I'll be home for Christmas.

15 days of actual class.
32 days till school's out.

43 days till Christmas.

55 days till I turn 21.

86 days till I enter the MTC.

about 633 days till I'll return from Montana.

I'll be 22 by then.
I'll be a college graduate
AND
a returned missionary.

So young.

So good.

Love,

Kate

Things you can't do in a car.

Um hi, it's been a while, eh?

 My life is just a wee bit on the busy side lately. Okay, that's not true. It's been VERY busy lately! But it's okay because my life is good. 

School keeps me on my feet. My classes just keep piling on the work and I feel like I never have a break. It's okay though because I like feeling productive and accomplished. 

As for a short update real quick-- I got to see the Nashville Tribute Band in concert on Friday night down at Tuacahn in St. George! It was a cold night, but it was an incredible concert. The spirit was so strong and the messages were amazing. The music was gorgeous and man, the gospel is truer than true! And I just love it so much.

We got to hang out with the band at their "private party" afterwards and it was a blast! I just have connections. Don't worry about it.

Ha the next day a couple friends and I drove to Richfield! The drive up was terrifying because it had snowed and was STILL snowing. 

 We may or may not have slid almost off the road and hit another car. But no worries. Everyone was safe and there was absolutely no damage done :) 

20 mph and 2 hours later we finally made it to Richfield. We hung out with my family, ate lots of good food, played a bunch of funny games, played ping pong, basketball, just dance on the wii, and card games, and eventually went to the Due West concert that night. It was a great time!

Now I'm back in Cedar and I have to go to school again and live my life like I do every single day. School, gym, homework, sleep, repeat. All day. Everyday.

I am just sooo grateful for the beautiful people in my life. I have great friends and an awesome family and I honestly don't think I could be more blessed.

Oh and did I mention that chocolate never fails me? Never. I am in love with it. It helps me out on those days/nights that I spend 12+ hours writing long research papers or doing other types of homework.

ONE DAY AT A TIME.

This is enough.

Love,

Kate

ps. check out Due West's new song. It's clever.

Sometimes we go hunting!

A couple weeks ago my dad, Kambry, and Konner picked me up in Cedar and we went hunting down around Kanab. We were out in the wilderness for a solid four days and four nights! It was definitely quite the experience, but it was oh so worth it.

Our nights consisted of fires, creepy animal sounds, lots of blankets, and a tent. We began each day around 5 a.m. We drank hot chocolate and ate a cinnamon roll every morning before heading out to face the bitter cold. The stars never shown so bright! It was gorgeous waiting for the sun to come up.

During the afternoons we would hike around and find cool little places like this slot canyon! It was fascinating.

We didn't have much luck seeing any bucks, but we sure had some fun exploring the beauty of the earth! ha...

Konner spotted this cave and so we hiked up to it. Not really sure what lived there...

 

We also took a little trip to the Coral Pink Sand Dunes. It was incredible! 

We rocked the orange. It kept us from not getting shot.

This is my cute handsome smart funny father. I love him so much!!

And this is us. Grimy and dirty from living in the outdoors.
It was awesome!

Sometimes we got bored while we looked for deer so we threw rocks off of cliffs.

And other times I would sunbathe.. You really don't fully appreciate the sun until it's the only thing that keeps you warm or gives you light. ha..

 

I have the best dad in the world!

And the strangest sister ever. But I love her.

This is her braid. Looked pretty cool right?

This was mine. Yeah it took me forever to get that rats nest brushed out!

  We missed our mom and sister Kinsley, but overall we had a really good time together.
We didn't have any luck with the deer but it's okay because the experience was worth it.

I live for times like these.
They are the best.
However, I have never been so happy to sleep in my college bed again.
Love,
Kate

I hoped and they called!

I have been called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I have been assigned to labor in the Montana Billings Mission and I report to the MTC on February 6, 2013.

I can't even wait, I am so stoked!!! I know with all my heart that I am suppose to go there. I am so excited to serve a mission, and I especially can't wait to serve in Montana. I know that I will be a hard worker and I absolutely cannot wait to be a part of this marvelous work to bring souls unto Christ! 

I AM SO EXCITED.

My mission will cover all of Montana plus a little bit of Wyoming. It's actually not even far from Utah at all, ha it's kind of funny. But I don't even care. I am just so happy!!

Here's the story:

I was hoping to get my call on Wednesday but it hadn't come yet. So I was hoping it would come Thursday morning before I had to go back to Cedar. Well we called the post office this morning at 7:30 a.m. wondering if my call had come yet and they said it hadn't. My family and I were all a little bummed but figured it would come when it was suppose to. I needed to leave Richfield by 8:30 a.m. so I could get back to Cedar in time for a test I had to take. Well a couple minutes later we got a call back saying they had found it! I started shaking immediately and I couldn't stop. It was funny. Quickly we started calling all of my relatives to tell them to come over. People started piling into my house, phone calls were being made, and everything was a little hectic but it was fun.

I began reading the call and I was in shock. Montana?! What in the world. My friend had just barely been called there as well and it turns out we're leaving on the same day too! It's going to be awesome. I am so excited! I still can't even believe it. 

I'm going to be a missionary!

I have three months to prepare.

44 days left until I'm done with school forever.

And no time to wait.

