cake started falling apart and melting. Here was the final verdict:

Actually, by the time we brought it to Daniel and Charbel's, it was pretty much spread out all over a pan. It was pretty funny. The good news is, it tasted delicious! I'm still not sure why the white chocolate melted it, but the dark chocolate didn't. The white chocolate had kind of hardened in the microwave, so Forrest suggested I put some oil in it. Maybe that's what did it. Personally, I think Forrest knew that would ruin it, and he wanted everyone to like his chocolate bread pudding more than my cake...but he denies that ;-)

One day I'll make a perfect cake. Just you wait.

Oh nothing's sweeter than summertime

2010-09-03T15:08:00.015-06:00

I decided that I would wait for my friends who are also doing this "30 day challenge" to catch up, and then hopefully I will be more consistent with it. We'll see if that pans out ;-)

So I realized I didn't write much about what I did this summer. That's probably because I didn't do much. But there were a few things here and there that are probably worth mentioning. Since school has just started, I thought I would document a couple of things that I did...just in case I want to do one of those cool blog books one day. I was going to include my family reunion in this, but I think that deserves a post of it's own...There was just so many pictures! :)

And I don't think these are really in any order....

Daniel and Charbel's Wedding Reception

Well, as many of you know, Daniel and Charbel were married a year ago in Veracruz, Mexico. However, because of immigration and what not, she wasn't able to get her visa to come to America and join Daniel until May. When we got word of when her interview was going to be, we planned the reception for a day or two afterwards, not thinking there would be any problems with them coming up. Unfortunately, for some reason, there were some issues and the Visa wasn't processed when it was supposed to. Since we had already rented out a reception place, ordered food, and sent out invitations, we figured the reception had to go on! We ended up getting Daniel and Charbel on Skype on a big screen tv. It was a little unconventional, but it worked out well. It was kind of a miracle, because we hadn't been able to get a good connection with them the whole day, and it was really fuzzy, but just a little bit before the reception started, it was clear as day. The reception was beautiful and lots of people showed their support for Daniel and Charbel. And most importantly, they were finally together :)

Another fun part of this trip was that Forrest got to come home with me and meet more of my family. It was a quick trip, but it was really fun to introduce him to them and to show him my hometown. :)

Soccer in SLC!

My brother-in-law, AJ, decided to get together a bunch of guys to play soccer every week up in SLC. The first time he did it, Forrest and I went up there, as did Daniel and Charbel. Obviously, the girls just sat in the shade (when we could find it!) and then the boys played their little hearts out. It was fun to watch them all play, since they all love soccer. This day also marked a momentous day in my history...I finally conquered my fear of driving on the freeway. Granted, I still scare everyone when I try and merge, but I'm getting better ;-) Afterwards, not without much contemplation and discussion (mainly by the people with Barker blood...because we are all incredibly indecisive), we went to Noodles and Company for lunch. Yum!

Kacianna's Blessing

When we were in Colorado in May, Kacianna was blessed. It was pretty cool to have almost all of our family there (except for Cindy and AJ, who had been up all night with a sick baby :() and Daniel and Charbel. I love baby blessings...there's just something so special about them :)

Manti Pagaent

I think sometime in July (or maybe it was June?), Forrest, Daniel, Charbel and I went to the Manti Pagaent in Manti, Utah. I had been to it back when I was 13, so it was cool to see it again. Granted, it was slightly cheesy, but it was fun. We got there about an hour early, but there were some cute kids in front of us that kept us entertained. Isn't the Manti temple beautiful?

Pioneer Day/Raspberry Picking

My boss at the Census invited everyone that wanted to, to come pick raspberries at her house. Forrest's sister, Meredith, went with me on the morning of Pioneer Day. We picked berries for about an hour and got a lot. I decided I wanted to make a raspberry cake to share with Daniel and Charbel before we went to Spanish Fork for "Fiesta Days!" It turned out really yummy! Unfortunately, I probably ate too much, especially for what was to come. We went to the little carnival, and Forrest convinced me to go on one of his favorite rides, The Zipper. Let me tell you, it was terrible. At first, I enjoyed it. But then it started going super fast and in all sorts of random ways, and I thought I was going to puke. Not to mention it made my head hurt really bad. It also looked like it was about to break any second. Right afterwards, we went on "The Gravitron" which was actually pretty cool...but not for right after the Zipper. I am pretty sure I almost threw up. When I came out, Daniel and Charbel told me that I looked real green...I wouldn't doubt it. The rest of the night was fun, except I felt pretty nauseas.

Tumbling Gym

A few weeks ago, my friend from my ward at the Riviera called and invited Forrest and me to go to the tumbling gym. At first we weren't going to go, but then we changed our minds. It was pretty fun. I've never been someone who really does flips and what not, so I just jumped around with Cort, but Forrest is quite the gymnast ;-) It was fun to see him doing some cool tricks. I posted some videos on facebook for anyone that is suddenly curious!

Real Salt Lake

This picture is actually from April, but it represents all the Real Salt Lake games we went to this summer. I enjoyed going. Especially because you get these awesome Subway coupons...haha. Before this year, I had never gone, nor planned, to go to a professional soccer game, but it sure was fun. Hopefully we'll get to go again some next year!

Forrest's Birthday

First turned 22...and it was his golden birthday! I made him dinner and then his sister, Doris, and her friend, his cousin, Michael, and my brother and Charbel came over for Cake and Icecream. Doris made a really yummy banana cake. Afterwards we went and watched "Invictus" at Michael's house. Or more, Forrest and Michael watched it while I feel asleep. :)

Snowbird

One of the more fun things I did this summer was go to Snowbird. Forrest's Aunt and Uncle own a timeshare or something up there, and they go up every summer. This year, the invited Forrest and his sisters, and said I was more than welcome to come along. It was so nice (his Aunt and Uncle are the nicest people ever!). We went up there for a weekend at the end of July and it was so relaxing. The mountains were super pretty and it was nice not to have to worry about work or anything. It was fun to get to know his family a little bit better. We got to go on a zipline, the alpine slide, and a sweet ski lift ride. Snowbird is absolutely beautiful, and I recommend that everyone go at some point!

Fourth of July

I guess technically we celebrated Independence Day on the 3rd of July. We went up to Antelope Island with some of Forrest's roommates and people from his ward. It was way fun! I'd never been there before, but it was neat. We played on the beach for awhile and had a nice picnic. At one point, we found an awesome heard of Bison. haha. The guys got kind of close, but I just stayed back behind. Later on, we went to Slab Pizza with Brian, Forrest's former awesome roommate, and our friend Kelly. LOVE Slab pizza. Then we watched some pretty fireworks behind Helaman halls. It was great!

Well other things went on this summer, like going home this past week (I'm at work though and don't have access to pictures!), but these were definitely the highlights. Here's to a great year of school!

My friend Rachael likes us to hold signs at the beginning of each school year. haha.

Random Thoughts

2010-09-01T18:00:00.005-06:00

Despite the fact that I lost my keys

and that I have 8 AM classes every day

and that I'm dirt poor.

Things are going well.

I've really enjoyed my classes so far. This is the first time that I've been really excited about starting school in awhile. I don't know what it is, but I have this random drive that's making me want to learn and expand my mind so much. I think it's partly because this whole summer, I felt like I was kind of in a standstill and wasn't learning anything. Even though I've only had three days of classes so far, I feel like I've already learned a lot of really interesting things, and I'm so excited for the rest of the semester.

I've never been a morning person, but I've been forced to at least try to become one over the past few years, especially this summer. I made the decision to have classes from 8am-1pm on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday's, and then only have one class on Tuesday and Thursday. So far, it's been a great decision. It's so nice to have my afternoon's open, even if I have to go to work later on.

My apartment is nice. I have my own room, which I love. There is a washer and dryer in the complex, which is amazing. It's across the street from Forrest's new apartment, which is definitely awesome. It's kind of pricey though and I would like to be saving more money than I am. So that's a bit discouraging. I'm thinking about finding another job somewhere that I can work 10 hours more. I'm working the maximum amount of hours I can on campus, which I'm grateful for (even if I'm incredibly bored right now.)

I went to the distribution center in Orem today. I have been wanting to make one of these cool picture displays portraying The Living Christ, so I had to go there to get the 8x10 that I needed. For some reason, I just thought the distribution center was the coolest place ever. I just walked around for like 30 minutes. It's the same feeling I get going to the BYU Bookstore or Deseret Book. haha.

I've been really feeling a lot lately that I should be doing more family history. However, it's just SO confusing to me. I have no idea what to do with it or where to start. Forrest and I spent awhile on Family Search, but only because we both have an ancestor with the same name, and we wanted to find out if it was the same one (don't worry, it's like 8 generations down the line). It's been fun to see some of the family history that's been done in his family. But anyways, like I said, I've been really wanting to family history. Today in my Joseph Smith and the Restoration class, my teacher, Sister Susan Black, talked about patriarchal blessings and how they tell us the things that will bring us great joy and happiness in this life and how we can obtain them. She mentioned that her's said something about Genealogy, and how at first she was like "what! That is going to make me so happy?", but then she went and did it, and she loves it. It reminded me of part of my blessing that says a similar thing. When I was at the distribution center, I found this book called "Member's Guide to Temple and Family History Work". It was free, so I grabbed it. I'm excited to start learning more.

I've felt exceedingly grateful for the Church lately. I feel so blessed to be a member of it and to know the things I know.

On Sunday, I went with Forrest and his new ward to sing hymns at a retirement home. What a great experience. I LOVE singing church hymns. The hymns are probably one of my favorite parts of Church. So it was really cool to be able to do that. A few weeks ago I went to a yard sale, and I got all of the hymns on CD for 1$. I thought it was quite the steal!

So, everything is going well. I've had my ups and downs over the summer, but things are finally starting to just be consistently good, and when they aren't, I've been really trying hard not to get down about it...which is definitely one of my weaknesses. But I'm working on it, and that's what matters. I definitely have more than enough reasons to be happy right now. I'm excited to see what the next few months will hold. It's crazy to think back to where I was a year ago and where I am now. I guess that's the beauty of life. :)

To end, here's a quote that I really like and that I've been working on doing more. I got it from LDS Gem's, and the talk it comes from is equally great. You can read it here.

"All you have to do is trust your Heavenly Father. Trust Him enough to follow His plan."--President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Day #3: My Parents

2010-08-25T20:47:00.003-06:00

After a handful of people told me that they were disappointed in the fact that I haven't kept up with my "blog every day" thing, I started to feel bad. In my defense, I've been in Colorado all week and just didn't feel like my time would be best spent blogging . However, when Forrest mentioned that even he noticed I hadn't done it, I decided I should probably do it. Because when even he notices my lack of keeping promises via my blog...it's a big deal ;-)

Day #3: The Parentals

At the Park Family Reunion in July of 2010. I love this picture.

I subscribe to Daily Gems, which are emails that the Church sends out a few times a week with inspirational thoughts, quotes, and stories. I always look forward to reading them, because they always have some kind of pertinent message in them to my life. I've found some of my favorite quotes and read some of my favorite articles/talks because of the Daily Gems. Lately, they've had a couple of quotes about the influence of parents. I really enjoyed them, and since today's topic is supposed to be about my parents, I thought I'd share them:

“It is impossible to overestimate the influence of parents who understand the hearts of their children. Research shows that during the most important transitions of life—including those periods when youth are most likely to drift away from the Church—the greatest influence does not come from an interview with the bishop or some other leader but from the regular, warm, friendly, caring interaction with parents.” --Robert D. Hales
“If a child is not listening, don’t despair. Time and truth are on your side. At the right moment, your words will return as if from heaven itself. Your testimony will never leave your children. “As you reverently speak about the Savior—in the car, on the bus, at the dinner table, as you kneel in prayer, during scripture study, or in late-night conversations—the Spirit of the Lord will accompany your words.”
Neil L. Andersen

Since being at school, I have grown to appreciate my parents so much. I never realized how lucky I was to have such wonderful and loving parents that I can truly go to about everything and anything. Heaven knows I don't give them as much credit as they deserve and sometimes I'm just a downright brat, but I truly am so blessed to have been raised by such a wonderful mom and dad. My mom totally devotes herself to our family. I've been so lucky to have been able to have her be a stay at home mom the whole time I was growing up, and I'm happy that my dad was able to work so hard so that was possible. My dad is the centerfold of our family and his example and love is so apparent. They are both so willing to give of themselves for the happiness of their children and grandchildren. They aren't perfect, and neither are their children (of course, except for me), but I couldn't ask for better parents. I love how they are so strong in the Church. I never doubt their testimonies. I know that part of why I don't doubt the truthfulness of this Gospel and know it's true is because of how they taught me growing up, not only by their words, but by their example. I am so grateful for that, because it affects not only me, but my future family and life as well.

