* Chelsey Furniss*

I love this whole blog thing. I am loving finding
out what everyone has been up to the past... FIVE YEARS. (well almost).. Whoa we are getting old. : ). . So I first want to start out saying, no I am not dating anyone right now. Ok glad we got that covered. ha ha jk...Ok well to start, after high school I went straight to BYU-I and started working on my bachelors degree in Health and PE education. I was put on the summer/fall track system. I can just tell you all that I LOVED college. I probably loved it a lil too much. I had the time of my life and really figured out who I was and what my purpose in life was. So I went to 4 years at byuidaho and worked at the fitness center and met some very interesting people. While in college I had the opportunity to travel a lot! Being single has its benefits haha! jk.... My very last semester I was able to student teach in west valley, utah. I taught Aerobics and HEALTH! .. Yep I teach about sex and drugs.. I cannot tell you how much I love teaching. I taught at a high school that was pretty ghetto and a lil scarey. There were a lot of different cultures at this school and lots bigger than rigby high. I had a lot of crazy thing happen and I can't tell you how many times I got asked if I was a student and what class I was suppose to be in. GR! I don't look that young. I can just tell you that students love it when a younger teacher comes to teach. They do ANYTHING to get your attention (especially lil high school boys) haha!

After I graduation in dec 2008, I moved home and went to Florida on vacay and I came back and decided that I want to serve a mission! So I am currently filling out my mission papers and am planning on serving as soon as I can. So that picture is one of my mission pics and I'm totally trying to get used to buying old grandma clothes. Not that I dress in-modest, but let's face it do sister missionaries look that stylish? NO! Anyway, I am loving being home with my family and getting ready to leave. I hope to hear and find more fellow rigby-ites on here and I hope everyone is doing well!

-Shalene Poulsen-

When I left High School in 10th grade I went traveling with my parents on a job called Historical Collectors Menus. I went to Washington to the Ocean, to Vernal Utah to the Dinosaur Quarry, to Oregon, to Montana.

After a the year came up, my parents health started to plummet. We ended the job and I finished up Seminary. I didn't graduate but I did the best I could to learn about every place we went. I found out I learned more on the traveling then I did in school.

In 2005-06 I got a job at the D.I. in Rexburg. I worked there from October to the end of June. Through the time of working at the D.I. I was saving up money because my father was going through Chemo treatments. He had a tumor between his stomach and spine.
At the end of June I left to go to Utah to be with my parents. My father was in the L.D.S Hospital about to go through radiation treatments. I was the only one in the family that wasn't pregnant or had little children. So I left the D.I and went down to be with them.
My Father was transferred to the Madison Hospital in October of 06 because the L.D.S hospital could do no more for him. I found out later on that they cured the cancer but his liver was failing. He passed away on November 19th 06.

My mother and I could not keep the house, so we had to move to my grandparents house in Ammon. We stayed there until April 07 where I stayed and mom went back to Ammon with her parents. I went to the singles branch there for almost a year and a half. When I met Tim.

Tim is from Montana and has just turned 31 on December 31st lol :D. We dated every day except one for 2 1/2 weeks. On July 26 he asked me to marry him. We were married in the Rexburg Temple on October 11 2008. We currently live in the Gladstone Apartments. Tim is going to School and working at the D.I until school is done. We may be moving but not sure where.

I am currently a stay at home wife. I keep my self busy with sewing, writing, cleaning the apartment, and playing on the computer. I love to be home. I am currently saving up money to go to school so I can finally get my G.E.D "shh, don't tell anyone" ;) So I can get my degree to become a seamstress. I write on the side and have almost finished my first manuscript. We are happy and loving the fact that we are both similar in many ways. Which is what I was looking for. :D

I am currently making a blog, pictures and information to come soon, check my blog.
http://srwhiting.blogster.com

*Audra Close*

What Happened Since High School

To start off, I'm happy I'm not in High School anymore. Ever since I moved to southern Idaho, I've always felt out-of-place… lost almost. It takes a certain kind of person to thrive in that area, a kind of person I've never been. A few months after High School ended, I moved to Rexburg to go to school at BYU-Idaho. I wanted to major in Art, but after a while I decided that Art was more enjoyable as a hobby and not a career. I got burned out pretty quick.

