Last Hoorah

   Last Monday I started the end of my summer by flying into Long Beach to visit my roommate Rachel in Lakewood.  It was great to see her and my other two roommates, who flew in from Alaska, again.  My vacation started on Monday when I left home at 7 A.M. to catch a flight into Long Beach.  I had never flown by myself before so I was a little nervous.  The guy I sat next to on the plane was nice enough but we had exhausted all small-talk before we even reached the runway.  In the middle of the flight though he started to ask me what my friends and I would be doing for fun, and if we were going to go clubbing.  I told him that we don't drink or do drugs.  To this he replied, "that's smart, because you'll wake up the next morning remembering what you did the night before.  If I was younger I would probably know where the hot L.A. clubs are but now that I'm older I've stopped my wild ways."  After an awkward silence I said that my friends and I were maybe going to do a bonfire on the beach.  He smiled and asked me if I had seen Hangover 2, which I hadn't, and then told me the premise of it.  Apparently the premise is about these men who wake up one morning and can't remember what they did last night even though they hadn't had a drop of alcohol.  I guess then they realize that someone had put weed or pot or something in the marshmallows used for the s'mores.  So the nice 60 year old man next to me on the plane advises me, "if there are boys going with you girls, don't eat their marshmallows."  I was about dying of laughter inside because I didn't think we would have that problem.  After that conversation I was thankful that we were landing so I didn't have to make awkward small-talk with strangers.

   After I landed Rachel, Tess, and Cara picked my up and took my stuff to Rachel's house.  We drove to the mall and then spent most of Monday at Seal Beach with us four where....wait for it..... I didn't get sunburned.  That night we watched a movie called Arthur.  Wasn't my favorite movie but it was kinda funny.  I don't think my family would like it though because it's about a 30 something old who still has a nanny.

   On Tuesday we woke up and went kayaking at Huntington Harbor with Rachel's brother, Matthew.  I must say it was a fun place to go kayaking for your first time.  I was afraid I would tip over but I didn't, which was good.  That night Rachel, Tess, Cara, and I drove to Anaheim to watch the fireworks at Downtown Disney.  Driving home at 11 o'clock at night we heard a loud bang or pop sound and it sounded like something had just hit our car.  I thought my door had become opened somehow and then felt myself start to sink a little bit.  I told Rachel I thought she had a flat tire so we pulled over, and sure enough the tire on my side was totally flat.  I was a little worried that we had a flat on an L.A. freeway at 11 P.M. but thankfully Rachel's dad and brother came to change the tire for us.

   On Wednesday we waited for the car to get a new tire and then us four girls and Matthew headed to Huntington Beach for the afternoon.  At Seal Beach I hadn't gotten in the water because I didn't want to get wet but on Wednesday I gave in and plunged into the cold ocean.  I swallowed a ton of salt water but it was worth it to be in the water.  Mom will also be glad to know that I didn't get sunburned on that day either.  After we got back from the beach we ate dinner and watched Sidney White.  It's an Amanda Bynes movie that I had never heard of but again I thought I was pretty funny.  I don't think my family would like this movie though either because, well, it has Amanda Bynes in it.  After the movie we retired to bed because we had to get up really early the next morning.

   Thursday morning we woke up at 3:30 A.M. and got on the road at 4:02 to drive back to Provo.  We surprisingly fit Rachel's bag, Matthews bag, Rachel's moms bag, Tess' bag, and my bag in the car.  Cara's we had to strap to the top of the car.  We drove to St. George where we took a break to visit Rachel's cousins.  Her cousin Paul was attacked by two lions on his mission a couple months ago and it was the first time Rachel had seen him since he got back.  He had to have his left arm amputated right above the elbow but he was in really good spirits.  It's amazing how trials come into our lives but how the Lord gives us strength to carry on and not let those trials keep us from living life.

   After leaving her cousins house we ate lunch at Costco, where Cara and Tess had their first polygamist siting, and then got back in the car and drove for another 4 hours.  In the car we watched Kung Fu Panda and Holes.  Even though we were distracted from the long car ride it was nice to come into Utah valley and see the Y on the mountain.  That night Cara, Cara's brother, Tess, and I went over to Cara and David's aunts house for dinner.  After David let us come see the new Heritage dorms.  Man those dorms are huge, they make my dorm from last year look like a dump.  My apartment this year looks like a shack compared to it, but regardless we moved stuff in to our apartment and did a lot of deep cleaning that night.

   It's nice to be out of the dorms but at the same time I miss it.  Last night our friend Tricia came to visit us and there was an awesome lightning storm outside so we decided to take a drive above the temple to watch it.  When we were driving past Helaman Halls, we wanted to walk through our old hall and then go say hi to our friend Chris who is an R.A. in a different building.  It was weird walking past my old room because it feels like it had only been like two weeks since I had been there.

   Well this has been a very long post and I'd be surprised if you even read down this far.  But I'll close this post now but saying Happy Sunday and I hope the semester starts well tomorrow.