I've made a decision...

:I'll be transfering back to my Spanish Ward! :)

Happy Sunday :)

So this morning I decided to go to my Spanish Ward. I woke up and got ready....and I thought my mom and sister would be joining me, but! when I went downstairs they were gone! So...I called them [no answer] and waited for a while. So I went by myself. Church was really nice :) An friend of mine that isn't very active came to church so I was really really happy to see him! The 2nd counselor came to me and told me that the bishop wanted to speak to me, so I went to talk to the bishop and we talked for a while. It felt so nice to talk to him! I've known him since I was in primary so I feel really comfortable speaking to him :) We talked about everything... He asked about my mom and my sister and why they haven't been attending. And I spilled my heart out. It's so difficult to be the only active member in my family! It is soooo difficult, but I've tried to be strong and so far....I think im doing ok :) What kind of worries me is that...my mom and my sister are my only family members that are LDS. So if I were to get married, they would be the only 2 family members of mine attending. And...if my mom continues to be inactive, she wont be able to attend :( And it makes me so sad to think that I'll be alone in the Temple.. And today the Bishop pointed that out and told me "Stephanie, Remember that salvation is individual...and if your mom is not at your wedding, that won't make a difference in your salvation." and he's completely correct. I may not have the ideal LDS family, but I'm trying my best to break the pattern and have my own LDS family who attends church regularly and lives the norms of the church :) I know that all of these trials aren't easy for me, but the only thing I can do is learn from them and be a better person. I'm thankful for the many blessings in my life. The bishop also asked me about Ryan. I told him "he's amazing and I truly love him" and he said "Well Steph, I hope this is a great example of what blessings can come when you live the gospel... In your case, Ryan is a blessing in your life" and its true :) I love my GIANT blessing!

So.. Thats my Sunday so far. A little emotional...but overall great :)


Love,
Steph

Concert, Love and School

Hello :)

Well, the Blink 182 concert was....interesting. Weezer and Taking Back Sunday were the opening bands for Blink, and honestly...Weezer was THE BEST! they are AMAZING live! they sounds just like their cd :) they dont cuss, and they keep the crowd going! i LOVED them! Blink on the other hand.....I was so disappointed! they play really well, but when it comes to singing...they don't sound like their cd. lol but overall it was a great concert :) It took us about 2 hours to get out of the parking lot! that Venue is horrible when it comes to exiting...

Us @ the concert :)

hmm oh yes! I have homework! ew :/ but good news is...Ry and I are doing it together, so it'll be fun! So thats our task for today, homework. We have a speech due on Monday!!! ahhh! our first official speech! I'm sure we'll be fine :)

We went to a dance last night! it was fun! :) not a lot of people know this....but i LOVE to dance! i absolutely LOVE it! when I feel like working out, I just dance in my room! lol I love Merengue and any type of latin music. Ry...doesnt really know how to dance and gets frustrated. lol but! he tries really hard and i appreciate that :) So! I'm going to try to teach him how to dance so he can feel comfy dancing in front of people. I'm sure it'll be fun!

Well, time to get ready! I'm going to help Anneliese do her make up for a wedding :)

byeee!!!

-Steph

Ps: Ryan, if you ever read this...

I love you with all my heart and im sooo glad you're

in my life! :) You make my world so beautiful! Thank you

for always taking care of me and being so sweet! I can't

wait to see you later! love you!

-Steph

Aquabats and more!

Hello :)

I'm a horrible blogger...lol [not as bad as Ryan though...hehe] SOOOOOOOOO! I went to my very first Aquabats Show! oh....my.....goodness! their fans are CRAZY! lol there was a girl dressed up like pikachu. ?!?! yes...and she was handing out cookies! It was a very unique experience. lol I had fun! even though I got beat up in the crowd! lol :( my shoulder is bruised up! My arm has another bruise...im just sore all around! Ryan kept me company for most of the night, he only left me alone for like 3 songs. I just stood in the back...lol like a loser! but anyway, It was fun! :) Corndog went with us but we lost him as soon as they started playing. Overall: great experience!


