{Homecoming Week}

September 23-29 through the lens of my lovely iPhone camera:

 Ruby and Chase. They are so funny. And sarcastic. They always get mad at me because they try to do their homework for A3 when we're in A2 but instead we always just end up talking the whole class period :) One day they had a test and sent me this snapchat blaming me for their poor performance. I found out later that they were lying and totally got like 95% on their test. So sarcastic. They're so much fun and scifi is the funniest class ever. 

 Since when do we have Spirit Bowel games at our school? Oh gosh I'm so immature. 

On Thursday we went to a Math Club competition. Oh the things you do so you can put it on a college application. But really, it ended up being so much fun and somehow Lehi ended up winning. It was seriously hilarious. Despite what some of the kids there may have thought, math is not a sport and your math teacher is not a coach :) But I was laughing so hard at question 26. The fact that they had to specify that the owners were humans makes me worry a little :) Maybe I've been reading too much I, Robot :)

 Don't worry, Ethan took first place out of all of the junior boys. He was a little disappointed he didn't win overall but I'm sure next competition he'll step it up :)

 For homecoming we did our day date on Friday night instead of Saturday morning because some people had to work and it was just easier. We were going to go tandem biking but the place we wanted to rent them from was all out of bikes so we just went hiking instead. It was so much fun though! The hike was beautiful and it was just fun to get to talk to everyone. Afterward we went to Zupas (my favorite place ever, I'll have you know) and the football game! Lehi won 45-13. That's a pretty big deal. It was so much fun.

 The girls in our group: Halea, Jac, me, Kaylie, Abbie, Oakley

 And our handsome dates: Austin, Kaden, Toff, Gibson, Ethan, Jacob

 Abbie is so cute. I was so happy she was in our group. I miss seeing her all the time at soccer and it was so fun to be able to hang out with her again. I love this girl, she makes me smile.

Classic football game pictures. So glad Em and Connor and Justus could join in on the fun! :)

 I was snapchatting Daniel and hahahaha Austin and Abbie looked so funny I couldn't help but screenshot it. Oh my. They look like the most awkward couple ever. Classic.

Another quality snapchat photo. We're the cutest there ever was.

 Jackie and Ethan were so much fun to hang out with. Ethan is hilarious and I loved getting to talk to him. He is so random and always makes everyone laugh. 

 Toff was such a great date! We had so much fun. Last night we started off with taking pictures at a park. I'll post those when I receive them. I really hope they turn out cute! Jackie and Ethan were the funniest to watch getting their pictures taken. Then we went to Austin's house and had homemade cafe rio salads and we all just talked and laughed and had an ugly picture contest. Obviously. Then we went to the dance and it was so much fun! Dances are tricky because sometimes they're super lame but last night was so awesome! We were dancing like crazy and singing and oh my we had so many funny moments. So when we first walked in there was this awkward couple kissing next to one of the space heaters they had out. So we made this joke that whenever we couldn't find someone we'd be like "Maybe we should go check by the space heater!" hahaha! We thought we were funny :) And we went and requested "The Fox" and they played it right after. It's the stupidest, funniest song ever and don't worry, Toff knows every single word. It was a good time. He was such a gentleman the whole night and opened all my doors and got me water at dinner and just was so nice. It was such a great weekend, I'm so glad I got to know Toff better, what a great kid!

This usually happens when my mom tries taking pictures of me :)

Ok so I read so many great talks this week so I 'll just give you the link to all of them so you can go read them. The Atonement Can Secure Your Peace and Happiness by Elder Scott, Our Search For Happiness by President Faust, and Happiness Now and Forever by Elder Scott. Can you find a theme? :) I was trying to find quotes on happiness to maybe be able to help some of the most important people in my life (and myself too) to be able to find joy in the journey, even when life seems to be incredibly hard. I'm finding more and more that I really am happy. I may not be happy all of the time, in fact I'm sad quite often, but overall I am so happy because guess what? I have the gospel of Jesus Christ, I have a Savior that died for me, I have a forever family, and I have a Heavenly Father who blesses me each and every day more than I could ever even deserve. Here are some of my favorite quotes from these talks: 

"Happiness is not given to us in a package that we can just open up and consume. Nobody is ever happy 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Rather than thinking in terms of a day, we perhaps need to snatch happiness in little pieces, learning to recognize the elements of happiness and then treasuring them while they last.

Obviously there is a great difference between feeling happy at a given moment and being happy for a lifetime, between having a good time and leading a good life.

