Hello Everyone! Well, this will be my last blog for this year! Let me just start off by saying that I enjoyed getting to meet every single one of you this year, and getting to read your stories, your blogs, giving me into a glimpse of the way you live and how you handle life whenever it throws a curb ball at us! My media writing class, I believe helped me in becoming a better person and a better writer(not nearly as close as most of you) but I will take what I can get. It is a bit sad for me to think that I may not get too speak with most of you again, but I wish you and your families, and your lives all the best! I hope that you all reach your goals and create a life that makes you all happy.

With the semester coming to an end, its amazing to think of every assignment, every article, every test, quiz, homework, etc that one can accomplish within a time frame like a semester in college. I feel like my brain is about to explode today what with all of the studying and essays that are coming up. As well as Christmas being just around the corner, seems as though the hustle and bustle just keeps going on and on. I must admit, this semester seems like it was definitely one of the harder ones so far however I had my husband, and my daughters constantly encouraging me to keep going. With this Semester ending(Chapter) Im hoping to make my family proud by passing all of these classes and hoping to be able to graduate by this same time next year with my Associates. Some fear the next chapter, much like me the fear of “what could go wrong?” Will I succeed?” always pops into mind much like you all I’m sure, however I’ve been taking the approach this semester with knowing that I have done the absolute best that I can with what I have, and to recognize the small things in life, knowing that tomorrow is a new day. Much like this quote by Jim Rohn, who says “Your life does not get better by chance. It gets better by change.” What could be more true? We are in charge of our destiny, we decide the way we want to live our life; and even though life throws things at us from time to time. We catch it and keep going. We need to live the life that we want, To choose a life that we feel like we have made it.

Anyways, to make an already long blog shorter Im ready to turn the page to the next chapter of mine and my families lives. It was a real pleasure getting to meet every single one of you. Again I wish all of you all of the success in the world, I hope you all have your “Happily Ever Afters” and I hope to get to continue to

In my Class, the discussion came up of “If you had all power, money, jurisdiction, etc… for the entire world (and you were the Dictator) what would you do?” This is such a difficult question only because of the endless possibilities of what I would want to achieve. I guess where I would start is to end hunger, poverty, sickness by ensuring that everyone would be given the same education; the same opportunities as others to better their own lives. I would want everyone in the world to have an education not just in elementary schools but also colleges, be given the opportunity for learning new skills through internships, and one on one training’s. I would attempt to have crops grown everywhere, clean water filters put in anywhere that water is provided. All children would receive the proper medicinal and dental care that is needed; my hope would be that with everyone being provided with the same education, food, job security as others then the details of “who would pay for all of this?” would then be answered or taken care of. Like I’ve said this is all “what would you want to do” however the reality of the situation is that there is a lot of other things that would present itself, which would possibly make it more difficult to achieve this. However since this is “what if” then the things I would want to do doesn’t have to make perfect, logical sense.

My next step would be to hopefully end the wars, or have peace between countries. However, if other countries were given the same opportunities in their countries, and their lands were able to flourish like our country has, would there still be hate, or war? Would those countries people be the same as ours? Would they accept freedom? and expect nothing less of their countries? Id like to think that by giving every country the same opportunities, ensuring no more poverty among the people, not having “upper class, lower class, poor, etc” then my hope would be that people would no longer want to steal from each other anymore, the possibility no more gang violence, the possibility of drugs playing as big of a role as they do would possibly end, and people would keep going above and beyond what they think they can achieve and become more.

People would no longer be “born into poverty”, rather they would be given the same opportunities as everyone else regardless of class or which part of the world you were born in. Although it ultimately is and always remains someone’s choice to what they choose to do with their lives. However, there’s a lot of gray area in between, what if the person was not provided the same access to books, electricity, and are surrounded by those who have the same education as themselves? Is it truly their fault that they are in poverty?

My slogan would be “Time Is Non Refundable. So Use It With Intention.” In all honesty I would hope to make wars go away. But the likelihood of that being a possibility seems like its something that would never happen in this world. But in the “what if” world i would hope that wars would go away. I would want there to be peace among the different leaders in the world, to then help countries unite, and people come together. I would also hope to ban “Fake Journalism” but doing that would take away people freedom of speech and I would not want to ban that. This is fun to think about, but is also a lot to process because you have to think about “is that really possible though?” It definitely got me thinking about the world more, and the different ways that all of the people live.

