a little announcement

that sounds like i am about to tell you i"m pregnant. yeahhhhh no i am16 and not even married. the announcement? i am officially a vegetarian. a vegetarian! it's kinda crazy. it has been 6 days, so i feel like i can make it official now, and announce it, because i don't see myself quitting anytime soon!

i started on monday. for my English class we had to do a 'transcendentalism project' {definition: based on the idea that, in order to understand the nature of reality, one must first examine and analyze the reasoning process that governs the nature of experience} basically we had to get rid of something for a day. like internet, or go without electiricity, or just become more.... 'nature like'

anyways, i became vegetarian. i have always wanted to become a vegetarian for real, {i did last summer for 3 days, but quit for a Cafe Rio salad.... hahaha!} so basically i just kept going all this week. and i love it. Keena's new lifestyle change babyyyy.

OH! and a little shout-out to my dad, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!! i love you so much!!!:)

and a happy General Conference weekend to you all!

loving this

 this is my cousin Afton. isn't she adorable?

i am in love with babies. they are just so innocent and soft. seriously like, they have the softest skin ever. holding them makes me super excited about being a mom one day. {not that i am already thinking about it..... it's just exciting} i had a reality check the other day. i will be graduating in a year... a YEAR! this is so weird. i could be married soon. soon as in.... 3 years. OKAY that is just craaaazzyyyyy talk. keena, a married woman? weird.

right now, i'm blogging while i should be in school. but who goes to school {ON TIME} the next day when they stay up until 1 chit chatting with besties about loser boys and such? not i. well i did, yesterday.... but after doing that 2 nights in a row? yeahhhh we opted out of first period today.

ARCHES

 i am proud to say that i have finally visited Arches National Park in Moab, Utah. living in Utah my entire life and i can't believe it has taken me this long, but it surely was amazing! for some reason, i have always thought that it was just that ONE arch. that one that's on the Utah license plate? but i guess there is TONS of arches. who knew?? probably everyone..... except me.

my aunt Laura LOVES Arches. she was so happy we could finally say we went! maybe next time we'll hike a little instead of just look. i know we should have hiked, but i just finished running 13 miles soooooo my body really was just not wanting any more exercise. yeah no. i could barely walk, let alone hike Arches. maaayyyyybe next year

it was SUPER windy that day, as you can see. we couldn't even see straight! hair blowing everywhere

it was quite the experience with that much wind, but the temperature was actually very warm.... and i even got a bit of a sunburn! {as you can see by the first picture of Mia and i}keena gets a sunburn instead of a tan.... shocker. oh heavens i am kidding! just wait until August people, i'll be BLACK

sunday memory!

here we have Briana and i buried in sand. we were even BEST FRIENDS back then. the good old days! look how cute our desperate, 'GET ME OUT OF HERE!' faces are. adorable, i know :)

this is the year we drove up to Seattle with the Gillespie's and visited the Anderson's in their old house. this was in 2005. i remember on this day, EVERYONE was being buried in the sand. there was big hole that we dug up in the sand, then we all took turns being buried in it. then you would see how long you could stay in. it was soooooo claustrophobic in there, seriously. it was so fun to bury each set of people, and the funnest was when we all buried my dad. as you can see from above, we were all so proud. i just love looking back at memories like this. i'm starting to like this 'sunday memory!' idea :)

6 years

today, March 24, 2012 is 6 years since my Grandma Horton passed away from Pancreatic Cancer.

Grandpa and Grandma got back from their 2 year mission in Greece in 2004.Grandma was diagnosed with Cancer 6 months later. it was such a surprise and sadness in our family, and we all miss her so much. she survived for longer than we thought, but i know the cancer was painful and hard on her. Grandma even got to hear the news of my mom being pregnant with Quincey just days before she passed. Grandma passed in 2006, 6 years ago from today.

i still remember this picture of Me, Grandma and Malia. it was on Christmas

i remember saying goodbye to Grandma. i remember not really understanding what was happening. i remember Grandma knowing she was going to pass away, so always trying to make the best of her last months. i remember the things Grandma used to make me for Christmas, blankets, and one year she made me a tent. i remember the things she used to fix me for lunch when i stayed at her house, PBJ's with milk. i remember when Malia and i had sleepovers with Grandma and she let us sleep on the water bed. i remember her laugh, i miss her laugh.

dear Grandma,
i can't believe it has been 6 years. i miss you so much and i can't wait to see you again. i love you
love, Keena

i ran a half marathon! and i've got pictures to prove it

see? see that number? i was one of the 3,240 runners that ran on that windy St. Patties day morning in Moab.

