Life Lately

Hey, guys. Guess what? I didn't fall off the face of the earth. Here I am! And here's life lately:

First off, I graduated!! whoohoooo!
On Thursday, May 30th me and 600 of my closest friends ("closest friends" being defined as the people I have literally spent the last 12 years of my life with) graduated from Dear Old AF High.
And here are some lovely photos of me and my friends and family on that day:

Me and the bestie.

The Fiends.

The Family, minus our missionary.

My Sr Trip took me to NYC! where i ate the best food in the whole world and walked the Brooklyn Bridge and saw 5 Broadway shows and went to the 9/11 memorial and stood in Time Square and got soaked to the bone in the pouring rain and walked through Central Park and took the Subway/learned about public transportation and ate hot dogs on the front steps of the MET where i had the biggest migraine and and and SO many other things. I'll spare you all the photos, but i will include a few:

Time Square.

The New York sunset from the top of the Rockefeller building.

New York in the rain.

The hallway of strollers in the Manhattan LDS Church building.

A lovely photo of The Lake in Central Park. Don't those row boats look fun?!

The largest piece of pizza i could find.

The friends who are more like family.

And to finish off, the NYC skyline.

Well, that's life lately, aside from Smoothie King, rodeos, concerts, and boating.
Sorry it's been so long.

Marley Kay

ACT, Called to Serve, and other such Updates.

So sorry i haven't posted in forever.
Life's already been kicked into high gear with school starting up already and I have had no time to write!

I seriously have no life any more. It's all just school, and home work, and work.
PS, Who ever thought homework was such a great idea? I mean, as if 6 hours of class isn't bad enough, lets just give them 4 to5 more hours to do AFTER that! Ugh- so frustrating. Only first term and the senoritas has already begun!


It's been a crazy weekend! Friday night i had to work but my awesome big brother was kind enough to take the end of my shift (He's worked there on and off since his Jr. year in high school) so i would be able to get some good sleep the night before the ACT. So sweet, right?! He's the greatest.

Took the ACT yesterday morning and felt pretty darn good about it. Still had time issues but i was much more confident in it and felt that i did well on the stuff i finished. (PS, if you're struggling on the ACT or would like to have a better score, or even if you're just struggling in a subject in school, i know of a fantastic tutor, it made a world of difference.)

In preparations for a farewell, we cleaned like mad-men over here Friday and yesterday! Then my mom kicked me and her sisters (my aunts) out and we went shopping. {finally found a Homecoming dress! pictures to come :)} Then my aunt talked me into going with her down to a friend's house for a facial. It was definitely a new experience for me but it was so fun! And my face has never felt better. :)

Today was my big brother's mission farewell--which was slightly heartbreaking for this house of girls.
He had a double farewell with a close friend and the entire parking lot was over-flowing, if you know what i mean. They both gave amazing talks! But i sure had a lot of pity for the poor youth speakers and the musical number... Also, if you saw us Anderson's in the meeting, don't worry. We are ok. All of us had a tiny break down at the end of the meeting, but we've recovered thus far. We are known for our tears, so don't panic. ;)
We had family and friends come over after the block for a get together. Basically, i couldn't stand in one place for longer than 3 minutes. I was chasing children, prepping more food, eating food, trying to say hi to people and welcome them in, or trying to find people. (But mostly i was eating food and chasing children.) We've had family and friends in and out all day long and it lasted til about 10 o'clock. So, you know, I'm just barely staring my homework... Which i should probably get back to...

Hopefully you'll hear from me sooner or later.

love always,
your dreamer
Marley Kay

Oh! PS, (for the third time) he's headed to the Philippines, where you mail one shoe at a time, eat dog, and speak a language no one's ever heard of.
He's gonna love it. :)

the summer of the couch

*****************************************************************

I meant to post this  on the 19th. But it's fine cause I'm posting it now. So don't hate ;)

*****************************************************************

It's time to bid farewell this lovely summer, unfortunately.

Not gonna lie, this summer's been a weird one for me.

it involved spending more hours at the school than i ever intended
only one unfortunate trip to 7 peaks
plenty of x-rays and doctor's appointments
practically NO yard work (which is a miracle in this house, the only reason you can get out of it is if you are severely injured... or mom thinks the environment is unsuitable- too hot, too cold, too wet, etc.)
spending 4 1/2 weeks on the couch (hence the title)
watching our home's entire movie collection/plenty of DVR
seeing almost every movie rated PG-13 and under in theaters
being an antisocial because summer is for physical activities and i was physically unable for 2/3 of it
being unable to work and earn all that money for the NYC trip for next summer
spent lots of time expanding my "medical-things-to-make-Marley's-body-stop-hurting" collection
only having 3 sleepovers
not going to the vast majority of girls camp
indulging in only one snow-cone
finally doing a few of those DIY projects i've been meaning to get through
starting a blog and joining just about every other social networking site out there
and a summer of learning a lot of things about myself


But it's time to close that chapter.
Time to say goodbye to the last summer of my youth.
Time to move on because sometimes that's just what life requires of us.
So there you have it. My summer. It built me, and I grew more this summer than i think i ever have in a three month period of time... But it was a good kinda growing [even if it wasn't the vertical kind- yup, still 5'2" ;)].
But now it's time to slip back into routine and school and the busy life i tend to lead.... so i'll kiss my wonderful summer good bye.
My goal this final school year of high school is to live it like a summer.
Drink it in and have some fun. To let go of all the "last years" and the "yesterdays" and live in today.

