Holiday Cheer

Confession: The Gap Holiday adds have made me proud of my cheerleading career.

My 6 year old self would have done anything to be one of these girls.

I would have sat in front of the TV until I learned the whole routine, then everywhere I went I would be performing it.

I would still do anything to be in one of these adds.

Cupcakes!

Last week one of my cute roommates had a birthday.  One of her many nicknames is "princess" and she LOVES cupcakes so I made her these for her party.  

Cherry Chip Cupcakes with Cherry Chunk Butter Cream Frosting

My secret cake supply store only had 2 types of pink chocolate melts.  It was either mint or Strawberry.  I didn't think mint would taste very good with cherry so I went with strawberry for the crowns.

Baby Dawes!

These two beautiful people are having a baby boy!!

I loved having two sisters but I secretly wanted a brother.  I didn't want to replace any of my sisters, I just wanted another sibling. 

Now my sister is having a boy!  I know my Dad is excited to have a boy around.  

All weekend I was looking at little boy stuff.  I am so excited!  And I think I have an idea for an embroidered onsie for him!  

Feb. 17th is the expected day!

Freedom

“Now, we have inscribed a new memory alongside those others. It’s a memory of tragedy and shock, of loss and mourning. But not only of loss and mourning. It’s also a memory of bravery and self-sacrifice, and the love that lays down its life for a friend–even a friend whose name it never knew. “
- President George W. Bush, December 11, 2001

  

I am sad for those who have lost their lives in the service of our country and the attacks on 9/11.  

I pray for those who are missing a family member today due to the war and the attacks that you will have peace and comfort in your hearts.

I also pray for those who are currently serving our country that you might be protected and you can return back to this great country to your families and enjoy the privileges you have fought so hard for.

I am grateful I live in the country I do where I am able to choose my profession, where I live, the school I go to and most important to me, the religion I practice.  

Thank you to those who fight and sacrifice their lives so I can continue to have my freedoms. 

Super Girl had a birthday!

Taylor is the greatest girl I know.  Easy.  I have a picture of her on my desk next to me and she seriously looks like super girl with a volleyball in her hand.  I feel like she really might have super powers sometimes because she so great!

This girl is going places in life.  She's one tough girl.  

I have so many favorite memories of her.  Basically her whole life.  She's smart, funny, aware, responsible, full of love for everyone, all around a really awesome girl. 

She can rap the whole Tricky song.  Sometimes when I miss her I play it.  

     ***This just solidifies how awesome I think Taylor is!  I LOVE this girl!

HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY TAY!!!!!!! 

 You are my hero!

Happiness is going home for a month

I'm sorry I have let yet another few months go by without posting.  

I went home and had surgery.  My doctor (Dr. Seeker) was absolutely fantastic.  He is seriously a great man.  He walked in and acted like we have known each other for years and we were just best friends forever.  That helped a lot.  Surgery went great!  We got everything taken care of and I am feeling back to normal!  

There is no better person to have by your side when you aren't well then my Mom.  I fully learned that after my car accident.  After surgery, the anesthesia had me asking for some funny requests and I guess I kept asking the same questions over and over again.  Mom was patient with me and sat right next to me the whole time.  The best part was getting peonies and ranunculas from her right after surgery from our favorite Austin Flower Mart.  She knows those are both my favorite.   What a lovely lady my Mother is!

I've learned a lot about the power of prayer from everyone who was praying for me.  Thank you!  Thank you to everyone for your kind words, flowers, love, friendship and support!  I have the best friends and family!

I am so glad I was able to be home for the whole thing.  I really believe that healing came through just being home with my family.  They take great care of me.  Lauryn was able to make it down too so we could all be together for a while.  I loved it!  Home is the best remedy.  I believe that 100%.  There was lots of shopping, golfing, hiking, volleyball, SHOPPING, and my personal favorite just hanging out and being together.  I love love LOVE my family so much.  

Thank you again to everyone for your love!  

Thank You!

