A Wonderful Day of Color

On Saturday Chris and I went to the Festival of Colors with our friends Bret and Kendra.  It was held on Saturday and Sunday this last weekend.  It was a really fun experience, and one that I hope to have again in the future.  It was held in Spanish Fork at the Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple.  I didn't even know that the temple was there, but it was really pretty and really fun to see.



We left our house around 3:45 to try and make it to the 5:00 color throwing, but we were stuck in traffic for an hour and a half.  Normally, it would have taken us 20 minutes to drive to the temple.  After the drive, we parked and then had to walk 2 miles to get to the temple.  We did not show up clean.  On the walk, there were people who were throwing color on us.  So this is how we showed up.



Needless to say, it was crazy packed with people.  The Daily Herald said that 80,000 people attended on Saturday alone.  So it is a really big deal, and people travel from all over to come to it.  If you have never been before, I would recommend going to it next year.  If you only do the Festival of Colors once in your life, it is worth the experience.  I will absolutely go to it again, and it will be just as fun if not better than this year was.  You get to throw colored chalk on people just because.  Who could ask for anything more??

Conversation Between Strangers

On Saturday Chris and I went to Glades in Spanish Fork.  While we were there I had an interesting conversation with a man that I had never met before.  It went a little something like this.

Man:  So, how is school going?

Katie:  Fine?  (At this point I am thinking to myself, "How do I know this man?"  Turns out I didn't know him.)

Man:  School is going fine?  That is good to hear.

Katie:  Yeah, school is fine.

Man:  What grade of school are you in?

Katie:  What grade?  Um... (Trying really hard to think what a sophomore in college technically would be, but there had been a long pause, so I just answered...)  I am in college.

Man:  You're in college?  Really?

Katie:  I sure am.

Man:  Oh, what are you going to major in?

Katie:  I'm not sure yet.  I have switched my major a few times now, so I am not sure if I have decided.

Man:  Well I think that you should major in something that is math based, so probably something with computers. 

He talked for a really long time about his own major, and what he thinks I should do with my life.  So I am just going to jump ahead to the end of the conversation.

Man:  (He looked over at Chris at this point)  So, you must be her boyfriend.

Chris:  No, I am actually her husband.

Man:  Her husband??  (He then looked back at me just to double check my age, which at this point we are convinced that he thought that I was 17 or 18.)  Well that's even better.  You make sure that she doesn't end up in Cosmetology.  Unless you own your own shop there is no future there.

Chris:  I don't think we need to worry about that.

Man:  That's good to hear.  Well, I'll let you two go.  That is your life lesson from a stranger today.

Katie:  Okay.

This is the point that our fries luckily were done, and so we just left.

Chris and I talked about it for a little bit after it had happened, and we're still not sure who he was, or why he started talking to me.  Also, I know that I look younger than I actually am, but I know that I don't look like I am still in high school.  It was a bizarre experience, but it now makes for a very good story.

My Favorite Things

I have been thinking about some of the things in my life that I love.  Here is a list of some of my favorites...

1.  Chris

2.  Warm, sunny days

3.  Family

4.  Living in a good city

5.  Buying clothes the next size down

6.  Staying up late talking with Chris

7.  Sleeping in

8.  Pictures and home videos

9.  Hair cuts

10.  Watching my favorite T.V. shows...  Here is a list of a few of them.

                   -The New Girl

                   -Up All Night

                   -Royal Pains

                   -White Collar

                   -Psych

                   -Project Runway

                   -Parenthood

                   -30 Rock

There is so much more that I can add to this list, but I figured that this is a good start.  I am very grateful for my life, and the wonderful people that are in it.  Thank you to all of you for making my life be as great as it is and for making this list possible.

Costa Rica is Pure Bliss

Well, we're home.  I already want to go back too.  I didn't want to come home to begin with, but life goes on so it was the responsible thing for me to do.  We had such an amazing time!  If you have never considered going to Costa Rica, I highly recommend adding it to your list of travel destinations.  It was a cheap trip and it was gorgeous all the time.  The temperature was 85 with 85% humidity all of the time.  Perfect weather in my opinion.

We stayed at Pachamama in a city called Punta Uva.  It is a small city about 4 miles south of Puerto Viejo.  I think I did a pretty good job at picking the best location in the country.  We were surrounded by rain forest at all times, and it was super green wherever we looked.  Pachamama was right in the middle of it all too.  This picture is the view from the front porch.  So as you can tell, we were surrounded by beauty the entire time.

We also had a really close location to one of the top 10 beaches in the world.  It was about a 5 minute walk from where we were staying.  So naturally, I wanted to be at the beach all of the time.  Every time we went to the beach we got pretty sunburned.  We were even wearing really strong sunscreen.  I am convinced that the sun is meaner in Costa Rica then it is here in Utah.  I didn't care though.  It was hot and sunny the whole time that we were there.  That is the kind of weather that I was made to live in.

We saw a lot of different animals while we were there too.  A ton of spiders, snakes, monkeys, and lot of birds and bugs.  We even saw a sloth or two.  It was fun to see different animals than what I was used to seeing.

