Oh man! Blogging on the I phone is tough! He he. K so I want to tell y'all about what we have been doing lately! So since the last time I wrote we have visited Vatican city (complete with the Sistine chapel and michaelangelos ceiling), at peters basillica, Pompeii, Naples, bottichelli's Venus de Milo, lots of beautiful churches and cathedrals, berninni sculptures, the collussem and all o the ancient roman ruins, carrivagio's paintings, raphael's paintings, and of course, michaelangelo's DAVID. All of these things have been my dream to see since the first few weeks of art history class my senior year, and of course I have been dreaming of Florence Italy since I was a little girl. I cannot believe all the wonderful amazing hinges I have seen so far. I feel like an art history trecky, but am definitely not an art expert.

We have had nights to just roam the cities of Rome, Florence, and venice. I seriously could bot have asked for a better situation than what I have going on for me here. It has been so incredible. The Italian life is something to be experienced for sure. The food has for the most part been delicious, and the atmosphere is relaxing. I don't have pictures because I just using the phone to be in contact with home, so I can't download stuff, so sorry!! When I can I will go into detail about things. Just know that I am loving it so much, but missing it back home setimes as well. Ps. Congrats to my good friend mitch! He just got engaged tonight. Till next time! Ciao

EURO WORLD!! ITALY

So, I am currently sitting in my hotel writing this post! It has been such a great trip. So let me start from the very beginning... So I went to the airport early in the morning on what was Wednesday, and it was fun... Sort of. I slept very little on the plane... It was a great introduction to Italian society though because the people on the plane were Italian, and the lady next to me was too! The plane was a little old, and wasn't like the one we took to Hawaii with all the cool personal TV's and stuff... ;-) Anyways, that was cool. Yesterday we went to the pantheon and MAN it was literally breathtaking. I enjoyed it so much, and wished that I could just stay in there forever. We also some some great fountains, Italians, and statues. It was cool. Ended the day with delicious gellato and hit the bed with NO energy left... so tired.

Today we had a pretty full day. We started out going to the Colussem and then we toured around the Roman forum. SO pretty. Oh man, I wish that I had better adjectives to describe the experience. We loved so much to just come out of the train station and look at the colussem. I got this delicious crossant (you like me spelling so far?? ;)) and then walked around for a while. I loved the trees. They were awesome. And of course all of the great old Roman stuff. Really fun. Then we went and saw the Moses by Michalangelo... One of my faves so far. They had free wi-fi there, weird? yes. But also awesome. Then we walked around Italy and enjoyed the italians, the window shopping, and the sculpture/architecture that is everywhere you turn. We ended the day looking at Bernini statues at the palatza Borgesese or Villa Borgese? I don't remember. So great. Loved it. I just am having a blast. Well till next time!

Chao

Lone Peak Lacrosse

So for the last 4 months I have been hanging out with this bunch of fun high schoolers. They are all so awesome and I have felt really lucky to be a part of their lives. They are all so kind and have just made me so happy! Tomorrow is our last day together, and their last game. What gems these girls are! I am so excited for them. Here are some pictures of us. :)

2 days till EUROPE

Oh man, can you believe it? In 2 days I will be on my way to ITALY! I never thought that the day would come, and here it is, and it is making me so excited. At the same time though, I am sad. I am scared to leave this zone of comfort that is my home, and the wonderful friends that I have in each member of my family. I am going to miss them all like crazy. What is harder for me though, is that I feel like these next three days before I leave are my last of the summer, and the last of the next 3 years with my parents, being here in this home, in this City, in this comfort. I have been nastalgic all day! I woke up this morning feeling sadness at having to leave quickly when my mom had made everyone a nice waffle breakfast, and my siblings were around to help mom go through some things... I know it will be one of the last times before they leave that I will be around to help them go through things, or be all together as a family, and in ways it really breaks my heart. Change has never been something that I am good at dealing with.

Another thing I was thinking about tonight was the concept of LOVE. And how do I feel love?? How do you know if you are in love?? and how do you know that someone can be your forever? These have all been questions on my mind for the last few weeks. We watched the movie "Dan in real life" tonight, and it made me really think about LOVE. The main character in that show has a wife who past away 4 years before the scenes you see in the movie. He has three daughters, and they are all at a family cabin for a week or so. He (on a whim) meets this wonderful and beautiful girl, who actually ends up dating his brother. The story just basically is two sides of Love. One of the sides is the enduring kind of love, where the other person is just your best friend in the world. This person would do anything for you, and would always put you above themselves. This is the kind of lasting love that can withstand pain and hardship. The other kind of love is the more 'romantic' kind of love where each moment, word, and experience with that person is like time consists of just you and them, and you never want it to end. This is exciting love, passionate love, and love that keeps you wanting more. Both of these love's together make a sort of 'ideal' love, the kind of thing that I hope someday to find.

Basically, after watching this movie and a few others that always tug at my heartstrings because of their commentaries on love, made me realize, I am getting ready for that kind of thing. I never was before because I always thought, "you know, there is more out there for me than just school and marriage". I always have wanted to see the world, experience things, be active, and just enjoy. I am getting that opportunity this summer, and I hope it will be everything I ever imagined it to be. But when all is said and done after this summer, I want to have the courage and ability to find this kind of unconditional, undeniable love. I have faith that it will be in my cards to be married one day, and I do hope that that part of it all is at least a few years away, but I believe that after the experiences of the summer, I am going to want to seriously consider what I believe love to be, and what kind of person will embody a man that I will love.

