Homecoming bonfire pictures???

I was wondering if anyone who reads the blog would have pictures of the homecoming bonfire? Maybe in electronic format? Thanks everyone. I thought the reunion was great and it was awesome to see everyone.

Price

Rebecca Holt Kufeld

Hello Everyone! I am sorry we were not able to see everyone for the reunion. But promise I will be in attendance at our 20th! I have really enjoyed seeing pictures of everyone and finding out what everyone has been up to since graduation. Thanks for sharing! :)

After graduation I attended Ricks College and then moved to Logan and attended Utah State, got my license and sold real estate. Then for a tumult of reasons landed in Reno, NV. And got a job working at Intuit for several years, and then landed my dream job as the Payroll and Benefits Manager at Sugarbowl Ski Resort outside Tahoe.

Eventually a mutual friend introduced me to the love of my life, Joshua Owen Kufeld. He proposed a year later in front of 1,500 people at our annual dance recital. (See picture) We were married last April and now reside in Elko, NV. I am the proud step-mother of two beautiful children, Bryson Hunter (9) and Alyssa Reese (7). Josh and I are discussing having one of our own down the road….but we aren’t in any hurry. We are just enjoying our time together.

Josh currently works as a Service/Sales Manager for a Salt Lake based company, Statefire/DC Specialties and I work for a German based company, Liebherr Mining Equipment as the Human Resources Manager. We both teach a couple of classes at Studio 425 here in Elko. Josh is a professional freestyle hip-hop dancer and we danced professionally together in Reno before our move to Elko. Josh teaches hip-hop and I teach jazz, modern, and ballet. (Just to clarify, I did become a good dancer AFTER I graduated from High School. I know I was terrible in high school, but I became much better after studying with some amazing instructors in Utah, Reno, and all over the Bay Area!) Josh and I keep busy by attending dance workshops, attempting to fish every body of water in the western states, camping along the way, hunting, traveling to warm locations, and the eternal project of renovating our historic 100 year old home in Elko. Home Depot loves us! Even though ten years ago I imagined my life much different than it is now, I couldn’t be happier! J See you all at the 20 year reunion if not sooner! :)

Melissa Nielson Hobson

I wasn't able to make it to the reunion so I thought I'd give a brief update of my last 10 years. I know I'm way late on this, but that's just the story of my life these days. After high school I attended Ricks college and graduated in Office Systems Management. I met my husband, Aaron, there and we were married in August 2000. We moved to Provo and I worked at BYU full-time while he finished up his degree in International Business. In 2002 we did an internship for a company called Del Sol (located in Sandy, UT) and had the opportunity to live in Grand Cayman, Alaska, Aruba and Orlando. Aaron and I were both fortunate to get full-time positions with Del Sol after the internship. In November 2005, I was admitted to LDS hospital where I laid in a bed for 3 very long months until our first three kids were born. Yes, I did say three! Aubrey, Brock and Carter (2 1/2 yrs) were born in February 2006. Since then I have been a full-time mom and then some!

This past June, our fourth child, Tanner, decided to suprise us and come two months early. He spent almost six weeks in the NICU and just recently came home to be smothered to death by his three older siblings. He is doing really well and we are happy to have him home. We currently live in Herriman, UT (South SL County) and Aaron continues to work as Del Sol's VP of Marketing. We have been so blessed!

I'm sad we didn't get to come and see everyone, but hopefully we'll make it for the 20! Good luck to everyone in the next 10 years!

Reunion was a Success!

Hey All!

It was great to see everyone that came to the reunion this last Saturday. I failed to take any pictures at the park, so if you took pictures, I would love it if you could email them to us and we will post them. Here are just the few that I took! We missed all of you that didn't come!


Hillary, Liz, Anna, Meredith. Your 10 year committee, minus Natalie Clark. We missed you, Nat!
At the end of the night, we announced the committee for the next reunion, so here's your 20 year committee minus Tiffany and Jen. Kelli, Maren, Annette, Sara, Janell, and Lisa. We look forward to a great reunion in 10 years girls!

The final match for the Wii competition. The two finalists were Damon and Sterling. These guys were GOOD!

At the "Senior Lock-in" we had a sheet out for everyone to sign. We asked everyone to put on it what they would be doing in 20 years. Anna has been keeping it in a safe place for the past 10 years. Thanks Anna. This is priceless! It was fun to see what people wrote. Some were dead on!

Mandy Sutton Leavitt

Wow I can't believe it has been ten years. Brock and I got married on July 9,1998. It's even harder to believe I've been married for ten years. Brock and I moved to Roberts after we were married. Brock started working for my brother-in-law farming and I would help out on the farm driving truck during grain and spud harvest. We moved back to Rexburg in 2000. Brock started working for John Deere in 2001. He is still working there. We bought a house in Teton 2 years ago. I stay at home with the kids for the most part. I clean John Deere on the weekends. We have four great kids. Kelten is 9, Kasen is 6, Kreed is 3, and Kassidy just turned 1. It has been so fun seeing what everyone is doing. I wish you the best of luck in the future.

Your Ticket Confirmation

Hey Guys!
It was brought to my attention that some are wondering what they need to bring to the park to show proof that they have paid. We were originally going to be sending e-tickets, but it got a little complicated. We will be bringing a list to the park of those that have paid, so you don't have to worry about bringing anything. Thank you for your pre-orders!
For those of you who have not paid, but want to save a little money, you can still pay by tomorrow (Thursday) night through the paypal account located to the right of this page. It will help us get a more accurate count. If you choose to pay the day of, we will take cash or check.
Only 3 more days! It's going to be fun to see everyone. We've got some great things planned!

Thanks again,
Liz

Aubrey Green Nelson

I too did not graduate from Madison High School, but consider my self a alumna. I have fond memories of growing up with many of you; from birthday party sleep overs in grade school to my first real kiss in sixth grade and typical teenager nights of sneaking out after dark.

After High School, instead of attending college I opted to be a beach bum in California. I soon discovered how limited my surfing skills were, came to my to my senses, and moved to Salt Lake City. About a year later I met my Husband Mike who was doing his internship year at LDS Hospital ( I was the proverbial girl next door). He continued training in Rochester Minnesota and I followed him to the frozen tundra. We were married in 2001. While he finished his residency, I taught dance at a local studio. Several years ago, we moved to our current home in Minneapolis Minnesota. We have two beautiful boys; Erik who is three years old, and Kalvin who is six months old.

I am planning to attend the reunion and look forward to seeing everyone in a couple of days.

Tifani Erickson Clark

I did what most of you did after high school and attended Ricks College for 2 years, graduating right before BYU-I was announced. While at Ricks I met my husband, Jeff Clark, and we were married in February of 2000. (As a side note, Nicole Easton married my husband's roommate on the same day!) After Ricks my husband and I moved to Pocatello where after 5 years he got his Doctor of Pharmacy degree. We then took a job in Spanish Fork, Utah, and moved here in May 2005. We built a home and moved into it in December 2005, and we have spent the last few years doing a lot of landscaping and gardening. We really love it here. Our first son was born in August 2003, our second son was born in February 2005, and our third son was born in July 2008 (2 1/2 weeks ago). I am a stay-at-home Mom and it is great. We love to travel as a family and have been to both coasts as well as many places in between in the last year and a half. I hope to be able to make it to the reunion this weekend. It is great to read everyone's updates!'

Jared Frisby

After graduation, I went to Ricks for a year and majored in computer science. It didn’t take long for me to realize that I wasn’t cut out to be a computer programmer. I had a chance meeting with the head of the school’s Video Productions department and I was hired part-time. After a few months of working there, I realized that I loved working in the video world, and I changed my major to Communications with an emphasis in broadcast journalism.
In the summer of 1999, I went to the New Jersey Cherry Hill mission. I had a great time, and serving a mission has helped my life immeasurably. After the mission, I returned to Ricks (but it was only a few weeks before it changed to BYU-Idaho). I had a great time at school. I continued working for Video Productions and I started working for the campus radio stations and yearbook.
After graduation in 2005, I was hired by Apple Computer. I work in Apple Global Training where I create podcasts, demo videos, and live webcasts to train everyone who sells Apple products. I also do a lot of Flash programming to train iPhone resellers. I enjoy working on such a wide variety of projects, and I absolutely love it here. I’ve been a big Mac fan for a long time, and it’s a blast to work for such a great company. I’m about to start working on a Masters degree in Instructional Technology. It will involve many online and night classes, but it will be worth it in the end.
Working at Apple meant that I had to leave the Jell-O belt and move to Silicon Valley. I live in Sunnyvale, just a few miles from San Jose and about 45 minutes from San Francisco. I started going to the YSA ward when I moved, and that’s where I met my wife, Jenni. We started dating about a year and a half ago, and we were married this past March in the Oakland temple. Married life is fantastic! Jenni is an athletic trainer at West Valley College nearby, so we both have a decent commute and don’t have to deal with nasty rush hour traffic.
Living in the Bay Area is awesome. We’re close to San Francisco, Santa Cruz, mountains, beaches, biking, great food, and tons of good concerts. The downside to living here is that my family and many good friends are far away, but we try to visit Idaho and Utah whenever we can (which is never often enough).
With all that has been going on at work, we won’t be able to make it to the class reunion. I love reading about how everyone is doing, and it’s good to hear from everyone. Have fun at the reunion!

