CHSalumni.net

I went to Cyprus as a sophomore. For my junior and senior years I went to live with my mom, so I left Cyprus and finished up at Hillcrest and Valley (yes, I was a slacker, if you can believe that!!) Even though I didn’t graduate from Cyprus, I grew up “way out west” and it will always be my old stomping grounds. After high school, my priority was being a social butterfly. I had lots of meaningless jobs, and a few meaningless boyfriends . I got married when I was 23. At the time, I was working at LensCrafters and needed a change. I looked at the map of places where there were LensCrafters stores and closed my eyes and put my finger on the map: Boise, Idaho. So, we moved to Boise. I actually loved it there. But, after 10 years and 2 kids, we decided it was time to come back and let the kids know their grandparents and cousins. While we were out of state, my whole family relocated down south to the St. George area so when we decided to move back, there was really no question as to where.

I got divorced in 2005, but being that I am the best mom in the world (HA!), I decided that I needed to go back and make things work for my kids. It took another 4 years before I finally decided that that was a really stupid idea. I’m a slow learner apparently. Fast forward to today: I have 2 great kids. Triston, my son, is 11. Cheyenne, my daughter is 8. I am dating an amazing man, Rob, who has 2 kids of his own. We just got a house together and I have stepped into the role of step mom of Olivia, 7 and Cody, 5. I am not working currently, but I am looking!! I attend Dixie State College in St. George and I am in the nursing program. I just got my LPN, and in 2 more semesters will have my RN. I guess that’s about it. Thanks for letting me tell you what I’ve been up to all these years, and thanks for still considering me part of the gang. Cheers!

Shantel and Christian Matagi update!

After high school we moved to Ogden and attended Weber State since that is where Christian got a full ride football scholarship. After graduating we moved back to W.V.C. and built our first home. About 2 years ago we built our final home which is also in W.V.C. close to the Hunter Library. Christian is a UPS driver and I (Shantel) have been doing mortgage loans for 14 years. We have four wonderful children. Whitney is our oldest at 18 yrs old. She is a freshman at the University of Utah and is also on the Crimson Line dance team. She is also on a scholarship and is involved in many of the school clubs. She graduated from Cyprus and was on the drill team and dance team at Cyprus. Shalai is our second daughter and is 14 yrs old. She is a 9th grader at Kennedy Jr. High. She is very tall (5′10) and has always danced until in 7th grade we had her try sports. She now does both. She got the MVP for Basketball, Volleyball, Soccer and is the dance company president as well. Sierra is our third daughter and is 12 yrs old. She is a 7th grader at Kennedy Jr. High. She is on a competition dance team and is a senator at her school. She also did soccer this year with her sister. Trejan is our youngest at 10 yrs old and our only boy. He is a chip off the old block. He does football, basketball, soccer and some years he does baseball. He is also our inventor. He loves to make stuff and has quite the imagination. We feel very blessed to have a close family, good friends, health, & neighbors. We know everything we have is from God, and we are also glad to have him a big part of our life and happiness. I have attached a picture from last fall at the Wheeler farm of our kids.

Keep in touch!

Shantel Matagi

I hope, with this site, to bring news of various alumni from 89 to 93. Hopefully we can learn what has happened to our cheerleaders, class and student body officers, and others that we all remember, but I also want to find greatness among our ranks that were not as well known. One such person is Nathan Helgren, who may be our very own Biggest Loser. Let his accomplishment be a motivator to many of us who would like to accomplish the same. Now without further ado, our news from Nathan:

I’m sure we’ve all had our share of twists and turns since High School ended. I can’t say things have turned out as I planned, but not being much of a planner I can say that I have had some great experiences and wonderful turns of luck.

I currently live in Sammamish, WA with my wife Emily and my 2 endearing but obnoxious dogs (Shar-Pei mutt mixes we got from a local rescue). Emily and I met on a Bulletin Board System (that’s right folks; I met my wife online before the Internet and online dating sites. I always was ahead of the curve of dorkiness). She’s a native of Sandy, and we hit it off fairly quickly. We married in ’96 and have had a wonderful set of adventures since then.

After high school I spent a little time at SLCC but unfortunately life circumstances prevented me from finishing my degree. Once Packard Bell opened up in Magna, I decided to give working for them a shot. I had always enjoyed computers and figured I may as well try to do something I liked. I worked there for about 6 years working my way from support technician to trainer. Then in the fall of 1998 I got a job offer from Microsoft.

