Happy birthday, Bekah!!

I just wanted to give a shout out to Bekah. Happy Birthday. I was just thinking about how many years I've known Bekah (since 7th grade, which would be just over 13 years-if I did the math right). That means that in the next year, I will hit the landmark of having known Bekah (and all of you EJHers) for over half of my life. It's crazy that we met when we were tweens and now we're almost thirty something. I'm glad that we are still friends and that she is such a wonderful example to all of us. Love you, Bekah!

Happy Birthday, Sarah

Sarah- HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! I know we've already decided that we are bad at updating our blog and I apologize for getting busy with the Christmas rush. I just wanted to say Happy Birthday to Sarah. Sarah is uber talented and a great person. I remember getting to know her better through highlights and always being impressed by her energy and the extra fun she always brings to any party. Thanks for being you, Sarah. Love you.

Remember When...

In case you did not read the email...

I thought we could start posting memories of our times together on the blog. It could be as little as a sentence, but more if you would like. I was inspired after reading Sadie's blog a few weeks ago where she posted a picture and very thoughtful words about our friends. It made me think about how awesome our high school experience was. I recently read a friend's blog who stated "I wish I would have gotten more involved in high school." What?? I LOVED high school and I am so glad that I was friends with you all. I know I would not be who I am today if it wasn't for you. I know I wouldn't have gotten involved in the activities I did if it wasn't for having at least one of you with me. We accomplished so much individually and together, it is truly amazing to think about.

I hope this can be something fun to read and remember the fun times we had. I know not everyone will be involved in every post, or we might be involved but have no recollection of it (like with the picture on Sadie's blog.) My memory isn't the greatest,hence the need to have others help me remember.) It will be fun to see all we did and remember for the years to come.

So, I have taken the liberty of posting the first "REMEMBER WHEN" post.

Remember all the Christmas parties we had? I looked forward to these every year... and still do! While in high school, Sadie was a GREAT HOST! I think we went there every year? (right?)I remember one year we had fondue and I something really funny happened at the table though I am not recalling it at the moment. (did I do the elephant?) I think another year we had soup. Then we would go open presents by the fireplace and it usually took us a while because we would always go off on many tangents! Also, one year Sadie surprised us with our own Christmas trees from GAP! I still have the tree and love it. Another memorable year was when Tori came in a little later after a meeting with Belnap... I won't go any further. (: I love that we have progressive pictures of this event. (I posted the only ones I had on my computer, the others are far far away in SLC.) In years since high school we went to various houses or out to lunch. As fare as presents we have done exchanges and some years we donated to a charity, what an amazing feeling that was! This year Maggie has requested we boost our cooking skills and make this blog a recipe blog!

The greatest thing about having these parties is that we just talked, laughed, and cried together. We were educated in various topics (: and expressed feelings that we probably wouldn't have shared in any other situations. I am so thankful for these experiences and hope that we can continue to get together as many of us as possible every year!

Happy birthday, Marsha!

Martha,
I hope you have the best birthday ever. Here are some of my wishes for you.
* That you laugh so hard you wet your pants.
* That somebody sings you the "I'm glad you're not one" song
* That somebody will be shocked when you tell them how old you are (because you don't look a day over 21).
* That you will feel super special.
* That M will be a perfect little Toddler for you and not do any naughty things.

Love you,
Maggie (and everyone else)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAG FAG

Oh yes stupid blog part 3! I realize that we rarely check this (or at least I do!) HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAST WEEK MAGS!!! Hope you had a good one... yes, I forgot to call you... can we still be friends? I did think about you all week and hope all is well! LOVE YOU!!!

Happy Birthday, Tori!

A very happy birthday to Miss Tori! I have to tell you, friend, that your birthday always makes me think of our sophomore year of high school when you turned sixteen first so we all made you drive us around the whole year. Ha. Anyway, I hope you had a wonderful day and that you and Matt are out doing something fabulous to celebrate. We love you!

Stupid Blog Part II

We also forgot about Miss Heidi. HAPPY (shamefully late) BIRTHDAY, DARLING HEED! We love you lots, and hope your move goes swimmingly!

Stupid blog!

No One HAPPY BIRTHDAYed Em!!

to little miss emily...

i'm sorry that we suck, and we didn't even say

that we like you very much, have a happy birthday.

we should've sung your praises for you're a real great friend

you're always there when needed, no doubt until the end.

your baby girl is gorgeous, but no wonder, you're her mom

when she's talking i will teach her how to tell you "You're Da Bomb!"

