february update.

One of these days, I'll get around to writing/putting together more than just a smorgasbord of pictures and a couple of sentences. Here's hoping that moment comes sometime this month!!! The biggest adventure of February was definitely my trip home for president's day/valentines. I can't wrap my head around the fact that that took place this month. These pictures are mostly iphone memories—snapshots of my life in February 2016!

Kelly was on a (sort-of) ward soccer team, and so we made signs and supported her. I don't normally wear skirts to soccer games, but I do when I've just gotten out of the temple! <below>

^^Alyssa & Megan helped me do initiatories for a slew of family names I found over Christmas break!

39. International Cinema

^^Crossed another bucket list item off! Alyssa and I met up with one of her friends to watch, "Copenhagen Dreams,"—a beautiful film that pays homage to the architecture of Copenhagen.

^^New RS Presidency.^^

Hermana Morales got married!!! What a happy day. The sealing ceremony was so small and intimate, I absolutely loved it. It was also really fun to see some familiar mission faces. This was only the second sealing I've been to, and oh my goodness what an experience. The ceremony was performed in Spanish, and for some reason that little detail made it that much more real for me. 

^^Las Latinas de Baytown!

^^I had a particularly crazy week and Lys was kind enough to treat me & Russell to dinner. We established that we're her favorite Mexicans. (Also, Russell and I have matching star shirts [kind of] it's whatevr.)

& since we're on the subject of favorite Mexicans!...Katie & I solidified our status as, "mejores amigas" to TC. We've got him hooked on Jane the Virgin (though he'll probably tell you otherwise). It was TC's birthday on Saturday and so we celebrated like any good Mexican friends would, with tacos from Don Joaquin's and Mexican treats from Fruta Crush in downtown provo. 

It's been real Febrero!

a sweet escape.

I have been wanting to road trip to California since I first started at BYU as a freshman. That dream was finally realized this past weekend. Everything seemingly fell into place and it was all perfect! We left Thursday night and got to my house in record time thanks to Scott's driving skills. The weather was abnormally warm and beach-perfect beautiful. As Seth put so eloquently, "I asked Heavenly Father for a girlfriend for Valentines Day, but instead he gave me the next best thing—beautiful weather.

We got to my house at around 2:30am slept for a little bit and then headed to my uncle's house in Huntington Beach. The tide was strong, and I was knocked over by the force of a wave once. We basked in the sunlight, ate good food, played games, soaked in a hot tub, and told stories over a fire. Perfection.

On Saturday we spent the day at Knott's Berry Farm. My family has passes, and there's a special going on right now where tickets are only $40 in support of Breast Cancer awareness. holla. I was surprised that the park wasn't completely packed, we got to go on all the rides we wanted to!

^^ One of my favorite things about Knott's is that there are special areas in the park dedicated to Mexican-American and Native American heritage!

On Sunday, there was a tiny bit of a misunderstanding on my part. I didn't realize that the whole state of California was having a broadcast, and so we showed up to my singles ward only to find the broadcast playing in the chapel. We sat on the stage and at least got to listen to the last hour of the broadcast. #blessings

^^No clue what I'm doing, but I love this picture. 

^^because why would we not drive with the window down when the weather was THAT good!?!?!

^^My Mom made the cutest Valentine's day spread and Scott and Kyra turned into paparazzi.

Later on Valentine's Day, everyone decided they really wanted to see my hometown of Compton/the home where I grew up in. I can't even begin to tell you how much I miss Compton. Every time I set foot in Compton I instantly feel like I'm at home. It just feels right, you know? The city is so much a part of me and who I am. I feel extremely lucky to call Compton home. 

There's this huge Obama mural on the side of city hall that they painted right after President Obama's first administration. I love it because it's quintessentially Compton. After our Compton escapade, we went to Long Beach, and just spent time on the beach enjoying the beauty of the sunset. I love home. 

^^We stopped at the Bellagio Gardens on the way back to Provo (For the record, I'm not a huge fan of Vegas and if I can, I'll avoid having to go there again). The greatest Cali crew I could ask for!

no money + no time = no problem! (January update)

I feel so spread thin this semester. Every hour of every days is planned. Taking 17.5 credits +working+ serving as Relief Society President will do that to you. Thank goodness I got a cute planner for Christmas to keep it all together! 

Towards the end of last year, I felt very impressed to cutback on some of my spending ways. I decided I wasn't going to eat out without a good reason and I wasn't going to spend money on outings (minus one—more on that later). As a result, any "fast food" or "social gathering" has come as a result of my ward.

I know.

I know.

Eyeroll. 

I gush about my ward all the time here! I'm sorry, but not really. 

#32 Walk on Frozen Utah Lake

I crossed off a bucketlist item with some of my FAVORITE girls in the world. We went early one Saturday morning to Utah lake, took a nice little walk and slowly made our way onto the ice. I'm not going to lie, it was a bit terrifying at first especially in some of the slushier spots, but it was so peaceful out there and there's something inherently cool about saying you're walking on a lake. 

I got a new second counselor in Relief Society! Nicole is one of the most Christlike people I've met, I've never heard her say a harsh word about anyone, and she is the first to suggest we reach out to someone. I'm grateful for her example in my life.

^^(left) Since it's FREEZING cold outside, we have ward prayer at Sunflower Down, and there's always a plethora of shoes there. (Right) United with Kyra after Christmas break 

As a "kick-off/new semester/welcome to the ward" activity, we had an Amazing-race type activity. We broke off into cars and drove around the streets of Provo completing certain tasks like...

^^Human pyramid picture

^^Picture on the slides

^^Buy a can of food for a food drive

^^Pet a cat

^^Hug a mannequin 

^^Get random strangers signature's and take a picture with them.

^^Same as above. (This is Kuki and she makes my eyebrows look real nice!)

One Friday, Meghan, Kyra, and I tried to go to the Salt Lake temple only to find that it was closed! So, we had some dinner at Red Iguana and then tried the Oquirrh Mountain temple only to discover it was closed too! Thankfully, we made it to the last session at the Jordan River temple AND Sis Wixom (General Primary President) was in our session.

We had a ward service auction. Where ward members offered their talents and random acts of service which people could then bid on using cans we were going to donate for the local food bank. Bishop took things into his own hands and started auctioning off people on dates! We were able to donate almost 100 lbs of food!

Alyssa, Kelly, Kyra, and I got to be ushers at the Provo City Center Temple Open house! I was put in charge of giving people little booties for their shoes in the Spanish-speaking tour. :)

This month was also T.Betti's birthday! To celebrate, we had Navajo tacos for dinner on Sunday and invited our old legends friends. Navajo tacos are such comfort food for me! I love it.

Native Section girls♥.

I'm also trying to get used to living in this.