Vegetarian vs. Veterinarian

That's my baby sister, Chloe, in the picture above. I've mentioned her before on this blog because, well, she's quite hilarious. In the past, I've told a couple Chloe stories on this here blog so I can later compile them together and embarrass her when she brings her boyfriends around.

This will just be a short story on the importance of vocabulary. Many words may be quite similar in spelling and pronunciation, yet have very different meanings. Chloe learned this important lesson a few days ago.

We were all together as a family at Sonic, enjoying a Sonic Blast. My little brother had just moved out and he was prepping himself for the new college life. Thus, our family discussion was about education. This was when my other little sister, Alexis, brought up that she didn't plan on going to more school if she didn't have to. That she would rather just get married and have babies. Me, being the feminist (slight feminist, I'm not the cray-cray kind) of the family discouraged this and that's when she replied with, "Well, I'll just be a doctor then." Then I laughed and informed her that being a doctor would require quite a few years of extra schooling.

That's when Chloe butted in. She pulled her spoon from her mouth and with a confident air, buried it beneath her cup of whipped cream and M&M swirled ice cream. Then she boldly stated, "Yeah, and to be a vegetarian, I'll have to go to about seven years of school or something like that." We all passed nervous gazes around the table. Then we all started laughing. We couldn't help it.

"Chloe, I think you meant a veterinarian," my mom so kindly informed her.

Chlo's cheeks flushed pink and she giggled at herself, "Oh yeah, that's what I meant. I want to be a veterinarian."

"Yeah, if you mean a vegetarian, you won't be able to come to our house for dinner," my dad stated.

Chloe took this very seriously and in a whiny voice replied, "But I like meat."

I feel like this moment was a milestone is Chloe's life. Better now than later. It might have created a mess if years from now she went to her college adviser to announce she wanted to declare her major in vegetarianism.

Truth Tuesday

source

• I am feeling down today and I think it's a direct result of the quote above. I keep comparing myself to others, thinking I'm not good enough. Thinking, "Oh, I should have done this internship. . . Oh, I should have gotten that job. . .Oh, maybe I should have majored in that." I can't really explain what it is I'm feeling. I guess I'm feeling at a loss because I know my last year of school is upon me. And while most people in my same position seem to have their lives figured out. . .I do not. I have no clue what I want to do career-wise and I'm jealous of those who do. Not knowing makes me feel like I've already failed. 

• Today, as I sat through my Child Guidance class, all I wanted in life was a Snickers bar. I couldn't stop thinking about that chocolate and caramel goodness. After class, I bought one, and I can honestly say that the whole world became perfect in the two minutes it took for me to eat it. 

• I get real irritated with the PINK clothes made by Victoria's Secret that aren't at all the color pink. Something about a green sweatshirt that says PINK across it just doesn't sit well with me. But I have nothing against you if you wear the stuff. It's cute and it looks comfy. . .it's just a weird quirk I have. 

• Did anyone else feel like the new Bourne movie ended very abruptly? Like I don't feel like that movie solved anything for me. 

• On the subject of movies, you should go see this for sure, or this if you don't have children with you. Both made me laugh and cry. So great. 

• My little brother is at USU with me now, and it makes me excited. I know I probably irritate him, but I really like that I get to have more time with him before he goes on his two year mission with the LDS church. 

• I think I'll go listen to this song on repeat while painting my toenails red now.  

Celebrity Lookalike

Lots of people have what we call "celebrity lookalikes". I have never been a part of that lot of people. Never have I had people tell me I look like a certain celebrity more than once. This is surprisingly quite the disappointment. I guess I felt left out that my face never resembled that of a famous person. 

Well, in the last little while, I've had several people suddenly tell me I look like Lindsey Stirling. I'm not sure if I can totally see it, but I'll take it. After all, she rocks at violin and dancing. Feel free to watch a couple of her videos I attached. What do you think? Can I claim her as my own celebrity lookalike? If not, I think I'll be able to deal with just looking like Kelsey Keller Weller. I might carry a bitter resentment for all who have celebrity lookalikes, but I'll survive. 

