from class clowns to classy homecoming couple 2k15

I only update this thing after tennis tournaments and dates, right? well, there's still a tennis tournament I have to talk about, but the date was more important. last night, I went to my first AND last homecoming, and it was definitely a night for the books!

the last 2 girls choice dances I went to, I asked tennis players, and with both boys I wrote my name in tennis balls, because what does a tennis player love more than getting free tennis balls? not very many things, let me tell you. well, I guess Matt had the same idea as I do when asking tennis players, and when the doorbell rang and I found the sign and 3 cans of tennis balls on my porch, to say I was stoked was an understatement. not only was I going to homecoming, but I got 3 free cans of tennis balls! I figured since he gave me free tennis balls, I would need to figure out something just as great, if not greater, to answer him with. Matt is a golfer, and no one in the Castle family can even hold a golf club. So I needed to google "where to buy golf balls", actually ended up taking some from one of my golfer friends, and this is what I came up with. (also, Matt can spell my name right, and so can I! one of my great friends nicknamed me Merm, and once he started calling me that, it spread.)

well, I was pretty stoked for this date, to say the least. Matt and I have been friends since kindergarten. in first grade, our teacher had to call both our parents on the first day of school because we were "too disruptive". both of us had to turn our cards from green to yellow almost daily, and we even got on red a few times. neither of us were bad kids; I was just sassy, and Matt always wanted to have a good time. I knew this date would be nothing but good times. I was also really excited about our group. I've known most of the people since elementary school, so we pretty much all grew up together, and the ones who didn't go to elementary school with me, I've been friends with since either junior high or the beginning of high school. I knew everyone in my group, and it was just so much fun for all of us to get together and be in the same homecoming group! it was one of my favorite parts of the date.

at 11:30 on Saturday morning, the doorbell rings, and it's our neighbor from across the street. I thought it was Matt, so it was a bit of a let-down, but then our neighbor turns around and says, "who is driving that sweet Mustang?" and LO AND BEHOLD, it is my date. in a 1966 convertible Mustang. doesn't even go above 55 mph. a true classic. and I love old cars. sometimes, my (dad's) 2004 Hyundai Elantra just doesn't seem old enough for me. (except I did hit the range gate the night before trying to find a parking space at the Homecoming game, some guy told me "you can't park on the drivers range, there's no room, you need to back up" except he didn't tell me to move my car first, so I scraped my whole left side on the orange gate, so now my red Hyundai Elantra is sporting an orange paint scrape. so I guess it looks kinda old?) and it was SO MUCH FUN to sit shotgun in that car. it was a real treat.

our day date was playing soccer golf at East Bay Golf Course. soccer golf is just what it sounds like- soccer with the rules of golf. you're on a golf course, but instead of hitting a golf ball with a club, you have to kick a soccer ball into a hole with the least kicks. I lost track of my score after hole #3, but I probably lost or came really close to it. I played soccer in elementary school, but I was never very good at it, and my kicks never went very far. this proved to be true in soccer golf. once my kick went about 10 feet and everyone cheered for me. it was a great accomplishment. but it was so fun watching all the boys drop kick their balls and to laugh at myself. afterwards, we went to Sodalicious, which I have never been to until that day. I have always gone to Swig because it's closer, and a dirty diet coke is just a dirty diet coke. anywhere I can get one, I'm satisfied. but this one was an amazing dirty diet coke, and Sodalicious should be seeing me come back soon!

at 5:45 pm, Matt and his classy mustang returned to my house. and of course, my mom wanted to take 5,000 pictures of the car. then, we went to Matt's and his dad took loads of pictures as well, and then, all our group met to take real pictures.

the car

me, Matt, Noah, and Gillian

 couples: Fielding and Becca, Gavin and Meg, Gabe and Hailey H, Brady and Lindsey, Colson and Brianna, Alex and Kelsey, Matt and me, Seth and Hailey F, Brad and Cami, Noah and Gillian

