It's been awhile... GOTD

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense."

Sometimes it hits me..

Sooo... yeah, I know I already kinda posted about this but seriously.. sometimes It hits me at random moments such as 10pm on a Sunday evening when I am bored to tears at work... and sooo sleepy.

I'm going to be living in Thailand, for 5 months... 
I'm going to be living in Thailand, for 5 months...
I'm going to be living in Thailand, for 5 months...
I'm going to be living in Thailand, for 5 months...
I'm going to be living in Thailand, for 5 months...

And I get so stinkin excited. jasfhsdjkfhaklsdj

Time.

I read this the other day,

and it really hit home.

Sometimes it feels like life is moving wayy too fast.

and other times not fast enough.

Sometimes you've just gotta take a step back

and realize that everything that is happening right now

if you are living the way you should,

and doing the things you should be..

is probably happening exactly when it should be happening.

"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven. A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted. A time to kill, and a time to heal, a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weap and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rendand a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

 A time to love, and a time to hate a time of war, and a time of peace."  - Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

ABC...it's easy as Uno Dos Tres!

Age: 19 years old baba!

Bed size: It is a full

Chore you hate: Oh man, this one is a toss up. For as long as I can remember I have completely loathed sweeping the floor. No idea why, just hate it with a stinkin passion. Or the dishes, I hate those too.

Dogs: I grew up with two big golden retrievers One named Lady, then after she died, Dixie. After Dixie ran away... we inherited Tito.. a little mutt dog. Then I wanted a puppy, after many hours of begging and pleading... Cam got me a "Bug" puppy... affectionatly named, Bugzee. Also little.
Essential start of the day: Let's see... hitting the snooze a minimum of 5 times? I joke, I joke.. but seriously.. that one always happens. I would say breakfast... but I never have time. I could say morning prayers, but I am not very good at those (Getting much better though!) let's be real here.. whenever I wake up the first thing I do is go to the bathroom, then brush my teeth.. then shower. It just always has to happen aight?
Favorite color: It really changes all the time. Right now I am really liking yellow, but I also love white. White is a staple in my favorite colors. And yes, to me, white is a color.
Gold or silver? I normally always say silver. Butttt lately, Gold is catching my eye as well. Gold has it's place.
Height: 5'9... thanks Dad.
Instruments: I played the piano for a couple years. Begging and pleading with my mother to let me quit, thee whole time. Now, I don't play, and I am begging and pleading with her to pay for my lessons again :]
Job title: Marriott Front Desk Associate or.. Travel agent, miracle worker, mind reader, resturant critic, local informationist, housekeeper, physciatrist... you take your pick!
Kids: None right now...I don't think? Kidding mom! No kids now, not for a verry llong time. However, I do love them!
Live: How vague "live" and i'm supposed to answer this based on just "live"? Well, I am currently living and breathing. I live in the world, in the US, on the West side, In the beehive state, in washington county, on a street named after a flower, in a house that is yellow. Before that, I lived in California. Soon, I will be living a few continents away, noo big deal.
Moms name: I like to call her "Momma Cita Bean Barita". Dad likes to call her "Momma Bear", the grand-infants call her "nana", Cam calls her "vickie Viper".
Nick names: Kaity-kat, Freddy, Froggy, Sally-soo, Yens, Mobile [mo-BEEL].
Quote from a movie: I have always loved the quote from Ever After
"A bird may love a fish sire, but where would they live?"
Right or left? Right handed, left footed.
Time I wake up: Majority of the time, 6:30 ish.
Undies: Love them! But, I do hate spending money on them.. because nobody sees them at this point!
Vegetables you dislike: Mushrooms, I hate mushrooms. Cucumbers, bleh, I hate those too.
What makes you run late: Oh man, everything? I sleep-in, I take too long of a shower, I decide to eat breakfast, I dink around on the computer for too long, I talk to my parents too much... the list really could go on for days.
Xrays I've had done: Teeth & my head once.
Yummy food I make: I cannot cook.. but once in awhile I will make breadsticks, and those are yummy?
Zoo animal: When I go to the zoo, I am always facinated by the giraffes, and the elephants, and the monkeys, and the tigers and lions.... yeah, those five.. oh! And the penguins...six.

So. Fraacckkking excited.

