Guest Blogger: Ben-a-min!

So, I couldn't think of anything that I particularly wanted to blog about today, so I asked little brother if he would be so kind.  And he said yes.  So here's Ben.

Hi, I'm ben and I'm definitely the most important thing that has ever happened to her. the next important thing will be her husband but since she decided not to get married and go on a mission she's stuck with me. Who she loves... I'm pretty sure. So yeah.

Well my absolute most favoritist moment with Katherine was probably 10 years ago. I was about 7 and I am an avid dreamer. In my sleep. And I slept talked, and walked and sang and would actually reply to people who talked to me in my sleep. If I know you you can try it some day. If I don't know you back up creeper and stay away, NO you can't watch me sleep.

So back to the story: I was dreaming this one time that i walked across the hall and climbed into my sister's bed. She got angry at me and sent me back to my room in her morning voice which sounds about fourteen percent better than the Grudge. So i did.

After waking up the next morning, I learned a very important fact. I  had not dreamed this episode, but in fact had really experienced it. She said if I ever shared this story she'd kill me so now I'm deaddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd.

Love ya sis.

Love ya too little bro.  :]

Angel's Landing

This past weekend I took a trip with some friends down to Zion National Park.

Our main goal was to hike Angel's Landing, so we drove down Friday evening, camped Friday night, hiked it Saturday morning, and went home.  It was a quick trip, but wonderful to be out in nature.  

Here are some pics from the hike.

Front: Erin, Evan, Alex
Back: Scott, Ryan, Levi, Me, Tegs, Bryan

 A little chilly.  But it felt great.

 The flat-top mountain behind the tree is the landing.

 A view from the trail.

 A view from higher on the trail.

Going up. 

A view from the top.

It was a LONG way down.

Another beautiful view from the top.

After making it to the top, I considered never leaving, and just living with all of the chipmunks that were scampering around up there.  It was so peaceful and the view was spectacular.  Being in nature is so good for the soul.  

But we eventually did come down, and after we made it across the backbone of the mountain and only had switchbacks left, we sprinted down the mountain and what took us an hour to hike up, only took us 15 minutes to run down.  

At the base of the trail, we even met a butterfly charmer.

(That seems like a very tempting profession.  I think I'll keep it in mind in case I ever decide to drop out of school.)  

Tandeming

Who knew that these bikes could be so much fun?!

And so funny.

Here's why I love this picture: 

1. Tegan is safe on the back seat, looking blissful and happy.

  2. Levi looks way too relaxed to be steering and NOT looking at where he's going.

3. I'm trying to smile for the camera and keep my eyes open when I'm really feeling terrified and screaming about as loud as I can with my eyes tightly closed.

It was quite the adrenalin rush.  I was literally shaking when I got off of those handlebars.

But it was such a fun time.  I haven't laughed as hard as I did today in a long time...meaning I haven't laughed like that for about 24 hours.  :]  

I love summer.

P.S.  The three of us were only on the bike together for maybe two minutes.  Then Tegan and I rode it home withOUT Levi.

P.P.S. It's because of posts like this that I'm grateful my Mom doesn't read my blog.

21!!!

Usually,

I don't like big crowds...or a lot of attention.

But every once in a while...

I love to party!

And since 21 is such a big accomplishment, I decided that I wanted to celebrate.  And I wanted to make it big.  So, I invited a lot of people, wore a new shirt, and bought 21 cartons of ice cream!

What a party it was.  We played "Just Dance" on the wii, talked a lot, laughed a lot, and I had a blast. It made my day.  And there were only 4 cartons of ice cream left by the end of the night.

Cells Planets

What a musical week this has been!

On Tuesday I went to a Chanticleer concert.  On Thursday I sang at the Women's Chorus Festival.  And on Friday I went to the Vocal Point Concert.  I almost sang at a nursing home too, but we couldn't get a hold of them to schedule a time.  I did sing every day in choir though, and at home, and hummed as I walked to class...until I passed within hearing distance of someone.  I just can't bring myself to hum when I can be heard.

Anyway, this week was wonderful.  Music is my life breath and I feel so fulfilled right now.  

Side note: If you are male, and thinking of "woo-ing" me by singing while I play the piano for you, trust me, it doesn't work.  Many have tried.  My attitude is, if I can play the piano and sing at the same time, you gawking at me while I accompany you is not as impressive.  (Maybe, that's arrogant.  Oh well.  I don't plan on changing that.)

Anyway, (wow a lot of distractions tonight) this week was great.  If you get a chance, here is the website for Chanticleer.  Just listen to their track demo while keeping in mind that it's only men singing.  Also, here is the link to Vocal Point's music video.  (Claim to fame: I'm a friend of the star (blondey), and a good friend of the one with dark, dark brown hair.)  

