Comin' Home

IM COMIN' HOME

Comin' Home

Tell The World That I'm Comin'..

HOME 

It's no surprise

It has taken me so long to get to this last week of lasts

last time eating at the pub

last time scooping ice cream for a tourist that doesn't deserve it

last time skinny dipping in the ocean

(jk)

(only not jk)

last time at South Beach

last time eating the greatest ice cream in the world

last time sleeping on literally two pieces of cloth

last time possibly on Martha's Vineyard

Sad?

It will be someday probably very soon.

but that day where last of lasts came to an end

last time (probably) riding a taxi to get to the ferry to get to the bus to get to the plane to get to the other plane to get 

HOME

It. Was. Not. Sad.

Thankful I am, for this summer, and never forget will I, the adventure, the growth, the happiness, the memories, the food, the humidity, the ocean, the rain, the lighthouses, or the people.

But there is truth in a simple statement from my Nanny's (grandma's) favorite movie

It Goes Like This

there's 

no

place

like

home

So without further-a-do

My last week, and then some, on the island known as 

Martha's Vineyard

and my journey happenings to Utah 

also known as

home

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We tried out a delicious place for breakfast called

Among The Flowers Cafe

We literally had to go back three more times that last week

Interesting story time

I.....

Wait for iiiiiiiitttt........

went. on. a. date.

That's right ladies and gentlemen. I found time to go on a legit date.

Remember the boy who casually got my number?

Well on a rainy Tuesday

the last Tuesday I was there

Pouring Rain and all

we drove to a beach

then drove to the unveiling and relighting of the

Gay Head Lighthouse 

He didn't plan that..

lucky guy

we get there and there is tons of people and cops

he asked a cop what the actual was going on

cop said,

"After the relocation of the lighthouse and during, it has not been lit. 

This is the first time it will light again, in a long time"

so naturally we parked and this handsome boy said

"I totally planned this"

He didn't.

lucky guy

why is he lucky? 

because when does winging a date actually turn out this great?

advice to boys all around: this is not real life. If you like her, plan a date.  Like actually think about it before you pick her up.. ;)

Huge historical event for MV and he happens to bring me there

not to mention the undeniably romantic situation

sunset: check

rain: check

lighthouse: check

beach: check

Tonz of humans were honking and cheering as they lit the lighthouse that stormy night

muah. 

;)

Then we went to this cute little bakery called orange peel bakery, it's this hole in the wall of someone's house in the middle of the woods where you let yourself in and leave the money in a jar.

And grab whatever you want. On your honor. 

#raspberrypie

Needless to say it was fun. I won't ever see him again, but it was a good day indeed. 

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Miki Chancey and I made it back to Menemsha the little fishing town, I got some souvenirs and we took a dip in the ocean

We did not get a live lobster this time

OKAY

super excited to talk about the last Saturday on the Vineyard

My cousin Braden son of Rob brother of Ryan father of me

visited me with his adorable wife and her adorable family

Fun fact about my cousin's wife and her family, they are family.

Some of the best people I know and they trusted me to be their tour guide the whole day!!!!!

We got some serious stuff done

 I took them to the gingerbread houses, jaws bridge where we all jumped, south beach,

s/o to Braden who is just as much of a water lover as I and gave me mission advice in the ocean.

We also ate at The Pub and got some Ice Cream ending it all on the dock by my apartment house. 

I am so excited for this semester of school at SUU only forty minutes away from Dixie where they will be if I ever need help with math (Hales is a genius, Braden married a math whizz) or if I need spiritual advice from Braden (Hales married a spiritual giant) or just to be with good company.

Sunday I was able to go to church for the last time and it was really sad to say goodbye to those amazing branch members.

especially the sister missionaries 

Sister Gropp and Sister Jones will forever be some of my favorite humans on this Earth

I almost forgot.. a couple of nights before we went night swimming and it was pretty cool. 
the movement of our arms made bubbles, and a weird phenomena happened where the bubbles looked like they were glowing.
I am going to google this right now.

...

I couldn't find anything  about it, but I swear it was legit.

That monday, it was finally time. 

All packed and rearin' to go, we realized some things that day.

We were not sad

why?

we were plenty sad leaving Utah

Island and ocean and other stuff that's cool about MV>>>>>Rocks in Utah

Right?

Momas<<<<<<My actual mom

That's the key.

Home is where the heart is and my heart never left Utah and the people I love there.

So we began our journey.

"How does it feel to be going home?"

Got off the ferry and something terrible happened

Now on the mainland, I realized I did not have my tote carry-on bag

My carry-on bag had in it

My laptop

snacks

and worst of all

My family's souvenirs.


And. It. Was. Gone.

Chancey rushed up the ramp to check where we sat on the ferry

nothing

I asked the lady at the ticket window to call the island and see if I left it on the ground there

nothing 

but we had a bus to catch and if we didn't catch it we would miss our flight

chancey found the bus as I was getting the number of the lady in case she found anything

Chancey left her suitcase with the busdriver to come get us

I was about in tears

we went to the bus and the bus driver yelled at us and told us if we leave luggage again he will cal the cops because apparently that's a huge deal
I have never been yelled at by anyone who isn't my family like that
"AM I CLEAR?????"
he yelled
"Crystal"
I shouldn't have said it out loud. 
Especially in the manner that I did..

