Catching up pt. 1

Hello, it's been a while!! If you follow me on social media, you would know why ;)

OKAY!! SO, this is gonna be kinda long because I've packed in SO MUCH in my life in the last few weeks. I'll probably comment little and mostly show pictures, just to save time since my life is seriously insane right now.

So, to start it off, I guess I'll explain what the crap is going on :) So a while back, probably around Christmas time, my mom decided it would be fun to go to Disneyland! And that's how it started. Originally, it was going to be my mom, step dad, and two little siblings and I all going, but Trampis and Jess (my older brother and his girlfriend) were in added onto the party.



They got here on the Saturday before we left. The next day we all attended church together, which was really cool.




And the next day, Monday, the 4th of July, we were on a plane headed to LA.















We landed, found out condo that would be our home for the next week, and walked the five steps that it took us to get to the beach. MAN is the water warm down there. Like... you can actually swim in the ocean without freezing to death?! (Oregon problems)




















After showering (Jess and I could tell you that when boogie boarding, you get sand everywhere!), and eating dinner, it was back to the beach to play games and watch fireworks.
























We thought that the fireworks were on the beach... But eventually found out it was at a park a few blocks away. With that said, we only saw the tops of the fireworks (over the buildings) during the show. I decided to turn in early after the super long day.



The next day was our little "tour of LA". Starting at the Hollywood walk of fame...










Going to the Observatory...





















The coolest part of the observatory, and the reason that it's famous, is that JAMES DEAN was there. His most famous movie "Rebel without a cause" was filmed at the Observatory. The last scene is a super famous scene in movie history, and it takes place on the front steps. Trampis and I took a picture there, since he's my bro and was the only other one on the trip who had actually seen the movie.


Lunch was at Bubba Gump's shrimp company!





And then it was to Santa Monica Pier.






Trampis played a few games to win Jess a stuffed animal, but he had no luck.


After that we were home, finally!!


The third day was DISNEYLAND



















I didn't take my camera to Disneyland, because I didn't want to have people hold it while I was on rides. So every picture was taken on someone's IPhone. Surprisingly, even though Disneyland was SO CUTE, I didn't enjoy it as much as I was expecting too! I mean the rides were pretty awesome (my favorite was the Indiana Jones one), and the detail was AMAZING. All of the buildings were so cute and the workers were all in costumes and I loved it.


BUTTTTTTTTT, the next day Jess and Trampis and I went to Universal Studios, and I thought it was super awesome and almost liked it better (NO ONE SHOOT ME FOR SAYING THIS) than Disneyland.

























And. it. was. amazing. Universal, granted, was not as decorated as Disneyland, but I saw wayyyy more characters, rode wayyyyy better rides, and went into wayyyy more stores. Trampis and Jess and I LOVED Harry Potter World!!!!! Everything about it was so freaking fantastic (especially the Hogwarts Express conductor and his Scottish accent and his sweetness!!!)

The last day was Venice beach and the secret life of pets movie!! And then, of course, the airplane.


The morning after we got back from Cali (we got back to the house at like 11pm), at around 6am, Trampis, Jess and I all headed to La Grande for my great uncles funeral.


here is something I wrote on the plane coming back from the funeral:

Over a week ago, I got a text from my aunt that said my great uncle, my grandpas
youngest brother, Reed, had gotten into a horrible four wheeling accident and
had been rushed to a hospital in Boise.
Little did I know, a few days later I would be getting the text that said that
there was no brain activity and that they had decided to take my great uncle off
life support.
I honestly didn't know how to react. When he was still alive, and the doctors
were operating and he was fighting for life, I was praying harder than I ever
had. . I prayed every break at work, on the way home, when I was brushing my
teeth, and every free moment I had from the moment I found out the seriousness
of his injuries to the moment he passed. I prayed he would have a strong will to
live. I prayed his family would be strong and feel comforted. I prayed the
doctors would be guided, that they would remember what they learned in med
school, and that they would know the right treatment plan for Reed. And then,
towards the end of my prayers, I would always say "but if not, please comfort
everyone. Please let them turn to thee, please take care of my uncle".
It's not that Reed and I were incredibly close. Honestly, I don't think we had
more than a handful of full conversations. What I did know, though, was that
even though he was my great uncle (meaning, yes, we were family, but we were
distant enough where he never HAD to know who I was) he always went out of his
way to say hello. He was the only one of my great uncles who would walk over to
me, calling me by name, and ask me how I was doing. One time, when I was 14 or
so, he saw me for the first time in a long time and ask, "well Ella, what are
you now, 26?". I do remember seeing him at every family reunion. I remember
asking him if I could take his four wheeler up on his property with my cousins.
I remember going to his house for family get togethers. I remember him always
smiling, always being positive, always holding children and taking care of
children.
Seeing how much he impacted everyone's lives, especially my aunts and uncles and
my dad and grandfather, I wish I had known him better. I find that that is
often the case when people pass.
Because I didn't know him as well as other people in my family did, I was
embarrassed by how much his death hurt my heart. Even at the funeral, I cried. I
didn't want to and I did everything I could to not, but I couldn't help it. I
can't explain why I was crying, or why my heart completely dropped out of my
chest when I saw his open casket in the viewing room, or why I couldn't bare to
go up and look closer. I'm not sure why, on the airplane ride home, I felt like
crying for him. Maybe it's because it's the most recent death in my family, most
recent death of someone I had known for my whole life. Maybe i felt like crying
because I know how much this hurt his family, his brothers, my dad and my
grandpa. Maybe it's because my grandma and aunts all cried the moment the
funeral started. Maybes it's because my second cousin, who gave the opening
prayer, got chocked up while walking up to
the podium.
It's interesting, though. I do feel sad. I do feel like I'm mourning. But I know
without a doubt that I will see Reed again. I know that someday, in heaven, I'll
be able to get to know him better, instead of hearing his interests through
other people, he will tell me himself. Maybe we will sit down on a bench
somewhere in heaven, and I'll tell him how much I missed him once he was gone,
even when I didn't know him well.
I know it was God's will to take Reed, even though we all expected him to live
for a much longer time. I know that he is in a better place. He's in heaven,
with God and Jesus, and his mom and dad and two brothers who have all passed
before him.
Everyone said that Reed's motto was "life is good". And life is truly good, when
you have the knowledge that I have. When you know for a fact that you will see
your family again. Life is good when you have good people in your life, people
who impact you even after they are gone. Life is good because I met Reed. Life
is good because God made us both. Life is good. 