April Page Blazzard

Hi! I'm excited to re-live highschool a little this weekend and see everyone. Since highschool, I have married a wonderful man named Josh (in June 2001)and had 3 beautiful children. Samuel is 5, Hope is 3, and Jameson just turned 1 this summer. I graduated from Utah State University in 2002 as a Health Education Specialist, emphasis in Community Health, but haven't worked in that profession yet because my son was born shortly after graduation. My husband Josh, works at a North Ogden firm as a Structural Engineer. And as of now, I am working as a full-time Mom and loving it very much. We have lived in Logan, UT and now live in Brigham City for 3 more weeks until we move to our new home in Farr West, UT. (A little closer to work will save loads in gas money.) We are very happy and hope all of you are, too.

Clarissa Brown Sandall

10 Years, It is hard to believe. A little update about what I've been doing in the last 10 years. I went to Ricks after High School, and graduated with an Associates in Office Systems Management. After Ricks I moved down to Salt Lake to work in the Church Office Building with the International Secuirty Department (We oversaw missionary safety and travel of the apostles and 70's). It was a really neat experience being able to work so closely with the brethren. While in Salt Lake I met my husband Morgan, who was getting his Masters at the U of U. We were married in February of 2001 in the Idaho Falls Temple, 3 months before he graduated with his degree in Structural Engineering.

We then moved to Star Valley, Wyoming where we bought a house, and welcomed our first daughter Ashlyn in November of 2001. While there, I started a catering business from home, which I ran until we added our third child and I had too much business, and not enough time. We have added three sons since then, the newest arriving in May of this year (that is him in the picture) Marcus, Isaac, and Zachary. We moved from Star Valley to Sitka, Alaska in January of 2006. The move consisted of a 4 day car ride, and a 4 day ferry trip. It was a beautiful Island in Southeast Alaska with whales, bears, and tons of other wildlife, along with beautiful mountains.

We were there for a year and a half, when Morgan accepted a job in Utah. He has worked as an Engineer for the Federal Government since we were married. We enjoy spending time with our kids, going on bike rides, camping, fishing, and exploring different areas. It has been a great 10 years for our family. It was fun to see where everyone has ended up. My family is still in Rexburg, and we occasionally make it up there to visit. Our hope is to one day move back to some land we have in Star Valley, we love the mountains, and it is a little closer to grandparents.

Reunion Agenda

Here is a brief agenda for the reunion for those of you who were wondering:

At the Park:
11:00am-3:00pm
*11:00-1:00 Lunch is served
*raffle
*fun games for the kids
*visiting

At the Stake Center: Adults Only
7:00pm-10:00pm
*visiting
*wii tournaments
*ice cream sundaes
*"remember the past"
*prizes

Both events are casual dress. Can't wait to see you there!

Reunion Help!!

Hey Everyone!
The reunion is just a few days away and we are excited to see everyone. We had our final conference call last night and are in need of a little help. After looking at our budget, we see that we didn't charge enough to cover all of our costs. The reservation of the park, postage, entertainment.
To offset the costs we have decided to have a raffle at the park. We are looking for anyone who has a business or knows anyone that has a business that would like to donate items or gift certificates for the raffle. In return, the business will get recognition at the reunion. We would be willing to hang or display a sign of the company to help advertise that business. Whatever money is raised over the amount of reimbursement will be donated to the next reunion.
If you are interested in this, email us through the blog and let us know what you are willing to bring to the park! Thanks so much for your help. It's going to be a blast!

Liz

Andrew Martin

My wife Mariann and I were married January of 1999. We are the proud parents of two little girls and a boy. Kamrie is 9, Taylor is 7, and Keagan is 5. We are also expecting another baby boy in November. I have driven truck the last 10 years for various companies, but now own my own truck and haul in WY in the oil field. In my spare time (if any) my family and I like to camp, go boating and just have fun as a family.

New High School Ground Breaking

Anthony Tietjen sent this picture to us. They took it at the ground breaking of the new high school. Thanks for the picture, Anthony.

Aaron Parson

Aaron has delegated me (Camile) to update you on the past ten years. (I wear the blogging pants in our family.) :)

1998 - Went to school at Ricks for two semesters majoring in art.

July 1999 - July 2001 - Went to Guatemala as a missionary (with 11 other guys from Rexburg, one of which was Brett Haderlie)

Sept 2001 - Aaron met me (he didn't know at that time that I would be his wife, but that's when we met. Our first date was a month later and we were married two years later in November of 2003.

August 2004 - (nine months and one day after our wedding) Welcome home baby girl Carly!

She's kind of impatient and didn't like waiting for two years while we dated.

Spring 2005 - Graduated from BYU-I with a degree in Landscape Design.

Winter 2005 - Moved to Moscow, ID for graduate school at the U of I. We loved living in Moscow, mostly because we made so many great friends there. Jordan and Jenny Nielson were our neighbors - lots of fun Rook nights and other great memories with them!

January 2006 - Welcome home baby girl Ellise (Ellie)! ("Concieved a Viking, born a Vandal" - Aaron's contribution to this post.) :)

Just so you don't have to do the math - Carly is almost 4 and Ellie is 2 1/2. Our little girls are so much fun and keep us laughing every day!

May 2008 - Aaron graduated with his Masters degree in Landscape Architecture with honors. (He is seriously so talented!)

Later in May 2008 - Moved to SLC to work for an Architecture firm. He's really enjoyed his job so far and is currently working on a planned community that will be across from the temple in Rexburg.

Kimri Powell Murphy

It has been fun reading about what everyone has been up to. We had a very successful class.

After High School I attended Rick's & got my AA in business management. I also met my husband Chris Murphy while I was there but I wasn't in a hurry to get married so we dated for about two years before getting married in 2001.

After we got married we moved to Washington State where we both attended Central Washington University. While living there I started working as a financial aid assistant at Perry Technical Insitute and became the Financial Aid Director when I got my BS in Business Administration. In June 2005 we had Jaden. My job was fabulous & I they allowed me to hire more support staff so that I could have a flexible & part time schedule so that I could stay home with my baby. At 17 months Jaden attended montessori school in the morning while I worked & then we played in the afternoon. When I became pregnant with my 2nd Chris was offered a position in Idaho Falls with Yellow Book in their Sales (if you have advertising needs you know who to contact.) We always wanted to get closer to home so we moved here before our home sold in Washington. That was the end of last year when the housing market started to go crazy so we stayed in Rexburg until our home sold. During all the craziness Landon was born February 9th of this year. So I have two boys that are keeping me very busy.

We started searching for a home about 3 months ago in Idaho Falls; after losing out on our first home(two offers on the same day) we just moved into our new home a few weeks ago. We love our home & are ok with the intial disappointment of not getting the first home we put an offer on.

We are excited to be back in the area & to be settled again.

Tiffany Forsgren Alleman

Wow! I can't believe it's been 10 years! I've loved reading everyone's updates and am so impressed with our graduating class. I can’t wait to see everyone next weekend!
After graduation, I went to Ricks and graduated in Communications and Math and then transferred down to BYU. I had a rough time choosing what to major in at BYU, but I finally decided to major in Business Management with an emphasis in Marketing. The highlight of my time at BYU was meeting my husband, Jon Alleman. He was captain of the men’s volleyball team and I got to travel to watch him play for a couple of years- we even got a free trip to National’s in Hawaii! We got married in May of 2003 just after I graduated and right before he started his Masters in Tax Accounting.
I had a lot of fun jobs through college and summer breaks. I worked at Disneyworld, sold door-to-door security systems in Portland and Chicago (torture), sold jewelry, worked at KSL TV, and traveled through Russia and Ukraine volunteering in orphanages. I turned down a Pharmaceutical Sales job after college so I could stay close to Provo, and I started working with an Internet Marketing company. Within a few months I was promoted to East Coast Sales Manager and spent a couple of weeks each month in New York…very fun, but obviously not my ideal close-to-home job. After a couple of years I switched companies to a local marketing firm and worked as their VP of Marketing.
After 4 years of Internet Marketing I was VERY ready to take a break and was delighted to have my daughter, Reagan, in January of 2007. I have a great husband who has been supportive of me and my crazy emotions during many fertility drugs and procedures…I hope none of you have had to deal with any of that! Last summer I decided that I wanted to do a little work again on the side and I started my own company. I keep myself very busy and I'm very happy!
My husband and I live in Draper, UT, but we plan on putting our house up for sale within a week or two. I'm sure he'd love to go back to Southern California, but we'll probably stick around SLC for awhile. My house is always open for visitors and I'd love to stay in touch better over the next 10 years!

Randi Shaw Mortensen

(Hailey 6, Brock 4, Drew 2, Brooklyn 7 months)
Wow! 10 years already. It has been fun catching up with everyone. Just a short note about are crazy life. I also went to Ricks College after high school and graduated with an associates degree in accounting and business management. I met my husband (Blake Mortensen) my second year at Ricks College and we were married in May 2000. We went to Europe for a month after we were married, and traveled all over. We went to nine different countries. My husband served his mission in Paris, France. So it was an awesome opporrtunity to see where he had lived and see Paris. It was amazing. We had our first daughter, Hailey in Nov 2001. And then the following January I returned to school at BYU-I.

