So Long Sweet Summer.

Summer is not even over--but it feels like it's coming to a rapid halt. IT'S BASICALLY AUGUST PEOPLE! What is this garbage? I just got home...I just left my darling Thai babies and mangos and sticky rice and now I'm registering for classes, buying books, and going a bit crazy in the school supply isles at Walmart. Oy-vey. Though I have been working two jobs for the past month, and literally work every single day... I've still found some time for fun! And I have a very good feeling that though summer is ending, the fun is definitely not!

Our family friend, Caitlyn Wilson, was a beautiful bride a few weekends ago up in Provo. So we made a quick trip up to celebrate with her and her family! SO CUTE. I'm tellin ya, the wedding was beautiful and such fun. But if you are a girl--it's almost impossible to not walk away wanting a wedding RIGHT now. Maybe not so much a groom...but a wedding, absolutely ;)

That same quick trip I was able to get together with lunch with some of my lovely ladies from Thailand! I love that we don't get to see each other all that often, but when we do--it's like we never left. We sat at Zupas for probably three hours just chatting and laughing. So glad these ladies are some of my greatest friends! Missed Angee and Dianna very much though, get your buns to Utah girls!

A few quick road trips with this cutie. Those ruffles you see there.... were his treat for being good on the way there, so we made a quick stop at a gas station before heading home. However, don't you DARE sneak a Queso ruffle from this kids hands and shove it into your mouth...or there will be tears, time out, and a "feelings" chat. Oh boy..

I started my job at Sterling Court at the beginning of this month, and I am LOVING it. Absolutely. Sometimes the tasks are a bit...grueling. But the fact that I am almost always kept busy, and the fact that I get to work with some of the sweetest/hilarious elderly folk makes it so much fun. I think I'm going to like it here just fine. 

Big brother CJ made it to the finals of the Utah State Ametueur!! He played an awesome week of Golf and we were all following him daily via computer or iphones. When Saturday we heard that he had won all of his rounds of match play and was on to the finals, family dropped everything and headed up to see the boy do his thang! It was so fun to have the entire family there to support our brother. He played awesome and took 2nd overall! We are all so proud of that boy, he's such a classy gentleman on the course---we're not sure what happens once he get's off though.... ;) We decided that the quote for the weekend was "Mom, Dad--you've raised some houlagins....but they are houlagins who love each other!" Truer words have never been spoken.. 

Adam moved his skinny britches to California this week....and my heart has never been more broken! In lew to his departure--we've been trying to spend as much time as possible together with all of our friends. Sure am going to miss that kid. SO excited for him though, California doesn't know what's about to hit them! 

My friend Ryan got a new puppy! The cuuuutest little Lab puppy affectionatly named, "Maverick."
I might be a little more than in love with the little guy, usually...I just play with him--and we lock Ryan up so he does not bother us. It's love people. 

Summer Shinanigans

This summer is nothing how I planned it. I planned on returning from Thailand, working constantly and jet setting off to China in just a few short months. Then I changed my plans, and anticipated spending the summer working and saving money in order to move up to Salt Lake in the fall. But I'm realizing every day, that sometimes we have plans. And sometimes Heavenly Father has plans for us that are completely different to our own. And when we finally let him in on the "plans" that we have, and are willing to adjust our plans to his just a little.


Life is sweet--so, so sweet. And just exactly what we need :) 
So, instead of preparing for China,  or packing up my belongings for a big move...
Instead, i've spent my summer kinda like this

I've gotten to spend some time with this cute kid! It's been nice since I feel like he totally forgot who I was while I was away for so long. Little heart breaker. 

Sheeela came and visted for a few days and that was a total blast! I'm trying to get her to move down here this fall, so naturally I had to show her all of the great things St. George has to offer. Namely... Dixie Rock, the Carrosel, my friends, Tuachan, Swig, Durangos, and Zion. We spent a day floating...(or in Katelyn and I's case...being drowned) down the Virgin River and that wasss.....an adventure. Here's to crossed fingers that I have my roomie back in just a few short weeks! 

Cooked some Thai food for the first time since being home! Delicious! Wish I had learned how to make more dishes, but I guess I can settle for some fried egg and rice.. holy yum. I'm suddenly starving. 

Took this cute lady to go see "Hairspray" out at Tuachan. Such fun! I feel bad sometimes that I don't get to spend more time with mom and dad anymore. It seems as if I am either working, or out with friends all the time--so It's nice when I get an evening or so to spend with those cuties! We loved Hairspray, Tuachan always does such a great job. But I'm tellin ya--GO SEE ALLADIN RIGHT NOW. It was awesome, and amazing and I want to see it a million more times. 