One thing that I love about my parents is the emphasis they put on family. We had family home evening, every.single.week. It wasn't a choice. And while it wasn't the most pleasant of experiences every time, I know it's part of why we are so close. They also made sure we had dinner together every night, as well as family prayer. My family is super close, closer than most, and it's because of my parents. I would choose spending time with my family and parents over anyone else :)

I love you Mom and Dad; I'm so glad I was able to go home this past week to see you guys. I miss you lots. Thanks for all you do :)

My (first) Crush

2010-08-24T17:23:00.004-06:00

Day #2: My Crush

(I wrote this post yesterday but forgot to post it. Oops! And I posted it earlier, and realized that most of it didn't post. If you read that, sorry that it ended so randomly)

SURPRISE! I'm not going to talk about Forrest.

But before you think I'm cheating/hating on Forrest, I decided I would talk about a crush of the past. My first crush that I can remember to be exact. It was way back in 1st grade (I started early. I pretty much got crushes on guys extremely easy for the longest time, right up until I met Forrest. I figured something would turn into more sometime ;-) Fortunately I've been in a standstill since)

His name was Patrick. Cortney and I both thought he was so dreamy. Since we were in first grade, we didn't really care that we were both smitten by the same boy.

One day, we had the brilliant idea to write him love notes. Since we were highly articulate for our age, and had impeccable handwriting, they were obviously the best of notes. I remember writing on bright pink paper about how cute he was, and how we wanted to marry him in the temple (because, in our first grade minds, everyone were surely members of the Church!) We signed them anonymously (of course), and hid them behind my couch for me to bring to school the next day.

Well, later that night, my brother Daniel had been looking behind the couch, and he found the note Cortney had written (Thank goodness it wasn't mine. Until I was about 14, I tried to put off the image to my family that boys had cooties...bahaha). He asked me what it was all about, and I threw Cortney under the bush. I told him that Cortney was in love with a boy at school. He wrote her name on it. I forgot to erase it, and the next day, I brought the notes to school and put them on his desk.

I remember waiting with great anticipation as he approached his desk. We watched him read the notes. You could tell he was so embarrassed (because really, what first grade boy wants a lovey dovey pink note from ANY girl?!) He came over towards Cortney and calmly told her to "please never write him a note again." And that was the end of it. He moved to another school a few months later. But boy was he dreamy.

And being the creepy person I am, I totally searched him out on facebook after writing this. So not dreamy anymore.

And before I forget; the post about my best friends--as my sister Cindy pointed out--left out my family. I really have the best family in the world, and my siblings are definitely my best friends. However, I was waiting to write about them on the "siblings" day :) hehe

Day 1: My best friend(s)

2010-08-23T00:09:00.005-06:00

I saw this on someone else's blog and I thought it would be fun to do, especially since I haven't been very good about writing. I just really don't have that exciting of a life. Technically, I'm supposed to put a picture with all of these "Days", but we'll see if that actually happens. I'll write at least a little about each one.

Day 1 — Your Best Friend

Day 2 — Your Crush

Day 3 — Your parents

Day 4 —Your sibling (or closest relative)

Day 5 — Your dreams

Day 6 — A stranger

Day 7 — Your Ex-boyfriend/girlfriend/love/crush

Day 8 — Your favorite internet friend

Day 9 — Someone you wish you could meet

Day 10 — Someone you don’t talk to as much as you’d like to

Day 11 — A Deceased person you wish you could talk to

Day 12 — The person you hate most/caused you a lot of pain

Day 13 — Someone you wish could forgive you

Day 14 — Someone you’ve drifted away from

Day 15 — The person you miss the most

Day 16 — Someone that’s not in your state/country

Day 17 — Someone from your childhood

Day 18 — The person that you wish you could be

Day 19 — Someone that pesters your mind—good or bad

Day 20 — The one that broke your heart the hardest

Day 21 — Someone you judged by their first impression

Day 22 — Someone you want to give a second chance to

Day 23 — The last person you kissed

Day 24 — The person that gave you your favorite memory

Day 25 — The person you know that is going through the worst of times

Day 26 — The last person you made a pinky promise to

Day 27 — The friendliest person you knew for only one day

Day 28 — Someone that changed your life

Day 29 — The person that you want tell everything to, but too afraid to

Day 30 — Your reflection in the mirror

Day 1

My Best Friend

I'm not going to lie. The term "best friend" kind of bugs me. I feel like so many people use it so loosely to describe pretty much everyone in their life. I have this one friend who pretty much states that EVERYONE is her best friend. Helloooooo. Best=better than the rest. They can't be the best if everyone else is comparable. However, I do believe people can have more than one "best" friend, because you, or at least I know I do, have friends that you consider best for certain reasons. But, I really don't think everyone can be your best friend. Silly people.

However, this best friend thing reminds me though of the first encounter I had with Forrest. I alluded to it in my last post, but I'll give a more in-depth story behind it. I had gone over to my buddy Kristian's house, who so kindly saved me from my misery of being by myself, alone, in my apartment. I had recently decided I was going to just ask random people to be my best friend, because you know, it worked in elementary school...why shouldn't it work now? So, new roommate of Kristian's came out of the room, and I enthusiastically asked if he wanted to be my best friend (it was on one of the days I chose to be super outgoing). I remember him just kind of looking at me, maybe, saying hi, and then walking away. It was sad, because I had already had my eye set on him (before I even met him. Kristian told me one of his roommates had a girlfriend, but the other had only a sister. I told Kristian "I'm going for the one with the sister", without even seeing him. I told Forrest this yesterday and he was like "So I was doomed before I even met you." Ha. ha. Ha.)

However, my theory that asking people to be your best friend works, has definitely fulfilled it. While I have friends that I would consider my "best" for certain reasons, Forrest is most definitely my very best friend in the whole entire world. He's definitely the best in so many ways, and I'm so grateful for what he means in my life. I've posted plenty of pictures of him though, as well as written lots about im, so I'll just post two pictures and little stories of my other two best friends.

Cortney! I have known her for, well, ever. I don't remember not knowing her; I think we've been friends since we were two. We were in the same school class from Preschool up until 6th grade. She's really tall. I remember being so upset when we were little and she surpassed me in height (Because, yes, I was taller than her in kindergarten. But, she kept growing, and I pretty much stayed the same. Weirdly enough, we have the same shoe size). We've gone to several EFY's together, lived together, gone on lots of crazy and exciting adventures, and just known each other forever. I love Cortney to death and she is defintiely a BFF of mine. I could go on about all the weird things we used to do, like play lion king in my backyard, have lemonade stands, or make up stories to each other. SHe's basically the best, and I've loved living with her this whole past year. It's weird not to be anymore.

Senior year of highschool; stage makeup for Fiddler on the Roof. Yay!

Megan! Well, you can read about how we came to be friends here. Megan is pretty much thebomb.com. Pretty much whenever I want someone to talk to, she's there and willing. We've been friends since about 8th grade. I was super bummed when she decided not to come out here to Provo and live this semester, but she's being super cool and doing some internship in Denver. She's kind of goofy and says weird/awkward things sometimes, but that's pretty much why I love her. She goes to school up at fake BYU (Just kidding . . . Kind of) in freezing cold Rexburg, but she's come to visit me a few times over the past year (because I'm lame and don't want to go up there. She's a better friend than me). One of my favorite memories of Megan was when we were in 9th grade, we would always say the pledge of allegiance very . . . enthusiastically, together in my second hour choir class. Or EFY one year. That was intense. She's great, and I love her to pieces. If I had a fave five, she'd be on it. She also designed the wedding dress I will wear one day, and the dresses my bridesmaid will wear.....bahahah.

And that is the end of today's "blog every day". yay!

Why Forrest Clark is the best Boyfriend. Ever.

2010-08-15T00:14:00.004-06:00

Tonight I was once again reminded that I sure have found the cream of the crop in Forrest.

We went to the Real Salt Lake game up in Sandy. Forrest stopped by my apartment a little bit before, and then we headed to his. Being the extremely intelligent person I am, I thought, hm, I don't need to bring my purse or keys or anything since I'm not driving. And off we went. The game was fun, the weather was great, and then we came back to Provo and went to his apartment. We were watching 24, when, around 11:35, I suddenly thought, hey. I bet my apartment is going to be locked. And I have no keys.

Typically this wouldn't be a problem, because I usually have all my roommates phone numbers. However, I just moved into my new apartment, and while there are two girls still living here, I didn't even know their names (one of them hasn't even been here when I have, and the other is engaged. I just hadn't seen her much up to this point).

So Forrest and I walked back to my apartment. A small glimmer of hope waned in me as I tried the door with no avail. It was locked. Then I decided to knock. And then I rang the doorbell. About 10 times in a row. Still nothing. Either the girl who lived here was dead asleep, or not even home. Then I asked Forrest for a credit card to try and break in the door. My brother-in-law, Brandon, had taught me early on in my teenage years how to unlock a door with a credit card. It always worked on the house back home....but not this one.

At this point, I had no idea what I was going to do. Forrest said, "well, I have a couch..." but I'm pretty sure neither of us would resort to that until the last option (because yes, we are good, honor-code keeping people. Thank you very much). Then I mentioned that I had left my window open, and maybe he could get the screen open. This didn't seem like the most viable option, as my apartment is on the second floor, and my room was on the side of the building that has absolutely no leavrage to climb on it. But we went back in hopes that something would work out.

Well, after trying to climb up some bricks that kind of jutted out, someone came home. I just prayed it was my roommate. So, we kind of followed the girl and, not very inconspicuously, watched her and her boyfriend walk up the stairs. She walked up to the third floor, and we were out of luck. So we walked back to the backside of the complex.

When we got there, Forrest spotted an old couch. It was pretty much our last option, so we carried it to the building, flipped it so it was just under the windowsill, and Forrest tried to get up. It was too tall though, so he saw some bikes that were luckily unchainned, and then climbed up using that. I had to hold the couch steady, because it definitely would have fallen backwards otherwise. Some guys walked by and were like "Um...are you locked out?" And I'm like "Yes. Yes I am." I'm pretty sure they were very concerned that we were breaking in, but apparently my simple yes was good enough for them. Maybe I should consider going into a life of crime.

The window screen was really in place. At first, Forrest didn't think he could get it, but after about 5 minutes or so of messing with it, he found the way to get it off. He fiddled with it for awhile longer, it got a little bent....but eventually he got it off. He jumped in the window and tried to find my purse in the dark. Finally he turned the lights on, but still couldn't find it. I was getting nervous that somehow I had lost my keys somewhere in my room....which was possible, because I had done that earlier in the day. However, eventually he found them, threw them down, and climbed out of the window. It took him awhile to get the screen back on, but he did it...maybe just with a little more bend to it then there was originally. He then jumped back down, we put everything back where it belonged, and he said, "well....this will be a good story to tell."

And I agreed. This will probably be one of those stories that posterity will hear, over, and over again.

But. like I said. I'm pretty sure I have the best boyfriend ever. :)

Climbing in the window. It doesn't look that high up, but I didn't want to risk letting go of the couch and Forrest fall backwards and dying for the sake of a picture. Even I've got limits ;-)

6 Months

2010-08-11T00:13:00.007-06:00

6 months ago was when Forrest and I became "official"

I never could have imagined how much dating him would change my life in those 6 months (for the better)

Not only have I found the most amazing man in the world, but I found the best friend I could ever ask for.

No one makes me laugh harder, smile more, or happier than him. Sometimes he drives me crazy, but I know sometimes I drive him crazy as well, so it all evens out :) Life wouldn't be fun, anyways, if things were always perfect. Because they don't have to be

As one of my favorite songs by Sara Evans goes:

Maybe every little piece of the puzzle doesn't always fit

Perfectly

Love can be rough around the edges, tattered at the seams

But honey if it's good enough for you, then it's good enough for me

Just merely being around Forrest makes me want to be a better person

Pretty much any semi-cute lovey dovey song on the radio, I instantly think "aw. Forrest"

Never in my dreams would I have thought that the boy who looked at me funny and walked away when I proclaimed "Do you want to be my best friend?!" the first time I met him, would become one of the most important people in my life.

I have no idea what the future holds...My friend Megan once told me a quote that said "the essence of romance is uncertainty."...but I really hope he's in it. I really can't imagine my life without him!

I know this is all really cheesy, but I figured...hey, 6 months is a good landmark. I have a right to write something cheesy every now and then on here :) I could go on with a million reasons why he's so wonderful...but I can save that for another day ;-)

Forrest doesn't usually (er..ever) read my blog, but if he follows my directions and does...

