family pictures...

With Riley leaving in about a week and a half, and with Rach and Company in town, my mom wanted to do family pictures.
The only day that ended up working for everyone, was not the day that was working for Mother Nature.
We scheduled our pictures with Opie, and we planned on getting them taken at Wheeler Farm. Unfortunately, it was pouring rain; and there isn't anywhere inside the Farm that's lit well enough to take pictures.
So, needless to say, we were all a little wet by the end. But the pictures don't show it; not terribly. I hate the ones of me, but that's definitely not because of the rain.
Oh well I guess.

Noelle wasn't being the most cooperative child, so this is Ben and I trying to get her to smile.

It didn't work.

Afterward, the majority of us headed to Rio for lunch. And after being a butt for two hours, I finally got her to take a picture with me, and actually smile.

I felt so bad about this. I gave Jells this green coin, and at first she kept telling me that it was here eye. She then goes to her mother and shows her what she had, then to return to me asking me if it was "all plastic." When I said that it was, she told me she wanted a chocolate one. I didn't even think I was fooling her into thinking it was chocolate, but I felt bad when she realized that it wasn't what she thought.

I promised her a Coloring Book, which I never brought her. So Rach, be expecting a package from the Lawrences for her birthday.

true blue lacrosse fan...

I've never been able to use that phrase..."True Blue" seeing as I'm a die-hard Utah fan.

Except when it comes to lacrosse.

Between Melissa and Elliot, I am slightly obligated to support the Y.

I even purchased a shirt. Mel told me that when I go to Elliot's games I can just cover the "Women's" with tape. Haha, I think I'll just keep it that way, but thanks for the suggestion. :)

John and I love watching her play. She's crazy fast, and the best player on the team. (No offense to anyone else.)

John and I took almost this exact picture, in these same bleachers at this time last year, and we'll probably take the same picture in these bleachers for the next two years. :)

This is also a repeat from last year. Except Mel said she had to be in the middle this time, and we made sure that John put his hand around her (seeing as last year, he wouldn't touch anyone and the picture turned out awkward. haha)

I must thank Brooke for taking this picture. We didn't meet her until Saturday but she was nice enough to take this and was the cutest ever!

Such a trooper too! During the Colorado State game (their first of three that day) Brooke took a hard foul. This angry girl from the other team took her stick and wacked Brooke across the top of the head, and made her bleed. I haven't been a lacrosse spectator for long, but I've definitely never seen a hit that hard. Not in girls lacrosse, and not over the head.

Also, the girls deserve a large CONGRATS for beating CSU for the first time in BYU women's lacrosse history. It was a big win for them, and we were glad we could see it!

Love you Mel Nash.

We'll see you in two weeks against Pepperdine.

No red card this time, kay? ;)

I'm debating making my blog private...

I don't know how I feel about the fact that just anyone can look at it.

Any insight?

what we've been up to

John and I went to the Monster Truck Rally over the weekend of Valentine's Day.
(I'm a good wife, I know.)
I really didn't want to go, but John was so excited when he saw the commercial, so I decided I would take him.

I think this picture is awful, but John loves it...so there ya go.

This is the whole reason we had to go to this.
"BUT GRAVEDIGGER IS BACK FOR THE FIRST TIME IN FOUR YEARS!!!"
Direct quote from John.
Explains itself.

We had Dust, Tace and the kids come along.
The kids LOVED it, which made it a little more worth while.
And I love this hat.

This is the one part that I LOVED.
The Motocross.

Riley went through the temple. It was the first time I'd been since my wedding. (Whoops). It was good to go, and it was good to see Riley go through.
I think it's safe to say Dad was pretty excited. Mom was a mess, tears all over the place. But Dad is so excited for Riley to go on the mish.

Mom was taking the picture, or else she would have been in it also. :)

David left pretty fast. I think it was a little hard on everyone, but it's good that he went back out. It was the first time that I had ever witnessed a setting apart of a missionary, pretty cool experience. Get to experience it again in about 5 weeks. Eek.

The Lawrence boys can't be serious.

Last but not least I want to say a big

CONGRATULATIONS

to Elliot who was named Lacrosse Magazine's pre-season Player of the Year for his division. Pretty large award, national recognition!

From what I hear he's quite the celebrity down in PTown.

I'm one proud cousin.

Good work Ells.

This is the interview that was TrueBlue. I don't know how to post a YouTube video in here, so here's the link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTwcnHGRgdg

holy toledo...

