Just Kate

Sometimes I'm funny.

2012-01-26T22:03:00.001-07:00

Doesn't this look like something viral? Nope. I made it. I've always seen it and I found the perfect picture.

This however is viral and I love it...

Also this kid is doing better than ever.

"I don't know what has happened to me but I feel like someone has lit a fire under me. It's the funniest thing, I have been praying and praying for strength and help and one day i wake up and i have this fresh view about everything. I feel an even stronger desire to be the best servant I can and it's not even difficult I feel as though I have found these rough spots that I didn't know were there and have just done away with them. What an incredible thing it has been. I feel so invigorated and urgent. I feel as though the conduit with heaven has been opened wider and is without restraint as it has been before with me. "

Sunday Night Blues

2012-01-15T19:32:00.001-07:00

Trace and I used to always joke about the Sunday night blues. Sunday nights were our thing! We would play games, watch movies, have really good talks, etc.. Then I moved to Provo and thus began 3 long years of Sunday night blues. I think that's why Sunday is usually the day I visit his family. Anyway, it's been easier lately. Probably because Sunday's are super busy. Anyway! Here's what I've been up to.

This is Elder Tony Holman. He and trace are the best of friends. They were each other's favorite companion. Very bromantic. (see what I did there??) anyway. He is home! And from pleasant grove. So of course we had him over to dinner! (@ Rodgersons) it was so fun to hear all his stories!

I tried to think of a late Christmas present for trace that wouldn't be too lovey dovey or distracting. So! I just finished the Book of Mormon on Christmas day and the whole time I was reading, I was keeping a study journal. Well this journal became the evidence of much spiritual growth happenin up in herr. So I copied the whole thing and shipped it off to Angland. Cute right?

For work, if we reach our monthly production goal, we get to go out and do a "team-building activity". For December, we went up to Park City and went tubing! It was really nice weather which allowed for a good time to be had by all. Then we went to a yummy Mexican restaurant and, get this, I ate food. Like a normal person. Salsa, peppers, sour cream, the works! I'm so proud.

Cute Eastie got to come to my work. He literally has perfect teeth. So that was fun.

Then I road tripped with these grumps.

So we could wrap Collette up and drop her off on the doorstep at shaylee's party. So worth it. So cute.

Then I colored this picture. Sometimes you just gotta color.

Then we came home and Lexi and I saw Beauty and the Beast in 3D! It was so magical. Highly recommend it.

Today Emelia's little bro, Noble, gave his farewell talk. It was an amazing talk on the atonement. He talked about how the lord was always willing. Some of the only recorded words in the premortal existence were "here I am, send me" then on earth, he was found "doing his father's business" and among his last words, "thy will be done". Makes ya think... How willing am I?

Last, but not least. I'm stayin up on my mission prep. I'm taking 2 mission prep classes and 1 book of mormon institute class. trace gets home the day after my birthday... Hmmm. I will just keep prayin.

2 lines from hymns that keep me going:
Keep thou my feet, I do not ask to see the distant scene, one step enough for me.

In every change, he faithful will remain.

Until next time.

I could use a GPS right about now...

2012-01-04T22:00:00.000-07:00

You know on your GPS when you're headed in the right direction and all of a sudden you miss a turn, or something changes and for a minute or two it just says "recalculating..."? If I wanted to follow the metaphorical formatting style of my sister, I'd just leave it at that. But, I love to explain myself.

So! A year ago... I had a very cool experience leaving me sure that I was supposed to serve a mission. (I had to write a paper... yada yada yada... long story) Since then I've been trying to make a choice. You know, because choices have to be made a year in advance these days! NOT! Just in my world. I like to know what I'm doing a year from now. Wellp. Turns out no one gets that kind of luxury. So I was set on going on a mission. I took Trace out of the picture (in my head... for a month or so) and that made my choice easy! But then I realized, he's totally in the picture. However he's not so much in the picture that I can plan on marrying him or anything. So it's all come down to this...

I can't make a choice right now. But, I can prepare. And I can prepare myself to receive guidance and revelation. That means I have be on my A game! All the time. I've shaped up my music choices. I've upped my scripture intake. And I've most definitely increased communication with my Heavenly Father.

Sometimes I feel like I'm living in limbo... and when people ask about a mission or about Trace I can honestly say "I don't know..." It's bizarre. I'm not used to it. I'm used to telling people exactly what I'm doing and what my plan is. But for the first time, I don't have one.

So here are my resolutions:

1. Don't Freak Out Over The Little Things
2. Be Supportive Not Distracting To Elder Rodgerson
3. Study My Scriptures. Don't Just Read.
4. Don't Get Fat.

Happy New Year. I promise to post more as well.

Chapter 10: See ya in 2?

2011-12-26T16:06:00.002-07:00

Eventually I gotused to her being in Florida, we were in contact pretty much all the time andthat meant lots of phone calls with Katelin telling me absolutely everythingabout everything and of course, more Skype dates. My day to leave for mymission was the 9^th of September and the day drew nigh. Even upuntil the day I left she was my support. The night before I left on my mission,we had a final phone call. It wasn’t a Skype date because I don’t think I couldhave handled that. It was a pretty good call, relatively normal, consideringthe circumstances. I don’t remember much of the conversation but I said goodbyeto her and went to sleep. I believe the next morning I may have sent her a textmessage or two but after that, I turned off my phone and I was on my way to theairport. I did surprisingly well for the coming days. I powered through thehomesickness I felt and I moved on past the first bit of my missionary servicewith Katelin behind me the whole way.

This is ourhistory as I can remember up to now. Excuse me if I have left out anysignificant details or events. As you can see, this woman had an extremelyprofound affect on me. Even to this day, I communicate with her often and thinkabout her daily. Even to this day, I still look up to her example. The firsttime I met Katelin I had no idea it would turn into such a life changingrelationship, but here I am now, looking back, and I stand in amazement andgratitude for what she has done for me. She pulled me out of the darkest holeI’ve ever found myself in and hasshown me the way towards the light of the gospel. She has been the one I canalways rely on, always confide in, and one who will always make me smile. Ithank my father in heaven for loving me enough to send Katelin Joan Cook intomy life. I hope that by my actions, I have shown her that I do love her for whoshe is. And to Katelin, I would say, thank you and I love you.

So! it's over. That was a trip right?! Well, I love this kid. I love him a lot. We've both changed a LOT in the last 16 months, but every guy I go out with still leaves me wanting that 6'5'' dream I used to date... Anyway. Now I can go back to blogging about myself... and you can all stop reading it! Haha. Anyway, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Chapter 9: Hello and Goodbye

2011-12-26T15:58:00.000-07:00

I was going tostay in Nebraska until the end of July, but Katelin was due to leave to Floridafor work on the 17^th of August. So, that would have left us only alittle over two weeks together. I got my ticket home for the 3^rd ofJuly and set off for Omaha from Lincoln early in the morning. I took an extremelylarge amount of time that morning getting ready because I was seeing my longlost love again. I had butterflies in my stomach from the time I woke up thatmorning and the feeling only got worse when I landed in Salt Lake City after ashort plane journey. By the time I was leaving the terminal down to baggageclaim, my heart was racing. I was trying to play it cool, but I was freakingout on the inside. Knowing Katelin, it was probably worse for her. She hadprobably been at the airport since I left Nebraska. Nevertheless, she waswaiting just outside in her father’s pathfinder. I walked out the doors and sawher a ways off. She immediately jumped out of the car, ran around the side and,on her tippy toes as she always did, kissed me and gave me the best hug I hadin a long time. It was hard to find the words to say to her. I just loved herso much, it didn’t help that she looked absolutely stunning as well. I could tell you what she was wearingbut I don’t want to seem too girly. We finally got my bags into the car anddriving way, just like Katelin would later explain, it was like I never left.

Sugarhouse Park for fireworks!

From the airportwe went straight to Sugarhouse Park for a fireworks celebration. We met myfamily and my grandparents and aunt at the park. It was one of best nights ofmy life. It was a proper 4^thof July festival. It was so good to be in the warm night sitting on a blanketon the grass with all of my loved ones around, I had missed them all so much.Katelin was part of the family by this point in our relationship. She alwaysfit in quite nicely. The fireworks show was great but not nearly as great asbeing with Katelin again. We drove home together as well. Ha, I mean I droveher car home with her because there was so much traffic, we parked in the carpark of Shopko and it took us ages to get out of it.

He may have said I looked stunning... but he didn't mention the mustache. Quick shout out to Desi... a little waxing gone wrong left me with a scab on my lip. Yeah... welcome home dear. I have a stache.

Life went prettymuch back to normal after I came home. I didn’t have school or work for a fewweeks so I was really available for Katelin. I missed summers with Katelin. Soit was excellent to be back again. I think I needed to have her absent toappreciate her even more because I wanted to be with her 24 hours a day. Thiswas the summer that mike came home from his mission. Katelin and I weren’tdating when he left so I think it took a little bit of getting used to for him.It was good to have him back though. I got to spend quite a bit of time withher family as well that summer. Her family is so fun to be around, just becausethey are all the nicest people in the world. I had the chance to go boating toUtah Lake and learn how to water-ski, quite the triumph, I know.

Flattering boating picture.

Layin on the trampoline watching Dad do fireworks.

Feeding the duckies.

I really lovedthat summer. Katelin and I were really at a high point together. We had beenthrough so many things together and we were still on top. I love Katelin forhow loyal she is. It sounds funny coming from the man’s perspective but shealways made me feel so special. I always knew that she loved me and I alwayscame first and I really noticed it that summer. It slowly winded down andKatelin was due to leave for work in Disney World in the middle of August. Wespent one of our last nights together driving out to the desert making acampfire and looking at he stars. I enjoyed myself that evening, but I knew itwas almost time to say goodbye. Our final night came and Katelin went home abit earlier that evening to get some rest for her trip to Florida. (The tears must have fogged his memory... I had a redeye flight, that's what I left for. Poor kid. haha) I walked herout to her car, kissed her goodbye for the final time and then sent her on herway. I immediately walked into the study in the dark and I absolutely lost it.I cried for close to a solid hour. Even Whitney was trying to calm me down butI was inconsolable. It was so hard having someone I loved and someone who wassuch a huge part of my life just leaving and knowing I would see her for twoyears. She meant everything to me, she still does, she had truly changed mylife. In all honesty, I don’t’ think I could have made it though the yearsprevious without her.

Trip to Park City

Alpine Slidin

My surprise birthday/goodbye party. He is sporting his favorite shirt that I BOUGHT HIM, that my current teddy bear also sports. awww.

missionary pictures :)

and our last picture together. Thanks squints.

Chapter 8: Springtime and some more long distance

2011-11-27T18:51:00.001-07:00

The New Year came and went, let therecord show, I do remember what we did on new years eve. We spent it atEmelia’s. We did make some resolutions together that I wish not to discuss, butonly lasted a couple weeks. It was just impossible I suppose.

New Years @ Millie's

February rolled around again and wewere almost to a year. February was also the time when we were able to use thetickets I bought her for Christmas. We went to a dance performance done to theBeatles songs so it wasn’t completely boring. In fact, I enjoyed it! It wasgood to spend a night with her doing something that I knew she loved. We alsotook a trip to Idaho that month. This turned out to be an interestingexperience. We left just a day or two before Valentines Day and drove ourselvesup to her grandmother’s house. If I remember correctly it was about a 3-4 hourdrive and it wasn’t pretty. I don’t’ know how Idaho looks in the summer timebut I was pretty drab in the middle of February. It was funny meeting relativedof Katelin, but I think they enjoyed me enough. We drove up in the morning andarrived at Grandma’s in the early afternoon. We spent the rest of the afternoondriving around town with various Aunts and Uncles of hers, visiting the templeand the falls and cleaning her grandmother’s new house. The evening was thebest part. We had baked potatoes for dinner. Ha… figures. It was a comicalsituation because I got halfway through the potato and then realized, “oh mygoodness, I’m in Idaho eating a baked potato!” We also played some games withthe family and then we watched The Pursuit of Happyness with Grandma.

Shoshone Falls in Idaho :)

The next morning we woke up anddrove home while her family was at church. The drive home wasn’t all that funbecause I didn’t sleep very well on the couch I picked out for myself. Itdidn’t help that we made a wrong turn and added two hours to our trip goingthrough Pocatello or something like that. Let the record show that Katelin wasdriving when we turned the wrong way. But, I was busy playing Super SmashBrothers. The drive wasn’t all that bad because I got to spend most of the timetalking with Katelin, she even let me control the music on the majority of theride. We were driving home on Valentine’s Day. How cute is that?

On February 27, 2010 we had our 1-yearanniversary. If I’m being honest, I can’t remember too much about what we didthat day, but I do think we ended up on the roof again commemorating the event.I couldn’t believe it had already been a year. The time had flown. By thispoint she was such an integral part of my life, I just don’t know what I woulddo without her. I remember opening up to her quite a bit that evening. I toldher how much she meant to me and even relayed much of what is contained in thefirst few pages of this history. A long time has passed since that first year,but here’s to many more to come.

Psh! I remember! We went the the Planetarium and saw a 3D Under the Sea movie, then we went to Temple Square. Then we went to Jamba Juice, then we got a redbox, then we sat on the roof for a minute but it was FREEZING. Then we watched a movie with Jake and his girlfriend. Bam. Memory.

March and Aprilof that year were quite eventful. We were spending quite a bit of time at mycousin Brenan’s home with his girlfriend, going on double dates and what not.In April I started to prepare to go to work out in Nebraska for the summer.April was also when I received my mission call to serve in the EnglandManchester mission. I received the call on a Wednesday. I came home from workto find a big white envelope addressed to me waiting on the kitchen table. Iwas alone but within ten minutes Katelin was there. The whole family cameshortly after and I was able to open the call, finally. Everyone was beingreally dramatic about it, I suppose I had come a long way.

So this is the day he got his call. Except I'm PRETTY DANG SURE that he picked me up that day... we pulled up and got it out of the mailbox, together. Then we waiting for his family to get home, together. His memory is foggy. SO foggy.

The excitement ofthe call was a bit spoiled by the fact that I left to Nebraska a week later. Itwasn’t easy and I didn’t want to leave Katelin. But, it was good practice forwhen we would part again for 2 years. Nebraska was an extremely eye openingtime for me. But, I loved it. Extremely hard work, but I am a better personbecause of it. (I was selling satellite TV door to door, I forgot to mentionthat.) We would also Skype each other quite often during the evenings and thiswould later be known as the “Skype date”. The Skype date consisted of a fewthings. She would lie in her bed with her computer facing her and we would talk,as I was getting ready for bed or doing other things. She would wait patientlyfor me until I would lie down as well and then we would talk until we were tootired and would have to say goodbye or we would just fall asleep with thecomputer still on. I was only in Nebraska for 2 months but I missed her likeheck. I was still very much in love with her and wanted to do anything to holdher every night like I could back at home. I did make it back home and thistakes us to a reunion in the beginning of July.

He forgot to mention our trip to Mesquite with his family. It was really fun.

