In June of 2016, I made my first adult decision. One that had a lot of responsibilities linked to it. Something that needed a lot of time,effort, and compassion. He needed me but I think I needed him more.
My boyfriend's landlord has a bunch of stray cats and what does a bunch of stray cats lead to? A bunch of pregnant stray cats, then that leads to more cats out in the world. She can't give them away on facebook because everyone is very harsh to her because she doesn't do anything to fix that she has a bunch of stray cats and she can't just leave them down at her house. She tries to find good homes for these kittens but sometimes it a lot harder than we think. Some kittens we don't know about for weeks on end and they become wild kittens like their mothers and some stay tame if we get them soon enough.
My boyfriend's sister was informed that she had kittens and that she wanted her to go down to her house to interact with them so they stay tamed so she can eventually  give them to a good home. She then told me that their landlord had kittens and me being an animal lover I jumped up with joy and wanted to go see them. We then walked down there and saw 3 beautiful kittens, 2 all black (might of been twins) and one orange (he was a big boy)! Their mother was a beautiful black and orange calico. At first, she wasn't sure of us touching her babies but kinda just sat back and watched us play with them. They all looked really healthy just the runt was really skinny so we were afraid that something was gonna happen to it. We tried feeding it as much as we could.
A few weeks later I talked to the owner and asked if I could take one for myself then talked to my boyfriend's mom. My mom didn't want a cat at our house so then  I knew that I probably wasn't gonna be able to have the cat but then my boyfriend's mom was sweet enough to let him stay there for 3 months. After both the owner and my boyfriend's mom said yes I made the decision of taking him. They were still pretty little maybe 5-6 weeks and still needed their mother even though she wasn't feeding them and they were eating wet food I still wanted to play it safe. I would go down there days at a time to go check on my little baby and take it for awhile just so it could get used to me.
 I finally got to bring her home and I finally picked a name for her, Ava Marie Self. I loved it so much! I bought her cute little collars that she wouldn't fit in yet. I posted about her and everything. I would call her Ava and tell everyone her name was Ava but then one day someone told me that they thought she was a he. I was so sad I wanted it to be a girl. So after that, I tried to figure out a boy named I liked to just keep in mind tell we could really tell if it was a boy or girl. I had about 3 names I liked but then my boyfriend and I agreed on one finally. We both like Maverick for his first name and then I thought Luciano (my boyfriend's middle name) went well with it and then, of course, Self as the last name.
August 10th I was gonna take him to a shelter that helps lower the cost and drives the animals to the vet to get vaccines and spay/neuters the animals for cheaper. He was a male so I know males spray to mark their territory and I was moving into a new house and didn't want him doing that at my house so I was taking action beforehand. That day I took him in at 6:30 A.M and then I got ready for my interview up in Beaverton then went to Beaverton with my boyfriend. They told we can pick him back up at 7P.M so we went on our way.
Well on our way back I missed a call from an unknown number, they left me a voicemail and I listened to it once I parked. It was the vet calling me to tell me that my baby had a heart murmur. I was so scared and sad at the same time. I felt so helpless and just wanted to pick my baby up and cuddle him.
They wanted to know if I still wanted to go on with the surgery or just to leave and check back on it in a month to see if it got any better. I then called my boyfriend's mom to see what I should do. She told me that it could go away a little later and that if I wanted to wait that would be totally ok. So I called the vet back and said no sorry I would like to wait and come back next month. That night I went and picked him up it was so quite in the room and as soon as he heard me talking he started whining for me.
3 weeks after that I took him back at no charge and I was still super scared he was gonna have it again but I kept trying to think positive. A few hours later I got that call again and I knew what it was, he still had the heart murmur but I knew my cat was a strong boy and that he could handle it! He did just that and more. That same day he was up running around and playing.
I'm a little over 5 months having this little bundle of joy and I wouldn't change him for a thing! He is beautiful in every color he changes into and all the crazy, funny things he does. He's a huge part of my life and a little piece of home to snuggle every night. He makes sure I'm never alone and makes me happy when I'm sad.
A little update on him, he's a little over 5 and a half months old. He just lost about 3 teeth in the last week. He likes to sleep a lot when I'm not home and lays at the door until I walk in the door and greet him. He purrs like crazy when he hears me talk to him or if I pet him. He becomes a spazz once I'm home or when I wanna go to sleep. Again I wouldn't trade him for the world! I love being his mama.