 Hailey F, Rebecca, Megan, Hailey H, Lindsey, Brianna, Kelsey, me, Cami, and Gill

for dinner, we went to Sakura, a Japanese Tepanyaki grill. there was a griddle thing right at our table, so we got to watch the people cook our food for us. it was really exciting. the soup, the salad, and the fried vegetables reminded me of my time in Tokyo and eating at nice restaurants there. the fried rice was really good, and my steak was done a bit too well for my preference, but it was still pretty good. (I was the only girl who ordered steak. everyone else ordered chicken. I don't understand how girls don't like steak, but it's their loss, not mine.) the BYU football game was on that night, so every 5 seconds, the boys would check their phones: "they scored!" "TANNER MANGUM!" "yesssssss go Cougars!" after we ate, we went to Timpview for the dance. it was my first time going to a dance in the commons. every school dance I've been to has been anywhere except the commons, which is where most of the dances are held. the decorations were so cute, and it was so fun to see everyone! and slow dancing was super fun. Matt and I would not only sing the songs in our worst off-key voices, but we would also spin into other couples and whisper "KISS!" it was so funny. I know we are seniors and we aren't supposed to be immature, but like I said earlier, we have been punks since kindergarten, and I guess none of that has changed!

about an hour into the dance, Colson tells all the guys in the group that it's halftime and that we have to go, but then another slow dance comes on, so we have to wait. in the middle of the next song, all the guys in our group start chanting "BYU! BYU! BYU! BYU!" and then all the other guys at the dance joined in. it was pretty funny.

after we left, we drove to our good friend Josh's house (who hosted our Prom dinner ) to watch the BYU football game. our friend Zane also had an old vintage car, and both Matt and Zane honked at each other the whole way to prove that their horn was better, and that was really funny. watching the game was probably my favorite part of the date. we ate really good popcorn and ice cream, and it was a really exciting game to watch. Cougars took the lead until the 4th quarter, when UCLA scored a touchdown, and Tanner Mangum was in just the right spot for another Hail Mary, but instead, he threw an interception, and the Cougars lost, 23-24. but despite the loss, it was an exciting, close game, and it was funny to hear all the boys reactions: "no, you can't sit in my spot, it's bad karma!" "if the Cougars win, then 10,000 people will get baptized this week!" "no one even breathe in the last minute." "If Taysom Hill was in, then that would've been a touchdown!" "NO, that would've been a broken femur!" so many good times.

well, even though the Cougars lost, my date was a real winner! can't believe we are all seniors this year, and it was super fun being in a group with all my best friends from elementary school. we definitely grew up nicely!

(except Matt and I are still punks. but more mature, nice punks.)

what else have I been doing?

this summer has been quite a busy one! I say that every summer, but this one was far more busier than the last. I had no "lazy days" whatsoever because I would either be at work, on vacation, at tennis camp, tennis practice, tennis tournaments, at some mission call opening party/farewell after-party, and in my free time, I would either be practicing piano or hanging out with friends visiting Utah from other places. so I feel bad for all the "let's hang out this summer!" messages that I wrote in everyone's yearbook that didn't happen. and I already have my schedule and I start school in 2 days. so I better get this post up!

in June, I went to BYU tennis camp. most people stayed overnight, but I didn't because I live 5 minutes away. one of my best friends Grace and her sisters Isabel and Caroline were also there, and we ended up being in the same group! so we did a lot of drills together, conditioned together, and ate together. my favorite thing was playing matches against people from all over the country. (okay, different parts of Utah, Las Vegas, Idaho, and Arizona.) I was ranked 11 out of 30 in my group, which is REALLY good, and it meant that I would be playing a lot of dudes. sadly, I've never beat a dude in singles who isn't my brother or my dad. they are just stronger and hit with a lot of topspin. But I won a few games against them, which is a big deal. I also got to play singles against a girl from the school who won state tennis this year (and my school got SECOND PLACE TO) and she creamed me. but I did beat her in doubles. i also enjoyed playing more doubles. I'm definitely more of a singles player than a doubles player, and I feel a lot more comfortable covering the entire court than just one side. many times after I play a singles match, regardless of whether I win or lose, my opponent has told me, "holy crap you make me run! you wore me out!" or "I never know where your shots are going, but they always make it in, and I've never done so much running in my life!" or "you're so consistent it pisses me off!" (my personal fav). but in doubles, my strategy of outrunning my opponent doesn't work because there's two of them, and if I try to send them to the other side of the court, the net player almost always gets there first and poaches the shot. so, it's a lot of adjustment for me, but I'm glad I got to learn more about sharing the court and how to win a doubles match without outrunning your opponent. I also enjoyed being with all the coaches there. my private coach Francis was in charge of the matches, and it was nice to have a familiar coach who knows the way I play!

 Isabel, Grace, Caroline, and me. believe it or not, I'm the oldest in this group. but I'm 5 feet exactly, and for one drill, we were ranked by our height, so me, Caroline, and a bunch of 12 year olds were in a group. I'm 17 and no one except Caroline believed me. my height can be an advantage at times, but in more ways, a disadvantage. 

