Syd Rich: Holy Graduations and Mission Stuff

Tuesday May 17

Tuesday I slept in a little bit and then spent most of my day at the Wildcat newsroom gathering the photos for the upcoming Orientation issue. I got some chipotle and got some work done and it was very productive.

I did go home for a little bit and finally tried the ice cream maker that my parents got me for Christmas. I made mango sorbet and it's pretty good! It's going to be my snack for awhile haha. Next on the list is making plain old vanilla bean ice cream.

Eventually it was time for me to head out to Oro Valley for my first graduation of the week. You see, although my internship with Tucson Local Media ended when school ended they asked me if I would be able to help out with all the graduations that were happening, I accepted. So my first graduation was Annabeth's alma mater Ironwood Ridge.

They had so many student speakers it was kind of ridiculous, but most of the speeches were funny so it was almost bearable. I did get to chat with my old photo editor and friend Rebecca Noble because she was there with some graduation picture taking company. We felt the pain of the graduation together.

Way to go class of 2016 of Ironwood Ridge

Wednesday May 18

MY HALF BIRTHDAY!

I woke up bright and early to drive back to Mesa for THREE more exciting graduations.

The first was Avery's pre-school graduation. This was hands down the best graduation out of all the graduations there have ever been in the whole universe. It was short and they looked SO CUTE in their mini caps and gowns. And not to brag too much, but Avery definitely got the loudest cheers there.

After Avery's graduation the next graduation on the list for my parents, myself and Zach was my cousin Brooklyn's from Westview High School. Her graduation was held at the University of Phoenix Stadium but the audience could only sit on one side of the stadium, and the entrance/exit to the stadium was on the opposite end of where everyone had to sit. Poor planning on the planners part. But nonetheless it was a good graduation. Brooklyn signed the national anthem and sang in the choir for the two performances during the ceremony, she's a rockstar.

I'm still waiting for my aunt Bedie to post the pictures to Facebook, so that is TBD.

After chatting with Brooklyn and family the four of us went straight to Tempe (well not straight to, we did stop for some gas and some food) for McKenzie's graduation. My dad, Zach and I were chilling at the institute for awhile because we didn't feel like sitting in the cramped arena that is Wells Fargo. At one point my Dad asked me to go let EJ and Rory into the building. While I was waiting I was just walking around the parking lot/entrance area and noticed one guy was stuck at the arm of the parking garage, and then I recognized the people behind that car to be Sadie's grandparents! I thought it was the most random thing! And then Rick showed up shortly after. Obviously they were all there for Audrie's graduation but I just thought it was funny that I ran into them.

Eventually it was time for McKenzie's graduation. We ended up sitting in the row next to Sadie's family unknowingly, it was awesome.

The graduation was good. There is a new principal at the high school and his voice sounds just like Spongebob, which is pretty funny considering the old principal looked like Squidward.

McKenzie looked fab, it was all a good time.

There was a funny joke going around that all the Richardson kids had finally made it through high school... but oh wait... we have to wait another 13 years for that to happen.

I am very excited for McKenzie's graduation though because now that means she's going to be partying with me down at best university in the nation.

Thursday May 19

The CRAZIEST coincidence happened on Thursday. Zach and I were trying to figure out where to eat for lunch, and we decided on Mod Pizza. So we drive over there, park, look inside and see that the line is too long and decide we should eat somewhere else. I suggested Panda Express. Instead of driving there we decided to walk to the crosswalk and walk to the other side of the street where the restaurant was located. We JUST missed our walking signal so we were waiting there for a little bit. Then someone honks and yells at us, and it turns out to be my grandparents! They saw Zach and another girl (but did not recognize her as me) and thought he was doing something suspicious, but when they realized it was me they asked us what we were doing and then treated us to lunch at Panda! It was just the craziest situation because we were in the right place at exactly the right time. If Zach and I had decided to eat at Mod we wouldn't have seen them, if we had decided to drive over to Panda we wouldn't have seen them, if we had decided to not go to Mod 15 seconds earlier we would not have seen them! It was just so crazy. But it was fun to be go to lunch with them, and a relief that I was not another girl haha.

Later in the day Bryce Heslop, also known as Bryce-cream and Bryce-krispy treat, was opening his mission call! At his graduation the night before he joked with me that he was going to be sent to Salt Lake City. Well turns out he was right about the Utah part, HE IS GOING TO LOGAN! And he reports in July! So soon! I'm so excited for him though. People always talk about how Utah missions would be so lame... but I honestly would love it, people get treated so well there! He's gonna be great!

Some of Zach's grandparents were at his house (Pam's parents and Thane's mom) and it was quite an exciting evening because Pam tried out two recipes from Trinidad. One was like a spicy mac and cheese (I thought it was a 10/10) and the other was a corn soup with lots of other vegetables mixed in (with cheese added to the soup I give it a 7/10, I just don't like the taste of vegetables haha).

After dinner we all watched Spotlight. Despite being a journalism major and the multiple assignments I had in a class last semester about the movie, I had never actually seen it. But it was SO GOOD! Investigative journalism is way cool guys, way cool.

Friday May 20

I had to go back to Tucson once again for one last graduation. The graduation wasn't until the evening, but I had to leave in the morning because I had an appointment with my apprenticeship editor to meet him before the apprenticeship starts in two weeks. My editors name is Rick Wiley and he's such a rad guy. I am so excited to work under him for the summer. He used to be the photo director for the East Valley Tribune, and that's where I want to work after I graduate so hopefully he can get the hook ups there.

