Katie the Superhero!

The Institute had another dance. This time the theme was Superheroes. It was so fun! We had a ton of people there and most everyone was dressed up. There was Two-face, the Penguin, Power Puff Girls, at least three Quailman, and so many others. But the best one was this one:

Me of course!

Cool, huh?

We had a photo area with a skyline backdrop and it was full the entire time. We put up signs saying "Pow!", "Ouch", "Bang", and my favorite - mostly cuz I came up with it :) - "Holy Awesome Dance Moves Batman!". It was a great turn out and I loved dancing the night away!

I love my life!

I had the most amazing weekend! I loved it!! Heck, the past month of weekends have been pretty much awesome! I've been hanging out with people from my ward just laughing, playing, dating, flirting, etc. and it's been so fun!

This past weekend was awesome because my friend Al came to town to visit!

You remember Al, the amazing woman who put up with being my Enrichment Counselor, one of my best friends, my go to person when I needed a good laugh, or some amazingly good food! Yep, her! She came down for the three day weekend mostly cuz she just missed Cedar and the amazing people lucky enough to live here.

We went out to breakfast Saturday. We were having so much fun talking and catching up that I think we sat at that table for a good hour after we had finished eating (I love that Cedar restaurants actually let you do that, instead of pushing you out the door). Then we decided to go shootin'. So we bought some bullets, earplugs, and some soda for our targets and headed out of town. Turns out, we're not very good shots, haha! We set out probably six or seven soda cans and we only hit three ('we' being the royal 'we' as in just Al. I didn't hit a thing!). Then we cleaned ourselves up and drove down to the St. George Temple for Stake Temple Night. I, not being endowed, just did baptisms while Al and Karrie went through a session with the stake. It was so nice to go the temple, I even enjoyed the almost two hours I had to wait for Al and Karrie to finish. I wandered around the Visitors Center and just enjoyed being on the temple grounds.

I didn't see Al again till Monday, she's popular down here and had to visit lots of people. We were trying to figure out what to do, when Al remembered that she forgot to get me my Christmas present.... a car wash (have I mentioned how much I love this girl?! Only she would think of something like that! And only I would be excited to have that be my present). So we hopped in my car and drove to the car washing place. The following pictures depict the car washing adventure:

The I heart Katie that Kayley wrote on my hood when I went up for her farewell in November.

Al scrubbing away at the dirt.

My car was too dirty for the automatic wash, it needed some TLC to get all the dirt off....

Haha! I love her!

Sadly, the dispenser that held the wipes to dry my car was broken. So my car is clean, it just has some water spots all over it :) Al was less than happy about that and she's already decided that next time she's bringing her car cleaning supplies and really getting it clean and pretty.

After cleaning the car, we still wanted to hang but didn't know exactly what to do, only that we wanted to be outside because it was a beautiful day. So we drove around town, with the windows rolled down and blaring music, just exploring. We happened upon this memorial site of all the wars (WWI, WWII, Vietnam, Korean, Iraq/Afghanistan) and the soldiers that have died fighting them. I had never seen it before and Al wanted to see it again, so we stopped to take a look.

Al next to the globe that shows were the major battles of WWII happened

My turn!

It was a really cool place, in a beautiful setting. We were there for a while just looking at the different things and talking. While we were there I kept flashing back to my Daddy-Daughter Date back in August. I kept thinking how Dad would enjoy visiting the memorial and that if he were to come visit me *hint, hint Daddy* I'd take him to see it. Course I'd have to brush up on my history before then so as not to have a repeat of the last Daddy-Daughter Date were I almost failed my history quiz :)

Chillin' on the bridge not far from the memorial site

Isn't Cedar gorgeous!?!??

We headed up the canyon for some more exploring. I pulled over to the side of the road at some random spot and we got out and played around in the snow for a bit.