Whether we look alike or not, you should check out her Youtube channel. She's grand.

It's About Connecting

It's been one busy week. And I think it's really just the start of several busy weeks as my senior year of college will kick off TOMORROW! Tomorrow, seriously? It's hard to believe that it has been three years since I moved out on my own and became a student at Utah State University. Now in just one year's time, I will be able to call Utah State University my Alma Mater. I recently learned that Alma Mater is Latin for "nourishing mother". I can honestly say with the utmost respect, that I feel this way about my University. She is indeed my nourishing mother. I came to this school as a naive, immature eighteen year old child who thought I ruled the world. Now, three years later, I would like to believe I am a greater person. A person, though flawed as I am, who wants to give back to humanity in some way with all that I am and know. Education is such a powerful thing. All that I've learned here at Utah State, both in and out of the classroom, has made me discover myself more and has pushed me to appreciate all around me that much more. In the last three years, I have changed for the better. I hope that change for the better continues throughout my life.

This last week, I had the chance to reflect on the time I came to Utah State University as just a babe, really, during my first year, as I spent time surrounded by incoming freshmen. We offer a class to all incoming freshmen called Connections. They come to Connections the week before actual classes start in order to get connected to campus, to resources, and to other people like them. This was my second year serving as a peer mentor for a group of 32 students. It was wonderful to watch them come the first day, a bit shy, not knowing anyone, and then see them transform. By the end of the week, they were friends and I had an idea of what all their personalities and interests are. I am so excited for each of the 32 of them and I know they are capable of such good things. They are in for a treat. Being with them made me remember moving up to Logan and the anxiety and excitement that came with it. Many of them will experience their first crazy dance, their first real relationship, their first time living on their own, their first true love for learning, their first heartbreak, their first failure here at USU. And all of those things will teach them and help them grow into the people they will be in three years time. . .just like me. It's so bittersweet, knowing I'm entering my last year of school.

I am excited, but I realized today that I'm not at all ready. I haven't even bought a new notebook yet. I was so busy this last week helping these incoming students get ready that I forgot to get myself ready. I'm not too worried, all will work out. 

So here we go USU. You've served me well the last three years. Let's go out with a bang.


Below are some pictures I took during a day in Connections. We went bowling and ate pizza. Can you believe I got paid to go bowling? How lucky am I? 

 

Sunday Best: Good Riddance

 head turban: Claire's, top: Head Over Heels, skirt: Downeast Outfitters, heels: Target, earrings: Maurices, bracelet: Tai-Pan 

School starts tomorrow. My days will now be full of highlighting textbooks, hauling around camera equipment, and putting together our student news show, ATV News. I'm quite stoked about it, I won't lie. I have always been that nerdy girl who gets all antsy for school to start. Quite frankly, I probably won't be able to sleep tonight from the excitement. You'd think after 17 years of this school stuff, I'd be used to it. But I'm not.

I will miss the lazy days of this last summer. I will probably never have such a laid-back summer as this one ever again. But I guess we will see what the future holds. I do know somewhere in the near future, I will get to wear tights and a blazer with the outfit above. But for now, I will enjoy the remainder of the summer heat and patiently wait for my beloved fall to get here.

Good luck in school, kids. Let's all score As.

Truth Tuesday

• I watched Dirty Dancing for the first time on Sunday night. Everyone was amazed I hadn't seen it because, well, I love me some cheesy 80s movies. I adored it and realized that Dirty Dancing is actually the original Step Up. Nobody puts Baby in the corner. 

• What happened to good rap music? I feel like good rap died my senior year of high school. And yes, I've been jamming to old school rap music as of late. 

• I've been keeping it in for a long time, but I'm just going to come out and say it . . .I think it's really weird when people take pictures during church and instagram them. Next thing I know, I'll probably get on instagram and see pictures of someone using the bathroom. No one believes in privacy anymore. 

