Catch Up....

Sorry guys, it's been almost four months, I can't believe it. I'm so sorry for being so lax on posts, although I doubt anybody reads this, so I don't think it was missed too much.

Well a lot has happened in the last 4 months. I finished up my summer job as a CA. Goodness it was so fun! I met a bunch of fun new people and had a blast working. Since then school started in August, I moved into my first apartment with three other girls. That has proven to be an adventure all on its own. But I'll get into the details at a later date. Until then I'll just say that things were not as I hoped they'd be.

School has been a lot of fun. I'm still studying psychology and photography and they're keeping me busy. I love my new best friend, my Cannon Rebel T1i.



I just love it! It's been really fun learning about all the technical aspects of photography. Until now I've just been pointing and shooting. Now it's finally all starting to make sense. :) I'm praying that everything will all come together in the end and I will actually end up being a decent photographer. So if any of you want family pictures done, or holiday cards, let me know because I need the practice.

Life has been pretty busy for me. On another note, Mason and I spent a lot of time together over the summer and since I moved back to Flagstaff, and we've decided to get back together. I still really love him, and had no desire to date anybody else, so we're dating again. It's been kind of challenging because of the distance. He's still living in the valley, working and saving for his mission at the end of the year, and I'm three hours away going to school in Flagstaff. I swore that I would never wait on a missionary, but I don't see how I couldn't. I'm just so head over heels for this boy. So don't be surprised if some of you get wedding invites in a few years ;)

I suppose this is it, I have to get up early for psych tomorrow. More updates soon... <3

Summer Life

So it's summer time.... only it doesn't feel like summer up here in Flagstaff. I've been super busy working on campus for Residence Life helping out with Orientation. I check in the incoming Freshman for orientation, babysit them when they're staying in my residence hall, putting on dance parties and night, then checking them out the next day. It's a lot of fun, but a lot of work, and lots of early mornings. I got blessed with a really good team. The ten of us all get along really well. They're almost family.

Rockin the blue


Team-building Soccer


Soccer Sunburn


Chillin at the BBQ


Burned my hand making cake


YUMMY chicken kabobs


Team BBQ


A prime example of what should be in a College Freezer

Would you just lie with me and just forget the world

Chasing Cars lyrics

We'll do it all
Everything
On our own

We don't need
Anything
Or anyone

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me
And just forget the world?

I don't quite know
How to say
How I feel

Those three words
Are said too much
They're not enough

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me
And just forget the world?

Forget what we're told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden
That's bursting into life

Let's waste time
Chasing cars
Around our heads

I need your grace
To remind me
To find my own

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me
And just forget the world?

Forget what we're told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden
That's bursting into life

All that I am
All that I ever was
Is here in your perfect eyes
They're all I can see

I don't know where
Confused about how as well
Just know that these things
Will never change for us at all

If I lay here
If I just lay here

Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

This song has been on my mind all day. Would you please just lie with me and help me to forget the world? I feel so alone right now and found some comfort in this song, especially the version by Natasha Bedingfield

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdMK8KzpLxQ

♫♪ Goodbye My Lover, Goodbye my Friend ♪♫

So.... it's been 10 months

I have been dating the love of my life for ten months May 4th. If you count both relationships collectively Mason and I have been together for over a year. Unfortunately after dating all Freshman year we broke up May 9th. :(

It was a good parting though, if that's possible. We both decided that this was a good time for us. He's preparing for a mission, I'm moving on with my degree. It was just time.

Even though I feel like I've just lost the love of my life, I still have my best friend.

My first couple of weeks were really rough, I was home, alone, and bored. but I got through. He's been there for me every time I've needed him, I couldn't ask for a better best friend, and that's why I love him. :)

Mason, you are the only one who knows me better than I know myself, you're the only one who puts up with my crazy moods and still love me. You see the real me. I will always love you.







♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪
Did I disappoint you or let you down?
Should I be feeling guilty or let the judges frown?
'Cause I saw the end before we'd begun,
Yes I saw you were blinded and I knew I had won.
So I took what's mine by eternal right.
Took your soul out into the night.
It may be over but it won't stop there,
I am here for you if you'd only care.
You touched my heart you touched my soul.
You changed my life and all my goals.
And love is blind and that I knew when,
My heart was blinded by you.
I've kissed your lips and held your hand.
Shared your dreams and shared your bed.
I know you well, I know your smell.
I've been addicted to you.

Chorus (2x)
Goodbye my lover.
Goodbye my friend.
You have been the one.
You have been the one for me.

