There are so many things to be thankful for, whether it's your family, friends, school, job, or even just that you have a few dollars. There is always something to thank God for. Today, I choose to thank my family, one by one, for all that they have done for me.

First, I would like to thank my mom, Karen, my mommy dearest (she has a lot of names). Mom, thank you. Thank you for being a great example of a mother for me to follow one day. Thank you for always being there for me to cry on your shoulder, whether it was when Penny (our dog) passed away, when I didn't make cheer my junior year, when I had a bad break up, or when Uncle Mike passed away. You are always there for me no matter what. Even if it's just to make me food or watch TV with me (well, mostly Dancing With The Stars or Harry Potter Weekend). Thank you for always making your laugh with your silly jokes, random emojis, and your little comments about everything. Thank you for laughing with me at old pictures of Hannah and Samantha during their awkward stages and for laughing at our old sketch books and class paper. Thank you for always putting me before yourself. I promise, even when I don't seem grateful, your selflessness hasn't gone unnoticed. Thank you for always encouraging me to do my best. Even though I did get annoyed with it sometimes, you never just let me rest on laurels. When I would get a B on a test, you'd always encourage me to study harder for the next one because you believed I could do better. You always pushed me and encouraged me to do my absolute best. Thank you for always supporting me in everything I wanted to do, like basketball, soccer, dance, cheer, tennis, and of course choir. Thank you for giving the best advice, like telling me the best way to get over a boy was to color in a coloring book. Thank you for being the type of mom that was a mom to everyone. I mean, my best friend doesn't call you "Momma Karen" for nothing! I could go on and on about how wonderful you are but basically, thank you fro being the best mother to ever exist.

Second, I'd like to thank my dad, Randy. Wow, where do I start. Daddy, thank you for being the best dad in the whole world. Thank you for always being full of adventure and always wanting to go do something. Thank you for showing me the beauty of the Ozarks and how gorgeous where we live can be. Thank you for sharing our family history with me so that I knew about my family and what they have done. Thank you for showing and teaching my about my grandparents that I didn't get to meet and sharing parts of their lives with me so that I have a sense that I knew them. Thank you for inspiring my love for singing and music and always encouraging me to continue with it. Thank you for your constructive criticism with cheer or choir or tennis or school or just life in general (even if I wasn't grateful at the time you gave it to me). Thank you for the many evenings we spent on the front porch swing. Even though I'm grown up now and don't live at home so we can't swing anymore, I'll cherish those nights for the rest of my life. Thank you for giving me great advice about life and just chatting with me on that swing. Thank you for listening to me and Samantha sing all the time on the front porch, because I'm sure it wasn't easy sometimes (when dancing at the same time, we were pitchy). Thank you for always making sure I knew you loved and cared and wanted the best for me and my sisters. Thank you for being the best dad ever.

Third, I would like to thank my oldest sister, Hannah. Wow, "seester". We have come a long way since we were kids. First off, thank you for being such a great example of a mother that I hope to be one day. Thank you for being such a role model for me growing up. Honestly, every day from middle school to high school, I always thought "What would Hannah do? How would Hannah go about this? How I can be more like her?" because you meant more to me than you will ever understand. Now, you weren't perfect and that made me look up to you even more. You made mistakes and learned from them and showed me what not to do or be sometimes when I grow up. Thank you for breaking in mom and dad for me. Seriously, thank you because I got away with waaaayyyyy more than you did (sorry, not sorry). Thank you for always making me feel included and not left out as a kid. As much as I looked up to you, it meant so much that you kept me a part of your life as you grew up and I was still kid. Thank you for helping me with volleyball the one year I played. Thank you for giving me one of the cutest nieces in the world (I mean, Maddie is perfect). But most of all, thank you for showing and giving me my love for cheer. Cheer was such a big part of my life and a big part of that is you. You taught me how to cheer, I mean everything I know about it I got from watching you. You worked with me so that I could make the team my first year trying out and I hope I have made you proud over the years.

Next, I'd like to say thank you to my middle sister, Samantha. Oh my goodness. Sam, we have been through a lot together. I'm still a little salty about you leaving me to go to Mizzou but I'll eventually get over it maybe. From our "adventures of Wilma and Pearl" (our old ladies secret identities) to fashion lessons to going to DQ for blizzards almost every day, I'm so thankful to have a sister like you. Thank you for always entertaining me with your hundreds of blonde moments over the years. Thank you for showing me "Samantha World" because apparently it is a real place (inside joke). Thank you for persuading me to take fashion lessons from you because it really paid off. Thank you for always being down for an adventure, even if it's just to go mess around on the First Baptist Church playground. Thank you for inspiring me to try and learn to play tennis (even though I was never as good at it as your were). Thank you for always taking my side when arguing with mom and dad and for also breaking them in a little more than Hannah did. Thank you for being one of my best friends and always being there for me no matter how much we fought, which was a lot. Thank you for always loving me no matter how different we see things. And thank you for being an incredible example of a mother as well.

So, family, as a whole, thank you. I couldn't have asked for better people to be placed in my life. Thank you for raising me, teaching me, sharing with me, taking care of me, entertaining me, providing for me, caring about me, but most of all, loving me, even when I'm sure it was extremely hard to do. Thank you.