Life Lately...

Has been pretty exciting. Before school started, I tried to fit everything in that I was going to miss. It was a very successful movement, and I can honestly say I am so much happier because of it. 

We definitely had to fit in some late nights at the cousins house in Carlsbad just having dinner, talking, and of course making smores. The weather was so nice then(now it's seriously soooo hot). 

Just making smores with the family

 Obviously with our passes finally working again(after a long Summer of them being blocked) we had to make a trip to Disneyland. My mom and I went together after a long day of a choir rehearsal and we met up with a few of my friends. It was a very fun last-minute trip!

Me, Emily, and Annie

Can't forget the mustaches

LOTS and LOTS of dancing.. We embarrassed Annie, but
that's okay because we were having so much fun

And me and my friend Rachel had promised our friend Rebecca we would come visit her at work close to the beginning of Summer, and we never got to it so we went and indulged in delicious food and visited her. She works at Bruxie which is a belgian waffle sandwich shop... Oh my heck it is beyond delicious! If anyone is ever in the area and wants to go on a lunch date there then I will always be open, I need an excuse to go ;)

Rachel, Rebecca, and Me(We look black in this picture)

The Perfect Summer

This summer has been absolutely fantastic. I've spent it babysitting and hanging out with friends. I've also been going to the temple every week because it was one of my goals. It has been a great time.
I've met so many smart two year olds, and I've definitely been able to improve on my mothering skills for the future.

My best friend and I have been going on trips opposite weeks of each other, so I hadn't seen her in 3 weeks until Monday and so we celebrated hanging out with ice cream and Popsicles, vey typical of us. Now she's off in Hawaii enjoying the sun as I stay here mostly babysitting so I can save money to go to Hawaii next year.

The temple is a great place. I am Mormon, and we believe in the Plan of Salvation where after we die everyone who wasn't a member of our church can become baptized. But since their bodies are no longer able to be baptized, we go to the temple to become baptized for them. It's kind of confusing but if you go on www.lds.org you can learn more about it.

I hope everyone is having a great summer as well!!

So this beach we went to is really lame, and shouldn't even be considered a beach anymore, we only go there for bonfires because there is grass. I think that's why it says kooks? 

Sour Patch Popsicles are the best

Do you hear the voice?

We hear the voice!

 EFY this year was absolutely amazing. I went to Santa Barbara with my sister and her friends, but I roomed alone in order to meet new people. We rode the train to Santa Barbara and back after the week was over, and I think the train made it so much more fun.

 My roommate's name was Margaret and she was pretty cool. She was training to hike the grand canyon rim to rim, and she completed it on Wednesday of this week. 

All of the girls in my company(which usually consists of 13 girls age 16-18. There are a lot of companies to make up one group)had come alone which made it easier to make new friends and not be cliquey. It ended up being super fun! One of the girls in our company pretended she was Russian the first day and I totally believed her the whole time until they made her tell the truth.

It ended up being a fantastic week filled with lots of fun/random events!

Escorting is a big deal for EFY... Everywhere you go you basically have to be
escorted by someone of the opposite gender haha

It was my counselor Greg's birthday the week before on the 4th but we celebrated it again

Funny story about my guy counselor: The first day we had our "welcoming" meeting where all of the counselors dance and sing, and basically make it seem like they are really cool(even if they aren't, but they usually are). He was sitting next to me during one of the videos and there was a beat playing in the background so he started free styling and coming up with his own words making sure that only I could hear. From that point on, I knew he was going to be the best.

The food was delicious...

This is my friend Max, he and I matched almost everyday but it wasn't on purpose

Ice cream every freaking meal. Mmmm

Before getting on the train to go to Santa Barbara

Reenacting Breaking Dawn

The girls in my company. They were all so amazing

My favorite girls, Courtney and Lora(she was the girl with the Russian accent )

This was basically all we did on the train because Brigham is super talented

Courtney and I with our counselor Cali on the last day

A bunch of kids during free time.
(From left to right: Jessica, Hunter, Emily, Me, Max, Lora)

We go crazy during lessons
(From left to right: Lora, Taryn, Hunter, Me)

No explanation, but we match again

We didn't know each other before this week but we had learned a bunch
about each other before from our friend Brandt, this kid's name is Blake

My roommate Meg. We almost forgot to get a picture together

Kory taught me some cords on the ukelele. He felt really cool

Some of the boys from my company
(From Left to Right: Max, Bailey, Me, Cole)

This kid became one of my favorites on the last day. His name is David
and he wants me to let you all know that he has swag

Santa Barbara Bound

Dear Everybody,
I'm heading to EFY this morning. Alone. In order to meet new friends and become more spiritual. Here's to a great week with new people!!

Lots of love,
Kenzie

My Life's Notes

My EFY Counselor from last year was on So You Think You Can Dance this year

Just a preview of Girls Camp from all last week

Dear Meredith(my sister),
I am so super jealous of you since you were able to sit directly behind Zooey Deschanel during the taping of SYTYCD that you went to. She is my girl crush, and part of my crazy obsession of 500 Days of Summer.

