Cold chills make me happy.

I LOVE CAKE MIXES.

enough said?

(not shown: the best oreo cookies I have EVER made.)

Long story short-- I baked all day long yesterday and made french vanilla cake pops and chocolate fudge oreo cookies! Too delicious... they didn't last very long.

I made the cake pops for my dear friend Alyssa's birthday :) and I made the oreos for my visiting teaching ladies!

I absolutely love to bake! But it is not a good thing... I would look much differently! I was telling my visiting teacher lady that we are what we eat, so if we eat sweet things--- we're going to be sweet right!? ha ha, she told me to name my future bakery "We are What we Eat!" ha ha, toooo funny!

Last night we went to Pizza Hut for dinner w/ Alyssa and Kat. We got pasta and breadsticks all for only $10. It was great! And so delicious! After dinner we came back to our apartment and played bodybody w/ a bunch of friends. It was legit! We covered our windows, unscrewed the lights outside, and made the whole house dark! It was epic.

Today I had a prayer answered. I am so thankful for prayer and for the cold chills. :) I love the gospel, I love the Lord! And I know that with faith and obedience to the gospel, the Lord will bless us in his own time.

I am excited for what the future holds and am happy with life.

Cept I need to stop being a procrastinator. . . :\ I have a test on friday and haven't studied for it at all! Gotta get on top of that.

Blah.

Ps. My dad has lost 20lbs! Congrats to him! He took second place in his Biggest Loser contest at his work. I'm proud of him! OH.. and I love my mom. :)



Happy Sabbath

This is the newest addition to the cave. It is called the couch bed. It is the most comfortable thing ever.

Tiana and I have slept here for the past couple nights and it has been heavenly. First of all, sleeping in the cave is nice because there are no windows and it is way dark--- even during the day. But to have a comfy bed and blankets galore everywhere is just simply awesome! I love it.

I am so happy that it is Sunday. It is so nice to have a day off and not have to worry about anything. I love having time to myself and being able to do the things that I love. Such things include:

Playing the guitar

I could play it for hours

Writing in my journal

It brings me joy

Studying my scriptures

Note: I was told today that we should not "read" our scriptures. Rather we should "study" them!

Painting/Drawing

I love letting my creative take me away

Cooking

Makes me happy to create delicious elements that satisfy my tastebuds

Cleaning

When I am in a clean/organized environment, I feel happier

Reading

My new slight obsession--Tiana brought a book from her house called "For Time and All Eternity" it has me hooked. I love LDS dramatic love stories. :)

Exercising

Makes me feel good about myself

Eating

My weakness... :\ Food is so great. hahaaa. . .

Well next weekend is General Conference and I am so excited! As I get older I realize the importance of it more and more and my desire for it is SO great. Its indescribable! If Moses, or Nephi was in Salt Lake, would you go up there to hear what they have to say??? Well next weekend, the prophet of God will be speaking to us! Why would we make any excuse not to listen to him?! Such a cool thing to think about huh? I can't wait. I can't wait to see what the Lord has for me to hear through the prophet and general authorities that will be speaking to us.

PLUS I can't wait to go home again! Ha ha, I love my family. I love being away from them because it makes me love them so much more and it makes us all realize how important family is. My family is so much stronger since I have been away. Its wonderful.

I love the gospel and I love my life. But I think I love my life because I have the gospel in it and I am able to recognize all of my many blessings.

Well... have a happy Sabbath.

Gotta make some cupcakes!

If you love somebody, tell them.

Today I was reminded by a friend that they loved me. It was random and took me by surprise. It made me happy. Who doesn't like to feel loved?

Point is. . . if you love someone, then tell them. Don't keep them wondering, and don't let think that it is not important. To be loved is great; to love others is even better. When you love others, you are more likely to be loved yourself.

Love can change the world. . .

& honestly I believe that once you love someone, you will always love them.

Tonight was Enrichment night. [I am on the Enrichment committee and was assigned to bake cupcakes for the birthday party we would be celebrating tonight.]

Well, not to brag or anything, but I just discovered that I'm the best cupcake maker in the world.

I tried the other cupcakes. There were chocolate, rainbow chip, and the ones I had to make-- lemon. My cupcakes were not only fluffy and rounded on top (which I was SO proud of!) they were also moist, and delicious!!!