Friday after i got back from my H.O.S.A competition and short stop at H&M {LOVE that store} Malia, Aunt Laura, Deah, and i left for Moab. after many stops of Malia and i feeling super sick in the car, we finally made it to Moab on Friday night at around 9! we took a dip in the hot tub, then i went to bed early in hopes of waking up feeling 10X better with not even the slightest stomach ache {which really is a big thing to be wishing for considering the way i felt}

woke up at 6:30 on Saturday morning feeling better then ever!! {truly thanking my Heavenly Father for that, i know that if i didn't pray my very hardest to be able to finish/run this race not feeling sick, i wouldn't have been able too} i was so happy to be feeling okay. we ate the hotel breakfast along with the other 300 people obviously running the race that morning {seriously, pretty sure the WHOLE town of Moab was invaded with crazy runners that weekend. people who regularly live there were probably advised to just not even leave their house}

we got on the bus that takes you up the canyon and arrived at the waiting point at 8:00. the race doesn't start until 10 so we got to wait around, take pictures, drink hot cocoa {yes they really had hot cocoa. they REALLY DID!} and wait for the other 3,237 runners to get up there by bus so we could start!

and here are my running buddies who have both ran this already, twice.

mmmmmmm hot cocoa on a windy morning. a VERY WINDY morning {no really, i have never ever been in that much wind}
and the race begins! every 2 miles they had a little Gatorade/water stop to grab water and go. and let me just say, i was SO grateful for those. i got veryyyyyy thirsty at times. they also had mile markers to tell you how far you were. that was nice too. mile 7: let's just say, i was grateful at that point to see that sign. knowing i was PAST half way made me so giddy

after 2 hours, 44 minutes, and 53 seconds, i passed the finish line. that last street where there were 100's of people cheering 'COMMON! YOU ARE ALMOST DONE!' and 'LOOK! THERE IS THE FINISH LINE!' yeah, those people really made a difference :) it was so fun to just have them shouting at you, then SPRINTING to the finish line.

they had snacks after too :) Tru Moo milk and cookies baby. what more could you want after running 13.1 miles?

this was definitely the hardest thing i have ever done! and my legs are telling me that STILL after a week later. but it was all worth it. ALL WORTH IT. the training, the sickness, the numb legs, the chaffing i had between my butt cheeks every time i trained + after this race for 2 days {TMI? yeah}, the fact that i could barely walk to the car after the race, EVERYTHING. 

i am so glad i finished and experienced this memory!

state H.O.S.A.

finally here! after a week. sorry, but it's the end of the term.
homework tests homework tests.... enough said.

sooooo i kinda realized this year that I'm really not involved in anything at school. not any sports, not dance, not soccer, basketball, softball, I'm not even in choir. do i care? not really. I'm not very competitive when it comes to sports, and i don't really have a good voice OR any dancing ability {it get's embarrassing. ha! just kidding.} i played soccer for 4 years and b-ball for 2 + i did ballet for 3 years, and after realizing i didn't have any talent whatsoever, i quit.

anyways, back at the beginning of the school year Branson convinced me to join H.O.S.A. with him. {Health Occupations Students of America} so i did. i joined! i joined SOMETHING. haven't really done much yet except attend those little 20 minute meetings at lunch time. until now! 3 weeks ago we all paid up, and decided we would attend state. STATE!

there we are! on the bus ride up. the sad thing is, is i woke up that morning throwing up. feeling sick as ever, i still went because i really didn't want to miss it! Meggie {my bestie} and i were the only girls attending from MV! Hannah was supposed to, but since it was her birthday that day, she opted out. unfortunately, Meg and i couldn't room together {LONG story} but we sure did have fun on the bus + at competitions!

i may or may not have been a BIT proud to feel so legit with my own name tag.... opening ceremonies! Meggie's man, Brendan, is the state H.O.S.A president and gave an amazing speech! Meg, Brendan, and Taylor also competed in a competition and got first place! lucky for them they are headed to Nationals in June! wahoooooo

the competition Meg, Branson and i competed in was called Creative Problem Solving. we took a 50 question test, then based on what your score was, determined if you went on to round 2. there were about 3o groups taking the test, and although we felt okay about the test, we really didn't think we would move on.

after taking the test and waiting for 20 minutes, we look at the results poster, and see our school
CS00178 @7:30 = Mountian View! we were shocked. SHOCKED!