Chapter 7: Provo Winters

2011-10-13T23:21:00.000-06:00

There were a few ups and downs over those winter months. It proved to be a trying time. However, there were a few good memories. One in particular was when I got my appendix taken out. Ocean Floor Traffic played a show in early September and as usual, Katelin was there. The show went well but all day I was feeling a bit ill. The feeling continued after the show and even until Katelin and I were hanging out that night. At about 11:45, I couldn't handle the pain in my stomach anymore so I convinced her to let me take her home. She reluctantly agreed. I felt a little bad because she had spent the whole night worrying and trying to care for me. I went home after dropping her off and got my mom to take me to the hospital. To make a long story short, I got my appendix taken out somewhere around 5:00-6:00 AM. It all went well, seeing as I'm writing this now. As soon as I woke up again, of course, there she was, waiting patiently with my mother and sister. Ha. the three women in my life all surrounding me as I sat naked in a hospital gown. I was a little out of it. So I'm sure they all saw my bum at least once. I finally made it home safely and I spent the next week in bed. She would visit me often, bringing me whatever my heart desired. Such a caring soul. She was patient with me as well, letting me take my time and not snuggling too much if it hurt.

I learned a lot about Katelin during this time. We had been dating for a little while, but I came to know her more and more with the passing time. One instance in particular taught me how sensitive she is. I ended up playing a show with the Dream Team with a couple of very good friends. Us being the pompous rock stars that we were, we never watched the other bands, but chose to sit outside instead. It was the band plus Katelin. The friends I had like to smoke, so that's what they spent their free time doing. Here we were out back of this sketchy venue with my incredible girlfriend and my hellion friends just sat there cursing and smoking. It was normal to me, so I didn't think much of it, but apparently it was too much for Katelin. We drove home separately that night and I got word that she ended up crying because of what she had gone seen. I felt awful. I dropped Chub off at his house, and made Jake sit in the car while I went outside and called her. She was doing a little bit better, but I had some sincere apologizing to do. I remember it was raining outside in Daybreak where I was and I was chatting with her on a dark neighborhood street. I had a pit in my stomach. This taught me that I need to do everything I can to protect her. I'm not sure what she would say, but hopefully I was a bit more caring after that.

November was a good month for us. November was when Katelin and I performed on stage together for the first time. Somewhere around September, my friend Jared and I got the grand idea of playing in the high school battle of the bands, so we got to work. What we ended up with was a 10-piece hip hop group called Johnny, The Miracle with Katelin singing the chick vocals. It was quite the experience but one of the funnest times of my life. We practiced often and it was hard trying to coordinate with 9 other people; but Kate turned into quite the band mate, present at every practice she could, and she always gave it her all. I felt like her and I were running a giant family. The practices started to go really well and before long it was time for the performance.

The day came very quickly but the anticipation was killing me. That day before the show that night seemed to last forever. Finally, we all arrived at Alta High School and loaded our gear backstage. We weren't on for a little while so we watched some bands together and then a couple minutes before we were due onstage we all went backstage for a little warm up. I remember all ten of us were huddled in a circle backstage and everyone gave their last words... it was incredible and it was also incredible to have Katelin right by my side through the whole process. Then Jared began to sing his opening guitar part, Katelin joined in with her opening lines and then the next thing I knew everyone was joining in. Adam was singing his bass part, Sam was beat boxing his drums and Mason was doing his keys part and then Even threw down his verse and we continued around the circle until we had performed the whole song. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I know everyone else did. I loved looking at Katelin and seeing how much she was loving it.

The actual performance went extremely well. We had so much energy and excitement and the crowd loved us. I felt that everyone gave it 100%. I knew Katelin was quite the performer, but she impressed me that night. As far as I know, it was the first time she had ever performed vocals for a hip hop group... but she performed like she had done it a million times. We didn't win that night, but we definitely should have! We made up later with the after party though!

That's the infamous "Jared" in the middle :)

We were kind of unorganized....

We spent the rest of the evening together. I always get such a rush and such a high after playing shows and it was awesome to spend that time after the show with Katelin. We stopped by her house on the way to mine and watched a clip of our performance that her family had taken. Then we went over to my house. I think the Cook clan assumed I was taking her straight back to provo, sorry again Roger and Monica. We went back to my house to relax for a bit. I can't remember when i took her home, but it was definitely late... let the record show, we made it safely!

This is one of the many late night drives I would take down to Provo and back. Over that semester and winter semester as well, I would drive down to Provo 3-4 times a week. I would always be down that way in the evening time and then stay into all hours of the night. I absolutely loved this time in our story. I would stay over late, kiss her goodbye, then get on the road and then text or chat on my drive home. I'm a man who really enjoys his sleep and these late night drives were definitely hindering the amount of it I got. But, Katelin is worth it, I assure you. I remember always being deep in thought on these drives and i always pondered about how I will always remember those dark, cold drives from Provo to Draper and the feeling that I always left Katelin's with. I would think about this or just scream Beatles songs into the night. Or both...

My cute apartment that I miss soooo much!

Date night!! We called it "Christmas in B31"

I believe this leads us to Christmas break. Christmas break meant Katelin was back in Sandy for a few weeks. We inaugurated Christmas break with another movie marathon at Cyndi's. This time it was time for six star wars movies. It was crazy that only a year had passed since the Lord of the Rings marathon. At that one, we were only thinking of being together and now our relationship was in full swing. The day started very early with breakfast at McDonald's, of course.

And then we spent the next 18 hours snuggling. Heaven for Katelin, I'm sure.

matching shirts and light sabers please.

I think this was after the 5th movie... we were 100% delirious.

Christmas break turned out to be a little difficult for us. My father's family was in town and it was busy at Katelin's. So it was very troublesome trying to have some alone time. We did find some ways though. One night we had been together all day and not been left alone once. We finally gave up and I was driving Katelin back home when we passed Draper Park. Acting out of impulse, I turned the car into the car park there. At the Draper Park, in the middle of this field there was this giant tree. It was been decorated with Christmas lights and cast light outwards, illuminating a circle in the show. We got out of the car and raced through the snow to the under the tree in this light. Katelin had on just sip on shoes and her feet must have been freezing. We stayed quiet for a few moment looking up... then of course we threw some snow at each other. I remember reflecting on our history up to that point and realizing even more how much she meant to me. It really is hard to put it in words. Her face was all lit up by the white lights. Being with her that night, being lighthearted with her, that was the epitome of my first Christmas with Katelin.

One fun thing we got to do during our crazy Christmas break, a sleigh ride up to a cabin for dinner with his extended family! I was sick as a dog, but still had fun. I just LOVE the Rodgersons!!!

This kid a pro ice skater. It's weird really...

We did have quite the gift exchange that Christmas. We decided to get away for just one night to exchange presents. Katelin's apartment in Provo was empty due to all her roommates going home for the holidays. So we went there to spend the evening. We baked sugar cookies and watched Elf. But, my favorite part was the things we got each other. i had bought Katelin tickets to see this dance show sometime in February and then realized last minute that they didn't look very good on their own. I bought a frame from Ikea, I think Katelin was with me when I bought it... then I sketched a picture of some pointe shoes and slapped it in the frame with the two tickets. It looked magnificent. Her present to me was way better though. Katelin went all out. She was very missionary minded at this point so she got me some books that would help me prepare for my mission, but she also got me a Nintendo 64. How great is that?! I still think she regrets this purchase, but I think it was my favorite Christmas present I've ever received. The night turned out to be terrific, we packed up our things and for the first time in a long time, we drove home from Provo together.

Yes, these adorn my wall. This seriously took him like 20 minutes. If even. Talented little punk.

Chapter 6: College Time.

2011-09-15T20:59:00.003-06:00

Patience Readers... Working full time + School full time = NO TIME LEFT OVER!

The summer continued and we grew closer and closer together.We were together as much as possible. However, there was something loomingoverhead. At the end of that summer, Katelin was to move to Provo for schooland in my eyes, I thought this meant we would be over. I remember doing themath in my head seeing we would be together about six months in total. That wasimpressive in my mind. Little did I understand we would continue for years pastthat. It became a little bit of a miscommunication between us. Our six-monthanniversary was fast approaching and we were both talking like we were going tobreak up once she moved. It was a silly though really as we were doing reallywell, still in love.

Then it was August the 27^th, our six-monthanniversary. We spent the evening on the roof again. It was an emotional experience; What he means is... I just sat. And bawled the most unattractive breakdown ever. ha. I think I may have even cried. I told Katelin a lot of things she didn’t knowabout how I felt about her. I pretty much explained a lot of what I havealready written here. I told her of how much of an example she is to me and howmuch I love her. We only kissed once or twice, mostly we just sat. For a longtime. Looking out over the lighted valley at night. Then we climbed back downand said goodbye. I though it was over. I went into my bedroom and did what Ialways do when things are tough for me. I lay in the dark on my shag rug andcry. I can’t remember too well her birthday the next day or what date exactlyshe moved away but, it was rough. I do remember, however, the first visit Ipaid her in Provo.

I was working for Simply Mac at the time and I had to run tothe store in Orem to finish off my day. So, I thought I would swing by andvisit. I pricked her up and we went to McDonalds, typical Trace and Katelin. Wewent back to her apartment and met her roommates. We sat on the floor and ate.It was the most awkward 15 minutes of my life. UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE CENTURY. I have literally never felt more awkward. No one knew what was going on.Katelin will tell you that she thought we were still together, but I’m prettysure we were not together. The awkward part was that neither of us really knewwhy we were separated. I left shortly after that and soon after that we had agood chat about us. I can’t remember when we spoke but the verdict was, we werestill together. I was happy with that. It was such a huge relief. It was like starting over… again. Interesting. For the record, I came home that weekend for the neighborhood summer party. I brought Trace, and when his friends would call him, he'd say, "I'm with Katelin," and they'd say, "You got back together?" I think I hit him the second time and said DUDE! then we talked and realized... why the heck wouldn't we be together?

Then school started and the pressure wasback on. School and work and a relationship proved to be a little much for bothof us. We weren’t used to the university life and we weren’t used to being thatfar apart. It was hard but we pushed through the adversity. Because it was hardto see her now, every time I did, it was even more of a treat. We really had torely on each other as much as we could. I needed her and I think she needed me.Some of my favorite memoreies were when I would take the day off of work on aday when I didn’t have class and I would drive down to Provo to surprise her.Just to relieve some of her burden, and mine as well. OKAY! This happened ONCE! But, I gave him so much praise for it, he must have thought it was multiple times. I was having a breakdown cuz school was too hard. I was sobbing and texting him. I heard the door open and Jelina say, "Oh. Hi!" I opened my bedroom door to see the cutest kid with open arms. (Cue the Journey song....) Anyway, he was wearing his green zip up hoodie. I remember. It was the greatest day. He helped me catch up on homework, walked to campus to turn in papers, and just made sure I didn't cry anymore. But, again... one time. Katelin would come visitme often as well, finding any way she could to come up to Draper. We wouldspend hours together and then I would drive her home in the middle of the nightsometime. Something that had been on my mind for a long time marrying Katelin;apparently she had been pondering the same and it was one of these drives wherewe both became aware of what the other was thinking.

I can’t remember how the conversation started, but we bothadmitted that wanted to marry the other at about the same time. The admittancecame in the AM hours, just as I was pulling onto her street. I kept drivingpast her apartment for this was something we needed to talk about! Neither ofus believed the other was being serious. It was so funny. Then Katelin startedto believe me. She did her super excited giggle and squirmed in her seat,squeezing my hand tighter. It became a pretty normal topic of discussion afterthat. I seriously thought... there's no way this kid would put up with me for eternity. No way. But, he convinced me that he was serious. He's crazy.

This is the day he drove me to Provo. He forgot to mention that he's the one that actually moved me down there, cuz his cousin had to go on the same day. HA! Oh heavens, he didn't talk about the necklace... here we go.
So the pick necklace. Trace wore that all. the time. It's the pick from his first show, and the pick from his favorite show. He never took it off, except a couple times. He couldn't wear it during shows cuz he'd go too wacko and break it, so one show he put it on me, I forgot to give it back, then I did. I would always play with it on his neck, I just loved it. On that fateful 6-Month anniversary, he gave me the sweetest letter about how much he'd loved the last 6 months, and in the envelope was the necklace. :) I don't wear it every day anymore, but I did. for like 2 years. I love it so much.

This is one of the days I came home to go to lunch in Draper. :)

Date night in Provo!

Chapter 5: Summer of Love.

2011-09-06T09:10:00.002-06:00

SAP WARNING! SAPPY SAPPY SAPPY! I can't believe this kid! I've tried thousands of times to get him to watch movies with me that aren't half and lovey dovey as this!!!

Another specific event of the early part of the year was ouracceptance into BYU. Katelin was set on attending BYU and I wasn’t asconvinced. I took absolute ages to apply but with her encouragement I was ableto. I remember one instance in particular that I will treasure forever. I wentto see my stake president for an ecclesiastical endorsement and Katelin droveme to the interview. The interview went really well… I passed, you could say.It was the best feeling to be worthy. I remember walking out of the stakecenter with my papers in hand, it was a clear night and it had become dark.Katelin was waiting outside for me in the parking lot. I remember looking ather smiling face, illuminated by the street lamp and feeling the mostoverwhelming feeling of gratitude. It was here that I gained an even deeperlevel of appreciation for her. I felt like I owed he so much. I wish I couldexplain the way I feel about her. I wish I could explain how I never want herto go away, how I want to just sit and talk to her forever. I wish there was aword for it, but I felt it that night.

Sorry for my lack of chronology the last few paragraphs, Iwill try to improve. This takes us into the closing months of high school.Katelin and I ended up spending a lot of time at my house and her family beganto miss her and perhaps wonder whot his new boyfriend was. We didn’t spend toomuch time at ther house because, quite honestly, I was a bit intimidated. This is Roger Cook and 7 of the mostrighteous women I’ve ever met we’re talking about here. Needless to say, Igot over my fear slowly. I began to really enjoy being at the Cook home andstarted to love being in their presence. But, Roger Cook was watching, alwayswatching.

May-June 2009 was an excited time for me. Ocean FloorTraffic, the band of which I was a part of, had a battle of the bands to play.The day approached and Katelin, being the best girlfriend ever, was there. Weplayed our set and it went really well, however, as the night wore on I beganto feel a little ill. We sat and watched the remainder of the groups play fromthe balcony above the club. She gave me her stool and stood beside me as Ileaned on the wall. She just sat and rubbed my back the whole time. Katelin issuch a caring person, she shows love and concern for all those around her. Thisis one of the things that I admire most about her; her loving concern. The timecame for the winner to be announced, so we went down to the floor and stood inthe crowd. They announced that we took first place and I was thrilled, as waseveryone else around. We were asked to come up on the stage, the band I mean,but I had to leave Katelin in the crowd. I remember looking down at her, stillholding her hand while she was looking back at me with her soft smile. Amidstthe cheering and people jumping around, I kissed her. It was the first time Ikissed her in public and it felt good.

Senior Dinner Dance.

Graduation! Yeah!

Graduation came and went with all its festivities and wefound ourselves in the summer before she would head off to university. ha. So British. The verybeginning of that summer was an incredible time for me. I think our love was infull swing at this point and we were still crazy about each other. With thebattle of the bands win came a bit of recording time. While I was doing that,Katelin decided to start having mono. This was a barrier I was determined toovercome. I would visit her at the beginning of her mono as much as I could. I wasworking and doing music things at the time. She spent most days inside at homeso I would go over and sit with her and we would just talk. There wasn’t muchelse to do. I don’t even think we sat close. I’m not really sure how contagiousthe mono is, but I didn’t feel like risking it at the time. As time wore on I gotclose and closer to her… until one night I just kissed her. I was a bit freakedout that I was gonna get the mono so I was drinking vitamin c drinks like theywere going out of style. I never got it though, and that’s how I beat the mono.I loved those days of just me and her relaxing together. I remember once wewere sitting on a porch swing somewhere. I specifically remember that it was11:45 in the evening. The air was warm, the night was quiet and you could evensee the stars through the city lights. I held her on that swing as we talkedabout our relationship together and that moment became the epitome of thatsummer. What I wouldn’t give to go back and relive it again. It was going to beextremely late by the time 12:15 rolled around so I kissed her goodbye andwalked down the path through the sprinklers to my car. I remember looking backat her and I could but tell her how beautiful she is, so I did!