School is going great! Speech is pretty easy, Marriage and Family is...common sense. I think as a member of the church, school seems easier! Speaking in public is no issue because the church encourages us to speak in public since primary! I feel very blessed :)

On a side note...I'm considering going back to my Spanish ward. It's not that I don't enjoy the singles ward. I love it there! But...I just feel so "at home" in my Spanish ward. So...I'm not sure, but its definitely a topic in my prayers :)

OH!!! Ryan and I are going to Utah for conference weekend!!!!!!! yay!!!!! it's going to be my first time!!! I'm soooo EXCITED! :) Michelle is coming with us, so it should be so fun! She's a sweetheart! We will be leaving on Thursday the 1st of October @ 3AM...and coming back on Monday. I got Ry and I some tickets for a BYU football game! yay! :) I'll take plenty of pictures!

Well....I'm off to bed. Im soooo tired! today was my long day.... :/

Good News: I know what I'm getting Ryan for Xmas! :)


LOVE,
Steph

SummerNights in DowntownCovina

Hello Friends :)



School started this past Monday!!! So far, it seems like it's going to be a smooth semester!

I'm taking: Speech, Marriage and Family, and Life & Career Planning. Ryan is in 2 of my classes! which is fun!!



Speech:

Our professor is really nice and entertaining! I think he's gay, which makes everything he does funny. lol :) The class isn't too bad, we have about 6 speeches throughout the semester, which as an LDS girl is nothing! lol I've been speaking in public since I was 11, so no biggy:) Ryan seems to enjoy it also. We had a pop quiz on our second day and I believe I should be recieving 100% on it. so I'm happy :) Ryan didn't do so well, but thats just because he didn't know what to expect, which is normal. We studied a little bit last night, I made him some flash cards!! Hopefully that will help him. We will be studying again tonight. :)



Marriage and Family:

Our professor for this class is really nice and friendly. She's been married twice which makes it interesting :) She's familiar with the do's and dont's of Marriage. This class will be very interesting, I've heard a lot of good things about it :) I'm excited!



Life and Career Planning:

This class is going to be really easy! The professor announced that he does NOT give a FINAL! which is very VERY rare! We will be reading The Last Lecture [ which I have already read] and The Alchemist. They both are easy reads. :) only bad thing is....its on FRIDAYS. lol but it's not bad I enjoyed it a lot! So, I'm looking forward to this semester!



Friday Night:

Ryan and I decided to get pupusas for dinner and after that we went to Downtown Covina for a Farmers Market. I LOVE downtown Covina! its so cute!!! and i looove how it feels like im on an episode of the Gilmore Girls. hahaha :) All I need is a super hot Dean...LOL jk I have my super handsome Ryan <3>

Saturday Night:

I went over to Ryan's house and we had dinner with his Wonderful Family!! We watched the Princess Bride!!! FINALLY! lol Ive been begging Ryan to watch it for about a month! and he kept saying he doesn't like chick flicks...but! he finally decided to watch it, and he enjoyed it!! :) its a classic! Sooooo that was our weekend!

Today:

I will be going over to Ryan's house to study and have dinner :) should be fun!

Well, its been great! ttyl!!!

Steph

Girls Afternoon Out!

Fact:

I don't have tooo many close friends, I only have 2 girl friends that I Looove!

Anneliese and Becca. They have been my friends since 1st grade!!! yup...long long time!

All 3 of us go to school and 2 of us have jobs on top of that...SO we dont get to hang out too often due to our conflicting schedules. On Tuesday, we decided to take a last minute trip to Descanso Gardens [located in La Canada]. It was soooo gorgeous! We walked around for about 2 hours and just talked! it felt so good to catch up! :)

Here are a few pics:

I hope to spend more wonderful days with these lovely ladies :)

Love,

Steph

OoOo Baby I Love Your Ways...Everyday!

