Engaged! :D

What a rock, huh?! :D

...

...

...

 As I'm typing this, I'm laughing to myself that for a second you probably 

thought that I'm the one who's engaged :)

Ha!

Nope, I'm single.

I don't even know any guys up here.

Awkward...

Anyway!

Thank you, for your facial expressions that I'm imagining.

They were a crack up.

Stop laughing at your imagined expressions and explain?

Well, if you insist.

A week or two ago I was incredibly sick.

I didn't get out of my bed more than twice in three days.

Fun!

But on.. oh what was it..

Monday?

Liz (a roommate) texted all of us and told us she had something really important to tell us!

So we needed to go into the living room and wait for her.

So I got out of my bed for the first time that day. 

And I was kinda grumpy.

And kept thinking that this had better be good.

Oh boy, was it good!

In walked Liz and a guy from our building, Cole.

They're engaged!

They had such a cute story, and they were all flustered and blushing.

It was adorable :)

Cute, right?! :)

And for probably two minutes, we just sat there staring at them.

We didn't even know they were dating!

For good reason, too.

They're not dating.

IT WAS ALL A PRANK!

And I was sick!

They made me get out of my bed for a prank.

(Don't worry, I'm not ACTUALLY bitter. 

It's funny now.)

Liz got the ring from her friend for her birthday.

I think I've even seen that ring at Walmart or Target or something.

I'm still laughing. 

They're incredible pranksters.

Liz & Cole, how does that make you feel to know that you're fantastic liars?

Just kidding, you guys are great :)

For other accounts of the story 

(that probably make more sense and are less bitter)

go here and here.

Aww engagements and pranks.

Aren't they the sweetest?

Disaster Cakes, Adventures, and a Family Photo Shoot

It's been a while.

Don't judge.

College is busy!

(Just so you know, as I'm writing this McKenna, Pandora, and Pinterest are all distracting me.

This is gonna take a long time.)

So, I have a whole month of updates to get through.

So let's make this update stuff as short as possible, yeah?

That means pictures! :D

Lots of them.

Not in chronological order.

Prepare yourselves.

Found this picture of my Dad and Uncle D'Arcy. They have the same nose.
I do too, actually. Just more feminine ;) 

Me and both of my grandmas matched one time :)

We had family pictures taken by this really amazing photographer.

And these are some of the selfies we took in between shots.

Mum! Me! 

My Monster Brother! Me!

Me! Jacker Cracker!

Becca and I TRIED to make mug cakes.

They were complete disasters.

I'm not even sure where we went wrong!

But trust me, it was so so wrong.

Also, WORST IDEA EVER to make a Disaster Cake in a SQUARE mug.

It's near impossible to clean gunk out of the corners.

Note to self - liquids only in the TARDIS.

Look how sweet, we think we're going to have fun with these Disaster Cakes!

I made McKenna and Kelly (one of my other roommates) go on an adventure with me up the canyon.

Sometimes I crave adventures.

Really, I was getting antsy being cooped up in our apartment, so I needed to get out and do something.

So we climbed around in these tiny little caves we found! 

It was so much fun!

And we stopped in the middle of the road so McKenna could lean out the window and take a picture.

Then two motorcycles came up behind us right as we started to drive again.

Maybe not the best idea we've ever had...

And my camera died before we could get more than two pictures. 

Irritating.

Last weekend my cousin Garyn got married.

I forgot to take pictures at her reception... oops!

But she was beautiful and she looked so happy with her new hubby :)

But earlier that day I took pictures of the brothers and the cousins.

We went to visit my Great Grandma Johnson!

She's 96 and probably the sassiest old person I've ever met.

I love sassy people :) 

They're the best.

The boys got restless sitting in that tiny room...

Noah stole my leather jacket and Jake's sunglasses. I love this kid!

Adam and Jack. This is typical.

Jake and Noah. 

Later... Jake teasing a cute kitty. This went on for almost an hour :)
We never had pets when we were children.

Also, when we were at the hotel Grandma Lolo and Grandpa Dale came to visit.

And my grandpa struck a model pose in front of the TV to tease my brothers.

He's just the best :)

For Liz's birthday we went to Pizza Pie Cafe for karaoke night.