Ooofffff course, in typical St. George Summer fashion, I have racked up quite a few hours at the pool.

Finally have gotten to spend some time with this awesome guy! This is Elder Polatis (Ryan), a previous Companion of Cam's. Rumor has it....(okay, it's not really rumor because Cameron told me this about a million times) that this was his favorite companion on his mission. And I can totally see why. THESE GUYS ARE THE EXACT SAME. It's really the weirdest thing I've ever encountered, Ryan is like..a brown haired version of Cam and it's hilarious. Between the two of us exchanging stories about Cam, I'm pretty confident when I say that I think Ryan misses that boy the most. And that's saying a lot! 

Fourth of July came and went a little faster then I would have liked. BUT I did get to spend it with my Hansen infants as well as some of the family for a bit. We celebrated Dads birthday and ate delicious food. Twas delightful. 

...aaannnnd I got him the funniest card around. hahaha still making me laugh. 

Have spent quite a bit of time with these fun people! Soaking up all the time together before Adam moves to California in just a few short weeks. Ugh, makes my little heart break just thinking about it. Donnnn'ttt ggoooo! :( 

All in all, summer thus far has been a dream. Equal parts work and play and I could not be a happier girl. It hasn't been all fun in the sun of course. Life always brings it's little challenges....in the form of my stinkin car needing to be fixed and 7am shifts at work and of course others. But, looming new and exciting things likeee a new job as a CNA and an upcoming Staff Editor position on the Dixie sun to prepare for, and moving out with friends in the next few weeks! This girl, is a very happy one :) 

Island In The Sun.

I don't know whattt has been in the air these last few days--but something is seriously making me very Thai-sick, and I don't like it one bit. I'm so home-sick for my second home, my cute kids, some of my favorite girls, smoothies, fresh fruit, incredibly friendly people, bike rides, green everywhere amazing history and sights---that I sometimes think I will just get on the next flight over there and not look back.


So, I figured instead of doing the later...I would finally just blog about our Phuket trip that I have not told you guys about yet! ...I feel like it's due. 

Our adventures started out in Bangkok...and let me tell you, it was an adventure for sure. Bangkok is so different from any Thailand that I ever pictured. And I'm going to be honest--it was not my favorite! After living in such a small community for months, it was quite the shock to be finding our way around a massive city for a few days. Clinging on to our bags and sheilding our eyes from all of the questionable street vendors and their uh..."items" ... we realized we were not in our Phichit town anymore. 

We of course had a swell time though. We laugh, because our time spent in Bangkok was very Americanized.... we ate a ton of subway, found some Mexican food. And saw two, yes, two movies at the huge mall. Don't judge us, Hunger Games and Titanic in 3D could not wait. We were of course able to fit some culture in there as well. Heading to a floating market for the day! But not before a quick stop at this weird little train/market thing and a verrry nausiating van ride. 

Just one short day of flying from Bangkok, another nausiating van ride and THIS was our view for the next six days. It makes my heart seriously jump just looking at this picture!! I'm just going to say it, I love Phuket, and I wish every day could be spent with a view like this. And I also wish I could have that henna on my foot every day--because if I'm being honest....I loved that henna. And may or may not have been tempted to make it permanent. 

We spent our days like this. Lounging around the beach, meeting new friends, lounging around the beach... eating the most delicious spring roles. Shopping for cute swim suits, meeting new friends, lounging around the beach....swimming in the most glorious water, lathering ourselves every 30 minutes with SPF 50 and still getting fried aaannnd lounging around the beach. It could not have been a better six days. Just what we were looking for.

Our nights were spent a bit moreee..... active? One of our favorite things to do was to go out and dance at a few of the many night clubs that were around the beach. And I'll tell you what, dance we did!! We had a blast dancing with each other and meeting new friends from all over the world! Being offered drinks left and right was always entertaining as we explained to them we don't drink--but would love a bottle of water! Nobody could believe that five girls could be so much fun, and sober! Midway through the week, we met Scottie, Kieran, Dave, Ravi and Viv from Perth Australia, and ended up spending the next few days seeing them on and off. Such a great group of guys, and we still keep in touch with them today! 

Phuket was amazing. We cannot wait to go back! (And you better believe we are!) More than the beach, more than the spring rolls, and more than the dirt cheap swim suits--I think more than anything, we all miss the diversity of the area, and the seriously amazing people we were able to meet, and spend a few brief moments with. And if we're being honest..... we definitely can't wait to be back on that beach either.

