Inside Out in Real Life

Here are some stories from the life of the one and only, Kelsey Simpson. I wrote this as a way to write down some memories, and I thought that doing it based on the movie Inside Out would be a fun way to go about it.

Fear

Once upon a time, I decided that I wanted to dress up as a mailbox for Halloween. It was brilliant. My mother painted a big box blue, and put the USPS logo on it. When I was inside the box, I couldn’t bend my arms. They just stuck straight out the sides. My mom sent me and my sisters around the block trick-or-treating before we hit up the rest of the town. When we came back from visiting all of our neighbors, my mom was waiting for us hidden by the garage door. As we walked up to the front door, she started banging on the garage door and screaming frantically. It scared the poop out of my sisters and they ran inside. But unfortunately for me, the door slammed shut behind them. And because my arms were sticking out the sides of the box, I couldn’t open the door. So I was screaming bloody murder, bawling like a baby, and running repeatedly into the screen door because I didn’t have anywhere else to go. It was traumatizing, but oh so funny to laugh about now. We all agreed that if we had gotten it on video, it would’ve been worth $10,000 on America’s Funniest Home Video.

Disgust

One time, my sisters had a bright idea to play Truth or Dare. That’s never a good idea. When it was my turn, they dared me to hold Emily’s hand for ten minutes. This was a big deal to me, because I really hated holding hands with people. But I did it. And the entire time, Emily was stroking my thumb with hers, really making me squirm. I give this experience full responsibility for my adolescent fear of physical touch.

Anger

When I was growing up, the punishment in my family for misbehaving was getting pepper put on our tongue. I remember one time in particular that I got pepper put on my tongue. I was so angry about it, that when my mom told me to go rinse my mouth out, I refused. I decided that I was going to wait in the bathroom and let the pepper sit there. I was sure that I was teaching my mother a lesson. Although now I look back and laugh at how incredibly irrational I was.

Sadness

When I was five years old my Grandpa Simpson died. I don’t remember too much about my grandpa. But I still remember when my mom told me he had died. It was early on a Sunday morning. Cortney and I shared the bedroom across the hall from my parents’ room. We slept in the light colored bunk beds that were actually separated at the time. I was sleeping in the top bunk next to the closet. My mom came in and sat down on my bed, and told us that Grandpa had died the night before. He had died with my aunts and uncles gathered around him to give him a blessing. I don’t know why, but I have always distinctly remembered getting that news.

Joy

I’ve tried so hard to pinpoint one good story that illustrates the emotion of Joy. I couldn’t pick just one. I feel like my life is filled with joy, every minute of every day. Even when I experience those other emotions, the Joy is always present in the background. Lately a very dear friend of mine has kept telling me how much they love how happy I am. Their theory is that my endless joy comes from the faith that I have in Heavenly Father and His plan of happiness for his children. I absolutely agree with that theory. I was told once in a blessing that throughout my life I will demonstrate that there is never reason to fear. I find so much joy in living the gospel of Jesus Christ. I find joy in doing the things necessary to maintain a close relationship with him. I find joy in being around loved ones. I find joy in helping those loved ones; whether it is with yard work, or emotional/spiritual support. I find joy every day of my life.

My Vacation in Salt Lake

Last week was fabulous!!! I had planned to visit Dallas, but when those plans were canceled I decided to still take the week off and vacation in Salt Lake instead. Here’s the thing, I’ve never lived near Salt Lake before, and so I had a whole bucket list of things to do this summer. So why not just take a week and hammer them all out? Here are all of the adventures that I went on:

Thanksgiving Point

            This was brilliant way to start off the week! I spent an entire day visiting the four main attractions Thanksgiving Point. The Museum of Ancient Life was really cool. Especially since I had recently watched Jurassic World, so I was feeling particularly in touch with my inner-child. My absolute favorite however, was the Botanical Gardens. I had no idea what I was signing up for when I arrived. It was phenomenal. Acres and acres of gorgeous land that was all perfectly groomed to match different themes. There was an Italian Garden, Secret Garden, Butterfly Garden, Rose Garden, Mountain Garden, and who even knows what else. The coolest part was the ginormous waterfall. My friend told me that it is the largest man-made waterfall in this hemisphere. From the perspective of someone who has spent an unusual amount of time around Civil Engineers, that is very impressive.

