An even shorter recap of the last 21 years.

My first and last 21st birthday has come and gone. I don't think I have enough time to write down everything that has happened since I left the womb so just know that it has been great. I am in love with life and I couldn't be more blessed. Thanks to all of those who have been there to guide me through these years, I am thrilled with where you have brought me.

Day one of my adventure. Those tired eyes on Brennan make him look like he worked harder than my mother!

Daddy's first little girl. I had [still do] him completely wrapped around my finger. Also for those of you who are curious about my his hair color... here it is at about age 26. It was apparently blond before then.

Proof that I was sweet at one point in time.

 A hop and a skip down the time-line and here we are... I'm 21 years old, 3 semesters away from graduating from college, and I now have another young man wrapped my finger. My, how time flies.

p.s. I was totally tempted to throw in some pictures from every year of my life... but I'm saving those for the classic reception slide show. Something definitely worth showing up for. (:

There ain't no rust on the happiness bus.

Once upon a time there was a young woman named Katelyn. Now, it would be expected that any story starting with "Once upon a time..." would be about a princess and her dashing young prince... but Katelyn is not necessarily a princess. You see, her grace is sort of lacking... however not-a-princess Katelyn did have a prince. His name was Todd [formerly known as Aladdin, Navine, Demitri, or Flyn Rider] and he was the most handsome in all the land. He was tall and smart and witty and an over all a rock solid guy. Katelyn really really liked everything about Todd and one day they started hanging out... then they started dating [4.14.2010]... then they kept dating... and dating and dating and dating some more... then one day [11.26.2010]-- they went on another date... [que the magical glittery music and engage in 1st person mode].

It was Thanksgiving break and Todd and I decided to stay in Provo. Todd's family drove down from Jerome to stay at his Uncle Ty's house for the holiday. The initial dinner deal was delicious and after a very eventful week with Lucy being born and the "huge storm," Todd and I spent our Friday evening in Salt Lake at the Jazz/Lakers game with my family.

The game was all sorts of entertaining and was louder than anything I had ever heard before in my life! When the mighty duel was over we bid farewell to my family as they drove back to Idaho. The time was nearly 10pm and the Christmas lights on Temple Square were going to be lit for another 15ish minutes so Todd and I bundled up and took a lovely walk 7ish blocks east to look at the pretty lights. Upon arrival the gates were still open so with fifteen minutes before the clock struck 10 we quickly hurried around admiring the beautiful scenery. [p.s. if you haven't been to Temple Square during the holidays then it needs to get on your to-do list... because it is beautiful!] Lights everywhere and to have the temple in the middle of all of is just breathless. We I took a lot of pictures... one) because I have always wanted to be a photographer and someday I'm going to get a nice camera, and two) because it was definitely a night worth remembering.

We adventured our way around the grounds and after several photos and random conversation we stopped. Right here:

Let me just set the scene a little more... because I haven't done so enough already [haha]. The time is 5 till the hour -meaning Temple Square is about to close- and the temperature is rapidly dropping. I seriously have never been so cold in Utah before in my life! I am attempting to get some cool pictures of the temple reflecting in the big square restless fountain and I get up on the ledge for a better shot. Then, believe it or not, Todd pushes. me. into. the. freezing water!! ... k not really... but that woulda been a great story! Anyways... so I'm standing there taking pictures and talking to Todd- he was asking me all sorts of random questions which was odd because he's not really an inquisitive guy. I continued to take pictures and he put an arm around me, probably to make sure I didn't actually fall in. The occasional random questioning continued and before you know it my dear Todd was on his way to one knee. Of all things I say, "Right now?!" Probably because I wasn't expecting it...

... and they lived happily ever after.

78] pretend like I'm back home and look at the leaves during conference.