    I have been sitting here trying to think of ways I can thank everyone who has been praying for me, bringing me meals, talking to me, keeping me distracted, and most of all just loved me over the past couple weeks.  Nothing I can think of really expresses how much I really appreciate my friends and family.  

   

    For weeks I have been experiencing some intense pain in my abdomen after I eat.  I went to the doctor and tried a few things but nothing was working.  Eventually last Friday I went to get a CT Scan.  A few hours later I got a phone call from Dr. Brown at the hospital telling me I have  "lesion" in my pelvis.  The doctor was sort of dancing around words and told me I needed to see a doctor on Monday.  Good thing Monday was Memorial Day and the doctors office was closed.  It was an interesting weekend.  I knew I was going to be fine no matter what but I had no idea what I needed to prepare myself for.  Sunday my family and my Bishop fasted for me.  When I woke up I could feel their love overwhelming me and I felt good.  My Bishop gave me a blessing.  Again, I felt overwhelmed with the love my my Savior and my family.  I am the only one in Utah right now and being absent from my family was sad for me.  But feeling their love made me feel so close to them.  All weekend I had friends and family making sure I was taken care of.  Since I couldn't get into the doctor Monday I went on a hike to Stewart Falls and it was incredible.  I secretly wished I could have stayed out there all day but we ended up coming back.  I think I'll devote a whole blogpost to my hike soon.  

   Tuesday I finally got into the doctor.  I have a cyst on my ovary about the size of a grapefruit.  When the doctor told me this I felt a huge sigh of relief.  This was the best case scenario for me and I can totally handle this.  It's not going to go away on it's own, so yesterday I got an ultrasound done to determine what kind of surgery and when.  I am feeling relieved, happy, at peace, and comforted.  I can handle this easily! A few of you know some of the thoughts I was having this weekend about what this could be (mostly Lauryn).  I honestly had absolutely no idea and was preparing myself for anything.  The one thing I did know is I will be fine.  

   I am so grateful for the gospel in my life and for everyone around me.  I definitely had a roller coaster of feelings but the one feeling I always felt was the love of my Savior, family and friends.  My older sister, Lauryn, has been great and checked on me every single day and probably got the brunt of me roller coaster emotions.  She would call me and call my Mom and made both of us feel better everyday.  She was the peace keeper and kept me in check.  She's always been a lot more level headed then me.  We are worriers in my family and I think it stems from my Mom.  She cares so much about us.   I know my Mom didn't sleep much this weekend.  I missed her SO much this weekend because she knows how to take care of me the best.  She knows just how to keep me distracted and entertained and loved.  I know my Mom didn't sleep much because sometimes I would get text messages from her in the middle of the night.  In the past few months there have been a number of times when my Mom has been so in tune with me and my needs.  Her silly text messages in the middle of the night and phone calls during the day were exactly what I needed.   My Dad kept calling the doctors and was a lot more successful in getting through to them then I was.  If it weren't for him I would probably still be waiting to get into the doctor.  When I got the phone call on Friday I know he was worried but he did a great job of staying calm.  Taylor is great and would text message me the funniest things and has the best stories.  Like the time she brought two left shoes to her volleyball game.  I can always count on her for a good laugh.  She checked up on me and how I was feeling a lot too. Jen has been awesome and always checked up on me after all of my doctors appointments.  She's always asking how I'm feeling.  She'll ask me what she can do for me and then say what would your Mom do for you right now.  My roommates and friends have all been great and made sure I had things to do and if I needed someone to talk to or be around they were there.  I went for lots of walks because it's been so nice outside here lately.  I always had someone who was willing to walk with me.  Most importantly I am so grateful for the Savior and his love for me.  I know the Lord knows me and my limits.  He has a plan for me and I know I have a future ahead of me.  I know there are so many great things to come.  

