ALISON (BARNES) PARSON

It's so good to hear from everyone! I want to see every one of you at the reunion, unless you can't. But if you are on the fence about it come! Ten years is a big deal you old farts! Well, in case you were wondering...

10- is the number of miles from Rexburg I settled. I had big dreams of being somewhere much cooler than this but we found a fixer-upper home in Teton two years ago and since then we've found that the people here are our kind of crazy

9 jobs I've had since High School. The most notable being the summer after graduation when I moved up to Jackson WY where I was a wanna-be cowgirl and drove a team of draft horses for tourists; and the time I moved to Alabama to work construction and helped build a dome church (I even got a pink hard hat). Now I work from home sewing felt flowers for an online boutique.

8 years I've been married to Troy Parson (Madison class of '04). When he came home from his mission I snatched him up before he could change his mind about me. He is a sculptor/ mold maker and currently doing grad school online at Academy of Art studying Industrial design .

7 seasons of Dr Who I've watched. Don't judge. Bow ties are cool

6 chickens, 5 frogs, 10 fish, a cat, a giant dog, and a million houseplants share our little acre of land. It's fabulous. Like a zoo.

5 cities I've dwelled in- Rexburg (a few times); Jackson, WY; Dothan, AL; Sugar City, and Teton.

4 year degree from BYUI in Exercise Science. It was challenging and interesting and I'm glad I didi it and I'm glad it's over.

3 beautiful boys have joined our family. Rockwell is 5, Otto is 3, and Kell is our little angel baby who passed away recently.

2 half marathons because I'm not awesome enough to do full marathons but do enjoy exercising to a degree. It's my stress relief and much cheaper than therapy.

1 time I've left the country and it was only to Mexico. I was only too happy to come back to the States

0 times I have used geometry since 9th grade

 

I've loved seeing what people have been up to and I hope many more of you will get on the ball and update us before Aubrey posts more embarrassing pictures. Never mind. Don't post.

​I like the embarrassing pictures of you all. Good times.

JAMIE (NIELSON) LARSON

It has been really fun to read everyone's updates and to see what you have been up to for the past 10 years... Gosh we are old. 

After graduating I went to school for a couple of years at BYU-I and then I decided to take a break and just work. It ended up being a longer break than I originally planned. But during this time I was able to travel as much as I could. I have now been to England, France, Austria, Italy, Germany, Spain, Jamaica, Mexico and The Philippines. 

I met Nathan Larson at work and we were married in June 2012. He is from the very small town of Othello, WA. Shortly after we were married I went back to school and continued to work to help out financially. 

In August 2013 we had our daughter Kambria. She is now 21 months and is the cutest little girl ever. 

In October 2014 my husband got a job as an iOS developer in Orem, UT and just 1 week after he started his job we had our second kid. Braxton is now 7 months old. 

And just yesterday my husband started his new job working for Mountain American Credit Union in West Jordan as an iOS developer. 

My husband will be graduating after the fall semester and I will finally be done with school at the end of this semester. We love being in Utah and I am so happy to be able to stay at home with my kids. 

Keep the updates coming! 

AUBREY (BARTON) EPPICH

Thank you to everyone that has sent in an update so far! I have had so much fun reading through and posting them. It’s probably time I practice what I preach and send in my update. Maybe then I’ll get taken more seriously when I ask for more. ;)

Noteworthy things that have happened in the last ten years…

-After high school I worked at Madison Women’s Clinic in Rexburg for 6 years as a receptionist and in the billing department until my husband graduated and we moved out of state.

-I went to BYU-Idaho and got a Bachelor’s degree in education. My major is Early Childhood Special Education and qualifies me to teach regular or special ed from Birth-3^rd grade and my minor is in Orchestra education K-12.

-I love travelling and seeing new places. One of my adventures was going with a college group to Europe for a month and taking a couple classes. Anyone recognize my travel buddy? If you ever need a good travel buddy she comes highly recommended.

-The end of my second year of college I met my husband, Skyler, and we were married the summer of 2007. He’s pretty neat.

-In 2010 we had our first baby in Rexburg. Her name is Remington (we call her Remi) and she is almost 5 and will start Kindergarten this year. Her favorite thing is superheroes at the moment. We actually have some ducks we’ve been raising in our backyard since Easter (one of my husband’s many ideas) and she has named them Batman, Cyclops, Flash, and Cyborg.

-In 2011 we moved to Basin City, WA (outside of the Tricities) after my husband graduated with his Bachelors for work. We are in the process of buying the family grain business. We love it here. I live in the middle-of-nowhere (basically) and am embracing country life. I now own overalls, cowgirl boots, and a pink and black zebra print four-wheeler. I think I’ve finally gotten used to driving 30 minutes for groceries.

-In 2012 we had our second baby here in Washington. His name is Kai and he is 2 ½.  He recently has become our very own sound effects studio. His specialties are car engines revving, laser guns, angry hulk, and spider-man webs.

-I’m mostly a stay at home mom, but two days a week I teach violin from my home. My kids destroy my house and do whatever they want those days. They’ve learned to work together to get into anything they normally aren’t allowed to during lessons.

Hoping to see as many of you as I can in July! Thanks for being so supportive with the updates. Now go buy your tickets!

Oh hi, Alyson. Where's your update? 

Engagement Photo

Remi and Kai

Because when you live next to beautiful orchards you join the masses and take family pictures there.

And another picture by one of my husband's grain bins at Eppich Grain. Why not?

What Remi and Kai look like most of the time. A small dose of our real life.

BLAKE RILEY

After a brief stint at Ray's Chevron post-graduation, I set off for Tempe, AZ where I learned dry heat is the best heat. There, I picked up degrees in math and economics at Arizona State, working for the state government on the staff of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee in the meantime. Anjanette and I shacked up in August 2006 and settled into married life alongside school and work.

​The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign economics PhD program has sheltered me from the real world since 2009. Despite the economist label, I profess ignorance about the stock market, interest rates, or unemployment. My focus is microeconomic theory and market design, so I'm occupied with incentives, strategy, and honesty. A typical day involves writing at coffeeshops or teaching game theory to incoming grad students.

Besides Tempe and Champaign, I lived in Berkeley over the summer of 2011 with a bunch of other nerds hosted by the Center for Applied Rationality and the Machine Intelligence Research Institute. Short jaunts to Puerto Rico, Spain, France, Sweden, and Denmark happened since.

I dove into the Burning Man community a couple years ago. This started with a trip to Burning Man proper on the alkaline flats of the Black Rock Desert in 2013. If you aren't familiar with Burning Man, it's... hard to describe. Nothing is for sale aside from ice. Everything runs on a volunteer and gifting basis. If music is playing, it's because someone thought it'd be cool to set-up a soundstage. If food is served, it's because someone gets a kick out of recreating the French Quarter and frying up beignets in the Nevada desert.

Last year, my camp also made it to regional offshoots in Appalachian Ohio and the North Carolina foothills of the Great Smokies. Last weekend, I was in the Ozarks. Our camp threw a few events, including an afternoon metal set as a respite from EDM and a "boutique" where people could freely take clothing for outfits. Our big draw was the "Now We Dance, Now We Fight" Dance/Fight Party. Set to a ridiculous flamenco song, I announce in a pseudo-German accent for people to dance or pillow-fight as the mood dictates. Tons of fun if you need some cardio while camping.

Anjanette and I will be in South Korea for the summer starting in two weeks, so no reunion shenanigans for us. As far as future plans, one year left on my degree and who knows where from there.

Joel conveniently neglected to say he lives a block away from us in Champaign.