Practice What You Teach

What an amazing weekend it has been! I love General Conference so much! It is such an incredible blessing that once every 6 months we get to spend two days listening to our prophet, his counselors, the Apostles, and other General Authorities of our Church! I know that their messages are inspired, and I am so grateful for that! I started off Conference weekend by going to the temple with my roommate Jessica! I took my copy of the Conference addition of the Ensign from the last Conference with me! Rereading those messages made me even more excited for the coming weekend! Then I went to the BYU vs Utah State football game! We had fourth row seats AND we won! It was FREEZING but so worth it! General Conference is something that I always look forward too! It is such an incredible blessing to be able to hear the counsel of our living prophet President Monson, his counselors, the Quorum of the Twelve, and other General Authorities! I always gain so much from their messages and my testimony

     I figured since I haven't posted anything on my blog in almost two months and I'm procrastinating writing a history paper, I'd share a little bit about the first few weeks of my sophomore year at BYU! 1. Living in an apartment is the GREATEST. I have five roommates and I love them all! Kaylee and Alyssa are two of my great friends that I met last year! Kiersten is a freshman and on the swim team! She is so funny and I love her! Jessica is so sweet and keeps us all organized! Keighley is so much fun and has the best stories! I love them all! Yesterday we rearranged our living room and got our TV to work and we are in heaven! We watched TV for two straight hours last night before we went out and did stuff! We were literally so excited to eat dinner in front of the TV! Simple joys I guess! It is so nice to be able to make my own food! I'm just loving it. 2. Another bonus of living in an apartment is being able to have people over! Last Saturday we had an awesome m

       I wrote this blog post forever ago and forgot to post it! Enjoy!  These past two weeks have been so crazy but so much fun! Two Saturdays ago after packing up pretty much everything I own, Mom, Dad, Amy, and I got up at 5 am and hit the road to cross the country! We drove all day on Saturday until we made it to our hotel near St. Louis! We slept in a little bit on Sunday morning and then drove the remaining three hours or so to get to Phil and Sue's house in Kansas! We spent the rest of the day Sunday catching up and enjoying a DELICIOUS dinner that Sue made! I also learned that I actually didn't forget everything that I learned freshman year in Geometry! Jensen had some questions about her homework and I was actually able to help her! We ended a fun day by watching the first half of The Hunger Games! On Monday the kids had school so we hung out with Sue! She took us to see the GORGEOUS Kansas City Temple that just opened a few months ago! It really is beautiful! We then

This blog post is going to be a little bit personal, but I just really want to share some details about one of my primary summer goals: losing weight. As a kid I was really active I'd say. I did some sports growing up and I LOVED to play outside all the time. Then I got really into swimming. Mind you I wasn't very good at anything but breaststroke, but hey I did qualify for All Stars in it twice. Anyways, for three years, 6th-8th grade I swam year round. I would get up and swim before school three or four days a week and swam in the summer. Physical activity was a pretty big part of my life and I never really worried about my weight. Then high school happened. A typical day for me in high school started at 5:15 a.m. I would get ready and eat breakfast and get out the door to attempt to be at my church by 6 (rarely were we on time but we tried) for seminary, a 45 minute class that members of the LDS church all around the world attend each morning all four years of high schoo

Just a year ago I was a terrified high school graduate. I knew that in a month in a half I would be heading to a school that was 2,000 miles away from my hometown to Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. I was excited for the new adventure, but had no idea what the year would bring. From the moment I set foot on that campus, as nervous as I was I knew this was where I was meant to spend the next chapter of my life. I had an incredible freshman year and made memories and friends that I will cherish forever. This blog post is dedicated to all of the reason why I love being a BYU cougar! 1. MY FRIENDS. I made friends with some absolutely incredible girls in my first year of college. We came from areas all around the country. I was raised in Virginia. Kate was raised in Kansas. Anna was raised in Utah. Samantha was raised in Missouri. Alyssa was raised in California. Kaylee was raised in Connecticut. And so on and so forth. However there was one thing that brought us all together: our

Our family got home yesterday from an absolutely wonderful week at Nags Head Beach in the Outer Banks!  Leaving for the beach was quite an adventure. Last Friday night, my mom and I were sitting in the basement watching the gymnastics Olympic Trials when out of nowhere it started storming and our power went out! We had to finish all of our packing in the dark so we could still leave the next morning. My sisters came home from Girls Camp that night and we had to take all of their dirty laundry with us! We were able to leave as planned the next morning after leaving a key to our house with our wonderful neighbors the Overtons who came and cleaned out our fridge and freezer for us! When we got to North Carolina, instead of making our traditional stop at McDonalds, the family met up at Wendy's to shake things up a bit. After eating and making many MANY jokes about making a stop at the Wright Brother's Memorial, we headed to Manteo to spend the afternoon there until our house was re