About the second semester in, I met Caleb. I refer to him as my knight in shining armor. He prefers to call himself the night in dented old armor. That way, if he ever falls off his high horse it will be more comic instead of tragic. Needless to say, after we met (which is a whole 'nother story in itself) he asked me to marry him. He took me to the Idaho Falls Greenbelt, where the bridge crosses over the water. It was February, and very cold. It was the funniest thing. He was so nervous, and when he got down on his knee and opened the case with the ring, it slid out of its case and almost fell down to the water/ice. We laugh about it now.

We were married August 27, 2005 in the Boise Idaho temple and then moved to northern Idaho. It is the best place for us. There aren’t very many people, just pined mountains and open sky. Caleb works construction and in our spare time we train and put miles/experience on horses. It’s a funny thing. In High School I wouldn't have been caught dead in a pair of cowboy boots. But then again, I didn't have a horse either. My horses name is Lassie and she has a yearling right now that is as tall as she is.

This Christmas my father in law made me a pair of chinks. He's a leather repairman. His specialty is fixing saddles and boots. Up here there's really no need for anything modern. My mother-in-law is a midwife, and I had both my kids at home traditionally. There are no microwaves, everything is cooked by scratch, all the meat is mostly wild game, there's no iPods, cell phones only work occasionally, no videogames, and internet is slower than molasses, because dial up is the only thing that works. The only thing the TV is good for is old cassette tapes that nobody watches anyway.

Jewel was born in November of 2006 and Gideon was born August 2008. I love being a mom. That's another thing I wouldn't have guessed while in High School. I've learned more being a mom than I feel like I've learned the entire time growing up. I've learned how to sew outfits for the kids and make quilts, how to cook from something other than the box or the can, how to speak baby gibberish and everything else that accompanies raising a happy and healthy family.

All in all life is really good. Caleb made a rocking horse for Jewel, and when Gideon gets old enough, he's going to make a rocking bull. Meanwhile, I've discovered a love for painting murals on walls. At my in-laws I painted their bathroom door to look like an outhouse door. (yes, they have an actual outhouse too for when summer comes and there isn't a lot of water) and in our house I've painted a sky on the ceiling and Tuscan Tiles around the built in bookshelf. It's fun fixing up our place. We have a black lab named Sadie who had 7 pups this year. Thank goodness we were able to get rid of them all. The last couple went right before Christmas. We're happy with just one dog. (I can only imagine the grocery bill if we had to feed all 8!) Life is good.

~Marian Peterson~

Isn't it funny how when you're younger you look forward so much to being one of the 'big kids' and going to high school, as though that were the end-all of all things important? Well, now that its past, I have to say it just keeps getting better!!

Let's see, life after graduation...

I went straight from graduating into BYU-I's nursing program, which absorbed my entire life for the next two years. After graduation with my associates degree in 2006, I moved here to wonderful Provo, Utah, and have been working as an RN on a cardiac floor for two and a half years! Time flies! I work nights and I love it! Except when I charge, kinda stressful :P. And Utah is definitely no Idaho, but the mountains are gorgeous and I have to admit the state is growing on me. Still have the Idaho plates on my car though...

Otherwise I have 4 days off per week so I fill that time with traveling, hiking, backpacking, snowboarding, visiting home, and then just the boring old daily errands. Laundry...puke. Some fun places I've been are Mexico, Bahamas, New York, Tonga, Hawaii, hit up some GORGEOUS national parks, and have hiked the high points in Idaho, North and South Dakota, Nebraska (more like drove up the little hill), California, and Nevada. Oh, my mom and I are trying to hike all the high points in the US. This summer we're planning on Utah, Montana, and Wyoming, and the Grand Teton just for fun. If anyone of you are around and are game... you should come!! I am really stoked out it! Fun + cheap = hiking!

Also this summer I discovered the wonderful world of dirtbiking and plan to do a lot of that with my new little bike. Actually little is not accurate, he's REALLY tall and pretty powerful, so I need to make some adjustments so I don't ride in fear. I feel like he's my little puppy
Currently, I am dating an awesome guy from Salt Lake who's going to BYU in mechanical engineering and LOVES cars. He's a smarty. And pretty cute too. To be honest, we're just dating... so if you have any further questions, the answer is "I don't know, we'll see." :) Aw dating...

Anything else particularly interesting? I'm trying to start cooking again (I was better at it at BYU-I) and am facing the sad reality that I stink. I forgot to put salt in my cinnomon rolls today, and you would be suprised how one little teaspoon of salt can change a whole batch of cinnamon rolls.

