Chocolate Party.

the bitter. the better.

not your typical college dinner...

There are so many reasons why I love senior year so far. One of my favorite reasons: I get to eat a home-cooked meal every M-Th & Sunday. I've been wanting to do a dinner schedule with my roommates ever since I got to BYU, but it never seemed to workout. I've been eating so much better already!

Each of us take a day of the week and then rotate cooking on Sundays. This Sunday was my turn. I went with a Flores Family Sunday traditional meal, green enchiladas and beans. The best thing about our roommate dinners is that they're balanced meals. We don't just have a main dish, we have a main dish, sides, and a salad. complete meal.

Top ramen noodles? Who eats those? junk food? nope? It's the greatest thing to have roommates who like to cook just as much as you do.

p.s. Why yes, my apron does say, "queen of everything."
birthday present from last year I believe...

sorpresa!

I get to spend my senior year of college as a member of

Living Legends!
(Formerly known as Lamanite Generation)

I know some of you have absolutely NO idea what that is so, let me explain...
Living Legends is one of BYU's main performing groups that travels around the world and nation performing Polynesian, Native American, and Latin American dance.
This year, the group is touring the 4 corners area (didn't know I'd be back so soon!), Southern California (My HOME!!!!), and Nauvoo, IL. (♥).

There's no international tour this year, (last year they went to Russia, next year they're touring central america) BUT I can't even begin to describe how excited I am to visit historic Nauvoo. Plus, it's kind of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to spend two weeks performing in such a historical place. I'm especially excited because I'm planning on serving a mission next summer and a trip to Nauvoo will only help me get THAT much more excited about serving.

oh & another surprise...
I'm dancing in the Native American section!!!
My racial ambiguity is complete.

So please, COME to our shows. Watch us dance. Tell your friends. Visit me on tour. Take pictures with me afterwards. Thanks!

(Photos from our Living Legends retreat)

oh & just to get you excited for future shows:

If you ever have a week and a half to spend in Colorado...

1. Air Force Academy, 2. Wade's Cafe, 3. U.S. Olympic Training Center, 4. Fargo's Pizza, 5. Pike's Peak Cog Railway, 6. The Loop, 7. Garden of the God's, 8. Pike's Peak or Bust Rodeo, 9. 7 Falls, 10. Ajuua!!, 11. Molly Brown House Museum, 12. Coors Field, 13. Denver Colorado Temple, 14. Roadtrip to Cortez, CO, 15. Mesa Verde, 16. Four Corners

4 Corners.

A big reason we wanted to visit Colorado was to see the ancient pueblos of Mesa Verde and to visit Four Corners — the only place in the United States where 4 states meet. Who says being in 4 places at once isn't possible.

I can still remember in 5th grade when we learned about 4 corners. It kind of blew my mind. 4 corners is located in Navajo country, 20 min outside of Cortez, CO. We took turns driving for 8 hours or so to get from Denver to Cortez, it was one of the most scenic roadtrips I've ever taken with the occasional crazy thunderstorm.

4 corners monument is located in the center and surrounded on all sides by booths (for lack of a better word). Each booth belongs to a different state and a different Indian tribe. I came to four corners knowing that I wanted to walk home with an awesome pair of turquoise earrings. It's kind of a tradition of mine to get a pair of turquoise earrings every time our family visits a historical Native American site. I love cultural jewelery more than anything else (it's really the only jewelery I even wear). I found the perfect pair too, I want to say that I purchased them on the Arizona side... The woman who sold them to me said that the symbol was called, "God's Eye" and comes from the Zuni tribe. (It's made out of coral and sleeping beauty turquoise. You can catch a glimpse of my earrings in one of my pictures)

anyway, there's a ton of Native American artisan crafts so much so that we wanted to buy the entire place... if only I had more money.

I was so glad to be able to finally satisfy my summer-long craving for a Navajo Taco. I eat one at least once a week while I'm here at school and have yet to find a place in Los Angeles that sells them. I also converted my family and turned them into Fry-bread lovers. It's my go to comfort food. The combination of warm fry bread with drizzled honey makes my mouth go crazy. I love that Native American culture plays such a huge part to the 4 Corners experience. When we were done we drove through the boonies of Utah to get back to our hotel in Colorado. I kept playing the "I wonder-what-would-happen-if-our-car-broke-down-in-the-middle-of-the-desert" worst case scenario game. I think the only "town" (if you can call it that) that we passed was Aneth, UT population is 600 according to wikipedia, but I'd say it looked more like 5. I drove part of the trip back to the hotel and we stopped right by a cowboy (real.life.cowboy) to ask if we were going the right way. I got to drive on some pretty interesting terrain BUT, it was all worth it because we stumbled upon a kind of cool phone booth. win.win. situation.

Mesa Verde.

Have you ever experienced wonder? It's a feeling where you just can't imagine scenarios and wish you could travel back in time to experience it. Mesa Verde sparked the biggest sense of wonder for me during our Colorado trip. I can't even begin to imagine how people dwelt in cliffs and walked for miles in the canyons of Colorado. barefoot. I couldn't help but feel like I was a wimp.

Kudos to my ancestors.

Me encanta ver el templo.

Pues el templo es
el lugar sagrado
donde la familia
puede ser sellada en unión
y ser familia eterna.

TULO.

I'm usually not one to play catch-up, BUT I loved Colorado & I really love baseball.
There was no way I wasn't blogging about visiting Coors field; home of the Rockies.

The game was almost canceled due to thunderstorms but you'd never guess that from the sunshine filled pictures...
You know, one thing I love about visiting ball parks is getting to hear chants the fans come up with.
My favorite from Coors field was a chant for Troy Tulowitzki.
clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap.
TULO.
(instead of "let's go")
Does that even make sense?



P.s. another thing I liked about Coors field: they have frozen yogurt. :]