we only got 30 minutes to read an entire packet with a problem, come up with a solution, make a ten minute presentation, then present it in front of judges! our presentation was fab.

they do it out of top ten out of state, and we found out at closing ceremonies that we got 4th place. FOURTH! {side note: i often capitalize + repeat the word for emphasis {if you can't already tell... haha!}} unfortunately we needed 3rd to go to Nationals, but i was happy enough with what we got, and lucky for Meg she already made it to Florida/Nationals!

even though i was sick + had to leave early, it was a lot of fun :) happy i decided to go and so amazed we got 4th in state. uhhhhh-mazed

sunday memory!

this picture is of Cait and i in the 6th grade. this was back in the day when we dressed up for EVERY single holiday. Halloween, Christmas, Valentines, and even Easter when we dressed as bunnies and handed out candy in little baskets. we went to one of our houses the night before to plan outfits. honestly, this was so important to us to dress up for ALL the holidays.

as you can see, i am wearing a tree skirt while Cait is in capris and soccer shorts. we also both have ribbons in our hair and one of our favorite things to do was crimp our hair... classic. lets just say, we were a HIT in that elementary school.

PS: i'm back from Moab! i got home an hour ago. SO SORE, i am barely walking. it was quite the weekend. more on that later!

greetings from Layton!

i am currently blogging from a hotel in Layton! i left this morning for a HOSA competition with Meg, Branson, Taylor, Brendan, and some other kids from school! we have competitions, meetings, and orientations until tomorrow night. everyone will be here until 8 tomorrow night, except me, because tomorrow at 3 i leave for Moab for my 1/2 Marathon!

wow what a week it has been. crazy, stressful, stressful, and STRESSFUL.
i'll write back when i get back from Moab, i get home Sunday night! bye for now!

yesterday

it's seriously beautiful outside. and i am personally, loving it. this kinda weather in March? in UTAH??? it this even for real? last year it was snowing in April. this year, it is the beginning of March and almost summer! it's awesome.

the fam and i went for a bike ride yesterday and even though it lasted probably 20 minutes, we were sure happy about being able to slip on some shorts. and yes, those shiny things are legs you are looking at.... PASTY WHITE LEGS.THEN, the craziness happens. we came home to spraying water EVERY where in my parents bathroom. mom shouts "QUICK KEENA CALL DAD!!!!!" i call him, get scared and start crying, shut off the water, then walk into the downstairs bathroom to see water coming from the ceiling and and inch on the ground. + the carpet was SOAKED.after 200 towels and tons of vacuums + fans, we finally got mostly everything clean and dry.
it was quite the Sunday to say the least

sunday memory!

i have been spending so much time looking back at old pictures this weekend! i love looking back on old memories and i decided i want to try something new!

sunday memory!

Sunday's i'll share a memory + a picture.
this picture is of (top to bottom, left to right) Mackenzie, Malia, Alexis, Laura, Me, Briana.

this picture of us cousins and our aunty Laura Lee was taken at our youngest uncles wedding in 2006 (i think. it could have been 2005) i remember some of my aunts and uncles weddings, but this was the last one and the one i remember most! check out my short hair and my 'growing in grown up teeth.' everyone looks so different i can't believe how much we have grown up! what a fun memory

sometimes

sweater: Old Navy // pants: Gap // scarf: Nordstrom // black boots: Target // vest: Forever 21 // watch: Nordstrom

sometimes, life is absolutely wonderful. and sometimes, it really just SUCKS.

sometimes, you can try to be happy by just putting that smile on your face, to be a positive person. and sometimes, you can only do it for so long before you realize that some things in life.... really just SUCK.

