the henderson home

If you walked in to the Henderson Home,
You'd find kids growing up to be teens, to adults, to be on their own.
You'd walk through the front door and smell,
love, laughter, and the stories we tell.
You would see the front room and the piano there,
taught to kids by a mother with care.
You would then walk into the kitchen, grabbing a fruit snack is a must,
the TV would be on with SportsCenter and the Raiders who probably lost.
The ground would be shaking from the music coming from downstairs,
for there's never a time in this home when an instrument is not blared.
Although the best part about this home,
is when the family sits together and no one is alone.
We sit and talk, laugh, and maybe even cry,
for some of us got our mother's teary eyes.
We sit and talk of memories of the past
and create new ones that will always last.
This home is open and welcome to anyone who enters,
some may think of it as the homeless food center.
You'll always be loved in the Henderson place,
for our mom always says we can find some space.
We wouldn't make it through with out help from above,
and in our home the number one rule is love.

i love my house. over the holidays it was so good to be home. from playing dance central to FIFA it was quite the competition. and this year everyone was home! we served breakfast at midnight on new years eve and i'm pretty sure we hit a new record of people being in that house. my parents are awesome and always so so supportive. maybe some of you reading this have been inside my house and grabbed a fruit snack or two and i hope you have felt the special feeling in our home. and if you would like, comment or email me with a favorite memory! i would love to read them.

as they say.. "home is where the heart is"

much love.

the power of music and words.

i'm sure you have heard these two phrases many times: there are power in words. music has a special way of expressing an emotion.

sometimes when i write on this blog i wonder how other people will read it. as weird as this sounds i want them/you to feel how i feel when I'm writing. i want them/you to know how important, passionate, etc. i am about the things i write about. i know i'm not an amazing writer and that my grammar is at a level of a solid zero but i do love to write. so i'm going to try a little something. you can play by the rules or just read along it's really up to you.

before i talk about something i'll have a song before the paragraph (youtube video) press play on the video then keep reading. it's as simple as that. maybe this will work and maybe it won't but i'm going to try it. it'll be sad, funny, and hopefully a little inspirational or something.

here we go:

have you ever sat you in your bed really late into the night and reflected on all the things that have happened in the last six months, year, week, etc. and wondered where time has gone and just cried? or maybe even laugh at a memory that was completely stupid but for some reason that night you couldn't stop laughing about it? and you think about the boy or that girl or your best friend and miss them. you feel like sometimes no one understands and you would do anything to go back and live that time all over again? i guess its true when people say you don't know what you have until it's gone. but thats why you have to live in each moment and make the most of it. now you could decide to sit in that bed and cry and never let yourself move on or you could remember all those things with a smile and i'm not saying push away those feelings, let yourself feel, but remember to smile. at one hard time in my life my whole family was gathered around and my grandma was talking about how hard it was that my grandpa had died and she found a little note in her scriptures that said "don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened" that has been my motto and now when things happen i decide to make the most of it instead of thinking too much or whatever i usually do and let me tell you it's lead to a much happier me. bad things still happen but it means there is still a whole lot of good to come.

this christmas break was amazing. one of the best i will say. i worked a lot, spent time with friends, and enjoyed every second of being with my family. we went to a cabin in Heber where all the Idaho family came in as well and played our christmas game and played dance central until late into the night, watched incredible sunsets, and then on sunday it was just the henderson clan of eight. we sang to my parents for their anniversary and just talked. it was lovely. time much needed. other than that i've just mostly been working. a lot. it's a good thing i love the girls i work with and how much fun we have together. it's awesome. my friends are great too. we didn't do anything crazy this break. but spent late late nights watching movies, playing wackee six or commotion, going to temple square, and probably many other things i am forgetting but it was so nice having a break from school and just being able to hang out. all those boys will be leaving soon for the mission. i'm sure going to miss them. i've been living at home for the break. back in my room which i was in when i was little. it's funny to see all the little pictures and trophies and seeing how far i have come. i really love living at home. it's nice. i don't have to wait for the cannon to be open to get food. my mom makes amazing meals and its just nice to be home. really nice. i'm going to miss it actually. but i guess thats the thing we all have to get used to. new homes and stuff. at least i will have one to always come back to.

