Gratitude Project: DAY 1

Two days in a row of blogging? Yippee! I've accomplished on of my hardest goals in life and can now say that I truly lived life to the fullest. Juuust kiddding. But seriously, blogging consistently is a big deal for this chick right here cause it's never happened before. So lets all have a mini celebration by ourselves at our own computers... go ahead and hit play on your itunes and have a 30 second private dance party because this is indeed something to celebrate!

K. Moving on.

I wanted to do a 30 days of Gratitude project for the entire month of November since I have a LOT to be grateful for (surely more than 30 things) and its November which means it is Thanksgiving where we give thanks for our blessings (duh.) But of course I am behind as with everything else in life (which is a true story, not an exaggeration) so lets make this the 24 days of Gratitude project. How's that for unique?

DAY ONE: ARIZONA

Arizona aka the Grand Canyon State aka 'Zona aka the most glorious place in the whole world aka heaven. All of those are acceptable names for my most favorite state ever. My love for Arizona grows greater and greater each time I leave and realize how truly beautiful it is. It's true, you don't really appreciate things until they are gone. Moving to Utah has made me realize how great Arizona is.

People always try and convince my AZ heart that there are so many negatives about living in the valley (no change in seasons, its too hott, its all cactus and no pretty green lush trees, blah blah blahhhh) and that I'm weird for loving it so much. And i say, THEN BRING ON THE WEIRDNESS! Cause all this AZ love isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

Five perks of Arizona life are as follows:

1) Circle K's on nearly every corner = 79 cent 44 oz beverages = 44 ounces of coke slurpees = the fulfillment of all your dreams. Whenever I return to the valley of the sun, my first stop is always Circle K.

2) THE PEOPLE! oh my gosh gosh gosh. Most of the greatest people I know live in//are from Arizona. I'll always love this place for bringing me to some of the most influential people i know. It's funny because even though I currently live in Utah, I still mostly associate with Arizonians. We all bond over our love for Arizona and like to constantly remind others of where we are from. ARIZONIANS UNITE.

3) Real authentic Mexican food. K once I moved to Utah i realized how great the Mexican food in Arizona is. The hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurants in phoenix? DIVINE. Also, the Arizona burrito from Filiburtos is among my favorite foods.

4)  The sunsets. Honestly, of all the places I've visited, never have I ever seen a prettier sunset than those Arizona ones. They're seriously breathtaking. I can't even do it justice.

5) The outdoors! K Arizona is a superb place for hiking, lake-ing it up, running, exploring, etc, etc etc. Seriously, hiking in AZ is one of my favorite activities, along with canoeing on Tempe Town Lakes and running in the Riparian Preserve behind my house. I LOVE IT I TELL YOU!

5b) Gilbert. Gilbert deserves its own sub category cause truly it rules. So much character and greatness. Its a town that has both farm life/big open green acres and shopping malls and normal life stuff. Its the perfect balance of a slow and fast paced lifestyle and I think its the greatest town ever. It has the cutest main street, best food, best wildlife, best people, prettiest homes, AND we are even getting our very own temple soon!

Obviously, five is a VERY select few of the reasons why Arizona is the greatest. I could go on all day and write a 575784395610 page essay on the greatness of AZ but I'll stop here because I don't want to scare anyone with my obsessive personality.

Arizona, thanks for never turning your back on me and for being one of my truest friends. I love you long time.

Farewell October!

First, can i just say UHHH WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!? I feel like it was literally October 1st barely a second ago. Time.. such a tricky little guy. Lets do a quick wrap up on October because I think it was seriously my favorite month of the year thus far! Also, lets blame my non existent October blogging on all the fun I was having during the most glorious month of the year!

Let's see...

October 1-3: took lots of midterms, attended advisement meetings, had a visit from Lacey to her old summer stomping grounds, got my car back (Hooray! A word of advice, don't rear end anyone. Ever. You'll have to pay hundreds of dollars to fix your car, talk to insurance companies more than you'd ever wish upon your worst enemy, have no car for a while, pay a ticket, and do driving school. Just trust me on this one. Don't do it.)

October 4: I work at this cool place where they throw cool end of the year parties. This year they booked a private Imagine Dragons Concert and I took my dear roommate//best friend Jess. IT WAS A PARTAYYYY!

