Ben Evjen

I've had some wild opportunities these past ten years. Why don't you join me on a brief journey of the time I've spent in different ventures...

After a stint at a state college I decided to try my hand in the financial realm. I got in contact with a few well known folks and soon found myself as the adviser to the lovely homemaker Martha Stewart. I tell you what, that smile is just captivating. One evening after some warm peach cobbler I took some financial liberties that would soon send Martha behind cold metal bars of the state penitentiary, away from the comfort of the doilies that draped the sofa arms of her favorite couch.

After some border hopping I was able to find respite from the law in sunny Hawaii. While washing in the Pacific Ocean I was filmed by the crew of LOST, much to their displeasure. After scrapping that take I was pulled aside and given a stern talking to, but at the same time a serious consideration for a future role in season's 4 and 5. The beard that I had managed to finally grow helped in placing me in the part of Daniel Faraday. In the end I was ousted by some other fellow who could actually grow a mustache. JJ Abrams did assure me that it was a very hard decision to make, so I left comforted. I decided then to take my chances back on the mainland and moved to California after earning the money for a flight back by selling the Papaya's I hand picked in the jungles of Hawaii.

Having found a new love for acting I auditioned for a few things here and there, the most notable being the "Mac" in those great "I'm a PC, I'm a Mac" commercials. I was told I was a close 2nd to the actual fellow you see. Looking back now I realize I was perhaps a little bit too eager.

The winds of time blew and in January of this year I found myself in the nations capitol. It was a frantic day, many crowds, and a bit of confusion. Stumbling into the White House I was given a Judge's robe and was told to put it on immediately. For some reason I was given the words to the oath of office the President was to take shortly. I was told to memorize them and quickly. Drawing from my acting background I hurriedly memorized these lines and found myself pushed out to the concourse where thousands of people looked on. My bewildered gaze was met by Mr. Obama's and I broke the silence with the words I had just put to memory. The stress got to me and I tripped over a few phrases but regained composure quickly. I was again ushered from the scene and had to relinquish the Judge's robes. The only thing I took from that experience was the memory, and I suppose the headlines of "Presidential Oath botched!", "President sworn in again later that evening!","Where did they get this guy?!"

My pride was hurt, I had to return home to nurse my wounds. I'm currently residing in Salt Lake City, just regaining my confidence through watching self help series such as the Oprah endorsed "The Secret".

-Ben

P.S. I was pleased to see Martha was out of jail but I'm a little saddened that she won't return my calls

Todd Murdock

Todd and Ashli Murdock

CURRICULUM VITAE

(Resume)

Name: Todd McKay Murdock

Address: Above a salon

City: One doesn't live in a city, one lives in a watershed.

Watershed: Jordan River

State: States are arbitrary--I live west of the 100th meridian.

OBJECTIVE

To obtain capital with which to start an eco-friendly, autonomous commune. (This is a private placement investment opportunity that is not to be missed.)

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

-Am not chubby anymore

-Have grown the kind of beard associated with prospectors and serial murderers

-Got Sam Robertson married (Huge.)

-Used abrasive personality to alienate Kade Anderson from the Utah State University's dating scene, and, by extension, the entire Bear River Watershed.

-Saw Todd Wise wearing a diaper at the 7-Eleven on University in Provo; could not fathom why. (Really happened.)

-Bought out "Something to Crow About;" used retail space to start extremely successful T-shirt business, "Threadless," with Mr. Bell. Like our predecessors, we also sell jock straps. (Et tu, Clair Shipp?)

RECOGNITION AND AWARDS

You will recognize me by the third nipple god awarded me.

EDUCATION

Does living an unmatchably fulfilling life count as "education"? (I've learned many wonderful things about the transcendent nature of personal wealth and success.)

WORK EXPERIENCE

Curriculum Vitae Consultant (per diem)

Joe Vogel

Hey everyone. It's been fun reading up on how you're all doing. Here are the highlights of the past ten years for me.

1999: As soon as school gets out we leave for our Senior Trip in Oceanside, California (see picture and try to identity each respective Red Devil); the next fall I start college at UVSC (is it just me or did A LOT of us go to UVSC at some point)

2000: Spent the summer in London and throughout England, which is a life-changing experience; A couple of months later I leave for an LDS mission to Micronesia.