• My feet are always cold. That's why I love slippers and socks. 

• Luna woke me up in the middle of the night last week and I felt really angry about it, so I headbutted her. I think I was half delirious, but I still feel really bad about it. And Brian woke up just in time to witness it so he made fun of me the entire day. "Kelsey, remember that time you headbutted our cat?" 

• I am majorly tempted to get bangs, bangs, bangs. Yay or nay?    

• I think I have more good friends who are mommies than good friends who are in my same stage in life. That's normal, right? But look how freaking cute these moms are. . . 

Quick Sugar Fix

You know those times when you need to whip up a treat real fast?

Like when you are having people over for dinner and think, "I'll make some amazing cake!" And then you wait until you have around half an hour to make something and that's when you realize, "Oh, all my amazing cake recipes take a couple hours."

Or like when you get home from work and think, "I need a homemade treat, stat."

Oh, that's just me who has those times? Oh, well that's not awkward at all.


In case you ever do come upon "one of those times", I have an easy recipe for you. I tried it over the weekend when we had friends over for shish kabobs and beach volleyball (we ate shish kabobs and played beach volleyball in case you grow confused easily). It turned out great, and all with just a few simple ingredients!!

Graham Cracker Chocolate Chip Pie

2 cups of graham cracker crumbs (roughly 30 squares)
1 cup of semisweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon of baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 can (14 oz) of sweetened condensed milk

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Spread into a pie pan (or brownie pan if you want brownie form). Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes.

I found this treat even more delicious the day after making. But nuke it in the microwave later on for best results. Also, you might want a glass of milk, especially if you like adding extra chocolate chips to everything like I do!

Sunday Best: Light as a Feather

top: Delia's, skirt: Ross, heels: Payless, bracelets: Vanity, earrings: Target

It has been miserably hot and dry over the last week. And thanks to all the surrounding wildfires, my beautiful valley is full of smoke. I am supposed to run a half marathon next weekend. If the great outdoors continue to smell like burnt plastic, I may have to invest in an inhaler.

And the reason I know what burnt plastic smells like is because I once put a plastic container on the oven to make mac n cheese. That moment still continues to haunt me whenever I use an oven. I've come a long way, people. I haven't had such unfortunate cooking incidents in quite some time (knock on wood). 

Because of the heat and the awful smell, I have little motivation to wear clothes. But, clothes must be worn in order to keep my criminal record clean from any public indecency marks. So in the course of such a dilemma, I turn to light, breathable clothing and constantly eat ice cream. This skirt is exactly what I'm talking about: breathable and light as a feather. And it also doesn't hurt to wear an owl inspired shirt, since owls have feathers too.

I wore this outfit on Thursday when I went to the fair. The farm animals didn't smell too pleasant, it was dusty, hot, I was sweaty, but at least my clothes were cute. 

I think I'll continue to pray for rain. . .and in the meantime, I'll keep wishing it was okay to just go places naked. 

99 Red Balloons

August 15, 2012

My mom's birthday.

A day we made this song a reality.

The day started out with my mom taking us on a ride in her new ranger (her birthday gift from my dad) we tied balloons to the sides and made her wear a tacky crown. After tearing up the mountain, spotting deer, and getting covered in a layer of dust, we ended the ride at the park in town.

It was there my mom's friends had gathered 99 red balloons. My mom and I have both always talked about how cool it would be to actually let go of 99 red balloons just like in the song. She also mentioned it to her friends. And since my mom has fantastic friends (I consider them my friends too), they surprised her with her balloon wish. It was the coolest thing to let them all go and watch as the blue sky quickly filled with red balloons. They quickly floated away until they were just tiny red dots scattered among the clouds.

Someday I want to be just like my mom. She is the best. What other mom would wear a Sleeping Beauty crown all day and get giddy about balloons like a little girl? I love that woman.

