One of those Days...

"I know that God will not give me more than I can handle

... I just wish he didn't trust me so much"

An Update on Life in The Burg...

Hello Everyone!

Things are pretty crazy right now! I'm down the the last week and a half of school. I have a portfolio for my infant and toddler class due on Thursday, a test for my math class to take over the weekend, my CIT final on tuesday, a magazine form of articles for my english class due on wednesday, a math takehome test due on wednesday, a BOM final on wed, and on top of all of this I have to move all by my self for the first time. For the past 2 weeks my roommates and I have been searching for a storage unit. We finally found one, but the person we were talking to weren't willing to give us the advertised price, so we spent a decent amount of the day on the phone trying to get the correct price. Well, we finally have a storage unit and i'm going to start moving things in on Thursday (Mommy's birthday! :) ). I honestly have no idea how to move OUT of an apartment. I bought a few plastic tubs to store my stuff in, but it was hard to try to guesstimate what size tubs I would need. It's a new experience, and a stressful (but exciting one). I can't wait to be back in Colorado and with my family! Although I am deffinately going to miss the Burg and the people here

Happy Holiday Everyone!

I must be crazy...!

College life...

It is about a half hour after midnight on a Tuesday night (or Wednesday morning by now I guess), and I am just now starting most of my homework. I was planning to start when I got home from Classes at 4:30, but the internet was down for a long time so I couldn't get anything done. A little while after the internet came back up my roommate asked me to join her on a movie date. Apparently they had plans and they had one more guy than girl and I'm incapable of saying no-so I agreed. Silly me. I know have about 3 hours of math to do and a 9:00 class. I'm going to be VERY tired tomorrow! So why am I sitting here blogging? Well... like I said... I must be crazy!!!

Oh Brother...

My brother sent me a HILARIOUS e-mail today about "You live in Colorado if..." and one of them was about how if a Coloradoan steps out on to the front porch and there is a bear standing there we wouldn't be startled. I mentioned that I would be scared but not particularly shocked. And this is the conversation that followed (over about 15 text messages):

(You have to hear it in Lon's voice for it to really be funny!)

"Right but you would also be like that's cool"- and "I wonder what that tastes like" and "I bet I could pet him- he looks REALLY cute!" Cali's would be like..."OMG! We are like totally going to die- and gross is he drooling on the deck"- and then CO would tell them "thats not a bear...its my dog." And then Cali would say- "no way that is NOT a dog! Dogs are little and cute and you can carry them in your purse with you on the airplane and to get your hair done." And then CO would say -"No, that's not a dog, that is a chijuajua literally translated to mean 'Mexican shark Bait.'" And then Cali says..."I can't believe you would say that about Snoots(her chiuaujua) I bet you think ti would be good to just keep driving your SUV until the Polar Bears died from global warming. And then CO said "Look it's one thing to take care of of the enviro. But another to be a prius driving freak!" Then Cali gets pissed and she storms off, out onto the deck and the dog who was really a bear (CO was just making a joke) and the bear eats her and she dies screaming "I hate your dog!" And then CO says "it's not a dog-learn to take a joke- and by the way- God hates Queers!" And laughs and walks away.

I may have peed a little I was laughing so hard! Pretty entertaining!

Crazy College Road Trip

I have been missing home a lot recently and Bryce's 15th birthday was coming up so I had been thinking about making a trip home to see the family. I brought it up to my roommates andthey were very excited about that idea! So, we started making plans for a trip back to Colorado. I told my Dad and CeeCee but I was planning to surprise everyone else. Our plan was to leave Friday around 11 after everyone got out of classes. Well Whitney ended up getting out of class late and we ended up eating lunch in town instead of grabbing something at the drive thru so we could eat with our other roommate that wasn't coming and didn't end up getting on the road until around 12:15. That was still going to hopefully put us in around 9:30 and I was very excited to surprise my mom and Lizz that night. We had absolutely perfect weather until we hit about Rock Springs. At that point it was starting to get snowy, cold, and dark- never a good combination. It was about this point in the ride that we all started praying very hard. Shortly after this point we hit basically white out conditions and had to slow our speed to below 45 mph. We were about 10 miles outside of Laramie when we came to a stop on the highway. It was like being parked in a Semi Truck parking lot. Whitney and Jamie were brave enough to get layered up and go knock on a truck driver's door to find out what was going on. We found out that there were 2 semi trucks that had jack-knifed and were rolling down the hill. We were parked for 45 minutes before traffic FINALLY started moving (very very slowly).