Forrest Joshua Clark! You are so wonderful!!! You make me happier than you know. I hope you never forget how much I care about you :)

And just for fun....I decided to put up six pictures from the beginning of our relationship until now!

Before going to the Temple one morning...I think we'd been dating about 3 days?

After visiting Cindy and AJ in Salt Lake, and then walking around the SLC Temple and the Capital. I'm pretty sure this is where we first held hands (yeah, we're cool like that)

My first Real Salt Lake/MLS game. Lot's of fun...Even though Forrest had to explain lots to me :)

End of year party at Brick Oven.

On top of a mountain at Snowbird, Utah, when we spent a weekend there with some of his family

Pioneer Day celebration in Spanish Fork. Love this picture :)

"Love isn't finding the perfect person. It's seeing an imperfect person perfectly"

--Sam Keen

(my favorite quote)

Flashback Friday

2010-08-06T08:38:00.000-06:00

Yes, I have sucumb to a cheesy alliteration filled title. But since it's Friday, and this is a flashback...I figured why not. Just one step closer to becoming a cheesy Mormon wife (minus the whole, wife, thing).

This post is inspired by a scary experience my sister Cindy had yesterday. Read about it here (and just read her blog. It's super cute and she's a great writer!)

And now I will tell you about the scariest thing that ever happened to me. Some people laugh when they hear it, but I assure you, it was terrifying.

Back when I was, oh, about 15 or so, I had been over at my friend Cortney's house. Since I couldn't drive, my mom came and picked me up at about midnight (what a nice mom). My dad and Michael were in Utah visiting Cindy, and meeting her then-boyfriend, AJ, for the first time. So, we were by ourselves. For some reason, I always hated when my dad left. The house always just seemed safer with him there. I think part of me was convinced "bad guys" would stay away just by the mere thought of my dad (because I'm sure that everyone was aware of when my dad was gone). Anyways, they were gone and it was just my Mom and me for the weekend.

Well, Cortney lives about one block away from me. I mean, how much can happen in a less than 2 minute drive home? Well, I found out this fateful night.

My mom had just turned off Cortney's street and was about to get to the stopsign that leads to my street. All of the sudden, we saw a man in all white clothing. White suspenders. White hat. Probably even white shoes. He had a long, grizzly, gray beard and was just sauntering on the sidewalk. I jokingly said to my mom "Haha! What if he's one of the three Nephites?!" Right as I said that, he started to walk in the street. In attempts to not hit him, my mom just stopped, hoping he would pass by on his way.

That wasn't the case.

He stopped, smack dab in front of our car, starred right at my mom and I, and made the most terrifying face I have ever seen. I'm pretty sure my heart stopped. My mom and I both screamed bloody murder as he ran towards my door. I reached over just before he got there and locked the door. Thank goodness for that. He tried to grab at the handle on my door and my mom sped off as fast as she could. Being the smart woman that she was, she drove a different way, not directly to our home, in attempts to confuse him in the case he did want to follow us.

As you might imagine, we were scared out of our wits. We called my dad. Even called the cops. They said they would "send someone by", even though I'm sure they were just thinking that we were just big chickens.

It may not sound that scary, but it really was. I was afraid to drive home every night after that. When I had to, as soon as I would get to my house, I would jump out as fast as I could and run inside to my house. Yep. Even last summer when I was living there.

I think this experience is what has made me so OCD about locking my doors. The second I get in the car, without even thinking, I lock the door immediately.

So, that was the scariest experience of my life. There are such huge weirdos out there!

(Note: I found out later this man lived in our neighborhood, and some considered him the "neighborhood drunk". I'm pretty sure he had some sort of mental problem too)

Who needs weights...when you have groceries!

2010-07-21T00:28:00.003-06:00

See those bags? I carried those inside in one trip. Not only in one trip. But with one hand. Was it entirely necessary to do so? Not really. I just wanted to see how many bags I could carry without too much struggle in one trip. I am pretty sure my coolness level just rose by about 22.58%.

Because I decided to carry all of these bags in one hand, I was able to serve Cortney (just fulfilling my Church calling) and carry in her milk in my other hand. It really just made her life so much better, I'm sure.

This is also good training for when I'm a mom someday. I mean, it could be pouring down rain someday, and I'll have a baby that I need to carry in one arm, and a trunk full of groceries to carry in. This also counts as a good strength workout. Those bags are heavy.

The moral of the story is...I think everyone should try and carry in six bags of groceries the next time you go to the store. You're life will be blessed exceedingly.

I really should be a motivational speaker.

Oh....and these are quite possibly the best cookies I've ever eaten. Run, don't walk, to the store. Smith's has them on sale!

Shuffleboard: A New Generation

2010-07-20T17:42:00.005-06:00

This past weekend, I discovered a new past time.

Shuffleboard.

I know. An old person sport. But it's so much fun, and I think everyone should play it.

I went to Snowbird, Utah, with some of Forrest's family this weekend. I'll write more about that later when I get some pictures, but this is where this love for Shuffleboard came about.

After being disappointed about not getting ping pong equipment, Forrest's sisters and I were walking somewhere (I don't even remember now), when we saw people walk by with shuffleboard equipment. Apparently, Forrest's family really liked this game awhile back when they played, so his sisters' suggested we play. I just went with it, and we went and got equipment.

Best. Decision. Ever. Okay, maybe not ever, but it was pretty epic.

Shuffleboard is a game of strategy and skill. I was surprisngly not too terrible (compared to other sports...namely, tennis, racquetball, volleyball, softball, and anything that requires coordination of any kind), and it was really addicting to play. We played on teams, and Meredith and I were completely pulverized by Forrest and Doris. After we played, we found the rules, and realized we shouldn't have lost by so much, but it was good to know for the next time. Towards the end of the trip, we played for about an hour. I played 0n Forrest's team, and we totally won. It was great. I think the best part was Forrest, along with Doris, coming up with incredibly cheesy puns. The stick is called a tang and the pieces that you slide across the court are called biscuits. You can only imagine the possibilities. Especially if you know Forrests' sense of humor.

I recommend this game to anyone. We are pretty determined to find a place to play in Provo. So far, all we've found is a court at a retirement center where you have to be 55 or older to play.

Don't be like me and think it's an older person sport. It's going to make it's way back someday.

Next step? Curling.

Just kidding.

I don't have any pictures of me playing, but here's one of Forrest. I bet you can sense his excitement and love for the sport.

(doesn't he look so cute with his "beard". hehe)

I'm back...hopefully!

2010-07-20T17:08:00.002-06:00

Today while I was at work, I started thinking of all these awesome blog posts I could write. I really need to get back into writing regularly; my writing skills haven't been as up to par as they have been in the past and with my upcoming application to the Print Journalism program quickly approaching, as well as my persuasive writing class for the Fall, I need to brush up on my skills. Also, the other day Forrest told someone (I believe his sister) that I had some world-reknown blog. While he was being sarcastic (because really...I doubt more than like 10 people read this), I know need to step up my blogging efforts.

Unfortunately, I forgot pretty much everything I was planning on writing about. I was going to write about the texts that I have composed in the past few months that surely would require the Uriim and Thummim to decipher, but unfortunately, my phone malfunctioned today and deleted all those gems.

I decided I should write more about what's been going on in my life here. If I have a massive overload of posts about things I've been doing, instead of incredibly insightful and witty posts (because, you know, I have so many of those), bear with me. Hopefully it will be exciting for everyone to read. As I sat here writing posts, I kept coming up with things to write. Hopefully I'll have several things to post over the next few days...Don't miss the post below this...about...Eclipse!

Eclipse

2010-07-20T16:16:00.000-06:00

I'll admit it, I'm a big fan of Twilight. For a couple of months, I had several friends and other acquaintances start talking about a "vampire romance" book. They assured me that, while it sounded rather dumb, it was really captivating. I disregarded it and dubbed it as not worth my time without much thought. However, one day during my senior year (or maybe my junior? I have no idea), I was sitting in the library with nothing to do during my off hour, and I saw the first book in the then trilogy sitting there. I decided to pick it up, and proceeded to read the first chapter. I was hooked. Over the next week or so, I read through the first three books and couldn't put them done. I was definitely drawn in by the oddly romantic, maybe better put sadistic, romance between Bella and Edward. I hated on Jacob. While the writing wasn't particularly good, Stephanie Meyer's definitely had a way of writing a captivating book.

Well, as with most books with a huge fan base, a movie was released. It was bad quality, the acting was terrible (I will never forget how Edward looked when Bella walked into the room on the first day of Biology. I died laughing in the theater), but I still enjoyed it. New Moon came out, and I was unsure about how this one would be. I didn't particularly like the book, mainly because Jacob was in it more than Edward, but I obviously went and saw it. I actually really enjoyed the movie and felt like it was better than the first. I even liked Jacob slightly more than I had.

Obviously, unless you've been living under a rock, Eclipse came out a few weeks ago. I was waiting to see it until it came to the dollar theater, because, I'm cheap, and I felt I could wait. (Just a side note--the dollar theater in Provo is pretty sweet. Forrest and I frequent it.) However, last night Forrest texted me and asked if I wanted to go see Eclipse. We had been to the mountains over the weekend, and I'm pretty sure he mentioned that all the trees made him want to see the movie. Isn't he the best boyfriend? I sure do think so.

So we went. And I loved it. It was obviously way better quality than the first two films, and the acting was a lot better. It also helped that Edward kept his shirt on the whole time (Sorry Robert Pattinson. You look sickly at times). I'm not entirerly sure if it was necessary for Jacob to have his shirt off for pretty much the whole movie, but you know, I won't complain too much (even though I really don't find his face or voice to be very attractive. I told Forrest I thought Taylor Lautner's nose was really weird...He just shushed me). I thought the whole killing of vampires was a little bit weird...how they just shattered like glass. I particularly found Bella's dad, Charlie, to be particularly endearing. I can't remember who plays him, but I've always thought he was one of the strongest characters in the movie. Overall, I really enjoyed it, and will definitely be seeing it again. I couldn't help but make remarks throughout the whole movie to Forrest, but luckily, there was only about 10 people in the theater. Everyone else was seeing Inception (which I've already seen...but need to see again when I'm not tired. I hate to admit it, but I wasn't entirely sure what was going on). Forrest said he thought the movie was "ok" but I think he secretly loved it.

I think the best part of the movie was afterwards on the car ride home. Forrest and I had quite the conversation about who was better...Edward or Jacob. Obviously, I think Edward is, but Forrest felt differently. I'm not the best at coming up with constructive arguments, so listening to the conversation, Forrest gave some good points on why he was better for Bella...but I still disagree (And if you're reading this Forrest...hopefully you don't hate me for writing about how you participated in this conversation..hehe)

BYU thoughts

2010-07-06T18:08:00.003-06:00

Lately I've been really thinking about how much I truly love BYU. Sometimes I take for granted how lucky I am to attend such a great school. I let myself get bogged down by the fact that some of the classes I take aren't easy and actually take effort, or the fact that there are so many incredibly talented people here. However, being here in the summer has really made me gain a greater appreciation for the school.

I never realized how much I just love walking around campus. Since I haven't been taking classes this summer, the amount of time I have spent up there has dwindled exceedingly. However, the times that I do go up there, I take my time doing what I went for, and just walk around. The campus is so beautiful, and all of the buildings have interesting things about them. One of my favorite things to do during the fall and winter was walking through the Wilkinson Center and just reading all of the signs on the wall. Kind of random...but I loved it. Along the same lines, whenever I had a free moment, I would wander around the BYU Bookstore. As lame as it sounds, I could spend all day in there (as well as in Deseret Book!). I love picking up random books and reading the beginning of them, looking at all the decorations, or just any other random product that happens to be being sold at the time. It takes a lot of willpower to never buy any of the things, but I definitely enjoy being there.

There is a definite spirit that resounds on campus. Everything is just so...clean and pretty. Last semester in my news writing class, I had to ask random people what they felt the biggest issue on campus one. One particular guy, after stating that he felt like the dances "reeked of Babylon" (obviously, he's never been to a high school prom), stated that he felt that no one appreciated the trees. I kind of laugh at this response every now and then, but it's true, that there are so many beautiful plants and trees around campus. That sounds totally lame and nerdy as I write it out, but it is a beautiful place. Sometimes I'll be sitting at home and I'll just randomly think how much I miss being there every day. A few weeks ago, Forrest and I went on a Sunday walk. As we were walking by the stairs that lead up to campus, I told him how much I love campus and miss being there all the time. I know he thought I was kind of nerdy for saying that, but he suggested we walk around up there. It was so fun just to wander around campus on a Sunday when there weren't very many other people there.

