BYU Graduation

WARNING: This post contains an extreme number of photos. All those who may ridicule or judge, please close browser now.

Here are many of our graduation photos. We were so lucky to have many of our family members drive down, fly in, and travel the 6 blocks, to get to commencement. We were so happy to have all of you there, and all of you who could not attend, we have appreciated all of your love and support!

On Thursday all of the graduates came together for the large ceremony. I love this picture of the Marriott Center because it shows all 7,000 of us (It sure beats the 80 students I graduated with in high school!) And I'm sure we were all thinking and feeling the same exciting emotions..."when's this gonna be over?"Where's Waldo? No, where's Marcus and Ashley!?

FRIENDS

Over the years we have gained so many friends from BYU, these are only some of the people who we couldn't have graduated without. These boys were roommates of Marcus', and have become some of our best friends over the years. We will miss them, and their wives, so much!

Brad and Marcus were also freshman friends, and study buddies in Spanish this year. And while they played together out on the intramural field, Katie and I were their own personal cheerleaders on the side :)This is my Sociology pal Meg, who just happened to have almost every class with me. So it was only fitting that we graduate together too! She helped me keep my sanity during those last few weeks before graduation.FAMILY

Bill and Carolyn. Marcus' parents, they really are the best in-laws a girl could ask for. I'm so lucky to have them and all of their family in my life. They have done so much for us, and I appreciate all that they continue to do. We love them very much!What a great day this was to look up into the audience, and see my family smiling down from above. During my years at BYU, my family was always only a phone call away. You could always count on them to send a package from Cougar Care Packages when I was sick, or be so excited for me when I'd ace a test. I love them so much and appreciate all they have done for me.

Here's a picture of me with my mom and Aunt Vicki, who flew in from Colorado. We had such a good time that day going to the spa, getting lunch, and yes, dinner at Tucanos. She inspires me to become the best woman I can be, and I admire her hard work and love for others. Here are some pictures of us with Marcus siblings, and their families.

Dave, Tara, and family. You inspire us to be the wonderful parents that you are, and you are both amazing examples to us in all that you do!Cory and Jen. You mean the world to us. Thanks for being not only our family, but some of our best friends too.Dallin and Ashley. You are both beautiful individuals from the inside out, and it meant so much to have you both there for graduation. We can't wait for yours next!DIPLOMA TIME

MY FAVORITE THING ABOUT GRADUATION? Meeting President Samuelson of course!

Now, many of you may not know this, but ever since my freshman year, I have had a small crush on this President of ours. I know, silly right? My roommate and I use to joke that he looks like he could have stepped right out of an old western movie, and it has always been a dream of ours to meet him.

Two weeks before graduation he zoomed by in a golf course on campus. I almost reached out and touched him and I thought this would be as close as I ever got to the John-Wayne-Cowboy-of-a-President. Luckily, there was a meet and greet with him for all graduates. How convenient!I decided early on, I didn't want to miss it. We woke up early and when we got there, to our surprise there were only 4 other couples there! So we FINALLY met President Samuelson and his wife, and we actually got the chance to talk to him. I told him of my desire to meet him before graduating, and his wife quickly responded that I sure was "cuttin it pretty close"! She was right, and I got that perfect picture I had dreamed of....or so I thought!

I checked my camera, and I had my eyes closed. I hesitated, this was the picture, the moment, I had dreamed of! And out of all of us, "I" was the one with my eyes closed. I decided I had to get another one, so we stood in the short line again and I got to meet President Samuelson, not ONCE, but TWICE!
This truly capped off graduation. What a great, fun time we had during our years at BYU. We will miss you BYU, but...probably not for awhile!

WE DID IT!

Since We've Been Gone

"This little blog of mine" has unfortunately not been shining too well for the past few months. Life has been busy! Let me feel you in:

-We both graduated from BYU

-Moved back to Washington to spend the summer living with our parents (Doesn't that seem backwards? Go to college, get married, graduate from college, move in with parents??....)

-Marcus went up Seattle to sell for work

-But then came home 3 days later to spend the summer on the farm (so he works 17 hour days which usually comes down to "me=a widow")

-I've been applying to jobs, lots of jobs...and I finally got hired at a Fitness gym (key word, finally)

-We celebrated our 2nd anniversary (yes, we were actually together to celebrate it this year, but it was close! Which also means new recommends, isn't that right Rachel?...)

-Also, we were called as 6 year old Primary teachers in our ward (I love it, no really I do (no sarcasm intended!) Our kids don't stop talking and ask us for candy every two seconds. It's kinda like being with myself! I've never been in Primary before though, so it has been fun)

-And... Marcus finally made the decision (with the help of a scholarship) to attend Willamette University in Salem, OR this fall for Law School! I'm so proud of him and how hard he has worked. We are so excited to move to Oregon, live closer to the beach, and break bread with all the Oregon hippies! It should be a fun 3 years, and is a lot closer to home than Utah. Which, personally, I am just loving. However, we will miss our Utah comrades and Italian soda, Rook playing, cupcake making, move watching, sport playing, state traveling, best buddies, Jen and Cory though. Actually, we already miss them!