Despite my mono, I did get to have some fun that summer...

Seven Peaks

Trace's Birthday Dinner

Boating for my birthday

Flour Fight.

Chapter 4: Together at last.

2011-09-05T18:05:00.003-06:00

Jump ahead a ways and we find ourselves in February, timefor our first kiss. This is awkward... I had my opportunity earlier in the month that I shouldhave pounced on. The situation goes like this. We ended up in the parking lotof Alta High School very late on a school night goofing off. I don’t rememberthe circumstances of why we were there, but we were. We were running around theparking lot acting like 12 year olds, but it was enjoyable. The time wasdrawing late and I believe even Roger Cook was ringing her. haha ringing her. he's so British. It was time to saygoodbye. We hugged outside her car door and I held her for a moment,maintaining eye contact, and then I chickened out. I had kissed plenty of girlsbefore this! Why was I so nervous about this one? I can’t put my thumb on it,but I think it may have to do with how she would always tell me about howperfect she wanted her first kiss to be, which had already been shattered byBrayden’s flop. I think this intimidated me. Regardless, It didn’t happen hereand I was punching myself in the face for it.

I provided myself a second chance shortly thereafter. It wasa weekend and she came over and we watched The Dark Knight together. It wasgetting late and also boring so I suggested that we climb to the roof. We didthis promptly; took a blanket, snuck into the laundry room, and climbed up tothe top of the house to enjoy the view. We spoke about a lot of things upthere. it was right before Dance Company concert and all I could think was, ‘ifshe falls and breaks a leg, that’s gonna be trouble’. We were up there foreverand I was still nervous! I was more nervous about this than anything else in mylife! I play my guitar in front of hundreds of people, rap rhymes intomicrophones on stages, knock on doors selling satellite, speak to people onbusses and trains and many other things, but kissing Katelin terrified me themost. We spoke for ages, we discussed her first kiss, my first kiss, I rappedthe entire song “Shoes” and we talked about how freezing it was. But, I stillwouldn’t kiss her. By this time, it was getting really late, Jake had showed upto my home and was reading in my bedroom, and my Aunt Emily was franticallyscanning the house for me. Then it happened. The situation grew intense; Iturned around and kissed her, just twice. Almost immediately, we climbed downand back into the laundry room. I think we both just busted up laughing after because we had made such a huge deal about it. And we both realized... phew! that wasn't so hard! We went straight from fireworks to my auntyelling at me, and Jake badgering me. It was a truly memorable experience andthat day, February the 27^th has come to be known as the beginning ofKatelin and Trace.

I think this was the initiating experience to us becoming acouple. We were official after this. Kissing Katelin became less nerve rackingfor me and I started getting used to dating a girl who I was actually proud of.It was weird for me for the first little while when I began to becomeacquainted with her group of friends. It was awkward for quite some time but Igot used to it. I think we spent most of March getting used to one another. Ittook some realization that we were, in fact, complete opposites and needed toadjust to the situation. I feel that we did it pretty well. The end of senioryear became one of the greatest times of my life. Katelin and I were together…a lot.

Some of my most favorite memories with her were the timesthat we spent skipping class, hahahaha sorry parents. Skipping school usuallymeant McDonald’s breakfast and lounging around a park somewhere, sometimes itwas going to her house and eating noodles or going to mine and watchingSpongeBob. It didn’t really matter what we did as long as weren’t in school andwe were together. I was so happy at this point. I loved being with her, I lovedthe feeling of sneaking around Draper during school with her, it was excitingand I became madly in love with her.

We had the opportunity to attend the Art History trip in SanFrancisco in April or May. This trip, over those few days taught me a lot.Things became very out in the open at this point that we were together and itweirded me out a bit. I had to get used to it. I had to get used to her holdingonly my hand everywhere we went, I still don’t think I’m accustomed to it,which I apologize for, sorry Katelin. But, San Francisco was incredible. I cameto the realization here that Katelin and I were not just dating, but bestfriends. I would honestly talk to her about anything and everything.

I don't remember what museum this was in front of...

Chapter 3: Winter of Senior Year

2011-09-01T23:00:00.000-06:00

Continuing onto senior year!! I love this boy!

Before I continue, it might do me well to tell you myimpressions of Katelin up to that point. I simply admired her. For so manyreasons, but most of all, for her faith. She just did what was right. Peoplealways spoke of people having a light about them, having this Christlikecountenance and I always thought it was ridiculous until I met Katelin. Shedefinitely has it, still does. It was one of the many reasons I was attractedto her. She became quite the example in my eyes. I envied her strength.

That being said, she was very influential in my life at thistime. I recall so many instances where I would be sitting in a dimly lit, smokefilled basement with sin all around me, with people when the spirit was farfrom and all I could think about was Katelin and her example. I didn’t dwell onhow much I was letting my parents down or my father in heaven but I recognizedthat I was falling way short of the potential I had. I wanted to be better; Iwanted to have the peace that I saw in Katelin. At this point, I felt that Icouldn’t.

Time passed and it became wintertime of senior year. Thistime has been a blur in my mind for quite some time now but I will do my bestto relate it. To be short, I was unhappy. Ellie and I broke up, my relationshipwith my mom was absolutely shattered and I had no testimony of Jesus Christ. Iremember a particularly bad day sometime in February. I had spent the entireafternoon putting together music for “The Dream Team”. Dealing with Kory allday put me down and the invite to head over to Katelin’s house for Kung FuPanda came as a huge relief. I went straight from Kory’s to Katelin’s house andimmediately felt the change in atmosphere. It reminded me of where I was andwhat I wanted. During this movie was the first time that Katelin and I…cuddled; for lack of a better term. I remember just grabbing her hand andholding on tight. I wanted all of my frustration with life to go away, I wantedmy relations with my family to return to normal, I wanted to be clean again, soI held on.

From this point we began to grow closer. Having her aroundmore often gave me the strength to become what I wanted. I kicked some oldhabits and became, what Jared coined as, a cleanster. It was extremelyfascinating how quickly I was able to turn my life around. I wasn’t there yet,but I was pointing in the right direction. Bishop Boshard became a huge part ofthis change as I had and incredible amount of repentance ahead of me. His inspiredguidance and wisdom at this time is a huge part of my testimony of thetruthfulness of this church. The repentance process gave me the insight intothe atonement of Jesus Christ that I hold onto to this day.

One experience in particular that is ever so significant wasone of my first meetings with Bishop Boshard. The interview was lengthy butnecessary. He said, “Trace, I admire the desire you have to change your lifearound. However, I could sit here and tell you all day that the church is trueand this is what your heavenly Father wants for you. But, you need to find outfor yourself.” That night, I went home and got on my knees to pray. I prayedfor many things but among them was that I needed something to tell me that whatI was doing was right, something to give me the strength to continue. The answercame in this way… as soon as I said amen, my phone vibrated, it was a textmessage from Katelin. It was a scripture reference, 1 Timothy 2:3. It says, “Forthis is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior.” I couldn’t believeit. A scripture that is completely ambiguous to everything else except mysituation. Sent to me the second I closed my prayer. I barely remember this, and I have no clue why I sent him that scripture... it meant nothing to me at the time. The spirit was truly guiding my actions. I believe I said anotherprayer of gratitude immediately after and replied back to that sweet girl whobecame the means whereby God answered my prayers.

Things started to look better for me. It was around thistime that Katelin told me how she was going to read her scriptures every day,no matter what. So, without saying anything, I joined along. I still carry thisgoal to this day. And there he goes one-upping me again! I'm trying... I swear. It was during those early time of reading the Book of Mormonthat I began to regain my testimony. Through a lot of study and prayer, this ishow I came to know the Book of Mormon is true. I apologize; I have delved intotoo many personal things. I want to backtrack to before February and intoJanuary. I forgot to mention Jacob Hall’s influence in the situation.

After I broke up and during my time with Ellie, Jake becamea little bit of a crutch for me. His willingness to listen and support kept mesane through these times. Bless him. I really opened up to Jake about thingsand Katelin was one of them. We would talk about her for hours. Little did Trace know, I too used Jake as a crutch at this time. I would talk to him for hours about how badly I wanted to be with Trace. But neither of us would believe that the other one was actually interested. Oh poor Jacob. Bless his heart. She was just afriend during the winter of senior year, but I wanted her to be so much more. Ijust didn’t think it would happen. Jake urged me to do whatever I could to betogether with her. I didn’t know how to go about it; it was frustrating. One time,in particular, I went to Katelin’s home to study for an art history test. She lookedbeautiful, as she always does and it was almost too much for me to handle. I wantedto kiss her, or hold onto her or something! But I didn’t have the guts. I just satand dreamt about us being together. I remember driving home that night in thegold Mazda all alone, and I lost it. I was punching the steering wheel andyelling and then calling Jake and yelling as well. “I want to be with her sobad!” jakes reply was classic and one of the smartest utterances ever toproceed of the mouth of Desperado, “Then make it happen ya crazy.” Then camethe experience that happened in Kun Fu Panda that was mentioned previously. Sorry,I backtracked but I had to mention this, as it was significant.

Next up... first kiss! But, I'm going out of town... patience!

Chapter 2 (Junior Year)

2011-09-01T17:27:00.001-06:00

This one's a long one!! Here we go!

Anything typed like this is me interjecting... :) you're about to see into high school Katelin like you never have before! enjoy!

Between that spring until the beginning of junior year is alittle bit of a mystery to me. I don’t recall too much interaction between usthat summer. I do, however, remember the first day in Mrs. Beards US Historyclass. It turns out that we were in the same class and Katelin still rememberedme. She still made me nervous so I waited until she approached me, which shedid immediately during a “get to know you” activity on the first day; I remember being absolutely terrified to talk to him. I wasabsolutely thrilled that she still knew me well enough to exchange a few words.This was what I like to call the second beginning.

I ended up sitting in the seat in front of her during Mrs.Beard’s class and as insignificant as it may seem, the excitement can only bedescribed as, it felt like Christmas. I remember her constantly joking aboutanything and everything I am not funny... and our senses of humor are so different. I don't know how he thought I was funny. and I would use any excuse I could to turn around. Ilearned a lot about katelin and her personality in these times and she is stillthe same sweet, light-hearted woman today. We became pretty good classmates butnothing more until Cyndi and Brayden I mean. This year in school was whenBrayden and I rekindled our friendship from; yes you guessed it, third grade.So, naturally, the invite came to join them. I remember Katelin invited me toone of their get togethers and this is when I made the sly move of getting herphone number. In class we had an ongoing joke about whose phone was moreindestructible. So one day I explained to katelin that I was going to send herphone so many text messages that it was going to explode. She must have notbelieved me or something because she gave me her phone number. I’ll neverforget it, 8-6-7-1-5-0-5. We were learning about the battle between Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull later in this class. We changed our names in each other's phones. I was Crazy Horse, he was Sitting Bull. We never changed them. Till he left for England!

As the time wore on, our relationship began to developfurther and the lot of us became quite good friends. However, at this point,the opposite of what I wanted began to happen. I will explain how Brayden endedup with Katelin, and not me. I wanted her so bad, but perhaps I wasn’t makingit manifest as I should have. I remember always paying special attention to herand always trying to be closest to her. Looking back now, I wish I would havemade a move or something. No regrets! It all works out. I recall one experiencewhere we all watched Hot Rod together and me sitting next to Katelin was myidea of “moving in for the kill”. Pitiful. There was NEVER any signals or signs sent. NO ONE had ANY CLUE he was interested! I swear!

Things grew progressively worse for me and increasinglybetter for Brayden. I had no idea at the time but I guess he just had more gamethan me… ha. hahahahahahaha I remember that final nail in the coffin as well. The sweetheartsdance was coming up in February and Katelin asked Brayden and Cyndi asked me. This wasn’t the nail though. It was a nail for me! I wanted to go with him soooooo bad! Why do you think I told Cyndi to ask him? I loved being around him!! The night came along when I needed to answer Cyndiabout the dance. So I got Katelin involved. I was all giddy because it meantthat Katelin and I would be alone. I went to great lengths to make this happenand to be honest, I probably shouldn’t have gone out that night as the roadswere quite icy and the snow was falling, but I went. I remember taking my mom’scar and still sliding as I turned onto 13^th east from highlanddrive. Scared me half to death. I picked up Katelin and went to the store andsomehow Brayden managed to get wind of what we were up to and met us there. Iwas furious. Things were fine until we left Cyndi’s house and Brayden andKatelin sat in the backseat while I played chauffer. He is really making me sound like the bad guy. I remember Brayden asking me to sit in the back, and once again, no signs of interest from Mr. Trace. So I figured I was fine. Angry as I was, it quicklyturned to heartache when I saw, in the rear view window, Katelin put her headon his shoulder. Pretty sure I was just terrified that we were all gonna die on these roads, so I was covering my face so I didn't have to watch. I was crushed and convinced myself that it was now hopeless.So, to an extent, I gave up on that dream. I decided to shift gears and just bea good friend to the both of them.

Just because those two ended up dating didn’t mean thatKatelin and I didn’t become closer. I often found myself playing mediator between the both of them. Iremember several times talking to Katelin on the phone for a good half an hourto an hour discussing the two of them. I used ANY excuse to call him. Don’t think that I was trying to breakthe two of them up, in fact, I had moved on to chasing different women! I justfound the two of them amusing and I still had a soft spot in my heart forKatelin. Katelin has asked me two or three times if I get jealous and I usuallyanswer no. However, at this time, I may have been jealous… a tad bit. It usedto get me every time. Brayden would say “Kate”. I think this is why I havealways refrained from calling her this. That is just speculation however. He has called me Kate one time. That I can remember. Since I've met him.

Alright... sorry everyone who I never told that I kissed a boy... whoops. I remember Katelin’s first kiss with Brayden. I won’t gointo too much detail as I wasn’t present and Katelin may be upset at me. Ithappened during spring break of junior year, sometimes in March I believe. Iwas on holiday with my family in Mesquite and they both called me immediatelyafter they separated that night. I took both their calls outside by the pool.They both had a different story to tell. But, I sat on a pool chair under thepalm trees on that warm evening and wished it would have been me that kissedher. It was her first kiss and she would always tell me about how fantastic shewanted her first kiss to be. I think this is why I was so timid about doing itwhen I had the chance. It wasn't fantastic. For the record. I called Trace to complain, vent, and almost cry.

As time wore on I grew further away from both Katelin andBrayden. I just stood on the sidelines you could say. I became very involved inOcean Floor Traffic at this point and didn’t see much want in being a thirdwheel. Plus I had a quick little stint of dating a girl named Charlotte. Thenext main event was when Brayden and Katelin came to an end. Things had been abit rocky for them as I can remember and Katelin called him up and called itoff. I remember her ringing me immediately afterwards to talk about it. It wasa show day for me so I was frantically running around making last minutepreparations for the gig that evening. I wish I could have given the time and attentionshe deserved but I was driving and had the band mates crowded around. Iremember the feeling I got when she told me. I was pulling onto 3^rdeast from Willow Springs when she told me the news. I was definitely surprised.They both awkwardly came to the show that night.

