weekend in jackson hole

chicago

We made it to Chicagooooo *oprah voice*. It was a long 33-hour long drive but definitely worth it. I have never felt so tired the past couple of days but so energized at the same time. I know, that doesn't make any sense, but even though we are exhausted and need a full day to catch up on sleep; we are simultaneously so excited to be here and to explore this big city! 

Our friends Emily and Jared live in Lincoln Park in Chicago and we had dinner and went for a sunday stroll. It was like walking in a movie with all the beautiful brownstones. I always heard about how fun this city was from Mario's family, but now I completely understand why they are so enamored by this city. I'm so excited to be here with Mario and running around together! I wouldn't have it any other way!

from our walk in Lincoln Park this afternnon

I was in love with all the masonry and architecture

the view from millenium park

I love this time of year because of the blossoms

A rainy day our first afternoon here

Can't get enough!

I am sitting on a memory foam pad that is covered in comforters for extra padding because this is all that's left in our two bedroom apartment to sit on.

I am feeling a little emotional at the fact that we won't be calling apartment 519 our home anymore. I have loved living here! My heart hurts a little bit knowing that we probably won't be living in this exact apartment ever again. I feel a little sad looking at its bare walls and feeling its lifeless demeanor.

I actually shouldn't be staring but actually doing something about that cleaning checklist.

I think I'm also hurting a little bit about the change of places and activities coming up. I will be taking 15+ online classes in a city that I have never been to, several hundred miles away from my parents, (is separation anxiety still a thing in your 20s?!) and excited as I should be about it I'm still a little scared.

A seriously long 26-hour drive in our 1985 Subaru hatchback without air-conditioning (that might not even matter because it's about to snow in Rexburg. In April) without a radio but somehow it doesn't seem so crazy to drive cross-country in it. We have decided to only bring the essentials: three backpacks total.

This week our plans completely changed and we have to move out by tomorrow morning with no idea as to what we are doing next. We have two options: either heading to Chicago a week earlier than anticipated or heading for Boise until next week and heading to Chicago from there.

Going to Boise would allow us to be with our families before we head out because I'm a baby and always feel a need to see them before leaving. The other part of me wants to just get out there but then that same part wants to curl up in a ball and not have to deal with making a decision.

I think either way we will be a-o.k. We are only gone for 6-weeks!! I want to laugh at my fears and worries when I type that out... 6-weeks... I feel so silly feeling so clouded on whether to see my family before we leave or not. I guess I must love them. Knowing I can't just get in the car and drive four and a half hours to see them makes me feel a little anxious.

At the same time I think it will be a really memorable experience being completely on our own, not that I run home every day (but maybe every chance I get) to my family for any problem we are having, I think it's just the idea of knowing I'm so close.

Maybe when this apartment is clean and clutter free my mind will be too.

On a happier note: I got straight A's this semester! Another one down, three more to go! It's a weird thought that I will be graduating a year from now. What do people do when they graduate and school is over?!  Lots of deep thoughts over here.

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Days for girls

This past weekend some of my best friends got together to make feminine hygiene kits!
After reading Half the Sky last fall I as so excited to find something to help women around the world get closer to their goals.

Feminine hygiene and sanitary supplies is something I take for granted. In so many developing countries, cities don't even have the sanitation methods to dispose of sanitary products.

I can't imagine having to go to school during my period without the comforts I have. Well, in developing countries most girls don't. They miss several days of school and some even end up dropping out of school.

At first Ari and I thought about finding donors to give pads, but we realized that wouldn't be efficient because they would not last very long. That would only allowed us to help for maybe two months.

Luckily, Ari's mother-in-law Jacie  was actually preparing to make feminine hygiene kits for a ward activity at church.

Days For Girls  provided the patterns and Jacie and Luella provided us all the fabric and supplies and were so kind to help us plan a weekend to get them done.

These kits last up to three years! Ari and Jacie planned a weekend away in Eden, Utah and our close friends Mattie and Madi came up to help Friday night.

We cut, traced and ironed all weekend long while Jacie and Luella (ari's grandmother-in-law) sewed for literally 48 hours. The only reason we left was for women's conference on Saturday evening.

It was so funny because we all had so much fun and it was such a great experience, even though all we did was cut, trace and iron.

I say this a lot, but I am so grateful for the amazing women in my life! You know you have good friends when you don't want a weekend of cutting, tracing and ironing to end.

undocumented students

*Carlos Torres is one of 1.2 million undocumented students who is one step closer to the American Dream because of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA was executed in June 2012 and allows for undocumented immigrants under age 31 who came to the U.S. before their sixteenth birthday and were present in the country on June 15, 2007 consecutively through June 15, 2012, to receive a work permit, drivers license, and protection from deportation for two years.

President Obama introduced Executive Action in November 2014. The program would extend Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or the DACA program.

The new implementations would extend the program to parents of undocumented immigrants and their children, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website.

“There is a misunderstanding of what the president did; it’s not amnesty it’s a program that: delays deportations and gives a permission to work here in the state of Idaho.” Mendez said, “I think it’s more of a Band-Aid on the big scar of the problem.”

Executive Action would extend DACA’s work permits for three years, instead of two.

The new implementations of the program would allow for a person with any current age to be eligible instead of being under 31, and require for them to have been here continuously since Jan. 10, 2010 instead of June 15, 2007.

According to USCIS, parents of citizens and legal residents would now be able to apply for the three-year work permits.

Ruby Mendez an organizer for the Idaho Community Action Network, a non-profit organization that promotes immigration reform in Idaho said, “Generally, since [Idaho] is more conservative, more people are not on board for comprehensive immigration reform.”

