Modesty via {Emma Watson}

Now I don't really get the whole twitter/tumblr/tweet/whatever lingo.. I dunno if they're all the same or if they're different, but this was the post Emma Watson made on her Tumblr site on July 4:

I find the whole concept of being ‘sexy’ embarrassing and confusing. If I do an interview with photographs people desperately want to change me - dye my hair blonder, pluck my eyebrows, give me a fringe. Then there’s the choice of clothes. I know everyone wants a picture of me in a mini-skirt. But that’s not me. I feel uncomfortable. I’d never go out in a mini-skirt. It’s nothing to do with protecting the Hermione image. I wouldn’t do that. Personally, I don’t actually think it’s even that sexy. What’s sexy about saying, ‘I’m here with my boobs out and a short skirt, have a look at everything I’ve got?’ My idea of sexy is that less is more. The less you reveal the more people can wonder.

--Emma Watson

I knew liked her.

New Companion, GC goals, Weekend, +Milestones

New Companion:

This is my newest bestest companion:

I LOVE my backpack :)

Do you think it can carry all this crap?

Oh ya-- it can.

Does it weigh 20 pounds?

YEP

and do I carry it around with me across campus?

... all day long.

Pretty much this thing saves my life and has replaced my purse because I'm so busy with homework 90% of the time that I take it with me everywhere in case I have a spare moment to read or finish an assignment.

---------------------

GENERAL CONFERENCE!

General Conference is honestly THE best. I think that I should just plan on having trauma in my life around the general time frame of conference because that's how it feels like it's been for me-- But I'm SUPER grateful that my trials come around then so that I can get those answers that I need--

(met Kla Bo and Heather there :)

So here are my post-conference goals:

I WILL CONSECRATE MY LIFE (Elder D. Todd Christofferson) BY:

1. Centering my life on the Cornerstone of the Savior (Elder Jay E. Jensen)
2. Utilizing daily personal scripture study (Elder David McConkie)
3. BEING GRATEFUL (President Thomas S. Monson)
4. Finding satisfaction in simplicity (President Dieter F. Utchdorf/Leonardo DiVinci)
5. Trust in God & he'll Trust me (President Henry B. Eyring)
6. Find SOMEONE to serve (Elder Richard G. Scott)
7. Become what I want to be by being what I want to become (Elder Richard G. Scott)

After conference we went up to my Grandma's in Idaho to hang out with my family :D I LOVE MY FAMILY!

(my TWO beautiful sisters :)

the two youngest were having a photo shoot at the feed yard!--

SOOOO Lakyn and I joined in

(I don't think that cowgirls wear coral cardigans, but oh well ;)

----------------------

GUESS WHAT???????

SportySpice is PREGNANT

OMGosh she called me the other day and informed me I was going to be an aunt :D. I am SO excited for her and SO two steps behind her now ha.

----------------------

BYU is TERRIBLE this year in football, but I paid an extra 30 or 40 bones to go to all their games... So we support no matter the score!

I love my cougs no matter what

:)

-----------------------------

Milestones:

Just in case you didn't remember I thought I'd remind you

-

Brazil came home a little over ONE year ago.. which also means I broke up with Brazil ONE year ago

&

I was supposed to be MARRIED to KJo a week and a half ago...

WHY DID ALL OF THESE EVENTS HAVE TO HAPPEN WITHIN A WEEK OF EACH OTHER?

...bad planning on my part I guess.

How am I doing?

--ask me when it actually sinks in

until then I'll be in my bedroom doing homework.

Blogging was on my "to-do list" today

Well like always I get behind so here goes the sweet and condensed version :)

I LOVE MY ROOMMATES

-they are beautiful people

Kelsey is a true born Texan and it comes out every now and again ha ha Remember Stevo?? ya Kelsey is dating him ... oh how the world turns... but he is such a fun guy and I'm just glad she's attached at the hip to someone I can stand! But Kelsey is amazing and we have one of those relationships where I feel like I've known her for forever.

Lakyn is one of my BFF's through and through. She has and will continue to be such a blessing in my life! I just can't believe we actually get to live together! ha it's a blast! I'm so glad that she is here with me right now... :) I love my Lakyn. She ALWAYS helps me when I do stupid stuff like forget to grab cream cheese at Walmart or helps me start dinner when I get home from work late, plus a million other things. She is the best.

So I moved to Provo.. our apartment was disgusting. Kelsey and I spent some serious bonding time scrubbing the black toilets... enough said.