This is us parked on the road pretty board but staying warm and snacking!

When we finally reached Laramie we found out that ALL roads in every direction were closed. We were stranded in Laramie for the night- unfortunately, so was everyone else, so we were really worried about finding a hotel room. I was on

the phone with my Dad and he was on the phone with Days Inn and was fortunately able to find us a room!

We ordered pizza and drinks and watched a movie and just made the best of it! It's not hard to enjoy being stuck in a hotel room w

ith your best friends.

The roads FINALLY opened up around 11 on Saturday and we booked it out out to meet the family for Bryce's surprise lunch. We were meeting at Old Chicago's in Centerra at 12. We didn't get there until about 12:30 so poor CeeCee had to stall. CeeCee told us what table they were at so we walked right in and walked up to the table and said "Hey guys, sorry we're late". It was fun to see everyone's surprised faces. I wish I could relive that moment over and over. Lizz started crying, Bryce hopped up to hug me, and Brynlee walked up and kept saying "Mary, I lost a tooth. Mary, I lost a tooth". It was so fun to hug everyone and introduce everyone to my roommates! Unfortunately, Courtney and her family couldn't make it to lunch but that was fun because we got another round of surprises. After Old C's w

e went back to CeeCee's for cupcakes. Courtney and her family were there when we walked in and Brielle saw me when I walked in and got a really excited look on her face and ran up to hug me. Next I saw Avery and she came running up to hug me. Courtney heard the kids screaming at me and walked around the corner and gave me a hug! It was so exciting!

The trip was way way way too short- but very fun! My roommates loved my family and we had so much fun with them! The drive back was pretty uneventful except for almost hitting a deer. I'm still trying to catch up on the sleep I lost this weekend- but it was well worth it.

The next time I drive home from Idaho I want it to be with Lon and Steph, that work for you guys?

College Life

Hey guys!


I thought I would give an update on my college life. It's been an absolute blast but it's so busy all the time! I feel like I haven't stopped running since I got here! But, (this one is for you Court) I am making good choices. Fortunately, thats not hard here. Every day is packed full with wholesome activities- too many of them! This weekend for example: on friday when we got out of class the girls (my roomies) took a road trip to Idaho Falls to do some shopping. We got back around 7 and touched up makeup and hair and went over to our FHE brother's apartment to hang out. We hung out there for a while and then went to a ridge dance party- when we decided that party was lame we went down town for another dance party but decided that was way too crowded and went to Ramire's and then back to our apartment to watch a movie. Saturday we got up, got ready, I ran some errands, and then we went shooting with a couple guy friends. After shooting we went to get DQ and then were planning on going home and just chilling. But then we got a call from another group of guys who wanted to the bonfire so we ended up doing that. We weren't planning on doing anything on Sunday but ended up feeding a huge group of guys (like 12) dinner and then are heading over to our FHE boy's apartment for dessert and games. It's a pretty crazy life but I'm loving every second of it! I didn't know I could feel so home sick and miss my family so much and be having so much fun at the same time!

My new best friends!

Graduation!

I thought it was about time I got some of my graduation pictures up.

I graduated from High School May 23rd and it turned out to be a fabulous day! My family is absolutely amazing and decided to all make matching hot pink shirts so that they would be visible in the crazy crowds of graduation. They're the best and everyone looked adorable!Even my amazing Brother-in-laws, nephews, and cousins wore the hot pink shirts, what men!

The whole family in their hot pink shirts. Seriously, how awesome are they?!

My awesome College friends at my graduation party

The Graduation Party set up

And, the best surprise of all. I was taking pictures with my Mom, Dad, and Lizz, and my mom turned around and asked, "who's standing behind us", I turned around and my brother was standing there. I got super excited, jumped up, accidently screamed in his ear, and started crying. I was so excited that he was there! I couldn't believe it! Thanks for coming Bubba! I love you!!!

Typical Graduation picture.

My AWESOME brother!

Sister picture!

