Just to letcha know...

My roommates are so freaking great.
In case you were wondering.
We've only been in school for, what, a month and a half?
And we all get along like we've known each other forever.

These are only two of them, and then I have two more, but they're pretty great girls.
I love the last picture...
Mads looks like a freaking babe and I look like I'm about to push Greg (the "photographer" off the mountain.)
Eh. Typical :)

That's really all I have to say. Classes are good, I love Logan with all my heart, and I love the people in it.

So... Yep.

Come what may and love it.

As many of you know, the Saturday Morning session of October 2012 general conference changed things for some people.
Okay.
More like... Changed their lives entirely.

For those of you reading this who don't know, in the LDS church boys have previously been asked to serve two year, full-time missions at the age of 19. Girls have been given the option to go, starting at the age of 21, on a full-time eighteen month mission. However, they are merely given the option. If they reach the age of 21 and they feel prompted to go on a mission, then they are more than welcome to.

All my life, I have thought about this age of 21. All my life, the mere thought of going on a mission scared me. I always thought "Well... I'll just get married before I turn 21. Then I won't have to go." And I did sincerely believe that I would be married before I got the opportunity to serve a mission, so I'd always tell people "Yeahh... If I get to be 21 and I'm not yet married, and I feel like I should go, then yeah. I'll probably go." and in my head be like "but I'll make sure you get a wedding announcement."

I'll tell you what. The Lord knows what He's doing, what you're doing, what you need to do, and how to get you there. After yesterday, there is no doubt in my mind of that fact.

Yesterday morning, President Thomas S. Monson got up at the beginning of conference. He started off cracking jokes, announcing temples, you know. That old chestnut. And then, he starts into talking about how some foreign countries allow young men at the age of 18 to start into their missions depending on their maturity and their ability to serve. They have had great success with these missionaries, and they turned out to be just as mature and driven as any other missionary in the field.

At this time, I'm camping with my family. We're all sitting around my grandparent's trailer, listening to conference. When President Monson is starting into this, I hear my grandma say "Oh no... He's going to make it 18 to go out..."

Sure enough: "I am pleased to announce that, effective immediately, all worthy and able young men who have graduated from high school or its equivalent, regardless of where they live, will have the opportunity of being recommended for missionary service beginning at the age of 18 instead of age 19."

WHAT a blessing! Missionaries have a hard time trying to figure out what the heck to do before they can leave, and many of my friends have absolutely hated just sitting there and waiting to turn 19 so they could leave.

Then, President Monson "We've also given consideration to the age at which young women may serve."
My dad's giving me this look like "Ooh, they're gonna lower it too!"
I'm giving my dad this look like "I know!!"
And we're all praying that they lower it to 20. They only lowered it one year for the brothers, why not only one for the sisters?

"Today, I am pleased to announce that able, worthy young women who have the desire to serve may be recommended for service at the age of 19, instead of age 21."

I'm 19.

The second he said 19 I just doubled over bawling. I couldn't help it. I couldn't really pin why I was crying so hard. Definitely not because I was sad, angry, or frustrated. As I think about it though, I think I was so overwhelmed with the knowledge that my Father in Heaven knows me so intimately, loves me so much, and has such big PLANS for me. I had been feeling for a while that I needed to get out of my area and gain new experiences. I had been feeling that there was so much more I could be doing. School is great, and a good thing for me to be doing, but there is more that I need to do right now. I couldn't figure it out, cause really. What is there to do for a 19 year old girl from Idaho that wouldn't cost tons of money?

It also didn't help that I was scared out of my mind.
I hadn't planned on having to think about this for about another year... But here it is.

I have a lot of praying and fasting to do. This is a big deal. I'll be putting my life on hold for a year and a half! It's not a decision that can be made overnight. That being said, I would appreciate so greatly your prayers as well. I am overwhelmed with excitement, fear, JOY, and humility, and I want to make the right choice.

I know that this church is true. There's not a single ounce of doubt in my mind of the truthfulness of this gospel. And I know that, whatever I choose, the Lord is going to take care of me if I put my trust and faith in Him.

Now. I'm going to go finish conference.

Utah State, hey! Aggies all the way! Go aggies, go aggies, hey hey hey!

Okay. I'm ready for school to start again.

Why worry?

Seabear.

As we're roasting marshmallows in our backyard, Marcus runs up to me with a yard stick and draws a circle around my chair...

Me: "You're drawing an anti-seabear circle aren't you."
Marcus:"Yes."
"Thought so."
"You have your anti-searhinocerous underwear on, right?"
"Of course."
"You're safe."


My siblings are perfect.

Angry Toilets.

Once upon a time, there was this guy in my biology class who needed help on an assignment (yes, I thought he was really cute and yes he was just planning on copying my answers.) So he was planning on coming over after he got off of work at like 9 or 9:30. So I figured that would give me enough time to clean up and whatever after I finished my lab which usually got out at about 8.

This day, however, I get home at 9.

