...who is updating and can be surprisingly creative

I haven't had the opportunity to send out 'Christmas letters' so I figured if you really want to know what's gone on in my life this year, you can read this...so here goes

January started off with a cold winter, both the weather and life's experiences. I had recently broken up with my almost fiance, Colin, and life was hard. So, since I was an RA, I threw myself into helping my girls out as much as I could. Over time the hurt went away though I experience a hell that is only imaginable by those who have had the same experiences. I found happiness in helping those that lived in my building and I actually enjoyed the snow for the first time (I'm not a snow girl). The Winter semester moved on and during that time I committed myself to earning my Young Women's medalion which I hadn't gotten before and completed it before the end of the semester!

I didn't know what to do during the summer. I could go home to carlsbad or stay in Utah...Decisions were made and I decided it would be smarter for me to stay in utah. I moved into the Colony and started job hunting. I made a lot of new friends that welcomed me into the ward and social life. I went through...3..4 jobs? till I finally settled down working at Los Hermanos out in Lindon. That was an adventure. The school started in September and my ward changed boundaries and I had new roommats. Both happenings were for the good. I absolutly love my ward and I adore my roommates! School was a new experience this semester. I felt like I had lost the ability to learn which was frustrating, but I ended up doing okay. The highlight of the semester was when I placed 2nd at Dancesport in my class event! Woohoo!

There was a lot of change that occured too. I worked an interesting job during this last semester...juggling work and school and a social life was tougher than it had ever been before (partly because I've never really had a 'real' social life in college before). And in October, you're beloved blondie turned into a Brunette! (crazy!) Don't worry though..If Julianne is willing, I'll be back to blonde before the new year! ha! I also quit my job as Los during finals (thank goodness or I don't know how I would have survived) and am not jobless...for the first time in....a LONG time. (if you know of any openings, let me know!)

I also think I have finally decided on a major (I know! This is a monumentous occasion!) I've decided to major in Recreation Management and Youth Leadership, with an emphasis in Leasure Services Managment. I'm really excited cause I get to take all the cool buisness classes that I've been dying to take without being in the Business program (cause It's impossible to get into!).

Other than that, I've just been living life. No, I don't have a man (everyone seems to place that at a high concern). I've just been meeting a lot of people and making new friends. My goals for this next year is to meet all the girls in my ward (cause it's surprisingly hard to do that), participate/organize study groups for my classes, and sit towards the front. I also plan on getting in better shape...I've planned out my schedule (Ha! I actually have a steady schedule which is AMAZING!) to let me get back into swimming and my roommates and I are going to start doing yoga in the morning (we have way too much fun when we work out together!). I also might be going to Arizona this coming summer. It's not for sure yet, but I think I might be wanting to get out of Utah for a while and I think that Arizona will be a great oppourtunity to make new friends, get some generals out of the way at MCC, and some other work experience.

So, that's my update!

Right now though, without classes and friends around, life gets VERY boring...So, I decided to get rid of this boredm by creating things. So, I made my roommate's Christmas gift and then decorated my bulletin board. The results are as follows:

Stephanie's Christmas Gift

The Bulletin Board


The signs


Quotes and Photots (yes, I made the frames)


The board without decorations...
This was made with ribbon sewn together and stapled to the board...let me tell you, it's not the easiest thing to do)

My favorite frame...I'm kinda a fan

So, that's what I did all day! I have paint all over my hands but not anywhere else (mom's grateful for that).

Mom made two cakes for Christmas eve tomorrow...they're chocolate cherry cakes...guess who 'had' to have a piece? Yup, dad. He cut the cake and stuffed a slice into his mouth with the frosting dribbling out the side (you know how dad is when cherry and chocolate is mixed together)

anywho, I love you all! I hope that your Christmas goes well and that you're safe! I love you all and appreciate the support you've all given me in all my endeavors.

Here are some thoughts I've found recently and have loved...I hope that you can be inspired by them...

If you could envision the type of person God intended you to be, you would rise up and never be the same again

Better keep yourself clean and bright; you are the window through which you see the whole world

It is impossible for us to break the law. We can only break ourselves against the law

The real tragedy is the tragedy of the man who never in his life braces himself for his one supreme effort – he never stretches to his full capacity, never stands up to his full stature

If you ever get depressed, the best thing to do is to do something for someone else

Always be a first rate version of yourself, instead of a second rate version of someone else.

My strength is as the strength of ten because my heart is pure

People are just as happy as they make up their mind to be

I am the force. I am the captain of my life. I can choose my attitude. I’m responsible for my own happiness or unhappiness. I am in the driver’s seat of my destiny, not just a passenger.

Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.

So much has been given to me. I have no time to ponder that which has been denied.

Whether I fail or succeed shall be no man’s doing but my own. I am the force.

It has long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sit back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.

People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get caught up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can’t find them, make them.

...who can't make a decision

I miss everyone already! I'm so sad that the break is over because I love seeing my family! When are we all getting together next? I'm ready!

School's back in session. woo. The good news is that the last day of classes is on next Thursday. The bad news is that they made Saturday a reading day! RUDE! meh, I'll live. Tyler asked me on a second date (for the first date he took me to see vocal point...of course i'm not going to turn that down!). Apparently he was at m apartment for hours waiting for me to show up and when I did everyone was in the middle of watching a movie. I sat down and watched it with everyone and by the time the movie was over, everyone had left except for him. He got up to leave and then asked if I'd go on a second date with him. I said no and felt aweful about it. I could tell that he was a little upset about that. I was kind though. I just told him I wasn't interested and that I appreciated the compliment of him asking me out. Now I'm trying to find a date for Friday. All of us roommates are planning this apartment date. We're making dinner and then going up to Salt Lake to see the lights and maybe go ice skating. Last night I made a list of all the guys I know and would feel at least a bit comfortable going on a date with. I had at least 25 guys listed, but none that I actually wanted to take. Katie is asking one guy and so I've decided to ask his roommate so we could ask together. I guess I'm excited, but I'm at the point where I'm over the whole 'dating' thing. I haven't given up, I'm just sick of it right now. It's the most annoying when the guys you don't want are after you and the guys you do want, you're not allowed to go after (LONG story). I've decided to try and not date in the ward (that decision probably won't stick) because there's just too much drama. Bleh! I just don't want to have to find a date for next week for christmas cookies... I'd like to go, but finding someone to bring is Annoying. Maybe I'll have to work and not worry about it. That would be great!

In the mean time, I'm also trying to figure out what to major in. The possibilities are endless! I've tried narrowing it down, but it's hard to do that. The majors I'm considering are Thereputic Recreation, American Studies, Photography (maybe, but probably not), or something at UVU. I just don't know anymore. If anyone knows a better way to make decisions without using enny-meeny-miny-mo, let me know. I'm forgotten how to decide!

I love you all...Off to class!

Who tries something new

I should be in bed...ha!

I got back from Mom's. She was kind enough to do my laundry today because all my clothes were dirty and I had lots of stuff in my ward to do. (Thanks Mom! You really are the best!). I talked to her about school. We decided that I should just take the classes I want to take this next semester. So, I just finished redoing my schedule and I'm kinda excited now. I'm taking spanish 101 and 102 (accelerated courses so I can brush up on my spanish skillz), social dance, tap dance (i may be dropping it depending on where I get a new job), Astronomy, D&C, and a class that is supposed to help you learn and study effectivly (Just what I need right now!). It's 16 credits, but the spanish are both 4 credits each and block classes, so I'm really only taking 12 credits at any one time. I'll also be trying to get into a latin dance class and a standard ballroom class (all I really want to do right now is dance!).

This weekend I preformed in Dancesport. I'm in 281 - country swing intermediate. My partner and I competed in the Polka...We placed 2nd! (i have a trophy to prove it). It was a lot of fun. My partner was in several other competitions that night, so the costume change was a fun thing to help him with...haha! It was costantly pinning and unpinning the competition number from one shirt to the other and helping him change shoes and such. It made me laugh. As soon as I get some pictures I'll try to post them.

I also went on a blind date that same night (Friday). Adrienne set me up with him...I think he's her good friends nephew??? Anywho, he called me up earlier this week and asked me if I wanted to go to dinner. Naturally I said yes. Friday came and he picked me up after I got home from dancesport 15 min earlier. We went to CPK (california club all the way!) and then he took me mini-golfing (he wooped me but i did get a hole in one on the last hole which meant that I now have a free game of mini golf). Then he took me home. It was a lot of fun! He was a cute nice guy. A perfect gentleman. He actually opened the doors for me (you'd be surprised how many guys i know that don't do that). Adrienne was surprised that he took me mini-golfing and that he paid for everything. I guess it's shocking, but at the same time, I see that as how it should go. Anywho, the point is, I had a great time. I don't know if he'll call again. If he doens't I won't be heartbroken (I only spent a couple hours with the guy) but if he did, i definitly wouldn't say no. I wouldn't say I'd date him (again, I've only know him a few hours), but I could definitly see us being good friends.

when I got home, I waited for everyone else to get home.and then all of us roommates moved the furniture into the kitchen and brought our matresses into the living room. that night was girls night. we ate lots of sugar, made lots of noise, and slept in really awkward positions (i'm still hurting). It was fun though...

