A Diamond Queen

In case you didn't know... this weekend marked Queen Elizabeth II 's 60th year reigning over the Commonwealth of the United Kingdom

Some interesting facts about the Queen:

• Did you see the King's Speech? Her dad was King George with the stammer! She was not expected to reign, but when her uncle, Prince Edward, abdicated the crown things changed. Her dad, King George, died at age 56 because of lung cancer.
• Elizabeth acceded the throne in 1952, 60 years ago, at the age of 25!
• She married Prince Phillip who was the Prince of Greece and Denmark, but he relinquished his other titles in order to marry Elizabeth.. The Londoners that I talked to said he is a sexist and racist old man haha

Today Q.E. floated down the Thames River in a boat parade which they haven't done for a Jubilee in over 300 years!

A group of us went to a 9am ward and then went and stood on the street for 3 hours waiting to see the Queen pass by :)

I was so excited about all of this that I bought a skirt for 5 pounds at Primark yesterday just to celebrate!

FINALLY at 2:30 royalty started boarding ships.. we watched via jumbo tron..

Prince William and Kate

The Queen herself!

the creepy guy on the upper right hand side is NOT part of our group...

I didn't get a pic of the queen's boat and her on it because I was in charge of video-ing the event.. go to my FB and you can watch the video, but here is a much better official picture capturing the moment

Here she is on her royal barge.. notice Kate Middleton on the right..

and if the pic above of Kate doesn't suit your fancy...

This girl is a diva. I don't care WHO you are. She is GORGEOUS, modest, classy, charming, and a total babe. It was funny because as the boat passed everyone said "Oh look! There's the Queen!!... can you see Kate anywhere??" haha She lives a fantasy life and everyone loves her :)

Let's take it from the top..

The Journey started Wednesday, May 23rd 2012 @ 11:15

I few out of SLC and began the flight with a tradition....

CRAN-APPLE.

Samson and I started the Cran-Apple Airplane tradition 5 years ago on our flight to Nashville for a national FBLA competition.. ever since then we have both had cran-apple on every plane trip. Good tradition :)

I flew 3 hours to Chicago, had commute to the international terminal, recheck through security, and then was in Chicago a total of 2.5 hours before I began the 8 hour flight to London Heathrow.

The food wasn't half bad!

This is the REAL stuff... "BY APPOINTMENT TO H M QUEEN ELIZABETH II"

Then it was lights out. I took a Tylenol pm and it helped I guess... really it was just difficult to get comfortable, but I woke up to take a quick peak at the sunrise before going back to sleep 

After I woke up I got SUPER nautious.. which is weird because I NEVER get carsick, motion sick, and haven't ever been sick yet on an airplane, but I think that after that long on a flight and sleeping my body was just done! That last hour I sat still with a barf bag in hand ready to puke at any minutes.. luckily I didn't! However the little boy in front of me was not so fortunate...

Brenda, another BYU intern, met me at the gate and she took me to our house! 

It is picturesque. Brenda has been in London 4 weeks already and met a girl (Kaitlyn) at the singles ward who lived here in Hampstead (Northern London) and was looking for a roommate... So here is where I will stay for 2 weeks!

Nina is the lady that owns the house... She is an Indian woman who rents out the bedrooms of her house to people. She is HILARIOUS. Every morning she sees me and says  "Good morning Darling" and with her accent it makes my day! This place is built straight up... and we live at the top. I am going to take a video and post it because it just can't be done justice in pictures.

Every morning Nina has her prayer time and the whole house fills with the smoke from her incense burning... Which is quite the smell! I can capture sight and sound, but I wish I could post to you the SMELLS of London. I think that's what I noticed first... It smells different. Now I   don't notice as much, but EVERYBODY smokes and EVERYBODY drinks and EVERYBODY sweats especially when it's humid and hot and EVERYBODY rides the Tube. yeah. haha I LOVE IT though. I love riding the Tube everywhere and observing everything around me. I truly am going to video my ride home from Kew all the way to my house and then post it so you can see the places I walk and the people I see and the place that I live. It rocks... not because it's extravagant, but because it's different.

I could live here with Nina for years.