 Madi, Grace, and me. I played against Madi in my high school season and she beat me, but we moved past that and became really good friends that week

 some of the coaches: Francis, Nikki, Brian, Scott, Myriam-with-a-y, and Miriam-with-an-i. Francis and Nikki are both British, so it's very fun to be coached in a British accent, and I tend to listen to the instructions more. but I do love all my coaches. 

 Francis and me. Francis has been my private coach since last summer, and he has done wonders with my game. I went from being a JV alternate to being an official JV player! I've learned so much from him, not just about the physical game of tennis but the mental game as well, and it has seriously helped so much. except it can get annoying when I'm playing a match and I do something wrong and this British accent in my head tells me "low to high! remember to follow through! where are you standing? how much room did you give yourself? where did you contact the ball?"

Grace and I

the week after tennis camp, I went to my last girls camp. and it was pretty sweet. best girls camp ever. we went to a different camp than we usually go to, and this one had showers. and electricity. and a zip line and loads of other things. my favorite part though was the guest speakers. they were so real and talked about real stuff and how life isn't always perfect and how we really do need to trust in the Lord when that's all we can do. these people have been through everything. I'm serious. one of them lost her husband to cancer, another has always wanted to be married and have kids but that time hasn't come yet, another had a severely disabled son, one was a mother of 4 or 5 boys plus 20 of their friends (imagine my house x100), and one fell off a cliff in St George and was paralyzed from the chest down and is wheelchair bound. but these people, no matter what they've gone through, are some of the happiest people I've met. and I love how none of them said "everything happens for a reason." I mean, if you lose your husband to cancer and you have to think "well that happened for a reason", then that would suck. they all said that things just happen to us, and we don't know why, but we can either let them define us, or we can grow from them. I loved that.

at the end of July we went to Bear Lake with all my cousins on my dad's side. It was a much-needed vacation, except I felt super sick most of the week and the water was too rough to waterski, so I spent most of my time either playing tennis with my mom or on the beach with my cousins. except I did wakeboard one of the days. I took like no pictures since I was feeling like crap, so this 4 sentence summary will have to suffice.

finally, I had tennis tryouts these past 2 weeks. like I mentioned earlier, I went from being an alternate singles player to making OFFICIAL JV! I have never been so happy in my life. so many good people try out for the tennis team, and my coach doesn't do cuts. instead, she makes an alternate team, and basically, whenever they can play matches, she lets them, but they aren't guaranteed to play every match. I played every match except for 2 last season. but now, I get to go to every practice, play every match, and I have a guaranteed spot at region! except I'm more likely playing doubles than singles, but I don't even care. I'd rather be on JV than be an alternate again! so, hard work does really pay off! 

GLACIER

I got back from Glacier 2 weeks ago, but it feels like a month already. and I would've gotten this post up sooner except I worked every day last week, and I was at Bear Lake this week, so I'll try and get this up before tennis tryouts! well, my packing for this trip wasn't great quality. so, while everyone was packing, I was either at work or I was making cookies for my friend Jackson because his mission farewell was the next day. (well, think about it. your family is going hiking for a week in Montana, and your best friend is going to the Ukraine for 2 years and it's your last time seeing him and he loves chocolate chip cookies. I don't know about you, but making your friend cookies one last time is more important than being completely prepared.) also, Provo is pretty hot in the summer, so everyone (except my dad) thought that Montana wouldn't be cold or rainy. well, we were wrong. we packed no rain gear and we got rained on every single day. also, this was our first time taking a really long drive since......Yosemite. and we took that trip when I had just finished 7th grade, which was about 4 years ago. so unfortunately, over these 4 years, our family has gotten used to flying long distances and not driving for very long. and because I'm ADD, I forgot how much I hate sitting in a car for 12 hours and how restless it makes me, doing nothing but sitting there. I can't do anything exciting like reading or watching movies because I get carsick, so it was a new thing, being tortured for 12 hours. but about half of our road trip soundtrack consisted of U2 albums, and you can't go wrong with U2. so, thank you Bono for keeping me alive for at least 3 hours of the driving part.

