Graduation

Last week Jon and I walked in our graduation ceremonies. 

WHOO-WHO! We made it!

Actually, it's kinda' anti-climatic for me. The last time I took what I consider to be a "real" class at BYU was about a year-and-a-half ago; it's just taken me until now to get the diploma because I had to finish my internship. But after a full year of being on the other side of the desk, it was a little strange being the student again. Luckily, I didn't have to take any tests or write any papers. I was fortunate enough, however, to get to sit through several BYU devotional-esc speeches during the ceremonies. 

Listening to these speeches reminded me of all the other talks and speeches I listened to during my time at the Y. When I was in college it was always wonderful, amid the craziness of classes and working part-time and homework and life, to take some time to be reminded of the bigger picture by attending the weekly devotionals. 

President Worthen speaking at graduation. His speech was my favorite!

And that's what the speeches given at graduation did for me too! They reminded me that education is the means, not the end. The means to work hard. The means to create. The means to self-discover. The means to serve. The means to become more like our Heavenly Father. The means to happiness. 

Overall, the ceremonies were pretty good. Having worked for two-and-a-half years in an advisement center while at BYU, I've sat through my fair share of graduations because running them was part of my job! For that reason, I made sure that when Jon and I were choosing when to walk for graduation, that we chose August. It's about half as long as the April graduation and there's only so many times that you can hear "Pomp and Circumstance" before you go a bit senile. 

The guy totally said my name wrong, though. "Lindzzaa Maureen Self..." he read, and I almost did a double take at the guy. Who misreads "Lindsey"? And I made sure to write it in really nice letters. Five minutes later, another "Lindsey" walked across the stage, and he read her name right, so I'm sure it was just a stumble on words. 

My mom took pictures of the screen when Jon and I received our diploma cases (they send the real thing in the mail). It was cool because one of Jon's favorite professors, Dr. Eide, handed them to us!

The best part of the whole dealio, however, was the time with family. Both Jon's and my family came into town for the event. Thursday morning before the ceremony we hiked Battle Creek Falls in Layton with my family, and that evening both families went to Jon's aunt and uncle's place for dinner. Friday after our ceremony in the morning, we went with Jon's family to Chuck O' Rama for lunch, hung out with them for a bit, and then that evening both families' went to my aunt and uncle's place for dinner. Good thing we have aunts and uncles in town! 

Battle Creek Falls:

The dinner at my Aunt Martha's house:

Cousins Nick and Michael

The Self gang!

Kate with Jordan photobombing in the background

At Graduation:

Family is what it's all about, and I was glad I could share the day with them. I was especially glad that my mom was there. Even though the whole finishing college thing seemed a little out of place, when I hugged my mom all the memories I had of calling her and talking to her on that campus when I was stressed or lonely or happy or bored or upset and every other thing in between came back to me for a moment, and suddenly, it didn't feel like it was just me graduating any more. Instead, it almost felt like it was me and everyone who helped me make it--my mom in particular--that was graduating that day. And then as I looked heavenward and thought of all the divine help I'd received as well, my heart swell with gratitude. What a tender reminder that no accomplishment is every achieved alone. 

Tubing and Chess at the Park

We ended July and welcomed August with a bit of fun! On the last Tuesday in July Jon, Jessica, and I went on a hike up Vivian Park at a place called Big Springs and then went tubing down the Provo River. I was pretty tired on the hike so we went really slow, but once we hopped into that cold river water, I woke-up pretty fast!

Here we are a hiking!

While on the river, the three of us tried staying together by holding onto each others' tubes. This quickly ended when Jon failed to steer and ran into a bunch of branches sticking out on the bank, which resulted in his falling away from our group because he fell out of his tube and into the river. After a while, we finally got all back together. Jessica and I were fine, but Jon was shivering and chattering his teeth, so we let him hold us together while the two of us steered our entourage around. We ended the day by eating pizza and watching "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back." It was a rather lovely day.

Here we are, life jackets on and ready to go down the river!

Later that week, Jon and I welcomed in August by getting a cold treat at Rita's and then by playing chess and tossing a Frisbee at a park in Orem. It was a very simple little date night, but it was like a little piece of heaven--ice cream, good weather, pretty surroundings, and my husband. I would call it a success!

It's almost time to say goodbye to summer!

Doing a LOT of Running on Pioneer Day!!!

This past January, Jon came up to me and said this:

"I want to run a marathon!!!"

We talked about it and decided it'd be fun to find a race wherein he could run the full marathon and I could run a half. So, a ridiculous amount of money later, we were signed up to run the Deseret News Classic on Pioneer Day--July 24th, 2015.

This past June, Jon came up to me and said this:

"Why'd I ever think this was a good idea to run a marathon? Running is stupid! Once I'm done with this race, I'm saying goodbye to running for forever!"