So that has been our life in a nut shell the past few months. Pardon the absence, but I'll post some pictures soon. I mean really, who doesn't want to see the endless graduation photos? This IS (or was) suppose to be like our journal, but at least now you all know that we've just been homeless, jobless, and husbandless. No biggie, right? Hope you're all having wonderful summers!

Salt Lake City Half-Marathon

Last year my two sister-in-laws, Jen and Rachel, inspired me after they ran in a half-marathon. And although Rachel was able to run in it with little training (I know, she's amazing!), I knew that I would have to train for months to do something like that, if I even could! So for months, Marcus and I have been waking up at the crack of dawn, running countless miles, and have suffered many blisters, aches and pains. And a week ago, Marcus and I participated in the Salt Lake City Half-Marathon.

We started up at the University of Utah and made our way down to the Gateway Mall. It was hard, really hard, but we didn't walk once (which was our goal) and even finished with a decent time! We had such a fun time even running the race, because random people came out and cheered us along the whole way, street performers were there on corners, and the hundreds of people that volunteered at water stations were greatly appreciated! We were also so happy that Tara, her boys and Emiline, and Carolyn could all come down and support us in our race, and that Jen and Cory could come up to Salt Lake too! We had such a fun time with everyone, and seeing their smiling faces at the finish line was a great motivation to finish.

Here we are about to cross the finish line!

Right after the race, standing for a picture. We had to force our smiles in this one! We were hurting so bad and for the next 3 days we could hardly walk. However, this didn't stop us from walking to the food tables of ice cream, yogurts, and bananas! A banana had never tasted so good!

So not only did Marcus and I run in the half-marathon, but Tara, Carolyn, and Jen ran in the 5k and Luke in the 1k. It's a Henry thing, they sure are inspiring!

What an accomplishment this was for me. Months ago Marcus and I had set out to do this, and I'm not a runner by any means! Looking back now we worked so hard to reach our goal. I remember laughing about a mile and thinking I'd never be able to run it. Then it was two miles, three miles, then all of a sudden I was running 12 miles! I still am not a huge fan of running, but it just shows what we can do when we put our minds to something. I'm so proud of us and all we've accomplished. Thanks for being such a great partner through it all Marcus. So what do we do now? Well, we're training for another one for July 4th!

Nothing But Net

Has it really been a month since my last post!? Oh, the horror! Things have been pretty crazy here, but in a good way! We've had a lot of fun with friends and family these last few weeks as we've prepared for graduation. But mostly, we've been around basketball...lots and lots of basketball...I guess that's what you get for being married to a Henry. Luckily, I love me some basketball.

Exhibit A. This season Jen and I were on the same intramural basketball team at BYU. And Marcus and our friend Jimmy we're our coaches. We had SO much fun, and the girls we played with were awesome. So awesome it didn't even matter that we had a 1- and oh something, season. All throughout the season, a few of us got mistaken for sisters. Can you point out the look alikes?Exhibit B. Some of our friends, Josh and Ashley, had reduced tickets to a Jazz game. I love it when we go with girls to sporting events because it gives me someone to talk to, while Marcus swaps sports stats with the boys! The Jazz were playing the Knicks that night so we got to see Nate Robinson. He's only like 5 feet tall and won the slam dunk contest this year. Ridiculous! He gives hope to small people everywhere, including me.
Exhibit C. Our other friends Megan and Aaron got us tickets to the Utah Flash game. They're the D League basketball team here in Utah. They got us courtside seats! We thought it was pretty cool and Marcus favorite part, he got to meet Jerry Sloan, the coach for the Jazz. He was like a kid on Christmas morning! I think I would be willing to watch a lot more basketball if we could watch every game like that!
Exhibit D. Although I have no picture to prove it, I won our class March Madness basetkball bracket; thanks to my sport savy husband. I even beat out the five boys in our class! We filled out both women's and men's brackets and I came back with an awesome score in the women's to win the overall thing! It was a huge surprise when she announced my name. So, what'd I win? A free Bundt cake. Holla! So we've been eating that all week. I guess you really can have your cake and eat it too!

Proud Owner

Today marks a monumental day. Because today, you see,...I became the proud owner of this:
And the answer is no, I could not be happier! You bet your bottom dollar I was there at 10am when Best Buy opened this morning! Although saying this is admitting I didn't attend the Walmart 12am party when it "officially" came out. If any of you've watched movies with me, you know that I fall asleep in 2.1 seconds flat when watching a movie at night (sometimes on dates, I'd even fall asleep at the theater!). So really, I wasn't going to watch it last night anyways. But did any of you rush out and buy your own copy today, or brave the crowds last night? I'd love to hear your stories, cuz I bet you'd have some good ones!