I'm going to make this new chapter count.
So here I go, wish me luck!

Marley Kay
your dreamer.

POWELL

Ok, so my family has been going to Lake Powell every summer since I was like... 2.

We just returned from our latest trip-which was very fun, despite the lack of doing anything on my part.

So they say a picture is worth a thousand words... so here are 21,000 words for you-plus a little commentary. :)

First, some lovely landscapes, all photos taken by yours truly :)

 

 BEAUTIFUL clear waters :)

 the way I spent most of my week.

 the book.

loved it. easy/quick read. read it in an afternoon. tears and laughter.

it starts slow and is a little tacky but the author's/character's sense of humor is remarkably close to my own so i just thought it was hilarious :)

 ok, there's a white spot in this rock on this rock that looks like pac man.

this photo does no justice.

 so the boys just spent their week digging holes.....

the first one is pictured above and the second below.

the first one was HUGE! and perfectly square, and they dug right down to the sand stone.

the second was smaller, round (obviously) and they filled it with water to float in-which actually worked surprisingly....

 sand castle? try city.

 So, near Waweap is the Glen Canyon Dam (pictured below)

(sorry the pic is blurry, it was taken out of the window driving 30+mph)

 We went into town and saw.....

 ok, it was too funny not to take a picture.

also, at the Dam Plaza, there is the....

 and the....

 haha sorry it was just too funny :)

 our beach as we drove away :'(

driving home, came around a corner in the canyon and this is what we see. too gorgeous NOT to take a picture.

All and all it was a fantastic and relaxing week! I had a lot of fun-even though the collar bone kept me from wake-boarding, tubing, etc. I had lots of naps, read a lot, and was able to enjoy a fantastic week

{Also I realized that this was probably my last family trip to Lake Powell of my youth... :'( but let's not dwell on it.}


Marley Kay
your dreamer.

that terrible "old" feeling

So, you know that feeling when something happens to you and you get hit with that pang of "age?"

Like being invited to 3 weddings and 2 bridal showers in one week?

I mean, one of the weddings my whole family was invited to,
but when your actual friends are getting married?
throwing bridal showers?
when you have a sleep over and 80% of the conversation is about what we'll be doing next summer for college?
and I'm still leaving notes for my family on the counter like this?

(That's the Kim Possible theme song if you didn't know.)

Today is one of those "old" days....

I'm WAY too little and immature to be going into senior year or thinking about college...

Growing up too fast- gotta make every moment count!

Neverland sounds like a great option right now.

Marley Kay
your dreamer

(hence all of the references to age in quotations...)

Father's day

i have a great dad. let's be real, he's pretty awesome.

he's the kind of dad that loves to make breakfast for the family.
he comes to sit through a whole two hours of a play all by himself that he's already seen three times just so i will have a ride home.
he is always patient and kind and has a charitable heart.
he is diligent and honest in all he does.
he puts others first and he never passes up a chance to serve.

he's a real fighter-- not like the "i'm-gonna-beat-you-up" kind, the other kind.
he is strong.
he's had his share of health battles in his life and he has never, ever given up.
he always keeps a positive attitude, no matter what the circumstance-- even if that circumstance involves screwing a hallo into his head.
he's the kind of dad that takes you on your very first date on your 16th birthday just because it's important to you even if he just got out of the hospital from the latest brain surgery a couple days before.
 
he buys us brand new cow boy boots when we come home crying just to make us feel better.
(ok, not really, it's just a family joke.)
but he does buy you flowers when you have a special occasion, and sometimes just because.
he'll even put up with all 4 of us girls in California for a week even though he hates Disney land and shopping.

he knows what it means to live with passion, and he shows it every day.


my dad is my hero.

love you daddy,
Marley Kay
[your only good kid ;)]

your dreamer

when your collar bone is broken...

So remember what i told you about being a clutz?
Yeah... here's what my right collar bone looks like about now:

It's broken. 6 weeks recovery and I'm at 1 week and 1 day.

The past 8 days have been spent on the couch watching plenty of TV (Disney, 80's movies, the entirety of Once Upon a Time season one, you name it), there's been lots of Facebook-ing and I've Pinned more in the past 8 days than ever before.

But when your collar bone is broken, it makes it hard to dress comfortably like a normal human being. So instead you wear things like button up DI shirts and sweat pants a lot (which, in case you were wondering, is a very comfortable mix). When your dominant collar bone is broken and you are a girl, you can't do your makeup easily, and most certainly can not do your own hair. So you spend a lot of time having Mama help you out in the beauty department.

You take lots of meds and get out of chores a lot, which makes your sisters really upset when they are weeding and folding all the laundry without you. You get to wear this awesome sling that makes your other shoulder ache; and, when you lay down, your hand falls asleep because your blood is rushing into your elbow. You also can't make smoothies anymore so you are out of income for a few weeks. You also sit on the couch so much that your butt becomes imprinted in the cushion. You find out that there are lots of movies out there that you have never heard of and try not to remember the online class you are supposed to be working on. You wish you could work on a sketch or do something with your hands but find that it's a bit difficult.

So you create a blog. Because, hey! You can type with one hand- and sometimes even both!

Three cheers for injury, folks.

You'll be hearing from me soon (and a whole lot more in the next 6 weeks),

Marley Kay
Your Dreamer


P.S. i thought maybe you'd enjoy the out fit of the day: