So I'm going to be switching things up on my blog a little bit. As some of you know, I am an aspiring journalist who loves the news. I read the New York Times every day, have a job that requires me to read religious news articles every day, and would love nothing more than to report the news on TV. Unfortunately there are many people who either don't have access to, don't care about, or dislike the news. My goal is to change all that. So this blog is now going to be housing more than just my personal sob stories. It's going to have major headlines of news events made clear. Sometimes the jargon of foreign affairs and business makes reading news articles confusing. My goal is to make the news of the world accessible for anyone and everyone. So now when you come to this blog, you'll not only see my personal life, but also some of the things that are going on in the world that really matter. Now you can have a way to keep up with what's REALLY going on in the world, and be able to understand it too.


Educate yourself.

So I'm not going to do Gabe's big farewell post yet. I'll either do it when he moves back home or actually leaves. I just can't do that big goodbye post when he's still got a few weeks of dealing with us all:)

But we did go to Gabe's farewell this weekend which was super fun! We drove for several hours to Tremonton and then to Morgan to watch our friends give their farewells (Nick and Gabe both gave excellent talks) and then we ate way too much food and got some quality friend time. We didn't have time to stop by Kaysville though, which I was sad about:( I wanted to see my mom. But this weekend I will get to see my family which I'm really excited about!! The farewells were great. I got to do a lot of thinking during our long car rides, and came to a few brief conclusions about life in general.

• It's the best feeling in the world when your friends have your back.
• You are as happy as you make yourself.
• When you spend 30 minutes listing things you love, you find more things that you do love.
• Utah is one of the prettiest places in the world.
• You can be happy, having the time of your life, and still feel like you're missing something.
• It doesn't matter if you're rich or poor, if you have the gospel, you have everything you need.
• I have some of the best friends in the world.
• You have no idea what the future holds, but there's someone who does!

So this weekend has been crazy and fun and weird and interesting and a million other adjectives that I am too tired to think of right now. The overarching word that describes this weekend is....good. It was good. I don't even have any other things to say about the weekend. I could describe all the things we did and how late we stayed up and what we talked about, but it seems semi-irrelevant at the moment.

The moral of the story is that sometimes you'll have legendary days that make everything wonderful and make you want to have a million other memories just like that. And some days are a blur of how many hours you've been awake and what time it is in other countries and humanities and physical science terms. But when you have good friends and awesome people to miss, those blur days are still good blurs.

There is one moment of perfection I wanted to mention from this weekend. I went to the RB and found an empty studio yesterday. And I spent an hour and a half dancing. I did barre work, a grand allegro, an adagio (which is a feat because I literally hate doing adagio,) the Sugar Plum Fairy variation, and a dance that's been choreographed in my brain, but never actually done. I have barely danced in the past year. It was too painful. I think that I'm past the point where dancing is painful, and it's started to become just about me again. It's still such a huge part of who I am and I still love it. And it's time for me to get back to it. I'm not as good as I used to be, but I'm not anywhere near as bad as I was worried I would be. So no, I'm not changing my major to dance or joining any team, but I'm back to ballet. Even if it's just for me.

So today I got one of the best phone calls of my life. I got to talk to Elder Randy Low for a good thirty minutes. And let me tell you folks, it was a wonderful thirty minutes. We got to talk about everything that was going on, be sad together and happy together, everything. That boy is seriously my best friend. He's so excited to be heading to Japan and so ready to serve. He's already an incredible missionary and I can't wait to see how he continues to learn and grow. Saying goodbye for a second time was hard, but it was ok. I know he is right where he is supposed to be, doing exactly what he's supposed to be doing. I couldn't possibly be more proud of him.

AH I just miss that boy. A lot. But I'm really happy with where things are going and how I'm living my life. BYU is awesome and I'm having a great time figuring out myself and being independent. I have an awesome group of wardies and friends, a great family, and the very best friend ever.

