Thursday, May 31, 2012

Tiffany Tietjen Mattson





I love this idea of the blog update for everyone.  I have been wondering what everybody has been up too since graduation and I don't get out much.  My life right now consists of being a full time mom, a cook, a nurse, a gardener, a maid and the list goes on.  I wish I could say that I can remember most of what has happened in my life in the last 10 yrs but to be truthful, it is all a blur.  

First of all after we graduated I went and worked at a Dude Ranch in Victor, ID with Gloria Bagley VanOrden and then came home one weekend and met an amazing guy and pretty much knew I wanted to marry him.  His name is John Mattson.  He knew my brothers from college, so yes he is older than me.  Seven and a half years to be exact.  I moved to Provo to date him and then moved back to Rexburg to go to college.  I attended one semester of college at BYU-I and then got engaged.   We were married May 2nd, 2003 in the Idaho Falls Temple.  We lived in Rexburg for a few months and then he got a job out at Lockheed Martin in Littleton, Colorado.  We lived down the street from his old house and the Columbine High School where the shooting took place.  I knew that was not a place I wanted my kids to grow up.  I prayed that some how we could move back to Rexburg.   After three and half years of my husband not liking his job in Littleton, my brothers offered him a job with them at Policy Technologies in Rexburg.  I was so excited.  It only took us a couple of weeks to pack up and move.   We built a house in Salem and have lived here for almost five years.


My husbands name is Robert John Mattson but he goes by John.  He served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Rostov, Russia.  He is a software developer at Policy Technologies in Rexburg.  He works with all seven of my brothers and likes it a lot.  He went to college at Ricks and BYU.  His favorite sport is football and loves the BYU Cougars.  He is a wonderful husband and father and I have been very blessed to be married to him.  


Our first son, Ammon, was born in August 2004 in Littleton Colorado. He will be eight this coming August and will be baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  He will be in the third grade this coming school year.Maylie is our first daughter.  She was born in June 2006 in Littleton.  She will be six in June and will be in the first grade this coming school year. Our second daughter's name is Emmaline and she will be five in August.  She was born in August 2006 in Rexburg soon after we moved from Littleton.  She will be in Kindergarten this coming school year.



Our second son's name is Hyrum and he will be three this December.  He was born in December 2009 in Rexburg.  
Ashlie is our third daughter and fifth child.   She was born four weeks premature in December 2011 in Rexburg.  She couldn't breath on her own so she had to stay in the NICU for 6 days.  We had to leave her there for Christmas.  The other kids were so sad that they couldn't see their new sister for a while and even after she came home I kept them away since it was RSV season.  She is doing great now. 


In February of 2012 I had to undergo gallbladder surgery.  That was worse than having a baby and I am so glad that is over with.  I have been very blessed in my life and am grateful for all that I have.  

Amanda Siepert Hatch




I refuse to acknowledge how long we've been out of school. Instead I'm just going to give my update and pretend we aren't as old as we are. :)
After graduation I moved to Jackson Hole, Wyoming to work at the private airport.  It was fun and I met quite a few famous people.  The famous people were kind of boring, but I met many regular people who were a lot of fun to be around; including my now husband Marten. :)
In 2003 I moved to Layton, Utah to attend school to become an Esthetician.  I enjoyed learning the trade, but after graduating I decided a career in Esthetics wasn't for me.  From there I moved to South Carolina to live with my sister (Stacey) while I was deciding what to do next.  I was there for 2 weeks when Marten convinced me to elope with him in Las Vegas.  Getting married in Vegas was fabulous and it totally fit our personalities. 
We came back to Idaho Falls and bought our first home, a "fixer-upper" in 2004.  Luckily Marten is amazing at building and fixings things, but constantly upgrading the house got old after 4 years.  We sold that home and had a new house built on the numbered streets in Idaho Falls. Shortly after moving into our new home, I was pregnant with our little boy Maxx.  He is 2 years old now, and is the best little guy ever!  He loves to play trucks, dance, and do anything outside.  He is hilarious and we just love him.

