I achieved two full ride scholarships at the same time.  I worked as a TA for Hearing Science for two semesters, a research assistant for five semesters, and I gained experience working with kids and teenagers with Autism Spectrum Disorder for a summer.  
     I began my five grad school applications in October, and I worked diligently to ensure that I wrote the perfect CV and statements of intent. I was very grateful for professors and family members who helped me to edit these essays, and I was very grateful for those who spent the time to write my letters of rec. Dallin found out that he might be able to graduate a semester early, so I decided to take a leap and apply to schools in Arizona {although he wanted me to apply to Ivy Leagues, which was cute and funny, I did not do that}.  It would have been hard to be without him for a semester, but we could do it!
    It has been a long, long, long time of waiting.  Finally, I heard back.  I was put on an alternate list for BYU. And then I was accepted into ASU, UA, UofU and USU!  The former three are all top programs in the United States. I decided that I will attend UofU starting in August, and I couldn't be more excited.
    If I'm being honest, I was very disappointed to not get into BYU after my interview {which was the morning after the announcement that university was going online}, but I like to think that maybe God was nudging me along on this one to make sure I go to the place I'm supposed to go to.  I think I was more disappointed at the concept of being rejected, as if it was saying something about my personal character, than about not actually going to BYU.  I have loved BYU and the professors here, but I think I wanted to go for the wrong reasons: it's closer, it's cheaper, it's familiar, it's where my friends are going.  But I love change, and I wasn't uber-excited at the concept of spending another two years in the Taylor building clinic.
    On the other hand, when I toured the UofU clinic, I absolutely loved it! UofU is also heavily medical-based, which I think could be a really good fit for me. It is a highly-acclaimed school. I am so excited to meet new professors, new students, and learn new perspectives.
     I am just so grateful that my hard work and sacrifices are paid off. Do I need to learn some better balance in my life? Yeah. But I am so thrilled for the opportunity to get specialized training and to begin working with clients. And then I will be on my way to be an SLP.

at our friends' Halloween party

     Usually I wouldn't blog before school, but here I am, almost an hour early to class because we don't have running water at our new house.
     Yes, that's right.  We have a HOUSE--all thanks to the WONDERFUL Urness family, who is so kind and generous to offer us a place to call home, a place to feel at home, during these years of college while we are working hard towards our future. It's one of those things where I will get focused on my homework and then suddenly look up and realize all over again that we aren't just in our itty-bitty, dinky student housing anymore. To be honest, that's what we expected when we first got married.  My parents used a cardboard box as a table when they were newly-weds, and I highly doubt Dallin and I have much more money than they did! (Thank goodness for my two full-ride scholarships, Dallin's volleyball scholarship, and other financial aid that gotten us through the last six months!)
     We are working hard, of course.  We are both full-time students and working.  I have two jobs with the Communication Disorders department, and Dallin is working 25 hours a week at a bigger company (and every once-in-a-while he'll still pick up a shift at the restaurant) on top of being an A-team volleyball player at UVU!
     So we are incredibly grateful.  I don't know how to express my thanks enough.  To have a real office (instead of having two desks, my keyboard, and our bed all squished into one room), a big-enough kitchen, a big-enough family room to invite friends over, and a backyard where we will grow a garden in the spring, is way more than we could ever ask for.  We are very excited for when Dallin's brother moves in with us in two months!
    And of course, we are so grateful for our friends who helped us move! We couldn't have done it without them.

   I've never been so excited to take an anatomy test as when I knew that, the second I finished, I could leave for California.  I took the exam the very minute of the first day it open so that I could enjoy every second of our trip.  UVU had a volleyball tournament, so I offered my car to take Dallin and I and the couple we doubled with the week before for the ten hour drive to the coast.  Maybe it's all in my head, but I swear one can smell the difference in the air-- California is just gorgeous.  In the morning, I jogged a mile from the Air B-n-B to the beach {just like the good ole times in Hawaii} and then we spent several hours at the beautiful white campus for the tournament.
 The next morning, Dal and I snatched a bird scooter off the sidewalk for a dollar and rode back to the beach together.  I thought that since we had left Provo it would be warm enough to swim; it was a little too windy for that, but luckily we found a cozy breakfast restaurant {thanks to another kind cafe owner who suggested it!}.  The boys played even harder for this next tournament.  I was freaking out a little because, back home, Rachel had to go to urgent care due to a corneal ulcer with a bacterial infection, and Adam was gone as well.


