Promise I Only Fell Once..

For Family Home Evening last night our group decided to combine with another group and go ice skating. We got ready to go and found out that the number of people in attendance was going to be quite disappointing. We thought well, ice skating is fun and who ever wants to go can go and the people that decide to stay home are going to feel quite left out. We got to the ice rink and saw some people from our group there but they were there for about 5 minutes and left. What should have been 60 people turned out to be 5. Also known as The Awesome Five! DUH!

The Awesome Five.... also known as Rob, Kayla, Berlynn, me and Colby. It would have been the Awesome Six but half way through Jordan disappeared. We came to the conclusion that he found a spare room with a wardrobe in it and disappeared to Narnia.

We stood in contemplation trying to decide if we should stay and ice skate or choose another activity. The thought that was running through my mind was, "I have not been ice skating in who knows how long" and "The last time I did something where I was strapped into some sort of boot, I fractured my ankle" and last but not least, "The chance of me falling on my behind and embarrassing myself is quite likely."

I was overruled and we went ice skating. I am happy to report that I am better than average and I did not hurt myself.. well except for my dignity when fell on my behind. I was skating along just fine and dandy and some chump runs into me from behind and the way he ran into me I ended up falling into his lap... Can you say.. AWKWARD! His response was,"Oops, sorry! I don't really know how to stop." The thought entered my mind of expressing my frustration to this "random chump" or even saying some witty comment but I bit my tongue. I sat on the floor looking up at Colby who I could tell was holding back heavy laughter and said, "Gosh danget," his response was, "Well, at least this one wasn't your fault." True statement.

I recovered from my fall and gathered up all my confidence and was on my merry way. We ended our ice skating adventure and went home to recoup from the cold and what better way to do that than drinking hot chocolate and watching The Polar Express.. excuse me while I break out in song..

"Here we only got one rule, never ever let it cool! Keep it soakin in the pot, soon you got hot chocolate! OOO WE GOT IT!! HOT HOT!! YEAH WE GOT IT! HOT HOT! OH WE GOT HOOTTT CHHOOCCOOLLAATTEE!!!"

okay I'm done.

Or am I?

"Im wishing on a star, and trying to believe. That even though its far. Ill find it christmas eve. I guess that Santa's busy, cuz he's never come around. I think of him... when CHRISSTMASSS COOMMESS TOOO TOOOOWWWWNN!

I guess you could say I am in the Christmas mood :)

The Adventures of Annie Claire McKell are still in session.. more to come...

Merry Christmas everyone :)

Cold? What's that?

On Tuesday morning I was woken up to the loud noise of a snowplow going through the parking lot of my apartment complex. I looked out my window and saw what I thought to be a winter wonderland! This thought popped into my head before I then remembered that I forgot to put my car in the underground parking lot and the car was covered in snow in ice. Being from California, I never had to scrape ice off of my windshield, let alone even think about snow. I hadn’t bought a ice scraper yet and so I had to get creative. Luckily there was no ice yet, just powder covering the car so I went into the pantry and grabbed our broom and went to town on the snow that was a total blanket over my car.

I finished clearing off the car, ran inside and took of my gloves and expected there to be a couple of fingers gone because I was so cold! I then bought an ice scraper and felt like I had made serious progress from the lovely broom from Apartment 144.

I walked into Kayla's room all bundled up in my new snow jacket paired with a smile on my face that resembled a two year old on Christmas morning. I flew open the door and said, "ALRIGHT! IM READY FOR SNOW!!" Kayla just about fell out of her bed she was laughing so hard haha I may have resembled a marshmallow.... No Shame!

 Kayla and I decided that we weren't going to use the gas in my car and we would walk to campus in the snow. It was very exciting! She and I ended up on a picture taking high. I mean how could we not?! Everywhere we looked it seemed as if there was a massive blanket of powdered sugar.

^^^ Me trying to embrace the cold

^^^ Kayla and I :) 

 We went on with our day and the snow just kept on falling. It just kept coming and coming! I mean thats a lot of snow!

So far I have only slipped on the ice once, lets hope it stays at that number! Hopefully I won't have to mail myself home as an ice cube come Christmas break..

This Souther California girl is learning the new adventures of this new phenomenon called, "Living in Snow."

