Christmas Eve

For some reason, Christmas eve was the best day ever!! Katie and I spent basically the entire day together, and it was a blast! We got a great new cd, jammed to that while we drove around the valley.

It was so warm outside!!! We were dying.

Thank you Brown Xmas 

Then we went shopping at Trolley, and Fashion Place. Got fat at In N Out. 

We did a little face time with our main man in SF. Ended the night at Midnight Mass. 

Hilariously awesome day. 

BOOM. 

glad xmas is over. i can relax now.

Never leaving shopping to the last minute ever ever again.

LIFE IS GOOOOD.

The Polar Express

Last night we took my two cute nephews on the Polar Express!! It was so much fun to be with the boys and experience Christmas though a child's eyes again. :) love my family to death.

Sometimes...Jason smiles real big...... 

Happy Holidays

XoXo

Christmas

Love this Commercial!

and the song

Oh to find the perfect gifts for everyone in my Family.

6 days left.

Finals are over, I can shop now.

Sadly, my finals induced coma has set in...

I think I'll go take a nap. :) 

Merry Christmas!

Let the insanity of Finals BEGIN!!

Stupid finals.

You can go, and just go DIE.

Jump of a Cliff.

Dang you. Dang you to HECK.

the end

p.s. good luck to anyone who reads this blog who has finals

(assuming people do read this blog..which we know what happens when I assume.. ://)

2 months baybee I SAID IT.

kbye

The Goodwin Project

Maybe I am a little late to join the bandwagon here...but I found this awesome Blog via twitter

and I am hooked.

I think it is so awesome, slash crazy, slash I want to travel the world raise a family and surf.

Okay, maybe not the surf part. I would need to learn that...

Check it out!

http://vimeo.com/26454176

Is it weird that I am so interested in this? Probably...but it's awesome. 

Endure and Enjoy

I had dinner with an incredible friend I met in India this week.

We got into a conversation and he talked about how life is hard, but we just have to Endure it, and Enjoy it.

Even in the darkest times, there will always be happiness.

Great Night, with a Great Friend.

#truth

I dream about New York..

I have been everywhere in the world..EXCEPT New York.

Where are my priorities?

This video is even more proof of why I need to go there..

See you soon New York.

2011? 2012? 

It's gonna happen..

21, 21, 21

It was my birthday on the 21st!! Turned 21, on the 21st.

Golden Baybee

In honor of my favorite show {Gilmore Girls} I had to celebrate in Gilmore Fashion.

Play 21 as I turn 21, at Midnight.

So My entire family, and Joylyn came along for the ride!!

Here I am with Jason at Midnight playing some Slots.

{they make NO sense to me...}

Then we were off to play some Black Jack

Oh my word. I now know how people get addicted to gambling. FUN.

My dad has taught me how to play since I was little.

On the way down we discussed strategies. 

It was pure greatness!!!

I may have lost some money..but it was totally worth it. :/ 

The next day we sat our fannies at the pool all day.

It was so great to get away from the cold in Utah. 

We even got a cabana for the boys to have some shade. :)

{and Debbie..she needs her shade people}

This little boy makes life worth living!!

We went and saw the Bellagio fountains, which were incredible as always. It was Emilys first time experiencing them, and I think she LOVED them!

The gardens inside are always BEAUTIFUL. I mean look at that apple!! Roses people!

and Last but not least...we went to Serendipity. :)

Debbie had never seen it, so before we went to vegas we watched it. 

Classic.

Love these girls. <3 

Best Birthday.

Thanks you guys for coming along!! Life wouldnt be nearly as awesome with out you. :)

*Side note: Thanks Emily for coming, even though you probably have Jail time. You rock. Going to Jail for Kephy. hehehe As promised, I will totally go for you!! 

Thought of You

I absolutely love this video.

Australian Pink Floyd

Emily and I went to Pink Floyd concert with some of our Co- Workers, and lets be honest, we were not expecting too much out of it.

It was FREEZING, and well...it was FREEZING. haha

 However, we bundled up, and ending up having a BLAST!!!

It got to the point that we were laughing so hard..I dont even know why.

(second hand high people)

 The aussie's were amazing. It was like Pink Floyd arose from their graves, and played for us.

The second half of the concert was 3D! What gets better than that?! 

The main reason I wanted to go, was because Matty loved Pink Floyd.

Boy do I miss my big brother. I know he was there in spirit though.

He seriously would have loved it.

Emily and I were so glad we ended up going. Even though we were cold, it was just fun to be there.

Thanks for going with me Em!! Love you!

I leave you with a video:

BYU vs USU. SO FUN!!

Oh my goodness. I went to the BYU vs USU game..and lets just say it was AWESOME!!

My family has never really been into sports, so I never went to college football games when I was little.

This is my 3rd year of college, and I have only been to 2 Utah football games..

