Motorcycle Double Date w/Jeff and Monique Henderson

 

Unlce Jeff and Nathan getting the bikes up and running...jumping them a few times and burning hot in their leather as the sun was beating down on them

Aren't we so cute in all our gear?!

 Nathan and I decided to take a Motorcycle class back in Dec 2010 in order to get our MC licenses (and I had missed my college graduation to take it Haha).  No surprise that Nathan passed the course with flying colors but so did I! :) Now with our licenses we can go out on Uncle Jeff's Harleys!  

The Saturday (4/16) before Nathan's BYU finals we get a call from Uncle Jeff.  "Look at this beautiful weather, why aren't you two here taking out my bikes?!" So we jumped in the car and drove out to Orem where we started out on our double date.  The bikes had some hick-ups when we tried to start them up but in no time we were off and riding.  I rode behind Nathan and Monique behind Jeff and up we went through the canyon.  The snow frosted mountains were beautiful.  We went up by Heber.  As we pulled off the main freeway and went up higher into the mountains the temperatures dropped and it got quite chilly; so thankful to be wearing the leather chaps and jackets!

Flattering picture of Uncle Jeff on his bike after he went back to see what had fallen off his bike only find Moniques broken hair clip...better safe then sorry I guess.

The free feeling you get when you're riding a motorcycle is unlike anything else.  You get to feel the change in temperatures as you go up in elevation, smell the fresh smell of the lumber yards and pines you pass, and feel the wind as it rushes by.  It is so neat to feel so free, like you're flying!
 

Date Night at Bullpeppers BBQ

When we were last down in Las Vegas Brother Effros came up to Nathan and I, handing us a little note.  It had Bullpeppers BBQ's (a Tahiti Restaurant located in Payson) address on it.  He wanted us to go eat there for a special date and was kindly helping to make that possible.  The restaurant is owned by his friends Linda and Darroll.  When we rolled into Payson at 8:30 the streets were faintly lit and no one was out on the streets or in the stores...I guess its a really small town and "everyones calls it a night by 8" Linda said...

We went inside and Linda immediately made us feel right at home.  We ate ribs covered in divine bbq sauce and steak.  What a fun date!  A little celebration as finals week in beginning and Nathan's first semester at BYU in coming to an end!  I am so proud of all the hard work he has done in school!  Its not easy to give so much of your time and energy to school but he's done it.  Its not easy to give your husband over to school and studying but I know if I do it now then I'll get him more later :) Plus he does such a tremendous job balancing it all.  He studies so much but once he's home he treats me as his princess, giving me all his time and sweet attention!  I love my husband more than words was try to describe!  The tears of gratitude that are in my eyes right now can't even capture how much this man has come to mean to me!  He is my best friend and the person I get to cuddle up with when I'm sad, jump on top of and squeal to when I'm excited, wrap my arms around and tell him I love him, laugh with when we're being silly, and snuggle up with every night!!     

 Geez, I love this Man!  because he's MY MAN!!!

Linda, Darroll, Nathan, and Lizz

PS- on the first Friday of every month Bullpeppers BBQ has free Polynesian entertainment starting sometime between 6:30 and 7!  The food is very good and at a good price!  17 S. Main street  Payson, Ut 

Conference!!

Dad Rass got Nathan, I, Janice, and Paul tickets to the Sunday afternoon conference session!  It was fun to go together and to see Paul and his cute girly :)  The messages were neat and sitting, listening to the gorgeous sound of the Mormon Tabranacle Choir was great!   I kinda feel like that day and week was a blur with family in town for Grandpa Rass's funeral andeveryone running around like crazy, but I wouldn't have traded that weekend and going up to Salt Lake for anything. Being with family feels so good.  I'm just wishing I took more pictures

This picture is taken around the same place we stood over a year and a half ago right before Nathan and I began dating :) So the story is that we had been out a few times but I was thinking it was just fun...then I came up to Utah for Conference to be with family and while I was up here Nathan texted me, asking if we would like to meet up sometime and that made me think...hold on, maybe this guys is a little more serious than I was thinking...We didn't have much time so we ended up just meeting outside after conference where I met my beautiful, now sister-in-law Sara.  All three of us took a picture together...It was fun to be back at the Conference Center and this time sit next to each other, holding hands and being so in love! 