Hello!!!!
Soooo About a year ago, I was online looking for local photographers and I came upon Lucy Manalo's page! I fell in loove with her work! We kept in contact throughout the year and we became friends :) She's amazing!! a couple weekends ago, she offered to photograph me for an amazing price ;)[Right Lucy?] lol so she did! Ryan came with me and he jumped in on a few pics! I haven't posted any of the pics on facebook because they look like engagement pics and I don't want any assumptions to be made. lol. Sooo ill share them on here since no one reads this lol! They were taken in downtown Covina, which i love! =] We had a ton of fun! Lucy is so sweet and she takes all the pictures according to your style. She will definately be photographing my wedding lol! Check out her website: http://www.manaloempire.com/ she's great!!! :)

Here they are:

Once again, thank you Lucy!!!! and for everyone else...they are NOT engagement pics! =]

******************************************************

oh! the dodger game was super fun!!!! Dodgers won in the 9th inning! which was GREAT! my boyfriend Andre Ethier hit a homerun and sent 3 dodgers home! woop woop!

*************************************************************
Today:

Ryan and I were gunna do our usual Monday Run...but! the band was using the field so we went to a park instead to run...but we just sat on the grass and listened to music lol it was really fun! Right before he dropped me off we were playing with an app on my iphone and I recorded him saying some random stuff lol =] here's a little slide show I made with the recording in the background, it was NOT planned! I just decided to jump in and sing....lol

we have tooo much fun together!!!

Funny Story:

The other night, Ry and I were skype-ing and I decided to use a feature on my webcam that adds different effects...example: wigs, mustaches, hats...etc. So I added a wig and Ryan took a pic of it! LOL I look soooo retarded!

Well, Im off to bed!
Goodnight!!!!
-Steph

6 Months of Looove!

Hello hello!!!!

Oh My Goodness! Time flies!

Its been SIX months since Ry and I started going out! ahhh it seems like 2 weeks! lol They've been amazing! I thought Ryan had forgotten about it! but he didn't! at around 1pm, I was taking my lunch at work, when this man walks in with flowers looking for a "Stephanie Arcos" lol! isn't that adorable?! yup! he sent flowers to my work! with a card that read "Happy 6 Month Anniversary! Love, Ryan " it made my heart melt! I've never had flowers delivered to my work! it was so adorable! After work, We went to Chilli's and had dinner =] Now he's at home relaxing and I'm doing the same!

I looove Sunflowers!

I loved the Vase they came in!

This was today :)

This past weekend we went to my Family Party in Fontana and Oh My Goodness! there was a live banda! haha Ryan and I danced a few songs...yup my white boyfriend danced to banda! amazing! he was really good! we danced to a few other songs too =] It was a lot of fun! my family loved him! 1 of my aunts actually has a "crush" on him..haha =] I loved having him around! I love the fact that I dont have to worry about how he will act around my family...because he's simply amazing at all times! super polite and so nice!

He looked VERY handsome!

We've been trying to run in the evenings but its hard! lol he runs more than I do.... I used to run the mile in 8 minutes!!! and now...ughhh oh well! it takes time i guess =] But im VERY proud of my Ryan...he's unstoppable! lol

Oh! So we went to a Jack's Mannequin concert on July 18th! It was my very first concert! I loved it!!!!!! they are so amazing live! =] Oh! we found a blackberry and we decided to return it to the owner...so we did. =]

He looks Adorable!!

This was during Jack's Mannequin :) We had lawn seats, they're comfy!

We registered for classes last weekend and we have 2 classes together! it should be fun! We can study together! :)


And...we have a Dodger game tomorrow! Mormon Night at Dodger Stadium! yay!!!!
Well...thats about it =]
Ill be back later! buh byeee!

-Steph

Ps: I loooove you sweetheart!

Maybe someday...you'll read this!

I love you with all my heart!

Thank you for being so amazing!