It was so fun to have Al here! I love her! And to make the weekend even more amazing, I got to see Shelly and Jason last night too! Grandma and Grandpa Schofield took them up to the farm to play for a few weeks so Rach could have a break with only one kid to look after instead of three. They stopped in Cedar for an hour to let the kids get their wiggles out and so Cindy and I could see them. I was so excited that I left FHE early so as to not miss a minute with them. I pulled up just as they were getting out of their car. Jason, as soon as he saw me, tried to wiggle out of Grandma's arms, reaching for me and laughing. Then once he was in my arms he just snuggled up close to me and it just made my day! I love that kid! Too cute! Shelly was so excited to see us that she ran around the room a few times before settling down to give us a hug. I had gone shopping earlier that day and gotten them some Valentine's presents. When I gave them the presents, Shelly was so excited and would not put it down! Jason seemed preoccupied when I tried to give him his present, so I just held onto it for a bit. A few minutes later he came over to me carrying a basket full of toys and gave me the basket, saying "present!", then he grabbed his present. Apparently he felt he had to give me a present too :) I love those two! They are so adorable! I'm glad I got to see them, even though it wasn't for very long.

My trip up north with the talkative one

Today my class, plus others from the Hospitality major and our professors, drove up to Salt Lake to tour the Salt Palace Convention Center and the SLC Marriott Downtown. Of course, in order to make our 10:30am meeting time, we needed to leave Cedar at 6:30 AM. I got up at 5 so that I had time to get ready and clear the snow off my car (there was a lot! It snowed ALL day yesterday!) and still be on time. I arrived at the school parking lot with plenty of time to spare and proceeded to freeze with the other students while we waited for Prof. Steed and the other drivers to turn up with the vans. They finally came and we all piled in. I some how managed to find myself the only girl in my van of five. I didn't plan it, I didn't even want it cuz two of the guys were Asian, the other I didn't know and he wasn't very cute, and the driver was some old guy I had never seen before. But I stayed put - mostly because I had the back row all to myself - and waited to see what kind of a trip this would turn out to be.

The driver climbed in, introduced himself as Jeff Fisher, and told us that he was someone we wanted to know because he could help us get a job. I took note of that very intriguing fact - I'm always on the look out for a job - and since Jeff seemed nice enough, I decided that I could enjoy this trip. Then the trip began and I started to question my first assumption. Turns out that while Jeff is a very nice guy, he is also VERY talkative. And to someone who is not a morning person and who had to wake up incredibly early, it was too much for me to handle. So after maybe half an hour, I grabbed the pillow and blanket I had brought for just such an emergency and slept till Nephi. I was awake the rest of the trip and tried to participate in the conversation - with enough rest I can be pleasant company - but it was hard to hear or be heard, so I mostly just listened to what I could understand. When we got to Salt Lake, Jeff dropped us off at the Convention Center and went on an errand to try to persuade people to donate money to the university.

(Side note: the next two paragraphs are about the tours of the Salt Palace and Marriott. If you don't care about those, you may skip them and continue to the rest of the story of Jeff, the talkative one. Over and out)

I was SO freaking excited to see the Salt Palace Convention Center! I want to go into the convention industry and to be able to see and tour the biggest convention center in the state just made me happy! And oh my heck! It did not disappoint! I walked around that place open mouthed, just ogling at everything I saw. It was huge and amazing and incredible and just plain awesome! I would so love to work there. They can fit 93 basketball courts with 18 ft buffer inside their exhibit hall. The ballroom is 45,000 sqft and pillarless - that's insane. During the 2002 Winter Olympics the Salt Palace was the media center for all of the different media from around the world. They were in lock down mode and they had their own fire department, medical team, zip code, McDonald's...everything! They were pretty much their own city because the major security needed to keep everyone safe prohibited anyone from entering or leaving without going through 3 different security check points. Can you say huge and awesome!?! Now I know that most of the conventions - plus room nights in surrounding hotels - they put on can fit inside one hotel in Vegas, but I don't like Vegas and it's in a category all of its own when it comes to conventions, so we're not going to talk about that :) Salt Palace just made me happy! The people who showed us around and came to talk to us were really nice, open, funny people and they seemed really cool to work with.

After Salt Palace, we went to SLC Marriott Downtown - which is just across the street. It is a really nice property as well. High end, well staffed, and has a good sized meeting space. I must admit that I didn't pay as close attention as I should have during their presentations. They came off as very knowledgeable, funny, interesting people, but it just didn't have the wow factor for me personally to keep my attention when they were talking about rooms and front desk stuff. The events manager spoke to us as well and I enjoyed what he had to say, that's what I want to do and it was interesting to hear the hotel side of that job.

