M'LISA (WALKER) DENNING

It's been so great to catch up with all of you who have updated us thus far! It has reminded me how fortunate we were to be in such an amazing class! I feel privileged to have grown up with each and every one of you. 

The summer after graduation I also went and participated in the Hill Cumorah Pageant in upstate New York. Like Brittany said it's not a beauty pageant, but a huge outdoor pageant about the Book of Mormon put on by volunteers. I did that for two summers while also working at a dental office. I received my Associate's degree from BYU-I then transferred to Idaho State University where I received my Bachelor's degree in Dental Hygiene in 2009. I wanted to be a dental hygienist since Jr. High so it was gratifying to accomplish that goal. I worked full-time for the best dentist in Shelley, Idaho and loved my time there. Joel laughs about dental hygienists, but it really is one of the best jobs out there! I'm curious to know how many hygienists there are from our class. I know there's a few of us! 

In 2007 I met my husband, Lance Denning, who grew up in Pocatello. He was attending ISU at the time and we were married in 2008. He graduated with his Doctor of Pharmacy degree in 2012 from ISU. After his graduation he accepted a job with Walgreen's and he was a manager of the pharmacy in Twin Falls, ID. We were only in Twin Falls for 6 months before we moved again. Lance got his dream job of working with Broulim's. We moved to Star Valley, WY (about an hour and a half away from Idaho Falls) in 2013 and have been here since then. Broulim's is a great company to work for as they are closed on Sundays, major holidays, and they are a really family friendly company. We bought a home on two acres and love living a slow paced, simple life. We live in a beautiful valley full of lots of recreational outdoor activities. It is perfect for our family. 

We welcomed our first boy, Mack, in October of 2011 who is now 3. Parker followed in March 2013 and Ammon was born in September of 2014. If you are trying to figure out the math that is three boys in three years! It has been quite the experience and not one that I necessarily thought would happen to me, but I am grateful for my boys nonetheless. We enjoy spending our time camping in Island Park, four-wheeling and boating and we feel extremely blessed to have three little boys who are becoming the best of friends. 

Keep the updates coming! They really are so fun to read! 

REGENCY (HANSEN) SNEDAKER

 I've really enjoyed reading about what everyone has been up to the last 10 years! As for me, I got a summer job at Intel working with an uncle just outside Portland, Oregon. While there I applied and was accepted to Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts. It was exciting and absolutely terrifying at the same time. As the summer came to an end though, I realized that Portland was not where I was meant to be. So I went back home to Rexburg and started attending BYU-I. In the spring of 06 I married my high school sweetheart Greg Snedaker, who graduated the year before us. 

  

 We moved from place to place in Rexburg and from job to job. Then in 2007 I started working for Madison's After School Program as a teacher and fell in love! I loved the kids, I loved teaching fun classes, I loved helping kids who were struggling conquer their homework. It was such a rewarding job, and after 3 elementary schools (Burton, Adams, and South Fork which is Archer and Lyman combined) and almost 7 years of playing at work, I became a stay-at-home mom. 

In the midst of all my fun, in the fall of 2009, my husband and I got both awful and wonderful news. We discovered that Greg has an auto-immune disease that will affect him for the rest of his life. It was hard news to hear, but God helped us get through the shock and move forward to find a way to manage the illness. Happily my husband is doing very well for almost a year now! Our other news that fall was that we were expecting our first child. Thankfully I had an easy pregnancy and was able to take care of Greg when he wasn't well. In July 2010 Ethan was born and he couldn't have been more perfect!

In February of 2013 our second son, Skyler, was born. Ethan has been an awesome big brother and Skyler is determined to keep up with everything Ethan does. They keep me very busy and tend to get into mischief often. Ethan looks like a miniature of my husband and has his same energetic outlook on life. Skyler is our little sour patch kid, he has quite the talent for getting into trouble and being naughty one moment to being a sweet apologetic angel the next.

Last spring we decided to buy a house and made the "long" journey from Lyman to Rigby. Yep, we moved to Rigby. We live on a quiet street in a cute old home just filled with character with what I consider a big yard for being in town. So far, I've loved every moment, and we are slowly but surely making this place our own.