Another thing that I didn't realize was how wonderful of a job I have here and how much I enjoy working on campus. Because I wasn't able to get a full 40 hours at the BYU comprehensive clinic during spring and summer, I unfortunately have only been subbing for the other receptionists every now and then. Today is one of those days. As I sit here writing this, I can't help but feel so grateful that I am able to have this job in the Fall and Winter. I often complained about it, but now, after working at the Census, this job is a dream. It's an awesome environment and I consider it a blessing that I'm able to work here. At one time, I had started considering getting a degree in marriage and family therapy. However, after deciding that I didn't think my grades would be good enough to get into the program here at BYU (some refer to it as the Harvard of MFT), I decided otherwise. But just being here always makes me kind of wish I was still doing that. I really think that the services they offer here are so cool. I love this place and I hope I can work here until I graduate!

I honestly cannot wait until Fall semester starts. In the past, I haven't done too hot in my classes, and I really hate to admit that--because I know I have the ability to do well. This summer I have really felt strongly that I need to put more effort and diligence into my school work. I can't wait to start learning more things and expanding my knowledge of secular and spiritual things. I will be applying to my Journalism program in September, and I can't wait to start those classes in the Winter. However, since there aren't any classes in my major I can take until Winter of 2011, I am trying to finish up some GE's and one of my classes for my editing and home and family living minor (I just really love the the SFL classes...haha). I really try and pick the least boring sounding of the GE's...sometimes I'm successful, other times, terribly wrong in my guessing. The classes I am taking in the fall are:

Joseph Smith and the Restoration with Sister Black. I am SO excited about this class. I have only heard amazing things about Sister Black, and I'm super stoked that I have been able to get into one of her classes finally. Back when I was 13, my ward came on a youth conference to Utah, and one of the things we did was visit BYU. We sat in on a lesson from Sister Black, and I still remember that the spirit was so strong. Religion classes are my very favorite kind to take, so I'm really interested to see how this class helps my testimony grow and the things I will be able to learn about Joseph Smith and the Restoration of the Gospel!

Intro to the English Language: This is for my editing minor. Believe it or not, I think this is going to be fun. I've read reviews on the teacher, and they all seem really encouraging. Secretly, I want to become an expert on the English language and then critique how everyone speaks and spells...just kidding. All I really want to do is make "integriftul" a real word. Because it's one I use on a regular basis....hehe.

Intro to Human Geography: Okay, I am least excited about this class. However, it's pretty much inevitable that I have to take some sort of Geography class from a GE. I signed up for this one only because Hilary is taking it, and I feel like I may struggle actually going otherwise....haha.

Family Finance: I am taking this from the MFT minor, but I think it will be a very rewarding class. I need to be better at handling finances and budgeting, and I think this will be great. It seems like a lower form of Economics...which I don't think I would take unless someone paid me. haha. But the teacher sounds really cool, and this will definitely be a class that will benefit me for a long time!

Persuasive Writing: I figured that I might as well take a class to sharpen my writing skills, as well as to take care of my Advanced writing GE. Daniel, my brother, took this class last semester and he really enjoyed it. I LOVE persuasive writing, so it will be fun to take this class. I think it will definitely help me out for the journalism program...assuming I get into it. I think it will be challenging, but fun at the same time.

and finally...this one I'm not so sure if I will take this one, but as of right now, I'm signed up for a beginning soccer class. As I've mentioned, I have come to enjoy the sport of the past few months. However, I am terrible at it (despite people saying "oh no, you aren't terrible!". I know they are lying). I really wanted to take an exercise class in the fall, and when I was looking around, this was the only one open. I probably will keep it...but we'll see. I'm afraid I'll be pulverized in it :)

I am also going back and forth on whether or not I want to try and take University Chorale again. Lately I have really been missing singing.

So if you're still reading this, you may be wondering...what inspired me to write about why I love BYU so much? Well, simply put, I'm sick of seeing and hearing so many people complain about how much they hate BYU and how dumb the Honor Code is and how they wish they didn't go here. I just want to slap them! That's kind of violent I suppose...Maybe I just want to reprimand them. I don't think I've gone a day without someone complaining on their facebook status about BYU or Provo.

Okay--Provo isn't the prime place for exciting things, but it's not that bad. But I can understand people not liking it. But when people complain about how they hate BYU, yet they go here, that's what gets me. I don't understand why they are going here if they don't want to be here. A lot of them will say "oh my parents will only pay for this school" or "they gave me a scholarship" or whatever...and to them, I say, no one is forcing you, despite what you may think. Every person is an agent for themselves, and they should be able to do what they want, regardless of the consequences. There are SO many people I know that would love to go to BYU but haven't been able to do for one reason or another. I'll admit, I know that at times I haven't been the most grateful for being able to go here, so don't think I think I'm perfect...but it bugs me. It also bugs me when people complain about the honor code. When you enrolled at BYU, you signed it. You knew what it entailed. Because of that, you have no reason to complain. And really...is it all that hard to follow? Maybe for some people it is, but to me, I feel like following it really is pretty much just doing the things I've been taught all of my life. Oh and religion classes...this is a private, religious university. They have every right to require religion classes. Which I think is awesome anyways--because I love them (not saying that everything I love is correct...haha).

Sorry if that last bit sounded a bit condescending or rude. It just bugs me, especially lately when I've been hearing about friends or acquaintances who want to go here so much. I've been told by someone in the past that I shouldn't be taking up the space of someone who actually wants to "make something of themselves" because one day I want to be able to stay home with my children, which I think is absolutely ridiculous since we have been counseled to get as much education as we can. However, but when someone is here and they truly don't want to be...that's what I think is unfair. But that's all. I love BYU...and I am really trying to not take my time here for Granted :)

clarification

2010-06-29T11:23:00.003-06:00

Heh so as I have read the comments on my last post, i feel inclined to clarify something. When I say weird, I'm not meaning creepy or crazy or anything. More, interrsting, quirky, goofy. I like to refer to this as an awesome weird. Being "normal" is overrrate anyways. :) but in case anyone got the wrong ixea, i dont think my family, or Forrest, are like socially awkward or creepy.

Though of you've experienced the Barker bear hug, you may feel differently. Lol.

And please excuse any spelling or punctuation mistakes. I'm doing this on my phone and I can't get the cursor where I want it. Lol

It all makes sense

2010-06-28T18:50:00.002-06:00

Last night while we were having dinner, Daniel and I came to the consensus that we are a kind of weird family. Forrest piped in and said that must be why I like him so much, because he's weird and fits in great.

Somehow...I think he's right. :)

The Award for WORST movie ever goes to . . .

2010-06-27T12:31:00.003-06:00

Awhile back, Forrest told me about an atrocity of a movie he rented from Redbox. Ever since then, he has mentioned it on occasion about how terrible it was. Now, I just didn't see how a movie could be that bad, but he assured me, it was. Well, this last Friday we decided to go rent a movie after our "softball" (i put that in quotes because 4 people showed up; thus--not qualifying as a game) game, he decided that I needed to see a couple of scenes from this movie. Along with renting Remember Me (which, I thought was pretty good), we rented the following movie . . .

Remember how I said I didn't think a movie could be as bad as Forrest thought? Well, I've learned not to doubt him. Because this truly was the worst movie ever. Not only was the plot line incredibly cliche, but the acting/special effects/everything about it was terrible. There were a couple of fight scenes that made the battle scenes in the Manti Pageant seem intense. The costumes were atrocious. No one in the film appeared to have any experience with acting. And you should have seen some of the "space" scenes. It basically looked like you were staring at a black screen with twinkling lights on it. My favorite part was when there were these explosions or something around the ship. I've never seen something faker. Part of me couldn't believe someone actually made this movie. Honestly, it seems as if someone was trying to make a terrible movie. I've seen better student made films posted on facebook. I'm not saying I could do any better...because, well, I couldn't. But it's pretty bad. When Forrest first suggested we watch some scenes (because mind you -- we did not watch the whole thing), I thought about pretending to love it, just to get a rise out of him. But it wasn't even worth doing that. Forrest thought I should mention something about this movie on my blog--so that's where the inspiration for this post came from. So, please watch this trailer for it. Maybe it'll give you an example of what a terrible film it is.

On the other hand, we did watch a pretty good movie called Remember Me. It has Robert Pattinson in it from Twilight. Now, I don't normally think he's the greatest actor ever, but I felt he played his part well in this movie. Granted, most of this movie was kind of depressing. Everyone was depressed, angry, etc. And at parts I wasn't quite sure what the point of the movie was. But the ending definitely made the movie worth watching. I won't tell you what happened, but it wasn't what I suspected and definitely pulled the film together. Forrest and I both felt that it was a more life-like movie that people could relate too, because it didn't have the typical "everything works out perfectly" ending. I wouldn't say it was the best movie I've ever seen, but I did enjoy it. I have to say, there were a couple of sketchy scenes that we fast forwarded through, and a little bit more swearing than I really like (note: more than I like = anything. haha), but yeah. I enjoyed it and recommend it.

Fiber meets Chocolate/GLEE!

2010-06-15T19:38:00.004-06:00

I'm not sure how many of you read Busy Bee Lauren's blog, but the other day she posted a very interesting recipe. When I first read what was in it, I just about gagged. However, after reading her raving review, my curiosity was sparked, and I went to the store after work and got the ingredients. Luckily, it only required 3 ingredients which were all relatively cheap.

So what is this mystery food?

Black Bean Brownies.

Before you barf, click out of this page, or just deem me insane, hear me out. I realize that black beans and chocolate don't typically mix. As I was making the black bean mixture, I almost couldn't stand the smell. However, BBL assured her readers that the smell did go away. I trusted in that, and pushed through. When I took the brownies out of the oven, they not only smelled delicious, but were super moist and I don't feel completely terrible about eating them. I have to say though, this recipe is delicious, and you would never guess that there were beans in it. Unless you have super food senses, which, I do not. The best thing about these brownies is that there are only 3 (okay, 4 if you count water) ingredients, and you just nix all the eggs and oil that most brownies require. So, here is the recipe. I recommend you all trying it. They are delicious!

1 can black beans

1 box brownie mix

1/2 bag chocolate chips

1 cup water

Drain and rinse of the black beans and then put them in a mixer. Add a cup of water and puree until the mixture is smooth. Mix the bean mixture with a box of brownie mix until combined, and then add in the chocolate chips. Pour into a baking dish, and bake according to the box instructions. Viola!

In other news, I am now obsessed with the show Glee. I realize it came out like...awhile ago, and that it's probably really lame that I'm just jumping on the band wagon right now...but better late than never, yeah? The other day I was feeling really bored and just felt like watching tv, so I found all the episodes of Glee and I have really enjoyed it ever since. I should have realized I would like it, considering it's pretty much a musical show, but my whole "I don't watch or do things that are currently popular unless I found it first" bias got the best of me. I love it though. I'm only on like episode 6 or 7, because my computer turns off every 15-20 minutes whenever I'm watching TV (anyone want to send me a new laptop/netbook. Thanks!), and then it takes about 20 minutes to get it booted up again, but I'm getting through it. But, I love the show. And I just wanted everyone to know that. And Fin, one of the main guys in the show? Pretty much I would like to marry him. Yeah....that's about it!

Taco Time = Win

2010-06-09T21:46:00.002-06:00

Today for lunch, I went to Taco Time. Typically, I'm not a huge fan of this place. I feel like none of their beef or chicken is real, and I always feel a little sick. However, I do like their crispy beef burritos, in their unhealthy glory and all. I haven't had it for quite awhile, so, considering there was one right across the street from the Census Office, I got one. I thought I would go through the drive through, and then run and get gas real quick. Well, it took forever to get through the drive through, even though there was only one car in front of me. They were just really taking their time inside. However, I wasn't in much of a rush, so I was okay with it. I pulled out of the drive through and into a parking spot, where I took a big bite of my supposed crispy beef burrito. I was quite surprised to taste beans.

You see. I really, really don't like most beans. Especially pinto beans, which is the the main ingredient in the crispy bean burrito. I thought about just sucking it up, but since I had time, I went inside. I was pleased to have the workers tell me how sorry they were, and that I could keep the bean burrito, while they made me up another one. Even though it took about 10 minutes (why...I have no idea!) to get my beef one done, it was all better when they through in a free order of this cinnamon chip things that were absolutely delicious (I tried to ignore the fact that they were super unhealthy). So not only did I get two of those crispy burritos, but I got chips! We can ignore the fact that I didn't actually eat the bean one...because, like I said, I don't like them. But I thought it was really nice. So, if you are ever in Provo at the Taco Time on University Parkway, and they mess up your order...Be assured, they WILL take care of you!