Our little family loved living in Idaho Falls, but we recently decided we needed a new adventure and moved to Tetonia, Idaho (just outside of Driggs).  My husband's family lives in the Driggs area and we spend most of our time there, so we decided we may as well live there.  I'm working at Grand Targhee Resort in their Human Resources department (I recently graduated with my BA in Human Resource Training Development) and love my new job.  My husband has about a semester left of school, and he currently works in Idaho Falls at the State building. We are hoping he will be able to find a job closer to Driggs after he graduates.  I never would have pictured myself living in the mountains; Rexburg was about as country as I ever wanted to be.  Most days I am the only person who wears make up at work and it is very possible I'm the only one who doesn't ride a mountain bike everywhere I go, but I am learning to love these crazy outdoor fanatics and their naturalist ways. 

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Jill Hancock






howdy, howdy, howdy high school peeps! this is jill hancock (aka jill hancock). 

feliz diez anniversario son las escuelahan de la madison! 

as you can tell, i am fluent in spanish which i attribute solely to the dora the explorer language program. profe bowen (circa 1999) was really a spring board for my interest in pursuing espanol. who says you don't learn anything in high school? 

an update on me: i am the oldest i have ever been in my life and look pretty much exactly the same as i did 10 years ago (okay, so i'm way more attractive now but that would be vain to admit). i dug up my western roots after wearing some kind of weird scarf they called a "hood" in a formal ceremony and then hitch-hiked to the east coast where i take all of my meals and sleep and sometimes work. my gold medal moments in the past decade have included: reading and watching the entire harry potter series (that was a lot of pages to read), being on live national television a bajillion times (ESPN baby!), and becoming fluent in spanish (as mentioned previously). as you can see, its been a pretty busy 10 years since Y2K, I mean 2002. i'll give all you bloggers the somewhat elaborate and exceptionally dirty details at the class reunion in july. until then, M-A-D-I-S-O-N, Madison, Madison Madison!

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Paige Walker Telford


I am very excited for our reunion and can't wait to see everyone!  After high school I too attended BYU-I and graduated with Health Science/Public Health.  I was engaged when I graduated from college, and my fiance` still had 1 year of college to finish, so I attended the new Paul Mitchell Beauty School which had always been an interest of mine.  My husband and I finished all of our schooling in 2006.
 
I married Mark Telford in 2005.  Mark is from Dietrich, ID (which is near Twin Falls).  After we were married I was looking through some of his high school graduation pictures and realized that Sheldon Horn also graduated from Dietrich.  I remembered that Sheldon had left before our Sr. year, but it was a crazy thing to have "shared" a classmate.
 
Mark and 4 of his brothers own and run several farms throughout southern and central Idaho.  They also stay busy with their cattle ranch and trucking businesses.  After our schooling Mark and I lived in Paul, ID just north of Burley, and about 4 years ago we relocated to Arco.  I have enjoyed being closer to my family and friends in Eastern Idaho, but more importantly we are glad to be out of the WIND!  I used to think that Rexburg was a windy place, but soon after moving to Paul I realized that Rexburg is pretty mild.  Luckily Arco is tucked away between 2 different mountain ranges and we rarely have strong winds.  I love to hike and be outdoors, so Arco is a really great place to live.  We have a ton of cool things to do here and I really love living in the mountains.  Our home is actually on "Number Hill" and I mostly just think it is weird that the graduating classes paint their numbers on the mountain, but to each their own.  (Some people think it is weird that we spent all sorts of money buying butterflies for graduation ;) )
 
When Mark and I moved to Paul, the farming operation was in transition of office management, and I took over as office manager. I have learned a lot about accounting, taxes, and bookkeeping in general; and now I am pretty sure I should have taken accounting classes in college instead of Health Science! I continue to work as the office manager remotely from my home office and travel to Paul once a week for the things that just can't be done from home. The house we bought in Arco had a salon in the basement, so I have enjoyed taking on a few clients when I have spare time.
 
