Kelli

Hey London crew!

Since we last checked up on each other I:

-Graduated from the Y in Public Relations/Art History.

-Spent a summer in Hawaii frequenting the local beach and serving pineapple juice at the Polynesian Cultural Center.

-Moved back to DC and now work for Johns Hopkins University. Grad school is in the future

- but for now I'm liking the concept of money in the bank. It'll be fun to see what the next 5 years bring in all of your lives!

Cheers, Kelli Urry

Lindsey V.

Hello everyone!

It's so good once again to read what everyone has been up to the past 2 years. It still amazes me to see how each and every one of you have been successful or are on your way to fulfilling your dreams. I've never known such a group before and I feel blessed to have been able to spend that wonderful semester in London with you all!

Josh and I have now been married 2 years and have also lived in Miami for the past 2 years. Miami has been a great experience for us, but we have somewhat of a love/hate relationship with it! It's a beautiful city to look at or visit but a whole different story to live here. I'm sure we'll miss it when we're gone! If anyone is EVER in the area, please look us up! We love visitors and always have a place for you to stay!

I don't know if anyone remembers but for the past 2 years I have been attending graduate school at Barry University to become a physician assistant. I am just finishing up my clinical year and will soon enter my final semester of the program. I graduate this December and honestly cannot tell you how excited I am to be finished! It seems that there are several of us with this next one, but we are also very excited to announce that we are expecting our first child in March 09! At this point we plan on staying in south Florida until baby Clark is born, then it could be anywhere for us. Josh has plans of becoming a college soccer or strength and conditioning coach so we'll go wherever that takes us. We are excited for our upcoming adventures and wish you all the best! If you ever want to blogstalk, our blog address is http://www.joshandlinds.blogspot.com/

Lots of love,

Lindsey Clark

Marianne

London Team,

SO good to hear from you all. Life is great, isn't it? We've all had such amazing opportunities since London. I'm here in Utah for one more year since I'm starting my second year teaching 8th and 9th grade English at AFJH. I'm so happy teaching, especially since this year I have the opportunity to also use my Spanish while teaching ESL. I am also training for my second marathon, which will take place in September, if I live through my 20-mile run next week. I went to Cambridge England last year for the summer to research and write, and since it was so wonderful, I'm planning a trip back to England this coming summer as well as a jaunt down to Peru. Other than that I'm staying busy with graduate school plans and the GRE, as well as a class at BYU this fall. I just started a blog, so if you're interested, visit http://naturalillumination.blogspot.com/. I'd love any comments you have. I miss and love you all. Keep those updates coming!

Jessica

Since the last update there have been a few changes in our family:

** My husband's work took us to Calgary, Alberta Canada. He works for a homebuilder as a Site Supervisor. Although the summers are gorgeous, the winters are pretty brutal - it got to 40 below last year! Somehow we survived! It has been hard to be so far away from our families, but luckily they have both already made trips up here and my husband has quite a bit of family here (he was born in Calgary) so I'm not too lonely.

** We had a baby girl, Madeleine Maisie who is now almost 14 months old and a bundle of energy.

**I am expecting a baby boy in December!

**We just bought our first "home" (townhouse, but I think that counts) and we love having our own space. My husband is especially excited about the unfinished basement...

Other then that, I get to stay at home with Mady while Ryan works and life is good.

Rebecca

Has it really been 5 years? Time goes way too fast. What's new with me? Well, the big news is that Jon graduated from law school and has taken the Virginia bar exam. We find out in October if he passed. Currently, he's a law clerk for the judges in the Office of Hearings and Appeals in the Department of Housing and Urban Development. We're loving the DC area and hope to stay here. We've met up with Erin & Rob while they're out here for the summer a few times. It's always good to see fellow Londoners around.

