Love is... best friends

Dear Whitney Nelson Fenn,
I miss you. I miss your sense of humor and love for life. I never question anything in my life when you are around. I miss Bigfork and Father Bruce and the lake house. I miss your awesome family and their outrageous sense of humor. I miss playing with Jake and Savanna. I wish we still lived together... or at least next door. We could do every craft in your Martha Stewart craft book that James gave to you... that Tyler would never dare give to me. We could watch Paula Deen together and create new recipes. Maybe someday I will buy that old house in Provo, and we can turn that shed in the backyard into the potting shed we talked about. I think about you always and miss you even more than that.
LOVE
Kat


Dear Emlen Birch Ricks,
I miss you. I miss your kindness and the peaceful feeling you bring into a room. I miss you the fun you always bring to the adventures we have had. I miss your crazy sense of style and your artistic talents. I miss having someone who always knows the perfect thing to say. I wish we could go shopping together at Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters. I miss having a kindred spirit who loves all things bohemian and vintage like I do. Maybe someday we will live next door to each other and you can teach me how to be so amazing. We can have an art studio and paint all the pictures that we want to. You can tell me not to dye my hair black because I will look too
much like a dead person. I think about you always and miss you even more than that.
LOVE
Kat

Love is... colors!

Today we went to the Holi festival of colors at the Hare Krishna temple in Spanish fork. We went with a bunch of friends and we had a pretty sweet time! Everyone was so funny and we were all laughing the whole time. PLUS! It was pretty free spirited so I was allowed to let my inner hippie loose.


*** On a side note, I got on facebook and someone (who I will not name) posted this comment...
"what a joke logging in today and having my news feed flooded with people posting pictures of them at a festival that they don't understand. Say a prayer against Jesus and throw stuff at each other!

While his "point of view" is charming and I give him props for being different? - The Holi festival is about welcoming in spring time. The demon that is burned is a female demon that captured a loyal follower of Vishnu, and because of his faith in Vishnu, he escaped unscathed and the demon is burned.
The colors represent spring, and used to be different forms of herbs and medicines that would help people overcome their sicknesses from winter. Pretty cool, I think.

Long story short, I think the little buddy was just bitter that no one invited him to go in their group :)

Love is... opposites 2!

Ty thinks in black and white, Kat thinks in all colors.

Ty prefers to eat dessert instead of dinner, Kat prefers both.

Ty likes to be alone, Kat likes to be around people.

Ty loves to sleep, Kat loves the Beatles.

Ty squints his eyes when focusing, Kat bites her lip.

Ty hates grocery shopping, Kat hates spiders.

Ty reads biographies, Kat reads fiction.

Kat talks about their future kids, Ty talks about their future home.

Ty likes to play video games, Kat likes to play with babies.

Ty has a lot of good-friends, Kat has only a few.

Kat paints like a painter, Ty paints like a seven year old.

Ty sleeps on the left side of the bed, Kat sleeps on the right.

Ty sings in the car, Kat sings in her head, afraid of embarrassment.

Ty prefers to spoon, Kat prefers to be spooned.

Kat can't wait to play board/cards games, Ty can't wait to stop.

Ty loves the U, Kat loves BYU

Love is... a good book

Tyler and I went to see Shutter Island a while back. Before we went, we were talking to my parents about it. I was telling everyone that the book was pretty intense and that, in my humble opinion, the book was probably scarier than the movie was going to be.
My parents looked at me for a second and then my dad said... "you've read that book? I didn't know that. Good for you, kid."
Thanks guys.
Good news, I do know how to read. More good news? I actually love reading!
Here are some books (all of which I have read) that I recommend.

Their Eyes are Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston.
"The wind came back with triple fury, and put out the light for the last time. They sat in company with the others in other shanties, their eyes straining against crude walls and their souls asking if He meant to measure their puny might against His. They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching God."


Animal Farm - George Orwell
"Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not give milk, he does not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plough, he cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits. Yet he is lord of all the animals. He sets them to work, he gives back to them the bare minimum that will prevent them from starving, and the rest he keeps for himself"



Eat, Pray, Love
"You don’t want to go cherry-picking a religion’ [a friend tells Gilbert]
Which is a sentiment I completely respect except for the fact that I totally disagree. I think you have every right to cherry-pick when it comes to moving your spirit and finding peace in God. I think you are free to search for any metaphor whatsoever which will take you across the worldly divide whenever you need to be transported or comforted… That’s me in the corner, in other words. That’s me in the spotlight. Choosing my religion"


In Cold Blood - Truman Capote
“They shared a doom against which virtue was no defense."


To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
"I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks."


Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky
If he has a conscience he will suffer for his mistake. That will be punishment-as well as the prison.


Atonement - Ian Mcewan
She returned his gaze, struck by the sense of her own transformation, and overwhelmed by the beauty in a face which a lifetime's habit had taught her to ignore.


Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same


Mans Search for Meaning - Viktor Frankl
For the meaning of life differs from man to man, from day to day and from hour to hour. What matters, therefore, is not the meaning of life in general but rather the specific meaning of a person's life at a given moment.


Anne of Green Gables
Well, I wouldnt marry anyone who was really wicked, but I think Id like it if he could be wicked and wouldnt. ...



