Ok so this is a quick post...this week is going to be another busy one!
I have 2 tests on thursday and another that opens Wednesday.
Tonight Brittany and I made snow angels! The snow was soooo deep outside our apartment! it has been snowing on and off over the weekend and today as well and it was soft and powdery and SO COLD!!! ok, of course snow is cold but try being almost completely covered by it! BRRR!!! we were walking home from FHE and decided to do it 'cause Brittany is from Florida and she has to experience all the snow-type activities! The best one is breaking icicles!! and we are going to go sledding. build a snowman. make an igloo. snowboarding maybe. other suggestions? I am definitely a fan of WARM weather but since the snow is here we can have some fun with it! my favorite is being outside either while it is snowing and watching it cover everything or just after it has snowed and it is silent and totally white and it feels like you are in a different world! ok, now its starting to sound like i really like snow (like how it sparkles at night when the light hits it!) so...moving on...soon there will be SUNSHINE that feels warm (instead of just looking warm and being freezing outside!) and I won't have to wear a million layers of clothing!

otras noticias...

I got 100% on my test today!
I came home to a letter after classes and studying and studying at the library. LML
I am starting to relearn to play the guitar (building on the little I learned before my mission!) and I am excited 'cause i have some new ideas for songs i'm going to learn on the piano. i LOVE music!!
Life is such a blessing, each day I am trying to take advantage of all the opportunities I have because some I will only have once. The time I have with friends and family passes so quickly (we are almost in february!!) and even if its just through a phone call or a txt or a visit, I love it because they are amazing! come visit me!!

Here are a few pics from the weekend! It doesn't capture everything I did, but a few of the highlights! Next time I will take more pics! Besides what is below, it was great to drive there and back with my friend Saini, see some members and recent converts in the Salt Lake area, and also have dinner with my friend Nicole.

Elder Flores...ok JOSHUA...(I'm still getting used to calling him that! He was my DL/ZL for like 7 or 8 transfers!) and he made us dinner~chilies rellenos texas style and we also hung out and went to the Creamery. He is the best! It was so great to see him and also to stay with Sanchez and Fulk at their place while I was there.







One is me and Hna Johns (one of my MTC companions!)...her first name is Lauren...it was great to see her and talk about the mission (of course!) and catch up on whats been going on in our lives.



These two are Hna Hernandez (my mission daughter) and then of her and my new granddaughter, Hna Taylor! They are serving in Rose Park 14 which was my first area in the mission! It was so great seeing them! I miss the mission!

Defining moments. I think a lot of them come when you least expect them.
I have had a few recently and they have made me change a few things.
You know how to know when you are getting good advice?
its when you KNOW that what you are hearing is right even if it is hard to accept, even when you don't completely agree, and then when you can't forget about the advice you were given. and then you start taking some baby steps and experimenting with the advice and testing it out to see what the results could be.
And then you realize that that person was right in part. WHAT. You were for sure that what you were doing before was the best but its true what they say, "you can't see the forest for the trees."
And the advice you got in the beginning you didn't even ask for! but it rarely comes that way...

I say this because I did get some advice, or more of an opinion a few months back and it wasn't what I wanted to hear. After we were done talking, what this person said kept coming back to me again and again and I pondered about pros and cons. It bugged me because I felt that things were good where I was but this person saw more than I could, saw more into the future than I could. Because I can see a little better now a few months later which has helped me accept changing. its kind of liberating in a way. Kind of hard. But it will be fun!

L.M.L.

Well I also went to utah for the 3-day weekend!
It was just what I needed!!
then i got back to this week which has been super busy and kind of stressful.
but as for the weekend...more of a post and pics to come...

This has been SO busy! Especially from the time on that I decided to to go Utah for the 3-day weekend. I am so excited about this! Utah feels in some ways so much like home-because of the familiarity from my mission and my friends who are there! I feel so blessed to be able to go and see some of them in 2 days! We (me and two friends) are driving there friday after classes and coming back Monday evening. I.cant.wait. Am I maybe a little tooo excited about this? Nope! ;)

This is only the first full week of school but I have been bombarded with work--I think that is why I am so excited as well for a change of scene.

I have a new calling, I'm the 2nd counselor in the Relief Society. I was the first last semester (in charge of teachers, lessons, music) and now as 2nd I'm in charge of planning the activities. I didn't even know there was a difference until I got into the calling last semester! I've been thinking of some possible activity ideas but any ideas you'd have I would love to hear!

I have found some good work out buddies (starting next week)...my roommates!! They have a ton of free classes and tonight they are at yoga (the starting next week is me because I have extra to do now because I'm going to utah friday) and along with yoga they have kickboxing, cycling, step, arobics, hip hop, zumba, advanced yoga..etc..they seriously have a ton of classes!

Thank goodness for Sunday! My ward meets at 9 now and i love coming home afterwards...and sunday I went to see julianne, shawn, and hailey and can i just say i have the cutest niece EVER!!! i love that little girl! she is starting to CRAWL!! love it. love her! (she is going to learn to say "la la"...I just need a little time...julianne? you want to go out? I'll babysit! :D

Today was my first day of school (for winter semester)!
I had a criminal justice class and biology. both will be really interesting!
wanna see my books??? (plus one extra for a class tomorrow)



look close to see the sticker on all of my books which signifies they are "textbook rentals." Probably the best thing ever for a college student (if you don't have time to wait for shipping by ordering online, which can also be cheap). I got a really good deal on these three. I'm waiting until my other classes tomorrow to see if the books are really necessary. These three are so rented them for so much cheaper than what i would buy them for, even used.

