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.