Got on the bus

got a call

My bag was on the island


But I know people, being a member of the Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

and the sweet sister missionaries happened to be a two minute walk away from the steamship station and they picked it up without a fuss. 

So thankful for my friends in high places

get it?;)

Then we got on a plane,

 got on another plane, and next thing I know

I see my family and Miki and Chancey's families
and everything is happy.


Saul, Seth, Rachel, Mom, Dad, hugs all around. 
I was in heaven

Goodbye Martha's Vineyard
 I have loved every day of this summer
2k15
it truly was a fairytale


(minus the carpal tunnel)
 


I also have to mention a few huge things that I haven't.


PAUL CARDALL GAVE ME A SHOUT OUT ON HIS FACEBOOK
LIKE WHAT IS LIFE ANYWAY???
He gave my blog a shout out.
Me.
Little ole me.
I kind of lost it. My cool that is.
I freaked out.

Also as I got home to my actual home in Utah

I realized how much I took little things for granted before I left

My bed

Carpet

Fast Food

Chain Restaurants

(MV only has one  Dairy Queen soo.. no McD's)



My bed

food readily available


My bed

High Heels


a stove

Dressy Clothes


Jewelry


and lastly


My bed. 

as I was soaking in the glory of it all my mom began to sneakily record me while I was cuddling up to my bed and talking about how much I missed my room
I heard a noise
a knock
in my closet?

Saul?
and
I opened it to find

Shaylyn

Remember my mexi bestie on a mission?

She called me while I was on the island when she got home a bout a month ago, and I was dying to just see her

There she was a month later
total Princess Diaries 2 moment
in my closet

Shay
in the flesh

I was stunned and so happy

I have missed her more than I can tell

We talked for awhile and she left

(-(-(-(-(-(-(-)-)-)-)-)-)-)

Lindsey came over soon after and it was craziness all over again


Reunited with so many people I have missed so much



#joyoverload


Mission Prep at it's finest

despite my lack of pants I couldn't wait for Lindsey to walk to my door

I ran outside at one a.m. and jumped on her

we were both going a little bit ballistic 

the whole neighborhood got a wake up call

Lindsey Jean Rendon

I missed you 

The next day I went to the temple.

How I have missed the temple. I cannot even begin to explain, I will never take it for granted again. 

That night was girls night for The Pride
(The Lion kind;)

Reunited with Walli, Mass, and Linds. <3 
That night was one for the books
remember when we beat each other up? 
lolz
:)

The next day I went boating with the fam,

 and Walli came to say goodbye.

hellogoodbye..

What..

already?

why?

bc college was waiting for me the very next day

Hellogoodbye 

It was time to make a new home in Cedar City Utah 

residence of Southern Utah University aka 

The Thunder Birds

#tbirdnation

MV: Week 7 Roundin' The Corner

I Literally Cannot Even

believe it has been seven weeks already

Woah

One more to go?!?!

She'll be comin' round the mountain when she comes..

Some fun stuff happened this week.

1. I lost a man's credit card

2. I lost Charley in a mess of pizza's 

3. I lost my mind

Super nice guy comes in gets ice cream.. yadyadayada

Then, as I held his card over the ice cream freezer we scoop from and receipt in other hand for him to sign, I fail to completely hand it to him when he is done and it falls. 

No big deal there is a counter right below it and a floor right below that.. I apologized and started to walk away.

the man then informed me the card was gone. 

There is a little known fact about the counter in the Scoop Shack attached to the ice cream freezer that we scoop from... there is a TEENY TINY gap between the two, and if anything falls down there..

well, lets just say we nicknamed it the 

Point Of No Return

there is no moving of the machine because there is something like 45 tubs of ice cream in it

We have lost twenty dollar bills down that crevice.. 

His card would have better luck in the Bermuda Triangle

So he left his name and number, and was really nice about it, but I knew what needed to be done.

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED

We tried to pull out the freezer first, four people, Charley and Tom

No Dice

We tried a stick of cardboard with tape at the end to snag the card

No Dice

Finally we tried an entire huge square of cardboard, pulled the register out, and slid the most unimaginable of items out the other side. 

Two twenties, two tens, spoons, spoons, more spoons, bags, finally 

The card.

I called the guy back, he informed me that he had canceled his card just minutes before and asked me to just cut it in half.

All that work.. for nothing.. 

But hey, we had a good laugh about it

Or at least we probably will someday. 

Fun fact, I worked quite a few doubles this week and one of them was in Pizza.

Nicest thing ever. 

I loved working pizza actually and I wish I could've picked up a few more of those shifts along the way. Less rush, more time to get to know people, and two of my favorite foreigners 

Charles and Dom

Charley is from Serbia and Dom is from Croatia

What happened when I asked him to say cheese..

We had a ball that day. 