Overall it was an absolutely fantastic weekend! Thank you so so much to all of you that were there, especially all of you who traveled to be there. It honestly meant the world to me! To all of those who weren't able to make it, know that you were missed and I love you!

To All The Mother's In My Life...

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY! I LOVE YOU ALL!

Cee Cee-

You are such an incredible Mom! Your kids adore you and that's so easy to see. You are so good about talking to them and relation with them. Your kids know that they can always come to you with any problems. You have instilled in them a testimoney in the gospel and that is so important! Happy Mother's Day Sis, I love you!

Courtney-

I don't know how you do all you do Sis! You are super mom! Your life can be a little crazy sometimes but all your kids know how much you love them, you're incredible. You take time to really love each kid and it's so amazing to watch. I know your kids can be a handful sometimes but they love you so much! Yesterday while I was watching them I told them that today would be mothers day and they all got very excited about honoring you and wanted to help me clean the house. They love you tons, and here's the proof! Happy Mother's Day Sis, I love you!

Steph-

You stepped into motherhood seamlessly! You are such an incredible Mother! The way you get down on the floor and play with Eden is so adorable. It's so cute how she just lights up whenever your around her. She loves you so much! She is one precious baby, she is one of the happiest people I know, and that's incredible for an almost 1-year-old. I hope you have a fabulous first mothers day as a mom. Happy Mother's Day sis, I love you!

And of course...

Mommy- I love you so much! I know without a doubt I wouldn't be who I am without you. Thanks for always pushing me to be better , for encouraging me to get up and go to seminary, for all the years of driving me to school, for all the help on the late nights of homework, for 17 years worth of laundrey, cooking, and dishes, and for absolutely everything! You are honestly a super hero. I don't know how you get so much done in a day. I hope when Im a mother I can be half as successful as you. Thanks for always being there Mom! I love you!!! Happy Mother's Day!

And to all the other mothers in my life- thank you for all you do! Happy Mother's Day!

Senior Ditch Day!

A while back we had "Senior Ditch Day" on a monday which usually wouldn't mean much but the fam had had a somewhat rough weekend and Lizzy had the day off, so we decided we'd take off as a family and head up to Estes. Britt, Brett, and Calan even came with us. We ate lunch and walked around the shops. It was awesome day to be up there! We even walked around the Stanley hotel which was pretty cool. We even made a reservation to stay there the night before the 4th of July which is awesome because we always spend th 4th of July in Estes and it will be my last 4th of July with the family for a while. I'm excited about it! Here are a few pics from our day in Estes!

Britt, Calan and I at lunch. Apparently Calan got a little distracted

Daddy and I hanging out in Estes. Like my new sunglasses?

The fam in Estes. I love this picture of us!

Young Woman Recognition

Sunday evening I recieved my Young Woman Medallion fo finishing Personal Progress. It felt really good to be done with personal progress! I've been working on it for 5 years, so it feels great to have it completed! It was my first taste of all the things to come in the next month. I'm done with school in 3 weeks, I graduate from High School on the 23rd of May, and then from Seminary on May 24th! It's pretty exciting but it's getting harder everyday to make it to classes, I just want to be done! I look forward to graduation but I sure wish the rest of the family could be here!

Lizzy's Ice Competition!

This past weekend Lizzy competed in the Ft. Collins classic at epic. She competed in synchro, artistic, and ice dance and did an amazing job! My mom was working at the ice rink basically all weekend so I was in charge of getting her ready for her competitions. I picked her up from school and she helped me answer my prom date :) and then we got her ready, got all her stuff together, went and picked up some dinner for ourselves and to bring to my mom and got her to the icerink. Friday night was the synchro competition and they did a great job! They skated a clean program and ended up getting 2nd place (although honestly they should have gotten 1st, the team that got 1st had a fall and didn't skate a very good program), but they were very happy with their performance.

Here's Lizz in her synchro outfit with her 2nd place medal! She was happy!