We have a tradition in my family where every fall during General Conference we take a drive into the mountains and look at all the pretty colors. When I was in elementary school my mom would make us get our hairs all pretty and put on matching sweaters so we could take family pictures in the woods. I remember once when I was probably in fourth grade we turned onto a really sketchy dirt road--the kind of roads that house evil witches--and ended up driving down a cliff thing and like landing in a cow field and then resorting to taking down a fence so we could get out... it was pretty savage... and scary. But we got some cool pictures out of it... like this one in the abandoned school bus...

A winner, huh? Haha anyways... since I have not been home during fall conference for about three years I thought it would be a fun little tradition to start with Todd. So, the day before conference I threw together a picnic dinner and we drove the Alpine Loop to see what we could find. Unfortunately it was later in the day so there were lots of shadows [next year we'll go in the middle of the day with all of the sunshine] but it was still a very lovely drive. It's not very often that I get Todd all to myself for extended amounts of time so I really, really enjoyed myself.

42] build dinosaur suckers.

Oh dear... I don't have a day on this little whipper... but whenever it was, it was fun! I got these dinosaur sucker molds for my birthday last year from Marysa. What happened was... my sisters and I were at Sierra's craft place [I think] getting Christmas presents for each other. Pretty much we picked out what we wanted and put whatever it was in someone else's basket.

I picked out the dino sucker mold and sucker sticks. (: Then once I got them for Christmas [or my birthday... really the two of them together is one big celebration... which I am totally opposed to] I put them in a container and they hung out under my bed for almost a year. But... now I've used them and it was very enjoyable considering we only had brown and white to work with color wise. Really though, Tawd probably could have cared less what they looked like. ;) It was the chocolate that he was after.

 

30] go to The Chocolate and sit in a little booth.

September 11, 2010: Todd and I decide to celebrate our freedom by eating chocolate. Lots. of. Chocolate. Located at 212 State Street in Orem, UT is a little house called The Chocolate. This small abode has been transformed into a chocolate bakery shop. The decor is adorable and every room has little bunches of chairs and coffee tables for you to enjoy your treats at. Todd and I went upstairs, past the bathroom on the left, and chose this (see below) little window spot. You'll have to go check it out... this was definitely the most secluded spot but the rest were much cuter with all sorts of throw pillows and antiques. As for the tasty stuff we ate- we got a slice of dark chocolate cake, a turtle brownie, a German chocolate cupcake, and a peanut butter chocolate cookie. All for only $9.34! I give this little place 5 stars... definitely a tasty experience that you don't want to miss out on. Bon appetite!

Our little booth... if the house were like really a house I'd imagine there to be a comfy bench thing for reading on sunny days.

A little curly fellow that was previously residing on the cake.

Guess who got a hair cut the next week. . . 

For you, Marysa.

"What's The Chocolate?" -Jordan Moody

"It's where you take girls when you want them to think you are sensitive." -Emily Young

The weekend we didn't go to Vegas.

We start August 20 [yeah it's been a month but with school starting I've got better things to do... sorry readers!] and fall semester had yet to convene. Todd had the weekend off from work [his one and only weekend off all flipping summer] so we decided to go to Vegas for our friend's wedding. Oh wait. . . . . no we didn't... we stayed in Provo and hacked my to-do list into a oblivion!! You see, driving to Vegas and back within 1.5 days just wasn't as convenient or as cost-friendly as we would have hoped. Plus we're not skandy like at all so we decided to save our reps and stick with the Provo scene. A good decision indeed because when Friday arrived I had developed quite the cold and I definitely wasn't up for anything nearly as adventurous as a trip to Sin City... of course. 1:00 o'clock in the p.m. rolls around and I finally get to leave work and go home to my comfy couch and nap in hopes of curing my ailing body. 1:10 then shows up rather quickly with Todd at it's side... no nap for me. Okay maybe that's not entirely true... and even if it was I was (still am) always excited to see him. Prior to Friday... like Thursday at like 1:15 or something... Todd sent me a lovely email and mapped out our whole weekend in hopes of knocking out the rest of my list. Unfortunately, since my energy levels were dwindling, we didn't get to everything on the agenda. But that's okay, because we had a wonderful time anyways... we begin Friday at about 3:50 in the afternoon:

35] go see INCEPTION and understand the whole thing.

