I Am a Woman

I have a nice story to tell all of you. Some of you may laugh, because it is quite laughable. But I hope you will be pleased, because I am so excited.
Once upon Tuesday night, I came home from a Young Women activity. My mother said "Kaitlyn, have you checked your email yet? You may want to... because Ammon got his acceptance letter from BYU." I got on the computer and curiously logged in to my account to find out if I had received one as well. I had! So I logged in to my CES admissions account to find out if I had been accepted. I was a little anxious, but not so much, because I had already made my decision to go to BYU Idaho......right?? As the page loaded, this letter came up.

Dear Kaitlyn:

The Admissions Committee is delighted to inform you that you have been admitted to Brigham Young University to begin Fall 2010. Through your preparation and personal achievements you have distinguished yourself from a very strong group of applicants. We believe you will make a positive contribution to our BYU community. It is a great pleasure to welcome you to our campus to pursue your educational goals.

etc. etc. etc.

And my heart ripped. I could be a Cougar if I wanted to. This letter had been my goal for the last three years of high school. To be accepted in to BYU was a dream come true.
Then came a long night of frustration, excitement, tears, confusion, prayer, and talking to my parents until 11:30 p.m.
To make a long story short....... I changed my mind. HA!! GO COUGARS! I am going to BYU, Provo everybody. And I am absolutely delighted. I feel better about living only a half hour away, instead of four. I feel better about their awesome nursing program. And I feel better because it is literally a dream come true.
I was so embarrassed to have changed my mind after all of this planning. But my mom told me that because I am a woman, changing my mind comes with the package. So I am normal. I hope. :)

Hooray!

Is it possible to be homesick 7 months in advance?

Last Friday all of the kids had school off, so we took the opportunity to go visit BYU Idaho in Rexburg, ID. I was so excited to tour the campus, and get a feel of whether or not I really want to go there. This was my first impression of the little town. hahahaha

Cold and wet!

Then we went on our tour of the campus. Our tour guide was really nice, and very helpful. It was fun although it snowed during the entire walking tour. No worries, living in Utah I should be used to it right?
And I really did like the campus. But something came over me while I was there. I tried to imagine myself living all alone up there, with people and places that are unknown to me. And I got scared and sad and excited all at the same time. But while we were there in the bitter cold, the sad and scared came out the most. I don't know if you understand my personality all that well, but I am a home body to the MAX. I will deny going out with friends sometimes because I love being home. I love being with my family, and my home is my happy place. It really troubled me. I was under the impression before I visited that this was where I needed to be. Could I have been wrong? Upon returning home I prayed more, and pondered a lot to finally realize that I had just had a little reality check. I still want to go there, and I still feel that it is where I need to be. And I am getting more and more excited.
By the way, I got my track assignment. I was put on the Fall/Winter track which means this: Fall semester starts on September 9th. I will be home for the holidays and such, and start Winter semester in January. Winter semester lasts until April, and then I move back home until the following September :)
I have less than seven months everyone!! It is so weird to me. But I know I will be ready when it comes. Have you guys heard the song by Carrie Underwood called "Don't Forget to Remember Me"? If you haven't, you should look it up. I find that I am relating to it more and more as college creeps up on me. Wish me luck!!!
Good news by the way: Hoyt has been out for 6 and a half months. Can you believe it? It has flown!! Well, most of the time anyway :) We are still writing frequently, and he is loving Japan and being a missionary.

Job Search

Hi everyone-
I am looking for a job! ASAP! It looks like high school has finally slowed down enough that I would be able to work part time. Until school gets out of course, then I am hoping to work full time all summer, and even longer if I can. If any of you see any jobs that are available, will you text me or put a comment on my blog so that I can apply there? All suggestions welcome! I am going job hunting tomorrow, and I am hoping to be able to hit a lot of good places with my resume/application. You see, college is coming very fast, and I need to earn lots of $$$! Thanks!

EXCITING NEWS!!!!

Do you remember that news I was supposed to tell you all about 4 weeks ago?? Well, it finally came!! Sooooooooooooooooooooooo..... guess what?



I got accepted to BYU-Idaho. :)



p.s. This is where I really want to go, for those of you who didn't know yet. Hooray!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!

Here is a happy New Years thought for all of you.

This is a journal entry I wrote on May 13, 2009...

My parents are absolutely out of money to pay for treatment for Ammon. We don't know what to do. There is so much stress on my parents. I wish I could do more. I feel helpless. All we can do is rely on the Lord, pray hard. I just know He will take care of us, even if it is not the way we think He should. I am fasting tomorrow. We need blessings! Oh I hope this turns out okay. I will just trust in the Lord. This trial has made my family strong. I have learned so much, knowledge I will never forget. Isn't it so interesting how blessings can be hidden in trial? I don't feel panicked, I actually feel peace. His promise is that He won't leave us. And He keeps His promises. I trust Him.

"Behold I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me."