Well, it's been so fun to read about what's going on in all of your lives!! Most of you are married (It's okay Lindz, me neither) and have such beautiful families!!! Take car and keep this page updated!! If you move, have more kids, get engaged, get a new job, graduate school, have a near-death experience, take a fun trip... I (we) want to hear about it!

New Blogs

Just in case anyone was looking... we have a couple new blogs!!! We now have Marian Peterson, Katie Dansie, Alison Price, Chelsey Furniss and Seth Ellsworth! All though Seth's hasn't been updated since... 2006!!! :) um... we def. need an update on that one! Take Care!

LIndsey Polatis

I graduated in Dec 2007 as a Registered Nurse from CSI. I was working at Cassia, in Burley while I was going to school for my RN...Before graduation I was looking for a job cause I didint want to stay in Burley, and there was a job opening in St George for the RN Residency Program at Dixie Regional Medical Center. I applied and and got the job. So I packed my car and went home for Christmas for 2 weeks, then I moved to St George and started working on Jan 7. I loved the Program. I was able to go and study more in areas that I am interested in. I spent to 2 weeks on Orthopedic/ Spine unit...and Loved it!! I applied for a job on that floor, I started to work nights on that floor in March when the Residency program was done. Working nights was okay. I liked it being quite and a little more calmer. Then in Oct I was offered a day job and I took it. Its way more busier on days but I love it. I am working on my Bachelor degree now. I took a couple classes from Dixie State this last semester, but I am hoping to be accepted into SUU Bachelor program, I will start in May 2009.

I love St George-- the winters are Awesome! The summers are really cookin though. I live by my brother and his wife, and then my little sister Sarah decided to come to school here at Dixie, she moved here in Aug along with her friend Candace. My cousin Brittany lives with me, she is in Nursing Program here at DSC.

Amber Tanner

As most of you know I moved to St. George, Utah the summer before our Junior year, but never fully let Rigby go. Not all my good friends anyway. Moving to St. George at that time in my life was one of my hardest struggles that I've gone through. The school I ended up going to was HUGE compared to Rigby, and apparently I ended up going to the richest and snobbiest school out of the three that are here in St. George. And it was during the boom where all these people from California were moving to St. George, and the housing market was going crazy, so there were tons of new people at the school at all times and not just a few. So since my dad had a job with Skywest Airlines, I was hopping on a plane and flying back to Idaho every other weekend and staying there during school breaks and basicly coming up any chance I got, which is why some of you saw me around often at school hanging out in the seminary classes. I would always come up and stay with Megan Rumsey, so instead of staying at her house doing nothing, I would go to school with her. Which was actually pretty fun, since I was just hanging out all day. Then during my Senior year I got a job at Hollywood Video to give me some spending money through High School, but it also tied me down to St. George, and actually staying here and getting to know the place. Which wasn't a bad thing. It was in May of 2004 that I met my husband. I was friends with his younger sister at school, so she basicly hooked us up. I met him actually 2 days before my 18th birthday and he was almost 22 at the time, so he said he had to wait until I was "legal" to take me out on a date, which I couldn't wait for (even though it was only a few days). So on May 7th we had our first date, then two weeks after that we went out again, and then after that we were unseparateable and got engaged in Aug. 2004 and married in the St. George LDS Temple on November 27th, 2004. Through that summer after High School I just dated Josh, and worked at Hollywood Video and Red Mountain Spa. A few months after getting married I quit those two jobs and worked as a secratary at a place called Mentoring of America. My husband worked there in the sales department at the same time for a few months and then he moved on to be a Sales Representative at Allconnect, where he still currently works, and is a top sales performer. He's amazing at sales, which I never think I could do. After working at Mentoring of America for a year, I moved on to being a Teller at Beehive Credit Union here in St. George. That was my favorite job and a job that I just simply loved. While working there I got pregnant with my first child. Working on my feet all day wasn't the best thing for me during my last months of pregnancy, I was retaining a whole lotta water and was swollen up like crazy. So at 36 weeks I got put on bedrest. But luckily that only lasted a week because by that next Sunday, the doctor took me in and induced me because of my high blood pressure, and signs of Preclamsia. A few hours in and contractions coming hard, I got more bad news. They told me I couldn't have an epidural because my blood platelet count was to low, and that it was to much of a risk and I could have internal bleeding. So here I laid in pain, with no epidurl and knowing they had a high risk doctor on call if needed. But some how I got through it all with no trouble at all and gave birth to my daughter Paige Marie Hammond on August 27th, 2007. She was about 3 weeks early and weighed in at 5lb 12oz and 18 1/2in long and perfectly healthy! She has been so amazing and such an important part of my life! She is currently 16 1/2 months and the cutest and funnest little person around. (of course i'm byist because I'm her mom) But I love her to death. After she was born I decided to be a stay at home mom, which is what I've been doing ever since, and loving every minute of it! Now to get all the nitty gritty details about my daughter and what else we've been up too this last year you can check out my blog at http://www.joshandamberhammond.blogspot.com/