Once the tours were over, we all piled back in the vans. I ended up in the front seat - the boys all wanted to sleep, but Jeff needed someone to keep him awake and that job landed to me. I was a little nervous that it could turn out to be a very long drive if we didn't find some common ground to talk about. I needn't have worried, we found plenty to talk about. Though it was touch and go for a bit in the beginning. He talked for bit about stuff I don't remember and then he turned to me and told me to pick a topic. Who does that?! No one has ever asked me to pick a topic, usually they tell me it's my turn to talk - meaning that I have to do more than respond to questions. I sat there for a minute trying to think of a topic and guess what I come up with... polar bears. I have no idea why I thought of polar bears, I have even less of an idea as to why I actually said it out loud. Jeff just sat there, in shock, then busted up laughing. He had thought I would talk about some deep question I had been struggling over or some such thing. And I pull out polar bears. It was pretty much epic.

I guess he decided that I wasn't going to be much help in the conversation department because he started asking questions about my family, why I came to SUU, all the normal small talk questions. When I mentioned that Cindy is my aunt, he was all sorts of surprised and told me that he knows Cindy really well (Jeff says Hi Cindy, by the way), which makes us family. Then we somehow found ourselves talking about why I decided to not go an a mission, what music I like to listen to, what Dad does for a living, back to the mission topic, off on another random his family story, where I want to work and what field. It seemed that nothing was off limits, which turned out to be very true because he was telling me something about senior couple missions and I told him that I've always thought it would be fun to go on a mission when I'm old and married. As soon as I said that he just yelled out this "OOHHH you just turned on a light". I was all sorts of confused. He said I had been a mystery, a dark room, and now I had just shined a light in one little section. Then he said something about willing to go with someone I love/trust (I'm not entirely sure what he was saying, he was half thinking out loud at this point) and then he asked me if I'd ever had anyone close to me die. I said three of my grandparents are dead.

"Were any of them tragic?" (I didn't, and still don't, know why he went to this line of questioning. He never explained and I was a little too scared to ask. Now I wish I had.)

"Umm...yeah. Grandpa's was. We lost him to Alzheimer's long before he died. Most of my memories of him are with that disease. And he looks so much like my father that I felt like I was looking into the future. A future that I didn't want."

"Mmmmm.....another light turned on" was all I got in response.

I asked what he meant by the dark room/mystery thing. He told me that I had been hiding secrets, things I didn't want him to know until I felt I could trust him. And that is very true. I do that with everyone. I don't trust easily. I don't tell things about myself, even the little day to day things, to those who I don't trust or who don't pick and prod until I tell. I wish I knew why I don't trust anyone anymore. I use to talk Mom's ear off while cooking dinner and Dad heard all of my deep, scared thoughts. Robby would get letters filled with pages and pages of things I was dying to tell him. Friends would hear all the little tiny details of my encounters with the boy I liked. Not anymore. I rarely call home, I don't write as many emails, friends may know who I like, but nothing more. It's like I've built this castle complete with moat around myself and only those who know the secret handshake or are brave/stubborn enough to cross the moat and make their own door, get to come in. There are many people who've crossed the moat and are wandering around the castle trying to find a weak spot to make the door. I just wish I was brave enough to make my own from the inside out.

Enough of this introspective thinking, though I'm sure I need to spend lots more time on it, it's just not something I'm ready to face yet. Anyways, after he threw that bombshell at me, Jeff was quiet for a minute. Then he started to talk about his contacts in D.C. (that's one of the places on my list of possible job destinations) and how he could get me in contact with them to see if they have any openings. We talked about that for the rest of the trip. When he dropped us off at the school parking lot, he told me that he's got all kinds of ideas for me and that I have to get in contact with him soon. So all in all, my trip up north with the talkative one could turn out to be the best class trip I've ever taken.

To the guys...

Last night instead of doing the sensible thing and actually going to sleep, I stayed up until 2am reading this book:

Sorry it's small - I couldn't find a bigger picture of it.