My daughter Mikayla is 15 months old now and the joy of my life. It's been so much fun taking care of her and being a mom. She definitely keeps me on my toes, especially recently. See, I'm pregnant again. We're expecting our second girl at the end of November. We're excited to have another one running around, although I'm sure it'll keep me busy! You can keep up with us at my blog: prettymahana.blogspot.com

It's been wonderful to see updates from everyone! I miss you all!
Becca

Kimberly

Reading about all the fabulous adventures from our London group has been exciting, wonderful and even a bit nostalgic. Such happy memories flood my mind as I remember you all. It's wild to think five years have past!

Living in Virginia and working in Washington, DC for nearly 3.5 years has been a uniquely fun but sometimes daunting experience. I currently spend far too many hours working as Director of Client Services at a local property management company. Fortunately though I've managed to make vacation time every 8-10 weeks and am well on my way to filling my passport before it expires.

With Kelli and Erin Urry also living in the area we have enjoyed many adventures. We're thrilled to welcome Kristen Daniels to the area. Also, Leslie Aldridge has visited a couple times along with Megan Reese, and Marianne Lund. Oh how I love visitors and thoroughly enjoy playing tour guide.

Best,
Kim

Jen

Last time we updated I was pregnant. Funny enough, I'm pregnant this update too. We are expecting our second child in March and I'm not quite sure I'm ready for the chaos of two kids...but I suppose I'll deal.

We are still living in Sacramento where California politics reigns supreme and completely runs our lives. I'm doing a little freelance work for our mayor's office--just some minor weekly writing and my husband is working on several of the props/initiatives on this November's ballot. Wouldn't it be awesome if the California capital was moved to say, Santa Barbara? Or San Diego? Or Malibu? There are days when Sacramento gets a bit boring and I yearn for new geography. In the meantime, we try to travel to exciting places.

Here's hoping I'm NOT pregnant next time we update!

Jen

Kristen D.

As for me, highlights of the past five years would probably be my mission to Taiwan as number one, that was a pretty good time. I actually loved my time there and miss it a lot. I worked at the MTC for six months last year when I got home, which was also both pretty funny and the best job I've ever had. I have graduated from BYU (just a few months ago) in sociology and am moving to DC next week to go to school at George Washington University with a masters in public administration and the non-profit management emphasis. I'm debating on if I want to get a full or part time job while I'm there.

Right now I'm in Japan visiting my parents who are mission presidents in Sapporo and it's been great seeing them take on that role and really funny for me trying to remember Japanese. My listening is doing fine, but when I respond to people I throw in quite a few Chinese words here and there, which understandably causes confusion. My little sister Lauren is in the MTC learning Cantonese and heading to Hong Kong in three months. So, I guess we love both missions and Asia in my family.

I've done a few cool internships recently. I was in Huntington Beach last summer with a non-profit Corazon de Vida that does orphanage work in Mexico. I also did a quick stint with the international rescue committee (they work with refugees that come into America) and volunteered with my family with Amigos for Honduras a few months ago in Honduras.

Pretty much while I'm still relatively unattached my life has been run by working and saving enough to travel. So, it's working out well so far until I actually need to grow up.

I feel like the Provo chapter of my life has expired so I'm really excited to road trip and start a new adventure in DC (and of course to re-connect with all the London crew that is out there!)

Thanks Heidi for doing this!

I'm on facebook and my not-so-exciting blog is http://kristenjoysworld.blogspot.com (Linds peer-pressured me into making one). Miss you all!

Dainan

First, let me congratulate you all on your great success stories.

As Leslie posted last year, I got married to a beautiful woman named Romney. We met in Hawaii in the University Singles Branch. We wanted to get married here, but seeing how many family members are on the mainland, we decided Utah. She is from California but has family in the Salt Lake Valley. My family is from Idaho. We figured that Utah would be a good mid-point.

We are currently living in Honolulu. I've finished my Masters and am an archivist at the Hawaii State Archives. Romney is finishing her Masters degree in Social Work and should be done this May. We don't know if we will stay here or move back to the mainland. It's atrociously expensive here. I guess we have to pay the price to live in paradise!

