Fun with Friends and Mesa Falls!

Peter started his last semester of college today.  I was really excited for him.  This was his very last semester of papers, studying, group work, and tests (at least until Grad school rolls around)! He wasn't too thrilled about it.  In fact, this past weekend, it was a strict rule that we weren't allowed to mention school at all this weekend.  So, instead of wallowing in pre-semester jitters, we decided to get together with our dear friends, Kylie and Chad, and their adorable little girl, Brynn, and have a fun weekend starting with Mesa Falls.  

Kylie and I have been wanting to go to Mesa Falls ever since we roomed together 4-5 years ago, but for one reason or another, we haven't gone.  And with Fall around the corner, (SO excited for Fall!) we thought this would be the best opportunity to see the leaves change and feel the crisp air as well as see some beautiful scenery.  The closer we got to Mesa Falls, the prettier the drive was.

Being closer to Rexburg...

...and being closer to Mesa Falls.

When we finally got there, I was doing nothing but taking picture after picture after picture.  The waterfall was amazing and the walk there was beautiful!  I'm a huge fan of this place.

We finally met up with Chad, Kylie, and Brynn.  I was excited to see them and me and Kylie were glad that we could finally see Mesa Falls together, except this time with our little families.

I had to show everyone that Fall is finally coming!  I'm so excited!

After Mesa Falls, we went to Chad's family property to enjoy Mother Nature some more only with a bit of food added to it.  I loved watching Brynn while Kylie helped with food and Peter loved trying to build a fire 'the old fashioned way' with Chad.  

He liked bonding with Brynn as well.

This was a river right behind their house.  Very pretty!

We had Chad and Kylie stayed the night with us and it was fun hanging out with them just like before me and Peter got married.  The next day was Kylie's birthday.  So I asked her what she wanted and she said she just wanted to go pick apples at this local apple orchard.  So that's what we did.

(I didn't take many pictures of that event.  But I got some cool ones of the apples.)

We spent the rest of the evening relaxing and Peter and Brynn continued to bond some more.

This weekend was a great way to end our spring break and start fall semester.  We missed them and loved having them over. We are excited to see them come Halloween!  

Opals and Farley

One day, Peter was watching a documentary and discovered that there was this certain area in Idaho that was heavily concentrated with Opals.  After a bit of research, he discovered that one of these areas was in Spencer, which is only an hour north from us, and they offered mining for the public.  After mentioning this to me, we both decided that it would be a lot of fun to go.  So after planning to go one weekend, then another, then another, we finally put our foot down and went this weekend.  

The town itself isn't really much to brag about.  With a population of 30-40 people, it's easy to say that we've never been in a town this small.  And we've been to quite a few tiny towns!

When we got there, we were greeted by a man, which I'm assuming is the owner of the mine/gas station/cafe/souvenir shop, who was very nice and helpful in showing us what to look for when we start hacking away at some rocks.  It was fun hunting for some Opals and it was quite a good stress reliever as well, I must say.

And we found some!  I didn't think we would come home with anything, but we got home with quite a few nuggets.  Now we just need to decide what to do with them.

 It was a lot of fun spending some time with Peter outside of Rexburg.  But, like some weekends, we stay here while everyone else goes out of town.  Lori, Lisa, and Zach went out of town and we got to watch Farley while they were away.  Peter loves cats but most people that know me know of my intense loathing for cats.  There are very few cats that I get along with. Very. Few.  When Lori first brought Milo, I thought maybe I could change my attitude towards his kind.  But, as cute as he was (bless his heart),  he didn't really help their case much.  Farley, however, was a very good cat to be around and helped me change my borderline hatred to just a strong dislike for felines.

I still think dogs are infinitely better than cats (so much better!).  But Farley was an exceptionally good cat.  It was fun having a little buddy to hang out with us at night and to see a cute face when I got home from work (aside from Peter's, of course). And he's one of the few that I look forward to seeing again soon.