Happy Birthday!!!

Today is one of my very very best friend Jessa's 22nd Birthday!! We have been buddies ever since elementary school and I honestly believe that she is one of those friends that I will have forever. We have soooo much fun together. Every time I am with her, I feel like I am going to lose ten pounds from laughing so hard...but then we offset it by eating treats and chowing down on cinistix. Jessa really is one of the best people I know and I love her sooooo sooo much! She is always an example to me and makes me want to be a better person just by knowing her. I don't know what I would ever do without Jessa in my life! She's the greatest! Love ya Jess! Happy Birthday!!

Halloween

Cornmaze

Brad Paisley Concert

Halloween

Goofin off

Roadtrip to Chubbuck Idaho!

Back in High School

After a long day of workin at Honey Baked Ham together

A Pretty Great Guy

This weekend, the world lost a great person. He was definitely a person that left this world and you know the world is not as great of a place now that he is gone. Early Saturday morning my Grandpa Barton passed away peacefully. It was something that we have been expecting and felt like we were prepared for him to go, because we knew that he was ready to progress to the next life...but it was still a loss. It was a realization that someone is gone and they aren't coming back. It was a realization that things will never be the same again. Yes, this day was expected, but it was still very very hard when reality hit that he was actually gone.

My Grandpa was a really neat man. He was a bishop in his 20's...stake president...area president...mission president...and temple president. Talk about devoting his life to the lord! His whole life was dedicated this his church and his beliefs and I am so proud to say that I was in his life and he was my Grandpa. When I was younger, he would always tell me stories about how he was good friends with a lot of apostles and prophets. He showed me all these letters he had from Pres. Kimball, Hinkley, Holland, Eyring, Faust, etc, etc. He was an amazing man. My sister got the rare opportunity to have him seal her and Byron together in the temple. He picked the site for the building of the Chicago Temple. I could go on and on about all that he had accomplished, because he truly was a man of god and he was so amazing. Yesterday, as I was driving up to the State Championship basketball game I had just gotten the news of his passing. I was pretty bummed out and decided that the best way to honor him was to just turn on church music. It was amazing the peace and comfort that I felt. I could feel him so close telling me that it was okay and he was where he belonged.

Some great memories I have with my Grandpa were spending time with him at his house in Bountiful. He taught me card games, played ball, went for walks, took us swimming, told us stories, talked sports, etc. We went to the zoo often and after they would take us to McDonald's for lunch, I loved it! It was such a special treat to go spend time with my grandparents. He was always so supportive of me when I played sports. Every summer, we had a tournament up in Layton where they lived. My mom and I would stay at their house and he would come watch every single game. I thought it was so cool that he was so supportive in all that I did. I have had some great conversations with him, and he has given me some pretty awesome advice. I was pretty lucky to have such a great Grandpa and I will always live by his example and honor him by living the gospel and serving others.

Thanks for being such a great guy, you will definitely be missed!

His White Elephant prize!

Always the life of the party at family events with his witty comments

My mom and her amazing dad

The Grandkids

My awesome grandparents!

Supporting me for my high school graduation 4 years ago

Here we go....

Well folks...the time has come.

I have talked about going to the state tourney for quite some time. Well...this is the week. This is the week that hopefully all my hard work and time will be worth it. I would say that we have a pretty good chance of making quite a run through the tournament. Will we win it? I am very hopeful. Today, I have thought a lot about 5 years ago when I played and we lost in the final game. I REAAAALLLLLYYY don't want to feel those feelings that I felt in the locker room after that game. I feel like there have been soooo many times in my life where I have "come so close", yet I have never felt the feeling of winning a championship. I want to feel that feeling this week!

The weirdest part is the fact that if we make it to the championship, we will most likely be playing Mountain View for the title. I never in a million years thought I could ever root against my bruins!! But, my high school days have passed and my heart has moved on! The head coach and I both played for Mountain View also. How ironic is that?? Two MV alma mater could very possibly coach against MV for the state title. Never saw that one comin!

So here we go...time to make a run at state! Go Mustangs!

Sun to Snow

Well, I got home from basketball practice and it was beautiful and sunny. About a half hour later, I walked outside and there was like a foot of snow on the ground. A massive blizzard just hit!! I was shocked at how much snow we got in such a small amount of time! I decided that I wouldn't be bummed out about snow this time, because I wanted to go snowboarding...but NO MORE! I'm officially not supporting snow and cold weather anymore!! I was nice and let it happen from December until February, but I just can't do winter anymore! Especially with the teasing four days of sunshine!! But anyways, we had a great day at Beaver mountain in the fresh powder and I even got daring and attempted a front flip...meaning I did a cartwheel with my board on down a mountain. It was fun though!! Here's some pictures...

First run of the day...I decided to ditch the helmet head look after this run...

With Jentry after my flip attempt...notice all the snow on my hat...