What a show! I don't want to give anything away so I'll just say that the actors were excellent and I seriously got sucked into the plot. A must see for sure!

My attempt at Vanna White.

Todd's attempt at DiCaprio.

32] make a natty-bowl at color-me-mine.

So the story behind the natty bowl goes something like this... Brian Heggie and Natalie Lloyd (now Natalie Bennett) went to color-me-mine on one of there many flingish dates. Brian came home with a "natty-time" bowl and I'm not really sure what Nat got out of it. Pretty much the natty-bowl became quite the icon in MAN205 and it was pretty dang funny anytime anyone ate out of it... and that's only grazing the top of the inside joke. My natty-bowl wasn't actually a bowl... just a large mug and I think it turned out pretty cool. Todd made a beer stein looking thing which also came out to be way sweet.

36] experience the fine dining of Joe Bandido's Fiestaraunt.

I'm gonna say both "tasty" and "gringo" about sums up my experience. I got "The Bandito" and Todd ordered some sort of Hawaiian-Mexi something. My advice: don't get the pork.

15] tie-dye t-shirts... or socks.

Yes! After a quick trip to the Wal-Mart we were ready to go!
          tie-dye kit: √
          white shirts: √
          bandannas: √
          socks: √

All we had to do was pick out a design, mix up the die stuff, and have at it! Erin made a shirt, Marie and I made shirts/bandannas, and Todd died socks. Everything turned out great... 'cept I haven't seen Todd sport his mismatched neon socks yet...

8] get my picture on sammy's wall.

The day came to a close and we had knocked out quite a few to-do's. Last stop- sammy's! We split a shake, a fried egg burger thing, another shake, and sweat potato fries. Oh and don't forget the picture... if you walk in, turn straight around, and look up then it's like right there, you can't miss it. (: 

The entire weekend was wonderful! Even though my health was failing me I still got to be adventurous and spend lotsa time with my favorite boy! Maybe one of these days we'll actually have time for each other again and we'll go on another mega-date... stay tuned. (:

This fall semester...

is gonna be pretty good as well. I don't know if I can beat out summer though. . . I had a dang good time. Either way this semester is going to be just as great. I noticed -after compiling my list of to-do's that will keep me entertained for the next 4ish months- that the list is quite goal oriented instead of a bunch of crazy fun stuff. This won't be a problem at all. . . I'm pretty sure with the company that I have that I'll still have lots o' fun no matter what's on my agenda, even if it is just homework. Let the games begin.