Hello Everyone! Welcome back to my blog, I hope that you all are excited for the holidays coming up? With Thanksgiving just around the corner, It got me remembering about the things that I am most grateful for in my life; but also acknowledging the everyday blessings that I have which may go unnoticed at times. Not because I am not grateful for those other things, but acknowledging not just the bigger things but the smaller things had me feeling overwhelmingly emotional and I felt like sharing with all of you what I found out. We have a new neighbor next door, and she lives alone her husband passed away a few years ago, we talk on a daily basis. The other day she had spoken about her husbands passing, and what her son said at the services and It was absolutely beautiful. It wasn’t the standard speaking on all of his great accomplishments as a father, husband, grandpa, and person in general but rather he pulled out a piece of paper his father had kept throughout the years and on it was when he started to get sick everyday this man would write down things he was grateful every single day. Because it was 2020, he wanted to write down 2,020 things that he was grateful for; there wasn’t just the best and exciting things that happened to him on a day to day basis for being grateful for but more the smallest things people experience on a day to day basis.

The list had small things such as being grateful to have a roof over his head, to know that he had food in his refrigerator, to have a vehicle to get around town with, to have clean water, to be married to his best friend, to have electricity, to have family and friends always surrounding him, etc. The things he listed showed more about the kind of person he was, and probably gave me solace in acknowledging all of the little things he had in his life. Things that others wish they had as well, or things that aren’t as easy to gain within their own lives. I started to write down everything I am grateful for as well, my beautiful, amazing daughters; my best friend, my love, my husband. I am grateful to have my mama, my dad( who didn’t have to step up and be my dad) but chose me and my mom as his family. My sissy, my husbands family, the friends in my life, the opportunity to raise my family in a place like this. Our church friends, etc. I am also grateful for smaller things in my life as well, having a warm bed, food, clothes for my kids, the opportunity to go to college. I’m grateful my kids can go to a good school, and make friends with so many kind kids who share the same values they do, to have neighbors and friends who care, just all of the small but important parts of life too.

I have to say, writing this list down so far has had me practicing better mental habits. I find myself everyday, even through the rough stressful days also looking for any positive part of the day. Instead of “looking at the glass half empty; looking at the glass as half full.” I believe that at times in our lives or throughout our days that it can be harder to see the little things. Acknowledging the larger parts of your life, while remains important; trying your best to acknowledge the things in your life that others may not have. I encourage you to keep a journal, or make a list on finding things that you are grateful for, lets all not wait until Thanksgiving to acknowledge the things we are grateful for everyday. Life is a gift, its our journey and no one wants to look back on their lives thinking that they didn’t have as much as others did. So acknowledge the little things as much as you can throughout the days and years of you life.

“We can lift ourselves and others…. When we refuse to remain in the realm of negative thought and cultivate within our hearts an attitude, of gratitude. If ingratitude be numbered among the serious sins, then gratitude takes its place among the noblest of virtues. Someone has said the “gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.” -President Thomas S. Monson

Hello Everyone! I hope that you all are enjoying this beautiful Fall Weather as well as getting stocked up for this Thanksgiving Day Meals. For this weeks blogs the discussion of my thoughts and feelings on what it means to be free, as well as my feelings toward media news, government mandate’s, etc. This is a tough thing to discuss, don’t get me wrong I do discuss this subject around my family and friends but the thought of discussing this publicly makes me so uncomfortable. I know that everyone is extremely passionate about their beliefs and views these days and rightfully so. However it does make it more difficult to have a different view and or opinion and speak about it publicly, this is not to say that everyone reacts this way when someone has a different opinion or view on politics, religious beliefs, or social views some people are able to accept different views and opinions and are able to present why they believe differently or why they just outright disagree with what you believe. So what I am about to say is my belief, my views, and you are completely entitled to have a different opinion and or belief on this subject.

