Sunday, April 24, 2011

One Year Older and Wiser Too....

What at incredible weekend it has been. I spent Friday night with Abner, I had so much fun. Sushi for dinner and Soul Surfer after. Haha. I am sure his mother was ready to kill me, first day back and he was already out late... It was really nice to catch up though, he misses his mission but is happy
to be home.
Saturday was my birthday, it was seriously THE best birthday I have ever had. I was accompanied by family, had dinner and cheesecake :) so fun. It was nice to see everyone so relaxed and happy, I love when Valerie comes to play. We have a play date scheduled to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point this summer, she is very excited!

Birthday kisses

Aunt Lilliana and Uncle Chris
and my favorite cousin Valerie!


My best friends and roommates :)


Grandparents, Calero side


Grandparents, Urrea side



Cutting my favorite kind of cake... Cheesecake!

After cutting cake and playing with family I had the great opportunity to go support Natalie at her concert in Ephraim. The title of this performance was Cantata Mundi or Songs of the World. It was such a neat thing to see, I really really enjoyed watching it. Funnily enough I ran into an old friend there, what a small world... Anyway, the performance was truly breath taking, I cannot believe how amazing my best friend is. I seriously forget until I get the chance to go watch again. I am captivated every time. My mommy and I chatted about how amazing the arts are, they bring cultures together despite language barriers. We really liked it.

Waiting for the concert to start



Nat, her roommies and I after the concert

Today, Easter sunday, has been quite an amazing day as well. I had the opportunity to go to Abner's homecoming talks in his spanish and regular ward. They were soooo good. He talked about four different types of missionaries:

The first: Disobedient and prideful, does things his way and his way only... Doesn't finish out his mission...
The second: Disobedient BUT he finishes out his mission, whether out of fear of consequences or
simply because he has to...
The third: the missionary who "sacrifices" himself, obedient but does it for the fame. In his heart
he does what he wants because he can...
And lastly, the fourth: same as the third but with the significant difference that he puts his heart into the work.
He is obedient because he knows it is the ONLY way.
He loses himself in the work.
He is full of charity, does not compare himself to others.
He chooses using his agency,
he makes righteous decisions on his own.

That got me thinking about not only my future mission, but how I am behaving NOW. If I want to be a "type four" missionary, I have to be living it daily, not just expecting to become that out on the mission field... Anyway, Lots to think about...

I had been planning to do something for Nat's birthday two weeks ahead of time, all I needed were the right opportunities to execute a little surprise party with her family and some of her friends. After one long week I was able to sneak Allie's phone number out of her phone and conjure a little surprise for her. Overall I think it went pretty well, I have the Borders, my mother for the cake and Allie to thank for a perfect execution. Hopefully Nat wasn't too embarrassed, I think it went okay :) Love you Nat, Happy birthday tomorrow!



"One year older and wiser too....Happy birthday, to you!"

Friday, April 22, 2011

Greatest Surprise

Well, I was woken up by a text last night around 12:15 a.m. informing me of a dear friend being back
from his mission, minutes later I got a text from good ol' Elder Abner Rangel!
Ah I was so happy to see his name come up on my phone. I am used to talking to him through letters
and those only came about once a month. I remember being at his house
the Sunday he spoke and being with friends at his last FHE with his family,
it was a wonderful and spiritual experience.....





He's a ladies man... can you tell? Haha. I have missed this kid so much, I cannot wait to see him today!
I am excited to hear all about his adventures in Oregon and can't wait
to take in all his advice for becoming a good missionary.
Today will be a great day thanks to Abner Rangel :) woot woot!

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

They Say a picture is worth a thousand words...

I say it's worth a heck of a lot more. Maybe this is why I take so freakin' many, I love looking back and remembering all the good times. I have had an absolute BLAST this school year, let me show you what I've done :)


Yummy new restaurants


Meeting up with old friends


Hitting up college dances


Climbing to new heights


Crossing off life goals: Thanksgiving Turkey bowl


Supporting one of my BFFs


Enjoying Christmas break


Christmas with the family


More goals achieved! Ice skating!


Celebrating best friend's birthdays


Ice skating adventures in Ephraim


Twinner dance off nights with Amy


Bowling with the family


A visit from our favorite cousin


Acting like children again


Starting a new job and spending time with grandma & grandpa


Festival of Colors!!


Trying new things


Supporting adopted siblings :)


Helping answer for Maddie's prom


Watching Nat perform at the Mayan a second time


Welcoming the warm weather with shorts


And the latest adventure...... The greatest Kalai concert EVER with my sister and best friend

Looking back I am amazed at how many things I have done in just a few months. I am incredibly thankful for all the support and love I have felt from those around me. I have grown so much and can only imagine how much more I will grow and experience this summer. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, I think a picture is worth a life time of memories...

Last but not least, I wanna congratulate Maddie on an amazing lacrosse game yesterday! It was a close game against Weber, can't wait to see her play tomorrow!

Monday, April 18, 2011

Oh man, here goes... Brace yourself...

One very, very wise friend of mine suggested I start blogging.... Seemed like a crazy idea two years ago, still feels the same. However, I realized I am absolutely HORRIBLE at journal-keeping. I thought it would be easier to just write down major events, keep little reminders and put them all into a note book. That seemed to work, at first anyway. Time went on and I have come to realized how much time I spend on my computer: hours and hours and HOURS-- thank you school-- sooooo I have concluded that this is the easiest and most convenient way to keep up on my life....as boring as it tends to be. So for all you readers out there (yes, you lonely 3...) Enjoy a glimpse into my life. Any bets on how long this will last? Hehe.

Here we go. I am going to try and summarize this whole school year without boring you to death, so hang in there. This might be a long one.




Yaaay!! For you non-believers, I have one thing to say to you: HA! Actually, I don't really blame you. I didn't think I would graduate high school either. After a very long long last semester I was able to pull through and get my diploma. Now the rreeeeaalllyy hard part: making it through college. The first semester was definitely different. Lots of changes and tons of homework. I started my school year with English, Math, Nutrition and Biology. What was the most important thing I learned? Night classes suck. Especially if it is something as exciting as nutrition. Never again. OH and to makes things worse, it was a once-a-week class... two hour night class. Awesome. Well, good news is I passed (surprisingly enough) and I don't have to worry about that ever again.

I made it through my first semester by the skin of my teeth, now prepared for my second semester. I like to think I was smarter to only take a couple classes. I was so overloaded the fist that I felt like I needed a break. I quickly regretted that decision. I have had way WAYYYY too much time on my hands. I was lucky to find a job that only requires me to go in for a couple weeks straight at a time, it allows me to stay busy and have free time every now and then. I guess I'm not a complete slacker.... I am almost done with my second semester here at UVU, my English and Psychology classes have been interesting to say the least. English has been a blast. We get tons of homework, mostly research papers, but I am happy with our final assignment. Psychology....well, that's another story. Let's just say that I am very happy to being so close to being done. One year down, how many more to go?!?! BAHHHH

Overall I have liked UVU quite a bit. I know how much crap I will get from all the die-hard BYU and other alumni but I have enjoyed it. I have met some really incredible people, there is a good diversity here, I like that. Let's not forget the fact that it actually let me in... That is definitely worthy of some points :)

P.S. Bob Marley makes me happy. Adds a spring in my step when walking through campus. Points to Mr. Marley.

-That is all.