Gracias en Español

Day Cinco:

• Being complimented on my work
• Volleyball and being part of a team again. They call us "The Gamer Babes."
• YouTube videos

Day Seis:

• Getting into all of my classes for Spring semester. Registration day makes me feel more stress in 30 minutes than I do during the whole semester. 
• People coming by to visit
• Sitting out in the warm sun as the leaves fall down
• Institute/General Conference talks

Day Siete

• My Gordon Hayward jersey.
• I know I've said it before, but I'm going to say it again: Volleyball. Good volleyball. The kind of volleyball where you breathe so hard (and yet you aren't tired) but you just want to keep on swinging and digging and diving and setting and "good-gaming." The kind where your team can actually play, so it's worth it to actually try. It makes me feel good and happy, and that is why I am thankful for it.

Day Ocho

• Rice. I'm like a child from a third world country and all I have to eat is 1/4 cup of rice per day. It's keeping me alive till next week when I'll actually go grocery shopping.
• Getting a better score on a test than expected.

Let The Thankfulness.... Begin!

It's November. That means it's the most thankful time of the year. I did this last year, and when I read back through them, it made me happy. So, here it is; day-by-day thankfulness from the life of Kenlynn.

Day one:

• The people on yahoo answers that actually explain step-by-step how they got their answers.
• Still being full from the $2 burrito from Chipotle the night before. It has provided me an extra day of not grocery shopping.

Day two:

• Laughter in the work place. Three of us broke in to song, namely "Tip Toe Through The Tulips" by Tiny Tim. It was awesome. 
• Casual Friday. I've never appreciated jeans and flat shoes so much in my life.
• Nice boys that bring me pumpkin bread.
• People that remember my name having only heard it once and a week ago. Kudos to you kid.

Day three:

• Having a temple so close
• An awesome niece
• Getting all the sibs together

Day four:

• A bishop that believes that YSAs should not have marriage lessons shoved down their throats. We're not in a BYU ward any more Toto.

I'm A Gypsy-ish...

I road-trip a lot. And when I say "a lot" I mean once every other month. What do they call that? A Roadgeek.
The latest road-tripping adventure was to California. Like all the other times.
I was invited by a kid in my ward to accompany him and two other peeps from the ward. I hesitated for a second and then thought, "Go Kenlynn. Make yourself some memories. Make some new friends." So, I did.
We headed out at 5:00 PM from Salt Lake City on a Tuesday night to meet the sunrise in San Francisco the next morning.
I had really only talked to James, but after approximately 40 hours in a car, I got to know Allexys and Ryan too. Road trips bring people together. It's true.

Picture POST!
San Fransisco:

I left my heart there. It's true.

Bridges are really cool. Really really cool.

We are tourists. (Ryan, Me, James)

Such a pretty city. I want to go to there. 

China Town.

Nighttime in the city. It's a beautiful but freezing city at night with lots of runners.

Los Angeles/ Newbury Park

We couldn't find the real park, so we parked on the side of the road and frolicked through the trees. 

I'm really short. I'm almost as tall as Ryan when I have my hand stretched up.

I'm a "Gamer Babe"

Paramount Ranch. They should have given us wooden guns to play with. That would have been cool. 

Yay Zuma Beach. We got wet and played rugby.

This is my "I'm embarrassed to be with you tourists" face

The Hollywood sign is back there somewhere.

Lots of hand-prints and foot-prints

We found Swoop.

Utah vs. UCLA game at the Rose Bowl. And yes, I do realize that I am not wearing a MUSS shirt and khaki shorts. Get over it.

So many jumping pictures. Go Team!

After the game we crashed my family's ward activity. It was SO much fun! Lots of good food, incredible live music (my uncles band), and so much dancing. I had a blast. It was way more fun than the game was.

I wish I had more pictures that documented every little thing, but I don't even have a camera, so that wasn't going to happen. All you need to know is that this trip was a success and I can't wait till my next road trip next month (wherever it may be and with whomever it may be with).

These Cankles Aren't Symptoms. They Are Natural.

The weird things I get in the mail all have the same theme. It's weird

I received this bad boy my freshman year. The rumor was spread (by me) that I was pregnant. It was an April Fools joke, and the result was a missionary friend sending me a Chastity pamphlet.

This gem came in the mail the other day. It has a Target advertisement on the back, and so I flipped it around to see who was getting Target magazines, only to find that it wasn't actually a Target magazine, but an American Baby magazine. It was kind of shocking, so I looked down to see who's name it was under, expecting to see a name that no longer lived in this apartment. Nope. It said my name. I started laughing out loud. I don't remember subscribing to this. It's a sign. In all my religious classes we've talked about families and the importance of having kids. Well played universe. 

Unless it's a prank. Then, well played prankster.

It was kind of fun to read through.

Along with this theme, I have also received ...

a "Future Mom" pin.

What's next on the line up?

The Rumors Are True: I'm A Goat.

Apparently everyone in Provo hikes Timp?...
And not at just anytime. At midnight. In order to reach the top by sunrise.
I'd always heard of people doing it and had a slight desire to join in.

I've hiked Timp every summer for the past couple of years with members of mi familia (minus last year because there was still snow).
One year I tried to get a group together to attempt the late night hike, but it fell through (like always). This year I was invited twice. The first time was a no go, but the second time, I thought to myself, "Self, you should go. Go have some fun and enjoy the outdoors and some good company." Again, I tried to invite my usual peeps (9 people). I ended up going with 3 people I knew from a previous ward and a kid from Idaho. The three were more of acquaintances, but, I wasn't really going on this hike for them, I was going for me, so it didn't really matter.

