Well we're all in the mood for a melody

I just found out today that I have to perform at the Miss Richfield pageant on Saturday night.

Talk about last minute!

I'm excited to perform though because I love playing the Piano Man by Billy Joel.

. . .however, I haven't played it for like a year! So I may be rusty.

I committed to performing without having a harmonica holder, but luckily I found one! I finally have my very own. 

And I got a new dress :)

I love pageants. They're so fun ha ha..

Come see me on Saturday if you're in town!

Love,

Kate

Wait for it...

There is beauty even in the most unexpected places.

I took this picture this morning as I started my hike. Amazing huh? 

I thought it related to my life pretty well...

There really is beauty in everything. All we have to do is look for it.. and sometimes wait for it.

Sometimes things just don't turn out the way you thought they would. But when that happens, the best thing we can do is to find the beauty that comes from it.

A certain song came on as I was hiking. It's called "Wait For It" by Ben Truman. I was familiar with it because it was on the EFY 2010 album, but I hadn't heard it for quite some time.
It goes like this:

"They say, and you've heard, 

that life's gonna pass you by

 and things won't change, you've heard that lie.

But there's a difference in wish and wait.

You wish for a thing that you hope might just happen, 

you wait for a thing that will come, doesn't matter

You know that the promise that he made isn't that far away from you

so wait for it, wait for it...

Now is your day

Live every moment no time to waste

Look to the sky

and know that heaven will be by your side

Real piece of mind

is found when you're leavin nothin behind

so do all you can do

and then wait for it

You will find all the time was worth the wait.

In a moment's breath, a sudden beat in your chest

you will feel it

at morning's light, in the middle of the night

you will feel it

in a word, in a prayer, in a dream you can see it

so wake up and make it the life that you're living

You know that the promise that he made isn't that far away from you

so wait for it, wait for it...

Now is your day

Live every moment no time to waste

Look to the sky

and know that heaven will be by your side

Real piece of mind

is found when you're leavin nothin behind

so do all you can do

and then wait for it

You will find all the time was worth the wait.

What you feel like,

 it's gonna get away

Take your fear and turn it into faith

Then you'll see

All along they were wrong

Now is your day

Live every moment no time to waste

Look to the sky

and know that heaven will be by your side

Real piece of mind

is found when you're leavin nothin behind

so do all you can do

and then wait for it

You will find all the time was worth the wait."

Replace fear with faith, live in the MOMENT, and pray often.

"Faith is for the future. Faith builds on the past but never longs to stay there. faith trusts that God has great thing in store for each of us and that Christ truly is the "high priest of good things to come."
-Jeffrey R. Holland ("Remember Lot's Wife")

Love,

Kate

My kind of perfect

My summer has been soooo good! 

I have definitely been busy, but I have had a lot of fun too. Almost every morning I am busy doing a craft and an activity with the different kids who come to the parks. Then during the afternoon I work on my never ending homework, and before I know it I am coming home around 11pm from scoring up at the softball fields. Then repeat the next day. But it's fine and I love my life. However! I have had some awesome opportunities and experiences along with my great blessing of being able to work

I went up north with Ryan Sunday evening after I got back from Fishlake with my family. We stayed at his brother's house and in the morning we went to the Salt Lake temple.

A family that he reactivated while out on the mission was sealed in the Salt Lake Temple and so while he was off in the temple, I hung around the temple grounds and had a little bit of fun with my camera.

The temple grounds were absolutely beautiful. 

I haven't been to the SLC temple for such a long time so it was nice to actually be there. Just being on the temple grounds brings me such a feeling of peace and joy... I can't imagine what it is like to actually go inside! I can't wait till I can go in someday.

We spent the afternoon running around Salt lake and the surrounding areas as we visited his sister and family,  one of his companions, and finally made an appearance at the reception of the family that was sealed. It was a hispanic family and the party was crazy cool! I definitely did not feel like I was in Utah. I think I was probably the only one there who had blonde hair and who didn't speak spanish. I was definitely out of my comfort zone but it was awesome anyways! 

We ate real authentic mexican food and danced to mexican music. It was so much fun!

The family was beautiful and they were glowing all day long. I was so happy for them and it was such a neat experience to see the love they had for each other and for the Lord. After all, that is what this life is all about... family! And doing all that you can to be with them forever.