The first day I arrived (8am London=1am SLC) I POOPED out on the bed. I slept for 6 hours. I woke up at 5pm and then I went with Brenda to institute. The Elders were at the front door when we got there and they got all happy and about 2 seconds after they saw us approaching their faces fell and they said "you're members aren't you?" and we laughed and said Yes.. then the Elder said "ya you looked to holy to be a Londoner" haha They were funny, but it's true. People here look very.... extreme.

Well sorry this was a lame post.. its 11:30 here and I'm tired. Lots has happened and all day I think "I need to write about this!" and "I can't wait to blog/fb/instagram this" but then by the end of the day I'm tired and don't remember what I was going to post about. Oh well. I will keep this updated though with adventures had throughout the week!

Loves--

"..Oh this is gonna be a good life!"

Holy smokes can life get any more insane??! Quick recap of the last couple weeks:

Moab!!! For Easter my family went to Arizona, but because of seminary teaching I couldn't go.. however my new bestie Megs and I planned a trip to Moab... We didn't want to leave anyone out, so we invited the whole ward! I knew that not everyone would come because of family plans... but we ended up with 28 people! It was a total party! We stayed at my parents house and we just played :)

 Corona Arch

 Me and Megs

 We had crazy repelling experiences in the black of night and it was basically one of the greatest weekends of my life. We had SOOOOO much fun. More pics to come.. probably...

____________
A week and a half ago we had our ward closing social at Anna's house in Provo. Her parents were out of town and we watched some funny FHE videos and then had treats and a dance party with the ward. It was SO much fun! Afterwards a group of us went to my apartment and watched a movie. Two of my roommates stayed the night with 4 other girls at Anna's house. It was about 11:30 when the movie ended, so I said I thought it would be funny if we went and "penny tapped" or "doorbell ditched" the girls that stayed the night.

Seven of us went and on the way over we laughed at the thought of going inside the house and scaring them if one of the doors was open to the house.... Then we pulled up and sure enough! The side entry door was totally open. Now it was no longer a prank, but a secret mission! We took off our shoes and tip toed upstairs. The house was three levels, and they were in the basement. We devised a plan and then took this pick in an upstairs bedroom...

Soooo hard core hahaha. I was the spy. I crept downstairs and hid around the corner from the family room and texted Benjamin from the basement to clue them in on what was happening. The boys were in charge of making the noise :) It started off small. Someone walking across the floor.. then it got louder--tables/furniture being shifted, louder stomps on the floor, running water, etc. By the end those girls were severely terrified. I felt SOOOO horrible because I would have been peeing my pants had I been in their shoes!

They started calling boys in the ward to come and save them.. and then I heard, "4370 N. 300 W" (or whatever her address was) and I was like CRAP! She's calling the cops! So I came out from around the corner with my hands up and I said 'guys guys don't worry it's just us'.. they were all huddled in a circle around the girl calling 9-1-1 and they turned and screamed at the sight of me. 1 mississippi, 2 mississippi, 3 mississippi, still screaming.. I was like don't worry it's ok it's ok! and even though it was me, Kaylen, female, roommate, friend it still took them forever to realize that I wasn't going to kill them.. then everyone came barreling down the stairs and the prank was over.

Hands down one of the greatest pranks I've ever pulled. Yes they have forgiven us, but yes I am still anticipating revenge... :/

Good news. I got green crop jeans.  They matched my home teachers shorts.

I love them.

Last week I had a dessert party at my apartment because a bunch of people were leaving for the summer and weren't coming back.. We had at least 60 people in our apartment over the course of the night. So. Much. Fun. I love these people.

SOOO Megan is one of my new best friends. You know how your best friends are girls that have common interests, but different personalities and hobbies/interests?? Well Megan is my identical twin.. Not even lying. We are the same person. I love her! She has an internship in San Francisco for spring term, so she will be back in June, but I don't get home till July 12, so we went to Bangkok Thai for her goodbye dinner :( She left Wednesday morning... I thought I might cry.

 I love these people.

(Megan is in the yellow sweater, and I have green pants on.)