UVU fought to the end, but lost to a Cali team, so we hit the road and agreed to all take turns driving in order to keep each other awake.  Events included an alien spaceship shop, pumpkin milkshakes, a man grabbing Dallin and demanding him give $230 so he could catch a Greyhound to the midwest, us four all saying "just kidding!" every couple minutes {like the little kindergartener who would say that with every non-funny or startling comment she made}, telling nasty stories and reverting to kid insults, blasting our eardrums and screaming nineties tunes at the top of our lungs, and almost dying.

To explain, it was 3 in the morning and we were out driving around 90 MPH in BFE.  Dallin was at the wheel and I was on the phone with poor Rachel when suddenly I shouted "DEER!" In action swifter than anything I could have accomplished, Dallin swerved the car in between the two deer that stood in the middle of the road.  However, the deer on the left panicked and tried to run back to its buddy on the right side of us.  Dallin gunned it just in time, locking eyes with the creature which was taller than our car and only inches away from obliterating our vehicle. Glad we're alive, to say the least.
I made it home at 4:30 in the morning and made it successfully to class by 9.

a mission picture I found for the first time this morning - with Colea, Benji and Sister Saint Laurent

Recently, I have missed the mission a lot.  After meeting Sister Slack's family and making knödel with Sister Howsmon {and not to mention watching the 2009 Sissi in German as well as showing off deustche music to the boys}, my mind has been tangled up in memories and raveled in the bittersweet wonderings of what happened since the plane left Munich ground.
Missions are unquestionably hard, but there is always solace for the soul in daily service to the Lord; always a spiritual safe haven in dedicated scripture study and constant prayer and countless efforts to lift others on their journey. My life is... lacking in such things, to say the least. I am no longer that strong and stalwart Sister Lundgreen, that vivacious Katherine of the Alps who...  who I DON'T KNOW but was just so much closer to heaven?  I have been staring at that sentence for ten minutes now, trying to put words to the concept that she seemed like such a greater person in every way.
But I did three things. Not because I was necessarily trying to change anything, but because in their individual moments of spiritual spontaneity they just felt so so good.
One: I took a summery evening to explore the temple grounds.   Those gardens outside the glimmering walls with the inscription, "HOLINESS TO THE LORD," are doubtless one of my favorite locations on this earth.  There is an aura of peace there that stills my troubles every time without fail.  The feeling of godly love is perplexingly tangible even to those who have wedged themselves in a fortification of numbness.
 Two: I turned on General Conference talks by Elder Holland. Three times.  He's just so real I can't even believe it.

This Thanksgiving I was grateful to finally be home for the holidays. 3 years is quite a long time to be away for the day of gratitude... but we made up for it this year as almost the entire Lundgreen extended family joined up for turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie.  Screw all that previous dieting and goal-achieving-- this food was just too all-american-good to be true!  Kids 11-23 sat at one table and the "adults" at the other. We went on a walk around a riparion and proved the insanity of Arizona weather by swimming {and whilst the hot tub got too warm, the normal pool felt amazing}.
Not my brightest moment: drinking a blue Mt Dew slurpee right before family pictures. I tried not to laugh as I smiled with closed mouth, but some people like John & Carolyn can be just too darn funny.

 Later, I headed from one end of town to the other to meet Dallin's extended family.  {I made my awkward entrance with a puffy red face; who woulda thought there would be two freeway exits with the same name? I totally got lost and then had a meltdown when I almost crashed my car}.  Dallin's aunt was so kind as to take a dozen of us to the movies to see Justice League; other fun included chasing the dogs, watching Pirates {which I once, on my mission, had the agony of being turned on behind my back at a member's house}and seeing how much Dallin and his mama squirmed when non-blood-related folk such as his brother-in-law and myself ate raw cookie dough... as if that's a crime, instead of simply the BEST part of cookies.

