Spring Break 2013

This last Spring Break was so much fun!

And what better way to post about it than in pictures?

After all, a pictures worth a thousand words!

It started with making some very yummy peanut butter balls on a snowy day

(we were actually supposed to leave that day for Utah,

but a blizzard had come in so we had to wait until Sunday to leave).

We headed to Utah on Sunday and for the most part the roads were clear,

and we made pretty good time.

We spent a little over 24 hours in Utah,

where I got to see Robin!

Laurie even let her skip school so we could spend the day together.

We had a great day shopping and went to Chili's for lunch which was very yummy!

I even found a prom dress at NPS!

(Now I just need a date! Haha)

Later that evening,

we went out to dinner to a mexican restaurant

 with the Allred side of the family

and then headed back to grammas house

to see Stephanie and Jeremy and Taydym.

She is just such cute and happy baby! 

 Love her!

My mom thinks she looks alot like me when I was little,

I think she is just so cute!

On Tuesday we headed up to Idaho

While in Idaho,

we stayed at Kyle and Carissa's house.

And boy, do I sure miss them!

Mom got Kyler a new toy for Easter and he absolutely loved it! 

It was the perfect thing for his tiny little hands.

 "Excuse me?"

His sassy face is so cute!

Going to town on that orange!

He puts everything in his mouth! 

Because I am officially going to BYUI,

it was only appropriate that I load up on all things BYUI.

I got a sweatshirt that was on clearance (score),

a tshirt and of course a water bottle.

I also got my housing all figured out while I was there!

I am so excited to live in the new Kensington Manor!

It's so beautiful, and has so

much storage space which is awesome! 

I also got to see Kreestaa!!

Oh how I have missed her so much!

She is such a great friend to me,

and I am so grateful for our lasting friendship!

Twinners! Carissa is such a great sister,

and I am so grateful for her example to me in all things.

I even did homework on campus,

which are completely different stories!

But it made me feel like a big kid!

The week was filled with fun adventures,

quite a few games of trains,

some games of bowling for my class,

and just all around fun with family and friends!

I cant wait to get up to Idaho in the fall!

I love the campus so much,

its absolutely beautiful.

The trip definitely did not help my senioritis,

I did not want to go back to high school,

but I have decided to finish  the year off strong making the best of everything

that comes my way!

So here's to finishing high school strong,

and here's to COLLEGE!!!

HOLLLEERRR!!

Hope yall had a fun filled and safe spring break as well!

The Right Time

I am so grateful for tithing.

It is such a blessing in my life.

Things always seem to work put when I pay my tithing.

And I know that my Heavenly Father blesses me for doing so.

But although there has been blessings of all shapes and sizes,

some small and some big.

I don't know if I have ever been more grateful for it

then I am now.

As college is just around the corner,

of course money is a going to be a worry.

But because I have been obedient in paying my tithing

I won't be paying even half of what some of my friends will be paying.

Tithing goes to many different places,

and included in that are the church's schools.

Being a private school, I dont have to pay out of state tuition

which is a even greater blessing because

in some states it is so expensive.

I know that paying tithing can bless your life at the time

but I have learned that it can bless your life years and years down the road.

So if its at the time or years down the road,

when the blessing comes,

I know that it will come at the right time for me.

And to think that God knew how this would bless my life the whole time,

because it's part of His plan

is truly remarkable.

I am also very grateful for the GI Bill.

It should pay for just under three semesters of school if i do it right.

When I look at everything I need to pay for in college,

its a little nerve racking,

but I know that my Heavenly Father has a plan for me

and that everything will work out the way its supposed to.

I am so grateful to be going to a school

where I will be surrounded by other members of the church.

While I was on campus over spring break,

it quickly became a holy place.

I felt comforted and confident that it was where I am

supposed to be for college.

And I absolutely cannot wait to get up there in the fall and to move into my

beautiful apartment! 

Hope you've had a great General Conference weekend!

Try to Remember

As the past few weeks have gone by so quickly,

 rehearsals have gone later and later each night.

My sisters can't come see Honk!, which is a bummer.

Brielle always jokes about skyping

with my parents on the iPad during the show and

I always roll my eyes and say no way!