So, I have come full circle. Italy, England, and France are going to rule my world and give me some of the most sought after experiences I have ever hoped for. I will learn from these countries, people, and artists lessons that I could not learn anywhere else. And then I will move on to learning so much about the world of missionary work, and so much more about my Savior and Father in Heaven. I am so excited for this opportunity to finally give back to my parents a little bit of the service that they have given me over the past (almost) 21 years.

When I write next I will be in a foreign land! But I promise to post things, and pictures, and keep ya'll updated.

Chao!

(I wrote that on sunday) :)

Picture...

My blog is SEVERELY lacking in pictures. I will try and fix that by taking lots and lots of pictures while I am in Europe, but for now, this will have to suffice.  Look who is home from his mission and looking so Asian when he smiles!! Welcome home from Korea Elder DeWaal! (Please disregard my creepy smile.)

Only 4 weeks left...

   Holy cannoli!!! I cannot believe how quickly time has been flying by me. I am so happy for this, but at the same time, WHAT have I been doing for the last 3 months? I can't even remember. It seems like each day is full of the same things... School, coaching, lacrosse, running, studying, laughing, eating... Then I go to bed and start it all again. I know that I am busy, but it has been awesome. The last few days I have had really wonderful people who I love so much text me or call me and just say, "Kels, how's it going?" These small questions about my life have made so much of a difference to me! It is great to know that I have such a wonderful support system of friends and family who will just give me a call and let me talk about life, and much as they probably don't want to hear about it... ;)
   A lot of times people ask me, "how do you do it all?" and I can honestly answer you I do it all because I want to, and because I have so much help. Without the support of loved ones, I would not be able to do it. I have a great support system in my family, who enable me to reach for the stars and try to find my dreams, and my Girls that I coach have been just darling and accepting of me. I have a great support system of roommates and friends who help me out in little/subtle ways but it makes all the difference. I have a father in heaven who watches out for me and gives me strength. I do not do it all, YOU do it all for me, so I just really want to say thanks! And in 4 weeks I will be done with SCHOOL!!! Yay.

p.s. go cougs. They play in the sweet 16 tonight!!!!

I got it easy

    Yesterday at church, I had such strong feelings of peace and love from my Father in Heaven.  We found out about a lot of people close to us who were struggling with trials such as cancer, tumors, and loss of loved ones. The theme of the day was, "come what may, and love it." It boggles my mind sometimes how people who face literally life altering trials such as these can still find the blessings in their trials. I need to be more like this. My roommate Whitney has always been a good example of finding the silver lining in hard situations. She is currently (and has been for more than a year and a half) faithfully waiting for the love of her life to return from his mission... (In San Diego no less...). She has struggled daily to live without this wonderful boy, and it has gradually become easier for her. She finds his love in the simple things like cards, letters, e-mails, and packages from the past. She also finds daily strength in the Gospel. She will usually stop me during her scripture reading, or various studies of the words of the living prophets and say statements that help us both to overcome our trials. Basically what I am saying is that Whitney gets it, as well as these other people in church yesterday.  Life isn't about all the good times, but more often than not it is about the bad times, and what we learn from them. It would not be that interesting to have friendships that were full only of happy times or sunshine and butterflies. There is SO much beauty in the trials of life. That is when we make deep connections with people, and how we know there is a God. Without one, we would not ever be happy, but he gives us that chance to find the joy in the journey, the silver lining, or the 'come what may and love it' attitude of Elder Wirthlin and Whitney.
    I guess that I have not been feeling as much this way lately. I have been having a really tough couple of weeks just getting used to the rigors of my daily life. I have been stressed to the max, and feeling unsettled about a few aspects of my life that I probably should take care of. Sometimes the weight is too much to bare... but I think these have been some of the more spiritually growing times of my life thus far. I have felt the guidance of my Father in Heaven in what I need to do to make it through, accomplish all my duties, and do it all well. He has given me the strength I have felt there was no way to possess. I have had the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost, and of my Mother, to whom I owe my everything. Without the support of these great friends and family that I have, I would not be able to do what I do.  My Mom has had the patience to just listen to me ramble every day around 2 o'clock. She has been a constant support to me, and I am so grateful for her. I am grateful for friends who (probably pretend) to be interested in all the things I am, and who again have the patience to just talk to me. I am grateful especially to my Father in Heaven for listening to me daily come to him with gratitude, inquiries, and my small challenges. I am just grateful yet again, for the life I have. I literally am LIVING my dreams right now. I could not ask for a better situation, and I hope that I can keep living worthily to enjoy these blessings and feelings of happiness.
   So thank you for being you, and supporting me in my times of trial. "Come what may, and Love it."

A sad, sad February.

   Dear Jazz team,
Once upon a time, you were my favorite NBA team of all time. I didn't care what crap people gave you about coming up short so much of the time, or never making it to a national championship. I just cared that you had more heart, teamwork, and what looked like fun most the time than any other team. Now. I am not sure. We have suffered a great many losses this year. We started off the season loosing three of our better players, Carlos Boozer, Kyle Korver, and Wesley Matthews. I miss these players, but I think that the more recent February losses are the harder of bunch. We lost our Tenured, amazing, and hall of famer coach Jerry Sloan.... and now, our all-star point guard Deron Williams. WHY????????????? I am just crushed. What is left? No offense Jazz, but a lot of mediocre players who may not mesh it all together this time, and a head coach who has been with the jazz only 7 years. I think that Ty Corbin will do a great job... But it just looks like the rest of this season is dead. I hope that those boys can find some unity, and have a good time just PLAYING BASKETBALL. We'll see. But for today, I am heartbroken.