Since joining Microsoft I spent 7 years training people, first in the support department and then later in our world wide licensing centers supporting our subscription and licensing programs. While it may not be as sexy as working on a product everyone knows about like Windows or the Xbox, working in licensing has taught me more about doing the impossible with no budget and a short timeline than any college course could. While training for the world wide licensing team I had the opportunity for some great travel including India, Ireland, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, Taiwan, Japan and a few other places (Buffalo NY anyone?).

More recently I spent 2 years as a test lead for the volume licensing systems before now moving into a Project Management role, driving multi year pricing, licensing, and subscription initiatives.

My wife Emily has her degree in Early Childhood education and has been a pre-school teacher, assistant director of a non-profit childcare center and for the past few years has been working as a nanny.

The one thing I had been asked to discuss is my recent weight loss. 2 years ago I was over 340 lbs. I was wearing size 3XL shirts and size 48 pants. I had finally decided enough was enough. I changed up my eating habits (no fast food, no simple carbs, no sugar, low fat, lean meats). I started getting more exercise. After 1 year I had dropped over 100 lbs, at my best I had dropped a full 135. People at work and a few friends had asked what the secret to losing the weight was. The bottom line – exercise and eat better. Learn to love vegetables; seriously I hated them when I was younger, now the bulk of every meal is either vegetables or complex carbs like lentils or quinoa. Eating healthy doesn’t mean eating bad or tasteless food. If you learn to cook you can have fantastic meals that are good for you.

Now the big question, did I keep it off? The last few months I have backslid a bit, I have put on a few pounds due to stress. However, I know what I need to do to get back on track. It’s all about discipline. When my will breaks and I eat badly, I am only cheating myself. I have to say “Is that doughnut REALLY worth an hour on the treadmill?”, and some days the answer is “Yes”. But I just have to make eating a conscious decision. Eternal vigilance is the only way. Next year I plan on doing my first half-marathon in the late summer here in Seattle and running a few 5k’s before then.

I never planned to work in computers, or to move out of Utah, or to gain a lot of weight. Sometimes life isn’t about the planning, it’s about adaptation and realigning your goals. Most importantly it’s about doing what makes you happy.

You can find Nathan on facebook, where he posted some before and after pictures.

I live in Korea. I have been here for about a year, and love the country. I am grateful for all the travelling I have done, but I am also grateful for my roots. I came to Korea after living in Hawaii for 6 1/2 years, off and on. I am in the Army, and have been in since junior year of high school… sort of. I love the military life. I have done many things, but am currently a pilot, flying the CH-47D Chinook Helicopter (Big Sexy). I have little time right now, but wanted to say a something. I plan to write more later. Thanks Brandon for your efforts at keeping Pirates in touch. Ryan Turville

Written by Tiffany:

Chris and I grew up 6 houses apart. However, we didn’t actually acknowledge each other until his brother married my sister in 1989. We started dating in December of 89. He and I were married April 21, 1994. We moved to Las Vegas in May 1999. Chris started working with a company called Creel Printing and Publishing. He is a Lead Operator and has been in the printing industry for 20 years now. We tried and tried to have children and it was such a struggle. We were pleasantly surprised in November of 2002 to find out we were pregnant. Jakub, our oldest who is 6, was born 10 weeks premature on May 1, 2003. Then when he was only 3 months old we found out we were pregnant again, shocking is an understatement. Joshua, who is 5, arrived March 31, 2004. So here we had two sons that were 11 months apart. Then in November of that same year, we found out we were pregnant again. Jonni, who is 4 going on 16, arrived on July 7, 2005. My family kept asking us if we knew how babies were made? We took some time off, or so we thought, and wouldn’t you know it we found out in January of 2007 that we were expecting #4. Jaynee, who is almost 2, arrived on September 21, 2007. She is the caboose!! We’ve had so much happen to us in our 20 years together, but neither one of us would change it for a moment! Both of our sons have autism and ADHD, to say that’s a struggle is quite an understatement! We struggle on a daily basis trying to make life better for them. God has blessed us in so many ways we can’t even begin to count. Our family has finally started attending a church called Religious Science and we absolutely love it. Our kids are accepted and so are we. It’s amazing how much our lives changed once we allowed God in.

I’m writing Julie’s spotlight because she has great difficulty writing. She has a large brain tumor that has effected areas of her brain that make it much more difficult for her to communicate in general. However, when you say something to her, she understands just fine. She read this spotlight, approved everything I said, and told me some things to say, so she did participate. She may not have long left to be with us because her tumor is still growing. She’s been on a new treatment for 6 weeks now and we don’t know if it has made a difference yet.