I hate karaoke. 

And I only sing in the shower.

(Loudly, but that's not the point.)

But it was kinda fun to hear other people sing!

Once, it was incredibly windy outside and the leaves filled the stairwell outside our apartment.

That's not very significant or blog worthy, is it?

Oh well!

I found out Bastille was coming to Salt Lake City, 

I proceeded to jump up and down, squeal, and then stub my toe from jumping up and down.

Also, I may have cried. 

Then I bought tickets :D

I'M SO EXCITED!

Then it was Halloween! 

I love Halloween.

More to come on that - it was a comical day.

I think that's all of the stories that don't need their own blog post...

(you totally missed me, huh?)

My Message To The World

Recently my cousin Seth posted a link on Facebook to an article he wrote.

First off, I can't get enough of his writing style. 

It's fantastic, and I'm always impressed by how clever he is.

And his word choice is just phenomenal.

Side note - he's one of the funniest people I've ever met.

(Don't worry, Mum. You're on that list too.)

But I'm writing about it because it made me think.

He wrote about the BYU vs UofU game last week.

I'm not really on either side of the BYU/UofU war.

I go to Utah State, remember?

This is last year, but still...
Utah State - Home of Winter Clothing!
It snowed today. It's BARELY October.

And I'm certainly not one to get mad and react by throwing things at officials.

So really, none of this is about the game last week.
Seth's article wasn't really either.

You know what, this will be so much easier if you just go read the article.

Don't worry, I'll wait while you read it.

....

Okay, you're back! 

His article made me ask myself something.

Am I living in such a way that people KNOW what I believe?

Am I representing Christ, my religion, and myself in a positive way?

I'd like to think the answer is yes.

I know I'm not perfect, and there are moments when the answer is no.

But I am trying.

One of my biggest goals in life is to have the love I have for my religion

and the fact that I know it to be true be literally visible to others.

Maybe that seems like a strange life goal to you.
But it's always been important to me.

I've always wanted it to be obvious to others that
I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, just by looking at me.
And that has actually happened to me a few different times.
(Which absolutely made my day!)

Sometimes Pinterest just gets me, you know?

If it's obvious, and strangers can tell that that's what I believe and I'm where I belong?
I think I'm doing fairly well.

And maybe they'll know I'm open to questions about our religion.

I joke around with my roommate that if I was to share one message with the world,
it would be two simple words.
Chill out.

But if I'm being serious, and I could share one thing with the entire world, it would be this.

"I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
I know that our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, love us.
I know that the Atonement is for everyone.
I know that we can receive personal revelations.
I know that the Book of Mormon is true,
and that the Bible is true as far as it has been translated correctly.

I truly love this gospel with every fiber of my being and know it to be true.
I would love to share what I believe with everyone,
but I would never force it on anyone.
And if you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer them."


Since I'm not going to walk around to every single person in the world and say that,
For my beliefs to be visible to the world,
I have to live what I believe.

Our religion seems to be in the public eye a lot.
And since I'm a member and proud to be one -

I will try my best to live my beliefs.
I will try to be a positive example of our religion in every situation.
I will share what I know through my actions, and words when they're needed.
I will never deny what I know to be true
and never be ashamed of what I believe.
I will do my best to not be timid.
I'll share the gospel in every opportunity that arises.
I will be a lifelong missionary.

And my second message to the world would be to chill out ;)

Hey, kids! General Conference is this weekend!
I AM SO EXCITED!!
One of my very favorite times of the year :)
Watch it and love it.
Feast on the knowledge, Spirit, and teachings.
Take notes!
And have a fantastic weekend!

Happy Birthday McKenna! :D

Today is my roommate McKenna's birthday!

She's really cool. And I like her blog.

Also, neither of us are very social.

Mostly we only talk to each other and our other roommates.

And when our other roommates force us to socialize with other people,

we usually end up texting each other, and those conversations are hilarious.

So me, McKenna, and our other roommate Liz, 

don't know how to go to sleep at a normal time of night.

We generally go to bed around one in the morning.

It's a really good habit.

So guess what we're doing right now? :D

That's right!

Not sleeping.