37] run to the Y trail head w/o stopping... a.k.a. get in shape to do so.
38] run to the Y.
39] make my bed every day.
40] go to the temple every week.
41] do every dish that I dirty.
42] build dinosaur suckers.
43] make gnocci soup.
44] get hot chocolate and ride the ski lift at Sundance.
45] slide down sliding rock.
46] hike up to Stewart Falls.
47] eat a delicious bass.
48] Write thank you notes to 5 people that have inspired me.
49] Go golfing or to the driving range.
50] Take a picture a day for a month.
51] Not eat at a restaurant for a month.
52] Sew something.
53] Collect my 100 favorite quotes.
54] Donate blood every 8 weeks.
55] Get a real Christmas tree.
56] Floss every day for two weeks.
57] Be on time for everything for a week.
58] Go Christmas caroling.
59] Eat a tostada to calm my nerves.
60] Eat vegetarian for a week.
61] Go camping in the snow.
62] Make a 72-hour kit.
63] Go to the state fair in Blackfoot and eat something deep fried.
64] Run a half marathon.
65] Learn to play and sing along with a song on the guitar.
66] Keep a daily gratitude journal for a month.
67] Make gingerbread waffles for Christmas.
68] Go to the beach.
69] Read A Christmas Carol.
70] Read Jesus the Christ... or at least start it.
71] Leave a 100% tip for excellent service at a restaurant.
72] Not eat sugar for one week.
73] Listen to every song on my iPod.
74] Can something (fruit, jam, salsa, jalapenos, etc.)
75] Buy only necessities for one month.
76] Give away a Book of Mormon.
77] Play all of the board games in the apartment.
78] run 'Barry's Drive-In Supa Mega Half-Marathon' on July 17th.
79] defeat the Fudrucker's Challenge, then some (yeah right).
80] go on a bike ride up to Bridal Veil... tandum??
81] visit the wildlife at Hogle Zoo
82] finish reading Princess Bride.
84] try not to be a wimp when I get pressured into climbing up a waterfall.
85] thirty minutes of scriptureness everyday.
86] make somethings delicious out of a plantain.
87] wake up early on a Saturday and get all-you-can-eat waffles.
88] go to The Chocolate and sit in a little booth.
89] take a visit to the aquarium in Sandy.
90] watch a BYU hockey game. maybe.
91] pretend like I'm back home and look at the leaves during conference.
92] make 'you are what you eat' cookies.
93] play with sparklers... preferably 6 months after the 4th of July.
94] whole-heartedly celebrate every legit holiday.

26] swing off a rope into Mona Lake.

August 14 • 2010

I'm checking this one off the list because I did indeed swing off a rope... actually into the lake is the questionable part. But I'll tell you about that once we get there :). This little afternoon adventure was quite the adventure... my roommate, Marie, and I threw together a facebook group and convinced a good number of people to join us on our hunt for the Mona Lake rope swings. The day came and after a delicious Mexican breakfast w/ Desiree we piled into 4 cars and headed south to Mona, UT. Like I mentioned, the trip was preempted to be a hunt... and guess what... we hunted alright! Not a single person in all four cars knew where we were going so we drove south, got off the Mona exit, and headed for the lake. Two cars turned left, two cars turned right, and our guard was down because we all know that strength is found in numbers. It was also smart of us not to exchange cell phone digits before we left. Whoops. However... despite the multiple mistakes we found Mona Lake within no time! It's fairly large... compared to me... so it stood out a lot. That's when we ran into another problem, a problem that would ruin the trip if not treated correctly. Turns out the rope swings are in fact not at Mona Lake! They are at the Burriston Ponds ten-ish minutes south of our current location. So we logically solved the problem and drove to the ponds while the other two cars drove to the lake- HAHA. Anyways... what should have been thirty minutes turned into an hour and we finally all convened at the ponds. Before we even settled in all the daredevils were up in the trees ready to swing into the murky water. I, considering myself an amateur daredevil, started out on one of the smaller swings. I horked down a sandwich or two for a boost of energy [and weight so I wouldn't fly away while mid-fall] and climbed to the nearest branch. Then... I froze... surprise... everyone was counting down and cheering me on and telling me where to land and finally I just went for it! And I uh... well I didn't quite land in the lake... not completely... just sort of enough to get my bum wet. Everyone was silent as I just sorta sat there like a kid in the mud. Thank heavens for my loving manfriend who walked on over and helped me up out of my ashamed state. Yeah it was embarrassing... especially when I got out and half my toe was hanging off and I had scratches on my arms and bum. Ouch. The rest of the trip, however, was still enjoyable... after being bandaged up I became the photographer and got some fun shots of everyone flying off the rope into the air before colliding with the questionable surface of the pond. There were a couple of rope burns and a good number of belly flops, but everyone had a wonderful time. I can't wait to go back next year so I can first off] keep everyone off the devil swing that ate me alive... and secondly] take on the real swing that will send me flying epically through the air like a 747.

[[pictures to come p.s.]]

18] get an A++ in my TMA 150 class.

Sooo I'm not so sure if the 'A' I got was an A++ but I say it counts. Especially since my transcript shows my GPA to be 4.0 for the term. As far as I know that's as high as a GPA can get so I'm happy! Now to see if this single A affected my total GPA . . .