October 5-6: CONFERENCE WEEKEND. Eek! Greatest conference ever. Seriously. So inspiring. Plus, I got to go to the conference center and watch it live with one of my favorite people.

October 7-10: May or may not have hit rock bottom with the stresses of school/work/boy life and may or may not have eaten out almost every meal. Hey, you only do college once.

October 11: My baby Brittlyn came back to Provo from her three month adventure in Ecuador! Provo has never been better I tell ya!

October 12-13: Weekends are my favorite days. For obvious reasons, duh...they are always full of fun, non stressful situations! For example, I went to the BYU football game, took a three hour nap with my roommates in one bed, ate ice cream, ya know all that weekend shenanigans us collegers do.

October 14-18: The usual school/work week. With a few fun surprises along the way: I got to go to lunch in salt lake with one of my favorite girlfriends, got some fun birthday packages, got the internet in our apartment fixed aka best day ever (it had been broken for over a week. Do you know what that means? No Netflix, no Apple TV. Heartbreaking)

October 19: I TURNED 21! Holy smokes, i'm basically a grandma now. It was a super fun day despite the stresses of being an actual adult! :) just kiddinggg it's already become one of my favorite years! Plus, Legal Vegas trips are coming at you in the near future. Prepare yourself.

October 24: I went to an advisement meeting with the biggest smile ever cause I was planning my future and so stoked on life and left with tears in my eyes and the biggest lump in my throat. Yup... I have FOUR more years til I can graduate. Yup...I've been in school for 2 & 1/2 already. Yup... I am changing majors. Yup... I will keep you posted.

October 31: Ended the month with a trip to my favorite state in the world for my best friend's wedding! Such a happy ending to such a glorious month!

Various October Days: There were tons of the typical provo Halloween dance parties going on that of course we all had to participate in!

**Other noteworthy things about October: 1) My love for bowling grew and grew.. I think my roommates and I went at least four times. Which is a lot considering I haven't gone at all this year until October hit. 2) I doubled (plus some) my kiss count and while it is a little tiny bit shameful, my obsession with boys is going strong and I ain't even mad about it. 3) October in Utah is absolutely STUNNING and the weather is spot on.

Until next year October!

October, how I love thee

Happy October! Yes, I realize it is now October 3nd, not October 1st and it's already been October for over 48 hours and that I am way behind in this October love fest post... but you know what, I don't even care cause I just love October so so much.

Some note worthy things about this beloved month:

1. Its my birthday month! WOOOO! As well as a lot of my favorite people's birthday months aka Rachel, Adam, Grandpa, etc, etc, etc. Seriously, who doesn't love birthdays?? October is a good month to be born just in case you were wondering or planning any births in the near future.

2. Its the month of HALLOWEEN. Ohmygosh... k lets discuss. Chilly weather, soup in orange pumpkin shaped bread bowls, the cutest little kids in the cutest costumes going door to door saying "trick or treat," endless amounts of candy, parties with friends, an excuse to decorate your house (or apartment) and do little extra special things all day long? Whats not to love?

3. It starts to get a little chilly outside. SO.. here's the deal it's not supposed to snow until after Halloween BUT the weather Utah has already been receiving is starting to make that look not so promising.Which breaks my little Arizonian heart. Seriously, snow is not my thing and it may or may not make me a little bit depressed. October gives me fall.. the perfect mix of summer and winter. The perfect weather for picnics and bonfires. For get togethers and outdoor parties. Seriously, its the best. I wish everyday could be a fall weather day

4. All things PUMPKIN! Pumpkin carving is like one of my favorite past times. Except the past few years I just carve out the inside and make pumpkin seeds with it and then paint the outside! Seriously, it's fun. Not even lying. My favorite part about carving though is going to the pumpkin patch and picking out the pumpkin. They are all so CUTE. Also, can we discuss the deliciousness of pumpkin bread?? And chocolate chip pumpkin cookies?? And the pumpkin bars with the cream on top?? GET IN MY BELLY.

5. Can all my Arizonians say Schnepf Farms?! Or Merticullio Farms place on Power and Elliot??! Cutest places ever. So many good memories at them both. Ah.