Weekend theme: Mission Accomplished!

GUESS WHAT! I met my neighbors! Haha who would’ve thought that that would be such a big deal, it surely was. Before last weekend I had my contract up for sale to move somewhere else because I just wasn’t quite feeling it at Alpine Village, that has all changed now. Alpine Village is the best! Let me tell ya, my neighbors, or as I like to call them, "the beauties of apartment 143," we all have the same personalities, get along great and love being around each other! In fact, I am hardly ever in my own apartment anymore, have even fell asleep on their couch several times and am now considered the "adopted 5^th roommate," its true; I even had to go through initiation. I would share the contents of this initiation but its very important classified information. All I can share is that if I involve myself in certain "activities", my vocal cords will be ripped out by wolves. 

We met on Saturday and the next day we were acting as if we had known each other our entire lives. Little did we know, the next weekend was going to bring us even closer. As most of you already know, this past Friday was the Boise vs. BYU football game, we totally dominated by the way. 

As devoted cougar fans and crazy freshman, we camped out on Thursday night to ensure that we would get awesome seats in the stadium. Me being my total oblivious self I thought, "eh it wont be that cold, it shouldn’t be that bad." I was wrong. We did not sleep because it was so cold, and when I got up to go home and go to physical therapy I had to check to see if my toes were still there. We all ended up having to huddle to save our lives! Okay, thats me over exaggerating. But yes, it was really cold. (I am a California girl and I am in for a rude awakening this winter!) We all took shifts standing in line so we wouldn’t lose our spot and got into the stadium about two hours before the game was to start. The almost hypothermia and running on about an hour of sleep was all worth it because we were in the second row of the student section right behind the end zone. 

 ^^^ Yes I am in the picture but was not exactly paying attention when we took the picture and I look a little dazed. Oh well. We had a blast! Standing and cheering on our beloved cougars to another victory!

Our weekend had just begun! We ended Friday with a scary movie....Note to self: Never ever ever ever watch a scary movie ever again! I was scared for my life. My friend Kayla and I ended up sleeping in our friends apartment because we were too scared to sleep alone. 

Saturday the group went to a Macklemore concert in Salt Lake.. without me, because I had to stay back and plan and be in charge of Austin's surprise party, which was a total success!! He had no idea! 

Love ya bro! :)

Because this week of course includes Halloween, we have some great plans! They include a Haunted Circus, Halloween parties and Park City fun. But not how lame would that be if I gave you every detail of our adventure now. 

Injury Update: Physical therapy is still going great and I am making progress every day. Cannot wait for the day when I can put my running shoes on and go and and do what I love. 

Stay Tuned!

Feeling Spontaneous

I started my day at 8:30 in physical therapy for about an hour and a half. Just after the first session I could really tell a difference in how I was walking and the pain I had while walking. I can now walk without a limp and my pain is next to nothing! I almost have more pain when I'm sitting down than when I'm walking. In fact, I have moments in class where I have to stand up and walk around because the pain in my ankle gets to be too much to handle. I either just stand up and walk to the back of the class or walk our and walk up and down the hallway a couple times.

After American Heritage (our only class of the day) Shawna and I walked out onto the roof of the parking structure and we stood and looked out over Salt Lake City and we both agreed that it was a beautiful day, a day that should not be wasted in doors! I mean how could we deny it, we could hear the gorgeous weather calling our names. We gave in and went on an adventure to Temple Square.

We began our adventure and we were going to catch the TRAX to go temple but decided.. hey! lets just walk. As we started walking over to the other side of the side walk we saw the entire Studio C cast. I felt famous just to see them.. totally weird of me but hey that is okay!

We walked through temple square and came to a great conclusion. I looked at Shawna and said, "Ya know what, I love being Mormon! You can't get any better than this!" 

We continued our conversation and got on the subject of the Lion House Pantry. I was quite shocked to I find out that Shawna has never had a Lion House roll! Of course I had to introduce her to the most heavenly rolls that I have ever tasted... in my entire life! 

