I've been so excited for Prom the past couple of weeks, and can you guess what happened? Yes, I got sick. Really sick. The day before Prom. I was so scared I wasn't going to be able to go! But with some Ibuprofen, lots of naps, and a special blessing from my Dad, I made it! :) And I had a great time with my friends. :) 

                                 

I got accepted to BYU! I've wanted to go there

 my whole life, and I've finally been accepted!

I'm so excited!!! BYU, here I come!

<----- This is why I absolutely love Fall





Colored leaves, chilly days, jackets, apple cider, cozy blankets, good books. Fall is such a beautiful time of year! I wish it would decide to stay a little longer. It seems that, as soon as the leaves begin to change, it snows!

This is my ultimate Fall goal. To make a batch of caramel-stuffed apple cider cookies. Mmm! Find the recipe here.

I am not a very crafty person. That's why I have a Pinterest. I wish I were though! I just discovered that my aunt has a blog called My Love 2 Create. She is so crafty and can make the cutest things for hardly any money at all. Follow her at http://www.mylove2create.blogspot.com/

Here's a little overview of another amazing General Conference:

Now, more than ever:

                  To watch all of General Conference, click here.

Tracy finally had her baby! She is so beautiful! Luke and Noah prayed that her APGAR score would be a 10. She didn't quite get a 10, but she is a healthy, beautiful baby. :) Welcome Zara Snow Barrionuevo!

              All the water in the world

no matter how it tried,

could ever sink the smallest ship,

unless it gets inside.

All the evil in the world,

the blackest kind of sin,

can never hurt you one least bit,

unless you let it in.

-Author Unknown

Oh my goodness. I can't believe it. The prophet, Thomas S. Monson, just announced that men can now go on their mission at age 18, and women can serve at age 19! That is so incredible! I have a countdown on my iPod, and today it went from:

 

  

 -------------------->

"In a move to expand the opportunities for young members of The Church of 

Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to serve full-time missions, Church president

 Thomas S. Monson announced today that, effective immediately, men may now

 begin serving at age 18 and women at age 19.

The previous age for beginning missionary service was 19 years of age for young

 men and 21 for young women.

The announcement was made during the opening session of the Church’s 182^nd 

Semiannual General Conference, broadcast worldwide from Salt Lake City, Utah.

President Monson said that missionaries will have to have graduated from high 

school or its equivalent, regardless of where they live.

“ I am not suggesting that all young men will—or should—serve at this earlier age,”

 President Monson said.  Rather, he said, the option is now available based on

 individual circumstances, as well as upon a determination by local Church leaders.

The Church anticipates that lowering the age requirement will significantly increase

 the number of missionaries who will serve by expanding the options for when they

 may begin their service.

A news conference is scheduled for 12.30pm today, when more details will be

 announced. A live stream of the news conference will be viewable on 

MormonNewsroom.org."

"Give me a young woman who loves home and family, who reads and ponders the scriptures daily, who has a burning testimony of the Book of Mormon. Give me a young woman who faithfully attends her church meetings, who is a seminary graduate, who has earned her Young Womanhood Recognition Award and wears it with pride! Give me a young woman who is virtuous and who has maintained her personal purity, who will not settle for less than a temple marriage, and I will give you a young woman who will perform miracles for the Lord now and throughout eternity."

-President Ezra Taft Benson

Gratitude

For Personal Progress, I have to focus on three standards that I need to improve on. So, I picked Physical and Emotional Health, Language (Gossip), and Gratitude. I decided at the end of each day, I am going to write down the five things I was most grateful for that day. Here's this weeks:

Monday-

School

Happiness

Family

Priesthood Blessings

Cross Country

Tuesday-

Cross Country

Friends 

Journal

Love

Wednesday-

the Gospel

the Book of Mormon

Young Womens 

Beliefs

Personalities

Thursday-

Friendship

Music

Hard work

Seminary

Personal experiences

Friday-

Cars

Jackets

Laughter

Second Chances

Forgiveness

Saturday-

Naps

Teamwork

Free Time

Weekends

Family

Sunday-

Jesus Christ

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
Music
Family

Scriptures

"Without the rocks, the brook would lose its music."

 -Grandma Jorden

Sometimes life is hard, but without our trials, we wouldn't be able to become all that God intended us to be. It is through our perseverance and faith that we overcome trials and find beauty in our lives. It is only then that we can make beautiful music.