Before I had kids I also liked to help in potato and beet harvest.  My husband taught me how to drive a manual 10-wheel truck.  It was fun to be with my husband during those long harvest days and feel like I was helping out (or at least providing comic relief because of my crazy mistakes).  Most days I am just pretty shocked that I married a potato farmer and live in Arco.  I would never have imagined that this would be my life when I was in high school.  I remember some of our classmates who drove cars with potato licence plates and thought that was a cool thing, and now I finally have a reason to have a potato license plate myself.
 
In 2009 we had a daughter, Sicily.  She is almost 3 years old and she keeps me on my toes!  In 2011 we had Paxton, and he will be 1 in a few weeks.  He has red hair but is minus the "red-headed personality".  He is very calm and relaxed and mostly an easy going baby.  We love having both a girl and a boy, and they keep us laughing and running all day (and night)!  Overall life is great and we are a happy family of four!
 


Willi Springer




I figured I’d hop on and give a little status update. After high school I went to Utah State and got my bachelors in history, my all-time favorite subject (and to anyone who had to endure history class with Mr. Haeberle and me in the same room, well, I’m sorry, we could get a little carried away). While at USU, I got married to my wonderful wife, Jaime. We had known each other since we were 7, so we go back a ways.

When I graduated college, I also simultaneously commissioned as a 2LT in the Air Force, something I had wanted to do since I can remember. I asked for, and received, a position in the Space and Missiles career field. After a couple of training assignments, we found ourselves in Great Falls, Montana, where I had been given an assignment as an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile launch officer. ICBMs can be a challenging job, as I quickly found myself in charge of 200 nuclear missiles in a missile field the size of West Virginia.

Not long after we got up north, our first son, Axel was born. Two years later Schrade followed. Axel starts kindergarten this fall, where has the time gone? Not going to lie, I kinda liked the boys when they were small and liked to cuddle up on the couch while I passed out. Transformers, Sponge Bob and Lightning McQueen are recurring themes in the house, and I wind up (twist my arm here, come on) re-living a lot of childhood memories playing with them. Here pretty soon I’m going to start working on making both of them crack shots. Not to toot my own horn, but somebody’s got to take over when I move on. Unfortunately working with nukes kept me away from the boys pretty frequently, nothing like getting stuck at work an extra day because it’s -77 outside with wind. Your lungs start to freeze at -70, so I guess from a safety standpoint it’s not such a bad idea to wait a bit.

I was very lucky to have had the opportunity to have some positive career changes allowing me out of the missile gig into the space side of the house where I am now. While I was still in Montana I finished my masters in Space Operations Management. To burn spare time I’ve signed on as an adjunct instructor for Embry-Riddle, teaching masters level space studies courses for them.

We’re in California right now so I can play space man while simultaneously hanging out with my family a lot more. I dislike California for a number of reasons, but I DO NOT WHATSOEVER miss firing up the snowblower on a semi-daily basis. Sunshine is a nice change.

I’ll continue to be a military guy for as long as the Air Force decides to keep me around. Hey, I’m predictable. Sadly, I won’t be able to hang out with you guys at the reunion. Next time I promise I’ll have more of a tan line and more ridiculous war stories to tell. If anybody ever wants to talk, I’m on the facebooks periodically, or if you want a more serious conversation shoot me an email at springerwj@yahoo.com. Pour out a root beer for me!

Monday, May 28, 2012

Alyssa Hill Haws

















I've enjoyed posting people's updates to this blog...I guess I better take my turn :)  I've got to agree with everyone else,  10 years has really flown by.

Immediately after graduating, I started summer classes at BYU-Idaho.  That next fall, I move into student housing and absolutely had a blast.  I switched my major three times before finally settling on Public Health.  I graduated in December 2005 with my Bachelors.

In January 2006-June 2007, I served a mission to Albuquerque, NM.  I spent the majority of my time with the Navajo people near the Four Corners area.  They are very humble and spiritual people.  I loved teaching the gospel and seeing people embrace it.