Enrichment was fun and very spiritual as well. We decorated cupcakes, did a cake walk, and listened to our Stake Relief Society Presidency about the history of Relief Society and their very own testimonies of it. It was very inspiring. :)

After Enrichment, we went swimming with the roomates at the p.e. building for the first time ever! Once again, more roomie bonding and more roomie love goin around. Its fantastic. Tomorrow we have plans to watch the byu game together, go to a concert on campus, and hit up Chilis.

I need to go to sleep.... and I need to get off of facebook. 

PS. sung to the tune "Friday".....  "It's wednesday, wednesday, gotta get down on wednesday. Gotta be productive so we don't have any homework on the weekend, weekend. Gotta make some cupcakes, gotta do some homework. cupcakes cupcakes yeeeeh!"



Roomie Love!

There has been sooo much roomie love lately! It's great! We've all gotten along so well and have had so many good times together! One thing that we always do together is laugh... whether its because of something funny that Tiana says, or because Jaclyn trips going up the stairs, there is always something to laugh about. I love it!

We spent family home evening playing raquet ball on monday night! It was a blast! We got more of a work out from laughing our heads off, rather than playing. It was tons of fun!

Tiana served the ball and it came straight  back at her so she had to deflect it.

Jaclyn tried running up the wall one time to look cool. She failed.

Cydney hit the ball many times when it wasn't her turn too.

Jac smacked the ball and hit me in the head when I told her, "Don't hit me in the head!" Of course that would happen to me. hahaa

And I spent a lot of the time on the floor because I would dive for a ball, or my shoes would slip-- resulting in the attempted splits. Never knew I could move like that.

Overall it was a fantastic night!

I love apartment 32!!!

Spring (snow) break is over.

Sure enough my mood changed! Thursday was just a simple lazy groggy day, but Friday I felt like myself again! My parents left me home to be in charge of the kids all day because they took a trip up north just to bum around provo and go out to eat for their anniversary.

I went to lunch that day with my grandma Micki, her sister Kathleen, and my aunt Staci, Summer, & Ariane. We went to Pepperbelly's and probably spent two hours just visiting. It was fun :) I love my family!

Honestly I can't remember what else I did for the rest of the day. . . but I ended up going to Richfield's Junior Prom with my mom, Summer, and Kinsley. It was beautiful! I felt kinda funny being there just because I'm a "super senior..." hahaha but a girl borrowed my prom dress! So it was fun to see her wear it!!! It made me so happy :)

Later that night I ended up going to Tanner McAllister's house to visit him and the members of j.wride. It was fun to see them! They brought the newly made t-shirts (that I drew) and they have started selling them at their shows!

Saturday is when things get a little crazy. . .

First of all, I woke up to a text at 7:30a.m. from my former friend Jimmy that said "Katelin wake up!" Well come to find out he wanted to play catch. So we went to the Rotary park around 8:30a.m. and played catch with a softball and baseball for about a half hour. It was nice. Just like old times :) Then I had to go to a Church History Tour meeting. It was for the future kids who will be going on it this summer, but one of the leaders, Bo Holland, invited the previous CHT members to come and possibly share some thoughts/experiences. I figured there would be more of us "super seniors" there... but nope. It was just me. Kindaaaa awkward but I figured what the heck! I was there for a reason, and that reason ended up to be so that I could share my testimony with them! haha haha.. Brother Poulsen ended up leaving some time for me to stand and share some things with the kids. I had NOTHING planned, but I stood up w/ a full heart and just began talking! It was funny! I hardly remember what I said, but I closed with my testimony, and the spirit was strong and everyone complimented me afterwards. It was really nice and it made me feel good.

I was sad because I had to leave quickly after so I could go to this Relief Society thing with my mom, Staci, and Ariane. I loved the CHT and I especially loved being able to see Bo Holland again ha ha, he was such a great guy. We got along well, and he is hilarious. He reminded me that his son will be getting home from his mission in about four years. ha ha ha! He's so funny :) I love him and miss him!

I am so glad I went to the relief society thing though! It was fantastic! It was like little classes that we could choose to go to and just listen to the insights and lessons that amazing women had prepared. The words I heard that day were very inspiring and I was definitely meant to be there. I left on a spiritual high! Ha ha, I was so happy. I wish we could have something like that every week to boost ourselves up! It was great.