The feeling was definitely magical.

Later that evening we found out that Ryan didn't have to work the next day so our spontaneous instincts kicked in and we ended up staying at his brother's house again that night.

The next day we met my family at Seven Peaks and spent the day soaking up the sun. 

We also brought his niece along for the ride. It was a good time.

He made me ride the boomerang... I had never done it before but I LOVED IT!

However, I got the biggest wedgie everrrrrr and I laughed so hard.

I honestly think I have the worst luck because did I mention that I broke my laptop? Yep. It was a sad day when that happened. I barely dropped it and the screen decided to shatter. So besides that, (and breaking my ipod too.. let's not forget that) I really do not have any luck at all... Summer's car wouldn't start so we had to call a tow truck. We all piled in to Ryan's car and went to Pizza Pie Cafe to eat our emotions away. It was definitely fulfilling.

We got home just in time for me to run inside and to start/finish a homework assignment that was due by midnight. Yeah.. I had 40 minutes to work on an assignment that usually takes me at LEAST an hour to complete. Did I finish and get it in before midnight?

Heck yeaaaah.

I am so blessed!

*                      *                      *

Thursday night my beautiful friends Tiana and Alyssa came to Richfield!!! Alyssa drove up from Cedar for the night and left the next morning and Tiana came from Provo for the weekend. We got together after I got off work and went on a Denny's run with Ammon, Tayson, Ryan, and Travis. We ended the night by lying on Ry's tramp with tons of blankets and pillows as we all looked at the stars. It was so much fun.

I was embarrassed [once again] because my cheek was swollen from my stinkin wisdom tooth extraction. I got those buggers out four weeks ago and I was still having troubles with them! But no worries, I went to the doctor and now I am better.

But look at those beautes. Are they wonderful!? The best friends I could ever ask for!! I love them both sooo much!

[ps. these pics were stolen from Tiana... haha]

Friday and Saturday was a huge benefit softball tournament for our friend Jaren who was diagnosed with cancer on top of his problems with his liver. This is me and T selling balloons for the balloon release that we did for him!

 Please notice my high-waisted shorts. $3 from D.I. hahaha :)

The Miss Richfield had their last hoorah as we helped out at the tournament on Friday night and all day Saturday. My reign as third attendant is a few days from being over. It's crazy to believe that it has been a year! I feel like it was just yesterday as I was learning how to play The Piano Man by Billy Joel with the harmonica and piano . . .

Time flies..

But hey, live it up right? Live in the moment. And make the best out of everything. 

This is what summer is all about.

Love,

Kate

Father's Day Weekend

I think I'm in love. . .

. . .with Fishake.
I have been ever since I was little. It's my favorite place in the entire world.

My family went up for Father's Day weekend and it was a blast! The weekend consisted of many four wheeler rides, hikes, delicious food, and much laughter.

I love my family so much!

The best part about these pictures is Kinsley. She is hilarious and kept us laughing the entire weekend.

This picture too-- Kinsley was terrified of a bug! Too funny haha.

After many attempts of self timer, we finally got a picture of us ALL in the air.

I attempted some life threatening yoga. Watch out, I'm a professional...hahaa.. Oh wait.

After the wheeler rides our faces were all covered in dirt. It was great.

We had a fantastic time together! My dad especially could not have been happier to have spent the weekend with his family in the place that is so dear to his [and my] heart.

LOVE YOU DAD! 

Love,

Kate

One love

This is me as an efy counselor.

If you don't know already, EFY (Especially For Youth) is a week long program that focuses on the youth to bring them closer to Christ.

As a counselor it is our responsibility to be a leader and friend to the youth as we guide them throughout the week's different activities, morningsides, devotionals, and firesides while providing a pleasant and enjoyable time.

Did I have success? I believe so :)

I was assigned a group of twelve girls this last week at efy.

They were sixteen and seventeen years old and each one of them was beautiful in their own way.

I loved them before I even met them.

Some said that I was their sister they never had.

Others said I was an angel in their life.

And some even called me mom. 

 It has been my dream to be an efy counselor ever since I attended my first session back in 2006 with my best friend Tiana.