I am a dreamer and when I wake,
You can't break my spirit - it's my dreams you take.
And as you move on, remember me,
Remember us and all we used to be
I've seen you cry, I've seen you smile.
I've watched you sleeping for a while.
I'd be the father of your child.
I'd spend a lifetime with you.
I know your fears and you know mine.
We've had our doubts but now we're fine,
And I love you, I swear that's true.
I cannot live without you.

Chorus (2x)
Goodbye my lover.
Goodbye my friend.
You have been the one.
You have been the one for me.

And I still hold your hand in mine.
In mine when I'm asleep.
And I will bear my soul in time,
When I'm kneeling at your feet.

Chorus (2x)
Goodbye my lover.
Goodbye my friend.
You have been the one.
You have been the one for me.

I'm so hollow, baby, I'm so hollow.
I'm so, I'm so, I'm so hollow.
(goodbye my lover-james blunt)
♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪

So what's the 411?

soooo.... it's been a while since I've posted. Lots has been changing since March, good and bad.

First of all, I successfully finished my Freshman year of College and LOVED IT!!! NAU is an amazing school. I am so happy here hands down. I survived the crazy winter, the snow didn't kill me all million feet of it. (this year was actually one of the heaviest snow falls in decades, darn el nino) Definitely had some adventures, met lots of new people, got closer to some old ones. It really was a truly amazing year, and I can only top it ;)



exploring downtown with Veronica and Mason :)
I love this little alley



:O Louie is gonna chop us UP!



the snow covered up the side of the Union, so what would any adventure seeking teenager do???

Climb up to the roof of course!



lots of driving back and forth between Queen Creek and Flagstaff with Olivia <3




my unicycler <3

Spring break brought lots of babies to my house....



Puppies!

and.....



birdies! [all for sale too ;)]

My Freshman year ended well, lots of exploring, adventuring, walking, lots of walking, bus riding, kissing and laughing. I can't wait for what summer will bring. :)

just for thought....

Birthday Weekend Parte Dos!!!

I never got to finish describing my amazing birthday weekend. Friday morning after I finished my Public Speaking class, I met up with my parents and little brothers to go hike the lava tubes. Everyone was so excited. But as we made our way up the mountain, the layers of snow became more apparent and the weather picked up. When we finally go to the trail, we realized it was snowed over. :( needles to say Mason and Branson we bummed, but they got out, played in the old snow for a while then we headed back to Flagstaff to find something else to do. After lots of driving, my parents decided it would be best if they just headed back home early to beat traffic and save time.

I spent the rest of my Friday chilling with my boy and movie night with the girls. Saturday was the climax of the week though. All my friends and I decided to visit Sedona for the day and have some lunch. We had some issues with the GPS and ended up at a random neighborhood that was NOT our destination.

This isn't Sedona Baking Company.....


Once we got back on course, we headed straight towards Sedona, and The Red Planet Diner.









That was a fun lunch. My friend Emily told them it was my birthday and convinced them to bring me out a deep fried pickle with a candle in it. It was very interesting to say the least. They came out and threw that sombrero on my head, sang to me, then I took a spoonful of ice cream to the face. It was quite the adventure. :)

After lunch we took to the streets of Sedona for some photo op and some fun :)

Operation 19th Birthday: SUCCESS!!!

Yes, I turned 19 last Thursday on the 25th. This is my last year as a teenager *tear, tear* I'll admit, I was prepped for a terrible birthday. It was the week after spring break, so I wouldn't be home, my mom made me pick out all my presents so there wouldn't be any surprises, and I got terribly sick the last day of Spring Break and spent it in Urgent care, so I didn't even get a yummy birthday dinner. It was looking pretty grim for me. But by the time Thursday rolled around, I had already accepted it.

Let me just start by saying I was LDEAD WRONG. I know that I have amazing friends and an amazing boyfriend, and a super amazing family.
I first woke up to this from my bestest friend Olivia:





She is such a sweetheart.



After this, I dressed up, and wore my super cute birthday outfit, which I didn't get pics of sadly, and went to class. I gotta admit wearing heels was a bad idea, but I don't regret it. Tuesdays and Thursdays are my busy days school wise, so I had a lot of walking around with a heavy backpack. I went to seminary, then Psychology where my friend Emma presented me with an adorable card she painted and my favorite candy, Cookies n' Cream!!! After Psych, I gotta rush back up to north campus for Spanish. Lucky my, my partner insisted the whole class sing to me (in Spanish of course)and proceeded to teach everyone how. It was great =) After Spanish I came back to my dorm for a bit and had more presents waiting for me!