Later that day I randomly decided to go with j.wride up to Ephraim (Snow College) for their acoustic show. Friday night they had a big show, and then they had a small house party/acoustic show planned for the next night (like the one we had at my clubhouse back in Cedar a few weeks ago). Well it ended up just being me and the band. . . which was fun, but not what I had expected. It was okay though!

I was able to get a t-shirt and they had me wear it that night to promote it haha.. The show went well and Dustee and Annie showed up! We all kinda just hung around afterwards and visited with everyone.

Anyways, to kinda make a long story short, I didn't ever come home that night like I was suppose to. We drove all together in Tanner's car [with out tanner] and we were suppose to come back in separate vehicles. (The band member's vehicles) It was all suppose to work out-- meaning that there would be enough to drive the vehicles home and what not... well one of the guys ended up catching a ride w/ someone home leaving ME to have to drive Tanner's car home by my SELF. . . . Not to mention it was late, dark, AND snowing!!! I refused to drive, I didn't know what to do though. I just was simply not comfortable driving in those conditions... well everyone felt terrible, but they left me there. I ended up staying the night in Ephraim and I drove Tanner's car back this morning! It all worked out just fine:) and I am actually glad I was able to stay in Ephraim. I hung out with Michael Chamberlain and his friends, and then slept over at Dustee and Annie's apartment. It was fun :) But yeahhh so I just may have a reason to visit Snow more often now. . . if you catch my drift. :) We shall see.

Now I have to pack and get ready to head back to Cedar. My spring break is now over :( But it turned out to be great. Simple, chill, but absolutely great. I am so glad I've been able to spend the week with my family. They are so wonderful, cute, and tons of fun! I have the best parents in the world, and my siblings are always lighting up my life. I love them... I don't want to leave. But its okay I guess, hopefully SUU has some fun activities planned for the last couple months of school.

Oh ps. I didn't get the job for DownEast because they hired a girl who is going to live in Cedar for sure this summer. . . but if I decided to live there for sure, BreeEll (the manager, and Tiana's sister) said she could get me a position. So I guess we'll just see. I'm too chill with everything. Ha I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing? Oh well!

Too Lazy

Well now.. It is Thursday meaning I only have about 4 days left of spring break. Sadddd. :( But hey, its been a great break to say the least!

Tiana and I have gone on a couple bike rides and hikes, and we've visited the dairy! I've played basketball and softball with my siblings, and have done little activities outside in the warm weather... until today! Today I woke up to snow outside. Some spring break eh?

Ps. Happy St. Patrick's Day! And happy anniversary to my awesome parents! 21 years now:) Best examples... I love them so much!

I went to Ephraim with Tiana last night to visit our friends that are going to Snow. It was fun! Got to spend time with Dustee and we met some of her friends.

Wow.. sorry I am just not in the mood to blog. I'm actually just not in the mood for anything. I have some homework I really should do but I have no will or desire to do it. I feel so lazy right now. Oh well. Sorry for being so blah! Hopefully things will change shortly.

That'll leave a bruise

Oh how I wish I had the patience to describe in detail the little things that I learn and grow from in my life, and the many things that I experience and what not.. but as of right now, I am tired and I have no idea why I am still up. So here is the update-- short and quick:)

I'm home for spring break and it feels great!!! Its been fantastic so far and I can't wait for the week to come. The weekend was wonderful--- I was able to come home to homemade sloppy joes (the chicken gumbo, ketchup, mustard, and brown sugar kind) simply delicious. Then I got to go to my cousin Finn's first birthday! My family was there and it was great to see them and visit with them. I have the best family in the world!!! I love them alll sooo much. Its great!

Saturday I was able to go up north to Provo with my mom and the young women and young men of the ward. We went ice skating, ate at Pizza Pie Cafe (that place is bomb! I recommend it to everybody!) and then hit the Carl Bloch art show at BYU. We rode in a huge 15 seater van and it was an enjoyable experience.