Kelsey (since she's from TEXAS) had never seen the Manti temple.. so we took a HUGE detour one Sunday so that I could help fulfill one of her dreams to see that temple

For Labor Day Lakyn came with my family and me to Arches!

Remember how I stalk apostles??

I did it again

Yes ladies and gentlemen.. that is Elder Scott on the left. yes that picture was nonchalantly taken by me on my phone...

STORY: Samson is a pretty big deal at UVU and the school was celebrating becoming an all Steinway school. aka they had permission to use their $60 to $100 thousand dollar pianos (crazy!) so they had a big celebration because its a big deal! The 5 Browns were there, which is pretty AWESOME. Plus Elder Holland and Elder Scott were there too. ANYWAY back to the story- So because Samson is legit we were VIP, which meant we got to go to the after party. We sat down to eat and we sat at the table with the Losee's (HUGE JEWELERS IN UTAH) and Mama Losee had on a diamond the size of a dime! it was unreal! So who else comes to talk to them? Elder Scott! After they have their little discussion (picture above) Elder Scott turns to leave and (of course) there I am beaming at him ha ha so we reach out our hands to shake:

"Elder Scott, How are you today?"

(shaking hands, then stops, holds my hand in both of his and looks me in the eyes)

"Better now that I've seen your beautiful smiling face!"

(exit special witness of Christ)

Holy CRAP-OLY! did that really just happen?? oh ya it did!

Needless to say I was pretty much on cloud nine--

Then that weekend was Regional Stake Conference and I was able to see Elder Holland, Sister Beck, and Elder Packer speak at the Marriott Center. Then that night at the CES (church education system) fireside I saw Elder Scott speak.

1 Weekend + 3 apostles and 1 prophetess

= the best

(ps is Sister Beck a prophetess? Do we have those anymore? Was Deborah the only one? if there ever was one in our day tho it's Sister Beck! She is one of my heros. besides my own mom of course :)

I have had some serious homework to do since starting school :S its been a little rough, but Tuesday night I went with my family to The Lion King at the Capitol Theater in SLC.. WOW what an amazing production!!

You cant really see the girls sitting next to my dad, but they were prostitutes.. no really. Their dresses looked like they were spray painted on, and they were obnoxious like I picture prostitutes would be. Ha Ha

Sad story: I bought a ticket for KJo 4 months ago... :( the ticket was $95 bucks so I told friends about it and luckily Sam bought it!

We were trying to jump like the gazelles on the window-- if you couldn't tell.

Samson and I have had some GREAT heart to hearts lately. We can just communicate/vent really well to each other. Samson is ALSO a great BFF through and through.

Sad Story again: Wednesday Kelsey found out her dad was killed in a kayaking accident. Not joking. I felt awful for her and just cried at the thought of losing my own dad... perspective changes things. She has been in Texas all week, and if I wasn't already writing a novel today I would tell you some of the tender mercies from the Lord that we've seen. MIRACLES! God prepares us for hard things...

Lakyn and I miss her :(

On a happier note, I started playing Intramural SOCCER! OMGosh I about killed over after running the field, but I am stoked! I'm playing with Tess (old soccer buddy from high school).. its gonna be fun!

I got a million peaches- I got a million peaches- I got a million peaches.. today hey hey!

Many people have taken pitty on me and given me peaches :D but I had a bajillion too many so Lakyn and I made pie!

we are SO domestic ;)

Quick timeline:

Tuesday: start of sore throat

Wednesday: really scratchy throat

Thursday: played soccer (aka yelled a lot)

Friday: the bank was NUTS-- so I talked all day long

Saturday night: dance party at Utah Lake

(aka more yelling and lots of dust)

Sunday= NO VOICE

conclusion: after the runny nose, cough, and other symptoms definite possibility of laryngitis..

-

-

no biggy

so today I didn't go to class or work in order to hopefully heal my voice and it worked!

but back to Saturday night-- we went with a huge random group of people to a dance party and there was a VERY broad range of people there. It turned out to be pretty fun.

Some dude took this picture there and then today a random friend had tagged me in it ha weird--

(don't let me forget to tell you about the palm reader from the dance party or my other sad story from this weekend)

and last but not least mine and Lakyn's new BFF

Meet Jeff! He's pretty much the coolest guy in our ward and he comes over to our house like everyday.

He keeps us VERY entertained! The three of us went and played catch today. I think I'm going to be sore..