So when you finally read this in the year 2009 (two thousand nine)

i hope you know we love you, and i hope you liked my rhyme.

happy birthday emily dowdle!! here's hoping your day was FREAKIN' AWESOME!!

No Baby Martin?

I just realized that I have heard no news of the little one and it is because I am not a privileged person that gets to view their blog (probably cause Jen uses my byu email or something). Anyway, anyone that has heard let me know. Jen - I should get you the email I use so that I can actually view your blog. I have been meaning to email you so that I could be added but, alas I have not done so.

-Clueless in Rochester

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMY!

That's right. Our dear friend Amy Quinalt turns the big 26 today. And what better way could there possibly be to commemorate such an event than digging up and posting some old picture from high school? (And since I was the first one to dig, I get to be in it too. Lucky lucky me.) Well then, dearest Amy, I hope you have a WONDERFUL day and that you do something on par with invading the P&M fountain to celebrate. We love you!

I have finally arrived!!!!

Well, you guessed it. I finally started a blog. It isn't much to look at yet and I am still figuring it out, but if you want to follow the life and times of one amy or rather just read my musings go to www.amynmatt.blogspot.com

Hope to see a comment or two from you all!!

Much love,
Amy

Happy Birthday, Jen!

A day late and a dollar short! This seems to be the theme of my life since Chase was born, but I wanted to tell Jen HAPPY BIRTHDAY...yesterday....at least I got the phone call in!

I love you and think you are one amazing woman! I hope you had a fantastic day!

To be, or Not to Be...

...yes ladies, that is the question

this sight was a great idea! but since it's beginning, almost everyone has started their own personal blog.

we don't seem to use it that much any more.

so how are you all feeling?

keep it?

or

ditch it?

liking it?

or

have no use for it?

i was going to make a poll to ask this question, but it won't let me. so, just comment and let's vote.

Too Long

Can we PLEASE organize some kind of casual festivity for some time in the near future? I haven't met any of the new babies and it's just not fair.

Background blues

I need help! How do you do all the cute backgrounds? I have tried to figure it out, but I guess I am not as savvy as I would like to be. Any tips? Thanks, hope you are all well!

HEED

Sadie is another year older!

HaPpY BiRtHdaY
SaDIe!

You are a gem and a wonderful friend. I love you and hope you have an absolutely fantastic day.

BESTS!

Amy

Ode to Pervis

Oh, remember the days of the game MASH and random moments where we as friends expanded a bit much on inside jokes and the expansion became a part of our lives? Well in my "nesting phase" I came upon something that must be remembered (call me a pack rat but I have kept it).... THE PERVIS LIST!!! Maggie, I am happy to hear that you did not marry fool, live in a trailer park, and have your kids sleep in drawers. However in Junior High we thought Mags would have 100 kids and here are some of their names (you can imagine the twins, Triplets, and quadruplets):

1.Pervis 2. Philly 3.Willis 4. Chuck (chucky) 5. Billy Joe Bob 6. Gurtrude Penelope 7. Thomas Rex (T. Rex) 8. Peggy Lou 9. Herbis (Herby) 10. Marvin 11.Marva 12. Elvira 13. Gunther 14. Jem 15. Atticus 16. Burris 17. Fernice (Fern) 18. Vernice (vern) 19. Blanche 20. Dorthy 21. Rose 22. Sophia 23. Fea 24. Feo 25. Gaupo 26. Celder 27. Celver 28. Stella 29. Elkis (Elk) 30. Wulfus 31. Bookie 32. Shilcut 33. Thunder 34. Clearen 35. Winston 36. Guido 37. Hudwich 38. Stormis 39. Odis 40. Up 41. Down 42. In 43. Out 44. Brock Lee 45. Friend Lee 46. Deep Lee 47. True Lee 48. Mad Lee 49.Ugwich 50. Garvis

Man we were cool! (: ha!!

Anonymity

Hi, ladies.

In the interest of preserving a bit of anonymity (and therefore some peace of mind), I have avoided using my last name on my blog. I just realized, though, that because of this blog and because of links to my blog from some of your lovely blogs, I am still google-able. Now, as I would love for my students (and any other scary blog stalking folks) to not be able to track my blog down, I just changed my name on this blog to Nicole E*. I would also really appreciate it if those of you who link to me on your blogs (which I love, by the way) would take my last name out of the links. Thanks, ladies. You're the best.

Incidentally, can you believe how many times the word "blog" appeared in this post? And I call myself an English teacher. Unreal.

HOORAY!!!