May I suggest a further requisite in the continuing quest to live happily every hour, every day, every month, and every year of our lives. The golden pathway to happiness is the selfless giving of love—the kind of love that has concern and interest and some measure of charity for every living soul. Love is the direct route to the happiness that would enrich and bless our lives and the lives of others." -James E. Faust 

I loved this so much. Snatch happiness in little pieces. There are always always good things in life each and every day. The trick is just finding them and learning to treasure them. 

"We must learn to judge ourselves not by what we are but by what, under the influence of the Lord, we may become. We do not have to measure our potential for success by our known capabilities alone. We can count on the power of God and its expanding influence on our lives. We can know that our ability and strength can be magnified to meet any challenge that confronts us.

Happiness is created. Love is its center. Its principal ingredients are sincere faith, true repentance, full obedience, and selfless service." -Richard G. Scott 

We can become more than we are right now. That is so important. Today I needed to take my own advice about being happy. After church I just got so overwhelmed with life. I was so stressed because I have so much going on with running and school and work that every single moment I'm home I want to spend it with my family. I just feel like I try to hard but I'm never doing enough. I felt like I was failing because there are so many things I'm supposed to be doing like go to the temple and do family history work and visit the sick and make cookies for your neighbors and what not and I just felt like I was failing at doing everything I need to do. But I love that as long as I am striving to do the best I can at everything that I do, God will help me improve. He knows I'm doing my best and I'm trying to be a good example to everyone around me. All I can do is take things one day at a time and realize that it's ok if I don't always get everything done that I think I should have. If I came closer to God and helped others to feel of His love for them then I'm doing alright. 

"True, enduring happiness, with the accompanying strength, courage, and capacity to overcome the greatest difficulties, will come as you center your life in Jesus Christ. 

Sadness, heartache, and disappointment are events in life. It is not intended that they be the substance of life. I do not minimize how hard some of these events can be. When the lesson you are to learn is very important, trials can extend over a long period of time, but they should not be allowed to become the confining focus of everything you do. Your life can and should be wondrously rewarding. It is your understanding and application of the laws of God that will give your life glorious purpose as you ascend and conquer the difficulties of life." -Richard G. Scott

Sadness is only a part of life, not the substance of life. I love that! Life is happy with a little bit of sad mixed in to help us grow and be better. Not the opposite. 

Now one final quote for you this week: 

This goes perfectly with what I was talking about earlier about not doing enough. As long as I'm doing my best, it's ok. Another thing I struggle with is comparing myself with others. I mean let's be honest. I have some pretty amazingly athletic, musically talented, beautiful friends. Sometimes I don't feel like the greatest there is. But I work hard at being what the Lord wants me to be and although sometimes I can't see the reward of my efforts, the blessings always come. It always seems like just when I'm at the point of utter frustration and I just want to freak out because nothing I do ever seems to matter and I never make the difference that I want to make then Heavenly Father shows me that I'm wrong. Just when I can hardly take it anymore someone will tell me "thank you" or "you're amazing" or "you looked beautiful last night." Heavenly Father is real, He knows me. He knows I'm trying. He reminds me that I'm succeeding. I'm so thankful for Him and His eternal, perfect love and support.

And that's another week in the life of Kenzie Draper. Thanks for reading.

Love, Kenz 

{Boise}

Yay for another exciting week. Let's recap:

Girl date with Lesh on Monday to Zupas. Always a good time. We had college day at our school so a bunch of utah colleges came and gave little presentations. It was really helpful and beneficial and ah I can't believe I'll be going to college so soon but I'm so excited for all the adventures soon. Scared, yes. But mostly- excited. And. Go Aggies. Utah State is looking really great. 

 Um. I got a letter. Like from Thailand. Ah. Best day ever. Logan even sent me a talk and he knows I love talks and he sent me a Thai pass along card. Everything is cooler in Thai. Even the cute elephant stamps are way cooler than any stamps we have here! I'm so proud of him. 

 Selfie. I never take selfies but Tuesday was a good hair day and I was proud of myself for getting ready. Totally selfie worthy. 

 Austin got answered to HOMECOMING from Abbie Foster. With an uncut pizza. Obviously this was our solution to the problem. 

The upcoming pictures are super blurry but they make me laugh. Sequence of events as we tried a meat pie. It's been on mine and Lesh's bakery bucket list for the longest time and we finally decided to check it off the list. We were starving and desperate. So. Meat pie it was. It wasn't even that bad. Dewey thought it was the nastiest thing ever so Lesh and I must have been really really really starving because we ate almost the whole thing.

Classic day at work.