Then, the other day, Britny asked me to go the BYU game, of course I said YES!

We drove down to Provo, and secretly the whole time we were thinking USU would win..

I wore a USU shirt on underneath my BYU Sweatshirt. haha 

I am always prepared.

Well within the last minute of the game, BYU caught up, and we were going NUTS. It was hilarious.

I kept asking Britny "Can they make a touchdown in so little time!?" "Britny there is only a few seconds left..is this possible?!" She seriously knows her stuff. She kept me informed the entire night. I think she thinks I am crazy. {which could be possible hehe}

Anywho....BYU ends up winning the game. It was SO exciting. I felt like an actual college student.

It was just so much fun!! Britny was so nice to invite me! Love her!

Other news: Dave took me to TSwift. I have such a nice Daddy!! Taylor was amazing.

She sang Neon Trees Animal acoustically, and it was INCREDIBLE

Also, I am really REALLY excited for the next season of this horrible show I watch. 

{I shouldnt watch it, but I do. Its addicting. and a problem..}

Its Dexter. mmm I love me some Michael C. Hall!

Outbursts of Emotion this week:

I have to write a 5-7 page paper on Dr. Assisted Suicide. Love the topic..Horrible writer. Not excited.

I also have a test on Saturday morning. 

Fall Break is in a week. *Happiness*

I need to stop picking my lips. Its a problem. I cant stop. But I'm going to this week. I have a plan.

My Birthday is coming up, and you best believe I will be in Vegas playing 21, on the 21st, when I turn 21 at Midnight. Been planning this for years now. *Inspired by Gilmore Girls. Adopted by ME.

BOOM.

Writing..and a Birthday!!

I have something to say:

I hate my writing 2010 class.

I said it.

Lets just say, I am currently not sure how I am going to get through college, because I cant write.

I LOVE MATH.

It makes perfect sense to me. Give me a formula, I can solve it!

With writing its like "Well, you can do this, but it might be better if you do this..or you could do this..." Which makes it seem like it would be easy, but I tend to over think things. So it really just confuses me. Yes, I should be working on my paper, or the test that I have today..but I choose not to. :)

It was my Nephews Birthday Yesterday!!!!!

 He turned 5 years old!

Go ahead just ask me how much I love this kid..

MORE THAN WORDS!! He is so adorable. He can cheer me up even if I am having the worst day ever.

Seriously, this kid is amazing.

But I am biased. hehe

He is also a fantastic big brother.

Happy Birthday James!

Talking in Churchy Church..

Wellllllll I thought I would write a quick post, I wish I had pictures to post but I am not on my computer.. I am working on a FB album, I have been SOOO busy catching up with school and stuff, I have just had NO time to post photos. I will do it soon!

I hope...

Oh how I miss India.

It was just so great. Seriously words can not explain how much fun I had. 

I have to talk in church this Sunday, and it sounds like I am going to have to talk again in two weeks in my home ward. 

ask me how excited I am about this..

NOT excited.

Its so weird, because I am supposed to talk about Service, and to me, India was not service. Whenever I do service, it seems I always complain, and I never want to actually do it. :| I know I am a horrible person!!

The only thing I really complained about in India was the food.. hehehe

But when I was in India. I felt like INDIA was doing me a service. I felt like the Leprosy Patients were doing ME a service. I know the children that we played with loved me with all they had, even though I was leaving in just a few short weeks. The group of people that I met while I was there, helped me so much, and did ME a service.

So I guess this leads me to what I really should be doing.. More service in my life here in good old Utah.

We all said how sad it was that we could fly half way around the world, and do Service..when there are so many opportunities around us everywhere that we pass up daily.

This sounds horrible..but I often find my self getting caught up in silly selfish things, that dont even matter..but I end up not thinking about the other people around me.

Thats gotta stop..haha

Whether it is as little as texting a friend, or opening a door for someone, or even taking cookies to a family.

Welp, there you have it. This is me trying to think of things to talk about for my Talky Talk. I have a feeling its going to be a little scatterbrained. But hopefully it turns out okay!

Other random outbursts of emotion:

This was someones Facebook status: 

I went to the store and they had all their Halloween stuff out...Halloween means its almost Thanksgiving, and Thanksgiving means its almost CHRISTMAS!!!

And then February will be here=Happiness

My Nephew is turning 5 Years Old! AHHH my goodness how time has flown by!!

I turn 21 in like a month...I still feel like I am 12..its okay.

I actually enjoy some of my classes this semester..what a change!

I think you are really great. YES YOU. 

Life is good peeps. Life is gooood.

{besides my writing class, which can go jump off a cliff and DIE.}

India Has My Heart

Love these People...

