i got this text from this lovely person this morning.
"what if i served in virginia? there'd be fireflies! :)"

four of my favorite things:

missions.
virginia.
fireflies.
and sadie.

i remember when going out for ice cream was magical.

almost as magical as sitting on a couch from ikea in a yellow room, talking about men and marriage and art. or sitting at a table, eating burritos, and talking about men and marriage and art. [and beauty.] or redoing a blog while her husband builds bridges on his phone.





yeah. those are pretty magical moments, too.

[un]luck.

the harris fine arts center (hereafter referenced to as the hfac) is a large building.

there are five floors, various hidden practice rooms, printing labs, galleries, offices, studios, lounges, classrooms, performance halls, recital halls. the list goes on. a lot of the building is underground with no windows and too many whitewashed walls.

sometimes it's magical. you'll be close enough to touch the head of c.f. payne in a classroom with artists lining the walls and sitting on desks while a heavenly chorus sings from the gallery downstairs. (the gallery is big. echoing is inevitable.)

and sometimes it's even more magical. because you'll be sitting in a class that you're [not] underqualified for [but you won't realize that until much, much later], waiting for the professor to walk in and sign your add/drop card because you want to be an artist so bad it hurts. you'll be early to the class and the only one there amongst tables curiously stained with charcoal or paint. then someone with red hair will walk in with a big black portfolio. she'll tell you she's trying to add the class too. you'll see her artwork and still feel underqualified, but you'll feel better because she is there on the same terms that you are.

and then (the most magical thing) one day you'll be completely away from the hfac, sitting on your twenty-three-year-old teal couch on a saturday morning wearing flannel when someone knocks on the door. you open it and realize it's another group of freshmen looking at your apartment. but you'll recognize the red hair and know that there was no way she accidentally knocked on the door.

proof that heavenly father cares about you. (about me.)
proof that he knows what's going to happen in your life,
and what you can and can't handle without a lucky red-headed roommate.











the red hair looks especially festive when it's st. patrick's day.

teaching

i witnessed something magical today.
[or miraculous. either one works.]
i watched forty-some-odd girls come
together in one purpose.

we learned to love.
i could see it.
i could feel it.
and it was wonderful.

bless this gospel
and the relief society.








bless my sisters.

these people may be some of my best friends.
and by may i mean they are.

hopefully i'll get more pictures on the blog
because i finally have a camera that doesn't have
a focusing problem!

but, seeings how there are a total of three
people who read this regularly,
nobody probably cares.

which is cool.
peace.

"in my head, i am awesome"

thank goodness for people like sexy sadie who make life better.
don't be afraid by the knife. we were mutilating a pumpkin last autumn.

countdown

tee minus eleven hours until i board a plane to go to d.c.

pretty excited, to say the least.
drama shall be put on hold (that's right missionary. eat that.)
work shall continue to go on without me (sad to leave sanskrit, though who is a person, and who is kind of my go-to guy right now since all of mine are on missions)
and sadie and i will be eating cupcakes next to the washington monument. ha.

one sunny day the world was waiting for a lover

dear sexy sadie:

do you have a cigarette? or pepper spray?
and did you realize you should probably get a new keyboard?
because really. the one you've got almost ended up out the window as we planned our adventure for the 14th of june.

and you can pose with the sculptures at the hirshorn museum and sculpture garden. promise.

love, kayleigh


p.s. this picture may have accidentally been burned to that cd of pics you made me.
p.p.s. check out sadie's blog here.
p.p.p.s. is that even legal? washington d.c. in nine days!!

see ya later. promise.

also.

the last time i'll see laura until august was this morning.
she walked down the sidewalk under the tree that i've watched bloom the past few weeks.
i had a curling iron in my hair. literally.
elton john and billy joel were playing in the background.
i yelled, "bye, laura!" out my open window.

bert and ernie

i remember getting grounded from scissors when i cut the bertser's hair. my mother was so mad at me, because bert was just barely getting hair instead of peach fuzz. we were bald children.

i remember playing barbies, too. and house. and school. i always bossed her around.

now she's graduating.
we're gettin' old.

good luck in the world of college, bert. if anyone can do it, it's you.

you've sassed me all your life;
go and sass the world.

lovely laura

it was 5:30 a.m.
sometimes that early in the morning, you feel like you're the only one in the world who could possibly be awake. it's lonely, at times.

but laura was there. she had to study, too.
i was looking through the notes on my laptop about authoritarian parenting styles and ways to cultivate friendship in marriage wondering why on earth i took this class when i heard the back door open and close. laura left.

what on earth could laura possibly have to do outside? at 5:34 in the morning?

she came back in. i asked her that very question.
"oh," she said, "i was just dropping a note off to a girl in our ward [i won't mention names]. i just love her!"

i knew it.

being the oldest, i always wanted an older sister while growing up. of course, that would have been a physical anomaly on the part of my mother if i was given that wish.
instead, i was blessed with sisters like laura. a sister who, although we aren't related by blood, continues to give me the love she would give her own family and continues to set an example of christ-like charity to me.

she's the reason i've learned to care.

so here's to you, lovely laura. you never cease to amaze me, and you never cease to amaze others.

te amo.

laura doing what laura does best.
loving.