It's by Alison Armstrong. Whom I love! She has some great insights into men, how they think, what drives them, and so much more. I make it a habit to reread her stuff every few months just to help me remember how to bring out the best in men. Ever since the family introduced me to her work, I have seen a major improvement in the relationships I have with the men in my life. She has a workshop, Making Sense of Men (plus many more), that I would love to go to, but it's too rich for my blood at the moment. Some day I'll save up enough to go.

What struck me the most this time around was the section on how men act when they are Charmed and Enchanted. When they're Charmed and Enchanted the men want to spend time with us, protect us, make us happy, all the things that I desperately want a man to feel towards me. She says "When a man is Charmed and Enchanted, he'll become a friend, mentor or big brother figure. You cannot have too many of them. Treasure each of these men. They'll give you a lifetime of love, care and attention."

As today went by, I had that running through my head. Each time I thought of it, a different guy would stand out in my mind as one who was Charmed and Enchanted. It started off with Dad, and ran down the list of brothers. Then something happened I wasn't expecting. I began to think of the men in my ward and the many, many ways they have shown this attitude towards me. For a lot of them, their affection stops at the friend or mentor stage. And I am so grateful for their friendship. For the few that seem to go beyond the friend stage, only time will tell how that all turns out. I am even more grateful for those men because it tells me that there is hope, that I am Charming and Enchanting, and that I can one day find the guy for me.

So to all the guys in my life that are Charmed and Enchanted, in all of their varying degrees, thanks. Thanks for making me feel special, wanted, loved, and protected.

This morning at 9:24 am...

..the pipes rattled in the ceiling of my ceramics classroom. We all looked around confused as to what would make that noise. Since it didn't last more than a second or two, the teacher continued on without missing a beat. It wasn't until someone in my first aid class was talking excitedly about how they had survived something this morning that I finally figured out that the noise I heard earlier was indeed - dum, dum, dum! - an earthquake. Not just any earthquake, but one of 4.1 magnitude and I survived!

HAHAHAHAHA!!! ahem....sorry, typing all that with a straight face was too much for me.

I didn't even feel the earth move. In fact I completely forgot all about the pipes rattling until I heard that girl talking hours later. Growing up in California has made me somewhat of an earthquake snob, I guess. While most people kept talking about how weird it was to feel the earth move and see their belongings wobble, I stared at them like they were crazy. I bet if I had been asleep at 9:24 this morning (and trust me, I wish I had been!), I would have slept through it. Unless something big and heavy actually falls over, it's not considered an earthquake in my books. But I won't rain on Cedar's parade, I'll just laugh quietly to myself and wonder if this is akin to people looking at me weird when I think a little sprinkle is rain.

So I've been told...

That my last post was less than clear, quite muddy in fact. Sorry, it all made sense to me at least! :) And just to be even more random - cuz that's what is so awesome about a blog, I can do whatever I want! - I'm gonna post this picture:

And the only thing I have to say about it is this: I love Walle!

Where to begin... I have no idea.

There have been so many things happening lately that I don't really even know how I'm coping with it all. Things have just been thrown at me and I am trying to catch them all, but it doesn't always work out too well. I am one semester away from graduating college and as such, I get bombarded with the question "What's next?". Too bad I have no idea! Up until now I had some kind of plan, but now that's looking less and less like the right option. Instead a new, completely unexpected course has popped up and if I take them up on the offer (and surprising even myself, I'm almost seriously considering it!) it would mean taking a big leap of faith that we wouldn't end up killing each other (or the kids) by the end of it, that where they move to is really a good place for me to go, that I will be able to find a job there in the field that I want (cuz trust me, I'm getting a job once they're settled, part time at first. I love the kids and all, but I didn't go to school for five years just to be a nanny and I'm gonna want an escape at some point, I've learned that one enough over the years), that there will actually be a social life for me that gives me what I need and want... I could go on and on about all the "if's" and "what about's", I've thought of many! But I won't, cuz you don't want to hear about them, they're only interesting to me, the one they impact. I will tell you that interestingly enough, taking that big leap of faith sounds oddly fascinating and exciting. It's been a while since I've done something like that (2007 to be exact, when I flew across the country to work for the Mouse) and just jumped with no real planning at all. I still have time to think it over and that just might be my biggest problem. It's hard to just jump, when first you have to wait 4 months to finish college.