It's Been HOW Many Years?

It's not really a secret that I had a blast in high school. I wasn't the most popular kid there, but Landon and I both had a lot of amazing friends and made some good memories. It's fun being from the same graduating class, because you can carry on inside jokes that should have been dead a decade ago, and they're still funny. :)

So Landon and I both wanted to go to our ten-year reunion, and when the dates worked out, we went for it!

It was great to see a lot of old faces, meet their families, see what everyone has been up to, and, ok, brag a little bit about ourselves...;)

Andrea (Anderson) Gibson

Matt Davis

Natalie (Clifford) and John Blackburn - one of the other couples who ended up together!

Max Davis

My favorite part was the awards they did for things like "traveled the furthest" "has the most kids" "most gray hair" etc. It was a fun way to see what everyone has been up to. Landon won the prize for being the oldest graduate there (by five days!):

We also played some "minute to win it" games, which I am terrible at, but it was still fun.

Most of my closest friends didn't come. (Preston, you are LAME!) But I talk to all of them and see them occasionally, so I wasn't too sad about that. It was great to see people I hung out with then, but didn't stay in contact with. 

I was especially excited to meet up with these girls:

Amy (Neiderer) Raymond and Andrea (Anderson) Gibson

We were good friends back in the day, and ended up going to Europe together in college. I hadn't even realized how much I missed them before I saw them again! Hopefully we can meet up more often, since both of them still live in the area.

Then there was this stud:

Jason Christman

Jason was definitely in my top ten best friends list by the end of senior year. We've known each other since the third grade! We've kept in touch pretty well, but seeing him was just that much better! He's almost done with optometry school and has joined the army. We made plans to conquer the world from Germany together when Jason is posted there and Landon does his post-doc. So you know, imaginary plans, but we are hoping they might come true!

And of course, these dudes:

Landon, Charles Tietjen, Fred Eaton, Troy Parson

Almost all of Landon's old crew was there. He was so looking forward to this. These three still live in Rexburg and get to hang out a lot, but obviously we don't. Landon was happy to be part of the group again. We are hoping to plan a quick get-together over Christmas, and maybe a camping trip next summer. Keeping connections takes work, but we learn more every single year how valuable those friendships are and how little we want to lose them.

Fred is one of my best friends as well. We hung out a lot in high school, and the first year after we graduated and Landon was on his mission, Fred was my lifeline. 

He's such a great guy and the most loyal person in the entire world. I'm not at all exaggerating to say that neither Landon or I would be the same people today if we didn't know Fred. We might not even be married.  Sidenote: when we were in high school, Fred promised not to grow a beard as long as I didn't cut my hair. How people change! :)

Anyway, we had a great time and it was a nice reminder of where we came from. We have both changed a lot since we graduated from high school, but I hope we never totally lose sight of the fun people we were then! All of the people I went to school with mean a lot to me, and I'll always be grateful for those experiences. 

See you all in another ten years!