Some guy at the Census that I was interviewing told me that I sounded like a big ball of fun today. It made my day. He was the cutest, nicest old man I've ever talked to at the Census so far.

And, I LOVE Lady Antebellum. I keep discovering songs of theirs that I adore. Awhile ago, I got one of their CD's, but I never listened to it. So every now and then, one of their songs will pop up on my mp3 player, and I'll listen to it. Today I discovered "Home is Where the Heart Is". I feel as if I can relate to it in some ways. I'll leave you with this line...and then maybe I'll talk about it more on my private blog...That I haven't updated in forever..haha. Check that in about 30 minutes :)

...And that's where my heart found, exactly where I'm supposed to be. It didn't take much time; It's just south of the mason-dixon line.

(take what you may from it. If you're smart, you'll figure it out).

Facebook-less week!

2010-06-07T20:42:00.003-06:00

Pretty much, I'm a huge fan of Facebook. It's a great way for me to catch up on coughstalkcough friends, family, and old classmates from high school who I never talked to but befriended me anyways. Obviously, if we are friends on there, you'll know I spend a bit of time uploading pictures, posting links, etc. I'm basically a Facebook master. However, lately I have really felt like I need to start spending my time doing more productive things and developing more of those good ol' "divinely appointed" attributes that they always talk about in young womens. I haven't been the happiest camper as of late, and I really want to try and declutter my life and put all my priorities in line. With that said, I came up with the great idea that for a week (yes, that's all I'm willing to commit to haha), I will not get on Facebook. Now, I didn't want to deactivate my account, because that's just silly, but I did have Forrest change my password so I couldn't get on (though I think he doesn't think I can do it). So, for exactly from today at 6:46, I will not be on Facebook.

I'm not gonna lie, I have already just typed in Facebook about four times since I've been on the computer, just out of habit. But it will be good for me. It's good to "disconnect" every now and then. There was an article in the Ensign a few months ago about "unplugging", with things such as mp3 players and what not, because we never know when the Spirit may be trying to speak to us, and we may be too distracted by music or other things. I used to be really big on listening to my mp3 player as I walked from class to class on campus. However, as soon as I took that challenge not too, I realized that my days went better and I just enjoyed being on campus more. I liked it so much, that I haven't listened to music while I've been on campus in a long time. It's been nice.

So with that, in my quest to develop more talents and just become a better person, I would appreciate any suggestions of things I could do to better use my time rather than playing around on the computer. I've already put sewing on my list, but I definitely need some other things as well. :)

Hairrrrrrrrcut

2010-05-29T16:19:00.005-06:00

So for the past oh...3 months, I have been talking about how I needed to get my haircut. Days went by faster than they should have, and I never really found the time. However, today I realized that the amount of split ends I had were increasing daily, and while they kept me occupied during downtime at work, it probably wasn't very healthy for my hair. So I bit the bullet and called Paul Mitchell hair school here in Provo. I haven't ever been to a hairschool in the past to get my haircut, but not wanting to drop 20-30 bucks on a haircut, I called them up at made an appointment for today.

For some reason, I got all nervous and wasn't sure if I really wanted to cut my hair. I mean, it was pretty dang long:

Although it looks kind of gross in the above picture, it did look nice one I straightened or curled it. Anyways, despite my hesitations, I went in there and got my haircut. Can I just say, it was probably the best hair cutting experiences of my life. They start out by asking you what you want, and then one of the teachers comes over and analyzes your hair. As most hair stylists do, they gasped at my split ends and told me that I need more moisture in my hair because, since it was very staticy, that is the number one sign of dry hair. And really can't have that. Then after this, I get an awesome shampoo and conditioning, with products selected JUST for me and my dry hair. After that, my stylist cut my hair, along the way having her supervisor come and make sure she was doing it perfect. After all the cutting was done, she blow dried it, put product in it, straightened, and styled it. And how much did this all cost? 8 bucks. This same treatment at some other salon would have put me out a whole lot more. So, moral of the story is, go to a beauty school to get your hair done. It's totally worth it. And the people there are so enthusiastic and happy. I love it.

Oh, and every time I go get my haircut, I have a sudden desire to go to beauty school. Someday...Someday. I also like going in, because, despite the fact that my hair is always criticized for being so dry, my hair is complimented on it's "stunning, beautiful, natural highlights" and often get accused of highlighting my hair...haha.

Here's a picture. It's a lot shorter than I had originally anticipated, but that's okay. My hair grows like a weed. Cortney and I always talk about how we don't want to cut our hair short in case we get married (because really, who doesn't want long beautimous hair in their wedding picutures?!) but since I don't intend on getting married in the next few months, I figured it was safe. My hair grows like a weed anyways. It'll be long again in about 4-5 months.

And just for your viewing pleasure, my current favorite song, I'd Rather Be With You by Joshua Radin. My friend, Anna, posted it on her blog awhile back and I'm obsessed. If you're lucky, you may hear it as my caller tune when you call me. That's actually a lie, because it's only set for one person. But maybe you're that lucky someone. Everyone else get's Love Like Crazy...an equally amazing song. (By the way, ya'll should check out Anna's photography site. She's amazin'. Just sayin')

Futbol. Because it sounds cool.

2010-05-25T17:05:00.001-06:00

This post has been in the works for several weeks. Appreciate it. Por favor (spoken in the strongest gringo accent I can muster)

As I mentioned, I started playing on Forrest's soccer team. As much as I would love to say he recruited me because of my raw, amazing talent, it was more that he was desperate for team members the first game so they didn't forfeit (even though, we did). Since I'm always willing to try something, I told him I'd play, but not without warning him that I am terrible. You see, I've never played soccer. I've always had this thing against the sport. I'm pretty sure it roots back to third grade, when one of my friends would always play soccer at recess, and never hang out with me and my other friends.

However, I have grown to like it. I've had a couple people say "Oh you only like to watch it because Forrest likes it." While, yes, I do admit, in the beginning I only showed interest in it because I knew he loved it, and you know, I'm willing to try new things if someone I care about likes them (within reason, of course). However, over the past month or so, I have actually come to like the sport. I find it extremely interesting to watch, because, unlike baseball (sorry family...I love the sport, but only for the first few innings, and when Taco Bell gives free tacos for the Rockies scoring over 7), something is constantly going on. And if you know me, my attention span is rather short. Constant action is a must.

And I have basically become a superstar. Okay, that's a lie. A big one. But I do believe I have improved from the first game. I mean, sometimes I actually make contact with the ball. More often though, I find contact with someone else's foot, shoe, shin, etc. and I end up with some nasty bruises. Like, I can't even explain them. You all saw the picture I posted previously of one of them. It was worse in person. I was hesitant to wear skirts because someone ALWAYS commented on it. The next game, I got a bruise that spanned a large portion of my lower leg. Fortunately for all of you, I couldn't get a very good picture of it. But just believe me when I say, it's pretty nasty.

So moral of the story. It's not good to hold grudges against certain sports for years upon years. Or people. But I don't do that. Oh, and in case anyone was wondering, the world cup takes place every 4 years. Don't make the mistake I did and ask if it happened every year.

Oh, and even if I am no good at sports...I am a MASTER at swallowing gummy worms. Forrest and I went to this "Survivor" night at a local museum (because, we are cool like that). One of the competitions was to eat as many gummy worms as possible in 20 seconds. Most people got around 5 (like Forrest). I got 10. In 20 seconds. That's one every two seconds. And yes, I swallowed those suckers whole. Some people find it rather gross. But I find it awesome. I'm so glad I have awesome skills like swallowing gummy worms, and racing games. They really will get my far in life.

And that...my friends, is the end.

But not really, because I just decided to express my excitement that 24 season 8 is over. Don't panic, I still love that show so much. HOWEVER, I have found that I couldn't watch it week to week. I have to watch the season continuously, one after the other. So, soon I will be starting my 24 marathon. Don't even worry, it'll be the most exciting thing ever. Me and Jack Bauer have a long-over due date. Maybe I'll try and go 24 hours without eating or going to the bathroom like he always does.

Now I'm done.

Knock Knock...Anyone still reading?

2010-05-13T19:10:00.003-06:00

If I were to receive a grade for blogging, I would definitely get an E (because you see, here at BYU, we don't believe in F's. We have E's. It's more alphabetically correct--I mean, really. Why did they skip the E in the first place). In my defense, I have started writing about 10 different posts, but finished with no avail. My excuse? I don't really know. Do you ever get in one of those moods where you don't want to do anything, and even the thought of anything that requires thinking makes you want to fall asleep? Well, that is how I've felt the past few weeks. Spring fever maybe? Who knows. But I am determined to get out of this rut and make sure this summer is one with no regrets.

My new job at the Census. Oh...the many posts I could write about it. However, under Title 13 of the United States Code, I am, by law, prohibited to disclose any information about the Census. Actually, I think it's just about any information collected through the surveys . . . but that's where half the funny stuff is anyways ;-) But really. My job. Hated it for the first two weeks. But over the past . . . 4 days, I have brought that hate to a "I really wish I could be doing something way more exciting than this, but at least it's a job". I'm getting there. It's pretty disorganized, chaotic, and over staffed, but that's okay. My supervisor told me I did a "wonderful" job as a phone enumerator today. I guess some people are just born with phone voices. I'll save more about this job for another post.

My new apartment is rather snazzy. It's huge. Way bigger than the Riviera. The rooms are upstairs, everything else is downstairs. This is rather nice, as I don't have to worry about some random guy walking in when I'm wearing a robe (because, yes, this has happened at the Riv). The ward seems good. I've only gone once, but I absolutely loved everything that was talked about. I cried during every lesson, and every talk. It was one of those days where it felt like EVERYTHING was directed towards me. The topic was on prayer and hope, and having faith that things will work out. That's something I've been struggling with lately, and I know that all of the things that were said were truly inspired.

I've started playing on Forrest's intramural soccer team. I have another posts all about this endeavor, but for now, I'll leave you with this picture:

And finally, I have a new obsession. Zumba. Laugh if you want, because I know, the thought of me doing any type of dance exercise, especially Latin, is probably rather humorous. I heard about this exercise class awhile ago, but until two days ago, I've never gone. I've been missing out. It seriously is the funnest thing ever, and such a great workout. One of my goals for this summer is to get in super good shape, and this definitely will help out. One day . . . very far, far in the future, I will be a Zumba instructor. Okay, maybe not. But it's definitely been added to the list of secret dreams. I will write more about this later.

So, there you have it. My life as of late in a nut shell. Stay tuned for more in-depth information on these topics and more...Very soon (hopefully).

And just to end, here is a quote that I read today that I am really trying to incorporate in my life.

"Let us recognize that fear comes not of God, but rather that this gnawing destructive element comes from the adversary of truth and righteousness. Fear is the antithesis of faith." -- President Gordon B. Hinckley

2010-04-24T10:20:00.002-06:00

I am very excited for this next week?

Why? Well . . .

On Monday, I have the first meeting for my summer internship. Have I mentioned that before? Well, if I haven't, I will be having a part time internship with Utah Peoples Post. A few weeks before the end of the semester, one of the people that work for this website came into my journalism class and said they were looking for summer interns to write for them, learn new journalistic skills, and what not. He told us to email him if we were interested, so I did. I figured it's never too early to start on getting experience, so I sent him an email. He replied very quickly, and, lo and behold, he said they'd love to have my aboard. So on Monday we are going to have a meeting at 8 in the morning (ugh . . . ), where we will discuss the details of what we will be doing this summer. We already had one assignment -- to write an article about ourselves and what we are passionate about. It was really fun to write! But yeah, I'm so excited about this opportunity! So bookmark the site I linked too; I'll hopefully have an article up every week.

On Tuesday, I start my new job. After being called several times by the Census, I was able to finally take one of the positions. Granted, it was one of the lesser paying ones, BUT, it pays more than my job at the Clinic (and I'll get 40 hours . . . I was going to get 20, probably at most. That wasn't going to cut it. Though I'll still be subbing there over the summer, no fear!). Fortunately, I won't be going door to door. I will be working in the Census office. From 8:00 to 4:30 Monday through Friday. I'm not really sure what I'll do with myself after I get after work. I mean, I'm not going to school . . . so I won't have any homework (because, prior to contrary belief, I did do homework and study every now and then). We'll see. Maybe I'll make gourmet dinners every night. With the money that I am going to get from donating plasma again (sorry mother/sisters/anyone else concerned by this practice).

