so...A LOT has happened and  ALOT will be happening over break.. lots of GOOD things of course :) seth and i doing lots of family stuff with each other's main families and extended families for christmas.  but if i wrote about every single thing that is going to happen, there would be a book on here, and no one would read that. 

yesterday was our anniversary and we exchanged some christmas gifts early.  i gave seth two tickets to the pistons/sixers (his two favorite teams) game in february.  the seats are "phat" as he says haha (they're on the pistons side, right next to where they come out of the locker room) and we also have "pimp parking" (also one of seth's terms) .  his hamilton jersey came in the mail yesterday, so he's also excited about that. we're going to make hamilton banners and have a blast!  i have two other presents for him, but i'm going to wait until christmas eve with his family, or christmas day with mine to give those to him.

seth gave me a beautiful framed painting of  a heart in the sand (like the one we drew in cape may this summer), a huge, soft, snuggly polar bear (snowy) and a poem...he is AMAZING at wriging poems for me....

...let me just also say...i have a diamond on my finger....so yeah...wow...i still can't believe it!!!! haha  we're so lucky to have each other and parents as well as extended family who support us so much.  dad talked to me for a little while a few days ago and said how he usually doesn't say much about my relationships, but how much he enjoys seeing me with seth, and when he looks at us, he knows that we were meant to be together.  he said he doesn't want to use the word "planned" but that is pretty much what it is....and dad doesn't usually say things like that! haha. he usually avoids the whole topic of me getting married and everything...i'm a HUGE daddy's girl...and his first daughter, so i dont think he likes thinking about some other man taking care of his little girl. but he loves seth and know that we are going to do wonderfully together.  when i showed the ring to nana she almost started crying and started talking about me coming home from the hospital on her brithday and everything....still can't believe how much we've grown up.  but anyways, seth is on his way over so i'm going to make him something to eat for when he gets here.

hope everyone enjoys their break! i know that i will!!!!

so it's been a while...and alot has happened...tons of stuff with seth of course, and the wedding!!!  the road trip to rhode island and massachusetts with the arnolds was sooo much fun, even though it was about 6 hours in the car in each way, we had fun singing, sleeping, doing crossword puzzles and wordfinds, and talking with his family about tons of family stuff .  the wedding itself was beautiful and sitting right beside seth through the whole thing was amazing!  then looking down the pew and there were beth and benny, and mr. and mrs. arnold behind us...everything seemed so perfect, and of course the atmosphere was great.  let's just say that seth and i got some great ideas for the future .

then we went to the reception that lasted until around 12:30 at night...it was sooo much fun.  seth and i had our first official slow dance in public...it was so cute how he asked me...and the song was "have i told you lately that i love you?"  which was perfect, because seth says that to me at least twice a day.  his uncle was the DJ which was awesome, so we got to request a lot of songs and he played a few swing songs for us to dance too.  the skirt on my dress was spinning and we were moving so quickly, it felt amazing.  everyone was really impressed and his cousins had no idea that he could do that.  we had many more slow and fast dances and of course singing to each other while dancing together...i got to meet all of his relatives on his dad's side (except for the one's who live in california who weren't there) and they all gave me the big ARNOLD HUG!  his grampy was so funny...he told seth that he knows how to pick em!  haha. and then he kept winking at us.  he also invited me up to their cabin in maine sometime.  it felt so nice to be accepted like that into the family.  we got back to our hotel room around 1ish after saying goodbye to everyone and we watched a movie for a while with seth's parents.  then we went to sleep...apparently seth and i were talking to each other in our sleep haha.    then we woke up around 7 to get an early start and we looked out the window and saw SNOW!  it was sooo pretty.  we got on the road and got home to unpack some things and then left to get back to school by 5 on sunday.  it was such a great weekend filled with so many wonderful emotions. 

so, the next thing coming up is finals...then packing to go home for break...then seth's surgery...then our anniversary...and we BOTH decided to give each other our christmas presents on our anniversary...even if seth is still a little drugges up from his surgery haha.  i can't WAIT to give him his PISTONS/SIXERS tickets!!!!   tickets pretty close to the court, on the pistons side, and ride beside where the players come out of the locker room!  so, two of his FAVORITE basketball teams.  he's gonna make a poster for RIP Hamilton haha.  he's sooo excited.  and his sister got tickets for christmas too, so his mom, his dad, beth, benny, and ben's brother rat will be there too.  and i've heard that my christmas present is going to be amazing also...and very sentimental...i told him all i really wanted was a poem from him because he is SOOOO AMAZINGLY good at writing those for me...at least one or two a week..but of course he went all out and spent a lot of money on my christmas present...

then we have christmas eve with his family, christmas morning with my family, christmas afternoon with the rudys (his mom's side), and the day after christmas with the bells (my mom's side of the family)...then new years eve!

we also got the informational DVD for our DISNEY TRIP!!  sorry for the confusion, but the trip is scheduled for NEXT WINTER...the day after christmas until new years day.  new years eve in front of the castle for fireworks...how romantic is that???  we got two rooms at the carribean beach, so it should be sooo much fun!

haha ok, seth is calling me over to watch a movie with him, so i guess i should go

....i dont understand why some people feel as if they have to get so high and drunk that they lose control of themselves and pass out....life is so special....i dont want to miss a minute....

