Ryan's Summer

Its been a while since I posted, I've been quite busy with work and school and such. Over the summer, I went to EFY in Provo, Utah for the first session. It was such a cool experience, I met lots of awesome people and a bunch of cute girls too. The guys in my group started a competition to see who could get the most girls numbers throughout the course of the week. I got 5 within the first 2 days! Pretty impressive, I know. At the end of the second day I scored a college girls number, after that I stopped trying. I wanted to end on a high note and not risk getting shut down! Overall it was a great experience and I wish I could go back next year.

 After getting back from EFY, our priest quorum went to the Grand Canyon to hike Havasupai. We drove to the trail head and arrived around 9 pm. We slept in the parking lot on our mats under the stars just 30 feet away from the edge of the canyon. Waking up early in the morning, we hiked to
the bottom of the canyon before the heat of the day hit us. As soon as we got to camp, we dropped off our packs, changed into our swimsuits and  headed over to the waterfall. The water was freezing cold, the color was a gorgeous blue and the heat was over 100 degrees! The surrounding landscape was dry as a bone, yet the area right by the waterfall was an oasis of shrubbery and greenery. There were picnic tables set up all around the base of the waterfall, and while some friends slept on the table, I slept on a little walkway that wrapped around the waterfall. It was only about 3 feet wide, had I rolled to the side at all I would be soaked and a bit unhappy. Overall it was a great experience! I cant wait to visit again.

Jamaica me rested and relaxed!

Jamaica in July has become somewhat a tradition for Mike and Trish.  We really like it there.  We enjoy the all-inclusive resorts and the wonderfully friendly people we meet.  For the past many years we have been going to resorts in the SuperClubs family.  However, they keep selling them and we have had to move around a bit.  This year we tried a Couples resort.  We spent a week at Couples Sans Souci in Ocho Rios and had one of our best trips yet. 

Couples Sans Souci is built on a steep incline, so the views are gorgeous.  The resort is very keen on customer service (something that we have been missing in recent years), the food was wonderful and we were spoiled and pampered all week.  One of the biggest draws for us each year is the scuba diving which is included in the price of the trip.  The diving in Jamaica isn’t the best we’ve experienced, but it’s not bad.  There are always surprises and you never know what you might see.   The dive crew here was excellent!  For the last few years, the crew has had each diver carry out and bring back their own equipment to the boat, including the women.  Not a problem.  But these guys said “Not the ladies!” and they took Trish's equipment out and back for her.  She just grabbed extra fins and weight belts so she wasn’t empty handed.  They were fun and showed us a good time. 

We always seem to meet interesting people on these trips.  We made some great friends from Scotland on this trip.  They are about our age.  She was in the cast of “Lord of the Dance” and now runs a school for Irish Dancing and also judges competitions.  He dove with us, and we swear is James Bond in disguise!  They come to Couples Sans Souci every year for a month at a time.  This was their 13^th trip.  That speaks pretty well for this place. 

We don’t know what next summer will bring, but are hoping to return soon!  They are starting to refer to us as “JAmericans.”  That’s OK by us. 

 

 

 

 

 

Disneyland 2013

For those of you who think that I go to Disneyland every other week, most of you will be surprised to know that I just got back from my first trip in 2013. It's been 8 months since  I was last there, and it was a much needed trip!

A year ago, right before we all left for our first year of college me and some friends from high school decided we needed a trip to Disneyland to say our goodbyes and celebrate our completion of Senior year. This year we used the excuse that it was a celebration of finishing our first year away. Even though we are all legal "adults", we're all children at heart. Every year we each pick a character, and emulate them in some way. Last year we used "Disney Bound" as our inspiration. Disney Bound is a fairly popular blog that a lady has created. She takes everyday clothes, and styles them to a character. I was Tinker Bell. :) This year, thanks to Pinterest, we had the idea to make tulle tutu's that represented our character. I chose to be Minnie Mouse. I had a red tulle tutu, with black accents.

This trip was definitely in the top 3 greatest Disney trips ever. For example, we were in the park for less than a minute, when we see Mickey Mouse running to greet us. He didn't have a handler or anything! I think he saw our tutu's and thought "Oh those poor girls...." haha. But we all got our Mickey hugs and kisses, and he took a picture with us too. :) That just set the tone for the rest of the day.

The crowds were small, the weather was perfect, and somehow, the longest line we waited in was only 30 minutes long. At the end of the day, we decided we really wanted to see World of Color. I had never seen it, and my friends were appalled at me. So we got our tickets, and decided to ride Indiana Jones one more time before we booked it to California Adventure for the show. After we got off the ride, we were climbing up the stairs trying to beat the crowds, when I tripped and fell UP the stair case..... I'm talented I know. I didn't notice anything at the time, and just kept going, because we wanted front row seats. But as soon as we got to our spots (Front and center!) I noticed my foot was hurting a lot. I couldn't put any pressure on it, without wanting to cry. I thought my feet were just tired from the long day. But my friends insisted on going to the Disney nurses, just to be sure. She couldn't really do anything for me, except give me Tylenol, an ice pack, and a Minnie Mouse sticker.

It was a perfect Disney day. I wouldn't have changed a thing about it. It sounds silly, but no matter how old I get, I will always love Disneyland and all its magic. Like Walt Disney always said, "Growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional."

Mickey loves us! :)

Pre- Injury

Oh my tulle.... (Minnie Mouse, Cruella DeVille, Merida, Aurora)