Can you imagine sitting and enjoying a show

and then all of a sudden an iPad pops up like a daisy

from the seat right in front of you!

So I told them no.

But, I have been really bummed that they can't come.

Sometimes I would play the

"I went to all of your events and none if you come to mine." card.

Sometimes it's hard being the youngest by so much.

But I am guilty of forgetting

just how blessed I am to have the technology

that we have to communicate so quickly and easily from so far away.

Even from hundreds of miles away,

we can send a text and they it will be received just seconds later.

We can put pictures up on facebook to watch old friends and family grow up.

We can get on Skype and within a few minutes 

we can see them at home in their living room. 

So although we may be far away from family and miss them
a whole heap,

may we always try to remember that in this day and age

we are extremely blessed to communicate with them so easily as we do.

I know that if Brielle and Carissa could come see the show,

they would. 

And for that im so grateful!

I sure do love them and can't wait until I can see them again
cause I miss them like crazy!

A Little Bit of Spring

What a beautiful day today!

Today in the Springs, we are 66 degrees and were only supposed to get warmer!

Seriously Colorado is just beautiful. 

I love seeing the mountains frosted white from the snow, 

and at the same time the sun is shining bright with a cool breeze.

Ladies and gentlemen. I do believe its that time of year again! 

Spring is in the air! 

I just love the spring, although i will admit that sometimes I do 

have separation anxiety from the winter only because

I get super cute sweaters when they are like 75% off

(justifying that i will need them in the fall of course - they dont call Rexburg The Iceburg for nothing!),

but in all reality i just want to wear them now! 

In addition to getting super cute new clothes, there is the part we all hate.

Which is spending the entire afternoon going through your closet. 

And yes sometimes it really does take all afternoon.

I have a hard time getting rid of clothes because i always think,

well what if I decide I like it in a few months,

which then turns into a year and another year after that. 

Either way, I still end up never wearing them.

But even knowing that, I dont think that makes it any easier.

Like I said, today as well as the past few days have been absolutely beautiful!d

I am so grateful for the nice weather while every other student in the Performing Arts Department

at DCC are in Disney World.

They left very early on Monday morning and come back on Saturday.

The week started off really hard.

It was an awful day at school, and having all of my friends gone just added to everything else.

But luckily the week got much better. 

Ashley Miller and I have hung out everyday after school,

Emily and finally had time to skype,

She is coming to see Honk!, I cannot wait to see her!

The college shopping trip adventures continue

and because Sarah Lyman did not go to Disney either,

we have been pretty productive on our AP Psych Child Development Project that is due next week.

Plus, my mom has been really awesome and has let me skip a lot of school,

given half my classes are gone. Haha.

But in all reality, 

it is so nice to have a break from everyone and be personally productive, not just on

my homework but in things for college, 

and the end of the year.

And to have extra time to run lines for the show.

Overall it has been a very productive, yet somehow relaxing week.

And for that, I am so grateful.

[For some reason this one didnt get posted until now.. Sorry!]

Celebrating 100

Remember when you were in Elementary School,

and every single year you celebrated the 100th day of school??

Well this year, were doin it a little bit differently.

This past Tuesday,
February 12, 2013
 marks 100 days until..

[drum roll please!]

GRADUATION!!!!!!

WOOO!!

Can you believe it?! 

Sometimes I cant even wrap my head around it.

[So I guess I never finished this blog.. But it's still worth posting!]

THE BOMB.COM

As excited as i am to graduate an start my new adventure in college,

I sure am terrified.

So many questions run through my head each day..

Like how am i gonna pay for school?

Shoot. How am i gonna pay for all my gluten free food!

What am declaring as my major?

And the the list goes on and on.

But the past few days have been a whole new set of thoughts.

I will for sure be going to BYU-Idaho in the fall!

I got onto the fall/spring track, so school starts on september 16, 2013.

Crazy right?? I think so.

I truly believe that no one can emotionally and mentally 

prepare you for your senior year of high school.

For me, it has been more physically, mentally and emotionally challenging

than any other year of school.

But the past few days as I accepted to BYU-I,

 I realized that graduation is coming FAST. 

Graduation announcements came in and were available for pick up during both lunches,

auditions to sing at graduation were two weeks ago.

