Good Times at Badger Creek and Vashon!

Our canoeing trip was way better than hanging out with Lamas!
I don't remember why we are all dressed up

Me and Annie, so crazy how young we look, and don't ask me what we were doing!

Remember the ferry ride to Vashon!?

Annie wrote "the fat losers" thing to be funny, I scanned this picture so you can still see where she wrote that........it was kinda true though Jimmy and Ryan! We always loved ya though :)

So classic!! We snuck into the boy's bunks, we were so hardcore!

I found some old pictures and I knew I had to post them, they are all scanned so the quality isn't the greatest, but it brought back so many memories. I wish we could like have a weekend reunion with everyone. I know that will never happen, but wouldn't that rock! I know I have more pictures somewhere, when I find them I will post more later.

Blast from the past

I was searching through my filing cabinet yesterday and stumbled across this picture in the taxes folder. I have no idea how it go there, but I had to post it. I think this was on the Lama hike. We look so young, but pretty much the same. If you can't tell, we are washing are faces while we were camping. We sure had our priorities straight! Ahh, good times. Miss you all.

Hey again, from Kelli!

Hey everyone! I am not sure if its cool to post again once you already have, but I just wanted to say hi. Chad and I just got back from Hawaii ,wich most of you probably already saw on my blog. And I am totally just boring, If so just skip past them. I got some clothes in Hawaii for my kids and I thought they were cute so I posted them. I really just wanted to say to Molly, that is cool you went private, but I would love an invite! I am sure you totally meant to right?! You probably won't even look at this blog for a long time I am sure. Anyway hope everyone is good. Send updates from time to time. Lisa, if you read this I would love to look at your blog if you have one. Bye all.

The Pickett Update!

Okay! We have so much to catch up on! First things first I guess, you can see by the last name that yes, Jimmy and I really did get married! I know I can hardly believe it really happened either since he was making out with like 7 girls at once on the program- but hey, somehow things really did work out!

Where do I start?? After the program I finished at Ricks and moved to Provo to beg my way into BYU, but begging didn't help and they still didn't want me. So, I just lived and worked in Provo a semester and then went on to BYU Hawaii. What a wonderful place- I loved it. I spent one year there and loved it all, but was getting a little bit ancy for "normal" life, so I moved back to the mainland. I did one semester there and then Jimmy came out and did one with me also and then we moved home together to California to work and save money. blah blah blah... are you so bored yet!! After a couple months home, he finally asked me to marry him.. but oh, yeah- I did write him his entire mission (but I did not "wait" for him). When he got home we just kind of picked up where we left off.

So we worked in the bay area a while, I lived with his cousins and then we got engaged in March and married in June of 2002. After we got married we were absolutely clueless as to where to go- so we picked Arizona because ASU had both of our majors and we thought maybe we should actually finish our degrees!! So, they accepted us, we packed our U-Haul and drove out to our new home! Kind of scary, but little did we know then how much we would love it here. We bought our first home (still live there) 3 years ago and currently live in Gilbert. We LOVE LOVE LOVE it here. All but the horrid summers! So, please come and visit us anytime if you're in town! We finished our degrees at ASU, mine in Elementary Ed, Jimmy in Real Estate Business, and we were on our way.

I got my first teaching job teaching 6th grade and loved it until I started feeling a little bit sick! WOOPS! Baby #1 was on it's way- surprise! So, that cut my first year of teaching very short- I had my sweet little boy Mason in early March. So- I quickly said goodbye to my teaching career. But, I love the major and am still so glad I chose that field, maybe someday I'll go back. My second baby, Landon just turned one this month so we have 2 darling boys!! I love them both so much.

My days are filled with wiping buts and making beds! Stay at home mom- but I love it all. If you remember me at all, you probably remember that I have to stay busy all the time, so I keep us all very busy with random activities. I love my life and what I'm doing. I feel so blessed and lucky. Here a few pics of our family and be sure to visit our family's blog also! Hope all is well with all of you- let's get this reunion together, what a blast! Only if Garth Ladle will bring his rocks and quiz us! I was dying laughing Annie when you wrote about him pulling the van over to give us geology lessons! Gotta love Brother Ladle- I don't think I learned one thing!

Love you all- visit our blog: http://www.pickettsplace.blogspot.com/

What a total and complete Shock!! It is so fun to see everyone again. Can you believe it has been 10 years!!! Remember how I was the only one who was not 18 yet and I had to have written parental consent to go on the canoe trip?! Wow.