Sometimes I have these moments. Remember a few posts down when I mentioned that I am crazy? Well that is still true. I honestly feel like I am Bi-polar sometimes... but that is a different story, cause I know ya wanna hear it! Anywhoo... lately I have just kinda been in this "oh.. yeah, that's right... I am going to Thailand... woopie" mode. I think it is because the whole process is just kind of at a stand--still right now. I'm making payments, working on fundraising, annnndd that is pretty much it. I have no idea when I'm actually leaving, though I know it is sometime in January.. or who is going to be in my group, or where i'm flying out of, or when my training dates are... none of that will be available for about another months. So the amazing Thailand trip has kiiinda been put on the back burner with everything else... Job...school...Job #2....church...family...friends... what's a girl to do!

But this morning I had a moment as I was procrastinating my assignment for a class I have in about 3 hours. I was blog-stalking this girl who is currently in Thailand with ILP and all the sudden... I fell in love! Not with the girl, no, that would be weird... I like boys. But just Thailand in general. Everything is soo pretty and different and Greeen! And the kids, oh man. Those kids I know are going to tug at my heart strings like no other. Is it illegal to take kids across the border? Because I might. I know this is going to be a once in a lifetime opportunity and I feel so thankful and so blessed to be given this chance! I am so fraccckkking excited.  Holy smokes people, 3ish more months!?! I can't even stand it. If I love it so much already... and i'm not even there... I may never return :D

Dear Jilly-Bean,

Please feel better soon. 

Love you lots! 

Love, 

Aunt Katie. 

GOTD--Complements of Katelyn.

"We need to teach our daughters to distinguish between a man who flatters her, and a man who compliments her. A man who spends money on her, and a man who invests in her. A man who views her as property, and a man who views her properly. A man who lusts after her, and a man who loves her. A man who believes he is God's gift to women, and a man who remembers a woman was God's gift to man...And then teach our boys to be that kind of man" 

GOTD

"I am a flawed person. A brook with many stones, a clear blue sky with many blackbirds. I have many shortcomings. A rainbow that’s not long enough, a starry night with clouds. But I can only be thankful to the God who loves me just this way, and I can only be grateful to the people in my life who accept the clear blue sky with many blackbirds and who are patient with the rainbow that isn’t long enough. And because of this, I am taught love, because of this I love my God, and I love these people."
-C. Joybell C. 

Hey guess what? I'M WAITING.

Warning: 

This is very much a word vomit/thought vomit post.

guaranteed to be cheesy and dramatic. 

Don't say I didn't warn you. 

For the longest time whenever somebody asked me if I was "waiting" for the missionary, I would cringe, squirm and give some drawn out answer about how i'm not "waiting" rather "waiting dating" or something of the sort. Well folks, this is me finally owning up to it. Almost one year later. I'm waiting for a missionary. 

I was 100% that girl. The girl that would never send off a missionary and who would cut all ties immediately after he left. I was not going to do it. I was not. I was not. I was not! Guess what? I totally did. I dated a boy for a lot of years prior to the mission, all the while knowing a mission was looming in the future. That was never a question he would be going on a mission. Turns out it's not that easy to cut ties with somebody you truly care about. It's really hard actually. 

I would be lying if I said I haven't tried. I have tried to detach myself from the kid Sooo much harder than it sounds. It would be so much easier to date somebody here. To have somebody here that could be with me every day. Who I could talk to at my leisure, help me when my car breaks down, show off to my family, be my date to various events, and always be my Friday night date. Yes, it would be so much easier. Maybe every time I saw a fake mustache, or every time I heard a Death Cab song, or everytime I smelt Lacoste or Burberry cologne, saw a silver Malibu, or napped on Sunday I didn't think about the kid, maybe this would be doable. But it's really not. It's been almost 365 days and I still find myself laughing at our jokes, or getting giddy when I think about him. That's not to say that I haven't forgotten what it is like to be with him. Because I have. I have forgotten parts. That part, sucks. 

Waiting for a missionary is a stinkin mind trip, I will tell you that right now. It's not always fun. You have this crazy attachment to your missionary, for so many reasons...but you still find that boy in your Chem class incredibly charming and cute. You can't picture your life without missionary in it, but you can picture many...many Friday nights with Chemistry boy. Your trying to plan your life accordingly, but regardless...you still secretly are planning according to missionaries release date. One day you are overwhelmed with how lucky you are to have missionary. The next you forget what it is even like to be near him. One day your family is incredibly supportive of the wait. The next, they are introducing you to every single RM they know. You take your dog for a walk, the one missionary got you, with another boy. It feels strange, after all, it's your dog. but it is still a lot of fun. Are you catching my drift here? Two years of this is seriously exhausting. 