We started building our house in August of 2002 on his family farm in Lyman and moved in the day after Christmas. Blake graduated the next year with his Bachelors in Finance, about the same time we had Brock our first boy. Finally in April 2005 I completed my Bachelors Degree in Accounting, and six months later we had Drew, boy #2. We are so glad that school is over for now. We just had Brooklyn in Dec 2007, so we are very busy. Blake is in management at Wal-mart and is farming when he's not working there. He also trades stocks a lot and is really enjoying playing the stock market. I work one day a week at the post office and am loving that. I do taxes sometimes for family and a few close friends, just to keep my foot in the door. But I love staying home with my kids, they keep me so busy. But we love it.

Jake DaBell

It’s great to hear that everyone is doing so well. Here’s my last 10 years in a nutshell. After high school, I went to Ricks for a year. I spent the next two years on a mission in the Ural Mountain region of Russia. While I was gone my parents moved to Bozeman, Montana, so I came “home” to Montana after my mission.

I decided to head down to BYU to continue school and ended up living with Shad Kidd and Steve Hunt for a year in the tiniest, most inadequately furnished basement apartment you’ve ever seen. I started majoring in Chemical Engineering, but after a couple of semesters I decided that wasn’t for me. A friend of mine suggested that I look into dentistry, and I’ve been pursuing a dental career ever since.

The summer after my first year at the Y, while visiting friends in Rexburg, I met my future wife, Abby Johnson. Abby is a Skyline grad from Idaho Falls. She graduated from BYU-I with a degree in Nursing. We were married in December 2002.

I finished up at BYU in 2004 and shortly after graduation Abby and I were blessed with a baby boy. We named him Connor. That summer we moved out to North Carolina, and I started dental school in Chapel Hill. We loved North Carolina and had an amazing four years there. Our little girl, Brielle (“Ellie”), was born in 2006. I graduated from dental school this last May.

During dental school I realized that I really enjoy orthodontics, so I applied to several orthodontic residency programs and was accepted at the University of Washington in Seattle. My residency actually just started and unfortunately I can’t get time off to come down to the reunion. I’ve been looking forward to this reunion for a long time and I’m pretty bummed that I won’t be able to make it. Abby and I are hoping to end up in Idaho Falls when we finish in Seattle, and it sounds like there are a lot of us still in the area, so hopefully we can get together before another 10 years goes by. We should keep this blog thing going. It’s fun to hear what people are up to.

If anyone wants more details or to see some really cute pictures of my kids, go to jakeandabby.blogspot.com.

Connie Clements

Wow! Time really does fly when you are having fun! Where did all of the time go? I have loved reading up on what everyone has bee up to. Like 90% of the class, I too went to Ricks College. (I don’t care that it is now BYU-Idaho, it will always be Ricks to me.) I spent my two years there trying to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up. I settled on the social sciences and decided to see if politics and law were for me. I headed off to Washington DC to intern for Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID) the summer of 2000 on the day I graduated from Ricks. I started my internship the day the Justice Department authorized the removal of Elian Gonzales from his uncle’s home and sent him back to Cuba. That was a fun introduction to government and life in the legislative branch! (People from Idaho were REALLY upset about that.) While I feel in love with the East Coast, I quickly ruled out a career in politics as well as the legal profession. In the fall of 2000, I headed off to school at Utah State University. After year at USU, I decided I needed to go on a mission (something that was NOT in my plans, but, hey, plans change, right?)

I served my mission in Cleveland, OH, a place that previous to my mission I considered to be on the list of Top 50 places you NEVER want to visit. I still consider it to be on the list of places you don’t EVER want to live, but visiting is okay. While on my mission, my family moved to Washington State, so after my mission I returned “home” to Richland, WA. I then headed back to school for my last semester at USU that fall. (2003 if you are trying to keep track.) I graduated with my BS in Political Science (what I affectionately call my BS in BS) and I moved “home” at Christmas to start the dreaded job search. (If you ever feel like you self-esteem is just too good, try looking for a new job, it will cure it in a hurry). In July of 2004 I finally found a job in Salt Lake working in the corporate offices of a market research firm (think telephone and online surveys).

On my first day in the office I was introduced to the staff and who should I run into? None other than our very own Wendy (Olson) Beesley. It was the beginning of great things. (Wendy is quite possibly the best boss I have ever had!) I have spent the last 4 years working in various capacities at “the Dirge”…managing projects, acquiring new accounts, developing and implementing marketing campaigns, redesigning the marketing collateral, etc. I have the best coworkers, a super flexible schedule (I got to work from home the ENTIRE summer), and for the most part I like what I do. But like they say, all good things must come to an end.

I decided back in December that it was finally time to go back to school and that I wanted an MBA. So I spent most of January, February, and March studying for and taking the GMAT (twice). Thankfully my scores were good enough to get me accepted into BYU’s program and I start the 20th of August. I wish I could make it to the reunion, but I will be moving that weekend to start my next adventure. I hope you all have a blast. For those interested my blog can be found at http://conniesrandomrants.blogspot.com/.

Brian Miller

It’s been great to read and catch up on what everyone has been up to. As for myself, it’s been a pretty exciting 10 years and I’m looking forward to seeing those that can make it to the reunion. After graduation I spent the summer working and then went to Ricks till heading out to southern Spain for my mission fall 99. I was spoiled in Spain with the warm weather and so it was hard to come back to Rexburg’s cold winters. So, after returning I went to Ricks for one more year and then headed down to the University of Arizona in Tucson with Tim Pickard.

That spring Tim and I drove down to check out the University and attended an institute dance that weekend...I met my future wife, Cassie, there for the first time. I began the Optical Engineering program Fall ‘03 and graduated Spring ‘05. Along the way, Cassie and I were married Thanksgiving Day ’04 and our cute little redhead daughter, Madeline, was born September 05 and we’re expecting a boy in October. Cassie also received her degree from the U of A in music education and then taught elementary music for 5 years. She is now a stay-at-home mom taking care of Maddy and teaching piano on the side.

After graduation, I continued on in the same program and am hoping to finish up my PhD in December 09 hopefully…who knows, the graduation date keeps on sliding further into the future. I’m working on building a pre-clinical camera system to image the brains of radioactive mice that have Alzheimer’s disease…hopefully to help in finding a cure.

Cassie and I love living in Tucson and it’s been great to have friends from Rexburg down here too…Marshall Hart, Tim Pickard, Scott Nielsen, and Ryan Robison in Phoenix.

-Brian

Marshall Hart

Notes on pictures:
1st Our family and our normally cute kids (Afternoon church is really
hard on kids).


2nd From left to right, Connor Nielsen (Scott and Elizabeth), Emmett
and Mariah Hart (Marshall and Jani), Madeline Miller (Brian and
Cassie)


The last ten years (I also can't believe it has been that long) for
Marshall Hart.

My family and I live in Tucson, Arizona. By pure happenstance, several
of us from the class of 98 are down here. In addition to me, I know of
Brian Miller, Scott Nielsen, and Tim Pickard.

Jani and I have three kids (Emmett-5,Mariah-3,Eden-1.5) that keep us
very busy. Jani's a stay-at-home mom and I work as an engineer. We love the outdoors and are always looking forward to our
next adventure. We love to go down to Mexico and camp on the beach or
go rappelling in the local caves.

We've learned to like it here and we are buying our first house, a
remodel (wish us luck!). We love the mild winters, gorgeous evenings
and great mountains. Price, there are plenty of nice crags down here,
if you need a place to climb in the winter. We love visitors and
anybody is welcome to crash at our house anytime (I can't promise
we'll have the carpet in yet but you're welcome nonetheless).

We won't be able to make it the reunion (always seems to conflict with
a family reunion) but we will be through Rexburg on the 13th and then
again on the 17th. If anyone is still around and wants to get together
just email me. I have a gmail address ( marshall and then hart with a
period between).

How we got here...

