24

I turned 24 on December 29th. My past few birthdays, I didn't feel like the age I was turning had much relevance. I mean, I did turn 22 right when Taylor Swift's "22" song was gaining popularity. Besides that though, the age I turn on a birthday never has held much meaning to me. I think that's a good thing. Hopefully I'll still feel this way as I get older. I never want to be the lady in my 40s or 50s who resents my birthday because I'm turning a year older. I want my birthday to always be a celebration of the life I've lived, not the age I'm turning.

However, turning the age of 24 seemed to have a bit of an impact on me.

When I turned 14, I got Switchfoot's album "The Beautiful Letdown". One of my favorite songs on the album was called "24". I remember listening to that song over and over and deciding that somehow, the age of 24 must have some kind of magic to it. And I would turn that magical age in 10 years. When you are 14, 10 years seems like an eternity. So with an eternity to go, I dreamt up all the incredible things I would do with my life by the time I turned 24.

I hope 14-year-old Kelsey wouldn't be disappointed in what I've become. I still have a lot of goals I want to reach and places I want to see, but I think I'm doing pretty decent things with my life. I mean, I haven't succeeded in world domination yet, but I'm getting there ;).

For my birthday, Brian offered to take the day off work and go skiing. That really meant a lot to me. I know for Brian, birthdays aren't a huge deal. However, I take them pretty seriously. I love doing anything and everything I can to celebrate the people in my life when they have a birthday, so it means a lot that Brian would do that for me in return on my special day. We invited my sisters and Mom to join us, and we skied our little hearts out.

If you know me, you know that I absolutely LOVE a good snowfall. When there are tons of snowflakes falling silently to the ground it just feels completely magical. When we got up to Beaver Mountain, it was magic snowing and it kept it up the entire afternoon. I keep telling myself it was a birthday present for me from God. Not that I'm so special that God should give me a birthday present, but it's a nice thought. It was freezing though, but there was even something about that which was nice. When we went in the lodge for hot chocolate, it felt amazing for my toes to thaw out and to feel the warmth of the cocoa run down my throat and land in my tummy. It was like my body was saying, "Happy birthday! You're alive! I'm taking you down mountains! I'm freezing to remind you how alive you are! And because we are freezing, this hot chocolate tastes like heaven!"

It really did taste like heaven. I'm not really a big hot chocolate drinker, but that was probably the best cup of hot chocolate I've ever tasted. I want to remember it forever.

I don't know if 24 is truly as significant and magnificent as I made it up to be when I was 14, but I am pretty dang excited for the coming year. I think it's going to be a good one full of living and not merely just existing. Every second of every day counts. It's actually a cool thing to have a birthday at the end of the year. I feel like I get to do an extra lot of contemplating on the past year . . . as well as planning for the coming year.

In the words of Switchfoot, "I'm not who I thought I was 24 hours ago . . ."

Bear Necessities

My main squeeze turned twenty-six on Tuesday. We gorged ourselves on too much food, and I surprised Brian with a chessboard and tickets to a OneRepublic concert.

I found this at Global Village. It's the cutest nonprofit shop here in Logan that supports struggling artisans in developing countries by selling their fairly-traded handicrafts.

Throughout the entire day, I took the liberty of posting bear pictures on BWell's Facebook page to wish him a happy birthday. I even got some other people to join in on the Facebook fun. There isn't even a story behind the bear thing. It just sort of sporadically happened.

Then Brian ended the day by succumbing to the bear madness.

Brian, you're the Baloo to my "Jungle Book". We all know he's the best character. I'm so glad I get to grow old with you. We even have a chessboard now so we're all set. Retirement home, here we come.

Sunday Best: Birthday Coat & a Winner

coat: Target, jeans: Vanity, boots: thrifted 

I fell in love with this coat the minute I saw it at Target months ago. However, as much as I loved the vintage look and the cozy fur collar, I told myself I didn't need a new coat. 

A month went by and the coat was sold out. Little did I know, Brian was busy on a wild goose chase trying to find the coat somewhere in my size. He finally found one after calling a Target in the Salt Lake area. Someone had returned the coat.

Brian gave me the coat for my birthday. Needless to say, I was beyond surprised. This coat is one I will cherish forever. 

I also should apologize because I'm late announcing the winner of a Millie Made leather bracelet. Thanks to everyone who entered. I loved reading about your words for 2014. Words sure are powerful.