...but i also guess that if you have someone like seth in your life you don't need to smoke or drink at all...i get high on life and drunk on love...and thats much better!

  shorty

SETH AND I ARE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!!!!  STAYING AT THE WILDERNESS LODGE AND WE'RE GOING TO BE THERE FOR NEW YEARS EVE!!!!

...more updates to come about thanksgiving (with the rudy's - seth's mom's family- and the bells - my mom's side of the family), running around friday with seth and my family, and the day trip to philly with my family, cousin, and seth!  :)

check out my webshots, i updated those too

its been a while again...i've been sooo busy with school work, RA stuff and hanging out and relaxing with seth.  luckily thanksgiving break is only 1 class away!  its hard to believe that after tomorrow i only have 10 more days of classes left until finals...wow...the semester went by really fast...and i have to admit, i'll be VERY happy when it's over.  i was up until 5am today finishing up my visual record that was deleted in my computer for soph block and my decorations that were due at 9am this morning.  seth was soooo amazing in helping me with my decorations, so i helped him with his speech outline.  i still owe him lots though, for everything he's done for me.

so...what exciting has happened lately....seth and i have had lots of fun times together (surprise, surprise haha).  friday he went on duty with me in the office at 5, and then we had a swing dance performance at 9 for the date auction, then went back to duty until midnight.  my mom and little brother came friday night and slept over on my pull out couch in my room (chris helped me color in my decorations too!).  i had to deal with some puke on my last tour a little after midnight so that wasn't fun....then we all (me, mom, chris, and seth) woke up around 5:45 saturday morning and my dad picked us up here at MU.  then he drove us to harrisburg to watch my sister in the thanksgiving parade there.  we sang disney and wicked songs for aw hile, and then seth and i ended up falling asleep.  it was a little chilly when the sun wasn't out during the parade, but the parade moved pretty quickly and downingtown looked and sounded awesome. i heard that they won the parade, but i'm not definite on that yet.  then mom, chris, seth and i waited in the car in the parking garade for my dad and sister to finish the parade.  seth and i ended up falling asleep again and mom and chris played card games.  we went out to eat at bob evans and then drove another hour to stewartstown for a family birthday thing with my dad's side of the family...more family for seth to meet! we stopped at the house where my dad grew up and also stopped at my cousin's tombstone for a little while....its weird to think that he died in the church right next to where my dad used to live...we got to my aunts house and we watched the PSU game (my cousin is a grad - blue band president), and that was pretty exciting.  i ended up dozing off a little next to seth on the couch though...then we had dinner and opened presents.  i felt reallysick so we stopped at walmart and mom got me more vitamins, menthal stuff, cough drops, and claritin...too bad i can't take ANY DECONGESTANTS!!!  oh well...gotta tough it out.  we sang more disney, wicked (i LOVE how seth asks to listen to that CD now and sings along to pretty much all of the songs haha :) he and i both can't WAIT for the show!), and les miserables, since that is the show dtown is doing this year.  my sister tried out and i've got to say...i can't believe how gorgeous her voice is.  seth was even really impressed. i'll never forget when she sang "on the willows" duet in church this summer at music and drama camp.  i think everyone in the audience got chills and had tears in their eyes.... she knows that she probably wont get a part except a dancer in the show though, since she's only a sophomore, but she still loves its.  we got back to MU around 10...seth and i both really wanted to go see the movie playing in the club, but we were both exhausted and sick, so we decided to just stay in and cuddle and stay warm watching a movie together.

so, i guess that was pretty much the excitment of the past few weeks... scheduling worked out fine for both seth and i, even though he was worried he wouldn't get any classes he needed.  we don't have any classes together, but it's not like we arent going to see each other any other time haha.  he really wants to get an RA position next semester, and if not then, definitly next year...and i really hope he gets the position.  he would make an awesome RA. 

so, like i said, one more class tomorrow (unfortunately, its my night grad class) but oh well... seth is going to watch wrestling up in pucillo..i wish i could go with him....then home sweet home!  thanksgiving should be fun, i can't WAIT!  i absolutely LOVE turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese and PUMPKIN PIE!!  and everything else my na-na makes!  so seth and i are going to his aunt and uncle's house for his family thanksgiving around 2, and then heading to dtown for family thanksgiving with my moms side of the family around 4ish.  i'm gonna get so fat....put those pounds i just lost back on.

thing i can't wait for most -

THE WEDDING!!! december 3rd!  road trip with seth and his family, staying in a hotel and having fun dancing all night!  :)

THE SEMESTER TO END!  i swear...this soph block stuff will never end...i get done one huge project and another is thrown at us....at least i got it over with this semester!