When I was 14, I started going to Stake Dances. Most of you probably remember me in high school, when I danced fearlessly, and probably looked more like Napoleon Dynamite than anything, but when I first started going, I sat there and thought about asking girls to dance most of the night while fear of talking to them held me back. Some older friends had their girlfriends ask me to dance, which helped me overcome that fear, but Julie was the first to ask me on her own. She promptly forgot about it, and fearfully avoided me once I overcame my fears for the next few years – frequently trying hide behind friends. I think that might sound familiar to a few people… I asked her to Junior Prom, and she waited to the last moment to answer me. She didn’t realize I’d told a lot of people I’d asked her so they’d keep their distance. Neither of us enjoyed that date, but that didn’t stop me from liking her, and writing to her while she was in Denver.

Julie went to Highlands Ranch High School her Senior year in Denver, but attended Cyprus her Sophomore and Junior years. After she graduated from high school she went to BYU where she made some good friends. When I returned from my mission in Georgia and South Carolina, I took her out again and this time we enjoyed the date. She finally decided she liked me. I, however, thought she wouldn’t have time with me, because she went to DC for a few months, and she would get her own mission call before she returned. After she returned, I took her out to celebrate her call. Our date was a different one – we went to the temple together. On that date, we held hands for the first time, kissed for the first time (and what a kiss!), and decided that ‘maybe we have a chance together’ after she returned. She went on her mission a couple weeks after that, and we saw each other every day until then.

Julie served a mission in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Where she set a trend of her own. Julie’s right foot swells up due to an accident when she was 13. Since her mission required a lot of walking, she wore army boots to keep the swelling down. A few Brazilian sisters thought that must be what sexy Americans do (ever noticed how much she looks like Marilyn Monroe?), so they started wearing army boots under their dresses, too. Then a few American sisters also took to the trend. To this day, when I’ve gone to some of her mission reunions, they bring up Julie and her Army boots.

After Julie came back, it took her nearly a year to decide that she really wanted to spend the rest of her life with me (can you blame her?) We married in August 1996, had Hiram in 1997, Avalon in 1999, Benjamin in 2002, and James in 2007. We graduated together from BYU in April of 1999. She was 8 months pregnant with Avalon, and we got a cute little cap and gown for Hiram to wear – our family was graduating together. Julie was a stay-at-home mom for most of that time, but got to work full time at Provo City for a over a year while I played stay-at-home dad to make that possible. I’m glad we made that decision since it’s the only year of professional work she’ll ever get. Beside that, she enjoyed telling millionaires what to do with their property, whether they wanted to or not.

If you would like to read more about Julie, visit my family site FLFN.org. If any of you would like to contact Julie or me, send me a message. I’ll send you my phone number, or you can see it if you are on Facebook and you are either a friend, a friend of a friend, or in the Salt Lake City network. If you want to know what you can do to help us, I’ve also written about that on FLFN.org.

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Doug Wren runs the Travel Show on KSL 1160 News Radio on Sundays from 12:00 to 14:00. He has a facebook page here:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1411091682#/group.php?gid=76008156778

For those of you who are not on Facebook, Doug said this:

If you have any travel questions, don’t hesitate to ask as I am always looking for great questions to share on the show. Also, recommendations, experiences (good or bad), with cruises, hotels, restaurants make for great content during the show. And finally, please let your friends and family know about this group as we are growing the Travel Show for syndication.

Let’s spread the word about the new KSL Travel show, and help one of our own get his own Syndicated show!

I am a single mother, I have a 9 year old daughter. She is my number one priority and always will be. We have a very strong bond. I spend most of my time with her…she is my life!

I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer on Valentines Day 2005. I had to have a lump removed. I had to do lots of Chemotherapy, which made me sick some of the time and very tired. I lost all my hair, when I told my daughter I was going to lose my hair she wanted to move out! But of course she didn’t, she just never wanted to see my bald head. I had to do radiation for 30 days, that wasn’t too bad, just made me tired. I had a very good support system from my close friends and my mother. It was a very hard experience, I’m just glad I made it!

I have what is called Torticollis, which affects my neck. So I have a lot of pain in my shoulders and neck. I get very bad headaches. I am a stay at home mom because of this. I have many limitations also.

I love the outdoors, camping is my favorite thing to do in the summer and all that comes with it. I’m not a winter person at all.

I’m so grateful I am still here today and I can share my life with my daughter and my great friends. Contact me anytime!

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Joy and I met at BYU in 1994 just after I returned from an LDS mission in Venezuela. We dated for about a year and were married in May of 1995. I’m still the butt of jokes because our first “date” was with my entire family. I simply didn’t think it was a big deal. I thought my family was great and she was too. They should meet, right? It did get us off to a bit of a rough start, but she finally gave in and married me anyway.