Saturday: we all woke up early for a service project. We were raking leaves in a near-by park. When we got back all of us crashed onto the matresses . I didn't wake up till 1 in the afternoon. I was SOO tired. then I got ready for work. I got there and started taking tables. My roommates along with 3 of my FHE brothers came in to visit and I got to serve them along with Emily and her boyfriend, Ryan. It was great! I was so excited that they came to visit me. A lot of people say they will, but they never actually do. This was the first time people have followed through! I also brought in 90 bucks! Woohoo! I earned it though. While friends are nice to have come in, they don't tip well (but i actually didn't want them tipping at all..I know how much they earn), so I worked really hard to make all my other tables happy. I took a ton of tables that were about 8-12 people. I was stoaked when I looked at the receipt for the last table I had...It was a 20% tip equalling about 30 dollars. I was so grateful. I don't think many people know how grateful servers are for a tip. I've been stiffed several times by old ladies who are too cheap, but even a dollar bill on the table is a reason to be happy (especially when you're trying to pay rent, gas, and buy food). Last night was just a good night (normally I pull in about 70 ish).

today was a little crazy. I woke up late, but luckily i showered last night so i didn't take me as long to get ready. My roommate and I were a few min. late to ward council. I then went to mom's sustaining in her ward after mine was done. I'm so proud of her for accepting this new calling. I knew she was a little dissapointed when she found out the first call was wrong, but I have confidence in her that she will be a success. I came home and went to my FHE brothers' apartment where they were making tacos for my apartment. Then there was laundry, and coming back to my apartment to make dinner for my roommates (Spaghetti!) We invited a couple guys to come eat with us. We had a great time. It ended with my roommate Katie P. and I wondering if you could suck up jello with a straw.... if you ever want to get some really funny noises, try it please! We were all laughing so hard. I was crossing my legs like mom does when she's laughing so hard she has to go to the bathroom and my eyes were watering. I was trying to not close them too much for fear that my contacts would pop out! (By the end of next semester my roommmates and I will all have 6-packs from laughing so much!). then there was Ward Prayer and Warm Fuzzies (nice notes). Afterwards, a bunch of us came to my apartment and watched American in Paris (with Gene Kelly). Then i went to mom's to pick up my laundry and here I am...I've come full circle.

I hope that ya'll are satisfied with my posts. I'm trying to let you know what's happening but I'm not one who likes talking on the phone for long periods of time (i can only do that with certain people), so thanks for putting up with me!

I love you all and I hope you're all safe and happy and well.

I visit taught today to...the message that we shared was the following:

"In the strength of the Lord, I can do all things"

I've been leaning on this quotation a lot lately. I hope that you can gain some insight from it too.

LOVE!


Onto Saturday:

who recognizes a defeat

School has officially kicked my butt this semester. I'm only taking 12 credits and I know I'm going to do very poorly. My worst class/not worst class is English 150...I have a love-hate relationship with it. My teacher is really cool. She respects us and give really good feedback. The problem is she's WAY too into English meaning that she expects us to be as well. Being an artistic/math-y person, I don't do well with conforming to this expectation. So far I've done with the class though. I've gotten an A and a B+ on my other papers. Right now we're working on the "Issues Paper" and I've officially been destroyed by it. One part of the paper is an Annotated Bibliography...I've been working on it and it is due at 5 today. It's supposed to have 20-25 sources...I have 7. It is 4:30. I am admitting defeat. I've been working on it as much as I could, but this last week, in an effort to bring in more income to my depleting stores I ended up working a lot more than I normally do. i.e. Friday: worked from 4pm-midnight, Sat: 10:30 am - midnight...ya..not so much time to actually study/get work done, along with the fact that I couldn't see for half the week too due to my eyes being retarted! Granted, there's always more that I could have done...but then i think, "mom is in the same class and they're only required to have 8 sources" I think there's something VERY wrong with that. (If you couldn't tell, I'm frustrated right now). I'm very against the whole mandatory general classes that everyone has to take...it's a waste of time and money....personally, there should be a group of topics for general learning and you have to pic 3 or 4 to complete, not a bunch of different ones. Oh well...i guess I'll just have to deal and move on.