I could kill blogger. It is such a pain to freaking post photos. haha but I got few up for your viewing pleasure!!! This is me and Kim2 at Construction. We were mixing paint to paint some bathrooms..it felt so awesome..and then it started eating away at our skin. It was pretty exciting there for a minute!! So here we are painting like painters, and sweating like sweaters.

Awe..tell me that isnt precious!!! This is on our education day. We help tutor the kids in English. It is just plain adorable.

BUJJI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am sponsoring her!!! I just got the email back from the sponsorship director and it is settled!! YAHOO! What an incredible girl. Seriously, the most beautiful, kind person I have ever met. She is like the mother of her family. All of the girls will be playing, and she will be hanging up clothes to dry, taking care of everyone. Such a great example to everyone she is around.

Here are what some incredible friends helped donate for Rising Star! We cant just give the kids presents, they have to earn them at the Star Store. We are trying to teach them to earn things and be self sufficient, instead of begging for things..because that is what they are taught to do at birth.

I leave tomorrow, and none of us want to. India will always have a piece of my heart...the feelings we have had here are something we cant explain. The group I have been with are some of the most amazing people I have ever met. I feel like I have known them my entire life. Thank you Rising Star for changing our lives.

Yesterday, Sagayamary said "Saturday, you go to America?" and it nearly broke my heart. I cant believe we leave on Saturday. She asked me if I would stay for her birthday. It is on September 13th. She is so excited because she gets to talk to her mom! These kids become so attached to us, and then we all have to leave. :( Man o Man am I gonna miss her.

Gotta live it up the next few days.

Vannakam, Nandri

Today was so great, and its only half way over! This is Kim...she is one of the coordinators, and she is leaving tomorrow. She has been here 4 months long. Kim is over all of Medical, she always does a Rumba Super job!!! We will seriously miss her, but I think some good things are going to come once she gets home. :)

For medical today I was over Blood Pressure!

Then we have a line of people: Alex cleaned the sores, Brandie also cleaned, and Micah took off bandages.

With blood pressure, it gets kind of boring..so I went and sat with the people waiting in line, and we had the most hilarious time!!! Its so amazing that we speak different languages, yet we laugh so hard, and smile, and they grab my cheeks and kiss them. It is so special to be apart of their happiness. I think these two ladies have a crush on Micah..they kept pointing to him and laughing. Hilarious!!

Vannakam in Tamil means Hello, and Nandri means thank you! We always say that to them, and they say it back. It is so cute.

Love all of these people. <3

Medical

When we arrived at the Colony we were waiting for the other medical bus, and as we sat there this man started praying. "Father, Father, Father, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you" It was such an incredible moment for all of us..seeing how this man in our eyes does not have much..yet his capacity to love is so huge. I have found this in most of the people of India. We were all talking about how we just can not explain anything..you just have to experience it for yourself. These are moments I will cherish for the rest of my life...

I had the opportunity to put oil on their legs, and sores. {I also had to cut their toe nails...hehe} It is so painful for them, but you can just see how grateful they are for all that we are doing for them. There is such a stigma when it comes to leprosy...and as we have been here they have challenged us to not call them "lepers" But the "leprosy afflicted". We are trying to break all the negative thoughts that surround these wonderful people.

Today I am on medical again! I am so excited, these are by FAR my most favorite days, because of all the beautiful people we get to help.

Here is another video of little Elle!! Ahhh I miss her.

*side note: College starts today, and I missing the first week... :| Not the best feeling in the world..hopefully it will be okay though!!

Back Home at RSO

Guys. I am sorry I have not blogged!!! What the heck! I am just having the time of my life right now, and I dont want to miss a second of it. We all are having a hard time blogging, cuz we are just having so much fun! This last weekend we went to the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, went to the Delhi Spice Market, just pure greatness. It was fun because we had a six hour drive to and from Agra to Delhi, so we got to know each other a lot better! I just cant explain how incredible this experience is here. I love the entire group, I love all the kids, and I love the people. I seriously love Bujji. She is my favorite. Tonight I was laying down with her telling her goodnight, and she gave me a kiss on the cheek. It basically melted my heart. Here are a few pics:

Me and Bujji!!! She is just pure greatness. :)

I rode an Elephant!!! It was SO much fun. I dont have a picture of me on it , because it wasnt on my camera...but I will post one soon!

I LOVE THIS MONKEY!!!

Tomorrow we are doing Yoga. Micah is a Yoga instructor, and it was seriously incredible when we all had yoga last week. I am also working medical tomorrow!! Yay!!

Love you all and miss you!

T.I.I.

This Is India.