The winner chosen at random is:

Congratulations, Rebekah! Email me at mrskellwell@gmail.com with your wrist measurement and mailing address. I'll get your bracelet to you as soon as I can. Feel free to also explain what design and colors you would like. 

Truth Tuesday

• I enjoyed myself thoroughly last week at Selena Gomez's concert with my mom and sisters. I shamelessly sang "Slow Down" at the top of my lungs. Also, Emblem 3 was the opening act and who knew, they have a lot of awesome songs besides "Chloe". Ironically enough, we went to this concert for my little sister, Chloe's birthday. While it was a fun girls' night, I couldn't help but think of my brother who is currently serving an LDS mission. Jace (that's my brother) has always had a huge crush on Selena Gomez. That's why I tried my best to bring a bit of Jace to the concert with us. Seriously, I crack myself up. I emailed the below pictures to him and I hope they make him laugh. We are going to start taking this cut-out of Jace with us to all major events/vacations.

• I bought orange juice recently and I had never been so happy to buy a fruity beverage. The best buy date was Christmas Day. The holidays are coming! 

• I think I've sat in our hot tub every night this week. Thank you people we bought our house from, for leaving your hot tub behind. It's being put to good use. 

• Eating applesauce makes me gag. Therefore, I don't eat applesauce. 

• For some reason, I can never take Harrison Ford seriously. He's always so stern in all his movies and it makes me laugh.

• More often than not, I forget to take the tags off my new clothes. Oops. 

• Today I told Brian I wanted a Great Gatsby-themed birthday party. He laughed and asked me if I was a 16-year-old girl. 

• One of my favorite songs of all time is "Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Bonnie Tyler. Don't judge. 

• I often have moments where I miss my short hair but then I brush those moments off. Well, this time I can't seem to fight it. I want to cut my hair. I mean, when I get on Pinterest and search through photos of Carey Mulligan and Michelle Williams can you really blame me? I'm open to advice. To chop or not to chop? 

A Birthday Getaway

Know what's not cool? Having a birthday during Finals Week. And that's been my husband's birthday for the last several years. Hallelujah that this time next year we won't be pulling all-nighters, writing papers, studying until our eyeballs fall out, and barely having time for dinner (well, hopefully). Today is BWell's birthday and we were able to fit in a birthday lunch and some cupcakes. Now we won't see each other again until probably 10 or 11 (or until morning if I am a good girl and go to bed when I'm supposed to. . . early work makes me have an early bedtime). 

I knew we wouldn't have much time to celebrate today. So about a month ago I had this rebel moment where I was like, "Screw studying. Curse finals." And I planned a weekend getaway to St. George. It was such a joy on Friday afternoon when Brian opening his box full of travel snacks, JT's new cd (gotta have road trip tunes), and a poster that read, "Good for a weekend stay in St. George". And just like that, we packed a suitcase and skipped town. So I can't say we got much studying in over the weekend. However, we did fit in plenty of hiking, pool time, and I even got my first sunburn of the year. 

We hiked Angels Landing in Zion National Park. It was seriously a delight. It was especially a delight scaling along the steep slab of rock at the top, hanging onto chains for dear life, and thinking about the several people who have slipped to their death on that same stretch of the journey. 

In all seriousness though, the hike wasn't nearly as frightening as I had imagined. There were only a few spots where Brian and I found ourselves using the chains. Plus, the entire trail besides the sketchy chain part has a PAVED path. Talk about fancy pants hiking. I had no idea how touristy this hike was though. I think we heard more foreign languages than we heard English. 

Oh, and you know how city people get real annoyed with tourists? Like let's get real, I'm sure they've wanted to kill me all the times I've paid visits and gotten lost, jaywalked, taken pictures of the "huge skyscrapers", and all that jazz. They probably roll their eyes and think, "What a tourist." Well, I discovered over the weekend that country people have that exact same feeling for city people. For instance, when we got held up on the trail because a group of people spotted a lizard. You would have thought it was a unicorn. And then there was the time one couple made us wait FOREVER coming back on the chains because the dude had to take fifty pictures of his girlfriend posing. I get it. You want a cool picture so you can show all your friends how you roughed the wild terrain with its paved pathways and all, but maybe do it at a time when there isn't a line of people behind you. Okay, end rant. I promise I don't hate city people. We actually hiked up with a guy from New York and he was totally cool. Also, while we ate our lunch at the top of the summit, a couple sitting next to us got engaged. That was exciting.