Now for the update on the last 10 years of my life...oh wow. After "The Program," I finished at Ricks and then Transfered to BYU-Hawaii on a full-ride. That was incredible. While in Hawaii I received my mission call to the Paraguay Asuncion North Mission and went through the temple out in my Hawaiian Paradise. I left shortly after graduation in 2002. My mission in Paraguay was a major defining moment for my life. I have missed it tremendously, and in some small way I feel like not all of me came home because part of me is still there. When I got back I continued to work as a counselor for EFY and later became a field Coordinator for the program.

I currently live in Provo. (I know, I became a Utard). I teach 3rd and 4th grade at a private school called Kids Village. I'm currently serving as the RSP of a singles ward. I use singles ward timidly because I'm pretty sure I'm one of the only ones from OLC/Vashon who is still not married. I look forward to that day, but in the mean time, I have kept myself busy working and traveling amongst other things. Recently I have traveled to New York, Italy, Spain, Hawaii, Disneyland, Texas, Vegas, and I'm headed out to Puerto Rico for 8 days in April. I'm super excited for that. I can't wait to hear more about your lives. Thanks for finding me!

Hola, from Idaho!

So you all remember me as Kelli Fife, now its Kelli Hessing. This is me with my husband Chad. We actually met in highschool, but it was after the badger creek-Vashon program that we realized we were perfect for each other. This is one of the only modern pics I have on my computer right now,( of us that is.) Anyway we dated a year, than Chad left for his Mission in Alabama. Wich was so hard, I went on my mission 9 months later to Tucson Arizona. We wrote every week, and I knew I would marry him when I got home. My mom actually did some of the wedding planning while I was gone. Kinda crazy I know! Chad came home in April 2002, and he waited for me patiently, and I came home that June. We were married July 20 2002. It has been so amazing, I am thankful we both served missions, and we did it together in such a special way, our letters, and tapes will be something wonderful for our kids and grandkids, I hope anyway!
This is us with our little man Kemper. He is 3 1/2 now. We were at my sister-in-laws wedding reception.

And this is our latest addittion Andie. She is 6 months, and so perfect. Chad is so crazy about her, she will be so spoiled by him. Kemper is protective of little sis, I never have to worry about her when he is around. Could they be any cuter? Anyway I hope to hear from everyone else soon. It might just be Annie, Racheal and I that are cool though!

Time Sure Flys When You are Having Fun!

Hi everyone! I seriously cannot believe it has been ten years! Wow! I look back with very fond memories of our experience at Badger Creek and Vashon Island. Probably the greatest thing about that program was the friendships that we all made. I am so excited to see what everyone else has been up to, and to catch up!

Here are some of the fun things I have been doing over the last ten years...

After "the program" I continued at Ricks until the summer of 1999, then I transferred to UVSC and majored in English-Creative Writing.

I served in the Italy Catania Mission from October 2001-May 2003. This one experience I consider the jumping off point for my life. Everything great that has happened to me has come from serving a mission. I loved it.

Speaking of good things that happened to me from serving a mission...

I met my husband Todd in the MTC. We actually started the same day! We went to Italy and we served together in the same city for the first two transfers of our missions. Todd and I were like oil and water at the beginning of our missions, we didn't mix well. :) After our first city we both were transferred and I never thought I would see him again. We ended up serving on the island of Malta for 9 months together and towards the end of my mission when he was my zone leader, we became very good friends. Such good of friends, after returning home from my mission I realized that I couldn't imagine my life without him in it. We wrote for the remainder of his mission and when he got home we quickly fell in love. We were married in the Salt Lake Temple on May 15, 2004.

Thatcher joined our family in March 2005 and Taggart in September 2006. They are 17 months apart, which has been fun for them and busy for me! I absolutely LOVE having two boys, and love being a Mom. It is all I have ever wanted to be, and I am grateful for such great kiddos.

We now live in Tucson, Arizona where my husband is an Electrical Engineer and I am a Stay at Home Mom. My days are filled with tantrums, dishes, Playhouse Disney, wrestling, bath time, nap time, snack time, vacuuming, hugs, cleaning, tears, Elmo, picking up toys for the millionth time, playgroups, kisses, cooking, and playing...and I wouldn't have it any other way!

Can't wait to hear from all of you!

--Rachael