6. The leaves starts to change. I don't know about anyone else but I feel like the leaves changing is a fresh start at life altogether. Am i crazy? Does anyone know what I'm talking about? Seriously.. i feel like October is like a new beginning and its one of the greatest feelings in the world.

October, thanks for being one of my favorite things and making me the happiest girl in the world. I love you

Currently..

Okay, okay yes... I realize that its been coughfivecough months since I have blogged. You see, every semester I tell myself I am going to blog consistently and use this to document my life and all that jazz and then... every semester it doesn't happen. It's kinda comparable to me telling myself that I am going to start running, eating healthy, exercising on a regular basis, etc, etc, etc. You catch my drift? Basically, lets not set ourselves up for more disappointment and just get used to sporadic blog posting so its easier on all of our hearts.

Currently Kaley is...

Reading: My statistics lecture book aka hell on paper. Like really BYU... I am just wanting to be a preschool teacher and teach little 3//4 year olds the alphabet, their colors, and maybe the seasons if we are feeling really daring and up for a challenge. Why oh why must I learn about box plots, quartiles, and computing data?

Smelling: This fancy $20 deodorant I just bought from Nordstrom. Seriously I know what you are thinking.. $20 for deodorant? WHAAT? Just trust me on this and start saving your money to buy it cause its probably the greatest thing to happen to me all year long.

Working on: Making my apartment cute. I recently moved in with some of my favorite girls and I am so happy and it is so great except our apartment is a little harmful on the eyes and slightly concerning to me. Our apartment has already been given the nickname, "The Dollhouse" because the walls are covered in blue and white striped wallpaper and all the furniture perfectly matches the blue on the walls. Honestly, its a little bit stressful....like, how do you decorate that? Oh well, I'm accepting it! Its kinda quirk and vintage (we're talking 1987 vintage)... right???

Watching: What to Expect When You're Expecting. Clearly I'm baby hungry and Chace Crawford hungry. What can I say? Babies are the greatest, most heavenly things on this earth ASIDE from hott boys. I don't know about you but I feel like Chace Crawford is the definition of a hott boy. And this movie has both! It's a win-win really.

Loving: Missionary letters//emails. OH MY GOSH. K seriously, having your best friend on a mission is kinda sucky and really lonely (just kidding, its great that they are serving the Lord) but oh man, nothing compares to their letters. Its thee BEST. I love it and they always make me want to be better. Seriously, I just adore those cute little missionaries.

Excited about: FALL! K, Utah has the prettiest falls. Also, Fall contains my birthday, some of my favorite holidays, and football season aka hott boys in tight uniforms (can you tell I'm a little boy crazy lately?)

Shopping For: Absolutely nothing at all because I'm a poor college student trying to save my money. Its a rough life sometimes.

Well...that was fun! Lets do this again soon, blog!

xoxo  

Fear

Okay, I'm gonna admit it.... I have a lot of fears in life. Some rational, most of them irrational. Fear of things I have no control over. Things that I know, with all of my heart and all of my soul, will work out just fine and be so great in the end.

It's a constant battle with my heart.

And its frustrating. And annoying. And I get so mad at my self because if I just had adequate faith I wouldn't have so many fears about the future.

AND THEN, i heard a quote by Elder Holland about fear that just about broke my heart. He says:

"I submit to you that this may be one of the Savior's commandments, that is even in the hearts of otherwise faithful Latter Day Saints almost universally disobeyed. I'm convinced that none of us can appreciate how deeply it wounds the loving heart of the Savior of the world, when He finds that his people do not feel confident in His care, or secure in His hands, or trust in His commandments."

Yeah, heart broken.

I know I shouldn't have fears. I do have faith. I trust Him.

So bloggy people, goal for the day//week//month//year//life is to stop fearing. My goal is to be fearless.

I'm just happy to be here

After a short (cough 1 year and 3 months cough) break from the blog.. I am back and committed and ready to take this blog thing head on. Big, giant hanks to my favorite homegirl, Tori Sorenson for inspiring me to have this blog and for designing this whole thing. She's just the greatest thing ever. My only dream for this little blog is to be half the blog that Tori's is. Prepare yourself (you non existent readers) for sporadic posting, random ramblings, and a whole lotta posts about a whole lotta nothing. I don't know about you, but I'm excited. Andddd now... Here's a little inspiration that I full heartedly believe in and agree with. Life is great, isn't it?