we finally arrived in Kalispell, Montana 12 hours after we left. we stayed with (THIS IS ABOUT TO GET WAY CONFUSING) my mom's second cousin, Barry Wollenzien. and if any Wollenzien reads this, please do not get offended, but until we planned this trip, I had no idea my mom even had a cousin named Barry who was a park ranger at Glacier National Park in Montana. Planning this trip was the first time I even heard of his existence. Well, they are not first cousins, but second cousins. meaning their grandma's are sisters. and I know a lot of my second cousins, actually. some of them I am closer to than my first cousins. but I didn't even know that my mom knew her second cousins, and I didn't know that they had 4 kids, which were my third cousins. really, third cousins exist?! but we just simply referred to them as our "cousins". Barry and his wife Nancy have 4 kids: the oldest is on a mission, the one who's my age was either at work or asleep the entire time we were visiting so we never got to meet him, and the 2 youngest, Coleman and Reed, were really funny and made friends with my brothers quickly and assaulted them with Nerf guns and showed them how to fish in the river which ran through their property. and WOW their house was so pretty. I could never live out in the country, but whenever we've stayed with people who live out in the country, we love it. the houses are always so pretty, and the backyard is amazing. when we went on our New York trip and went to Philadelphia, we stayed with my dad's friend Bob who lives at least an hour outside Philly, and his backyard was practically a forest. the Wollenzien's backyard wasn't a forest, but it was huge and I heard that they like to shoot deer on their own property. (I only wish we could do that here in Provo.)

the first day, our family and Barry, Nancy, and Coleman (Reed went to play with a friend) drove up to Logan pass to hike the Highline Loop Trail. it took 7-8 hours, and it was 11.8 miles. I hiked that whole thing with an ankle brace on. my left ankle was already weak from a Prom injury (my sweet date Nate backflipped me playing bubble soccer for the day date, and I rolled my ankle while landing), and then I rolled it again in a tennis match. I was 2 games in and I ran forward to return a shot, and instead of hitting the ball, I rolled my ankle. but in the end that didn't matter, because I won the match, 8-6. so I played 12 more games on a weak ankle. (we only played a proset because of time.) well again, since I am so prepared, I had to borrow some socks from Nancy because I only packed ankle socks. in order for the brace to work effectively, my socks needed to go above the ankle. but since i was stupid, that didn't happen. but Nancy was a saint and let me use her above the ankle socks. at first, the weather was overcast and it was pretty nice. it was a bit chilly at first, but once we got moving, we were okay. but then, we started to get rained on, and this wasn't just a light drizzle. it started pouring. and then it was HAILING. and as I mentioned earlier, none of us were prepared except for the Wollenziens, who had raincoats and everything. that day, I decided to wear my tank top that was not made of dry-fit, and it didn't absorb anything. also, my Camelbak was leaking, so I was even more wet. and I didn't even have a jacket, just a long sleeved dry-fit. so I was soaked. Barry let me borrow his huge sweatshirt, which made it look like I had no shorts on. it kept me warm as we hiked to the chalet, which is some cabin type thing where people can stay overnight. they have a clothesline where we hung out our soaking wet clothes, and we just ate beef jerky and sat by a fire until we were ready to get going again. by the time that happened, it was hot. and our wet clothes dried out quickly, and we were all getting tired. but it was such a pretty hike and despite the bad weather, we all loved it. parts of it looked like it could've been in Switzerland or Germany. but no. just Montana.

 Coleman and Justin were inseparable on this hike

for dinner that night, Barry cooked my favorite thing in the world: STEAK. I LOVE STEAK. it is my favorite food and I have no idea why girls don't really like steak and why they eat chicken instead. because I LOVE STEAK. while I was eating dinner, I noticed that on the fridge, they set up some sort of shrine for their son who was on a mission, and there was a list of songs he should listen to when he got back (he wrote at the top: "ex. Scar Tissue by RHCP", so seeing that he likes Red Hot Chili Peppers like I do, he probably expected the suggestions to be just like that). well, the 2 songs on the list were "Happy" by Pharrell, and "Pompeii" by Bastille. well, Bastille is good. Pompeii might be a bit overplayed.....ok, a lot overplayed now, but their other hidden gem songs are SO GOOD. but Happy?! That song was good for maybe.....3 days. so I added a bunch of songs to that list, and I don't know if the parents appreciated it, but their missionary will definitely appreciate it when he gets home!

the next day was a hard day for all of us. we had to leave the Wollenzien's house and drive all around the park to lookout spots and small, shorter hikes, but the whole east side of the park was under construction. also, it was the day that my friend left on his mission, and even though this trip was a pretty good distraction, I was still really sad. but before we had to deal with road construction, we went to a hidden spot that Barry told us about, Lake MacDonald, and we literally......skipped rocks. for about a half hour. and it was so beautiful, and we all had a good time.