After her synchro performance I took her home and after she got showered I put her hair in curlers for her saturday performances. My poor mom didn't get get home until like 10:30 after being at the icerink

On saturday morning Lizz and I got up at about 6 (my mom was already at the icerink) and got her ready for her artistic performance. We got to the rink at about 7 and Lizzy was all made up but I hadn't even run a brush through my hair (Lizzy's hair took longer than expected). Lizz performed "These boots are made for walking" and absolutely oozed attitude and it was AMAZING! She took 2nd place which is awesome and means that she qualified for the competition Colorado Springs! Yay! Courtney and her girls even made it out for the competition, thanks guys!

After the artistic performance, Brett and I ate dippin dots for breakfast, and Lizz had an ice dance competions. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of it, but she had the most beautiful lines I have ever seen! It was awesome! Overall it was a great competition and we're very excited for Colorado Springs!

In other news!!! I got a half tuition scholarship for my first semester at BYUI where I will be attending in the fall! I am very excited, but not quite excited as my parents I think! ;)

Snow Day!

It started snowing last thursday as I headed off to seminary. When I walked out of seminary I was surprised by the amount of snow on my car. I quickly climbed in to escape the weather and rushed (safely) home so I could crawl back in to my warm bed. It was a "CSAP" day (CSAP is Colorado's standard testing but you only have to take them up until your sophmore year) so I didn't have to be to school until 12:20. My mom and I had special plans to go to Chilis just the 2 of us and enjoy some yummy fajitas. I woke up around 9, worked out, and then was getting ready to head to chilis and then go to school. When I got out of the shower I had a text from Lauren asking if I was driving the truck to school since the weather was so bad. A couple minutes later my mom got a text from Lizzie saying that there school was letting out early and my mom left to pick her up. Momments after that we got a call from my school notifying everyone that school was letting out at 12. I was thrilled because that meant I didn't have to go to school at all, but I still had my heart set and chili's fajitas so we made it a whole family thing and me, my mom, Lizzie, Brett, Brittany and Calan all ventured into the storm to get chilis.

Here's the 3 of us at Chilis!

After Chili's we all (minus Mom and plus Lauren) went outside to try to build a snowman. We quickly learned that the snow was too dry for that so it became a snow mound. Well, while we had a pile of perfectly good snow, Lizz and I decided we should take pictures in it. But not in our snow suits, in our swimsuits and open-toed high heels!

Surprisingly, it was not that cold because we only spent a couple of minutes out there in the snow. And totally worth the memories!

After our pictures we decided to make something out of our mound and attempted a snowman again but instead it became a snow dog!

Notice: Holy Ghost has been spotted!!!

This past thursday I went out to watch Courtney's 3 youngest kids for her so her and Steve could take Avery to a movie. I was a little worried because Avery is usually my helper when I'm watching their kids. But when Courtney and Steve left it seemed like it was going to be a pretty easy night... I was wrong. When they left Chasen was asleep and Brielle, Dax and I were playing. Brie was sitting on my lap and we were joking around and Daxton was laughing at us, so I though it was going to go pretty smoothly,... until I turned and made direct eye contact with Dax. As soon as I did that he started screaming and I had to leave the room and let Brielle talk to him until I could army crawl my way back in. Once I did this he seemed somewhat ok as long as I sat under the table where he couldn't see me and I didn't say anything. I thought the kids might be more entertained outside so I picked up Daxton from behind where he couldn't see my face and quietly walked outside and he was fine playing with his sister. Well, I soon realized that Dax and I could be friends as long as I was wearing my sunglasses and we were outside (no direct eye contact allowed with this kid). So after we got bored jumping on the tramp, Dax and I sat on the deck and watched Brie drawing with chalk on the patio. At this time the sun was starting to set and it cast our shadows against the wall. Brielle thought this was pretty cool and she turned to me and said, pointing at her shadow "look Mary, It's my Holy Ghost!" Then she pointed at my shadow and said "It's your holy ghost!"

That made me laugh for a good 20 minutes and deffinatley made the whole night worth it! I sure love those kids!!

Picture Tag!

Just for fun! If you want to, go to where you keep your pictures on your computer and take the 4th picture from the 4th file.

This is a picture of Bryce and I. I think it was on Christmas eve or around that time. Bryce (and Kyle) looked so handsome in his jacket! It was pretty cute! It was also just a really fun day! I love this kid! He better be good while I'm off at college! He know's if he's not I'll drive back here and kick his butt. ;) I love you dude!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEPH!!!!