It was a quick trip, but it was a good one. Maybe we will score lower on our finals now, but hey, I got to celebrate the birthday boy. Totally worth it. 

I love you, BWell. Let's make your 25th year of life the best one yet! 

Holiday Kid

Yesterday I celebrated my 22nd birthday. Twenty-two sounds strange to say. It is like I have reached this age that is wedged between being a young adult who has the right to party and goof off a lot, and an actual adult who has a real career and stuff. But I think I can be good at an in-between age like twenty-two. After all, my birthday is wedged right in the middle of Christmas and New Years.

Whenever I tell people that my birthday is on December 29th, they always pity me. 

"Oh, I'm sorry. That must be awful to have a birthday so close to Christmas." 

"I bet people only give you one present and say it's your birthday and Christmas present. I bet that makes you mad." 

When people ask me if I hate having my birthday by Christmas, I usually reply, "No. I don't know any different." 

But an honest reply to that question is: No. I actually really LOVE celebrating my birthday along with Christmas. I always have loved being a December baby and I think I always will.

birthday crepes and birthday cake

When I was in grade school, I always looked forward to the end of December. It was the absolute most magnificent time in my eyes. I was always mesmerized by everything Christmas. Then once Christmas ended, while everyone else was depressed with the holidays ending, I got to keep celebrating due to the coming of my birthday. Then, on top of that, there was usually snow. Snow! I always have loved snow. I think a world covered in snow is one of the more stunning things I've ever seen. Not to mention, I never ever had to go to school on my birthday since it was always during break. That meant instead of sitting through classes all day, waiting for school to end so I could go home and party, I started the party right in the morning when I woke up. No, as a child I had no problem being a holiday kid. 

Now as an adult, I still love when my birthday is. I love imagining my parents in the year of 1990 on Christmas morning, opening presents around the tree, my mom with a cute pregnant belly. They probably got really great presents, but I like to imagine them giddy thinking about how their most anticipated gift could arrive any day. Maybe they wondered what I would look like. Maybe they were afraid to become parents. Maybe they wondered if a snow storm would come the day I was born. Maybe they listened to lots of Christmas tunes and my mom ate too much fudge and that's the real reason I listen to Christmas music after Halloween and also why I'm addicted to chocolate. I love thinking that I was a late Christmas present and an early goal for the New Year. That makes me feel a bit special.

I also feel that there is no better way to celebrate my own birth and life merely days after celebrating the birth and life of my Savior. It is humbling. It is sweet. I couldn't imagine a better time to be born.  

And then there is the present issue. I have never felt like I don't get enough birthday presents. I think the fact that I just got so many presents from Christmas makes me treat my birthday differently. It's not really a day I think of getting things. It's a day I think of doing things. Anyone who knows me well would tell you I'm a huge fan of birthdays. Birthdays are a big deal to me. They are important. They aren't just a day where you turn a year older. Birthdays are a chance to celebrate the gift of a person's life. That's huge. 

I was nervous about my birthday this year. After going to Vegas for my 21st birthday, I was afraid this year might be a letdown. However, it wasn't. It is actually a birthday I will remember for a long time.

I decided I wanted to do some good deeds on my birthday this year. I guess to show myself that my little life has some kind of an impact. I talked to a friend who works at an assisted living center and made arrangements to meet a woman who rarely gets visitors. The friend informed me this lady was deaf, but really good at reading lips. When I arrived on the afternoon of my birthday, the friend led me to the room and told me that the sweet lady had been anxiously waiting all day for my arrival. I thought perhaps she was exaggerating. But I discovered she was not. The woman was ecstatic to see me, a complete stranger, enter her room. She showed me her Christmas presents, she told me about her life, and all the while there was complete happiness radiating from her face. Then at the suggestion of being pen pals, she clapped and laughed and rushed to find a notebook so I could write down my address. As I scribbled down my name and address, I'm not sure how I managed to stay composed. This sweet, lonely woman made my whole birthday. I blinked back my tears and gave my new friend a hug as I realized that one person's life really can make an impact. I mattered to that lady at that moment. And she mattered to me too. It was a sweet moment I will cherish always. I'll patiently wait for a letter from my new friend. 

Besides that special moment, my whole day was filled with other sweet moments as well. From breakfast on the town with Brian, to ice skating with friends, to sledding adventures with my family, and eating Mexican food (my mom craved it while she was pregnant with me) with people I love. My first day of being a twenty-two year old was certainly a good one. 

