Whoever decided Mosquitos were a good idea....

Official count from the last 24 hours: 38 bites!!!!!!!!!!! all red, all burning, all itching, none dying away


Really it's a total bummer. Thankfully there are none on my face or legs. Unfortunately, all are on my arms and feet----very inconvenient to wear shoes that rub on them and also to wear shirts, no matter which one, because they all rub on them too. Oh well, such is the price to pay for basking in the all too quickly fading summer nights. I swear these mosquitoes are getting better at what they do because I didn't feel a thing until it was too late. So basically all the skin that I was showing in the last 24 hours is covered in the vicious reminders of pesky mosquitoes who are determined to survive on the distracted meal tickets.

So since there are so many mosquitoes, why aren't there more dragonflies? Wouldn't it be lovely if there were just a plethora of these beautiful predators for the mosquitoes? I think so. Besides that they really are pretty. Interesting to note is that dragonflies and mosquitoes seem to look similar.....Anywho, I'll just sit here with my itching and pray that all the scratching, slapping, and nail biting will in some way alleviate the constant reminder that I am single-handedly supporting the mosquito population here in Provo.

Cheers!

Sick

So I am part of the epidemic. I got the dreaded swine flu. I went to the doctor last week right in the throws of it and they said there wasn't anything to do for it except sleep and drink lots of fluids. I got sick on Tuesday and have been coughing until now, still a residual one. But thankfully, the fever subsided. Even more thankfully, I had two friends brave enough and willing to take me to the Health Center in hopes of a remedy. I didn't know it was the swine flu, and well the doc never really said it either...really. She said that I had the flu and it was most probably the swine flu. But most probably isn't definitely. In any case...Greg and Jesus took me to the Health Center, then took my books back to the library (which was AWESOME since I had about 20 and they were huge), and they also took the note from the doctor to my work. Oh man, they came at just the right time. I'm so grateful to them. Pretty awesome dudes. Anywho, I'm pretty much better now. Just a slight cough still and still pretty tired, but other than that healthy.

Jesus (left) and Greg (right) waiting for me and the weighty diagnosis.

My lovely and quite fashionable mask to further delineate the embarrassing truth.

Today is a Special Day

It's my BIRTHDAY!!!
Yipee, hooray!

Twenty-one years later
I feel...uh....wiser?

It's been fun getting here
With all those I hold dear.

Thank you one and all.
You've made life a ball.

From diapers, to training wheels,
To soccer cleats, and finally heels

You've all taught me so very much
From this and that to such and such

I'm no where near all grown up,
But I sure feel like a lady, no pup.

I would not be the person I am today
If it weren't for all of you, so may I say

Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I am so very grateful to all of you.

Thank you for your love and support,
And especially patient with my weird quirks.

I love you all for a plethora of reasons:
All the laughs and memories for every season

Let's celebrate and raise a glass
To your success and not letting a moment pass

For a better life filled with dreams
Hopes and bright sunbeams

Thanks for helping me get to today
My 21st Birthday!

Memorial Day Plans

GUESS WHAT?!?!?! I'M GOING TO VEGAS!!!!!!!!
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh Me Oh My

Oh me, oh my!
Where is the sky?

It seems to have fallen down?
Perhaps my world is upside down.

With whirlwind days, and
Brief visits from the Sand Man,

Life seems to just send me to my limits
Then stretch them minute by minute

'Til it seems that I really won't reach any further.
But wait, SURPRISE! Here's yet another

Task for you to push you on and on.
Once you start time is already gone.

But no worries, there's a smile
On my face all the while.

Whether it's fake or it's real,
So long as I tackle with zeal

Each new gift from life's plentiful bag
Of experiences. No time to lag!

Well time is far spent and I'm behind.
Good luck to all, smile all the while. Signed,

Katherine

Slightly Sane Spring Schedule

So upon going to work and classes today and yesterday, marking the start of the new Spring Term, I discovered that my social life will continue in its "on hold" status. My week is as follows:

Mondays and Wednesdays: 9am-2pm Classes; 2-5pm Work; then more than likely the library for hours to do homework.

Tuesdays and Thursdays: 9:30am-2:30pm Work; 4-6:30pm Class; then, once again to the library for homework.

Fridays: 8am-12pm Work; 12-2pm Class; then probably to the library, or finally elsewhere, but more often than not a few hours with Brother Lee.

So my days are pretty packed again. The work load is going to be double since the term is only half as long as a normal. I am looking forward to these classes, however. I'm taking Intro to PR, Modern Art History, and Intro to Astronomy. They are all very intense classes and I already feel behind, but I'm excited. I'll work really hard and then play summer term (heh heh).

Enough with that. I just got back from Moab this past weekend!!!! It was AWESOME!!!!!! I had a blast with some friends. We camped for three days and two nights in Moab. We just went hiking, but it was soooo gorgeous. We hiked all the major arches in Arches National Park. I didn't know it was going to be so windy, but to form those beautiful arhces it makes sense. I also got the first tan lines of the season and look forward to making more throughout the sunny days here inUtah. Here are some pics.