   I'm sorry this post is forever long.  I don't expect anyone to read it.  I am feeling so overwhelmed with gratitude and want to express my love and appreciation to everyone.  I don't think I can express in words and let those around me feel how grateful I am for them unless I make them literally feel it.  I hope that one day I can let everyone feel what I have been feeling.  Now that I know what this is and I know it's not anything that is going to be completely life altering, no one has changed.  I still feel an outpouring love and care for me.  Thank you to everyone!  I love you all!  

   

Happy Mothers Day!

I can't begin to explain how much I love and appreciate my Mom.  I miss her everyday and the longer I have been away, I realize all the things I took for granted growing up.  

My Mom has taught piano my whole life.  Sometimes before or after lessons she would play just for fun.  I never thought anything of it until I wasn't able to hear her play as often anymore.  There are definitely some days when my apartment is all quite and I miss listening to her play. I actually downloaded some piano music a couple months ago because I missed it so much.  It's beautiful music but it's really not the same.  

I miss having someone who will do projects with me.  My Mom is so creative and she's always thinking of new things to do.  When Lauryn and I were little we really got into the whole Beanie Babies craze.  We both tried to collect as many animals as we could get our hands on.  We each had our own set so there were two of each.  On one of the walls in our room my Mom painted a huge mural of Noah's Arc and nailed wooden boxes to the wall to display each of our Beanie Babies "two by two".  I wish I had a picture of it because my description doesn't even come close to how cool it was.  She was asked to paint a mural on an even bigger wall in Taylor's elementary school.  Needless to say it's amazing and I hope stays there forever.  

I couldn't be home for Mothers Day.  It's so hard to be away from her especially today but I hope she knows how much I love her and appreciate her.  She's so loving, caring, creative, funny, supportive, thoughtful, beautiful, compassionate, and everything else I could ever ask for.  I love her and miss her so much.  

Happy Mothers Day!

Twenty Three

 23!  Yes I have survived a whole 23 years of life!  I'm starting to get nervous because I'm starting to realized how fast time really does go by.  I was having a discussion with my friend, who is also turning 23 soon, about when people ask me how old I am I just say 23.  I don't really think about it.  It's almost like word vomit.  "Twenty Three".  In my mind I think I really want to say 21 because I feel like I'm in Neverland where no one gets older.  No one is allowed to be older then 21.  I'm not sure why that's the rule but in my head anything over 21 just isn't allowed.  Rachel and I discussed how 23 is still so young, and I know when I'm 50 I'll wish I could just say I'm 23.  I am really happy with my age.  I feel very comfortable here.  I think my mind still wants to believe I'm 21 still because if I believe I'm younger then I am I wont have to get older?  I don't know but I'm really happy where I'm at right now.  

      

(Disclaimer: There are more the 23 candles on both of those cakes. I got them all in one breath! Does that mean I get extra wishes?!)

  ANYWAY!  I had a great birthday!  The birthday miracle happened when my package from my family showed up on my door!  This was a miracle because it wasn't expected to come until after my birthday.  I can't express how much I love and miss my family.  They sent the cutest cards.  I got the sweater and skirt I wanted, ribbon and a flower to make a belt, shoes, treats and lots more!  Courtney stopped by the night before and brought me a ceramic hello kitty paint set and a gift card to Red Mango!  ( OH how I love that place! 80 calories of Heaven!!!!)  Lindsay and Nicole took me to lunch at the Tai Kitchen where our friend Sun works and got us free Mango Sticky rice!  Also SO good!  At one point I went out to my car and it was covered in toilet paper and a paper chain!  My friend Brian confessed it was him when he brought me a drink, Butterfingers, and a bamboo plant.  Whitney and her roommates came by with a huge candy poster card, that so funny and I loved it! Later the Dyers and Nicole, made some cake and invited all my friends over for cake and ice cream.  I feel like I have different friends all over the place so I love when everyone can meet and have fun!  I had a really great day.  I really do have the best family and friends ever!  I miss my family SO much all the time but I have great friends who are always here for me and take me in as their own family.