After the funeral, and before the plane ride, dad, Trampis, my cousin cynjyn and I all went to see the house Trampis and I will be living in next year. It made it feel SO REAL!

Annnddd after that we went back to my grandma's. My cousin Taz had brought 5 of his friends up to Oregon from Las Vegas for the summer and so my uncle Clay OF COURSE had to tell them scary stories. So all of us cousins who were there, and Taz's friends, gathered in a field at my grandmas as Clay told us scary stories. He then proceeded to tell us more cop stories after we got back into the house. I love my family. Below is a picture of the girl cousins in the Waite family. We're a little outnumbered.

Once I got home from the funeral, I slept and woke up and went to work for the next two days.

On that Wednesday, I was off again on another adventure, this time to trek.

Like I said before, when talking about Reed, his motto was "life is good". So, I decided that was going to be my motto for Trek. In other words, I served with a  smile, I was positive to the best of my abilities, and I tried to enjoy every single second of Trek. I trekked for Reed.

Ok, ok, ok, you caught me. I didn't technically "trek". Since I'd already gone on trek before and did the whole pull-a-handcart thing, I decided to do something a little different. I decided to help prepare the food for all the trekkers. I got to do this alongside three of my amazing friends, and with an amazing group of adults who taught me so much about service in the short 3/4 days we were there. I actually learned so much about Jesus on this trip, surprisingly, even when I didn't take part in most of the spiritual activites. During the week I was kinda feeling a little bummed, like I was cheated out of getting the full and super difficult experience of actually trekking, so I decided to help during the womens pull. (I realized that if you aren't Mormon and you are reading this, it might be confusing. Trek is something our church puts on. It's a three to four day reenactment of the Mormon pioneers where you dress like pioneers, you pull handcarts like them, you sleep like them, and you try to experience a little of the hardships that they did. It's awesome.)

A womens pull is basically what it sounds like. Only the women can pull, and the men have to walk behind and watch the women struggle. It represents how the women felt when their husbands died, or they were unable to help them pull the handcarts. It's representing the power of women and MAN, was it powerful!!!

I helped in that, and although the women only pulled 2/3 of a mile, it was so hard. Uphill, Rocks. The whole 9 yards! When we were done, I let a boy take my place, and I sat down on the ground and I just started sobbing. I can't even begin to explain why. Maybe it was because I was physically exhausted (that's true), or that I had little sleep and little food in me (also true), or maybe it was because I was seriously so inspired and so grateful for te women pioneers and the women in my life who strengthen me daily. Cause I have a lot of them.

My favorite part about trek was the dancing, where we were taught real dances the pioneers would have done in that day. It. was. so. fun!!!!

All in all, I had an amazing time.

I got back from Trek last Saturday, and headed off to my college orientation the day after.

So, yes, I'm officially going to Eastern Oregon University!!! I have all my classes and everything!

AHHHHHHHH

I also got to hang out more with my cousin/ best friend Cynjyn. She does crazy adventures with me, like dutch bros runs and going to the cemetery to find the grave of my great great grandma, whom I'm named after.

And then it was back home.

But, that wasn't too bad because my bff for life came to visit me and I got to show him my favorite place in all of Portland :)

My computer is going crazyyyyyyyy so this will be all for this post. I'll make a "Catching up pt. 2" soon :))

Thanks soo soo much for reading.

Signing off for literally just a couple minutes,

Ella Frances Waite