When we arrived at Bangkok Thai I got a call from my roommate Katie saying that I had a large envelope from the Jerusalem Center sitting on the counter.... (I applied to Jerusalem for Fall 2012 about a month ago) Luckily a girl that was coming to dinner hadn't left yet so she brought it with her and I opened it like a mission call with everyone around me :) haha

How crazy! I honestly did not think that I was going to get in! There are only 60 slots for girls and around 200 people apply, but sure enough! I leave August 28 and come back December 13 :) Shalom!

After the nightmare of finals was over I got a haircut... and got BANGS!

Won't even lie I was nervous. I haven't had bangs since 3rd grade! But it was time for a much needed change. I went to teach later that week and one of the kids came in and was like "WOAH! I thought we had a substitute teacher!" haha silly kids

Then to top off the weekend, yesterday I went to a high school track meet in the morning to watch some students compete, then I helped people move into and out of apartments, then I played tennis for 2 hours, then I went with Tim and Allen (Tim Allen.. bahahaha so funny) to Stewart Falls. We decided to be champions and run/jog the hike for our daily workout.. it was tough.

But so beautiful! I am stinking sore today though. Then I went to Promenade at the Provo City Library because it was high school prom! I was SUPER disappointed though. 95% LDS and 50% were immodest. Some of my 'allstar' seminary girls were immodest and I was like WHAT?! SOOO disappointed. Then I came back home, ate dinner, and then we went to a girls house and played games till midnight. 

My life is a total whirlwind. Everyday things change! New people, new adventures, etc. But each day I look at what God has made of my life and I realize that he is the Master Gardener. He trims and prunes, and even though it hurts He has blessed me 10 fold for my obedience to His plan for me. I am so grateful that I had the faith to listen then because now I am becoming the person I truly want to be... and that is the greatest accomplishment I will ever or have ever achieved. Contentment.

[i am dead]

Today I left my apartment and walked down the stairs just as Colton came out of his building.. I said hello as I reached into my backpack to find my spoon. It wasn't there. I walked ALL THE WAY to class talking to the boy I was supposed to kill. I was stabbed later today around 3:54pm as I walked to class.

Lesson learned= never leave your only weapon on the kitchen counter because you might miss your only chance at victory.

I hear screams from outside.. someone must have been assassinated!

In the true spirit of The Hunger Games, my ward has not only rented out an entire theater for the midnight showing, but we have also created our own real life Hunger Games. 

Each member of the ward (that wanted to play) picked out a spoon from a box.. On that spoon is the name of the person whom they are supposed to stab in the back. When you are killed you have to give your spoon to the person that killed you and then the person that killed you has to post the kill to the ward Hunger Games event page. The rules are: You can't kill anyone in anyone's apartment and you cannot kill at ward events. 

People are getting paranoid! If you see anyone in the ward at school or walking to campus, immediately a look of skepticism comes to their face as you cautiously pass each other haha. This was posted to the page today:

Dont Trust Anyone!!! I was just killed. It was an unfortunate event. I was happily enjoying my class in chemistry. Learning about bonds and PV = nRT and more. Unbeknownst to me a killer was waiting patiently outside my classroom door. I walked out of the room without a care in the world when i feel the the jab of a spoon. It was a sad day. I kind of felt like rue, trapped. On a cautionary note. TRUST NO ONE! and Good luck to all those left in the game!

Colton Riner.. watch your back. You are next!

"Boys, if they hath not faith, end up dead.. being alone" -James 2:17

ok ok so that's not how the scripture goes.. but this week I likened the scriptures unto myself and there is the application :) haha. Story time? Naturally!

Here is the deal. Last Sunday we made the calzones and watched the CES deal.. well James and I were coming to a fork in the road.. either we were going to move forward and do something or we were going to be done! Last Tuesday I was sitting in my room trying to prep my seminary lesson for the next day but I couldn't focus.. I kept thinking about what I was going to say to him if we talked. I ended up putting my seminary stuff aside and I just started running scenarios through my head. What would I say, How would I say it, etc. After like 10 minutes my phone goes DING DING.. it was James.. this was the conversation:

I was totally thrown off by how upfront he was! I just started laughing and then responded and he ended up calling me thirty minutes later. We talked for over an hour.. I started the conversation by telling him exactly how I felt about not being a 'back burner girl' and that it needed to be going somewhere or not at all. The conversation boiled down to this:

Kaylen.. You are so awesome. You are everything that I need in a future wife. I wake up thinking about you and I go to bed thinking about you.. I have been taking out a lot of other girls, but I don't compliment them like I compliment you. I don't take them out consistently either! You would never be back burner girl! The only problem is that in 2 months you are going to England and you will be there for 7 weeks. That will be no fun for me because I won't be able to "get to know people" (aka date or do ANYTHING fun) for 7 whole weeks and that doesn't sound enjoyable to me. My dad told me to date a lot after I got back from my mission and so I've been doing that.. (he is 24) I don't want to say yes to you because that means that I would be saying no to the other 5,000+ eligable girls at BYU and that scares me because there might be someone prettier, more athletic, more musically inclined, or all over better than you (not said but definitely implied)... so can we just keep it in third gear or shift it down into second gear and keep dating other people until July when you get back and then we can see where it goes from there?

No. No in a million ways. No I won't shift down to second gear because then I am TOTALLY back burner girl! Boys think they are being SOOOOO cautious by dating a lot of girls and in their minds they think "The prophet says get married.. so I'm dating a ton!!" WRONG! The prophet says get married.. which means stop dating around and commit already! The funny thing is that we aren't even talking about marriage.. we're just contemplating the idea of dating more seriously. Where is the faith? Where is the faith to move forward to do as the prophet has said? Why would you not want to initiate the most crucial part of the Plan of Happiness in your life? Why would you WANT TO KEEP DATING? That's the part that I really don't get. I am SO sick of dating. I honestly don't care how many siblings are in your family.. I don't care what your life goals are.. so sorry. Why? Why would you want to continue playing that game?

I confronted him about a lot of issues. He asked if I had thought about us and England and I told him that I didn't even know what I was teaching in class tomorrow! And England is in TWO MONTHS! There is plenty of time to decide whether or not this is worthwhile before we even have to confront that issue..James, life is about faith! It's about walking in the darkness, stepping into murky water and taking risks when prompted or commanded! Dating is a gamble.. you either gamble me and lose me.. or you keep me at the loss of the other 5,000 girls. You have to decide. Third gear is idealistic, but not realistic.. we either move to 4th or we shut off the car.

(this summery of the conversation is pretty raw.. It lacks the fluff of niceness and respect with which we addressed each other and basically just lays out in essence what was said)

We ended up deciding that we were too tired to make the decision that night.. that we were both going to think about it and then talk soon...

That was Tuesday night.

Wednesday morning I already knew what I would say to him.. "James whatever you decide you want to do is right! If you choose not to date me then I'm glad! Because I need a boy that can walk in darkness with faith and jump into murky pools head first without looking back.. because that's who I am and that's how I roll! So if you can't date me because you are being "cautious" aka terrified of marriage then I don't want to be with you either because I want to be with a man full of faith! However if you choose yes then great! That shows me that you have human fears, but you are willing to go forward with faith regardless.. and that is SO attractive to me." Either way I felt like I was a winner!

Well I haven't heard from him since haha and usually I take things like that kinda hard. I hate rejection..But I have been totally fine! I know that James and I would be so great together.. and to be honest I think that is what scared him the most... that this might actually be IT. But that's the thing! No faith! No desire to move forward and progress! That's a lie.... he does want to have a family, but in his words: "It will be some much fun to be a dad! I can't wait! But getting to that point (aka engagement and wedding) feels like walking through cob webs to me."

ANYWAY that's the story. My first question on my next good date is going to be "Are you scared of commitment for any reason? Because the last 3 boys that I have liked have all turned out to be flakes when it comes to moving forward and I'm sick of playing that game.."

LOL This post makes me laugh because I feel like one of those "single sisters" that writes complaints to The First Presidency about boys not dating to marry. I am not by any means desperate, I'm just sick of hearing the same story over and over.. "you're amazing! But saying yes to you means I have to say no to every other girl.. and you're not cool enough for me to gamble ALL that... but stick around and maybe we can reconvene when the timing is more convenient!"

Goodbye Mr. James.. I truly hope you don't end up dead and alone, but at this rate I make you no promises!