My bladder. Was about to explode.
So I go running into the bathroom. I was lucky enough to look and see that the toilet was clogged (with toilet paper, by the way). So I go out looking for a plunger and my roommate says

"Our plunger doesn't work very well. Want to go to Walmart and buy one with me?"

Sure.

So as we're coming out of Walmart, this guy calls me and says he just got off of work, and can he come over in about a half an hour?

Sure.

When we got back to our apartment, I hurried in and attempted unclogging the toilet.

No.

Instead of unclogging like any good toilet would do, the toilet starts overflowing and forms a large puddle of toilet water AROUND MY FEET. I'm like screaming for my roommates to get their butts in the bathroom and help me, and one finally says "Turn the toilet off!!"
...I didn't even know this was possible.
So obviously she has to direct me to the little switch on the side that stops the toilet from angrily throwing up its insides.
At this point, I'm standing in a large puddle of toilet water like a flamingo (I had lifted up one foot, cause I guess that just made sense at the time...) and all of my roommates are just staring at me.
I'm finally like "GUYS. GET. ME. TOWELS!!!"
So they finally provide this nice little pathway to the door so that I can call my uncle (who lives in Logan) and figure out what the crap to do.

I had completely forgotten all about biology guy at this point.
And as I'm on the phone with my uncle, biology guy tries to call me.
Thoughts were circling around my head somewhat like Topeka, Kansas in the middle of a tornado.
Meaning.. It was chaos up there.

So after I get off the phone with my uncle, I call biology guy back and I explain things to him and say "So do you want me to just call you when we figure things out and you can come get this then?"
And. He. Says.
"Well, I'm actually already here. I was just calling to find out which apartment's yours. Is that okay?"

Sure.

I book it into my room and find pants that don't have toilet water on them.
Wash my hands.
And right as the doorbell rings, I just look hopelessly over at the pile of towels sitting around my empty toilet bowl that still won't budge.

I still have to pee.

He gets there. I practically throw the assignment at him (at least it felt that way), and tell him that I'm going to go work on my toilet.
I'm in my bathroom with my two roommates and one of them starts quoting kid history:
"This is so dross."
I don't even think, and I say the first thing that comes to mind:
"It's dreen... Why is it dreen??"

Then it occurs to me that I'm talking about a clogged toilet, and that only three out of the four of the people in the apartment know that the toilet is clogged with toilet paper, NOT poop.
The three were myself and my two roommates.
Our walls are paper thin, and the bathroom door was open.
And I said it loud enough for biology guy to have heard from where he was sitting.

Haaaahahaha.

That was the point where I gave up on it. I washed my hands and after biology guy was finished with his homework we went and got hot chocolate. By the time I got back, the manager had already brought over a snake (I know, creepy name right? Let's send a snake down the toilet to fetch out the problem with the pipes...)
So it's probably about 11 or so, right?
Yeah.
I still had to pee.

Welp, there ya go.

He who is without sin; Let him cast the first stone.

Catchin up.

Heyy! It's been a while... It's been, yeah.. It's been a while...
So. Sounds like I've got some catching up to do.
I have completed my first year of school successfully, and I have found myself wandering around my house.. Yet again!
This year was... Challenging.
To say the least.
But I had some very great people that I extremely admire that helped me along the way, namely my parents, Ally, Zack, my grandparents, and of course my friends in Logan that helped me escaped when necessary.. Including my roommate, Alison.

She's cool beans. We got along very well, and she and I are kinda like sisters or something now.

Anyways. Finals were cool, I conquered them like a boss.. Escaped with a 3.6 GPA for the semester. Awhyeah!

Well, here are some very nice end of the year pictures...

I took a few temple trips.. In the spring, the fountains turn on and every single tree is blossoming. The beauty of the temple grounds and the spirit of the temple ALWAYS helped me.

And, Logan has the PRETTIEST blossoms I've ever seen in my life.

I love to see the temple.. I'm going THERE someday!!

And that... That is placed in the parking lot at the Logan temple.

I learned how to play the Ukelele...

Went to the zoo with some of my very favorite people...

Alison and I ate a whole cookie monster from pizza pie by ourselves...

...And got a haircut.

Such were the last few weeks of my freshman year of college.

Surpriseee!!

So once upon a time... Or Tuesday... I woke up and saw that I had a missed call from my mom. I called her back and we were just kinda talking for a while and the doorbell rings. I say to my mom "Ughhh. Somebody's at my door and I don't want to answer it." My mom says "Well why not?" I'm like "I just woke up. I don't have makeup on and my hair's a mess and I probably smell bad. I'm just going to let them think nobody's home." But these people just keep ringing the doorbell and knocking so I go and stand right outside of my door, just looking at it, and still on the phone with my mom. I wasn't saying anything and my mom goes "KAITLIN!" But I didn't just hear it on the phone, I heard it outside too... I opened the door and my mom, Braden, and Derek were standing outside my apartment!