Ethan is now four and a half and going to Preschool. He loves it, and is constantly coming home singing songs he learned. Poor Skyler can't stand being left home and out of the fun. About a month ago I was asked by the Preschool director if I'd like to help in one of the classes and I excitedly accepted. So now I'm working again. Preschoolers are so fun and full of curiosity. I spend my spare time (what little of it I get) working on craft projects and learning new things. I enjoy decorating cakes for my boys' birthdays and even made my sister's wedding cake. As a family we loving having adventures and traveling together. Our next great adventure is the upcoming arrival of our baby girl who is due in May. Greg and I are thrilled and even the boys are looking forward to having a baby sister!

Well, I hope to hear from more of you and see as many as possible this summer!

DAVID RITCHIE

The following update was shared by David’s mom and sister, Leah:

Shortly after graduation - June 30, 2005 to be exact – David started working at Walmart. He also became very involved in Special Olympics where he played basketball, soccer, floor hockey, softball and ran track. In fact, he actually holds two records in Idaho for track.

In 2009 he got a call from his Special Olympics Coach asking if he wanted to go to China. He said of course! He called our mom saying he was going to China, but she had no idea what the heck he was talking about. His coach called and told our mom that since Idaho had hosted the World Games a few years before they wanted to return the favor, so David got to go across the world to play soccer. He was there for ten days, during which time he got to see the sights in Shanghai and earn a bronze medal!

In 2010 he got a call from one of his buddies who was the police chief in Boise. He had recommended that David go to Nebraska with Special Olympics to represent Idaho in The Law Enforcement Torch Run. Once again David was chosen and off he went! During the event he ran 50 miles in ten days - David was the only Special Olympian who ran every. single. mile. In addition to running through various towns, David had the opportunity to share his own experience with Special Olympics and raise awareness about this amazing program. One additional fact - David is the ONLY Special Olympian from Idaho to run in the Torch Run!

In 2012 David and our family moved from Rexburg to Kansas City, where both our parents are originally from. It was time to go "home". In Kansas David and our grandpa spent every single day together. They watched as many sporting events together that they possibly could; they were best buds. David also continued to work at Walmart and play Special Olympics

On August 20, 2014 David was killed in a traffic accident. Our hearts are completely broken. David was laid to rest next to his grandma in the Floral Hills Cemetery in Kansas City.

***David’s family is doing a fundraiser for Special Olympics in his honor.  If you are interested in helping them in this endeavor, you can go to the following link: http://www.gofundme.com/mtklwc 

Here are the details:

This July Special Olympics USA is hosting the 2015 Summer World Games in Los Angeles. As a part of this celebration they will be running the Olympic Torch through all 50 states. The run in Kansas City will be held June 17-18. 

David was ecstatic when he heard that the games were going to be in America, and he was completely determined to go and volunteer. Since he is unable to attend in person we have decided that we are going to get a team in Kansas City together to run in the torch in his honor. It cost $1500 to register as a team, and we would love to be able to raise that money for not only David's memorial, but for the millions of athletes Special Olympics helps around the globe.

(This picture of David was taken the day before he passed away)

BRITTANY (GROOM) RICHINS

Hey everyone! I have loved reading all of your updates – they remind me how fortunate I was to go to high school with such great people!

I bet you can’t guess where I attended college after graduation - yep! BYU-Idaho - and I loved it!  I spent those first few years studying and getting involved with various activities on campus. A couple of highlights were helping with a camp for inner city girls in Chicago and participating in the Hill Cumorah Pageant in upstate New York (FYI- this is NOT a beauty pageant…or a scholarship pageant J …or anything like that). During the summers I worked as a counselor for different youth programs. While working at EFY I met my fellow counselor and future husband – Dustin Richins. He was from Idaho, had a great singing voice, and always made me laugh (among many other great qualities) – so I knew he was a keeper! After a lengthy courtship of nine months and an even longer two month engagement, we were married in April of 2010.

After graduating with my bachelors in Communications, I decided to continue my education and earned my associates in Nursing while Dustin finished his bachelors in Political Science. After we graduated, Dustin convinced me to leave the Burg and move to Oklahoma for the summer. While Dustin worked, I studied for the RN licensing exam (NCLEX). The day after I found out I passed my test, we got even better news. We found out we were expecting our first child!

At the end of the summer we moved to Provo so Dustin could study Public Administration at BYU. While in Utah we welcomed Kenzly Kay into our family. Kenz is my “mini-me” and partner in crime! She is two and loves to sing, dance, swim and everything Frozen. Kenzly has brought more joy, laughter, and craziness into our home than we could have ever dreamed or hoped for!