2001: Continue my mission, speaking a language called Pohnpeian, which includes cool words like "tikitik," tiak suwed," and "dundun" (all of which Brandon Bales and Craig Nielson can translate)

2002: Get back from mission, return to UVSC, majoring in English Literature and minoring in Religious Studies

2003: Return to London again, also visiting Rome and Paris; publish an amateurish book of poems; room with Craig Nielson; meet a girl named Tiffany

2004: Miscellaneous political activities; girl named Tiffany continues to intrigue; she has beautiful blue eyes; she's also smart and funny; I decide to propose and she decides to say yes; we are married Dec. 16th, 2004 in Salt Lake and honeymoon in California; Life is good

2005: School continues; in our spare time we take spontaneous trips to random places; other things happen that I can't remember

2006: My wife and I graduate; my wife earns her teacher's license, and begins teaching English at Fort Herriman Middle School; I'm very proud of her; I begin my MA at BYU emphasizing in Romantic and Contemporary Literature, while also teaching Freshmen Composition; after much thought, prayer, and liberal meditation I decide to join the Obama campaign

2007: Miscellaneous political activities; SURPRISE! We learn that what we thought was a painful kidney stone in my wife, turns out to be pregnancy

2008: Our beautiful daughter, Sofi Anne Vogel, is born on February 1, 2008; I get accepted into the Ph.D. program at the University of Rochester in New York; we leave that summer, driving across the country; after three days of corn fields we make it; I start school and am very happy with my program; I singlehandedly win Obama the presidency

2009: We are now going on our second year in New York. We love it here. We take monthly visits to DC to visit my brother's family. I do a lot of reading and writing and enjoy watching my daughter grow. We'll be here for probably another three or four years before I start teaching somewhere.

My best to everyone! I won't be able to make it to the reunion, but you can email or facebook if you'd like to chat.

Lyndsie (Parry) Webster

Two weeks after we graduated I headed up to attend Ricks College. I loved it up there and had a great experience!!!! I graduated with my Associates in Business in April 2000. I came home with the plan of working for a year saving up some money and going back to school. Things didn't turn out as planned, I met my husband James Webster in May of 2001 and we were married in the Salt Lake City Temple in March 2002.We lived in Orem our first 3 years of marriage. I worked for a doctors office doing the billing and finances while my husband was finishing up his degree in Business Management and working full time. After a year long struggle with fertility treatments we were finally able to start our family.

Our twins, Zac and Lexie, were born in July 2004 after a very long hard pregnancy (I spent 3 months on bedrest, the first 2 in UVRMC).

In April of 2008 we were blessed with the birth of our third child Samantha. Zac and Lexie are now almost 5 and will start Kindergarten this fall (now that makes me feel old!!!). Samantha just turned 1 and is in such a fun stage learning a lot of new things. We are currently living in Spanish Fork and really like it here. My husband works in Commercial Real Estate and I am lucky to be able to stay at home with my kids. I love my "job" and the joy it brings into my life.

Kerri (Peterson) Hancock

After high school I married Bard Hancock. We will be married 10 years in October. We live in St. George, and have been here for 6 years. We love it here for the fact that we can play softball all year long. I graduated from Provo College with an AAS Degree. I am currently working for myself as a Massage Therapist. Bard graduated from ITT Tech in CAD. He is currently a supervisor for a construction company.

We have 4 wonderful children. Joshua is 12, and loves to play basketball and baseball. Jordan is 8, and he loves all sports. Natasha is 5, and is a very active and intelligent girl. Kaylee is almost 2 and wants to do everything her older sister is doing. The kids keep us busy with all their sporting events, and we never have a dull moment.

Erik Brinkerhoff

After high school I went to UVSC for a semester and worked on the newspaper as the opinions editor. After that, I served an LDS mission in the Chile, Osorno mission. When I returned, I went to BYU and received a B.S. in Psychology and a minor in English. During the summers when I was in college, I worked for the U.S. Forest Service maintaining trails, working on the motorcycle crew, fighting fires, and doing law enforcement. After I finished at BYU, I took a year off from school and took some time to backpack through Europe.

Then, in the fall of 2007, I started law school at the University of Utah. After my first year of law school, I did a study abroad in Lund, Sweden. My focus in law school has been both environmental law and international law. This fall I will doing international law in Stockholm, Sweden. Then, I will finish my law degree in London, England next spring. After I graduate, I’d like to either continue with international law or work as a Foreign Service Officer, furthering U.S. diplomatic relations abroad. Looking forward to seeing you all at the reunion.