I'm a freak, I know it. I am 19 years old. I can't make up my mind...ever. I have a million different options in front of me. All so exciting, all extremely terrifying. I am human and I make mistakes, I try to learn from them, but sometimes I get discouraged. I'm waiting to see what happens with a boy I was blissfully happy with for two years. I'm waiting to see where life takes me this week. It's always a different story. I'm waiting to go on an incredible adventure in the next four months. I'm waiting for forgiveness. I'm waiting for night time so I can sleep.I'm waiting for my student loan to go through. I'm waiting to hear back from editors. I'm waiting for my fun trips that are planned. There are a lot of things we wait for, we wait for things every day. I may be a little crazy, a little dramatic, a little indecisive, a little sad and overwhelmed some days, a lot happy and excited most days, a lot excited for the future, and a lot busy and spread thin. But right now I wouldn't change anything for the world. 

We wait for things every day. Who says we can't wait for two years? Is it so crazy to believe that something that worked  so, so well before, won't work again? 

So here it is peeps. I'm waiting for a missionary. And you know what, these times... though often unsure, scary, crazy, busy, hard, and overwhelming... are some of the best times in my life. 

Sent.

Please oh Please... 

GOTD

“My message to you today, my brothers and sisters, is simply this: the Lord is in control. He knows the end from the beginning. He has given us adequate instruction that, if followed, will see us safely through any crisis. His purposes will be fulfilled, and someday we will understand the eternal reasons for all of these events. Therefore, today we must be careful to not overreact, nor should we be caught up in extreme preparations; but what we must do is keep the commandments of God and never lose hope!”

-M. Russell Ballard

Road trips.

Road Trips with Cam were one of my favorite things. 

We would sing at the top of our lungs to obnoxious songs I loved, but he hated. 

I would sleep, while he drove. 

I would wake up to Cam driving a long with the music turned way down. 

I would feed Cam nasty Mcdonalds breakfast sandwhiches while we drove...ha! 

We would talk and talk and talk. 

And laugh and laugh and laugh. 

We would take turns switching off. 

Cam song, Kaitlen song, Cam song, Kaitlen song... 

Five hours flew by in a flash. 

I found this the other night. And couldn't help but laugh. 

First of all, he looks like a child.. 

Second of all, He hates the chipmunks.. 

So the fact that he would (Pretend) sing and dance to this song.

Makes me love him all the more :] 

GOTD

I absolutely adore this Mormon Message and somehow it was exactly what I needed to hear today. So, thanks Heavenly Father, I needed this! It is so incredibly easy to get caught up in the hussle and bussle of every day. Working two jobs, going to school full time,getting ready for this trip, friends, family church and extra-cirricular activities and so much more keep me on my toes... constantly. It makes me sad to think about the little moments I have missed because I was too concerned with other things. But it makes me more determined to take note and truly savor the tender moments in my life.

"we would do well to slow down a little, focus on the significant, lift up our eyes; and truly see the things that matter most." 

Gems.

The church website has this really great little feature. They are called "Gems" gospel quotes given by Prophets and Apostles, you know, food for spiritual thought. Anybody that knows me knows that I love quotes and things of that nature. So I have decided each day to do a "Gem" a little bit of good words to live by. Wether it be by a church leader, or just a random quote. Stay tuned for the "Gem of the day" GOTD?

"Whenever temptation comes, remember the wise counsel of the Apostle Paul, who declared, 'There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it' (1 Corinthians 10:13)."

Thomas S. Monson

Saw this. Loved this. Copied this.

I was blog stalking this blog the other day and saw that she had posted a bunch of music videos of songs that reminded her of different times in her life. I immediately loved the idea. How many times has a song come on the radio or turns up somewhere from the dungeons of your ipod, and we are immediately taken back to one specific moment in time. No hesitation whatsoever, we are there in that moment again. It's funny how that works isn't it? How hearing just one song, or even smelling just one thing and we are instantly taken back.

Good ol' LFO Summer girls. I literally think it is impossible not to like this song. How could you not love a few overly bleached, overly tanned boy-band men singing about girls in the summer? Ya seee what I mean? This song remindes me of the first time I ever went camping.. that I remember anyways. I was little, and we went to Cedar Mountain with our new camper all hooked up. I drove up with Kenz and my brother Nate and we played this song over and over again, and ate red vines. I just remember being really happy and excited! I remember hoping that one day, some bleached boy would sing this about me. Back off alright, I was young! 