4] go to Dairy Keen w/ my favorite boy.

August 5 • 2010

Just northeast of Aspen Grove you can find a friendly little town snugged behind the mountains. Here in Heber, Utah there are some fun sights worth seeing... Soldier Hollow is great for ward tubing activities, Strawberry Reservoir is cold but always nice for boating, and the surrounding mountains give plenty of opportunity for hiking and skiing. However, after closing show we didn't really want to hike or swim... we wanted to eat (:. And so we did! My favorite boy loaded me into his jeep and off to Heber we went to taste the fine cuisine of Dairy Keen, "Home of the Train." The larger than expected joint was quite a fun little place with trains on the roof, in the yard, and circling the ceiling as you ordered your famous milkshakes. There's also a little Hogwart's Express replica that you can watch drive back and forth in a little glass tank for only a quarter! Before discovering all of this though we did place our orders... I do believe I got a chicken strip kids meal [my toy was a legit water gun of course!] with chipotle sauce topped off with a cookie dough milkshake... or was it Reeses? Hmm I remeber not being able to decide haha. Todd got a really tasty sandwich thingy with a shake as well and we found ourselves a dainty little seat on the kaboose of the kids' train outside. The food was delicious! I thoroughly enjoyed every bite I took [of my food and Todd's]. Afterwards, in order to make the trip even more worth while and to digest a bit, we took a walk down main street to see what Heber had to offer... we met some swiss folks, walked around a scary church, fed a horse, and dodged evil minions. A lovely evening indeed.

Peachy.

Excellent seating options.

Totally preferred over Dairy Queen. (:

6] be awfully original and hike timp in the middle of the night just in time for the sunrise.

July 30 • 2010

It all started with an idea produced by my dear friend Sarah June. She asked me one evening, "Katelyn... what are you doing this Friday from about midnight to 6am?" A question I really have never been asked before so I knew exactly what she was about to go down. The only activity worth participating in from midnight to 6am on a weekend is either sleeping or hiking [of course]. So with no delay we planned a trip up the mountain to hike timp that very next weekend. The hike was scheduled to start late Friday evening and go through the night into Saturday morning. But... before that went down of course we had to make much preparations. We spent Friday doing everything rather normal... work and such ya know... then we dined finely at the pitted pita and laughed our pants off at HumorU [BAM!!]. This was followed by a couple of semi-productive naps before heading up the mountain. After arriving at the trail head and gathering our troops [me, Todd, Jenny, Emily, Alicia, Sarah June, and a super hip 40 year-old lady] around 12:30 a.m. we found the trail head and buckled in for a long night of much vertical gain. We hiked and hiked and hiked... there were switch backs and rock fields and water falls and anything you could imagine to be on a mountain side. We only took two minor detours and didn't lose too much time finding our way back. The whole way up was beautiful... even though I am a little night-blind and did a lot of tripping and plant facing. Nonetheless the moon lit the entire hike and I really enjoyed seeing the mountain's glamor in a different light. After a handful of hours it started to light up again and we were not at the top yet!! <> Up to this point I have made this hike sound very pleasant and happy... well guess what... now is the part where I die. I wanted to make it to the top for the sunrise! and like I said... we were definitely not at the top yet!! So I told the group peace out and I dragged Todd up the rest of the mountain with me. Probably one of the most memorable quotes came from Todd when he pointed out that my thunder thighs were the ones getting me up the mountain so fast. Psh thunder thighs... anyways... we got a little lost for a third time but found our way shortly there after and kept booking it to the top. Booking and booking and booking and every corner we turned there was more trail to go and booking and booking and hiking and booking and hurting and booking and finally arriving!! We made it to the top!!! and just in time too... as planned ;). We hit the summit at about 6:20 a.m. and the sun peaked over the mountains at about 6:32 a.m. Let me tell you... it was beautiful. So many pretty colors and the company was just as fine. Not to mention it was freezing and we were extremely tired... I tried to take a baby nap but every time I drifted off I felt like I was falling off the mountain. Now that's a scary feeling! Somehow everyone else though didn't experience the same thing 'cause there were hikers passed out all over the place. Even Todd joined in and someone got some rest. After enjoying the view and getting plenty of cool pictures we decided that it was time to begin our 4+ hour journey down the mountain. It seemed like a whole new hike as we now could really see the trees and rocks which were previously creepy shadows that looked like large carnivorous animals. Mother Earth loved us the entire way and we were granted with over cast as we tromped down the east side of the mountain where the sun would usually be beating it's merciless rays. The wildflowers painted the trail and the entire decent was a whole new experience that went a lot faster than expected. After 1 potty break, 4 granola bars, 1 apple, 1 banana, a few dozen pictures, and a gallon or so of water we made it to the bottom. As soon as I stopped walking my body instantly froze and I was totally ready to sleep for a good 8 hours. Unfortunately I only got about 5, not counting the nap on the car ride home. Overall the entire night was wonderful! I may have come out of it with blistered feet and an extremely sore body [especially in the hips] but I also beefed up my adventure resume and got some great pictures with the people I love.