we did NOT plan this by the way.

after going to a few lookouts, we went to hike to St. Mary's falls. but all the parking lots were closed because of road construction, so we had to take a shuttle and they only ran every hour. we didn't have to wait that long to ride it to the hike, which was nice. and it was super pretty. we got to see 3 waterfalls, Virginia Falls, St Mary's falls, and an unnamed waterfall which Wesley insisted on naming "Wesley Castle falls" and Justin insisted on "Wesley Castle Memorial Falls, because that's what will happen to him after he tries to jump off the cliff into the river!" well, whatever it was named, it was super pretty. 

after the hike was when things started going completely downhill. we were all hungry, and everyone in my family gets hangry (hungry+angry) when we haven't had food for a while, but especially Wes. well, we walked back to the shuttle station, and there were loads of other people waiting too. the shuttle came after about 15 minutes, but it was already packed, and unlike Japan, where they cram as many people as they can fit into a moving vehicle, they can only fit as many people as they have seats for. my dad was going to sneak on, get dropped off at the parking lot, and drive the car back to pick up the rest of the family. but he got kicked off the shuttle. so he tried to hitchhike, and he failed. so then, my mom had her running shoes, and she would run to the parking lot, find the car, and pick us up. so she took off, and Wesley was getting very hangry, and he decided to climb a tree. well, you can't climb trees here, and my dad was trying to get him down, but since Wesley is hangry and he is a 14 year old boy who is missing some brain cells (as many 14 year olds are; I was in Japan when I was 14 and I had a few bad meltdowns out in public) and he is stubborn, he starts to argue and climb higher. well, since my dad is also stubborn, he won't stop arguing until Wes gets down. but then it turns into a full blown fight, Wesley accuses Dad of having a "sissy upbringing" (because Mom's cousin Barry did not have a sissy upbringing and was allowed to hunt sage hens and light Nerf balls on fire and throw them around as a teenager), and then my dad grounds him, he chucks a rock at either me or Justin but thankfully it misses, Dad punishes him more, and he just starts crying and lies down on the rocks. now mind you, Wesley is a normal 14 year old boy who just gets hangry and if he doesn't eat, he goes crazy. well, finally my mom comes back, we pick up 2 hitchhikers, and finally, we go to our hotel. Well, the hotel fire safety rules wouldn't let 5 people share a room, so my parents got their own, while I had to be in charge of my brothers. I thought it would be okay because we did this all the time in hotels in Japan, but no. Wesley was still in a bad mood, and Justin was scared that someone would break into our hotel room and rob us, I was just sad and tired, and none of us got to sleep quickly. but when we finally did, it felt so good, because we were ready for the next day.

the next day, we hiked to Grinnell Glacier, which was the first real glacier we got to see. and it was so pretty. but we didn't know how cold it would be that day, and since we didn't really pack well, Mom had to buy us hats. we had to take 2 boats to get to the trailhead, but the lake was so pretty and our boat tour guide wasn't too bad looking either

 I promise I have shorts on!

well, as you can see, the glacier was so pretty. and so was the lake that this trail overlooked. well, at the top, it started drizzling lightly, but we didn't really care, and eventually it stopped. however, about 20 minutes from the bottom of the trail on the way back, it started pouring. and hailing. and it was so bad, it soaked through all our clothes, and our shoes were wet, everything was wet, and it was freezing. and mind you, all I have is my Timpview Tennis warm up jacket. when we finally got to the bottom, we just stayed in the shelter while we waited for the storm to pass so the boat could run again. we waited for about a half hour, returned to the lodge, and sat by a fire, tried to dry out our clothes, changed in the bathrooms, and headed out to Helena to stay in another hotel. it rained for a while, but when it stopped, we were driving on the freeway, and this bird is flying, but our car is going too fast for the bird to move, so it crashes into our windshield, bounces, hits it again, and dies. it left its imprint on the windshield, and some of its feathers got caught in our windshield wipers! eventually, they came out. but that was pretty funny. 

well, it was a great vacation, even though we weren't very prepared for the weather. and it was so pretty and the pictures don't even do justice. you have to see it in real life. and we took loads more, but these ones were the best ones. so, if any of you nonexistent blog readers want to visit, please be prepared for ALL WEATHER, especially rain. then you will be fine. but dang. it's beautiful up there, and I've never seen anything like it. and I ate more beef jerky that week than in my entire life!