TLC Unpretty. hahaha what a terrible song of my youth! I remember sneaking into my sisters room to watch MTV (which was prohibited at 7-8 years old in the Jensen home) to watch this video. Sometimes if I miscalculated and they were in the room, they would let me stay and we would watch, and dance and they would teach me how to slow dance. They would be stand me on the bed and say I was the girl, and they were the boy. Then they would put their hand on my bum and proceed to teach me what to do if a boy ever tried that with me. Man, I wonder if I have ever thanked them for that. Anywhoo, I always remember being so confused at the part in the video where it shows breast implants. I had nooo clue what those were. Ohh the innocence.

This song. We all know Cam and I met at EFY 2006 and the rest is history. What we often forget is that Cam and I hated each other and his  best friend and I actually had a bit of a thing that whole week. A "COW" if you whill... "Crush Of the Week". So at the last dance of EFY when we were all sooo terribly heart-broken to be leaving each other and yadda, yadda... this song came on for the last dance. Spencer and I were dancing to this, naturally. I remember he sang part of it to me and I freaaakin fell in love. hahah not really, but I was about as smitten as 14 year old girls come. I was convinced the world could end right then and there and I would be perfectly okay with that. 

This song is such a happy memory song. (And I just thought of another one too.. soo brace yourself!) Cam and I had driven up to Idaho to visit his family for the weekend and I had made us 2349832 mixed CD's for the drive. (Go ahead and laugh allll you want Cole and Jeff... I know it's comin!) So on the way home I could tell Cam was getting tired and I begged and begged and beggggeddd for him to let me drive. But he is stubborn, and macho, and stubborn... and probably didn't think I was that great of a driver so he wouldn't let me. Finally, with my charm and maybe a little bit of fatigue on his end, I convinced him! I took the wheel and he took a nap. Or tried. I probably played this song over at least 12 different times the whole time thinking Cam was asleep. I remember being very content. Very, very content. Singing along to a song I loved, the boy I loved sleeping next to me, and finally getting to drive Cam's precious Malibu. Little did I know Cam did not sleep a wink, and the cute kid listened to that song 12+ times without making a peep, just so I could feel cool like he trusted me enough to fall asleep while I drove. Which clearly he didn't. Rude. 

Soo.. this is not Garth Brooks.. but he is pretty good too! I remember the most random stuff about this song. Again, I was with Cam, and again I was playing this song over and over again (I tend to have that problem). We were sitting at the light on 100 S. and River Road in St. George and I started it again. It was a little rainy that day. Cam looked at me and just rolled his eyes and I started singing along. After a minute he turned down the volume and said two things I have a hard time forgetting. First, he told me the part "a little crazy but it's nice" reminded him of me to no end. Thanks punk.  He said if he was ever to write a song about me, it would have been this song. Then he told me I had a really beautiful voice (he was lying of course) and he told me he wanted to hear me sing more often.. and that the "whisper singing/humming" I do in church, doesn't count. 

Really any Matchbox 20 song takes me back to when I was 8 years-old and our family vacationed to Disney Land. We were in dads blue and white truck and it was kind of a tight squeeze, but we somehow all managed. I think dad had just gotten the new matchbox CD, or maybe it was the boys.. but we listened to that thing all the way through, at least 6 different times that trip. I remember being uncomfortable in the back seat with the boys so I crawled down and laid on the floor listening to the hum of the engine beneath me and Rob Thomas sing me to sleep from the speakers. 

For the most part, I disagree.