A week after returning from my mission, I began dating Wes Haws.  He graduated from Madison in 2001.  He swept me off my feet!  We married in the Rexburg Temple Feb. 11, 2008.  We spent 2 months in Ethiopia for our honeymoon. While in Ethiopia we fell in love with 5 orphan children.

In May 2009,  our son Everett was born.  Two months after his birth, Wes was offered a job in Ethiopia.  We jumped at the chance!!  Upon taking the job in Ethiopia, we knew we also wanted to adopt the 5 children we had met on our first trip.  We added Mubarek, Mesafint, Damitu, Tofik, and Gutama to our family.

We lived in Ethiopia for almost two years as a family of 8.  My husband was attacked by an angry villager in August 2010.  It was a scary time for all of us.  He made a miraculous recovery.  Upon the completion of our children's adoption in May 2011, we moved our family to Rexburg, Idaho.

Our children are adjusting and enjoying America.  They especially enjoy soccer and anything athletic!  We've also stayed busy with the opening of our small grocery store called Super Savers near World Gym in Rexburg.  Our family has been very blessed!

That's my 10 years in a nutshell!  We'd love to have more people submit updates---Looking forward to seeing you all soon.

Jennifer Adams Brizzee





Ten years, insanity, I'm pretty sure I am still 16 years old.  Anyway, after high school I got to go to Africa for three weeks with my sister, it wasn't anything selfless- just something we always wanted to do ever since we saw Power of One- and it was amazing.  After I got home from that I started attending BYU-I, which I loved.  It seemed to be pretty much an extension of high school, which I was completely fine with. I can't remember too much of those years until I started hanging out with TJay in 2004.  T Jay was the same age as my older brother Jake and we are the same age as his younger brother, James.  T Jay and Jake were roomates up on campus, and because T Jay was dating someone at the time who was off track and in California he figured he would hang out with Jake's little sister and that would be fine. :)  I soon convinced him that I was the one for him.  We were married in March 2005.  We added Hope to our family in 2006 and in 2007 we moved to Florida where TJay started attending Physical and Occupational Therapy School.  That same year we added Olivia to our family.  We loved Florida and were right on the coast, so the beach was just a few minutes away.  A big change from Idaho.  We finished up with school in 2010 and added Nixon to our family that year as well.  T Jay got a job here in Idaho Falls and we have finally settled down after 7 years of marriage and around 8 moves (yeah, I can't remember exactly, too many).  Tessa just came to our family this last February and we love where we are in life right now.  Can't wait to see everyone at the reunion and it is so good to hear from you all. 

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Krystal Cruz

 Wow Ten Years!! I have been pretty busy in the last ten years. After high school i attempted the whole college thing but decided i wasnt ready. I had my first daughter Lillianna in 2004. Boy she was such a joy besides she was such a sick little girl spent alot of time in the hospital with her until she was 18 months. When she was 2 we moved to Elko NV. for alittle while. I came back just in time to meet my husband in 2006. I married Ramiro Cruz in 2007. We welcomed my second child a boy Ramiro in 2008. In 2009 my husband adopted my oldest. In 2010 we welcomed my youngest Sophia. My kids have been such a joy and the loves of my life. In December on 2011 my husband had to head back to Mexico. We are working with the immigration to get his PR. He will not be home until the end of 2012 or the beginning of 2013. It has been a true test of patients (in which i think i am losing it). Anyways that is my story I enjoy learning about all of the class of 2002. Cant wait to see you all at the reunion.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Jason Challis



Well since graduation I got married, and have 4 kids. I went to E.I.T.C. I got a diesel technical certificate. I worked at a two truck shops. Found that I did not like being a full time mechanic. In 2006 I started working at valley ready mix. I run heavy equipment. I have been there since. Can't believe its been 10yrs already.

Monday, May 14, 2012

Matt Blomquist




It’s been a lot of fun to see what everyone has been up to these past 10 years! I, like so many of you, have had a great and eventful 10 years!