I feel so blessed to be able to be going to school and furthering my education and to be able to do it at this school. Its hard work and I'll get stressed but the blessing are so much greater than the frustrations or stresses that I have in the moment.

In other news...
The first day of school lunch (its a tradition!) ended up being a dinner instead of a lunch and it was soyummy. I made soup in the crockpot and if you ever want to eat some delish soup let me know. I'll a) make some for you and we can enjoy the amazing goodness together b) send you the recipe and you can make it and then call me and i'll tell you to send me some or something...like that...anyways...I love soup in cold weather!

Julianne gave me an extra blender they had and a pizza stone they weren't using sooo I'm excited to make a pizza soon. Maybe for them. Or for me. And my roommates 'cause I have 2 new roommates and they seem pretty cool so far! So we might have to have a pizza night.

Wednesday is my longest day of school because of my biology lab (till 5:15). Today went by super fast. It was funny, I went to go get my books and I saw julianne there and she left before I did and then after I got my books I had to go to walmart and i was about to go in when i got a supergreat phone call and i was outside talking when julianne came out of walmart! so we were just following each other around ;)

well i have some more homework and some other reading to do as well. g'night!

Stace suggested I blog about this (when I called her on the way to church this morning) and thinking about it right now, why not?

Last night we found out our church hours had been changed from 1pm to 9am. I set my alarm to have enough time to be up and get there in time to play prelude music (I was asked to play the piano for sacrament meeting because about 80% of the ward is new and they weren't sure who played the piano yet).
so...this morning i wake up at 7am and I think to myself "good, i still have a little time to sleep" because I felt incredibly sleepy. next thing I know I open my eyes and see that my alarm clock (which i dont think ever went off!) says 9:02.
Panic!! so...basically there goes playing in sacrament meeting, plus being LATE (i really dont like being late!)
I hurry and get ready and walk to church (about a 10 min walk). I was sitting outside of the door for a while because I didn't want to disrupt going in but still wanted to hear the testimonies (fast and testimony sunday). Then a nice girl come out and when she returns to go back in she invites me to go in and sit with her so i walk in with her and the key is to just act normal...a mistake is a mistake...getting up late happens...its embarassing sometimes...but life goes on! I apologized to the bishop afterwards and he was fine and said i could redeem myself at ward prayer tonight haha. the guy who ended up playing the closing prayer was amazing (the girl in relief society too) so I think the ward got the better end of the deal with me being late!
I really enjoyed talking to some of the ward members that are here again from last semester and I also met some new people who seem really nice.
So. that was my morning. I'm home now and have the rest of the day, which is a lot different than last semester.

How was your Sunday?

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

I had a great time in california for christmas! it went by way too fast...now i'm back in idaho and its a few days before the semester starts so i decided it would be a good time to blog! we did so much (stace and I, she drove from arizona) that I'll just be highlighting a few of the things we did!)

before i left, julianne gave me christmas & birthday gifts! they came with me to california...i have to show them off because she is so talented! she makes and sells baby stuff as well and its all so cute!




Christmas eve our friend Kokob came over (after having a wonderful christmas eve dinner with a family in our ward~ its a tradition :) and stace and i had a crazy running around dropping off christmas treats- chocolate dipped pretzels!). she gave us christmas scarves she made, as well as some yummy cookies...




Christmas morning we ate breakfast and i also talked to some friends and family to wish them merry christmas (and feliz navidad!). I love my family and i wish we could have all been together!
We went to visit a friend before heading out to rocklin to our grandparents house in the afternoon and we ate tons of delish food (stace and i made the stuffed celery), had a fun gift exchange, and hung out and caught up on life! i got an assortment of christmas cookies from my aunt lori and the ones with the chocolate in the middle are soo good! i definitely got geared up for a cold idaho winter because my aunt sharon gave me a scarf and gloves which will come in handy when it gets below 0!! We had a smaller crowd this year...we are all spreading out and its harder to get together like we used to!



i also loved looking at a lot of the old photos that my grandparents have up at their house (my dad's side of the family) of my dad when he was little and his brothers and sisters!





you'll have to be sure to check out my sister's blog
for more pictures from the week because she will give a more detailed/full of pics post
! on my birthday she took me to a kings game against cleavland and also out to eat and we also went and saw the movie "blindside" which was SO good, i recommend it!!
we also did some thrift store shopping (woodland has the best.thrift.store.ever. if you want to find some amazingly good deals you have to go there (and invite me along! i will help you find them!)
My sister stace also made me a cool photo collage calendar which came in the mail today! i love surprises and it has so many memories in it because she used recent photos as well as ones from when we were little!






I cant forget two other people that made my holiday so great, carissa and nicole! We have been friends since we were like 12 and have had a lot of fun times together! They have both since married, and all of us are in different states- Arizona (Stace), Idaho (me), Utah (Nicole) and Alabama (Carissa). They were both in woodland for christmas and we had a few get togethers, talking and laughing and catching up on life!
We were able to stop by and visit a lot of families and friends! it was so great to see them all and i can't wait to see you all again (probably in the summer!) it is such a great feeling to be able to see friends that you haven't seen in a while and be able to pick up where you left off and laugh and enjoy a few moments of life together!




The most important part of Christmas is Christ! I am so grateful for his birth and the significance of His life and the gift that He gave all of us!