Love,

Kate

Patiently waiting.

 Oh you know, I'm just chillin in Richfield hoping that my mission call might be here tomorrow. No big deal.

Love,

Kate

I hope they call me on a mission

Hi there, I've been super busy lately but I just need to share this real quick-- I bore my testimony this last Sunday in sacrament meeting on the impact that preparing for a mission has had on my life thus far. My life has changed so much just from simply preparing. 

Having made the choice to serve and to prepare has changed my life. I think that we should all prepare whether or not we want to serve a mission or not. I know that if we have righteous desires to serve God then we will be called to the work. With that said, I came across a thought from lds.org today: 

"The decision to serve a mission will shape the spiritual destiny of the missionary, his or her spouse, and their posterity for generations to come. A desire to serve is a natural outcome of one’s conversion, worthiness, and preparation."

—Russell M. Nelson, "Ask the Missionaries! They Can Help You!", Liahona and Ensign, November 2012

Seems to me that if 'if we are prepared, we shall not fear.'

:) Just something to think about.

Love,
Kate

True T-bird

Well ladies and gentlemen this is the first year that I have not renewed my status as a "true t-bird." Strange, right? For some it would be normal to only become a true t-bird once. 

That wasn't my case, however.

I figured this year [as it is my last] that I would most likely renew my status one last time but..

n   o   p   e

I had no interest.

I simply attended the big true t-bird event and got myself a chapstick but left soon after.

It was an odd feeling but then again I am just fine with it.

<by the way, my new word lately is {odd} so ya'll will just have to deal with it if I say it a lot>

You see, I will tell you the stories from my last couple years of true t-bird night.

Rewind back to 2010

I met Cody Eugene Patterson about a week prior to my first ever true t-bird night. I immediately had a crush on this boy and knew right away that we were going to be good friends. We were both 18 years old. It was our first year of college. Everything was new and exciting. We both new true t-bird night was coming up and it was definitely in the back of our minds as the day was coming closer and closer and as we continued to talk and get to know each other. 

Well the big night finally came and we both kind of figured that we would be each other's true t-bird. We were awkward and nervous. He took my hand and guided me through the big crowd of crazy college kids awaiting the strike of midnight to have the excuse to kiss someone.

We signed a little business card type thing to make it official. 

"At midnight on the night of______,  [insert name here]  became a true t-bird with [insert name here]."

And got ourselves a famous true t-bird chapstick.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1... MIDNIGHT!

I remember both our hands were shaking because we were so nervous. I quickly took his face and kissed him.

We were officially true t-birds! 

We've been good friends ever since then. We didn't kiss again until right before he left on his mission. But that's a different story.

He's in Argentina right now and will be back next July. Crazy how time flies!

Now let's go to 2011

Spencer Barry Budd had my interest ever since the first day of school that year. He's a returned missionary and we {me and my roommates} became really good friends with him and his roommates. We had kissed previously to true t-bird night and it was definitely expected that we would be true t-birds that year.

Now you must understand that I am not a fan of kissing in public. [I'm not comfortable with it, but I guess I'll have to get over that fear of mine someday if I ever fall in love and get married or whatever.]

Well we went to true t-bird night with all of our friends. I was nervous, once again. The count down came and midnight struck.

I was avoiding Spencer and didn't want to kiss him in front of all my friends. However, they told him to kiss me and he turned my head and gave me a quick peck. There was my first renewal of being a true t-bird. 

He was a stinker. Although I was mad he kissed me in front of my friends, I can't say that I wasn't happy as well.

That fling AND friendship lasted like two months. 

He lives right next door to me now and he's a totally different person. It's odd but I don't even care. His roommate is my best friend and that's all that matters.

So now, 2012, true t-bird  night rolls around and I have no one in my sights that I would want to renew my status with. 

Well actually that's a lie.

Here's my new story:

I just recently discovered that I have a crush for the first time this semester on a kid in my ward. Apparently he's the elders quorum president, does that mean anything??

Who knows.

Anyways, he's a native to Cedar City and he's two years old than me. He's a returned missionary and he came with the missionaries to my house the other night to meet with my non-member roommate. He's a great kid and he's really funny! 

I've come to find out that we have very different personalities though. We're quite opposite! 

But it intrigues me. 

Anyways, he came to the traditional celebration before true t-bird night with me and some friends and I learned that he does not like to be around a lot of people. Ha, I think he is kind of shy. 

I was hoping that maybe just MAYBE he would be my true t-bird for 2012 but he ended up leaving early with the others that we were with because they all wanted to go home. 

Fun suckers.

They weren't into A Rocket To The Moon I guess.

What were they thinking? 

Oh that's right, they weren't.

Ha it's fine though, I'm not even mad. 

So they left early and that takes us back to the first of this blog post... I went to true t-bird night and grabbed myself a chapstick and got out of there as soon as I could.

Let's be honest, there are creepers out there and if you're not careful you could easily get kissed by a weirdy. 

Yuck!

So that is my story.

Legend has it that you can become true t-birds on the night of a full moon and only if you're touching the statue "Old Sorrel."

Maybe I'll be able to renew my status sometime this semester before I'm done? Who knows, I guess there are about what, 2 or 3 full moons left till then? 

Meh.... 

We'll see what is in store for me!

Love,

Kate

ps. 75 days left