SUMMER RE-CAP

Alright, this is going to be extensive. Summer has been jam-packed. Let's start at the beginning. While I was completing an art class at SUU, Nicholi was up in Salt Lake City taking his EMT class. He stayed the majority of his time at the Clive's cabin, in Brickerhaven, which is up by Sundance and roughly 45 minutes to SLC. So he did a lot of driving this summer, and lived out a suitcase for most of it, but better to be up there only 45 minutes from his class than making a 3 3/4 hour commute from Cedar City to SLC. I  wish we lived closer to Salt Lake, it really is a cool city. Reminds me of Portland because of the size, neighborhood styles, and the overall scene is fairly liberal compared to the rest of the state. I hope we get to spend a lot more time up there.

At the pool with Grandma TT and cousins!

Touch football in the front yard

Anyway, it was pretty boring being in Cedar City for my month long class, mostly because I don't know anyone here, so I spent quite a bit of time down in St. George with Nicholi's family. We did a lot of swimming at the club, saw a few movies, road some go-carts (where I found out Sara, Nicholi's 15 year old sister, plays incredibly dirty, she ran me off the track twice). We also hiked Angel's Landing at Zion's National Park, which was ridiculous. It was blazing hot, so steep but worth it once we reached the top. I don't know if I would do it again tho, maybe if I was in better shape and hiked it when it was cooler out. Still it was a great experience. We also had a fun bbq for the 4th of July in St. Geezy and watched some fireworks from up on the bluff. We saw the musical Aladdin at the Tuacahn Theatre, which is this amazing outdoor theatre where the red rock mountains are the backdrop. Seriously impressive, and the show wasn't half bad either ha. Other than that, we just hung around with whatever cousins were visiting at the time. I spent some time with Sara's two friends from Bemidji who came to visit her after moving, as well as Sara's best friend from Turlock who came out to visit. Thanks to all those 15 year old girls, I am now hooked on the show Pretty Little Liars. Pretty sad right? I need to find some friends my own age lol.

Angle's Landing

At the top!

The group, Fisher, Sara, me, Katelyn and Brian.

 So after my summer class ended I headed up to the cabin to spend time with Nicholi which was really nice. I'd never been to his cousin's cabin before but it is a sweet place. Although, night one I got bit by some radio-active spider 6 times on my right leg. If you know me well (or if you've read previous posts) then you know that I get ridiculous allergic reactions to mosquito bites, let alone spider bites. So my leg was twice it's normal size for a few days, throbbing with pain, and took about 2 weeks to completely heal. Now I have some great scares, thanks spider.  I have pictures but they are sickening so I'll refrain from posting lol. Other than that event, the cabin included trout fishing, hiking, billiards, projector movie nights, smores, visiting cousins, and more. My first trip up was cut short due to a job interview at a historic theatre that has been restored into a cool dollar theatre. I was back in Cedar for a week and it might have been worth my while, had I gotten the job, or even heard back from them at all. Oh well.

waterfall near the cabin and a beaver dam

short hike to the falls from the cabin

 

I had another job interview last Wednesday, at a local salon, the position being their merchandise manager, but I did not snag it. The position was full time and I couldn't work it with my school schedule. The managers really liked me however & told me once I get my UT license, to give them a call. So kind of positive. But still jobless :( The soonest I get my Utah cosmo license will be a couple months still. Also, we are not getting as many school loans as we anticipated, so looks like we will both have to work during the semester, otherwise we will barely scrape by. Nicholi has been applying for jobs around town too so wish him luck also. He finished his EMT class and takes his certification test in september, then maybe he'll be able to get a job as an EMT in Cedar.

Inside the Clive's awesome cabin

pool

foozball

snow shoeing

Waterfall that we hiked to up close.

There are deer everywhere.

I went back up to the cabin after not getting the job for another week, after which, we drove to Santa Cruz from Salt Lake for my family's beach trip! We did the usual beach bumming, boardwalking type stuff. We hung out with our best friend's Leith & Ruben, and my other bestie, Bri, who recently moved to Oakland and met us there! So fun to see them all. Also, Leith and Ruben got engaged that week, so a congratulations is in order! They are amazing and I'm so thrilled for them! Leith you deserve every ounce of that ring & all the happiness in the world!

Nicholi taking Ty & Bryan down.

Kloey, too interested in her banana to take a decent picture.

Patrick,  Kloey, Cyndee, Dad, me, Nicholi, Miguel, Janette, Bryan, and Ty on a family train ride.

Ruben, Nicholi, me Bri and Leith at Saturn Cafe.

On our way to redwoods.

Kloey with papa and grandma Cyndee at the beach.

Patrick flying Bryan's Kite.

Antie, kloey & mommy.

newly engaged couple!

cause we're the three best friends, that anyone could have!

