lasts + stuff

As my year and a half mission approaches

I am experiencing a lot of lasts.

Last trip to Granny Annie's with my grandparents

Last temple trip with the cousins

last dance comp

last hugs goodbye

last time going to the movies

last time chewing gum

last time wearing big earrings

BUT I AM ALSO DOING A LOT OF FUN LASTS

Last Family Vacay

Last Harry Potter Marathon 

Last talk in church

....For 18 Months,













I'm not dying yet people

So I'm gonna talk about the fun ones.

First of all, I know I'm not the only one that thinks in a British accent after watching Harry Potter.

If you don't admit to that your one of two things

Lying

and/or

boring

Its Levioosa Not Leviosaa. 

Also, I'm having to restrain myself because when you watch a Harry Potter a day for a week,

you start to pick up some bad habits. 

Bloody Hell is not an uncommon statement in the Saunders home rn

We started keeping track and Ron says Bloody Hell like... 74 times in the Goblet Of Fire

Also, my dad tried to use an imaginary wand to turn my little dog into a hunting dog last night. 

...and he told my visiting friends from college that we are a family of wizards dead straight up

God Bless Harry Potter + Marathons Of This Kind

and Ron bc who doesn't love a classic Bloody Hell statement from him? 

Just watched a youtube video and died laughing

18 times 

he says it 18 times 

never gets old

also: we went to dinner about forty five minutes away from home and played

"let's think of a word from Harry Potter for each letter in the alphabet"

<3

Last VAY CAY

now to be perfectly accurate with the time sequence of things

The vay cay was before the marathon we are currently having

I was just really excited to talk about HP 

now I'm gonna talk about the do's and don'ts of Hawaii

Hawaii do's: 

do go scuba diving in Maui at Molokini

it's a deceased and eroding volcano of old

half sunken

super sick

I swam with a shark, it was smaller than the one in Cozumel

but boy oh boy

I was way closer to this one

I hovered about two feet above it watching it dive between coral 

attacking smaller sea creatures

One of my favorite things about the two double tank dives we did in Maui

was the fact that it is whale season.

We could hear the whales under water making almost constant noise

singing to each other

we saw them on the boat

coming up for air and even some coming up to give birth, true story

but sixty five feet below we could hear them which was just as cool

picture the way Dory whale talks in Finding Nemo

it's strangely accurate to the real thing.

It was beautiful.

The Cathedral

Another Hawaii Do: forget that you didn't actually go to Hawaii and call it that

even though you went to Maui which is just as awesome

Maui do: Eat Pineapple and Hula Pie and Drink A Pina Colada BC you like

Pina Coladas and getting caught in the rain. 

Do: Sit on the beach and relax

Do: Nothing

Do: Read a novel in two days

Do: Jump in waves three times as tall as you

Do: Eat amazing seafood 

Do: Go see the oldest chapel west of Salt Lake, pose in your new mission dress, and get

a selfie with one of the local members.

no filter and look at that water
 *sigh

Do: Let your brother steal Aloe Vera from a house that you thought was the missionaries

but as it turns out it most likely wasn't..

but he's stealing random peoples plant for his bug bites so it's okay.













Do: Drive most of the Road To Hana and fricken' loose your mind on the way home

(UNLESS YOU GET CAR SICK EASILY STAY AWAY I REPEAT STAY AWAY)

it was like this the whole three hours
zig zag grab a puke bag
but still enjoy the scenic beauty

named one of the most beautiful roads in the world

Do: hang out with your aunts awesome bud from college because he is probably gonna give you

a pineapple and a gift card to get the most amazing shaved ice you will ever have in your life

THANK YOU JOHN AND AUNT KIM

Do: Sleep outside on the padded deck chair 8 stories high every night. It was so warm and peaceful. 

Plus, who else can say they woke up and saw a volcano every morning in Hawaii

and heard the birds sing words and the flowers croon? 

Can you even blame us?

This View

Do: Completely nerd out because you love geology and you are

standing in a lava tube nextto a black sand beach made of volcanic rock.

Also steal a bunch of flat stones for massage therapy.

























Do: Go so hard all day you fall asleep two different nights

at two different restaurants


























Do: Find out the day before you came that your uncle

 unbeknownst to your whole family

is going to be in Maui at the same time as you for business, just down the beach.

Do: Meet Mark Eaton former NBA Utah Jazz player

He is literally twice as tall as me

Do: build sand creatures because castles are overrated


































Do: become a famous photographer

even though you don't know how to work your camera.

It's that easy in Hawaii because the beauty makes up for

what you lack which when it comes to camera skills, is everything.

(me, not you mom)



































Do: Get up early the first day, sit on the beach with a book

 and get interrupted by an attractive man that eventually moves

his chair next to you wants your number and is dazzling to look at. 

*mom walks away

*Not Alone Anymore 

Maui Don'ts:

Don't give your number to that boy because three days later you'll get cornered

 by him in your  building and he will be drunk off his rocker

and forget your name,

therefore cussing and expressing to himself

how mad he is that he forgot your name and try to ask you on a date 

right then and there. 

(Do: Walk away)

Don't drop the key to your rental van perfectly down the

elevator shaft ten minutes before

you're going to be late to a scuba dive tour

Why not? Because you will have to pay

300 to 500 buckaroos to pay for a replacement

not to mention the taxi to take you to your dive regardless,

because you don't want to loose the

money you spent on that too. 

(My dad dropped it and it didn't even bounce or slip in. It fell straight down.)

Don't: get hit by a wave, be sucked down to a sand bar and tear your MCL

because your knee bends and pops the other way agains the ground

resulting in a very uncomfortable MRI

because you have to hold still

which is really difficult for forty minutes

because you have restless leg syndrome

(My mother is cursing the waves, but grateful it wasn't worse. We await news about surgery, stay tuned)

#PrayForLeslie2k16

Don't: Think you are cool just because you keep getting randomly selected to be VIP.









Don't: waste time feeling sad because it's your last day in Hawaii Maui, 

YOHO

you're only in Hawaii once

Don't: Get "Prince Ali" stuck in your head from Aladdin because your hotel's name is Alii

but if you do, sing it loud and proud because that movie is bomb

DON'T: leave your phone in the airport bathroom after you have already passed

the point of no return as far as airport security goes

to the baggage claim therefore having to risk getting body

slammed by a tiny Hawaiian woman that speaks broken English

but knows how to take a motha out. 

She was not happy when I climbed those stairs. 

"no no no go back you no can come up to this spot. I cannah allow dis. I cannah go to da bathroom"

but I got my phone back, so all is well in Zion. 

Don't: Do an ariel on the beach.

HAAA

JK DO IT

...







Okay I'm Done Talking About Lasts, HP, + Hawaii/Maui








(for now)

Soon I'll have a million firsts to talk about

First day at the MTC

First day in Tallahassee Florida

First Companion

First Area

First Investigator

First Lesson

First Baptism

HERE I COME

............







Make It A Good Day

xoxo

Ryanne/Sister Saunders The Missiona(RY)