I love my sweet mama. The past 2 weeks have kind of thrown me for a loop, so I was grateful that she was willing to hop on a plane just like that.  The older I get, the better of friends we become, and I realize there are a lot of things we have in common {for starters, I am starting to develop her unfortunate inability to sleep in}.
We picked her up on Saturday night and then headed straight for an all-you-can-eat Mongolian restaurant. Ah yes, I forgot to mention that Adam has been called to serve a mission in Mongolia in January! We couldn't be more excited, although we advise Mom against doing Internet research where she learns things like "they have rabies and the Bubonic Plague," "it gets to -40 degrees Celsius,"  and "they drink fermented horse milk."
Sunday we visited a random early ward and then hit the road.  We drove through Provo Canyon up to Midway and Jungfrau Hill, then twisted our way towards Park City and back towards Donut Falls.  The leaves are just starting to turn color.  In the city, a flea market lined the streets, and Mom was so excited to find her beloved Spanish candy that she has been looking for ever since our Barcelona trip. Other excitements included taking a hike in flip-flops and Adam doing bizarre things like telling us to "punch that leaf! No, harder!" hugging/shaking trees and scaling logs that were propped up at dangerous angles.
That night we visited Becca and Taylor before picking up Katie from the airport at 11.  The next day, after school but before the other kids got home, Mom was so kind as to stock up our pantries. Usually I hate too much time spent shopping, but now I was so happy to just hang out with her! The next two days we squeezed in as much time as we could with her, but it went too fast anyway.
I am mostly just grateful that I have a mom willing to stay up late for me and offer a shoulder to cry on with some really sound advice.  Sometimes it's easy to forget that she used to be my age, and it was weird/comforting to learn how well she understands the things I go through based off her own experience!  I sure love her, and I can't wait for her to come back!

Because things have gotten a little hectic with school, here is a bullet list of events that have transpired since I returned from Mexico:

• Dad dropped Rachel and I off with Adam, a Freshman here with us at BYU. While here, we visited Swiss Days, which I have been looking forward to for an entire year.  I wore my dirndl and everything, expecting to find a genuine Swiss festival with authentic Swiss meats and cheeses and all of my mission buds running around. Unfortunately, these Utah vendors were instead selling things like "Swiss tacos" {really just Navajo Tacos}, but it's alright. I was quite satisfied with my candied almonds and Zopf {a soft pull-apart bread}. We ended up having a peaceful little picnic in the Canyon.
• While he was here, we also snuck into Grandma and Grandpa's old property, which was in the family for not quite a century and is now being totally renovated.  Dad is much more gutsy than Mom, which meant that we checked out every nook and cranny of the construction sight and also enjoyed some fruit from the trees that Grandma planted (including Asian pears, plumbs and raspberries), since they were otherwise going to rot anyway. 
• We visited Becca and Taylor and watched baby Sloane dance her little tush to the beat. 
• School started.  I am taking Language Development, Speech Anatomy, Acoustics of Music and Speech, Old Testament, and German Cultural History. I am psyched to actually be in my major, and I especially love being able to learn about language acquisition and the process it takes for kiddos to communicate! 
• I had some heart-to-hearts with my dear high school friends Lindsey and Paige.  Lindsey was actually the one who convinced me that therapy was worth a shot, and told me exactly who to see.  So glad I took her advice way back in May or June; it has definitely changed everything! 
• There is a huge fire tearing through Utah, a morbid combination of two smaller fires that has gotten completely out of control. The sky in Provo is brown and smells like a campground; people cough throughout class; my roommate's grandparents had to evacuate. Everyone is praying!
• I THREW A PARTY! Yes, this lil introvert wriggled her way out of her shell and ultimately got together a group of twenty people from the ward to have a pool party {plan changed from having a bonfire because we didn't want to risk that}. There was another group with twenty plus people there too so it was bumpin. Then one of the guys in the ward said he and his friends were driving to see the fire, and when I told him to take good pictures he told me to tag along! So Rachel, my roommate and I drove up with this group of guys and watched the ominous orange glow over the mountains.

A Mayan sports area.  The ball was supposed to go through the hoops, visible high up on the sides.

the cenote where they once held virgin sacrifices

Cenotes are essentially giant waterholes where the earth collapsed many years ago.  The cenote right outside Chichen Itza was possibly one of the most beautiful sights I have seen in my entire life.  We jumped from high up into the warm waters and enjoyed as rain sprinkled down the gaping hole past the draping vines.

Nestled on the edge of a teal sea are the ruinous reminder of a people who thrived in the Mayan Post Classical period. 700 years ago, Tulum was a seaport, but now the bustle of the old trade town can only be imagined as one wanders through its remains.  A closer look provides the curious eye with mysterious symbols and godly images etched into the faded stone.