We spent a few years in the military and several years in Cincinnati, Ohio after that. During that time our son Orion (11) was born and our Daughter Katherine (9). Although I graduated with a degree in International Relations and Russian Language, I became interested in computer networks and studied on my own until I earned enough industry certifications to snag a job. After four years working with a small computer company they closed up shop in Cincinnati and Joy and I eventually did a role switch. She went to work as an Educational Director for a Sylvan Learning Center and I stayed at home–among all the cooking, cleaning, washing clothes, etc. I periodically taught a bunch of other 3, 4, and 5 year-olds along with Katherine in a sort of group pre-school with other parents we knew–it was me and the other Moms.

In 2005 I started my dream job with the US Department of State. I administer and maintain computer networks, telephones systems, and even the diplomatic postal system for whichever Embassy I am assigned to. So far, we have spent two years in Jerusalem, a year and a half in the Dominican Republic, and we have now been in Belarus for about two months. It has been a wonderful–if not a bit stressful–time for the whole family. Marion, our two year-old, was born in West Jordan, Utah on a break from our tour in Jerusalem. She doesn’t know life with out English and many other foreign words around her (Hebrew, Arabic, Spanish, and now Russian and Belorussian). She must also think airplanes are just the norm for everyone to travel on. At her young age she has already travel to or through nine countries, not to mention the Southern and Eastern coasts, Mid-West and Utah in the US. I know my children will probably hate to travel by the time they are grown, but for now we keep reminding them to look at the world around them and remember how blessed they are to be American citizens. It is heartbreaking to see the troubles and problems that so many people deal with every day (mass poverty, war, and no true freedom of speech, thought, or religion) that in the US most of us enjoy without even thinking about it. In addition, we are amazed at just how INEXPENSIVE living in the US is compared with the places we’ve been. I just don’t know how they survive–certainly not at the same standard of living most of us experience.

We would love to hear from any of you and find out what you are up to. Please feel free to contact me.

Ann Pearce: The first time I really noticed her and the typical leadership I’ve seen in her family, I was at a cold winter youth activity. We were riding sleds down a long hill, and I’ve never been fond of winter sports. I was freezing, and upset because of some teasing I’d received that day, perhaps because of a fall or two. It was one of Ann’s first activities. She came and talked to me, showed me kindness, brought me a hot chocolate, and made me feel much better about the whole activity. I heard about her passing while I was still on my mission.

Aaron Dabb died in 2009 from sleep apnea.

Aubrey Dillenbeck

Connie and Brandon Lowe. I was still in high school when Connie and Brandon died together in a car accident. I spent quite a bit of time with them and their family before the accident. They were close friends, and I still think of them.

Daniel Sateki Lao: see comments below.

Eric Barkley was always a true friend. When I lived in Utah County and hadn’t seen him for months or even years, he’d see me drive home to visit my parents, and he’d come straight up every time to visit.

Greig Pasternak died a few years ago. I don’t know much about him or how he died, but he graduated in ‘92, and worked at Packard Bell for a while.

Jason Van der Wekken was always fun to talk to. I worked with him at Reams for a while, saw him at some church activities, and always enjoyed his sense of humor.

Julie Johnson Stout: Read about Julie’s passing on FLFN.org

Lori Wimmer

Lynn Wooden-Fowler

Mellissa Barton died of complications during childbirth not long after she graduated in 1991.

Nicia Osness was a beautiful, exciting, fun-loving girl when I met her the end of my senior year in 1991. She lived in Montana the past several years, and loved it there. She died from complications after surgery on a brain tumor, and left behind a husband, Christopher LaPaine, and 4 children: Shayla, Zacceaus, Angelina, and Julia Ann.

Ryan Collins lived down the street from me. He died in 1999.

I would like to thank Brandon Stout for taking the time to catch everyone up on my family and, more importantly, on his efforts to keep all of us Pirates connected. Since you last saw me, I have moved to Las Vegas, had five kids and turned 35 years old. That sounds so old to me. I married a wonderful and patient woman named Holly Packer. She is a hair stylist and a model and does a wonderful job taking care of me and my family. She graduated from Orem High School and then attended college in Salt Lake. Holly and I play on a tennis team, do a bunch of Bikram Yoga and love to go to the Strip to see shows, etc. Las Vegas is such a great place to live.

We have five children and have named them each after a particular city that we enjoy. Boston is our oldest child and our only son. He is 11 years old and just started middle school. He plays soccer, football, basketball, baseball and the Baritone Sax, which is a huge instrument, by the way. Boston is followed by London, who is our oldest girl and is 8. She plays on a softball team and does very well in school. Her younger sister is Brooklyn, who is 6, is involved in soccer and gymnastics. Sydney, age 3, is an amazing swimmer and Cali, age 18 months, is right behind her. They both love the water and spend countless hours swimming in the pool.