To start this off, let me give you a little bit of a background on my family and part of the reason I have the beliefs that I do. I grew up in a police, military, family that can date back for generations, we were always taught to respect those wearing uniforms and to always show respect toward our country and all of its government. There were presidents that some of my family respected, and some that they just couldn’t find themselves agreeing with anything they did for the American People. I remember the times where members of my family were called to go overseas. This was such a scary time for our families, not knowing if they’d come home or even if they did whether or not they would ever be the same person. I remember when I was younger asking one my family members who were leaving if they had to go? or if they could say no? I remember one remark from my Tio, who gave me a hug, told me he loved me and said “Remember mija that freedom isn’t free. So me and the other warriors have to go fight to make sure that America is safe for you and the rest of the family.” All of these soldiers were going to fight a war that some of them believed in fighting in, some didn’t understand why they were going to war, and some felt like they were fighting a never ending battle. They did not come back the same, to this day still deal with PTSD, anxiety, depressions, nightmares, etc. So when I see the flag burning or when you see people saying how much they hate America. Its sad for me, and I’m sure for others as well, because I think of what the flag stands for. What it represented to my family during the wars, what I remember is that we are free because of the brave men and women who went to war for America. During these past two years there was so much that happened,such as George Floyd death which led to The BLM protesting, Corona Virus, the Mandated lock down, the election, the Trump protests, the Biden protests, etc. This led to many being angry with our government, our police forces, our soldiers, liberals, conservatives, anybody who was against what the other was protesting. There was so much hate, fear, sadness, people feeling as though they weren’t being heard, those who wanted change to happen now, those who didn’t understand “why” toward anything and everything. People were burning flags, people were fighting one another out of fear toward each other, this was a time in American History where we had the entire world watching us all fight against each other, fight our governments, etc. certain parts of America became a war zone. With America fighting among itself, was scary and confusing not just to Americans but more than likely toward different parts of the world.

I personally believe that people are afraid right now, and who can blame them. America felt as though it got turned upside down for a bit. Nothing was making sense, people were getting sick; Americans would watch the news to get more information on everything that was happening around them but even the media became very biased, it was no longer based on facts. Rather it was based more on opinions and was extremely emotional, and so people would turn to their social media platforms during the lock down to see friends and family members posting opinions, or videos that had been edited to look like something that did or didn’t happen which then erupted into more anger, or other emotions. This brings us to where we are now, we lived through a global pandemic and are still living our lives through it. Me personally, I have more questions when it comes to the vaccines and mask mandates. Mainly because of how hard they are pushing for us to get it, when even if we do get it in some areas are still required to wear a mask because………?????? Well masks kind of help……………… butttttt you still need to stand at least 6ft. apart…………….. you have the choice to not get one for certain schools or lines of work that you’re in, buttttttt……………………… you wont have a job if you refuse………………………… or you will no longer be allowed to attend this school without it…………………………. you need to show proof of vaccination……………… otherwise you will not be allowed on the premises……………………… I do believe that this is a little bit scary to have this being pushed as hard as it is onto us. Is the media causing more division among people? Yes, I believe it is, but this isn’t just the news media it’s social media in general. This can be scary at times as well, because if you disagree or agree with the wrong side you will more than likely be attacked by whoever it is you disagreed with. Do I believe that America is losing itself? No, I do not. America is whatever the people choose it to be and I believe that we are all good, that we love, that even though we seem so divided instead of united; we will get back to being united again. Its what makes America beautiful, as long as America stands together we are strong, we are never truly alone, and we are what makes America great. The men and women who have sacrificed their lives in order for all of us to have the freedom to protest, to vote, to have a voice. You can agree or disagree with each other, but what we have to not let happen is we cannot let disagreements, hate, fear, and confusion divide ourselves from one another. We need to come together and remember why America is still “The Land of the Free and The Home of the Brave.” Don’t be so quick to blindly follow, or fear asking questions. Do not be so quick to just say “yes” because everyone else is following as well. We are in America, you are allowed to disagree, to say yes or no to what you want to put in your body. You don’t have to only listen to one news outlet because that is the one your political party agrees with. Decide for yourself, do your own research, ask the right questions, make the choices that will be best for you. Our freedom is not gone, because in the end we all want the exact same thing. Freedom. and because we all want this, we won’t ever want it to go away. History has proven throughout the years that we all come together at some point. I believe this time it is just taking us a little bit longer to get back to each other, but in the end we will because we all want the same Free America.