 6:32 a.m.

I made him muster up just enough strength to take a photo or two... then he was out.

Todd participating in the sleeping of the masses.

Aaaand he's awake again... to our right is the whole valley, a way cool sight to see.

Here are the troups! We all made it to the top!

On the way down looking back at the hike [which looks like a golf course]... I will definitely do it again before I die.

14] successfully have a fire party at Utah Lake.

Huh-whoops... this was a while ago so my apologies for the delay. Anyways... eh hem...

What started out to be a stressful Wednesday full of grief and less than desirable interactions with co-workers turned into a relaxing evening full of adventure and surprises. I love surprises... like really... so logically I like surprising others. I decided that since Mr. T was coming down I would make him something delicioso to eat and do the whole blind fold picnic date. Yeah... usually it's the girl in the blindfold... but I wasn't kidding when I said I like to surprise others. Soooo here's how it went down>> I found an excellent recipe online for spicy mac'n'cheese (inspired by a previous conversation on how to make homemade mac'n'cheese not yucky chucky while still avoiding hot dogs and cholula) and I made it! Here's the recipe if you want to give it a shot:

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/05/not-your-grannys-mac-cheese/

It was so-oooo good and left us with very nice "anything but this" breath. The only thing I did differently was I used the corn as a side dish instead of mixing it in with the rest... my mac'n'cheese morals are just a little more right-winged than Pioneer Woman. Anyways... making the entire dish went a lot faster than expected, even faster than it took to eat the tasty stuff! Oh yes... eating the tasty stuff... that was a party.5 as well. Once Tahdd showed up I pulled out my blindfold within a few minutes and drug him across the street to my car. I couldn't tell if he was having fun or about to have a party in his pants...either way he was laughing and freaking out quite a bit about his well being. Anyways... after getting in the previously loaded car we... well I... drove south and got on I-15 to head to Utah Lake! I only passed the exit once (it's hidden so be careful) and successfully got Todd completely confused and mixed around. The only give away-had he figured it out-woulda been the aroma of cow droppin's or the breeze coming off the lake. We showed up right on time and he was totally surprised to find a lake right there at his feet. We ate our almost warm mac'n'cheese, chilled kool-aide squeezies, and whole kernal sweet corn... taste-t! The evening went along with plenty of humor... the bugs even tried to run off with our Canadian smores but succeeded only to line the inside of my car. Sick. Overall it was lovely evening, finished off with of course a riveting not-so-premier of Princess and the Frog. The end.

Do not be decieved... that fire was not as big as it looks. I mean..... thanks Todd for building a fire w/ such minimal supplies! (:

And here are the sicky bugs.

... in swell company.