 

One of the days we went zip lining.  That was amazing!  I was pretty nervous before we went, but after I was on the first line, I realized that the experience was going to be wonderful and I wasn't scared or nervous anymore.  There were 21 platforms for us to do.  There were some of the platforms that were 5 feet off of the ground, and others that were 102 feet off of the ground.  The line size varied as well.  If it was a longer line, you got up some speed near the middle, and that was awesome!  It was so much fun!  Chris and I almost did it a second time because we loved it so much.  That is something that I recommend everyone does at least once in their life.  It is an unforgettable experience.

(You can find more pictures on my Facebook page.)

The whole trip was such an incredible adventure!  I can't wait for us to go back again and make more incredible memories together.

Only a Few Days Till Paradise

This is going to be my last post for a few weeks.  Chris and I are leaving next Thursday for a much anticipated, and much needed vacation.  It is one that we have been planning for over a year.  We are going to beautiful Costa Rica for 2 weeks.  It is a trip that is finally here and I cannot wait to be on the plane and headed to paradise.

When we tell people that that is the spot we have chosen for our vacation, I just tell them to 'Google' Costa Rica, and then hit the images tag and you'll see why that is our destination of choice.  It is so beautiful!



We are going to be in Punta Uva on the Caribbean Coast.  Why the Caribbean Coast you ask?  It is because that is a less traveled area by tourists.  The Pacific side is the a very touristy area, and that is where most people go.  That is something that we wanted to avoid.  We wanted the true Costa Rican experience and be swallowed up by the culture.  The Caribbean side has not major hotels or resorts.  The hotels that are over there are small and personal.  Just the type of place that we wanted to stay.  We are staying at a place called Pachamama Caribe.

While we are there we will be zip-lining, snorkeling, laying on the beautiful beach that is a 2 minute walk from our hotel, hiking in the rain forest, and so much more!  We are really excited to finally have the great opportunity to go.  When we get home I will post pictures and tell of our adventures.  (I guess if I decide to come home that is.)

Inches Gone=Greater Happiness

First, I need to say thank you to my dear sister for introducing me to the wonderful world of "Lose It!".  It's a weight loss app out there designed specifically for you and your weight loss desires.  She introduced it to me 2 weeks ago, and I am so happy that she did.

When you download the app, it asks you for your current weight, the weight that you would like to be, if you're a male or female, and height.  It then asks you how much weight you would like to lose each week.  You can do as little as just maintaining your weight, or as much as 2 pounds a week.  After putting in all of the required information it will give you a calorie number that you can consume each day.  If you stick with that number, you will drop the weight with no problem.  The app will also give you a date that you should have all of the weight gone by too.  If you are serious about losing weight, then it is really easy to get started.  I get to eat 1,200 calories a day since I want to lose 2 pounds a week.  It sounded like a lot to me at first, but it is not a ton at all.  It is not unhealthy, but it is a definite cut back from the calories that I was consuming daily before.  It was also much harder at the beginning than I expected it to be, not only do I have to cut and count the calories that I am eating, but I have to balance out the calorie intake too.  Like I said, it was not easy starting out, and I was kind of a grouch about it, but I am glad that I have stuck with it so far.  I know that it is a lifestyle that I will stick with too once I am down to the weight that I would like to be.  It is a good habit forming way to make yourself healthier.  It is something that you need to be super dedicated to as well.  This is not one of those things that you can fake, you need to keep track of everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, you consume daily.  If you keep track and are dedicated to the process you will have no problems losing weight on schedule.  If you add in an extra step of working out at least 4 times a week, the you will lose weight and inches faster than you can even keep track of.  

Not only am I losing weight, but I am also losing an incredible amount of inches off of my entire body too.  Nothing makes me happier than looking in the mirror and realizing the clothes that used to fit me, no longer do and it's almost time to go out and buy some in a smaller size.

If you are looking for a healthier lifestyle, and an easy way to lose weight I recommend this option 100%.  As a reminder, it is called "Lose It!", and it's awesome.  It's going to be tough to change your eating habits at first, but once you do, and you stick with it, it is an amazing change to your life that you will not regret.

A Calling of Patience

Chris and I have recently received a calling in our ward.  We are now the new Jr. Nursery teachers.  Yes, you guessed it. . .  Our ward is full of newly weds and BYU students, so we have what seems like a million kids in our ward.  That is why our ward requires 2 nursery's, and I am sure that a third one will be sprouting up soon.  Last week Chris and I had 11 kids in our class.  (Like I said, there are a lot of kids in our ward.)  People have said that the Bishop gave us this calling to try and get us to have kids.  Trust me though, with our class I don't think that that is something that we need to be worried about.  In fact, I think that it is better birth control if anything.  It has helped me realize that I am not ready to have one of my own right now.

Now, I am making it sound like that all 11 of our kids are terrible, they're not.  We only have 4 or 5 that take real patience to deal with, but they all have so much energy, so it makes it seem like there are more kids than what we really have.  We do have some kids that I think are adorable and are well behaved.  I applaud the parents for teaching them while they are young how to behave.  For the parents who have nightmarish kids, you may want to start soon because it's almost too late to teach them the ways of "No pushing and no stealing another child's toy".

For the most part though I think that it is going to be an enjoyable calling.  It is tough right now because we have just started and are still getting the hang of it, and how each individual kid works and handles certain situations.  We will have those kids settled down and listening to us in no time.  I do have faith in that.  It is going to truly be 'A Calling of Patience'.