self centered

i am the most self-centered person i know. i really need to work on it.

camping

this is so funny. i love camping, but it is still so valid!

slacker face.

i was recently reminded that i am a member of the blogging world, (thank you krisy) and that i have been a bit behind on the updates of my life. it is amazing how when nothing big is going on, i could blog all day about the randomness that is my mind, but when i make serious life-changing decisions, i seem to leave my poor blog out in the cold. my sincere apologies.

to all four people that read this blog, i will update you with the short version of what has happened in the last month of my life.  

i am watching the results show of sytycd, so i'm having major add with the post. ma bad.

but now that we are already on that tangent, i am so fascinated by leg extensions. seriously. i think it is because i secretly wish i had long legs! o wait, that's not a secret.

o, and who is florence and the machine? they are preforming right now. i think it is a band, rather than an individual. hence the "they" reference; rather than "she." i'm kind of a fan. look them up!

okay, back to the original purpose of this post: my life the past little while. at the risk of sounding like a 14-year-old girl that just realized justin bieber is, in fact, a girl; my whole life has kind of turned upside-down.

not that it is a bad thing: i am quite pleased with my life. in fact, i am really happy about where my life is taking me! i just didn't envision myself here right now.

so....drum roll please....(no really, please make a drum roll sound)....I'M GOING ON A MISSION!!!!

are you shocked? most people are quite blown away when i tell them. i didn't share with many people that i wanted to go, so i think it appeared like it came out of no where for some people. sorry babes!

but yes, i am suppose to get my call on July 27th (fingers crossed). feel free to give me guesses so i can put them up on my map!

another add moment, i LOVE maps! sometimes i just sit and look at my map! the world is so freaking big! i can't wait to travel around and see more of it!

o, and i have a new goal. i am going to get a deck of playing cards every time i go on a vacation. then i will have playing cards from everywhere! if anyone else goes to a cool places and wants to bring me playing cards, i would allow this thing to occur. ;)

best. fourth. ever.

okay, this year was the best fourth of july ever! well, i might have just lied. this year was for sure tied for best fourth of july ever.

for one thing, aerials are now legal in utah! not like that kept us from doing them in the past, but now it is just better because there are so many more! and we could look out and see everyone else doing them too! so neat!

here is the real reason why though: i was in a real life tangled story. well, not the whole story, but the lantern part! a girl from my ward has spent a few months in china teaching english, and she brought back these sick lanterns! we had no idea, but then these lanterns started drifting to the heavens from the park by my house. i literally freaked out. it was exactly like tangled! it was so freaking cool! we just watched them until the went out, which was like millions of miles into the sky (slight exaggeration).

it was amazing and i am sure every 3-97 year-old girl is jealous right now. maybe even a few guys. just sayin.

shining armor is over-rated.

(this picture has nothing to do with the following blog post, save the minor tin foil detail. i just thought it was funny)

i wrote a long blog post about this, but then i realized i was pretty much just rambling on. the moral on this post is that i want a dork in tin foil that doesn't need to swoop in at every minor tiff to save me. I want a man that will just stick close and let me defeat my own dragons. is that so hard to find?

21 candles

i turned 21 yesterday. yay! i am really happy to be 21. probably the biggest reason is because my drivers license will get to switch orientations, which is pretty cool.

i wish i had taken more picture of birthday festivities, but there weren't really any. i went to work, then dinner with the family followed by some card games with friends. then night ended early so i had the blessed audrey come up for a chat.

overall, it was just a really chill birthday. not a big deal, but nice. thanks to everyone who wished me happy birthday! and to those who didn't, i know you meant to. :)

friday

i love the fact that it is friday. i have a love affair with friday. i would venture to say it is quite possibly the best day of the week. the jury is still out on that, but it's quite possible. there is nothing better than reaching 5:00 on a friday evening, leaving work, and having the whole weekend in front of you.

friday nights are better than saturday nights as well because it doesn't matter how late you stay out, you always have saturday morning to sleep in. this is not always the case with saturday nights. if you have church at 9:00, you are unable to sleep in, causing many saturday night festivities to be cut short.

not that i'm hating on saturdays, love them too! but there is always something that has to be done on saturday. things to be done are rarely scheduled for friday nights. the outcomes of friday nights are endless!

can you tell i am pumped for tonight?!?! too bad my stomach decided to be a drama queen and get upset. o well. play through the stomach ache!

intense

this week is the most intense week of the year. every year, about this time, i have about ten panic attacks and pull out numerous amounts of hair from my head. can anyone guess why?

that is right.

season finale week.

i have only seen one finale so far, and i'm already freaking out! holy cow! it is amazing how in some shows, you don't think they can throw you any other curve balls, but indeed, they do! wow! i just can't even describe it!