I love Sunday. It's my favorite day of the week. We have one o'clock church, so I wake up late, have breakfast, and then dedicate the rest of the morning to listening to church music, working on Personal Progress, reading talks and articles from lds.org, or spending time with my family. It prepares me to have a spiritual experience at church. After church, we all hang out as a family. I don't do my homework on Sunday, so I never worry about working on anything. I just spend the day doing things that I want to do. It is so relaxing and peaceful, and it helps me prepare for the week. :) 

                               https://www.lds.org/youth/from-leaders?lang=eng

Spiritual Enlightenment ---------->        http://www.lds.org/youth?lang=eng

http://ce.byu.edu/yp/ycorner/music.cfm (code: 3397768)

While walking along a beach, an elderly gentleman saw someone in the distance leaning down, picking something up and throwing it into the ocean. As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, picking up starfish one by one and tossing each one gently back into the water. He came closer still and called out, “Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?” The young man paused, looked up, and replied “Throwing starfish into the ocean.” The old man smiled, and said, “I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?” To this, the young man replied, “The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them in, they’ll die.” Upon hearing this, the elderly observer commented, “But, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can’t possibly make a difference!”

The young man listened politely. Then he bent down, picked up another starfish, threw it into the back into the ocean past the breaking waves and said, 

It made a difference for that one.

Check out this babe. Liza Smith.

I couldn't really tell you when Liza and I became friends. I've known her since freshman year because of seminary, but we were never great friends. One day during our sophomore year, Liza asked me if I wanted to go to YASE camp with her at BYU. I was so excited, because it was my dream to be a Young Ambassador. So we planned it all out. And we went. And it was awful. Everyone there was so talented! We felt miserable the entire time, but after out final concert, we both wanted to go again. ...? YASE made us feel so bad about ourselves, but we both had so much fun performing at the concert. haha And guess what. We went again this year. And I hated it even more. But this time Liza had fun. And, once again, after the concert, I loved it. I have very mixed feelings for YASE. But Liza helped me get through it, so our friendship is special. ;)

This is our friendship. (there's supposed to be two people with their bodies buried in the sand, so just imagine it haha)      

  

We're cute. :)

Woah, right? Yeah. Liza loves music: singing and playing the piano. And she's super good at both. We're both auditioning for the Music program at BYU in January, and we're so nervous! Last night we ate puppy chow and snuggled on her trampoline, and we decided that is would be so fun to room together the summer semester before school starts. :) I hope we get in to the Music program! :)

Haunted House

Our biggest choir fundraiser of the year. Making little children cry. 

<------ That's me and the "deady bear." The thing stabs itself! Igh!

The Haunted House turned out to be pretty awesome. And pretty scary. We made 33 kids cry. ha ha We are so awful. But, no need to fear. After the kids made it through, they got a piece of candy and a big smile from Katy. 

Meet Kaona. Isn't she beautiful?

Kaona is seriously one of the sweetest people I know. She is so nice to everyone, and she is so good with kids. She helps teach math in Tanner's class. I'm pretty sure she's going to be the best mom in the whole world.

I met Kaona at Neine's 14th birthday party, and we've been friends ever since! I love hanging out with Kaona, because she just makes me so happy. We both love Nacho Libre (thanks to Alyssa) ------>

She's goes to Laurel High School, and as of this year, she goes to Laurel Ward. So basically I don't see her at school or at church. Which means I miss her. A lot. But starting next week, we are going to live 5 minutes away from each other. I'm so excited. :)

Next year Kaona is going to Northwest College in Powell, Wyoming. That's 492 miles away from BYU! Thank goodness for Skype! I'll be sure to have plenty of Skype parties with her and Alyssa. :)

I have been blessed with so many friends. I'm so grateful for all of them, and for everything they've done for me. I am going to miss all of them so much next year. Here are a few of my best friends, the ones I can count on for anything:

My life is so crazy right now! But I guess that's part of being a senior, right? I feel like I have no time! I have voice, Cross Country, homework, piano, All-State music, college stuff, and Personal Progress. And I thought I had time for a job...... 

Last night Makelle and I went to Off The Leaf to watch Liza sing. Well, we got there and realized that she had sang about three hours earlier. ha ha Oh well. We had fun anyways. :) 

So, I'm kind of obsessed with this song.  It may be in Spanish, but I love it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjpSX6fCPDc

Tanner and I went on a little date on Saturday. It was fun! We went to Panda Express, then we got our bowl on at Sunset Bowl. :) (I kicked his butt)

It was fun. I'm starting to realize that I only have 10 months left with my family. I want them to grow up and remember me as their awesome big sister. I want them to think of me as nice, fun, caring, grateful, and most of all, I want to be their example. And so far I haven't been any of those things. I need to start being a better sister. Because I'm running out of time. 

Friday Nights

I am so bored. I could be doing homework, practicing the piano, voice, learning my All-State music, finishing my Spanish project, or cleaning my room. But nope, I think I'd rather post random pictures on my blog:

This.....is my black lady dress. When I wear it, I feel black.      
   Best dress ever.

 We were trying to take a picture for my dad. It didn't work. I still love this picture though.

Kaona, Alyssa, and I were hanging out. And of course, we were watching our favorite movie: Nacho Libre! My mom asked us to pick up Eddie from wrestling practice, so Alyssa wore my black lady dress, wrote him a love note, and brought him an eagle egg and toast. We are so weird....

Gotta love the Spratlings! They are the only reason I go skiing every year.

                      LOVE this picture!