May 1998—Ricks, worked on becoming flight instructor, dated, worked etc.
April 1999—Left on LDS Mission to Haiti
April 2001—Returned tan and 20-pounds lighter (didn't last unfortunately)
July 2001—Moved to Provo, began working as flight instructor at UVSC
Dec 2001—Engaged to Jani Riddle (another flight instructor)
Jan 2002—Started BYU, I believe I was a Math major at the time
May 2002—Married Jani Riddle
May 2003—Emmett is born
Mar 2005—Mariah is born
May 2005—Graduated with a B.S. in Physics
Jun 2005—Flew Helicopter Tours in Alaska
Aug 2005—Started work as an engineer, Jani started first of two
apartment management gigs
Nov 2006—Eden is born, ended 2nd manager gig, moved into a house like
normal people
Jun 2007—Another summer flying Helicopters
Aug 2008—Bought a remodel house, skipped another class reunion (sorry)

Kasandra Cheney Parker

Here's my last 10 years -- has it really been that long?! I attended Ricks College along with so many others in the fall of 1998. I got the opportunity to be on the college clogging/folk dance team for 2 years. We toured Europe both summers I was on the team- they were awesome experiences!! I changed my degree a couple times and finally graduated from the Paramedic Program there in the spring of 2001- while also working for Madison Ambulance as an EMT-Basic while going to school. I did my internship for 5 weeks in Galveston, Texas and came home and got married 2 weeks later to my husband Jon Parker. I have worked part-time as a Paramedic/Firefighter for Madison County for the last 8 years. It can be a very stressful- yet rewarding job all at the same time. We had our first son- Kyson- in June of 2003. We built our home in Rigby throughout 2004-05 (do-it-ourselvers take a while!!) and our second son- Tanner- came in June of 2005 after we got moved in. I took a job that fall as an adjunct professor at BYU-Idaho in the Paramedic Program and starting teaching piano lessons out of our home. I did that for a couple years and taught my last semester this past winter semester- deciding I needed some more time at home-- to do what?-- well, keep busy. We had our third son- Ethan- in June of 2007 (yes- if you've been following along- June is our busy month at our home!!) I am still working part-time at the Fire Dept., teaching piano lessons, and I am starting a clogging studio on the side this fall here in Rigby! My husband runs a software development group in Idaho Falls, a.k.a. he is a "computer nerd" as I like to tease him! So, life is busy and fun around our household!! I'm looking forward to seeing you all at the reunion next month!!

Bethany Leman Cowley

I have not been in touch with anyone since I left Rexburg and have only gotten little updates from my brothers so this blog is very awesome. Thank you!

I also went to Ricks, majored in meeting cute boys (I mean General Education--couldn't make up my mind). My hubby and I were FHE brother and sister (cheezy!), met my Freshman year, got married a year later. We moved up to U of Idaho where I got a Bachelors in Accounting and Luke became a Civil Engineer Corps Officer in the Navy. Lana was born in September 2002. The girl is now 5 and has lived in 7 places! While Luke was at Officer Candidate School, I stayed with my parents and went back to Ricks to start pre-reqs for Nursing school (hated accounting). We moved to California for more training, then to Virginia where we have been the past four years, currently in Virginia Beach. I got my RN-BSN at Norfolk State University and have been working in a Neuro/Trauma ICU since 2006 (love it!!). Katelyn was born in November 2005 in the middle of my second to last semester of school. We have survived one deployment to Iraq and will have many more to come. I never pictured myself being a military wife, but we're making the most of it and get to spend a lot of time at the beach. The Navy is sending us to Arizona for grad school next month and then to California after that, then hopefully Spain.

Congratulations to everyone for all that you've accomplished in the last 10 years. We had amazing, talented people in our class and it's great to see what we've all made of ourselves. And we make beautiful kids!

Pearl Hokanson

Well its been a crazy 10 years. I did the usual Ricks College and mission. Since then nothing has been usual. Lots of moving and traveling and this past month I celebrated the first time in about two years that I stayed in the same state for an ENTIRE month. I currently reside in Provo and work on the Mother Baby/ NICU unit at American Fork Hospital. My top 5 accompishments of the past 10 years are as follows......
5*I have been in pursuit of the perfect 24 hours, it has been an evasive quest. The rules are it has to include the perfect activities, company and music. Im hesitant to proclaim it for sure so I still call it the NEAR perfect 24 hours but I acheived that a few weeks ago.
4* I survived an attach from a severly demented one legged man. For those of you whom have also survived such an ordeal I have a support group S.O.O.L.A (Survivors of One Legged Attackers)
3* My alias (Mable Blaster) was a write in candidate with six votes for Govenor in the state of Wyoming.
2* Im pretty sure in my 7 years working in the medical field I have changed more diapers than anyone else in the Madison High class of 1998 and possibly more than any other human on this earth,all six billion plus. AND
1* I made someone laugh so hard they shot soda out their nose.
So that is life in a nutshell. Happier than ever wouldnt change anything.....well ALMOST anything.

Tonya Millar Charles

I've enjoyed reading about where the last ten years have taken everyone. Here is where I have been.

I too attended Ricks and graduated in 2000. From there I was off to BYU. During my stint at the Y, I visited Rexburg one weekend and met my future husband, Nick, in my parents' kitchen on my 21st birthday. (I'm very grateful for friends with good friends.) We were married four months later. I dragged him back to BYU where I graduated in 2002 with a B.A. in English, technical writing and editing. After graduation we moved back to Idaho. We lived in Rigby for three years while Nick finished his B.S. in Math Ed at BYU-I and then taught at Bonneville High in IF. In the meantime, I worked as a technical writer/editor for the then INEEL and began working on my masters degree through ISU. Towards the end of that 3-year stay, Emma, now 3, was born. When Nick realized that teaching wasn't for him, we packed up and headed to the University of Wyoming in Laramie. We loved it there, and almost two years to the day, Nick graduated with his M.S. in Environmental Engineering. While in Laramie, I completed my course work for my own masters degree and began the lengthy process of writing my thesis while being a mom. In addition, our second daughter Ashlyn was born (now 14 months old). After Laramie we moved to where we now call home, Pocatello. Shortly after arriving in Pocatello, I defended my thesis and now have my M.A. in English.

The last ten years have been very good to me. I'm one of the fortunate ones who can honestly say that I am happy. My husband has a great job with a Civil Engineering firm here in Pocatello that allows me to stay primarily home with my girls. I do like to teach an English course a semester at ISU to keep my foot in the door and to move at a different pace for a few hours a week. While I never imagined living in Pocatello, it's been good to us. We recently bought a home that is keeping us busy with some remodeling, and we like being fairly close to both sets of grandparents. Who knows where we'll be next, though. I'll let you know in another ten years.

I want to add my thanks to everyone working on the reunion. It's a lot to organize. Thanks for your time and hard work. It's already paying off.

Sara Sorensen Soelberg

Hey Guys, I'm not sure I'm officially allowed to do this, since I moved after sophomore year, but I have had a great time reading up on long lost friends. So I thought I'd post a little something, too. (Feel free to keep on scrolling if you don't remember me. . . )

My family moved to Provo between sophomore and junior years. It was hard to leave such good friends at Madison, and I'm always sad to think about the fun I missed out on those last two years. After my two years at Provo High, I went to BYU and majored in English Teaching. I met my husband Joe in February of 2000, dated all year, finished finals in December and got married the next day. That next fall (2001) I started teaching English at Spanish Fork Junior High. I loved my two years as a Junior High English Teacher.

Our daughter Libby was born in July 2003, and then our family moved to Fishers, Indiana, one month later. We've been here ever since. We added Jenna to our family in September of 2005.

I wish we could come to the reunion. In fact, I wish I could come to Rexburg, period. I'm sure it's changed a lot since the last time I saw it. With my parents gone, I need to come up with a reason to visit. Have fun! --Sara

Heath and Tricia (Merrill) Edwards

I wasn’t going to take time to do this, but since I just spent so much time reading everyone else’s and enjoying the update I thought it might be fun. I know it has shocked a couple some old classmates that Heath and I actually got married, so maybe the rest of you will get a kick out of this too!

I’ll try and make this short since it’s about two of us..

Heath went on a mission shortly after graduation to London England (South) and then went to BYU-I for awhile. In the meantime (while we were still pretty much oblivious about each others’ existence) I graduated from Ricks college and then went to BYU-Hawaii for awhile. I had TONS of fun there, playing in the ocean and studying a little psychology, but I decided to head to the BYU in Utah for some snowboarding and majored in Therapeutic Recreation. After the snowboarding (winter semester) I also served a mission to Donetsk, Ukraine. 4 days after my return I met Heath (so randomly) at a city council meeting (different story) anyway.. we hit it off and 4 months later we were married. We lived in Provo for awhile while I finished my degree, since I was closer to graduating and then moved back to Rexburg while I worked at the Behavioral Health Center in Idaho Falls and Heath worked for Weed Man (a lawn care company my dad owns) and went to school full time. Months after he started working and school, Heath’s boss quit and Heath suddenly found himself running Weed Man himself and going to school full time. It was crazy, especially after our first son Rhett was born, but Heath graduated in Marketing and Business Management and decided he likes running Weed Man, so we are now part owners in that. I do payroll for him and my dad (Merrill Landscapes), I quit doing occasional work at the BHC after our daughter was born Dec. 2007. So that’s us – our kids are now 2 ½ and 6 months, we live here in town and are currently in the process of moving from our cute little starter home to a slightly bigger one that we got at a great deal in the dismal real estate market!

Nichole Ferney Jeppesen

I also cannot believe how fast the time has gone. It seems like the time goes by twice as fast now that we are a little bit older. Well after high school I moved to Boise and starting nursing school. In 2000 I graduated with my RN and also go married. We then moved back to Rexburg where Joe took over his family farm and I went to work at the emergency room here in Rexburg. I then went back to school to finish my Bachleors degree in nursing. After that we had Bailee who is now 5. We moved out to Lyman and have been here ever since. I went back to school in 2005, had a baby in the middle of my Master's program in 2007. In May I graduated with my Master's degree in nursing as a Nurse Practitioner. I now work 2 days a week at the Rexburg Medical Center seeing patients and also as needed in the emergency room. We are building a house in town so we both can be closer to our jobs. Life is very busy as well as rewarding for us. My family is glad to have me done with school.... for now. I am looking forward to seeing everyone and meeting spouses and children.

