Weddings and Missions :)

So at BYU you either get married or go on a mission. Yep. That's about it. Alright maybe not always, but it seems that is the trend around these parts. So I am here to celebrate all my dear friends and family getting married, and my sweet cousin going on her mission. Wahoooooooo.

First wedding: My dear darling sista! Yep, that's right. She is officially a Kemp.

She got married in the Draper temple and she looked absolutely stunning. It is crazy to think my best friend who I was just playing house with is now all grown up and getting married. I am very happy for her, and Josh is one lucky man:)

Second wedding: Heather and Jordan!

Heather is my amazing friend who lived next door. We used to go on crazy adventures up to the canyon and do all sorts of crazy adventurous things in the wee hours. I am sure one day we will do it again :D Her wedding was in a very magical place with lots of rooms to explore :) (Which I very, very much appreciated :) She was a very happy beautiful bride, and I am so excited for her and Jordan.

And the last marrige: Cute Anne and Sam

Anne also lived next door, but in the opposite direction of Heather. She is our latest and greatest bride :) We had quite the bachelorette party re-creating all of her dates with Sam... and creating/inventing their future life with a fake same. Well, he wasn't really fake. We got a cut out of one of the One Direction band member and put Sam's head on it. It was great.

Whew... lots of marriages :)

And we sent off my cute cousin Deni. She is going to Independence, Missouri on her mission. She is going to be such an amazing missionary :) I am very excited for our family. Justin is off to Guatemala, Davis is in Peru, Deni is in Missouri, Connor will soon be in Chili, and I will be in Honduras. We are just taking over :)

 Well.. I still have two more weddings and a handful more missionary opening for this Summer. Time to prepare myself :)

Bear Lake, the 4th, and the Temple

For family vacation we went up to Bear Lake. We were all lobster red by the time it was over, but it was still totally worth it. We went boating, jet-skiing, tubing, swimming, wake-boarding, swimming, and we got to enjoy the beautiful scenery.

I also got to party it up on the fourth. Yay for Amurrica!! We went and watched the fireworks from the Stadium of Fire, because of course we are too cheap to actually get tickets :)

It was also my Daddy's birthday! We went to Thai Ruby to celebrate. In case you haven't been there and you live in the Provo area... please promise me you will go there. I promise you will thank me! It is the most delicious food you will ever eat and is only second best to eating in Thailand itself.

We also went to to Oquirrh Mountain temple. It was stunning. 

Of Spiritual Things...

I officially sent in my letter of acceptance for my mission to Honduras! It definitely took me long enough. Now to get everything else prepared and ready :)

I also had the opportunity to go through the St. George temple. It was 107 degrees in St. George, but I still had a lovely time. I definitely felt God's love and the spirit. The temple is an amazing and beautiful place, and I am so glad for the blessings that are available there. For more information about temples... http://www.lds.org/topics/temples?lang=eng

I went to the St. George temple when I was twelve for youth conference. We did baptisms, and ever since then I have absolutely loved the St. George temple. The St. George temple was the first temple built out West, and the third temple after Kirtland and Nauvoo. The saints sacrificed so much to build it. The matron also told us that the St. George temple is the exact same square footage as the Nauvoo temple. It definitely has a special spirit about it. 

I had an amazing experience and I am so glad I got to share it with such awesome people. I love my family so much and I am so glad they got to be there with me. 

I am so grateful for my family and for my Heavenly Father. I have such a strong testimony of God's love for me and his hand in my life. I am so excited to share with others God's love for them and his plan of eternal life for everyone. 

My favorite scripture is Isaiah 64:8. 

"But now, O Lord, thou art our ^afather; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the ^bwork of thy hand."

I feel like this scripture perfectly describes how I feel about the Savior's hand in my life, sculpting me to be my best self, and to be who he needs me to be. He is constantly helping me and guiding me in ways I never thought was possible. The Savior loves all of his children and wants them to be able to guide and "clay" them to be their best selves as well. I am so grateful for the Savior, and the gospel for leading me towards him. He can truly guide us to be our best selves, and to be so much more than we ever imagined ourselves to be. I am grateful for the opportunity to come closer to him everyday. I hope everyone will be willing to draw closer to the Savior, and let him wrap his arms of love around them. The Savior's love can truly change lives, if you open your heart to him. 

The Narrows and the Dirty Dash!

NARROWS & THE DIRTY DASH

I traveled down to St. George with some family and friends. We went hiking in the narrows, and had a grandios time. We thought we had hiked very, very far, but alas, we didn't go very far at all. Oh the joys of hiking through water :)

T.J., Jesse, and me :)

We went for all the cool photo-ops!

 Lacie and I are the cool cats

 Gorgeous views!

All the Harmon's

...

and driving home we stopped by good old Beaver!

Two days later, on Saturday, I ran the 10k Dirty Dash with Ty, Jesse, and Tabitha. For those who don't know, the Dirty Dash is an obstacle course/race where you get nice and dirty :) It is super fun. 

The before...

And after...

I have to say my favorite part was swimming through big tubes with lots of mud in them. We also got mud shot at us while trying to get through another mud slide. Soooo much fun :) Definitely the best race I have ever done. 