    

           (Eric and Benj, Rachel and Tammy, Dean, Brian and Dustin)

  

(Julia, Mikkel, and Larissa)

Thank you everyone who made it to my birthday celebration!  For those who's pictures didn't make it up I am incredibly sorry.  I still love you and am so glad you came! 

Thank you everyone else for a phone calls, text messages, treats, surprises, love and wishes!  I wish I could have celebrated with everyone, especially all of my family!  I love you all!

Happy Easter! another late holiday update

Here is a summary of how I celebrated my Easter.  For the pictures I will let you decide the professional from mine and Courtney's. 

First and most important I attended church.

Martha inspired us to make these 

"simple" eggs.  I'm sure they are so easy to make when you have a team of 100 other professional egg decorators, unlimited amounts of glue and sparkles. Finding the sparkles should have been our first clue.  We went to approximately 4 stores before finally finding some good tubes of glitter.  If you ever plan on making these eggs I would block out a good couple days for a carton of eggs.

Bakerella makes all of these cute guys.  I got sad and threw in the towl after I burnt the chocolate.  I know my mom will read this and laugh because I ALWAYS burn the chocolate.  You think I would figure it out by now.  Obviously I haven't.  We ended up with a few asteroids and a few chicks.  I had a small moment and was really disappointed.  At this point all of my attempts at making holiday crafts weren't quite the perfection I was hoping.  Some girls struggle with their self image because they want to look exactly like the celebrities.  I struggle with my artistic ability because all the crafts in the magazines look so perfect and easy.  I know my mom would have just whipped out all of these like they were break-n-bake cookies.  One day right?!  I hope one day I will have an ounce of my Mom's artistic talent.  (I currently don't have any photos of my attempt... this might be a good thing.) 

On another egg note.  My mom bought me an easter egg kit that was supposed to make my eggs look like they were made of gold.  Here are my golden eggs.  They were still a fun attempt.  Thanks mom! 

All in all Easter was great.  I really did enjoy all of my craft attempts. It was a beautiful day.  Clear and sunny!  I had a delicious meal from my good friend Jen!  She takes great care of me and I really appreciate her and the rest of her family.  I am satisfied.

Rain

When I was little I was little I went through a period of time where I was convinced I was a magnet to rain.  Eventually the thought faded, until lately.  Today was sort of cloudy all day.  After I got home and finished with school and work, I was waiting for the storm to come and go so that I could go running.  I finally got tired of waiting and the minute I started my run it started to rain/snow.   Perfect.  I decided to cut my run short when pellets of snow started sticking to my skin.  Once I ended my short run at my house the rain slowed down.  Later I needed to go to the store to purchase more eggs for me and Courtney's little egg decorating extravaganza (if things go well you might see pictures).  As I pulled out of my parking stall it started raining again!  I had to laugh at myself because my 8 year old thoughts were coming back!  I am a rain magnet!  I'm just happy it's not snowing 6 inches (knock on wood).  I decided that I'm going to call it a day and just stay inside and enjoy the rain from the inside while attempting to decorate eggs.  Wish me luck!

Another Belated Birthday

It seems my blog and I have horrible timing and I always miss birthdays.  While I was in California my Mom celebrated her birthday!  Because of my lack of internet access I was unable to make the birthday tribute I would have liked.  So here it is... late.   

I love my Mom  for endless reasons and I miss her everyday.  She is the most caring person I know.  She's always looking out for her family, friends and people she doesn't even know.  Whenever I talk to her she is always helping someone new.  Every holiday she tries to make me feel as much as home as possible and still sends me a package in the mail.  

Taylor amazes me everyday, with some new sport or some new activity she has joined but I am secretly even more amazed by my Mom and her ability to keep up with everyones schedule.  Between volleyball tournaments, soccer games, track meets, practices for all sports, church, school and everything else somehow my Mom finds time in her schedule for everything and still stay just as involved with me and Lauryn.  Now seeing the other side of everything I think back when all of us were at home.  Lauryn and I had our cheerleading, theater, student counsel, school, and all of our friends always at the house and then she was always volunteering for our schools or being the room mom.  Some how the house was always spotless and she always made sure we had fun as a family.  

