BYU Red Meat Girls

Baby Scottie

2006-12-02T12:54:00.000-08:00

So I have been meaning to post our new son's debut. He was born on Friday, October 27th after an exciting 30 hour labor. He was in the posterior position so his head was bumping up against my spine during the whole thing causing a slow labor and a whole whole lot of back pain. But luckily he has been such a cute cuddly kid since so he has made up for the process. Here are the stats: 8lbs even, 20.5 inches long, and a 14 inch head. He has been a pretty good baby. Now at a month old he is sleeping usually 5 or 6 hours at a stretch at night allowing me to keep my sanity.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2006-11-27T21:39:00.000-08:00

I spent this Thanksgiving at home in Portland and enjoyed every minute of rain. I’ve been living in Phoenix since May and, if you haven’t heard, rain is scarce in this part of the country. Now, don’t get me wrong—I’m not complaining. After two summers of Phoenix heat, I’m finally getting to enjoy the benefits of an Arizona winter (I haven’t put on a long sleeve shirt yet, let alone a pair of tights).

Unfortunately, there are many of you with whom I haven’t spoken recently, so here is a long overdue update. After three years of hard work and fun times, I graduated from BYU Law School in April—hooray!

I then moved to Phoenix and (after the previously documented, fantastic trip to Boston) spent nearly the whole summer studying full-time for the Arizona bar exam, which I took in July and passed—also, hooray!

Luckily, I was able to spend the two months after the bar traveling and having a lot of fun before starting back into “real life.” After taking the bar, I went home to Portland for my little sister’s wedding, did the tourist thing in New York City with my parents, and visited my cousin in Dallas. I don’t have any cute pictures or stories about young children like the rest of you, so instead here is a picture of one of my favorite adventures in New York City. My mom’s favorite movie is You’ve Got Mail with Meg Ryan. One day we decided to do a walking tour of the Upper West Side and, thanks to the DVD special features, found many of the landmarks shot in the movie. Here we are in the park where Meg and Tom Hanks meet up at the end of the movie—such a classic.

One of my other favorite post-bar adventures was a day trip to the Grand Canyon—the only one of the seven wonders of the world that I’ve visited to date—with my friends Christine (pictured with me below, also a recent BYU law grad) and Marissa. Our six-mile hike and the views from the rim were spectacular, and I highly recommend a visit to this particular wonder.

My extended vacation ended at the end of September, and I am now doing a one-year clerkship for a judge on the Arizona Court of Appeals. My judge is great, so I am learning a lot and loving the work (legal research and writing on the appellate cases assigned to my judge). Outside of work, I’m busy having fun and living the single life. I’m loving Phoenix and don’t have any plans to leave any time soon, so when you want to escape cold winter weather come and visit (the weather really is amazing right now).

Hope all is well for all of you. Your friendship is one of the many blessings I celebrated this last weekend. Thanks!

Jill

Maggie Chan

2006-11-07T21:03:00.000-08:00

Hi Ladies- This is Kristen, but I just received this email from Maggie Chan and thought I would post it: Hi, everyone, Bryce grows so fast and big. He has two teeth at the bottom. He can crawl like a pro. He can pull himself up. He likes holding my fingers to walk around everywhere. He is currently 8 months old, slimming down a little since he started crawling but still a chunk. Skyler just turned three today. Sorry for not having the party pictures here. You have to wait for the next edition. He had a Lightning McQueen party, getting a lot of “Cars” toys. The most he wanted was to become bigger and bigger, he said, because he was afraid that Bryce would be bigger than him. He got the idea from too many people to talk about it. Sad… I ran the Twin Cities Marathon on Oct. 1st with a stress fracture on my tibia… Ha… Funny, huh?! I finished 10th overall female with a time of 2:42:19. Considering that I had a cold and a stress fracture, 7 minutes off from what I wanted?! It’s a great race. I still had a hard time to imagine how I finished it with the stress fracture. So now, I am enjoying my time off, focusing on my scrapbooking business. I biked everyday to burn off some of my huge intake of calories and I would start running next week, 6 weeks from the 1st. I had a lot of fun and got to know many people in the process of this scrapbooking business, which kept my mind off from not being able to run in these 6 weeks. Brent was going to be deployed in January but he was told not to when he was training in MS about a month ago. I hated the military life this way; we couldn’t plan on anything two weeks in advanced. Something could be up anytime. So, I guess I wouldn’t be in Utah for 4 months now. Hope everything going well in your sides. Happy Thanksgiving.

Seattle and Waiting

2006-10-16T11:30:00.000-07:00

Hey all! I am in Seattle now and enjoying it a lot. I miss Boston, especially the beautiful fall colors and friends out there but Seattle is treating us right. We have been blessed with absolutely gorgeous weather and I have enjoyed being closer to family. I am a week away from my due date so I am getting excited and wondering when our little one will make his big debut. I am hoping he waits until after tomorrow so I can officially be 28 years old before I have my first one. Then when they get older, I can feign great maturity as a mother. :) I miss my job as a dietitian but I am getting adjusted to home life too. My little sister just got married a week ago so I was busy helping my mom out with the final preparations. We also didn't do any pre-baby stuff in Boston because we didn't want to move everything so I have been locating crib, carseat and such. I am amazed at how much stuff one little tiny fellow needs. Hyrum is enjoying getting into the mix at UW. He is busy with classes and research. His professor seems very motivated and they already have been publishing conference proceedings and such so it seems like it will be a good experience for him. Here are some recent pics.

Sunny Fall

2006-10-10T18:38:00.000-07:00

We finally joined the bloggers, check it out @ http://zbirdfamily.blogspot.com/
XC is going well, our team is hopefully going to make it to state-although we have taken our share of injuries lately. WA has been having awesome weather and we haven't had any rainy meets yet.
I love this picture, Zac doesn't look to happy (you might spot the spit up all over his shirt) but at least Claire's happy.
I am reading a great book right now, West with the Night by Beryl Markmam-Another book about Africa- but, definatly worth the time. I love being a mom, it has it moments but, Claire brings so much joy to our lives. She loves hanging out with Alex Call (Cammie Heiners little boy) and cant wait to meet Laura's little girl who will be showing up around January. Yea!

Kennardia

2006-09-20T05:43:00.000-07:00

Hi All! Decided I would post this morning because what better to do when you're up at 5 with a newborn and its still too dark to go running? Thats seems to be the schedule Breanne likes to keep me on lately. She is totally pooped by 7:30 p.m. so I have to put her to bed, but then she wakes up at 5-5:30 a.m. bright eyed and bushy tailed, ready to start our day! Kids...gotta love 'em. Congrats to you expecting moms out there! Its always good news to hear of more red-meat-night offspring.
Okay so what have we been up to lately? We drove to Utah last week for a 206 mile bike race Aaron did from Logan to Jackson (LOTOJA). The kids and I were the "support crew" handing him bags of food along the way so he wouldn't bonk. He finished the race in just over 10 hours and still had a smile on his face! Crazy Man. Of course he's hooked now, so I'm sure we'll be doing LOTOJA for many years to come. Anyone else's husbands interested? I'd love to have a support crew buddy for next year! Anyway, a couple of weeks before that I took the kids on a trip to Texas with my sister-in-law to visit my other sister-in-law who lives in Dallas. We spent the week sight-seeing around Dallas in the 100 degree heat (whew, that was hot). We had to laugh at ourselves sometimes; 3 moms and 9 kids can make A LOT of noise and A LOT of mess! :) We've also been on a few camping trips, Ouray was our most exciting; here's a picture of Abe pondering the difficulty of his climb (he is already a little rock climber in training).

Breanne just keeps getting bigger every day too. She is 6 months old now (oh man, that means I haven't posted on this blog for 6 months! Sorry) and she is rolling over, sitting up, and finally starting to actually swallow rice cereal (as opposed to just drooling it all over her bib) so I'm hoping she'll start sleeping through the night one of these days when she can swallow enough food to tide her over for 8-10 hours. If any of you are ever planning on being in Denver or just passing through and need a place to crash, we'd love to have visitors! Call or email at 720-221-3836 or nankennard@gmail.com

Yeah Kansas!

2006-09-09T22:00:00.000-07:00

After three amazing years in Boston, Hyrum and I decided to move to Seattle for some more grad school. Hyrum is going to be a freshman PhD student at the University of Washington in the electrical engineering program. So as part of the moving fun, Hyrum and I are on a cross-country journey from Boston to Seattle. We have been from Boston to Harmony, Lancaster to Gettysburg, and Nauvoo, but one of the most exciting legs of our journey was to visit JoLee and Nathan in Kansas City, Kansas.

JoLee and Nathan are amazing tour guides. Above you can see JoLee and I walking in Adam-ondi-Ahman.
Here we are in a corn field at the same place. Hyrum must be standing on a hill because I swear he isn't that much taller than me. :)
Cows, yup, hopefully they will also be there on that special general conference to come.
JoLee and I. This is a good one because it hides my 7 1/2 month pregnant belly. I don't think I have mentioned that before, but Hyrum and I are expecting a little bambino in October.
Hyrum and I in front of the Liberty Jail. It was a really sobering place, but Nathan must have said something funny.
This may be one of my favorite pictures. Only in Kansas do you see a school bus/pick-up truck combo that can pull a tractor too. Amazing.

Tomorrow we are back on the road heading to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. A few more hundred miles and a few more adventures. I hope to see you all sometime soon, maybe in Seattle?

New Blogs!

2006-09-08T15:54:00.000-07:00

Very exciting news - Anika and Emily are bloggers. Check out the links on the right. There used to be a link to Emily and extended fam, but now she has one for just her family and it is great. Especially because she is running and winning tons lately!

This is Kristen and I'm expecting baby number 3 this February. Crazy, I know. I went to the doctor today and the first question she asked me was, "So, do you want you tubes tied while we are in there?" I was tempted, but declined. After my first ultrasound it looks like it is a girl which is great because Rachel has so many clothes that will be recycled.

We just got back from a sweet trip to Kauai - the first vacation with just Cory and me after six years of marriage and the island was simply amazing. The best part was a 17 mile ocean kayak trip that I know you all would enjoy. I actually thought about my running posse while on it because I knew you were the only people I know that would actually go with me without much convincing.

Hope you all had fun summer adventures.

All you having babies, I want to see some pictures. All you not having babies, I still want to see pictures.

Jill promised me like four weeks ago that she would post on this blog, so watch for something from her. Yes, I am trying to put on the pressure.

Reunions

2006-08-23T18:15:00.000-07:00

For me, this summer began and ended with reunions with Red Meat Night runners. To kick off the summer, Jill, Kristen, and I headed to Boston to meet up with Nicole. As you can see, we may be older now, but we are not any less goofy than we were in college.

While we were in Boston, Sarah Ellis just happened to be there as well for her brother's graduation from law school. We didn't think we would get to see Sarah because the Ellis' were so busy, but ... we just ran into her in Harvard Square. We were all amazed and so happy.

We also ran into Emily Mars Raymond while we were in Boston. She and Scott attend the ward that meets immediately before Nicole and Hyrum's. We got to chat with the Raymond's in the church parking lot.

We had a really great time hanging out with Nicole and Hyrum and visiting all the sites. You can read more about our trips to Boston at http://stephensclan.blogspot.com/2006/05/week-in-boston.html
and http://edwardsfam.blogspot.com/2006/05/escape-to-boston.html

My end of the summer reunion was a fun surprise. On Monday I got a call from Anika Busby announcing that her parents had just moved to the Kansas City area, and she wanted to know if Nate and I could join all the Smith's for dinner. So we drove up to Smithville to see them. Here I am with Anika, Kayla, and Luke. Everyone was impressed that Kayla would let me hold her. Apparentely she prefers her own two feet.

It was a serious party at the Smith's. As you can see it took quite a while to get everyone organized for a group shot.

We can't wait until Anika visits again! Also, the Busby's just started their own blog. Check out what they've been up to at http://www.thebuzzbees.blogspot.com/

Hey everyone, let me know when you are ready to plan another reunion!

My Summer

2006-07-05T20:22:00.000-07:00

Hi Girls,
I finally got around to reading all your posts and it sounds like everyone is having a fabulous summer.
Peter, Soren, and I are once again living in Colorado while Pete works with his dad. We will be returning to Provo in August for his final year of law school and will end up back in Colorado somewhere by next August.
Pete's parents practically begged us to take a vacation so they could watch Soren. We finally relented and are headed to Key West in a few weeks. I'm pretty nervous about leaving Soren for 5 days, but I think it's a long overdue vacation. We will be flying from Key West to Salt Lake for a friend's wedding. Kristen, you should give me a call while you're in Utah since we'll be there at the same time.
Our summer has been fairly uneventful. I ran the Boulder Bolder 10K and pretty much puked my guts out. Why is it that racing post baby is so much more painful? That race pretty much solidified for me that I will not be running a marathon anytime soon. I guess I've lost my guts somewhere between graduating and being a full time mom.
Soren is 14 months and the busiest little guy I know. As soon as he wakes up in the morning, he points outside and says, "bird", which means he wants to be outside. We spend most of our day outside looking at birds, dogs, playing at the park, playing with balls, playing in the water, and tinkering around the neighbor's yard. If we are inside, he's laying his body against the door crying and pointing outside.
As a result, I don't get a whole lot accomplished. As embarrased as I am to say, I have been reading Sense and Sensibility for about 2 months and can't seem to get past page 100. As we speak, Soren has climbed up onto the couch, grabbed the garbage can I put on the table beside the couch, grabbed a candy wrapper out of the can and is licking it. These are what my days are like. Does anyone want to come visit me?
Katie Sabey

Run A Thon for Red Cross

2006-06-28T11:36:00.000-07:00

Hi Ladies -

My cousin-in-law has a good friend at BYU who is organizing a run-a-thon for the American Red Cross. He is looking for people east of Utah to fill up spots on a core team of 50 runners. It sounds like a pretty cool experience. I've included his email to me, so you can decide if it is something you want to do. If you are interested (even if you are west of Utah), email him at bswanson@byu.net. Hope you ladies are all doing well! I'm going to be in Utah the first week of August - anyone else around?

We are going to have a "core team" of 50 runners. We will get
businesses to sponsor the core team on a per-mile basis. The goal of
the core team will be to run 10,000 miles from August 1 to November .
We will also invite anyone who wants to run with us to come to our
website and register as a runner. They will join subsidiary teams
outside of the core team (i.e. Run For Amrerica Team I, Team II,
etc.). We expect to have 150-200 of these runners.

All runners will download a sponsorship kit, which will have an
information sheet and a pre-written letter that they can use to find
local sponsorships. We expect people to look to friends, family, and
local business owners and say, "My goal is to run xxx miles during
the 100 day period. Will you sponsor me at $.50, $1, $2, etc. per
mile?" (Of course, that will all be included in the sponsorship kit).
Thus we will not only earn donations through our corporate sponsors,
but through the personal sponsors of all our runners.

Oh, the coolest thing about the whole event is that we're going to
use the new technology that Apple and Nike will be releasing in July
to track the whole thing. iPods, sensors, and cool shoes. I'd go into
detail about that part, but I'll save that for later. I will say that
we are looking to get the equipment donated for the members of the
core team. Any runners that sign up for the additional teams will
have to purchase their own equipment. We're trying to get Apple and
Nike to agree that for anyone who purchases the equipment to use in
this event, they will donate a portion of the profits back to our
cause. (Also, if a runner wants to participate, but can't afford the
equipment, they could probably find a local business to sponsor them
and get the equipment)

Our goal is to raise at least $100,000 to donate to the Red Cross
Hurricane Relief Fund.

You just got the very watered down version of our official
proposal :) My question for you is this: do you know of any runners
on the east coast that would like to run as a part of our core team?
I have enough interest to fill the core team already, but for
publicity purposes, I'd like to make sure that our core team has
representation from all over the US. I currently have core team
runners from WA, CA, ID, UT, TX, and IL. Nathan mentioned that you
have some friends from Harvard that might like to run. Could you
spread the word? I have about 10-15 slots that I'm holding open for
"east coasters".

If you could spread the word to any of your friends back east that
would like to run (and when I say east, I basically mean anything
east of Utah), pass along this email and have them email me saying
they'd like to run. These slots are filling up quickly, so have them
email right away to ensure they get a spot on the core team.

Just as an added emphasis...we're filling up the core team as
fast as we can, so have them email me back as soon as they decide
they'd like to participate. Once the core team fills up, we'll start
adding names to the first subsidiary team.

As soon as the core team fills up, we'll send out the official
Information Sheet for all the Core Runners, and we'll invite all the
core runners to spread the word to all their friends. I know that
runners know other runners, who know other runners. I figure once the
core team is created, we'll use the "grassroots" effect to gather the
body of 150-200 other runners to join the effort.

Thanks for bearing with the information overload. Let me know what
you think of all this and if you'll be able to contact anyone.

Help Please!!!

2006-05-17T14:56:00.000-07:00

Hi, Chicas,

I need some help. I have been helping out with a high school track team this spring, and I keep wondering what kinds of workouts we did at BYU. I want to be ready with some good info to pass along to the head coach as he plans the cross country and track workouts for next year.

I remember pretty well our cross country and 5k/10k workouts, but I really don't know what you 800, 1500, and 3000 girls did. Would you post on the blog or e-mail me at amybcooper@hotmail.com with the workouts you did? Oh, and please include what you remember about cross country workouts, and you 5k/10k girls, please send along what you remember, too, since I'm sure there are things I have forgotten. If you would, please include the following information:

Length of repeats
Number of repeats
Amount of rest
Pace (i.e. race pace, faster than race pace, any specifics you can provide)

So, for example, I remember a classic 5k/10k workout being 4-6 1200's at slightly faster than 5k pace with one lap job recovery.

Also, any of you who have actually coached high school kids, what workouts have you found to be effective? Do you have any tips you could pass along?

Anything you can send along would be wonderful!

Thank you so much!

Amy Cooper

For Your Info

2006-04-25T07:36:00.000-07:00

Hi Gals-

I am guessing that most of you received this, but there is a free dinner involved so I didn't want anyone to miss out.

This spring, BYU will host the Mountain West Conference Track and Field Championships (May 10–13) and the NCAA West Region Track and Field Championships (May 26–27). We invite you to attend these two meets and the Track Alumni Events we are holding in conjunction with them.

There will be a hosting area for former BYU track and cross country athletes at both events and a reunion and banquet for track alumni and their immediate families in conjunction with the conference championship meet. The banquet will be held on Friday, May 12, at 7:00 pm in the west annex of the Smith Fieldhouse. The banquet is free for you and your immediate family; however, tickets are required.

Go to www.byutrack.com to RSVP for the event. We need to hear from you by May 5th.

Please share this information with any of your BYU Track teammates with whom you’ve stayed in contact. If you have questions, you may reply to this message.

We hope to see you in May!

The BYU Track & Field Alumni Committee

Hanging out in Kansas

2006-03-31T08:37:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone. It's been so nice to hear from all of you lately. I love all the pictures of your kids! Everything is going really well in Kansas. Nate and I just celebrated our first anniversary. It's really amazing to me that we've been married a whole year. We took a trip to Lake of the Ozarks to celebrate (it's the big vacation destination around these parts.) My aunt and uncle have a condo down there that they kindly let us borrow. The area is really pretty, and we hope we get a chance to go back sometime when the weather is warm and the grass is green. On our way back we took a short detour to Jefferson City to see the Missouri State Capitol.

Whenever we had the chance, Lindsay, Tevra, Sue and I used go visit State Capitols on our runs after races. We ran to the State Capitol in Texas, Nebraska, and Indiana. And I guess I still like to visit Capitols when I can.

This semester I'm teaching an Introduction to the Humanities class at the community college that is just 5 minutes from my house. It's been a pretty fun time. I've enjoyed pulling out all my old notes and assignments, and I have a pretty fun, small group of students. In terms of school, I just recently passed the point where I've now been in graduate school longer than I was an undergraduate. No wonder that seems like such a long time ago.

Every once and a while Nate and I stumble on something really funny here in the Midwest, and that helps to make it an interesting place to live. For example, we live in a busy suburb, but right on the corner of our busy street there are two large bails of hay. They've been there for months, and I think that everyone around here thinks that it's normal to have hay in the middle of the city.

We are also privileged to live just 45 mintues away from this marvel:

And, you know what, it really is quite a sight. So, if you come visit us we'll be sure to take you to the "Most Beautiful McDonald's in the Heartland" on our way to Adam-ondi-Amon.

Our Friday, Nate and I got a kitten. Most of you probably know that I've wanted a cat for years, so I'm pretty happy. She's really good company so far. Zephyr (named for the Greek god and the car) takes naps on my lap while I study and is very entertaining. She is also very curious. Here she's spelunking in our dishwasher.

My friend, Jessica, recently introducted me to this really cool website called LibraryThing.com. You can set up your own library catalog with the books that you own or have read and catagorize them in whatever way you'de like. Lately, lots of you have been asking about good books, and so if you are ever curious to see what I've been reading (excluding school work) check out http://www.librarything.com/profile/jolee.

I hope that all of you are doing well. Nate and I wish you the best.

2006-03-25T09:51:00.000-08:00

This is Benson and Will Thayer, 2 years and 4 months, respectively.

Way to go, Nan! Congrats on your little girl.

James and I and the boys are living in Virginia now. It is fun to be in the DC area. There is a lot going on (sometimes too much), lots of free museums, and the cherry blossoms are out now. I'm feeling a little more situated where we live and James usually enjoys his job. The culture, even in the church, is definitely different here. My level of fitness goes down drastically with each child, but I still get a morning run in a few times a week. Spring will help the effort. I have been painting a little bit. We are in Utah for my sister Angie's wedding and Benson and Will are loving all the attention, but hating their colds - Willy's second and Benson's tenth this season. I can't post pictures from my home computer, so here are a couple. I guess Macs are incompatible? I don't know.

About books, I liked "Reading Lolita in Tehran," and I agree with Kristen on "From Beirut to Jerusalem." I have also heard "Wild Swans" and "Nine Parts Desire" are good. I enjoyed reading "First Mothers" about mothers of the presidents from FDR to Clinton and I am just starting "A Midwives' Tale." I also would appreciate any good reading suggestions.

Great to hear from everyone. Keep posting. Liz Thayer

p.s. shar is having her third baby - a girl - this summer

Loving the Pacific Northwest

2006-03-21T18:29:00.000-08:00

(Excuse my slouch. I didn't have the backpack adjusted right!)

Hi, Friends!

It's honestly been about a year since I've posted, so I am much overdue! Nate, Lily, and I moved to Washington state from Illinois last October, and we are really enjoying the Pacific Northwest. We have gone hiking twice in the last three weekends, and it doesn't take long to get to beautiful places.

Lily will be a year old on April 6, and she is so big! I hope she starts walking soon, because I can barely carry her around. She is crawling all over the place, pulling everything out of my cupboards (latching them is on tonight's task list), clapping her hands, feeding herself, and flirting with just about anyone who will pay attention to her. She is a girl full of passion - when she's happy, she's really happy, and when she's mad, she's really mad. Her happy moments definitely outweigh the mad ones, so we have a lot of fun.

I am keeping busy training for the Boston marathon (but I'm not training super-seriously - just going for the experience), volunteering with a local track team 2-3 afternoons a week, and attempting some part-time work from home for a web development company. I am busy, but I've always enjoyed the multi-dimensional life.

Has anyone read anything good lately? I'm working on East of Eden by John Steinbeck, and I haven't decided if I would recommend it or not. It's definitely engaging and thought-provoking.

I love reading about how you all are doing! Congratulations on the new babies and PRs!

Best wishes to you all,

Amy Bair Cooper

New Baby!

2006-03-17T16:57:00.000-08:00

Hey Friends! Kristen is RIGHT, we all need to post! So I'm setting a good example and going first...okay I also have some great news to report...we had another baby! She was born after a much shorter and easier labor than Abe's (thank goodness). This pregnancy and birth was a bit different than Abe's all along because with Abe I went to a Certified Nurse-Midwife and delivered him in a hospital, but this time after much thought and prayer, Aaron and I decided we wanted to have a Direct Entry Midwife and a Homebirth. I must say, for anyone who has ever considered Homebirth, it is AWESOME! (At least it was for us). :) I just labored through the night in the comfort of my own home with Aaron there to help me and Abe sleeping soundly in his room and then when we felt we needed her, Aaron called our Midwife and she and her assistant (another Midwife in training) were there 20 minutes later. They set everything up for the birth and a couple of hours later, our daughter was born. I had a lot less fear and anxiety about this birth and I think that enabled me to have less pain during labor too. Another detail is that our Midwife doesn't do ultrasounds, so we didn't know the sex of our baby beforehand, which I must admit was a bit difficult at times. (We were tempted to go to Fetal Photos just to find out the sex, but eventually convinced ourselves that it would be really exciting to find out at the time of birth--and it was!) Abe woke up a couple of hours after his baby sister was born and the midwives had cleaned everything up and were cooking us breakfast when Aaron brought him in the room. He was way excited and kept saying "baby sister!" and looking closely at her. All day yesterday and today he has been saying "baby sister sleeping" or "baby sister sad" or "baby sister noisy." It is SOOO cute! And after holding her for a couple of days now and reviewing our favorite girl names, we've decided to name her Breanne. So there you have it! Breanne Kennard, born at home on March 16, 2006 at 4:20 a.m. 8 lbs. 7 oz. 20.5 in.
-Nan

You all Need to Post!

2006-03-14T16:41:00.000-08:00

So I figure I should post in the hopes that my writings and thoughts will inspire you all to write something on this site! We are living a pretty routine life out here in Northern California so I am struggling to think of something interesting and insightful...

My kids are at good ages now (Blake - 3.5, Rachel - 1.5) and I am realizing that I do enjoy this occupation of motherhood, I even felt this feeling of accomplishment today as I folded the last piece of laundry into Blake's drawer; if my college self could see me now I am not sure what she would say!

I learned that it takes about three days to get two tablespoons of vaseline out of a 18 month old girl's hair - Rachel looked like one of those balding old men desperate to stick the remaining whisps of hair to their head. She likes to ride our stick pony and follows Blake wherever he goes, she is tough unless Blake hurts her feelings and then she really can scream. Blake likes to read about snakes and spiders and is finally learning something from preschool, he actually remembers the letter when he comes home.

I started teaching a SAT prep class on M/W evenings and it has been pretty fun. The first math problem I did was a disaster, I got all caught up looking at my notes instead of trusting my own math instincts and that was a bit embarassing, but things have gotten better. (I still have a horrible sweating problem, if anyone has advice on what deodorant can actually stop me from pitting out, I would really appreciate it. I come home from class and look at my shirt in horror.) I do like getting out of the house and teaching and I think it has been fun taking all of these standarized tests, it makes you feel smart taking these things AFTER you have gone to college. But, I am surpised at how much I miss being home - which is also a shocker to me. There are just great moments putting your kids to bed, but on the other hand it is pretty amazing to leave the house in Cory's hands and to come back with the kids asleep and the dishes done. He is a pretty great house husband.

I miss all of you gals! Post on the blog, post on the blog, post on the blog.

Also, congrats to Emily because that 5K is dang fast after having a kid! I just heard that Nan is due in 11 days, so good luck!

same old same old song

2006-01-30T11:12:00.000-08:00

Howdy everyone. I looked at the blog and it was the exact same as the time I'd checked it before, so I thought it needed a new addition. I haven't added anything lately though because I haven't had anything majorly exciting happening (babies, marriages, etc). Life is good though.

Bruce is now a huge 14 lb 13 oz at 8 1/2 months. He scoots around the house in what looks like a dry butterfly stroke and now has two teeth. He babbles a lot and has just started throwing tantrums in the past two weeks. They always happen when I take stuff away. For instance, I'll give him a magazine and he'll rip it apart for a few minutes. Then it finds his way into his mouth. So I grab the magazine and swipe his mouth to get the paper wad out, then a tantrum ensues.

Scott is working hard in the lab, but doesn't start classes for another few weeks. I love the long winter break thing. We never got that at BYU. I am stretched between work (writing digital camera reviews and industry news), running (training for the Boston Marathon - and just tied my 5k PR last Saturday...17:06!), and little Bruce. So while nothing earthshaking is happening, life is really dang good.

Scott and I decided to start our own blog, so check us out at bostonraymondfamily.blogspot.com

-Emily Raymond

Christmas Newsletter

2005-12-28T20:34:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone. I hope that you all had a Merry Christmas!

- JoLee

Happy Holidays from Vegas

2005-12-15T12:50:00.000-08:00

Hi gals,

Just writing to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas. We're enjoying the season, especially the weather here right now...I still haven't worn a coat! But, we'll be headed for Salt Lake for Christmas, so we pulled out the winter clothes and Halle had to try everything on (see picture). Caleb is 2 months old now and weighing in at a hefty 13 pounds, and is sweet as can be. Hope you're all doing well...it was fun to hear from you Liz--Congrats on the new babe, I would love to see a picture. Would love to hear from some of the rest of you too!

Happy Holidays!

Mel

Merry Christmas from DC

2005-12-13T10:02:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, Thanks Kristen, or whoever it was that put a link to my website. It's been unchanged for over a year now...I don't remember last time I wrote on here, but James and Benson and I moved to DC in September. We are renting this cute little house in Falls Church, VA. I really like the neighborhood and it's a short commute for James into the city. We're getting to know neighbors and friends, but I'm still looking for a running partner. If I find a good one, I want to run the Marine Corps marathon next October. Anyone moving out here?

Four weeks ago I had our second little boy. William was born Nov. 15 and was 8 lbs 2oz. and 23.25 inches long. He is long and skinny - a little string bean. Benson just turned two and it's an adjustment for him, but he's doing well. The worst he's done so far is tell Will to "Go to sleep!" when he wants my undivided attention. I'll try to post a picture. So now I am antsy to run and looking for a running buddy. Although when I'll go, I'm not sure. Maybe I'll look into the double running stroller. If anyone is visiting the area, let me know. You can crash here or just stop by for a chat. It's a fun place to live. Everyone have a wonderful holiday!

liz thayer

Nationals

2005-11-22T08:17:00.000-08:00

As I'm sure most of you realize, yesterday was Cross Country Nationals. And seeing as we are the BYU Red Meat Night Blog I thought we needed a post on the event.

Here are the results:

 1.   146  Stanford                                    (  20:30  1:42:28)
==========================================================
1      7   633 Arianna Lambie       SO  9:58   20:00
2     15   636 Kathleen Trotter     JR 10:05   20:19
3     19   630 Lindsay Flacks       FR 10:13   20:25
4     35   629 Lauren Centrowitz    SO 10:18   20:40
5     70   634 Teresa McWalters     SO 10:05   21:04
6   ( 89)  632 Katie Harrington     FR 10:23   21:18
7   ( 95)  635 Amanda Trotter       JR 10:18   21:22

2.   181  Colorado                                    (  20:33  1:42:42)
==========================================================
1      6   159 Christine Bolf       SR  9:59   19:59
2      8   162 Liza Pasciuto        SO 10:04   20:02
3     32   158 Jenny Barringer      FR 10:21   20:36
4     64   165 Kalin Toedebusch     SR 10:29   21:01
5     71   166 Jackie Zeigle        SR 10:30   21:04
6   (178)  161 Kristin Hoogheem     JR 11:02   22:18
7   (209)  167 Laura Zeigle         JR 11:11   23:20

3.   185  Duke                                        (  20:36  1:42:59)
==========================================================



8.   288  Brigham Young                               (  20:55  1:44:35)
==========================================================
1     18   115 Chelsea McKell       SR  9:59   20:24
2     29   114 Heidi Magill         SO  9:59   20:33
3     62   119 Breanne Sandberg     JR 10:19   21:00
4     74   107 Amy Fowler           FR 10:28   21:11
5    105   111 Anne Heiner          JR 10:28   21:27
6   (122)  120 Ann Marie Thomas     FR 10:38   21:42
7   (133)  116 Kristen Ogden        SR 10:34   21:48

The Top Ten Finishers:

  1   1  Johanna Nilsson       JR Northern Arizona    19:33.9
  2   2  Caroline Bierbaum     SR Columbia-Barnard    19:46.0
  3   3  Stephanie Madia       SR Notre Dame          19:48.4
  4   4  Victoria Mitchell     SR Butler              19:50.4
  5   5  Clara Horowitz        JR Duke                19:50.7
  6      Keira Carlstrom       SR American            19:58.1
  7   6  Christine Bolf        SR Colorado            19:58.8
  8   7  Arianna Lambie        SO Stanford            19:59.1
  9   8  Liza Pasciuto         SO Colorado            20:01.2
 10   9  Cack Ferrell          SR Princeton           20:03.1

And the Men:

 1.    37  Wisconsin                                   (  29:44  2:28:37)
==========================================================
1      1   799 Simon Bairu          SR 14:55 23:33   29:16
2      3   809 Chris Solinsky       JR 14:55 23:37   29:28
3      7   811 Matt Withrow         FR 14:55 23:48   29:51
4     12   802 Antony Ford          SR 14:55 23:49   29:56
5     14   801 Stuart Eagon         FR 14:55 23:53   30:06
6   ( 15)  805 Tim Nelson           JR 14:58 23:59   30:07
7   ( 43)  810 Christian Wagner     FR 15:12 24:23   30:36

2.   105  Arkansas                                    (  30:10  2:30:48)
==========================================================

3.   178  Notre Dame                                  (  30:25  2:32:01)
==========================================================


13.   416  Brigham Young                               (  30:56  2:34:38)
==========================================================
1      4   130 Josh Rohatinsky      JR 14:55 23:40   29:41
2     28   124 Chandler Goodwin     SO 15:04 24:10   30:17
3    101   127 Josh McAdams         SR 15:23 24:56   31:18
4    139   128 Nick McCombs         SR 15:41 25:19   31:39
5    144   125 Jacob Gustafsson     FR 15:41 25:19   31:43
6   (149)  122 Dustin Bybee         SO 15:34 25:13   31:44
7   (162)  126 Tyrel Jensen         SO 15:45 25:29   31:53

The Top Six Finishers:

  1    1  Simon Bairu           SR Wisconsin           29:15.9
  2    2  Richard Kiplagat      SR Iona                29:21.9
  3    3  Chris Solinsky        JR Wisconsin           29:27.8
  4       Josh Mcdougal         SO Liberty             29:32.6
  5       Westly Keating        SR Texas-Pan American  29:38.1
  6    4  Josh Rohatinsky       JR Brigham Young       29:40.2

Congratulations to Josh Rohatinsky!

The full results can be found at Indiana State University's Athletics Page: http://www.indstate.edu/athletics/cross/championship/2005ncaa.html

I'm sure BYUtrack.com will eventually have the results and pictures as well.

And, here is a picture of our team at the Mountain West Championship. Obviously, I don't have any first hand knowledge of the event, and I would welcome any posts from any of you out there that do!

Long Time No Hear!

2005-11-09T14:17:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! I was up in Utah a few weeks ago visiting my family and ran into Nan at the state high school xc meet. Man, was I glad to see you Nan! Its been a while since Ive really had much contact with anyone from the group! I have really been missing the girl friend days lately so my knowing about this site couldnt have come at a better time! It sure sounds like everyone is doing great and enjoying life and moving on to new things. Well, heres an update on everything new (and old!) in my life.
Ive been here in San Diego for 3 1/2 years now and really love it. I worked as the bookeeper for Pauls family's business for a while until my first little boy, Ty, was born. I also coach the distance team on a high school track team here and love it even if it is hard sometimes (Ty comes along for the ride and unfortunately, really likes to chase shot puts). Its nice to work with kids that age though and actually make some kind of difference in their lives. The school already had a coach for the xc season but maybe in a year or two a spot will open up for me. I like xc so much better that track. Anyway, thats about it as far as work away from home. Then there is work in the home. Namely, Ty. His 2 year birthday was yesterday and weve had a ton of fun with him. Hes a busy, crazy, happy little boy that manages to make me laugh and scream everyday. He loves to run around and wrestle with Paul and he is definately all boy. Luckily, we live close to some parks and about a mile from Sea World where we have year passes and I can go and take Ty and let him run all his energy off. My hands will be even more full come January though because we have another little boy on the way due Jan 14th! Were really excited to see what new personality this one will bring. Paul is still working real estate and property management in his family businiess. He likes it all right but it really dosent fulfull him so he has actually applied with the DEA (drug enforcement agence) and the FBI and the process is moving along quite quickly so we arent sure what our future will bring exactly. I'll be sure to keep everyone updated. He is still really into volleyball and plays in leagues and tournaments often. Ty has already learned how to bump a volleyball quite well thanks to Paul. My running isnt going quite as well. I dont know how you guys do it when your pregnant! I tried running into my fourth month this time around and ended up with a hernia so that pretty much ended that. Running while Im fat is just too wierd to my body. Since Im now 7 months along, Im really missing it and I cant wait for the day I can get back into it. Unfortunately, there is no one to train with here so its not nearly as fun as it used to be. Someone please move to San Diego and run with me!!!! Well, thats about it. Next time I'll post some pics too. I'll be up in Provoland for Christmas and my brother Josh's wedding (yes, the dork decided to get married when I will be 37 weeks pregnant) so if anyone else will be around, please let me know. Please keep in touch!

Love ya all,
Tara Northcutt

Baby Claire

2005-11-06T18:56:00.002-08:00

Hi Everyone!
Here is the newest Bird family member...

Claire Elise Bird ~ May 13th ~ 8lb 10oz

She is so much fun! (besides the 4am feeding)
I am so proud of you moms that have done this more than once. Its like a marathon- you have to forget the pain of the last one before you can move on to(even think about) the next :) The delivery wasn't that bad actually- She came wicked fast..by the time I got to the hospital I was an 8...but the breastfeeding...and late nights.....wew.
My Cross Country team has allready started running together after school, it will be awhile before I get to join them, but I have some good workouts for you Amy (and anyone else enterested) Ill just forward them to your email.
We took Claire to the duck parade in our town yestorday. Zacs mom is on city council and was riding in the parade. Its really a fun day for kids, face painting, pony rides, inflated bouncing gyms, free hot dogs from the fire department.
I guess this is life from here on out with kids...kid stuff....very cool
Well, Cammie (Heiner) Call just had a baby boy, Alex, two weeks before me and Laura (Heiner) Turner will be welcoming a new little one this new year. (Maybe it will slow her down enough that I can catch up and run with her for awhile :)
Look forward to hearing from Nicole too...
Hope all is well,
Sherida

Joining the Mom's

2005-11-06T18:56:00.000-08:00

I might be jumping the gun, but Zac and I are so excited and at three months I can't hold it in any longer....We are having a baby in May! I've been feeling great, but it's been challenging trying/wanting to keep up with my XC girls. Coaching has been very fun and rewarding. I look forward to practice everyday. Zac and I moved out of his parent's (after three long months) and into a big four bedroom home. After living in small Boston appartments it seems like a mansion to us. We would love guests! We are in University Place, WA where I've heard it rains, but have yet to see it.
Thanks again Kristin for keeping us writting and updated!
miss everyone,
Sherida

Hi All!

2005-11-02T20:09:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I guess I'm about due for an update. Life has been a little bit crazy lately but its finally starting to settle down a bit now that we're settling into our new home. Aaron, Abe and I just moved to the Denver area last week. We live in a town called Superior, which is just 10 miles southeast of Boulder. (Of course we had to live close to the mountains, and Aaron MUST have good rock climbing routes within 20 mintues of home). :) Our move wasn't a mandatory move but we figured since Aaron is managing offices in SLC, Denver, and Dallas, we'd live in between. Besides, the Denver office needs the most help right now anyway, so we'll probably be here a few years building the company. We bought a smaller older house with, yes, more joyous projects to work on! At least this time we wont be building a 5X90 ft. retaining wall! We just have a few indoor projects we want to do (tile, paint, finish a bathroom and storage room ect.) I am starting to wonder if my husband thinks he's a full-time home construction worker, part-time regional manager for his company. But hey, I'm not complaining; I just get to see him more often!
Anyway, other news to be reported is the fact that Abe will become a big brother in March. We're all very excited about that! I'm just approaching the 20 week mark this week and starting to feel very much pregnant. Abe is now almost 16 months and is starting to really gain his personality and say lots of words. He LOVES reading books--he'll make you read books to him all day if you let him. And he also LOVES mooing at cows, meowing at cats, and barking at dogs. So there you go, that is the Kennard family update! Love you all, Nan

Because I could not fall asleep

2005-10-26T00:17:00.000-07:00

I stayed up watching the White Sox beat the Astros- sorry Shar. Now I have this stupid adrenaline rush at midnight so I made a link box for all of us to use. I have four links but would love more, so email me or post or something and let me know if you have a personal site.

Also there are people out there with news that I have found searching some links on the right, so you might want to go check them out...

Congrats to Mel!

Anyone one heard from Liz Thayer? Has she had her baby? Her site is really cool, when I am rich I am going to have her paint pics of my kids.

We've expanded...

2005-10-16T20:53:00.000-07:00

Hi gals,

Just a note to announce the arrival of Caleb Jex Steere, born October 7, 2005 at 8 lbs, 6 oz, and 20 inches. Yeah, he was pretty much huge. So, we're enjoying him, trying to get used to this two kid thing. Halle seems to like him, but has definitely had some moments this week. Thank goodness for moms, mine has been a huge help. Caleb's favorite thing to do is wait until I've just removed his dirty diaper and wiped his little bum, then he either hoses me down or poops all over whatever he's laying on (I've learned quickly not to change him on anything I value--sofa, bed, etc.) Other than that he's a really great baby..doesn't cry nearly as much as Halle did (or does now for that matter!)

We're still in Las Vegas, technically Henderson. Jared is enjoying work as a Sale Manager at the Lake Las Vegas Hyatt Resort. I'm enjoying the weather now that the highs are only high 80's instead of 110-115's. I did my last "jog" the Monday before I delivered Caleb, and it definitely wasn't as fast as Laura or Emily's run, but I was happy to still be moving. So now I'm taking the required 4-6 week hiatus, and we'll see if I have any time for running after that.

Anyway, keep up the posts--it's fun to hear what everyone's up to!

Melanie

Mars Raymond Cheese Castle Update

2005-10-14T05:24:00.000-07:00

Here's Bruce on May 19, when he was born. You can see the newborn diaper beneath him could swallow him up. Just the diaper clasp is about the size of his head. And here's another pic of Bruce now - at five months. He went from 3 lb 3 oz to 11 lb, so he's tanked up quite a bit. I ran a 10k on Monday and saw Laura Turner and Jessica Heiner there. Laura is almost sponsored by Reebok. She's in some sort of signing process, so she was still wearing New Balance shoes. Her little sis, Jessica, lives in Boston and runs a bit too. Laura ran just under 34 minutes for this 10k; I was a few minutes back in 39:22. Yippee. Kassi Andersen sent out a mass email; she's on her mission in my home state of Ohio. Her address is 14433 Triskett Rd. Apt. 103 W., Cleveland, OH 44111.

I'm sure she would love a note or something. In other team news, Tia (Babbel) Hejny is working as a public relations associate for a software development firm. She and Seth are living in Lindon. I haven't heard from Anika in a few weeks, but Mooner said she's thinking about moving. Mooner is working on a master's at BYU. Anika, Tia, and I are all rooting for her life-long love, Anthony, to just go on and marry her. The guy loves her and is crazy about her, but Mooner says they're just friends. Sherida called me last week and said her Seattle high school xc team is undefeated. That's all I know on everyone right now.

Man, everyone is getting all nostalgic about our time on the team - way back in the day. I don't miss travelling every weekend and crunching for tests, but I do miss my posse.

Poopy diapers

2005-10-08T22:35:00.000-07:00

Hi Girls,

I haven't checked this blog in forever, but I'm so glad I did tonight. Kristen-I loved your last blog. This morning I met up with the team for a long run. I hardly know any of them, but since Jill is still out of town, I was desperate for a running partner. Just listening to them chat and get so excited over boys, what they did last night, etc made me miss the days when we were all on the team. I definitely miss having my girls around to talk about everything under the sun.
Some days when I'm changing diapers and wiping snot off of Soren's nose I wish for one of you guys to drop by and beg me to go on a run for just a little while.
Life is good. I guess I should do a quick update. Soren Vance was born on April 27, 2005. I don't think it was as bad as everyone makes it out to be. I strongly believe in epidurals. He's such a cute little guy and so full of energy that I'm exhausted by the end of every day.
I'm working just two days a week for a few hours. Pete is still in law school, teaching American Heritage, working in a small claims court, and taking care of Soren while I work. Life is pretty crazy, but it's good. We love having Soren. He definitely makes our day a lot brighter (and a lot more exhausting).
We spent the summer in Colorado while Pete worked. We actually moved when Soren was 3 days old-not something I would recommend to anyone in the right mind.
I chickened out on the marathon. Maybe someday if someone wants to live close by and do those really boring long runs with me, I may reconsider.
Since Kristen and Nicole mentioned good books, I'll recommend a few. I actually ended up reading 14 books this last summer. (newborns sleep a lot). I loved A Tree Grows in Brooklyn...I just re-read Peace Like a River. I think it's one of my favorites. So Big is another good one. Just in case people need some good reading.
I love reading the blog and seeing how you guys are doing. If any of you are ever in Provo, look me up. I would love to see you. Nicole-we better run while you're here!!!

Missing you all

2005-10-02T06:57:00.000-07:00

Kristen, what a nice post. You are a wonderful lady and we all wish we were your neighbor so we could take part in your life. I am sitting at the computer getting ahead for next weeks nursery lesson "I can be kind to animals." The nice thing about nursery is that as long as you have plenty of pictures, your lesson will go well. I had to do a lesson on forgiveness a few weeks back and that definitely was the most tricky I have done. Teaching little 1 1/2 years old who can't barely talk is hard but the three year olds are so fun.

Since it is conference weekend I have been missing BYU and Utah. Hyrum figured out how to play KBYU on the internet though so now at least we can watch it at home like we used to. For any of you in the area, I am hoping to come out at the end of this month to Utah, maybe the 22nd through the 26th so an early Monday morning run would be fun.

Kristen, your cooking classes sound like a lot of fun. That is a hobby that I wish I would develop. I have been taking a Spanish class though and it is so fun. Hyrum is taking a night class at MIT on Tuesdays and Thursdays so I started this class on Thursday nights. It is really fun. I am picking it up pretty quickly because of my Portuguese background. The nice thing about it is that my work is paying for it since I have so many Spanish speaking patients that don't speak any English. My patients are pretty good about listening to my poor Spanish so I get a lot of chances to practice and there are several staff members who help me out too.

If you are interested in more books about the middle east my two favorites are Blood Brothers that gives you a little perspective on the Palestinian side of the Israel issue. I am also just finishing up the book "Leap of Faith" by Queen Noor of Jordan. If you don't know her story, she was born in the US and later married the King of Jordan. Her life is really interesting and it really provides a lot of history as well to the area.

Well, please keep in touch everybody. I miss you all like crazy. Come to Boston and visit. Leaf peeping is about to start and the fall in New England is really the time to come and see. Plus, maybe you could commemorate Joseph Smith's 200th birthday by coming to his birth place, Sharon Vermont, a measly 3 hour drive from Boston.

Love to you all,
Nicole

Thinking of You

2005-09-26T22:07:00.000-07:00

I went to that Relief Society meeting on Saturday night and as I listened to all those speakers it made me miss all of you like crazy! I guess these women meetings make me think of all the women in my life and so I enjoyed remembering our unique experience at BYU. I am just so grateful that I know all of you. I thought about all the different things we do during the day: some changing diapers, others studying like crazy, a few coming home tired after a long day of work, reading, quiliting, running, illustrating, some dating, some trying to encourage husbands... I am just proud to know you. I could keep being sentimental, but I will spare all of you. Just know that I think of you and miss you and want to go for a run sometime.

As for me and my life - we had a great summer traveling all over the country and now I am back home trying to teach my kid how to poop in the toilet. It has been pretty interesting....I would definitely not recommend it. My new hobby is cooking and while Cory has been away I have tried to make bread and pizza. I am looking forward to my Thai and Indian food classes at the local adult center. I know, pretty dorky, but don't worry there are still plenty of homemaking tasks that I have yet to try...As for reading, I loved the book Freakonomics, I recommend reading From Beirut to Jerusalem- it is helping me understand the insane politics of the Mid-East. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was absolutely awesome and if you want to fall in love with characters and cry real tears, you should read that one.

My kids keep me busy and a bit crazy. Rachel destroys everything in her path and likes to beat up on Blake. That is the first thing she does in the morning- finds Blake, punches him and flinches knowing that retaliation is coming. She is the typical annoying little sister. I am pretty sure that if I timed her she could do a 400 in about 10 minutes, so I think she will be pretty fast one day. Blake's new passion is snakes - the best field trip of the summer was to the Berkely Vivarium, home of the largest collection of pet reptiles in the nation.

I did get to see Sarah Ellis for a few minutes on one of my adventures and she is dating a police man and making serious cash working as a dental hygienist. I am hoping that by writing her name she will be inspired to post something.

Anyway, all you gals need to post again! I want to hear how you are doing.

I think I am going to put some links to personal websites on the side of this thing. So please email me the links to your websites or better yet, just leave them in the comment section of this post.

The Sunflower State

2005-09-10T16:16:00.000-07:00

In the last few weeks Nate and I have discovered why the sunflower is the Kansas state flower. They grow on the sides of the roads in huge clumps. When I drive to school I see fields of sunflowers. It's been really fun.

The sunflowers are much taller than I am.

It looks like we really do live in Kansas.

I am now back in school. This semester I'll be reading a lot about Cubsim. So far, it's been pretty fun. I'm glad not to be one of the new students anymore! I hope all of you are well. Kansas really is a beautiful place.

JoLee

Cute kids...

2005-08-09T20:52:00.000-07:00

Hi gals,

Just wanted to post some pics of future BYU tracksters with their speedy moms; I was in Salt Lake this week and got to hang out with Linds and Sue for a bit at the park. The kids had a great time playing in the sand, swinging, fighting over sand toys, etc. From left to right in the kids picture (forgive my spelling on names): Meg Nielsen, Spencer Nadauld, Halle Steere, Rosie Nielsen. Also pictured with Linds--new arrival Will Nadauld. It was fun to catch up; hope you're all doing well! --Melanie

pictures of the bruce-ster

2005-07-12T10:45:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures of my little man, Bruce Taylor. The one on the right is of him when he was first born May 19 (3 lb 3 oz). Now you can see he was really skinny. The picture on the left is him at 6 weeks (right around his due date). He is about 6 pounds now (at 8 weeks) and I'm still working on fattening him up!
-Emily Raymond

Slacker

2005-07-12T06:18:00.000-07:00

Maybe if you are lucky Hyrum and I will serenade you with our accordions if you come and visit.

Hyrum in our tiny rental car in Mexico. We loved it.
Me learning to milk a cow in Boise
On the day we took engagement pictures.
I love this site and I don't know why I can't seem to post ever. I guess I am a slacker. I was supposed to tell you all about my engagement, marriage, etc... and so far, nothing. So most of you know that I got engaged last November to Hyrum Spencer Anderson. He is from Boise, Idaho and by marrying him I got over two of my prejudices, Idaho, and naming children really Mormonish names. He is great. Some of you red meat nighters already met him. He is an engineer and so slightly nerdy but really fun too. He works for MIT as a researcher. He is taking some classes this fall there which will hopefully go towards his PhD if he gets in full-time for next fall. I am still working at Fresenius Medical Care, a world-wide dialysis company. I don't like working for big-business but my clinics are great. I have three in the Boston area that I visit and the patient population is very interesting. I have people from all walks of life, mostly poor inner city and immigrant populations. They are really fun. Hyrum and I are likely going to be stuck out on the east coast for a few more years, maybe up to six or so but we will see. We have an extra bedroom in our place so we would love visitors whenever any of you can. Boston is a great place to visit, particularly in the spring and fall. Also, all of you marathon runners gotta do the Boston at least once in your life. Even if you royally screw it up like I did. I ran it this year but it was pretty pathetic. I hadn't run for nearly a month due to a foot injury, plus it was one day after returning home from our honeymoon to Mexico, so needless to say, I ran it real slow with several stops along the way to get sick, etc... Everyone knows what it is like to have a bad race, but one 26.2 miles long can be excrutiating. So as soon as I get up my nerve again I need to do another one to redeem myself.
I am sorry this is sooo long but I do want to tell you a little about the wedding. It was April 8th in Seattle. The day was beautiful! It was sunny and nice despite the pounding rain the day before. We had a nice luncheon afterwards and then were off by around 4pm. You saw some pictures of the reception that Kristen posted with me and Hyrum and our accordions. I haven't practiced much since I have been home but Hyrum finally did fix my accordion which embarrassed me with technical difficulties after I had worked so long to learn a song for the reception. It was so fun to have a lot of red meat nighters at the wedding and I wished I could have had more time to spend talking with everyone. We went on our honeymoon to Cancun Mexico which was really fun. Hyrum lost his wedding ring in an underground lake called a Cenote when he was trying to climb up a stallagtite. It was too deep and dark to find on our own but a Mexican kid found it and was happy with our few peso reward. It was an adventure. I am going to try to post some pictures too. I love hearing from you all!
Nicole Edith Anderson :)

Hot in the city...

2005-07-09T06:58:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Las Vegas, where the runners rise early, because it's HOT HOT HOT! I've been meaning to post for forever, but we've moved twice in the last 3 months which has kept things interesting. The first apartment complex we moved to was less than ideal, so we've moved again. Jared has been down here since January, working as a Sales Manager for the Hyatt Regency at Lake Las Vegas. Halle and I moved down in May after I wrapped up some things with my job in SLC and took the CDE examination (Certified Diabetes Educator). I'm not currently working, except for on my tan out at the pool with Halle. Hope you enjoy the pics of Halle--she loves to jump on the trampoline and pick raspberries off Grandma's bushes (hence the absence of her shirt--if you look close you can make out the faint streaks of raspberry juice down her tummy).

Like Liz, I won't be joining you in the running of the St. George Marathon due to a baby on board, but I may come watch. I'm due October 15; it's a boy this time. I went for a run this morning and got whistled at by a black teenager who was out tossing a football at 6 am--he must be into chicks with big bellies.

Anyway, our house it always open to any of you that want to come visit--if you come this summer and want to try out Jared's resort, there are discounted summer rates for friends and family--my current info is published in the BYU alumni directory if you want to get in touch, or email me at melanie.steere@gmail.com. Hope you're all doing well--it's great to hear what everyone is up to!

Love,
Mel

Hi from Liz

2005-07-08T12:29:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July! I just wanted to say hello to you all. It's fun to hear how everybody is doing. We are all so scattered around the country now. It would be fun to get all the babies together. Running the St. George Marathon sounds fun. I'd do it with everybody, but I'll be 8 months pregnant by then. Who all is running?

James and I are in Utah for the summer while James studies for the Bar Exam. Are you taking it yet, Jill? We'll all be happier when it is over. We are staying at Thayers' house and Benson and I hop back and forth between here and my family's house. Benson is so big now (did he really come out of me?) and is getting so spoiled with all the grandparents and aunts and uncles around here. But it is nice for me too. He loves his cousins (Shar's boys) and soon will have a baby brother. I'll post a picture. I have been painting some while Benson sleeps and that is good to have my own thing to do on my own time. Of course, all the chores don't get done as well as they should... This pregnancy is so much longer than the last one. I can't wait to start running again - without this extra belly! We are moving to Washington D.C. in August sometime, where James will start work. So if you are going to be in town, come and stay with us. And keep eating that red meat!

Liz Thayer

It's been so long...

2005-07-05T13:14:00.000-07:00

Hi, Chicas!

I've been meaning to post on this site since Lily was born, and it's taken me three months! I think Kristen already let you know, but Lily Maxine Cooper was born April 6, weighed 7 lbs. 9 oz. and was 19 inches long. She has grown so much since then, and she is a really great baby. Nate and I love how she smiles and "talks" to us all the time. Her favorite thing to do right now is poop all over herself and Nate - she's greased him at least four times by now, twice in his Sunday clothes. ;-)

Jessie Kindschi Dorais just moved to Champaign, Illinois, which is 50 minutes from here! She and Andy are attending the University of Illinois medical school which is located there. Yesterday Nate, Lily, and I went to their new home for a 4th of July dinner, and Jessie and I ran together for the first time since right before cross country Nationals of 2002. It was so wonderful to see her again and run with a teammate.

Nate, Lily and I were in Utah a couple of weeks ago so Nate's family could meet Lily. While we were there, my parents were set apart as the mission presidents of the Santo Domingo West, Dominican Republic mission by Elder Hales. We also blessed Lily while we were there so both sets of parents could be present. I couldn't get over how green Utah is right now! It was beautiful, and we had a great time. I also loved the chance to run with Nan!

I'm training for the St. George Marathon and getting really excited. Which of you girls will be there? Katie Sabey is planning on running it, too.

I'm trying to post a few pictures, hopefully it works. One is of Lily in the running stroller, one is of Lily and me by some cornfields not too far from where we live, and the other is of Lily and Nate.

I miss you girls and hope you are all doing great!

Amy

Posting Images

2005-07-01T13:34:00.000-07:00

Hi Gals-

Our blog is going to get even better - you can now post images directly through blogger, you do not have to download hello. Just go to www.blogger.com and log in and post like normal and there is this little square icon of a picture and you just click on it to post a picture.

Now there are no more excuses and I expect to see some more pictures.

Hope all is well with all of you! I have loved the past posts - congrats to Zac on finishing dental school. I just got back from a great trip to Chicago - the 90 plus degree weather kept us inside but there are enough old toys at my mom's house to keep us busy for a week.

- Kristen

2005-06-30T13:37:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! I thought I would try my hand again at posting pictures. I hope you like them. Nate and I had a really fun time when we went to Nauvoo. The town was much smaller than we had even imagined it would be. We stayed in a guest house a local resident rents to tourists. That turned out great. I would definetely recommend it. Nauvoo was absolutely beautiful, and it only took us 5 hours to drive there. We are looking forward to going again. I hope everyone is doing well and having a fun summer. It's been really fun to read up on all the happenings. - JoLee

2005-06-30T13:33:00.000-07:00

Ok. And here is the picture I meant to post last time of the Red Meat Night girls at my wedding.

2005-06-30T13:32:00.000-07:00

This was one of my favorite parts of Nauvoo. I am facing the LDS sign and to my back is the Community of Christ (RLDS) sign. I thought it was really funny. Dueling signs!

2005-06-30T13:31:00.000-07:00

I am in Brigham Young's cellar. Brigham Young's house was one of our favorites.

2005-06-30T13:29:00.001-07:00

Here we are in Historic Nauvoo.

2005-06-30T13:29:00.000-07:00

Nathan and I took a trip to Nauvoo over Memorial day. This was one of our favorite views of the temple. We are on the trail the saints took to the Mississippi and beyond.

East to West Coast

2005-06-23T05:37:00.000-07:00

So good to catch up on everyone. Its been far to long since I've seen most of you. Zac and I are packing up and driving across the country from Boston to University Place, Washington. Zac is officially a denist, Dr. Bird, and doing fabulously at it.
I am going to be the high school womens coach for the cross country team. Nan- I can use all your advice as you've been doing this for awhile now. I am really digging the Hawaii trip they've planned! They are a fun bunch of girls.
Nicole and I meet up once a week to run and get to talk about the good 'ol days and how everyone is doing. Jessica Heiner joins us occasionally and Emily Raymond is recovering from the birth of her handsome little boy. I was worried that I wouldn't have any BYU girls to run with anymore, but it turns out Laura Heiner....Turner just moved 15 minutes away from where we'll be living. We look forward to hanging out with her and Aric, but I might get waisted if I try and run with her-so fast.
Hopefully we will see everyone more often now,
Sherida

Just checking in...

2005-06-21T16:41:00.000-07:00

Hi all! Just thought I'd post an update since it's been a while for me.....
So Aaron and I finally finished our back yard!!! Yeah! We have grass! I also planted a garden and Aaron built a deck while I was at Girl's Camp with the YW of our ward. I was pretty impressed because in the four days while I was gone, Aaron fulfilled the roles of Dad, Mom, Regional Manager for his company, AND Construction Guru around the house. He was up past 1 a.m. every night working since that was the most effective time to get stuff done (when Abe was asleep). That was two weeks ago, and just last night we started another fun house project, replacing our kitchen and half of our front room floor with hard-wood. My hands are aching from hammering and sawing SO many slabs of wood. Its GREAT! I dont know why we got such a fix-er-up additude lately, but we did, and it's been FUN! Its really rewarding to see a job finished and have worked so hard on it. Although, I wouldn't mind if in the future we are in the financial position to just pay other people to do all the hard-labor fix-up type jobs around the house. :) But if anyone has any questions about building decks, laying floor and sod, putting in sprinkler systems and a garden, or building retaining walls just ask us, 'cause we've certainly learned A LOT these last couple of months (and made a lot of mistakes too). :)
Oh and its always fun to write about other teammates I've seen lately....Amy Cooper called me last week when she was in town and we went running in Alpine with the High School team I coach. It was GREAT to catch up with her and have a good-ol chatty run. I also saw Lindsay Dunkley and Kara Bankhead at a 10k race around BYU last Saturday. It was one of those "wow, they're giving prize money to the top 10 finishers, maybe I'll do it" last minute races and it turned out to be extremely competetive because of that prize money. I was quite impressed with how fast Lindsay and Kara ran! Go girls! I was a few minutes behind them, and far from even getting the 10th place $100, but it was still a fun run around BYU and also good to see Coach Shane and a few other girls still on the team that I haven't seen for a long time. :)
And that is the Kennard update!
-Nan

posting pics

2005-06-06T21:53:00.000-07:00

Hi Gals-

Hope this helps in posting pictures:

1 - Go to https://secure.hello.com/download.php
2 - Create a username and password at the bottom and submit it to start the download process.
3 - Once installed on your desktop, open 'Hello' and type in your username and password.
4 - At the next page, double click "Bloggerbot" or if it isn't there, go to "Friends" on the menu bar, click "add" and type in "bloggerbot." Then go back to the main page and double click on bloggerbot.
5 - Click settings, type in the login info for our blog, choose the size you want your pictures to be and click save.
6 - This should put you back to a page where you see blogger in a smaller screen. There are 4 simple directions to post a picture from there. (Just use explorer to "find" your picture.)

!

HI!

2005-06-06T21:43:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to say how excited I am that people have actually been posting! Shar, it was great to hear from you, I have been wanting to hear from you forever, I loved the black and white wedding photos and Emily I am so glad that Bruce is doing well. Blake had one day in the NICU and it was scary, so I am happy that your two weeks are over. Let us all know how you are sleeping...He really is a cutie. If you want, email me your pictures and I will post them for you - kristen.edwards@gmail.com.

We are doing well in Cali- I was able to hang out with Sarah watching the last episode of the OC a few weeks ago and Jill Dogger was there too for the closing drama. It was great, I felt educated in popular culture after spending time at the Ellis house.

We are headed to Utah for the weekend because Cory's parents are going to serve as Mission Presidents in Lansing Michigan this coming July and Elder Oaks is going to set them apart this weekend, so it should be very cool. I will tell him about the blog :)

Lately I have mostly been dealing with the Ford dealer and insurance company trying to get our car back in shape after having been stolen. I guess that is what we get living out here.

Blake keeps talking and recently ran away from me at Sacrament meeting for the whole ward to see and Rachel fell down the stairs for the first time this morning but has recovered very well and is still crawling around like a little maniac. (Want to know more, check out edwardsfam.blogspot.com)

Keep posting - let us know about your adventures everyone and Nicole you had better comment about your wedding soon! Amy and Katie I want to see pics of the babies on the Blog - you can email me too and I will put them up if you want.

The newest Mars Raymond!

2005-06-05T13:16:00.000-07:00

Bruce decided to come a bit early. He was due June 28, but came May 19 instead. A few weeks ago, my doc said I looked a little on the small side and ordered an ultrasound for me. The ultrasound confirmed that he was a runt, so I went in for a follow-up to see if he was still growing. That ultrasound said he was still growing, but not at the rate he was supposed to. My doc went through all the risk factors of having a low birthweight baby, but I don't smoke crack or drink alcohol and I wasn't a small baby myself, so I didn't fit any of those descriptors. The doctor did notice that my blood pressure was rising slightly over a few visits, then she put me in the hospital when I started getting headaches. She said I had preeclampsia and needed to be monitored. I went into the hospital on a Monday and got all kinds of tests every day. On Thursday, the full case of preeclampsia showed up complete with protein in the pee, headaches, swelling, and sky high blood pressure. That caused the blood flow in the placenta to reverse, so the doc induced me. I called Scott and told him to get to the hospital; he was giving his final presentation in one of his classes! After an hour and a half of contractions and little Bruce's heart beat decelerating and taking a long time to recover, the doctor said we'd have to do a C-section. So an hour later, Bruce was born. 3 lbs. 3 oz. at 34 weeks - small for gestational age. He is tiny, but he came out screaming and is doing well. He spent two weeks in the NICU gaining weight and came home with me yesterday at 3 lbs. 10 oz. He needs to gain more weight before I can take him out in my jogging stroller; I guess my belly has to do some healing before I can go running. Anyway, we're both doing well and happy to be home. I tried to put pictures up on this thing, but couldn't figure it out and got impatient. So if you want to see pictures, go to ohiomars.com. He's so cute!
-Emily Mars Raymond

2005-05-25T10:15:00.000-07:00

He makes me smile.

2005-05-25T10:12:00.000-07:00

It was a beautiful February Day.

Hi from a very happy Shar!

2005-05-23T20:34:00.000-07:00

Hi girls, how I have missed being in touch. I love the pictures and stories and can't believe it has taken me so long to check out this web site. I so wish I could have been in some of those fun pictures with you cool girls. What a beautiful bunch of girls, quite the hotty mommas and single chickas too (Sarah and Jilly). Heh if any of y'all want to come and check out the heat and humidity in Houston, TX. I'll take you on my 5 mile loop around my neighborhood anytime! Nanner came and ran it with me a few months back and I loved running with an old teammate again. Such great fun, each of us taking turns pushing the double running stroller with her little guy and my youngest little guy chillin while we were workin'. As for a Shar update, I live in The Woodlands, TX a suburb in North Houston. I have two little boys, Marcus who is 3 and Aaron who is 1. They definitely keep me busy. I am training on my own most of the time, but have a group of marathoners I train with every once and awhile on Saturday mornings. I a 5Km race two weeks ago, it was a "Beat the Boss 5Km" for Paul's work and I can boast that I definitely beat all the bosses and Paul's boss now knows that Paul Thayer has a fast wife! Pretty silly, but I did win a $20 gift certificate to WalMart for being 1st female and that will help out the grocery budget! I had a blast putting the racing flats back on and it felt good to try running fast again. I'm actually in Utah as I write this, Paul and I are here for his brother's wedding and I have enjoyed watching my boys play with their cousin Benson Thayer (LIz Benson's son), yes Liz's son is my nephew, HOW COOL huh? He is such a cutie!

Well I am definitely hooked on the BLOG thing! I will be watching for updates from you other girls regularily now. I'll post a picture when I figure out how.
Take care girls and I'll have fun thinking of you all on my next run!
Love, Shar

Who's next?

2005-04-15T13:52:00.000-07:00

These past few months have been lots of fun seeing all of your girls (wish more of you could have been there). The weddings for JoLee and Nicole were a blast. I think other than Jill Dogger and myself, the rest of you are married. Hopefully that doesn't mean we won't be having reunions anymore.
Life here in California is going great. We had a pretty crazy winter (a winter in the eyes of a true Californian) in that we had tons of rain...not the typical winter for us. But, I'm proud to say the sunshine has arrived and I think the warmer weather has as well. I've been travelling quite a bit these past few months...the Bay area, Boston, Utah, Seattle, Hawaii, and Utah again. I had never been to Hawaii before, but the island of Kauai is definitely the one to visit. My sister and I flew over there to get some sunshine, and to attend a wedding. Definitely good times!! It's nice to now be back in town for awhile, and it'll probably stay like that for a little bit...unless there are more wedding announcements.
Hope all is going well for everyone. Congrats to Amy Bair and her little one, and hopefully to Katie Martin!!!

Sarah

2005-04-13T10:23:00.000-07:00

This is kind of a funny picture to start out with, but I thought Nicole's hair looked really cool. It was just awesome hanging out with the crew that day and watching Nicole so happy! On another note, I know that Amy Bair had her baby girl on Wed, April 6th so congrats to her! We will allow you a couple of weeks Amy to get some pictures up here on the Blog. Katie, you better let us know as soon as the little one arrives! This is not supposed to be Kristen's journaling web page, so all you BYU runners out there, start posting! You can email me if you forgot the info for posting - kristen.edwards@gmail.com. And another thing, that video that Nan did of her little guy is awesome!

2005-04-13T10:20:00.000-07:00

Here are all the redmeatnighters that made it to the wedding. We missed the rest of you all!

2005-04-13T10:19:00.001-07:00

It was just a bit chilly out there in Seattle. But Nicole was lucky considering the forecast was all rain and her wedding day was bright and sunny.

2005-04-13T10:19:00.000-07:00

I am pretty sure this is a perfect match. I personally immediately decided Hyrum was the one for Nicole after I learned he broke out his accordian at a high school football game that needed some spirit.

2005-04-13T10:18:00.000-07:00

Hyrum soloing at the wedding luncheon because Nicole's accordian had a slight technical difficulty.

2005-03-01T17:51:00.000-08:00

Our early morning fire breaker run. Lucky for me (Kristen) Jill's roommate was willing to watch my baby and Jill was willing to wait for me as I puttered up the hill. We did take some walking breaks but we all finished thanks to Sarah the slave driver.

2005-03-01T17:50:00.001-08:00

JoLee as Mrs. Nathan Stephens.

2005-03-01T17:50:00.000-08:00

JoLee is married! The highlight of my day was definitely the chocolate pie at the luncheon. It was incredible. It was also great to see JoLee so happy and beautiful.

Oranges!

2005-02-21T09:05:00.000-08:00

So we got a video camera for Christmas. Its been FUN, to say the least. For those of you who are interested, here's a link to our favorite production. www.kennardhome.com/video.htm
Be sure to turn up the volume. Enjoy!
-Nan

2005-02-03T10:23:00.001-08:00

Don't tell anyone, but Sarah woke up with a naked boy next to her!

2005-02-03T10:23:00.000-08:00

Sarah and Christina at Kristen's house in San Fran. It was awesome - they shared their Diet Coke, candy hearts and ice cream. The best part was our 6 mile run where the mud ended so thick on our shoes that the weight of the mud forced us to walk. They both looked totally hot for Roman's wedding!

Provo life

2005-01-21T13:14:00.000-08:00

Hello Girls,

Its been awhile since I last posted, but it's good to hear that everyone is doing so well.
Life in Provo is...great! Pete just finished his first semester at law school. I'm still working for Nature's Way in Springville.
I'm down to my last trimester. We found out we're having a boy (which made Pete stand up and cheer during the ultrasound). I'm due APril 19th and hope he's not a day later than that. My pregnancy has been really easy so far, but I've had to quit running and I'm feeling more like a beached whale than anything.
Pete and I are moving to Littleton, Colorado for the summer. He will be working with a small firm there and I will be laying by the pool. We're planning on coming back to Provo in the fall for Pete to start school again and I will work part time from home.
I'll post pictures once the baby is born-if he's cute.
It's always good to hear from everyone. Keep on posting!

Katie (Martin) Sabey

In the works

2005-01-20T22:08:00.000-08:00

Maggie Chan wanted to start a website for the whole team and we have - it is a blog:

http://nationalchamps.blogspot.com.

She is going to send out a massive email with the username and password. I will have links from both blogs to each other - I just thought it would be too many people if everyone posted here and I also think it is pretty cool that we have the national champs URL. If the redmeatnight blog dies, that is OK with me. We can just see what happens. Post wherever your little heart desires.

Anyway, the point of this being I just posted on that site how to use Hello to post pictures on the Blog. I hope it helps those of you who have not been able to post pictures yet.

Why my life is great : I am so excited because I get to see Sarah Ellis in a week when she comes out for Roman's wedding (Sherida I think you are going to be here too, email me and we can try to get together) and then I get to see a whole bunch of people in Utah for JoLees shin-dig that I already have plane tickets to and I can't wait to be standing in the rain in April in Seattle to see Nicole get hitched!

Hey All!

2005-01-20T13:49:00.000-08:00

Just thought I'd check in and say hello again. Mars, thanks for the update on all the Provo gossip--its crazy that I only live 20 minutes from Provo and you live 4 hours by plane, yet you seem to know more about whats going on than I do. And congrats on the expectant child! Thats good to hear. Jolee, sounds like you had a great Christmas break; lots of traveling and family! Hey, Aaron's company may be sending us to Denver in February to open another office so be sure to post details about your wedding reception, 'cause we just may be in the area and would LOVE to stop in!
Well, it was GREAT to see a few of you over the holidays. Sorry if there were people who didn't hear about the get-together at my house...Mel and I tried to get a hold of anyone we had numbers for...
So other than Holiday friends, family, and fun, Aaron and I have been working on little house projects lately. Like installing a new kitchen sink and splashboard, painting the ping-pong room, and designing our layout for finishing the back yard. We decided that we'd put a little cash into the home and make it more pleasant to live in and hopefully increase the value at the same time. Now we just need to start gathering 2nds of retaining wall blocks (because they're much cheaper than 1sts) and as soon as we get enough, we'll get constructon started! Fun fun!
Oh, I've also been going to a triathlete class at American Fork recreation center with Melissa Teemont two days a week. Its nice to get some coaching on my terrible swim technique and work out with people. It'll be nice when track season starts too, so I can go running with the high school kids again and get them to push Abe some of the time. He's becoming a TANK (20 lbs last I checked). :)

Well, hope everyone is having a wonderful January!

luv, Nan

P.S. If any of you are interested, we do have a small famlily website at www.kennardhome.com

Crazy Christmas Break

2005-01-18T13:55:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone. It's JoLee. I decided that I was overdue for another posting. Kristen, your Christmas letter was too cute! And Emily, thanks for the catch-up on everyone. Congratulations on the baby. That is so exciting.

This has been the most eventful Christmas Break of my life. It all started when Nathan came to Kansas to do some work for Hallmark. I then was in the midst of finishing finals and a reunion, and I am not complaining. Nathan and I drove from Kansas to Colorado Springs where we spent Christmas with my family. Not only did we have Nathan there, but this was my brother's first Christmas since coming home from his mission. Needless to say, we had a great time and lots of laughs. After Christmas Nathan and I headed from Sacramento for New Years. We drove my little Golf (which is an extremely faithful car) to Utah where we spent the night and headed out the next mornig across Nevada in Nathan's Accord. We ran into some weather over the Sierras and had to put chains on the tires. I'd never experienced that (despite living in Colorado my whole life - I'm sure someone here uses chains, but it's not me.) Anyway, we made it to Sacramento which was a great relief. In California we had two family parties and were disappointed that it rained so much. We had already driven about 1500 miles, and we were only half way done.

We drove back to Utah and stayed for a week. I did a bunch of wedding stuff, seeing as Provo is wedding central. I also was so delighted to see everyone. The wedding shower was a really great time thanks to Jill who knows how to throw a party. I'm now back in Colorado. Nathan and I had to split up for the last two legs of the journey because once we got to Utah we had both cars. I plan to go to Kansas on Sunday. Nathan is already back there living in our apartment. He started his job at Hallmark today, and I'm eager to hear how it went.

So, I guess I should thank KU for providing me with such a long Christmas break. It's been fun. I'm excited to go back to Kansas and start school again. I think the break is long enough!

I am now working on the wedding announcements. I do not have all your addresses, so if you would like an announcement please email me your address as jolee@ku.edu. Thanks Liz, for sending me yours. I'll post again soon.

JoLee

2005-01-15T16:28:00.000-08:00

What happens when there is chocolate syrup.

2005-01-15T16:27:00.000-08:00

Blake Edwards (Kristen's two year old) sharing ice cream with Halle (Melanie's one and a half year old)

2005-01-15T16:26:00.001-08:00

The boys - content to be in the other room talking about business and gadgets while the girls try to catch up.

2005-01-15T16:26:00.000-08:00

Alll the gals at our recent reunion at Nan's house. My big surprise - Kara Ormond is married! I am not sure how I missed out on that news but her and her hubby seem to be the perfect match.

2004 in Review

2005-01-15T16:14:00.000-08:00

Hi Gals-

This is our Christmas letter that I did not get out to everyone that I would have liked to. So, please excuse my tardiness and know I hope you all had an incredible holiday and that your resolutions include posting more often!

BRUISES AND BRAGGING RIGHTS

The Edwards Families worst and best of 2004

We have had to say goodbye to lots of visitors this year and it always makes Kristen cry when she wakes up to Blake asking for Grandma, Grandpa, and other aunts, uncles, cousins and friends after they have caught their plane home. Some of the highlights of these visits include: catching crabs in Monterey, camping with two pregnant ladies and two two-year olds in a redwood forest, drinking an awful papaya drink thanks to Cory’s recently returned missionary brother, chasing waves with the Ritchie boys and eating fresh salmon with Kristen’s high-school friends.

We started to fear Blake’s second birthday early in April when he threw his first public temper tantrum at Lori’s Diner. As soon as we were seated Blake spotted a shiny, red, child-sized sports car decorating the booth and he insisted on trying to climb up to it while he screamed, “car-key, car-key.” We just sat and listened. Luckily, the only other major tantrum was him screaming and throwing himself to the ground at the San Francisco Art Museum in early October.

Blake loves to dance and so by early summer we had come to hate his Elmo CD. When you go to bed singing, “la, la, la, la, la, la, Elmo’s song,” you just know that there has to be a change. So, we decided to introduce him to some other less annoying music. Now as soon as the music starts Blake’s eyes light up while he waves his arms wildly and jumps to the rhythm, “a goog (good) one!” he yells. “Come on,” he tells us as he pulls us up by our hands. Blake’s favorites: Abba, REO Speedwagon, Journey, Boston and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Kristen was overwhelmed with the 40 hour plus commitment to the Las Lomas Track Team, but she loved it when the senior boys would play with Blake in the long jump pit and when the team received recognition for being a little better than the year before. Cory has loved working in the Young Men’s program in our ward. He was able to keep cool during the 103 degree temperatures of his high adventure raft trip by cliff jumping 40 feet into the Trinity River below.

Blake loves to beat up on his new baby sister but the smothering, slapping, biting and pinching have slowed down and he does occasionally do things that melt a mother’s heart. He held her hand in the car once when she was crying, woke up one morning asking, “Rachel home?” after baby had been gone the evening before and she is getting tougher. When we went to the doctor for her four month check-up she hardly cried after the four shots. (She weighed an impressive 15lbs 6oz!)

We miss being so far away from family and friends, but we can say that California has its advantages. We are able to make visits to the park in December and occasionally we take Cory with us. You might think that we would go to the park to let Blake play, but really we go to the park to watch Cory play. He likes to teach Blake safe things like how to go head first and backwards down the slide, how to climb over the equipment and how to jump off the swing while it is still moving.

We have endured twenty hours worth of flights this past year, but we always are grateful once we have landed. We were able to be with the entire Edwards family when Cory’s dad was released as Stake President in January and in June Kristen and Blake surprised Mom Barnes on her 50th birthday by showing up in Chicago.

We have also enjoyed three trips to A’s baseball games, wide smiles from a baby girl, jumping in the leaves at the park and watching Rachel perform as baby Jesus at the Oakland Temple. We feel blessed to have such incredible family and friends and are grateful for the Christ child who teaches the proper perspective. We wish you the Merriest Christmas and hope this coming year brings much joy. If you would like to hear more about us, check out our Blog:

2005-01-15T16:13:00.000-08:00

Family with reluctant Blake at family pictures. Yes, my kid is the only one screaming in all of the family photos.

Happy 2005

2005-01-14T21:45:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone. Hope Christmas was good to all. I was in Utah for a few days and Montana for a few weeks and Nevada for a week; I'm actually glad the break is over and I can come home to Boston! (Oh yeah, this is Emily Raymond, by the way).

Here's all the gossip I got while in Utah. I had lunch with Tia Babbel, who is now Tia Hejny. She married Seth, her Stanford Sweetheart, last year and they finished up his degree in San Fran and now they're in Provo so Tia can finish. She is in her last semester and doing an internship at the Provo Boys and Girls Club.

Katie Moon aka "Mooner" is also in her last semester of her undergrad and is working in the Bean Science Museum doing research on plants and such. She has applied to grad school and hopes to get into BYU, Utah State, or Wyoming. Mooner's missionary that she claims to not like is coming home in less than two months. Good luck to Cowboy Anthony.

Tiffany Rust is up and running two or three miles a day despite the achilles surgery last year. She had her first elementary school teaching rotation and loves being called Miss Rust.

Ember Smith is a full-time teaching intern. She teaches fifth graders and fits in way too well. She sounds like an awesome teacher. She told her class she pays taxes that go right back to them, so they'd better be good and learn!

I am taking a little nine-month break from any sort of serious mileage. There is a seven-inch growth in my belly. I am due in June and totally excited - and totally scared. I'm the one that always hid in the locker room when flu shots came around. I hate hate hate needles. At my first baby appointment, the doctor sucked out 6 vials of blood. I had to lay down and deep breathe for that. An epidural does not sound fun. So that's my big news. I also moved, so I'm not in Sherida's ward anymore. Scott and I moved because our apartment had lead paint in it (not good for the baby). We're five minutes north of Boston now.

This posting is getting way too long. How is everyone else doing?

happy new year

2005-01-14T05:51:00.000-08:00

Hi girls,

Jill, my friends from my major at BYU do the myfamily.com thing. It is has extras like a posting of everyone's birthdays and contact info, and a separate section for posting pictures ( I still haven't figured out how to post a photo on here). But it is very similar to a blog. I think this would work. But I also don't mind paying $2 a year. I think it would be a headache trying to get everyone to pay every year. This might just be easier. Unless someone different paid the $30 each year - that's what my other group does. Those are my thoughts.

James, Benson and I are back in NC now for one more semester and then we will be officially done with law school! There is a light at the end of the tunnel, Jill. We're moving back to DC next fall. I ran a couple road races this summer, and even though I am incredibly out of shape compared to our BYU days, it was fun. JoLee, send me an invitation if you have an extra. 3321 Coachmans Way Durham, NC 27705.

I miss you all. Keep running wherever you are!

liz thayer

Maggie's e-mail

2005-01-13T20:34:00.000-08:00

Alright girls, it is time for some of you to post again. I can't believe I am posting back to back. First of all, Happy Birthday to Sarah yesterday! Second, Kristen, your pictures from Christmas on your family blog are darling. I can't believe how big Rachel and Blake are. We missed all of you at JoLee's bridal shower this last Saturday. Melanie, Katie, and I represented the running portion of JoLee's friends at the shower. Wish you all could have been here. Hopefully I few more of you will be able to make it to the wedding in February.

I wish I had time to say more, but I am in school again and time is short. I just wanted to post a portion of an e-mail that Maggie sent to me. I know a few of the rest of you were on her list, but since the majority of you were not, and since I don't have all of your e-mail addresses to forward the message to, I am posting most of what she sent. I told her to talk to Kristen about the limitations of the blog, and whether that was a better way to go. I don't know if the blog is feasible for what Maggie wants, especially with a larger number of people. Maggie's e-mail address is mchanroper@hotmail.com. I am sure she would like to know what you think of her idea. Maybe Kristin can enlighten us about the pros and cons of myfamily.com v. the blog.

Jill

Maggie's e-mail "should we be a family?":

Hi, everyone,
I think I am bored to death being a stay-home mom without running. I have
just a little idea to keep in touch with everyone a while back but I don't
know if anyone would participate. I am thinking to have an account in
"myfamily.com". Then we can share pictures and update life with one and
another. A standard account is almost $30 per year for 100 MB and $55 for
200 MB. If we have a good number of people participate, it may cost $2 a
person to do that. Would anyone be interested in this?
Since I hate to cc people on a massive list to expose everyone to junk mail,
I bcc the people below.

[the names of about 25 ex-runners]

Sorry to everyone that I may have spelled your name wrong since the time I
met you and I may not remember everyone's last name.
Here is a list of people I can think of but I don't have their email
address.

[names of more ex-runners, including some of you]

I am sure I am missing a lot of people. If you have their email address,
please forward this message to them. I will be in Utah for my foot surgery
in Feb., I will be able to do a lot of things on the computer after that.
Let give everyone some time to think about it and I will keep everyone
update probably sometime in Feb.
Of course, Coach is on the list of invitation to share his life and
everything else on the team.
Okay.
Talk to you all later.
maggie

Happy Holidays from Portland

2004-12-26T23:35:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays! I am in Portland for the holidays enjoying time with my family, sleeping in, and consuming entirely too much food. I love being home, but am sad I’ll miss the big get together at Nan’s house on the 30th. I hope you all have fun. Hopefully JoLee’s wedding will give us an excuse to get together again, and I can see those I miss this time around. If anyone needs a place to stay let me know. Nicole already called half of my queen size bed, but if you get desperate I still have couch space. This last semester was pretty grueling, and I am glad to have a breather at home for a few weeks. It has been fun over the last few months to sneak a few minutes in every once in awhile to check out the blog and see how all of you are doing. Keep posting all of your news girls; your updates are welcome breaks in my long days in the law library. I am glad to have some time to post my own entry. My biggest news is that I am finally halfway through law school, only a year and a half to go. Yeah!!! Although I am enjoying law school immensely, I am hoping that the downhill side is a little easier than the first half. One of the few things that I try to make time for outside of law school is running, but often getting in even three miles seems like an ordeal. I have been extremely grateful this past semester for Katie’s company on early morning runs throughout most of her early pregnancy, and I don’t know what I am going to do without her over the next couple of months. I don’t have any exciting news about engagements or pregnancies. For now I am enjoying the freedom of single life and living vicariously through all of you. I especially enjoyed the pregnancy insights of Katie and Amy when the three of us went running over Thanksgiving. And of course I am excited about the upcoming weddings. I am glad that JoLee and Nicole are both head-over-heels for guys that are miraculously as amazing as JoLee and Nicole are given that they have both set the bar very high with their lengthy lists of accomplishments and talents. Thanks for being such great friends girls. You are all amazing. Enjoy your New Year’s Eve!

Jill

Merry Christmas Season

2004-12-04T15:50:00.000-08:00

Hi Gals - I am doing well in Calfornia. I went for a run today feeling like I put out a serious effort and it seemed so long as I was trotting along. I came inside dissapointed to see that only thirty minutes had ticked by on the clock. This getting in shape thing is less than fantastic. I inherited all these small sized jeans from a friend and need to shed some pounds so I can fit myself into them. No, buying new pants would be too easy.

We have been getting ready for Christmas - Blake likes to talk about 'canta clause' and the 'tis-mas' tree. He plays with all the ornaments that my grandma gave me when I was little and it just drives me crazy knowing that they won't last long with him around. Rachel is baby Jesus in a production at the Oakland temple and it has been a great experience. I get to sit there kind of with Heavenly Father's perspective and watch while my baby is cradled in Mary's arms. It has been a great way to start this Christmas season.

We get to be in Utah the 19th of December through the 1st of January and would love to see whomever is around. Please post a comment or something or email me and let me know if you will be around and would like to get together - I was thinking perhaps the 30th of December, the night before New Year's Eve.

Love ya gals! Great to hear from everyone!

--Kristen

Y'all have a great Thanksgiving?

2004-11-28T17:59:00.000-08:00

This year we had Thanksgiving in Texas! Aaron, Abe and I have been in Dallas all month opening an office for Aaron's company. We drove to Houston to visit family for Thanksgiving and I was able to visit Shar and Paul! Shar took me on a run in the pleasant Texas 70 degree fall weather and we had lunch with her cute boys in her nice home in the suburbs. :)
Now we're back in Dallas hoping to wrap things up soon so we can head back to Utah for Christmas. Texas is nice this time of year and I've enjoyed exploring new places, but I've got to admit, I'm excited to get back to my own home and snowy mountains. :) Snowboarding season has arrived, you know....
Happy December!
luv,
Nan

Boston Quick Chicks

2004-11-18T12:59:00.000-08:00

The Red Sox are a wicked good team, but Boston was just introduced to the Quick Chicks- Nicole Magelsen, Jessica Heiner, me plus two other girls formed this great team that took second at a race in Rhode Island and awarded us good money. Sadly we were beat by a team of men who's average age was 67...It was actually very funny....they got a hadicap on the time based on age. We have some good pictures with those dudes in tights. (which I will later attempt to post) Next on my list is USATF cross-country nationals in Portland December, 6th running for Greater Boston Track club.
Overdue Congrats to Jolee! Nicole keeps me updated on all the wonderful details before they even reach the blog. And to Amy-how wonderful...we have 10 pregnant women in our ward right now...I'm feeling a little pressure...
Kristen/other readers-as far as books go The Education of Little Tree is fab, but you may have read it. I know Nicole and Jolee read it outloud while in the same apt. at BYU. Also The Spirit Cathces you and you Fall Down by Ann Fadiman is amazing and since you live in California more close to home. Its about a Hmong child who has epilepsy and her parents/doctos struggles to comunicate. I would love to hear your recomendaitons as well.
Well its 1 in the morning...better get to bed
hugs,
Sherida
one more..These is my Words by Nancy Turner (womens struggle on frontier in AZ)

a fellow southerner

2004-11-18T08:03:00.000-08:00

Jamie,

I lived in Pittsboro for a month when we first moved to NC. We lived in this farmhouse out in the sticks. We used to drive through the woods listening to the music from Last of the Mohicans. Did you know that was filmed in North Carolina? I am pretty sure I almost saw them running through the trees a couple times. Anyway, I am excited to hear that you're down there, because James and benson and I are coming back to Durham in January for one more semester. We can be buddies! We'll introduce you to all those Southerners and their dogs.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone, from DC

liz

Mars in Boston

2004-11-16T18:02:00.000-08:00

howdy everyone. just wanted to say congratulations jolee and congratulations amy.

Y'all I'm down south now.

2004-11-13T17:44:00.000-08:00

Hey girls -

I have been meaning to post on this since Sherida told me about it in an email - umm like a month ago - so here I finally am. So Eric and I are in North Carolina now, he is going to dental school at UNC and I am teaching Biology and Earth Science at a high school in the town we live in - I am also going to be the head track coach in the spring (wish me luck). We live in a really little town called Pittsboro, just outside of Chapel Hill. I think there are like 2200 people who live in this town, it is quite small and quaint - we like it a lot. We still have Harper (the dog) and he is still very spoiled and our only little baby (for now). We have put him on a little bit of a diet, though because he's starting to chunk up and can't keep up on runs like he used to be able to.

Congratulations goes out to Jolee - that is so very exciting! I think that this is an excellent idea and a great way to stay in touch - good job Kristen. Many of the blogs that have been posted have sent me into fitful bouts of laughter that have been quite hard to pull out of. I have found myself missing things from Utah and the team a lot more than I expected to, so it is has been kinda therapeutic to hear from you guys.

That is all I can think of for now guys, but I will be sure to keep you posted.

Jaime Cottle

Swelling belly

2004-10-28T16:10:00.000-07:00

Hi, girls! I feel all happy inside having just read all of your postings! You all sound so grown-up and accomplished! I would love to go out for a long Saturday morning run and get more details, then come back to my place to make waffles for everybody.

The real news for Nate and me is that we're expecting our first baby in April! I've been feeling great, and I'm appreciating running more than ever. We heard the baby's heartbeat for the second time yesterday which I absolutely love.

Other than reading "What to Expect When You're Expecting", I'm keeping busy as a pharmaceutical rep for Allergan. I call on ophthalmologists, and for the most part, they're really cool. Nate also works in pharmaceutical sales, except he works for Pfizer.

Kristen (and any other readers out there), I just read "Swimming to Antarctica" by Lynne Cox. I highly recommend it. It's an autobiography about a swimmer who broke the men's and women's world record for swimming the English channel when she was 14 and goes on about other swims she did. It's very inspirational.

I'm going to try to run St. George '05. A few other of you will be there, right? I figure it will be a great way to push myself back into shape and there won't be any pressure to run super-fast.

I will be in Utah for Thanksgiving. I would love to see any of you that will be there!

Miss you,
Amy (Bair) Cooper

Wow!!

2004-10-27T18:16:00.000-07:00

Well girls, I have to admit this blog thing is a great way to keep in touch. It is fun to see how this site has spread to so many of the past runners, and it's great to get updates on everyone. I have to admit that I didn't even know Nan had a son, so it was good to hear from her...and it sounds like she'll be joining us at the marathon next October.

I am so excited about JoLee getting married...although that leaves very few of us in the "singles" department, it will be exciting to see another one of us "fall". Hopefully as many of us as possible will be able to reunite in Colorado in March, have a nice long run, and then eat lots of wedding cake.

As for myself, life is still going great. I just returned from a deer hunt in southern Utah, and had a blast. Although the weather truly got the best of us, it was fun to see all the snow that Utah is getting. We have been getting tons of rain lately, and coming from someone who is use to a 75 degree winter, it has been a little startling, but nevertheless, very fun.

I hope everyone continues to do well. Make sure to enjoy the candy corn pumpkins this time of year.

Love,
sarah

Late from Washington DC

2004-10-27T17:07:00.000-07:00

Hi all! Thanks Kristen for letting me know about the site. I've been sitting here for an hour reading all the news instead of fixing supper while one-year old Benson is wreaking havoc on our tiny apartment. It's so great to hear from y'all (as we'd say in North Carolina). We are in Washington DC for an internship, and we are returning to NC for one more semester of law school. We'll be in Utah all next summer, then James has accepted a job to work in DC starting next fall at a law firm. It's exciting and scary and a little wierd to think we'll be starting our permanent life. In the meantime, we live in a basement apartment in a beautiful neighborhood in the District. Everyone is very excited about the elections; I admit it is fun to be here during an election year. Our ward is fun, but very different from a BYU ward. I have been painting portraits and other stuff. Check out my website if you want to see. (Or if you have any rich friends who want a portrait painted! He he.) It's www.elizabeththayer.com.

So what is it about Boston that makes BYU runners gravitate there? Is it the Democrats, or do they have exceptional steaks? JoLee, congratulations! I am thrilled. The only thing that would make me happier is to meet him. Benson is pulling my arm off, I've got to go. It's so good to hear from you all and know you're out there. I'll be in Utah at christmas, mel. Let's get together.

Liz Thayer

Nan

2004-10-26T15:22:00.000-07:00

This is Nan's post as a comment, but I was afraid that people would not see it, so I Kristen put it as a real post. Anyway, if you want to post on this site and don't have the username/password, just email me and I will get it to you - kristen.edwards@gmail.com. Good to hear from you Nan!

Hi All!
I was just chatting with Anika on the phone this morning and she told me about this site. Great idea! Its SO great to hear what everyone is up to. I hope you dont mind me joining in...after all, I HAVE gulped liquid iron consistently for a good part of my life!
But as for recent news, Aaron, our 3-month-old, Abe, and I are still living in Lehi. Aaron is the general manager for Trizon, the sales company for Comcast here in Utah. I am pretty much a stay at home with a fun little coaching opportunity at Lone Peak High School. We just had State on Wednesday and our top girl got 2nd! I'm also trying to get back into shape myself and am hoping to run the Ogden marathon in May. My first race since Abe was the BYU Homecoming 5k last week. It was good to see Lindsay, Devra, Jill, and Melissa Teemont! Melissa and I actually run together sometimes since she lives just a few miles away from me. I totally agree that we need to have a reunion! And hey, if its on the starting line of the St. George Marathon, so be it!
Keep in Touch!
-Nan

JoLee owes us steak!!!

2004-10-23T22:30:00.000-07:00

Hi Meat Eaters...

I've intended to post on here for weeks, sorry for the delay. First off I think Congrats are in order for JoLee, and steaks are in order for us! Hmmm...this will be difficult logistically; okay, I guess you're off the hook for now JoLee.

Wow! It's great to hear from all of you, and know a little about what you do in your lives now. I miss having running buddies, but am glad you're having great adventures where you're at. I've started running with a group in South Jordan--today we did 400's and 800's on the track--I've even been cracking out my spikes for the track workouts and my calf muscles are finally starting to adapt.

My little Halle is a year old now! If I'm smart enough to figure it out I'll post some pictures. She's a lot of fun, except she's been working on more teeth this week which leads to strange behavior--for example: the other day at lunchtime, she loaded her mouth completely full of cut-up grapes, refused to put anything else in or chew the grapes up, and proceeded to play with her toys for an hour and a half with her cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk. Keep in mind that it's quite difficult to talk, laugh, or cry when one's mouth is stuffed with grapes--so occasionally she let out a small squeaking noise to communicate. Finally, she sneezed and lost her entire stash of grapes onto the floor!

When I'm not cleaning up grapes, I'm working 3 days a week as a dietitian doing diabetes education for Intermountain Health Care. It's a job I enjoy for the most part, although I find myself growing more and more cynical towards the food industry. I attended the American Association of Diabetes Educator's Conference in Indianapolis, IN in August--it was at the RCA Dome Convention Center where we raced a few times for indoor. So I ran the Novo-Nordisk 5k along that canal/zoo walk where we ran to warm-up/cool-down...it brought back memories.

Well I'll look forward to hearing more blog stories...will anyone be in Utah for the holidays this year so we can get together?

2004-10-23T21:52:00.000-07:00

Halle Steere

Much More than Cookies

2004-10-20T10:44:00.000-07:00

Hello. Yes, I have big news. And in the tradition of Red Meat Night I want to tell a very good story along with the news. Now, for all of you who think that you have to pull news out of me I will do my best to prove otherwise.

Last weekend I had Fall Break (a big deal for someone who has never even experienced Spring Break). Nathan and I met in Colorado Springs. On Thursday morning we planned to go up to Denver, but Nathan kept insisting that we go to Pike's Peak first. (This is an interesting mountain because you can drive to the top of it even though it's 14,111 ft. On top they have a gift shop and a really nice view of the city.) Nathan had told me a few days earlier that he thought that would be a nice thing to do, but I didn't really want to go. Pike's Peak is in the opposite direction of Denver, and I was pretty certain it would be cold, foggy, and windy on the top of the mountain. Because he wanted to go I went along with the idea. He was pretty insistent that I would like the trip. However, when we got to the Pike's Peak Highway we learned that the road was closed at around 12,ooo ft. So instead of driving to that point we turned around and went to Garden of the Gods. Some of you may have been to the Garden of the Gods during our many trips to indoor Conference. It's a pretty amazing park at the base of the mountains with large red rock formations. It was a really lovely stroll and when we found ourselves alone Nathan asked me to marry him. It was simple, beautiful and also somewhat of a surprise. I admit that the insistence on seeing Pike's Peak right then was a bit suspicious. And so, I am now engaged to be married, and we are both very happy.

Well, it looks like I won't be in Kansas for too much longer. I can't say that I'm sorry. We will hopefully find someplace where I can finish the Ph.D. and Nathan can start working. Right now Nathan has a job offer in Portland so it's likely we'll be going there. Nathan will finish school in December, and it looks like we'll be getting married in March. I will be sure to let all of you know.

I've also posted a picture of me and Nathan Stephens. This was taken on Saturday. We were at a party with my family and some of my mom's friends were hugely excited about my news. It was rather amusing.

Keep posting.

JoLee

2004-10-20T10:42:00.000-07:00

Here we are just engaged!

Emails

2004-10-20T08:05:00.000-07:00

Hello all. Happy birthday Katy Ricecakes Kunkel! What is your email address? Mine is byuccstar@yahoo.com (yeah I'm cocky) or eraymond@digitalcamerainfo.com.

Screaming Children

2004-10-12T19:52:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to say that it makes me very excited that people are actually doing this and that we have the youngins involved. I got to talk to Nicole on Saturday and it was great - I just miss you guys, especially in the morning when I am running by myself on busy streets. I did write this massive post for my Edwards family blog and I can't get it to copy and paste in here, so if you would like to read about my attempt at Super Saturday, go to the edwards fam site.

Blake and Rachel both got shots today at the doctor - it was awful. Blake was OK about his shot until he saw Rachel screaming in pain, then he started screaming, "hold you" (he hasn't quite mastered pronouns yet) for a good fifteen minutes while I tried to calm Rachel down with Blake on my lap. I was hoping they would both sleep the day away, but they have both been awake and grumpy. Now that they are asleep I can tell you that yes I do love my children and think they are cute.

I am reading this book by a pulitzer prize winning journalist, it's called All Over But the Shoutin' and so far I really enjoy it. Let me know if anyone else has good book suggestions because yes I am now old enough to be in a book club. Also, I am always looking for good red meat night recipes and if enough of you send them I will make the recipe book I keep pretending to make.

Sarah- I am going to be at a friend's wedding the 20th of November down south and hope to see you.

-Kristen

Emily Raymond a.k.a. "MARS" from Boston

2004-10-10T19:05:00.000-07:00

That's right, my BYU days are over. I graduated in April with my degree in print journalism. Scott and I moved to Boston, where he is going to Harvard in biophysics. I'm probably the youngest to post on this site, but hey, Sherida made me do it. Sherida is in my ward, where she is the nursery leader. Scott and I are team Sunbeam teachers. I think both Sherida and I are incredibly baby-hungry! Unfortunately, I live in a leaded apartment. So no babies until the lease runs out.

I don't know if any of you met Scott, my hot husband. He was in my ward during my junior year at BYU, when I was living with Tia Babbel (now Hejny), Katie Moon and Anika Smith (now Busby). Scott was a double nerd in applied physics and neuroscience at BYU. Tia set us up and we enjoyed many a date after that. Scott served his mission in Russia Moscow South, where Hyrum served his mission. Scott says Hyrum is an awesome awesome guy and totally approves. Perhaps I can get him to post some old mission stories or something. Anyway, Scott is from Montana and enjoys everything outdoorsy: camping, climbing, hiking, etc. Right now, he is more indoorsy in the lab, experimenting with all kinds of imaging systems like ultrasound and CAT scans and whatnot. When he's had enough fun with that (and gets a Ph.D. and possibly an M.D.), he hopes to do research in the pharmaceutical industry and/ or become a professor to teach all the cool stuff he's learned. Look out for him; I think he will be up for a Nobel pretty soon.

I had an internship at a magazine publishing company during the summer. If you fly Continental Airlines through November, check out their in-flight magazine (my stuff is in there). Now I'm working at an internet company writing reviews and news about digital cameras and camcorders: digitalcamerainfo.com and camcorderinfo.com. I also do a bunch of the product photography for the websites, so all the photos posted after mid-August or so are mine. The best perk about the job is that I can do it pretty much whenever I want. I love flexible hours. I just started freelance writing and photographing for New England Runner Magazine. I write short blurbs about road races, take photos and someday when I have a moment, I'll write a feature or two.

Speaking of running, Sherida and I joined the Greater Boston Track Club, a post-collegiate running club for crazies like us. I just can't get enough of the team atmosphere. Last week, I ran the Akron Marathon in my hometown of Akron, Ohio. It was my first marathon and it showed. Went out fast. Biffed it on the hills. But ended up running a 3:07:59 anyway. I'm hoping to improve on that time in the Boston Marathon. Until then, I will be enjoying much shorter distances like the 5K and the 10K.

That's about it for now. I love this whole idea of blogging. Keep it up.

More from Boston

2004-10-10T10:57:00.000-07:00

Zac and I only have eight more months in Boston. -Better hurry on out to see us before we make the big move to Washington and start so called real life. We love New England/the East Coast and all it has to offer, but long for warmer winters and cheaper cost of living. After graduating from BU, yes sadly not BYU, (yet) I started working as a nanny for a rich catholic family with two beautiful girls Jane and Claire- and at a Victorian House Museum downtown so I could have a pretty free schedule. It has been nice as I have been able to travel to South America, the Caribbean, England and visit family over the past year as well as start a book club. I joined the Greater Boston Track team with Emily (Mars) Raymond, but also get to run with Nicole Magelson and Jessica Heiner who are out here as well. Fun fun.
Well, I would like to run St. George Marathon with you all in '05, but I may have a big swollen belly by then, unless I opt to go to culinary school. We shall see...
Thank you Kristen for starting this little blog. I have loved reading all that is going on in your lives!
hasta luego amigos,
Sherida Bird
sherida@thebirds.net

katy kunkel

2004-10-08T21:21:00.000-07:00

Hey there girlies, so good to get the down low on all of you. Sounds like everyone is up to exciting stuff. Greg and I are out here in the San Francisco area about 25 min west of Kristen and Cory. The four of us hang out rather frequently, which is a lot fun! Greg even works with Cory in SF, and says Cory is one of the best 'supervisors' he has ever had. I am still working for PwC auditing computer systems, which can be fun. eBay has been nice to audit with free fruit, sodas, and cereal. My minicooper is getting a workout with the all my commuting to various clients. I may come out to Provo for work recruiting from time to time. Well, peace out!!!

kt arroz