07/15/15 – Lelu said goodbye to her friend Grant (whom she literally spent over 1200 hours with her senior year doing homework and hiking together) leaving on his mission to Argentina and we took her to the airport and put her on a plane to Peru.

Guest Blogger Lelu:

I had the incredible opportunity this summer to serve in Peru for 3 weeks. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but for sure the most rewarding! My testimony + love for the gospel grew soooo much! The organization I went through was called HEFY which is through the church, and their hope was for us to experience what a full-time missionary would. AND IT WAS HARD. But soooo worth it! We not only got to serve and love the people there, we also got to explore the country! And if you know me at all, you know I LOVE to travel. I was stoked to go to Peru + Machu Picchu (which has been #1 on my bucket list forever) and it did not disappoint! It was amazinggggg! Pictures can’t even do half of it justice. We went the first weekend, got to explore for the day + hike Huayna Picchu (must-do) it was absolutely incredible. (See pictures)

The next two weeks was spent serving in a little town right outside of Lima, Peru called Monterrey. I’ve never been so grateful and humbled after spending 2 weeks with these people. The days were long & hard & sometimes really uncomfortable but whenever I felt like stopping or my attitude got negative, someone would come up to me, smile, and with every sincerity thank me for what I was doing. It was sooooo humbling! While I was there, we helped build them a medical facility, and they were sooo grateful! Service is the best thing! It didn’t just help the people I was serving, it completely helped me.

The town of Monterrey

shoveling for daysssssss

sweetest little girls ever!!

my group going sand boarding the next weekend (best group)

^my best friends! Kendelle & I became friends soo fast.. She’s so amazing!

This trip was truly incredible. & I am soooo grateful for everything I learned and gained! New friendships that will last forever, a new appreciation for my life and what I’m blessed to have, and sooo much more! Although I spent my fair share sick from the nasty chicken foot soup + in the Peruvian hospital, I would do it again in a heartbeat!

The Boys in Cali 07/21/15 to 07/26/15

Guest Blogger – Master D

I have the same gimp overbite problem my mom had. This has led me to have braces for the past four months in preparation for…. Jaw surgery!! Huzzah! The plan was to have the surgery in late July, and give myself a month to recover before heading back to school. Some cruel fate landed upon my plan and the surgery had to be postponed–because the braces hadn’t done their job yet. I had the surgery a week before school started, and it left an entire month with nothing to do (I wasn’t signed up for classes because I thought the surgery would be in July). So what did I fill it with? 

A brother road trip to California! TT and I spent five days loving our freedom to basically do whatever we wanted on a vacation. We started at Six Flags Magic Mountain, and bought the insane flash pass so our wait time for every ride was about as long as it took us to walk to it. We both love food, so we ate at Tito’s Tacos, Neptune’s Net, Sprinkle’s Cupcakes, and other great places.

The day TT did not enjoy was when I dragged him to USC and UCLA to tour the MFA programs for film production. I was awestruck, and certainly even more excited. I even think USC got TT excited about making movies.

The last day was awesome and awful. We woke up early from an incredible hotel, and parasailed along the coast line. For those of you who haven’t done it, being 400 feet in the air is incredibly peaceful. We also went to Leo Carrillo beach and Neptune’s net. But then we had to drive home–and I learned why everyone makes fun of L.A. traffic. It took us six hours to make it to the other side of Los Angeles, and put our schedule off four hours. St. George was graced with some zombies when we walked into our hotel at one in the morning.

This road trip was my mom’s idea. It was ingenious. A ton of fun with my little brother in preparation of having my jaw broken off like the T-Rex in Peter Jackson’s King Kong. 

This is where my parents met each other, still in business right next to UCLAWhile Lelu and the boys were having fun, Ari got to go get that much needed and much loved time in AZ with her favorite people that she felt like she got jipped out of when they came up here. Dave & Michele are the bomb!

B and I went down to San Diego to get another dose of Deepak’s meditation/yoga/healthy living retreat. It was a busy full of adventure summer for us and went by way too fast!