In The Great Wide Somewhere

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"

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)

Alraheet People

thay ...uhh reason faw this here post is ta let y'all know just exactly what's been a-goin' on in my life faw thay ...uhh past few mownths ay have nahwt been supuurr up ta date ta say thay ...uhh least so ay have some highlights faw y'all

Just a sample of what's to come near the end of my Mission Updates from the South.

Is it weird to admit the fact that if you were to ask me whether or not I was making fun of those Southern Alabama/ Northern Floridian swamp people

I would

without hesitation

respond with

naw av course nahwt

in fact ay look fawward ta tha ...uhh day that ay am as awesome possum as those there people

(shout out to redneck translator at lingojam.com)

no kidding, those accents are indeed super rad

Ay feel as if ay ned ta get a-movin' on ta tha gosh darn good stuff

Firstly

California Crew

We decided in the beginning of November to pull a trip to California right out of our behinds like spiders pull webs out of theirs: practically out of nowhere

Why not?

silence

Why so?

it is warmer

sunnier

warmer

saltier

beachier

warmer

and sunnier

it had already snowed in Cedar City at this point in Nov. for crying out loud.

and we discovered we are only 6 to 7 short hours away from the lovely

HUNTINGTON BEACH

OCEAN

"California ~~girls~~ Crew we're undeniable"

-KatyPerry

"California. Where we sailed into the shining sea."

-Bano

So after a short mix up where Lindsey locked her keys in the trunk of her car just as we were about to leave our apartment for Cali,

(okay it was me)

we called a locksmith and apologized for our lack of smarts

(okay my lack of smarts)

and with that we were on our way..

to Californ-i-a

we got to a friend's aunts house, slept, woke up early and spend the whole day soaking in the sun
Beach Style

#VitaminSea

life notes: Frisbee is not my thing

other life notes: 80 degrees is greater than 35

as in, it's a higher number and it's also higher on my happy list

Secondly, Lindsey and I were in the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade

pausing to let that sink in

JOKES

we were in the second best thing though, the Cedar City Story Book Thanksgiving/Christmas/StarWars Parade

YSA 8th WARD YAAAAS

Yeah. Parade 2015

Thirdly

smh

"Yeah sometimes I feel like I should start my own restaurant" said me as I sat down on the couch to give my oil on the stove some time to heat up.

14 seconds later

"Whats that sme--" *looked up to see billows of smoke coming from said pot.

"LINDSEY DO SOMETHING!"

(she was closer)

*ran as fast as I could as Lindsey picked the smoking pot up off of the stove

literally just as she picked up the pot

FLAMES ERUPTED FROM THE POT IN HER HANDS

We were in shock

I still managed to laugh on the other side of the flames which I promise that I know, that in that situation that was not an appropriate thing to do

"FLOUR"

I heroically remembered something about killing a flame with flour

as Lindsey stood there holding fire like a champ in her right hand she took one fistful of flour to the face like......
a champ...

then another and another and another

at this point what we had before us was:

still fire + a covered in flour Lindsey, standing in a pile of flour

Freaking out because I just KNEW water was not the answer, the fire alarm was sounding

and down came my roommate Nicole as cool as a cucumber and she simply said amongst all the panic and screaming

"Take it outside"

the end.. It was freezing out there and wet bc.. snow

lol

Advice from the internet I googled shortly after: Don't use flour or water on a grease fire.

Fourthly

Weekly Temple trip to St. George was more interesting than usual

If you haven't taken a pic with a stuffed boar, you should.

Fifthly

Jacky Chan Opened her call to the Spokane Washington Mission sprekin' Spanish!!!!!!

Plus Miki Left on her mission. So there's that.
This time scale is not super accurate keep in mind, but I had to announce it. Miki has been gone about two weeks and is loving it. She gave me super good advice.
She said the first day is hard, and long. But just like all hard things, it comes to an end, and the learning/refining begins.

This was our last picture together for about a year and a half. Saying goodbye was rough, but I will be joining her in just a month! and time will fly.

PS

Miki sent me this the day of her farewell.

LOL

Sixthly

Trip to the cabin with some of my favorite people.
Bear Lake was super fun, especially the razor ridin'

You can call us bad. Literally we are so thug it's unreal.

Don't ask me why Jared tried to end my life with my own beanie, I have no idea.

It was great to have a fire in the middle of the woods over looking a lake in a blizzard.
We took this chance to get in tune with nature.
And review survival techniques because oops..
We almost got snowed in and all we had were a couple of cans of Pepsi by the second day.

when you open the door and...

Seventhly

Again, not in order. But I had to say goodbye to Cedar City.

At this moment all of the great people I met at SUU and in my ysa ward are back to school and I'm not because in twenty one days I will be going on a mission!

Which is great... but let me tell ya... the boredom and horrible shopping sprees are endless at the moment.

Anyway, my last day was heart wrenching.

I was moving out and needed help lifting my mini fridge.

so Linds and I sent the word out and in less than three minutes, this is what showed up at my door.

Just one of many examples of why I have loved life down in Southern Utah.

however

one of the main reasons I love life in general

is my former roommate

current best friend for the rest of time

Lindsey Jean

I also love her because she reads my blog and therefore knows the significance of a Steinway
as shown in this video.

Eighthly

duh-duh

dun

dun

duh duh duh

DUUUUN DUUN

duh duh duh

DUUUUUN DUUN

dun duh duh dun

a long time ago in a galaxy far far away......

round one

Round Two

BEST MOVIE EVER

Enough Said.

Ninthly

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR

I realize I skipped Thanksgiving on this post, but these days, that's how America does.

To make up for that: I'm Thankful for Thanksgiving and good food and all my blessings.

God Bless The U.S.A

Annual Christmas party with this crew of cousins. I love the traditions we have that my grandma started and has kept up since I was a wee lass.

Especially the part when we take flowers to the mall, split up into groups of two, and share flowers with people that we see around that look like they could use a flower to cheer up their day.

The Season Of Giving <3

I am the daughter of an artist. He painted me this picture of my lighthouse in MV
What a stud. <3 thank you Da

Florida Here I Come

The day after Christmas I was able to go through the temple.

The sacredness of this experience was one I will never forget. The spirit, the peace, it all resonated truth and beauty. I will never forget it.

I told a lot of people the truth when I said I woke up that morning like a kid on Christmas way more
than I did the day before on the actual Christmas day.

Ma and Da

I am accepting bribes to date my handsome cousins. I will accept money or Coke. ;)

AAAANNNDDD Ninthly

WARNING: Sparkling Cider above^^ No Alcohol and no animals were harmed in the taking of this polaroid.

Went up to the cabin with all the cousins and grandma Pat.

WE SNOWMOBILED

I will edit this and put the pictures/videos of snowmobiling asap! Until then, enjoy this
video below instead.

xoxo

Make It A Good Day Ya'll