We talked about it, and what with him having hardly trained for the race because he'd been so busy finishing up classes to graduate, I suggested that he maybe just run the half marathon with me. His response was along the lines of: "But a half marathon isn't really any sort of accomplishment and that'd be dumb!" So, he went ahead and did the full marathon.

This past July 24th, Jon ran across the finish line after having ran all 26.2 miles down Emigration Canyon and through part of Salt Lake City and said this:

Well, actually, I can't quite recall what he said. Mostly, he was deathly white and barely walking and so tired that he didn't really want to talk. But he finished, and now the deed is done!

Both of us were pretty excited about our times! The best time I've ever gotten running a half is 2 hours 10 minutes, and that was with extensive training. This time, I didn't train nearly as well and was hoping to, at the very least, get the same time. So I ran with the 2:10 pacers for the first half of the race and was able to keep up just fine! Then, for the second part of the race, a girl named Tori that had also been running with the 2:10ers and I pulled ahead of the group and started running 9 minute miles instead of 10 minute miles! We finished the race together at 2 hours, 3 minutes, and 47 seconds, averaging with an overall 9:30 mile! I was really happy with how well I'd done, despite little training!

Jon ran the first 15 miles at about a 8:30 per mile no problem. Around mile 15, though, things got a bit harder, but her kept running diligently until about mile 20. Here, it was just too hard to keep running straight, and he finished up by alternating running and walking. He finished at 4 hours, 2 minutes, and 42 seconds, averaging a 9:16 mile! Holy cow!

One really cool part about the race was that, since it was on Pioneer Day, Jon and I wanted to run remembering our ancestor pioneers. So the day before the race we decorated shirts with the names of our ancestors on them and then race the race in them! When the running got rough, I just remembered the names of Louisa B. Rogers and Christina A. Larsen and ran a bit harder for them. It was cool, having something bigger than myself to run for.

My shirt:

The front of Jon's shirt:

The back of Jon's shirt (Jon's face included):

I doubt Jon will ever run a race again, and there's a good chance I may never run a race again too because I think my time to be better spent on other things besides training, but I really did love running in the race. There's something very powerful about doing hard physical things. Not only does it help you feel more in control of your body, it helps you feel powerful and strong in other areas of your life too. Like, "If I can run that really long and hard race, I can do other hard things in life too!" If you've ever felt like running a race is something you want to do, I'd encourage you to do it! It's more possible than you might think, and the feeling you get in the end is amazing!

Fitt Family Reunion 2015

As soon as we got back from backpacking, we got to spend some time with Jon's side of the family at the Fitt Reunion! This reunion happens every 3 years or so and it includes a lot of extended family! Jon's maternal grandpa and all of his brothers get together with all of their descendents for some food and fun for a couple of days. This was my first time going, and I loved it! Jon's family is very friendly and easy to get along with.

We went on a little hike up Cascade Springs and watched a staged train robbery, but for the most part we just hung out at a cabin they reserved near Heber--talking and playing games and eating good food. Though it was only a few days, it was fun to get to know Jon's side of the family a bit more and create some good memories!

Aunt Emily and Jane!

Jon and Liva walking to watch the train robbery:

Jon watching the bad guys rob the train:

Jon arm wrestling his Uncle David:

Grandpa, Grandma, Uncle David, Jon, and me!

Backpacking in Oregon

July was full of so many fun events and activities, first of which was my family's annual backpacking trip! We left for home on July 4th, went out to the woods on July 6th, came out of the woods July 9th, and came back to Utah on July 11th. This trip was particularly fun because it was Jon's first time going backpacking with my family. We loved having him there to tease!

We hiked a place called Herman Creek Trail, which we've done once before. It's uphill for most of the 7 miles in and super green and fern-y and tree-y--just the way I like it! Because of how dry it's been we weren't allowed to have campfires, which was a bit of a bummer. Also, there wasn't really a good place to swim, which was also kinda sad. But we still had a blast playing in the creek and hiking and eating good food and playing games!

I don't know how long my family will be able to keep up this tradition--what with more son-in-laws and grand kids coming within the next several decades or so--but I'm glad that my parents have kept it up and made it last at least this far. It's my sisters' and my favorite part of the year and I've had a lot of special and defining experiences out there in the woods of Oregon and Washington. It would be a fun tradition to pass down to my kids.

Before we started:

By a waterfall along the way:

Jessica!!!!!!

Jon caught a salamander:

Playing a game of Rook against the parents (they won....):

Jon and I went on a little hike! (Look at how scruffy he's lookin'!):

When we came here the first time, we found another tree like this one and took silly pictures on it. So of course, we had to initiate Jon into the club!