shout out to a missionary

Dear Kurt,

I miss you terribly already. And it's only been one day. One day out of 2 years. Yikes.

Love,
Katelyn

***

Kurt has been one of my closest friends in college. We met the very first day of new student orientation, freshman year. Our friendship continued everyday since then (even through the summer) and into this semester. He has been there with me and for me through stressful school situations, bad dating situations, roommate craziness, dance parties, late night talking, pancake making, chinese take-out eating, ice cream sculpting, long walks around the freshman dorms, hockey games, adventures in downtown provo, tough life decisions, cleaning and packing on the last day of freshman year, and even just to talk about nothing in general. He is my giggly on the phone friend that will laugh at my stupid jokes and crack up about something silly that happened just to make me feel happier. He is my friend that will roll down the hill in front of the library and get an extra big scoop of ice cream for me because he knows I like it. Man, I'm gonna miss this guy.

Right now, Kurt is serving a mission now for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Colorado.

Missionaries sacrifice two years of their lives to teach people about Jesus Christ. That's gotta take some guts and commitment if you ask me.

Godspeed and come home safely!

These are some pictures of Kurt and I.

 Kurt is wearing my jacket!! Haha!

 I look awful in these pictures. But then again, thinking back, I felt awful. This was right at the end of winter semester. Kurt was there to cheer me up.

Kurt took this picture of me and the flowers!

Oh Kurt.

What more can I say, my friend.

hike at lake radnor

So today was family day. We haven't had a family day in a long time. So we went hiking on some of the trails around Lake Radnor. I totally recommend it for a fun family activity! The boys entertained themselves sometimes by throwing a nerf football at each other and I took picture. Mom and Dad were just happy to see all the kids getting along! It was such a beautiful, crisp winter day here in Tennessee. Love it!

 Beautiful little waterfalls

 Crikey! A real beaver got to this tree!

 Lake Radnor and shore

 Dad's such a slave to fashion ;)

 Ben was photobombing the pic of my mom so much, I decided just to let him be in it.

I love my silly family :)

 roots

 view from bridge

 sky

 yummy details - tree

 the race up the stairs

 winding road

 the little stream

a deer! a deer!

Enjoy the pictures :)

Copyright of Katelyn Johns

slim shady

will the real slim shady please stand up, please stand up?

jordan johns is a total gangsta in his new byu hoodie

promo pic

what I learned about Christmas

I know people always say that Christmas is more than presents and lights and decorations and shopping. I always knew it. I just never understood it until this year.

A couple weeks ago, I went to church in a small chapel in southern Tennessee. A single Christmas wreath hung crookedly on the back wall. The chapel itself was simple and no other decorations were to be seen. The pews weren't full and some of the people there looked tired and haggled. Two ladies stood up to sing and rustled some papers awkwardly and adjusted the microphone. A younger woman played two notes on the piano to start.
They opened their mouths to sing and started harmonizing each verse of "Angels We Have Heard on High." Some of the notes were off key and the tempo wasn't perfect. But as they sang the words, I felt such a still peaceful reassurance that this is what Christmas is. Shaky voices singing praises to God. I felt the Christmas spirit in that small room and I think there might have been angels there too.

***

Just the other day my family and I went Christmas caroling to our neighbors. My mom had been busy with baking (who's mom isn't at this time of year?) and we had made plenty of goodies to share. As we walked across the street toward one house, we saw the mailman. He pulled up right next to us and handed us our mail cheerfully. "Merry Christmas!" We told him. He then drove away and turned a corner, out of sight.

"Mom, don't you think we should give some treats to him too?" I asked as I watched his gray mail car sputter up the road. 

My mom heartedly agreed, ran back up to our house and wrapped up some of our fresh-out-of-the-oven oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Tied with a bright green ribbon, of course.

We all waited in anticipation as the mailman came back up the road. My brother Ben handed him the cookies.

"We wanted you to have these treats, we thought you'd might like some goodies. These just came out of the oven not even 15 minutes ago!" My mom said, smiling at the mailman.

