Write Me Maybe?? ;)

This is it! I would LOVE to hear from y'all while I'm on my mission!!! 
Seriously though. 
Keep these addresses in a safe little spot and when you're bored on a Sunday afternoon, think of your good friend Sister Blackner who is out serving the Lord and write to her! 
SHARE SOME LOVE! Letters are my favorite :) Emails are nice, but a real handwritten letter is the best!

Blog with weekly updates:
sisterblackner.blogspot.com

Email address:
mary.blackner@myldsmail.net

MTC Address (June 12-July23):
Sister Mary Abigail Blackner
JUL23 AL-BIRM
2013 N 900 E Unit 307
Provo, UT 84602

Mission Home Address (July 2013-Dec 2014):
Sister Mary Blackner
Alabama Birmingham Mission
3100 Lorna Rd Ste 102
Birmingham, AL 35216

or you can even use dearelder.com

I love you all and I'll see ya in 18 months!! :)

Farewell! See ya next December!

I could not have asked for a more beautiful and fun day for my farewell. I feel so blessed to have so many amazing friends and family!

My morning started out by getting ready for church and simultaneously skyping Greta (in Rome) and Emily (in Colorado). It was so good to talk with them and was the last time we got to skype Emily before she went into the MTC. I even played my musical number for them!

like Greta said, thank goodness for modern technology!

I went through my talk and practiced my song a few more times and then we left for church.

The joke at Ward Counsel last week was that we increased the ward's attendance by at least 100. I really feel so blessed to have so much family that lives nearby and to also have lived in the same town and ward my whole life where I've grown up with so many of the same people and that they were able to come support me. Although I was a little sad that a few of my best friends weren't able to be there, it all turned out ok! Right after I played my musical number, Elder Call asked that my parents come up to bear their testimonies and that was so nice because it gave me a chance to compose myself and get ready for my talk. Plus it was so awesome to hear from my parents. I love them so much! My talk went well and I think the overall verdict is...I'm ready to go serve! If you would like to read my talk it's posted on here, my new mission blog, where my weekly letters will uploaded!

After church we went straight to Grandma's for dinner! I even got to pick it out...ham, mashed potatoes, salad, fruit, corn, rolls, and mini cheesecakes for dessert!

Miss Susannah surprised me! I had no idea she was coming and was so glad she was able to make it all the way from Bellingham! I sure will miss her :)

and to add to the fun, I got a shot!

I just love my cute family! You can't tell in the picture but we matched :) pink and black

all the cousins!

It was such a special day and made me so excited to be a full-time sister missionary!

As of Lately...

This might be picture overload, but these past two weeks have been filled with lots and lots of fun! And since  this will be one of my last blog posts for a while I thought it would be important to catch up!

A few weekends ago we went down to Vancouver to visit my grandpa! It was so good to see him before I left.

  This was taken on the day of my farewell. But I think I'll do a separate post for that :)

 

On Memorial Day we went up to Seattle for the Mariner's game!

me at the gum wall :)

cousins :)

the crew!

my mom and I were SO lucky and had great seats. I seriously love the atmosphere of baseball games and it was awesome! The M's won 9-0 and even hit 4 home runs!

this was after they had already made fun of me for my awesome shirt that I was so excited to wear!

there's some good color coordination!

I got tagged in this picture on facebook with this caption...

"Your weekend room at The Shack awaits! A family weekend away before Herman Mary leaves might be fun :)!" Kenz and I said, Ok deal! Uncle Greg and Aunt Debbie were so nice to let us stay and it was awesome. We definitely could have spent a whole week there! We played games, watched movies, went four-wheeling ALL day, shot guns, had a nice view of the lake from the window, and got to relax! It was a blast!

Jordan and I getting ready to race

checked that one off my bucket list!

Dad teaching me how

skeet shooting. on my third try I finally hit one!

Kenz and I decided to have a countdown before I left by taking a picture together every day. I only have a couple and we might of missed a few days but here they are!

10 days left!

9 days left!

6 days left!

 We took some fun mission pictures on thursday and Kenz joined in at our last venue

We traveled down to Portland this weekend for Emily's farewell! I am so glad we went and that we got to see her! She is so sweet and the people in Honduras are so lucky to have her! She is an amazing friend and I sure will miss her!

I also got to go to the Portland Temple with my mom, Aunt Elaine, and Uncle Ron. It was so cool to see inside the beautiful place where my parents got married! It's gorgeous and I seriously love being at the temple. It was so fun to spend time with family and Uncle Ron even made my two favorites...popcorn with lots of butter and salt, and berry milkshakes! :)

This past week we went to the Rainier's baseball game, enjoyed some beautiful warm weather, played tennis, hung out with my cousin Ben for the last time for two years, skyped Greta, finished up mission shopping and packed, went to a lesson with the sister missionaries in my ward, and watched a few movies. It's been a fun week filled with lots of family time and I can't wait to leave in just two short days!