Instagrams & Milk: Cedar City Edition

This past Saturday consisted of one fun thing after another. On Friday afternoon, Brian came home a bit early from work, we packed a bag and jumped in the truck to take off for Southern Utah.

 Months ago, we purchased tickets to Les Miserables which is showing in Cedar City as a part of the Shakespearean Festival. We figured it could be a little gift for our anniversary. The show was Saturday afternoon, so we drove up Friday to stay with my great uncle and aunt.

Saturday morning, we went on a fantastic hike nearby. It consisted of splashing through water, walking through slot canyons, and scaling up waterfalls (and maybe some lizard chasing too).

Then we cleaned up and watched Les Miserables. And that consisted of beautiful music and me bawling (I won't mention if Brian bawled or not). This was my first time seeing the musical and it was just lovely. Now I just want to read the book again.

Then we ate dinner at Applebees and used gift cards from our wedding to pay for it. That consisted of a yummy burger and fries, all complete with chocolaty cake for dessert. Oh, and we ended up having 14 dollars left from our gift cards, so we decided to act like high rollers and give it all to our waitress as a tip.

Then on the way home, we stopped by a beautiful wedding reception. Which consisted of hugging our friends, Jade and Bailey and then taking a bag of colorful candy for the road. Oh, and we may or may not have given them a cactus for their gift. Who gets awarded most original gift-givers? I think it's the Wellers!

Well, there, I just summed up our busy (yet fantastic) Saturday. I'll shut up now and just leave you with all the pictures I instagrammed on the four hour ride home.

This is my face that says, "I'd rather have diarrhea than drive through Utah County." 

Oh hi, crazy cool sunset 

Oh hi, crazy cool hike 

Kanarraville Falls 

Brian talked me into doing this pose. 

Exploring ze wilderness

That water was chilly! Yet refreshing. 

Standing by a gushing waterfall. And yes, sometimes I wear belly shirts. 

Lover boy 

Perfectly content

Aaahhh, it was so good! 

Bailey Rae, doing her thing, being a beautiful bride. 

You can follow me on Instagram @mrskellwell. It'll be a parrrrr-tay!

Truth Tuesday

• The above picture collage isn't really relevant to this post, but I liked it anyways. They are pics from our hike while we were in Wyoming a couple weekends ago. And isn't my little blonde cousin a cutie?

• I'm ready for some Indian Summer. You know, that point when summer starts fading into fall? Gimme that. Perfect hiking weather. Perfect jean and boot wearing weather. Perfect weather for sitting in a football stadium and cheering on my Aggies. Gimme, gimme. 

• While walking across campus yesterday, I got a sudden tinge of excitement for school to start. Hooray! I'd much rather be excited about school starting instead of dreading it. Because no matter what I want, it's going to start all the same. 

• I will never ever go on a diet. Unless I grow into an obese things of a person. Then I will consider it. I believe in eating healthy, but I do not believe in dieting. Diets are silly. Plus, every person deserves a fantastic treat packed full of chocolate and calories now and again.  

• I seriously thought about shaving my head this morning. I'm sure I would have chickened out, but the fact that I was thinking about it means something. The hurrrs are not cooperating today. I think it's due time for a visit to my hairdresser.

• Tomorrow is my mom's birthday! I think she's turning 26 this year. . 

• I indeed celebrated like a teenage girl last night when I heard the news about Taylor Swift's new album coming out soon. And I indeed listened to We Are Never Ever Ever Getting Back Together over and over again this morning. Taylor's music is a guilty pleasure of mine, I'll admit it. And I think she's adorable and a musical genius. I don't care what anyone says. Plus, she's got class. 

• I have a problem with buying clothes when they are on clearance. I guess that's better than buying loads of expensive clothes. But still, it's getting unhealthy. I will buy a dress just because it's under ten dollars. I don't think about how often I'll wear it, I just figure, "Hey, if I at least wear it once I'll essentially get my money's worth." I mean, you spend about the same amount when you go out to eat. And once you eat your meal, it's gone. Buh-bye. But I guess I shouldn't be comparing clothing to food. They are not the same. 

