Life so far

When I started this post I was only going to post about the fall semester, but then I procrastinated (big surprise) and now it's the end of the year. So now you get to see my entire year in recap. Get ready for a lot of pictures.

2011 started off great. Jeff and I got to watch little sis Michee dance as a Lone Peak Chevalier. It brought back some crazy memories seeing her at state :)

Ya, we're really good dancers, as you can tell.

Then more reminiscing and more dancing. I got to finally sit in the audience and watch the Cougarettes in Concert. It was a little weird watching and not dancing, but kind of nice to just show up and watch instead of working for months and months and being ridiculously stressed out. And the girls were absolutely stunning, of course.

And since last winter it snowed like crazy, my family and I found ourselves frequenting the cabin. Here are a few pictures of our escapades.

Memorial Day weekend was great, too. We visited Spring City where mom bought some art at the auction, and then we rode our bikes to Ephraim which was tons o' fun!

Summer rolled around and Mindy came out to visit, so naturally she got all the siblings together for a little evening up the canyon. Please don't be jealous of me and my sisters' photogenic qualities.

We also got up to the cabin for a Dalton family reunion in the summer. Quite a different experience visiting the cabin in the summer rather than the winter.

The girls and mom also found a weekend for a girls night out up in park city. That was almost too much fun. Hopefully mom will let us do it again next year :)

One of the highlights of the year was when Tyler came home from his mission. It had been a little too quiet at home without him.

Gifts from Tyler from Russia. 'Nuff said.

Each summer I get to work at Basic Dance Training, and these are some pictures of the girls I was a "mom" for. Loved my baby girls, and I'm so glad I get to stay involved in the dance team community.

For our second anniversary Jeff and I went to Culebra Island and San Juan in Puerto Rico. It was crazy beautiful and so much fun to play in the ocean and hear Jeff speak Spanish.

Best breakfast/pastry shop ever.

Our 10 seater plane that took us to Culebra Island. So cool.

Our Hotel in San Juan!

After we got back from Puerto Rico Jeff and I made it out to Florida for little Cole's baby blessing. We hadn't been back since our wedding so it was good to go and see Jeff's family.

Part of the time we were in Florida we stayed at a beach house at Flagler beach. One morning Jeff and I got up really early to watch the sunrise. This picture doesn't do it any justice, but it's better than nothing. Jeff actually proposed to me early in the morning long ago and was hoping for a sunrise like this, but in Utah with mountains in the way it's harder to get a really dramatic sunrise, the morning just gets brighter and brighter with no actual sun. So it was fun to finally get our sunrise like he wanted :)

Before summer was over we made it out to California to visit Lauga and Blake over Labor Day. I love that picture of Lauga directing Blake and am so lucky for friends who live in fun places :) Thanks again, Lauga and Blake.

Then school started. I finally got to watch a football game instead of dance at one, haha. And Jeff and I finally got some BYU shirts that don't have Cougarettes written all over it.

Fall on campus is my favorite, and with this being my last year at BYU, (FINALLY) after stake conference on campus we strolled around and took some pictures of the leaves. Doesn't Jeff look good?

With fall comes birthdays, and since Clint and I have birthdays 4 days apart we end up sharing our birthday dinners at the house. Clint and I tried to blow out candles together, but I couldn't blow out a particularly stubborn candle, so Michelle blew it out for me, and Clint then joked about my struggles. I love this picture because it captures all of that at once.

Thanksgiving rolled around, which means, MORE CABIN! haha. This time we went up with Jeff's family, who had come in from Florida. Pictured is sassy Olivia, finally smiling (kinda) for the picture.

And of course, more dancing :) Michelle competed a solo this year and won 1st place! I was extremely proud/thrilled/excited/happy for her. She is a beautiful dancer and I love getting to watch her.

With Christmas time comes another bird ornament. This year Jeff and I found this little blue bird and we affectionately named him Lloyd (the name is stamped on his bum, must be the artist or something). I'm really excited about this tradition we have going and can't wait for our tree to fill up with birds.

Miss Autumn Nelsen became Mrs. Autumn Hewlett and was the most stunning bride. So fun to see her so happy.

That same night we headed over for a Christmas party at Stacey and Andrew's. So great to get together and see friends.

Christmas Eve I made an apple pie. Yes, I actually made something and it tasted good. Crazy.