Rex Lee Run Part 2

Ready. Set. Go! Race day went awesome, AND I completed it faster than I've ever ran before ( it must have been from all those comments of support from you all!). I ran the whole 10k in 1 hour 1 minute and 59 seconds. Slightly less than 10 minutes a mile, every second counts! But my favorite part was when I turned into the stadium for my last lap and I saw the best group of supporters ever cheering me on! Two of my sister in laws were both there (Ashley & Jen) with Cory and Marcus cheering away. I am so lucky to have such a great husband who supports me in all that I do, and to have great in-laws to top it off. Thank you all for coming, it meant so much to me. For the rest of the weekend, we got to spend time with Ashley and played board games all weekend. It was so nice to spend time with her, Jen and Cory (although, we did miss you Dallin!). I'm not sure what we're going to do next year if we end up so far apart! Now for some pictures!

Almost There...just a wee bit further!

Done. Finito!Marcus and Jen had a soccer game before. That's why he's in all his soccer stuff, he doesn't usually wear shin guards just for fun!

Not only were they good at cheering, but gorgeous too.

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On a good endnote, my blogging friend Meghan has finally decided start her own photography business on the side! She is so talented and makes each shot so unique and beautiful. I'm so glad that she has decided to follow her dreams and make her hobby into so much more, she really is amazing in so many ways (I mean really, she has young twins and still finds time to do this for herself)! Check her out here.

Rex Lee Run

Remember this post from awhile ago. Yeah, that was pretty fun, but tomorrow morning (Saturday) I'm running in the Rex Lee Run 10k at BYU. I'm nervous and excited, and hoping I won't collapse on the side of the road. Marcus isn't running with me because he has an intramural soccer game with Jen at 9, but he promised he'd be there cheering for me at the finish line.

I can't believe how much time I've had to dedicate to this new hobby of mine. Waking up early on Saturday mornings before cars are on the road because the sidewalks are covered in snow-or three times a week having to miss my favorite shows to go...well, you know...run. I know that my running is no where near the amount of miles a certain family member of ours runs (*cough* Brandon), but you see, I'm not a runner at heart. Often times, I hate it when I'm out there, and it's hard. Last weekend Marcus and I ran 8 miles for the first time and it was a huge accomplishment to me. So I know a 10k (6.2miles) is definitely do-able. What's hard is to think that after the run is over, Marcus and I still have to go run 3 more miles to hit our 9 mile long run for the week!

The Rex Lee Run is sponsored by BYU to support finding a cure for cancer. This year, the Rex Lee Run is going to mean more to me though than just running. A few weeks ago we found out that my Grandpa was diagnosed with cancer. It's been really hard on my family, but because they caught it in time, he will only have to undergo some chemotherapy which will actually shrink the cancer, and then have surgery to remove it. I've had two other close relatives die from cancer recently, yet it's still amazing too me how far science has come in prolonging the lives of those who are diagnosed. Tomorrow will be an emotional, and physically exhausting day for me, but I know I can do it! Fighting (or, running in my case) for a cause, will never feel so good.

5 Things You Wanna Know About Me

I got tagged a while ago by Brianne, thanks Bri. Here are five things I like about you (I wanted to add this in, just because), and then some things about me:
1. You make amazing cookies, and you'd always share them with us (even though you probably didn't want to)
2. You'll go with me at midnight to purchase the new Ashley Simpson cd, and let me cry when it doesn't come out till the next day
3. You still gossip with me about the happenings of our freshman ward
4. Your the only girl I know that's still in love with Clay Aiken, I appreciate commitment :)
5. You'd let me keep 5 gallons of ice cream in the freezer, even if you didn't like any of them

5 Things I was doing 5 years ago:
I was a Senior in high school at CHS
Playing tennis for my last year
Getting ready to graduate
Hanging out with the NAWB crew
Eating out daily at the Hungry Horse getting soft serve ice-cream, oh yum

5 Things on my to do list for today:
Finish up some homework
Go running
Make reservation at Tucanos
Order graduation announcements
Snuggle up with the hubby and watch an episode of Friday Night Lights

5 Things I would do with a million dollars:
Pay off Marcus' future law school
Buy a sweet car
Buy a new labtop
Take my family and in-laws on a awesome vacation
Um...and pay tithing.

5 Places I have lived:
Burbank, Washington
Provo, Utah
Portland, Oregon
St. Louis, Missouri
Lawrence, Kansas

5 Jobs I have held:
Subway sandwich artist
Camp Counselor at Kennewick Park&Rec
BYU Mail Services
Hot Shotz Extreme Laser Tag
Eclipse Marketing office girl

5 Things I want to be doing in 5 Years:
Have Marcus be done with law school
Be back in the Tri-Cities
Have a mini me runnin' around
Move up to at least a two bedroom apartment
Be a good mom

5 People I tag (Or anyone else who has the inner desire to do this):
Laurel
Becca
Ashley C.
Megan
Rachel