Shark Bait

Newport Beach Palmer Family Vacay was fantabulous. It was great. What's not to love about hanging out in a condo in California with the sun and sand for a week?

Seriously it was amazing and sooooo relaxing.

Good thing I didn't leave on my mission this week or I would be so underprepared.... because I was so dang lazy for a week straight...

Some things that happened:

My mom and I went to the Newport Beach temple. So small! But so gorgeous. #qualitytime

I taught my little favorite cousin Colty-poo how to do a fish face.

most adorable kid ever. ugh I just want to snuggle him all the time.

I accidentally stepped on a snail and squished it to smithereens... (imagine Luke Skywalker's reaction when he found out Darth Vader was his father.... that would give you a pretty good idea of how I reacted... sooooo gross)

At the Huntington Street Fair, I saw Jack Sparrow, a possum with a top hat, and a creepy giant stuffed bear. And flirted with the guy at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.

Chocolate and boys. Best combination there is (other than the #9 at wendy's... heheheheh)

We went to Balboa on the pier... which means...

CHEESECAKE ON A STICK.

my one true love.

Also. It's possible my sister in law and I watched lilo and stitch...

twice in a row... (whatever-- it's a good movie and it has elvis songs in it)

while she kicked my butt in phase 10...

Friendly reminder that the Steele family is obsessed with phase 10 and sometimes we stay up until the wee hours of the morning holding phase 10 championships and we play it pretty much every trip to newport

Don't mess with us in the realm of card games because we will kick trash.

Anyway.

I had managed to score some tickets to Jimmy Kimmel about a week ago, priority tickets. I would expect nothing less of me. (excuse me while I high-five myself )

So my padre and I spent the afternoon in LA (thank you rental car red camaro for the experience of a lifetime. no thank you to the crappy LA traffic that gave me a heart attack every five minutes and simultaneously made me want to punch every person I saw).

It was a dang funny show though. The guests were Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel promoting their new movie. It was called Sex Tape.

Awkward on so many levels.

Although...

it definitely wasn't as awkward as your boss asking about your undergarments for your mission.... uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..... w h a t

Nevertheless, we scored bigtime when they gave us fifty dollar gift cards leaving the studio.

I mean... I guess that's the least they can do considering they had us cheer so loud and so often I almost lost my voice... score to the max, missionary stuff here I come

Bless you Jimmy Kimmel and your ability to give away large amounts of money at a time

...living the dream.

It being Friday and all, we decided to check out this beach that Cody and 'Chelle had raved about by Dana Point. It definitely wasn't a bad beach. Not too crowded or anything.

At low tide, you could walk about like a quarter of a mile and be only waist deep. Pretty legit. Thank you to the thirty something waist-deep surfers for providing some entertainment while we were sunbathing.

Back to the story.

There was a part that was pretty rocky so we went out to explore low tide. Thank goodness I wore shoes because I think every step I was trying my hardest to not step on the little hermit crab shells that were chilling on the rocks.

trying... and failing..

We got out to a point and decided to turn around. The water was rocky and knee deep and silly me didn't raise my foot high enough and sliced my toe open from nail to bridge

Thought it was just a scrape. Nope. I only discovered the bloody mass of a toe when I got to where I could step on the rocks and not submerge the dang thing in dirty salty bacteria-ridden ocean water

As we were walking back to shore (pre-toe discovery), my brother turns and says "Look, do you see that? It's a shark"

It was a blobby shadowy mass in the water until I looked closer...

...

...

It was a great white shark

...

nah I'm totally kidding.

It was just a little three-foot long leopard shark which I may have mistakenly called a tiger shark on multiple occasions.

Big difference.

Ahhhh. my shark-week obsessed self is so disappointed.

Here's the thing: I like shark week. but I hate sharks.

As soon as I saw it, I booked it back to shore

"I will not be eaten by sharks today!" I shouted triumphantly as I ran back to the shallows

(note: this didn't actually happen. I was too busy getting the hecka out of there. but it's nice to pretend I was calm and composed...)

Apparently (says the lifeguard who bandaged my nasty-A toe) they are pretty common in the area.

At least.. on that particular beach

Will I ever be swimming there again?

... nope. hard pass.

On Saturday, we got to go whale-watching with our cousins

We didn't see any whales but we saw a lot of happy dolphins (like.. hundreds. I have never seen that many in a pod in my entire life) and some cute seals.

props to xander for yelling "beluga whale" every time he saw a dolphin

youth these days...

So to sum up...

I would never want to live in California but...

I am okay with visiting there every once in a while.