Salt Lake Bees’ Game

            This one was definitely on my bucket list. What kind of summer would it be if I didn’t spend at least one night at a ball park watching a baseball game? Does life get any better than that? I should think, not. Baseball games are fun. What I like about baseball games that is different than other sporting events, is the type of fans that the games draw in. Baseball fans are all just so laid back, laughing, chit-chatting it up, and just happy to be there. It’s just a different environment than you get at basketball or soccer games.

Rollerblading

            I had the super fun opportunity to visit my dear friend Lindsey in Ogden and go rollerblading. We went on a little bike trail that was at some park, up some canyon. It was a blast. There was lots of screaming, and frantic waving of arms, but boy was it fun. Then I got to try a “World Famous Mormon Muffin” I didn’t know those were famous. But they were pretty delicious.

Hiking

            I have had at least half of a dozen people tell me that I needed to hike to Donut Falls. With that many recommendations, I figured that it was probably a big deal. So I did it. It was fun. The kid I went with is super out-doorsy and likes to rock climb, so he was all over the place. I had to keep reminding him that I have extremely short limbs, and am very much not a rock climber. I made it to the bottom of the falls alive. But in the process of crossing the stream, my shoes got soaking wet. Normally that is enough to drastically ruin my mood. But this time I managed to keep my act together and stay happy. Although, I did opt to stop climbing at that point. All in all, it was a good experience.

Temple Square

            What would a summer in Salt Lake be without a visit (or a dozen) to Temple Square?! I woke up one day at the crack of dawn and did a temple session. It was really nice. Then I went on a tour of the conference center. There is a lot of really beautiful pieces of art there. And did you know there is four acres of landscaping on the roof? FOUR ACRES!!! Woah. I also visited the visitor’s center and saw the wall of nametags. It was pretty cool, I won’t lie.

Natural History Museum of Utah

            This activity was one of my favorites. The museum has a dinosaur exhibit that absolutely shamed the one at Thanksgiving Point. It was pretty epic. They even had a wall devoted to the different species of Triceratops (Which I know is NOT the scientific name for them). My favorite exhibit, however, was not the dinosaurs, but the Extreme Mammals. That exhibit was beyond awesome. I took about two hours to walk through just that part of the museum. I learned so much. Like did you know that Platypuses has a sixth sense that most mammals don’t? As if those little guys weren’t cool enough!!!

Well, why don't they call it The Big Chill? Or The Nippy Era? I'm just sayin', how do we know it's an Ice Age?

Miniature Golfing

            One night I had a blind date who treated me to miniature golfing and dinner. It was so much fun. Legitimately the best blind date I’ve ever been on (hope that doesn’t offend anyone.) My date was really good at coming up with fun questions to ask, like, “What is the most embarrassing song in your iTunes library?” By the end of the date, we were singing Backstreet Boys’ songs and quoting Winnie the Pooh to each other. It was a fantastic date. Also, he was a very nice gentleman.

Salt Lake City Cemetery

            This was one of my other favorite activities. I found a map of the Salt Lake City Cemetery, and I set out to find the headstones of some of the prophets and apostles. That cemetery is massive, and even with the map it was still a pretty good scavenger hunt. I found most of the ones I wanted. But I never could find Bruce R. McConkie’s. My friend and I spent forever looking for that one.

My last dinner date of the weekend canceled on me at the last minute. Which I was actually alright with. I was beyond exhausted. So I ordered some pizza and watched some X-Men. It was a nice relaxing way to finish off my exciting week.