junior "graduation speech"

as of yesterday, my junior year officially ended. and in some ways, it was the best year of school. in other ways, it was the worst year of school. the end of this year has been quite bittersweet. there was some celebration and tears of joy; there was some lamentation and tears of sadness. I did have friends who were in my own grade, but a lot of my friends were either sophomores or seniors. it had been that way since I was a freshman; I became close friends with a few sophomores, and then when I became a sophomore, I wanted to keep my junior friends but also be an example to the freshman and be that friend to them that those sophomores were to me a year ago. well, it didn't really occur to me while I was a sophomore that my junior year, all my older friends would be seniors, and it would be their last year. and that the year after that, I would be a senior. I know that after high school, we move on to bigger and better things, but the friends that I have right now, I don't really want anything bigger or better than them. but this year was my last year with many of my friends, and next year will be my last year with all my friends. so, this year, I tried to make the best of it.

the summer of my sophomore year was also my first year on the tennis team. someone showed up to practice and I thought she was a senior, so I introduced myself and asked what her name was. she replied, "Miss Baker." then it hit me. she would be my AP world teacher that year! I told her that she was listed as my 7th period and she and I were put on opposite teams for a drill. I ended up getting her out, and sure enough, she remembered on the first day of class. I guess it clicked from there, because she became my favorite teacher ever, and I ended up loving AP world history, and I guess Baker loved me too, because she let me TA for her a semester of my junior year. sadly, I could only do it first semester because I needed to get more elective credits, and second semester I had seminary that period, and I didn't want to miss seminary because I finally had a good teacher and a few really good senior friends in my class who I might not see after this year. but seminary ended when the seniors graduated (which was a week before school got out), so I went to Baker's classroom to say goodbye to the students I TAed for one last time. she asked me to give advice to them for next year, and some kid asked me to stand on the desk. so, I did. if anyone wants to see it, she posted it on her Facebook, and it got a lot of views! (1,233 to be exact), and if you aren't friends with her (which you probably aren't), I shared it on my Facebook. and if you don't have Facebook, then there is no way.

I only had 3 minutes, so I chose the very best things to share with them. but here is an extended version with all the important things I learned in high school this far. and I'm not saying everyone should read this, but if 1,233 people have watched my pep talk to Baker's class, then.....this gotta be pretty good. so, here is My Speech To Baker's Class Plus Additional Advice.

to put it simply, junior year can really suck sometimes. it's the year before your senior year, which is when you apply for colleges. so junior year, the counselors come in and talk about looking at scholarship options and how to prepare yourself for college. and it hits you that you really are getting to be that old. how did this happen? no one knows. and you HAVE to take the ACT that year at least once. I took it twice. I really want to go to BYU because I get half tuition since my dad's a professor there, it's close by so my dorm won't be too far from my family, and it's a great school. well, it's not the easiest to get into. my dad, being a professor there himself, said that the average ACT score is 28 and I don't remember what the GPA was, but pretty high. so, I was under quite a bit of pressure to get a good ACT score because I didn't want to take that test 5 times. it is TORTURE, I tell you. both days I took it were the longest days of my life (besides my aunt's wedding and the day we went to Japan and flew 12-14 hours-ish). the first time I took it, I got lower than a 28, so my dad enrolled me in the prep class before I took it the second time. and I thought it wouldn't help at all, but turns out, it helped me get more familiar with the test, and when I took it for real, it was still hard, but it was a little bit easier. 3 weeks later, I found out that I got a higher score than a 28, something that seemed unrealistic the first time I took the test. so, tip number 1: TAKE THE ACT PREP CLASS. 

junior year is also way stressful because that's when a lot of AP classes are offered. I took AP US History and AP English, and I could've taken AP Calculus, but there is no way I would ever take an AP math class, so I got out of that one and took College Algebra/Trig (there's not very many options after taking Pre-Calculus your sophomore year). I was also in Honors Physiology, so between those 4 classes, I had a lot of homework. and in addition to that, I was on the tennis team, taught 3 piano students, practiced piano 1-2 hours a day, was in choir, and wanted a social life. I also wanted sleep. I was busy all the time. AND I have ADHD, so I could either find my motivation and get stuff done quickly, or my ADHD would kick in and I couldn't focus whatsoever. but no matter what, do your homework. grades actually matter. high school is really important. I've seen a few of my senior friends who are so talented, so smart, and so capable of getting into any college, but they slacked off and decided they were too tired to do their homework, never did it, didn't go to class, and didn't get into the college of their choice. DO NOT LET THIS BE YOU! so, if you're tired, just find that motivation to at least start your homework. if it's after 12:30, then it's too late for me and going to bed wins, and don't even think that you can get it done in the morning. it is impossible. but at least try to get it done. you will feel so much better knowing got something done. so pretty much, just DO YOUR DANG HOMEWORK.