We finished off the year seeing lights with the family and I can't believe how cute Mindy's kids keep getting. Love little Finn and Nico.

Well 2011, you were great. Thanks for the memories. Can't wait for 2012! It's gonna be awesome. (Hopefully as awesome of this video of Finn dancing!)

I Opened a Can of Worms

Does anyone else think it's weird when someone you haven't talked to in years decides to comment on your Facebook status trying to convince you of your wrong doings and evil thinkings?

Should people's statuses be considered fair game for an open discussion forum? (And I know this might surprise you, but I wasn't even looking for an argument!  I knew putting a link to that article was a bad idea...)

I guess I should've known what I was doing when I accepted their friend request...but still!

(And any suggestions about what should I do with that nasty little post that's turned into a giant debate/bashing mess would be appreciated. Should I delete it? Let it run it's course?  Some of the posts are amusing...)

Sunk the Boat

Well, BYU removed my letter.  If you would still like to read it, I've listed it below.  For some context and background information as to why I sent in the letter, just see my other post, "Rock the Boat."

Hopefully I don't get too much hate mail...

Home-ophobia?

In response to “Modern immorality” and “Ways to raise,” I’d like to offer another perspective on children being raised by homosexual parents. 

I know a homosexual couple who are raising two beautiful children, and let me assure you, the environment those kids are in is far better than many others, even, if I dare say, ones with both a mother and father.

Qualifying the character and ability to raise children simply because someone is gay reeks of the self-righteous syndrome so commonly found in the bubble.  Categorizing situations as “good, better, best” solely based on sexual orientation is ridiculous.

Yes, homosexuality shouldn’t be accepted, but casting judgment and qualifying the home of a gay couple because they don’t live the same moral principles we do is outrageous.  We believe in Christ, but does that mean Buddhist parents are less capable of providing a suitable home?

Additionally, considering the neglect and abuse children often receive in foster care, orphanages, and heterosexual households to be better than the homes of loving, committed homosexuals is nothing short of crazy.

            The Family: a Proclamation to the World also states that parents should rear their children in love and righteousness, provide for their physical and spiritual needs, and teach them to love and serve one another, to name a few.  To think only heterosexual couples are capable of doing this is crazy talk. 

We should not accept homosexuality, but that does not mean we should consider those who do unfit to have a family.

Rock the Boat

So something interesting happened to me these past couple weeks.  I grabbed BYU's newspaper on the way home last Thursday and read the opinion section.  There was one that got me thinking, and parts I disagreed with.  Well, I looked up the article it was responding to and definitely felt Provo was being one sided.

You can read them here and here.

I decided to write back to the paper and offer my own opinion.  I figured it's my senior year and I'd yet to cause a ruckus at BYU.  I wanted to say I had at least tried to make a stand at least once.  Well, walking to school that next Tuesday I grabbed a paper on the way to class and the first article in the opinion section was mine.  I was a little surprised but excited it got published.

You can read my article here (WARNING:  This article might contain some blasphemy and offers an opinion you could totally disagree with)

Today is Thursday, so I opened up the paper today and found 3 of the 5 articles responding to mine.  I'm sure there were countless other articles upset at what I wrote that didn't get published.  Interestingly enough, I heartily agree with most of the responding articles.

But this whole experience got me thinking.  I'm not as one sided as I made out to be in my article, but I don't think people and situations should be so quickly classified as black and white.  We want to have a simple clean answer for problems and questions in life, but I think that's just not the case.  I know a lot of what I said doesn't seem to align with conventional Christian thinking, but in my own experience I fail to see a home that raises children with love and teaches them about fidelity, honesty, and respect could be detrimental.  I hope as I continue through life I will continue to work through these issues and find more ways to consider them.

If you disagree with me, I'm glad.  That's the beauty of life, we all have unique experiences and opinions. I hope nobody agrees with me simply because I made an argument, but rather creates their own opinion based on what they feel is right.  Thanks for reading :)

For the Last Time

Last night (well, I guess technically it was super early this morning) I registered for the last time at BYU.  It's kinda fun to be able to register on the first day.  I guess there are some perks for taking an extra year to graduate :)
So far my schedule includes...

Ballet
Ballroom
some Statistics
random dance classes I need for graduation
and my favorite...beginning Cello.

I seriously can't wait for that last one :)  I have a feeling it's gonna be a good semester.