We wish you all continued success and lots of happiness. As I posted before, here is our blogspot: http://dainanskeem.blogspot.com
Dainan

Danielle

It is so good to hear from everyone!! I didn't know people were still updating and it makes me so happy. I will have to check the blog more often. Dan, Olivia and I have been in Boise for the summer for an internship. Dan has one semester left at USU then we will head back to Boise where he will work full time for the company he interned with. He is then going to be studying for the CFA exams so that will be an adventure. Olivia is doing well, we are having so much fun with her. She is 13 months now!!! Where does the time go? She is not walking yet but she is on her way. We just love playing with her and she is such a happy little girl. She has a blog as well if anyone wants to check it out, ollywalker.blogspot.com, I also put info about Dan and I on it. As for me I am doing the mom thing right now but once we get settled I am going to get my masters in finance. I have to admit I am a nerd and I am really looking forward to going back to school!! Whenever I think about London it still puts a huge smile on my face.

Leslie

It is so exciting to hear about what everyone has been up to! As for me, I have 2 more semesters and then I will have my MFA in costume design!!! My mom wants to celebrate the occasion with a trip to London. I am crossing my fingers. :) I am attaching a couple of pictures. Last Halloween I had the opportunity to play Mary Poppin's in Utah State theatre's annual Halloween show. I drew this sketch of the characters in the show and it was used as the program cover! Totally funny! Also, this past April I took a costume design to a competition called KCACTF (Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival) and took third place in our region. (pictured are my display boards). AND at the beginning of the summer, I had the completely random opportunity to design costumes for "White Star" which is the sequel to Saturday's Warrior! I sent some of you this link before but if you didn't get a chance to see it, here is the address: http://www.ldsmusical.com. OH! And in May, my roommate and I went to DC and had the pleasure of meeting up with Kim, Erin, and Kelli. Those are a few highlights. I have the absolute highest respect for our 2003 study abroad program. We had a fantastic group!

Ryan

Here is our little update, and our blog is at www.stodtmeister.blogspot.com.

Hey gang. Whitney and I have been living it up in New York City for the past two years, but in a mere 15 days we are packing up a truck and moving back west to sunny Santa Barbara, where I'll do the PhD thing at UCSB (yes, I am still on the quest to fulfill my destiny as the next Phil Snyder) and Whit will hopefully secure very lucrative employment. We are totally stoked to be moving back west but have mixed feelings about leaving New York. We've definitely had a love hate relationship with the Big Apple. Hope everyone is well. The pics are of our trip to London last spring. It made me feel really old to see the BYU students at the center.

Best,
Ryan Stodtmeister

Diana

I still can't believe it has been that long! It's great to catch up with everyone!


I just realized that I never sent an update the first time. Sorry about that. Well, it's crazy to think it has been so long, but it's great to see what everyone is doing. I met my husband, Girard, in December 2005, when he sold me a coat at Banana Republic. We got married a little over a year later and have been living in Utah since then. Other than a few trips to visit his family in Baltimore and a couple of other lovely little vacations, we've mostly just been working and going to school. I convinced him to stay in Utah for another few years so I can attend BYU law school beginning in a couple of weeks. So life is going great for us! Hopefully I'll still feel that way when school starts. :-) It's great to hear from all of you.

All the best,

Diana

Marshalls

Photo Courtesy of Leslie

Yes it’s been 5 years and in the mean time David Randall retired from BYU and just last month so did I. Maybe you could use this impressive blog to get the word out that Janice is having a “surprise” retirement evening on Mon Aug 25 from 7-9 at the Springville Museum of art. We would love to see any that can find themselves there. We tried to have it at the London Center but.... Our best to all of you, and thank you for the life updates.

Cheers, the Marshalls

Erin O.

Hey London-ites

It's good to read the updates and see what everyone has been up to these past few years.