The Missionary's Girl:Somewhere between the whirl of teen-age dates and the responsibility of matrimony, we find a lone creature called the Missionary's Girl. Kaitlen Says: Can't argue with this one. 
They come in two varieties... engaged and hopefuls. They come in assorted sizes, weights, and colors, blue being the most common. Kaitlen Says: I defininatly would not say "blue" is the most common. 
The missionary's girl is found at home, missing parties (Just the parties that have overzealous RM's), staying away from dances (too depressing without ??? there), paying her own way to the movies, and buying stationary by the gross. Kaitlen Says: I am not staying away from parties or other activities with friends, with or without "overzealous RM's " I often in fact don't pay my own way to movies, and the dances I have been to in the last 11 Months have been some of the funnest...ever. Also, I am a terrrrrible stationary shopper. 
Missionaries love them, young girls look up to them, parents tolerate them, postmen hate them, and weekly letters support them. Kaitlen Says: Excuse me, no. My post woman loves me. 
A missionary's girl is a composite. She has the appetite of a hormonally unstable 18-year-old girl, the enthusiasm of a wet noodle, the patience of Job, the persistence of a stainless steel salesman and the imagination of Scherazade. Kaitlen says: For the most part...accurate. Except I often find myself with lots of enthusiasm. It depends of the day/time of day really. 
She likes letters from the mission field, invitations to his home, long distance telephone calls, items for his scrapbook, pictures of him, and other girls who are waiting (I LOVE my MGs!). Kaitlen Says: All of this is pretty true... 
She isn't much for Saturday nights out on the town ; people who say, "Two years is a long time"; or  “Don’t waste your time” or the classic “ so much can happen in two years” , new clothes with no one to wear them for; sad movies and music; movies with love scenes; knitting; wedding receptions; little sisters who date; calenders; and "Dear Janes." Kaitlen Says: Perhaps thee falsest statement of this poem. I love Saturday nights, I love new clothes...there are plenty of people to 'wear them for', sad movies and movies with love scenes never get old--sometimes they just take on a different meaning. Wedding receptions are so happy. I don't have little sisters... Calendars are some of my favorite things. And Dear Janes, well, I suppose I would not be too found of that, you're right. 
A missionary's girl is an odd object: She can get lonesome, discouraged, and temporarily lose faith in the whole missionary system. No one else can write such cheerful letters in such a rotten mood. No one else can get such a thrill at the end of the day by the words, "Why yes, there is a letter for you." Nobody else is so early to bed and so early to rise.(More like....Nobody else is capable of writing such competent, lengthy, and entertaining letters in the wee hours of the morning.) Kaitlen Says: True, true, true...false. Not once have I ever lost faith in the missionary system. I know he is doing exactly what she should be. If anything, it has strengthened my faith in the missionary system seeing how being away from each other for these two years is changing us both for the better. Even though it is hard, we need this time. Also false: If I am in a rotten mood, Cam can always tell. No matter how I try to hide it. However...True that I do often write my emails/letters in the wee hours of the morning, but they defininately are not always competent.
A missionary's girl is virtue with no chance to be otherwise, faith with twenty-four months to wait, prudence with 69 cents in her savings account, and beauty with no one to give a darn. Kaitlen Says: There are definately chances to be otherwise, you have to choose to be otherwise. Faith in the wait is not always easy. A lot really CAN happen in two years. I have more than 69 cents in my account... I think. And beauty is not only  seen by your missionary.
Yes, she is all this, but it will all be forgotten the day he receives his letter of release and, upon his arrival home she will probably utter the words she once considered trite, "It hasn't seemed like any time at all!"
Kaitlen Says: True.

Onze....สิบเอ็ด

Today friends, 

Marks the 11th month that Cameron Dale has been on the Mish. 

Eleven Stinkin Months. 

30 days and he's been gone 365 days. 

hdsfkasdlhfadk

Time kinda needs to slow down. 

Just a tad. 

Now, for your entertainment.
สิบเอ็ด things that have happened since Cam has been gone. 

1. I have finished 2 semesters of school. Working on my 3rd. 
2. I decided to move to Thailand for 5 months. 
3. Three new babies were born! Two on the Ricker side, one on the Jensen side. 
4. Bugzee celebrated his 1 year old birthday. 
5. I got in my very first car accident. 
6. I made my very first drive solo to SLC. 
7. Cameron got old, and is no longer a teenager. 
8. My house had a foreign exchange student for 2 weeks. 
9. I finally got a calling in my college ward. 
10. Cam has had 248973 baptisms. 
11. His mom got major surgery 6 months into his mission. 

Happy 11 Months Elder C-Rick.
I feel like we are clearly awesome. 

*For those of you that are terribly confused... "Onze" and "สิบเอ็ด" are both "eleven" in Portuguese and Thai. * 

Numbers.

Somtimes Numbers help to put things in perspective.

31 Days until Cameron has been gone One Whole Year.

56 Days until Halloween!

102 Days until the end of the semester. And also my Best Pals birfday.

111Until Christmas.

118ish..Days until I leave for Thailand, since the date is still tentative.

266 Days until I am no longer a teen.

270ish..Days until I am home from Thailand..again, tentative.

340 Days until Cameron is 21 years of age.

388 Days until Cameron is home from Brazil!!

Sometimes it's scary how fast time goes.