JUNIOR YEAR: CHECK

WE DID IT.
ITS OVER.
THE DEED IS DONE.
THE NOTORIOUS BEAST KNOWN AS "JUNIOR-YEAR" HAS BEEN SLAIN!
the only thing we knew about it going in was what we heard from the agonizing complaints of our older siblings and the whispered warnings of teachers since 6th grade.
"just wait till your junior year" they said, "it'll get ya" they said.
but here i stand, maybe not quite as sane, but yet, here i stand.

so sorry about my majestic bragging of conquering what is said to be the "hardest year of school", but let's just say i'm really pumped to be done.

to be done with physics tests written in foreign languages and
hours of homework every night and
waiting for ACT scores and
the constant battle of finding a parking spot.

but then again, as i take full advantage of dm-ing cute senior boys for their graduation announcements (i only did it once and we were homies, k) , i can't help but think how different things are going to be next year!! all the little teenage-girl emotions in me start to act up and pretty soon i'm stuck in "bittersweet" mode. well heck yeah i want summer, but how am i supposed to get through school next year without senior friends who will pay for my lunch and give me good advice!?!
and then as i sign my numerous secret crushes yearbooks, it suddenly dawns on me that
 I WILL NEVER SEE THESE PEOPLE AGAIN. THIS IS IT.
and because of my insane summer, even the days with my close senior friends are numbered.
i didn't flinch when the doctor put an IV in me and i can sit through a horror movie like a champ, but change is scary. it makes me feel like i have my life together when i have go-to people that i can, well, go to. but when those go-to people up and leave to do adulty things like college and missions and what not, it kinda uproots me for a minute. every time i think about it i get this intense sinking feeling in my chest and pretty sure it's going to turn into a black hole or something if i don't get a cotton candy slushy soon!
maybe i'm overreacting, but a lot of my friends are going on missions and the next time i see them they'll probably be fresh RM's speaking broken english and wearing cargo shorts and BYU swag!!
tear.
tear.
tear.
its tragic, really.
maybe next year i'll meet some gullible sophomores who think i'm cool (cause i'm a senior and apparently that's a big deal) to fill the hole.
although, i've always been better at making playlists then i've been at making friends so maybe i'll just stick to that.
sorry i'm getting side tracked, the point of this post was that
junior year is over so that is cool but all the seniors are leaving so that is not cool!!!

have a great summer my friends,
unless you wrote "HAGS" in my yearbook...that is so hideous why would you do that?
ily anyway,
kp

SUMMER JAMS

right now it's that awkward phase between prison and freedom where no one wants to come to school but the teachers are still giving assignments. it feels like summer, but it's not allowed to be. so, in order to soothe our summer-anxious nerves i created this summer playlist that i plan on jamming to on the way to the lake every day this summer. hope is a beautiful things my friends, and it's all that's getting me through these annoying sage tests LOL.

mr. blue sky - electric light orchestra

cheap thrills - sia
high dive - andrew mcmahon
ILYSB - LANY

all night - icona pop

i feel good - thomas rhett

hurts like heaven - coldplay

closer - teegan and sara

waiting for love - avicii

wasted time - keith urban

youth - foxes

i'm alive - micheal fronti

something good can work - two door cinema club

also if you have spotify follow me and this playlist is in my music.. annnnnnd if you don't have spotify, welp, get spotify and follow me!

music is so cool. see ya.
kp

UNIFIED STUDIES

i thought i would start out this post by explaining what this "unified studies" and why you should do it, but honestly, i'm not quite sure what the heck this club is or why they took 12 teenagers camping for 4 days for free, i just heard there was dutch oven and mother nature involved, so i signed up.

me and my friend jade ended up being the only juniors on the trip and i can't say i was mad about it (i learned later that apparently unified studies is a club exclusively for seniors, HAAH WHOOPS). it was so fun to hang out with my senior friends before they go to college and on missions and have scary real-world experiences and get all wise and boring.
the people that went on this trip were all amazing. in fact, if you put every student at desert hills high school on a cool/chill scale (like the cool/chill people are at the top and the nards/dramatic kids are at the bottom) then i'm pretty sure that the top 12 people on that hypothetical list were the 12 people that came on this trip.
that didn't make sense, did it?
the people that went on this trip were amazing, let's just leave it at that.
moving on.

there were 3 leaders wrangling/chaffering the students and all of them were male and all of them were insane. don't freak out mom, not like the creepy kind of insane, like the kind where they like to white water raft random unknown rivers and take spontaneous trips to europe with no plans at all. so like the cooool side of insane.
one night one of our leaders said something that proved to be true throughout our entire trip.
he told us the most memorable adventures are always created when something goes wrong.

