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 ;)