Jen and I on the lift

The three of us on our last run of the day

A Tuesday Off

So lately I have felt pretty run down and just DONE. I have been so crazy and overwhelmed with everything that I need to do, that I haven't even been able to THINK!! I felt so pulled in so many directions and I just needed a day off all by myself. I have been telling Tyler everything I would do if I had a day off, so today I did some of those things! It was JUST what I needed!! I should probably be doing homework and being productive, but I actually think taking today off is more beneficial for my sanity. So, I slept in until 10 this morning....some VERY much needed sleep! Then, I just laid in my bed and watched the Bachelor on my laptop! It felt soooo good! I just took it easy all morning, eating better than sex cake and oreos for breakfast, just enjoying some carefree Kelli time!! Then, I decided it was time to get out and enjoy this BEAUTIFUL 50 degree weather by going on a trail run!! It felt sooooo good to get out and run, since I haven't ran outside in MONTHS, and I haven't worked out in about 3 weeks! Running is straight up therapy for me. It feels sooo good to challenge my body and feel my lungs and muscles getting stronger. The sunshine felt soo good and the view on top of the mountain was so gorgeous and soul satisfying! So, now I am sitting on my front porch, drinking my water bottle, and just enjoying my day!!

These have now officially become my camping and trail running shoes...it was so hard to pick a pair that I would allow to get muddy, but these were the oldest...

The trail was suuuuper muddy

My muddy legs

Look at how good my scar on my ankle is looking!! It's starting to not swell or hurt anymore!!

I looove having a little "Kelli Time"

50 degrees? In Logan? In FEBRUARY?!?! Love love love it!

Valentine's Lovin

Definitely my best Valentine's Day EVER!! I am legitimately the luckiest girl in all of the world to have a boyfriend as cool as mine is!! We got all dressed up in our fancy grown up clothes and went to a restaurant called Elements, which is like this big fancy YUMMMY place in south Logan.It was delicious!! I also got surprised by some really pretty pink roses that I LOVE and I get so happy every time I look over and see them in my room! I loooove getting flowers!! After dinner, we were both pretty worn out from our busy weekend so we just laid down and watched the first season of Modern Family. We love it! We can't get enough of it!! Soooo it was a very simple, yet PERFECT Valentine's day date with just me and my man!! Here's some pics...

I got flowers!!

I got kissed on the forehead

Acting all fancy at the restaurant

Yay! I love Valentines day!

In our sweet booth

And comin home to watch Modern Family!!

When it rains...it freakin POURS!!

Okay, well this week has been pretty much a way crappy week! It seriously has just felt like one thing after another has come up. It was "one of those weeks" and I am SOOOO glad that it is Saturday evening and I finally have time to just SIT. It's so weird. When I am crazy busy, I just want some down time....but when I have too much down time, I want something to keep me busy. I just want a happy medium!! Let's go over the negatives and positives of the week....

Negatives:

I have decided this week that it is time for basketball to end. It is just taking up too much time that I would rather spend doing homework, running, and spending more time with my boyfriend. It's just burnt me out once and for all. I love the girls and I love coaching, but it is time to get my life back. I want the extra 30 hours a week freed up.

Drama. I'm just sick of it. I'm sick of drama and dealing with people's crap. It's frustrating that people's actions can have such an impact on my mood and my life. I won't go too much into detail, but I am just done with the crap that some people pull and indirectly affect my mood and my stress level.

School killed me this week. I got my butt kicked! I had some really difficult tests that straight up robbed me. I was way frustrated with my academic life this week. I guess I am just so used to knowing the material and dominating tests that when I do less than perfect, I get really upset with myself. I just feel like I have had so much going on, that it has shown in my school work and it's a really hard hole to dig myself out of.

I got a speeding ticket. This was the topper! I got about 3 hours of sleep last night and had to wake up early and attend an 8 hour workshop on homeownership for one of my classes. I was already fed up with the week and everything that I have had to deal with, and I was bugged that I had to waste an entire 8 hours on this workshop and then BAM! ticket. grrrrr I just HATE getting tickets, especially because I had no idea what the speed limit was and the cop was not forgiving AT ALL.

There was a lot more negatives, but those were the BIG ones. I don't wanna be a total bitter buffalo, so let's just leave the list at that and move onto the positives....

Positive:

The girls that I coach won region this week. We are still undefeated in region with one more game to go on Tuesday. I am way excited for all that they have accomplished, and happy that I could play a small part in their road to success. I am really looking forward to the state tournament to see how they do.

I have a waaaay rad/patient boyfriend. I really don't know how I go so lucky. I have been an absolute MESS this week and he is so patient with me. He isn't selfish about his time with me. He understands that I am crazy busy, and cares about how well I do in school and gives me the time that I need to do homework and study. He also knows how grumpy I get when I don't sleep, so he has made sure that I have gotten sufficient sleep each night. It's just the little things like a text to say "hi" or telling me how much I matter and being understanding and validating my feelings. Last night, we FINALLY got to spend some time together (more than 10 minutes in a day), so we went on a little roadtrip to Ogden and played indoor soccer. It was SOOOO fun and just what I needed! We just sang and talked and just enjoyed being together, I loved it!