I'm wearing my new HARRY POTTER HOODIE
and blogging.
And surfing Pinterest. Whatevs.

McKenna is showing us music on her laptop.
It's good stuff, besides the country music.
Sorry. It's just gross to me.

Liz is being a good little college student, and actually doing her homework.

We also have the TV turned on, but it's muted.

And none of us will get up to turn it off.

That makes a ton of sense.

Anyway, I'm exhausted and this blog post is probably kind of scattered.

I'm not even sure it makes sense.

I should probably be done now.

Dear McKenna,

Happy 19th birthday!

Thanks for not being like a murderer or something.

That would have put a damper on the whole

sharing-an-apartment thing.

Also, I feel like this little letter-within-a-blog-post thing is really random.

- Keni

I like making lists :)

I don't know if you've realized this...

But I'M A HUGE BOOKWORM.

When we were packing up my parents' house,

I had maybe 10 or 11 boxes.

Probably 8 of them were books.

When I moved most of my stuff up to Logan, 

One of my four or five boxes? 

Books.

The very first thing I set up in my apartment, 

so it would feel more like home?

You nailed it! 

My books.

Seconds after moving in to my apartment.
It's cuter now :)

And over this past weekend my dad bought me three more books!

Yay! 

Thanks again, Daddy!

This list is a list of the books I brought with me to Logan. 

Most of which are my favorite books.

(Minus a few. The rest are at Mum's house.

I don't have THAT much room in my apartment.)

The rest are books I am currently reading,

have yet to read, 

and books I bought for school.

- My Scriptures

- Harry Potter 1 through 7

- Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them

- Quidditch Through The Ages

- The Tales of Beedle the Bard

- A Treasury of Fairy Tales

- Preach My Gospel

- Your Happily Ever After 

(The Uchtdorf talk)

- The Complete Sherlock Holmes

- Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales

- The Hobbit

- Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

- The Great Gatsby

- A Princess of Mars

- The Goose Girl

- Ella Enchanted

- 1984

- A Christmas Carol

- Jacob T. Marley

- Peter Pan

- Andersen's Fairy Tales

- The Princess Bride

- Tarzan of the Apes

- Frankenstein

- To Kill a Mockingbird

- Pride and Prejudice

- Movies in Fifteen Minutes

- Austenland

- A mini size Book of Mormon that used to be my grandpa's

- My 5 textbooks

- My four different journals

-My Piano books

Wow. 

How in the world did I fit all of those books into my tiny little apartment?

A surprise? For me? :D

Yesterday (MY BIRTHDAY) my roommates and I went out for a long overdue grocery shopping trip.

I've been here a month and only gone shopping once. 

And that was only for like bread, milk, and eggs.

I wasn't kidding about the long overdue part.

Variety is nice.

Apparently we don't know how to eat like college students.

And since we don't share anything, 

(we like each other, we just don't share...)

our fridge is FULL.

And really hard to sort through to find your food.

After our shopping adventure

(During which I still managed to forget a few things. Even though I made a detailed list.)

and after we had finished unpacking all of our groceries

I was eating greek yogurt and bread when there was a knock at the door.

And then Becca said "Keni, come here. It's for you!"

I don't know if you get it. 

That was a WEIRD thing to hear.

I literally do not know a single person up here besides my roommates.

IT WAS MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY!! :D

I was upset that I wouldn't be able to see any of them on my actual birthday, 

so they had been planning this for at least a month! 

I love them.

Also, I may or may not have cried a bit.

Whatever.

Callie, Stephanie, my Monster brother, Jackie, Mallory, and Mum

Crying and making a stupid face. Yay!

Then we chatted and took a few pictures :)

And Mum and my friends laughed at our fridge.

And Callie gave me a birthday present!

It's a TARDIS mug! :D

I love mugs and I love the TARDIS.

Thanks so much Callie!

Mallory said that buying me a mug was ridiculous because I already have 18.

Dear Mallory, 

You can never have too many mugs.

Never.

Especially if it's a mug shaped like the TARDIS.

Sincerely, 

Keni

Then we all went out to dinner.

Thank you, The Crepery, for our DELICIOUS crepes and dealing with our huge group.