Monica Macbeth Foster

Hello to everyone. It appears that everyone has had an exciting 10 years. I started at Ricks College in the fall of 1998. I stayed with the jump rope team and continued to travel and compete around the world until leaving in 2001 to attend ISU. I graduated in 2003 with a BA of science in Dental Hygiene. I graduated one weekend and was married the following weekend to my sweet heart Matt Foster. We had met while at Ricks, but hadn't started dating until my last year at ISU. Shanna (Hill) Foster had introduced us, with no intention of us ever dating. So now one of my best friends from highschool is my sister-in-law. Upon graduating I immediately went to work for Dr. Strobel in Rexburg, but was living in Shelley. 4 years later I found my dream job working at West River Dental in Idaho Falls. We purchased the home we are in now in 2005 near Bonneville Highschool. I've cut back to working 3 days a week, but stay plenty busy coaching the jump rope team in Rexburg and starting a new team at the YMCA in Idaho Falls.

Matt graduated from ISU last year with a Masters in Speech Pathology and works at Premier Therapy in Idaho Falls now. Luckily for me he enjoys to travel so every chance we get we are either at the beach or in the mountains. Last Friday we were snorkeling and running a 5K in Key West (in prepration for the Mesa Half- I'll see you there Maren.) Matt enjoys running marathons, I enjoy.....watching. So we'll see how this goes. Take care and I'll see you all soon.

Cody Startin

It has been great reading up on all those who have posted updates about themselves, so I figured that I would post one myself. Like most of you have expressed, I can’t believe it has already been 10 years. After graduation, I attended Ricks Collage like so many of us and was able to play wide receiver for the football team. It was a blast to say the least and I met a ton of really great guys. Then I served a mission in the Philippines from 1999-2001. I am actually going back to visit for a few weeks with my wife in July. Then after I got home, I continued to attend Ricks College and play football. Nine of the players on the team that year had actually played for Madison High School so it was fun to be able to represent for our school with the rest of them. Then in the fall of 2001 I met my wife, Aubry. We truly experienced 3 blissful months of dating before I left on a 4 month internship to Cozumel, Mexico. After returning from the Caribbean, I had somehow bought an engagement ring and Aubry had somehow bought her wedding dress. Neither of us had any idea since we had never really even talked about marriage. J Shortly after I proposed and we were married in June of 2002. I finished my associates at Ricks that summer and then we were off to Salt Lake where Aubry attended the U of U as one of their heptathaletes on the track team and I attended Salt Lake Community College trying to figure out if I wanted to pursue computer engineering. We then moved to Washington DC that following summer for 3 months to sell home security systems door-to-door. It was hard work but fun and we enjoyed living back east for the summer. That fall, Aubry returned to the U for her last year of track while I worked at Best Buy and tried to figure out what I wanted to go into since I had realized after taking multiple computer classes that I did not want to spend my life staring at a computer screen. Then by chance I talked to one of my friends dads and he told me to look into ultrasound because that’s what he did and he loved it. My first response like many others was, “You do ultrasounds on pregnant ladies all day?” It was then that I learned that scanning babies was just the tip of the ice berg. Consequently, I applied to some schools that offered a program and got accepted by one in Anaheim, California. So off we went, not knowing a single person that lived there. School was great and living there for 2 years was a blast. After I completed the program, without my knowledge, Aubry started sending my resume to any place that would accept it out here in the Phoenix area since she grew up in Mesa and her family still lives here. As a result, I started getting random phone calls from places that wanted me to come for an interview. Needless to say, I ended up taking a job at a hospital in Phoenix where I currently work 3 days a week. I also have my own portable ultrasound business and work part time for some urologists on my 2 days off from the hospital. Aubry is a full time mom, part time personal trainer, and photographer (www.startinphoto.com). She is an amazing mom and is always full of love and kindness. We have a 20 month old son named Gage and a girl on the way. Well, that is life in a nutshell for me. I hope to make it to the reunion so I can chat with all who will be there. Take care.
Cody

Jennifer Hastings Washburn

I can't believe 10 years has gone by so fast. After graduation I wentto Ricks were I graduated with an Associates in Social Work. Thesummer before I graduated from Ricks I spent five weeks touring Europeand then went to Chicago for four weeks to work with the inner cityyouth. After Ricks I got accepted into BYU and started school downthere in 2000. I met my husband Dan the week I moved there. We were married four months later. I graduated in 2002 in Family, Marriageand Human Development. For five years I worked at a group home forgirls that were dealing with eating disorders, drugs, dysfunctionalfamilies, and social problems. During this time my husband graduatedfrom BYU in political science and was taking flying lessons throughUVSC. In 2005 Dan was hired on with Skywest Airlines and we lived inSaratoga Springs for about a year and a half. Last year he wasupgraded to Captain and we moved to Wisconsin were he is flying forMidwest Airlines. In 2003 we started our family. We have a littlegirl Savannah (4), Joey (3), Little D a.k.a Daniel (1) and number fouris due any day now (another girl). I am busy being a stay-at-home momand love that I get to be with my children. Dan and I try to takeadvantage of our free flying benefits and try to get away each yearwithout the kids! I am hoping we will make it out for the reunion.It will depend on when this little one decides to arrive!! It's beengreat to read every ones updates. Hope to see you there.

Damon Mortensen

Well, here is a summary of the last 10 years for me. I went to St. Louis, MO for the mission the summer right after we graduated high school. Came home and went to Ricks/BYU-I for 2 years. Played football at Ricks for a year. There were 9 of the good ol’ Rexburg boys ranging from several graduating classes that were on the team that year, so that was fun...(Gotta represent the ‘Burg). Spent a summer in Portland, OR for work. Transferred to BYU Provo and met Jessica (my wife) that fall. Spent the first year at BYU pursuing a Business Degree. Got married that April (2003). We lived in Vista, CA (San Diego area) that summer working. Got back to BYU and switched gears from Business to Exercise Science. Marriage has a funny way of making you rethink career choices. Spent 2 more years at BYU getting my BS degree and finishing pre-requisites for grad school. Gotta give a shout out to Chris Call right now. We were in 2 or 3 of the same classes together at BYU (science classes, i.e. Biology, Chemistry, etc.), and he would be doing crossword puzzles during class while the rest of us were struggling to just keep up with the instructor. Of course he would rock the class too. A genius back in the day…still a genius! Ok, back to me. We had our little girl (Brynlee) in March of 2005 just before finishing at BYU. Moved to Fullerton, CA (Orange County) that fall and started Optometry School. We had our little boy (Crew) in October of 2006. We have been enjoying our adventure here in sunny Southern California over these last few years. We have been able to go to places such as the beach & Disney Land often which our kidos absolutely love. They will most likely go into withdrawals when we move, since they don’t go more than a day or 2 without asking to go to “Mickey’s House.” We will spend August through May in Utah to finish out my last year of optometry school (rotations/externships), then move back to the ‘Burg to team up with the old man at the Rexburg Vision Center. We are excited to be almost done with school and move on to the next chapter of our lives. It will be fun to see everyone this August. See ya there

Heidi Hayes Williams

How fun it has been to read about what everyone has been up to !! I had no idea that so many people lived so close by us...we live in North Salt Lake. Anyway, here my last 10 in a nutshell. I spent four amazing months in Ecuador working in orphanges, worked for a semester, then tranfered to BYU. I graduated in History in 2002, and married my best bud Pat that same year. He finished graduate school and played football while I worked as an orthodontic assistant in Orem. Other highlights include our kids, of course. Ben (4) who is the sweetest and most michevious rascal you ever met, PJ (2) who got his Dad's looks and his Mom's appetite, and we are expecting #3 in October, and this one is a GIRL. What in the world am I going to do with a girl??? Like I said, we now live in North Salt Lake. Pat is a pharma rep (yes, a drug dealer - but he deals insulin, so its O.K.), and I get to stay home with the kidos so they can destroy our house and not someone else's!! Can't wait to see everyone at the reunion!!

Clint Nye

I’m really looking forward to getting together with everyone. It’s amazing to see how similar many of our lives are. I live close to several of you and would have never known it. So it’s going to be great catching up with all of you.

Right after graduation I moved to Utah and worked to save up for the mission. I went to Michigan. While there my family moved to Utah and I’ve been down here ever since. With no degree and no real clue of what I wanted to do, I was quickly snatched up by a door to door sales company. Thus began my marketing career. The whole talking thing really seemed to work for me and for several years I just bounced around Utah from one sales job to the next. Then just last year the most amazing thing happened… I met the most wonderful girl. My wife Crystal and I were married last year and I had the insta-family. She is from Roy, UT and played basketball at Weber State until she graduated and then a couple seasons in Romania and Luxembourg. I always wanted to marry a basketball player though I didn’t think she would be as tall as me. We have a beautiful girl, Chenielle who is almost 2. I was fortunate enough to adopt her as my own. She is absolutely incredible! As most of you know, everyday with kids is a blast.

I work in Draper, UT for the coolest company in the world, Tropical Sno Hawaiian Shave Ice as their marketing director. My little family lives in Bountiful currently. I can’t wait for the chance to move back to Idaho, though I’m not sure my wife shares that same enthusiasm. It’s been 10 years but every time I go up to fish or hunt it still feels like home. I say that now but as soon as I do move I’m sure I’ll cry about the wind and cold.