Sorry, didn't get pics of this either, but Mason, my amazing boyfriend convinced my roommate to let him in so he could leave me surprises. He gave me the movie "When Harry Met Sally" more yummy dark chocolate and a bunch of poems he wrote for me. <3 How Sweet!! I'm seriously the luckiest girl ever!!!

I sat through math, *my favoritest class ever* ;) After that, Olivia told me we were going somewhere, so I had to drop my stuff off and then we would go. She didn't tell me where or why, so we just walked back to my dorm, and I was greeted with a copious amount of balloons and streamers. :) Lucky girl right... but that's not the end. I could tell that Liv was acting weird, so something was up. And I didn't know who got into my room to decorate it. I guess my surprise was downstairs, so we went downstairs, and to my surprise my mom and little brothers were waiting to surprise me! Best birthday ever! my friends spoil me and my parents even drove up to hang out with me. I'm so loved :)

We went to dinner at Olive Garden. My mom even brought a cake and candles for me. She even decided to play a nasty trick on me and put 12 trick candles on there out of 19. It was an interesting experience to say the least. haha, eventually I got them all out and we had cake covered in spit and ashes. Yummy!

All in all, I had a fabulous birthday. I know that I am very loved and I'm so grateful for my friends and family. I don't know where I'd be without them. I love you all!! <3 I will post more pics of my fabulous weekend later, but homework is calling. :/ I can't wait till Summer, just 5 more weeks!!!

i hope you're one of those. u know who u r

Today...

Today was a really rough day for me.

I woke up at 8:30, exhausted, but feeling a tiny bit better than the night before. I really debated going to institute, I was tired and not really up for going all the way down there this morning. But if I needed anything this morning, it was some spiritual guidance, so I threw myself together rather quickly, even for these mornings, and I actually looked pretty good for zero makeup and a ponytail. I was planning on reading my scriptures for another fifteen minutes befroe I left, but I got a text from Emma across the hall saying the busses were running late today, so I decided to walk down to the institute instead.

This turned out to be a blessing; I got to listen to Paul Cardall the entire walk down to the institute building and it definitely helped me calm down and recenter. When I got there, I was one of first three people waiting for class to start. So I opened up my scriptures to find a good one to share for my devotional. Magically I just opened up to Alma 36:3 on my first try and I found something amazing

it says:

“And now, O my [daughter, Keara], behold, thou art in thy youth, and therefore, I beseech of thee that thou wilt hear my words and learn of me; for I do know that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up in the last day.”

This scripture practically screamed at me and was what I had been praying for all night and morning. This was my tender mercy. I have a renewed faith in the scriptures and in the love of my Father in Heaven. Today’s lesson even seemed to be picked just special for me. We talked about marrying in the covenant and the importance it is to our children. The Lord was just screaming to me today, telling me to wake up and to live the gospel. I’m answering the call, and I’m so grateful for it.

I know this gospel is so true and I don't know how I manage not to scream it to the world. My Father in Heaven loves me and I need him. He sent my Brother to save my life and that impacts my everyday. I know that the scriptures are true and are daily tools for us dat-to-day. I know that Thomas S. Monson is the true prophet, seer, and revelator sent to us by God to direct us to rightousness. I just love this work and I am so grateful for it's truth and faithfulness in my life.

Crazy Little Thing Called LOVE...

Well in honor of love week and Valentine's Day and the fact that this is all we have discuessed in my english class... I'm going to do a little post about love.

I feel like listing everything that I love in my life, and there's a lot, so prepare :)

I love my family. Moving away has really made me appreciate them in a new way. Not that I didn't before I left, but I definitely miss them more now and look back on all my late night chat sessions with Conner or my MOM.

I love my friends, new and old. I haven't seen my best friend from high school, Veronica, very much, eventhough we live like 500 feet away. I got to hang out with her this weekend and have a much needed girls day. It was amazing. I also love my new friends, especially Oliva. We've just recently gotten close, but I really feel like this girl gets me. We mesh so well together. This is a friend I want to keep close forever and grow up, get married and have babies with type of friend. I love her!

I love NAU. I love the weather we've been having this week, it's been in the low 50's and perfect. The snow is all melting and the sun is shining, but not for long, snow is on it's way next week I think. But I love college, I love learning new things and I love meeting new people. I've made so many new friends in the last year and I just love my singles ward. Life is really great. I love most of my classes, I've been learning a lot.

I love my fuscia and zebra striped nail that Olivia painted for me. I love my pink clip in for my hait that I'll probably get done for real in the future. I love how cute and coordinated my dorm room is. I like my fuzzy blanket and pillows.