a really unfortunate trend at my school is skipping class, or as Utahns call it, "sluffing". if you didn't do your homework on time, here's a simple solution: SLUFF CLASS AND GET IT DONE AT HOME! (or, more frequently, GET FOOD WITH YOUR FRIENDS!) have a test in class that you didn't study for? here's a simple solution: SLUFF CLASS AND STUDY IN THE LIBRARY! (or forget about it and get food with your friends!!)
no. no. NO. NO. do not do this. it isn't worth it. my parents check my attendance records every Sunday, so I know that if I sluff class, I'm screwed and my dad takes my car for a week. but for those whose parents don't really have rules about that, don't do it. you will always be in catch-up mode, and you will have twice as much homework as you would have had before. and if it's the day of a test that you didn't study for? if you didn't finish your project on time? ADMIT YOU ARE A SLACKER AND COME TO CLASS! I've had to do that this year, and going unprepared is better than not going at all. and it's a really bad habit to get into. I've seen it, and it's sad.

and please, do the work yourself. I'm not saying don't ask friends for help. I do that all the time. but don't have them do everything for you. it will not help you on a test. when I took AP world as a sophomore, we had to write our own flash cards. I think I made over 250. maybe even 400. but I wrote down every single word and every single definition, and this was my sophomore year. I just finished my junior year, and I still remember most of them. so, IF YOU DO YOUR OWN WORK, YOU WILL DO BETTER.

this was my pep talk to Baker's class in more depth. well, now's some more advice that I couldn't mention in that. and this stuff is also really important, and every high schooler should know this stuff.

it's okay if you change friendships. my best friends in elementary school weren't my best friends for a while. in junior high, we drifted apart, and somehow, junior year, I became close to them again. and I am so grateful for that. in other friendships, we drifted apart and never came back. you just have to learn that it's a part of growing up, and that people change, interests change, and friendships change. and the best friendships are those that are still strong, even after tennis season ends, even after you aren't in the same classes. I met one of my very best friends my freshman year while he was a sophomore. we had one class together, and then after that semester, I didn't really expect to see him that much anymore. but he kept on going out of his way to talk to me, and I really appreciated that. we were good friends when we had that class together, but after it ended, we became even better friends. we maintained our friendship my sophomore year, and I asked him to Morp my junior year, and now, he's graduated and has a mission call, but if we hadn't kept on talking to each other even after our class ended, I wouldn't have become such close friends. and sometimes, friends who you thought were good friends start making bad choices, and you don't have to support them! just be kind to them, and if they stop making an effort, then you don't have to, either!

school dances taught me a lot of lessons. I didn't get asked to Homecoming in the fall, and I definitely didn't expect that. I thought that since I was talented, I knew lots of people, I had lots of friends, I was part of the tennis team, I was sophomore homecoming princess, and I was pretty, I would get asked. but that didn't happen. I had been looking forward to getting asked since I was sophomore homecoming princess the year before, and I even got a dress and everything. but the boys just didn't ask me. now, I could've just said "screw boys and dances, if they aren't gonna ask me, I'm not gonna ask them!" that is not the way to handle it at all! I figured that if they weren't gonna ask me, I was gonna ask them anyway and prove to them what a good time I am and that I deserve to get asked. as soon as homecoming ended, a bunch of girls started asking to Sadie Hawkins, but I wanted to wait. well, the top 2 boys I wanted to ask, got asked within the 3 days after homecoming. so this leads to lesson number 2: if you know who you want to ask, ask them ASAP. don't just wait until the last minute. so, I had to hurry and ask someone else, and I picked someone I had only talked to a few times. and I ended up having a GREAT time, and we became pretty good friends! so lesson 3: it can be fun to go with people you don't know very well.
after Sadie Hawkins came Sweethearts. so, I had already learned my lesson with homecoming, but lesson number 4: don't anticipate getting asked to a boys choice dance. this doesn't mean being a pessimist, but it makes getting asked a lot more exciting, and it makes not getting asked a lot less disappointing. I didn't get asked to Sweethearts, and I would've liked to, but since I wasn't expecting it, it wasn't too hard. and back to lesson number 2: I had already picked out who I wanted to ask to Morp, and I asked him the week before Sweethearts. he answered me 3 days later. some girls weren't too happy because I asked "too soon", but since I knew who I wanted to ask, I just went ahead and did it. and I'm glad I did it when I did, because instead of focusing on not getting asked to Sweethearts, I focused on how excited I was for Morp, which ended up being the best date I had so far. when Prom rolled around, I still hoped to get asked, but I wasn't anticipating it because I hadn't been asked to the first 2 boys choice dances. but LO AND BEHOLD, I got asked to Prom, and a lot of my Prom group was also in my Sadie Hawkins group! so, lesson 5: PUT YOURSELF OUT THERE. if I hadn't asked to Sadie Hawkins, I wouldn't have made friends with the boys in that group, and I wouldn't have had a Prom group to go into. but getting asked to Prom was 100x more exciting because I wasn't anticipating it. and I'm glad I got the opportunity to go to the 3 dances I went to this year, because they were 3 of the best nights of high school.