After graduation I spent a couple of years working in construction while saving up for an LDS mission. In Sept 2004 I left on my mission to Riverside California and had a great experience there! After returning home in Sep 2006 I started school at BYU-I in Jan 2007. I worked in construction off and on between my classes and enjoyed college life. For the summer of 2007 I went with a friend to Phoenix, AZ to sell security systems for APX Alarm. The summer was long and hard but I had a lot of friends with me and it all paid off in the end! I then went back to school to continue studying Construction Management. For the summer of 2008 I went to SLC, UT to sell security with APX for one more summer. After the summer was over I decided that I had enough of summer sales and went back to school.

In January 2009 I met the most amazing girl I’ve ever known, Sarah Busick from Columbia Falls, MT, and we were married in August that same year. Sarah graduated from the Business Management program at BYU-I in 2008 and had a full time job in Idaho Falls, so she continued to work and put me through school. We bought our home in Rexburg 3 weeks after we were married and enjoyed home ownership! For summer 2010 we went to Sacramento, CA for an internship, and enjoyed our time there.

On January 22, 2011 we were blessed with our amazing daughter Maja Jayne Blomquist! (Pronounced Maya, but spelled the Swedish way!) In April 2011 I finally graduated from BYU-I with a Bachelor’s degree in Construction Management and an Associate’s degree in Architectural Technology. We then went to Nampa, ID for a second internship to finish up the requirements for my degree. In June of 2011 I accepted a job offer as an estimator for very large industrial construction company, TIC The Industrial Company, (a subsidiary of the Kiewit Corporation) in Bakersfield, CA and on July 16, 2011 we left our home in Rexburg and made the big move to California and have been here ever since.

Maja is now almost 16 months old and is as full of life as ever. She’s a petite little 16 pound girl, but that doesn’t stop her from running all over the house and terrorizing everything she can get her hands on! We love watching her learn and grow. Sarah is now a full-time stay at home mom and we are currently expecting number two at the beginning of November! We are so excited for our new little one and love being parents!

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Kristina Anderson Shupe



10 years!  We're so old.  After High school I attended BYU-Idaho and graduated with a bachelors in Health and Physical Education.  To break up my college experience, I went on an LDS mission to Indianapolis, Indiana.  Go Colts!  I was sad to hear that Peyton Manning was leaving for the Broncos. Following my graduation I worked in Alaska as a tour guide/bus driver picking up cruise ship passengers giving them a tour through Skagway and into the Yukon.   Alaska was good times.  I then moved to Salt Lake City and started teaching Health and P.E. classes at Cyprus High school located in Magna, Ut.  I was also hired on as the Varsity Volleyball coach and J.V. Basketball coach.  I loved teaching and coaching.  


While living in Salt Lake I met my husband, Fernando Shupe, in the singles ward we attended.  We dated on and off for a little over a year and were married on June 12, 2010.  He is the Love of my life  (kiss, kiss, hug, hug, little kiss, little hug) haha  He graduated from the U of U in Biology and works in a laboratory at Omnilytics Inc.  We are hoping all works out for Dental school in the near future.  He is a huge Utah football fan, loves Atlanta Braves baseball, and never misses a Jazz game.  Our latest adventure was flying to Denver to watch the Braves play the Rockies.  
We had our little boy, Darius Richard on December 30, 2011.   He’s our little munchkin bum.  Once he came into the picture I decided to stop teaching/coaching.  It’s definitely an adjustment, but a good one.  Other than being a new mom, I also teach English to a lady on Wednesday and Thursday evenings. 


Turns out ten years after graduation, I am next door neighbors with one of my best friends from high school, Danielle Grover Sherman.  We see each other almost every day.  I love it!  Life is good.  One of these days we'll get a family picture.

Monday, May 7, 2012

Beth (Parker) Willmore



Wow it's hard to sum up the last 10 years of your life in a few paragraphs!
After graduation I immediately started school up at BYU-Idaho and really
enjoyed college. In August of 2003 I married Jared Willmore (surprise
surprise) who was a year older than us in school. 