I LOVE SEASON FINALE WEEK!!!!

decided

**i am not generally a negative person, and i'm not a super intense planner/worrier. fyi.

yesterday i was freaking out about the future. for those of you that know me well, (which i assume is most, if not all, of the 3 people that read my blog) i am a super planner. i love to have everything planned out. not that i'm not a spontaneous person, (trust me, i do some pretty spontaneous things. ask my roommates) but i love to have my life planned out. i have had my life planned out since i was a child. i had a hard time graduating from college because i didn't have a plan for what was next in life. now that i have hit another crossroads time, it all came back, but this time, I HAVE A PLAN!

when i say i have a plan, it isn't really a plan for life because there are SO many outside factors that will come into play. my plan is a plan for how to combat my worry-wort nature. i have decided that instead of worrying about what the future has in store, and how to make sure my future is exactly how i want it, i need to only focus on making today the best day it can be. if i make every day great, my future will be great, and it will let me take it all in stride.

how am i going to do this? i'm going to volunteer more. i haven't decided exactly what yet, but i think that as i give my time away, i will get a much bigger reward of helping others. everyone knows about a "service-high." imagine having a service high all the time! talk about a fun life!

i'm also going to think positively about life. bad things are still going to happen, but if i have a better attitude, i will be able to take a bad situation and look at the positive side.

so yes, i have decided to not worry about what the future has in store and when everything is going to happen. i am going to be positive and focus on today, and how i can make it great for me, and for all those around me.

(if i ever complain to anyone reading this, remind me of what i am saying now so i snap out of it and remember what i am doing. thanks!)

untitled

i have no idea what to even call this post. these past five or six weeks have been indescribable at the very least. the term "emotional roller coaster" doesn't really seem to suffice. don't worry, i won't divulge the inner-workings of the craziness known as my mind, but everything is a lot better now!

i just want to thank everyone for being such great friends to me the past few weeks. i'm positive most people don't know how helpful they have been in my life recently. i have seriously been blessed with angels.

"opposition in all things" is such a true principle! its been the best and worst of times lately, and i am so grateful for those involved in the best of those times. :)

i don't want to get too churchy or anything, but seriously, wow. the gospel has brought me so much comfort. i just can't even begin to describe how much my testimony has grown the last little while. i am so grateful that i have the knowledge i do.

i love you all!

poor doggy

my dog has been sick. we were really concerned about him last week. we took him to the vet and the vet said that he has something wrong with a heart valve that doesn't close all the way (or something like that) and fluid is building up around his heart. sad day. he is old though, so there isn't much we can do.

after the vet, lick was SO out of it. it shouldn't have been as funny as it was, but it was quite funny. he wouldn't drink/eat anything, but we finally got him to drink by putting turkey in his water. he didn't move his head though, he just rested his nose on the edge of the bowl. it was really funny. when i find the video i took of it, i'll put it up.

**on may 2nd, my doggy died from congestive heart failure. his heart was too big for his body. that is very true. if he did something bad and you got mad at him, he would be your friend two second later. i love my puppy. forever in my heart!

one year ago...

this was me one year ago today. it blows my mind how fast time goes!

p.s. happy earth day!

the quail part deux

audrey and i went to la caille. it was so yummy! i loved every minute of it. i wish i would have taken pictures to show everyone, but alas, i did not. oh well. if you ever get a discount or a chance to go to la caille, go. it is just a fun place to go for the experience, and the food is yummy.

i should be in this.

this is literally one of the funniest things i have ever seen.

w.o.w.

do you ever feel like your life is just a big joke? like you look around at everything that is happening to you and those around you and you just have to life because you can't believe it is all happening.

it is like being punked in all aspects of your life.

it seriously is the weirdest thing and i can only laugh because i don't know what other reaction to have.

ah well, i'm going on a run when i get home from work. that will be nice.

cruise

(caution: marathon post)

last week was the sibling's spring break, so the parentals succumbed to my incessant pleading to go on another fun vacation. mexican rivierra cruise it is! talk about a fun time!

saturday:

we woke up at 4:30 so we could get ready and on our 6:30 flight. SO EARLY! but when you are excited, it makes it not that bad.

after landing in the world's smallest airport (lgb), we took a shuttle with our new-found bffs to the marina. one small problem. we got there at 8:00, a full three hours before we could get on the boat. how did we occupy our time? breakfast bagels were involved. AND, good news, david made a new friend! his name is homer.