 for a while now i have been trying to decide what i'm going to do with my life. i know what career i want to go into, pretty sure about my degree, and everything like that but i want to do more. ever since i was little i have wanted to travel the world. even if it meant i had to live out of a suitcase for the rest of my life! i love seeing new places, learning how people live in different places around the world and everything that goes a long with that. but ever since that whole mission announcement i have had no idea what i am going to do. missions are great great things. and so i started really praying to know if that is what i'm supposed to do and never really got an answer. i'm not going to lie it's been really really hard. so i decided to talk to my brother and my mom about it. as we talked my brother decided to read me one of his favorite scriptures. and the feeling i got while he was reading was just what i was looking for. so where will i be going next? well i have a few different things in mind. i really want to learn a language or get better with spanish, i want to go help kids in orphanages, maybe do a study abroad in europe. you best believe i will be saving all my money and pennies. because i'm going to be seeing the world. and helping people. but as far as a mission goes.. well maybe that will happen a little later. i guess we will just have to see how things go! thank goodness for supporting family. and a wonderful, much needed christmas break.

thanks for reading. now you try!

much love.

a pretty cool fam.

now that finals are over and knowing that i never have to take american heritage every again (my hear is singing) i can enjoy the break & holiday. so far it's better so so great. really. full of work, family, and friends. lovely. however before the break really started us henderson's thought we needed a big bang to start out the month, and what better way to do so then to go to a raider game?! my dad grew up in santa rosa and the raiders practice field was just right across the street. when he was young he would go with his dad and so we decided to go to one ourselves. it. was. awesome. so so fun. we first went to san fran and couldn't ask for a better day. clearer and warmer then ever. we went to Boudin, an amazing sourdough sandwich and soup place and then of course to see the sea lions (side note: if katie was an animal she would be a sea lion. she loves them.) anyway. it was lots of fun. we missed the big brother kyle but were able to take the main squeeze sis-in-law liss lou with us. plane and car rides with catching up, random conversations, and basically peeing our pants laughing. we then went to the game and it was seriously like walking on to a pirate ship! someone would yell "RAIDERS!" and the whole line would echo it back. even my lovely mother was yelling it! hilarious. even though we lost it was still the best experience. at half time they recognized the hall of fame and my dad just about died. it was all the players that played while he was growing up. we had no idea this was going to happen but it was awesome. the night ended by going up to the oakland temple which looks over basically the whole bay area. lovely. amazing. then we went back to the hotel, crashed, woke up to a lovely view, and sadly flew back home. the weather was lovely. and the quality family time was priceless. now we are all sitting in a big cabin up in heber. i love love love my family and like i said before, the break has been a dream. here are some pictures of the san fran trip.

sorry for the picture overload. 

much love.

a happy birthday.

about a week and a half ago was my birthday. it just so happened to land on black friday of all days which just added to the fun. of course the day before was thanksgiving and having my birthday around that holiday has always been fun. surrounded by family and just being able to relax, talk, laugh and feel so so loved. needless to say it was a wonderful weekend.

so here is what i did.

at midnight i went to katie's show at the south towne mall. we actually got there around 11pm and got to go right in since she was with her band and i was a groupie. a little story for you: we were hungry so around 11:58 we went and got food and a pretzel place. as we were walking back we started to hear roars or people first quiet then louder and louder. it was like that scene in lord of the rings where they are in the cave and they hear the people coming at them (han aren't you proud? i made an LOTR reference!) but it was just like that. all of a sudden people were sprinting towards us. we grabbed each other right there and waited a few minutes trying not to be trampled! it was madness.

after getting home at 2 in the morning i had to be ready and at work by 5:30 am. then that madness started. thankful i got some of the best birthday singing I've ever experienced and i love the people i work with so it wasn't a bad way to spend most of the day. after work my family and i went to texas road house! one of my favorite places where i eat way too much food. it was so fun being with everyone and once again laughing and just talking. after eating we went home and watched the BYU women's game. it was so intense and even though they lost, it was still a great game. that night ended with one of the best presents ever. we all went to kyle (my brother's) show. he is in a band called desert noises. if you haven't heard of them go look them up!!! they are incredible. anyway we jammed to his music and sang along all night. his last song he said, "it's a very special day. my little sister is turning 19." everyone cheered even though they probably had no idea who i was. "and my brother just returned for his mission and he is going to come up and sing with us" now trevor used to be the drummer of this band and would harmonize with kyle. if you have heard them together you know it's gold! anyway. he got up there and they started playing oak tree. my favorite song! i was dying. it was the best surprise and end to my birthday!

the next day i went shopping. of course. and just my luck anthro was having the best sale! again, dying. that's really all i wanted for my birthday and my mom was all for it. after lots of shopping at city creek we went back and i headed to dinner with tiff and han. of course tiff was late.. :) but we had a lot of fun. laughing way too loud and telling stories while stuffing our faces. it was great. just missed our lex. after dinner we all headed back to my house for treats and games and of course ended the night with disco skating. one of my all time favorite things.

just wanted to say thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes and the love. it was a good one. here's to my last teenage year! yikes..

(and of course an iPhone photo dump)

 much love.