There's a lot of love going around so pass it on!

Viva Las Vegas

Yes that's right, I went to Vegas a few weeks ago with my new best friend Olivia. Her dad was having a furniture exhibition, so we got to tag along and reap the benefits of being in Vegas for a day. It was a blast!



Gorgeous Olivia as usual, right after we got off the plane, I looked terrible.


We woke up really early and flew in saturday morning, got there about 8:30. Taxi to the hotel, drop off our luggage, to the furniture showroom, then of to explore!

We started out at the Venetian Hotel to pick up out tickets for Phantom of the Opera! Yes, I got to see Phantom of the Opera live in Las Vegas! It was amazing :)

The Venetcian was definitely interesting. I got to try on Jimmy Choos, Coach Purses, explore Barney's, look at old books worth more than my college eduation, and so many other things. It was crazy.



Of course we had to gamble just a teeny bit. I just wanted to see if I would get caught, I guess I look 21 ;) must have been all the dark circles under my eyes from the lack of sleep. haha



Some Craziness in the Venetician Hotel, they had their own little Venice, even Olivia approved, and she's been there before. The ceiling was painted to look like the sky and they had a canal with singing gondaliers floating around.



Some awesome jewelry we spied in one of the shops. If only.... haha




AT THE PHANOTOM OF THE OPERA!!!


It was such an awesome play. I grew up listening to the music, and I saw the movie, but actually seeing it on stage was so much fun. We had great seats under the falling chandelier. Fantastic!

Now I'm looking forward to next year ;)

Winter-not-a-Wonder

I know it's been forever. I need to get better at updating, especially with pictures, sorry. I really doubt anybody follows this blog anyways, so I don't know why I'm apologizing, but for the sake of habit I guess I'll keep posting.

Things have been busy. School, School, School, and more School! I've been doing pretty well. I've aced all my math quizes so far, I got a 82% on my first Psychology quiz. I have a speech next week and a paper due in English. Things are starting to pick up.

The weather has been pretty chilly up here. What else would you expect in Flagstaff in January. I honestly thought I would die up here in the snow, but it's been really nice minus all the slipping on the ice. I've done lots of sledding and snowman building, I'm almost a native now ;) just kidding, I'll always love my valley and scortching 120 degree summers. ahh.... I can't wait :)





Speaking of slipping on ice. We had a a pretty big scare last week with Mason. He was meeting me for lunch and he slipped on the way. Normally it wouldn't be a big deal, a few minor bruises and scrapes, but he happened to be carrying a pocket of sharpened pencils in his backpack and one managed to break through the pocket,both shirts he was wearing and his back. It was an interesting trip to Urgent Care to say the least. The entire tip of the pencil lodged 1.5 inches into his back. He got one stitch, dinner at Coco's and a pretty good story out of the ordeal.

Other than that, things have been pretty quiet up here. I went to Las Vegas last weekend with a friend of mine. It was pretty fun, we saw Phantom of the Opera, ate lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, rode a roller coaster, played penny slots, and just had a blast doing our thing. I'll post pics as soon as I upload them.

I have a interview to be a Resident Assistant this weekend, should be interesting. I'm hot and cold about this job. If I got it, my finiancial problems would be solved. They cover room and board + my tuition is already covered = so... I would make over $3,000 a year with my scholarships. Yay me! But my friends and I have been talking about getting an apartment off campus together and I think that would be so fun. It would be amazing to live with 3 LDS girls in college. We could have movie nights and watch conference together and bake cookies and all sorts of fun college girl stuff. So I guess I'm just going to have to wait and see what happens in the next few weeks. Whatever it is, it will work for the best.

I'll keep you guys updated for the future

<3 Keara

Another Giveaway!

I know, I'm addicted, but I freakin LOVE blog giveaways!! It's the easiest and best way to get free stuff. I already won two necklaces one from lulu jewelry and one from Whippy Cake

my pendant from lulu looks something like this:



I'll post pics of it when I go home next weekend and pick it up. ;)

My other one looks something like this...



except I'm hoping it says "I <3 Jasper" instead. Yes, I am a Jasper fan, NOT and Edward or Jacob fan. Alice and Jasper are the IT couple, NOT Bella and Edward. :)

Well..... I am blogging about another giveaway that is coming up soon. This one is for a gift certificate to The Vintage Pearl, an uber cute jewelry dealer specializing in sterling silver, personalized charm necklaces.







cute huh? Well if you want to enter the giveaway, go to leelouswag.com and add a comment. :)