first world problems

hiking beautiful cedar breaks

today i went to volleyball practice and my team wasn't there

today i went to the snow shack to see my friend and she wasn't working

today i posted a selfie and it didn't get that many likes

today i went to maverick and the pink and blue slushies were both gone

#FIRSTWORLDPROBLEMS

but hey it was still a dang good day cause it's summer.

ain't no summer time sadness around these parts.

that's all.

xx

HAHAH ps watch this video please

bitter and sweet

i spent the first weekend of my summer in a little town that holds big spot in my heart: price, utah.
i've mentioned this before, but this is where almost my entire family is from, including my grandma powell.

my grandma powell has had to face father time for a long time now and it's kinda taking a toll on her, in other words, she's getting old. a few months ago she was in her house and she fell and broke her hip, little did she know that would be the last time she'd ever see her precious little house of 56 years. she is now in a nice nursing home in st. george  and we love having her close. 

this weekend me and my dad as well as many of my cousins, aunts and uncles went to her cute little blue cottage to prepare it to be sold. 

it was extremely bittersweet. here's why: 

bitter:

shortly after my grandparents where married they moved into their beloved house and have been there ever since. that is a loooooong time to live in one house. it is the only home that my dad and all his sibling knew growing up. there are 56 years of memories in that little blue house, that is something that is extremely hard to leave. 

I could tell that as we cleaned out the house that most of my dad's siblings were just trying to hold back tears.... my dad eventually cracked. 

he came upstairs crying holding these wooden cars that his dad had made him. (my grandpa powell was really good at making stuff out of wood/leather/chocolate/ect. but he passed away 14 years ago from cancer) when he came upstairs, all he said was "these were my toys" but behind his glossy eyes i could see that he was crying about much more then wooden cars. 

as we finished our work and prepared to leave, we gathered in the living room for one last family prayer in the home that had hosted thousands of family prayers.

i don't think there was one dry eye in the entire room. 

sweet:

the beautiful thing about this is that even though the house was hard to leave, we are so blessed to have something that is so hard to say goodbye too.

through the entire process of going through old stuff, packing, and cleaning, I feel like I got so much closer to my family, and not just my living family. I learned so much about my grandpa powell as I sorted through his old stuff and even read his love letters to my grandma during the war... he was a charmer:)

it was really fun going through decades of stuff, especially because most of it was up for grabs. I came home with striped high waisted 70's shorts, my dad's baseball jerseys, a typewriter, a green leather chair, a bow and arrow, 100+ records, assorted antique bottles, a floral bread tin, a leather fanny pack, some love letters, harry potter glasses, a letterman jacket, a bullet belt, and a lot more amazing stuff that i'm probably forgetting.

so ya you could say the hoarder inside of me was having a dang good time.

and now for a bijillion annoying pictures:

sooooo many love letters... i was in chick flick heaven

awwwwwwwww

moon boots and 70s shorts woot woot

idk why I'm posting this, gahhhh this is so embarrassing,,, but ya you could say we have a good time;)

these flowers my dad called "snowballs" were evvvvverywhere

even the cute gold doorknobs made me nostalgic... tear tear

the freaky dungeon-of-a-storage-room where i played orphanage my whole childhood

we found my grandma's wedding dress under her bed and it's still pretty as ever

just a pretty little stump

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

as we packed up the house, i decided to compile a few little videos so that i could remember this lovely little home and the memories it offered. it's nothing amazing, but it is just enough to take me back and help me remember the sights, sounds, smells and feelings i experienced when i went to "grandma's house"

the password is "bye" 


grandma's house from Katie Powell on Vimeo.

SOPHOMORE SUMMARY

as yet another year of school comes to a close, the teenage girl not-so-deep down inside of me can't help but get all nostalgic.

this year could be described much like a jolly rancher: hard, yet satisfying.
and with that pathetic simile, i will begin my sophomore summary post.

as i think back on my first year of official high school, it is crazy to see how much has changed. how much i've changed, how much my friends have changed, and how much my life has changed. it is also crazy to look back and see how much i have learned. and i'm not just taking about the pythagorean theorem/apostrophes/newtons 3rd law type of learning. i'm talking about the type of learning that really matters in the long run. i learned so much about being a good friend, having fun, and the nature of teenagers in general.

my sophomore year brought more adventures then i ever could've imagined, both good and bad. i experienced so much this year, and though i am far from perfect, i thought i would share a few things that this ridiculously hard, yet undeniably fun year taught me.