• I cry when I hear/see this gem. Every dang time. I'm such a boob. But you just don't understand my great love for Les Miserables. Or my great love for Anne Hathaway. Or maybe you do understand my love for Anne Hathaway if you happened to read my earlier post about The Dark Knight Rises. 

• I haven't had a sno cone all summer. I know, you're disgusted. But I just like ice cream better. Sorry not sorry.  

Miss Bossypants

Last week on Wednesday night, I drove across the Utah/Idaho border with summer air streaming through my hair from the open window. Sorry to say, the window was not rolled down for my enjoyment. It was stuck down.

As I stopped in a small border town at one of my last stops to fill my tank before reaching Logan, I thought about the course my day had taken. It certainly did not go exactly as planned.

Earlier that day, I made the drive to my parents' house to make a video with my siblings. I mainly wanted to dink around with my new video camera, and I figured, "Heck, this is why the good Lord blessed me with siblings. So I can make them part of my experiments." So we planned on creating a simple summer-themed video. Except it didn't end up being so simple since I'm awesome at making things complicated. Any ways, I directed and my siblings were the actors.

And guess what? My siblings are not professional actors. Can you believe that? I ended up being so frustrated when they wouldn't do something the way I had it in my head. We ended up shooting each scene multiple and multiple times until I felt partially satisfied. Very quickly, something that started out as a fun afternoon activity with the sibs turned into me being Miss Bossypants.

"Jace, ride your long board down the hill just one more time. And can you give me more emotion this time?"

"Lexi, don't smile. You are supposed to be serious right now."

"Chloe, fetch me a soda." (This last one didn't actually happen)

A few things about me I try to hide. . .

1. I am a perfectionist at times.

 Not all the time. I am not one of those over-the-top perfectionists who needs everything planned out and organized. I'm actually not very organized at all. But when I get an idea in my head of how I want something to be, it better be just like it is in my head or better. Or else I freak out. My ideas are my babies. And no one wants ugly babies.

2. I have a bossy personality.

It's true. I used to be lots worse. It's something I really feel like I've learned to control and I think I've overcome it a lot. When I was a child, I was horrible. I partially blame it on being the oldest child and grandchild. I was the big kid, so naturally, I was in charge. I'm sure my little brother, Jace, still has horrid memories of me demanding him to put one of my two tutus on and dance with me in our front room. And you can bet I yelled at him if he didn't do all the dance moves I made up correctly. As my childhood passed, and I grew into adolescence, I remained bossy, but a little less so. In high school, I spent time on the basketball court telling teammates where to go and what to do, and I spent time in student council handing out assignments and expecting them to be done correctly. Then one day during my senior year, I decided I wanted to work on chilling out a little and letting things be.

I remember the day clearly. We had been planning our Fear Factor assembly for the month of October. I served as Student Body President my senior year, so I was kind of in charge. Well, the morning of the assembly, I was trying to get all my ducks in a row (that's such a weird saying) and making sure everything was ready to go. I was running around like a mad woman setting up the sound system, checking on our giant tub of jello that students would be digging through, just those kinds of things. And I started getting really nervous about the assembly, like I didn't feel like everything was ready. No one else was stressing like me though. Since everything was ready to go, they were taking it easy. This angered me, made me lose my temper, and I started yelling out demands and asking them if they even cared that the assembly was in a couple hours. They looked at me like I was a psycho, and then did as they were told. That's when I took a step back and said, "Man, I can be a bossy lunatic sometimes. People don't like bossy lunatics." So I apologized to everyone for being a bossy lunatic and tried my best to put my bossypants away, in the back of a drawer. Now I don't take control in groups, unless I must. I try taking assignments from others instead of giving them. I try to keep my mouth shut and go with the flow. And usually my trying succeeds.