I am in awe of how amazing my Mom is.  I love her so much and I am so happy I was able to spend so much time with her the past couple of weeks.  Living so far away I don't get to see her a lot, so seeing her and just hanging out with her again was just what I have been needing.  I am already looking forward to the next time I get to see my Mom.  

Thanks for everything you do Mom.  I love you so much!  Happy Be-lated Birthday!

Blast Off

At approximately 6:30 am I will be headed to the airport for California! This weekend I will be cheering on the cheer team at Nationals in Anaheim.  It's going to be so weird not being on the mat and sitting right on the edge making sure the music works and "play" gets pressed when it's supposed to but I'm excited.  After all the fun competition I get to go play at Disneyland!  I love Disneyland!  I'm am having major flashbacks of going to Nationals at Disneyworld.  This is going to be a great way to end a great month.  This whole month has been sort of crazy but the good kind of crazy.  Especially since I have been able to see my family.  

I think I'm going to make my next trip be to Spokane.  Lauryn get my bed ready and I'll bring The Best of Tracy Morgan.  Maybe by the time I get there you'll have a furry friend.  Hopefully he loves me as much as Scout does.  Sorry if he goes missing.  You might want to check my house first.  woops.

Hopefully I will come back with lots of fun stories and pictures!  I wish everyone could come!

Exceptions

Remember how just 3 minutes ago I stated "I was born in Southern California and raised in Central Texas, so maybe I was spoiled when it comes to warmth.... with the occasional exception of a freeze in Texas"?  I forgot to mention the occasional hail storm too.  Mom just sent me this picture from outside our house.  Currently home is about 10 degrees warmer then Provo, I still think I'm spoiled. 

Blogging Hibernation

I have been in a state of blogging hibernation.  I'm sorry.  And yes, I am aware that bears technically don't go into "real" hibernation but I think they are cute and they remind me of Scout.  Alas, I am back!  I will say I have intended to come out of my blogging hibernation but every time I go to blog, it snows.  It snowed last night and maybe a little this morning but I decided I'm going to stick it to Mr. Winter and welcome spring with open arms!  Come back Sun and Warmth!  We will prevail!  I was born in Southern California and raised in Central Texas, so maybe I was a little spoiled when it comes to warmth... with the occasional exception of a freeze in Texas. 

 Mom helped me out this winter and got me these.  Best Christmas surprise ever!  I had been on the search for them everywhere and never found them.  But mom being the sleuth she is found them and saved my feet from freezing.  Thanks Mom because of you I have kept all 10 toes, and non of them are showing signs of frostbite.  I was introduced to this delicious delight and few years ago and every winter I CRAVE it.  I have to say I am not much of a tea person but this herbal, caffeine free, mug of "liquid sunshine" is fantastic!  All those who are still suffering through cold temperatures this spring I prescribe a nice mug full, it's like a little taste of spring and summertime. 

Of course I have put all my blankets to good use.  I love blankets!  I always have.  Naturally one would think "Kendyl!  You would LOVE the Snuggie!"  No, I wouldn't.  I can talk on the phone, read books, knit, watch TV, and use my computer(so far so good) just fine with out it.  Maybe it's just me but it looks extremely uncomfortable.  I realized this while watching Tracy Morgan on Jimmy Fallon one night recently and watched them tug and pull at them the entire interview.  Not to be vain but really you look ridiculous.  Thanks for the thought but I really love the blankets I have and function great without the Snuggie.  

I would like to apologize on behalf of my blog for being in hibernation for lots of birthday's.  Most importantly my Dad's, Lauryn's, and Courtney's.  Please forgive me and my blog.  I will try not to let this happen next year.  I'm sure you will make plenty of appearances here to make up for my lack of blog wishes.  I still love all of you! Happy late birthday!