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms It will be because we destroyed ourselves.-Abraham Lincoln

Hello Everyone! Hope all is well. Its been a bit of a chaotic few weeks, we’ve had some family emergencies as well as everyone getting sick. I believe everything is starting to level out again, which gives me comfort. I cant stand when schedules get out of order, but that’s life isn’t it? The subject has recently been brought up on inspiration. I have to admit this blog was a little hard for me to write, I hope I don’t get judgement, negative feedback, or any sort of negativity. This is a very sad, and vulnerable point in my life, and part of the reason I’m sharing it is because of the inspiration that came as a result of this. Now don’t get me wrong I feel beyond blessed, and am so grateful to have the things that I have within my life, and I always have in the back of my mind struggling that there is someone else in the world who is going through more than me; and I wonder if i’m not appreciating or seeing the best in everything. However I have learned that just because my troubles may appear smaller to others doesn’t make it any less real or sad for me. I remember a time within my life where I became so depressed. I felt like a complete failure toward my family, I wouldn’t get up. We went through a pretty traumatic incident with my moms side of the family, that I believe played a big role in the depression I was experiencing. The depression all took place around 2013, where I was working for Harmons Grocery Store as an artisan baker. To which the hours were crazy I went in at 3am and would leave around noon, and holidays were even more crazy Christmas eve and Thanksgiving I wouldn’t get off until around 5pm. My husband was doing crazy hours as well he was working 13-16 hours a day and he didn’t get anytime off. So usually by the time we both got home we would be exhausted; to give you a picture of what was happening through my eyes, I saw my husband would work so hard and come home with an endless supply of energy. He has been ADHD his entire life and he always has the energy to keep going, which I was trying to do as well but of course would fall short. I would be so angry with myself that I felt so tired and cranky, my top priority were my little girls, and my husband. The only reason that I wanted to work the crazy shift was to make sure that I would be home early enough for all of them. To be able to grocery shop, spend time with them at the park, and have dinner made as well as the house clean for my husband by the time he got home. My husband always told me I was doing too much, but I felt like he worked so hard and growing up, I always saw my mom working she would always bust her ass and still come home and have the energy to be my mama, keep our house clean, take care of me and herself. She would always make me laugh, and have mommy daughter days with me. We would always make the best out of any situation. There was a night where I saw my mom get off of a double shift, come home and clean the house, do the dishes. She didn’t know it, but there were times when I would sneak out of bed and I saw anytime my mom would sit down she would start to fall asleep. There were times where she would just fall asleep on the couch, and then get up a couple of hours later and kiss me goodnight. She would also sing my favorite song, I cried with my eyes closed so she wouldn’t realize I was awake. I thought to myself, “my mama is going to work herself to death”. I remember wanting to be this strong for my girls, I would pray to God every night that “I hope when you make me a mama, that you will remember to make me out of steel too.” My mother eventually met my dad, who is one of the best people I know, He loved me like I was his own when he didn’t have to, he loved my mama, and made her seem less tired and more happy. I didn’t ever want him to leave, he married my mama, and they bought a house, where they would be for the next 25 years. My mom always worked, but only one job, which would have her work normal hours. She then got pregnant with my sister, and we were a big family, my dad would eventually adopt me and give me his last name. In the beginning my mom, felt like she had to have everything perfect for everyone, and I would like to believe that my dad helped her understand that she didn’t have to do all of that. That it was okay, to not be perfect, that they were a team and everything did not have to just fall on her. So my mom eventually backed away from the old school ways her mother taught her to be a wife, and a mother. There were moments like I previously stated ,when I was growing up where I saw my mom struggle, before she met my dad doing everything she could to provide for me, and always make sure that she could give me a roof over my head. I remember, when I was 5 my mom breaking for a moment when she went to her dad, who wasn’t a good man. He left them when my mom was 15, got married a couple of months later. Started a whole new family and never looked back, so my mother having to go to this man and have to ask for $20 for food for the week. Which as you can imagine, was extremely difficult to have to go to this man and ask for anything was a last result. My mother had taken us to the food bank and the food we did get was rotten, and or expired. She felt like she had no other option, so she asked and he gave it to her, he then told her that she better pay him back by the end of the week along she cant be running to him for money because she decided to get pregnant at 16. My mom didn’t show sadness, or hurt she just gave a small smile toward her dad said “thank you” and off we went to the car. She put the radio on, and drove up the hill away from the house we pulled into the back parking lot of a Circle K, and put her sweater to her face and put her head down. I asked her “are you okay mama?” to which she pulled her head back up wiped her face and said “of course mija, mama is okay, do you know why? Because mamas are made of steel, so mama will never break”.