Congrats to Bekah and Brad, AND Heidi and Dave. They have twins! Okay, so not really, but the same birthday. I don't know baby Goldie's name, but

i know it's baby Anna Karen Miner.

I know we are all so thrilled for you guys.

Heal quickly and post a ton of photos for us all to see. Lots of love and prayers for you all.

p.s. Em, you're next

A couple of things to make us happy

I was just thinking that our blog needed a little attention. These were a couple of pictures that remind me of things that make me happy. Hawaii, new born babies, Mt. Olympus, pregnant mommies, being a mom in general, and lake powell. Yes, it's random. Sorry. I would have added a tribute for Sadie about the end of breastfeeding but was afraid to google it. Hope you all have happy thoughts. I'm going to congratulate Bekah right now in hopes that the baby will make his debut soon. Have a happy day. Good luck to Heidi and Em, you're down to the final stretch (mark).

and another post

yes, this is three posts in one day on our friend bloggie. sorry about that, but i wanted to answer bekah's question, which was echoed by sadie.

"chez," roughly translated, means "at the place of." thus, my blog is "at the place of nicole." why? because i speak and love french due to my time in paris.

love you all. the end. aka fin.

Confessions of a mommy blogger. By Catherine Newman

Sorry to post on top of Sadie's post today. Make sure you read hers too. I thought I'd share this article.

My friend got the magazine Wondertime in the mail and lo and behold there was an article in it about blogging that I stole from her blog! Here are some of the highlights.

"Blogging is narcissistic-and time-consuming. It gives strangers (not to mention the in-laws) ammunition for criticizing our parenting choices. And one day it could really mortify our kids. Here's why we do it anyway... You are not alone. If there's a single fact to take from the 70 million blogs that inhabit the Internet, it's this: Whoever you are-however thrilled or frantic, bored or despairing, buoyant or afflicted with love like an aching in your bones-someone our there understands. Especially if you're a mother."



"When I asked my readers to describe for me why, after finally getting their children to bed, they stay up half the night writing about them in blogs of their own-or, crazier still, reading about other people's children in their blogs-they described this longing for connection: "I read blogs to feel I'm part of something larger, a whole world of other women raising children on this crazy, spinning planet." "Being a parent is so Frustratingly difficult and blindingly beautiful at the same time. Blogs remind me to celebrate the beautiful and that I'm not alone in the difficult."

"Blogging is the underbelly of scrapbooking. In the scrapbook version of my summer vacation, I would paste together a sunny collage of sea and sand and smiling kids. In the blog version, I might be more inclined to mention the steaming beach Port-A-John, where the final quarter of Birdy's sandwich ended up tumbling into the reeking blackness. If scrapbooking is the urge to put it all together, blogging might be the urge to take it all apart. Blogging might not make life tidier, but it keeps life in your memory, and keeps it real."

Comments are like Christmas! She says:

"I've checked for comments as obsessively as I once stuck my eighth grade hand into the echoing hollows of our mailbox. (Anything for me? A letter from Shaun Cassidy detailing his undying love?)
Heehee!

"...I'm always seeing our family's life as a funny story I could tell, the question that troubles me is, am I really paying attention? Sometimes I feel like on of those tourists arguing about the camcorder while Niagara crashes down around them in frenetic blue wonder."
"The anonymous author of the blog Bub and Pie puts it: I go through the day in a kind of 'compose post' mode, where I'm actively selecting words to describe my children-their beauty, their quirkiness, their inner lives-and that process helps me to see them, to be mindful of who they are." Writing gives me a way to step back from my life and really see it. To watch my kids and feel the gratitude flood through my veins."


I thought this was a cute article and I totally love the part about blogs being the underbelly of scrapbooking. Hope you enjoyed it.

What became of it?

At our little get together in December, we found out htat Tori was the new head hauncho (how do you spell that?) at her job. Congrats Tori!! And right there at the party she offered Sarah a job. So... What became of it? Is it a done deal? Are you interviewing Sarah?
Just wanting an update. Anyone know anything?

P.s. Thanks to Mag i am guessing for the new background. Or whoever did it. It's nice to have it change every few months. The Christmas theme was nice too.

Happy Birthday Nicole!!!

Happy birthday to our dearest Nicole! Just wanted you to know that I am thinking of you today, and hope that you have a fabulous day! Thank you so much for your friendship! I love talking to you! You can always make me laugh! I am so glad to have you in my life! Hopefully you drink lots of Dr. Pepper today and eat at your favorite place! You are the greatest! LOVE YOU!!!!!

Em