+REALIZE WHAT YOU HAVE BEFORE IT'S GONE
as cliche as that might sound, it is soooo truuuue! friends will come and go, so enjoy them while you have them. high school will come and go, so stop tweeting about how pointless it is and have some fun before it's over. the jelly shoes trend will come and go, so wear those sick squeaky shoes while you still can.

+EVERYTHING COSTS MONEY
clothes. gas. food. school. music. traveling. fun. EVERYTHING.
its kinda annoying actually. so my advice to the youngbloods out there is to get rich now. hahah if only it was that easy…. (also i have to earn $3500 by the end of the summer cause i signed up to go on an expedition to fiji. guys thats a lot of money. crap. #prayforkatie)

+BE GRATEFUL
once you've recognized your blessings, it is important that you treat them like a blessing (particularly family and friends) i am not very good at this one. (remember these are things i've learned not mastered.) too often i hide behind my sarcasm and never really get to tell people how much i truly love and care about them.

+FAKE A SMILE
my sophomore year of high school taught me how to "fake a smile" sometimes you're gonna have crappy days, it happens. but the worst thing to do on a crappy day is to make everyone else's day crappy too. don't be a dark cloud. you don't have to be sunshine, because some monday's just hit way too hard, but at least try to be an artificial light lol.

+MY PARENTS AREN'T ACTUALLY THAT LAME
i was looking through my parents yearbooks a few months ago and it was obvious through the notes and pictures in their yearbooks, that at point in my parents life, they were really cool. (i think the fact that my dad wore a chain since kindergarten really added)
 then it hit me: well maybe they still are.
even though they set early curfews and like weird salads, they are really cool. and really in love, and really happy, and really really cool.
oh... but i also learned that they aren't perfect.. my nine year old self would be devastated.

+YOU NEVER KNOW, SO JUST BE KIND
sophomore year taught me that you never really know what's going on in a persons life, so just be kind. the annoying girl next to you in science may be facing neglect and abuse. the cute kid in math's mom might have cancer. you just never know, so be kind.

+BOYS ARE DUMB AND GIRLS ARE MEAN
it is just the way they are. it has been that way since the begining of time and it will always be that way.
high school boys are dumb as rocks. rocks don't pick up hints unless you say it to their face/engrave it in their souls.. but yet we still love them?… moving on…
 i'm certainly not saying that all girls are mean or all boys are dumb, but i don't think i'm lying when i say that every girl has a mean side. it's just waking up that side of her that's the scary part. (advice to all teenage girls: follow the girl code, and you will not have to deal with the mean side of your friends.)

+MUSIC IS EVERYTHING
 music is emotion. music is passion. music is life. (can you tell I like music heheh?)
bad mood+good song=good mood

+SAVE THE DRAMA FOR YO MAMA
this year taught me that drama happens, but it's ok. life goes on. and even though viola loves duke who loves olivia who kissed sebastian who is actually viola, and everything is complicated and confusing, ITS OK. high school is 2 short years and you probably won't see most of the people in your school ever again. so rather then making enemies, make yourself some lifelong friends. woot woot.

+LETS GO, GNO
sophomore year taught me that there is no such thing as problem so horrible that a girls night can't fix. it's true. i saw this quote on pintrest a while ago that said something like "high school isn't about finding your husband, it's about finding your bridesmaids." and let me tell you, i'm gonna have the best bridesmaids ever. my friends are AMAZING, every single one of them. as my elementary-school-self would say: "girl power!!"

+HOW TO SPELL
i learned how to spell sofomore, sophmore, sofmore, sophomore.

+CRY IT OUT, SHAWTY
i learned that sometimes it's ok to cry, sometimes it just has to come out. even though you might feel pathetic when a teacher walks in on you balling on your best friends shoulder in the bathroom (true story)

+DON'T TRUST EVERYONE
unfortunately, i am the kind of person whose naiveness gets the better of them so they trusts everyone and everything. my sophomore year of high school taught me not to trust so easily.
if you leave your iphone in a PE lockeroom in crimeless st. george utah, it might get stolen and you might lose all your pictures and music (true story) also, when you tell someone a secret or something close to your heart, be careful who you tell. some people really care about you, but some are just curious.

+YOU CAN'T MAKE EVERYONE HAPPY
ok heres a riddle for you: there is a hipster a jock and a nerd hanging out on a friday night. the hipster wants to go caving, the jock wants to have a madden tournament, and the nerd wants to go see interstellar,.. what do you do?
the answer: it doesn't matter because whatever choose to do, not everyone will be happy.
that's that.