   I'll be honest, I did not look forward to that plane ride back.  I had enjoyed my return home so much and after spending two-and-a-half weeks racing around trying to see everyone and do everything {not to mention get ready for my mission}, the last thing I wanted to do was homework.... which was all I did for three-and-a-half days straight.  No breaks.  I hardly saw anybody outside of the classrooms.  Boy was I grateful for Lexi, who was there to just chit chat about anything and everything after I was feeling so exhausted and lonely from being holed up.
   Also this week I've been trying really hard to get better health habits. I work out for an hour at least five days a week and have cut out a lot of calories. Sometime I will watch documentaries for an hour on the treadmill, another time I did 1000 squats and was quite confused when not my legs but my ARMS were sore. What?
   Fortunately, I worked myself a little too hard and ended getting all of my homework done early.  That meant another three-and-a-half days of solid break.  I've enjoyed the hike to PCC Falls and LOTS of book brainstorming/organization time.
    Along with this, I've watched some videos from return missionaries who served in my same area and I am so excited.  Yes, I know it will be hard, but the closer I get the more anxious I am to find out for myself what it's all about.  I will be living in Europe!  I will be giving to the people something that has been the number one most incredible part of my life, something that can influence them for the better and let them know the wonderful purpose of our existence! Yes college is great, but a mission should be something so much bigger. It will no longer be about myself anymore.
   Today I had the wonderful opportunity to hear Elder Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles speak to the school about how, although many will tell us that the Millennial Generation is lazy, self-absorbed and irresponsible, we instead are a generation who can choose to be great.  I'll admit, this week has been hard in ways that I won't say here... but this talk gave me so much hope and joy.  When times are hard, I just need to remember that I have SO MUCH TO BE GRATEFUL FOR.  I have the Gospel, I have a loving family, I have enough money to live comfortably, and for goodness sake I'm getting a college education in Hawaii!  

out at Waimea with a bunch of people I just met, including the guy who taught me to surf and then made me dinner

  As a five-year-old, nine months after 9/11, my family drove past the remaining wreckage of the horrendous attack in NYC.  Images of the live news footage showing the towers falling still reeled in my tiny memory, and even at that young age I was beginning to understand that perhaps life is more precious than we realize.  People died because others were selfish, but they were not the only ones.  How many innocents died in the Middle East because of these extremists?  How many other dreams have been severed with the beating of their hearts because of selfishness?  I wish we could stop selfishness, stop fighting, but unfortunately the best we can do in this time is to be grateful for our lives, our loved ones, and our freedom.

The highlight of my week happened at the salad bar, when this girl I had never met came up and said "K this is so random, but you're really pretty."
  Wow.  A compliment can really do a great measure for a person, especially when they feel like they need to be trying harder on a Monday afternoon.  Thank you, whoever you are.
  Anyways, last weekend was a total blast. I had stayed up shamelessly late on Friday, so Saturday I was pleased to sleep in and then just chillax by writing and watching music videos.  Then I joined the group and took the bus up the Sharks Cove for some snorkeling.  I love the endless variety of shapes and patterns that give each species a unique appearance-- from marbled body with purple fins to silver with whitish gold polka-dots to alternating stripes.  I've ultimately decided that school of fish trumps school of learning big time.
We headed to town for shaved ice, and then hopped back on the bus in order to make it back before the cafeteria closed.  Unfortunately, the bus crashed {although no one even realized it happened} and we were stuck for quite a while.  That didn't stop us from enjoying ourselves-- we played some more rounds of psychologist and then, despite missing the caf, got food at Taco Bell.
After saying bye to the boys, us girls were sitting in front of one of the dorms when suddenly the skies just started gushing water.  You must understand, I really wanted to be an adult... but combine pouring rain with being a desert girl and nothing could hold back the child within.  I threw off my beach dress and ran out from the cover, expecting the other girls to give me weird looks.  Instead they joined me, dancing in the rain and jumping in the flooded streets and having fun while the people in the two other dorms shouted and played music for us out their windows.