Stephen Stokes, a sociology professor at Brigham Young University- Idaho, said there are many variables that lead to immigrants feelings isolated and marginalized.

The most significant variable is how the economy is at the time Stokes said,
“When the economy is suffering, undocumented workers are seen as a threat.
When the economy is striving, they are mostly seen as contributors to society.”

Other variables include the amount of time undocumented immigrants have been in the country, if their children are involved in school and if they know the language.


“I don’t feel that here in South East Idaho there are any feelings of animosity.” Stokes said, “That doesn’t mean that they don’t have feelings of being degraded if they enter a store and don’t know the language and have to ask for help.”

Mendez said political officials should think about the people involved, not the political aspect of it.

“Our Idaho Legislature needs to put aside politics and know there are families here in Idaho trying to live the American Dream and provide a good life for their families.” Mendez said, “We are all the same regardless of our status.”

Carlos Torres, a freshman at Brigham Young University-Idaho, studying business is a beneficiary of the DACA program.

Torres came to the U.S. at 18-years-old with a visa that was soon to expire. He had been without his family in Peru for three years and family advised him to go be with them in New Jersey in 2007 to get a better education and more opportunities.

Torres’ mom came to live here in 2003, and his Dad came a year later after his business had gone bankrupt in Peru.

When he came to the U.S. his grandma became ill and later passed. Most of his family’s money went into paying her medical bills.

“I was going to stay through a student visa, but the costs for the hospital were too expensive so we couldn’t afford to apply for a visa or anything else.”

This left him undocumented in the U.S.

Torres had already finished high school while in Peru but he had to go to night school in Newark to get his G.E.D. to be able to attend college.

According to the National Conference of State Legislators currently 18 states have policies allowing undocumented students to receive in-state tuition at their universities with certain requisites

In New Jersey undocumented youths can attend high school for three years and receive in-state tuition. He wasn’t able to qualify since he hadn’t attended high school in Newark, limiting his choices of universities to attend.


Torres resorted to a community college that didn’t ask for his immigration status and allowed for a cheaper alternative than paying as an international student. He graduated in 2012 with his Associate’s Degree.

“I didn’t just want an associates I wanted more than that, I wanted a bachelor’s and even an MBA.” Torres said.

After graduating from community college, Torres felt he had another challenge ahead of him. The chances of being able to attend a four-year university seemed unattainable.

“That’s it I thought. I can’t study any more,“ Torres said, “I got accepted to some universities but since I didn’t have a social [security number], I would have to be an international student and that’s a lot more expensive.”

In the meantime Torres found a place to work while he thought about what to do. His mom got him a job at a factory that was known to hire undocumented immigrants.

Then, that summer, the DACA program was created giving Torres greater chances to more opportunities.

“When I got accepted for DACA my only wish was to go back to school,” He said, “It didn’t work out, I couldn’t get into a university because they asked for twice the amount for tuition if I went as an international student.”

In the mean time he tried to work to save up money.

Even with DACA, Torres feels that it is not a permanent solution to the problem,

Applying for jobs is still hard because businesses sometimes don’t want to hire people with temporary immigration status Torres said.

“I tried to get a job immediately after, but businesses don’t want to hire someone whose only experience was a factory job.”

He finally landed a job at K-mart and working at a parking lot that was only open seasonally.

“I can only get mediocre jobs, but at least I can get a job. I can earn some money without it being under the table, and without the fear that one day they could deport me.”

Torres finally applied to BYU-Idaho thinking he wouldn’t make it in.

“I got the endorsement from my bishop and he said, go for it, I hope you get in.”

The odds were against him he said, “I wasn’t able to serve a mission, and I was a recent convert. I thought I would get denied”

When he got accepted it felt like a bittersweet victory, “It was bittersweet because I knew I wouldn’t be able to be with family and knew I wouldn’t be able to see them for a while.”

“Here at BYU-I I’m just a normal student and don’t have to apply as an international student and pay more like all other state universities.”

From his densely populated Hispanic community to BYU-Idaho hasn’t been the easiest transition Torres said.

“People are nice but you can’t help but feel a little unwelcomed.” Torres said.

Applicants of DACA are not able to receive financial aid or any government support for their post-secondary education.

Torres said that without government aid, paying for school becomes a burden on not only the student, but also the parents.

In the U.S. a third of undocumented immigrant’s children live in poverty, almost twice as much as U.S. born parents’ children, according to Pew.

“Since most DACA students are low-income, family’s incomes have to go towards paying for their child’s schooling.”

Torres said that something he has learned through his struggles is to be grateful.

“People don’t consider themselves lucky to be here, and wish they could have gotten into BYU instead.” Torres said, ”They don’t’ realize how lucky they are that they get to study. People have had to work so hard to make it here.”


Torres hopes that some day immigrants like him will be able to get citizenship.

“We Aren’t going to be harmful to the economy, we will be more than a helping hand we want to be a part of society,” Torres said Most illegal immigrants I know pay their taxes and have never committed a single crime, except for being here.”

Without any documents Torres said immigrants feel that they have to live in the shadows. Torres said he is grateful that he doesn’t have to live that way anymore.

“I don’t have to do that now, I can show my potential.” Torres said confidently. “I can finally be the person I always wanted to show to the world. “

Torres said he is proud to be a Latino and for the trials he has been through to get to this point.

Immigrants have one thing that binds them together: “Every immigrant has the same thing in common,” Torres said. “They have overcome and left everything they know behind to start a new life here.”

“That’s our strength. We might not be physically strong but we have the gift of perseverance.” Torres said, “We know life will be hard for us here, but we still work and move forward.”



*Name has been changed to protect the privacy of the individual.

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