After the beach week, we then drove back to the cabin for what was Nicholi's last week and a half of class. During that time we hung out with Nicholi's friend Adam from class, a few old friends Nicholi made when he lived in Utah a few years ago and ran into a best friend from Turlock, who moved to Provo a little while ago. Jared explained that he was driving to Turlock at the end of the week to meet up with his family for their own little summer trip in Lake Tahoe. I said to him, "man i'm jealous, my sister is having her baby next week & I tried to get out there for it but we just couldn't afford the flight." To which he replied, "wanna ride with me?" DUH! Ha, it was seriously so perfect. I didn't have anything going on, still didn't have a job and really wanted to be there for the birth of my new niece (or nephew, at the time, we didn't know). I still can't believe how well that worked out.

gorgeous Lake Tahoe

So at the end of the week we drove to Turlock and I spent a very fun and relaxed week at my parents house. One of the days was spent with my step-mom Cyndee, driving all around town, taking pictures of special places in Turlock, that are either historical to some degree or were just part of my childhood. I've been wanting to do this for so long now, I'm so glad we finally did it. And it was so much fun! Another day was spent in Sonora with my sister and her new daughter, Kylee. We didn't know until that morning it was a girl, which we were all secretly hoping for, ha. She was born on Aug. 14th at 7:51 am, weighted 8 lbs, 7 oz and was 21 inches long and is absolutely precious. Another day was spent watching the dress rehearsal of my brother Patrick's last TYPA play, Sweeny Todd. It was really well done. I only saw the dress rehearsal because I had to leave before opening night, but at least I was able to see it!

Yay for pink girly presents!

my sister and new little niece

sweet little kylee

I left Turlock on Friday the 17th. I took Amtrak from to Stockton, then a bus from there to Sacramento, then another bus from Sac to Lake Tahoe. It was an adventure for sure. Jared picked me up from the bus station and we had dinner with his family that night & walked around the beach a little. It was nice being in Tahoe again, especially in the summer. It made me really miss it. The next morning we left at 4am back to Salt Lake to make it in time for Nicholi's cousin Jordan Clive's wedding. I arrived in time to change inside the visitor center bathroom, out of my nasty road trip clothes into some nicer wedding clothes. Saw their grand exit as husband and wife, was able to be there for some pictures, then went back to the hotel to become more human. Showered, put on some some make up, put on the actual dress I had planned to wear to that event, and gulped down an energy drink so I could stay awake for the night. All the family and a few close friends were invited to a special luncheon at The Lion House, a real classy establishment. The luncheon was really fun and was followed late that evening by a big reception. Also, tons of fun. Congrats Jordan and Fan, you guys will be awesome together.

I have the cutest in-laws!

Ludlow ladies

Ludlow gents

the beautiful bride and groom

smokin' hot sisters

husbandddd

love these girls

Now it's the last week of summer, school starts Monday, so time to wrap up summer. Before that tho, we hosted Fan's family at our house for one night. Fan's parents Chu Fang and Huang Wie, uncle Jiu Jui and cousin JiJi came from China for the wedding. They are all super sweet and are really enjoying the U.S. When they arrived Nicholi and I thought we would treat them to a real American delicacy for lunch: Little Caesar's Pizza and root beer. Only Jiji, who is 28 and lived in London for a few years had ever had pizza before. The parents had never seen it and none of them had tried root beer. They devoured it! We even taught them to dip their pizza crust in ranch lol! It was really fun. We then took them on a tour of SUU, on the hike up Kanarra Canyon, and then drove them to Cedar Breaks National Monument, which is an INCREDIBLE overlook of rocky spires at 10,000 feet. They had such a blast! They're reaction to everything vast and beautiful was priceless. They laughed and kept saying to us "Ni tai hao le" which means "You are too awesome!" in Chinese ha. We then bought groceries for them to make us Chinese pork dumplings for dinner. Oh man were those dumplings delicious! We also had some fried peppers with ham and were completely stuffed by the end. We  played Michael Jackson's greatest hits during dinner because he is their favourite ha.

Cedar Break National Monument! IT'S CRAY CRAY!

Me, Nicholi, JiJi & JiuJiu at Kanara Canyon

JiuJiu and Nicholi go down the natural moss water slide!

Jiujiu, Jiji, Chu Fang, & Huang Wie inside the canyon!

Learning how to make dumplings!

The following day was Nicholi's and my orientation to SUU. Even though we are transfer students and have even taking summer classes, it was required of us to go. But it was fun and informative and got me excited about going to a new school. Classes start on Monday and are as follows:

Intro to Photography
Drawing II
2-D Design
Art History Survey I
Southern Utah Flora
Art Insights
Intro to Experiential Education
Information Literacy

The last three classes listed are only one day a week and worth one credit. They are all requirements of SUU to graduate. And I'm able to test out of one of them so that will be nice to free up my schedule a little bit. And the Southern Utah Flora class is a field trip class where once a week we go to a different outdoorsey spot and record plant life and such. It's my last science requirement so what better way to fill it then pick flowers in the desert? Ha! Anyway, I'm really looking forward to my schedule this year. Finally diving into my major and will meet great people with similar interests as me. I'm also a little nervous about this load of 17.5 credits while working part time. But I haven't gotten a job yet so I'll let you know what happens as it happens, that's all for now!