100 things you should know about me

1. I used to play the piano. But I stopped practicing, until Sunday when I played for 30 minutes

2. I love the Kardashians + their shows + their drama

3. I have 2 brothers, 3 sisters, 2 parents, 3 grandpas, and 2 grandmas

4. I love to soak my feet in burning hot water when they are cold, until they are lobster red

5. Disneyland is my favorite place on earth

6. I really want to meet my hero’s, Buddy Valastro and Walt Disney

7. I have a very bad case of OCD

8. I love sewing but I usually slack off and don’t get around to it

9. When I was 2, I threw up every night multiple times. wink wink... I have hypoglycemia.

10. I am very bad at grammar

11. I have a small hole in the top of my right ear

12. I am missing 2 teeth

13. My cousin Briana is my BEST FRIEND

14. I love going to movies

15. I do not believe in the statement "you can do anything if you just believe in yourself"

16. I have insomnia + a sleep walking problem

17. I have always wanted to one day {when I am old and gray, obvi} die on my birthday so I live exactly ___ years

18. I was a cheerleader for one year

19. I can do the splits

20. I hate mashed potatoes and blueberries

21. I love hot, hot, hot, HOT baths

22. Talking about the future REALLY stresses me out. Don’t ask me why

23. I love getting de-ja-vu {however the heck you say/spell it}

24. I am secretly scared of dogs. Just BIG dogs though

25. I love my parents

26. I don’t have a tailbone

27. I have had surgery twice

28. when I was 6 I stood at the feet of a father moose and thought it was a statue

29. I was a vegetarian for 3 days

30. I own 15 pairs of boots

31. My fears in life include: deep water, the dark, and watching people park {and drive} their cars

32. When I grow up I will be a nurse

33. I wish I was a dancer

34. I have an Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, Gmail, Facebook, MyFitnessPal, My365, Viddy, and a blog. {I guess I like technology??}

35. I love Disney movies a lot

36. I don’t read unless it’s the Twilight Saga or Hunger games

37. I make muddie buddies way too often

38. Elder Bednar and Sister Dalton know me by name.

39. My dad is famous

40. My life quote = EVERYTHING happens for a reason

41. Gold’s Gym is literally, my second home. I am there everyday

42. I LOVE school. Really, I love it

43. I am secretly a genius when it comes to computers

44. I used to play 2 sports for 6 years {soccer & basketball}

45. I have a small fear of horses

46. I believe that boys should ALWAYS respect girls in all that they do. Little actions they do can go a LONG way. Girls don’t forget things.

47. I love weddings and I can't wait to plan my own

48. Chick flicks are my favorite

49. I love Saundra Bullock and Hugh Grant and really want them to get married

50. My dad is my Stake President

51. I am in a commercial

52. I have never been out of the country

53. I broke my 2^nd toe on my right foot, then my toenail fell off

54. I have gotten stitches

55. My hobby is shopping

56. I do not have a favorite color, but my favorite color to wear = black

57. I want 8 children

58. NO foods should ever touch

59. I spend money too fast

60. I love living in Utah because I love having 4 seasons

61. I have had my first kiss

62. I don't regret anything

63. I used to be an amazing artist and I wish I would have stuck with that talent

64. I love The Office

65. I love school rivalry

66. Conaselazukajuicerainbow - is a color I made up

67. In my opinion: Boys with muscles + scruff = SEXY

68. If I got paid for blogging, I would be a millionaire

69. My room is never messy {explanation: With my stuff. With my sisters? Yes}

70. I hate vacuuming

71. I am a BYU fan

72. I am picky about a lot of things

73. I had a Herbst appliance for 6 months

74. In my opinion: seeing blood > watching someone throw up

75. My favorite soda is Dr. Pepper

76. I love Zupas and Yogurtland

77. I have never sluffed a class period {explanation: if I skip class I tell my mom first}

78. My mom should be a professional chef, because seriously, I LOVE her home cooked meals.

79. I have had braces…. TWICE. 4 ½ years total

80. I am a diehard Twilight fan. TEAM EDWARD

81. I have never regretted paying my iPhone bill each and every month

82. My family owns a clothing store. It’s called 7Circles

83. In 8^th grade I got 30 warts {on the bottom of each foot} burned off…. TWICE.

84. I love Pinterest…. I pin a lot

85. 50% of pictures on my phone are cute couple kissing pictures. {Is that weird to admit? Yes}

86. Pepsi vs. Coke… neither

87. Ryan Gosling, Channing Tatum, and Ryan Reynolds are my celebrity crushes

88. I am proud to say I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

89. Salad, pizza, and French fries are my favorite foods

90. I honestly have no idea who reads this blog and sometimes it scares me haha

91. I love Crystal Light

92. My mood can definitely change in a matter of seconds

93. I love to stay up late

94. I love quotes

95. I really don’t care what people think about how I look/how I dress/how I speak/how I act even though sometimes I say I do.

96. No homework should EVER be done on a Friday OR Saturday

97. I will never FULLY name a child until it is born. That shouldn’t be allowed

98. I don’t allow myself to listen to Christmas music until the day after Thanksgiving

99. I believe hugs ALWAYS work

100. I love my life and I wouldn't change anything about it. I'm also very grateful for it