The very last thing I did before my birthday ended at midnight was read a special letter. I have a "birthday notebook" and every year I write myself a birthday letter. It probably makes me sound like a crazy person, that I write myself a letter. But it's grown to be one of my favorite traditions. I love reading what younger Kelsey has to say and it's always fun seeing where I was at a year ago. After reading the year old letter, I always write myself a letter to put away for safe keeping until December 29th rolls around again. I encourage all you birthday lovers and journal keepers out there to try this. I started doing this in high school and I don't want to ever stop. 

Truth Tuesday

• I am so burnt out right now. I just finished a big project and now I would like nothing more than to paint my toenails and watch Samantha Who. But the truth of it is, I can't. Brian has his company party tonight and then I still have a radio segment to edit and a paper to write. Boo. 

• Today is my wonderful grandma's 70th birthday!! If you are reading this, Grandma, then happy birthday!! 

• My grandma probably is reading this because she's totally hip and even has a facebook. 

• One day, I will learn how to say no to someone and then not feel guilty afterwards for a solid hour. 

• A friend steered me in the direction of this mashup and I've now had it on repeat. 

• I have never had a Big Mac. Should I try one? I've been considering it lately.

• Sometimes I wonder if Christmas got put in December so people wouldn't get depressed from all the dark and coldness. Not that I'm depressed. I just hear a lot of people suffer from depression in the winter. I would feel a lot happier though if there was some snow on the ground. The ugliness of the brown, dead grass makes me want to kick cute animals. And I love cute animals. 

• When I was little, my brother and I took turns at night sleeping with this stuffed animal snowman. We claimed sleeping with it would make it snow. I swear it worked. 

• My birthday is in less than a month. I'm stoked. And I'm playing with the idea of having a 90s themed party. 

• I will watch Miracle on 34th Street by the end of this week. Mark my words. 

• I may have drooled on myself today when I saw this yummy recipe. 

I hope your Tuesday was/is a terrific one. I'm praying I make it through tomorrow. If I do, I get a reward because Brian and I are going on a little overnight getaway. I better get back to work. Thanks for letting me unwind for a moment and tell you some nonsensical truths! 

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.

We Gonna Paaarty Like It's Yo Birfday

 

Just imagine me rapping that title while wearing shades and a chain necklace. Ah yes, that's perfection. Some people claim rapping isn't a talent, but I beg to differ. Because I've tried legit rapping and it's tricky. It's like saying a million tongue twisters right in a row and lots of times the tongue twisters make you want to laugh because they might be slightly off-colored or inappropriate (I do have all edited versions of my favorite rap songs on my iPod, don't judge), yet even though you want to laugh at the slightly naughty stuff you're rapping, you can't laugh because real rappers are stone cold serious.

Whew, that was a mouthful.


You know what else is tricky besides rapping? Changing all your perfect plans for your husband's birthday at last minute because your little sister ends up in the hospital. That's what's tricky. And that happened to me. It really did. And you know what, I think I'll go ahead and tell you about it now.


Brian's birthday was on Sunday. And in my world, when your birthday falls on a weekend, that means you celebrate for three days instead of just one. That means all Saturday afternoon and evening, BWell and I were having fun and consuming more calories than is probably healthy. When we arrived back to our humble abode, we plugged our phones in upstairs since they were dying, and we went back downstairs to be crazy, married party animals for a bit longer. By the time we retired to bed it was about 1 AM. I went to look at my phone and I had a few missed calls from some strange number. The calls came in at around midnight. I told Brian the news about the mystery number. He then looked at his own phone. The same mystery number called him too. Then I looked at my text messages. There were unread texts. . .from the mystery number.

The first text message said:

        "I'm at the hospital getting my appendix out."


Then the second one said:

         "By the way, this is Lexi."


I wish you could have the chance to meet my little sis, Lexi if you never have. She is a character. She's thirteen and basically a fireball. Earlier that day, Lexi ran the Color Run 5k and before the race began, she kept complaining about her side.

"Guys, my side really hurts. What's wrong with me? Do I need to get my appendix out? Which side are your appendix on? Yep, pretty sure I need to get mine out."

And all the while, we said,
"Lex. Be quiet. You are fine."

Turns out she was right and we were wrong. She really did need to get her appendix removed.

