Fulfillment. How?

Lately I've been having random conversations with people about how different my life is now.

In high school I lived for stake activities, EFY, dance performances, and preparing for prom.

I always thought those were the best years of my life and that those friends I walked across the graduation stage with would be my closest friends forever! Haha...not so much.

Then I went to college.

I did not talk to my high school friends on a regular basis at all.

I had my stake friends and then added on an amazing list of friends that legitimately are going to be my closest friends forever

In college I lived for any and all parties!

Birthday parties, ward parties, house parties, college sponsored parties, but especially...dance parties!

I pretty much felt that if I was not doing some sort of partying, then I was lame.

I remember thinking to myself, "I am never going to get old and boring! Why would married people want to stay at home? I will always be cool!"

Then as my time at BYU wound down, I found myself engaged and shortly after...a married woman.

I won't lie...at first I found myself conflicted inside.

I still felt that need to be with a lot of people, but I was totally content just being with Alex.

I felt like I was cheating on my social life in a way, as odd as that sounds.

But as I've been married, I've come to learn something.

At every stage in our lives, we find self fulfillment in different ways.

For some of you that may be like, "duhhhh," but for me it's been quite the enlightening process. The things I cherish now, I would not have cherished in high school or college.

I've come to truly appreciate each stage of my life.

High school was a blast!

College was even more of a blast!

But...being married is the best stage of all.

I feel like I value all of relationships so much more than I used to, but I just happen to live with my most important relationship.

I find SO much fulfillment in my life now, but in very different ways.

I find fulfillment in doing well at my job and I am so grateful every day that the Lord has blessed me with such an amazing/rewarding career.

I find fulfillment in teaching my dancing kiddos and watching them get better.

I find fulfillment in doing my visiting teaching. (I NEVER thought I'd say that.)

I find fulfillment in keeping a clean apartment.

I find fulfillment in keeping up with my friend's lives.

I find fulfillment in paying all my bills early. (As much as money stresses me.)

I find fulfillment in my amazing ward.

I find fulfillment in going to the temple with my husband.

I find fulfillment in cooking him dinner. (Even though it does not happen as often as I would like.)

I find fulfillment in having deep conversations with him; whatever the subject.

I find fulfillment in...y'know...married stuff. But seeing as this blog is rated PG I'll keep my thoughts to myself. ;)

I find fulfillment in knowing my husband and I have started an eternal family and that no matter what, Alex loves me in a way that no other human being does.

Man...how self fulfilling that is.

I'll always be up for a good time.

That's just part of my personality...I mean...c'mon...we just did square dancing at our ward activity and I was ALL about that. :)

As President Monson would say....Find joy IN the journey.

Stare of the Gaga! BAHAHA.

I'm sorry, but I bust up laughing every single time I look at this picture from the Grammy's last week.

(L to R: Lady Gaga, Miranda Lambert, Blake Shelton)

Seriously though, does this picture not crack you up?

WHY on earth would you put the Gaga next to the Miranda and Blake newlyweds?

Not only are they not in the same genre of music, but they are so TOTALLY opposite.

Lady Gaga is totally checking out Blake, Blake looks a tad uncomfortable with it, and Miranda is just trying to forget the fact that they got put next to Gaga.

The awkwardness is seeping out of this photo.

I hope Lady Gaga won't be in your nightmares after looking at her.

She straight up looked like the Grim Reaper at the Grammy's.

She needs to come to New Haven fast!

That girl's got some serious identity issues.

One thing I do love that Lady Gaga gave us is "Poker Face" so then Glee could remake it with Lea Michele and Idina Menzel.

Bliss.

Kar Kar

A shout out needs to be given for a special lady!

It was Karly's birthday on Saturday! (Twas also my 6 month anniversary, but I only remembered that today...not on Saturday.)

Dear Karly,

Thank you for being my big sister.

Thank you for birthing Laela.

Thank you for always loving me.

You have so much strength, virtue, and passion within you.

I know you can do anything you set your mind to.

I hope you never forget you are loved and you are on my mind often.

Happy Birthday, seeeester! :)

LOVE YOU!

Lover's Holiday!

How were y'all's Valentine's Day?!

Mine was quite lovely, actually.

I had to be at work at 7am and was there until 5:30pm, but it was a good day and the girls loved their Valentines I gave them.

I was, however, very excited to get home to that handsome boy of mine.

There were flowers on the table waiting for me and Alex was getting his chef on in the kitchen.

He made a delicious shrimp pasta dish that I think we were both surprised at how good it was.

I gave him his gift, which is this said shirt below.

He loved it. :)

When he plays Angry Birds all I hear from him is: "You SWIIINNEE!!"

So of course I had to get him a shirt that had those little piggies on it.

After dinner we played a little card game.

It's quite simple really.

Each person just picks up a card and does what it says.

'Nuff details for that...

(But the funniest one was "Get one inch from your partner's face and try not to smile for 2 minutes.)