I started having some doubts as the time drew nearer. I had gotten up early for class and spent the day shopping with my mom, having no time to sneak in a nap and then volunteered from 6:00 PM-8:00 PM. I ended up having 2 hours to try and sleep before having to drive my bum down to Provo to meet up with the fellow mountaineers.

I left my place with only a Camelbak (filled to the rim with snacks: granola bars, beef jerky, apple, tootsie rolls. Extra water, TP, gloves, ear warmers, extra socks, First Aid Kit, Camera) on my back, hiking shoes on my feet, leggings on my legs under some shorts (I gave myself the option to cool down if needed. Ok?), longs sleeved T, and my ragged SUVA sweatshirt.
Game time.

Here's the thing. I'm not a slow hiker. I don't need to take breaks every 20 minutes and I don't care if I'm huffing and puffing for a little bit because I know that I'll get accustomed to it and I'll be fine. Here's the other thing. People in my group didn't agree with my hiking logic. For a lot of the hike I would hike ahead, wait for a little bit until they all caught up, and then walk with them for a little bit, and then lose them, and then wait for them... etc. Sometimes though, I was shoved in the middle of the pack with the slowest at the front. They were funny kids. It's hard to hike up hill while laughing. I think that's the only time I really had to stop.
During the periods that I was not with them, they came up with theories of why I was such a quick hiker. The only one they asked me directly was if I owned a pair of PF Flyers. Sadly, I do not. But my dad does. He may or may not be Benny "The Jet" Rodriguez. Yes, I'm half brown... Or full white. It's the same thing.

Turns out I LOVED this hike. It was so much better in the middle of the night than in the hot of the day. Walking up the side of the mountain under a full moon is so magical. Watching the sunrise from on top was something else. It was nuts! You'd be looking off to the East and see the beginnings of the sun peeking over the horizon and then, you'd turn around (all dramatic like) and see Utah Valley still asleep in the darkness with the moon looking down on them. SO COOL!
Also, it was freezing. Oh it was cold. We had to sit in the cold on top for 2 hours or so till the sun actually rose. (note to self: Next time I go, don't start hiking till 3 ish AM). It was worth it though. Especially that 30 minute nap I got to take once the sun actually came up and I stopped shivering.
Coming down was postcard worthy. Sundance has some lovely colors this time of year and boy did we get to experience it the whole way down.

I finally ditched the group about half way down.
I ran. Literally. I lost the trail twice. Good thing I'm like an Indian and can find my way back with my built in GPS.

I had so much energy (a crazy amount. The random Idahoian kid asked me if I drank a Monster) on this outing, but then, it took me 4 days to fully recuperate, not from pain, but from sleep deprivation. I can handle living off of 2 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period, until I go to sleep, and then it's like I'm dying and will never be fully rested ever again.

So, here's the plan. I'm doing this again next fall. You can join me, or I'll just do it alone.

"The sun rises in the East"

Happy Valley under the watchful eye of the Harvest Moon

Waiting for the rest of them. 

At least I was happy, even though I was shoved in the back. 

Giving Birth To Fall

I'm just going to come right out and say it.

I'm ready for fall.
It's true.
Summer came, it was hot, it was fun, but now it is time for the crisp-air colored-leafed jacket season.

It hit me 4 weeks ago. Exactly.
Turns out it's cold in Monterey, CA. I underestimated the chilliness of 60° and it was glorious.
On my walk to class in the mornings, it is not the warmest, but I can't wear a jacket because I get super sweaty hiking up that never-ending hill and by the end of the day it's warm anyways. It's hard. I live a hard life.
I can feel the earth trying so hard to push Fall out. It's so close and it wants to be here so bad!

I'm headed out to Sundance for a Saturday afternoon adventure. It should be chilly and colorful, right? I mean, it is Sundance. Speaking of Sundance. Ever done the Moonlight Ski Lift ride? Literally one of the funnest things I have ever done. I'll probably go enjoy a date-for-one next weekend.

Anyways.
Here's to Fall:
Football games. The trickling of colorful leaves. Jackets. Pumpkin treats. And holidays galore.

I'm A Scientist. Kind Of. Not Really.

Exercise Science is my major and it's better than your major.

I'm taking a Sports Psychology class and all we do is talk about sports (and the psychology behind it, but that's beside the point). It's awesome. It makes me giddy inside and I just want to run around giving everyone high fives and then go play a game.

I'm also taking a class that I originally thought was Kinesiology, but it's not, it's some kind of research class or something, I'm still not really sure. Every week we have to read an research article dealing with exercise science and then we just talk about what we read. There is some cool stuff happening in the world of health and exercise, I tell you what. We even get to tape each others ankles and play tag.

I talked with the adviser. I'm changing my track. Bye Bye PT, hello AT (PT=Physical Therapy. AT=Athletic Training). I appreciate good advisers. He made me feel good about my decision and gave me lots of information about the whole shindig (which he wrote down for me). Turns out going the AT route opens up tons of other doors because everything is almost requiring their people to be a ATC. Who knew? I should be applying for the program Fall 2013. Huzzah.

Looks like I might still be doing this: