HS countdown #1-- GRADUATION CELEBRATION

I chose not to write about Graduation itself because I don't remember anything about the ceremony (except that Brad Belcher had a seizure and collapsed on stage-- that was scary!) Instead of showing shots of me in my baby-blue graduation gown, I am posting pictures of my girl friends in their bathing suits... without written permission. And they can't do NOTHIN' about it. Na-na-na-na boo-boo! (quoting my two year old.)

I loved high school, so I am not sure why I celebrated when it was over.. I guess it was a good excuse (as any) to party. Our senior dinner dance was held downtown at Little America. A bunch of girls decided to sleep at the hotel-- [again our parents let us go without any adults] and it was a total blast. We checked in, swam, got ready together and headed downstairs to the awards ceremony.. and then we danced the night away. After the dance, we rented a long white limo and cruised State Street. We had chocolate covered strawberries and sparkling champagne (courtesy of Paula Kawa! Thank you!) The limo drove us up to the capital and all around the city. We screamed through the sunroof and felt like the coolest, hottest girls in town... Every 16 year old boy who just got their learner's permit wanted a piece of us... and we have pictures to prove it.

Our group of guy friends also checked into a hotel room at Little America just down the hall from us, but they got kicked out because they didn't have an adult with them.. and we were so happy about it! We rubbed it in their faces and enjoyed the peace and quiet we had in our hotel room (if you call giggling and laughing all night peace and quiet.) It was a night to remember--with such a fun group of girls!

After graduation, when others were flying off to Hawaii or somewhere else exotic to celebrate, my BFF's and I headed to Camper World. We didn't have a lot of money and didn't want to "party" like the rest of the class so we celebrated HARD CORE in a pop up trailer. I don't remember the name of the town that we stayed in, but it had a population of 56 and wasn't worth remembering. We karaokeed by ourselves and danced with 12 year olds at a local "hang out spot." We cheered for the Jazz as they were playing in the NBA finals and almost got into a punching fight with the another man staying at Camper World. We went swimming, took hikes, made our own food and had a grand old time. I guess when you LOVE the company you're with, it doesn't matter where you go. Here is a hideous scrapbook page of pictures to prove how much fun we had..

I always have a good time with these ladies. It's crazy to think that somewhere along the way we grew up, got married, had kids and were forced to become adults.. but we're still the same old girls and we STILL know how to have a good time (after ALL these years!) I remember Karlin and I staying awake all night in this camper crying about how much we were going to miss each other as we got ready to go to different colleges.. We were awake when the sun rose and we were seriously sobbing! Little did we know that no matter how far apart we lived, or how crazy life got, we would still be able to remain close.. it's so refreshing to have friends that you can always be yourself around.

I can't believe I am even posting this picture because it is going down in history as the ugliest picture of me EVER. But it always gives us a good laugh, though so I thought I would share.. I believe I have a quadruple chin.. and I am proud of it!

This post concludes my HIGH SCHOOL countdown.

Believe it or not, I had to cut out a lot.. such as---volunteering with Muscular Dystrophy and attending their summer camp each year, cheating in Mr. Fisher's first period English class (Remember when he had a stroke while bending over to turn on a movie?), Tetris tournaments during calculus, MEL NOMIYAMA.. nuff said, favorite hall monitors who never got us in trouble, the successful food drives and Sub for Santa fundraisers, student gov. camp in Price.. staying awake ALL night and then running through the grave yard at sunrise, Colby Holt eventually getting baptized (I teased him all through HS that he would convert, and he did!), watching Girls Just Wanna Have Fun a million times in Stephanie Kawa's basement... while doing all the dance moves, Teaching Michelle Carr about sex.. BOY! that girl was naive, putting up Christmas lights for Homecoming in the middle of our SAT test (as if decorating for a dance was much more important than our college entrance exam!) Bingham High rivalry.. and having to do the WIGGELO (or Jiggelo according to Val) at one of their assemblies because our football team lost, The fabulous $10 florescent pink student government couch, Getting into a big fight with Duffy during driver's ed. He was my teacher and I wouldn't talk to him for weeks because of a 'discussion' we had on one of our drives. We eventually made up, (unfortunately) and whenever he saw me in the hall (even if he was 100 feet away) he would YELL, "HI CLAW!" with his hands out like a tiger.. I always looked the other way and pretended not to hear him, tuna sandwiches in Mr. Bickmore's closet, Belva Kay Davis, buying an ENORMOUS bag of fortune cookies and getting sick after eating them ALL (do you remember that Tristie and Kelly?) I am sure you all wanted lengthy entries about each one story... but a girl can only post so much, ya know. Thanks for sticking with me!

*I just added more pictures to the previous posts-- Fran had a copy of Bowcutt in his zip up pj's, so make sure to scroll down and take a peek!

Happy ten year reunion! I can't wait to see everyone tonight and I am SO GLAD my husband is joining me! It wasn't easy convincing him, but he's comin' after all! For those of you who wondered what Aaron's reaction was to the picture of me and my ex-boyfriend, I will let you know--- First he said, "I would pay Scott Wood good money to take you off my hands." Then he cracked a joke about how he and Scott are definitely alike.. especially the smart and good looking part. He said that he thinks Scott Wood is SO good looking that HE would like to sit next to him..... See what strings you can pull, RaeVal.. I'd like to be at their table, please.

HS count down #2-- PRINCIPALS

I chose to make friends with the principals.. and I believe it paid off.

My junior year our high school got a new Vice Principal... Mr. True. He was a less handsome version of Guy Smiley from Sesame Street (yes, I have always thought Guy Smiley was handsome.) Mr. True was a nice man, but tragically he would torcher the students by wearing THE TIGHTEST WHITEST pants about once a week. They looked (and probably felt) terrible. My friends and I soon started calling him Mr. Tighty Whitey.. and the nickname stuck. When Francine started driving her white Ford later that year, we also gave the car the nickname of Tighty Whitey because we liked saying it so much.

Our head principal, Mr. Boyd, was a weird guy.. I believe he had a few health issues because he twitched and stammered and stuttered when he talked. I learned to like him though and found after a few months of kissing up, I could get anything I wanted. I could get out of any class anytime.. in fact, I could get several others out of class-- without explanation. I would order 20+ dozen donuts for the band or choir- (just because) and we threw some incredible student government parties.. paid for by the school, of course. I also got several parking tickets my senior year. And when I say several, I mean about once a week. For some reason I felt entitled to park in the back of the school next to the student government room... especially when I was carrying in tons of posters, boxes, ect. I didn't really care if it was a teacher's parking lot.. but apparently somebody DID. Every time I got a ticket, I would put it in my glove box of my car. At the end of the year, I took the pile of tickets and went into Mr. Boyd's office. It was the last week of school and he was being all sentimental talking about how much he enjoyed working with me. I thought it was a good time to ask how much he really loved me. He looked confused until I put all the parking tickets on his desk. He said, "How many are there?" I responded with, "Probably 25. And you're not going to make me pay for them, are you?" He smiled and said, "Of course not." He cleared them off my record and I graduated without having to deal with the fines. I learned quickly how to spell princiPAL.

HS countdown #3-- ACCIDENTS

It wasn't ALL fun and games...

My sophomore year I went four wheeling on a double date.. well, it was supposed to be a double date anyway. Brad Richardson and Mike Cox asked Francine and I to go-- only Fran bailed at the last minute so I ended up going with two guys. It was an awkward threesome, but I was up for the challenge.. It wasn't really anything THAT exciting-- until I got RUN OVER by a four wheeler. That's right. The four wheeler crushed my head. Luckily we were in the sand and it didn't kill me. Brad and I were driving together and when we started to slow down, my right ankle got caught under the wheel. We were on a bit of a hill and Brad got off on the other side of the four wheeler, trying to hold it up to keep it from smashing me. Apparently he wasn't as strong as we both had hoped. It rolled on top of me and one of the wheels crushed my head. Mike was just behind us and came over to see what happened. I believe I blacked out for a minute or so and when I woke up, I was covered in gasoline and I couldn't see anything. They helped me back on the four wheeler to take me to the car (I didn't want to get back on, but I was blind and didn't have much of a choice.) My sight came back within five minutes or so. Brad drove us back to West Jordan and Mike was such a gentleman riding in the backseat with me... I knew he was worried. When I got home, my parents took one look at my head and rushed me to the ER (something that should have been done before I went home..) I had several tests run and spent a few hours at the hospital. But besides a massive black and blue bruise on the side of my head (mostly my neck and left ear) I was just fine. I have not a single picture to show for it, but believe me, it was nasty. The doctors told me that I would have been dead if I was riding on anything other than sand. ((This was my second accident on four wheelers-- but certainly not my last-- This past Fourth of July, Aaron and I almost died just a few blocks from our house. It was all my fault.. I got a little too comfortable driving and seriously almost crashed into the Simpon's neighbor's home. I wasn't going to mention it, but since we were on the subject....))

During my senior year, I got in a bad car accident with a good friend, Colin Wood. It was a devastating.. truly a life-changing experience. I wrote a bit about it last December in this post but there are several things I didn't share.. After we hit the man and called the ambulance, we believed he would live. He wasn't able to move, but he was talking and responding to questions. What we didn't know was that he was heavily intoxicated-- and even though he didn't look like he was going to survive, he suffered from internal bleeding and died the next day at the hospital. Colin came to see me at work (Geppedo's porcelain doll shop) to tell me that he had passed away. I was completely shocked. We had heard the hospital report earlier that morning and they said he was going to be okay. We made the difficult decision to attend his funeral. The snow was falling hard that day and I will never forget sitting next to Colin in the last row, while his family mourned for their husband, father and grandfather. It was truly heartbreaking.

I still hear from Colin. I can always count on an email from him every December 4th- the date of the accident. Ten years seems like a long time ago, but somehow I don't feel any older or wiser. That single event was a big part of my high school experience, but the lessons I learned did not come from any classroom.

HS countdown #4-- VIVA LAS VEGAS

A week after getting a bloody nose during the dodge ball attack, my friends and I took a road trip to Vegas--and it couldn't have come at a better time. I think we all needed a break from life and we took an entire week off of school in the middle of a semester. My sister and her husband were flying into Vegas for a business trip. They had booked a room at the Luxor hotel and told us to come and join them. It was a 5 bedroom hotel suite and we didn't have a pay a dime. We ordered room service, watched movies, rode all the rollercoasters and crazy rides on the strip. It was such a memorable trip and really brought us closer together. I drive past the Luxor all the time now and think about the great memories we made during our January adventure.. I would have never guessed that I would be living in Vegas 10 years later with three little boys.

It was the BEST week.. we spent hours laughing, crying and talking about things that really mattered... and the only regret we had was that Hillary had a drill team competition that week and couldn't join us.

**one of the funniest memories I have during this trip was inside the New York New York casino. We were walking past a HUGE nickel slot machine and I put in a nickel and pulled down the big lever.. as soon as I did, nickels started pouring out. My friends were so scared (because we were underage and shouldn't be gambling) so they RAN when they saw that I had won. I thought they were crazy for drawing more attention to themselves.. and I wasn't about to leave all those nickels there. I grabbed a cup and scooped up the money and treated everyone to ice cream. I am not sure how much I won but I believe it was about $20 in nickels.. Wahoo!

And I still crack up every time I see this picture of "us" in our bathing suits. I am sure the ratted bangs were out of date back when we bought this picture.. but we liked it anyway. Can you tell who's who? Karlin and Azy look fabulous as blondes...

HS countdown #5-- TEAM SPORTS

My friend, Karlin, and I took Team Sports together our senior year. (In fact we had EVERY class together.) Anyway, team sports was a PE class- most of the students were guys- but we had fun playing basketball, softball, soccer, going to the local bowling alley once a week, and playing an occasional game of dodge ball.

For some reason-- I had a dress on when we were scheduled to go bowling.. so I changed into my gym clothes but didn't have any shoes.. so I went to the bowling alley in my socks. I bowled a killer game-- two sets of turkeys-- something I have yet to do since that day. On my way out, I was so excited and distracted that I walked out with the bowling shoes on my feet. We didn't realize until we got back to the school and we were in our next class. I stole the shoes-- and didn't leave any at the bowling alley, so I never returned them. I am going to hell for sure. I still have the shoes and can still bowl a decent game.

During the basketball season (towards the end of the first semester) my friends and I were at home game and happened to be sitting next to a few guys in our team sports class who were standing on the front row of the bleachers and SCREAMING the F-word and other obscenities at the referees. It was annoying and it was giving our school a bad name. I had the AUDACITY to tap them on the shoulder and ask them to clean up their language because "not everyone likes to hear the F-word." They apologized and seemed cool that night.. but when we got to school the following Monday, I was in BIG trouble. Their whole group of friends hated me and started spreading rumors that I was trying to get them expelled, etc. I felt bad because I wasn't trying to make enemies. They were constantly swearing at me and my friends and even hung up a picture of us in the hall with quotations coming out of our mouths such as "I am too good for everyone." and "I rule the school" (Who has that picture now? Michelle?)

Things were always amplified in our teams sports class because we were actually playing against these guys-- Karlin and I would try to get on their team, but they would always switch no matter what we did-- so they could target us. It sucked because they were big guys and I was scared of them. One particular day, I pulled Coach Poland (our teacher) aside and told him I didn't want to play DODGE BALL because I was afraid of the guys who were going to peg me with the ball. He laughed and told me not to be a baby.. so I played. The minute the game started, I had balls flying in my direction and I was relieved every time I got hit so I could sit out for a minute-- I kept praying that no one on my team would catch a ball so I wouldn't have to play again.. It sounds funny now, but it seriously sucked. As soon as I went back into the game, I had three hard balls flying my way and one happened to hit me right in the face- giving me a bloody nose. Karlin came with me to the girls locker room to help me clean up and I was sobbing.

Months later, at a graduation party, they apologized to me.. and I think we cleared things up, but you never know.. they probably still hate me. I actually ran into one of the guys a few years ago and the first thing he said to me was, "I will never forget the day Ben Brandt pegged you in the face with that dodge ball. Do you still hate him?" I replied.. "No, not at all. In fact, I named my first son after him."

These pictures don't have anything to do with team sports because Nate Brisko was not in our class (thankfully) but I thought I would include them anyway. There was big drama about who stole Brisko's scary football picture out of his locker.. and I will finally confess. It was me. I hope that he's not coming to the reunion because if he is, he will probably be chanting my name while pounding his HATE stick..