after waiting for what seemed like AGES, we finally got to get on the boat. another small snag though; we couldn't go into our rooms until 2:00 because they were still cleaning them from the previous weeks inhabitants. what started out as not a big deal turned into a huge problem when i got tired and wanted to take a nap. kate+tired=not a happy camper. but 2:00 rolled around, and after a short power nap, i was up and ready to go! but that didn't coincide with when the boat was ready to go, so we had to wait about an hour to see the mountain of a ship back out of the port. it truly is amazing how these boats can maneuver.

the rest of the day consisted of more naps, exploring, and yummy food. this is the children's room. pretty much bomb.com. (pay attention to the room and who is sleeping where, because that will play a part in a later story).

(david on top, annie in the bed below him, and i am to the side)

sunday (sea):

sunday was so relaxing. napped up on deck, read my book, ate yummy food. there really wasn't anything else i had to do. utterly fantastic.

after dinner we went to the blue lagoon (our late-night treat destination) to get some yummy goodies. we had to get our fill while we could because they never had enough food (insert sarcasm here)! after drinking some hot chocolate, my mom and i decided we wanted to spilt a piece of blueberry cheesecake. (Little did we know this would become a nightly occurrence.) anyways, we asked the waitress for one piece of cheesecake to share and she looked at us like we were crazy. she proceeded to let us know that the pieces were small and we should get two, but we assured her that we only wanted one to split because we each didn't need our own piece. this is what she brought:

real sly.

you would assume our fun stories end while we are sleeping, but in the giles family, they just get better. we went to bed at like 10:00 because we were tired, and when you are free-style cruising, you can do whatever you want. anyways, i was in the middle of much needed rest when i was woken up by a huge bang. i reached over to turn on the light, and to my utter astonishment, i felt my little brother's head.

remember the picture above? well this:

minus this:

equals this:

yup, you guessed it. david broke the bar and fell off his bed. ha! after i was done freaking out, (i just watched a bio on natasha richardson so give me a break) we laughed about it for quite some time.

monday (cabo):

trust me when i say i was super pumped to go to cabo. we were going to go kayaking, and i love kayaking. unfortunately, the waves were quite large, so we ended up getting a taxi, seeing the famous "arch," then spending time at the beach.

here is the arch:

while on the beach, we met our awesome friend pedro! he was selling handmade bracelets and henna tattoos. did i get a henna tattoo? yes i did. did he ask me where i was from and did i say utah and did he ask me if i am mormon and did he say he is too as of five months ago? yes, that happened.

sweet henna:

annie came back from swimming and wanted a bracelet, so pedro proceeded to make the COOLEST BRACELET EVER! After seeing him make one, we each had to get one (obviously). We were all so enthralled. it was great.

tuesday (cabo):

on monday, on our way to the water taxi, we walked past a little booth that had a baby tiger and lion that you could hold to raise money to "save the cubs" or something like that. i stopped dead in my tracks to watch. it was the coolest thing ever. so can you guess what i absolutely HAD to do on tuesday? that's right, i had to play with little valentina.

because my padre (spanish for father, ya that is right, i know spanish) was so excited about the bracelets we got, we spent tuesday exploring the backstreets of cabo trying to find the string and plastic pieces for him to try his hand at bracelet-making.

hours later, we had been to a fabric store (purchased the string), a craft store (purchased the beads), and a hardware store. but we were out of luck with the plastic. no one had any of it! apparently they all get it from mexico city.

our quest was not in vain though, we got tacos at a super yummy little taco place. and they had the best fresca-like soda. yum! i very much am in love with mexican street tacos, chicken style, with fresca. wow!

while walking back to the boat, we saw a mariachi band walking up the road so we obviously had to stop them to play for us. 

we also saw this guy that spray paints pictures in like 5 minutes. it was amazing!

(my dad did end up buying some plastic off the guys making bracelets on the side of the road)

wednesday (puerta vallarta):

i had mixed feeling about puerta vallarta when we were getting off the ship. i was super pumped because we were going to drive dune buggies, but i was nervous because they were manual, and i haven't driven manual since the death of my sweet little kia, 3 1/2 years ago.

i had nothing to worry about.

the dune buggies were SICK! i went with my mom, while my dad took the other two kids. i let my mom drive the first two places because i was still pretty nervous, but then i just decided to drive the last two, and i am so glad i did! it was so much fun!

thursday (sea):

i don't like sea days. i got to read my book, which was nice, but it gets old really fast. plus, there was a storm, so the boat was a-rockin' and a-rollin'. i am so grateful i don't get motion-sickness.

