More than a Crown

 My favorite part about being Miss Wasatch County is all of the people I have gotten to meet and serve.  I love this Heber Valley so much and am so glad I can represent it's beauty and character! If you ever want to book McKenna to speak about SMART goals to develop confidence accompanied by a performance from McKenna, you can contact Wendy Casey at 1801-358-2375.  You will not regret it! I am a firm believer that when children and adults know how to set Smart, Measurable, attainable, reachable, and timely goals, that is what will help you accomplish your dreams and become confident!

A New Beginning

Well, it's been ages since I have posted a blog post and I am not even sure if anyone still looks at my blog, but, I figured what better way to resume blogging then on the last day of high school for ever! The next few months and years are going to be full of surprises and new beginnings.  I will be leaving for college at BYU and dancing on the Folk Dance Team, Ben will be leaving on his mission for Osorno Chile, Cameron will be coming home from his mission in December, hopefully Devin will be married soon, and much more!

High school was very good to me.  I had many great opportunities and experiences as a Wasp and it seems surreal that it has ended.  We go through 4 years to graduate and this whole last two months I just want to graduate, and now all I can think is, really? It's done? However, all good things must come to an end and I know there are many new great things coming!!!

“And now we welcome the new year, full of things that have never been” 
― Rainer Maria Rilke

I am so excited to reinvent myself, grow as a person, meet new people, and step through a door of opportunity and excitement.  What a wonderful new adventure has just started.....Out with the old in with the new!

All Dressed in White

Maddie looked like a little angel in her white dress. She came out of the temple and ran and gave me the biggest hug. It was adorable.

It was so much fun to see Robyn's family all so happy and ecstatic to have gone through the temple.

Tyler looked so excited and happy :) He couldn't stop showing all his pearly whites!

I can't wait to get the the "Castle" someday and be sealed for time and all eternity to my family.

~All Dressed in White~

We Believe - EFY Texas!! :)

This pictures are a bit out of order but I would write the same thing whatever order they would have appeared. This is where we started off our adventure... In a very (interesting) family. It topped it all of when we got in a large and in charge van that we could stand up in! Haha. It was great.

The Bernie!! The best dance movie ever created! Taught to us by our counselor, will now be incorporated into to every school dance and stomp by the "Utah girls" -Bringing Bernie Back Baby-

The Zimmermans! Cole and Adam are some cool cats we had a blast with at the dance and some handsome men at that. No complaining by any means! :)

We were lucky enough to actually have my dad fly our exact flight back to Denver from San Antonio! It was so much fun! He talked to us on the intercom thingy and the Flight Attendants even brought us food! That's saying something for United! We even got to sit in the cockpit! So much fun! Good Landing Daddy ;)

These are are Session Directors. The Bacons. Great amazing people that taught me so much. Including the all treasured bacon dance :) Grab a pan. Grab a pan. Everybody grab a pan.

This is Michelle's mom's cousin's family we stayed with to start off our journey. The owners of the van/house on wheels.

Four Besties!! Michelle and I lucked out with some rockin' Suite Mates. Maddie and Lauriann. We had the most fun all week staying up late, partying, giggling, and much more! We were always stuck together and this friendship we have made I know will last far into the future.

This is our counselor Will and Lauriann. This flower in his hair is the flower I used to propose to him. He was a good a lookin counselor I will tell you that!

I was so excited to give my flower to Will. Can't you tell??

These are the male specimen in our group. We honestly had some of the nicest sweetest boys in our group :) So much fun!

We are hott. Can I say much more?? We got roses from our cute boys. :) Our cows gave them to us. COW= Crush of the Week. Gooby I know :)

Haka! I made up our skit and brought some Utah flair by adding the Haka! We made it to the finals! Sadly we didn't win but I know judges just had to pick someone else to make them feel better because we were so good.

It was so hot and humid in Texas. Our clothes were soaking we by the time we would walk to our next class! I could tell you one thing, we weren't in dry old Utah anymore.

Our Company name was "We Will Serve." Coming from the scripture Joshua 24:15. This was a good scripture for me to remember the importance of service and the blessings that are rewarded from it. "When ye are in the service of your fellow beings, Ye are only in the service of your God."

~Mosiah 2:17

Talent Show! I clogged in the talent show and had a blast! It was so much fun performing and getting the crowd interacting with me. They loved it! My sounds were so loud everyone's jobs were dropping. Haha I felt like a celebrity after because everyone wanted a picture with me and "cool shoes"

When I told people I was clogging in the Variety Show they asked how I fit my "Wooden Shoes" in my suit case.....

Besties! Looking gorgeous on the most amazing spiritual day! I have never balled so much as I did during testimony meeting on Thursday. I know that this church is true and I can say not only "WE" Believe, but I believe.

Make Up Fest! We had such a blast! This was probably about 2 in the morning. Haha. We all just bonded so well and had so much fun with everything we did. Who says we are too old for imagination??

Texas like my blood. The first day at EFY I got 55 bug bites. Youch! My legs were so shiny from all the nasty spray Chad (The Health Counselor) sprayed on me. I called them Chicken Bites because they looked like Chicken Pox.