 But I still fall into my old ways at times. Sometimes I take those bossypants out of that dark drawer and I put them back on, tightly around my waist. It usually happens when I am under stress, and it usually happens with people I know have to still love me even after I boss them around. In the case of last week, it was my siblings.

It started out all fun with flips on the trampoline and ended with me flipping out. Jace ran into one of his friends while we were shooting at the park. This resulted in him wandering off with the said friend leaving me with only two sister actresses. So I bossed them around. Then Lexi wandered off to her friend's house. So I bossed Chloe around. Then my camera battery died. So I bossed Chloe around some more. Then I was running late to a bridal shower and couldn't find Lexi and Jace. So I bossed Chloe around some more.

Then on the ride home, me with bossy lunatic anger flashing in my eyes, Chloe broke into tears saying, "Kelsey is being mean." While I listened to Chloe's muffled sobs from the back seat, I watched as Lexi rolled the front passenger seat all the way down. Then I snapped at her saying that window gets stuck. And it did. It did get stuck. And for the life of me, it wouldn't roll back up.

I guess that's what I get for being bossy. A stuck window. And as I drove the rest of the way home on Wednesday night after filling my gas tank, I decided I better apologize to my siblings. Then I watched as pesky bugs flew through my open window and clustered around the several emergency warnings which are always lit up (my van has had a hard life, guys). They bounced about the EMERGENCY BREAK light, the CHECK ENGINE light, and the battery light as if they were at a dance party and I just let out a laugh. I laughed that my window was stuck down, I laughed that mosquitoes were turning the dashboard of my van into their own private club, and I laughed because I can be so bossy. It just all suddenly hit me as funny.  

It's time to start working on my flaws again. One of those flaws being bossiness under stress. Time to develop more patience and acceptance here. But hey, things could always be worse. At least I don't make Jace wear a tutu anymore.

Instagrams & Milk: Weekend in Wyoming

So, as I mentioned in an earlier post, we went to middle of nowhere Wyoming over the weekend for a family reunion. The drive consisted of lots of sagebrush and antelope, my mom falling into giggling fits and taking several wrong exits, and a sick girl working in a gas station who dropped the F bomb a plethora of times in front of, us, the customers. Those Wyoming women are rough, guys. We walked in and the chick had a thermometer hanging from her mouth. We thought that was a little strange. Then while waiting in line, she yelled and cussed at her boss over the phone since he apparently wouldn't let her go home due to her high temperature. Then she acted like she was hyperventilating as she chucked our candy bars in a sack, all while wiping her snot across her arm. We washed our candy bars in hand sanitizer after that. Just the wrappers, not the actual bars. My grandma felt bad for the girl. I, quite honestly, did not. She was being a drama queen. A Wyoming drama queen with a dirty mouth. 

But aside from that adventure, we came across no other drama queens, but instead enjoyed the outdoors and some company of family members. I didn't even touch my camera all weekend. But I did get some instas for you to enjoy. Sadly, I did not capture one of sick girl with thermometer in her mouth. You'll just have to take my word on that one.   

Driving through Kemmerer, WY and we find these giant wood people. Normal, right?

Driving across Wyoming like it ain't no thang. 

I discovered the addakitty app. How fantastic. 

A fine summer evening 

Married a year and still crazy in love. It's real, folks. 

Wyoming mornings are cold. Good thing there were natural hot springs nearby! 

Again with the addakitty. Hilarious. 

My husband likes to chuck my sister around. It's cool. 

Surprisingly, no one lost their balance and fell in.

Life-size chessboard. Cowboys vs. Indians style. 

I love getting to see my lovely cousin, Meg. Such a babe.

Trees!!! I love trees. 

She picked a flower for me on our hike 

A hike around Silver Lake for our anniversa-weekend! 

If you want to be Instagram buddies with me, find me @mrskellwell. You can browse through more odd vacation pictures as well as many photos of Luna, my cat.