Here's a video from the powderpuff game...I'm trying to put together a movie, but it's hard to find the time. oh well. I love you all! I'm off to study!

who loves getting dressed up when she doesn't have to

Halloween was CRAZY fun this year! Goodness! We had so many things going on! Our ward had a Halloween party on the 24th. I was Andy from Step Up 2. We had an awesome dance party start up there and everyone was impressed by my 'skilled' hip-hop moves...I personally think it's just cause we're in Utah where no one knows how to dance, which made my dancing look more amazing than it really is. My roommates and I all got dressed up.
Stephanie was a hippie, Brittany was a flapper, Kayla was a Smore, and Katie W. was static Cling. Katie P wasn't there for the pictures, but she was a little kid dressing herself for the first time. It was fun!














Pumpkin Carving was the next night. I took this guy names Garret from my ward. He's the coolest guy EVER! He has this laugh that he can't control that is hilarious! He ended up knowing Emily's date, so it was really fun for him. I'm hoping that he'll ask me out sometime (he's kinda my not-so-secret crush). We decided for our pumpkin to make a magic 8 ball, complete with a dice inside of the pumpkin, so it actually worked as an 8 ball. We were in a triple tie for last, but placed 4th in originality! Woohoo!



When it comes to Halloween week, that was some insane party-ing! Wednesday night I went country dancing as usual but this week they had it in a warehouse. Thursday, one apartment had a party...it was a black light party. All the walls were covered in black trash bags with black light paint over everything. It was sweet. Friday night, there were several parties. One apartment was having a party that I went and helped set up. I then had a work party that I went to for about 45 min before I had to get back to my own apartment where we were having our own party. I was DJing and and "bar-tending" the party. I made some awesome drinks..pina colodas and strawberry daquries and shirley temples. We had the guys who did the black light party on thursday bring over their black lights and speakers...we were all dancing till 1:30 in the morning. We had neighbors from the street behind us come over and a ton of friends!















So, that was Halloween. Saturday we had our powder puff football game. It was so fun! I didn't play, but I took a ton of pictures! I have over 800 pics/videos from everyone. I'm going to be making a video of everything to give to the ward. I'll probably put some of those pictures up later. They're funny though... we had a bunch of the guys in our ward be cheerleaders. They got all dressed up and had some funny cheers/acrobatics. We even had a mascot...his name was Ruff (our Bishop's name is Ruffner, so we were the Red Ruffinators)
Anywho...that's what's been going on. Life is beautiful! I can't wait to see everyone at Thanksgiving! I'm thinking about having all the nephews over to have a sleep over one night. My roommate Stephanie will be here so we can all watch a movie and make some cookies. I live on a private street so the boys can bring their scooters and skateboards and we can all play outside. I'm excited!!! Love you all!

who colors their hair 5 times in a 4 day period

I gave in to the pressure. Darn you sisters! Oh well, my hair has turned out to look really good. Right now it has a little red in it, cause i just had the final color done today. It was an awfully long process. It started with pigmentation. Then the girl doing my hair put the color in, but it didn't work so well. You know how a blond's hair will turn green when they go swimming too much...ya, well, my hair looked a darker blond with a green undertone in it! AHH!! I freaked out! The girl said I could come back later and they'd redo it. I said okay, but after a while of blow-drying, I turned to her. I said that I hated the color, I had work that night and I was singing in church the next day. I told it needed to be fixed then. So she put a different color in it with a TON of red in it to counteract the green. My roots ended up being bright red at the roots (eventually it washed out). Over the next few days the red moved out and the brown moved in...but it wasn't the brown i wanted it to be, so I went in today and had them fix it. I LOVE the color now!

BlondeThe first brownThe final color!

My roommates saw me today and kinda freaked out again. They're all "Kimmy! You changes your color again!" Ha, it was funny. My English class noticed the color change too. We'll see what everyone else thinks.

Other than that, nothing too exciting is going on. I'm thinking about just declaring my major undecided and finish my AA. I'm trying to figure out what to do with life. I'm taking a cake decorating class in December. I want to learn about floral design. I'm looking at History Teaching as a major. But in the end, when I'm old I want to open a Bed and Breakfast so maybe a minor in business.

I got my Saturday night shift covered at work so I can go to Aunt Rebbecca's pumpkin carving thing. I asked a guy in my ward to go with me when I was walking home yesterday. Mom and Dad have met him. He and his cousin came over to watch general conference. His name is Garret. He's really fun. He has this laugh that I used to find incredibly annoying, but now i find thoroughly entertaining. We still have to come up with an awesome pumpkin design to throw down the Paul Packard reign in winning the contest every year...so if you have any cool designs for pumpkins, let me know today! We need some Von Packard representation going on. (Garret wants to figure out how to turn a pumpkin inside-out haha!)

well, I should be paying attention in English, but I'm writing this, so I'll sign out. I love you all! I'm excited to see you all at Thanksgiving!
Love!