Especially with my family.... #bestfriendsforeternity

 

BFFs in Zion

Let me tell you a little something, first of all. Everyone loves their mother. Well, pretty much everyone anyway. I love my mother to pieces. I honestly consider her to be my best friend. I've gone through a lot of friends, because I've moved so many times, but my mother has always been there for me. And not even in the traditional "I'm here for you because I'm your mother" sense. I would honestly rather spend time with my mother (and my sisters and dad) than just about anybody else. She is my favorite person in the entire world, and I have never been more grateful for anyone (besides my Dad and siblings) in my entire life.

I'm fortunate enough to live in the wonderful Cedar City, where there are a bunch of national parks well within driving range. A favorite here is Zion National Park. Seriously, I think I go basically every weekend during the summer. I love that about Cedar. Because it's the summer months, I've been basically living alone in my fabulous house on the mountainside. Other than working, I haven't really had tons to do. So when I told my Mom that I would probably spend the weekend alone, watching the Office and sleeping, she decided that it would be a great idea to come down and visit! And go hiking, of course! Zion is one of our favorite places in the whole world. We're big fans of anything outdoors. Hiking is a staple in our family during the summer. Also trips to Yellowstone. We're amateur animal stalkers... ha ha ha! No but really. If there's a chance to be outside (and not wear shoes...) I take it.

So she drove down on Friday, and we had a fun time visiting the St. George temple. I love being able to go do a session with my sweet mother. It's one of the most rewarding and spiritual experiences! On Saturday, we got up and drove to Zion! I convinced her to hike one of my favorite hikes, Hidden Canyon. It's a really cool (slightly strenuous hike) that shares a trail with Observation Point for part of the way. It leads back into a slot canyon type environment, with a beautiful natural arch towards the end of the trail. It was SUCH a nice day to be able to hike! The trail wasn't too bad because it was mostly in the shade, so we had a pretty easy time. After we finished the hike, we got lunch in the Zion lodge, and then (slightly sore) we headed back to Cedar to see the Cedar Valley Community Theater (and some friends/old roommates) perform Oklahoma! which was fabulous! I love doing all these summer-y things. Even though I won't be able to have these kind of experiences or trips while I'm on my mission, I will always treasure the memories! And of course, I'll be all the more excited to hike and explore and travel again when I get back. Our next adventure will be in Newport Beach with the rest of the family and some of my amazing cousins! I can't wait!

T-Bird Nation

I recently graduated from Southern Utah University with two bachelors degrees. One was in Special Education, and the other was in Elementary Education. I wanted to make a post honoring SUU and my favorite memories that I made during my time in Cedar City. It seriously has been the absolute best three years of my life down here! 