14 years old-- 2006                15 years old-- 2007         16 years old-- 2008             17 years old-- 2009

I'm here to tell you all that dreams really do come true!!!! 

Check this out though... how funny, huh? Ryan was in our efy group back in 2008!! 

Small world.

My co-counselor's name was Sergio and he was a sweetheart. He taught me a lot and we worked well together. I was very lucky.

One of my kids had a ukulele so I was entertained by that all week long along with one my girl's fancy cameras. It was a joy. 

My best friend Tiana came to visit me during free time! It made me so happy to see her. It was fun to be with her:) She is the best.

<My cheek was swollen again because I got hit in the jaw at the dance & I'm still not fully recovered from my wisdom teeth being pulled out.. Having a swollen face is not my favorite thing.>

I loved being a counselor this past week. It was an absolutely incredible experience and I could not be happier. I know for a fact that the Lord's hand is in all things and that he placed me in these kids' lives for a reason. 

My testimony was strengthened and I was able to rely on the spirit all week long to help and guide me. The spirit is amazing and I know for a fact that when I was teaching devotionals or lessons that it really wasn't me who was teaching.... it was the spirit. This gospel is so true and it is so beautiful. It makes me so happy and I know that it is the only way to true happiness.

I know that the Lord loves me and loves all of his children and if anything, I learned this week what true, pure, Christ-like love is... I experienced what it is like to have the pure love of Christ; to be charitable; and to love others the way Christ loves us.

At the beginning of the week we as counselors were asked to focus on a question that we wanted answered throughout the week. 

I thought long and hard and then it hit me-- I wanted to know what love is. Christ's love. [Charity]

Probably an hour or two later my question was answered. Someone shared a scripture that said this:

"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear:"

1 John 4:18

I WAS IN AWE. 

I couldn't believe it. I have been focusing a lot on faith lately and I have been working on replacing my fear with faith. So to read that there is no fear in love just made me realize that I need to stop being so fearful! Faith and love go hand in hand. I just simply loved it.

Then the rest of the week was incredible because I forgot about myself and only focused on the youth and how I could help them, serve them, and be their friend.

In a way, you could say that I just served a mini-mission! It was tough work. Probably one of the hardest things I have ever done... I went to bed every night around midnight and woke up every morning at 5am. I met up with my co-counselor every morning at 6:20am and we prayed together for our youth. Then I had a meeting before devotional began, then gospel study, breakfast, morningside, and other activities that followed throughout the day. By the end of every day I was exhausted but it was so worth it. I put 110% effort into everything I did and I know for a fact that I was blessed with the strength and energy to do so.

Saturday eventually came and we said our goodbyes to everyone. Before I knew it I was with my family and relatives up in Midway, UT. It was just a little mini family reunion/get together shindig. Midway is beautiful and I would love to live there someday. 

We went to Park City and rode the Alpine Slides, ate tons of delicious food, played games, went shopping, and enjoyed each others' company.

 The ride on the ski lift was windy, bitter, and cold, but oh so worth it.

I love my family and was so happy to be with them.

I could not believe how tired I was though when I got to Midway. Every time I sat down I zonked out. I couldn't even keep my eyes open. It was crazy! Unfortunately because of my exhaustion, I went to bed early and had to miss out on some of the fun, but it was okay.

Now I'm home and I started my Art in the Park job this morning! I am still tired and I wonder if I'll ever feel totally energized again... hahah I'm sure I will with time ;) 

So that is my life.

I am happy and in love with it.

Love,

Kate

ps. I'm hoping I'll get called to do efy again this summer! I'm crossing my fingers.

Dreams really do come true.

Hi there. 

I went up to Provo for the weekend to spend some time with my best friend Tiana Belle and while I was up there I got an email from efy.

I've been called to be an efy counselor for this next week!

(I'm an on-call counselor so that means I can be called for any week during this summer if anyone ever drops out, so in this case, they needed me asap!)

I accepted the call and went to a training today at BYU.

Now I'm home in Richfield but I'll be headed back up to Provo tomorrow for a fireside with the session director. 

I'M SO EXCITED. 

This is a dream come true.

Then I'll be going to Midway with my family on the weekend :) I'm gonna be burned out by the end of the week, but it will be totally worth it. 

Wish me luck.

Love,

Kate