MORP 2015: Lance and Jaysi, Jackson H and Hally, Maloy and Annie, Jackson R and Emily, Micah and Fielding, Regan and Scott, me and Jackson B, Kaitlyn and Chandler

finally, let's talk about change. this is my Morp group from March 2015. at the time, only Maloy had his mission call to Little Rock, Arkansas. but all the boys in my group were talking about starting their mission papers and how excited they were, and it hit me that all these boys would be leaving sometime this year (except Fielding who's in my grade). so, while I was on that date, I tried to enjoy the moment as much as I could, because in just a few months, my date would be going somewhere foreign to preach the gospel for 2 years. and it's a hard change. I've had a few of my older friends leave, and it's not easy to say goodbye to them, and just thinking about saying goodbye to these boys makes me really sad. now, all of them except Scott (who doesn't turn 18 until later this summer) and Fielding (who's in my grade) have their calls: Lance got his first, to Jacksonville, Florida, Spanish speaking. a month later, Jackson R, Chandler, and Jackson B (my Morp date) opened their calls on the same night: Jackson R to Charleston, West Virginia; Chandler to Atlanta, Georgia; and Jackson B to Dnepropetrovsk (ne-pro-pe-TROVSK), Ukraine, Russian speaking. and a month later, Jackson H to Eugene, Oregon. looking back on this picture gives me so much nostalgia because all of these boys were talking about preparing, and now, all but 2 have calls! it was so exciting watching them opening or hearing the good news, but it's also been very hard for me. I mean, these are all my friends, and they're all going stateside except Jackson B, who is going all the way to freaking UKRAINE. at first, I was just excited because he had been anticipating the call so much, and we were just relieved to know that it finally came. but the next day, it hit me that Ukraine isn't the safest or happiest place in the world. Russian is a hard language. and do I really want one of my best friends going there? but I just had to tell myself that Ukraine needs the gospel right now, and out of all my friends, Jackson is the one who needs to teach it there. as the departure dates get closer, what gets me through is just knowing that it's better if they go than if they stay, and that all of these places need the gospel, and that they are all doing the right thing. and I'm not ashamed to admit it, I've cried about it a few times, and the change is going to be hard for me. I'll be at school without my best friends. but while they're gone, instead of staying home and crying all the time, I will still put myself out there. if I'm going to write them, I need things to tell them about! so, I will try to make my senior year the best year I can and hang out with more people, get more involved in school activities, and have a good time!

so, sorry this was way long. but the take home message from this post: do your dang homework. don't slack. don't skip class. it's okay if friendships change, but they don't have to end just because you don't see them anymore. it's okay not to get asked to a dance, but don't let that define you. ask to the ones that you can get asked to, because it increases your chances of getting asked in the future. if you know who you want to take, ask ASAP. and change is hard, but try to make the best of it. if your friends get mission calls, just try to remember that they are doing the right thing, and that it's time for them to bless other peoples' lives, not just yours (did that sound cheesy? sorry about that). so, it's been a great year. it's been a hard year. but, now, school is out, and I can play tennis whenever I want and eat ice cream and go on bike rides and hang out with friends and try to get a job and sleep all day and attend mission farewells and try not to cry about it too much!