And the best part of my week is on Friday. I'm going home! For Daniel and Charbel's wedding reception. It's only going to be a quick trip, but I'm SO excited. I haven't seen my Colorado family in forever. I miss them tons! Forrest is coming with me, which makes the trip that much better. We are going to fly Friday afternoon after Forrest's class gets out. And then that night, Daniel and Charbel will get in. I'm so happy that after 8 months, they finally get to be together for good. It will be so nice to have Charbel in Provo finally :)

But yes. I'm really excited about this week. Cortney and I just moved into our new apartment at the Colony, which is huge compared to the Riviera. I'm really excited to see what the next few months holds! :)

End-o-Year Stats

2010-04-19T16:51:00.012-06:00

So I guess, technically, it really isn't the end of the calender year, but with only 1 final left to take, the end of my sophomore year at BYU is quickly coming to end. As I was searching through my blog for a quote that I know I used sometime last year, and I came across the blog I wrote at the end of my freshman year. Was that really a year ago? It honestly feels like I was just checking out of Heritage Halls and going to Wingers with my dad and brothers. Sometimes time seems to be going by so slow, but when I think about it as a whole, it's going by a lot faster than I even realized.

It's crazy how much has changed over the past year. I feel like I'm a better person in a lot of different ways. I've gained more confidence, I've made more friends, my testimony has grown sufficiently, and I'm a lot more self-reliant. I obviously have a lot more areas to grow in, as I often get down on myself for silly things and struggle with understanding exactly what direction my life is going in but overall, I think this has been a very good year

When I signed up to live in the Riviera, I wasn't completely sure why I was living here. Sure, I've been friends with Cortney forever, and Rachael just about as long, but I was still not entirely sure why things ended up with me living with them and some of their friends from the previous year. During one of the first Sacrament meetings of Fall semester, my wonderful, very intuitive Bishop told us that all of us were living here in the Riviera, in the 88th ward, for a reason. I'm a big believer that everything does happen for a reason, so I was curious to find out what that reason was. As I look back on the year, I can see very specific experiences, where had I lived somewhere else, never would have happened. I've met some amazing people, and experienced some wonderful memories as a result of living here, with the people I did. I mean, had I not lived here, I more than likely never would have met Hilary, who became a wonderful friend, and always was willing to go over with me to hang out with Kristian and Ammon . . . and had I not developed that friendship with them, I never probably would have met Forrest, therefore my life would be significantly less joyful than it is right now (because, in case you couldn't tell, Forrest makes me rather happy). I doubt that my being here has really affected anyone, but there have been a lot of people that have affected me. There's obviously been some ups and downs, but overall, this has been one of the best years thus far. So, without further adieu, here are my "end of the year stats"

About 25.5 credits (don't worry, this year was my year to get back and track and get better grades with less credits. I will be taken on a heavier load next Fall!)

About 15 essays/writing assignments

About 40 issues of New York Times read (or rather skimmed)

About 20 tests taken

8 cleaning checks passed (okay 7, but I am highly anticipating that I will pass my check out one)

About 2520$ in rent paid

About 4800$ in tuition paid

About 596 hours worked

Numerous amounts of pizza eaten

About 4 total weeks that I lived on tortillas (not consecutively, of course)

2 dates went on first semester (I kind of failed at that)

Many wonderful dates second semester :)

1 boyfriend (and I'm definitely content with that number!)
5 trips to the cupcake store

Billions (okay not really) of times walked up Helaman Hall's hill to campus

4 trips to Salt Lake

3 phones.

About 20 trips to the Provo Temple

About 15 movies fallen asleep in

15 pounds lost

Countless memories made

. . . and I can't think of anything else, even though I'm sure there are many things I could go on about. :)

But, no "summary" blog such as this would be complete without a ton of pictures that I feel describe this year. Sorry if some of them are repeats, but they have to be included! :)

And these pictures aren't in any order. I just went through my facebook pictures and saved them, so whatever order they come up in...you better enjoy!

Olympic Opening Ceremonie's Party!

One time for FHE, we finger painted. Hilary drew a picture of the ring she thinks I want when I get married. Psh. I don't even want a ring. All you need is love (enter Moulin Rouge song). Plus, I am never getting married.

Hometeacher/Friend Marty. He was pretty much awesome. But then he got a girlfriend and never talked to us again.

We were pretty much the best Zombie's on the face of the planet. I'm pretty sure everyone was really jealous of how good lookin' we were.

Topaz. This was the greatest adventure of my life. I can't wait to go back.

Thanksgiving! I like this picture cuz it's so candid and fun. This was probably our most successful party to date!

Oh the Riviera...This is the place that everyone loves to hate. Their motto is "live, laugh, play". None of those things happened here. Just kidding :)

I'd say this picture probably encompasses our relationship rather nicely.

Holding Lyla D for the first time. What a bundle of joy she is :)

Kristian. Read my blog on him to learn more. But I love this guy. And I owe a lot to him. I will definitely be missing him when he leaves on his mission!

My other new niece, Kacianna! I love her, she gets cuter and cuter every day!

I went home for Christmas break. And it was super duper fun. I don't have that many pictures on my facebook from Christmas, but this was from our super fun New Years Eve party. haha.

Hare Krishna festival! Oh the memories . . .

Football! Even though we left usually at halftime . . . there was always good memories to be had.

So this one time, Hilary, Cortney, and I had a bet. Whoever lost, had to die at least a portion of their hair. So pretty much, I won and Hilary and Cortney lost. I dyed Hilary's for her...I'd never dyed hair before, so it was definitely a leap of faith for Hilary to let me!

I just think this is a funny picture. I was pretending to cut his hair...hahah. I pretty much just like his face in it (and not just cuz he's so darn good lookin')

Another Christmas break picture...I love this. We definitely had a lot of fun goofing around that day!

This awesome dance we went to at the beginning of the year where it turned out to be pretty much only freshman and we felt weird, so then we went to the Riviera dance, which reminded me of a high school dance, and we also felt very weird at.

Bridal fair! Need I say more?

End of the year Brick Oven party organized by the lovely Hilary. And yes, there were more people there than this.

Some of my favorite boys ever :)

Hahah...I love these three. Cameron came into our lives later in the year, but oh, how our lives have been so enriched because of him. haha.

BFF Ammon! He's serving his little heart out in Brazil!

This is our friend Alex that we scared into being our friend at the beginning of the year when we knocked on his door and made him hang out with us. He was awesome. But then this semester he never hung out with us. Frownsmile :(

My 20th birthday! Lots of fun celebrations went on over the course of a few days!

Thanksgiving was so fun this year! Everyone was here in Utah :) And Lyla was blessed!

We went to this corn maze, after trying to find a haunted house to go to for like 20 minutes. It turned out to be a lot of fun :)

Thanks to everyone that made this year wonderful! Let's hope next year is even better :)

Bikers. I can't think of a clever title.

2010-04-18T09:23:00.003-06:00

Yesterday, as I was driving around Provo (because as much as I dislike driving . . . sometimes it is the only thing that can de-stress me. Weird, eh?), another topic of annoyance came to mind. Then, I received this comment from my dear friend, Janet:

That's hilarious Katie, but you left out a very vital part of the provo problem...what about the bikers that think they're cars?

This is exactly what I was thinking about. Since she left this comment, I knew it was fate. I had to write about it. So without further adieu . . .

My annoyance with bikers started several years ago. You see, bikers that feel that they own the world exist all throughout the world, not just in Provo. There is one experience in particular that sparked this distaste for bikers in my mind.

Imagine this. My brother, Daniel, my mom, and I are driving home from somewhere -- most likely King Soopers, the Church, McDonalds, Blockbuster, or one of the other places that exist on the part of town we were coming from. We get in the turning lane (and remember that. It was a turning lane) and enter into our neighborhood. For some reason, we ended up going to the other side of our neighborhood, where there is another traffic light that we stop out (now that I think about it, I don't remember why. It's like we were just driving around in circles or something.) Since the light was red, we stopped (rather, my mom stopped, as she was the one in control of the car). While we were sitting there, one of us notices that outside our car window, there is a biker, lookin' all professional in his tight yellow spandex, waving his finger at us to roll our window down. So, being confused, whoever was in front seat (I do believe it was Daniel), rolls down the window. Well, unfortunately, he wasn't asking us to roll down the window just to tell us how wonderful we were (validation, anyone?). He goes off on some rant about how we cut him off, and that we were in the biking lane (remember -- it was a turning lane), and we need to be more careful and considerate and stay out the bike lane. Blah blah blah. The light turned green and we left, but this memory has been forever imprinted in my mind.

Ever since then, I have noticed that many bikers think they own the road. Note that I said many, and not all. So if you are reading this and you are an avid biker, please don't be offended. I'm sure anyone that reads my blog has the best street etiquette. However, I have come across far too many that really bother me.

Basically, if you can't go as fast as the speed limit entails, you shouldn't be driving in traffic! I mean, how would you feel if there was a car going like 10-15 mph in a 40 mph place? Pretty dang annoyed, I'm sure! And that's exactly what some bikes do. I'll be driving along, and there will just be this random biker in the middle of the street, just acting like it's a car. Um . . . no, you aren't a car.

Then there's the people who aren't technically in the street where I"m driving, but get as close to it as they possibly can. They just about give me a heart attack, and I almost always switch to another lane (if possible) until I pass them. I'm so afraid of hitting them!

And then there's the people who just don't even pay attention to the traffic, or cars around them, and ride their bike like they indestructible. Much like the Provo pedestrians. Not cool my friends.

Biking is a great form of exercise, and a more "eco-friendly" way to go from one place to another. I'm all for it, IF you don't drive in the street when it isn't necessary. There are some great sidewalks out there, and heck, there are even some bike lines. You stay in the bike lines, and I won't bother you. But when you flip me off, or give me a dirty look, for something that I did not do and could have been entirely preventable . . . That's where the line is crossed. Sometimes I swear some bikers are trying to get hit.

And, that is all. Perhaps I'll talk about drivers tomorrow . . . though, I may be guilty of some of the annoying driver habits (or maybe not, because, as you all know, I'm perfect)

Happy Sabbath all!

Hear my Plea, Provo Pedestrians

2010-04-16T18:52:00.002-06:00

Over the past few years that I have been in Provo, I have come to love the town. Yes, it's overcrowded with college students (but can I really complain -- I'm one of them!), a lot of the apartments are quite ghetto, and it's not known for its top notch entertainment . . . But overall, I love it. Granted, I could never live here for the rest of my life, but as for my colleging years, it's a good place. I mean, what other city has about 20 different fro-yo places within about 10 minutes driving distance?! I find myself cringing at the people complaining about BYU and Provo (I must clarify, I cringe at those that attend BYU and live in Provo at the same time. You had a choice, my friends). Really, it's only as bad as you make it! Call me a Zoobie if you like, but I like it here. When you know the people I know, and all the cool-secret awesome things to do . . . it's not too bad (okay, I don't really know that many people, or cool things to do. But that's okay)

However, there is one thing about Provo that drives me bonkers. Something that may drive me to an early grave.

Pedestrians. Provo Pedestrians.

Okay, okay. I know what you're thinking. "Katie, YOU, by Wikipedia definition, are a pedestrian"

Yes, I realize that. However, I do not associate myself with the Provo pedestrian.

What is a Provo pedestrian? Well, here's a basic definition.

Pro·vo Pe·des·tri·an [pro-vo puh-des-tree-uhn]

-noun

1. One who thinks they rule the world

2. Feels they are indestructible to any moving vehicle

3. Somehow believe they are completely visible at all times, even in the dead of night when there are no lights around

4. One who does not look where they are going

5. Makes every place on the street a crosswalk

(that's a legitimate definition. Look for it in the next edition of the Merriam Webster dictionary)

If you can't tell by that definition, they are pretty much extremely annoying. Need I recount the many times that some random person runs out in the middle of the road? Or how many people don't even look before they cross the street at night, just because they think they can? No, no I don't. But let me tell you about three experiences that happened over the past few days.

Point A:

Yesterday, I was driving on 9th East, a pretty popular, and often times busy, street in Provo. I was driving along, at a regular speed, minding my own business, on my way to Gold's Gym. I was singing my heart out to some great country song and looking forward to my upcoming workout, when out of nowhere, this group of three girls just run straight in front of me. Was it at an intersection with a traffic light? No. Was it at a stop sign or yield sign? No. Was it at one of the many designated crosswalks throughout Provo where I am required to slowdown at, just in case someone was crossing? Not even close. It was just right in the middle of the street. I had to slam on my brakes to avoid hitting those girls (or, a better phrase would be, BYU students that obviously never learned the rules of crossing the street by their parents). I just about honked my horn, but withheld. I don't know why, I always wish I could honk my horn more. It makes me feel more powerful. Anyways, this just about gave me a heart attack, and the girls didn't even notice. They just kept walking and giggling, probably talking about that Joey Bieber guy (or whatever his name is). Little did they know, they were minutes away from death. Okay, maybe that's a little melodramatic, but really. I was so annoyed. Lucky for them, I pay attention while driving (despite what anyone else thinks).

Point B:

These go together, because they are just about the exact situation. I was driving from the Library over to Forrest's house yesterday, around, oh, 9:15 PM. He lives South of Campus, and there are usually lots of people walking around there. Well, as I was driving, it was pretty dark, hard to see, so I was trying to be careful. Well, try as I may to convince myself otherwise, I don't have super vision and can't see a person that is wearing all black, when it's completely dark outside anyways. I came to a place (and I will be honest, it was a cross walk, though there was no stop sign for me; I just had to pay attention and slow down). Before I got to it, I didn't see any people crossing so I just kept going, when all of the sudden, right as I'm about to get to the intersection place, I see a faint color of black running from the hill and, without even stopping to make sure there were no cars, ran straight in front of me. It was almost a tragedy. Luckily, I was able to stop just in time. But, it was close. Yes, it was a cross walk, and technically they have the right of way... But it just annoys me SO much, how people don't even stop and look to see if cars are coming. They just start keep walking without looking both ways. It drives me insane.

I'll admit, I'm probably not perfect. There have probably been times in my life (okay I know there have been) where I have jaywalked. However, generally, I try and be considerate and at least stop to see if a car is going to go or not. I never will run in the middle of a busy road, just hoping that I will be super invincible that day. It's just so annoying/rude! And the thing is, even if I were to hit someone in a situation where they were jaywalking, I would more than likely be at fault. The driver always is. Ugh. I just needed to get my frustration out. Maybe I'll start a Facebook cause about this. But not really at all.

Dear Gold's Gym -- I WIN!

2010-04-15T11:38:00.003-06:00

As I said in one of my most recent posts, I can be an impulse buyer at times. People can convince me fairly easily that I can't live without their product or service. However, I've been trying to be better at this, and I have been quite successful. Yesterday was one of my greatest successes.

Remember when I signed up at Gold's Gym? They are quite the convincing folk there. I am currently in a two year contract that I can't get out of because they were just that good, even though I had a perfectly good membership at 24 hour fitness (and heaven forbid, I guess I could have just gone to the *cringe* BYU gym -- yes, you can think I'm a snob if you want). But that's in the past, and I do really like the gym.

Well, yesterday I was there working out. I was on the treadmill, just listening away to my music, when one of the personal trainers came up to me. I thought I was in trouble, so I took off my headphones (actually, Hilary's headphones. I can't find mine), and was like "yes?". She then went on to say that she had a free hour and was wondering if I would be interested in a free training session. I noticed she asked one or two others before me that said no, so I guess she felt I looked vulnerable. I suppose I was. So I agreed, very well knowing that she was going to try and convince me to buy personal training from her. I was determined to stay strong.

Let me tell you, it was an amazing workout. I haven't felt so worked out in a long time! She gave me some great tips, and kept complimenting me. She was like "you are in great shape, better than most of the people I give training too" and "Wow, you have very solid and strong legs. I'm so impressed" (HA). It was kind of weird, but whatever. After the hour was up, my suspicions were correct, and she brought me back to talk to her manager who was supposedly just going to ask me how she did. He did, but then he was like "so are you interested in seeing our personal training packages?" And I'm like, "No, no I'm not. I barely can pay my rent, this membership, and buy food, plus I have some credit card debt I'm trying to pay off. I am not going to buy personal training." He was a bit taken back but was like, "Well that's totally understandable! I'm in some debt too, and I would hate to take money out of your pocket. But I'm sure I could get you one session a month for practically nothing . . . 35$ a month even!" It was tempting, but I stood strong and told him there was no way I could justify buying it. He was really nice, and told me that if I ever change my mind, they would be more than happy to help me out later. I thanked them and left, feeling proud of myself.

So, I'm on my way to being a better person. Yay me! I have to tell you though, I am so sore today. All over my body. But it's good pain, and I kind of like it. Is that weird? At least now I have some good tips for workouts in the future!

Another reason I'm kind of sore is because yesterday, Forrest was trying to teach me to play soccer. Trying, being the key word. As I've mentioned, he loves soccer, and he's good at it. I, on the other hand, have about the athletic ability of a doornail. However, it was kind of fun. Granted, I wasn't very good and I'm sure it frustrated him at times, but he was very nice and patient about it. He's hoping to get me good enough (or at least, able enough) to play on his intramural soccer team this spring/summer, which I think is kind of a high goal, but hey, it's always fun to learn new things. I've always wished I was more athletic, so it will be a fun adventure. However, I have a huge bruise on my leg that kind of hurts, because at one point I'm pretty sure I kicked Forrest and it ended up backfiring. That happened a couple times actually. Oh well! haha

Blog Stalking Thwarted

2010-04-13T21:17:00.002-06:00

Blog stalking. We all do it. Well, most of us do it. I can't tell you how many peoples blogs I have in my google reader of random people I don't even know. Occasionally, I come across some random persons' life that I just find fascinating, interesting, or sometimes just plain laughable, and I read all of their posts (and yes, I have read over 2 years of posts in some cases). For some reason, I love reading blogs about adoption, and about birth mother journeys. That's probably weird, but whatever. I think some of the stories are amazing.

Anyways, point is -- I love reading blogs. Who knew I'd become so addicted to it back when my sisters told me to get a blog. There are sometimes I wish I could just post on someones blog that I read and they don't know it, but I rarely do. I guess part of me is afraid they will be totally freaked out, and wouldn't be as thrilled to have someone "come out of the closet" (blogger style -- not homosexually) as I am. Usually I'm just a quiet reader and keep my comments to myself.

However, one thing that sucks about blog stalking someone you aren't friends with (or a lot of the times, I know, or knew them, at some point in life, but we never talk now so it would probably be awkward for me to admit it), and the dreaded post appears that states that they are going "private".

I hate this. Hate hate hate it! I mean, occasionally there will be the person that is like "haha, if you don't know me, that's okay, I will still add you to the list!" And then I jump on that band wagon right away. However, when they don't give that invitation... I always have this internal battle. Do I ask to read it, or do I not? Are they going to be totally creeped out, or totally flattered. Typically, I say nothing, and silently mourn the loss of one of my favorite blogs.

That happened today. There was this blog I had been reading for the past oh...8 months or so? I don't even remember how I came across it, but it was this cute couple and they just barely had twins. They wrote cute posts, so I always enjoyed reading them. Well, they just announced the blog is going private. And I was really sad. However, I realized it was one of those blogs where I'm pretty sure the people would think it was weird I was reading their blog.

Not sure what the point of this was. Probably that, if I ever decide to go private (which, I probably won't), anyone that reads my blog and doesn't admit it, should admit it. Because I will love you all the more. And even if I never go private, you are always more than welcome to introduce yourself. I love reading new blogs!

And that is all.

Oh I finished classes today by the way. I guess I am in the right major, because I actually am sad that I am done with some of my classes. Never thought I'd live to hear myself say that. ;-)

Biolage -- The shampoo of champions

2010-04-12T23:08:00.002-06:00

So, I have issues with impulse buying. I literally have to map out my course in the mall in order to best avoid those conniving, yet oh-so-convincing, kiosks in the middle of the mall that always feel the need to seek me out to buy their products. I mean, it's so hard to resist buying products from those middle-eastern woman selling the products that make your hands super soft and your nails super shiny (because that's really important), or one of those hair straighteners that seem to make my hair smoother than ever before. However, not having very much money, I have found it best just to avoid these situations altogether, because, even if I don't have the money, I always feel super guilty about not buying something, and I think about it for the next few days, and how I should just go back and buy it. Anyways, like I said, I avoid these situations.

Well, back in September, I went to a hair salon at University Mall in Orem. I wanted to get my haircut. Obviously. The woman that cut my hair did an awesome job. I wasn't quite convinced I would be able to recreate the look she did (which, I couldn't), so I asked her for some tips. She suggested I buy a round brush, and some special mousse. It didn't take much convincing. Then she started talking about how I should try a different kind of shampoo that would make my hair significantly smoother and easier to manage. Well, I knew I should have walked away, but I didn't. They were having a sale, and she convinced me to buy 30$ worth of Biolage, shampoo and conditioner. I think I convinced myself that since it was on sale, it was okay. She also told me that the shampoo lasted forever, which I also added into the equation. Now, in the past, when I've bought things on the basis of these things, I have come out very disappointed. However, this time was different.

Enter, Biolage:

I LOVE this shampoo and conditioner. I got the products in the end of September. It is now April. Imagine my surprise that there is still quite a bit left. When I think about it, I would have spent more money on buying my old shampoo overall by this point. Not to mention this stuff makes my hair so soft and shiny! I love it. And like, it's not like I don't shampoo my hair or anything. I do every other day (which isn't gross, it's not healthy to put shampoo in your hair every day). This sounds really vain, I know. But as I was washing my hair tonight, I just had to express my love for Biolage. So, if you've never tried it, I highly recommend it. This is one of those times that my impulsive buying worked out.

Cheesy mastercard commercial, anyone?

2010-04-11T11:59:00.005-06:00

Tickets to the Real Salt Lake opening home game: 10$*

Two ice creams from Cold Stone: About 8$

Two tickets to the Valentine's Day Movie that had started 20 minutes earlier: 4$

Sneaking our ice cream into the movie theater in my purse because we didn't know if we could take it into the theater and having it get all over the inside of my purse: Priceless

Cheesy? Yes. But Awesome, nonetheless

Last night, Forrest and I went to Sandy to watch the Real Salt Lake soccer game. I've never enjoyed soccer before I met Forrest, mainly because I never really watched it. However, after going to a lot of his intramural games, I've come to enjoy it. Granted, I don't always know what's going on, but the games are exciting to watch. I wasn't sure how much I'd actually enjoy a full-length, professional game, but I was surprised that it was fun. It was cute how excited Forrest was about it. I think I've mentioned before, but even though I'm not the biggest sports person, I love how much Forrest is into all of it because it makes him so happy! :) Anyways, the game was fun. Probably one of the most exciting parts (for me, haha) was when they announced that David Archuleta was performing at half time! I was so giddy! Now that I think about it, I must have sounded like a little girl, but I couldn't contain my excitement! He is definitely my favorite American Idol. He sang with this cute little boy (I can't remember why) and it was so fun. I would post the video, but I sound so silly in the background, so I'm just going to leave that out. Real SL was down by one when the clock reached 90 minutes. However, for some reason (Forrest explained it, but I don't remember why), they had four minutes added to the clock. In like, the last 30 minutes, Real scored and tied the game! I was all pumped for overtime, and then I realized everyone was leaving the field. Forrest explained it was because soccer games end in ties. It was weird, but I was okay with it. I have to say, the thing I really like about soccer is that the clock always keeps going, and there aren't any time outs or things like that. It makes it easier to pay attention. Oh and we had a little picnic outside the stadium before the game! I brought watermelon, and Forrest brought this yummy chicken, rice, and brocolli thing. It was good!

After the game ended. We had really good seats!

David Archuleta~!

Afterwards we went to Coldstone and got some yummy ice cream. I fell back on my typical flavor, our strawberry blonde. There were no seats in the store, so we went outside and walked around. We were by the cheap movie theaters, so we went to check out what was playing. We ended up going into a showing of The Valentines Day Movie that had already started. However, we hadn't finished our ice cream by that point, so we decided to put it in my purse. I didn't really think that through, and thought that if I was really careful, it wouldn't get all over my purse. Fail. The inside of my purse had tons of ice cream all over it. But that's okay. It was fun. The movie was kind of sketchy at some parts, but there were some definite heartwarming scenes. It was a really fun night.

Today I woke up and noticed it was the 11th. I thought to myself, hmm...I think it was about this time in February that Forrest and I started dating. So I looked back at a February calender, and lo and behold, it was! So we've been dating for two months :) Not that long, but it's been a few really great months and I can honestly say I've never been happier than when im with him. Even though I just met him at the beginning of January, I feel like I've known him for a lot longer! I definitely am very grateful for him. He's the best!