The next chapter that unfolded in my life was a dark one. Ineed to take a break from writing for a few moments to gather my thoughts andremember the sequence of events. It was the very end of junior year and thebeginning of summer before senior year that things starting to go south for me.That summer I had limited communication with Katelin but I always consideredher a very good friend. It was around this time that I started dating Ellie,which is a whole other story in itself. For many months, I had been hangingaround friends who were doing things they shouldn’t have been and for manymonths I convinced myself I was strong enough to resist their wicked ways.Turns out I was wrong and the temptation wore me down. I ended up in a badplace. It was definitely an extremely low point in my life.

Stay tuned... this is gonna be good.

Chapter 1... HIS STORY

2011-08-29T17:40:00.002-06:00

it's here! the Katelin and Trace story. Oh buckle your seatbelts blog readers! It's going to be a fun ride. and you may need some tissues. So, unfortunately, I got a little side tracked and haven't gotten past my chapter one... BUT! Luckily our stories match pretty well. So go back and read that... then you can read his side! :) I'll keep transcribing every couple of days, and you can all get to know the Trace that I'm so in love with!

Here we go!

Upon request, I will write down my perspective of the time of my life that has been affected by Katelin Cook. I will record up to this point in time. Due to a lack of journal and other resources I will rely solely upon my memories. I will write as romanticized or as subjective as my mind recalls. Please forgive me if I miss any details, however, I will do my best to be as thorough as possible.

From what I can remember, the first time I met Katelin Cook was sophomore year in Mrs. Childs honors English class. I believe I spent most of my time on the front row left side while Katelin sat towards the back on the opposite side; this is where I would watch her. Through occasional interaction in class as well as through Blake Bartholomew, bless his heart, we began a relationship. At this point in my life I had just come out of middle school prison, which had held me bound and my attitude was expectant as I looked forward to meeting new friends, as well as new women of course. Needless to say, I was hungry for the win, and she was definitely in my sights.

I remember getting the biggest thrill out of the little things. Talking to her as we waited for the first bell to ring, claiming spots on the love sac in the classroom during movies and, of course, the everlasting back-tickle. These were all part of the things that framed our relationship, which was… friends. We remained as such for a very long time. I recount the climax of this chapter. It was the wintertime of sophomore year and a group of friends were gathered at my long lost 3^rd grade best friends house, Tyler Evenson. There were various males and females about but somehow it turned to the two of us alone in the basement, we were still quite unfamiliar with one another so we sat, on opposite couches, throwing a football between us and we talked. She told me she loved to dance, that she had five sisters, and she told me she had family in Idaho. Other than these things, I don’t remember much else about the words exchanged but I remember how fast my heart was beating. Katelin made me nervous. I watched her as she lay there in her sweat pants and Dance Company hoodie, the outfit I would come to know her by and I felt the urge to be with this woman.

It was that very next spring that I attended the Dance Company concert, of which Katelin was part. It took quite a great deal to get me there but because Daniel Haslam bought me a ticket, I couldn’t say no. I attended with Dan, who was another long lost friend from 3^rd grade, and rather enjoyed myself. Little did I know that this was the first of many dance performances I would attend in the coming years.

Funny things I noticed:

1. The back scratch story in mine... he called it the "everlasting back tickle"

2. Both of us knowing he only came to the concert cuz Dan had 2 tickets

3. We both remembered throwing a football in T-Vo's basement.

I'm loving this.

Lair Bake

2011-08-21T15:14:00.001-06:00

Well. I'm home and ready for my last week of summer! It's so depressing. But I had so much fun up at Bear Lake with some friends!! Here, enjoy some pixshures.

Pretty sure I'm moving here. Tomorrow.

No, this isn't the friend I went up with! It's another friend who happened to be staying on the other side of the lake and came to take me wave running for a sec. Way fun.

This is the sweet cabin we stayed at. Launched right from shore and everything. The lot in the left is for sale..... Daddyyyyy!

No trip to bear lake is complete without shakes!!! Mmmmm

I was too scared to take my phone out on the boat so I don't have any pictures from that, but I did finally get back IN the wake on the wakeboard and got the best air on the tube out of EVERYONE (and still held on, by the way). I skied on some skis that haven't been touched in 10 years, and really just had a great time!

Until next post, have a good sabbath! :)

Ready for a vacay

2011-08-18T20:07:00.001-06:00

Yesterday I went on a little hike with Spencer. I took my sweet phone and snapped some pictures. Look how easy it is to post them. Life is good.

This iPhone also means big things for Cass and me. We love to sing songs while she pounds it out on the pinano, y'all better get ready for lots of videos.

I haven't taken any vacations all summer... So I'm going to Bear Lake tomorrow!! Whoop whoop! I'm so stoked and ready to relax.

I don't know who said it's not about the money money money, because I'm pretty sure it's all about the price tag, but whoever sings that is welcome to try to make the world dance...

Welcome

2011-08-16T20:19:00.000-06:00

To the 21st century! As the red hot chili peppers sang... There's a reason for the 21st century... Well I'm pretty sure that reason is so everyone can get iPhones. How have I gone 20 years without this?! Mom, Dad, BEST. (early) BIRTHDAY. EVER.

You can all get excited for a WHOLE lot of blogging!! Thank to this $2.99 app I bought.

Let's party.

3 months later...

2011-08-14T21:15:00.005-06:00

One year ago (in 4 days) my family drove me to the airport in the middle of the night, and I flew across the country all by myself to live and work in the sunshine state. Oh how I miss it.

I also hugged (and maybe kissed) this boy for the last time. (last picture... cute)

a LOT has changed and happened in the last year. But one thing is for sure, I still love this kid. Now, you can't tell me I haven't dated. I've dated. I've hung out. I've met new people. I've given it my all, and still, when asked about these boys, my reaction is... "he's no Trace". I will continue to date, but things are lookin up for Krace.

So! Summer! Right?! It's almost over, and I have failed wonderfully in the blogosphere. For that, I apologize. Let's recap shall we?!

Since my last post...
I bought this car, and have learned about having a loan. She doesn't have a name yet, except the seagreen sebring. But, she's treated me well thus far.

I have come to love country dancing. It's bizarre, and it can be very awkward. It's not the social norm to stand on the side and wait for a boy to ask you to dance. Maybe that's why I love it so much. It's so nerve wracking, but exhilarating!! We have a lot of fun. I also have a Lexi addiction. (middle) I got to know Lex when she started dating my best friend Caleb. (who gets home in 7 months. YESSSSSSSSSS) Anyway, Lexi is the greatest example and I've been blessed to have her live 2 seconds away from me. She has talked me through so many hard things, and easy things that I make harder than they need to be. I love her to death and miss her. (she's in Ecuador being a saint, then she's moving back to Logan)

I went on a road trip to Zions with my friendlies and we had a wonderful time. It was really my only summer vacation. Except, I'm going to Bear Lake for a couple of days on Friday. I'm very excited. This trip was much needed and I have never felt so accomplished as I did at the top of Angel's Landing! Then, we ran down... 2 miles of switchbacks? mmmkay.

I got to live with this kid. I got to be woken up by the cutest and grumpiest little "No Tate" every day. It was a full house, but I was happy to wake up a babysitter, I love my boys.

Trace's sister got married and we shipped her off to Kentucky. We'll miss her, but her and Paul will be so happy together out there. It's funny to me because we watched their entire relationship. We compared it to ours, and learned from theirs. I remember being there when he picked her up on their first date! Love it.

Side story. I made this cardboard Trace for the wedding. Then I stayed to help clean up after the reception. Everyone was busy, the trailer was full, and it was raining, so I stuck Trace in my trunk and completely forgot about him. I got a text last sunday from his brother that said "do you know what happened to Trace?" I immediately teared up and my heart sank. Only the worst thoughts came to mind. I left my church meeting to call him and got another text... "the cardboard Trace, where is he?!" Oh heavens. Talk about an affirmation of love! hahahaha

It's been a wonderful summer. Full of new friends and old friends. (shout out to Cyndi and Emelia, still there for me, still rockin it. I value the time I get to spend with them now more than ever)

Faith is my foundation. Whenever I feel my life spinning out of control I go back to those little things, the tender mercies of the Lord. Reading my scriptures is something I've been struggling with, but working hard on. My Heavenly Father loves me. He knows that my life is crazy and he helps me keep the positive attitude that is absolutely necessary to get through this time of life called growing up.

I promise to post again soon. Until next time... Remember, your eyes must do some rainin, if you're ever gonna grow!

So Great.

2011-05-07T18:20:00.001-06:00

so my friend Tom that I worked with at the bowling alley got married a little less than a year ago and ha since found that his wife talks in her sleep.

just go here.

it's so great.

chapter one.

2011-05-04T00:20:00.004-06:00

So most of you don't know but... Trace and I go way back. And we've been through a lot together. He wasn't always the spiritual giant that he is today, and I like to think I played a small part in that mighty change of heart. A while back I realized whether we end up together or not, it's been something that we should probably write down! So, I asked him to TAKE HIS TIME (as to not take focus from the work) but, to write down his side of the story. He won't be typing so it won't be as easy for him to go into as much detail. But, I can type. so! I started my side tonight, and this is gonna be a novel if I keep going at this rate. You're all about to learn a whole lot about this relationship that I'm so grateful for.

Here we go.

Chapter 1. He’s so cool.

Clear back in 2006, I was a little sophomore sitting in my desk in my honors english class. nervous as ever, I quietly observed my class. I heard a boy say something really sarcastic and witty, looked over and noticed a real cutie. “He’s so cool.” I thought to myself. I was immediately obsessed. Later, I found out his name was Trace. Trace Rodgerson. Luckily, I found out we had some mutual friends in the class, Blake Bartholomew, and Jared Gorringe. I found out that Jared and Trace had been on the same lacrosse team and Trace had recently stopped playing. Well, Jared would always make fun of Trace for quitting, so I thought... what better way than to get to know this kid than start making jokes about quitting? I know, I know, stupid idea. But, it worked nonetheless. I’d chime into their conversations, and make lacrosse references and quitter jokes whenever possible. I would see Trace in the halls and just hope he knew who I was. I knew one thing, this kid was cool. so cool. I wanted to be his friend so badly, and couldn’t even dream about being cool enough to date him.

As the year went on, I realized he knew who I was and started being slightly more friendly. Once we watched a movie in our English class and me, Trace, Blake Bartholomew, and Whitney Hansen sat on the bean bag in the corner, I scratched Whitney’s back, then Blake’s, then just hoped Trace would need a back scratch too. I think he did... that was great. Towards the end of the year, it was the Dance Company Concert. Dan Haslam had bought 2 tickets and we were trying to convince Trace to come. After assuring him that we had a really cool dance to a song by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, he agreed. I didn’t think he’d show, but as I walked out of the dressing room, lo and behold, the cutest tall kid I ever did see was standing there smiling at me. I walked up and hugged him, thanked him for coming, and then he left. I thought to myself... wow. it was really easy to hug him. I liked that a lot.

It was this year, i think, that we both ended up at Tyler Evensen’s house one Friday night. I think he got there after me and I just couldn’t stop smiling when I saw him come into that basement. He picked up the guitar and started playing some Chili Peppers songs, so cool. At one point I noticed he was gone, so I wandered upstairs and found him watching videos on youtube. It was at that point that I started to pretend I was super into his music. John Frusciante was a new name for me, but I pretended those videos were the coolest thing I’d ever seen. Later we were both sitting on the couches in the basement tossing a nerf football back and forth chatting about nothing. He was just so cool.

A Medley. By Easton.

2011-04-24T13:49:00.002-06:00

A Wonderful Reminder.

2011-04-08T13:04:00.002-06:00

First, watch this video. It's short and worth it I swear.

So! I got an extra credit assignment to read this article. Now, I know I'm not planning on getting married any time soon, but for those of us with impulsivity problems... no, I don't know if that's a word or not... anyway. My accounting teacher is just great and had us read this. I never thought I'd actually learn something from an extra credit assignment! I hope you've all already read it, but it's a VERY GOOD IDEA to read it again and learn something new!!

Over and Out.

P.S. Happy 7 month mark!

Conference is the best.

2011-04-02T23:35:00.003-06:00

Conference is wonderful. We are privileged to have a prophet on the earth today. Trace recently reminded me that we often forget that Thomas S. Monson has as much authority and communication with God as Moses, Lehi, and other prophets of old. That kind of put things in perspective for me! What a blessing it is to be able to listen to them.

I was asked to go be a part of a "choir" that sings in the free speech zones between Temple Square and the Conference Center. You know, by all the protestors. It was an incredible experience. I had chills for a solid 2 hours and it wasn't even cold outside. =) We just sang wonderful songs to allow a more spiritual atmosphere for those attending conference. Then we got to go to the afternoon session which was simply smashing. A very tiring day for sure though.

My favorite song we sang was this one... the lyrics are just so fitting to my life right now. I have no clue what I'm supposed to do, or what Heavenly Father's plan for me is... but I'm going to let Him show me!

Lead, kindly Light, amid th’encircling gloom, lead Thou me on!

The night is dark, and I am far from home; lead Thou me on!

Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see

The distant scene; one step enough for me.

I was not ever thus, nor prayed that Thou shouldst lead me on;

I loved to choose and see my path; but now lead Thou me on!

I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,

Pride ruled my will. Remember not past years!

So long Thy power hath blest me, sure it still will lead me on.

O’er moor and fen, o’er crag and torrent, till the night is gone,

And with the morn those angel faces smile, which I

Have loved long since, and lost awhile!

Meantime, along the narrow rugged path, Thyself hast trod,

Lead, Savior, lead me home in childlike faith, home to my God.

To rest forever after earthly strife

In the calm light of everlasting life.

Gimme a break!

2011-03-30T16:39:00.002-06:00

Not only would I like a Kit Kat, but I'd also like a break. This post is for venting reasons. So really, you don't have to read it. Lately I've been trying really hard to be extra social and even.... date. I know right? Anyway, it's been a disaster. One kid gave me a just friends talk after hanging out twice and now I have to be the bad guy and give my very own just friends talk. It's ridiculous. I mean who wrote these rules about dating and "dtr"ing (defining the relationship... for those of you who aren't hipsters) I mean why can't I just send a text that says, hey! let's be friends! I don't like you like that! I mean isn't that so easy?! it just ticks me right off. I shouldn't be talkin though, that's probably what I'll end up doing. Anyway. I'm taking a break from the dating game for a while. Mom says she wouldn't be dating in my situation. Hmph. Which brings me to my next point.

I have two scriptures that I will be trying extra hard to apply in my life for the next little while, then hopefully they will be come habits. What's that, 21 days? Anyway...

D&C 88:124

Cease to be idle; cease to be unclean; cease to find fault one with another; cease to sleep longer than is needful; retire to thy bed early, that ye may not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your minds may be invigorated.

and....

D&C 88:119

Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God

School is almost over and I'm going to have a little bit more free time for a while, until I start working way too much over the summer that is. I know that Satan is prying at every angle of my life right now. And the place he succeeds the most is in my laziness and procrastination.

A goal not written down is simply a wish, hence this lovely post.

Every night I will write down what my next day holds, including when I'll wake up, and what needs to be accomplished. I will read my scriptures and say my prayers every night AND every morning. I will pray for and seek missionary opportunities in my every day life. And I will learn to budget, and cut exceedingly unnecessary spending. This is will happen for 21 days!! Then hopefully we'll have some habits on our hands.

go team. go team go.

And gosh I miss Trace.

The life of a YSA.