I love ice skating! I've been about 5 times now so I guess you could say I'm pretty much pro. ;) Except I biffed it HARD this time... we were playing tag. I was it and I turned to tag my cousin Shay and totally hit the ice hard. I actually hardly remember it at all, I just know that everyone around me gasped, I jumped up quickly, my forearms were wet, and my hip hurt. I skated over to my mom (but I do not remember this at alll...) and she told me my face was pale white! Like I was about to pass out. I did feel funny, and was afraid that I just might pass out because I have so many times before, so my mom made me get off the ice and sit down. I eventually got feeling a little better but thank goodness that happened when it did because we only had about five more minutes to skate, so I wasn't missing out on much!

My entire family spoke in church today! It was fantastic! The spirit was so strong and it was such a wonderful experience! We all spoke about the scriptures. Konner spoke first and shared his experience with encountering "mists of darkness" (boys at his school were swearing, so he moved away from them) and at the end of his talk, he got teary!!! Cutest thing EVER! I love that kid :) Kinsley Kambry my mom and my dad all did fantastic as well! The meeting seemed to flow perfectly. I spoke about how the scriptures strengthen me in my life and I mainly shared personal experiences of how my testimony has grown in different ways.

I attended my friend Colten Shepherd's farewell later that day and then went to the luncheon with my family. It was very nice, and some of my friends from high school were there. Its fun to see them! As I hugged Colten goodbye, my mom and his mom both started crying! It was so tender and cute... (They were best friends when they were younger and have always been really good friends--- me and Colten are only a month apart and we have baby pictures taken together. I guess you could say we kinda grew up together.. so that is way it was a tender moment for them as they watched us hug!) I honestly can't believe the kids my age are going on missions now though, its crazy!!! But exciting as well:) Colten will make a great missionary! I'm excited for him. The people in Chile will be blessed!

Well I can't say enough how happy I am to be home and to be with my family. I love them soooo much!! We have so much fun together, and it is so nice to just be in their presence.

This week, since it is spring break and all... Tiana and I have decided to make the best out of it and we are going to have adventures! We're going to go hiking, and bike riding, and who knows what else! It will be fun. I mean.. its no spring break in Cali but hey, its alright! :))) .... I really really really need to go to sleep now. K goodnight.

A time to BLOG

WOW... what a busy week! But it is almost the weekend and I get to go home for spring break! I don't have any plans, (which is kinda boring) but its okay! I'm just excited to be home and not have to worry about school. <sigh> This is what our room as looked like the past couple days...

 haha! man... my mom would be so proud ;)

I have a BILLION stories I wish I could share but I hardly have time to even post one simple update! So I don't even know where to start??

Random fact: I recently discovered that I actually like yogurt! I eat a yogurt for breakfast sometimes on the way to school and since it requires a spoon to eat it, I end up leaving spoons in either my or Tiana's car (depending on who's driving.) So the other day I reached into the side of the door in Tiana's car and pulled out 4 special surprises!

It was quite hilarious! I forget that I leave them in there :) hahaa...

Today I finished my last test for the week and then came home and layed out by the pool for a couple hours! The sun's warmth felt sooo good on my face! I loved it. The warm weather makes me so excited for the summer! I love being out in the sun... absolutely LOVE it!

So lets see... last weekend?? j.wride stayed with us again! It was a busy busy weekend full of fun and exciting and crazy adventures. Kambry came down with her friend Emmie and they stayed until Sunday :) It was fun to have them down here!

Friday evening was the j.wride concert so we all got ready for that and went to it. It was a blast. j.

wride did an amazing job, like always! You can check their music out here:

http://www.facebook.com/jwridemusic

Sooo... the first weekend they stayed here, my friend Tanner told them that I could draw so they bugged me about drawing each of them (Jesse, Court, and Austin) but I never did. So I decided to draw a picture of them for the next time they'd be down, which was this past weekend.

Well, to make a long story short-- they loved the sketch and its going to be their next t-shirts!

On Saturday, me, Kambry, Emmie, and my friend Alyssa made HOME MADE CINNAMON ROLLS!!!

It was such a great experience! My mom sent Kambry down with the dry ingredients (including the yeast) and we were able to make the dough with the help of the best ever 2nd and 5th Ward Family Cook Book!

The cinnamon rolls turned out to be a hit!! They were so delicious!