Dear Dirt,
I'm finally free from you!! Long, hot showers are amazing.

Dear Summer,
I finally feel like it's Summer. Which, I am so very grateful for.

Dear San Clemente,
It was nice to visit you again, I miss my old friends.

Dear Large Whiteboards,
You provide hours of entertainment.

Dear Church Leaders,
You are AMAZING!!! I am so grateful for everything you did to help put camp together this year and make it beyond wonderful.

Dear 10 Fingers Game,
I had to play with 5 fingers last night because my friend and I already know too much about each other.  We still never finished the game in 2 hours...

Lots of Love,

Kenzie

Destiny? Fate? True Love.

DISCLAIMER: I am a Mormon. I believe marriage is eternal, and that it is absolutely perfect to be married in the temple to the man you know is right for you.

This is a shirt my friend made me for my birthday last year. I love it.

Every once in awhile I freak out because I don't know how I am feeling. I'm not trying to sound like some freak who has to be aware of everything at all times, but usually I at least like to know how I feel.
 
Today I am feeling romantic? I don't know what word to use. Now this isn't some "Oh my goodness I love you because you are the perfect boyfriend" kind of feeling, partially because I don't have a boyfriend so that wouldn't really workout. But today I was discussing with one of my really good friends about Destiny, Fate, and True Love.

He and I have always had a connection with these words because for some reason we used to believe that we were perfect for each other. Oh our innocent minds. Frequently, we like to discuss what went wrong in our "relationship" but today we discussed why he doesn't believe in destiny or fate anymore (It's because of me. He even told me if i had asked him a year and 2 weeks ago he would have still believed. Side note: We broke up a year ago last Saturday). He still believes in true love though so he hasn't been completely brainwashed by reality. As for me though, I still like to believe in fairytales(yes, I do know and believe it is completely wrong for me to compare boys to books and TV but I get over it because I want to be a kid again).

I could give you full details as to why my male friend and I are just friends now(which would help you understand why he doesn't believe in destiny and fate anymore), but that is a story that I kind of like to keep secret. Either way though, our relationship went sort of along the same idea as 500 Days of Summer.


Destiny, as most of us know, is believing that something happened for a specific reason. Fate has the same meaning, but he and I have always considered it to have a different meaning, when in our heads the meaning is the same.

Up until recently, he has believed that destiny is meeting the person you were predetermined to be with, then fate would be the part where you get married and finally experience true love. But considering all of the divorces and horrible marriages, he now thinks we choose who we fall in love with.
I still believe there are certain people we are supposed to become matched with. It's destiny that you finally meet "the one", it's fate that you fall in love, an it's true love when the couple decides to work on the relationship for the rest of eternity in order to stay together.

Based off of divorces though, I infer that people forget what it's like to love their spouse as much as they did the day they got married. When we don't remember the happiness, it's hard to stick around for the difficult parts. It's scientifically proven, but I think everyone should work for an eternal marriage and constantly remind their spouse of their wedding day. I'm positive it would help.
I'm pretty sure nobody actually knows, but at the same time, my friend and I are both hopeless romantics who obviously have no lives(considering we were debating this for 2 hours).

What are your thoughts on Destiny? Fate? True Love?

Summer Bucket List

Me Last Summer with Scott Stephan carrying Me across a river on our Stake's Pioneer Trek

Every year I love to do a bunch of random things over Summer, but this year I have been really into going on spontaneous adventures. I mainly go on my adventures with my friend Hayden, who is going up to BYU for college in August. In order to send him off properly, I am determined to go on the most amazing adventures with him before he leaves. I started making a list of things I will do over the Summer, and everyday I have pretty much added something new. I only have 7 days to add new things though!! Here is a preview of a few things I am going to complete:

1. Take a picture in front of Mackenzie St.

2. Wear something belonging to a male figure all day

3. Have a board game party

4. People watch at Disneyland

5. Go to the park and swing on the swings

6. Play a large game of Hide and Go Seek

7. Go to the beach and color with a coloring book and crayons

8. Give a man a manicure

9. Get a milkshake really early in the morning

10. Have a cupcake decorating contest

11. Ride a city bus

12. Have a picnic

13. Go on a Scavenger Hunt

14. Give a random guy a ring pop and ask them to marry you

15. Have a fake marriage at Ikea

16. Go to Old Town Orange

17. Dress up in gnarly costumes and go shopping

18. Go goth far a day

19. Go Fast Food Hopping

20. Go roller skating

These are just a few of our wonderful ideas! I hope they are as fun as they sound.

HA I'm ready for school to end (My 8th grade year, I got voted as most likely to sing on Broadway. Oh and by the way, I made the Chamber Choir at my school next year!!!)

My Life's Notes

Dear Everybody,
Me and my friends are freaks. Just watch the video to believe me. If you don't know me and my friends, then you won't know how well this describes our friendship, like seriously it's ridiculous.

Dear STAR Testing,
One more year left. Now that's all I have to say about that.

Dear Girls Camp,
Be here ALREADY!! I am soooo stoked to teach all the youngins' about some cloud formations and how to tell if you have a broken bone. Seriously stoked, especially for the indian face paint.

Dear Disneyland,
I am so happy to finally have a pass again! I mean, it had been 2 months since I had been.

Dear Neighbor,
Thank you for watering your bushes in such a "neat" way on Saturday, you really add to the video^^

Dear Life,

I'm finally really happy

NOW GO WATCH THAT VIDEO!!!^^

Much Love and Consideration,

Kenzie

Welcome to Utah(AKA Land of the Mormons)

Last Tuesday on April 24,2012, My aunt passed away from cancer after a long battle. Even though we knew she was going to pass away soon, it was still really sad to the whole family. Her husband, wrote a lovely little blog post about her passing here if you would like to read it, and her whole battle experience is written here.

A short summary would be that she was diagnosed with breast cancer, and from her radiation she got a brain tumor which ultimately was what caused her passing. Through all of the trials she stood strong, and was always positive. Her journey is one of strength. She left behind her husband, daughter, and 3 sons.

This weekend though, my family went to her funeral in Centerville, Utah on Monday. It was a beautiful service.

Here is my Aunt's casket at the Cemetery with her husband, daughter, and 3 sons

At the luncheon after the funeral

Since we drove 11 hours to Utah, we found all the time we could get to go visit some of the newly remodeled areas in Salt Lake City. Here are some pictures in the new shopping center that was recently remodeled:

Everyone, but Mom

My sister and I

Our whole family in front of the Salt Lake City Temple

A cool water feature that makes it look like you are standing in the water

Temple again

The car ride home consisted of LOLLIPOPS

We had a 2 story Hotel room... No Biggie

We did think it was pretty cool though, especially because our parents were on the other side of the hotel ;)

My Life's Notes

In the theatre before the Hunger Games premiere

Waiting in line, I was extremely tired

I am like the boys when it comes to food... Always ready to eat

Dear Spring Break,

Did you have to go by so fast?? I will agree though that I had the best time, and yet no pictures to document any of it.

Dear Teachers,

I love that I did not have to do any HW over break. I am really grateful for this.

Dear Everyone Reading This,

A sweet little girl in my church passed away this past week. Her funeral services were last night and today. We all only knew her for almost 7 years, but she was the sweetest little girl who always looked "fancy". She over to read books, and she had the cutest smile. If you want to see some cute videos and photos of her go here. 

Dear Brides,

Both weddings I went to this weekend were gorgeous. People need to keep getting married so I can get more inspiration.

Dear Weather,

LOVE YOU!! I wish I could head to the beach everyday this week.

Dear Week, 

Be good to me. I'm still coming back from a ridiculously amazing break, and would appreciate it greatly if nothing too intense occurs.

Sincerely,

Kenzie

My Life's Notes

Picture from a while ago when I constantly wore band tshirts and my hair in a bun... HAWT, I know ;)

Dear Spring Break,
I know there isn't supposed to be the greatest weather after today and tomorrow, but could you please change that?? If not, it's fine though because I will just HAVE to go to LA with a dress and rain boots.

Dear Pyromaniacs,
Start a fire and blowing coffee creamer into it. I guarantee you hours of fun because it is a serious adventure.
(P.S. Don't forget to wear protective goggles and clothing. Please use responsibly)

Dear Church Leaders,
Your lessons on Easter were beautiful. They really brought the spirit. And I loved the video we watched in Young Womens.

Dear Food,
Please stay delicious as my friends and I walk up to the hill overlooking the golf course.

Dear Eyes,
Now that you don't want to let my contacts help me see, I am so stoked to go to the eye doctors today.

Dear Life,
Follow President Hinckley's counsel from here.

My Adventure at Mormal..

WARNING: PICTURE OVERLOAD

Mormal was the absolute best. I had never been before, but seriously, it was amazing. About 4 days before the big night, one of the dad's in our group sent out a mass itinerary. Boy was it ridiculous(like a good ridiculous, not bad). It had everything we were doing from the time we met at 3:45pm until we came home at 1am. The basic agenda included:

Pictures in Laguna Beach at a restaurant

Pictures at the art gallery next door

Pictures in this alleyway in Laguna Beach

Eat at the restaurant we took pictures in

Eat delicious and nummy Gelato in Laguna Beach

Then we finally go to the dance

We ended up taking some pictures outside of the dance, which was at the beautiful SOCA University

Leave early from the dance to go Cosmic Bowling in dresses and suits!

The whole group outside of the dance... It was freezing cold!

My date, Xander, and I

Getting delicious Gelato(Italian Ice Cream)

Xander and I at the art gallery

The whole group at the art gallery(I really liked the effect it added to the pictures)

My date and I at the restaurant

The group having some laughs while the girls have the boys hats on

All of our personalities together

A nice picture of all the girls with the boys hats on

Xander and I

My hair done by one of my good friends Sam

Lexi and I before the dates arrive

It was a crazy night, but so worth being sleep deprived!!

A HUGE thanks to Brother Cook for taking all of the pictures, driving us everywhere, and organizing the whole event. It was an absolutely fantastic night!!