*gold hair with a gentle curl...thats the girl he chose, and heaven knows..i'm that girl*

*happy is what happens when all your dreams come true!*

i can't believe it's november already....this semester is going by sooo fast.  i have been busy again, surprise surprise, but ALOT of amazing stuff has happened...so here it goes...

one of the most exciting things that has happened lately has got to be when seth and i swing danced!  we were the last group to perform in the cultural showcase last thursday, and after we performed we invited the audience to join us and we taught them some of the dances.  seth and i got there around 6, not sure when we would be performing, so we walked around the smc for a while until we saw our president and we started practicing outside of the university store.  we had just finished praciticing our dance when we looked over and mr. arnold was coming up the steps.  the look on seth's face was priceless....he was sooo happy that he came to watch us dance, even though we were only on the stage for maybe 5 minutes.  he gave both of us a hug (which i really appriciated...i'm really glad that his parents accept me like that...especially because family is something that is so important to me) and seth directed him to the MPR.  seth was so nervous backstage, but he was excited too.  when the curtains opened we smiled at each other and saw mr. arnold standing in the back smiling...i wonder what he was thinking...his tough wrestler son up on the stage dancing haha...the music started and seth whispered "i love you" to me on the stage which made me smile of course, and then we turned to each other ready to dance and we both smiled so big and relaxed.  right up front and center.  we were soooo happy and excited.  we breezed right through all of the moves like we had been doing them forever together.  we ended with an awesome hip dip (the best we've ever done i think) then went into el paso.  we taught the audience the barn dance, old cotton eyed joe, and the 12 step.  then we got asked to perform for the pep rally that night.  surprise encore!  seth wasn't nervous at all, even though there were a lot of people (including people from his highschool) there watching us, but we knew what we were doing :).  MUtv was there and people said that they focused on us alot, so we're hoping we can get a tape of that sometime.  the croud seemed to love it...i love swing dancing. its one of those "oldies" things that you hardly ever see anymore...i mean really....i wish our dances could be more like they were back then with all of the different dances....now pretty much all you see is grinding or slow dancing...that can get pretty boring after a few hours of it.  seth and i love what we're learning in swing club...especially all of the fancy arm stuff and fun lifts.  we're also working on improv a lot together and next week we're learning "wedding dances" (the hustle, the bunny hop, the old electric slide, etc), which is great timing because his cousin's wedding that we're going to is coming up soon!  we have a family get together with my mom's side of the family this weekend, so we're excited to perform for them too.  :).  i love how excited seth gets about dancing....its something that i have been doing for so many years of my life and has really helped me through a lot of things, i love being able to express myself through dance.  he got online after the pep rally and told all of his friends from highschool and west chester that he was dancing and no one could believe him.  i love how much we are compromising and learning about each other together...i'm getting more into sports and wrestling and he's into dancing now.

saturday morning we got up nice and early to meet my parents for the homecoming parade.  since both of my parents went here (they met here actually....when they literally ran into each other in marching band) they love coming back for homecoming stuff.  unfortunately, it was chilly and chris was a little sick, but we still had fun.  (check out the pictures on my webshots soon).  then my parents left because they had to pick my sister up from work, take her to the halloween parade in dtown, and then she played in the dtown/shanahan game saturday night.  haha my crazy parents...having a daughter in her second year of college, a daughter in her second year of highschool, and a son in his second year of PRESCHOOL!  haha they're going to be running around forever.  at least it'll keep them young :). 

seth and i went to church on campus on sunday...we actually got there around 5:40 and were the first ones there so we weren't exactly sure where to go.  we walked around for a while and then followed other people in.  it was my 2nd catholic service that i've been to, and i tried to follow what to do from seth.  one of the big differences i've noticed between catholic and methodist services is the traditions that catholics do.  he was explaining to me about the holy water and kneeling to the cross before you sit down in the pew, then the standing, sitting, kneeling, and all of the prayers that are said everyweek.  communion is also taken every week.  i kind of liked seeing different services like that.  seth said that he didnt like the church or the service very much though, so i don't know if we're going to go back there next week or not...we'll see....