Jared is a corporal for Madison County Sheriff's Office and loves his job.
We bought a home out here on the Salem Highway (north of Rexburg) and
have lived here ever since (with my horses of course!) 

I graduated from college in 3 years with my BA in Organizational
Communications and started working full time at Beehive Federal Credit
Union as the Human Resource Officer. 

We had our first baby, Megan in May of 2006 and since she was the first
grandchild on both sides of the family she was spoiled rotten. She was a
hard baby, but now she's a fun almost-6 year old. She's very girly but
loves to ride horses with me. I'm glad I finally have someone to ride
with since Jared doesn't like horses! 

Our little guy, Parker was born in June of 2008 and I decided that I
wanted to stay home with the kids. Parker was a pretty mellow baby but he
is quite the handful now! He'll be 4 next month and he is as wild as they
come. He always has a funny comment for me and is constantly in trouble
for one thing or another! 

When we had Parker, Beehive worked out an arrangement with me so now I
work from home as a supervisor for their human resource department and I
love it! I'm also a Mary Kay consultant and I earned a free car 2 years
ago and I love getting to raise my own kids instead of sending them to
daycare since now I'm a "work from home mom"! 

Our little caboose Mason was born in May of 2011 and he is such a
sweetheart. He's happy to be chubby and just go with the flow. He just
started crawling and now is getting into everything! 

Life is wild and crazy with 3 kids under the age of 5! 

We're excited that the kids are a little bigger this year and we're
looking forward to doing some boating and horseback riding and just
enjoying the sunshine without being pregnant or having a brand new baby in
tow (like it's been for the last 6 years...)! Life is good and it's
amazing at how much life has changed in the past 10 years!




Saturday, May 5, 2012

Chance and Alisha Bell


After graduating high school I continued to work at Wal-Mart in Rexburg until March of 2003. I then served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints until March of 2005 in Paraguay. I loved it and I loved the people. I returned home a changed person.

Upon my return I began working with my dad at Bell Builder’s Supply, and I began attending BYU-Idaho, majoring in Psychology. During the fall of 2005 I met and fell madly in love with the most wonderful women in the world, Alisha. She and I were subsequently married in January of 2006. In March of that year I began working at Melaleuca, Inc. using my newly acquired Spanish speaking skills.

In October of 2006 our first son, Mason, was born. During the next year Alisha and I attended school and raised our little boy. We added a surprise girl to our family in January 2008 (a surprise in the fact we didn’t plan on having her, not a surprise that we all of a sudden had a baby. Alisha obviously showed when she was inside her. J ). Her name is Kinbree.

During our time in Rexburg we made good friends and had a great time, especially in our church wards. At the end of 2009 I graduated with a B.A. in Psychology, and in the summer of 2010 Alisha graduated with her Associates degree, and had our third child, Anson (not a surprise). Four weeks later we moved to Spokane, WA, and I began attending Gonzaga University. I am now finishing up my Master’s degree in Marriage and Family Counseling, and we are moving to Tallahassee, FL this summer to begin a doctoral program in Marriage and Family Therapy. We are excited for a new adventure and for living near the beach, which I have only seen once in my life (it was cold, rainy, dark, I had 5 minutes, and took place 2 months ago).

The best part of the last 10 years has been my wonderful and amazing wife. Without her I could not have made it to where I am today. I love spending time with my family, and just having fun and being silly. There have been many ups and downs throughout the last 10 years, but we have been able to make it through them. Much of the strength I have had during the hard times, especially while serving as a missionary, came from a loving Heavenly Father.

Thursday, May 3, 2012


Thanks to the brave people who have submitted an update to the blog!  I've really enjoyed reading what others have sent in.  I know there are plenty of curious people checking this blog for updates but haven't submitted one for themselves yet.  The blog has almost 1000 hits since I started posting. Don't be shy!  Be brave.  Jot down what you've been up to the last 10 years and e-mail it in.  We'd love to hear from you...  brownie points to the next 4 people who send in their updates.  Have a splendid week.