Esp. When Charley spilled five pizzas on himself and all over the fridge.. 

what a hoot. 

One day in ice cream I overheard a convo with some random guy and Chancey

Chancey said "What can I get you?"

and some random guy said

"Oh good my wife just texted me. I asked her what she wanted, one sec."

He looked a little bit up there in years, and didn't seem to be technologically savvy

took him a moment to find her text and he just looked up and smiled

"She said ice cream duh"

lol at that random guy's wife

"What do you want at the Scoop Shack?"

"Ice cream duh"

I also, lost my mind.

Three doubles in three days can start to affect your mental health if you don't know

By that I mean, your sanity

During rush hour

(In ice cream rush hour is about three hours long, lines out the door)

A lady asked me for a scoop of mint ice cream

I grabbed a cup and made the most beautiful scoop ever, it was art

Problem.. It was strawberry ice cream on the opposite side of the freezer..

I stood up

She gave me a weird look

I realized I knew the whole time she wanted mint

but I just randomly got her strawberry

I apologized

I looked really stupid

and I told her that I had been there for twelve hours and asked for forgiveness

the whole group was in awe

Doubles are not that bad and hey, extra dough

but they were so funny:

"Hun you go home tonight and you get some rest. I mean it. Promise us you will go to bed"

I must have needed it

Also, due to the lack of sanity

I was singing that night, to customers, and giving miki and chancey konchos as I walked by

Don't know what a koncho is? Don't ask. 

THOSE are the things I lost

But what about the things I found this week?

I'm glad you asked.

1. I found... this one is a secret until further notice

2. I found a lemonade stand

3. I found BenYays

DRUM ROLL PLEASE

I found a piano

BUT not just any piano

HA I almost forgot I was in Martha's Vineyard and these people have some serious..

Cha-Ching

I went into a church on Church Street and it had a piano I asked the lady in there if I could use it and she said yes. I uncovered the cover of the piano in the church on church street in Edgartown to find

A STEINWAY 

two hours of happy later I left

Also, after swimming at South Beach

(Our favorite because it's the only beach with enormous Cali-Like Waves)

I got to check "buy from lemonade stand" off my annual summer bucket list

/'/'//'/'/'/'/'/'/'/'/'/'/'/'/'/'/'/'/'/'/'/'/'/'/'/'/'/'/'

It's pronounced Ben-Yays

beignets

"Imma need some of yo man catchin' bignets"

Yes I love Princess and The Frog

Turns out I love beignets too

We went to breakfast at a cafe called

Because it's.. behind a bookstore probably

Cute little patio outside cafe

And we got BenYays

Because as soon as I put that thang in my mouth it was a party

Definitely going back for more.. like right now.

TTFN 

Luvs

xoxo

Fightin' In Terah's Army

Ovarian Cancer

Not a lot of talk about this one because it's a lot more rare in comparison to breast cancer

but it is still a fight that is being fought

Here is a little about someone I know fighting that fight

and about her Army of supporters 

Her name is Terah and she is in my branch here on the vineyard

She beat Ovarian cancer already, but recently it came back. 

She had to leave the island for a while for her Chemo sessions.

She is so strong, and even though I don't know her super well because she was just recently able to come back to the island, I look up to her strength.

She has a blog that tells about her experiences, and it is uplifting and positive like you can't imagine. 

ER fix it girl

erfixitgirl.blogspot.com

Go check it out to learn how to become part of Terah's Army 

and to be uplifted, educated, and inspired to be a good person.

Her followers do something special for her

since the Ovarian cancer color is Teal, they paint their toenails teal.

As a branch, all the girls did so as well on Sunday and a sense of unity was felt.

Our Cute Sister Missionaries 

If you have teal nail polish, paint your toes ladies!

Send me a picture, and I will make sure she gets it.

Tis True

You or I or anyone else painting our toes a certain color, or wearing a wrist band that says Terah's Army, will not literally make any difference to the cancer. It will not physically help Terah, or take away any sort of pain or hardship that she suffers because of this bump in the road of her life.

But it will make a difference.

When I was on the drill team, we ran to condition in the summers.
It was hard.
Six miles.
Bleachers.
Heat.

You would have thought it was the football team out there all morning.

But as hard as it was, when the football team finally showed up, running that last two miles suddenly felt like a breeze. People were watching. Sometimes even cheering us on.
Even though it didn't take away the challenge of running, it gave us more motivation to finish strong.
Lifted our spirits.
And let's face it, cute boys.

Something I have learned from Terah, is that Christ works in a similar way. He more than likely will not just magically take away her cancer, but because of His love and her faith, he will make it easier and possible to kick this cancer in the hiney with a smile on her face. To finish strong.

We can do that too, so who's with me?

Paint your toes.
Teal.


Remember Terah and the others just like her in your prayers
and in general, help motivate others, lift spirits, mourn with those that mourn, comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and endure well. Key word being well.
He is cheering his siblings on: Us
lets join Him

xoxo

p.s. Grandpa Lyle, thank you for cheering me on in my own race of life.
Even though you finished yours early, you finished strong.