Well I should've and could've posted like a million times in the last couple weeks as you can see, but I honestly didn't have time. BYU is not like CollegeTown.. it's actually hard here lol! So I really DON'T have time to sit and vent, but I will make time :)

peace from Provo-

Another Turn

Man I won't lie I'm sick of thinking of ways to phrase these kinds of posts.

But I guess I'll start by saying it's back to square one for me--

I don't know why things like this keep happening... I mean honestly to not be with Brazil was hard enough to do, but then to be engaged to KJo and then have the Lord send me another way is ROUGH.

I don't know why it had to happen. I don't know why we had to be as far as we were before having these feelings. I don't know why for the 2nd time in my life he's gotten a YES and, though this time it came later than anticipated, I got a NO.

Up until last week I would pray about KJo and the only feelings that I felt were to just keep going-- and I was a little worried because we were all of the sudden finding a KILLER deal on a ring, then proposal, then finding a place to live-- the blessings just kept coming. Deep down I was a little worried, but still my answer was to be patient and move forward. One of my amazing mentors told me "Kaylen, if the only reason that you're kneeling across that alter in the temple is because you've yet to get a NO, then you go and have faith that the Lord will care for you and won't leave you alone on this most important decision." So that was when I decided to go forward and not look back unless otherwise prompted.

I hoped that 'otherwise prompted' would never come, but it did. Monday. and I knew exactly what was going to happen.

The only thing that I can say coming out of this is that I KNOW that I have a Father in Heaven that truly loves me and watches out for me. I know that there is a plan for me-- a plan of happiness and though this plan is 1,000% different than the plan I made for myself I know that God's will make me more happy than I ever could. Our relationship progressed quickly and a lot of things fell into place for us. I saw them as evidence that we should be together, but looking back I know that for some reason we needed to get to this point in our relationship-- and now that we're here we've done whatever it was that we needed to do. Our time together is over.

I don't know what's on my agenda now. I'm hoping that since my heart has felt this before that maybe it will remember how to mend itself more quickly and less painfully -- but I'm not holding my breath.

This weekend I'll be in Idaho at our ranch and our family reunion couldn't come at a better time. I love my family with all my heart and truly cant wait to see them. After that I get wisdom teeth out on the 30th-- aka zero fun. So I guess the task now is just to figure out Where I'm going and What I'm doing.

Love Kaylen

I guess that this means the search continues.

Day 7

Today we woke up and went to the sites in Independence Missouri... I was kind of a stormy day to start, but it cleared up. Now for those that might not know the history.. The R.L.D.S. church broke off from the LDS church after Joseph died. They believed that the next prophet should be Joseph's oldest son, so they broke off and started the Reformed Latter Day Saints. A few years ago tho they changed their name to the Community of Christ. Because They believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet and also have faith in the Book of Mormon, but a lot of their doctrines have "evolved" since the 1800's. They knew the prophesy that a temple would be built in Independence, so in 1994 they completed a temple... and it's definitely different than ours..

They're just different. Entering our temple is something you have to earn and work for. They give a tour every hour...
The outside might look a little creepy, but I will totally admit that the inside of the cone in bomb.com!

We also spent time at the visitors center and learned about how Zion doesn't have to be a place.. it's a state of mind you take with you everywhere you go. Being good to those around us. One heart one mind.

Speaking of building relationships... B made all of us bracelets! How great of her! These are all of them!

mine is the one on the right side of the pic :D

Here's a segment dedicated to people on the trip

Luke and B.. Pretty much the cutest couple ever. I hope things work out well for them :D

Becca and Bailey.. I was not really even acquaintances with them before the trip. I knew their names and that was about it, but I was stoked that I got to know them because they are SO awesome!

Bishop and Mother Teresa. Love them.

Stevie and Garrett.. Love them also!

Mostly I was stoked that B came. She was on my Institute Council activities committee and I honestly had never seen or heard about her until I called her to my committee and she was SO awesome to work with. I'm super grateful that she was on this trip so that I would get to know her a lot more and spend a ton of time with her. She always makes everyone feel so included and has such a beautiful smile. Thanks for letting me tag along B! Love ya!

Well tonight is going to be spent in Denver and then tomorrow is the home stretch. I won't lie I'm stoked to go home and relax, but I have really enjoyed this trip.

Day 4 and 5

Day 4

Yesterday was quite a beautiful day. PS take note that so far I've said that almost everyday. It was like 80 degrees and windy, but it was a really warm breeze so it was just awesome!

We woke up and went to the temple... ummm INCREDIBLE.