...who always wins

I kind of feel on top of the world. Nothing extraordinary has happened, I just feel like I'm at a good place in life. School has started, I'm working, and I'm meeting new people and trying to have a good time.

School has been quite the exciting thing right now. I've just dropped to 12 credit hours because I'm already overwhelmed. I'm actually studying for classes (woah..new concept I know!) and I've realized I must have ADD because my attention span is almost ZERO! But I'm trying none-the-less. I"m learning a lot though. I absolutely love my computer science class. There are already people behind in it, but I'm just going along and loving every second. I realized the other say how much of a nerd I am though...I decided to sit down and read a bit to relax...and I grabbed my CS book. I actually chose to read my CS book to RELAX...talk about nerd! But I've accepted it.

For the most part, the people in the major are nice...weird, but nice. Being one of the few girls, I've already been attacked a few of the 'weird' ones. For my class we had to take a computer orientation. I went into the computer lab to sign up and this guy just stood there staring at me for a few minutes. As I turned to leave, he started talking to me. He said that he swore he knew me and that we had met before. The guy didn't look familiar at all, and when I proceeded to ask him how long he had been at BYU, I found out that it was his first semester since 2005. Finally he left and as I was about to leave I heard someone whispering my name. "kimmy....kimmy" I looked around and saw this guy sitting at a computer next to where I was standing. The first thought through my head was "I don't know this kid. How does he know my name!" The kid then said to me with a cocky little smile, "Can I be the next guy to meet you?" I was fully sickened. His name was...Bear. ya. weird....I finally said that I had to go after he was trying to talk to me about the dumbest things.

By this time I thought the attacking was over...but no. As I got onto my computer about a 1/2 hour later, I had a facebook email from the first guy saying how he couldn't get me out of his head. I smartly decided not to respond.

So, it's been interesting. Other than CS, I'm in a family history class that I LOVE! I also was able to add Dance 281, which is a country swing class, the intermediate level. I already have a partner for dancesport. His name is Josh...he's about 5'4", but barely taller than be cause he wears his Latin shoes...He's on the ballroom dance team for latin. He decided that he's going to teach me on fridays after our dance class...I'm SOOO excited!

The ward I"m in is great. They jsut switched the boundaries so it's a little different, but I still love it. My bishop is 6'10" and used to play for the NBA. my FHE group is super fun! I've been meeting a lot of the people in the ward and they're all super nice. And, unlike my ward over spring/summer, there are actually normal guys in the ward...like, normal, as in not weird!!! HOoray!

Anywho, that's what's going on right now...
I have a new neice! (2 actually!)
My best friend is engaged!!
AND I'm feeling that I'm winning at life...we'll see how long this feeling lasts. Hopefully it doesn't go away.

until next time...
take faith.

...Who stays up creating a Blog

So, Mom emailed me a list of all my brother and sister's blog spots. I've realized that my family really doens't have a clue as to what's going on in my life, so I figured that I'd create a blog (eww...I'm a 'blogger' now) so that they could know what's going on in my life. We'll see how my efforts pan out.

I guess that for a first post I should probably say something that's going on in my life so that you (whoever is bored enough to read this) knows what's going on.

Basically, it's really late at night and I'm listening to one of my favorite songs over and over again while I write. My feet hurt 'cause I've been on them all day. I got off a 12 hour work day with $100 bucks in my pocket...not too shabby. Granted, a lot of that will go towards getting my car at least partially fixed tomorrow. Maybe some will go to a victory drink from starbucks depending how I do in my job interview tomorrow. And then another chunk will go towards doing the laundry, which will be happy 'cause my clothes are dang dirty!

Now, I know that as the only unmarried child in my family, ya'll might be wanting to know about the love life situation...truth be told, there's not much there. But that's okay. Tuesday I recieved flowers from one of the guys I work with, and that night I ended up going on an unofficial/official second date with a different guy. Other than that, nothing too exciting is happening. Sorry to disappoint. I've decided that I'd rather work on making myself a better person that a better dater.

The only other things on my mind right now are the following:
1. It's really hot in my room
2. I need to buy batteries for my camera (or just buy a really awesome camera!)
3. I should proabably take my contacts out before I go to bed
4. I really do have a constant radio station playing in me head
5. Blogging may be easier than journal writing, but it doesn't really allow for the really intimate details that journaling does (sorry...there are just some things that are too personal)
6. Nathan Angelo has an AMAZING voice
7. I get to go home in a few weeks and see Mom and Dad! WOOHOO!
8. I should go to bed

and with that, g'night!

keep reading to find out what type of gal I am...I may actually turn out to be the kind that will blog! (you never really know).