After my meeting with him I went to lunch with Steph and Caroline at Mod Pizza to say goodbye (potentially) to Caroline! She has applied to a lot of places as a nurse and one of them was BUMC! I definitely will not complain if she stays in Tucson a little longer, she's just a ray of sunshine all the time. After lunch we went over to Petsmart because it was a kitten adoption day, and Steph and Caroline wanted to go look at all the cats.

Eventually I went to the Newsroom to do some last minute photo gathering and editing, before heading out to my last graduation in Oro Valley at Pusch Ridge Christian Academy.

I was pretty excited about this one because there weren't a whole lot of graduates (especially in comparison to the last three high school graduations that I went to) so I was expecting a short ceremony. But alas, I was fooled. Each graduate had a thirty second video of them saying thank youe to people as they walked across the stage to get their diplomas. It was long and tedious, but I made it through! And the best thing about all things Christian? There are ALWAYS refreshments afterward haha.

After the graduation ended I grabbed two rice krispy treats and ran the heck out of that place to avoid traffic.

I spent the rest of the night editing the photos and watching some documentary with Jenny about how women are portrayed in the media, it was very interesting.

Saturday May 21

I decided I wanted to sleep in just a little bit before I went home to Mesa. It took me quite awhile to get home because while I was driving home I saw that I got a text from the managing editor at the Wildcat, so I exited to read the text and I found out that I needed another 9 photos for the orientation guide. I was already well out of Tucson at that point so I had to rally up my photographers to take these last 9 photos. Of course they were all out of town except for one, so JB and Sam (my EIC) took the reigns and saved my butt.

But I did eventually make it back to Mesa.

I spent the rest of the day hanging out at Zach's house. More guests started to trickle in for his farewell talk on Sunday. One of them was the Reese's, who are the Walton's family friend they used to live around in Antioch, and hang out with whenever they are in Huntington. They are major game heads so by the time they left on Monday morning we played like 20 different games. It was a hoot.

Sunday May 22

Zach's mission farewell talk and open house day!

It was kind of a mess getting to Zach's ward at 9 am. So many miscommunications with my family and so many slow movers. But we did eventually make it there... in four separate cars and at four different times. But hey, at least we made it.

Zach's talk was so amazing! He talked about his journey of choosing to go on a mission, and the room was just so filled with the spirit. I was with him every step of the way on the journey so I wanted to cry the whole time, but I held it in because I was audio recording the talk for Sadie and didn't want my weeps to overpower Zach's voice haha. But seriously, Zach is just so amazing, he's going to be such an amazing missionary because he waited to go until he was ready. I think that's something that a lot of people can learn from him, especially the young men in the church. I think it is great that guys can go on missions at 18 but a good portion of them aren't ready to leave right out of high school, and that affects the work they do in the field. Although I sometimes think about how convenient it would have been if Zach left right when he graduated high school and would be coming home shortly. But I know that Zach has matured in the past two years spiritually, emotionally and mentally, and that he is going to be a way more successful missionary because of it.

(If anyone wants his talk I can send it to you!)

Big shout out to Steph for waking up so early and driving from Tucson to make it to Zach's talk (she got there even before I did)

After church there was a lunch at Zach's house that all the people in the picture above attended, as well as all of Zach's family. There were SO MANY people there, it got a little crowded at times, but it was just so cool to see all these people who support Zach.

In the evening was his open house where anyone from anywhere could come and say there goodbyes to Zach. I didn't want to hog him the whole night, so I partied upstairs with Steph, EJ, and Kenzie playing Sing Star. We were also accompanied by Avery and Zach's cute nephew James. They were the cutest when they were singing together.

Being the introvert that Zach is, he navigated his open house very well and talked to every single person that came, he's a trooper.

Once everyone left Zach and I went through all the cards he got and read all the sweet things people wrote in them. Ugh he's just going to be so great and I'm probably going to die without him, but he will be so great.

Monday May 23

I woke up to the greatest text message a girl could possibly get! PARKER PROPOSED TO SADIE! I knew it would be happening for awhile because Sadie talked to me about going ring shopping, but I never actually knew when it would happen. They went on a trip to upstate New York with Parker's family for the weekend, so I was pretty positive it would happen while they were there. I thought for sure when they went to Niagra Falls... but no. Then I thought, oh maybe when they got to Palmyrah because that's spiritual... but no. So I texted Sadie on Sunday night with how distressed I was that they weren't engaged yet and coming home on Monday! Of course Sadie's distressed-ness was ten times more so than mine. But it finally happened on Monday morning when they went to Watkins Glen State Park. I WAS SERIOUSLY CRYING WHEN SADIE TEXTED ME! I am SO excited for her. MY BEST FRIEND IS GETTING MARRIED AHHHHHH!

Back to the less exciting life in Mesa.

Steph ended up staying the night, so we went to lunch with Kenzie and Zach on Monday before she left. We went to BJs which was super delicious until I realized how many old people were around us. You might be wondering why that would ruin my meal... ask me in private some time hahah.

After lunch Steph left to go back to Tucson, and Zach and I went to go hang out with the family that was left at his house. We played lots and lots of games. I'm pretty much gamed out for the rest of my life.

We also went to Bahama Bucks with his California cousins before they left, because you can't come to Mesa without going to Bahama bucks at least once.