He looked at us in disbelief. "Hallelujah!" He shouted. He thanked us vigorously and then started to stammer, his eyes glazing over. "I'm just so... so... so... just yeah thanks so much!" As he drove away I saw a huge smile on his tired face.

What joy this brought to me!

A simple gift of cookies and teary eyes made me think about the Savior born in a stall long ago. How grateful I am to my Heavenly Father that He would give His Son to us. As the mailman said, "Hallelujah!"

***

Harry Potter Party at Grandma's

Tonight was my little cousin's Harry Potter themed birthday party. 'Tis the season for fun crafts and decor!

This is my night in pictures.

 Witch's hat cupcakes = chocolate dipped cone + chocolate cupcake + chocolate frosting

 I see you ... (no real owls were used during this photoshoot)

 A feast fit for the Great Hall at Hogwarts

 Making witch hat cupcake treats

 Me and my brother Ben ... everyone got a Harry scar!

 This is Ben's hat hair ... quite luscious if you ask me!

My siblings are so dang cute :)

lights

beautiful

all pictures by me and property of me

secret to the swirly light pictures:
1. find a tree or something with lots of little lights on it
2. press the shutter button on your camera half way so the lens focuses on the lights
3. twist your hand quickly as you press the shutter button down all the way so the camera captures the movement of your hand twisting
4. let me know if you tried it and how it turned out!

double the date double the fun

Kristi and I went on a double date! I was with my good FRIEND (don't get too excited, we're just friends, nothing else, we already established our friendship, so don't get excited) Marcus and his roommates Scott and Evan (Kristi's date).

We went to the stadium in SLC to watch the BYU basketball game play ... Hawaii?? I have NO idea haha.
Basically when everyone else cheers, I cheer. That's how I watch sports.

The seating was really steep, as you can see from the pictures. It made things really exciting.
Afterwards we ate at the mall and walked around looking at the lights in the city. I LOVE Christmas lights, lemme tell ya. I was so glad Kristi was there with me, we had such a fun time together!

UPDATE ON MY DATING SITUATION

I am still single despite the fact that I have gone on at least one date every week this semester. Sometimes with the same guy, sometimes with new guys. I have fun on every single one. I'm just myself, and if it doesn't work out, that's okay, it just means they're not the right one.

Hee hee ....

I dyed my hair ...

So.

It has happened.

I have dyed my hair.

Actually it was my roommate Heidi who dyed my hair.

On Saturday during Thanksgiving break, I was feeling particularly lonely and stuck in my dorm room (the most fun place to be during a holiday when everyone else is gone yay!) and without transportation of my own, I decided to do something completely random and irrational.

Well, dying hair it is!

The color is "neutral black." It is demi-permanent so it should fade out within the next month or two. So far my natural brown hair is coming in mostly at the top of my head, resulting in some nice brown highlights.

The last time I dyed my hair was the last couple days of winter 2011 after I had just broken up with Keith and I was feeling especially power-hungry and irrational. 

Pink hair it is!

I seem to sense a pattern ... ;)

 My first hair dying experience. I dyed the bottom half of my hair pinkish-purple.

This was winter 2011. Laryssa went with a blonde streak.

 Before: front

 Before: back (representing good ol' Taco Express...)

 Heidi is spreading in the dye ... I think I look like I could be Fergie's daughter for some reason.

 After: front

 After: back

 After: front ... YEP that's definitely black.

Me and my black hair with Kristi on a double date!

CONCLUSION

_____________________________________

I like it because it is different.

I like it because it is not permanent.

I like it because I have gotten many compliments on it...

but also many comments...

What do YOU think? Lemme know!

When I come home from Christmas it won't be as dark but it'll still be close to black.

Me and my black hair are comin' home soon!!!!

Try this hairstyle!

So my cute friend Melissa was going on a hot date and she asked me to do her hair and make-up.

Of course I said YES!

This hairstyle incorporates two different styles into one and it turned out SUPER cute.