What a week it's been! My cousin/one of my best friends Matthew left on his mission this week! He is serving in the London England South Mission. On Tuesday night the whole family went over to Julie's for dinner and Grandma and Grandpa kindly bought Potbelly's for everyone for dinner. Then we all went to the stake center for Matthew's setting apart. I was so grateful that I was able to be there! I'm not gonna lie, I got quite emotional. Thank goodness it was just my family and the stake presidency there, because I am not an attractive crier at all! Matthew and I then went with Grandma and Grandpa to drive Becky home! I just love having my family so close by again and spending time with them! The next morning I stopped by and said a quick final good-bye on my way to work! He is now safely at the MTC in Preston, England! He's already sent his first letter home and his MTC president sent home some pictures! It was so great to hear from him and he sounded so happy i

I've been meaning to write a Memorial Day Weekend blog post, but it totally slipped my mind until today! So here it is, only a week late! Last Sunday was Matthew's missionary farewell! My uncle Phil and cousin Jonathan came into town for it and we had such a great weekend! On Saturday, we all went over to the Frederickson's house and Becky bought everyone Taco Bell for lunch and we just sat around and caught up for a little while. Then, me, Amy, Matthew, Jenn, and Jonathan decided we wanted to go on an adventure. So, after a quick stop at Sweet Frog, where Jonathan kindly informed many uninterested customers that I worked there and asked them to please come visit me sometime, we met up with one of Matthew's friends at Dan Island in Ashburn. It was super pretty and a nice place to hang for a little while. Then we all went over to Grandma and Grandpa's house for a family dinner. Grandma had prepared the best ribs I have ever tasted! They were SO good. We had a great n

Well it's been almost a month since I've posted on my blog. I know I should be better. Well I'm home in Virginia. I love being home with my family, but I miss BYU and my friends there so much! Here's a list of the things I've been up to since I got home. -The week after finals I did absolutely nothing. I just relaxed at home and took a week to wind down after a stressful week of finals and catch up on some sleep. -Then I started job hunting. I was fortunate enough to only have to job hunt for one day before I was hired at Sweet Frog, a frozen yogurt shop near my house where I've been working since! It's a really fun job! -I have also been babysitting a lot for families in my ward! I love little kids, and it's been a great way to earn some extra money! -I've gotten to spend a lot of time with my family! -I went to DC with Matthew to have lunch with Becky. -I've seen a few friends from high school. I can't wait until my sisters get o

Well today I took my last two finals, and I am officially DONE with my first year of college! I seriously just can't believe it!! This is nuts. I can't believe it's over! This has been the most amazing first year of college that I ever could have asked for! I have made the most amazing friends in the entire world! Samantha, my work out buddy and fellow lover of sarcasm, The Office, and Modern Family. I love our talks and she is such an amazing friend! I'm really going to miss our breakfasts at the Cannon Center! Kaylee, one of the most genuinely kind people I have ever met! I am so excited for her to be my roommate next year! She is so much fun and I just love her. Anna, who always gives me a laugh. She loves awkward situations and is one of the nicest people I have ever met. She introduced me to Harry Potter and is always so much fun to be around! Kate, who is just the bomb. She is hilarious! She knows my Uncle PHILIP. Small world right? She is so fun to talk to and I

This week has been pretty anticlimactic because I've been swamped by homework, so I'm just going to skip right to Easter Sunday. I've had an amazing Easter! I thought I wouldn't because I don't get to spend it with family, but it turns out my friends are pretty fun too! :) I already knew that though of course! I started up the morning by opening up the Easter package my family had sent me! I love packages and Easter candy! Win win right there! Then I went to church! I had the opportunity to sing in the ward choir and to perform a duet with Matthew! We sang "I Know That My Redeemer Lives," which is one of my favorite hymns! I really wanted to not focus so much on sounding good as on bringing the Spirit into the meeting. I prayed and asked my Heavenly Father to help me to bring the Spirit through music on this special Sunday. I just loved that I had the opportunity to sing about my Savior! After Sacrament Meeting, a super sweet girl from my hall came up to m

Well, I have to write two blog posts today, because last week was absolutely crazy and I didn't have time to write one! Last week, my Grandma and Grandpa Shipp were in town! I got to see them all the time when I lived at home, so it was so much fun to see them again! Nothing beats a visit from family! On Tuesday we went to a Brazilian restaurant called Tucano's with all you can eat meat! Needless to say, Matthew and Grandpa were in heaven! On Friday, we went to University Mall to get Matthew's clothes for his mission! I went off and did a little shopping while he was getting fitted and such! We got some lunch at Chick-Fil-A and then headed off to the BYU Bookstore! Early Saturday morning we headed down to Joseph to see where Grandpa grew up! It was so much fun! We saw the houses and graves of a ton of our ancestors on both sides of Grandpa's family, ate at this delicious restaurant called Hoover's, not Hooter's (as it said on the t-shirts the employees wore) and

