Nauvoo. Day 4

The days are zooming by in Nauvoo. & I'll have to be playing catch up for the last couple of posts. Day 4 was spent exploring historic Nauvoo. We all got prarie dog "diamond" rings made out of horse shoe nails. According to legend a Pioneer man said that no one could marry his daughter unless he presented her with a diamond ring, enter the bent horse nail. Got to give that guy props for creativity. We also took a carriage ride right after to inspiration point through woods and backroads sights.

On tour we have "secret pals." Shelly's secret pal has been giving her Mountain Dew after Mountain Dew. It's a bit of an inside joke. Back in winter semester, we were on a no sugar diet, but Shelly drank a Mountain Dew because she was so tired and needed an extra boost. She couldn't even finish one Mountain Dew back then and this time around, she's working on Mountain dew #3.

Our show this night was in Carthage and we were introduced sweet 104-year-old woman who was out having dinner with one of her first grade students. It was such a beautiful example of life long service.

Nauvoo. Day 3

Day 3 was jam packed. We had two small outreach shows in Macomb, IL. One of our shows was at a rest home, the other at a small park. The heat was still no joke and it was a funny site every time we hoped in our BYU vans and hiked up our costumes just to let the air conditioning cool our bodies. The mayor of Macomb came out to greet us pre-park show and thanked us for coming to the town for the concert in the park series.

There was a mad dash back to our condos after outreaches to get to the temple in time. I love temples and I felt so blessed to be able to do baptisms in such a historic temple. President Condie also greeted us before baptisms and shared with us a bit of inspiring words and uplifting messages.

Nauvoo. Day 2

Day 1 was mostly spent in traveling and while I'm sure you would LOVE to read all the riveting details of my security checks with TSA, I'll spare you the details. We spent the morning figuring out our spacing for our first show. Do you see those red tops below? sure they were fine for the breezy weather of SoCal, but let me just say: red 3/4 sleeve tops + humidity. don't mix.

After our spacing was done. We had the amazing chance to take a tour of the Martyrdom trail following the general route that Joseph Smith took to Carthage. That picture there below = the last bit of road that exists from Joseph Smith's day. Definitely learned new things like how much power Joseph Smith truly held. Also found out that Boy Scouts don't know to capitalize the names of cities. 

We also had a bit of free time to experience the flats of old Nauvoo. Made a stop to the bakery tried a complimentary gingerbread cookie (delish!). Visited the cultural hall, put on a little show on the dance floor of the cultural hall for our sister missionary tour guide, Visited the family life center where we had the cutest sister missionary teach us about bread making, candle making, and clothes making. We loved our last sister missionary so much we sang "Ko Tenei Te Wa" (our classic living legend gratitude song) for her right on the spot & there was not one Poly in sight. We were pretty proud Natives & Latinos.

It was such a miracle that our show turned out so good that first night. The outdoor theatre was packed—not only with people but the skies were littered with bugs. I portray the Aztec queen for one number and have to stay still the entire dance, I could definitely feel those suckers climbing on me and flying into my eyes. It took every ounce of restraint to not slap them off my face. The temple President (President Condie) came to our show and we were so happy to talk with him again. We were blessed to have the privilege of meeting him the night before and hearing stories from a tour he went on to Germany with the group!

Oh, don't mind Katie....Home girl is crazy & we love her for it?

took the last final of my undergrad days today.

floral design.
technically only needed to take one class this spring but, YOLO right?
:] (hood status right there)
hands down one of the most useful classes I've taken at BYU.
Better believe I'll be doing most of the flowers at my own wedding.
two thumbs up for living nearby the LA flower market.

Daniela

will be updating this blog with my letters from the mission when I head off to the MTC.

Have no fear though, 

I still have 2 1/2 months before that happens.

but you know, 

just an fyi for those who care. 

♥

A nickname I approve of.

My parents have a new nickname for me—"vaga." Vaga in Spanish is a bit of a slang word (the true meaning of the word gets lost in translation) but let it suffice to say that it basically has the same denotation of "wild child."

Their reasoning: I've been almost state hopping like it's nobody's business & fitting in every adventure possible into my final-spring-term-as-an-undergrad existence. There was that time I was visiting the Salt Flats which happen to be less than 10min away from the Nevada-Utah border, that one trip to Moab where I was practically in Colorado, and then this weekend I actually crossed over into Wyoming.

This is the story.
My awesome roommate Katie (who just got a blog. huzzah!) has this neat little National Parks passport where you can stamp a page to document your visits. Turns out there's a national park just 20min from us at the Timpanogos Caves. Better believe we woke up at 5:40ish on a Friday just to visit the caves. The caves were cool (pun INTENDED) and the steep hike up to opening of the cave nothing short of invigorating. Our little tour made me want to roam through the mountains of Utah and discover new caves however, I realized that this would mean I would first have to hike mountains through un-trailed terrains. no bueno.

post-caves.
Katie found she had a voicemail from a mystery person in our ward inviting us to spend the weekend at her cabin.
sold.
Turns out, the mystery person was Katie's visiting teacher, Allison. As soon as we got home we got to packing (my Moab duffel bag was still un-unpacked at this point) and in less than two hours were on our way to Robertson, WY.

Oh Robertson, WY how I loved you. With your four wheeling trails, indian kissing bridge, junk food galore, plethora of board games, trees for hatchet throwing, small pond for canoeing, playful horses, corn shucking, getting pulled over on the way back, and overall good company.

let's be friends again soon.

CAVES.

POST-CAVES.

Memorial weekend in Moab.

i love spring.

Never in fall and winter could I slip away for a weekend down south to Moab.

There was a crazy windstorm/sandstorm or two, which made hiking Arches National Park 

just a little bit like a scene out of Lawrence of Arabia.

We hiked around 20mi each day.

(I'm still surprised at this one considering the max i've hiked EVER has been the 5mi at girls camp)

Ate corn on the cob.

showered at a bike shop.

changed in a church parkinglot.

& camped by the Colorado river under a blanket of stars.