Merry Christmas

I couldn't wait to come home for Christmas and see my family. On Christmas Eve, we had dinner at my grandparents house and had delicious mexican burritos. As we were opening our gifts from one to another, I realized that I enjoy giving gifts more than receiving. It made me feel great to see the smile on their faces. One nice gift that we all received was my aunt and cousin coming up from California to surprise us. 

Christmas morning the sister missionaries came over and opened their presents before the rest of the family arrived. We made everyone a big breakfast and enjoyed each others time  Later in the afternoon, we went and saw Frozen, which is now my 3rd favorite movie behind Tangled and Footloose. 

My sister and I used our Christmas money to buy tickets to Disneyland. My mom, sister, and I spent the entire day in the happiest place on earth. We bought the book that gives you clues to where all of the hidden mickeys are and looked for them as we waited in line. The day we went was the busiest day in the park all year, so the lines were crazy long. However, we just loved the atmosphere disneyland has. It was a wonderful Christmas getaway for all of us.

Finals Week

I survived my first week of college final exams. How I did it, I'm not really sure. I spent the entire week in the library until 2 am. Even then, I couldn't sleep because I felt like I needed to study more. In the end, it worked out well and I was able to get the grades that I wanted in my classes. Two weeks of vacation and I get to do it all over again. Yay college!

A Thankful Weekend

Thanksgiving break

couldn't have come at a better time. I had been looking forward to it for awhile. I couldn't wait to go home and see my family, especially with all of the recent events going on. Jules had to get an MRI on her knee because the doctor thought she may have torn her meniscus and my grandpa was in the hospital because he had a heart attack. Thankfully, both of them are okay. Needless to say, I was extremely thankful to be home, plus having a Thanksgiving feast was an added bonus. The food was delicious and I loved having my family and the sister missionaries over. It was also really nice to hang out with everyone and have some time to relax. During this time, I have come to the conclusion that home-cooked meals and watching movies with family are my favorite things to do. 

I was also extremely grateful that I was able to be home for my birthday. (It's crazy to think that I'm 19 now!) We went down to the strip and ate at the Sugar Factory, which was absolutely delicious! My burger was HUGE but that didn't stop me from having dessert. After dinner we walked over to the Bellagio and looked at the beautiful garden. I love the way they decorate it for all of the seasons. It was an awesome night.

Having to leave is never fun, but the good news is that I will be home for christmas in two weeks! I can't wait :)

 

A Fairytale Weekend

This past weekend, just like all of them, was awesome! However, this one will probably be one of my favorite memories. On Saturday, Hailey, Mallory and I decided we needed to take a well deserved study break. For weeks we kept driving past this cute prom dress store and decided now was the time. We spent two hours trying on some of the prettiest (and ugliest) prom dresses. We took so many fun pictures in them because we looked like princesses .

Saturday night, I also went on a really awesome date with my friend Trent. We went to Salt Lake, rented bicycles and rode to the temple. It was so beautiful. After, we drank hot chocolate and watched White House Down with Channing Tatum, who is also beautiful. So you can safely assume that it was just a beautiful night. Just kidding. But in all seriousness, Trent is a really nice guy and I had a lot of fun.

Our little fridge of accomplishments.

To our benefit, our dorm rooms come with mini-fridges in them. I am very grateful for this, because it is a wonderful way to keep my caffeinated beverages cold. This function is very useful but is not the only thing we use it for; our fridge is very versatile. I've used it many times as a stepping stool to hop onto my bed and it also holds our industrial printer on top.  These things are wonderful but the mini-fridge also serves as a place for me to hang all of my highest graded papers on. The fridge door consisted of two things, my 99% tap dance test and my 103% contemporary test. It only had these two things until today..... Now, proudly hanging on our fridge is my 100% psychology paper that I worked so hard on! I was super excited when I got the paper back today because I was slightly terrified to turn it in. Clearly my hard work paid off. I am so proud of that paper :)

Well I must apologize,

Sorry everyone! I just realized one of my more recent posts didn't actually post onto my page. I suppose I have a lot of catching up to do.

First, I was able to come down to Vegas to surprise my dad and sister for Julia's Homecoming weekend. They had no idea I was coming, so my dad was thrown for a loop when he walked in the front door and I was sitting on the couch. The weekend as a whole was so amazing! I loved being home with my family and I was really happy that I could be with my sister as she got ready for her first Homecoming. She looked absolutely gorgeous!

So just to make sure I wasn't homesick, Jules came to Provo the next weekend. I love my sister so much so I was thrilled to spend two weekends in a row with her. We went to the BYU football game and saw an improv comedy show. 

Then came Halloween.  We all dresses up as the Flintstones and went to a party. It was so much fun and our costumes turned our great thanks to Sarah's creative costume making talent. 