We had a huge storm and the internet has been down. We always say "TII" because usually something goes wrong, or the power goes out, or our driver cant understand us..little things..but thats how it goes in India. Everyone actually loved the internet being down because we didnt have to worry about emails, and the "real world"..but we are back on. So I will post a video for your viewing pleasure! I'm not even sure if this will work..hopefully! This is Elle..I love her. She lives in a Leprosy Colony, and we were walking through the colony before Medical, and she saw me, came running up to me..I picked her up and she gave me the biggest kiss. She is the happiest little girl I have ever met. Such an example to me. Side note: I am going to Delhi this weekend, and not taking my computer because we dont want to have to worry about them. I LOVE IT HERE. It is simply amazing, and I dont want to go back to America! I love everyone in our group, I love all the kids, I have not had one thing that I do not like here. It is just pure greatness. Love you all! Its late, and I am getting up in a few hours to go to the airport so Peace Out!

Hello Shower..Hello Potty..

This is our shower. Isnt it great?!

This is our Potty. Pure excitement. I know...

I LOVE INDIA!!!!!!!

{this is not sarcastic...I seriously love it!}

Wide Awake at 4 a.m.

Wellllllllll I am awake everyone. Slash I cant tell if it is raining or the fans just sound like it. But here I am wide awake. Dang jet lag....dang you to heck!!!!!!!! With my luck I will be on construction tomorrow, and crash mid day. I do wish I were on a bottom bunk currently so I could get up and turn the AC on. Heat rises people. I'm trying to think of something else that is exciting, but I cant. I will now post random pictures..cuz I am bored..hehe enjoy.

These girls were on my flight from Utah to Chicago..sadly after that we split up, and I was on my own.

This is a picture of Chennai as I was landing!

This is the picture I attempted to take as I was coming out of the airport=FAIL. haha

Dancing in the Monsoon

Today is a day for the record books. OH. MY. WORD. Pure amazingness. I seriously dont know where to begin, slash what to say. I shall just start at the beginning. The group (17 of us) were picked up at the Marriott at 10:00 {after eating a most delicious buffet, last meal happiness} We drove about two hours to Rising Star campus...we made two pit stops along the way..getting bread, and probably to Jasons surprise MT DEW! haha We drove through organized chaos, poverty, and what I like to call Flinstone cars. Seriously they are so small and cute they look like Fred Flinstone's car! Hilarious. After driving through all of that..we made it to Rising Star. We live in what we call the Elephant House. I have come to find out that I have "squatter phobia" {I made it up...but seriously} *squatting on the toilets is a serious talent..and you know something is wrong when everyone is discussing their technique!!! All the girls got dressed in our chudidar's and started unpacking. For a good 4 hours it was a torrential down pour!!! I was determined to go dance in it..So me and Anna ran out and were going nuts..and then everyone came and joined in on the fun. It was seriously like we were taking a shower. So hopefully it happens again tomorrow, and we will all be taking our shampoo with us! It was such a surreal experience dancing in this rain, the loudest thunder I have ever heard, with people I have never met before, all in India. So much fun, such a great memory. We then had a tour of the school, and the dorms where the children live.

The kids just melt my heart. They see you and they come running. Give you hugs, call you "auntie auntie!!" It seriously is adorable. They just love everything about you. They play with my hair constantly, climb on me, and the biggest crowd pleaser of the day is my Monkey/Gorilla impression. Which I then had to do for all of the volunteers. I told this little girl today that I liked her earings, and she said "oh, would you like them?" and started to take them off!!! They are just the cutest little things to hit the world. I didnt take many pictures today..but hopefully I will post more tomorrow. So far I have no complaints. It is just so much fun.

I am living in the jungle in India.

*{side note: Frogs coming into the squatters at night=kephy holding it until the morning..if you get what I'm saying. hehehe}

Other side note: I am on the top bunk, and there is not bar to keep me from falling off.

Pray for me. :)

Arranged Marriage

NEON lights on our plane...they were normal in Brussels...and BOOM they changed when we got to India. Awesome.

I learned more on my plane from Chicago to Brussels than I ever wanted to know. I sat next to an Indian man..Which was great because I followed him to our gate to get to Chennai. Anywho, he asked me what I was doing in Chennai and I told him, then I asked him what he was doing. "I am going to go pick up my wife!!" Naturally I got so excited! She just got her visa, and she is coming to America! He lives in Kansas. He then told me their story of how their parents arranged for them to be married. He has seen her 4 times, this will be his 5th. He told me that they had to go to astrological people to find the date of their wedding, when the stars would align and what not, and he was like it just happened to fall on her menstrual cycle. {TOO MUCH INFORMATION!!} It was pretty funny because he kept asking me "Do you have any tips for me about women?" haha He was saying how they have to learn to love each other after they are married, along with just the silly things like getting to know you. SO crazy. He was also like a bird, I swear. He would like eat and then spit it in to a napkin. so weird. haha I would put my headphones on, and he would keep talking. It was hilarious. That is all I can currently think of...slash...I am now at the rising star Elephant house!! It is just pure greatness! And let me tell you all..I am sweating like a sweater. man. life is goooooood!