The sun is shining!! Ahhh my very favorite thing EVER. I honestly have so much more energy when the sun is shining. It's like the sun just melts all of my winter depression right off! It just feels sooo good to have a nice day and not have a frozen gloomy day for the first time in months!!

So although it's been a hard week, I really can't complain too much. When I take a step back and realize that all the negatives really could be sooo much worse and I have dealt with a lot more in my past, I can't help but feel blessed and glad that I am in this spot in my life right now. I am so blessed to have so many people that love and care about me and I am so lucky to have all of the opportunities that I have to go to school and coach and everything else. So, here's to a better week starting tomorrow!!

Live Your Dream Scholarship

As I have said earlier, I am the "Co-director" of the 5K that we are doing to raise funds for the Live Your Dream Scholarship.We are really hoping to achieve our goal this year and would appreciate you coming out and participating. Bring your friends and let's have a good time and benefit this great cause! I just put the link to register on the top right- hand page of my blog, so just click on that to sign up. There is also a promo code that is FB2011 that gives you a discount on the price of the race. Any help you could give us would be so appreciated!! Thanks!! Watch this video about the Live Your Dream Scholarship if you've never seen it!

Saturday Shootin'

Today, we embraced our inner cowboys and went gun shooting. We shot at bottles and targets and anything else we could come up with. Jentry was dominating on her side...as for me...I am just not really the whole "shootin guns type". But we had a blast!! It was such a nice day outside and very enjoyable to go out in the middle of nowhere and shoot things!

Holdin my little gun

Loadin a gun

Jentry and Jordan

So it was very cool and now I can say that I have shot a gun before!!

We have fun together

So I have a crush. On Mr. Tyler Jessop. He is fabulous. We had such a great date night tonight!! I LOVED spending time together after a very loooong and tiring week. I got all caught up in school and I am feeling a lot better about life! So this is what we did tonight....

We built an AWESOME fort

We painted each other's finger nails

Tyler was feeling quite embarrassed about showing off his feminine side...especially since he had to go to his Army training in the morning

We got matching butterfly tats (They fly when we flex)

We watched Modern family in our fort

We snuggled in our fort

AND...we went to one of my VERY favorite places...Wingers!! I loved it...my food baby does not..

So, another great night with my man! We have so much fun together and I love it!! I can't wait for many more Fridays and exciting date nights like tonight!

Kids say the darn-est things

So, I always thought it was funny when the young children of my family would say funny/naive things. Well...I have been opened up to a whole new world of entertainment: TEENAGERS. Now THEY are funny! For instance...

A girl that I coach (16 years old) came up to another coach and says, "Coach, what are the symptoms of a broken SCROTUM?"

Flustered, the coach said, "Well...what are your symptoms?"

She then proceeds to point to her STERNUM and says, "This bone really hurts, and I can't lift up my arm"

Yes, she thought that her STERNUM was called a SCROTUM all these years.

I just thought I would share one of the funnier moments I have had working with teenagers. Everyday there is something funny. Like, I really have a hard time being all serious and grown up, because they crack me up BIG TIME!!

So cold, it took my breath away

Oh my goooosh! It is SO COLD! I literally had to FOCUS on breathing as I walked to school today, because the cold LITERALLY took my breath away!! I also realized it was an AWFUL decision not to wear a beanie just because I didn't like how it looked with my outfit. Lesson learned. I will NEVER EVER not wear a beanie and sacrifice my face, head, and ears AGAIN, just because I don't like the way it looks. When it's cold, it is not the time to be worrying about fashion!! Anyways...life is pretty good, just busy! Basketball is almost coming to an end...3 more weeks. We are still undefeated in region and have 4 more games before state. State is lookin pretty good for us! I am way excited! School is kickin my butt, as I try to just stay afloat! I love it and hate it all at once. Buuut, I really can't complain! I am finally getting my energy back and feeling good...the voice is still a little bit shaky though! Last weekend, I met up with my mom in Salt Lake and we got a girls weekend in a hotel! Sooo fun! We went shopping, out to eat, and to a movie! I absolutely LOVED spending that alone time with my mom, it was JUST what I needed to beat the winter blues! I got back to Logan feeling MUUUCH better about life! Anyways, don't wanna get too chatty, but life is good and I am sooo lucky to have all that I have right now! Really, I am sooo sooo blessed! I just got back from the Aggie basketball game, it was so rad as always! Aggie basketball is one of my very FAVORITE things about Utah State! We were on ESPN, so it was quite the crowd! Here are some pics...

The whole crowd wore blue gloves, so it sounded pretty cool when everyone clapped

We are really good at taking pictures huh??

Yes, I like him a lot a lot

This is how we look when we cry, very attractive I know

I think Tyler's fish face is the best thing that ever happened to me

So that's about it! Life is good! Can't wait for the weekend to come!!