welp, we woke up the first morning to some belated christmas cheer from mother nature, aka 3 inches of snow and counting.
so that wasn't expected.
it made choosing an outfit really easy though because i literally just put on all the clothes i brought.
after sipping hot chocolate for a while we decided to seize the day, even if it was a really crappy day, and we went hiking anyway. it worked out really nice though because the place where we were hiking is usually pretty dusty and sandy but because of the recent precipitation you could actually walk around without getting an entire sand dune in your shoe!! also, the waterfall we hiked to was flooding so it was extra beautiful.
the next day went about the same way, except instead of snowing when we woke up it was pouring rain. still fun tho! after the sun came out to party we hiked to a different waterfall and went swimming in 0 degree water:-)

now that i'm writing about all these cold activities it doesn't sound that appealing, but trust me, it was probably the funnest trip i've been on to date. the mix of good people and good food and good environment is something you just can't beat, no matter where you travel or how much money you spend.  it was one of those crazy fun experiences that you reminisce about to your grandchildren with the classic preface "when i was your age.."
..buuuut i think i'll keep most of the stories off the internet and save them for my grandchildren:))

cy is craaaazy

the last night a few of us hiked a mountain near our campsite and told scary stories! 

mother natures's glitter

look! indian graffiti!!

God is such an artist. i can't get enough of the beautiful places he has created.
have a good day kids
kp

    unified studies from katie powell on Vimeo.

scotty is a hottie

first of all, can i just say,

LIVE MUSIC JUST GETS ME.

it doesn't matter if it is a scotty mccreery concert in cedar city or a violinist in the subway of new york city, live music has a way of getting inside me and making my soul all kinds of happy. what i especially love about concerts is how they bring people together.

when you can get hundreds of people in the same room, 

high on the same music, 

 singing the same lyrics, 

it is PURE MAGIC.

last thursday i went to a scotty mccreery concert with some of my ladies and i'm still not over it. his entire career started from live singing (American Idol) so he was SO GOOD LIVE. 

like the close-your-eyes-and-melt-his-voice-is-so-dreamy kind of good.

i'm so glad a few of my friends like country music. i love theses ladies.

SEE YA LATER SCOTTY

*he waves*

kjp

psych i'm not a failure

soooooo they needed a person to do video so now i'm on exec council! woot woot.

it's kinda funny how life works out like that. HAHA can we appreciate my last 3 post titles for a second?

-i will survive

-i am a failure

-psych i'm not a failure

and that, my friends, is the cycle of my life. 

and through every step of that cycle i am grateful for my amazing family who always keeps the encouragement rolling in, and for supportive friends who understand that teenage girls heal through good[junk] food. life is cool. 

and d-hills, prepare yourself for some insaaaane videos next year!! cause i'm pumped!

and here are some cute pics of my pal emily that i took at a YCL overnighter (aka Youth Camp Leader overnighter--it's a girls camp thing lol).  I won't go into that interesting experience very much but lets just say that some of the highlights included watching inception, killing a bat, and straight SHREEDDDDING "wannabe" by the spice girls on karaoke with my homegirl em.

seeeee yaaaaaa

kp

i am a failure

too often social media is a place plagued with sunshine and rainbows and butterflies and success and happiness. which, i mean, don't get me wrong, those are all great things, but here, on my little corner of the world wide web, i like to keep things reallllll... which includes the highs and the lows.

so i'm here today to talk about how i'm a COMPLETE FAILURE. 

not the kind of failure where I live in my parents basement and my only hobby is binge watching Netflix, but the kind of failure where you give 110% and see no profit... which in my opinion, hurts worse.

i ran for student council this week, and i really gave it my all.

i stayed up late working on posters and videos and leadership and my group project and i really really nailed my interview,

and GUYS!!! i walked out on stage during the assembly in front of the whole student body after they showed my already embarassing campaign video, ripped off my tear-away pants and told them to vote for me. like HOW LEGENDARY/EMBARRASSING IS THAT????

and I know after you watch my video you'll probably never read this blog again because of your complete embarrassment for me... but it's ok. because then sometime when your having a bad day you can just come back and read this post and remind yourself that your not the only complete noob in this world!! 

I'm right there with ya.

yes, I do hate myself.

yes, I will be living in a hole for the next month.

but don't get me wrong, I am SO proud of this massive failure.
IF YOU'RE GONNA FAIL, FAIL WITH FLAIR, amiright??

 I am SO proud of myself for trying. even though catching up on drop dead diva would have brought the same results that working my butt off did (aka no results) , I am proud of myself for giving it a go.

 [insert a bunch of Pinterest quotes about how failure is the first step to

success]

also, here are a couple things that I used in my campaign, so you too can enjoy the
fruits of my failure:-)

follow your dreams kids, no promises they'll come true, but still follow them!!! <3 kjp

i will survive

*cue i will survive by gloria gaynor*

i'm pretty sure if i make it out of this week with no major breakdowns, i can do anything.

i am running for student council, which basically consists of selling your soul to the administration for a week.

also, i'm pretty sure the guy at maverick is going to know me by name by the end of this week because COTTON CANDY SLUSHIES ARE BACK ERRRBODY.... and yes, cotton candy slushies are my way of coping, whoops.

requesting prayers and encouraging looks and
your vote if you happen to go to the great desert hills high school!!

also, can we talk about conference for a sec??
it was just what i needed, especially elder holland's talk. man, that guy just kills it every time.

peace love and blessings,
kjp