Michelle and I truly had the most fun adventuring wherever we went, having a blast in all circumstances. WE LOVE EFY! WE LOVE TEXAS!! :)

I felt the spirit so much at EFY. I met awesome friends and laughed so much a six pack started to appear on my stomach! I know it wasn't a coincidence that I went to the San Antonio 02 session. My testimony was strengthened so much and I am already looking forward to next year :) YEAH FOR EFY!!

If you want to see all 200 pictures go check out Michelle's Facebook! :)

Team Domination- Youth Conference Lake Powell

Team Red! These are the lovely ladies of the group! We had a blast winning almost every competition and having fun in the sun :)

Hole in the Rock- The canyon behind me is the awesome intense hike we (hiked) following the path of the pioneers. This pioneers went down this canyon with their wagons, cattle, kids, and food to settle the glorious city of Bluff of all places. It showed us the obedience the pioneers had to go wherever the prophet called them and the rewards that would follow if you obey that commandment.

The Crack- This hike was to much fun! We swam through the intense nasty brown water to get to a slat in the rock where if I stretched my arms out I could touch both walls. At the end of the (hallway) so to speak, Brother Hansen was repelling from a rope to push us on away from the cliff as we were free falling. It was really exciting and a blast! It was so amazing to see the sun through the slats in the rock giving us the little light we needed to see.

Lake powell was a blast but exhausting. Through long days of playing in the sun, and late nights talking with my girls under the stars.

My version of Camping: Sleeping on a sleeping bag under the stars on the roof of a houseboat on a lake :) I love Summer and LOVE the water :)

Nauvoo - Down by the Riverside

I love to see the temple... I am going there someday. This Nauvoo Temple was absolutely exquisite. :) This inside was a lot bigger than I had anticipated and the feeling of knowing this was the first temple that set a beacon out to the world of our faith was amazing. I love the feeling of peace and comfort every time I go to the temple. When we went inside we were able to have a member of the temple presidency come and talk to us and tell us about its historic roots. We did 18 baptisms! It's a good thing I love the water. I just couldn't help but come up with the biggest smile on my face because my dad was just murdering those Spanish names. It was a blast! (Can you say that about the temple? Well, I guess I just did)

The reason we traveled to Nauvoo was to see my brother perform with the Folk Dancers. It was so much fun to watch Cam and I can't wait until I get to be up there dancing with him!! :)

Emma Smith is one the most influential women in my life. She went through so much with Joseph and we all know man is nothing without the woman. She had such great faith and perseverance when I think of my small trials compared to hers, I know I can get through anything. You can't really tell in this picture but this is her grave site. This was really emotional for me because you can watch all the documentaries in the world and read about her, but when I saw the grave of where she was buried the realization of the sacrifice she went through, meant so much more to me.

Thanks Emma :)So basically this was the funniest thing of my life. I find the weirdest things when I am on vacation so of course I have to take pictures of it. :) This is ranked in my top ten for sure. Yes. It is a poop bag. Hahaha. I want one and personally think we should all start wearing them.

I have oodels of pictures from Nauvoo but many look the same. Most are of different historic buildings here or there. So I added this one which is of well some historic building in Old Nauvoo.

MISISSIPPI QUEEN! Leave it to McKenna to find where the water is located. :) The Mississippi is massive and I can not imagine crossing that with a wagon, oxen, all my belongings, and family.

We went on lost of carriage rides and saw lots of historic things old school style.

Extraneous Gate Agents and extra...

There are some great lessons to be learned in airports. More than most people realize. When you stop texting you can observe some great things. When we fly stand by we have to wait at the Gate until the agent books us to get our tickets. Most of the time they are not very kind. Either they have had one too many redbulls/coffees, or their underwear is too tight, or both. When we were trying to travel to California from Nauvoo, we had an interesting Gate Agent that taught me so much. I realized that some people just thrive off of power. Most of the time when they don't actually have it. She was extremely stressed, for no apparent reason, but they know they can kick you off the plane if they very well feel like it. At first she said we could not get on the plane and if it wasn't for my dad, who is a pilot, to say something we would not have left the quad cities. Despite swearing, and some very needed new hair products and toothpaste, they are mostly all the same. People who know they can change something and get a high from doing it.

Another comparison I made to this is the people in Disneyland who take your fastpasses. Most everyone in the entire park takes Fast Passes after they are due. Even days later. Being Disney Alumni junkies we would know. Except for the select few. This lady was one of them. Instead of having a smiling happy face, I mean you work in Disneyland for crying out loud, she decided to take our passes away to make herself feel above the rest. She thrived on this power that she didn't really have.

Men are a lot like Gate Agents. Not all of them... but I sure know a few. I have learned more than I ever thought I would about the male gender this past week. They thrive on being above the rest, power that they don't really have. Taking advantage of things that they think will make them feel better. All to have that feeling of Yes I can, and you can't.

But, the fact of the matter is, it doesn't matter who you are. Whether you are a stressful sleepless gate agent, or a horny teenage boy, things like this catch up to you. People remember more bad than good. I will always remember a mean lady who didn't take my fast passes, a gate agent who didn't let my mom on the plane, and boys who have ego's bigger than Alaska. But, I will always be impacted for long periods of time by those people who do kind things. I might not remember what they did but that they did them. A reputation that I hope to have. Someone that was nice to others.

What will you be remembered for?