(1 Nephi 21:16)

Little did I know how much He would truly bless me this year. He has fulfilled my pleas in ways I could never imagine. And not only did He fix the big fears in my life, He fixed my little problems as well. Oh, let me testify to you that He is there!! He loves us so much. And His atonement has the power to heal anything and everything. Trust Him!! Not to say there will not be challenges in the future, because there most certainly will. But with God, nothing is impossible. May He be with all of you this year!

I love you all,

kaits

Looking Back At 2009

What a year. It has honestly been the best, and yet hardest year I can remember. What were my favorite things? Oh there are so many. Let me just highlight a few.

Making new friends. Especially that gorgeous one in the dark gray right behind me. Her name is Jessica Shumway, and she is the best friend I have ever had, and I hope she knows how much she means to me. I love you forever Jess. Thanks for all your help when I have hard times. You're amazing.

Watching Ammon grow from a bump on the couch to a hard working young man again. It was an absolute miracle, and my testimony was strengthened greatly through this trial. God lives and loves us, that I know for sure.

Choir Tour- this was an absolute blast. I loved it!!

Our family trips to the cabins this summer. It was so nice to get away for a few weeks and just be together as a family. Thanks to the Welch family and the Moss family for letting us stay at your wonderful cabins!! We loved it. p.s take a look at Ben's face in the background, its pretty funny :)

Dating Hoyt. Best thing ever!! And now he has been on a mission for five months. He is working so hard, and loving every minute.

Senior Year! This is what I spend a lot of time doing... homework. But my senior year has been the best one so far out of all the high school years. As much as I like it, I wont lie..... I am very excited to be done. :)

So bring on 2010!! A lot is going to happen this year, and I am excited to see what adventures we have. Graduation, College, turning 18, and finding a solid job just to name a few. I love you all. Happy New Year!!

p.s. keep checking up, cause I might have some exciting news really soon!!

My First Night In the Emergency Room

How exciting right?? Last night was my first night that I can remember in the emergency room. I had just got done volunteering at the Hospital actually (how ironic), and was driving home when I started getting really bad abdominal pain. I tried to ignore it at first, but as I kept driving it got worse. By the time I was at Pioneer Park, I was praying frantically that Heavenly Father would help me drive the rest of the way home safely. I made it home, and stumbled into the house, barely able to walk. It was the weirdest, most painful thing I have ever experienced in my life. My low abdomen was absolutely killing me. My mom called my dad and they decided that first they would take me to the insta-care. But there was one problem now: I couldn't walk, in fact I could hardly stand. So my mom rushed to pick up my dad from work so that he could come help me into our car. Tanner was so cute, he came over and held my hand while I cried helplessly, doubled over. As soon as they got back, my dad helped me into the car, and we drove over to Alpine Pediatrics' after hours clinic. As soon as I walked in the doctor came over and told us that we should probably just go to the emergency room. So we climbed back into the car and headed over to the hospital. As soon as they got me admitted, they took me to a room and told me to pee in a cup. I HATE PEEING IN CUPS. I get stage fright so bad. I know that sounds stupid, but I really have issues going when someone tells me I have to go. I swear there must be an easier way that does not involve catheters. Maybe someday I will invent it. But I did it eventually, wahoo!! On to the next task. Taking my blood and having me hooked up to an IV. This I can handle. In fact, I would way rather have my blood taken than have to pee in a stupid cup. And while I am complaining about the hospital, can I just say that those hospital gowns are quite possibly the most revealing things ever??? They do not offer privacy at all. Honestly though, at that point I didn't even care. My pain was far greater than my embarrassment. Okay, I am done complaining now... My nurse came in and gave me warm blankets and morphine. I just want to say thank heaven for narcotics. It helped dull the pain quite a bit, to the point where I could rest. After a little while the radiologist came in and told me that it was time for my ultra-sound. He asked me if my bladder was full again from the IV fluid. I told him I thought it was, so off to the ultra-sound room we went. OUCH. The ultra-sound hurt. And do you want to hear something kind of funny? About half way through he looked at me and said, "Your bladder is actually too full, it is blocking my view, so I need you to go into that room and go about half way and then come back out." Of course, I thought to myself. Why wouldn't this doctor tell me to go pee too? So I did as I was told. (I am getting pretty good at peeing on demand, actually.) And the rest of the ultra-sound went just fine. I went back to my room and got to rest again. I was actually quite comfortable when another doctor came in and told me that they needed to run a cat scan. So I agreed and we went down to the cat scan room. Now, if any of you have had a cat scan on your lower abdomen, you know just what I had to do. And for those of you who have not, pray that you never have to :) It was not the funnest experience I have ever had. Thank heaven my mom was with me. I felt like a little girl again, holding her hand and telling her that I was a little bit scared. But she told me everything would be fine and I made it through! It all came to an end after that, and the final analysis was... I have a cyst on my ovary. And it looks like it did some internal bleeding. But that is just about all the ER doctors knew, so we are going to make a visit to the Gynecologist sometime this week (yay). I am so glad to be home, even though the morphine made me extremely sick, and I don't know how long it will last. My body does not react to anesthetic very well. I am a little sore, but all in all I am doing much better. Sorry this is such a long post, but I wanted to remember the experience, so I wrote it all down. And that is the end of my first ER experience.