Reality

My ideal day would include:

Waking up refreshed because I went to bed at a decent time.
Reading the paper as I eat eggs and fruit for breakfast.
Having time to get ready so I can look and feel cute.
Reading scriptures before heading to school.
Attentively listening in class and not getting distracted by my to do list.
Enjoying the weather.
Doing my homework during the afternoon and spending as much time as I feel I need for it.
Making and eating dinner with my husband.
Spending an hour to do what I want - read a book, watch a tv show, go to a dance class, call a friend or sister to chat with, etc.
Finishing the day feeling I gained insight or felt inspired by something I saw or read.

Instead today went something like this...

Tried to wake up before 6am to frantically finish some homework.
Got to school by 7am with doughnuts for a meeting with the dance major council.
Emailed songs to a music designer during class so he could cut music for a dance that only yesterday I found out I would be teaching on Friday.
Snarffed down a doughnut and called it breakfast.
Apologized to my dance partner for not making it to rehearsal the night before.
Frantically tried to respond to the dozen emails I get each day about Relief Society, Dance Major Council, medical school applications, some guy wanting a choreographer to make up a flash mob so he can propose to his girlfriend (this is real), teaching, etc.
Changed from one pair of sweaty dance clothes to normal clothes which only got sweaty as I dashed up the steep RB stairs.
Quickly read the reading assignment during the 20 minutes before class started.
Tried to stay awake in my next three classes.
Made my way back to the other end of campus to work in the Chem lab till 6pm.
Finally got something real to eat, bless the Cougareat.
Headed to the library auditorium to listen to guest speaker for an English assignment.
Tried to stay at the library to do homework but realized I was just wasting my time.
Got home and saw Jeff for about 30 minutes before he headed to bed.
Tried to clear my mind of everything on the list that didn't get done.
Wonder how I'm going to get through the week...

The worst part is today wasn't even that bad.  I laughed a lot and only cried once ;) I thought my life was supposed to get less busy when I stopped performing.  Any suggestions as to how I might stay sane this semester?!

Skeptic

High Fructose Corn Syrup.  
Are you thinking things like "bad," "obesity," "unhealthy," and other such 'evil' sayings?
Let's try this again...
Fruit.
Ok, you're now probably thinking "natural," "healthy," "God's candy," etc, etc.

Guess what the sugar is in many fruits?  Fructose.  Shocker. 

Now I'm not going to post this trying to convince you that high fructose corn syrup is healthy for you, any more than sugar is "healthy,"  (although our primary energy source allowing us to live comes from carbohydrates, which are broken down into glucose, fructose, sucrose, aka SUGAR) but I do want to help people think for themselves.  Mostly I'm just sick of our society letting other people decide what they should think. 

I stumbled upon this really great article in Time Magazine that answered, or at least addressed, many of my questions about HFCS.  Is it used differently in our bodies than other sugars?  Where did the research originate from?  How is it different than regular sugar?

If you have some time, I'd invite you to take a few minutes and read it here.

Granted, the article is a bit one sided and a few years old, so there might be recent research about HFCS being metabolized differently than sugar and that it inherently posses adverse qualities, but I doubt it. 

I am not a chemist, nutritionist, or researcher, and eating habits and choices is a problem in our country.  We all need to cut out the high fructose corn syrup and the natural sugar in our diets.  But I don't think it's a wise decision to label foods either "bad" or "good" without also expliciting knowing why. 

Thanks for letting me rant a little.  I might be way off the mark, but when I find out I'm wrong at least I'll have discovered it for myself :)  Now I think I'll have a can of soda. 

Being True

One thing I regret about my time at BYU is not taking advantage of the weekly devotionals.  Granted, that hour on Tuesday was often my only break during the day, especially when I was performing.  I needed that time to fit in some homework and get my head above water.

And though sometimes I feel like I'm haunting campus and need to graduate pronto, I'm secretly thrilled I have one more year to get things right, like truly doing my homework, waking up on time for class, packing lunches and a water bottle, and attending more devotionals.

Now some of you might've noticed (all 5 of you, haha) that I haven't posted in a while.  Let me tell you why, then let me tell you why I love devotionals.