We baked 36 all together, and they were all gone by the next morning. (This was ONLY possible with the help of plenty of friends to eat them with)

This is the beautiful result! Warm, cinnamon and sugar deliciousness with melty vanilla icing on top! mmm!

Later that night we had a house party over at our clubhouse! Tons of people showed up and j.wride performed an acoustic show. (meaning it was just the bass and the keyboard. no drums) and it was fantastic!

Back left is Karly, Alyssa, Me, Court, Jesse, Whitney, Kambry, & Emmie. Front left is Ryan, Tanner, Jared (funniest guy everrrr), and Jaclyn.

Lets just say over the weekend I got MAYBE ten hours of sleep. But without fail I got up and went to church at 9 the next morning! [wouldn't miss it for the world... I love my ward! Not to mention by bishop!]

It was testimony meeting and everyone seemed to be commenting on how much they will miss our bishop and how great of a man he was. (He was called as the new stake president just recently! Its a bitter/sweet thing.) Anyways, to conclude the meeting, Bishop stood up and bore his testimony as well. He told a funny story about his experience down at the temple the other night--- he gave the person at the front desk his temple reccommend, but the person told him that it had expired. Bishop asked him what he should do? The person told him to talk to his bishop. Bishop laughed and said "well.. I am the bishop!" So the person told him to talk to the stake president. And bishop laughed again and said "well I'm the stake president now too!" ha ha! What a funny experience!

Monday I received a random call from Tiana's sister BreeEll about having an interview at DownEast. (She is the manager there. I had submitted an application at the beginning of the school year but had never heard anything from them till now.) So I had an interview with her and I may or may not get the job. I hope I do though:) DownEast is my favorite store and I would love to work there! But if things don't work out, it will be o.k! We'll see how things turn out. If I do get it, however, I will probably be staying down here for the summer to work! That would be interesting.

Well jeeez, I should try to make a post as often as possible. But its hard to find the time to do so sometimes. But I've noticed that this is becoming more and more of my journal. I kinda like it :)

Well... I'm happier than ever and I love life.

Pleasant Surprise

Today has been a great day so far! It is the perfect start to a fun-filled weekend ahead of me! First of all, the sun is shining. That just brightens my day all together! The warmth and heat feels great, and not having to wear a jacket is even better!

My grandparents were driving through Cedar on their way home today and stopped to take me to lunch! We ate at "Taste of Hawaii" and it was SOOO good! I love that restaurant. I got a kalua pork sandwhich with rice on the side and mmmmm! I can't describe how delcious it was! It was so fun to visit with my grandparents-- I loved every minute of it. They're so fun and so nice, definitely the best grandparents in the world!!! Not to mention they bought me some animal crackers to take home! Both the regular and the icing kind. Yum! :) ---Thanks to whoever that little birdie was who told them to ;)

So I came home in a rush to vacuum my house and clean it up because my little sister Kambry is coming to stay for the weekend! I'm so excited! She's on her way right now and she's coming with her best friend Emmie (whom I love as well!) But while I was vacuuming, all of a sudden the front door is thrown open and who is it?? Tanner McAllister, Jesse Wride (j.wride), Court Eccles (the bass player), and another guy named Jared. What a pleasant surprise, eh?? Yeah.. hahah I laughed. I was a little embarrassed because not only was I acting like a "home maker," but I looked like one as well! My hair is back in a braid, messy from working, and I just wasn't as -spiffed up- as I wish I could have been. But whatever, ha its all good.

I drew a picture of j.wride and had sent it to Tanner a couple days ago. It was just a sketch, but it turned out alright. So of course Tanner brings that up and they make me show them the picture. It wasn't the best, but it was alright so I showed them. They loved it to my surprise hahaa, so thats cool.

It's just Me and Jaclyn this weekend (Cyd and T went home) so we're going to order pizza with Kam, Emmie, and Bailey and whoever else. Then we're going to go to the j.wride concert later tonight. This weekend will be a blast! We'll be making home made cinnamon rolls tomorrow and we're having a house party tomorrow night at our clubhouse for j.wride. So it will be interesting! I'll update again when I find some time!