Brandon Bales

Hi everyone. It’s been great reading your entries and catching up on this blog. Here’s what I’ve been up to:

• Cambodian speaking mission in Boston
• Graduated from BYU in English, philosophy, social anthropology
• Teaching at Provo High
• 2006 married Anika Kronmiller
• She teaches at Art City Elementary
• And she is finishing an MS in child psychology/special education


• We have a 7 month old hobbit named Ellie
• Currently, U of C grad student studying anthropology
• I still hang out with Joe Vogel, Sam Robertson, Todd Murdock, and Craig Nielson.

Really looking forward to seeing you all at the reunion and talking some more. Contact me: haybbales@yahoo.com.

Nancy Zhang

After graduation I went straight to UVSC (now UVU) for further studies and was able to receive my associate of science degree in computer graphic design in 2001. While I was there, I started got involved with student government. (I guess I wanted to make up for all the high school years of not being able to “talk” due to my very limited English abilities.)

I was elected as the PR officer for International Student Council, became a mentor for the UV Leader Program (now UV Mentors), and was one of four public speakers at the multicultural speakers bureau. I graduated in ‘07 with my bachelors of science in multi-media communications technology and a minor in mathematics.

Since scholarships only funded part of my education, I worked as a project manger at Globalization Group in Orem, while being a full time student, where I specialized in localization/translation projects and also became a voice talent for several major corporations around the globe. Additionally, I helped a friend to start up a modeling/acting agency/school which has now relocated to NYC.

The summer before I graduated, I was accepted into Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco office, Vera Wang’s NYC Design Firm/Corporate Company, the US Senate’s office in D.C., HRIC (Human Rights in China) NYC office, as well as Governor Jon Huntsman Jr.’s office for total of five internship opportunities. After a lengthy debate, I chose Salt Lake City for my internship experience. (And yes, Huntsman’s Chinese is THAT good.)

After completing my internship, I started to work as Director of International Business Development for a corporate company here in Salt Lake City. At the same time, I got involved in the local community’s pro bono legal programs for minority youth and women. Listening to the youth and women’s amazing stories not only reminded me of myself when I first came to the states, but also motivated me to start my preparation for a degree in the legal field. I am now working for ACE Test Preparation here in Provo during my preparation for the LSAT.

My email is nxmzhang2008@gmail.com. Feel free to keep in touch!!!!!

Sam Robertson

Since high school I’ve been working in Salt Lake at Robertson Marine. Far be it from me to break with the family business, but I’m moving to Alaska later this year. My fiancée JESSICA graduates from nursing school this summer, and we’re getting married in September. We’ve just really wanted to move to Alaska, so that’s where we’re headed. Hope bears don’t eat us. (And, umm, more importantly, hope we can find jobs.)

Craig Nielson

Hey everyone,

After high school, I served a mission to Concepción, Chile. I returned and worked for Nature’s Sunshine and studied English at UVU. In 2006 I moved to Salt Lake for more school (Public Administration). I now work for the Center for Public Policy & Administration in Salt Lake.

Life’s good.

See everyone at the reunion.

Nichole (Bird) Sutherland

After high school and a bit of bashing around not too far from home (I was still on a Dillard's salary) I delved into a full load of classes at UVSC and all very quickly met my wonderful husband, Justin Sutherland of Alpine, in a Book of Revelation class none the less. Not wanting to be a freshman failure--we held out through a "lengthy" engagement of six months and were married in August 2000, a couple weeks before starting my sophmore year of college. I studied all things music and choir, and even learned to sing by the end of my second year. But alas, UVSC didn't have my major so I switched to English and realized I love to read and am not too bad at critical writing. I graduated in 2003 and 2 months later had our first baby, Audrey. I got to stay home, snuggling with a baby and a book all while seeing Justin through his last year of the MACC. After his graduation in 2004, we drove out of the mountains, across the plains, to the green hills and forests of Cincinnati where Justin began his career with Deloitte. In 2006 we welcomed our second child Russell Henry, a very sweet and happy boy. Five months later we made the bittersweet transfer back to our families in Utah leaving our wonderful friends in the midwest. We bought a house near Thanksgiving Point and enjoy the closeness of mountains and family. One month ago, we welcomed our third child Jocelyn. I am so glad to stay home with my kids, learning the simpleness of life and the magic of imagination. I'm exicted to see everyone at the reunion, and to the rest, happy life!