(Mom has begun to rub off on me, I have found myself talking in absolutes.. I certainly am my mothers daughter)

 We proceeded to walk into the Lion House Pantry. We didn't want to get a full meal, just the roll. There were two really nice ladies at the front desk when we asked, "Is there any way that we can get just a roll? How much is it just for one roll?" One lady went into the kitchen and brought out two fresh, warm rolls and with a big smile on her face she said, "It's on the house!" We of course took the rolls and walk out of the Lion house feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. We took our rolls and root beers that we went back and bought in the Lion House and we walked through Temple square feeling quiet satisfied with life. 

We walked back to the car, sat down and made the trip back to the land of Provo.

This day was a much needed day for me. When life seems to hit you and 100 mph sometimes you just need a day or even a moment to breathe and let it all go.

Side note: I got of crutches about a week and a half ago and I have just started to make some process in my walking. Right when I got off crutches I could not walk without a limp or terrible pain. I can now walk without a limp and without having to stop every couple of steps. I still have pain in my ankle but it is getting better every day. Physical Therapy at the BYU Health Center has surely saved me. Although I am off crutches and I have escaped having to get surgery to keep my bones in place, this whole fiasco is not quite over with. I went in for an MRI to check to see if I have tendon damage and am still waiting on the results. If there is damage then I will be having surgery... not fun. Lets hope for the best.

All in all, this spontaneous trip to temple square was the exact dose of happiness that I was in desperate need of.

Adventure is out there.

Shoes

It certainly has been a while since I have posted. So many things have happened! I just have a quick couple minutes before I have to leave for my public speaking class. Today we are presenting our first speech, titled "Introductory Speech," quite typical for the beginning of the year. We were asked to put a twist on it and not just do the cliché introduction. I twist I chose was to choose an item in my life that has been quite constant and helps to give people an idea of who I am.

I chose shoes...

We have a two minute time limit so I couldn't write too much but...Heres my speech! Hoping it goes well :)

My name is Annie McKell and I am from Riverside, Southern California. There has been one item in my life that helps to describe how my life has gone thus far. That one item is, shoes. I began my life very interested in dance, along with any other young girl and danced around anywhere I could in my ballet and tap shoes. I then realized that I was not one of the “frilly” girls. I transferred over to softball cleats where I found my true calling for six years on the beautiful softball diamond. That time ended when I reached the insane world of high school. I swapped in my cleats for trainers and racing spikes. When those beauties hit the newly constructed all weather track it sent chills up my spine as I raced that quick 400 meters. But these shoes are not the only side of me. I loved to trade in my running shoes for a lovely pair of high heels for the night.

Unfortunately at this time I cannot wear either of these. I have exchanged in both of these wonderful shoes for this attractive and very delicate medical boot, which quite complements any outfit. I was given this boot after enduring an accident while wearing some of my favorite shoes, my wakeboard bindings. On the fortunate side I will soon be able to wear my two favorite shoes and hopefully never have to wear a boot like this ever again.

I am an athletic girl that loves cleats, running shoes and wakeboard bindings but I quickly jump at the chance to change into a flashy pair of heels. My name is Annie, and a simple pair of shoes best describes my life. 

If your a little confused about the medical boot.. heres a picture to describe it. I fractured my ankle while wake boarding a few weeks ago and I get to crutch my way around campus. It has surely been an adventure, one I hope I never have to embark on EVER AGAIN!

Hot Springs

My Wednesday night started just like any normal one, consisting of, getting home from school at 6:00, eating dinner and starting homework but it turned into yet another adventure....

My friend Bryce, Deji, Nicole and I went to the hot springs in Spanish Fork. I have never been to a hot spring before so I was quite excited to see it. 

We were all under the impression that the hike up to the hot spring would take about 40 minutes

…not too bad.

This hike turned out to be about an hour and 45-minute hike! In the dark with two small flashlights, one of us in flip flops and Bryce reminding us he was hungry about every 15 minutes... it surely became interesting haha

With exploding excitement we finally got to the awesome and quite relaxing hot springs!

Ya know how when you go on a fun trip and you bring home something to remember the trip by? Well I guess you could say I somewhat brought home a souvenir. Souvenir also known ask... a lovely chunk out of my leg and a swollen knee! 

Note to self: When stepping into slippery hot springs..don't get too excited and get in too fast because you will slip and fall in a quite embarrassing way and have a swollen knee to prove it!