The Home Ward

There are lots of reasons why I love going to church in my home ward, but two reasons trump them all.  Those reasons come in the form of Kyle and Kevin Headen.

These two little boys are 6 years old, twins, and ward favorites.  While I was still living at home, they sat in front of us during sacrament meeting and provided some great, and sometimes much desired, distractions.

Now, a few years later, they still were great entertainment.

Before church started, I was sitting by myself in my family's pew while the rest of them were practicing with the choir.  Kyle and Kevin walked in with their Mom and sat down in front of me.  Not bashful at all, Kyle, the more rambunctious of the two, said, "Can I sit with you?" Our rule is that they can't sit with us until after the sacrament, so he had to wait, but he made sure to show me all of his books, and pictures, and toys before the first five minutes of the meeting were over.

Then we sang the opening song, "Joy to the World", which was played fairly vigorously on the organ.  Kyle was the only one brave enough to say (actually yell) what everyone was thinking: "Mommy, that was really loud!" I just bit my lip so I didn't laugh out loud and watched the shoulders of family in front of the Headens shaking with laughter.

The next form of entertainment came when the primary children went up on the stand to sing a Christmas song.  Kyle made sure he was in the front, and Kevin stood right behind him.  Kevin is just as funny as Kyle, but a little calmer.  He tries to keep Kyle under control, which usually has the opposite affect, ending up in some pretty funny situations.  So when Kevin thought that Kyle was singing too loud, he poked him.  Kyle quickly turned around and punched Kevin in the stomach.  Kevin just looked at the poor lady conducting the music for help.  She looked at Kyle and shook her head, to which he replied, "Well, he started it!"  Right in the middle of the song.  Again, I tried not to laugh as I watched their mom shake her head and whisper, "They're not mine, they're not mine."

As the song finished and as the children were leaving the stand to sit with their families, President Hurr, a member of our stake presidency, held out his hand to shake hands with Kevin.  Kevin just slapped the palm of his hand as hard as he could, giving President Hurr the best high five he could muster.  

After the song, Kyle finally came to sit by me and we colored while I tried my best to get Kyle to whisper.  It seemed like the quieter I whispered, the louder he yelled.  So, I stopped responding out loud until he asked, "How old are you?"  I whispered, "Twenty," to which he responded "Wow, I don't think I'll ever be that old....Well, maybe someday..."  And then, because he couldn't whisper, he had to go sit back with his family. As his Mom was dragging him around the bench and in his last act of desperation, he yelled, "Guess what?! There's a baby in my mommy's belly!"  Luckily, I already knew this news and held in the laughter pretty well, but oh my,  it was hard.  

Those boys are just too funny.

Roomies

Here are the reasons why they are so great:

Back massage trains

Sing-alongs
"Sistahhhhs!"

Making dinner for each other every night

Late night talks

Frequent ice cream runs
"I'm goin' to BoJangles!"

Squeeling (intentional or not)

California Girls

That one craft night
"Ethel, you shameless....!"

Writing human development papers

Getting a ride to work every morning

Lights on Temple Square

Planning a wedding

MASH

Teenage Dream

General Conference (we're late!)

Papa Murphy's

"Here's a little something to wear...."

Nursing Home Performances

Girl Talk

The Chocolate

And lots of laughing.

Vegas Baby!

I think it's funny that good, Mormon people like to go to Vegas so much.  I don't really understand it.  Maybe it's so that they can live on the edge a little.  Maybe it's curiosity.  Maybe it's just because it's the closest big city.  I don't know.

But for me, I like to go to Vegas because it's HOME.

This past weekend, three of my roommates from freshman year and I decided to go down on a last minute road trip.  It was much needed, and SO much fun.

Here are a few pictures from the trip:

The Four of Us

In the morning we went to Target and Ethel M Chocolate Factory: two great tourist attractions.

The real party started.

The Bellagio

Ali and I did not coordinate our poses, just a regular reaction.  :]

Dinner and a show at Excalibur.  

I ate this with my BARE (clean) hands.

A knight from the show who was lucky enough to receive both a flirtatious wave and kisses blown to him from the lovely lady on the right (Tegan).  Notice her hands in the shape of a heart.  I think he was married.

After the show we rode the New York, New York roller coaster...twice.  The second time we sat in the very front and this was the result:

So. Much. Fun.

On the way back, we pulled up next to a friendly taxi driver.  His exact words were "You can take a picture of me if you want." Okay.  I think we will, and we did.

What a fabulous trip.