I also like all of Jane Austen and Shakespeare.

It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves. - William Shakespeare

Love is...absence makes the heart grow fonder

Oh how true... how true that is. A year ago, around this time of year, I took a trip with some friends to Hawaii. Actually, rewind. Before I talk a bit about the trip, let me give you the low down on mine and Ty's relationship. It was that awkward period where, you know you like them, they know they like you... but you're both too cool to have a DTR so you just continue to act like friends... with some benefits. I knew I liked Ty a lot. At that point in time he was my best friend but I didn't know if I was ready for any type of commitment. I'm so indecisive that, short from a sign from the Lord, I pretty much like to let others do the decision making.
Anyway! I went on this trip and had such a blast! I went with my dear friend Liz and even on our first night there... we had many an adventure. We went to visit her sister Stephanie, who was at BYU Hawaii for the semester and we just loved it! The whole time I was there though... I missed Tyler... a lot. I phoned him every day, and we'd text message until my phone would run out of batteries. It was on that trip that I realized that I was going to spend the rest of my life with this person. It was such a peaceful feeling and even though I love everything about Hawaii... I could not wait to get home. Luckily, I had to leave a few days earlier because I had school to return to. After my red eye flight, I got off the plane and Tyler was there to greet me. It was such a great feeling to come home to the person you love and know for sure, that you would be together no matter what. CUTE RIGHT!!! I think so... anyway, here are some pictures of Hawaii! All are my photos except the temple.

this is an acai bowl... delicious.

Love is... loving you despite....

This post actually has nothing to do with Ty. It has to do with the fact that I love BYU and Provo. I love almost everything about BYU and in my mind, it is the #1 school in the nation for everything. This being said, I can accept the fact that some BYU students are sometimes really weird, really awkward, and sometimes I find myself wondering why it is that I love this school so much.
On facebook there is this group called "Seen @ BYU". It is a site that had a collection of random photos taken on BYU campus of absurd things. A failblog for Provo, if you will. I spent probably 2 hours of my life looking through all the photos, laughing hysterically or (once again) questioning my loyalty and wondering if I really do "bleed blue" because there is no way I support this kind of behavior. While I was perusing the photos, I would sporadically burst into laughter, and finally Tyler came to see what was so funny. He laughed along with me for a while, and then lost interest and headed back to his homework. An hour later I was still laughing and he asked "are you STILL looking at that website?" I couldn't answer because tears were coming out of my face but I think he took my laughter as a confirmation. He told me that he didn't need pictures to prove that BYU was full of weirdos. I think he was beginning to think that I would switch sides. This is false, but there is no harm in dreaming.
ANYWAY! I wanted to share the joy, so I have posted some pictures that I found on the website.



I feel like BYU is the only school encouraging students to get pregnant. Not to mention, the ad placement is horrible.




I have personally witnessed this before...


I just threw up in my mouth....


I have to believe there was a more efficient way to organize this photo


At first, nothing looks amiss... look closer. Read it out loud if you are still struggling...


someones contact fell out. BYU is full of people just waiting to lend a hand....


I hope these indicate the number of grandchildren..

Love is... wait, who are you again?

Can anyone tell me whose shoulder I am resting my head on? Oh... that's right. I have a husband, and a fine looking husband he is. Sometimes it is easy to forget because he is always gone. That being said, whenever he gets a day off school, it immediately becomes a national holiday in my mind and should be filled with fun activities... to me anyway. I'm sure when he has school or work off he doesn't want to tell me so he can have 2 seconds to himself BUT bless his heart, he ends up spending his free time with me. I find it hard to believe that I am the only wife in the world who gets mildly excited when her husband falls ill, because that means more quality time for the two of us. Yesterday Ty's teacher was sick and class was canceled!! We spent our evening grocery shopping together, and what a fun time we had! I know I am in love, because he makes everything fun. He supports me in my hippie ways, and in return I try to be understanding when he would rather watch Austin Powers than Ever After or Pretty Woman.
******just to clarify- secretly he loves both of those movies.

Love is... opposites attract!

Ty tries to defend himself when he breaks something. Kat just smiles sheepishly.

Kat looks at domestic, inspirational, bohemian blogs. Tyler looks at the most expensive cars and homes in the world.

Kat likes to pretend she is a hippie, while Ty is content being himself.

Ty trusts Kat to cut his hair, while Kat doesn't trust anyone, but Jana Jacobs.

Kat spends her Saturday mornings in bed, while Tyler spends his time at the gym until he is convinced his muscles are a little bit bigger than when he walked through the door.

Tyler can't listen to a newly released album ten times in one day, while Kat just has to.

Kat has 60 pairs of shoes, mostly sandals, Ty has 10 pairs of shoes, none of which are sandals.

Kat thinks having a TV would be a distraction, Ty thinks not having a TV is an annoyance.

Tyler likes his ice cream with caramel and brownie (like German chocolate). Kat likes her ice cream lemon flavored with nerd and coconut mixed in.

Tyler likes things to be nice, clean, and smooth (especially his phone). Kat like clutter and collections, and thinks that scratches on her phone give it character.