MEGA Weekend

"Mega" seemed to be the word that described my weekend perfectly. We went 80's dancing again on Thursday which was super fun and we had some mega sweet dance moves (especially when Footloose came on).  Some guy even asked for my number and said he would drive from Salt Lake to see me, but I shot him down. So that was a mega rejection.
     Friday we went to the semi-formal homecoming dance which was Gatsby themed. It was So much fun. They held it in an art gallery and outside they had a live jazz band and we learned how to swing dance. After that we went and got home mega good hot chocolate and watched Footloose until 3 in the morning.
     Saturday Hailey and I slept in until 11 and it was such a great feeling. We missed seeing all of the homecoming parade stuff, but the sleep was definitely worth it. We spent the day shopping, cleaning, and decorating our dorm door. We easily have the coolest door in the building. (Thank you Pinterest!) After that I went on a date to go see Pacific Rim and eat Thai food. Neither of those were really my style, but it was still one of the funnest nights.

     Sunday will be forever known as MEGA Sunday in my book. I had to speak at Stake Conference and tell everyone my conversion story. It went really well and people even laughed at my jokes! I had so many people thank me after. I even had a boy text me after saying that every guy in the room fell for me. haha It was such a super sweet night! Then I went and watched a movie with some friends and went to In-N-Out to celebrate some recent events that happened with my friends. It was an awesome day.

General Conference

 The words of the    prophets are          scriptures.

      I had the most amazing Conference weekend! It was exactly what I needed. I went in with a prayer in my heart, wondering if I was to serve a mission or not. Though that prayer wasn't answered directly, I was definitely more attentive to the messages that were being shared. On Sunday Hailey and I got to go to see conference in Salt Lake City. Turns out she is somehow related to Elder Anderson so we had some super awesome close floor seats. The whole atmosphere was filled with the spirit and it just made me so excited about everything life has to offer. I seriously LOVE the church! The talks were so amazing and I felt so spiritually fed. I was also physically fed when Sister Kennedy (my old Young Women's President) took us to the Cheesecake Factory after. I was a REALLY good day. I also have decided that I am not going to serve a mission. I think that there is a lot of work that I am supposed to do here at school.          

Let's just take a moment and appreciate all of the hard work my best friend in the whole wide world is putting into his mission. I just really miss him a whole lot!! At least his passion for food hasn't changed :)

   

First Days of Freshmen Year!

The last two days have been totally awesome! I have officially gone through all of my classes and they seem so amazing. The only two classes that I am worried about are chem and writing; especially when the teachers use the word "rigorous" countless times. The term has been engraved into my mind permanently. However, my most rigorous course is supposed to be my Book of Mormon class, but it is the class that I am most excited about. I love reading and outlining the the chapters and finding answers to my professor's questions. It is the most amazing feeling. It has also sprung the idea into my mind about serving a mission. Without a doubt I know that serving a mission would be the most incredible experience but who knows what I decide. I also figured that since my major is undeclared, the possibility of going is even greater. But who knows, that's is all just in the thinking process. :)

My two most favorite memories of these two days are:
1)studying for hours in the library. It makes me feel so grown up, responsible, and smart. Plus everyone else in there is studying too so it keeps you motivated to not be distracted.
2) After our first day of classes, it poured rain!! So what did we do, run outside and dance in it of course! Then after we were all freezing, we went to Denny's for some $0.99 endless hot chocolate.

P.S. Sorry that this post is late. I don't know why it didn't publish. 

Even Noah would have been afraid...

I had the most incredible weekend! Even though it started out with studying in the library all day Friday, it soon turned for the better. A bunch of friends and I went to the women's soccer game against University of Utah. We got there an hour and a half early so that we had front row seats. It was totally worth it! The entire game was neck and neck then in the last two minutes, Utah's goalie roughed one of our girls pretty aggressively. So in our favor, we got a penalty kick and won the game. Even though we students weren't allowed to rush the field, you can pretty much assume that is exactly what happened. It was super awesome! 

After the game Hailey and I when to a mormon "party" on campus and got to take pictures with the Cosmo statue. Once we grew tired of that, we went up into Provo Canyon for a "bonfire" everyone was going to. I put bonfire in quotations because no one actually brought firewood. But that's okay because it was super awesome hanging out with so many new people. After a couple hours of that we were tired of socializing and dancing. We went back to the dorms, grabbed a bunch of blankets and laid in the grass to watch Pitch Perfect. The spider bites that were accumulated during this event was totally worth it! Turns out I didn't even get home until 5:00 in the morning!!!! I amazed myself. Seriously, I have never stayed up that late before in my life. Not even when we were in Disneyland for Grad Night. Needless to say I slept in until noon the next day.