Rest Home Funnies

Every other Wednesday I go with some friends to sing at a rest home.  We just sing oldies for an hour, then talk for a bit, and leave feeling great because service is wonderful, and the people are SO funny.

Here are some of my favorites:

The first day we performed, we were late.  Our audience was not happy:

Them: "You're late!"  Us: "Sorry, Oh we're so sorry..."

Them: "I have high blood pressure!" Us: "I'm even more sorry..."

Them: "This had better be good." Us: "Let me just apologize in advance."

The next time we were on time, and much more organized.  They sung along with us and some even danced in their chairs, which was priceless to see.  And the most common saying of the night was,

"Sing louder!"

And once we did sing louder, they told us,

"You know that if you don't strain your voice, you'll sound prettier."

Well, my friend Jake knew the perfect volume to sing, so when he finished a song, one of the ladies said,

"Oooh.  I bet you get the girls, don't ya?" 

The next week Jake and I sang a duet, and one thing I love about older people is that they think they are whispering, when they really are not.  Right in the middle of our song we one of them say,

"Are they married?"

Too funny.  I think I'll keep going back.

Rollin' Down the River

Imagine this scene,

but with trees of orange, red, and yellow scattered amongst the green. 

Trees of those colors usually indicate that is is autumn.

And in Provo, it is.

But I ignored that fact yesterday, and decided to float down the Provo River with some of my friends, in a little raft.  

Brrrrrrr!

But it was so worth it.

And p.s., my stats class is going well.  I feel much more confident now that I've been in class for two weeks and haven't had to do a lick of math.  :]

The Smell of J-Dawgs is in the Air

Here is one awesome thing about Provo: J-Dawgs.

At the risk of sounding like a teenager, (oh wait, I still am a teenager) I'm still going to say this.

J-Dawgs are seriously, the best hot dogs EVER!! They changed my life.


I'm not usually a fan of hot dogs; I'm more of a hamburger girl, but with a little ketchup and maybe some special sauce, J-Dawgs are delicious.

I went with Tegan today, and when we were there, we saw a guy who was taking a lunch break from biking. He was dressed up in the biker/spandex outfit, with a helmet on.  I don't know how she knew, but she said, "He's an actor.  I know he's an actor."  Later, we went over to ask him.  Lo and behold, he was Zach from Singles' Ward.  He looked much the same, but more Mormon.  That's the second Mormon actor we've run into up here.  Provo is obviously the place to be.

Let's Go...

fly a kite!

After trying very hard for 15 minutes to get it up in the air, Tegan finally realized the silly kite was put together wrong.  So she fixed it, and we had no problem getting it up after that.  Funny thing was, as soon as it was up in the air, the sun went down, and the wind stopped.  Oh well.  I guess we'll have to save our kite flying for another day.

Disgusting, Yet So Good

Currently, meaning right now, this very moment...

I'm HOME!!!!!

Ali, my good friend, was kind enough to be going to St. George and so I drove down with her.  She dropped me off in St. George and I hitch-hiked the rest of the way home...just kidding.  (My mom came and got me.  I don't think I'm quite brave enough to hitch-hike to Vegas.) 

Anyway, before we left, Ali and I stopped off at Burger King.  I got a number 6: Chicken Burger Thing (I don't know the official title), a Sprite, and French Fries.  Now usually I don't eat the fries, they're actually the only version of a potatoe I won't eat, but today I ate them all. And they were disgusting, yet so good.  I don't know why that is.  I must be a hungry college student or something... 

And here's one reason why I love being home: my mom just said to Ben (16 year old brother), "Are we eating with our fingers tonight Ben?" since he forgot to set silverware on the table, and he said, "Don't we always?"  Her response: "Well, that's true for you."  Ba ha ha! I love my fam-bil-y.

Mr. Ken

I remember that while I was growing up, I never had a particular fondness for barbies.

I had only two.

At least, I only remember having two.

One was barbie in a pink dress on a little remote controlled spinning track.  I just wanted her for the little track thing.  The other was Ken, actually scuba Ken, who came with a dolphin that actually squealed and was water proof.  (Well...what dolphin isn't?)  I only wanted Ken for the dolphin. 

And it's a good thing that I didn't actually want the barbies, because they came to a sad end.

When my Dad was the Bishop of our ward (and when I was still in primary), he decided to give a very powerful object lesson to the youth about inner beauty versus outer beauty.  In order to do so, he used my barbies.  His point was that barbies are probably one of the most attractive things (made out of plastic) that you'll ever see.  "But," he said as he dramatically pulled off their heads, "they have no brain, and no heart."  They're all about the outer beauty.  Great object lesson, huh?