We had so much fun. It made me so happy. So they stayed Tuesday and Wednesday night and left today. Wednesday night we stayed in Brigham City. It was awesome :) I love my family. So much.

Conference.

Was incredible.

My stake was chosen out of a few stakes in Utah to sing outside of the conference center, right next to the protesters. Bishop announced that we were going a few weeks ago, and said there was probably only enough room for 10 of us from the ward to go. My roommate and I went running up to him right after Sacrament meeting and said "We want to go!!"
So we went.
We left bright and early Sunday morning, and at about 11:45 we lined the sidewalks and sang hymns as people walked through.
We sang till 1:45, people. That is two glorious hours of singing the hymns of God in the freezing cold rain/wind/snow/sleet/hail.
It was probably the best experience I've had this school year. There were so many people that passed through us, some mouthing the words and some full out singing the words. There were people who would stop and tell us "Thank you for singing!" And we'd just smile back. Some people would stand at the end of our lines and record us, or just sit and listen. We had one lady actually stand in the middle of us and have her friend take a picture as we were singing. In general, people just seemed downright happy :)
As far as protesters go though, they weren't too bad. It was pretty cold. There was ONE guy though...
So this guy is standing on the corner, holding a giant cross that says "Jesus Saves" (which is funny, cause that's what most of the songs we were singing were about..) in one hand and a flag with the Star of David on it (?) in the other. He comes up to us right as we're about to start a song and goes "THE SPIRIT OF GOD! LET'S HEAR IT!" And we weren't really sure what to do so we just started the song we were going to sing. He went over to our leaders and talked to them for a little, and after we were done our leader told us to sing the Spirit of God. THIS GUY SINGS THE WHOLE SONG WITH US! Then, after we're done, he goes "Man, I just love you Mormons! You're just so great!" Which made me feel pretty good, but also kind of confused me. I liked him though. He probably made my day.

Afterwards, we got to go to the Sunday Afternoon session. It was incredible. The spirit in that building is so great, and I absolutely love the feeling of dedicated members gathering together on their own accord to hear the words of the Lord's servants.

I love this smile. So much hope and comfort is contained in that man.

All of the other sessions were just as incredible.
I literally had to fight back tears during the Saturday sessions.
I just felt so happy to be listening to general conference.

On another note...
31 more days till the end of the semester!!
I.
Am so excited.
youhavenoidea.

Because one wasn't enough...

I'm posting again!!!

I don't know if you can tell, but I have a bad case of
S P R I N G F E V E R
right meow.
Goodgollygosh.
Just so much joy in my soul right now!
Because.
A few days ago.
I was grumpy.
Over something that I really have no control over.
And I realized.
"I don't have any control over this situation... Why am I wasting my time being upset over it?"
And it was like a switch flipped in my head.
Ever since then..
I've been obnoxiously happy and excited to be alive.
(Like, it's OBNOXIOUS.)

Also.
I have this thing I read when I'm down.
Can ya guess what it is...???

Well okay.
I read my scriptures, conference talks, and my patriarchal blessing.

But aside from that.
Somebody, a very sweet somebody who was very in tune with the spirit when this even occurred, sent me an anonymous note my senior year of high school, along with some freaking delicious cupcakes.
SO.
My point in bringing this up.
Is the fact that I want to say THANK YOU to this person.
Whoever you are.
Because you don't know how much it means to me that I was exactly the kind of person I wanted to be in high school. Reading your letter helps to keep me on track while I'm trying to find my place in Logan. It reminds me of how I should be acting, and helps me to know the way I can be acting.
So, again.
THANK YOU.
Whoever you are.
You have done more than you will ever know.

One Week.

One whole week!

And I am blessed.

Today, I've been really noticing a lot of my blessings.
Scratch that.
This whole week I have been.

ANYWAYS.
I thought I'd share. Cause really, how can I not?!


First of all, I couldn't have chosen a more beautiful place to go to school.

I'm pursuing a career that I've wanted to go into for as long as I can remember.

I have friends...




And family...


Who love me, care about me, and can see my potential.

And.
Last but not least.
I am the daughter of a Heavenly king, who loves me and knows me by name, and the sister of a loving Savior who loved me so much that he sacrificed himself for my good.
I've got a pretty good list going for me...
And that was the condensed version.

Sometimes...

I overreact about little things that, in hindsight, I shouldn't pay any attention to.
Then.
I say stupid things.

And then.
I get frustrated because I'm freaking out about nothing.. And saying stupid things about the same nothing.

BUT.
I just need to keep calm...
And carry on.
Whoaaaaamama.

Brand SPANKIN new.

That's right.
New semester.
New classes.
New people.
New goal to work for...
Yessir, life is good!

My new classes are so much better this semester. I am soooo excited for it.
Just to kinda give an idea of some things I've already done just this semester...


Harry Potter marathon.
Yes. Those are cupcakes with lightning bolts and "Harry Potter" on them.