The Dating Game

I hate it. Why? Because it causes me grief! Story to illustrate? Of course!

James and I went on our first date on Feb 4. It was a blind date and turned out to the the best blind date yet! He called me to ask me on a date and we talked on the phone for 30 minutes! That does NOT happen when boys call to ask a girl out... ESPECIALLY for a blind date! But James and I hit it off before we even saw each other. Good omen :) The first date was fantastic.

Since that day we have been out once a week -consistently- for the last month.. which has been great! On Valentine's day this is the message I woke up to:

(he loves to call me Sister _[lastname]_)

Please notice that it was sent at 8am! How adorable is that. It made the whole day fantastic. We had a ward activity on Valentines, but afterward James and I made pizza and s'mores using his oven broiler :) SO MUCH FUN!

On another date we colored... for 2 hours. It was ideal! We can talk for hours so it was a perfectly simple activity for us to do while we chatted till 1am... He autographed his picture and gave it to me... then I did the same and he hung my picture on his fridge.. where it still hangs today :) so I went home and sent him this picture:

He did such a good job! I named him Georgio.

Now you may be thinking-- Kaylen this sounds perfect to me! What's all the fuss? Well there are a couple things that really make me unsure. 1- He is still taking out at least 4 other girls a week. This kid is a dating machine-- we have been somewhat open with each other so I know that he has been going out a TON, but it makes me jealous! 2- We have not broken the physical touch boundary.. which is ridiculous! I am not saying that I want him to kiss me, but at least hold my hand! Do something! At this point all I have that tells me he likes me is that fact that he compliments me shamelessly when he sees me and that he consistently takes me out once a week.. but that is not enough! He could be doing that same thing with 4 other girls! I can't tell if he is stringing me along or if he is nervous to commit... It's driving me bonkers.

Friday we took a detour to visit my seminary classroom because he has been anxious to go and see where I "get to testify everyday!"(in his words).. so we went! We ended up playing the piano and talking about my students... it was SO fun :) Today I got to class and while I was putting stuff on the whiteboard before class I found this hidden message--

.. haha s'more boy :)

I texted him this picture and he said "Hahaha tell me they saw it :)" I told him I discovered it before class, so they didn't.. his reply, "So you erased it before they had a chance to see it?! Noooooo!" lol he is such a goof! but if my kids saw this the lesson would be out the door and they would have drilled me with questions about him being in the classroom, and if we had kissed, and if we were getting married. I was NOT going there haha

Sunday we saw each other again! Twice in three days! MIRACLE! We cooked dinner with his brother and one of his MANY lady friends (how do I know James dates a ton? because his roommates/brother are with different girls EVERY TIME I see them. They are all machines). We made calzones that were so delicious!

After dinner we watched the CES broadcast.. we sat next to each other.. and our forearms touched! Holy smokes! haha isn't it ridiculous that I count that as such a victory??! Oh boy. Kaylen hasn't felt loved in a long time... and it's apparent.

That night he texted me and said "Kaylen, I really appreciate spending time with you, you're wonderful. Thanks for finishing your food ;)" haha inside joke because I ALWAYS eat everything on my plate.. even when I'm stuffed.. its a problem.. but he loves it.

Why am I stressing? Because everything points to the fact that he likes me except the fact that he only ever cares to see me once a week (I have invited him to do things multiple times but he is always busy, home teaching, or doing homework.. LAME ;) he has never done anything to physically communicate affection, and HE TAKES OUT A MILLION OTHER GIRLS A WEEK! If he really liked me wouldn't he ween off dating other girls while still taking it slow with me? I don't want to be back burner girl! That is the worst.

Moral of the story.. I hate the dating game. It makes me crazy and rant on my blog for hours. This week I have a major paper due, so I am going to be working on that ALL week, then Friday night I have a date with another boy in my ward, then Saturday I have Stake Conference and a birthday dance party to go to.. so I'm booked! I think it might be good to turn him down.. maybe he will feel the twinge of jealousy... hopefully that will facilitate a situation later next week when we can have a little chat about our feelings. Because I am hooked :) he is AWESOME.

Like I said... the game is ridiculous.