My mom is my biggest inspiration in my life, all I want to do is make her proud, make my husband and my girls proud to call me a Mother and their Wife. So when I was going through my depression it came harder thinking about how my mother did it with no help, and did so with a smile on her face, never breaking; to look at my husband who keeps going and never gets tired. Led me to look at myself and feel like A failure, it got so deep for me that I had begun to convince myself that my family deserved better. That I was not worthy of them, I wasn’t staying strong like my mother did, I didn’t feel like I was “made out of steel”. I felt broken, and useless to my family; I never wanted my husband to see me falling apart but one day he came home earlier from work and my mom had my girls, so it was just me home and he came up to the room and saw me on the floor breaking down, shaking, just in a fetal position falling apart. He ran over to me, and held me; I couldn’t talk so he just held me until I calmed down. He kept asking “what happened? Babe, you are scaring me. Whats the matter? Now my husband knew I had been depressed and he had thought I was being honest about how deep my depression was. Like I said before, my husband was always working he would call and text me 8-10 times a day to make sure I was okay.He thought of taking a leave for a little bit, I had told him I was okay and that we needed him to work. My husband made a large portion of our income at the time, and because he was in door to door sales, which meant if he missed time then our income would drop lower. I had told my husband not to tell my mom I was sad, or anyone else, the last thing I wanted was for others to worry about me. It was embarrassing to me, and I remember that I felt ashamed that I wasn’t keeping it together for my husband and my girls.

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Once I was able to calm down, I told my husband everything I was feeling. He kept it together for me for the first little bit, and then I saw his eyes fill with worry, sadness, He begged me to talk to a doctor. Which I never wanted to do, I felt odd having to be on medication to be okay. He called my mom, who left my girls with my dad and rushed over. We all talked and talked for so long, about everything and I learned that my mom broke down multiple times throughout life. She explained that her pride to never break in front of me she regrets today. She explained that it gave off an unrealistic expectation of what a mother and wife is supposed to do, she went on to tell me the times where we break down doesn’t mean we failed, we pick ourselves up at the end of it and try again the next day. She wanted me to understand that even though I am a mother and wife, I’m still human. I teach my daughters that its okay to be sad, that its okay to have times where you don’t feel like yourself, and to always remember that those sad times in your life will not define who you are because you are special, there is no one else like you in the entire world. In the moment my mom told me about all of the times she had experienced sadness, related to a lot of the things I was feeling during those times as well. I have a husband who loves me and his daughters, I have little girls who look up to me and love me, I have a family who is there when I need them. My mother inspired me as a child to be the very best version of myself, and she inspired me as an adult to understand that being the best version of myself doesn’t mean perfection; but rather accepting all the imperfect things about myself that make me who I am, Learn from them, and fix the things I can. I don’t ever want my daughters to feel like they aren’t good enough when they have flaws. The inspiration my mother gave me as an adult, is one I hope to pass down to my daughters and they pass on to their children.

Thank you all, for reading my super long blog. I hope to have shown that the biggest way to inspire those around you is not through being perfect, but rather understanding your imperfections and having the knowledge, that the totally imperfect version of you is still beautiful and is what makes you who you are and it IS ENOUGH.

Don’t forget that you’re human. Its Okay to have a meltdown. Just don’t unpack and live there. Cry it out. Then refocus on where you’re headed. -Laurenyloves.co.uk

Hello everyone! Welcome back to my page! Lets start off this topic on the difference between Motivation, and Discipline. Motivation in my opinion is doing something when its easy, and discipline is making yourself do the things that are more difficult for you. So what keeps us from procrastinating? Which one pushes us to meet deadlines? Is it Discipline? The fear of “what if?” or rather fear of the consequences of not meeting our deadlines or putting things off until the last minute? Or is Motivation the thing that people use to accomplish more in life? Is it Motivation which pushes us to not procrastinate? To encourage us to meet deadlines?