*(I actually don't know if that's the price, I can't remember how much Forrest paid . . . so I'm just putting a fake number for the purpose of this)

Free? Yes please

2010-04-07T11:07:00.002-06:00

I'm not afraid to admit, that I love free stuff. I believe this picture sums that love up quite nicely:

For my 19th birthday, I spent the weekend with Cindy and AJ in Salt Lake City. For some reason, we ended up stopping at this sporting goods shop that had just opened and they were having "Grand Opening Celebrations". We went in, looked around a bit, and entered our name in a drawing. However, the best part of this excursion was all the free stuff they were giving out. Hats, water bottles, key chains, pocket knives . . . What more could a person ask for? So I gathered all of the stuff I could and brought it back to Provo with me. Did I ever use any of it? No, never. In fact, I found it in my duffel bag about 6 months later. But, the fact that it was free made me love it even more.

There was also a time (I actually think we were actually in Salt Lake City again . . .) when Daniel and I found one of those websites that finds tons of free offers that you can sign up for, and we signed up for all of them. For the next few months, I got tons of awesome things sent to my apartment. Not only did it make me feel better about not having tons of letters from missionaries being sent to me like my roommates, but, I got some cool things. Like, a fruit roll-up. I still periodically go and sign up for these free things. I mean, I got a free breakfast at Mimi's cafe! (Though...I never used it).

However, my favorite free items are the ones given out on campus. I make it a point to always walk through the Wilkinson Center when I'm on campus. There are always booths setup, and about 9 times out of 10, one of them is giving out something free. Candy, pens, chapstick, and even the occasional pizza . . . I love it all. My favorite item though is t-shirts. I LOVE free t-shirts. Whenever I hear that a free t-shirt is being given out somewhere, I can't help but seek that place out. I have probably gotten about 8 tshirts this semester. Yes, most of them are blue and look the same, but hey, they are awesome, free, and give me more of a chance to express my love for BYU. And I love t-shirts to begin with. If I have your phone number AND you attend BYU, you have probably gotten a text message from me announcing that there is some sporting event going on. I don't send those out just because I love the games (actually, I never even go) . . . But because I probably got a free t-shirt for doing so.

So basically, I'm a freeloader. If somethings free, I'm there. And I'm darn well proud of it.

Another episode of...Why I need more sleep!

2010-03-30T21:38:00.000-06:00

If you've been a long-time reader (and by long time, I mean, a year) of mine, or you've been around me more than a few times, you might recall a few experiences where I did/thought strange things when I was lacking sleep. If not, refresh your memory with these two posts. You may also remember that while I love to sleep, I never get enough of it. I told my mom a few weeks ago that I have pretty much thrown in the towel and realized that I likely will never get caught up on my sleep until I'm 90 or so. While I'm never completely rested, I usually get enough sleep to get by. However, as mentioned in previous blogs (i.e. the ones that I linked to), on occasion I do not. Yesterday was one of those days.

I had stayed up until about 1:30 talking to Cortney. By the time I got to sleep, it was about 2:30. For some reason, I have issues with falling asleep at times. Not all the time, but on occasion I'll just have so many thoughts running through my mind, that try as I may, I can't fall asleep. This was one of those nights. Morning came far too soon. Although I didn't wake up until 10:00, I was still sleepy. As I walked around campus, I felt myself getting more and more tired as the day wore on. After a rather dry D&C class, I was almost sleep walking. My leadership class takes place right after D&C, so I walked to my class, bracing myself for what would most likely be a very long, boring class (and I was right). I got to the building, and walked into my classroom, or so I thought. I took note that there weren't very many people there, but I just tossed that thought to the side. I sat down, and I was surprised at how many people I had never seen before. I'll admit, sometimes I'm not very observant, but I thought I knew my own classmates. My real teacher wasn't there, but I assumed the guy standing at the front of the room was the weekly guest speaker. He was really friendly, talked to me for a bit, as did a few other random people. I was feeling rather popular. About 10 minutes after the bell rang, the teacher asked everyone to open their books to some random page in some book I had never heard about. I sat there, confused that I hadn't remembered that we had a text book in this class. After a few seconds, I looked around, and realized I was most definitely not in the right classroom. I thought about just staying, but decided against it and tried to slip out the back door unnoticed, which probably didn't happen, as I was sitting in the second row. My actual classroom was next door, and I slipped into the back row and just shook my head and laughed a little bit to myself. I mean, had this happened on the second day of class, it would have been understandable. But, there are only about 2 weeks left of class. Pretty much, me = epic fail.

And that is all.

Festival of Colors Extravaganza!

2010-03-30T01:21:00.000-06:00

On Saturday, Forrest and I went to Spanish Fork to participate in the Utah Krishna's Holi Festival, or more commonly known as The Festival of Colors. Basically, it's a celebration of the end of Winter and the beginning of Spring, and everyone throws colored chalk-type material at each other. I dunno, I just wanted to go because when else can you get completely dirty and be happy about it? I think that's the main reason people went...Someone was like "it's the Mormon-version of Woodstock!" Ya know, minus all the immorality and drugs. Anyways, when I got invited to it on Facebook about a month ago, I knew I had to go.

They had two times that they were going to have the festival; 12:00 and 4:00. Forrest had a soccer game at 11 in the morning, so we decided to make it to the 4:00 one. Someone told me that there was a bus that was leaving from the BYU campus every 10 minutes to head up to the Krishna's Temple in Spanish Fork. We thought that would be cheaper and easier than driving up to Spanish Fork and battling the traffic. So we got there about 3:05, right after a bus had left. We ended up waiting with about 60 freshmen for about an hour or so. Forrest was able to entertain himself by watching the Kansas State v Butler game through a window in the Wilkinson Center. I stood in a way so there wasn't a glare through the window. Aren't I so nice?

By the time the bus got there, the numbers of those waiting dwindled. We thought we had the perfect spot to get on the bus, but somehow we ended up being the last people on. I didn't really realize that it was essential to hold onto one of those handle things that busses have for people standing up, so I kind of stumbled around when the bus started moving. But, fortunately, I got the hang of it and we started on the journey to Spanish Fork. We got there around 5:00, right after the big color part ended. It was slightly disappointing, but we had fun walking around. People were still throwing colors, so we got partly colored. This group of girls came up to us and were like "You guys are way too white!" and threw some lovely pink and purple all over us. We stayed there for oh...45 minutes or so, and then we decided it would probably be a good idea to go find the bus so we didn't get stuck there. That's where the real adventure begins. But before that, here are some pictures from the Festival:

So, what happened in Spanish Fork after the festival? Well. We weren't entirely sure where the bus was going to stop, but we decided to follow a big mass of people, assuming that at least one of them would be going to the place where the Provo-bound bus would be at. You know what they say about people who assume (if you don't, I am sorry. My blog is G-rated)? That proved to be true. We walked for awhile, and the masses of people surrounding us started to dwindle. However, this didn't overly phase us. We started joking about how we might have to walk back Provo. I suggested that we could be like the Pioneers, and then Forrest serenaded me (and those around us that were in ear-shot) with a lovely rendition of that awesome Primary song that goes "Primary children sang as they walked and walked . . . ". There was so much traffic around us, and quite the interesting people. We thought about trying to hitch a ride back with a random car, but that didn't work out. At one point, these random gangsta kids started yelling at us "Get some! Kiss her!" which was just really special/mature. Then some random guy yelled at me, stating that he recognized me from the mosh pit. I definitely didn't notice him; I only have eyes for Forrest (really though, he didn't look familiar at all). Some nice lady gave us some water, because she didn't have change for a 20$ bill. She saved our life (okay, maybe a bit melodramatic).

Anyways, after about 2 miles of walking (I may be overexaggerating, but I don't think I am), the last people around us walked off to their car. Apparently we were the only ones who were without a clue. We were both kind of hungry, and decided we should figure out where a bus was so we could get back to Provo. For some reason, neither of us had our phones (shock. I know. I always have my phone), or watches. So we had no way of contacting anyone or knowing what time it was. Kind of a problem. So we stopped at a little pizza place called "Pier 49", ordered an overly priced pizza, and Forrest checked outside on the bus stop we had found for what time the next bus would come. It said it wouldn't arrive til 10:00, so we had to decide what our best option was. A little while later, the Pizza guy informed us that the bus stop we wanted was actually across the street. So, Forrest went to check, and came back to ask what time it was. It was about 7:30, and we discovered the last bus left at 7:15. Awesome. So we decided to try and call someone. The only numbers I could remember were my mom's cell phone and my home phone. So I tried both, with no avail. Fortunately my mom finally answered, and after she laughed at us for getting stuck in Spanish Fork, she gave me my brother's number. Unfortunately, he was going to work so it would have been hard for him to come (though he would have, had we needed him), so he gave me my brother-in-law, David's, phone number, who was at a movie and couldn't answer. So Forrest called his parents, got a hold of his dad, who gave him his sister's phone number, who graciously came and got us. But it was quite the adventure. We stayed at the Pizza (I have no idea why I keep capitilazing pizza) place for a few hours, and I'm pretty sure they were sick of us by the time we left (especially when we started laying down in the booths). It was fun. We talked about how it was kind of nice to just be completely disconnected from everything, and joked about how we would be stuck there forever and become attic dwellers in the Pizza place (okay. maybe I thought that one up. But I know Forrest thought it sounded exciting). It was one of those stories that I will totally tell the rest of my life, and each time it will get even more exciting. One day, I will be telling my grandchildren about the time I had to walk 50 miles barefoot in the snow, sharing only a half a bottle of water with Forrest, I promise. But let it be known, the real story was here first. Hopefully they won't find it.

I know this post isn't long enough yet, so I will now display a picture montage of our adventure of being stuck in Spanish Fork. Enjoy (Before you enjoy, actually, shout out to Forrest. He puts up with my incessant picture taking. I know he secretly loves it):

Right before we left the festival. Not the greatest picture, but it marks the beginning of the adventure

This really has nothing to do anything, but I thought it was funny. Someone put up a sign that said "No Praking", so of course, I had to take a picture. Several other people were as well. hehe.

I distinctly remember telling Forrest I was taking this picture to document our trek back to Provo. Luckily, we didn't have to walk all the way back (though I was thinking we would for awhile there. Which, I would have done with a smiling face).

So scared that we had no idea where we were going (Okay. maybe he wasn't that scared . . . but it adds drama, yeah?)

So this is kind of creepy that I took a picture of a couple of teenage boys, but, they were the last people that were walking with us. I had to take their picture, I promise.

The pizza. It was delicious. But slightly overpriced. The people were nice there though, and let us use their phone for awhile, and hang out for awhile. I think Forrest has never looked more attractive than in this picture.

Another high quality picture. Forrest calling his padre (That is 'father' for you non-Spanish speakers)

Pretty much just displaying the name of the place we were at. Pier 49.

This represents Forrest's sister, Doris, who saved us. Not because she looks or smells like Pizza. Quite the contrary, she is awesome. But, we gave her a piece of pizza to thank her for picking us up (even though Forrest picked off half the toppings...cough).

Forrest decided to fall asleep. I've never seen someone sleep like this, but he totally pulls it off.

After we got home. You can tell, we are exhausted (did I mention I was wearing flip flops, shorts, and a t-shirt. Not the best adventurin outfits).

In the end we were so happy! Yay! What a fun memory that reminiscence on (which we did. Yesterday. the day after it happened).

Validation, Private, and Internship, oh my!

2010-03-25T09:51:00.001-06:00

In my Leadership development class yesterday, my TA was talking about serving other around us and making people happy. She decided to show us a video that is called "Validation". At first, I was kind of like "really? do we have to watch a movie?" For some reason, I just really can't stand watching movies in classes. But, after a few minutes, I was totally captivated. I won't ruin what it's about, but I think everyone should watch it. Lately, I haven't been in the greatest of moods at times, and this video seriously turned my attitude around. I'm pretty sure everyone in my class thought I was slightly odd, because I kept being like "awww" or "that's so cute!" out loud, but that's okay. I couldn't stop smiling the rest of the day after watching this, and I just wanted everyone around me to be happy. So, it's kind of long (less than 20 minutes though), but I think it's definitely worth watching. Everyone should watch it. I think it really made me realize that no matter what, you should just smile at people and compliment them. I mean, it seriously makes my day when a random person smiles at me, or says hello. So why not do that for someone else? Not saying a smile from me is that great, but hey, it might brighten someones day. So, everyone should watch this...Now

On another note, I decided to make a private blog. I will definitely keep this one updated on a regular basis, but I decided I wanted another blog, just to write about other things that I don't want public to the whole world. If you want to read it, just post your email as a comment, or send me an email at kbarker2@gmail.com . It's pretty exciting, let me tell you. Anyone is welcome to read it, so stalkers, don't afraid! haha.

Oh, and exciting news. I may have an internship for this spring/summer here in Provo. It would be unpaid, but it's really flexible with whatever my work schedule is. More details to come later. :)