2011-03-20T21:25:00.003-06:00

Well I haven't journalified my blog in a while. So here are some pictures from some recent ongoings in my life that I thought wasn't eventful...

this was a huge YSA tubing trip up at Soldier Hollow. So fun.

Emelia's boyfriend is in a band and I do love me some live music, so we went to watch. that's Spencer, he's like my big brother. He lived in our apartment complex with Emelia's big brother. so they watch over us. it's cute.

This is old, but this was Valentine's day. Whitney, Trace's sister had a "little" get together and we had a lovely dinner and played just dance on the wii all night. The best part was Kelsey's prom date giving me a rose.

And alas, we got to relive our glory days yet another year! Dance Company's concert was wonderful this year. And Traci Pays still manages to teach me so much about life.

Cynd and I finally got to spend some time together this week cuz it was her spring break. We played on Thursday and then Friday we went to a free concert a girl in my ward was singing in, then we played Saturday too!! I needed me some Cyndi time.

Lexi (my bff Caleb's significant other) came over to visit and I said "do you have a letter to read me?" and she sheepishly pulled 4 out of her purse. I said "Lex, don't worry about it" and pulled 4 out of mine too :) We love our missionaries!

So the highlight of my week is usually FHE. We have a huge budget for it so we have a lot of fun. this one we had a cook off with a whole bunch of random ingredients and it was a blast.

another FHE was a 70s dance party. three words: my natural habitat.

so looks like time is still flying and I'm enjoying it quite a bit! Trace is doing great, I do miss him a lot, but I'm trying to date and have fun still! Go team.

now that's skill

2011-03-12T21:32:00.002-07:00

Today I went to Pei Wei. And I ate my whole meal.

Without a fork.

Bam.

Listen, Listen

2011-03-09T19:02:00.000-07:00

Listen to the still small voice. Listen, listen; when you have to make a choice, he will guide you always. We have learned since we were in primary that there is a little voice that will tell us what to do. We begin to recognize it as a conscience; we feel it tell us that sneaking a cookie before dinner might actually be a bad idea. Then as we get a little older, we try to ignore that pressing feeling that says you should probably tell Mom and Dad you failed your math test. Then, when we get a even older, we begin searching for that voice, needing help in making vital choices that will affect the rest of our lives. It is that point in life that I would like to talk about. How is it that we can recognize the Spirit of the Holy Ghost? How can we recognize that an arbitrary thought didn’t just pop into our head, but that we are receiving divine revelation?

Prophets in both the latter-days and ancient times have given council concerning listening to the Spirit. Each has told us how important it is, and they have told us different ways that we can recognize the voice of the Spirit. Brigham Young said, “Tell the brethren to keep their hearts open to conviction, so that when the Holy Ghost comes to them, their hearts will be ready to receive it.” President Monson also referred to opening your heart “…even your very souls, to the sound of that special voice that testifies of truth.” These men of God have testified that this isn’t exactly a voice we will directly hear, but a voice we will feel.

We learn in Third Nephi and throughout other scriptures, that the voice of the Spirit is not a voice of thunder, it is not loud or harsh, but rather as still and small, of perfect mildness, as if it had been a whisper, and it can pierce even the very soul and cause the heart to burn. (Boyd K. Packer, 1991) The Nephites in Third Nephi have to hear the voice of the Lord multiple times before they realize what it is, how applicable this is to our day and age. With the world prying at our thoughts from every angle, it is so easy to forget to search for those promptings that are so vital to our every day lives. We must have a desire to hear the words of the Spirit.

In Moroni 10:4, we are told the requirements to receive a witness from the Holy Ghost. The first thing is that we need to ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ. Ask is an action word, beginning with an action will result in a response or result. The second requirement is that we ask with a sincere heart, and real intent. The third requirement is having faith in Christ. I have learned that faith is vital to existence and to receiving revelation via the Holy Ghost. Everyone has faith, from my 2-year-old nephew to President Obama. Our Savior had faith in his father and His plan, and without that faith, there would be no point in ours.

Writing this paper has been an interesting experience for me. Usually when I receive an assignment like this, where we need to put our heart and soul into it, I can fake it very well. But, with this assignment I felt I could actually get something out of it. I have never been good at recognizing the Spirit. I always heard the stories of people who heard a voice tell them something, whether it was “slow down at this stoplight” or “go see Sister Smith”, but, I never had those experiences myself. I made right choices, and I definitely knew my conscience. But, my mind is a like a train station, where thoughts are coming and going, rushing in and out all day and all night, so it’s hard for me to distinguish between a random thought, and a prompting from the Spirit. As I began to ponder the topic I chose, I started to really try to recognize these promptings. I didn’t know what I was waiting for, a whisper from an unknown voice? Maybe something sounding like it was in the wind? I had no idea what to expect, but I was ready with a sincere heart, having real intent. I went to the temple to try to clear my mind of everything else, I prayed earnestly and waited for answers after my prayers. I didn’t have any specific questions or problems, but I knew the Spirit would still have something that I needed. It wasn’t until this past Sunday that it happened. I was fasting about the same subject, that I could recognize a prompting from the Spirit. I paid close attention to all of my lessons, and then in testimony meeting I couldn’t ignore a feeling in my heart to get up and bear my testimony. I stood at the pulpit and bore a simple testimony of the gospel. I did not get emotional or tell any stories, I just said what I knew. I sat down and took a deep breath, my mind was clear. I then had a thought, “you need to serve a mission”. This wasn’t a new voice, or something whispering through the wind. It was my own voice in my own head. It was an arbitrary thought, but I didn’t put it there. It was at that moment that I realized I was truly vulnerable to receiving that direct line of revelation because I wanted it so bad. It made me question how many promptings I have missed out on in my lifetime because I wasn’t trying my very hardest to have that line of communication with the Spirit.

This assignment has truly been a blessing in my life. It is my goal to be able to keep that channel open, to continue to be worthy of receiving promptings from the Holy Ghost. Through a still small voice, the Spirit speaks to me to guide me, to save me from the evil I may see. If I try to do what’s right, he will lead me thru the night. Direct me, protect me and give my soul his light. It is simple primary knowledge, if we can revert to a primary state of mind and clear out the world, that channel is open and available to all who desire it.

A little insight?

2011-03-04T00:11:00.002-07:00

Hello dear readers.

I'm writing a paper for my Doctrine and Covenants class. The assignment is very specific yet very broad.

We can write about whatever we want, but it can't sound preachy or like a talk.

I've chosen to write about how we can distinguish between our own thoughts and promptings from the spirit. Sometimes I find when I'm praying for something, I'll think of what I want the answer to be... then I won't know if that was the spirit or if I'm just being selfish. Any insight, scripture, experience, etc. would be welcome. Feel free to email, text, facebook, or call me with anything if you don't want to leave a comment!

Thanks very much.

Cheers.

Katelin.

There's a light...

2011-02-18T17:50:00.001-07:00

at the end of the tunnel!!!!

I GOT INTO THE PUBLIC RELATIONS MAJOR!!!

Like father like daughter. Now I can get a move on and get out of there! I'm so excited! Today is the best day ever. I must take a moment to boast. I got the highest score (99%) on our final test in training at work, then I got this news, now I get to go out with my two best friends for Cyndi's birthday. and tomorrow... I get to sleep in! I just don't think that life gets any better. If only I could call Trace to tell him all about it. Oh well. Life is stilll good!!!

I'm So Lucky.

2011-02-14T17:26:00.000-07:00

I have 2 Valentines!!!

Let's hear it for the boy!

2011-02-07T16:21:00.004-07:00

(photo caption: mom, look at me modeling this sweet tie you gave me, I'm a gap model)

Can I just say...

I frickin love this kid. When we were dating before he left, sometimes we got into arguments because I knew he loved me a lot, but sometimes he wasn't very good at showing it...

So then he leaves on a mission. This kid has had the most mighty change of heart. He loves this gospel so much. I mean he did before he left, but now he is just so committed. It's fantastic.

And lately, he's been making sure that I know he still loves me. He doesn't write me long love letters or anything, but I have been getting lots of letters lately and that just makes my day. I just thought I'd give him a shout out, even though he can't read it...

So you can read what he says!

"I have been obsessed with the Saviour's ministry lately. I have read the sermon on the mount like six times in the past two weeks and Jesus the Christ is one of the greatest books ever written. I recommend you pick it up, I'm sure your daddy has it." (here's a funny part) "I also just read through the account of Abinadi and the priests of King Noah and I decided I'm going to make a comic book of the story line but make it follow the story line of Star Wars! The characters may look something like this..."

They teach a zillion Hungarians and said that most of them are struggling financially and having a hard time finding work. "There's not much you can do as a missionary. I suppose that sometimes we look for wealth and well-being as signs of blessings of following the Saviour. We often forget that what the Saviour has promised is an inner peace."

Yes, he puts "u"s in words, like a Brit.

It's been 5 months. And it's flyin by! Go team!

The Curveball

2011-02-04T20:43:00.002-07:00

I knew something was gonna go awry. Life has just been too perfect lately. Great new job, doing well in school, being perfectly content that my best friend in the whole world is gone for 2 years! I was just waiting for a curveball. Well, here we go! Today I forgot to take my statistics exam. I don't know what happened. All the dates and information just got completely jumbled in my mind. So, it was either fail this exam that was 25% of my grade, or withdraw from the class. I feel like such a coward, but I'm gonna withdraw. Now I can focus my attention on accounting, biology, public speaking, and doctrine and covenants. I'm also going to try to put a lot more focus into my relationship with my Heavenly Father. I think that my life could be much closer to perfect with a lot more spirit in my life.

Is it too much to ask for a little slow pitch?

Let's Do This.

2011-01-28T10:17:00.003-07:00

This is kind of how I feel today. But it's only going to get worse. Here's what I've got next week...

35 hour of training at a brand new job.
Class at 5:00 M-Th.
Accounting Exam
Statistics Exam
Biology Exam

And I've gotta find time to hang out with my friends and my boyfriend....
oh wait. Nevermind.

Maybe I'll be okay after all!

Lookin Good.

2011-01-16T18:13:00.003-07:00

Oh yeah... I have a blog to update!

2011-01-13T09:42:00.002-07:00

Woopsie Daisy! I've neglected my poor blog over the last couple weeks. I have much to report, but sadly, no pictures. :( Life has been going going going since I got home a week and a half ago! I got the job at 1800 contacts and will start training on the 31st. Training is pretty hard core. It's from 8:00-3:00 M-F for three weeks. School has also kept me quite busy. I'm going to BYU Salt Lake Center and taking Statistics, Biology, Public Speaker, Doctrine and Covenants, and Accounting. So yes, my hands are full. I am going to the singles ward. They just rearranged the singles wards so that it's just our stake, which I think I'll come to enjoy. I don't have any friends, but I'm working on it. ha. Well, that's all with me! Elder Ruggensen (as they call him in England) has been out over 4 months! Woop Woop! Keep him in your prayers please and thank you!

No More...

2010-12-30T08:28:00.004-07:00

frustrating language barriers...

people shoving things into my face and saying "please! please! quanto? quanto!"

people tearing up the store and sleeping on the floor on the busiest of days

No more... working late enough to say good morning to the security guards on the way home

No more... A Bus. or busses in general.

waiting for a late bus

shoving to get a seat that will only make your butt fall asleep

stopping and going enough to make you hurl

No more... fighting thousands of people to get to the other side of the store

No more... getting yelled at because Cinderella wasn't here today

No more... MOM JEANS!

No more... spontaneous torrential downpours

No more... palm trees at Christmas time

No more... watching tv on a 12x12 computer screen

No more... walking a zillion miles to the mailbox

No more... taking a 40 minute bus ride to go to WalMart and carry all my groceries home

No more... incompetent people (I can dream right?)

No more... magic

No more... fireworks every night

No more... mickey thanking me for making the magic every time I clock out

No more... late nights with my roommates because it's too late to even sleep

No more... giving a little kid cotton candy for their birthday, just because I can

No more... telling families the inside scoop on wait times and fast passes

No more... buying all the unhealthy food I want at WalMart

No more... making friends from all over the world

No more... have a magical day

This has been the most amazing adventure I've ever had. The one thing I've learned more than anything else is, Attitude Is Everything. There are more pessimists out there today than ever before. But, to them I say, don't let the man get you down. ha! Even in the worst of days, someone's got it worse, so the only thing you can do is smile and try to figure it out. Emphasis on smile.

To all who read this: This week, try a little harder to smile. It's the most contagious form of communication. Don't forget that someone is always watching.

I've also never been so grateful for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This church contains the true gospel of Jesus Christ. As I've been here, I've learned that we are in fact a minority, and that there are so many people that are just ready to hear the gospel. Sometimes all it takes, is a smile, so that they don't feel uncomfortable talking about it with you. I've learned how to bear my testimony in a way that doesn't sound like I'm standing at a pulpit. A simple "No, thanks. I don't watch rated R movies..." and "Nah you guys go ahead, I don't drink..." have done me a lot of good in the last 4 1/2 months.

Now it's time to take a day to pack, and then go home and start 2011!! It's gonna be a big year. While I'm here, I'll go ahead and record my new year resolutions, because a goal not written down is simply a wish!

1. Budget. Well, learn how to budget. Have a financial plan for the next few years at the end of the year.

2. Be Healthy. I'm not going to make any eating or exercising goals, because those never work. But, I do want to have a healthy sleep pattern and a pretty healthy lifestyle.

3. Have fun. Secretly I'm making goals to stay home and do homework and not talk to anyone. But, I know that I need to be out livin a little. So I guess I'll make it a resolution to have fun. Heck maybe I'll even go on a date or two... if I can shut up about Trace, which I still haven't been able to do. I can't date till I can stop talking about him! Maybe that will be a resolution... nah.

4. Have missionary experiences. This includes praying for them, and searching for them. It's not gonna be as easy as it is here to have those experiences!

5. Don't get married.

Have a magical day.

Graduation And Such As.

2010-12-22T10:55:00.006-07:00

Lookie Lookie! I graduated! My program is coming to a close. And it was been so wonderful. I've loved almost every moment. But, the terrible thing is. Now I hate it. only because there are 60,000 people in Disney World and it is overwhelming and stressful! But, I just keep thinking TWO MORE WEEKS! It's crazy that it's already over. Oh geez I can't even believe it.

It was freezing for a couple days here. No bueno. No bueno at all.

But we did get free hot chocolate! :)

Now here are a bunch of random pictures!

this is me and diana enjoying ice cream sundaes. in december. yes please.

Losto. Smells like strawberries! He's a hugger!

This is the spectacle of dancing lights at hollywood studios! They don't have the same spirit as the temple. but they sure are amazing! and every other song they're synchronized to the christmas songs and it's awesome!

This is me and my i love marriage face.

And here I am being a reindeer. You know, cuz it's christmas.

This is something that was George Washington's or something. I thought dad would like that.

Sleigh ride anyone?

Just hangin with the boss!

a word.

2010-12-09T16:56:00.002-07:00

I posted some collages. Don't miss those just because you clicked on the link to this post, and not the one that goes to the blog. Life is good. I'm just trying to be a grown up and apply for jobs, and look for cars, and get some hard core loans because I don't have a dime to my name. I stayed home sick today. I have a tummy ache. and the weird thing is, that's the only way I can describe it. A tummy ache. I feel like I'm five. Oh well. I'll go to sleep and wake up all better (fingers crossed).

