Barbie&Ken...Kelsey&Taylor

         Okay, so the title of my blog may be random, but not really if you think about it. Barbie is awesome on her own, right? She's got a lot going for her. However, if you were ever a young child who played with Barbies (okay, I'll admit, I didn't stop until I was a pre-teen), you know that it's not as fun playing without a Ken because he's her dream guy! Barbie got to be taken on dates, have new clothes purchased to impress Ken, and you and I both know it was sometimes fun to have them get in an argument here and there so that Ken could show up later with roses and then everything was back to normal. Don't even act like I'm crazy, I know at least SOME of you know what I'm talking about! I may have gone overboard with owning the Barbie airplanes, tourbus, Love Bug, townhouse....etc. But the point is, Barbie's life is so much greater with Ken!

          At this time I'd like to tell a little story about MY Ken, but he has a way better name: Taylor. He's also way better looking that Ken, but I may be biased :)


          Way back in February I applied to be a SOAR counselor at BYU (if you want to know what SOAR is go here. )In march all SOAR counselor applicants were called in for a group interview. At that time I had a boyfriend, so in all honesty I didn't really notice Taylor. However, I do remember thinking to my half-Mexican, half-white self after hearing his Hawaiian/Pigeon accent, "Dang, that kid's like, SUPER cultural"...but that was basically it. The next week I found out that I had been chosen to be a counselor for that summer. I had no idea at that time the blessings that my new job would bring.

          At the end of May, we had an overnight retreat with all 14 counselors and the advisors. I remember of few things of Taylor at that time: I thought to myself, "Why is this kid wearing long sleeves on a camp out? It's super hot right now." I also remember thinking he was a little bratty, because when we went to ropes course and had to figure out how to get all 14 of us across a few tree stumps with only three large pieces of plywood, he kept telling me my idea to get us across wouldn't work. I was like, "seriously, this kid has no idea. My idea is totally gonna work." And you know what? It did :) That gave Taylor a little slice of humility pie, haha. My first time really speaking to Taylor was when he came up to me later and said sorry for not listening to my idea and for not "having faith" (which is what I kept telling him to do when it came to my idea!).

                                  

                  Taylor, his longsleeve shirt, and everyone trying to get across the logs with the plywood we were passing to them.

            From then on Taylor and I were just co-workers. There was a rule given to us by our boss that we weren't allowed to date the students (which apparently has been a problem in the past, creepy, right?) nor the other counselors. I remember thinking that Taylor was super cute and I did have a little crush on him, but I have a testimony of obedience so I decided that I was going to focus on the students at the camp and to stop focusing on my own thoughts or feelings.

          I became best friends with all the counselors that summer, including Taylor, which was SOOO fun. Because we were in such close proximity ALL summer, we all had our up's and down's with each other. There were a few times I thought to myself, "Ugh, I'm sooooo NEVER going to date Taylor." Of couse, this was super bratty of me, and little did I know. I only thought those things because Taylor and I are both pretty opinionated and honest people who share our thoughts and say what we think...which can cause a few heated discussions sometimes. But obviously, those were not too big of a deal. I absolutely loved being good friends with Taylor throughout the summer as SOAR counselors because we got to know each other really well. I also believe that if we had broken G4 (long story..but that's the name of the rule that says we couldn't date other counselors), we wouldn't have had the experiences we both did with our students at SOAR, and I don't think us dating would have worked out. Obedience is important :).


                                   Here are some fun photos of the fun summer I had with all the counselors:

                            During the last week of SOAR we had to hurry and make new posters for the dance because Custodial threw our other ones away :( . Taylor and Josh helped me. This is theirs...:)

                                            This was mine :) (that's Taylor hiding behind it)

            Anyway, after SOAR had ended, Taylor came over to my apartment and told me that he "liked a girl who wears comfy comfy's (my name for sweats :) and who "rocks Mowgli hair" (sometimes when my hair isn't done it looks like Mowgli). He told me of his desire to date me and I told him I shared the same interest. We had gotten to know each other so well during the summer as friends so it was pretty easy just starting to date him.

           Taylor is honestly the best boyfriend ever. He is SOOOO patient with me. He takes me to try new things (guys, I can use chopsticks to eat food now!). He will watch chick flicks with me. He has seen me in ALL of my ways (happy, mad, sad, pretty, homely, tired, awake, EVERYTHING!), so I know I can just be myself around him. He has such a strong testimony, and he is a very good example to me. He encourages me to do and to be my best. This boy can make me laugh. And laugh hard (you should ask to see his Voldemort impression some time :) When I tell him I want to be more healthy he will hide the Kit-Kat's from me...even when I act mad about it because I LOVEEE Kit-Kat's (I am always grateful later when I am feeling "fat").

                                   This is after a 3 hour dance audition I had. Taylor drove up to Salt Lake with me and was so nice and waited outside the audition the whole three hours :)


               So while Barbie has her Ken, I get my Taylor. And I love that. And I love him. And that's all. :)