B.E.L.L. Half Marathon

B.E.L.L. HALF MARATHON

MARCH 2011

Runners: Becca, Emily,  Lorianne, and Liz

track: self charted

total distance: 13.1 miles

cost: FREE

Well if you had ever asked me before if I would end up running a marathon or a half of one I would have told you to "jump in the river".  Becca brought the idea up to me a month in a half ago and at first that's exactly what I said...then it started to settle in on my mind.  I actually got excited about it and before 2 days had gone by I was training for a half marathon! "When," you ask, "will the race take place?"  We have no idea, we're just running.

It is amazing how when you are running those first three miles (at least for me) are hard and then something happens.  It's like your brain shuts off the fact that you're running and you are able to just keep going.  I found it surprisingly easy (though still not easy) to run 6, 8, 10 miles and I felt great!  I had never run that far in my life.  

I ran on my own while Becca ran with some Springville friends.  They would run at 5:30 am and Becca had repeatedly asked me to join them...HAHA, Yea right!!  That's was WAY too early for me!  (Still is)  But one Saturday she convinced me to come down there so that we could run together.  We were on the same training track so today would be our 12 mile run.  The half way destination was Hobble Creek.  Half of it being uphill was tough for me.

When we were on our way back home we just decided "Heck! Why not just run the whole half marathon today and call it good!?"  We were all there anyways...so that's just what we did.  They called up their families who came outside with toilet paper to hold up for our Finish Lines that we could run through.  It was so fun to have them all there cheering us on!  Because that last mile or so got hard and my body just hurt so it felt so good to have people there cheering us to "bring it" to the end!

What an accomplishment!!!

Ran the whole thing

no stops...

well, except for one...

Okay so I frequently have to use the bathroom when I run.  Not multiple times within one run but it has become a normal routine to need to find a bathroom or that I end up walking the block back to my house because if I ran we would have an accident and that would not be pretty...so when we were up at Hobble I told Lorianne that I needed to find a bathroom, which we couldn't...When Becca and Emily caught up to us I told them too.  Becca had an Aunt Becca that apparently "Lives like right here".  We were already started down the mountain so I figured it would really be right there...it wasn't.  I was nearly a mile down the road and guess who ended up needing to walk so she didn't embarrass herself...Anyways, We finally got there, me waddling...Thank goodness she was home and let me right in.  Finish I was now ready to go.  I reached for the door and nothing happened.  The door would not open.  I was locked inside these peoples bathroom.  Aunt Becca came, so embarrassed, then instructed me to jimmy the door open with a butter knife they had stashed in the bathroom sink (evidently this was not the first time of this incident) HAHA!  It was funny!  I was sure having problems jimmying it open and it wasn't until she told me not to worry about the wood or paint that I really went to town and was out in a few short moments.

Good times!

By the end of the run I was SORE! tired, yea I guess but absolutely and totally sore.  My back, my hips, my knees...also felt thrilled about what I had just done!

Bring it Baby!!  

WE DID IT!!!!!!!
(* I love how my feet are barely off the ground and Becca is practically flying!!  remember, I'm a lot taller than she is...so there's Becca who when we were finishing up turned to me and said "I think I'd like to run a full Marathon :)"  I think I even glared at her, haha!  That was the last thing on my mind...I still don't think I will but I want to do Sprint Tri-atholons now :)  You know, some variety!

We LOVE Utah!!

Though I am TOTALLY ready for Spring we absolutely love the beautiful white snow that we get up here.  The trees look magical all frosted white.  We decided it was a great day to take some fun pictures together and in the snow too.  We LOVE our house, our yard, our ward, being close to family, my job, BYU, the mountains, and of course most of all EACH OTHER!!

It was fun to have Nathan turn into a little photographer and take some pictures of me...It made me feel so good to have him get the camera all ready and make me feel beautiful...It sounds silly but it made me feel all cute for him...I'm grateful for the little things he does to make me feel pretty 

      We believe in a thing called Love!!

Isn't the backyard beautiful with all that glorious whiteness!?  