I don't really know why exactly, but I am just SO happy today! Well, I went to church which always makes me happy. Then I came home and Skyped with my mom and Amy, with a brief appearance from my dad before he had to leave to go home teaching. I then broke my fast with some leftover Cafe Rio, I mean what could be better right?! I then lay down to take a nap for the first time in ages. I had been asleep for about an hour when I was awakened by my phone ringing. It was a call from my lovely sister Jenn who had been asleep while I had been Skyping the rest of the family. So, I lay in bed and talked to Jenn for another hour. She was cracking me up by explaining to me how she was becoming a "Directioner" which is apparently the cool clique on Twitter for One Direction fans, and explained to me that Amy was copying everything about her love of One Direction. Not 20 minutes later, my dad called to tell me about an AWESOME job he had found that I should apply for and we talked fo

Well here we go. This week wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting it to be! I had something that I've always known reconfirmed to me without the course of this week: Heavenly Father has placed some pretty amazing people in my life. I've felt so much love and support from so many people this week! My mom sent me a letter and a care package, Becky sent me a letter, Sister Hatch sent me the sweetest e-mail ever, and my friends are just plain awesome. I am so blessed! My friend Sam and my roommate Alexis and I were talking last night about how it will be so interesting to see how this setback fits into the plan that Heavenly Father has for me. Someday it will all make sense. As much as I want to understand everything right now and know exactly what my future is going to be, that's not how Heavenly Father works. So, things are improving on that front. This week I've been pretty much studying nonstop for tests. WOO. it's a blast really. This weekend I managed to sq

I'm kinda forcing myself to type this blog post, but just because the week was bad doesn't mean I should give up on my goal! Not every week can be a good one! Well I can't deny the fact that this week did have some highlights! I got to sing at Devotional on Tuesday, which was an incredible experience! We sang a gorgeous arrangement of "Come Unto Jesus!" I even got a few close-ups on BYU TV according to my mom! I'm pretty much a celebrity! :) The devotional itself was incredible, and I'm so glad that I was able to contribute to the spirit that was present there! It was an amazing experience! I also was able to go to Divine Comedy's Tech show on Wednesday night with a huge group of friends! It's free, and they give each person a ballet to rate each of their skits so that they can decide which ones to use in their performance! They were hilarious and it was so much fun! Oh my goodness. I loved it. Other positive things: the weather was GORGEOUS this w

This has been a pretty good week! After a stressful week last week, I didn't have a ton of homework which was awesome. Now I have at least one test every week for the rest of March though, WOOHOO. But not really. I'm not very excited. Such is college life... Seriously though, college is a blast, I am a HUGE fan of college, but there's no denying the fact that it is REALLY hard. I really have to work hard to get grades that I am content with it, and it's really frustrating sometimes. Nothing feels better though than studying really hard for a test, taking it, and then seeing a score on that (wretched) T.V. screen in the Testing Center that makes you so happy that you can't help but smile! So that is school in a nutshell. Good times, good times. My new healthy/nutritious lifestyle is going quite well so far! Not to toot my own horn or anything. I'm just so lucky to have my awesome friend Sam to work out with! We have the same goals, work out in similar ways (eve

I've made a new goal for myself to write a blog post at the very least every Sunday. I'm terrible about journal writing, so I think this is a good goal and I'll do my best to stick to it! In my head, this week was going to be terrible. I had two midterms this week one of which was for Physical Science the worst class in the world. I was completely and utterly stressed about it. I seriously was just straight up convinced that I was going to fail. Nonetheless, I went to the review session and studied like crazy. I decided I would take the test on Saturday morning. I got up and went to the gym with my friend Sam (more about my new attempt at a healthy life later), and then we both went to the Testing Center together to take our tests. As I sat there, I said a silent prayer before I started the test. As I was taking I felt that I was really understanding each question. I was focused and read each question closely and was feeling pretty confident. I turned in my test, descend

I've been thinking a lot today about what a crucial point in my life that I'm at right now. I am on my own for the first time in my life. As my former YW president, Sister Hatch, told me before I left for BYU, college is the one time in your life where you really get to discover who YOU are. You are independent, away from your family and are responsible for all of your own decisions. You get to choose what your major is, what classes to take, how to spend your time, and the list just keeps on going. I just completed the process of applying to a very difficult degree program, Music Education. It is probably one of the most competitive programs at BYU. I turned in my application on Wednesday, and have since then been worrying on and off about whether or not I will be accepted. Today as I was sitting in church, I was thinking about all of this. All of a sudden, and overwhelming feeling of peace came over me. I knew that it was my Heavenly Father assuring me that everything was goi