Logan McRae

It's great so hear from everyone and I hope I can make it to the Reunion this summer.

The past 10 years have been a lot of fun. I put in a little college at Ricks before leaving to Milan, Italy where I served a mission. I learned how to cook from the masters, saw a lot of great art and fell in love with the country and people.

Upon returning home I started school at the newly transitioned BYU-Idaho, where I earned a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree in graphic design while working in marketing for Beehive Credit Union. I later took a job at Graphic Services at BYU-Idaho where I created event posters and collateral materials for the campus. Some of my artwork was published in the campus Outlet magazine.

After graduation I did freelance design work for a season then accepted a job at a design firm in Salt Lake City called Skogen Group (www.skogengroup.com) where I currently work as Senior Designer, designing logos, brochures, catalogs, websites and motion design.

In Salt Lake I also met my awesome, bullet bike riding wife, Amelia, who works as an Interior Designer for an architectural firm. We are celebrating our one-year anniversary! Woo-hoo!

Over the years I've also enjoyed many great trips to such places as New York, Italy, Spain, France, Mexico, Austria, Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, Scotland, Egypt, and China. We're headed back to Italy and Greece this summer and are really excited.

We currently live in a condo in downtown Salt Lake City with our feisty little puppy, Gianni. Future plans include getting into business school (I am currently studying for the GMAT–uggghhhh!) and possibly opening a design firm of my own. . . and I suppose we'll probably have a few kids along the way.

Karen Tingey Pew

Hey everyone!

Here's what I've been up to...After High school I went to Ricks (like almost everyone else in our class) and I got my associates degree in Arts and Sciences in December of 1999 after which I moved to Provo to pursue a long awaited desire to learn how to cut, color, and perm hair (for the most part). I got my cosmetology license in the spring of 2001, and soon decided that it was only going to be a side thing I'd do for extra money (let's just say it turned out to be more of a hobby than a career, which turns out to be better for me anyway). Soon after I finished cosmetology school, I applied to BYU and was accepted… things changed however, because I was suddenly overcome with a strong desire/need to serve a mission. So, I deferred schooling, turned my papers in and was gone by December 2002, to serve in the Tennessee Nashville Mission. After serving a mission, I returned to school and finished up my degree in Marriage Family and Human Development at BYU in the summer of 2005.

In the middle of finishing school I met my husband Tyler. He is from San Jose, CA, but his family moved to Utah a couple of years ago… and all of my family lives in Utah for the most part as well. After graduating from BYU we were married May of 2006. Since we got married, we have lived in Lehi, Utah. We started out in a home that Tyler bought before we got married, but have since moved to another home in North Lehi. We love it here. I work at the Seagull Book Corporate offices in American Fork, in their accounting dept (ya, how did I end up there??) and my husband works for a conference planning Software Company in the Bluffdale/Draper area. We are expecting our first child in November, and we just found out it's a Boy!! After the baby comes I plan on staying home full time, and doing a little hair here and there in a salon that we built in our home. We also have a little side business selling vinyl lettering, which I hope to get into some more once I stay home.

It's been so fun to read about the last 10 years of your lives. Since moving away from Rexburg I have lost all touch with everyone! It's so great to live in a day where we can catch up so quickly through the blogging world. I have a private blog, so for those of you interested, please email me or comment here with your email address, and I'll add you. My email address is karentingey@gmail.com

Jason Price

Well, it's been 10 years.

1998-1999 I ruled Craigos, Ricks College and the mean streets of Rexburg.
'99-2001 I spent in Guatemala.
Fall of 2001 in San Mateo, CA
2002 was spent 3 months in each: Logan, UT then Dallas, TX then Provo for a semester at BYU.
In 2003 I went back to Logan for 3 months then backpacked through Central America for a couple months.
When I got back from CA, I finished up my BA in Finance from Utah State. I then took a job trading heavy machinery and mining equipment. That job was great and let me travel to Chile several times.
After a short while I got tired of that, so I quit and spent 3 more months traveling and scuba diving in Central America. A wild turn of events landed me an advertising job and moved me to Austin, TX. Sounds crazy, but it was there that I really developed a love for rock climbing. I moved back to Utah for the mountain air and the pristine rock last year and quit my job. When the funds ran low, I moved to Arizona and worked for a wilderness program. Living in the woods was spectacular, but after six months, I was missing my friends and family in Utah. Rock climbing wasn't really a possibility while in the wilderness, and that may have influenced my decision.
To keep myself busy, I help a friend of mine with his air conditioning business. I live in my Isuzu Trooper or crash at friends' houses and I'm very satisfied with my adventurous life. I climb mountains, watch Nascar, descend canyons, and live a good life.

Did I get voted most likely to end up a hobo?

You'll find my adventures and my online life in the following places:
Blogger
Myspace
Facebook
Flickr

Or just google "price1869". You'll find me.

Maren Tew Stafford

Hello friends! It has been great reading about everyone's lives. The upcoming reunion has set me in a nostalgic mood so I drug out the old year book. How time flies!

After MHS I moved into town and started calsses at Ricks. After graduating, I married Michael Stafford in 2000 and we moved to Seattle, WA for the summer. Next we moved to Boise to attend BSU, where I was a nanny and graduated in Early Childhood Education, teaching preschool for the college. After I graduated we were blessed with our first daughter Bailey. Mike worked hard by day and went to school by night studying marketing. Just before he graduated we had Emma, daughter number 2. After Mike's BSU graduation we took our 2 girls to LasVegas, NV to take a job with Pulte Homes. There we built our first home and had our third daughter Kate. After building 200 homes in 2 years we eventually decided we missed the slower pace of Idaho and in 2006 we sold our home and moved back to Rexburg. Mike started his own construction business and we built our second home.

This year: I took up running and did my first 10K in training for the Mesa Falls Half-Marathon coming up in August. I also became a fashion consultant for modbe clothes. {modbefashionmom.blogspot.com} Mike started to dabble in Granite and has started yet another business, a true entrepreneur. Bailey (6) learned how to ride without training wheels and graduated from Kindergarten at the same school I attended, Adams Elementary. Emma (4) is learning to write her letters and will begin preschool soon. Kate (2) potty trained herslf, moved into a big girl bed, and is riding a 2 wheeler-what an independant soul.

Life is full of trials and joys when you have a house full of girls, but we wouldn't change it for anything! See you all at the reunion!

Susanna Bush Peterson

Hi Everyone!
Has it really been 10 years?! This has been so fun for me to read up on what has been going on with everyone!
Here is my story of the last 10 years:

After graduation, I bought my 1st car, moved “into town,” and started attending Ricks College. I graduated in 2000 with my Associates in Sociology/Behavioral Science. (My plan was to further my education in Social Work.) After graduation I decided I was ready for some adventure in my life so I moved to Ecuador for 3 ½ months. While I was there I served in 3 different orphanages and also took some Spanish classes. The experiences I had there have changed my life forever! I came home feeling so grateful, so blessed, and also extremely humble. Leaving all those babies behind to come home was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. I returned to Rexburg and felt extremely out of place. I knew it was time for another adventure. So, when some friends asked me to move to Provo with them I gladly accepted the offer. Little did I know what they had in store for me? After being in Provo for only 9 days, I found myself on my 4th blind date with my husband Mark (thanks to my friends). In 2002 Mark and I were married in Salt Lake City. We spent our first 4 years of marriage living in the Provo area while Mark was attending BYU and I was working full time trying to keep ahead of the bills. In 2006, Mark became a commissioned Officer in the Air Force and we moved to Arizona. Mark is currently attending medical school at Midwestern University and we are looking forward to graduation in 2010.
I am currently a stay at home mom to our 2 children, Lily (almost 4) and Wyatt (almost 2). I love it! My kids crack me up each day with the silly things they say. I also stay busy babysitting in our home and doing housecleaning on the side. A year ago we purchased our first home here in Surprise, AZ. I’ve enjoyed being able to paint, decorate, and work on our back yard. This fall, I will take a whack at being a teacher and I will teach preschool in our home.

Susanna Peterson

p.s. You can take a peek at our blog if you would like. It is http://www.markandsusanna.blogspot.com

Tara Garner Bennett

It is so fun to hear what everyone is up to! After graduating I attended Ricks College. I graduated in 2000 and that September got married to Michael Bennett. It has been an amazing 8 years! We moved to Logan, Utah and attended Utah State University. We graduated in 2002; me in English Literature and Mike in Public Relations. We worked in Logan for 2 more years and then Mike decided he wanted to get a Masters Of Public Administration (MPA) at BYU. So we went down to Provo and I worked at a private school in Orem while Mike got his MPA. While we were in Provo we had our little girl, Bella. She is now two years old and is the light of our lives! When Mike graduated we moved to Hickory, North Carolina where he works for the city of Hickory as the assistant to the city manager. We love North Carolina, it is a beautiful place. My brother gets home from his mission the week after the reunion, so I will definitely come early so I can see all of you.