We ended the evening by going to see "The Vow." We went to a later showing so the crowds had died down by then. Let's just say, if you want your heart to at times feel like it's being ripped out of your chest, go see that movie. It is so sad. Good, but sad. I really enjoyed that it made me appreciate Alex and think about how much I love him. I did not enjoy being so sad. Neither did Alex. He just kept saying, "It was so sad." And it's true. It was. But I am a sucker for love stories, regardless.

Hope your lover's day was awesome! :)

Somber Moments...

So the past few days have definitely had some somber moments.

Some happy ones as well.

But, these somber moments help remind me of how precious this life is and how we can make our lives worthwhile every, single day.

First, Whitney Houston died on Saturday night.

Alex and I were at our Stake's Valentine's Dinner. Just as I walked in the door I got a text from my friend, Kate. It said: "Whitney Houston is dead. I hope you are coping."

Of course I stopped dead (no pun intended) in my tracks to process what I just read.

Wait, WHAT?!

I got the same gut wrenching feeling I got when Michael Jackson died.

Now a lot of you probably think I'm pathetic for being so attached to people like Whitney and MJ, but I don't care.

They are icons to me.

Did there personal lives suck? Well...yeah.

But when I look at them that's not what I see.

I see MJ's amazing moves and I hear Whitney's superstar voice.

I immediately youtubed Super Bowl 1991 to watch Whitney sing the national anthem.

Look it up. It will change you.

If you don't already love this great country...you will.

I started crying. Alex made fun. Then I quickly (perhaps scoldingly) reminded him that if Ben Folds died today he would probably cry.

He stopped making fun.

RIP, Whitney. Your talent will live on.

Second, the next day we get to church.

I'm sitting all settled in the pew and excited for the choir to sing because they sound REALLY good, even though there's only 6 of them.

Then our Stake President gets up and has the nerve to tell us our Bishop is getting released.

Again...what, WHAT?!

NOOOO!!!

Bishop Sonnenberg is literally the best Bishop I have EVER had!

He was one of the best things about moving to SLC.

He made me feel like I was his daughter.

He always cared, always listened, and he would even compliment me on my outfits. (Who does that? Oh yeah...my Bishop does.)

He remembered anything I would tell him.

He would have us over to his house for open houses, firesides, and dinners.

He and his wife are an amazing couple and examples.

He helped me feel at ease with being in SLC.

Once again...I started crying.

I've never cried over someone getting released.

Do I know calls (both callings and releasings) are from Heavenly Father?

Well yes...of course. But it was/is so hard.

Our new Bishop seems cool, but he definitely has some hard shoes to fill.

Bishop told me we could always show up on his doorstep.

I hope he knows we're going to take him up on that offer...

And lastly, my mother called me up this morning to tell me one of my childhood friends died last night from an asthma attack.

Sarah was one of those people who had a contagious personality.

She was always fun to be around and always thinking of something crazy to do.

Unfortunately, she was always stubborn and hard headed sometimes.

One of those being not listening to the doctors to get her asthma under control.

(Plus her smoking was not helping...)

I feel so much for her mother, Janice.

Sarah's dad died a few years back and then Janice battled cancer shortly after that.

Janice has just been through a lot.

I wish I could go give her a hug and tell her everything WILL be alright.

So for now I can pray for her and send positive vibes her way.

As with any sort of death of someone you know, you start to reflect back on good times you had with them.

My favorite memory with Sarah is when I was in 6th grade. We were both home schooled at that time and our moms had us together a lot for extra curricular activities.

We were together and decided to make some music videos.

First up...Spice Girls. We got allll decked out. (I was Baby Spice)

Then we did Backstreet Boys.

Sarah put make up on her chest and arm pits to make it look like she had hair.

When we were getting cleaned up she COULD NOT get the makeup out of her arm pits.

I had to SCRUB them so hard with face wash, but nothing was working.

Her arm pits had a shade of black for a few days.

It was awesome.

I wish I had that video with me so I could watch them.

Only thing I can do now is remember how this life is a gift.

I need to tell people how much I appreciate them.

I need to make each day as fulfilling as I can.

And I need to go to Bishop Sonnenberg's...I already miss him. :)

I LOVE Y'ALL!

My little dancer, Gracie.

So I currently am teaching 2 hip hop classes at 2 different studios in Bountiful, and will add on 2 more come March.

One is called Groove: The Dance Studio.

You should click on that site and then go to faculty. I'm there. Yep, that's right. I'm official. :)

The other studio I teach at is called Dance Impressions.

My niece, Isabelle, dances there and my sister-in-law, Brittany, teaches there.

So thankfully I had some hook ups and am now there too.

(the claim to fame I love: Sabra, the winner from SYTYCD 4, went to Dance Impressions.)

I am not THAT official yet to make it on their website.

Anywho, I was teaching at Dance Imp. this afternoon.

I really love that class. They're in elementary/middle school, but pretty advanced for their age. They pick up on new moves quickly and are a joy to teach.

Today they asked me if they could do the "Hoedown Throwdown" and then if I knew it.

(First in my head I was like, "Duh, I know that dance!")

Then Gracie (who rocks it, btw) goes (with much exasperation towards the other dancers): "Kaycie knows everything!"

I about died.

Hopefully Gracie always thinks that and I don't let her down.