I was awaken from my deep slumber by numerous phone calls telling me I needed to hurry and get in line for the the football game. As we were walking toward the game, some Texas fans wanted to take a pictures with us thinking they were eventually going to make fun of our devout school spirit. Then the forecast changed. The day went from being ridiculously hot with the bright sun blazing down on us to feeling like we were standing in the middle of a hurricane. Clouds were tumbling in, winds were blowing every which direction, and the rain was coming down in bucketfuls. ( That one is for you mom). So while the stands cleared out, we stayed in the tempest for at least 30 minutes continuing to be drenched and freezing from head to toe. When we got back to the dorm, we had to ring our clothes out and they still aren't all the way dry! It was the awesomest experience. I think I may be catching a cold from it, but after seeing BYU crush Texas, I can't complain.

Look out BYU, here I come!

This past week I have been up in Provo for Freshmen Orientation and WOW! It has been such a roller coaster of emotions. So much has happened that I am just going to have to break it down day by day:

Tuesday: After a long drive of being crammed in the back seat of the car with absolutely no leg room, we finally made it to Utah. I was thrilled! My parents and I walked around campus for a few hours, which only made me want to move in sooner.

Wednesday: MOVE-IN DAY!!! You can automatically assume that I was up bright and early. First order of business was taking my picture for my BYUID, which resulted in buying new capris because the shorts I was wearing weren't touching my knees enough. So being dress coded my first day on campus was not the way I wanted to start the school year. However I was really happy
after we moved in because my room is adorable!

Thursday: Thursday was first day of orientation and when I met my adorable roommate, Hailey. She is super nice and I feel like we are going to get along really well. Oh and good news, she isn't the "tidiest" person either. However, our room is still clean and we have managed to make our beds everyday. You should be proud. So Thursday was also a pretty emotional day for me. I realized that I didn't really have any friends up here. It was so hard not to have my best friends with me like most other people did, so I was feeling lonely. I am an outgoing person, but when it comes to making friends or sometimes being in large groups I become really shy and quiet. So that night I prayed that I would be able to reach out to others so that I can make some friends.

Friday: I was doing a lot better on the social aspect. I was really having fun socializing with people and making new friends. However the emotions kicked in on an educational factor. My parents and I went to a nursing major orientation and it really got the emotions going. As the professor discussed all things nursing, I just felt as though I did not belong in the program at all. Especially since my schedule didn't even cover half the required classes for first semester. I already felt as though I were behind the curve. So after the meeting, I was trying to add more classes and rearrange my schedule which was exhausting and difficult! Then in my moment of distress (maybe a bit dramatic) an academic advisor came over, talked to me, and fixed my schedule right up. After sitting with him, I felt so comfortable about being at BYU and the classes that I am taking. My major is now declared as open and I will follow my dad's advice and do some "soul searching" this semester. On a side note, I ate some delicious Creamery Ice-Cream which also made me really happy.

Saturday: FUN FUN FUN!! I had to say "see ya later" to my parents (which was sad) but the rest of the day totally rocked! I went to a ward party, the women's soccer game (we won), the planetarium, a dance party, watched a dating game, and went to Yogurtland with some new friends :) I also got 3 free ounces on my yogurt because I was the closest one to guess how much it costed!

Sunday: The day I was second most excited for. My roommate and I slept in late because it was Fast Sunday and we didn't want to starve. Eventually we got ready and went to church. It was such a big change! For once we were able to partake of the sacrament without any crying babies. It was absolutely silent and the spirit was so strong. My mom would be happy about the no babies part. Later in the day we had to meet with our bishop and I'm pretty sure I will be getting a calling pretty soon.... It was all really exciting though and after today, I really feel like I belong here. After church, I went to the Golden Corral with my grandparents which was really nice and the food was scrumptious! I love them so much. The last thing I did was
sing church hymns under a tunnel with about 200 other people. It was so amazing and spiritual.

So I am really excited about starting school on Tuesday and for all of the amazing experiences I have ahead of me. I am loving BYU. Go Cougars!!!

This is me!

My name is Kaitlyn Gibson but I go by Katie. I am a graduate from Centennial High School; Class of 2013. I was really involved in high school with Student Council, dance, cheer, and softball. I will be a freshmen this fall at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.  I am really excited for the new opportunities it will bring. I know that high school was an amazing experience and I'm sure college will be even better!

P.S. I tend to use exclamation points in my typing A LOT! It is not because I am yelling, but simply because it is my way of expressing my enthusiasm and excitement.

My Hobbies:
- spending time with my family
- shopping
- singing in the car
- Pinterest
- playing sports
- dancing (especially hip-hop)
- all things Disney