Christina White

Hi Everyone! I have been enjoying reading everyone's updates! It is great to hear about you have been up to! Seriously, 10 years out of high school makes me feel so old. Just a quick update on me...I married Scott White in Aug 1999 we finished school at Ricks and moved to Dallas, TX for Chiropractic school. Then we moved back to Rexburg in 2005 and we bought a house in Hibbard. We love it out here! We have 3 girls Samantha, 6, McKenzie 4, and Whitney almost 2! Scott is a Chiropractor (obviously) his office is Madison Ridge Chiropractic here in town. He is also working with Madison High School's sports teams. I get to stay home with our girls! Life if great! We have a blog if you want to check it out http://scottandchristinawhite.blogspot.com I am looking forward to seeing you all at the reunion.
Take Care, Christina White

Steve Hunt

Hi everyone! Just to be different, I’ll present my past ten years as an unfeeling timeline, typical of a nerdy accountant. (I’ve bolded the highlights.)

1998
Jun: Attended Ricks College
Dec: Began serving in the Ukraine Kyiv mission (through Dec 2000)

2001
Jan: Resumed my studies at Ricks College
May: Acted for the summer at the Mack’s Inn Dinner Theater - “Oklahoma!” and “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers”
Aug: Graduated from BYU-Idaho (named changed 8/01; ASSC – general studies)
Aug: Enrolled at BYU-Provo to study linguistics and began two years of work as a Ukrainian teacher at the MTC
Sep: Met Merissa Day (of West Jordan, UT) at church on my first Sunday in Provo

2002
Apr: Married Merissa, the joy and love of my life!
Sep: Enrolled in the accounting program at BYU

2003
Apr: Started one year of work as a night manager at an assisted-living home in Spanish Fork
Aug: Merissa graduated from BYU (BS – Early Childhood Education)
Dec: Lindsay (now 4) was born, and Merissa began work as a stay-at-home mom

2004
May: Acted at the Mack’s Inn Dinner Theater again, this time with Merissa and three of my siblings - “Oklahoma!” and “Calamity Jane”
Sep: Returned to BYU, and started working as a TA in the accounting program

2005
Apr: Took Merissa to Ukraine for three weeks
May: Started a summer internship at Grant Thornton LLP in Seattle
Sep: Returned to BYU
Oct: Ashlyn (now 2) was born
Dec: Graduated from BYU (BS – Accountancy; Master of Accountancy – Tax)

2006
Jan: Returned to work at Grant Thornton in Seattle
May: Passed the CPA exam after suffering through my first tax season
Sep: Started working at the Rudd & Company PLLC office in Bozeman, MT

2007
Jul: Merissa started a blog at http://www.steveandmerissa.com; please register to read the articles
Aug: Bought a house in Belgrade, MT
Oct: Aaron was born

2008
Jan: Began one semester of teaching a weekly Institute course (I want to explore teaching.)
Apr: Began at least one year of teaching early morning Seminary

Coming in the second half of 2008…
Aug: Attended the MHS 10-year class reunion!
Sep: Began one semester of teaching a graduate tax research class as an adjunct faculty member at Montana State Univ.

The future may hold more of the same (e.g., tax returns and diapers), or it may turn out completely different (e.g., more school and…diapers). Either way, we’ll plan to enjoy it, just as we have enjoyed the last ten years! We can’t wait to see everyone!

Sterling and Suzanne (Wray) Porter

Suzi and I played rock, paper, scissors, and I lost, so here's our
life story from my point of view. After high school both Suzanne and
I went to Ricks. For the record, we weren't dating. In fact, Suzanne
was pretty disgusted with how immature I was. After that first
year, I left on my mission to Rostov, Russia. Meanwhile, Suzanne got
her Nursing degree, traveled to Mexico a bit, and moved to Logan to
attend Utah State. After two years of praying on P-day that Suzi
wouldn't be snatched up, I came home and asked her out. We dated
(long distance) for a while and got married one year after I got home
from the mish. We moved to BYU where I sang in some choirs and got my degree in Computer Science. While at BYU, we had our little boy, Parley, who is now almost four. I started a Masters program at BYU, but after an internship at Microsoft, I decided academia wasn't for me. So I quit school and started working as the CTO of Sewell Direct, an online retailer of consumer electronics and AV equipment. I'm still there and loving it. I also do software development for other companies on the side to earn money so that we can afford the gas to drive to the reunion :). We now live in Lehi. By the way, during the internship I mentioned, we had our little girl, Charlotte, who is almost two. We're currently expecting another girl in October.

Suzanne is grateful to be able to stay home with our kids and practice
her Nursing skills on cuts, bruises, compound fractures, psychiatric
episodes, and even life threatening conditions like her husband's bad
breath. Seriously, she is a beautiful, talented lady, and I'm so glad
I was able to marry my dream girl.

In closing, I think what I miss most about high school is that lunch
cart with the cinnamon rolls and those peanut butter bars. See you at
the reunion.

P.S. Our blog is at sterlingandsuzanne.com. Where's yours?

Hillary Landon Barney

I can't believe it's already been ten years. Here's what I have been up to. I went to Ricks after High School and studied Graphic Design. While I was at Ricks, I was able to go on a study abroad to Mexico for a month. I moved to Salt Lake soon after I finished Ricks. I worked there for about a year, and decided to go to BYU-Hawaii for a semester to hang out with my brother & just be in Hawaii. I moved back to Salt Lake and got into the Graphic Design program at the University of Utah. I met my adorable husband, Caleb, while I was in school and we were married a short 3 1/2 years later in 2007. I finished school in 2005 and got a job at Making Memories as a Graphic Designer & Product Designer. I really love my job and have had so many great opportunities because of it. I have been able to travel to China, New York, Canada & many other places in between. Caleb and I just sold our Condo in Salt Lake and have bought a house in Layton. So, we will be here for a little while. It's been so much fun reading what everyone has been up to.

Shad Kidd

The reunion sounds like it will be cool, but I'm going to be hanging out in Iraq in August (but my wife and kids might show up to the park).

After high school, I went to BYU for a semester then to Thailand on my mission. I went back to the Y for a year then met and married the former Heather Noack in the summer of 2002. We went back to Provo where I graduated with BA in History. We moved up to Rexburg for the summer where we had our first (Justice, now almost 5). When he was two weeks old, we moved out to Ann Arbor, MI, where I began law school at the University of Michigan.

After that school year, we moved to ID for a month then to San Francisco for the rest of the summer to work for a firm there. The next school year, I decided that I might as well get a master's in Southeast Asian Studies while I was in law school and began taking classes for that. The summer of '05 found us working for a couple firms down in Dallas (where our second, Felicity - now 3, was born) and then back in San Francisco for a month with another firm.

I graduated with a JD and MA in the spring of 2006, and we moved to ID to take the bar. Working for law firms had convinced me that I did not want to go that route, so we decided to accept a commission into the United States Air Force. I studied for, took and passed the bar while we lived in ID, and we got orders to Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico (it is by Albuquerque). We moved down here after I went through some training, and we all moved to Alabama after a couple months while I had a couple more months of training. We moved back here in April of '06 and have been here since. I am a Judge Advocate, which means I advise commanders on the law and prosecute airmen who break it.

Our youngest, Christian, was born here in Albuquerque last June and will turn one in a couple of weeks. Heather stays home with the kids and is an amazing mother. She is also very supportive of me and will be taking the kids up to Idaho for about seven months while I am in Iraq working on prosecuting detainees (terrorists, insurgents and the like). It is awesome to see what people are doing now - we enjoy reading your postings.

Abby Jackson Camberlango

Hey all!!! I am so excited about the reunion. It will be great to see everyone. I can't believe it has been 10 years! We are practically senior citizens! After graduation, I spent a couple years at Ricks and went on a mission to Cincinnati, OH. I graduated from BYU in 2004 with a degree in Elementary Ed. I met my husband, Nick, in 2005 and we were married that year. We have a 2 year old daughter named Stella. I teach 5th grade part time and spend the rest of my life hanging out with my kid. That's about it. It's a pretty good life. I can't wait to see all of you in August!

Ashley Guthrie Mackey

I think I'm still in disbelief that it's been 10 years.

I actually moved away for my senior year, but because it was only my senior year I still consider myself a Madison graduate.

After high school I went to Dixie College on a music scholarship. After graduating I moved to Arizona and started working for IBM. I met Jim there and we were married about a year later in 2001. After my first daughter was born I became a stay at home mom and have been ever since (with the exception of a few odd jobs here and there for fun).

We recently moved back to Arizona from Boston where my husband has been working for the last *almost* 2 years. We live in Maricopa, AZ right now in our new house and are working on getting the whole thing furnished and decorated.

I have a 12 year old step-daughter named Jorden who is the sweetest big sister my girls could ask for. I have a 5 year old daughter Ainsley Beth that's starting kindergarten this year and an out of control 2 year old named Caelan Rachel.

Unfortunately with the move being so recent we probably won't be making it to the reunion, but I'm enjoying reading all the updates on everyone!

Ashley Mackey

Anthony Tietjen

Right now I am working as a Web Programmer at PolicyTech in Rexburg. My wife, Alisha, and I have two little boys. We just bought a house earlier this year in Rexburg, so we'll probably be here for a while.

Here is a little bit of history from my last 10 years.

