Karsten and Karah

As my parents like to point out, I make too many rash decisions.  The most recent of these decisions is one I made this past fall.  Over the summer after my first year of college at BYU, I had a sudden thought that I needed to stay in my hometown, Las Vegas, and attend UNLV.  Within a week of this idea, I made the transfer from BYU to UNLV and a few weeks after that I realized I wasn't exactly sure why I did it.  I had been accepted into the ever-challenging nursing program, had a cute apartment, had a potential job opportunity, and had the best roommates/ friends I could have asked for all to live at home with my parents, have no job, and no guarentee into my program of choice.  So, why did I leave?  Some say it was because of a boy....

Karsten Smith and I met back in August of 2010, the day before school started for me.  I was stressed about the decision I had just made and I still had no idea why I did it.  My close summer friend, Jen Ballard, and I had peaks and valleys of a social life.  Sometimes we were social and sometimes we weren't.  On one particular Sunday night, my cousin, Brian Marx, had invited Jen and I over for a movie night.  We had made the last minute decision to go.  We got there late and didn't even get a good look at everyone there because the movie had started and the lights were out.  So Jen and I took our place on the floor and cuddled until the movie was over.  After the movie, we all played a game together.  There were several people there with us and one boy I had never met.  I remember making the note that he was cute.  The game we all played was called the "state game" where we all took on the name of a state for someone to call out and change seats and all sorts of fun stuff.  My state was Florida.  We had a good time and I still had that cute boy on my mind. 

We had a few weeks in between our first meeting where for a period of time, this boy (who I learned was named Karsten) only knew me as "Florida".  One day, Karsten had asked me for my number and hanging out together started very slowly.  We talked and texted eachother a lot.  We started out as pretty good friends.  It wasn't until he stopped me from out going with another boy and he broke it off with another girl that I thought there could be something there.  Our dating began.

This was the night of our first kiss.  We had been hanging out on the strip with a few friends and they creeped up behind us and took a picture of us looking out at the lights. 

This was the first time we talked about how we needed to take more pictures together!

Just shortly after Karsten and I decided we didn't want to date anyone else.

Christmas

New Years

Rebel Games

Valentine's Day

St. Patrick's Day

Painting Karsten's room

General Conference

I've loved every holiday, date, and trip.  I have loved the boring days, the stressful days, and the romantic days.  Karsten and I have grown a lot together and have become best friends. 

Did I leave BYU for Karsten?  I don't know.  But it has been the best, rash decision I have ever made!