one of the things the priest talked about was daylight savings time, and how we relived an hour of our lives when we moved the clocks back an hour...it was really interesting the way he explained it.  it made me think a lot about my life and how much i've been through that has made me the person i am today...ever since i was born it seems as if i've been thrown many obstacles in my life.  i definitly believe that going through those obstacles has made me stronger and appriciate my life so much more.  when i was born, i was 10 days late, only weighed 6 lbs, and i was blue and wasn't breathing...i was in an incubator and my APGAR scale never got above a 7 by the time i left the hospital.  when i was in 4th grade my cousin david died suddenly when he was sitting in church the sunday before easter...he was only 17...it was so sudden our whole family was shocked, but the hardest part was that the dr's couldn't tell us why his heart had stopped.  when they did finally tell us what had happened, we learned that he had a heart disease called LONG QT syndrome that not many dr.s know about, so they dont know to look for it.  then we were  hit with more bad news...the heart disease was genetic.  my whole family had to go through blood tests, stress tests, wear holter monitors and everything...it turns out that the only other people in the family who have it are me and my sister.  by this time in was in 5th grade, and i did not want to hear that...we didn't know much about the disorder at the time, except for the fact that it had killed my cousin.  my family prayed alot and our church family was very supportive.  luckily one of the best cardiologists in the country is at CHOP (childrens hospital of philadelphia) so she was a tremendous  help to all of us.  she told us that basically alot of people have long qt but don't know about it until it is too late.  we would have to change our lifestyles a little (can't participate in competitive sports or run for long distances, can't get startled at all), take medicine every day twice a day (to regulate our heart beat), go to CHOP every 6 months or so for a stress test and holter monitor check, and change our diet (no caffiene, chocolate, sodas, coffee, tea).  at first this sounded horrible...i mean...no chocolate??? ever??? but honestly, giving up chocolate was better than the consequences.  so we realize that this was another thing life was going to give us to make us stronger...and I feel as if David is my guardian angel...if he had not died we wouldn't have known about it and instead of my cousin it could have been me or my sister...scary....then when i was 14 i hurt myself pretty badly while dancing and i pinched nerves in my back.  i had to go to university of penn for a 3 hour needle "operation"....i couldn't walk afterwards my legs were so numb....after that i had to have a CAT scan and MRI done...they showed that i had fluid in my spine right below my neck and the dr. there told me that i was going to be paralyzed by the waist down by the time i was 18...great...there go my dreams of dancing for the rest of my life and my dreams of having kids and becoming a "dance mom" or "soccer mom"....after i was told that i appriciated every day i was given the chance to dance.  when i was 17 i had an ultra sound done that basically told me i had cysts that would prevent me from having kids...that is not something a 17 year-old wants to hear...i love kids so much and i am such a natural mother people told me..but, just another thing i had to accept and learn from....when i was 14 we found out my mom was pregnant...at 45...almost every doctor mom went to told us that the baby had a 96% chance of having down syndrome, or some other birth defect.  we knew that we were going to love the baby no matter what, but it was still scary, not knowing how to prepare ourselves....we prayed again and our church family supported us so much....my mom says that chris was the easiest pregnancy and delivery she had out of the three of us, and he is 100% perfect.  he is adorable and smarter than my sister and i ever were at his age!  at 18, my first month as a freshman at millersville i had another ultra sound done that showed that i would need to have surgery to biopsy a tumor.  18 and breast tumors....ok....now what?  my family and my church family prayed for the biopsy to come back negative and it did....sigh of relief....the next month my cousin cairn passed away...she was 19....wow....parents aren't supposed to bury their kids...grandparents aren't supposed to bury their grandkids....2 grandchildren under the age of 20 lost on the same side of the family....another learning experience....i had another ultra sound done during the beginning of this semester that showed 7 more tumors.  i obviously can't get them all removed, especially if they are going to come back, so i decided just to deal with them and keep an eye on them to see what happens.

so, basically...i'm not even 20 yet and have been through all of that.  for some people, they would ask God "why me?"  and to be honest, i have asked that a few times, but then i also realize that there really isn't any point in doing that.  everything happens for a reason...even if it is not apparent at first.  some people complain so much about homework and classes....and then go out and get wasted or high every weekend....i choose not to do these things because my life experiences have made me realize how special human life is.  it makes me truely appriciate waking up every morning and being able to walk, able to see, able to talk, able to hear.  with everything that life has handed me I have learned from it and grown stronger from it.  i have also decided to be there as a support system for other people who are going through the same things have i been through.  my family and i go to long qt conferences and i talk to young teens who have just been diagnosed with it, i write encouraging letters to them...i've been in their position, i know what it feels like.  i wish that i would have had someone there for me to tell me that i was going to be ok through everything...and really, i have.  Through prayer and trust in God my family has surmounted all of the little "bumps in the road" in our lives. 

i know that was really long and probably no one will read it....but i wanted to put everything out there so people understand me more and where i'm coming from and why i live my life the way i do.  so many people judge me for not drinking or not partying.  i just cherish my life and my body that God has given me too much to do anything more to harm it.

kate