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. :)

SOAR: New Feet to Follow...

         This is a very special blog post, because this was a very special week! Way back in February I turned in an application hoping to be selected as one of only 14 counselors at a BYU summer camp called SOAR. I went to SOAR three years ago, and it changed my life; That is when and why I decided I wanted to later be a SOAR counselor. After a lot of interviewing, waiting, and prayers, I got a letter that said I was chosen as one of the 8 girl counselors for the camp. I was actually pretty surprised because there were SO many good candidates for the job. However, I was even more grateful than I was surprised. I just finished my first week as a SOAR counselor (there are 3 sessions). It was one of the greatest weeks ever! As far as the title of this blog...the kids who came to SOAR this last week were AMAZING. I learned so much from them and I realized that although I am older than all of them, I learned SO much from them and I now have about 200 more feet to follow because they were such good examples to me.
   

        This picture above makes me want to cry. This is my group of girls: "Kelsey's Krew". From left to right is Brette (Tennessee), Chelae (Provo :), Alexis (Kansas), Bethsy (Texas), Nicole (Chicago), Mikayla (Hawaii), and Larissa (Maryland). I LOVE these girls so much. They were so entertaining and have so much to to offer the world. We had so much fun and had many smiles, laughs, and tears (good ones!). We were able to take a trip to Temple Square on one of the days, and it was so great!

                                    At the North Vistor's Center at Temple Square :)

                                                       Love my girls! "Kelsey's Krew!"

                                         We got to meet BYU's president, President Samuelson :)

                                                    This is Josh and his studly group :)
 

                                    Three of the most amazing people ever: Sam, Estella, and Lisa!

                                      This session was especially fun because Lyd was there!

                                                             Dancing sistas!

      So on the first morning of SOAR, I couldn't find (yeah, I dunno...) one of my contacts. So I got to be glasses buddies with Adam! Don't worry, I found my contact shriveled up on the floor of my dorm later...???

                                          One of my best friends, ever...Mimi, and me :)

                                                                    HSM photo!

                           On our way to the best service project ever. We got to go to a residency for mentally disabled males of many ages. We just hung out with them and got to see some of the biggest smiles of joy that I've ever seen. The van ride was so great on the way there and back. They named themselves "K-dog's Krew!"

                      Another thing I LOVE about my job is my awesome co-workers. Seriously, look how fun!

                                               My funny girls at breakfast one morning :)

             I will be posting ALL the photos from the week on my facebook, so be sure to check there if you want to see more :). This past week really taught me so much about who I am, what I should be, and what I can do with my life. EVERY SINGLE student who came to SOAR was absolutely amazing. I love them all so much and I am SO blessed to have been able to work with them and learn from them. If any of you students are reading this, know how much I love you all, honestly. You all have so much potential; Please work hard to reach that! I'm always praying for you all.

 
          And to the girls of "Kelsey's Krew", I'll continually be doing "head counts".....so yall better keep in touch! You are all so beautiful and you all make me smile like crazy. "Kelsey's Krew!" I love you all, and that's all. :)

Little sunshines...

        
                Hello! So. This week I've been working hard to get lots done on my to-do list (which I'm not going to go into great depth about because I'm kind of anti-blog-about-everything-you-do,-eat,-and-say-every-day). During the time that I've spent by myself running all over creation, I've had a lot of time to think and observe; I've noticed a lot of "little sunshines" in my week and in my life. First, I will explain what "little sunshines" are. The summer before my senior year in high school I attended a multicultural college prep camp thing at BYU called SOAR (if you want to learn more about this, click here :) This camp is similar to EFY in that you have a counselor who leads your group. One night my counselor Stephanie shared a thought with us about looking for the "little sunshines" in our lives...AKA things you're grateful for, things that make you laugh, things that just make you smile, etc. She gave the examples of when your favorite song comes on the radio and makes you happy, when a stranger says hi, or just anything you notice that brightens your day. She gave us a little notebook to write these things down in. This idea has helped me in my life, especially when I might not have a lot going on in life and when I might get caught up in looking for huge, easy-to-spot blessings and tender mercies from the Lord. This idea has helped me to acknowledge the Lord's hand in ALL things in my life, and it reminds me that He places every little thing that brings a smile to His daughter Kelsey's face in her life because He wants me to be happy. I thought I'd share a few of these things that made me happy this week....or, my "little sunshines".

*FRIENDS. I LOVE my friends. I've been trying to get used to all of my original roommates leaving last weekend (Lauren and Holly went to Europe for a Study Abroad with BYU, and Mary went home to NM to get ready for her mission!). So, this week one of my little sunshines was one of my best friends...MACY! Although she's not technically my roommate, she may as well be. She lives right next door but basically lives at my house (and sleeps there :) We always do fun things, but this week I've been especially grateful since I'm pretty much alone at my apartment otherwise. This week Macy, our friend Bri, and I went to Zupa's for dinner then went shopping for my sister Andrea's birthday. Macy also slept over at my house multiple times in a row to keep me company :). On Saturday night we were both totally ready to go to bed when we realized we had nothing to take to our ward's "Break the Fast" event the next day, so we decided to go to the grocery store, in sweats and me with wet hair, and all. We also ran into my mom and Lydia there....at 1am. haha :). I'm very grateful for all these fun times with my friends..and this week, I'm especially grateful for my little sunshine Macy!

(from top to bottom row...) Holly, Bri, Mary, Lauren, Me, Macy

*Temples! On Tuesday, April 26, my youngest sister Andrea turned 12. Her birthday wish was to go and do baptisms with the whole family. Lydia was out of town, so my brother Chris, my mom, Andrea, and I went to the Provo temple to do baptisms. This is the first time I've been able to go to the temple with these siblings. An extra "little sunshine" was the fact that while we waited to go in, the song "Families can be together forever", which is the song that was played outside the font area when my family and I did baptisms in the Nauvoo temple two days after my dad passed away, was playing. Chris and Andrea weren't old enough to go in four years ago when we did baptisms in Nauvoo, so they didn't know that that song had played when we had gone after my dad had died. I decided to share this story with them and it was a very neat experience. It reminded me that Heavenly Father speaks to us through many different mediums and that nothing is ever "just a coincidence :) .

Provo, Utah temple

*Last night I saw the movie I am number Four with my good friend and old roommate Alli. It was so fun to catch up with her and just have fun.

 

SO GOOD. go see it. PLUS...he's very nice to look at :)

*Spending time with my mom. My mom lives a different life than many other wives her age because of my dad being gone, which means I have a little bit of a different relationship with her than the relationship most girls my age have with their mothers. Her whole life is about her kids, so I've been working on doing things to make her happy. Last night we went to Cafe Rio for dinner and just talked. I decided I'm going to try to better appreciate Jane Austin books and movies...because that would make my mom happy :).

Pride & Prejudice :)

           I feel like my elementary school 5-paragraph essay training has instilled in me a need to have an ending paragraph of any sort of writing that starts with "in conclusion"...So, here it is: In conclusion, life is good. There are so many "little sunshines", which can just be the smallest things that make us happy or smile or help us to enjoy life that we don't really acknowledge as things to be grateful for. I will challenge anyone reading this to try to look for even the smallest of "sunshines" in your life, because life is full of happy little bursts of sunshine that make life beautiful.