• During my freshman year, my older sister came down and we hiked Kanarra Falls and Zion National Park and got into all sorts of shenangins
• Lord of the Rings movie nights with my roommates Carly and Kirstin
• Kite flying for family home evening
• Dyeing t-shirts with Tyler and almost getting murdered on a dirt road outside of town
• 6 AM runs with my best friend
• Spring Break 2013 with some of my best friends from the office! Jake, Alex, Jenessa, Jessica, Karin, Lance and Camille! So many memories... like roasting carrots on Huntington Beach, Camille telling ghost stories, and YOLO-ing my phone. Not to mention traipsing around Disneyland, having an awesome time at the Getty museum, and spending time with Anna at her sweet house she let us stay at!
• Driving around with Sadie, Katie and Rebecca during Christmastime and looking at all the lights and drinking chocolate milk and eating donuts
• Christmas with Sadie, Katie and Rebecca and opening awesome gifts (like Barbie: Swan Princess... yes)
• Going to the Sound of Music with my family and having it rain on us during "My Favorite Things"
• Going to Molly's wedding with Jenessa
• Chilling with Tiffany in her room and watching movies on rainy days
• Work barbecues and Jon cooking pancakes for us during the summer
• Star gazing at 2 AM and watching the blood moon
• Soda Run every night with Kirsten and Mack and Brent, and having the "drink crew"
• True t-bird night and the most awkward kiss of my entire life
• Spring break in Vegas with Hil, Courtney and Alex and chasing each other in the lazy river and eating cheesecake and talking late into the night
• Trying to hike Observation Point with Jake, Alex and Chaz and running out of water and having to turn back
• That one day that President Kendall closed campus for half the day, and the office went to hike Kanarra Falls that afternoon instead of working
• Temple trips with Chalae and Loni
• Hiking with my mom and doing Hidden Canyon and seeing Oklahoma
• Casino Night with Alex, Hilary, Kelly, Beau and Jon, and winning it big the first time playing poker (with the help of Jon because I had no idea how to play at all) 
• Molly sneaking out the door and hiding behind the counter and scaring the crap out of Jenessa
• Watching "The Woman in Black" with work people on Friday the 13th and Lindsey screaming every two minutes
• Working on processing an application for Indiana Jones and playing the Indiana Jones theme song while I did it 
• Going to see The Piano Guys with my family and Kirsten
• Making Alex's Krakenslayer birthday cake with Jenessa and Lindsey
• Making Alex's Krakenslayer 2.0 birthday cake with 'Nessa and it being the most epic cake ever
• Watching Jurassic Park at Molly's house with the office!
• Hiking Hidden Canyon with Jake and Alex and getting into shenanigans
• Hiking Zion with the office after spring break and getting twenty feet away from some crazy bighorn sheep!! 
• Hiking Zion with my mom and dad on many occasions
• Freezing my butt off at Cedar Breaks during the block retreat
• Going to Bulgaria with my dad and Emma and driving for hours on end and watching the lightning storm from the hotel and going to the Black Sea in Varna and playing Durak with our Russian friends in the lobby at 2 AM
• Banagrams on the honors retreat and playing poker for the first time by betting animal crackers and Hershey's bars
• Going to Comic Con with Carrie and meeting Karl Urban!!!
• Seeing a sloth at the Vienna Zoo and Emma crying about it (coolest zoo EVER!) 
• Going to Mozart's house in Vienna and seeing that. So cool
• Seeing BNL at the Usana amphitheater
• Meeting BNL with Carrie in Vegas and getting pictures with them and a signed poster and then going to their awesome concert with Blues traveler!
• Mom and me and Carrie and Cassidy's Yellowstone girls' trip and seeing wolves! 
• Getting to go to Austria, Slovakia, and Bulgaria for model rocketry stuff and having a blast getting into trouble with the foreign boys (just kidding!) 
• Sheep herding with Jake on a rainy day in our pseudo-quad up Brian Head
• Cooking out on Jake's property up Brian Head and making s'mores and tin foil dinners and looking at the stars 
• Basically every night during the summer of 2013 when we hung out at Jenessa and Camille's and played Bang! and a bajillion card games and when I accidentally kicked the door open so hard that the knob went through the wall and I cried because I felt super guilty about it
• Voxer adventures, especially on our California trip
• Our sweet code names (I'm Unicorn Assassin) that we used for Voxer and other various shenanigans 
• Jake constantly teasing me about Slenderman and hiding pictures of Slenderman in the scanning piles and in various places throughout the office
• Late night talks with Kirsten and always going to the basketball games with her
• All those times I was super gullible... like Beau telling me he was from Canada, and Zach and Shaun lying and telling me that "stereo" in Spanish was "stereo-o"
• Hiking all the way out to Angel's landing for the first time with Marina, Erik, Eric, Dayna and Becca
• Picking and painting pumpkins with Katie and Sadie and Rebecca and putting them on our porch!
• Picking pumpkins with Kirst and Caitlin and Mack and Jocelyn
• Our two trips to see Thriller with the office and eating at Olive Garden! 
• Staying up until 4 AM playing Bioshock with Jake
• Being three hours late to the bonfire at Amy's because Jake had to go Parowan to get 10-inch skewers and laughing so hard about it forever
• Kicking the ball around on the upper quad with Caitlin and Marina during the block
• Driving to St George just to go to Olive Garden with Alex, Hil, Kelly and Fry
• Sherlock nights at my house on Friday nights! And also movie nights
• Roasting marshmallows on my open gas stove with Jake and Karin and Jenessa and Alex
• Fire pit at my house when Alex, Jake and Camille and Nessa came up and stayed with me for Annlie's farewell
• Ugly sweater parties with Kirsten and Amberli
• Getting to sing in church with Courtney!
• Ice skating with Nicole and Kirsten! 
• That one time Caitlin found a spider in her room and Brad would NOT come over to kill it, no matter how much I begged him. Seth killed it later, thank goodness
• Going to Alex's farm and holding a baby sheep with Nicole and having Bishop make my s'more for me
• Seeing The Hobbit with Taylor and having it seriously start an hour late.. or we were there an hour early.. I'm not sure ha ha
• Waiting for half an hour with Jake in the bookstore for this crazy lady to blow up our balloons
• The Superbowl party at Jon's and being the only one who cheered for the Broncos... sadly.... 
• Crepe night at Kim's and playing om the street in the rain with everyone even though it was freezing and like 10 o'clock at night
• Graduating from SUU.... and getting to walk with some of my very best friends in the whole world
• Finishing student teaching and having some of the best and cutest kids in the world! And flying rockets with my sweet fourth graders! 
• Getting my mission call to Mexico! And finding out my friend Max is going to Mexico too, and that we go to the MTC on the same day! 

SUU changed my life. I met some of the most wonderful people there. I had some of the best experiences I have ever had in my entire life. I have had some of the best wards and lived in the best houses, and I had the best job ever. I would never trade my memories in Cedar for anything.

Go T-Birds!