Becca and I are training for a half marathon and I'm so proud of myself...Me who was always freezing down in Las Vegas has been consistently running in this freezing weather and in the snow and rain!  I am starting to get use to the cold and actually enjoy it...especially because it always means that I get to cuddle up with my handsome Hubby and just lay close with him (not that I need it to be cold to get any of that ;) it just makes it all the better!!!)

finally...Honeymoon Pictures

Our Honeymoon was WONDERFUL!!  A week together without any distractions!  I can hardly believe that  this was over 6 months ago!! Time goes too quickly... We went on a cruise for our Honeymoon, got totally spoiled but absolutely loved it! ...Check the previous blog about our honeymoon for written details... here I'm just wanting to let everyone see the pictures that we have...

 Here we are boarding the Cruise ship! We were so stinking excited and the boast was huge!!

 The food was INCREDIBLE!!  You could eat pretty much whatever you wanted, whenever you wanted, and as much as you wanted!  A girl can get spoiled in a place like this...no cooking or washing dishes!!  Also, no making the bed...mess it up, leave for the morning....come back and like magic it is all made up nice and beautiful, even with a towel folded into the shape of different animals...like I said, SPOILED!! haha, it's kinda like "the big and spacious boat"...is it bad to say that it was so nice to be spoiled like this and live in this Big and Spacious place for a week...

 Like I said....HUGE

 The face is because I was in an outhouse in Mexico and Goodness! Did it stink!!

 Nathan and I borrowed snorkeling gear from Doug and Jen Larsen (so nice of them!) and so we got to go snorkeling (both of our first times doing that) in Ensanada, Mexico.  After asking some locals and taking a taxi , we arrived in this small cove where we were the only gringos there...that was pretty awesome.  We saw a jelly fish, crabs, sea slugs, fish... 

 like 10+ hot tubs on the ship...sit in one of those and look out over the ocean, Yea, pretty sweet!

This is the day we went to Catalina Island.  We took a smaller boat to the island where we snorkeled...we actually came here first but I didn't want to have to change around the order of all my pictures...so now you know my lazy secret.  

...it totally looks like this is photoshopped, but IT'S LEGIT!!

...this one too...

The water was FREEZING!  I had goosebumps all over my entire body and was shaking as we were snorkeling.  We couldn't handle it anymore so we hurried and got out.  Nathan was still so super freezing so I put all the larger warm stones all over his chest to help warm him up faster :) I'm such a good wife!

Fun to look at the huge boat just out of the bay and then think "Hey, That's our home right now!" 

Isn't my Husband AMAZINGLY HANDSOME!!

I can hardly believe he's mine and I get to cuddle up next to him every night :)

*Here he's playing with Hermit Crabs...a first...he was all jumpy, but then so was I.  Hey, you try to catch those little guys, crabs too, when they jump and scurry around...you'll jump a bit too

Here's my crab...

YUMMY!!!

These pictures are back at Ensanada...We stopped in a little restaurant/hotel to eat lunch.  This place was full of all kinds of hats and stuff, totally empty besides us...we thought, "heck, why not"  

After snorkeling! What a fun day but we were ready

 to get back to the boat and cuddle after a day of adventures

We went out one last time in Ensanada before the boat took off to come back home. We went out for Chimichangas...they were so good!!

Here's Nathan sleeping in the "Dog House"/window seal!

He looks so sad...don't worry, he liked it up there! Haha

We're getting everything packed up and ready to go back home...man the cruise was so fun!  Thanks honey for a wonderful Honeymoon!!  What a great Man I've got!  I just love him to death!!

Back at home and visiting Mom and Dad Andersen...now real life begins huh?!  

And what a wonderful life we have together!!

A few nights later(I think) we went over to the Rass's with and Rasmussens and Andersens to open up wedding gifts!  We were so deeply touched by everyones generosity and kindness!  It was an answer to our prayers and worries! We felt SO loved!!  THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO LOVES AND HAS HELPED US START OUR MARRIAGE! WE LOVE YOU AND ARE TO GRATEFUL!!

Love Mom and Dad Andersen to pieces!!! XOXOXO