+HAVE FUUUUUN
high school is so short, and like i said, after you graduate, you won't see most of your peers ever again. (except for maybe some awkward grocery store encounters)
so forget the haters and do what makes you happy.
(except please don't make out in the halls,.. thats gross and it uncomfy for everyone)


although i probably learned a ton more then that, i have to go do fun summery stuff like jumping off cliffs and wiggle carting down hills.

it's a good life hazel grace.

ohhh baby

there is something about baby feet, fresh from heaven, that just makes me happy. 

welcome to the world, baby beau.

RULES OF SHOTGUN

have you ever walked through a parking lot and almost been trampled by ferocious teenagers making a b-line for the shotgun seat? well, as a teenage driver, i can tell you that this is a regular occurrence. getting the shotgun seat in the car is like being the queen bee (the driver is the king bee obviously). not only is it a privilege, but a responsibility. so to calm the competition of fighting over the shotgun seat, me and my friends have created some shotgun rules.

SHOTGUN RULES:

****driver can over rule everything

1) you must be in sight of car to call shotgun 

2) you can only have shotgun one way (not there and back)

3) shotgun is DJ, however they must obey all of the driver's song requests.

4) shotgun is co-pilot. (you will be expected to take the wheel in emergencies)

4) shotgun has authority over backseat

5) if two people fight over shotgun they both sit in the back 

6) if shotgun rider doesn't listen to driver, they are suspended from shotgun for a week and they have to buy the driver a snowcone within that week.

7) F word is automatic shotgun suspension (length will be decided within situation)

8) shotgun is on cop-lookout duty

9) driver cannot touch phone, or spankings by all passengers will be administered

10) shotgun is responsible for making sure the passengers behave and 

DONT LEAVE ANY GARBAGE IN THE CAR.

so there you have it folks.

the 10 commandments of shotgun.
xx

p.s. song of the post: shotgun rider, tim mcgraw

monday notfunday

as i woke up this morning and turned off my alarm, my flash went off and produced an accidental picture that accurately describes my monday: tired, dull, exhausted, worn out... you get the picture. (pun not intended)

also, the i think the greasy eyelids and messy hair added a nice effect to my "dead" look today.

on the bright side... THERE IS ONLY ONE MORE MONDAY WOOOHOOO

i have convinced myself that all my problems will disappear as soon as it's summer. let's hope the universe works with me on that imaginary deal.

at this point in time all i can think about is summer. 

all day at school i just chant "summer" under my breath like in the opening scene of high school musical 2. 

i will survive. i am strong. i can do hard things. (pep talks i give myself as I walk into chemistry.)

goodnight to all the school going prison going chumps. we can do this.

ALMOST SUMMER

i just started rapping and then^^^

this past weekend me and my friends went out to warner valley to do the whole classic bonfire/stargazing thing. it was going to be a pretty simple night, but it turned out to be an adventure that would make all the "adventure seeking" hipsters jealous. in other words, it was pretty crazy.

when we first got out there, we watch all our guy friends struggle to build a fire. we kept critiquing them and trying to help them, but they just kept saying "we're scouts we got this". i mean idk what they teach at scouts, but 20 minutes later we got a fire. haha.

after blasting luke bryan and watching the stupid boys try to jump the fire for a while,  we decided to go "exploring" lol. (dora where u @?) we found this 2ish ft wide cement pipe and we got the great idea to climb through it with an almost dead phone flashlight as our only light. we're really bright kids. half way through, my friends freaked out and crawled their little bootays out of there. but i don't blame them, because the pipe wasn't ending and it was really chlaustrophobic and we kept hearing weird noises haha.

side note: someday i'm gonna go back to that pipe with a longboard and lay on my stomach on it and go really fast.

after we got out of the freaky pipe, we realized that our friends had left us, which is kind of a problem when your in the middle of a desert in the middle of the night. we ran for a while chasing their taillights until we came accrossed one of their cars that had a flat tire. it took us like a whole hour to change the tire because once we jacked up the car, we couldn't figure out how to unjack it…. classic mistake. by the end of my high school career, i'm gonna be way good at changing tires. i've already changed 3 of my friends tires and i'm only a sophomore.

overall it was a freaky yet fun night. but the thing about this night that i loved the most is that it reminded me of SUMMMMMER.
it is so close, yet so far.

i can practically taste the chlorine water and endless snow cones.

focusing in school is so hard.

i. am. so. unbelievably. excited. for. summer. that. i'm. using. a. ton. of. periods. so. you'll. understand. how. ridiculously. excited. i. am.

i think you get the point.

SUMMER COME FASTER

idk what the point of this post was.
a nice journal entry? idk

l8r sk8rs