I know making our crepes took forever.

But they were sooooo good. 

So it was worth the wait :)

Mmmm crepes :) 

This week has been all about food, I swear.

That's okay, I love it.

Next, more food! 

Yay!

We went to Angie's so we could clean out the sink.

Ha. What a sentence.
I'll explain.

Angie's is a local place, and they have these ginormous things of ice cream.

Called kitchen sinks.

If you finish it, you get a bumper sticker that says
"I cleaned the sink at Angie's"

It's a butt load of ice cream.

And we bought two.

The group, minus Mum.

My friend Kolten,

 (back at Westlake. Don't be silly, I don't know anyone up here.) 

told me that they weren't that big, and a group of six could easily finish two of them.

Kolten must have been thinking we eat like teenage boys or something.
We had a group of eleven.
We BARELY finished one and a half.
And that was only because we had one teenage boy with us.
I think Jake ate half of one of them by himself.

The waitress was nice and gave us two anyway :)

One is on my car.
The other is taped to my apartment's front door.

At this point, it was getting late-ish.
And my family and friends had a two hour ride home.
So they had to leave :(

I may or may not have cried again.
I don't wanna talk about it.

Sorry we cut half of your face off, Callie.
You know, AGAIN.
Also, I miss you guys!

Ah, sibling love.
It's my favorite.

Thanks, roomies, Mum, brothers, and friends for making my birthday amazing :)
And Facebook peeps for all of the kind messages.

It was one heck of a birthday :)
I love you all!




Oh. Also, I bought myself some music.
Bastille is AMAZING.
They're an English band that Oscar recommended to me a couple months ago.
And I bought their album, Bad Blood, yesterday!
I've been listening to it nonstop.

(Thank you, Oscar Kersey, for having an incredible taste in music and sharing it with me.
You're a doll.)

Now, I go to eat, read, and listen Bastille's album again.
Yay for multitasking, food, books, and English bands!

You Can Call Me Martha Stewart! (minus the criminal record)

A couple of weeks ago we took a personality test thing for one of my classes.

Turns out I'm mostly artistic.

(SURPRISE! I'm an art major, so that should make sense.)

I'm also whatever that OCD one was called :) 

If you know me at all, that one makes sense too.

One of the defining things of having an artistic personality, 

according to this test,

is that your living/work/art areas can't be blank and boring. 

You have to make it your own to be able to concentrate.

Who knows if that's true with everyone, but it's certainly true for me.

Our apartment is the most boring apartment I've ever seen.

And that's not really an exaggeration.

So the past few days my roommates and I have been decorating!

It's been a blast :)

The top of my bed. Isn't my bedspread ADORABLE? :)

                                             

The end of my bed.

It's pretty much my favorite wall in the house.

My roommates (and Assorted Neighbors who always seem to be coming in and out of our apartment) keep telling me how much they love it. 

(Thanks guys! I love it too.)

And commenting on a few specific pictures.

Usually this one is the first to be commented on. I think it's hilarious :)

No, I haven't been to England. Yes, I would like to go. Who wants to take me? :D
 Also, have you seen my throw pillows?

My roommates and I figured out that one of the reasons we haven't spent as much time together is because our living room is unbearably hideous. 

None of us like to be in it, so we all hide out in our rooms.

Being antisocial isn't my favorite.

So we decorated the living room too!

(Thank you, Pinterest.)

And we finally set up our TV!

We're all pretty happy with how it turned out.

Assorted Neighbors love our wall too.

Okay, okay. 

Maybe Assorted Neighbors just like that we have a TV and DVD/VCR.

Yeah, it's probably that.

(Hey, roommates. I think we just became popular!)

We have plans to hang more pictures and paint chips around the apartment.

But this took forever, so we're going to finish it a different day.

But look, my Decoration Box is waiting for me so I can finish up in my room after class :)

Now I have to get ready for my Astronomy class.

(Which I still haven't learned one thing in yet.

Thank heavens for Mr. Bennion's Astronomy class in High School!

 I'm so far ahead of these random kids.)

Live long and prosper!

What? The first movie we watched on our newly-set-up TV was Star Trek. 

Stop judging.