1998: Started at Ricks College

1999: Mission to Brazil (Porto Alegre North mission)

2002: Provo for about 2 months, then moved back to Rexburg.

2003: Married to Alisha Monson from Firth.

2002 - 2008: Either working or going to school at BYU-Idaho.

Phillip Waters

Rewind back to your first day at the High School: some of us had email, a lot of others had never heard of it! The library soon after got new computers and the World Wide Web eventually became part of Senior English research papers.
It is amazing to see, after time has gone by that we meet up on Facebook, update our profiles on Blogspot, and buy reunion tickets with PayPal!
After ten years, I still work every day building tools that run on the Internet and I'm amazed how far the world is come and where it is going!

I live in Rexburg still because I love it here. I work as the Email Administrator at BYU-Idaho. My daughter Anna will soon turn three and leave with her mom for an adventure across the state. Life threw me a few surprises, but everyone is well, and I really can't complain. I'm interested to see everyone and how they've changed or stayed just the same, and I'm excited to have technology help us keep touch.

Thanks all of you who donated your time to make that possible.

R. Christopher Call

I hope the past ten years have been as exciting and eventful for everybody else as they have been for me. Following a year at Ricks College and a two year mission to Samara, Russia, I returned to the newly founded BYU-Idaho where I met and married my wife, Dawnie. I took her with me to BYU where three more years of school earned a Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering. After a nine-month engineering stint in Ridgecrest, CA, working at an electronic combat range in China Lake Naval Weapons Center (war games against Top Gun pilots and the like), I decided engineering wasn’t for me and jumped ship into medical school. Though officially attending University of Washington, my medical school has taken me Moscow (Idaho), Seattle, Pocatello, and Boise where I will finish out next summer. For anybody counting, that is eight moves and seven different cities (excluding the mission)! Throw in our two children (Katie and Brian) along with Naval officer training (mini boot camp) in Rhode Island and it certainly has been a busy ten years.



I imagine the next ten years will be just as memorable. After medical school, we will move again to a yet to be determined city for residency. Since I am paying for medical school through the military, I will spend at least four years employment with the Navy. My next ten years may well include Guam, Yokasuka, Bethesda, or “Somewhere in the Mediterranean.” I’ll be sure to let you know at our 20-year reunion!

Kelli Steiner Lindsey

Where have 10 years gone! I am excited to see everyone again at the reunion. Here is my story over the past 10 years: I went to Ricks after high school where I met my wonderful husband Brett. We dated throughout the year and then I left to tour Europe for a month in May of '99. I guess he couldn't live without me because he proposed the day after I returned home. We were married in August of '99 and moved to Utah for school. Brett pitched for the baseball team at Ricks, and also for two more years at the U of U. It has been fun to see a ton of baseball games over the years and travel to see him play. We had a couple of roadblocks when Brett needed brain surgery in 2002 for a small vascular tumor that was bleeding on the brain. They repaired as much as they could, but it reoccurred in 2004 and they need to perform another surgery on him. Thank heavens for modern health care and brilliant brain surgeons! We believe that everything is ok now and he has recovered completely. He is amazing and is so positive through these trials. I have learned from him to keep a great attitude on life even when it throws you a curve ball- it will be so much easier to handle the tough times. Even though he had to take a break from school through this, he jumped right back in and earned his MBA through the U of U. He is now a pricing analyst here in Salt Lake. I studied Radiology at Weber State and became an x-ray tech then specialized in ultrasound sonography. Currently I work part-time at the new trauma hospital, IMC, in Salt Lake for their ER and also at Alta View Hospital. I also work for GE training ER physicians and residents at the U of U on ultrasound portable equipment for their traumas. We just bought our second home in South Jordan, UT a few months ago and love it here and plan to stay. We have two boys; Porter (2) and Beckham (4 months). I love being a mother and am lucky in my job that I can work graveyard and weekend shifts to be home five days a week with them. It will be fun to catch up with everyone at the reunion, see you all then.

Liz Packer Thompson

Hey Everyone!!

I am way excited for the reunion. I think it will be fun to see everyone and hear where all of your lives have taken you. After high school, I went to Ricks and started work at Hollywood Video. I met my husband David in 2000. He lived here in Provo and I was still in Rexburg. We spent a lot of time on the phone, emailing and chatting on the internet. We made the trip from Provo to Rexburg many times. After a long distant relationship, we were married in May of 2001. We live in Provo where David is attending school to become a Marriage and Family Therapist and is working full time. I get to stay home with our 3 little kids. We have Graham (6), Carmen (4), and Morgan (2). We live just north of the BYU stadium in our home that we bought in 2005. It's great to be in the heart of Provo. We love it here. I appreciate everyone willing to add to the blog. It makes it fun to see what everyone is up to! I look forward to seeing everyone in a few months!

Becky Claunch Hope

Hey everyone!

I can’t believe it has been ten years! What a great ten years it has been though! After graduation I went to Ricks where I got an Associates Degree in Office Systems Management. In 2001 I married my high school sweetheart, Jeff Hope, which has been one of the best things I have ever done! While he went to school at Ricks to get his business degree, I worked as a secretary for Gallery Photo Lab in Rexburg. We had our first and so far only child in March of 2005. Gracie Ann Hope is our pride and joy! She is now three and running the show! We stayed in Rexburg cuz we are both home-bodies and love being near both of our families! Jeff works for Luxon in Rexburg and I volunteer at an animal shelter in town, which for anyone who knows me, knows that I am loving that! I also get to be a stay at home mom, which is the best job ever! Life is GREAT! Can’t wait to see everyone this summer!

Lisa Hart Blau

Hey everyone - the past 10 years have gone by so fast! I attended Utah State University right after highschool, where I met and married my husband, Ben. Ben has continued on with school and has just graduated with his Ph.D. in Finance. We currently live in Mississippi, but are moving to Provo, UT this summer for a job at BYU. Along the way, we have had two girls, Sarah (5) and Abby (3). I am currently pregnant and due in August with a little boy. I stay home with the kids and love spending my time with them and my family.

Janell Holloway Bowman

Hello all,
Crazy that it has been 10 years. I still feel 18. Looking back: I graduated from Ricks with a nursing degree. Then worked in SLC as an RN.I got marriaged to a star basketball player in 2001. I went back to school at BYU-I while my hubby played basketball the last year of sports at Ricks. I graduated there with a BS in Nursing. We moved to Nampa, ID where we currently live. We own a Satellite/Home Security business. I help my hubby run the business and do the paper work. I have worked off and on as an RN, but I mostly stay busy with our three awesome children.

Anna Miller Smith

It is amazing 10 years has flown by! My first stop was at Ricks for RN in nursing, then on to BYU for bit. I met my husband Hugh and we were married in 2002. We now have 3 little nippers; Oliver 5, Winston 2.5, Lauren 9 months. I graduated with a BA in philosophy at the U of U just before Winston was born. (Philosophy comes in very handy while changing diapers:) We live in Salt Lake and Hugh sells residential real estate and I do marketing for him while kids are taking naps! Looking forward to seeing you all at the reunion!

Natalie Liljenquist Clark

I can't believe how quickly the past ten years have gone! I love hearing from everyone. Here's my update:

I attended and cheered at Ricks College until 1999, went to ISU for a semester, and graduated from BYU with a BA in English in 2001. I worked in Salt Lake in public relations/human resources and fell in love at first sight when I met my husband Adam at my family's ward (my family moved to Utah in 2000). We married in 2002 and moved to St. George where I continued in the PR realm. Adam graduated from Dixie College and we moved to Sandy; he graduated from the U of U in 2005 and I worked as an executive assistant and a freelance writer for a few scrapbooking magazines and real estate websites. We were both accepted to Thomas M. Cooley Law School, but decided to try to have a baby and I took the mom route instead of the attorney route (I'm glad I did; law school isn't my cup of tea!). We were lucky and had Amber in March 2005, then packed up and moved to Lansing, Michigan later that year.

We thought it was so fun to have a daughter that we wanted another one soon after; Karli was born in June 2006 while Adam was in his second year of law school. I continued freelancing and became accustomed to flying to Utah every semester during finals so Adam could have some peaceful study time and the kids and I could hang out with our long, lost families. We lived the student lifestyle for the rest of that year and some of the next, until we moved to St. George, Utah for the summer while Adam did an internship at a small firm there. It was a blast, and we were sad to see the decaying condition of our neighborhood in Lansing when we returned. With drug deals, gunfights, domestic violence, and other crimes happening right outside our door every day, we have both come to appreciate the calm, boring lives we enjoyed in Idaho and Utah!

We had our first son, Rex, on May 2, 2008, just two days before Adam started his last semester of school. I have been teaching a tumbling class for our girls and their friends and I do some freelance graphic design work once in a while. I love being able to stay home with our kids to witness all the funny things they do and say. We have had a wonderful time learning about life outside of the conservative bubble and are excited to move on to the next phase of our lives. Adam is done with classes and is working as an intern for a firm here until Labor Day (yay!), after which we plan to move back to Alpine. We have a blog that you're welcome to check out if you're interested; the link is in the sidebar. I hope to be able to see you all sometime soon, like before our kids are in high school and we reconvene in 2018. Have a great summer and have a blast at the reunion!