I got my christmas package from home. I have a lot of pride in the fact that my family is so big that they can all give me a present and it makes the 12 days of christmas :) I was ecstatic to open up a pound of the most glorious fudge EVER! mmmmmmmm!!!!! My roommates didn't mind either. haha! I can't wait to start on number 2 in 6 days. Also still waiting patiently for my package from Elder Rodgerson. Christmas won't be so bad. it's just around the corner and the end of my program is too! Which is crazy! straight up and down! It's been the best and it will be bitter sweet to leave.

Peace out girl scout.

Formal

2010-12-09T16:42:00.000-07:00

We had so much fun at formal!! Brad took as all as his dates and got us all pretty roses. We danced the night away and were quite sore the next few days.

such character!

2010-12-09T16:29:00.000-07:00

Emily and I had a lot of fun meeting characters on our day off! I also accomplished Mission: Space. Which I'm still feeling the consequences of. Getting blasted into space puts quite a toll on your stomach. But, we had a lot of fun.

Just an update!

2010-12-06T10:39:00.001-07:00

On the cutest missionary out there!

Here's the family email he sent out today. Can't believe it's been three months! yahoo!!

It's beginning to look a lot like christmas!

We finally have snow here in the england manchester mission! Tuesday and Wednesday were absolutely beautiful with all of the snow fall! It was incredible and all i wanted to do was be outside and street contact! And then something very interesting happened. It rained. Apparently it rains year round in england. It was the weirdest thing seeing the snow melting from the rain fall. And then over the next couple nights it froze and the whole city is an ice rink. Crazy weather. The sun came out today, so that was nice to see. But I really wish it would snow some more.
I finally took the time this morning to go get my haircut from my boy ramin, however, I walked all the way there and he was out today. He wasn't exactly top today. If you know what I'm saying. So I come home to just cut my own hair with a three all over (I don't even think it's approved) But then I go to get in the shower and of course, all the hot water is gone.So I spent an hour heating up water on the stove and then dumping it into the bath tub. I got it all figured out and I look so fresh and so clean. The life of a missionary right?
I got some pretty big news for all of you at home. I purchased a winter coat and boy is it fresh. I strolled on into the Gap and stumbled upon a wool overcoat for over half off. it was originally £120 and I got it on sale for £50. The Gap still stands as my favorite store of all time and has yet to let me down. I also saw that denim looking button shirt that i got from michelle inkley there, apparently she is a little ahead of the european fashion curve. Did bryan ever get my letter? cause I still haven't seen his response. Some hometeacher he turned out to be! JK yall. I also went to legoland but it was a total bust. It was like fifteen pounds to get in and it was tiny. Got some good pictures though. I also sent katelin a christmas package and you will all probably make fun of what I sent her and yes, it was extremely bold. But, make sure she knows not to open it until christmas. Thanks!
The other big news I have is that Elder Green and I will be getting a new companion. We will be in a threesome until the end of the transfer. I am not exactly excited. His name is Elder Mlynar from Detroit. He was my district leader at the MTC. Apparently him and his companion were struggling so he is getting put with us this evening. It's gonna take a lot of adjusting. We have a young man named Hadrian in our ward who is leaving on his mission to Brisbane, Australia in january so we will be going on a lot of splits with him. Get twice the work done, you know?
We also got a new ward mission leader this week. His name is Brother Wood and I'm not sure how good of a job he will do but we will find out. He is super nice and always feeds us. Which reminds me. I may be sick of the food they feed us but it is delicious. The lady at the distribution centre doesn't know what she's talking about. It's like having thanksgiving dinner at every meal. and they always have dessert. No matter what. But it is rare to find a napkin at the table, which I find odd. Also they eat with the fork in the left hand and the knife in the right. I can't do it. It's way too hard.
We are going to the sullivans for christmas and I am trying to work out a way to play fifa on christmas as well so make sure ashton stays on x box live! I am looking forward to calling you as well, I only get an hour though so keep that in mind. Thanks for the christmas packages as well! Our flat looks great still and I am looking forward to opening all of my christmas presents! The whole mission goes to the preston temple together for christmas so I will be going there on the 23rd I believe so I am looking forward to that. I sure hope you didn't forget to send a christmas card to me! Feel free to send me pictures of the family and things going on at home. I love getting pictures in the mail!
That is pretty much all that is going on over here. We have found some solid new investigators and the ones we do have are progressing incredibly! There is too many people to tell you all about but we are continuing to work hard and I will let you know how the adjustments to two companions goes! I love you,

Trace

Happy Thanksgiving?

2010-11-24T23:27:00.005-07:00

Well, Thanksgiving was a little different for me this year. Obviously. So first off I'll introduce my two FAVORITE work friends. Danielle is from Minnesota, she got here in June and leaves the same time as me. Megan is from Washington and got here in July? I can't remember. We all work in the same place. We're all about the same age. and our senses of humor are pretty much exactly the same. I'm really glad we found each other. So! We all work on Thanksgiving, but we had the day before it off. So we decided to spend the day together as "family" and celebrate!

We started by going to see Disney's new movie, Tangled. Now stop what you're doing, don't even finish reading this, and go see Tangled. it was probably the greatest movie I've seen in a VERY long time! I laughed my head off, and cried a little too. It was so wonderful. Go see it. I'll talk to you in an hour and forty minutes.... (oh, we saw it in 3D, but I'm sure it would be just as good otherwise)

Welcome back! How did you like the movie? good huh! Did you like the part when.... psych! I know you didn't go see it. ya lazy bum.

Next! Next we went to the Florida Mall. I've never been, because I don't have a car (but megan does). and oh BOY was it wonderful to be at a mall!! This was the funniest thing there. If you know Trace well enough... this will be hilarious to you. Okay you don't? well let me give you some background.

Trace loves hip hop. There is a hip hop group called the wu tang clan. Don't look them up. Anyway. They like to rap about "wallabees". So of course, Trace discovered that there is a kind of shoe called Clarks Wallabees. And of course, he found them on ebay. for forty dollars which he reminded me every five seconds was a steal. He wore them all summer. with shorts, with pants, it was awful. they're terrible shoes. Anyway. he got over that phase. then he goes to england and finds out that they're English!! they're based out of england. that's crazy. so he and his companion BOTH bought clarks wallabees in black leather. i can't even imagine how expensive they were. because the ones he got for forty... i priced today. they are $130.00. I found a Clarks store in the mall today. I was ironically wearing my I heart UK shirt. that's funny.

Here's the picture of his shoes.

Here's him in England with his new black ones.

And here's me in front of ours! How funny!

My Thanksgiving dinner was a DELICIOUS burger at five guys burgers and fries! I felt like I was home again. mmmmmmmm

And of course, we shopped and shopped. here's some of my new things. Don't worry I didn't spend TOO much! I also got a phone. Thanks heavens.

All in all it was a wonderful day. We had so much fun together and we all forgot about the fact that we were missing out on our awesome families.

But here are some things I'm grateful for nonetheless.

1. The gospel. I've noticed more than ever that it is truly the only thing that brings true, real, lasting happiness in this life.

2. My family. I miss them a lot, but they're always just a phone call away (yeah took that for granted)

3. My best friends at home. They too are a phone call, text, facebook, or email away. They still listen to me ramble on about disney and trace and other things I can't shut up about.

4. My roommates here in Florida. I couldn't ask to live with better girls, they're such great examples to me.

5. Elder Rodgerson. Talk about a ray of light. Watching him become this incredible missionary has blessed my life so much. And if for some reason, we don't work out, I will still be so grateful for everything he has taught me, and the relationship we have.

I am grateful for lots of little things too. Like my bed, food, my Duffy bear, my technology that I can't live without. What a great holiday this is!

Love you all. Very much. See you in January.

Everyone Relax.

2010-11-22T21:20:00.001-07:00

There is no news.

I was 1 of 3 out of 300 to learn the advanced dance routine at the college program disney entertainment audition. this was a few weeks ago.

well today I found out they didn't need me. I say need, not want, because I'm sure they wanted me :)

I'll be home in January as planned, and I'm ecstatic.

Happy Disneyversary!

2010-11-20T08:47:00.003-07:00

3 months ago, I had lunch with my four best friends. Cyndi Emelia Jo Jo and Trace. Then I went to ice cream with my family and Trace of course. Then I said goodbye and left on my biggest adventure yet. It's been wonderful at times, and terrible at times. But, I wouldn't trade it for anything. I'm having the time of my life.

Having my family here was GLORIOUS. there are many much pictures on Facebook. But, here's one that you'll probably get with our Christmas card as well.

Tune in next week for some earth shaking news. Or maybe some news that won't make a difference in anything. But, believe me, you'll wanna tune in.

Merry Thanksgiving?

2010-11-02T19:29:00.005-06:00

Alrighty. So Cami and I both had the day off today. We slept in... well I did. Then we just chilled all day because Kelly was sleeping. (she's costuming the castle show for christmas and they have middle of the night rehearsals. her shift is 10:30 tonight to 8:30 tomorrow morning. poor girl.) After I made a wonderful casserole (cuz I'm gonna be a homemaker when I grow up) we decided that we weren't gonna have much time once the holidays hit so we needed to get our Christmas decor up. So we hopped on the Walmart bus and off we went.

We came home with the loot (including 2 huge bags of halloween candy that were 50% off. and got to work. (after we had the Christmas music playing of course) We had 2 boxes of lights. we put them over the closet and bathroom doors and they looked so cute. Then disaster struck. Half the lights went out. it was awful. We tried so hard, switching fuses, testing lights, anything we could think of.

So I think I went into fight or flight mode. we decided we needed to go to publix. Which is about a mile away. So I put on my tennis shoes and started running. In the dark. In the rain.

There's a Walgreens right by it, so I went in there first (panting and soaking wet). No Christmas lights. So I ran over to Publix. No Christmas lights. BACK to Walgreens. I figured someone knew where I could find Christmas lights. A lady finally said she had some in the back. For some reason she just had these weird white ones that were 10 bucks, but I had come too far to back down. So I got them. And sprinted home. And it's a good thing! Cuz if I didn't, we wouldn't have been able to make...

THIS

We improvised with only one and a half strands of lights. and we got this cute sign/ornament for a dollar.

We took one with the flash on so you could see the cute sign.

We also got this cute nativity set for 10 dollars. I think it's so stinkin cute.

We're currently watching Rudolph. It's nice to feel the christmas spirit, and even nicer to live with someone who loves it as much as I do!

Happy Christmas Harry.

Dontcha See It?

2010-10-27T17:21:00.004-06:00

This is Trace's favorite shirt. I gave it to him for his birthday. Purple is his favorite color.

This is Duffy. The Disney Bear. He's so dang cuddly I had to buy one!

And this... this is what I got my Duffy. It took a lot of crazy photoshopping because the actual graphic on that shirt is NOWHERE to be found online. But, here it is :) on my Duffy. He snuggles with me while I watch Lost, it gets kind of scary.

He'll do for now :)

2010-10-24T13:12:00.002-06:00

"If you don't have time to read or pray, you're far busier than god intended." when i asked a kid in my ward who was walking back to his apartment after church to share a spiritual thought from the meeting with me on my way out to work, i didn't expect him to say the exact words i needed to hear... from practically a stranger.

straight up.

2010-10-23T13:18:00.002-06:00

I can't keep it in today. I miss home. Real bad. Here are some of the things I miss the most.

1. Water. the water here is gross, I'm sorry to say I'm practically used to it. But, my face isn't. it does horrible things to my face.

2. Mountains.

2a. FALL. The weather is beautiful here, but I don't get to wear boots and scarves and cute pea coats. Just longer short sleeves and capris sometimes. the only leaves that aren't green are dead.

3. My family. Believe me, I love my roommates, but holy cow would I rather sit in a room with my family. Even though I'd probably get teased much more than I do here... I think I'd rather be there.

4. My bed. A foam pad has increased comfort, but it's no squeaky daybed in the basement.

5. Cars. Having the option of driving would make my life SO much easier.

6. Cyndi and Emelia. again, love my roommates. but, their idea of fun is watching old musicals. which I love! I do! but, I could really use some more... chill... friends.

7. I'm annoying myself with this list. I'm done complaining!

See you in January. Oh, and can't WAIT to see the little girls in a few weeks! Still no letter from Trace, if it doesn't come by monday, something is quite wrong with the postal service.

Keeping my chin up.

a wonderful weekend!

2010-10-19T17:03:00.004-06:00

this was the most perfect weekend! jim had some meetings so they came a little early to play with me! I bought a voice recorder to send to trace so his mama got to talk to him for quite a while. and his grandparents and aunt and uncle happened to be here! (aunt and uncle from the other side of the family, so crazy!) So they all said hi on it. it was so much fun. Kristi just told me all kinds of memories about Tracery. like how he sucked his thumb when he was little, and how when he was little, at night he'd walk into the bathroom and come out as different characters. apparently he has a whole repertoire of accents. as he got older, he had characters that he repeated. and he added one. tony. tony was handicapped. it's so sad. but so funny. he once pretended to be handicapped for a whole night and fooled one of whitney's friends. later that month, when he was acting normal the friend sheepishly asked whitney "isn't your brother handicapped?" yeah. that's the rodgersons for ya! love them though :) I don't know if I'll end up being in their family, but I sure wouldn't mind it!

two week safari?

cute england pictures.

knockin on doors in england!

kristi: I was saying mmmmmmmmm!

oh the beach was so wonderful!!!

who loves dole whip? me!

this prince eric looked just like tyson. i was laughing so hard watching him dance around the stage.

this was kristi's favorite. and we were pretty sure it was trace. he was the exact same height.

she was so cool about going on all the rides! even this one!

downdate

2010-10-12T16:12:00.002-06:00

I would call this an update, but that's really what I do when I have some excited things that have been happening. So this is more of a downdate. So!

I just work a lot. I'm terrified for the busy season. But, it'll be fine.

I went to animal kingdom with my friend Vicky from LIVERPOOL! I have a wicked good accent when i'm with her. haha!

until a real update...

keep it real.

technically, this is for kelsey

2010-10-08T10:54:00.004-06:00

Alright here we go, picture time!

Here's me at my castle. it's mine. I dont' care what Cinderella says.

Partners. (in crime)

We have a mutual obsession with disney popcorn. I think they lace it with crack cocaine, cuz i'm addicted to it.

we like to take dangerous, in motion pictures.

this is my favorite ride. 0-60 in 3 seconds? yes please.

this is the real red power ranger outfit. which is so awesome.

when you're taking a picture by yourself... it gets awkward so I do this pose all the time haha

except this time... the characters are very aware when people are taking pictures with them!

this parade is one where they stop and dance in the street. and let me tell you, frozone has moves.

home sweet home :)

too many pictures!

2010-10-05T22:24:00.002-06:00

Hey ya'll today was way fun, we took tons of pictures! so here's the link to look at them on facebook!

CLICK HERE :)

thank you and goodnight!

Adventures in D-World!

2010-09-29T20:53:00.006-06:00

Oh it's been so long since I posted! I'm sorry! I just work nights usually, and then on my days off I just play and don't feel like blogging. so here we goooooooo! So last week my roommates and I attented Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. We went as the 3 good fairies, flora, fauna, and merryweather. our home-made costumes weren't as cheap as we thought, and weren't as easy to make as we thought. but we had fun making them! So here's some pictures of that night.

It was so much fun. So these pictures have a week between them. We realized that the time goes so quickly here because we just go from days off to days off. the time in between is just work and we don't even count it. But, let the record show that I do love my job. I love to answer guests' questions and telling them little secrets to have more fun in the parks. I love to talk to the little kids and ask them if they're having fun. It's heaven for me.