Well, that was the end of the barbies and I was still happy because I got to keep the remote controlled track thing and the dolphin.  But, little did I know what an impact that lesson would have on my life.

So, this past Saturday, I went shooting with some friends.  And after shooting all of our skeets, we decided to set up some objects for stationary target practice.  Among these objects was Mr. Ken.  "And what did you shoot him with?" you may ask. 
An AK-47!! Poor Ken.  He didn't have a chance. 

And now he doesn't even have his outer beauty.

P.S. For a more in-depth post about this shooting experience, please click here.

Waking Up In the Morning

As some of you may know, I'm not exactly what you'd call a morning person. Some days it's hard to get out of bed and other days its harder to get out of bed. Today was one of those. Luckily, I have an awesome roommate to help me with that. So, this morning I was still asleep when I heard Tegan's alarm (which is the radio) go off. It sounded like a song by the Carpenters and it just kept playing. I thought maybe she was sleeping through it, so I cracked an eye open. Nope. She wasn't sleeping. She was sitting up in her bed, dancing. It's funny now, but as I said, I'm not a morning person, so I groaned, "Teeeeeg," and pulled my blanket up. As she turned it off she said, "Sorry, that's just one of my favorite songs," and started to sing it. I just bit my tongue and prayed that she'd stop, which eventually she did. I went back to sleep, only to wake up to my alarm five minutes later. Ahhh, mornings.

What's Been Happenin'

This past semester has been really busy, which is always good, but it means I have a lot of catching up to do on my blog. So here it goes. After surprising my family, the next big event was a camping trip with my four roommates from last year: Erin, Ali, Tegan, and Kelli. We went to a spot called Silver Lake which is fairly close to the Pleasant Grove area. We took a bea-u-tiful scenic drive up to the trail and then went on a bea-u-tiful hike up to the lake.

Us. :]The Trail

The ValleySilver Lake (and Mountains) The Fire and Our Tent (which all five of us fit in, no problem)

So, there's a funny story about the fire and our tent. As you can see, they are pretty close to each other. We kept the fire going until after dark and just let it go out on its own. Then we all went to bed, with our feet at the door, towards the fire pit. I was almost alseep when it suddenly got light outside. I sat up, along with everyone else, and saw the front of our tent glowing. We realized the fire had started up again and when we opened the flap, we saw that a little wind had helped it grow right along. Luckily, nothing actually caught on fire, but it gave us all a pretty good scare.

The next morning we had to go back to Provo, which was sad at the time, but I'm glad we decided to come back. Those mountains are still bea-u-tiful, but snowy now.

So back in Provo, I stayed busy with school and work and the awesome social life BYU offers. My ward this year is great, and I've had so much fun with the people here. About a month ago, I went with some friends to a tumbling gym. It was the kind of place where you have to sign an I-will-not-sue-you-if-I-get-hurt waiver before they'll let you in. So much fun.

Our ward also has great FHEs (Family Home Evenings). The first one I went to was penguin ultimate frisbee, boys vs. girls. For those who don't know, ultimate frisbee is THE sport at BYU. The penguin part meant being wrapped in plastic wrap from the hips to the knees. Only the boys had this great privilege. Sadly, they still beat us. But watching them trying to run made up for all the losses. Hilarious.

Like I said before, my ward is great and I was really blessed to have super neighbors this year. Ashley is one of those and a few weeks ago, Tegan and I went up to Heber Valley Girls camp to collect leaves and go on a mini-hike with her. She needed them to make bookmarks (that turned out so cute, by the way) and it was the perfect time to go. Not too cold, and the leaves had already changed colors. I love nature.

Tracks! Nice photography Tegan.Teg and Me.Ashley and Me.Mmm. So pretty.

The latest adventure was last weekend when we (the normal five) went up to Island Park, Idaho, to Ali's cabin. We just spent the weekend there and I'd go back in a heart beat. The five of us made a music video, which is only avaiable for private viewings. It's a little too crazy/embarrassing to post, but when you see me next, I'd love to show it to you. My favorite part about the cabin was the lake behind it. We got some sweet jumping pictures and the dock is even featured in our video.

Tegan

Erin and Kelli

Ali

Me.

The View from the Cabin (I love these scenery pictures)

What a weekend. Perfect to have right before a week with three tests, stake conference, and a million other things to do. (Don't ask me why I'm blogging. :] ) So, there it is. I'm all caught up and just lovin' life.