Camping Adventures

CAMPING WITH THE GIRLS

Last weekend my roommates and I decided to be adventurous and go camping. Emily and I had found a nifty little camping area up Rock Canyon when we were hiking a few days before. We decided that was to be our destination. After hiking Rock Canyon for over an hour in the dark, our beautiful camp site was taken. So we grudgingly kept hiking until we found a small clearing near the river to make camp.

Luckily, Rachel and Emily are rather skilled mountain women and were able to make us a fire and a tent of sorts out of tarps. We ate hot dogs and s'mores before bed. However, none of us really slept because it is still freezing cold in the mountains. In the morning I was freezing and grumpy, but luckily we left early enough so I didn't have to suffer too long in the morning.

Virginia and I before the hike up to the camping spot

Freezing cold in the morning!

The end of our camping adventures

The Mountains are Calling...

So the weather is finally starting to get beautiful in Utah! Wahooooo :) Last Saturday Rachel (my roommate) and I decided it was time to appreciate nature, so we went to hike Squaw Peak.
We were starting to feel a little like this:

 So we went! It was a rainy day, which made the hike a lot of fun. We got to basically slide down some of the areas because it was so muddy. I appreciated it a bit (a lot) more than Rachel :)
Hiking up the muddy areas was quite the adventure as well. At some points in our muddy journey we were feeling a bit like this:

And we did climb... and we too made it :)

The hike is about 7 miles total. This picture is from the base. Squaw Peak is the really point part in the top middle of the picture.

The hike is very awesome. I loved how the views were constantly changing.

 It is a gorgeous view when you get up there.

This is the view of the city down below. On the other side you get the view of the mountains.

Weeeee don't slip! 

The hike took is about four hours total, and was completely worth it! I hope we get to go and hike all of the places! (Which is definitely our plan). 

A week before we had gone up to Bridal Veil Falls in Provo Canyon. I don't think you can really call that a hike, more of just a stroll up a few areas.

We had a pretty fun time wandering around the waterfall and getting splish splashed all over.

If anybody knows of some killer hikes in the Provo area that we have to do, you better let us know! 

The Long Awaited Day of the Call!

This morning I woke up with full hopes that my call would arrive today. So after I took my three hour nap and woke up at 11:30 (I work from 5:00-8:00 every morning), my roommate and I decided to go on a run in order to chase down the mailman. But alas, our secret mission to track down the mailman was to no avail. As we walked home we saw that bright, white beautiful mini van with a blue logo in our apartments 15 minute parking. I literally ran up to the mailman, and asked if he had any mail for our apartment. He quickly responded that he had just delivered a mission call to our apartment. I bolted up the stairs to the second floor to see my shiny white envelope (well... maybe not shiny). There was my name, Sister Katiemarie Gabrielle Harmon, and the postage, $1.92.

                     


Then came the waiting....


And waiting....


And waiting....

And finally 8:30 arrived when I was going to finally get to open my call with Connor.

We were both freaking out. So he opened his call first... and DUN DUN DUN... he is going to Santiago Chili! Awesome!

And then it was my turn.
(Somewhere there is a video, but heck if I know how to upload it)

Mom and Dad trying to figure out their fancy technology :) Well... mainly Mom.

Luckily my dad cut open the envelope, because had I done it, it would have been a big, sloppy, skiwampis mess (I think he knew that, which is why he did it :).

Then I read it and I have been called to serve in the...

Honduras San Pedro Sula West Mission Spanish speaking. I will report to the Mexico MTC.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuT6sMH70rw 
(Here is the video, I couldn't figure out how to upload it) 

Wait what? South America... Not what I was expecting, or what anybody was guessing, but I didn't care! I was so excited (and am so excited).

San Pedro Sula is the dot with the red box around it near the top left. 

There are also lots of other cool places in Honduras like Las Vegas and Santa Barbara. Yep. That is right. 

It is official!! 

The cool college kids :)

I leave in October for the beautiful land of Honduras. My brother is in Guatemala right now, which is right next door to Honduras. I am super excited about that. When we get home we will have a lot of things to talk about and a ton of things, I am sure, which will be similar about our missions. I am also SO EXCITED for the WEATHER. Lets take a look at this.



Ahhhhh.... definitely my paradise. It has been a joke in my family that I turn the heater on when it is 70 degrees outside. Oh wait... it isn't actually a joke. That is actually what I do. There is also about 90% humidity. I think I will absolutely love it.
I am also addicted to the ocean; I am very excited to be so near it. Although I won't be able to get in it, just knowing I am so close to it will give me warmth and comfort.

After doing some other quick google searches, this is what else I found out.

1. It has been given the title of the most dangerous city in the world (http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2013/04/most_dangerous_city_san_pedro.html)

2. It is the murder capital of the world

3. Originally the Mayans lived there

4. The currency is Lempira

5. It produces a lot of bananas, coffee, sugar cane, tobacco, and forestry.

6. The majority of people are "mestizo," or of African descent


So yep! This is where I will be spending 18 months. I am super duper excited :)