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My opinion? Its both that pushes us to achieve our goals, Motivational videos, speeches, music, stories, etc. always lights a fire under people to have the want to be better. Human beings are always trying to better themselves, whether it be through religion, career choices, lifestyle choices, etc. But what happens to us when we achieve certain goals? Do we stop trying to be better? That is when discipline comes into place, it teaches you to keep going when you want to quit. It brings out the stronger person within you, the best things in life are usually never achieved easily. They’re achieved through trial and errors, through the doubt and throughout the times in your life when you have every reason in the world to quit and you push yourself to keep going. Not just because of fear coming to mind of “what if” but also the disciplined training you put yourself through to become a better version of yourself.

According to https://www.inc.com/john-rampton/which-is-better-discipline-or-motivation.html, Top Gun pilot David Burke, who spent 23 years as an elite fighter pilot, argues that motivation is meaningless. “In real life, when fear, fatigue, and doubt set in, no speech can provide the motivation you need to keep going. The only thing you and your team can rely on is discipline.” Burke adds, “Discipline is cherished in the Marine Corps. We cultivate it in everything we do, from how we fight to how we dress, cut our hair, and clean our rooms.” Growing up in a Military/police family myself, I found that my family members that were special forces, and marines, DEA, Police officers; although they did watch and listen to inspirational videos and music, speeches, etc. They have always said they go by “what they were trained to do”, aka discipline. Now military, police life, are much more different than someone who is working in an office, or a business man or woman working a 9-5 job. Not to say one is any less than the other one, but because of different careers i’m sure that motivation works better for one and discipline works better for the other.

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Everyone in my opinion, can use both within their own lives. Each one provides what someone needs in different ways, whether it be through motivating someone enough to give them the push they have been searching for to better themselves. Or one may use discipline daily throughout their entire lives, having discipline in their lives keeps them having serenity within their lives. That’s what makes each one of us unique, right? Every single one of us is different, each one of us is beautiful in our own way. What helps one may not help another. We all have the same end goal however, and that is to have peace in our lives, becoming better versions of ourselves. What do you all think? Do you believe that you have to have one or the other? Do you believe one is better than the other? Or are you like me, and believe that both help achieve goals in different ways? Thanks for stopping by everyone! Cant wait to hear your remarks, have a good rest of your week.

I was 6 years old and I remember being in the car for hours. My mom and my Tio Nico were taking us to Arizona to visit family, and we were driving from Salt Lake so that meant we would have left around 4am that day. I remember my mom and Tio’s goal was to make it there by at least 7pm for a family event. The back seat of my moms Buick had the felt seats, with the metal seat belt buckles and overly long straps, I remember the watermelon pine tree scent which became more strong the warmer it got. I remember sitting in the back and seeing my mothers long dark curly hair, playing with the radio trying to find a decent country station. My Tio Nico had his crisply ironed white shirt and his favorite black cardinals football hat that he would be wearing every time I saw him. My moms car, didn’t have any windows tinted and whenever the sun would start shining it would hit inside the car and immediately and it would feel like we were in a sauna. I wanted to lay down so bad, sitting in the car for that long, I had already completed all of my coloring books and had drawn every etch a sketch picture I could think of. I had a small mother goose toy, which you could put a tape into and she would start to read stories to you. I remember I had to conserve using it, to make sure the batteries would die; the goose although entertaining to me was not so much to my tio, and mother. It was extremely loud and she only told 4 nursery rhyme stories that was around 2-3 min long, being a parent myself I now know the struggle when it comes to loud toys.

We all wanted to get some food, but we didn’t want to stop and go inside to eat. We wanted it to be quick, so we just stopped through a burger king drive thru and was on our way again. Throughout the entire trip I sat in the middle of the back seat that way I could feel the AC and still be able to look at my mother and tio while they were driving. I remember every two to three hours I would ask them if I could take my seat belt off yet, or hit them with the famous “are we there yet?” As we were driving there were more houses on all sides of us, with the famous Pueblo Style homes that you see pretty much everywhere in Arizona. We were approaching a stop sign soon, and my mother finally gave me the go ahead to take off my seat belt grabbed my red Fanta I got from the burger king and watched as we came to a stop and then started driving forward. There was laughter and talking about who would all be at the family event; and I heard a loud crunch from one side of the car, and another from the other side.