There are lots of pictures ahead. We went to Boise as a cross country team to run in the Bob Firman invitational. Sorry the pictures are out of order. It was seriously such a fun trip. It was so fun because I got to get to know people that I normally don't get to talk to. We had so much fun. 

 Ethan, Emily, me, Mary, Halea

The whole crew.

 Jackie :)

 Only on a 6 hour bus ride would this occur. Thomas was sitting on top of Connor who was sitting on top of Daniel. Connor is screaming in pain, Daniel is just laughing, and Thomas looks extremely satisfied in the torture he is inflicting. Classic bus ride moment. 

 When we stop at Target and they have crazy hats. 

 Face swap is always entertaining. And disturbing.

 Trevor Bursatch (aka Buttscratch) was going a little stir crazy. Hence the creepy cow mask. He named himself "Expired Milk." Classic.

 When Jackie gets a hold of your phone when you're in the shower. There were many more gems like this one in my camera roll. Jac and I got a room to ourself and it was fantastic. It was so nice to get to talk to her about life and just hang out together. I really love Jackie and I'm so thankful she's been in my life for so long. 

 This is a pretty accurate depiction of our friendship :) 

 Mary!

 There was a contest on instagram where you put #racedayselfie and tried to get a funny picture with racers in the background. These were some of our better attempts. 

 Crazy Connor. This kid is so fun. He makes me laugh and is so much fun to talk to. He did so fantastic in his race and was a little excited. "You can just call me "Cen Arsell" It's like Ben Saarel and Connor Arnell mixed."

 So I didn't get any pictures with Ruby, Buttscratch, or Daniel even though Jac and I were with them like 90% of the trip. Somehow I just have these weirdie pictures of them on the bus. It was so fun getting to know them. They are so sarcastic all the time. I never know when they're joking and it's gotten to the point where I just assume everything they tell me is a lie. Some great moments with them: when they put salt in my water at dinner and I didn't even notice, when Ruby beat me in pocket tanks 3 times in a row, when Ruby told me he got a 19:28 in the race just because he wanted to pretend he was faster than me, Trevor and Ruby's magic tricks, when they stole Jac's phone and sent crazy snapchats to everyone in her contacts (super embarrassing), taking Split Pics with them, Trevor's mullet, crazy Daniel at dinner "Mmm broccoli soup. That ought to be artsy fartsy." or "I bet it smells like flowers", Ruby's Fruit Leather throw up "That wasn't fruit leather." There were just so many good memories made.

This is Mary at the gas station we stopped at. She plugged in her phone and started watching the BYU Utah game :) That's a true fan right there...

The Split Pic photos. Seriously too good.

The race itself went really well, too. Last year I got a 20:14 and 57th place. This year I got 19:32 and 32nd place. Improvement, hallelujah! It's such a fun course and I gave so much effort- it was a good race! 

I love cross country so much. I had such a great weekend with my team and I'm glad my parents got to tag along too.

Now for a few quotes for the week:

"Most omissions occur because we fail to get outside ourselves. We are so busy checking on our own temperatures, we do not notice the burning fevers of others even when we can offer them some of the needed remedies, such as encouragement, kindness, and commendation. The hands which hang down and most need to be lifted up belong to those too discouraged even to reach out anymore.

Since the Most Innocent suffered the most, our own cries of “Why?” cannot match His. But we can utter the same submissive word “nevertheless …”

-Neal A. Maxwell

I really liked these quotes because there have been a few times this week where I've been really discouraged and my heart was just hurting. I'm so thankful for people who offered "needed remedies" for me by standing by my side and giving me advice. I'd especially like to thank Alesha cause she got me through a really rough night this week. Often times the ones that need the most help are the ones that seem the happiest on the outside. May we all strive to "get outside ourselves" and focus on others.

"To the extent that you are continually praying every hour for The Lord to direct your steps, he'll tell you what to do, what to say, and what not to say, he'll bless you and prosper you in your relationships with others." -Gene R. Cook

This was in the talk Logan sent me and it was perfect for me because I read this right after praying for help with my relationships with others.

"He will try you again and again until you know that you are able and will serve him at all costs." -Gene R. Cook

I certainly fall short in so many things and there are so many times I feel like I can't quite do anything perfectly right but I try so hard to be willing to serve God. I'm so thankful for all of the missionaries that really do serve God "at all costs." Am I willing to give up everything I have for the will of my Father? I definitely need to keep working on it. Thankfully I have so many good examples in my life.

That's all for this week, folks. Thanks for reading.

Love, Kenzie