Called to Serve

Big News:
My friend Jimmy Larvin Allen received his mission call yesterday, March 2. He was called to the Minneapolis Minnesota mission and reports to the MTC on June 1! I can't even believe it. It seems just like yesterday we were little 15 yr old twitter-paited love birds sitting under the tree in his front yard learning about each other becoming best friends. So much has happened since then. We've had our ups and downs and have grown so much from each other. Now that we're at separate colleges, we're not as close as we used to be. But I know that it is for the better. The Lord has a plan for both of us! Whether our plans include each other or not, I do not know. All I can do is put my trust in the Lord and know that he is guiding me in my life.

But yesterday when I recieved the text from Jimmy.. my mind went blank, but cold chills immediately filled my body, my heart lept and I couldn't stop smiling! I was overwhelmed with joy! I knew right then that Minnesota is where Jimmy is suppose to be and that he is going to be such a wonderful missionary! I am SO EXCITED FOR HIM!! He told me the same--- that as soon as he read the letter, he KNEW with all his heart that the Lord has called him to that specific mission for a reason. And not to mention how excited he is about it! He is exstatic! I am so glad he leaves soon too! Not in a rude way, but it will just be sooo good for him! He'll learn so much and he'll grow like no other. I am so happy for him.

Minnesota is near the great lakes! It is directly above the state of Iowa-- that is where my friend Chad Unsicker is serving right now! So that is cool. I am just suprised that Jim wasn't called somewhere foreign; or somewhere in south america because his grandfather's p. blessing says that his posterity will teach the Lamanites the gospel. So every single one of his cousins have served the Lamanites! But now not Jim? Very strange, but like I said earlier.. the Lord knows best!

Last night I went with Tiana and Cydney on a late night Walmart trip! I made some pretty exceptional purchases.. $1 routissary chicken (boohya!), $2 mint green nail polish (to die for!), $3 sweats (too big but SO comfy), and $5 hemp lotion (yum!)... Sometimes ya just gotta splurge on things that make you feel better, right? But in a smart manner of course.

Don't worry.. I believe that I am very good with my money. :)

& let me just share with you my weird obsession/addiction lately: looking up recipes online. ha ha!! I don't even know why? I just find food fascinating, I love it. Rhodes Rolls website has some pretty awesome recipes on it too.. check it out!

& the thing I love today is Special K cereal: cinnamon pecan. YUM! I love cereal... have I mentioned that before? I could eat it for every meal.

Lyrics, Love, and Life

I'd have to say my new musical obsession is the voice of the very talented, one and only, Jesse Jay Wride. aka J.WRIDE! He's from up north and is 22 years old. He plays the piano, sings, and writes his own songs... and all of it is absolutely BEAUTIFUL. I love it.

Well, I had the opportunity to spend about 48 hours with him and his bass player, Court Eccles, this past weekend. They came down to do a concert on friday night. They just barely released their new album, "Indigo" and they played songs from that. It was great! After the concert, Tiana and I actually ended up hanging with them until 4 in the morning. They were suppose to leave the next day, but ended up staying because the clouds decided to drop about 10 inches of snow on top of all of Cedar. So after we worked at the basketball games on saturday, j.wride came over to our place again. This time we had more people come over and Jesse played for us. (This was at one in the morning and we got a friendly pound on the walls from our kind neighbors who were trying to sleep :) After everyone left, we ended up having a big sleep over in the "cave." (also known as our family room up the stairs.)

Next morning was Sunday. We got up, went to stake conference, found out our bishop is the new stake president (I'm super sad but happy for him cuz I love that guy), then came home and made breakfast! We made pancakes, breakfast pastries, and funnel cakes! The funnel cakes turned out the very best and they were delicious! What a great nutrient dense meal eh??

Well j.wride ended up leaving later that afternoon, but it was fun to have them around and get to know them. It'll be interesting to see if they become big someday! Then I'll be able to say that j.wride borrowed my basketball shorts to sleep in, and ate funnel cakes at my apartment. Ha ha... cool? We'll see.

I don't know why it is, but music means so much to me. I have this love for it that I can't describe. The piano especially is so beautiful and I have always loved it. I also love the guitar. Lyrics are very important to how I feel about music though, also. I love lyrics when they can be applied to your life, or when they are exactly how you are feeling. I have a sign that I set on my piano back home that says "Music is well said to be the voices of angels" and I believe it.