friday (sea):

putting the three kids in one room was fine, and fun in most cases, until the last night. we were all so tired and ready to get off the ship, so let's just say, there were a few arguments that may or may not have occurred. i have realized that i am going to have to marry a guy that likes to sleep in relatively cold temperatures, because i CAN NOT sleep when it is hot. annie and david turned the heat up after i went to bed, so i woke up and couldn't go back to sleep because it was so hot! thank goodness princess and the frog with on.

saturday:

we woke up, ate some breakfast, then waited in what felt like the world's longest line ever, to get off the boat. it was like space mountain line status, except there wasn't the best ride ever waiting for me at the end. o well. i was ready to get off the boat.

we came home to snow. it sucked.

a day for fools

nate came home today and i am going on a cruise tomorrow. best april fools day ever!

tea party

there is one word that describes audrey and myself. that word is sophisticated. HA! i jest. audrey is very much sophisticated, i, on the other hand, am not. but i am working on it.

meet audrey. she likes hats.

and travelling.

i like to make faces and hoard junk food.

to each his own though right?

anyways, back to the the purpose of this post. audrey and i had afternoon tea today at the Grand America. why? because we are cool like that. finger sandwiches and tea (i got raspberry hot chocolate)...nothing better!

i would have taken pictures, but there was this group of high-school-aged girls that were speaking with fake british accents and taking BILLIONS of pictures. it was super annoying and we didn't want to be like them, so we refrained. maybe next time. 

even though i kept my camera away during tea, i did sneak a few pictures of the bathroom because it is SO COOL! (no worries, no one else was in there and audrey watched by the door) 

cool huh?

i recommend tea parties. they are so much fun. its a nice way to just sit and relax and chat for hours. but be ready to pee like 12 times because you drink so much. tmi?

facebook

on the last friday of every month, our office has an "out-of-office" bonding activity thing. anyways, today we went down to BYU to listen to a technology forum with Mark Zuckerberg. it was really interesting to hear from him. even though it was kind of education-focused, it was still really informative.

he encouraged students to be passionate about something. not only should we be passionate about something, but he said that we need to act on it. he also said that people rarely fall into positions, usually people create them.

my all-time favorite quote from the forum was when Senator Orrin Hatch asked Mark Zuckerberg what classes he recommended students take to learn the skills needed, and Zuckerberg replied with, "well, i didn't really stay in school that long..." (followed by an eruption of clapping from that audience). it was super funny.

here is a little clip

what would make this day better? we went to in n out for lunch. yes please! 

validated.

audrey sent this short film to me. i heart it.

huge.

check out these strawberries

huge huh! and very delicious! gotta love costco! 

new addiction

it is a good thing i am a working girl, because i have just succumbed to a bad addiction. well, i guess "bad" is in the eye of the beholder, because i think it's great.

two words.

vera. bradley.

how can you not love vera bradley! well, actually, i think there is a little following that doesn't like vera b., but i LOVE it.

in fact, i just purchased this small duffel. perfect size for an overnighter or other small trips. a true essential for any lady.



next purchase?



great bag for carrying around. fits everything you need! perfect for the upcoming spring/summer. (i know it is deceiving, but really, spring/summer will come)

i have always like vera b., but i've never been a proud owner. until now. now i just have to wait until it gets shipped to my house.

this is going to take forever...

blowing your nose is a scary thing...

this is hilarious.

st. patty's day.

st. patrick's day is probably one of my favorite holidays.

why?

zero expectations.

no presents to buy.

no deeper meaning to forget.

it's just an awesome holiday.

i celebrated by wearing my favorite st. patty's day sweatshirt, followed by frosting sugar cookies with green frosting. if i hadn't had a long day at work, green eggs and ham would have been involved. i feel like this year was a success!

it also helps that green is my favorite color.

dear mr. mars

on my way to work this morning, i heard "grenade" for the billionth time and realized that i draw contention with your song.

in all reality, what is the probability that you would ever actually have to catch a grenade or jump in front of a train for a girl? if it is actually something that could happen to you, maybe it is time to move to a different neighborhood.

maybe you could switch it to something that might actually happen. for instance, i would absolutely fall for a guy that would take a bee sting or sliver for me.

write a song about that. i would buy it.

its probably more likely that you will drop that piano you pushed up hills around the entire city (see below) on her. if you are the one that drops it, how do you think you would catch it before it crashes into her? i don't think you could.



i'm so sorry your lover wouldn't die for you. maybe she just doesn't think a grenade will be coming your way anytime soon, or maybe she thought you were a little stalkerish. maybe she had to "rip the breaks out your car" because you wouldn't stop following her to let her know you would "throw your hand on a blade" for her. just a thought.

on the other hand, if she is really a secret agent and faces these things every day, i fully support the diction in your song.

if this is indeed the case, how about we change your music video from you dragging/pushing a piano around the entire city to something a little more fitting.

the quail

audrey and i decided that if we work-out twenty times before april 16th, we are going to la caille. that is only four times a week. super easy. unless you work all day. less easy, but very manageable.



this place is calling to me.



doesn't this just scream "come in?"

i think yes.

two work-outs down, eighteen to go...

inspired.