Anyway. days off a week later! We went resort hopping! because we never know what to tell guests when they ask us about resorts. so we went to lunch at a semi-fancy restaurant at the Contemporary Resort. I got a bison burger. yeah that's right. trying new things over here! it was fantastic.

Then we went to the Polynesian resort. they have hammocks. on a beach. oh it was so relaxing.

next was the grand floridian. and oh boy is it grand! i can't even explain it.

then we went to the swan and dolphin. we actually just saw the outside. but it looks cool right?

next was the boardwalk! i need to stay here. oh it's so beautiful!

and here it is ladies and gentleman. the kitchen sink. 15 scoops of ice cream. 18 toppings. a can of whipped cream. 7 of us ate it. (it would be more of a feat with fewer people) but, it was fun.

until my next days off :)

Elder Rodgerson update: I got a letter! hooray! he's doing so well, loving it, not homesick, hating the food, loving the work. funny quote from his letter... but please note, it was at the very end. everything else was gospel oriented. "I dropped my scriptures the other day and this guy told me my wife got uglier. but then he said you get double hot wife points for tracting in the rain and triple if you do it in the snow. so just a heads up." he just said he's really happy and he couldn't ask for more.

seriously?!

2010-09-19T21:59:00.004-06:00

I don't know what this Tiffany Olson lady was doin, but I've never seen this boy smile for so many pictures. And what a cute smile it is! Just thought I would show off this handsome guy I've somehow managed to snag. But seriously, if you can look at that without smiling.... You're... dumb.

The perfect combination of business and pleasure!

2010-09-18T21:53:00.004-06:00

alrighty! so let's talk about my weekend with father. So... rewind to thursday. I requested to get off work early so that I could surprise dad and be at his hotel when he got there... well then when i asked when he was getting in, he said 11:30. So! I got off early anyway and went to Fantasmic with Cami and Emily. the nice thing about being here for 5 months is that we can just go wait in line for 2 hours, get great seats, watch Fantasmic, ride tower of terror twice, and head home without feeling like we should've done more! So then daddy picked me up from my apartment and we went to the hotel which is less than a mile from there. I had planned on sleeping through his meetings the next morning, but then he asked if i wanted to go with him. and hello! i'm a pr major! like i don't wanna go to meetings with disney people!!! So I woke up early and went with :)

luckily, we had to go check something out at the Polynesian resort, where there just happens to be dole whip!!! mmmm! (Heavenly pineapple ice cream)

then we went back and changed out of our professional clothes and headed over to the magic kingdom! where I presented dad with his birthday present. his very own ears. with his name on the back! :) it's all decorated for halloween here, which is very fun.

we only went on a couple rides, luckily dad's been enough that he too doesn't feel like he's missing out when we only hit few. we did space mountain and buzz, and saw my work.

then we waited... and waited...

and waited... for the electric parade!! i don't think i've ever seen it, that i can remember. i just remember videos of it when i was little. so i made dad wait for it. there was this little boy sitting next to us, named bailey. he was like four and was flirting with me the whole wait. then when the parade started, he yelled "hey katelin! look!" every 5 seconds. so i had to ignore him like every 3, then i'd turn around and say "yeah look!" and then wait for the next time i could look away from the beautiful parade :)

then we went to dinner (where i got dad his 2nd discount of the day cuz i'm a cast member) and we went to walmart... i know they say you're supposed to go shopping when you're full, but i was so full that nothing looked good! i was so looking forward to being taken grocery shopping... it didn't work out. anyway. dad got up early to golf. then we drove 4 hours in a brand spankin new mini van, we were so spoiled, we had a wi fi connection cuz craig was there and had some cool gadget. so the ride wasn't bad at all! then of course we got to the game...

it was a beautiful day! about 93 degrees. no clouds. i think i sweated off my last 5 meals. hence, my hair all up and sleeves rolled up. oh it was so hot. anyway. the cougars decided not to show up. i learned some things. 2 quarterbacks = crappy offense. and tight ends that can't catch = crappy offense. and florida state fans that aren't drunk are really nice. so we lost. but it was really a fun time.

well, now here we are sitting in the hotel room. it's been so nice to have a comfy bed! and even nicer to have dad around! now i just have to work really hard till my next visitors, trace's parents! in october! until next post...

gooooooooooo cougars!

i won't do this for all of them...

2010-09-15T09:14:00.002-06:00

Here it is!

I apologize you haven't heard from me sooner dear family but it's officially p-day and they are pretty strict on the rules here. I found this out very early on when the mtc president came barging into our room at 10:32 telling us to turn off the lights and they we need to be better missionaries. Lights out was supposed to be at 10:30. Regardless, I will begin from when i left you.

The first elder i ran into in line at security in slc was elder burgoyne from taylorsville, who's only been on a plane once when he was nine. He must have been a little shell shocked because all he could say for the first hour or so was, "this is so crazy. this is crazy". We eventually were met up by three three other elders at the gate. manning, dudley (originally from London), and starr. We flew to JFK where we picked up two more elders. Mannwaring from Newport Beach (originally from Utah) and Mlynar from Detroit. We then ate some Burger King for like ten bucks a meal at the airport and waited for our flight for about three hours. I called home from a payphone, but as expected, no one answered. The flight to Manchester was pretty rough but I did have my own video screen with digital radio and games. I played round about a thousand games of solitaire and jammed the black keys. When we arrived in England it was everything you expect. It was cold and it was raining, and hasn't stopped for six days. We were picked up by brother mount, who looks like a professor straight out of harry potter, after going through customs, adjusting to everyones accents. The agent at the desk said cheers to me. We walked out to the mission van and loaded in. It was great to drive through and look at all the scenery, we were able to see the manchester city center from the motorway and some countryside in between manchester and preston. The mtc sits on a large complex that includes the temple, the distribution center, a stake center, temple patron housing, the temple presidents housing and the mtc. The grounds are beautifully landscaped with a giant fish pond, flowers and hedges. the whole place looks like alice in wonderland. We were welcomed by the mtc presidency and ushered through a variety of interviews, orientations, and other routine matters. Missionaries from all over the world started to trickle in from all over the world until, finally, there were twenty some of us. 7 americans, 14 brits and some australians, danish, swiss, philippino, german and taiwanese.

My companinon is Elder Youles from London. He's short, buff, buzzed head, and a flat nose. He looks like some sort of british henchman from a movie. He by far has the thickest accent and I always have to make him repeat everything he says. He's very reverent about spiritual things, a funny guy and a great companion. He's also kind of shady though. He has a ton of fake rolex watches that he's been trying to sell since he got here. He's been teaching me lots of things though. Like how to put on a duvee cover, and how to talk like you're english. drop your h's, th's are f's, and er's are uh's. With this many brits around it's hard adjusting to being the foreigner. Every meal there is some sort of weird english dish that is just awful, they're "fizzy drinks" are totally different, they're cereal is off, and every single one of them is good at football. I also learned that they love listening to an american accent just as much as we love listening to a british one.

The classroom instruction is very helpful. It's very directed and focused on what we need to be taught. we do a lot of role play and things and we are going out this friday to the manchester city center to have a crack at being a missionary. I'm glad i've gotten over the fear of talking to people but the context is completely different and it's still a little terrifying.

I have to run because i'm only allowed thirty minutes but I love you all and I hope to hear from you soon. Write me letters if you will.

Love,

Trace

PS.

I need jakes address (it's in my phone as a locked message. send it to me and then delete all the messages) I also need to get katelin's address as well. log onto my user profile on my computer, open my email, look for an email from barnes and noble regarding my order and reply to it if needs be.

key word: cheap.

2010-09-12T10:15:00.001-06:00

so disney lets us in on these crazy deals. till the 30th of this month i can get movies for like ten bucks. so if there's a movie you want, disney, not disney, tv show, they have like everything. so text me or call me. you can either give me ten bucks or wait till christmas.

yup.

Without a Trace.

2010-09-11T09:15:00.006-06:00

He's safe he's safe! I'm just going to steal things off his blog that his parents are doing, but if you wanna read that one it's here.

So here's what the family got via email!

Dear Rodgerson Family,

Just a short note to let you know that after a long journey Elder Rodgerson has arrived safely at the Missionary Training Centre here in England. He will be sending a personal e-mail to you on Wednesday.
We are delighted to have him with us, and thank you for sending such a wonderful young missionary. We are certain that he will have a great experience here in the MTC. We are committed to his happiness and success.

Isn't that exciting?! Oh it made me so happy. Well here are some pictures also from that blog.

i only cried one little time and that was when i got home from work and saw these pictures. only cuz he's so cute! i sure can't wait to hear from him and see how he's doin! keep him your prayers please and thank you! :)

September is here!

2010-09-09T10:15:00.005-06:00

Holy smokes i haven't posted in a long time. sorry about that. anyway. Florida is great still. still rainy. work is lovely. I'm addicted to the tv show Lost. Emily and Jenny, i bet your'e proud of that. i watched like a whole season in a matter of like three days. that 27 45 minute episodes. talk about not having a life.

Trace is officially gone. he is taking off right this moment!!! i'm not even that sad! i'm just happy he's finally gone! so now we can finally start waiting for him to come home! haha just kiddin, wrong attitude. i'm so proud of him oh geez louise. i'm so proud.

I sent him a dear elder like a week ago, hopefully the mtc didn't get it like two days ago and say "we don't have an elder rodgerson" and throw it away. haha and hopefully they didn't think that a missionary ran away or something! ha. okay time for another awesome evening in toontown!

pray for elder rodgerson please and thank you!

here are some pictures from my last week or so :)

just hangin out in England.

okay fine. it's Epcot. i went all by myself and had cast member take my picture so i could send them to tracery as his bye bye present. he really like it, i also gave him a mickey dressed like the guards in front of buckingham palace and some uk guitar picks. i'm sure at some point in the next two years he'll need to play a guitar, and he'll need a pick to do so :) so that's that.

this is my favorite pub in england. i'm sure trace will like it.

singin in the rain. gene kelly style.

kelly and me just sneaking into the chinese theater.

so emily has a pathological fear of dinosaurs. i convinced her to go on the dinosaur ride, and i screamed more than her. neither of us knew this picture was going to be taken. i guess no one in our car was as scared as we were...

no one wanted to take a picture with mr. smee. it was so sad. kids these days. don't appreciate the classics.

just savin the world with Frozone and Mr. Incredible.

minnie mouse herself!

i always said if i were to date a disney character i'd probably want it to be aladdin. i'm not so sure after meeting him.

oh yeah. these are my roommates. they're more like me than i thought. haha.

a celebration of the day of my birth

2010-08-29T21:17:00.003-06:00

Birthday are great days. Especially in Disney World. I don't want to talk a lot. Because I'm tired. So look at these glorious pictures and learn about my fabulous Birthday. The funniest part is watching my hair.... look how it ends. haha. Florida.

And after this I went to work, and then got to watch the fireworks. Mickey said they were just for my birthday :) I love him.

This is everything I had when I got home! Thanks everyone. yes, I got those flowers in the mail!!! Go Trace. Thanks everyone!

Birthdays and Ears.

2010-08-27T19:41:00.004-06:00

So my roommate Emily's birthday is on Sunday... hooray. and mine is tomorrow! yahoo! So we celebrated tonight with pizza and cookie cake and ice cream :) and now we're watching monsters vs. aliens. This movie gets way funnier every time. there are just very subtle things that are so hilarious. "has the earth gotten warmer? it would be great to know that. that would be a very convenient truth."

Anyway, I have to work tomorrow at 4:15, so Emily and I are gonna go play at Magic Kingdom until then! I'm way stoked.

The things we have to do to keep our pizza dry... in the torrential down poor that is Florida.

Here's us and our yummy pizza. That's Kelly in the middle and Emily on the other end.

Our birthday cake :)

Cami- 24 from Washington State just graduated in geography at BYU and served a mission in Tampa Florida works as a park greeter in Hollywood Studios, Kelly-19 from California theater major at BYU-I works costuming in Magic Kingdom, Emily- almost 20 from Centerville, UT theater major at BYU-I working as a "tour guide" on the Kilimanjaro Surfari in Animal Kingdom , and me! practically 19!! yay!

ghost cami

i made cute dessert. i'm so cute that way. haha

In other news....

I got to remove my Earning My Ears ribbon because...

I FINISHED TRAINING TODAY!!!!! YAHOOOOOOOO! it's so exciting.

Saying hello princess to little girls is becoming habit. I said it at Walmart today... how embarrassing. haha

No Explanation Needed.

2010-08-22T15:24:00.001-06:00

You're welcome.

It's a hard knock life.

2010-08-21T19:36:00.002-06:00

Today was so hard.

I caught the 6:04am bus.

I waited to be filed into a line.

Where I waited to clock in for twenty minutes.

Then I listened to over-energetic people talk for an hour.

Then I waited for a bus and rode it forEVER.

Then it got worse. So much worse.

I was being paid to walk around Magic Kingdom.

Then they had the audacity to make me ride Buzz Lightyear!

Then we walked... and walked... and walked... all the way to Haunted Mansion!!

And they made me ride it! They did! And they paid me! They did!

Then when I got home I had to ride ANOTHER bus!

Then I had to go to Magic Kingdom for FREE!

I had to wait in lines for Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, even SPACE MOUNTAIN!

I had to laugh my guts out at the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor and my eyes hurt from the special effects in Disney's 3D Philharmagic!

It also poured, which really was bad, but oh well. :)

After the ever so long ride home I'm forced to shower and snuggle up to sleep in a little tomorrow!

Life is good. My roommates are nice. The church is true. Have a magical day.

Behind the magic!

2010-08-20T11:40:00.003-06:00

Well here we are! The Disney College Program. It's been a rough start, but I'm doin some good things. I met some girls that are pretty cool. 2 of the 8 in the apartment are LDS so that's how we connected. haha. But, anyway, we had our welcome event, pool party last night. So, I went with them! On the walk over, it started pouring rain. Florida rain just doesn't phase anyone. It was still 100 degrees outside, so we just ate pizza and swam in the rain! It was fantastic.

The mouse himself. I have seen him twice already! I love my job!

Isn't it awesome?!

Alrighty! Next up, my lastish orientation was today! It's called Traditions and it's like a four hour class all about Disney. Past, Present, and Future. We got to go through the FIRST FLOOR OF MAGIC KINGDOM!!! Have you ever noticed that you never see "Cast Members" (employees) walking to or from their locations? Well wouldn't it ruin the "Show" if someone from Adventureland was walking down Mainstreet USA?! Exactly. That's why we have tunnels. So when you are in Magic Kingdom, you're actually on the second floor. And most of those decorative doors you see by gift shops and stuff, yeah they're real doors. Open them and ruin the magic forever. haha. Just Kidding. But it was very interesting... I won't reveal what I saw, but text me or call me if you want to know! It's pretty crazy. If you're under the age of 20, I won't tell you. Because I wish I didn't know either!! But, I have my nametag and my Disney ID which gets me into all the parks for FREE! And all kinds of crazy discounts! Go Team.

First Training Tomorrow!

Have a magical day!

Rough Start. Tough Finish.

2010-08-18T18:00:00.003-06:00

Well I'm here. and that's that. After many hours of checking in and being on busses to more checking in, I'm here. I got my assignment...

So congratulations to Shaylee and Tyson! As for my outfit, it'll probably be one of the worst ones. But, I'll get to be around many much little children, and I love me some little children. ha. Not creepy.

