Summer's Over? Bummer. Time to Rise and Shout!

Wow blogging world, it's been a while!

I totes (new slang for 'totally' in case you didn't know...) take responsibility for not writing until now. I guess life just got in the way! I feel like that's always my excuse...but I'm back and ready to blog again!

Hmm...where have I been over the last month or so? Well, I had a little internship in St. Louis after EFY working with a medical supply company. It was awesome to see a new side of the medical field, but let's be honest - I missed EFY like crazy. No job compares!

After a few weeks of internship-ing, my family took their last family vacation before Erik leaves on his mission (his papers are IN now and we're waiting to see where he goes!!!! Anyone have any guesses?) For vacation, we went to Miramar Beach and Destin, Florida and had a total BLAST! Our condo had an amazing pool and was across the street from the beach. Needless to say, my day consisted of lounging in the sun. All day long.

Here are just a few of our adventures:

Me and Jack with our sweet shades heading down to Florida. Straight thug.

Bubba (Philippe) in his bed and loving the roadtrip

Hello beach!

Toes in the sand :)

Momma, Me, and Ali Boo on the beach

Daddy may think fro yo is a waste of money...but we beg to differ

Pure. Bliss.

What's better than a 3 mile family walk on the beach? Not much.

Loves of my life (minus my puppy)

Stunning Steele Sibs

LOVE

BFF's forever

Erik was happy

Operation tan? Success. Sweet trucker hats? Double success.

Family Pyramid Attempt #1

Crab catching along the beach at night

The boys took surf lessons...

Erik tearing it up

...And the girls went jet skiing with dolphins. I think we win.

So incredibly fun!

Hang ten dudes

Holy cow I'm gonna miss this kid :(

Flying our dive bomb kite on the beach at sunset

He loved that thing

All of the beautimous Steele ladies

Front of my airbrush shirt

Front of Ali's

Back of Ali's

Back of mine!

And we finished the trip by renting mopeds to ride along the beach at sunset. It made Ali want a motorcycle

It just made me want a moped

Bud on the beach! (Beach Bud!)

Check out our calves in this pic. Oh, and the beach

The 3 Musketeers. Love them!

Family Pyramid Attempt #2 - Success

You know me...I can't live without a jumping picture!

Best parents ever? Agreed.

On the trip, I really realized that I have the best family on the planet. (I mean...I knew it before...but seriously. Don't you agree?!). I'm so gosh dang lucky! I don't think I've laughed that hard in forever. We survived two 14 hour drives with hardly any fighting (and a whole lot of sleeping and movie watching). We also got the chance to stop in Nashville on the way home and see the Johnson's (Matt's family) for dinner. It was so great to see everyone!!!! It was an amazing ending to an amazing family vacation.

The Johnson's and Steele's!

After Florida, I had about a week to pack up and get ready to head back to P-town. My fabulous Aunt Sue flew down from Wisconsin to drive me back to Utah and it was SO fun to get to know her better and spend time with her. We stopped in Salt Lake and got heaven-sent cupcakes and then headed to Bountiful to see Grandma and Grandpa and have dinner. We ordered from the Mandarin and here's my fortune:

Story of my life...

After visiting with my family in Bountiful, it was time to head to Provo and see my girlies. Oh how I missed them this summer!!!! It was amazing to be reunited (minus Erika at this point). We got all dressed up and drove to Salt Lake to go to Aaron and Aubrey's wedding reception. It was so fun to see them! They looked so happy! :)

All dressed up and ready to go to the reception!

The next week was a rough one. Aubs and Erin had peer mentor training all day and Erika was still in El Salvador, so I was home alone all day with nothing to do but unpack. Yuck. Worst thing ever! But I just turned up my Parachute and got to work. Our little townhouse is so cute! I absolutely love it! We have it all decorated and beautiful and it's just homey. I'll have to post pictures in a new post later!

Oh yeah. And I've been training for the marathon I'm running in 16 days. Ahhh St. George, here I come! This is a picture we took during our first 2o mile run.

I can do this!!!!

And this is us feeling the pain after we finished. Woo hoo for ice baths and chocolate milk for recovery!

Yes, I get really cold during ice baths, hence the scarf and hat. Man...I'm in pain just looking at this!

New subject: School started almost three weeks ago.

Can I just say that I'm in my third year of college? Let me repeat. I'm a JUNIOR in COLLEGE. Holy. Cow!!!! Time is FLYING by! School has been great. The only thing is that I'm in the weirdest mood this year...all I want to do is homework and work (I'm a French TA). Weird? Maybe. Here's the schedule for the semester:

ExSc 320: Basic Athletic Training

ExSc 321: Basic Athletic Training Taping Lab

Hlth 320: Advanced First Aid

Rel C 234: Marriage and Family

Fren 340: Intro to Literary Analysis

NDFS: Essentials of Human Nutrition

TA for Fren 361 and 317

What do ya think? I am in LOVE with my schedule (minus the French lit class...I suck at analyzing poetry in English let alone French...). Aubrey and I also got fall passes for the BYU Aerobics classes. We do an abs class and Zumba a couple times a week. It feels so good to exercise! And who doesn't love to shake their groove thing for an hour?

Other than that, I've just been enjoying P-town and spending time with my roomies. Here's us at Aubrey's aunt's house for the BYU vs. Ole Miss game. Aren't we adorable?!

Erika, Erin, Yours Truly, and Aubrey. RISE UP!!! :)

Well that's about all that's happened since summer ended. But I'll be sure to keep everyone updated on my adventures here! Keep reading!

Oh, and before you leave, check out my current musical obsession. The post bridge is my all time favorite part and I've been listening to it over and over again these past couple of days. Isn't it amazing that there's a song for everything?