Usually the baptistry entrance is like off to the side, but in Nauvoo you enter right in front! Through the BIG doors! Like important people!

So honestly it was just beautiful. I was able to play the prelude music in the chapel, which was a priviledge.. and then we did the baptisms and the font is MASSIVE. I went to Nauvoo for the first time when I was like 12 or 13 and was able to do baptisms, but I really don't remember much about the temple except the pretty wood that was throughout. Which was crazy because the font was just spectacular and huge! I dunno words can't describe.. just amazing.

Then, after we finished, the temple worker let us go up the spiral staircase to the lobby level...

... let's just say that there were 4 of us girls.. and all of us were googley-eyed as we stared up that staircase. And then one of them brought up what all of us were thinking--- Can you picture walking up this in your wedding dress??? ha ha oh silly girls :D

Then we went to Carthage. What a special place and spirit. Joseph is a true prophet. Amen.

At around dinner time a group of us began wandering around Nauvoo and the old little shops and we went into this place called the Temple House Gallery

and inside was just all of these beautiful photographs/prints of the Nauvoo and Salt Lake temples, and then just a bunch of other prints of prophets...

So the worker lady came up and started talking to us and she was SO awesome! She started telling us SO many neat little facts about the Temple and also about Joseph Smith's family. I want to share some of what she taught us SO READ THIS!

1- Did you know the reason why the size of the bricks change on the temple?

The temple was only as high as the smaller bricks when Joseph was killed in Carthage and the Saints were in such a state of shock that they stopped working on the temple. Later after Brigham was appointed prophet, he was commanded to finish the temple ASAP. So they started cutting the stones bigger in order to finish before they were driven from Nauvoo. Take note that when they were commanded to finish it they already knew they were going to have to leave it. Talk about tough.

2- The 5 point inverted star. Now yesterday when she told us about the star (see in pic above) I came back to blog and couldn't quite remember all of the symbolism, so I googled it and it brought up all sorts of crap that wasn't at all what she had told me, so today I went back and asked what the different symbols were and then what her sources were because of the stuff I'd read online (keep in mind that this lady is an active member of the church that lived in SLC and then was specially recruited to come and run this gallery. She had such an amazing spirit and I honestly would believe anything she told me.. but I had to check) She replied that the reason she knew was because of the book Temples and Symbols, and she also met the man that constructed the stain glass windows for the Temple... I believed her :)

So this is the star:

The Red=blood and Atonement

The White= the purifying effect of the Atonement

The Blue= His Royal birth

The two top points symbolize the Father and the Son

The bottom is His decent to come to earth.

WAY cool :D

3- There are approx. 1,800 living descendants of Joseph Smith Jr on the Earth today. Of those 132 are baptized members of the church. All of them are converts and she told the MOST amazing story about a lady who now lives in the Nauvoo Stake and how one day she saw a picture of Joseph and Emma and asked her grandmother who they were. She told her it was here great great (etc) grandfather Joseph Smith who founded the Mormon church. She had no clue. She ran into many many problems with family members who would hardly speak his name and was pretty much disowned. But joined anyway. WOW.

Those are 3 of many things that that amazing women shared with us in

her gallery yesterday and I am so grateful for her sweet sweet testimony. If you come to Nauvoo visit her and buy one of the pictures. They are amazing.

Last night concluded with a group of us sitting on the lawn in front of the temple, watching the sunset, and catching fireflies.

DAY 5

Today I woke up eventho I was EXHAUSTED I went to the temple again for baptisms. That font is extraordinary. Then by the time I got back and showered it was noon so we ate lunch and then we went to Old Nauvoo.

Dressed up for the pioneer games

think they had nike shox back then??

Hyrum Joseph and Emma's Graves

The Mansion House (Joseph's house), the graves, and the Red Brick Store are all owned by the Community of Christ (aka RLDS) church. It was interesting to go to their visitors center and the lady was SUPER nice, but honestly she didn't know much about our church at all, or hers for that matter. She couldn't answer a lot of our questions that we had, but it was just interesting to see and feel the difference in our churches.

Then we went to McKee's and watched them make and freeze our ice cream which was pretty freakin sweet!

My boss Margo asked me to look for her ancestor's house and today I saw it! So I took a couple pics for her!!

View of the temple from the Trail of Hope down Parley's Street where the Saints took their wagons over the Mississippi River...

The sunset was phenomenal :D

Well folks that's all for Nauvoo.. we're off to sites like Independence, Adam-ondi-ahmen, and Far West... we're leaving here at 6.. aka way too early.