I have been slightly depressed about blogs.  I know it's stupid, but I'm human.  Not only human, but a girl too.  Everyone seems to have such wonderful blogs with beautiful lives.  Mind you, I love those blogs, they are stunning and inspiring!  But too often I found myself comparing others' strengths to my own weaknesses (curse that extra X chromosome). Writing doesn't give me joy like it does others - I don't have awesome fashion and style - my apartment isn't perfectly decorated - and I definitely don't have any recipes to share.

These feelings are part of the reason I have been absent from my blog.  I avoided blogging to stifle my feelings of lameness.

But then I attended Tuesday's devotional.  Elder Anderson gave the most wonderful talk about honesty.  I realized that part of being honest is being completely true to myself.  I had a strong feeling that the only way I was going to become the truest, most complete version of Katie Peacock was to be uncompromisingly honest.

I was then reminded of Pres. Samuelson's devotional address the week before.  He talked about perfectionism and what a downfall it is.

And then it all clicked :)  Get over yourself and just be yourself.  It's pointless to be the fashionista or clever writer or photographer or graphic designer if that's not who you are.  Stop worrying about being perfect and start finding yourself.

I might not be the most creative blogger, but I have a husband who loves me, a family I adore, the best friends in the world, and I get to walk to school everyday.  There is no one else in the world like me. Oh ya, and I just landed my first medical school interview.  Life is good :)  

Tidbit of Wisdom

"If you kinda try, it will kinda work. If you really try, it will really work."

I taught at another dance camp this week at South Sevier High School (a couple hours south by Richfield) and the San Juan drill coach shared this with everyone at camp. I usually think one liners at corny and over used, but I think this one is great. Just thought I'd share :)

Formality

I'm not trying to offend anyone, and if you read this please know I am not angry or personally attacking anybody who has done this, I just want to share my thoughts on society and the way things are headed.

With that said, didn't weddings used to be about formality and having manners? If you are sending out invitations, then INVITE me, don't just throw out a status post that says, "Hey, you want to come to my wedding? Send me your address!"

Isn't it called an INVITATION? I feel like I'm inviting myself to the party..err...I mean wedding.

I don't know, the whole group thing bothers me too, but at least I got invited to join the group. I know it's convenient, I know it's less hassle, but that's not the point. I just don't feel very appreciated when I'm the one making your decision about coming to your wedding or not.

However, I love facebook and I love weddings, so I usually end up sending them my address anyway ;)


picture found here

Kayaks, Sushi, and Wildflowers

I used to not like summer very much. I always got sunburned, I was constantly sweating, and by the third week of nothing to do I was ready to go back to school. I've come around though :) I think it helps that Jeff is a teacher so we get to hang out more, plus there have been tons of fun events planned with family and friends lately.

This past weekend was the Dalton family reunion up at the cabin and we had a blast! Lots of fishing, hiking, kayaking, four-wheeling, biking, card game playing, and eating. (And apparently I take too many pictures of flowers, but I love using the macro setting on my little camera and I love flowers!!)

After that fun trip was over, my mom, my three sisters and I all decided to take a girls trip before Mindy heads back to Pennsylvania (thank you Mindy for the idea). I think we had too much fun. We headed up to Park City and ate at Yamato, which has the tastiest sushi around. (Better than some popular big name places, and the rolls are 1/2 off all summer!) The sushi rolls came out too pretty and I had to snag a picture or two before we inhaled them. We also got manicures, saw a movie, and made sure to stop by at the outlets. As fun as everything was, the best part of the trip was just talking and laughing with mom and the girls :) Thanks mom for such a great trip!

What a Wonderful Life!

I love the summertime! This picture is up the canyon with my siblings (minus Clint, lame-o). Mindy made us tasty tinfoil dinners and we roasted other yummy treats, plus we found a very entertaining log to play on :)

Last week I was able to teach at Basic Dance Training, a camp for drill teams across the West. I was "mom" for two teams at each camp, this picture is of Layton and Mountain Crest. Goodness I had fun with those girls and learned so much from them. Can't wait for them to have such a great year, and can't wait for my next camp on Monday!!

And Tyler came home!! Yay! Tyler brought back some fun stuff from Russia, Matt and Clint found those hats pretty fast, I think they look all right, haha. I couldn't help but take a picture of Mindy and her little Nico as we were walking out of the airport.

And of course with summer comes fun in the sun. Gotta love Seven Peaks! I think my sisters are pretty cute :) And this gorgeous little flower below was found on my way to school. It was too cute not to share.

Oh yeah, and 33 is my new favorite number :)