Who's your best friend? The one you can be you around, joke around with,and love unconditionally? How'd you become best friends? A best friend to me is someone you have fun with, can be yourself around, someone you trust, and someone you value over everyone else.
My best friend is my boyfriend. The guy I've known since we were in 2nd/3rd grade. When we were younger we always hung out, he had a crush on me but I never saw him as anything more than a little brother or cousin. We would be around each other every day all the time! My best friend at the time was his best friends sister. All 4 of us hung out, adventurer places, and always made up new things to do. As we grew up my best friend at the time and I broke away from each other and were no longer friends. I saw him at school but that was pretty much it. He would always see me in the halls and say hi to me, wave, and smile. I still thought he was creepy but I respectfully waved back and said hi.
Years later he moved to a different school and I wasn't seeing him in the halls anymore I was kinda sad but was kinda like ok it's fine. A year past and he came back to Dayton. I got super excited, I texted my friend and was like "Dude Brants back!!", we both were super excited.
He started talking to a new girl and I wasn't very fond of her but if he was happy then I was gonna leave him alone. It was the end of the year and Brant was playing basketball in the gym, I was walking into the gym. As I walked out my purse got stuck on the door handle and I completely embarrassed myself.
We started Snapchatting again and I found of that he and that girl broke up. She was actually dating a different guy from a different school while with him. He was heart broken and I tried helping him out of the bad place he was in at the time. Sooner than later we started talking a lot more. One day he sent me a picture of a new movie coming out called Max. He said we should go watch it once he got back from helping his grandpa in Washington. I was looking forward to the day he got back.
Finally, at this point in my life, I wasn't looking at him the same way I used to.
He got back and he came and picked me up to go watch the movie, I never was nervous around him but that day I was super nervous and had a bunch of butterflies! He bought popcorn and we started eating it little by little but then stopped. He felt awkward and his mouth got super dry.
After that first date, we had more and more and then finally after 3 months of going on dates he finally asked me out on September 2nd, 2015. He's my best friend and I wouldn't want it to be anyone else. He's the one I can wrestle with, be myself with, joke around with, he makes me laugh/ smile, and most of all he's the one I love unconditionally. He's my best friend who's yours?

My Papa and I 

Kayla Isabella Peguero, that is my name. In 1996 my mom was making bad decisions as she was only 17 years old in her Junior year. She met a senior boy at her school named Rogelio. They ended up dating for awhile sooner than later she made that bad decision and I was conceived.
Both of them being very young you can only imagine how they're parents reacted. My moms family is a huge family and super involved one also. My grandfather, her father was very disappointed in her. My dad's mother was the only one that was really involved in his life and she was very disappointed in both of them , his father was an alcoholic and didn't care much about him.

My Mom, me, and my Mima(Grandma)

 After all the disappointment went away everyone was getting excited about the new addition to the family. On my mom's side I was gonna be the first born niece/nephew and on my dads, I was the 3rd niece/nephew.

My Step-dad and I

My Great Granny and I

My parents were super scared and told friends before their parents. Once the whole telling the parents happened they got super excited to have a baby, they were still really scared as anyone is no matter what age you are. Once they found out what sex I was gonna be they started looking at names. My parents really liked the name Bailey for me and they were set on it, but soon that would change, My mom and grandma both liked watching soap operas, Young in the Restless and General Hospital. There was an actor on there and her real name was Kayla and my mom loved that name. They were still set on Bailey.

My brother, sisters(twins),mom, step-dad, and I

Labor day came, 2 weeks later than my initial due date. I came into this world after a long night of labor. When my parents saw my face for the first time they knew I wasn't a Bailey, they soon changed their mind to Kayla. I was cherished and loved by many as I am today. I may not have my dad in my life anymore but I'm super strong and have so much more to fill in his spot.

Me, Auntie Anna, Mom, Aunt Lacey, and my Aunt Tasha.

On September 28th at approximately 12 O'Clock P.M, a year ago my life flashed in a blink of an eye. one of the scariest days of my life. My friend Ana and I left school to go to town to get lunch. I wasn't planning on my mom finding out as I just got my licenses and my 6 months weren't up yet. On our way we didn't think anything bad was gonna happen to us, we taught wrong.
We were talking about life and about things going on, just girl talk. We got to the stop light, it was a four-way stop and we looked both ways and neither one of us saw anything. The next minute I started going and then I hear Kayla! I looked over and saw what I thought would be the end of it all. My life flashed before my eye. I got in my first car accident.

I don't remember how it all happened or what stream of events happened next but I remember blacking out for a brief second. The whole process happened so fast, I remember waking up and pulling myself out of my window as I couldn't open my door and then pulling my friend out my window also. I left my keys in my ignition and started freaking out. Soon after some guy pulled up and called 911 and took my keys out of my car he didn't ask if we were okay or anything. The guy that T-boned us crawled out his passenger side and said he was sorry and asked if we were okay. At that point, we said yes we were okay but we were freaking out. I was freaking out because I knew I couldn't cover this up or hide it from my mom. As much as I wanted to just drive back to school I knew my car was in no shape to drive. My mom worked for the court house and my step-dad is a cop so I knew they were gonna find out. I come from a small community and in Yamhill County, we have a facebook page called YamCo Watch which is serious events that happen. We were posted about on that page, I knew I needed to call my mom as much as I didn't want to I did. My mom didn't answer the 5 times I called her, so I waited for her to call me back. She called me back and i remember saying "you can get mad at me later but please just love me right now and appreciate that I'm alive" she started freaking out I told her that I got in a car accident with my friend Ana in the car and she wasn't happy but was glad that we were both okay and alive. I passed the phone to the firefighter and he gave her some information and she said she was on her way.  I was so scared that my license was gonna be taken away and I didn't know what was gonna happen after this moment. When my mom got there all I could do was cry in her arms there were so many different emotions running through my head. I knew that I needed to go back to school for volleyball practice and  I wanted to stay with Ana to make sure she was gonna be okay. We both felt fine at that moment because we were in flight or fight mode but later on that night we felt it! I remember texting Ana and saying "my back and head hurt" and her saying the same thing I told her I was going to go to the E.R and she said she was on her way also. We both were there at the same time but we didn't see each other we also both had the same nurse which was funny. We had minor injuries and we are doing better than ever. This whole situation just made us that much closer! Ana and I are the types of friends that don't have to see or talk every day but when we do we can pick up where we left off. I am extremely grateful I went through this with her and that we are safe, happy, and healthy to this day!