A Woman of Many Talents

I guess I don't share my talents nearly as often as I should because of the comments I received this weekend (which by the way was a complete BLAST!!!!)

So to begin Friday:

Mom and Dad came down to visit me for a few hours because I was receiving an achievement award for Art History. They came and brought Gma with them to come to the award ceremony. I got a scholarship for the Talent Award for the Art History department. I'm not sure exactly what I did, but I'm grateful that I was able to get the scholarship for this spring term. Way cool that Mom, Dad, and Gma would come support me. Thank you so much!!!! We went to dinner and had a blast eating waaaaaaaay too much and enjoying each other's company.

After dinner, received an invite to go play night games in Rock Canyon Park. Suuuuuuupppeeeerrrr fun. We played Dot. It's an extreme game of hide'n'go seek. There are 4-5 check points and 1 seeker that stands in one spot. He calls out a number and has to count 1 dot, 2 dot, 3 dot....etc. for the number he called. While he's counting his eyes are closed and you try to get to as many check points as possible before he stops counting. Once he stops he opens his eyes and tries to spot you. He calls out all the people that he can see and you join him. The point is to try and to reach all of the check points and back to the seeker before anyone else. I made it pretty far a few times, but then I always got caught or someone else won. After that a group of us went behind the temple grounds and rolled down the hill there and then rented a movie. It was fun. The interesting thing was that the people I was with didn't know that I would want to do something like that. They all said in a surprised voice that they were surprised that I was "Crazy." I laughed and told them it was true.

Then came Saturday:

Saturday started early with some boys making breakfast for me and a few friends. They attempted to make eggs benedict and crepes with strawberries. It turned out pretty well for never having made either dish before. After breakfast, I did some laundry...ugh!!!!!!!!!!

But then there was the ward closing social (HIGHLIGHT OF MY DAY!!!) we had a Redneck BBQ. Mmmmm burgers and hot dogs in the rain...football...soccer...tug of war....FUN!!!!! I tossed the football around with some people and then (my favorite part) we started up a game of soccer. We had the barefoot vs. shoes teams. I was on the barefoot team. It was awesome! It was raining, I was soaked, and the field was slick and muddy...my kind of game. I was slipping all over the place and fell a number of times. I was no sissy though. I shoulder tackled and tried my hand at slide tackling (well it was more trying to cover up that I was slipping and falling). I was sprinted to get to the ball and just had fun playing hard with the boys.

After we all came in, I had a number of people come up to me and exclaim their suprise (yet again) that I was so "hard core." No one knew I played soccer or that I would play "so well." It was fun to play and get back in the groove of my competetive athletic nature...like riding a bike. The kicker was when Brother Coplin, one of the bishopric members, came up to me wide eyed and impressed that I could, and I quote "throw like a boy!" His face and surprise was rather entertaining especially combined with the tone in his voice. It was like a line from a movie: " You throw like a boy!" I smiled, laughed a bit, nodded my head, and said a sheepish "thanks." He continued in his awe by describing my form of leading with the correct foot and then how complete my follow-through was. I was rather shocked at his shock and awe. I smiled again and said that I grew up with five boys, so I had better be able to throw like a boy. (THANK YOU BROS FOR MAKING SURE I THROW LIKE A BOY!)

After that I had quite a few invitations to go do things that evening. I've never had so many in one night. It was fun. I already had plans to go to the ballroom dance concert with one of my friends so I had to decline all of the invites. Hopefully I'll be able to raincheck the invites for another day.

Ahh Sunday:

Sooooo, our choir director didn't show up for our rehearsal before Sacrament meeting so I lead the best I could with my violin...interesting. Thankfully he showed up before we had to perform. I played with the choir. After the meeting it seemed like the whole ward came up to me, and again in surprised voices, claimed they didn't know I played the violin. It was even better when I said I've been playing for almost 14 years. I also got several comments on the little cadenza (really just a quick scale up) and how cool it sounded like an electric guitar. I'm not sure if that was supposed to be a compliment, I said thank you anyways. I had one of the guys I played soccer with on Saturday inform me that he and his roommates wanted to put pictures of me all over their walls in their apartment. I laughed and said I'd gladly be their poster child. (Personally I thought that was a bit strange....)

Later on Sunday I had the opportunity to go to Easter dinner with my friend and her family in Kaysville. We were invited to participate in the Easter Egg Hunt and I'm glad we did. Collectively we found $14.25! It was great!


So all in all, I had a splendid weekend. I got beat up pretty bad from all the falling and such, but I will say it was worth it in the end. I am surprised that people didn't know so much about me. I'm very grateful that I was able to share some of my talents this weekend. I'll try harder to share them more often because that's why we are blessed with talents. It reminded me of the parable of the talents and I feel a bit like the servant that buried his talents and did not increase. I'm striving to be more like the first servant that multiplied his to a great degree.

Happy Easter everyone! I hope that we are all able to share our talents more often and lift each other with the gifts that Heavenly Father has blessed and given each of us individually.