After graduating from Cyprus, I served a mission in Micronesia, where I spent most of my time on the island of Truk, which is located in the South Pacific. In Micronesia I spent two years learning how to eat raw fish, drink coconuts and speak Chuukese. Yeah, don’t ask. It’s a language that is spoken by roughly 30,000 people worldwide. Not real applicable in the United States. But I digress. After my mission, I attended Salt Lake Community College, earned an Associates of Science degree, fished my Bachelor’s Degree at the University of Utah and completed a Master’s Degree in Communication and Business Administration at Westminster College.

After graduation, we moved to Las Vegas and I took a position as the manger of worldwide public and investor relations for a technology company. The company went public in 1999 and was an exciting place to work until seven out of the company’s nine executives were sent to jail for stock manipulation, which gave me the interesting opportunity to testify in a Department of Justice trial in Washington DC.

After leaving the technology company, I ran an advertising and public relations agency in Las Vegas for two years, and then moved into real estate development with one of my advertising clients. I am currently working on the development of a hotel and casino in Mesquite as well as a couple of projects in Las Vegas, Montana and California. www.metreonlasvegas.com , www.solsticemesquite.com , www.mtriverestates.com.

You can read more about my family and our lives at my blog, which is located at http://www.5andjustgettinstarted.blogspot.com/.

I will always value the time I spent and the friends I made while we went to Cyprus High School. I don’t think we all understood what a remarkable environment we were in while we were there, but the older I get, the more and more I appreciate the time we had together.

If you would like to catch up, send me an email.

PS – My blog is hilarious, by the way, so visit it and enjoy.

PSS – Justin Brown in doing the next profile.

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I finally made it back to Utah after 16 years! It has been a long journey since returning to the Salt Lake area. Last time I was home for longer than a month’s visit was September 1991 before leaving for military boot camp. I served 4 years of active duty service and visited many different places: Orlando, FL; Millington, TN; Fallon, NV; Alameda, CA; Hong Kong, Singapore, and Saudi Arabia. I also met my husband of 11 years in the service while onboard the USS Abraham Lincoln in Alameda, CA. He is still serving overseas in the US Navy as a police officer, plans to retire in 6 years; and I am still serving in the Navy Reserves with 5 years to retirement, and working at a dental office in Taylorsville.

We have two girls, 11 and 2 1/2, and have lived both in the continental US and overseas. We have moved 4 times in the past 10 years and enjoyed living in Washington State; Long Island, New York; Newport, Rhode Island; Yokosuka, Japan; and back to Salt Lake City, Utah.

Washington state is a beautiful place to live. Seattle is somewhere to put on your “to do” list, experience the diverse culture, and if you are an outdoors person, this may be the place for you. We did experience those dreary “rainy” days, but the beautiful summers made up for it. Long Island is not what you are thinking, the stereotypical “New Yorker”. I do have to say that it is a fast paced, very busy, and an expensive area. New Yorkers are determined, career-oriented, outspoken, but will also welcome you in the most traditional ways with a hug and kiss on the cheek every time. In New York, you will have a friend for life. Rhode Island, the ocean state. Home of the URI Rams and U.S. military War College. The smallest state in the U.S., and close to everything. Fishing, boating, beaches, Providence to the north. Newport mansions, great volleyball beaches on the southern coast, and the people are very nice. Japan, a very different, but envious lifestyle. Crime is a very rare occurrence, greeting someone with a bow is normal, and pointing is rude, use an open hand with all fingers together. Driving on the left side made me feel like I was in driver’s ed all over again. Mt. Fuji, Tokyo, Yokohama, and the Cherry Blossoms Festivals are sights that can’t be missed. Oh yeah, dressing as a Geisha in a kimono was very nice, too.

Salt Lake has definitely changed in the past 16 years with the 2002 Olympics, a larger population, excessive pollution, and cultural integration. Finding a decent paying job and affordable place to live still need improvement, but I’ll never forget the Utah winters as a child which we seem to be experiencing this year. It has been a nice welcome back.

We will be moving once again in September, but we don’t know exactly where until orders are drawn this January. The military lifestyle is definitely not a lifestyle for everyone. I have enjoyed my experiences thus far and am looking forward to meeting more people, visiting new places, and getting closer and closer to retirement for both of us. I want all to know that I have missed the Utah winters and hopefully will be able to reconnect with some of you while we are here for our short visit. Please contact me if you would like to get together. It would be great to see you again and find out what YOU’VE been doing!