This sucks.
Since just one this afternoon I've been so sick. Out of nowhere, super nasty fever, and have wanted to do nothing but sleep. Not only that but my calves are STILL on fire.
On Thursday, I was at work, and I was going from one floor to the other, and decided to use the stairs because I freaking hate when a person gets in the elevator just to go up or down a single floor. Seriously? Just walk.
Well, on this particular day, I entered the stairwell without my access card. All five of the floors to my office are locked, therefore we need our access cards. I realized I didn't have my access card after it was too late. I went from the seventh floor to the eighth, and then went to the tenth floor hoping (stupidly) that maybe that floor was open because the tenth floor is the only one unlocked to the public.
Of course, the floor to the tenth floor was locked, so that mean all I was left with was going all the way down. I was in the fire escape stairwell which meant that I even after going down ten flights of stairs, and was at ground level, there was no way out. I had to go down four more flights of stairs underground, then ended up in a tunnel...I had NO clue where I was going, there was an exit to a parking lot, but I didn't know what parking lot, or where I was. So I continued to follow the fire exit. I went through the tunnel, then up a long, steep set of stairs. Really, it was the kind of staircase that makes you feel like you're going to fall backward. That was followed by another tunnel and then two more steep flights of stairs. I was so scared the entire time, and was so grateful to get out of there. Not to mention, I was freaking tired.
Anyway, by Thursday night, my legs already hurt from my adventure.
Friday morning, I was on the verge of tears. I have NEVER been that sore in my entire life.
I couldn't walk. I was limping, and every time I would step I had shooting pains through my calves. People made fun of me all day at work. Last night we went to the Monster Truck Rally (which I will post pictures later) and getting up and down the stairs was ridiculous. It hurt so bad.
This morning has been a little better, the more I sit, the more it hurts to get up. My lovely husband has been trying to rub out the pain, but this morning it was just too much. I cried. Literal tears. John told me that he thinks my Achilles is too tight. I don't know if this is normal, but when he flexes his foot, his toes go toward his shin. My foot can not do that. I just can't do it. So he thinks that's my problem. I think I'm just out of shape. Obviously, terribly out of shape because like I said, I have never felt this much pain from exercise.
Hopefully it goes away soon. I'm sure John is sick of my complaining and I'm over this pain.

updated on life

so it's been a couple weeks since I have blogged and I decided it's about time! We haven't been up to anything extremely exciting; both John and I started at school, and are still working as much as we can fit into our free time. I was asked to take upon another person's duties at work, so now I'm doing that and my own job. It's stressful, and so exhausting, but if it means I keep my job, sounds like I don't really have a choice.

My iPhone officially broke this morning. It died last night, and so I plugged it in, and it told me I needed to plug it into iTunes. So, I did. A message popped and said that my phone was in recovery mode and needed to be restored; so I restored it. The same message then popped up, and I restored it again. Nothing worked. So we had to take a trip to the Apple Store this afternoon, where the man at the Genius Bar, Brad, told me that my phone had internal hardware problems and couldn't be fixed. My only option was to get a new one...for 200 dollars.

Seriously? Now?

Luckily, I worked 12 hours of overtime last week and just received a check for working the ACT in December. Therefore all the "extra" money we had in our bank account is now gone to my new phone. Oh lovely technology.

What this means...I get to start over with everything that was on my phone. So I have no phone numbers. Please, if I know you, and should have your phone number...text me.

Another thing I can, and will complain about is the fog in the Salt Lake valley. Holy cow.

The night this was taken, John and I ventured up to the H Rock where everything was super clear. This was the view of the city. Gross. To think I was walking around campus in that air. Yucky.

We also saw the movie "UP" finally. Loved every second of it. We signed up for Netflix and it's the best/worst thing that's ever happened to us. With our PS3 we can instantly stream movies, and so that's all we do. We can also stream TV Series, which helped me catch up on Desperate Housewives. :)

I must say, of all the characters in the movie, Russell was my favorite. John and I have decided that when kids are a reality, our first son will be named Russell Henning, after our two grandfathers. The first time Russell appears in the movie he is standing on Mr. Frederickson's front porch reading from his Wilderness Explorer manual and he keeps repeating "Good afternoon, my name is Russell..." the way he says it makes us laugh every time; and I can't say I'll be disappointed if my Russell is short and stout just like this Russell is. Even though my son won't be Asian. :)

Probably the most exciting news I have to share is Broozer (or more commonly known as Riley) got his mission call! He's going to the Houston, Texas East Mission and he leaves on April 7th!

We're so excited for him, and he seems pretty excited himself!

There it is. Boo and Rach were even there to share in the joy! ...Over the phone, but that's okay. It's the thought that counts.

Liz, Bek, and Koree. and cutest JW - even though you can't see him

Riley and Anne.

Here's a video of him actually opening his call.

Also, concerning missions. David finally knows where he's going. He got a phone call from their stake president Thursday morning and was told he will be going to Jackson, Mississippi and he leaves TUESDAY. Talk about fast, but he honestly is so stoked. I think he was really looking forward to going back to Tahiti, but he would have had to wait another 7 months for a visa, and he just wants to get out into the field, so he's ready to go wherever they want him to go. We're so exciting for him, and he's so excited. Kind of sad that it's so fast though. We'll definitely miss him.

And last but DEFINITELY not least!

John and I had our SIX MONTH anniversary on Wednesday! Of course, it's not that big, and we didn't do anything except homework (WHOO!) but it's kind of exciting. We're half way through what is apparently the hardest year of our marriage, and we're doing just fine. We still love each other just as much as we did six months ago, and we are more than excited for what's ahead.

He's cute. I love him.

party like it's 2009...

This is what John did when he came home from work.

Yes...that's his own sock; in his mouth.

Me, Marianne, Mandy

I absolutely love these two together.

Cutest couple award.

We're pretty cute too. :)

P-A-R-T-Y in the hottub.

This was all three couples by the end of the night.

Bring on 2010.