Ronda Mae: New Years in Paonia, Colorado!

Well, it's been a while! I have A LOT to say! School got out and I got pretty decent grades! My birthday was great! I went to dinner with my mom, sisters and the Matthews girls, then went and watched "4 Christmas's". I loved it! haha. I thought I was just going to be staying at my parent's house and working the whole break, but I ended up going to Colorado with a bunch of my best friends from high school last Monday for New Years, and man, was that an adventure! Jael was staying in Colorado with her mom over the break and wanted everyone to come. Jessica, Juan, Ryan and Jael's boyfriend from St. George, Kyle, were all that ended up going, but it was a needed reunion! At first, Jael didn't invite me because every other time she's invited me, I've "flaked" out because I wasn't able to get work off and she thought it would happen again if she tried to invite me. Well, when I heard about it, Ryan was inviting me to go with them. He's the one that told me thath Jael said that she didn't invite me because she thought I was just going to flake out. Oh boy, if she wanted me to come, that was the right thing to say. I was going to prove to her wrong and that I was NOT going to flake out this time! I pulled a few strings and worked some of my magic and I was able to get work off and go to Colorado. She was so surprised that I actually came! Ryan, Juan, Jessica and I all rode the train to Grand Junction, where Juan lives and also where we spent Monday night, until Jael came and picked us up on Tuesday. Jael's mom lives in Paonia, a small little town about an hour away from Grand Junction. There's not a lot to do out there. We spent most of our days either helping Jael's mom with chores around the ranch or just hanging out at the house. The water there has a strong scent of sulfer so we weren't able to shower. We were a smelly bunch! haha. It was almost like camping, but without having to sleep in the great outdoors! New Years day came and we went into town and explored. We went to a cute little coffee shop and hung out there for a while. We ended up just walking around for a good hour or so. When we got back to the house, Jael's mom had bought at least four cases of beer and a jug of tequila so we could celebrate the new year. Ugh. I wasn't expecting it. But don't you worry, folks! Ryan and I were sober the entire night! Not even one drink! I made the best of the situation I was in. I took pictures and videos of my drunken friends, took care of my drunken friends, and laughed at my drunken friends. I experienced Juan's bumpin' hip hop dancing, being Jessica's and Jael's kissing target for the night (Jessica actually was able to lay half of one on me after I was pinned to the ground by both her AND Jael. Jael tried the whole night, but did not succeed. ha.), and learning that I can have just as much fun as they did, without even having alcohol. :)

This was at a little Chinese Buffet in Grand Junction that Juan took us to. I thought that fountain was so cool! It was a wishing well, but there were foot-long goldfish swimming in money! ha I thought it was pretty sweet. :)