Anyway, I finally got to my apartment and had some time to relax, I was alone, then I woke up completely stuffed up and my head was pounding. Had a little breakdown, solved by Trace, and headed to WalMart. Thank heavens for WalMart. I got two of those reusable bags, and it helps me trasport my stuff :) My roommates are cool, 2 are from BYU-Idaho and the one in my room just graduated from Provo. She's 24... and has already served a mission... I'm excited to learn a lot from her. Anyway, I'm off to shower and sleep because I'm terribly exhausted! I'll keep ya'll posted!

Have a magical day!

August- At A Glance.

2010-08-15T14:43:00.002-06:00

I'm so sorry that I have been a no-post. Ha. So, let's take a look back on the few exciting things I've done.

Trace's cousin Chloe was Cinderella in the Youth Production of Cinderella at Hale Center Theater. She was fabulous, I was so jealous.

Me, Cynd, Jo Jo, and Trace went up to Park City for the day. We rode the Alpine Slide, ate an early dinner, and did some shopping at the outlet malls. We are an awesome bunch.

My lifelong dream of a surprise party was fulfilled. Thanks to my rad familia. It was the bomb.com

Aaaand, Elder Rodgerson took some cute pictures. Well his mom did. She did a great job, and they turned out so cute. He's so ready for this.

Some things I didn't get to take pictures of... going to Step Up 3D with cynd and mel, makin smore's and lookin at the stars with Tracer, and getting together with all my friends that I haven't seen in forever and probably won't see for two years cuz they're all leaving. Next post will probably be from Flo-Rida! Go Team.

Where Did July Go?

2010-07-30T16:36:00.003-06:00

To Duck Feeding...

And Pool Swimming...

And birthdays on trains!

But, boy was it fun :) Happy Birthday to Tracer. I leave soon. Anxiety. Bring It.

I hope they call me on a mission!

2010-07-25T16:31:00.003-06:00

So many missionaries!!! It's fantastic! This all happened in the last week...

Nick Clark was called to serve in the Oregon, Eugene mission.

Michael "Jo Jo" Johansson returned home from the Minnesota, Minneapolis mission.

Justin Moore is leaving for the Nicaragua, Minagua mission and gave a wonderful talk today.

Nathan Dukatz is leaving for the Pennsylvania, Philidelphia mission and also gave a wonderful talk today.

I sure do love missionaries :)

It's Logical.

2010-07-17T21:11:00.002-06:00

Recent events have led me to think long and hard about how awesome my life is. And how I take it for granted every day. I am so grateful for the incredible gospel of Jesus Christ, and my membership in His church. I'm so grateful that I have a family who loves me, a home, and food on the table. I'm grateful that Dad works so hard so that our family can have nice things and live nice lives. I have the most incredible friends. Friends that help me make good choices. Cyndi, Emelia, and Trace have never left my side, and I know they'll always be there when I need them. I miss Caleb like crazy, but know he is where he needs to be and is an incredible missionary. Trace has made changes in his life that affected not only him but me, his family, and all his other friends. He truly has the light of Christ, and I can't wait for him to share that with everyone in Manchester. A missionary leaves his family for two years, so that everyone he teaches can be with their family forever. I thought that was a cool quote. Sometimes people make stupid choices, really stupid choices, but that's why we're here. To make mistakes, to be tested and tried. Jesus Christ broke the bands of death so that we can live again. Some people don't get it, but I do. And I want everyone else to get it too. It's logical. He loves us. I know it.

My lesson for today and the next few years.

2010-07-11T16:23:00.000-06:00

Patience Is a Virtue

“Patience—the ability to put our desires on hold for a time—is a precious and rare virtue. We want what we want, and we want it now. Therefore, the very idea of patience may seem unpleasant and, at times, bitter. “Nevertheless, without patience, we cannot please God; we cannot become perfect. Indeed, patience is a purifying process that refines understanding, deepens happiness, focuses action, and offers hope for peace.”

Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Continue in Patience,” Ensign, May 2010, 56

He's Home!! (Take One)

2010-07-06T19:45:00.002-06:00

Take two will be in dos years. haha! But this one was pretty fun too! So I picked him up Saturday from the airport and we went straight to Sugarhouse Park to meet his family for fireworks! It was so crazy. I'm sure there were more people there than Stadium of Fire. But it was so much fun!

I got to meet Trace's sweet grandparents that just recently returned from mission to Cambodia, his grandpa sure did make me miss mine!!! But here's all the girls for the evening. Me, his Grandma Bonnie, Mom Kristi, Sister Whitney, and Aunt Emily.
Yes, I know, He looks exactly like his mother. haha.
Sunday I went to church with him because I just couldn't get enough of him, JUST KIDDING. I actually had to work at 10:30 and his was the only ward I knew of that started at 9:00 and I didn't even get to go to sacrament meeting last week. So, yes that was lovely. After I got off work he came over for some rad family fireworks. Dad has truly outdone himself this year. Highlights were the Jade Flower, Flowers and Bees, and many other fireworks with masculine names...So I like to dress like a boy! What of it?!

Man I am diggin this 3-day weekend thing! Monday we went boating with my family and it was so fun. I'm in SO MUCH PAIN. Because just as we finished our fun yet safe tube ride, he told Dad he was upset that we were still in the tube... that was stupid. I got launched pretty far and hit the water back first. Anyone up for givin me a neck rub?? Oh, and Trace water skiied. Thanks Daddy-O.

This is our drip castle. We're awesome. We know.

Tracer went through the Draper Temple tonight, he's working so hard to prepare for his mission. Supportive not Distracting, that's my goal. But it sure is good to have him home. For a minute :)

Backstreet's Back.

2010-06-24T23:07:00.004-06:00

This was a weird experience for me. To be perfectly honest, I'm more of an *NSYNC type of girl myself... But Cyndi just about died. We went to sound check, shook hands, yada yada yada. Danny was a trooper. I wish he was actually excited... I thought he would be. oh well. But, yeah. old guys doin the boy band thing. that was weird. I think they could've had a few less dance breaks, or gotten a few more good backup dancers. But, it was a fun concert. Thanks Kels.

I know it seems like I have a life...

2010-06-24T22:44:00.005-06:00

But really I just haven't posted in a super long time. So brace yourself, it may be a bumpy ride.

Okay let's work our way up to most recent events.

I went to dinner with Shelby Ho and Whitney Hansen to plan... SHELBY'S BRIDAL SHOWER! Life is getting weird. People are gettin married, I'm plannin showers. It's crazy. Straight up and down. ;) But, I'm excited. I'm doing everything via email and facebook, I'm proud.

Next. I feel like every time I have a day off I spend it at my work... because the only time I can get people in free is when I can go with them! So, of course, we've taken Easton (pictures to be posted much later, or watch Mom's blog for them) I also took Will and Max. I used to babysit them and now Cassidy does, so it was fun to play with them again, they make me feel old.

Next! Of course, Daddy got some tickets to the Miss Utah pageant. I actually know the girl who won Miss Draper a month or so ago so I thought it'd be nice to go support her... But NO! She'll be in the pageant NEXT SUMMER! haha So, I got to watch a three hour pageant. and didn't know anyone. But! I do LOVE Meg. Oh yeah, this is Meg. She's like my best friend at work. She's actually kind of my "supervisor" now. (more details to follow) But, she's done pageants and what not, so she enjoyed it.

Last, but certainly not least, because there's even another post after this. We got to go to Lagoon for Daddy's work party. Man this week has just been full of hook ups from the Papanwah. Oh yeah, shout out to him for being the bomb diggity. Happy Father's day Dad. Anyway, Lagoon was fun. You can just look at pictures. It honestly freaks me out how alike Leslie Dixon and I are.

Congrats to Kenn for goin on Jet Star. Big accomplishment there.

They... let my boss go... at work. And we all got big fat raises. and I got a desk! So, getting three dollars more and a desk, more hours, more responsibility. I'm loving life. Meg got an even bigger desk and even bigger raise. But, she's older and more experienced, I am NOT complaining. We're having fun making it a team effort instead of having a boss.

Trace comes home in nine days. But who's counting? I can't wait to have someone to just hang out with. I need him, Mythbusters isn't the same without him. Neither is listening to awesome music.

I miss my best friend!!!

2010-06-09T22:42:00.006-06:00

I know I know! If I miss him now what am I gonna do for two years. But, I think it's worse because we have constant communication. When he leaves on his mission he'll be gone! He won't be texting me every day! haha. Anyway. I thought now would be a good time for some Trace and Katelin pictures. We've been through a whole crap load together. ha. Well, he's my best friend and I'm so proud of him and his choices.

Let me tell you about Trace, if you don't know him. Trace is the kind of kid that is so laid back it almost stresses you out. He hates plans, he hates big groups, I really don't know how we like each other so much. We are ABSOLUTE opposites.

He won battle of the bands twice in high school, I was homecoming queen... He hated dance company, I was vice president (but he did come to my concert all three years)

But here is what I love about him. Trace is the hardest worker I've ever met. Whether it's school, work, or church, he gets it done. He's worked so hard to prepare for his mission and it's so exciting to see the pile of books next to his bed, all marked up and such.

He loves his family, and has such incredible relationships with his parents and siblings. He never tells secrets. Believe me, I can never get them out of him ;) and he always keeps mine too. He always gives me advice when I ask for it, and even though it's usually "say a prayer", it helps.

And last but certainly not least, he puts up with me. with my loud, perfectionist, planning, stressed out ways. I've calmed down a lot because of him, but hey, who do you think I am? haha there will always be that little Roger in me that's gotta stay on the go.

Anyway, there's my ode to Trace.

Oh did I mention he's freakin hilarious and makes me laught 24/7?

I should win a prize for this.

2010-06-03T19:50:00.002-06:00

So I figured out the trick to videoing Easton. Don't use a camera!! I took this on my computer and he had no idea what was going on. But he loved watching himself as it was recording. Then when we watched it after he would say the exact same things he says in the video. I think that if he gets any cuter I'm going to have to start using my inhaler more often.

Also, I love how distracted he gets after I ask him to say mom all he can say is ball. Atta boy.

Sometimes I Wonder...

2010-05-25T21:50:00.003-06:00

So. For some reason Cassidy had some Disney costumes for a project. So of course we're gonna dress up in them. Well Collette took the Belle wig, turned it sideways and said "Toddlers and Tiaras" and starting walking around like a little pageant brat. It was probably the funniest moment of my life. So of course Kennedi had to take a video. One thing led to another.... yeah.

The Most Perfect Vacation Ever.

2010-05-24T17:23:00.002-06:00

I don't feel like posting all our pictures. I might post some funny ones later. Here's how it went down. Sunday we drove to St. Geezy. slept there, Monday we finished our drive to Anaheim, went to dinner and chilled at the hotel. Tuesday was the most ideal Disneyland day ever. We OWNED Disneyland. We didn't wait longer than ten minutes for anything, except one or two that broke right before we got on them, but they were fixed very quickly. It was just perfect. And it stopped raining eventually. And yes, I wore a fanny pack. It was glorious. The rest of the days we just chilled at the beach and such. Stayed at my Aunt and Uncle's in San Clemente. It was so perfect.

Boring, Sickie, Work, Prank, Goodbye!

2010-05-16T10:23:00.003-06:00

So... This week was super duper boring. I did absolutely nothing. On Thursday, I went to my friend's house and he had a dog. I didn't think I was very allergic to dogs. My body decided otherwise. I had a full blown allergy attack which made me completely and totally sickie on Friday. So I laid on the couch ALL DAY. Then on Saturday, Cowabunga Bay opened. It was a short day at work. But, nice to be making money again. And, today I woke up and got a call from my great friend Meg at work. She said our manager didn't show up and we had a ton of birthday parties so I had to come in. So, completely ticked off I throw my work clothes on and because I don't have a car, mom drives me down to work, drops me off and drives away. Meg meets me outside with my folder that I'd left yesterday. It had my voucher for Disneyland in it (that I could have just printed off again). The whole thing was a prank, she just wanted to give me my folder back. So, she drove me home since mom had left. She's going down. So Down. Anyway, I'm leaving for St. George Tonight, then we'll finish our drive tomorrow :) California here I come! Goodbye Utah for now. It's gonna be like the same weather there though, which bites. haha. Oh, and Splash Mountain is closed, and the park closes at 9:00. Just my luck. Cyndi and Emelia would rather be at Six Flags anyway. hmph. Okay, staying positive!

Graduation Announcements

2010-05-11T14:49:00.002-06:00

So a couple girls in my ward asked me to make their Graduation Announcements, It was an easy twenty bucks. This is just one, I'm not done with the other one. I also kinda feel bad cuz they kinda look like mine... but mine were so cute! ha. Sorry. Anyway. That's all I have to say. I get to work two hours three days this week. Woop dee doo. We'll see if Cowabunga will have the guts to open this Saturday... No one wants to go to a cold water park when it's only 60 degrees. Anyway. Oh yeah, it's temple Tuesday. And I ran in to Trace's mom on my way out. Fancy that. haha end of boring post.

my rock and roll lifestyle.

2010-05-10T15:19:00.002-06:00

So. Trace's band Ocean Floor Traffic got to play a song to open for a band called 30 seconds to mars. Cynd and Mel are huge 30 seconds to mars fans, so of course. I ended up paying 33.00 to see my favorite band play one song (trace wasn't even in it mind you, his best friend played the show for him) and then sit through three more bands. I actually enjoyed the two opening bands more than 30 seconds to mars. however, it was still a rock and roll concert and I kind of thrive on that. I know, I don't know where I got it either.

I won't give my opinion on the concert because you probably just wouldn't understand. ha. I do think the pink mohawk is super gay. and might I add that I think Jared Leto is a sell-out. Cynd and Mel if you read that I'm sorry.

Courtney, I did two posts today. Don't forget to look at the other one.

Bell Canyon

2010-05-10T15:00:00.002-06:00

Well. This is my new favorite hike. It's super hard. For someone who is as out of shape as me. Wait... round is a shape right? (ha. dad joke) Anyway, It's gonna become a regular thing for me and there's a good chance I'll go by myself a few times this summer. Ha. But, this time Emelia came :)

All Dolled Up And Nowhere To Go

2010-05-05T14:24:00.003-06:00

BORED. BORED. BORED. BORED. BORED.

I have no school.

(Not so upset about that)

I have no work.

(I'll start to help with training at Cowabunga next week)

I have no friends.

(Cynd and Mel went to Logan for the week)

I have no boyfriend.

(Trace moved to Nebraska. But, he's lovin it.)

I have no money.

(that needs no explanation)

My room is clean.

The dishes are done.

The kitchen is vacuumed and mopped.

Someone please give me something to do.

Oh, last week we went to the aquarium, and this is the only picture I got. haha but it was a blast. We also hiked Bell Canyon, which is this awesome hike up to some secret lake. Beatiful.

Now that I have no life, I photoshop a lot. If only this picture was cute. haha

Elder Rodgerson

2010-04-28T20:21:00.005-06:00

Elder Trace Rodgerson has been called to serve in the ENGLAND, MANCHESTER mission. He leaves September 10, so yes, I will leave first. Which is actually really awesome. Better to leave than be left. :) I can't express how proud I am of him. He's my very best friend and an incredible example to me.

Oh, so he picked me up on his way home and we went back to his house, no one was home yet... but the call was in the mail. We seriously almost opened it. haha Anyway, we waited for the family to get home and opened it with them. He tried to trick us by saying "Kingston, Jamaica and Zurich, Switzerland" didn't fool me for a second. okay, the second one did. haha But, this mission is the most perfect place for him. I'm so excited. He goes straight to England, which is good. I think he'd hate Provo.

Congrats Elder. Love ya.