What's happened since graduation

Brittney asked me to post about what's happened since High School, so I'll try not to bore everyone with too many details. After we graduated in May of 2004 I moved to Provo, UT to attend BYU. I began the summer working at the Cannon Center as a hostess and server, and then worked at the Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum as Secretary for the remainder of my time at BYU. I majored in English with an emphasis on Children's Lit., and absolutely loved it. About 7 months after High School graduation I got married to Dan Hannon, who I've known since I was fifteen. We got married in the I.F. Temple on December 18, 2004, and then moved back to Provo, where we both continued school- me at BYU, he at the University of Utah in SLC. I got pregnant with our first little girl, Maylyn, shortly after getting married and gave birth to her three weeks early on September 1, 2004. She's now three years old, opinionated, stubborn, and darling. Since then we've moved six different times, and worked five different jobs. Dan's finished his Masters in Public Administration at the U (and is now working for a private school here in Salt Lake City called Challenger, as a seventh grade teacher), and we added one more child,Tessa, who was born to our little family on April 26, 2007. She'll be two in just a few months, and makes our life one big fun and unexpected adventure.

As for me, I am loving being a stay-at-home Mom with my two little girls, am busy as the 2nd Counselor in our Relief Society Presidency, and am about to start two new classes that will make life even crazier. Despite our busy schedules we're loving life and couldn't be happier!

Just a little note... For those of you that have tried to get onto Savannah Wall's blog and can't, you can email her at savannah.hannon@gmail.com and she can give you permission to view it! Thanks!

Taking a look back in time........

Hey Everyone this is Amber Tanner. This is my contribution to adding old photos of the past school years. Some of these go WAY back! I hope you enjoy the photos and it brings back some memories, but collect your own photos together and e-mail them to Brittany or you can e-mail them to me at atanner04@hotmail.com and I would be happy to put a collauge together for you and post them on the site so others can see your pictures! (If you click on the photos they will blow up so you can view them easier and see everyones happy faces!)

Brittney Hughes & Kevin Jones

As you all know Kevin and I started dating in High School. We dated all throughout the senior year and then once graduation came and went, we both ended up moving to Utah. Ended up getting Married in March of 2005 and we had a baby boy who we named Cahlin in September of 2005. We lived in the Salt Lake Valley until the Spring of 2007.
Kevin was trying to get a Real Estate License of the ground and I was working at Gold's Gym in their playroom. In February of 2007 Kevin accepted at Management job for Home Security Systems. So we packed our stuff and our 18 month old and moved to Baltimore Maryland. I don't care what anyone says Maryland is horrible! It's so stinking hot ALL the time! And the people are SO mean. After 3 1/2 months we decided to extend and moved to LA!! We lived in Hollywood and we had a blast spotting expensive cars and swearing that we saw Lindsey Lohan and Orlando Bloom! :)
Then it was back to good ol' Utah for us! We spent the winter of '07 and the Spring of '08 in Salt Lake City again. It was here that we had our second little boy, Eyan! Little boys are so much fun, I never get sick of it! In April of 2008 we moved out to New York City to Manage a sells office once more... New York City is crazy. But the people there were so much nicer than Balitmore. We had fun but we definitely missed the good old west!!! I had decided that I was done with moving so much, so we quit alarms and now Kevin sells Radio ads for Z 103 and KBEAR! We are living in Pocatello and we are loving life! I stay home with our kids and I constantly have something new thrown at me! Kevin is the best dad in the world and our boys adore him. He loves his work and we can't wait to see what the future holds for us!

Pictures

If any one has any pictures from School times please send me them so I can post them on the site also!

New Blog

Here we go! I am excited to get this site up and running! I have loved getting to see what everyone has been up to since Graduation and I am sure we would all like to hear from everyone! I know everyone has been on crazy adventures and living their lives to the fullest! Even if you don't have a blog just leave us a comment or send an email and we will post about you! Also, if you would like to be an author to this blog and write whenever you want you can send me your email also and I can add you!