My husband, Jimmy, and I moved to the Dallas area last August where he is just beginning his second year of medical school at UT Southwestern. It has been a big adjustment being away from the fam and friends in Utah, but we are enjoying what being away has brought to our family. We have made good friends and are learning to extend ourselves more and more. Dallas has great night life, restaurants and shopping all of which we mostly avoid due to our circumstances in life right now, but we do enjoy the people and area. Our ward is great, and we would be lost without the church.

Our biggest addition in the past year was the arrival of our daughter, Hannah, born last December. She continues to enrich our lives more than we thought possible. Being a mom seems to suit me well and I really am enjoying what I'm doing.

I hope all is well for everyone from our group and that you are happy at whatever you are doing. If you want to keep tabs on us, you can check in at www.ejshaha.blogspot.com.

Erin O.

Kim

This photo was taken in the spring at Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania. Erin, Kelli and I spent a lovely spring day enjoying the blossoms. I'll send a more thorough update soon....

Best,
Kim

Alexis

So. Almost five years since London. Does it seem longer than that to anyone else?

Last August Gabe and I left the Prov and moved back to Las Vegas for a good/cheap housing opportunity and to be close to family. Certainly the most exciting thing to happen in our house in the last two years was the birth of our son just this past April. Heidi and I almost had twin Maxes because Max was one of our top name choices, but we decided we couldn't give our son the same name as my father-in-law's dog. So, we named him Theodore after my great-great-great-great grandfather (Ted Williams and Theo Epstein of the Boston Red Sox didn't hurt in Daddy's eyes). We call him Theo, and we think he's pretty cute.

Other than that, I FINALLY finished my thesis and will graduate with my English MA in a few weeks (Thank you Phil!). Right now I am a full-time momma looking for a part-time teaching gig. Gabe is working very hard as a store manager/new EQP/new Dad and is applying to MBA programs this year.

Can't wait to see what all of you are up to. You can blogstalk me at: lexoncabbagesandkings.blogspot.com.

Kristen L.

I honestly can't believe it's been five years since London. It feels like just yesterday. Sigh.

I'm not sure a whole lot has changed since my last update, but here goes: My husband Jason and I are living in Portland, OR while Jason gets his doctorate in Physical Therapy. He will graduate next May (finally!) and then who knows where we'll be! We've loved exploring and getting to know our new home and we're hoping to stay put for the long haul. I'm still working at Nike, just plugging away for our little family, which now includes a Mini Schnauzer named Fritz. One highlight of the last year was going to Las Vegas in March where I met up with Caroline and Lisa for an impromptu girl's weekend/baby shower for Lex. Now if only we could meet in London next time! (Girls, forgive me for this picture...) I've just started a blog, so if anyone would like to keep in touch, visit me at pdxgoughs.blogspot.com.

Hope everyone is doing well!

Love Kristen

Heidi

Hello London peeps-

Since the last update, I continued to work full time at the newspaper and enjoyed living in the Reno-Tahoe area. Last month we moved to Las Vegas where my husband is completing his third and fourth year of medical school through the University of Nevada (years one and two were in Reno). We are still adjusting to the heat!

My biggest news is that in April we added a baby boy to our family. His name is Max and he is the sweetest thing we have ever experienced! He was actually born on my birthday- what are the chances? Being in labor on one's birthday is not the most fun thing but the outcome was such a thrill. I am now loving staying home with Max and also doing some freelance work online for my former employer. Life is good. I miss London and think of our time there frequently. In December I met up with Lindsey and Jen for lunch in Sacramento. Linds was in the states for the holidays. It was a nice afternoon. I also see Abby frequently on my visits to Utah. Someday we need to plan a reunion in London! I hope to hear from you all soon!

-Heidi

Visiting Back East

I visited kimi and erin in DC a few weeks ago. We had a grand time! This is a photo of us at the Maryland State House in Annapolis.

Love Leslie