Home is Where I Am! (Was)

This past weekend I drove down to Henderson with Nana, Uncle Vedel, and Aunt Donna, jumped over my block wall, and crept in through the back door to surprise my family! Ben and Spencer were the only people home, and their reactions were pretty good. Ben looked confused at first, but just shook his head and said, "You're tricky." Spencer, who I was standing right behind, had to be told to turn around and he took a minute to register the fact that I was actually there, before he gave me a HUGE hug. Ah, what fun. My parents and I were at the temple, so Ben and I took Toasty for a walk around the desert, mesa area up the street. There's probably about a square mile of desert and Ben showed me a little oasis with a stream and some small waterfalls that were so pretty. I'd lived there for three years and didn't even know it. On our way back home it was getting dark, but we saw Toasty bite at something as it hopped away. A frog! Or a toad, I'm not sure which. But the nature lover/tomboy in me came out an I decided to catch him. He's about as big as a half dollar, and we put him in a giant pickle jar, but the poor,little guy didn't like the jar very much, so we let him go. I don't think my roommates would have appreciated a pet toad anyway.

When Ben and I came home with the frog, my parents were home and they acted very surprised to see me. Come to find out, they had actually seen Tegan's parents in the temple, who gave away my secret. What were the chances? But oh well, I'll get them another time.
That night, we all went to the strip to see the Bellagio Fountains. It was interesting to compare the BYU environment I was in Friday morning to the Strip environment I was in Friday night. Totally different feelings. But the fountains were beautiful and fun as always. I'll try and download a movie sometime when I can get it from Ben's camera.

Friday night I got to sleep on the top bunk of our bunkbed and Staurday was a homework day. That night we went to Marie Calendar's for dinner. The Razzleberry pie I had was delicious. Mmm. At church on Sunday, I had quite a few people ask what I was doing home, and I told some that I had quit school, but they didn't believe me. I guess that's a good thing. Monday morning I went for a quick swim with the boys and then drove home (to my Provo home). It feels like the long weekend went by so fast, but I'm glad I got to spend it at home (in my Henderson home).

Home from Camp

Today Dad and Spencer got back from scout camp. Here are some of the conversations we had.

After chatting for a while Dad proudly announces: I won a golf trophy.
Mom: Oh really, how did you do that?
Dad: They held a Potosi Invitational Golf Tournament and I won third place.
Mom: That's good. I know you love to win golf trophies. So, how long is it going to be on our dresser?
Dad: Never.
Me: It's on the mantel in the living room.

Later... (before I quote this, I should say that Spencer feels no need to do anything unless he's directly told to. We're working on that, but he's just the little "absent minded professor" in our family.) So, later...

Mom: Spencer, how often do you think you should take a shower at scout camp?
Me: HA HA HA!!
Mom: ...
Me: Sorry Mom. I couldn't help it.

And throughout the day, Spencer had to give everyone an individual performance of a song he learned. Here are the lyrics (to the tune of supercalifragilisticexpialidocious):

When I was a little scout
I never liked to eat.
They would put things on my plate
And I'd dump 'em on their feet.
But then one day they made this soup
I ate it all instead
I asked them what they put in it
And this is what they said:

"Oh, chicken lips and lizard hips
And alligator eyes
Monkey legs and buzzard eggs
And salamander thighs
Rabbit ears and camel rears
And tasty toenail pies
Stir 'em all together
And it's Camp Chef's soup surprise"

I went into the bathroom
And I stood beside the sink
I said, "I'm feeling slightly ill
And I think I'd like a drink"
Camp Chef said, "I've just the thing
I'll get it in a wink
It's full of lots of protein
And vitamins, I think"

"Oh, chicken lips and lizard hips
And alligator eyes
Monkey legs and buzzard eggs
And salamander thighs
Rabbit ears and camel rears
And tasty toenail pies
Stir 'em all together
And it's Camp Chef's soup surprise"!

Isn't that a lovely song? I've never been to scout camp, but it sure sounds like a lot of fun!

Blanket Tent

Before I came home this summer, I made a list of things I wanted to do with Ben and Spencer. There were two things on that list that we decided to do last Saturday: make a blanket tent, and play all the games in the game cabinet. No easy task, as you can see. We wanted to do this in one day, but after making the blanket tent, then playing games for six hours and only making it through 18 of them, we decided to extend the fun to another day. The tent actually lasted until today. It was quite the masterpiece. It almost made me feel like I could major in architecture or do what Christo and Jeanne-Claude do. Hmm, I'll have to think about that. Anyway, we used more than twenty blankets and the tent covered the living room, dining room, and part of the stairs. Even Toasty helped (sorta). We would have made it bigger, but we ran out of blankets (without taking the ones from our beds). Once you were inside, your were totally enclosed...and hot. So we moved two fans into our little abode and then started to play the games. It made for such a fun day and I learned that I'll always love to make blanket tents, no matter how old I am.