Questions, Part XV

I was bored. Therefore I am continuing the questions. There are 100 total. I bet I can get through them before I leave on my mission!

71. What is your favorite outdoor activity?
  Swimming. 100%. Can't top that. Hiking is also incredibly fun, as is lounging around, water fights, airsofting, night games, building snowmen, being outside. Yeah, being outside is pretty great.

72. How would a classmate have described you in high school?
   What an odd question. I've never thought about it. Which high school? Senior year, I like to imagine myself as medianly popular. I had a nice group of friends, and I often made things happen (egg roll parties, anyone?). But I was pretty awkward. I didn't know how to talk to boys. Not the most beautiful teenager (by any means), very artsy and not very athletic. Still needed to figure out fashion. But fun, intelligent, read a lot. That girls who painted the mural, haha. I was voted most artistic, after all. 

High School was weird. I wasn't all the way there yet.

73. What do you do on your bad days to make you happy?
   Excellent question! I work out. I paint. I sing. I bake cookies and give them to people. I dress up. I go to the temple. I wear my yellow beanie. I play guitar. I place myself around friends. I've got lots of little tricks.

74. What is something that always embarrasses you?
   Nothing embarrasses me. That's a lie. But I pretend like it is truth. More like nothing can make me feel awkward (just ask Michael). Embarrassment though... When I open up to people I feel embarrassed. When I am reprimanded in public. When I don't give 100%. That's about it.

75. Who is your celebrity man crush?
   Hehe... Jensen Ackles. Because he is an attractive nerd. 

Visits with Friends

Oh, well hello there beautiful! 

You know what else is beautiful? This incredible gourmet pizza, stuffed crust, that I built with Stephanie and Daniela.

Yeah. They are pretty cool. It was so great to have Steph visit, as well as my dear friend Elisabeth.

We went on adventures in the business building. Hard hats for life!

Now, one of the main reason Stephanie came to town was to participate in the Color Fest. Buuuttt.... they moved it. Without alerting us. How rude. So instead, we bought cheap chalk, shaved it up, and had our own color fest! (And we got the shirts for free for the inconvenience, which is a huge plus). We filled up our kiddie pool with bubbly water and threw chalk at each other!

 Sometimes the simplest activities are best.

Speaking of which, I was not feeling at my best, and decided I needed to really accomplish something. 

There is a mountain near Logan that has these weird billboard things on them, and they have been taunting me since my first day here. So I drove as close as I could and just started hiking.

And... I may have accidentally climbed the wrong mountain for a bit. But it worked out, because the actual bit they were on was much more steep than the path I took.

Here they are!

And why would I climb that whole mountain and not climb the billboard itself?

On the way back down (which, to be honest, was much more difficult than the way up) I found this super cool little fort, with a blanket and everything!

 Now, a brief picture essay of my time at Bear Lake with the Reeder folk. 

It was crazy fun. I haven't swam so much all summer. I sometimes wish I was part fish. 

In other news, I've really been enjoying my cake shifts at work!

As well as adventures with my dear roommate. 

This is us experimenting with cooking

(Spinach, tomato, and garlic stuffed pork chops. Delicious!)

And she adjusted my glasses! Yay for sneaking into work after hours!

 And she brought me fresh picked raspberries. I'm an addict. I love them so much.

So... life is pretty good. 

Pretty emotionally charged with all this waiting. Still no mission call. 

Wish me luck :)

Adventures Surrounding the Fourth

Basically the first thing I did upon returning to Utah was to throw a party! And give people gifts!

Here are the ties, all donned.

Unfortunately I did have to work that weekend down in Salt Lake, but I made a return trip to go on this splendid airsofting date!

We played partner teams, 4 on 4, Assassinate the President, Civil War, and solo duels.

It was SO fun.

I returned that day to work a shift, and then that evening I was privileged enough to get to spend the night at the Harman's! And I got to see another of my best friends! 

Funny story: I called to ask her if I could stay the night, and of course she said yes, but then I asked if I could go to church with her.

"Well, my family's church is at 9."

..."When is your church."

"You can just go with my family"

..."Why can't I go with you?"

Turns out she was speaking in Sacrament Meeting! Subject: Obedience. It was great, and I loved seeing her.

So my friends and I have this deal where we find out what both of our wards are doing for FHE and then pick the one we'd rather go to.

On this particular Monday: Ice Blocking!!!

(Please take a moment to admire Nic's face on the far right)

Confession: I had never done it before! It was just grand!

 And then on the 4th, Matt, Taylor, and I were bored so we bought fireworks, invited Heather, and set them all off! Another thing I've only ever done once or twice in my life.

At work, though, I have been assigned to do cakes! And I love it so much! My most recent accomplishment was learning to do flowers. Here is a cake. Admire it. I sure do ;)

And, in conclusion, allow me to leave you with this picture of Matt Dean contemplating life in the cemetery, sitting on a Dean bench. We tried to find the fudge recipe rumored to be on a headstone. We did not succeed.

So... life. It's real. And I love it. 

Also, if you can handle it, go watch Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood. It's a stupendous show.

That's all.

Love you.

-Kelene

My Summer Vacation

Sorry I'm a boring person that collects an enormous amount of pictures but then procrastinates posting about them. So this stuff it somewhat old. But nonetheless. This blog is basically a public journal of my happenings, so I don't particularly care :) I'll be better though.

Before I went to Arizona, I calculated my flight times and between work and travel I was able to visit the Hill Aerospace Museum! Unfortunately, it closed only half an hour after I got there, so I was unable to look around too much.

But I will definitely be going back.

I hear they have an old atomic bomb!

 And I have been incredibly blessed in my plane trips to always get a window seat. Flying is one of the simple joys in my life. There's nothing quite like viewing the Grand Canyon at 30,000 feet.

That very weekend, I was able to spend an entire morning with my wonderful father at a woodturning symposium!

I won a hat, he won some carpenter's pencils, and we saw some beautiful works of art. 

(And I was a rebel, touching the do not touch sign)

One of my favorite things about going home is seeing all the family, particularly my adorable nieces and nephews.

and to spend some time with some of my favorite cousins of all time. I seriously love the Fishers.

And I finally got to see my house! It's always somewhat awkward when you don't know where you live. AND. And. For the first time in my memory I live in a house with stairs. The last two years of Utahn living has prepared me for this moment.

The week I was in Prescott, Dad and I went a little crazy out in the shop! 

Our crowning triumph was seven wooden ties I made for my friends back in Utah.

We also visited a beautiful park that I actually went running to later that week. I was halfway through my run, wondering why it was so difficult to breathe, even realizing I was headed uphill. Then I remembered that Prescott is actually at a higher elevation than Logan!

It was a wonderful week! But on Friday, Amber (my sister) and I drove 5 hours to go visit Jade and my other friends in the Gila Valley!

It was wonderful to hang out with both of my sisters, and two of my nephews!

A rare treat: the only image captured of the elusive speeding toddler.

After a splendid weekend, I had the opportunity to spend a few days with Liz Gunnell, my best friend.

She also let me play with her rabbit and be part of a mini photo shoot!

 

On my final full day in Arizona, I was able to see my adorable niece, Raelynn, and participate in Annie's gender reveal party!

 It's a boy! I get another nephew!!! Hopefully I'll be able to say hello to him before leaving this fall.

It was a wonderful time. It truly was. And now I am back in Utah, settling into myself and my life. There is a back-to-back post after this one though, so stay tuned!