Dustin graduated with his masters in the spring of 2014, and with that came more adventures as we accepted a job in Albuquerque. I will admit that when we first began discussing a move to New Mexico I was less than thrilled, but we’ve been here almost a year now, and we’ve loved just about every minute of it. We have made some great friends and enjoy the warmer weather – though I have to laugh every time they delay school and work because of 1/8” of snow! I guess they’ve never seen Idaho winters before. Currently my days are spent at play dates, running errands, and cooking with Kenzly – and I wouldn’t trade it for the world!

***

I did want to mention a huge hole that has been left in our class and my life personally with the passing of David Ritchie. He was a great example to me and didn’t let time or distance get in the way of our friendship. Even years after graduating high school, I could still expect regular phone calls from him - just to see how my family and I were doing (and I know I’m not the only person he kept in contact with…he seemed to know what was going on with everyone). I was impressed by his work ethic and dedication to the things he loved most - his family and Special Olympics. If we could read his 10 year update it would be full of incredible adventures – all the medals he won, his travels around the country and world, and the hundreds of people he touched and inspired. I miss him greatly but am grateful for his friendship and the positive impact he had on my life!

A huge thanks for Aubrey for putting all these updates together. I hope the next 10 years are great for each of you!

CHRIS PERKINS

I'm glad Kellen said something. I've really enjoyed seeing the updates.

After high school, I:

Worked at Craigo's. Delivered pizzas. Regularly singed my hair while working at the oven. Went on a mission to Oklahoma City. Didn't see any tornadoes. Saw the most expensive ice storm in Oklahoma history. Studied geology at BYU-I. Drove around Burley for the summer. Measured agricultural wells. Studied chemistry at BYU-I. Sold pest control in Oklahoma City. Made a movie with Ricky, Jade, Kaylee, JR, and Jay Hildebrandt. Applied to Utah State University on a whim. Ran around BYU-I's campus with some friends and a soccer ball to secretly remove bolts from all the city parking signs. Removed 56 signs the next night. Hung two from the stadium. Broke my arm longboarding. Got suspended from BYU-I for sedition. Had already been accepted to Utah State. Paid the city $200. Organized a century bike ride to Mesa Falls for community service. Did some unlicensed remodeling at the Westwood "Romance" Theatre for more community service. Avoided all the exposed wiring. Stepped on a nail. Worked for JR's dad's foam insulation business. Rode LoToJa. Studied electrical engineering at Utah State. Got an internship in Salt Lake. Went to Canada. Went to Mexico. Worked at Utah State's Space Dynamics Lab. Went to Bruges and Cologne with the girl I should have married. Played club rugby. Graduated. Did hardware security research for a USU professor. Tried to sail across Bear Lake. Paddled the whole way because there was no wind. Flew to Russia. Saw Red Square. Taught English to Russian kids. Went to a Russian banya in the Ural Mountains. Dunked three times in freezing water in Revolutionary Square for Epiphany. Snorkeled in Iceland. Saw the Northern Lights and Jökulsárlón. Rode on a dogsled. Went to Riga. Biked in Tallinn. Rode a ferry to Helsinki. Went to St. Petersburg for Victory Day. Traveled with a student's family to Antalya, Turkey. Flew to London. Bought a bike for £60. Biked to Brighton and then Dover. Took a ferry to Dunkirk. Biked to Bruges, Ghent, then Brussels. Flew to Berlin for a concert. Visited some friends in Dortmund. Took a train to Cologne. Got hit by a car. Took a train to Strasbourg. Biked to Colmar and Neuchâtel. Camped on Lake Geneva. Biked to Geneva, Annecy, Chamonix, and over the Alps, often in the rain. Slept in a parking lot in St. Vincent. It was still raining. Biked to Torino, then Genova. Got some real pesto. Slept on a bench in an abandoned apartment building in La Spezia. Biked around Cinque Terra. Lost my tent while biking to Pisa. Went to Florence and Rome by train. Met my Italian speaking brother in Rome. Rode a ferry to Cagliari. Ate some horse. Had a lot of gelatto. Went to Napoli. Saw Pompeii. Had some real Napolitano pizza. Sold my bike to an Italian for €50. Flew home. Tried surfing. Bought a custom titanium Kelson bike and a car. Went to the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. Was offered a job as a refueling technician on a moored submarine in Charleston, South Carolina. Turned it down. Now I'm working in a warehouse in Salt Lake City.

That's pretty much everything that happened. I hope things are going well for everyone. I'll probably see you this summer."

 Biking around Moscow

 Paddling on the glassiest Bear Lake possible

 Being a teacher

 Torino

 French Alps

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