Happy Birthday Steph! I am so so SO excited that is is finally your birthday so that you finally know what your present is! I absolutely cannot wait for you to be here! So that we can FINALLY have an updated version of the above picture! I am so excited for you to be here. We are going to watch mamma mia and go to the chocolate cafe and go shopping and hug and kiss on your adorable baby!!! I don't know if you can tell, but I might be just a little bit excited. March 8th cannot come quickly enough! I am literally counting down the days!

Anyways, I hope you have a fabulous birthday and enjoy every minute of it! I wish I was there in person to wish a happy birthday, but we'll celebrate when you get here! I love you like crazy! Happy Birthday!

If it's smoking it's cooking, If it's black it's done... if it's on fire it's....?

My Grandad always told us when it comes to food; "if it's smoking it's cooking, if it's black it's done". Well what about if your food is on fire?

Brett made an AWESOME dinner for us tonight! He got ribs out of the feezer this morning and soaked them in something that smelled amazing and then made garlic potatoes and green beans. Well he was a little bit worried about the ribs being cooked through entirely so we went outside to the grill to check them and this is what we found...

Our ribs had somehow caught on fire! We're not really sure how? Dinner was great though! Thanks Brett!

More Pics Of The Move In

CeeCee meeting baby Calan!

The family at Olive Garden on Saturday

Lo with Calan

Britt with her cute baby

Saturday night Calan and I just chilled and watched some TV

We even got Brett to play some DDR after an awesome round of High School Musical sing along

Brett and Britt Move In!

So my cousins, Brett, Brittany and they're darling baby boy Calan have moved in with us! They got here last night after a very long car drive! We are SO excited to have them! Today Courtney and CeeCee and there families came into town around lunch time and after about 2 hours (no joke) of debating where to eat, what sounded good to everyone, where had enough seating for us, if the kids could sit down long enough to eat.... we FINALLY decided on Olive Garden with all 18 and a half of us! It was a blast. Then we came back to the house and had a lovely round of rock band on the wii. It's been an absolute blast to have them! Now we just need to get Robin & Rick, Rachel & Haylee, and Aaron & Kim to move out here! What do you say guys?

Holding Calan while his mommy and daddy got ready

Avery's first time holding Calan. He fell asleep in her arms almost as soon as she picked him up. It was cute!

Courtney LOVED holding the new baby! I sure hope she doesn't get too addicted the idea of a new baby... I think 4 is enough (just kidding court, love you!

It was a miracle! Daxton loved playing with Brett! And Daxton is not exactly a super social child.

Avery's Baptism Weekend

Let me start off by saying that I have an AWESOME family! Robin, Rachel and Haylee took the incredibly long drive up from Texas to hang with us, watch Lizzy's ice show and go to the baptism. It was an extremely busy weekend but we had a blast!

Little miss Texas loved playing in the tiny bit of snow we had! She was adorable to watch!

Me and my sister- this picture says a lot about us. hehe!

Between Lizz's ice show and the baptism we stopped at chic-fil-A and got a little ice cream

The cutie kiddos at the baptism! It was adorable to see Haylee at playing with her cousins!

Thanks for coming up here guys! Love you!

BIG NEWS!!!!!

So, I'm sure most of you have heard, but I got accepted to BYU- Idaho! I am really excited about it! I don't have my track yet but I'm hoping for a fall/winter track... we'll see. I'm excited but also nervous about leaving home and family. It will be an adventure! :)

The Stars at night, are big and bright (clap clap clap) Deep in the heart of Texas!

This past weekend I was able to go down to Texas for Calan baby's blessing. I had a blast down there! We went shopping, had a baby shower, took family pictures at the stockyard, went to La Familia (yum, I love that place), had the baby blessing, and spent lots of quality time hanging out with family. Britt and I even watched Another Cinderella Story! I had so much fun! Love you guys!

Look at that cute baby!

The Petty Family after the blessing- I love having family with the same last name as me!

Love you Rach!

Me, Rach, and Kim

Aaron, Robin, and Haylee on the merry-go-round at the stock yards

While at the stock yards... I got put in jail. Fortunately, I have an awesome Aunt that kept me company while I was in jail. :)

I sure had fun! Thanks for having me guys! I love you!!!