Take Me Back.

I know that I have not even blogged about the last half of my Thailand adventures--and I will get to that. But I feel like I need to blog at this moment, about how much I miss it. The last month in Thailand was incredible. Easily one of the best months of my life, but trying at the same time. Summer term had just started, meaning that we got about a bazillion new kids and our class sizes more than doubled. It seemed like we were teaching less, and babysitting more and the days were long. But slowly we started to see progress with the new kids and that was so rewarding! Our last month we got to go on our long vacation to Phuket and that was amazing. Diannas parents got to come visit, and Neil as well. We got to spend one more long weekend in Chiang Mai, and though we weren't crazy about going for a 3rd time--we could not be more grateful we did. It was the perfect ending to a perfect four months. 

There is so much I miss about Thailand. I miss that every day was something just a little bit different. I miss starting off each day the same way--Angee waking up...then Shayla, Marci and then I. We'd eat toast and granola or yogurt. We didn't talk much--none of us were morning people. I miss more than I can even explain the little "Teacha, Teacha!" as we walked into our classrooms and Nest saying with his little fingers pinched close together... "Scoot little bit.." hahaha it only took half the semester to figure out what he was saying! I miss the bike rides and the smoothies, the street markets and spending time with Tang and her family. Swimming at the garden home and flat bike tires. I miss the friendliness of complete strangers and the looks we'd get for being white, ha! I miss trying new things and appreciating the familiar things back home that we'd miss. I miss our roomie talks and dinner time sitting around the table for hours sometimes just laughing and making up crazy scenerios. Napping for hours, all of us on the floor, in front of our only fan. Mostly though, I miss how simple life was. We had the necessities, our kiddos, us teachers and a few Baht...and we were perfectly happy. 

Life according to everybody's Iphones...but mine.

Happy Birthday To Me!! 

Well, I finally did it. I made it two decades and it's about time.
I feel like a completely different person and stuff.... 

No, just kidding. I feel exactly the same. However I do feel like more of a basket case. 

Is there such thing as a 20 year old crisis? 

For my birthday celebration, Katelyn and I decided to get together with a couple of our friends and rough it!
Who better then Spencer and Clay? Spence has been our friend for over six years now so we knew we could count on him to fend off the bears...and build fires and such. Though we froze, soaked our only bread, and got kicked off of our perfect campsite for danger of falling trees...we had a total blast and it was definitely a birthday to remember! 

Katelyn and I have been of course, working on our summer tans. Seeing each other whenever possible. It's difficult between jobs, family and different dates! hahaha wow, do we sound attached yet? 

Fathers day weekend was a blast!
Mom, Dad, Kenz and I headed up to So. Cal for cousin Steve's temple sealing. 

We met up with Christian and cute Ang, as well as a good portion of Dad's side for the Angels game Saturday night! What's better than family, baseball players, and $20 nachos? 

Nothing I tell ya. 

Life Changes--Really fast.

Remember how last time I blogged--I blogged about going to China? Remember how shortly after that I decided not to go? Remember how shortly after that I decided to move up to Salt lake? Remembbber how just two days after coming home from Salt Lake apartment searching, I was offered a scholarship to Dixie State? Oh yeah, me too.

MY MIND IS A TERRIBLE PLACE TO BE RIGHT NOW. 

Now, this post is not going to tell you all the ins-and outs of my decisions to not go to China, to move up to Salt Lake, and now to possibly stay here. Because the truth is that I couldn't even tell you. One thing feels wrong, and the other feels right. Then once you think you've got it all figured out. Life changes again--and really fast. And you are forced to make a decision, and sometimes it's really hard. And sometimes you just want the heavens to open up and somebody to step out from the clouds and tell you exactly what you are supposed to be doing. But after realizing that that, is most definitely not going to happen. You end up on your knees, or asking your dad for a blessing. And then you just kind of realize; whatever you choose, you have to choose for yourself. Nobody else, and that whatever you choose, if you are honestly seeking to make the right choice--will be the right one for you.

It's taken a lot of time, and I am definitely still not there yet. But I think I'm slowly learning for myself that Heavenly Father has a much bigger plan in store for our lives than we do. It's so hard though ya know? Aligning our plans with his. Sometimes it feels like a bit of a tug-of-war but then I realize life would be a little bit easier if I just loosen the grip and let him direct me. And why not choose easy, ya know?