Yay for phone calls from the Seattle airport and giving a man in that airport a Book of Mormon, for laughing hysterically in the temple, for lots of "I miss you's," for the First Vision in Japanese, for confidence in the future, for catching up on all the gossip, for apologies about things that don't require an apology, for standing up for me in every situation, for memories about Easter and more memories to come, for plans for the next phone call, for laughing through the tears and the "see you soon" before the "love you, bye." Yay for Elder Low:)

So March in my family is a special month. It's both of my parents birthdays in the month of March. My parents are honestly the best parents a person could ask for. They are always there for me, they care for me and support me, they provide and protect me, they teach and advise me, and most importantly, they love me and always show me. So here's a birthday shout-out, filled with an example of the great people that my parents are.

So for their birthday, my siblings and I cooked a big lunch for my parents, and then took them to This is the Place Heritage Park for an afternoon of family time. Literally the second we pulled into the parking lot, my car died. So my sweet parents tried to figure out what was wrong, called a towing company, made sure my car would get safely towed back to Kaysville, helped me get all my stuff into their car, drove me back to Provo, helped me unpack my stuff, took me grocery shopping, and got me dinner. On the day that was supposed to be all about them. Yeah, my parents rock. And I know that sometimes (most of the time,) I'm a pain and I take them for granted. But in all honesty, my parents are truly two of the greatest people I know. So happy birthday Mom and Dad, thank you for being the most Christ-like, loving people I know, and the best parents and friends a person could ask for. I love you!!!

I know Cade isn't technically leaving on his mission for a month, but since he moved out of BYU and back home to Morgan, I have to do his tribute now. It's an ethical thing, or something. Whatever:)

So here's a shout-out to the end of an era. The Robed Five and the Fat Five were really the kings of campus (in our minds that is...) and it's sad to see the end of it. We've become such close friends over the course of a few months, and I honestly am so grateful for all of the memories and more importantly, the people, that I've had the pleasure of spending time with. Especially you Cade. Cade is one of those people who is smart and witty and probably knows everything, but you would never know that because he's very humble about it. Cade genuinely cares about people and always, always "has my back." Cade has all these hidden talents including mixing/making music, helping run two anti-pornography programs, and knowing literally every single fact about Star Wars. I thought I was obsessed. Not. Even. Close. Cade is generous beyond belief, paying for us girls, and sometimes the guys, on numerous occasions. Cade is super smart and is always willing to help the rest of us get a little smarter. Cade doesn't care what people think (hence him going around in a robe 99% of the time) and is always himself in every situation. The most important thing about Cade though is his testimony. That is what is going to make him an amazing missionary to the people in Chile for the next two years. And I can guarantee you that boy will change lives. So here's to Cade, and to the end of an era. I'm going to miss long car rides with your music, Star Wars nights, fried chicken and other dinners, of course the robe, you calling me freaking out about what cute thing to do for that one chick (hahaha...;)) and a million other things. So Cade, thanks for being one of my very best friends. I'm going to miss you. Now, and even more when you actually leave on your mission.


This is Cade. Totally in his element in every picture. Love you Cade!!!!

I'm one of those obnoxious girls who loves every song that comes on the radio, each part of the movie is "my favorite part," whose favorite food is Italian and Chinese and Thai and Indian and American and everything else. And I'm also one of those girls who considers more than one person her best girlfriend. Best friend is such a weird title, and one that people are funny about. In my opinion I have lots of "best friends." To some people, you can only have 1 best friend. One very best, always and forever, best friend. But I disagree. I have best friends who are the "best" at lots of different things. Some are the best at listening, some are the best at making me laugh, some are the best at never making me feel bad and some are the best at never letting me down. So yes, I give out the term "best friend" a lot, but that doesn't mean that any of those people aren't actually my best friends. Because every single person who gets that title, deserves it for one reason or another.

In my opinion, deeming one person and only that one person your best friend is just hurting you in the long run. Have lots of friends and lots of best friends. Make sure they're the BEST for you and the BEST to you. That's what the terms and conditions of a "best friend" should be. Being the best person they can, and helping you be the best person you can be. Those are my credentials of a best friend, so it's obvious that I have more than one of those. Because I am surrounded by amazing girls who try and help me be better. And I'm a very lucky girl.