It was as if time stopped, I felt myself lift away from the seat; the cold red drink falling on my shirt and shorts. It was as though I was flying to the front seat, I saw my mom start to lift from her seat and her head began to go trough the window in the front. I suddenly felt my Tio Nico’s elbow hit my chest so hard and made me fly to the back seat of the car where my head smacked against the back window. My Tio, had looked at my mother flying forward so he threw his arm to her chest which stopped her from completely flying through the window. While this was happening the airbag had not deployed for my Tio, so his other arm was trying to keep the car from flipping. It was as though we were on a spinning teacup ride from Disneyland, I could see the other two cars that had hit us at a complete stop. You could hear the tires running over the glass on the road and I finally felt the car stop spinning. I remember the feeling of ice on my legs, and my shirt and shorts soaked. I could hear in my the country song by Perfect Strangers playing “You Have The Right To Remain Silent”. My Tio got out of the car as soon as the main car that ran the stop sign approached the car as if we were in the wrong. Luckily the police showed up very quickly along with the paramedics. I remember my mother quickly climbed in the back and held me and asked if I was okay. She had a big cut on her forehead, which I remember she tried to wipe away so it wouldn’t scare me. The paramedics checked on my Tio, my mother, and me to make sure we didn’t have any life threatening injuries. They had suggested to my mom and Tio that they should go check in at the hospital to make sure there wasn’t something they just didn’t notice. They had made the choice to of course not go, there was a Paramedic who was so kind to me during all of this, telling me “everything was okay”. This was because When I got out of the car I looked at my clothes and started bawling, because I believed that the red all over my white shirt, and pink shorts was blood. I had three more events happen to me throughout my life where I had a near death experience, to which I had the same slow down effect. It’s definitely a scary thing to experience, but its also something that makes you appreciate every single day you have. Because you never know what tomorrow may bring. What are your experiences? Do you think that you’ll have the same experience if you were to ever have another experience like this again?

When you live in the present moment, full of curiosity, appreciation, and love for what is, you are truly living your best life. -Panache Desai

The joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives.-Russel M. Nelson

Landing on the Moon, was one of the bigger events that happened in American History. On July 21st, 1969 Apollo 11 Landed on the Moon, along with Astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins. Armstrong took the very first steps onto the moon, where today we can still see pictures of the first human footstep imprint, as well as the american flag that was left by the Apollo 11 crew. This was all over newspaper headlines, news stations and was the talk among the world. However since this time, there has been so many conspiracy theories, about the whole landing being fake. That it was staged by Hollywood, and that nobody has ever physically been to space. Now I cant remember every single conspiracy theory that I can give exact detail about so I did a little research and found the major ones that have since been debunked, courtesy of https://www.history.com/news/moon-landing-fake-conspiracy-theories.

Lets start off with the more popular theory, the United States Flag that looks as though it’s blowing in the wind. According to the History Channels website this is because NASA had designed special flags which had a horizontal rod, which was threaded through the flag to keep the flag up in order to see the full flag. Since there is no wind on the moon, if the astronauts had taken an ordinary flag it would look like the flags look on earth when there is no wind blowing through them. Another Popular theory is that the landing is fake because you cant see the stars behind the astronauts in the pictures. This one did make me have some questions, but this has a perfectly logical explanation as well. The reasoning for this is the exposures were all taken in daylight, meaning the surface was brightly illuminated due to the sun. That however, could in my opinion would present another conspiracy answer on that answer as well.