This weekend was my stake conference. It was SO GREAT! I had the opportunity to hear from President Callister (Bountiful Temple President), his wife, and Elder Piper of the First Quorum of the Seventy. It was such a great conference!

highlights

:President Callister said, "Safety is not about WHERE you live, but HOW you live." I felt like this was very appropriate considering the natural disasters that have been taking place. I have been told all my life to expect an earthquake any day (Seriously, since I was in elementary school. I have been waiting ever since). This was a comfort because I know if will eventually happen, and no matter where I am when it does happen, I will be fine as long as I am living worthily.

:Elder Piper said, "There is no virtual Celestial Kingdom." He was talking about video games and other virtual things. He was saying that addictions are never satisfied, so people who are addicted to video games and other virtual things, will never be satisfied.

:Elder Piper also said not to be bothered by the little things. He told a story about a man whose wife always left her shoes by the front door and he tripped over them throughout his whole marriage. It drove him crazy. After his wife died, he said he would give anything to trip over those shoes again.

There is so much more a got from this conference. It was amazing how much it applied to my life!

bummed.

i know i am going to be made fun of for this, but whatever.

last night i wanted to stay up to watch the clocks change. weird, i know. but i have always wanted to. so i stayed up until two, and watch my phone from 1:58-2:02. i got bummed thinking that i was wrong with the hours and maybe it wasn't two, so i put my phone down.

i was wrong. it is two.

i picked up my phone a few minutes later and it said 3:05.

...guess i'll have to wait til october...

(october will actually be fun because i am going to set my alarm clock at two a.m. to see if it goes off twice!)

lent

so i am behind the times--what else is new? Lent began on wednesday (ash wednesday) and a few of my friends have been giving up something in the spirit of Lent.

i know i am two days behind, but i think it is really neat to sacrifice something for forty days, ending on Easter, when Christ made the biggest sacrifice of all.

when trying to decide what to sacrifice, i went back and forth between a couple different things. after hours in thought (really only a few minutes), i decided i am going to give up ice cream for Lent.

i LOVE ice cream. there is nothing better. well, there actually is, but it is still pretty great! i am in love with iceberg shakes. they are huge and full of love! favorite: chocolate, chocolate chip, cookie dough. every time my mother and i order it (we split it because it is SO BIG), it is complicated trying to get them to understand that we want both chocolate chips AND cookie dough. dumb.  



my second favorite ice cream creation has a recent development. audrey brought up some ice cream for a tv-watching party (how do people watch tv without ice cream, i know not), and it was AMAZING! Graeter's ice cream is originally from ohio, so obviously, i had never heard of it. a few of our friends that have lived in ohio always taked about it, but i never understood. until now. i don't know why it is so good, but it is great, and now carried at smith's!



the black raspberry chocolate chip is to die for.

last, but certainly not least, my love for sub zero: pumpkin, dark chocolate, pecans. there is something about the experience of sub zero that makes it so much cooler (literally) than getting ice cream at other places. i turn into a little kid while i watch them make it, and i am not ashamed to admit that.

starts like this:



then turns into this:



how cool! not my flavor, but a sweet picture!

this will be super hard, but my sacrifice will be nothing compared to the one Christ made for us!

the worst

you know how people have a list of things that are "the worst?" maybe it is just me (i'm a total pessimist apparently). anyways, my days has started out good, but two of my "worsts" have occurred. i don't know if this is a sign, hopefully not.

worst 1: untangling your earbuds. this needs no explanation. it just sucks. 

worst 2: waking up to a beautiful day and wanting to go running, but then you have to go to work, and by the time you get off at work (let's say, around 5:00), you are either too tired or the weather is no longer perfect. dumb. shouldn't i be rewarded for my desire to exercise?

this lady is totally BA. i want to be her. not really. i lied. she looks really intense. 

i will be this child. children have fun running right? i concur with myself.

maybe this will hurry spring along. maybe?