Lace and Paper Flowers

My sister Julie and I have developed a fun summer tradition. Last year we went to a Natasha Bedingfield concert at the House of Blues in Vegas, and this year we found tickets to the Fleetwood Mac Unleashed tour at the MGM Grand in Sin City!! We spent the day window shopping, eating, riding the New York New York roller coaster, enjoying the Bellagio gardens, attending the LV Temple, and looking at all kinds of crazy people. Then we found our way to the arena, got to our seats and watched the other 15,000 Mac fans file in. Yes, we were younger than everyone by at least 25 years, but that made it even better! All the people around us were really nice and told us some interesting facts about the band and its history and about each song. And, man, did Fleetwood bring it!! They were tremendous!! Stevie's voice was still incredible as was Lindsay Buckingham's. The concert lasted for 3 hours followed by 3 encores! The crowd wanted more but the 60+ year old band members were tired. :) Here a just a few, albeit rather poor, shot of the arena and concert. Don't be too jealous :)

Giant arena!

us :)

Buckingham's incredible guitar skills

STEVIE!!! (she was the wierd, emotional, odd-clothes-wearing, poetry-writing, rather sad girl in everyone's middle school classes. making millions. should have been her friend, all. )

Free At Last!!

After 10 long months, my braces are finally off!

Kate? Kate?? KATE??!!

Oh HELLO!! Yes, I am still alive. Sorry it's been almost 2 months since I've posted any goings on in my humble life. Well, there has been a lot. So let me just start at February and catch you up until now. Enjoy!


February 28: I had to opportunity to drive to southern Colorado with my parents to attend the funeral of my sweet Grandpa Albert. The services were very nice consisted of some wonderful musical numbers and a 21 gun salute, being as Grandpa was a medic in WWII. Before his death, Grandpa had suffered from Alzheimer's for several years, and all I really remembered about him was from my perspective as a tiny little girl. I was thinking about all that I did remember about him at the funeral, and sadly it wasn't much. However, my thoughts came to his spirituality and his joining The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. That act alone greatly affected the lives of my parents, me, my siblings, my cousins, my aunts and uncles, really, the whole Montoya side! Once I'd realized the great blessing this man had brought into the lives of nearly all his posterity, I received a greater understanding of and passion for missionary work and genealogy and temple work.


March 12-17: My best friend Stacey and I decided to go on an adventure to a city that neither of us had been to that would have lots of art, an ocean, and be easy to navigate. So we took off to San Francisco during spring break!!

Alcatraz! We didn't care enough about island prisons to pay the $40 to go.

Smiling at the marina!

Ok, so this trolley is lame and has wheels, but we did ride a real one at night. NOT worth it.

WICKED! Yes, we saw and loved it!

Stace and I had a grand time wandering around the piers, Union Square, numerous art galleries, eating delicious bay food and sushi, and just seeing what this city was like. I liked San Fran a lot because it is a pretty relaxed city, although the hills would be suicide with a standard transmission. I was able to drop by a publishing company that I'll be applying for in the fall! I know one of the designers there, and he said I could come in and he'd give me a tour. It was great!

Someday I'll work here.... :)

March 25-29: I along with 16 other students and our adviser went to San Diego the week AFTER spring break, so I got a double dose of beautiful California! We attended a design conference on the campus of the University of San Diego all day for 3 days and spent our evenings on the beach and roaming around town. It was incredibly useful to listen to the speakers to hear what the "real world" aspects of design are and how to better prepare for entering the professional design world. (It's odd that a simple piece of paper (diploma) takes one from being a student to automatically being a professional. Scary!) And of course the ocean was wonderful! Freezing, but grand :)

Y-Conference graphics

Our lovely group of students!

Schmoozing: check. I think they only talked to me cause I looked awesome.

We had spent many months, full days, and countless hours getting this trip in order. Tons of fund raising, endless planning, and long phone calls with hotels all culminated in a trip that really went off flawlessly. *Phew!

So now I'm back at school scurrying to get everything ready for the end of semester. I loved General Conference last weekend and am excited for Easter this weekend!

JANUARY'S ALMOST OVER?!?!

Good heavens, life goes by fast. Last week I treated myself to an extra long weekend and went north to visit my dear friend Kristine and my wonderful Jack, Michelle and Charlie. What a fun time, you guys! I loved being able to drive by myself for hours. I love being able to think about whatever I want or not think about anything without being chastised by passengers for being boring. It was a great weekend of just doing nothing. Love it.

This morning I woke up to several inches of snow, and it continues to dump. I'm usually really cranky about snow because I hate being cold above all things. (Forget that fire and brimstone stuff. I'm convinced Hell is actually freezing.) However, every time I brush my car off and then it's covered again in 30 seconds, I've just been laughing about it. This weather is just ridiculous! So I'm working early so I can spend the rest of my day reading, watching movies, and drinking decadent hot chocolate. :)

c'est la vie

Oh hello! I've just finished the first week of school of my eighth semester at Southern Utah University. Tomorrow is my 22nd birthday, and Wednesday I'll be throwing a "Blast From the Past" party at my residence. So this week is shaping up to be a nice one. Today I'm just pondering on the last day of my being 21 years old.
I've really enjoyed this age. I've heard about middle-aged and older people feeling like they are continually one age and being surprised every time they look in a mirror. I think this is how I will be with 21. It has been such a nice, pleasant age to be. I've been a legal adult for 3 years, but 21 is the mark of a legitimate adult. I've realized so much about myself this year and how I want to change and how I want to stay the same. I've begun to understand the importance and great blessing my family is and how much I love them. This year has been a stupendously blessed one. :) I'm grateful to Heavenly Father for His graciousness and guidance.