Andrew Miner

I started at BYU about two weeks after high school graduation, majoring in Neuroscience. After a year of college I went to Munich on a mission and decided to add a minor in German upon returning home in 2002. During my sophomore year of college I got to know Callie Haggard, originally from Mapleton, who was in her second year of law school at BYU. We froze through a couple of cold November BYU football games and talked all the way through some long movies like Seven Years in Tibet and The Birds before becoming inseparable until our engagement in April of 2004. I left BYU for a research fellowship at the Mayo Clinic that summer while Callie stayed in Utah, worked grueling hours at a big SLC law firm, and planned our wedding, which took place in August of 2004.

In the fall of 2005 I started medical school at the University of Texas in Dallas and Callie sat for the Texas bar. I survived Gross Anatomy and all the other joys of the two preclinical years, and we welcomed our baby girl, Zoe, in May, 2007, the month before I took my boards.

I spent a lot of sleepless, stress-out nights with a flashlight in my mouth and a baby and a book in my lap during that month, but things always have had a way of working out it seems. That pattern held true during the clinical years, where I often spent every third night working 36-hour shifts in Dallas' huge county hospital, Parkland Memorial.

Meanwhile, Callie started the legal department of a non-profit agency in Dallas, specializing in helping abused, immigrant women and victims of human trafficking (modern slavery). She has the remarkable ability to balance motherhood and lawyerhood, constantly surprising me by teaching barely-two-year-old Zoe to count to nine (what happened to ten? I'll never know) and bringing home amazing stories of survivors of human trafficking, whose histories often defy description and always boggle the mind.

I'm finally graduating with an M.D. on June 4, 2009, after which I'll do one year of Internal Medicine residency in Dallas before moving to Miami (hooray for beaches!) for a three-year Dermatology residency, which will consist of treating a lot of skin cancers, seeing patients admitted to the hospital, and a touch of Botox. Zoe, Callie, Minnie (our dog) and I love the beach, and we hope our next baby, due in December, 2009, will like it just as much. Callie says she still loves me despite the fact she will have to take the Florida bar. I'm driving out to Utah for the reunion and look forward to stops including Rocky Mountain National Park, where I've never been, and several places in the Uintahs.

We're all excited to see everyone at the reunion. Please feel free to email to keep in touch: agminer at gmail dot com

John Dahle

Ten years already...
Right after High School I went off to Ricks College, and came right back home after 1 semester (what an awful place!). Fall of 2000 I left on a mission to Chile, Osorno. I spent 1 year at BYU after the mission, and then transferred to UVSC. I graduated April 2008 from UVU (UVSC) with a BA in Behavioral Sciences, emphasis in Psychology. March of 2009 I got married to Jamie Lynn Ball, and we have a baby girl due the first week of June.

Since High School I have also had numerous jobs. I worked in a warehouse, then as an electricians apprentice, a year doing home restoration, Gold's gym, waited tables, managed a restaurant, fabricated and installed granite countertops (in Fayetteville, AR of all places) housekeeping, and I currently work as a security guard for IHC.

Right now life is all about getting settled into life with my wife, and getting ready for our baby girl to come. I plan on continuing my education to at least the Masters level and hopefully someday a Ph.D.

Erin Bake

10 Years flys by really fast!! After graduation I headed to BYU in the fall. I changed my major three times before deciding on Animal and Veterinary Sciences with an emphasis in Veterinary Technology. I spent the fall of 2000 as a member of the BYU Colorguard performing with the Marching Band. I had a really great opportunity in the summer of 2002 to come to Portland Oregon and do a Veterinary Clinical Medicine internship with Non-Human Primates at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU). I fell in love with the Northwest and the Monkeys instantly and knew I had to come back. I returned to Utah to finish my senior year, and graduated from BYU in April 2003. Shortly after I took a national test and became a Certified Veterinary Technician. I worked at a small animal clinic in Orem for a year, and then decided it was time to head back to Portland in May 2004. I continued working in small animal medicine for another year, while also working at OHSU. OHSU couldn’t get rid of me so they finally hired me full time in 2005. I’ve enjoyed keeping the monkeys healthy for the last four years while loving living in the Northwest. I spend my free time with friends, going out to dinner or the movies, in the out of doors or on my bike. My favorite things to do include hiking in the Columbia River Gorge and visiting the beaches of the Oregon Coast.

I've done a little bit of traveling, but this summer I’m looking forward to exploring more of Oregon and visiting my family still in Utah. And I have no idea what the next 10 years hold for me!!