Practice What You Teach

2011 was an absolutely amazing year. A lot of changes came about in my life, which was difficult at times, but I am so thankful for all of the memories and for those amazing people who have shared this year's journey with me! Here's a few of the highlights of 2011! -In January, I got to perform in the Broadway Cabaret at my school. I was given the amazing opportunity of having my own song and a trio! It was a blast working with the amazing Van Slykes and of course my wonderful friends! Performing in this production was such a great part of my senior year! -At the end of February, I was accepted to BYU. I spend the next couple of weeks deciding whether I was going to go to BYU or BYU-Idaho in the fall. It ended up being quite the ordeal, made even more difficult by the fact that I had never set foot on either campus in my entire life. My parents and I did extensive research about both schools. I made pro/con lists that went on for pages. Eventually, I came to a decision, but...

Oh my goodness, at this time on Thursday I'll be completely done with my finals and on my way to the Salt Lake City airport to fly home! I can't even begin to express my excitement! I haven't seen my amazing family since August! I'm seriously going to cry when I'm reunited with them in the airport! I'm not even joking, I'm really going to cry! I have missed them so so SO much! Two of my best friends, Sydney and Christine, are coming with my family to pick me up from the airport and I am so ridiculously excited to see them too! I just can't wait to spend a quality two and a half weeks with my family! Here's some of the things I'm most excited to do: -go to D.C. and see the tree at the White House. I promised all of my friends that I would take pictures of their state trees. -go to the D.C. Temple with my family and the Bobby's and see the lights and a show at the Visitor's Center! -have sleepovers in the living room with my sisters -J...

I can hardly believe it! In 12 days, I'll be taking my last final and then flying home! Every time I think about seeing my family again after 3 months and 3 weeks apart I get excited all over again! It definitely wasn't easy to be so far away from home. I had my fears about coming to BYU for sure. I was worried that I would get homesick, which I did of course. I was nervous that I wouldn't be able to handle the work load. It's so funny to talk to my friends now and realize that we all had the EXACT same fears, and that we all had moments when we first got here when we felt homesick or lonely. Here's a few of a things that has made my first semester of college so incredibly amazing! 1. My AMAZING friends I have seriously met some of the most amazing friends in the world here at BYU! We have so much fun together, and they have become like sisters to me! Some of my favorite things we've done have been: -loitering in the Cannon Center forever and ever -my HARR...

Well, of course because of the fact that Thanksgiving is tomorrow, I have to write a Thanksgiving blog post. It's just the protocol I think. I am so very blessed and have so much to be thankful for! 1. MY FAMILY! I may be slightly biased, but I'm pretty sure I have the best family in the world. My mom and dad are two of my biggest role models. Even though I'm at school 2,000 miles away, they are still always there for me no matter what. Just yesterday, my dad helped me find a paper that had somehow disappeared on my computer while I was completely freaking out. My sisters Amy, Jenn, and Abby are my best friends in the world. I love that we talk about anything and everything! We are so supportive of each other and have so much fun together! I love them so much! 2. MY FRIENDS I am so thankful for my BYU friends as well as my Virginia friends! I feel so blessed to have such great friends who care so much about me and I care so much about them! I know that the memories ...

Say what? I'm almost done with my first semester of college? It has literally FLOWN by! I'll be back in Virginia for Christmas in only 24 more days, so basically 3 and a half weeks! I'm a little excited!! After Thanksgiving break, I only have two more weeks left of classes, and then finals! AHHH! I love Christmas more than anything and I am SO excited that I get to spend it with my amazing family! Being away from them for 3 1/2 months has been super hard, so I can't wait to spend time with them! Thank goodness BYU is amazing and makes being so far away from home completely worthwhile! This weekend, good ole Provo got it's first snow of the season on Friday night! My good friend Alyssa is from California, so it was her first real snow! So obviously, we had to go on a snow adventure around campus and take tons of pictures! It was a blast! Kaylee and I mimicking the statues behind the HFAC! We went to the library to warm up and took some pictures with the Chr...

WHOA what a weekend! So tonight, I went to the BYU vs University of Idaho football game with some friends and looking at our tickets all of us had terrible seats. Naturally, none of us were going to stand for that, so we walked into a random portal and hoped for the best. Lo and behold the front row was completely empty! So, we decided we would sit there! It was AWESOME! I high-fived Cosmo (our school mascot)four times and we got to see an AMAZING touchdown right up close! We think we may have gotten on ESPN, because the camera guy came like right in front of us! It was SO COOL! We won 42-7! Yay for the Cougs! I'm sure all of you avid readers of my blog are DYING to know what a Harry Potter conversion means. Well, allow me to explain. On Monday night, my friends Anna, Kate, and Alyssa and I were facebook chatting because we just missed each other and we were too lazy to leave our rooms. Somewhere in the conversation I mentioned that I kind of liked the Twilight series. Bad mistak...

It's not every day you wake up on a rainy morning and the first thought that pops into your head is "The Prophet of the Lord is coming to speak to my school today!" Well, I was fortunate enough to wake up to this very thought this morning! What an unforgettable experience! I still cannot believe that I was in the same room as the prophet listening to him deliver a message that was directed towards me and my fellow students here. It was so amazing to me that the moment he entered the Marriott Center, every single person in that packed room stood up out of respect and love for this incredible man. He started out his talk with a hilarious story about how one time he was speaking at a devotional and was not wearing his wedding band. He explained that he usually doesn't wear one, because he perspires from his fingers and the band falls us. He assured us that he is happily married. Anyways, one girl in the audience thought that he had been proposing to her, and called his h...