One of the more recent conspiracy theories, was from 2016 where a photo was taken of the original photo of the moon imprint, and the smooth sole of on the space boot worn by Armstrong. This created more of an uproar about the conspiracy theory about the whole moon landing being completely faked. The reasoning for the imprint being different than the space suit in real life, is due to the astronauts wearing Lunar Overshoes(also known as moon boots). The pressure boots, which are displayed in the museum have a smooth sole and the overshoes had a tread. There’s really no way for us to be really sure, everyone will always have their own opinions when it comes to Conspiracy theories. I will say tread lightly when it comes to these topics, I’m ashamed to say that I had fallen down the rabbit hole of Conspiracy theories on YouTube. You find yourself, being terrified of the world you live in, and want to barricade you and your family in a bunker with tinfoil hats. The world is a scary place, but it has a lot of beauty in it as well. I think its important to always try your best to see the good in the world in each other while staying cautious at the same time; easier said than done, I know. So throughout all of the news, social media posts, gossiping blogs, conspiracy theories, etc. remember the good in the world, and in people.

Thanks for reading! Now tell me some of your crazy conspiracy theories! Whats the craziest, most ridiculous theories that you have heard? How about the theories that made you ask more questions, which lead to more questions? Take care all!

Beauty & The Beast is still to this day one of my all time favorite movies. Its the story of not just falling in love, but falling in love for the person inside. Valuing kindness, over superficial qualities as well as learning from one another on how to become better individuals. I love the fact that Beauty and the Beast is one of the few times that the princess saves the prince. The story offered so many different outlooks on how to love, and how to look past the outward appearance and look more deeply into who the person is. However, there are the theories about “Stockholm Syndrome” being presented in this specific movie, along with the theories that belle never truly loved the beast. People can choose to view it however they want, I choose to believe in the fairy tale love and the happiness they brought to each other.

This movie, I believe has so much to offer in lessons you learn when it comes to loving someone through the flaws. To not only expect nothing but happiness all of the time, to look beyond your fears of the unknown, to gain the understanding that “Happily Ever After” doesn’t look that way right away. Maybe for some it does, and the hardships come later, or maybe both comes at full speed ahead. When I watched this movie as a little girl, I wanted to be like Belle and be kind to everyone. To not judge people based on how they look, etc. Belle was also very strong, even though she was scared when the beast showed himself, or threw his temper tantrums she would not back down. She looked directly into his eyes and stood her ground. When the beast needed her, she came back to him because she loved him, same thing with the beast when belle left because the beast had scared her, he followed her and protected her from the wolves. In love I believe both people have to give 50-50 of themselves to other person. To love them not just through the good times, because lets face it its easier to love when there is nothing hard to face. You need to love them through all of the bad too, be there for the other person when they are weaker, & if its the right person they will do the same for you no questions asked. I feel lucky to have found my husband when I did, because I couldn’t imagine trying to date now. Don’t get me wrong, my husband and I had some hard times. He was dealing with PTSD, and being someone who grew up in a military family I understood that in the hard times he would face on some days, I didn’t need to be cruel or angry with him. I needed to love him through the hard times, and remind him he was still so special to our family. We reminded him that no matter how far he felt like he would go within his own mind, how sad he would feel, we would be there waiting for him with open arms.

To me this movie had a unique approach in showing the value of love as well as the way in which real love starts. It Begins by getting to know the person you are with, on a deeper level, by Becoming the others friend. Beginning to notice whether or not that person makes you want to be the best version of yourself, or if they make you feel bad and sad all the time. Like Belle and the Beast, Belle started to see the beast for the beauty in him and the Beast noticed the beautiful soul that Belle had. In the movie there’s a part where belle needs to go find her father who she sees in the mirror sick, and dying. The beast could see her sadness, and turns away realizing how much he loves her, The beast then turns to belle and tells her to go. With the fear of not knowing if she would ever come back to him, He let her go with the acknowledgement that he would be the beast forever. You hear the quote all the time “If you love that person enough to let them go, and they come back to you then they love you just as much, and if they don’t come back then they never truly loved you to begin with.” as hard as it is, at the time I’ve found it to be true. My husband and I went through something similar to letting each other go, and we came running back to the other person, we didn’t ever want to feel the emptiness we had when we weren’t with each other again. I think that was another reason I loved this movie as much as I did, In every other movie the prince would be the one to rescue the princess. In this movie though, he needed her as much as she needed him. He wasn’t the standard super sweet prince either, he had flaws, and learned to become someone better than he was before. Belle became stronger, while realizing she found her adventure, she wanted more and she got that with the beast.

Love Doesn’t need to be perfect, It just needs to be true.

“Every Beauty needs her Beast to Protect her from everything but him.” -N.R. Hart