Let the Good Times Roll!

Such a FABULOUS weekend! This might be a marathon post but I just don't think I can leave anything out, it was all just so great!

Friday I came home to a jar full of M&M's and a piece of paper with lines on it...

It was an invitation to the Heritage dance next week called Winter Waltz. It should be a lot of fun! And there's going to be a horse-drawn carriage!!! How awesome is that?! It's on my bucket list and I can't wait to cross it off :) 

The day was finished with mashed potatoes, lots of M&M's, popcorn, and the King and I! 

On Saturday morning, Emily and I woke up at approximately 4:30 and headed off to Vernal, Utah with her brother Nathan and his friends. Nathan lives in the foreign language housing at BYU and they are supposed to speak Spanish ALL the time, which means they're so used to it that they don't even notice when they're speaking Spanish or English! This was the one day I wished I had some background in Spanish. But it was still such a fun trip! Everyone was so nice and outgoing and did their best to speak English so Emily and I would understand what they were saying :) They were all hilarious and I think I just spent majority of the day giggling haha! 

We went to the Vernal temple first which reminded me of the tabernacles they talk about in the Old Testament with the outer wall, the altar, the inner building, and then the celestial room. I love adding to the list of temples I've been to!

We then went to Nathan and Emily's grandparents house for a picnic. It was so nice of them to let 10 crazy college students come and crash their house! After lunch, we went to the dinosaur quarry. These fossils are 149 million years old! It was a lot of fun to learn about them! These bones are most likely all located in a river bed that shifted up and slanted from plate movements in the earth. They just built the building around the wall, dug up the earth to get a better view of the fossils, and then put a protective coating over them to preserve them. It was really interesting!

Yup they let us touch them!

HUGE femur bone!

Nathan saving Joseph from the dinosaur attack!

There was an auto tour on our way out and it was so exciting to just enjoy nature and appreciate all of God's creations. It truly is remarkable how amazing our world is and how much it has to offer. It was a gorgeous day and I love the beautiful sun in February! Everyone here in Utah is shocked about the great weather we've been having. We went on this trail out in the middle of nowhere and I really just wanted to be on a horse.

Look at those cute siblings!

Alejo got a little cranky from being so tired so we were glad
he was able to get a little nap in haha!

We returned to Grandma and Grandpa Rich's house for some yummy stew and strawberry short cake...one of my favorites! It was so much fun to meet new people, laugh a lot, try to learn some Spanish, and enjoy nature! We made it back safely and didn't get hit by the storm too much! However, I wouldn't really know, my car ride consisted of a lot of sleeping :) 

I played an arrangement of Joseph Smith's First Prayer on the piano in sacrament meeting on Sunday and it fit in perfectly not only with our Relief Society lesson but also with the talks on prayer, where the speakers even emphasized the importance of the first vision. I love sharing my talents with others and I was so grateful that so many people were able to feel the spirit. 

I love my new ward so much! Being with freshman makes a huge difference and I'm grateful for all the people I've been meeting. I've had a lot of fun and enjoy being around people who care about each other so much and are willing to reach out to others. 

Sunday night consisted of going to tunnel singing and then a 12:01 party! The best tradition of 3 day weekends! In N Out was hoppin' at this hour but it was so much fun to hang out with the girls. We laughed a ton and enjoyed some really great food!

Gangstas

Carine: Mary, why are you laughing so hard? Did you not know you could make that face?
Me: Well kinda, I'm just not really sure what I was doing haha!

Apparently Emily was avoiding the camera at In N Out but
nothing is better than 3 different black and white patterns haha!
She was definitely putting on a little fashion show for me :)

On the way home, we saw some deer. Eight of them to be exact! It was completely unheard of! We decided that we would follow them for a while and it was so cool to watch all of them. We kind of took a flashback to Christmas and thought they were probably Santa's 8 reindeer :)

This morning it felt wonderful to sleep in! Greta, Emily, and I made mini cinnamon rolls, cinnamon streusel muffins, and watched one of our favorite shows, Once Upon a Time. It was such a relaxing morning and there truly is nothing better than spending time with your best friends. I love these girls so much!

I went to Costco today with Matt and Mikelle. Interesting situation though...Matt had to make some phone calls outside and Mikelle took Beckham and went to the mall so I went into Costco with the girls. There were so many people there and I was trying to look after two little girls who were running after the samples with my shopping cart. Can anyone say "Mommy"? Yeah, that's what people thought I was. Several people were giving me the strangest looks and one of the workers even said "Go give the rest to your mommy" HAHA! Yeah right! Not even close. I guess I got a glimpse of what it's like to go to the store with little kids. We went back to their house and had pizza and played games with Brad, Lindsey, Tim, and Luke. It was so much fun! I love family and it was the perfect end to the weekend. 

I would say I took full advantage of the last break of the semester. Here we go... 9 more weeks or in other words, 57 days till I get to go home! Not like I'm counting or anything :)