And we're beginning to talk about specific dates for certain events.

But more importantly, I wanna talk about how my outlook on things like this

were changed.

All because of one school assembly.

A week or so ago, DCC had a motivational speaker come talk to us.

Laymon Hicks has a way  of communicating with high school students on their level. 

He doesn't just stand up there telling people to be better,

he told his story, and as he did he encouraged us to be better people.

His story is incredible and so many of us in the audience could relate to him.

 And in so many different ways. 

I am positive that everybody was touched in some way or another.

He talked about never failing to let the people in our lives know how much we love them.

He had us all close our eyes and think about the people in our lives,

and to think of someone in particular that we may have not said "I love you" to recently.

And when we opened our eyes,

he told us to take out our phones and to text the person.

The past few weeks have been really busy and I realized that I have let

things get in the way of the people I love most in my life.

Carissa and I play phone tag every time we try to talk,

my dad and I are hardly ever home at the same time.

Emily is working 2 jobs,

and Sarah has been gone for a month doing college auditions.

While they are all busy,

I have an absolutely crazy schedule too.

If I'm not at school, I'm at rehearsal, or work.

When I'm at home, I'm sleeping because I'm completely exhausted from school rehearsal and work.

But listening to Layman talk,

I realized that I just can't afford to let days and especially weeks go by

without sitting down for an hour or so with those that I care so much about.

It's not hard to call them up to talk or to go grab some Starbucks. 

So that is a new goal of mine, to never let those that I care most about forget how much I love them.

It's also a two way street,

sometimes we need to make sacrifices for the ones we love.

Sometimes I need to sacrifice an hour of homework or sleep to spend time with them.

What sacrifices do you need to make?

Laymon said "good things do not come to those who wait".

He told us that if there was something we wanted

and we wanted it badly enough, we needed to

"GET UP. GET OUT. AND GO GET IT."

We should all do that.

We all see other people doing great things, like going to the Olympics

or getting a great job promotion or someone looses "X" amount of weight.

Too often, we find ourselves saying, "man, I wish I could do something like that.."

We'll guess what, you can!

He told us a story about a time when he was going to a leadership conference

and he had gotten a brand new suit.

When he arrived at the retreat,
they told him they were going to the beach.
[He told us that he absolutely hates the beach]
But there he was, at the beach. In his brand new suit.
And while talking to students he felt something hit his arm
and as he looked down at it
he saw that it was bird poop.
On his Brand. New. Suit.
(Of course he tells this story much better and its absolutely hilarious!)
But as a side note he told us that earlier he had seen a young man with a long sleeve shirt on and
he thought, who wears a long sleeve shirt to the beach?!
But then he remembered that he was wearing a suit, so he really
had no place to judge!
He had talked to this young man earlier but when he was pooped on
he was talking with another group of people.
Laymon went on to say how mad he was about the whole thing.
He was furious. He hates the beach,
and somehow he got himself into spending the day there,
in a brand new suit.
But after a few minutes of being angry he wiped his sleeve off
and remembered that he was there for the students.
To be talking with and motivate the students.
So he continued on his "mission", his reason for being there.
At the end of the day, he saw the young man with the long sleeves again
and pointed to him and said something along the lines of,
"Hey! You can do it man!"
Later that evening he got an email from the young man with long sleeves,
thanking him for saying that he could do it and for encouraging him, etc.
As he read on,
the guy explained that he was wearing long sleeves because he was trying to hide the cuts on his arms.
The young man was trying to kill himself the night before.
But he decided that he would go to this one last retreat the next day.
In the email, he went explaining that no one has ever told him
that he could do something,
or be someone or go anywhere.
No one had ever encouraged him.
He thanked Laymon for saving his life that day.
So after telling us that story, Laymon went back to the bird that pooped on his arm,
and talked about how much of a distraction that was.
He was so caught up in the whole thing that it took him from what he was really supposed to be
doing that day, which was talking with all of those kids.
He said that if he let that take over the rest of his day,
he would not have said anything to that young man with the long sleeves.
Laymon then asked us,
what kind of birds (distractions) we had in our own lives.
And now I wanna share that same question with you.
What kind of birds are in your life that keep you from doing the things that we are supposed to be doing?
And though, we may never be put in a situation as extreme as savings someones life,
we cannot lose focus of what we are supposed to be doing.
Everyone has birds in their life.
For some it might be media, others it could be friends, and for some it may even be family.
Sometimes, although it may be hard, the best thing for us is to get rid of those birds
and to focus on what we are supposed to be doing.
To focus on our mission.
One last thing that I really loved that Laymon said,
was that he always wanted to be an author
but his mother continually shot him down.
She would tell him that he would never be an author.
He now has multiple books published.
He taught that no matter what people tell you,
no matter how many times your told that you cant do it,
it can never stop you from achieving your dreams
and being "THE BOMB.COM"
Like Laymon, I have always wanted to write a book.
But I have realized that,
as cheesy as it sounds,
I already am.
Im writing my story here.
I am the author, and even though its small,
and not many read my blog,
it makes me feel like a part of something bigger.