As Brian and I sat in bed, staring at the text messages Lexi had supposedly sent from some strange number, we debated on whether or not this was some rotten prank. Lexi is famous for doing that. She likes to tell tall tales. Maybe she was sleeping over at a friend's house and sent it from their cell phone? Maybe she really was in the hospital, in pain, dying? How were we to know? Lexi would call me and Brian no matter the time if something like this was really happening. She likes us. Well, she mostly just has a crush on Brian. But all the same, she would demand to talk to us before going in for surgery. Short on options and sleep deprived, I replied to the text:
           "Are you ok? Wow, your side really did hurt."

And then I went to sleep.

Morning came and I showered Brian with happy birthdays. I was so excited. Months earlier, I had purchased a Wii system for my man. It had found refuge in the back of my closet, carefully hidden by my jackets and sweaters, where Brian would never think to look. My family was coming to Logan to take us to birthday lunch after we went to church. Well, that was the plan anyways. And all the while, I made secret plans to have friends come to our place while we were out eating dinner. Then when we would arrive home, the friends would have the Wii system set up, yell surprise, and we would all eat cake and play Just Dance (my family bought him that game for the bday since I got him a Wii). I knew it was the perfect plan.

But that morning, I got a phone call from my dad. He sounded worn out. He informed me that Lex had indeed had her appendix removed a little after midnight, and they stayed at the hospital all night with her. He apologized and sadly told me we would have to reschedule birthday lunch. Then I talked to my mom. She told me a sad story about Lexi. Hopefully Lexi doesn't beat on me for sharing the story on my blog.

My mom told me that right before they sent Lexi in for surgery, she started sobbing. In between sobs, she said to my mom, "I'm so scared."
My mom tried comforting her and told her there was nothing to worry about, doctors did this type of surgery all the time.
"No, I'm scared because I'm going to ruin Brian's birthday. I just want Brian to have a good birthday, Mom."

When I later told Brian this story, I thought he was going to cry. He and Lex are pals. Then Brian said, "We have to go see her."

So we decided a trip to the hospital would be necessary after church. However, while we were at church, Brian's phone went off (I hate it when he brings that thing to church). He didn't answer, but then it went off again, and again, and again, and again. It was that same mystery number that was actually the doctor's phone. Yeah, my sister seriously asked the doctor if she could use his cell phone before she went into surgery. Now apparently he was letting her use it again. Finally, Brian got up from the pew and went out in the hall so he could answer the phone. Sure enough, it was Alexis on the other end.

"Hang tight, Brian. I'm gonna get out of this place so we can go to dinner."
Apparently my little sister became a crazy person trying to break out of the hospital.

She didn't break out of the hospital though. And we didn't go to birthday dinner. But we did surprise Lexi when we showed up at the hospital with a giant balloon. And because we have some awesome friends, they still came over and set up the Wii. Everything worked out. We ended the day with Better Than Sex Cake, which is entirely a lie, so I'd rather just call it Skor cake.

My sister is alive and appendix-less, my husband is another year older, and I'm tempted to play Mario Brothers on the Wii now rather than study for my final on Friday. Life is good.

Sunday Best: The Birthday Boy

That dashing young man I'm married to turned 24 today. And in honor of his birthday, I pretty please asked him to join me in my Sunday Best feature this week. He so kindly agreed. So on Friday we took outfit pictures beneath grey skies. Me in my feathered hat, he in his sweater vest.

Husband- shirt & shoes: Dillard's, vest & pants: Smith's 

Me- wool coat: delias, broach: thrifted, top: Modcloth, jeans: LA Idol, cheetah flats: PacSun, hat: Kohl's  

I dare say Brian even enjoyed his time in the spotlight.

 Happy birthday, my love. I hope it was a great day (more on the birthday soon, I hope). 

Party Time

BWell turns 24 today. It's time to celebrate. I think I'm more excited about my husband's own birthday than he is. But that's fine. I just love birthdays.



Love you, Brian. So grateful you were born 24 years ago today!

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss

Source: faveprettythings.blogspot.com via Kelsey on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via Kelsey on Pinterest

Source: quote-book.tumblr.com via Kelsey on Pinterest

                                                                                                                            

Source: connect.in.com via Kelsey on Pinterest

To the man with an imagination bigger than life! I know I'm a day late . . .but I couldn't forget one of my favorite famous people of all time! I haven't been to The Lorax yet, but Brian and I plan on going soon. After I get caught up on school work, that is.