Birthday Weekend!!

This has been such a fun weekend/week! It was so nice to take a break and do some fun things instead of always being so caught up in school and work. Sunday night we had a family birthday party to celebrate our birthdays (Camden's on the 24th, Nellie's on the 26th, and mine on the 29th). Monday I took three of my close friends down to Payson for a "girls day". It was soo much fun! Tuesday night Brynn threw a party for me at her place, and I had a great time seeing everyone who was able to come. It was just a really great weekend, and I felt really loved! I realized how many wonderful people I have in my life who care about me, and it meant a lot! Pictures are worth a thousand words, so enjoy all the pictures! (If you want to see more, they are posted on facebook as well).

 So Sunday the girls and I did makeovers :) Curled hair, did nails, even makeup!

 It was so fun, they are adorable :) 

 The three birthdays! Me, Nell and Camden :)

 Sweetest little boy ever....

 Poor guy was sick, but still so cute!

 Madi is such a funny girl :) 

 She can be a stinker, but she can also be so sweet and fun! 

She and I are buds :) 

 Brynn and I up at the Grotto (during our Payson day!)

 Katy, Brynn, me and Edie at the waterfall. 

We even ran into someone who taught Edie the gospel YEARS ago - small world! :)

Katy and I on our "hike" :)

 My attempt to be Tarzan...not very successful.

 Jumping pic. Classic.

 Up at Payson Lake...I love that place :) Minus the swarms of bugs....

 Payson's basically the best. If you don't believe me, 

ask the three girls that came with me and fell in love with it :)

 Fat Jack's cheesesticks...nothing better. Seriously....heaven.

 Sno-cones...one of my all-time favorite things about Payson. 

They are unlike any other sno-cone you've ever had...

your life isn't complete until you've had one.

 Then we came home and made a gourmet meal for ourselves and my parents

 (Oh and watched "The Vow"!). Taquitos, Brazilian lemonade, and fondue! 

SO good! (Even if I did perhaps put sugar on top of the taquitos instead of salt....whoops)

 My party Tuesday night...Brynn made the dessert - she's the best!!! :) 

 Katie Cook (Larsen) and her husband Jake. They brought me flowers!

 Glory and I :)

 Me and Mike :)

 Some friends from my ward last year :) So glad they came!

 Me, Katie, and Edie :) Awesome love triangle.

 Scott and I :) So glad we're still friends from my first year of EFY! 

 "Just Dance" = Epic.

 Nelson and David were WAY too good at some of the moves!

 So fun :)

 Nelson has something against smiling normal, so we went for the cheesy look :)

 Brynn. Best roommate/friend ever :) 

 Josh Davis and I :)

Josh Chichoni and I :)

Well, that's all for now! Moral of the story...I have the best friends and family in the world, and I'm so grateful for everything and everyone that has been in my life during the past 20 years. I'm excited to see what this year will bring! :)

Catching Up

This post's title has a double meaning. I do need to "catch everyone up" on my life (not that there is much new going on) and I'll get to that in a second, but I also have had the opportunity to catch up with a few good friends I haven't seen or talked to in years!!!

First, the other day I was able to sit and talk with my friend Leslie Carpenter at a park for hours. The Carpenter family was in my ward when I lived in Colorado, and they are incredible. I love the entire family and am so grateful to all of them for their examples and friendship. Leslie especially was always so incredible to me. When I was a beehive (12-14 year old youth in church), she was a Laurel (16-18 years old) and I looked up to her so much! She was an example to me, she was a friend to me (she even let me borrow her field hockey stick when I played my freshman year, because she had told me I should try out!) Anyways, I have always loved this girl and admired her, but we lost touch for several years because unfortunately, that's what sometimes happens in life. She went to school, study abroads, a mission, etc. but we were determined to finally catch up this term, and it actually happened! I was soo excited. The hours flew by as we talked, because we had so much to catch up on. I loved every minute of it. As I was talking to her, I realized how grateful I am for so many different people in my life. Some, even if I haven't talked to them or seen them in years, have touched my life in so many ways and have impacted who I am.  I realized that although some friends will come and go, others will leave lasting touches on our lives and will never be forgotten. I could go on and one for pages about all of the special people in my life, but for now let's just say...there's nothing that  makes me happier than catching up with an old friend and having it feel like nothing has changed.

I love this girl! :) 

Another fun thing that has been happening recently is that several of my friends have returned this past week (ish) from their missions! It's soo fun to catch up with friends from high school and/or my freshman year at BYU about the last two years of our lives! I admire each of them, and am so glad they served missions - but I'm glad to have them back! 

As far as catching everyone else up on the rest of my life....like I said, not much to say! I really would update this blog more if I had more exciting events going on (or pictures to upload) but school and work is about all I have going on in my life right now! My brother Landon (and his family) visited for a few days from Arizona, which was soo fun. I posted a few pictures in my last post (for "sibling night") but I'll post a few more once I get them from my sister-in-law. 

I've decided I am not a fan of spring classes. I'm sure it'll be nice once I'm done in a few weeks but holy cow...it's stressful. Cramming a semesters worth of work into 6-8 weeks is a little nuts. Especially when one of the classes is Humanities (Worst. Class. Ever). Luckily I'm also taking a Foods class, which I really love! I didn't think I was a very good cook before, but I'm realizing how much I enjoy cooking yummy things! :) I'm excited to some day have my own kitchen to whip some of these recipes up! 

Work is going really well! I'm finally feeling pretty comfortable with my job, and not so stressed because of being the "new girl". I'm pretty bummed that I'll have to quit soon (for my summer/fall plans) because it's such a great place to work. Hopefully I can get the job back when I come home from Jerusalem in December. 

Speaking of Jerusalem...I am getting SOOO excited. There have been some stresses that have come up (with financial aid) but it'll all work out and it will all be worth it. I can't believe I ever considered not going...I already know it's going to be incredible and I'm not even there for 3 more months. :) 

That's all for now folks...til' next time! 

Sibling Night!!! :)

So tonight we siblings (minus Justin and Annette who sadly are in Colorado....) enjoyed a night together without any of the kiddos (or parents) around. It was a lot of fun to hang out!!! We first had dinner at Mountain West Burrito, and then later went bowling at Fat Cats. We decided to have a little "friendly competition". We decided to compete as "couples" (Landon and Melissa, Nellie and Bubba, and then of course David and I). We are already all a little intense/competitive, but things got really serious when we decided on the consequence for losing....singing karaoke! Those of you who don't know our family, we Mauler's aren't known for our singing talent. David and I especially didn't even want to think about the possibility of singing in front of people. So the pressure was on! Long story short, after the first game, the combined scores for each of the three couples were EXTREMELY close. Like, ridiculously close. So things got even more intense for the second game. I've never felt so much pressure to do well, but it was still so fun! I started off really badly, but David did awesome, so he helped balance us out. Then in the last frame, when it came down to the wire, I got two strikes, and helped pull us ahead into second place. We barely escaped our punishment!!! :) I was sooo relieved, and so was David. Again, all three of our combined scores came in EXTREMELY close. It was insane! Landon and Melissa won, then me and David, then Nellie and Bubba just a few points behind. Bubba took one for the team (Nellie didn't want to sing - and I don't blame her! I wouldn't have either!) and he sang "I Saw Her Standing There" because he has a great voice! Anyways....overall it was a very fun night. I love my family!!! 

David and I - we make a great unmarried couple :) 

I dread the day one of us is married and the other is not.

Nellie and Bubba :) 

Landon and Melissa - demonstrating a "strike" :)