I may be nervous to leave home and go to college in the fall,
that's not gonna stop me from anything. I am gonna
"GET UP. GET OUT. AND GO GET IT."
Because I am "THE BOMB.COM"
And nobody can take that away from me.

A special thank you Laymon Hicks for coming to DCC and spending
the morning with us. Keep doin what your doin! Because you are changing lives.
God Bless.

Super Easy T-Shirt Quilt!

A few months ago our laurel class was talking about 

ideas that we would wanna do for our weekly activities,

and one of our ideas was to make t-shirt quilts.

Little did we know at the time,

just how awesome our leaders were.

Before we knew it, 

we were getting all of the materials that we needed to start 

our quilts.

It is so much easier than it looks!

The only materials you need are:

- t-shirts

- low loft quilters batting

- basting spray

-masking tape

and a sewing machine!

So here's how to do it:

1. Cut your tshirts into

12x12 inch sqaures.

2. Arrange them in the order you want them in.

(mine was 6x6 feet)

3. Measure your backing and batting.

(I just ran to target and got a full sized flannel sheet for my backing,

making it easy and avoids having to sew pieces together. 

It was plenty big enough, and nice and warm!)

Leave 2 extra inches of backing on every side of the quilt.

4. Spray the basting spray on the backing in sections and place your batting on smooth.

5. Sew each row (except the middle) together.

The middle has to be sewn directly on the quilt.

To sew each row together, take one square facing up, then the neighboring 

square on top of it but facing down. Tape the two squares together along the edge of the tape.

Take the tape off, and open the two squares. Repeat for each square in the row.

6. One by one, sew the rows directly onto the quilt.

Do the same thing you did when sewing each individual square together,

but do it for the entire row horizontally instead of vertically. Take the tape off.

Spray the basting spray on the batting, and pull your t-shirts flat, avoiding awkward bumps

in your quilt.

7.  Now all the rows should be sewn on horizontally,

so now each column (sewing veritcally between each column).

8. Cut all the excess batting around the edges of the quilt.

But dont cut the excess backing!

9. Fold the backing over evenly twice and sew the whole edging down.  

10. Sew knots every four inches in each square to help keep the batting in place.

Here is my finished quilt!

It covers my queen sized bed!
I love it, I love it, I love it!!

So, when explaining how to make it,

it seems like a lot of work. 

But my entire 6x6 foot quilt took me maybe 8 to 9 hours total.

I'm also not very good at explaining things without being able give you visuals as examples.

I wish I took more pictures..

But I am helping Ashley make one right now, so I will

have to take pictures and put together a video to put up for ya.

This was such a fun project and super easy!
So easy, that I did it all by myself!
Sure, the shirts dont line up perfectly, and the sewing may not be perfectly straight,
but I think thats what gives it character.
Wouldn't you agree??

So overall, I feel really good about it.

Even though cutting up some of my t-shirts was difficult,
this way I can have them forever!

This was an awesome project to do, as im finishing up the last couple months
of school before graduation.

It's a pretty cool thing to see all of the things I have done all smashed onto a quilt.
And to see how putting small and simple things like t-shirts together,
can make great things like a quilt be made!
I am grateful that I have been so blessed to have so many amazing opportunities
the past couple of years and to take so many great memories away from those experiences.