The Brown Chronicle: August 2011

College Life

ISU
After getting back from Jackson Hole, I started my first semester at ISU. Transitioning from high school home work to college home work was a pretty big jump for me. The first semester was pretty difficult when it came to school. However, I was on a music scholarship and was starting the music program at ISU. This required 20 hours of piano practice per week, as well as performances, accompanying vocal students, and accompanying ISU's girls choir. That was a lot of work but it was really rewarding to get so much better at the piano. I was taking lessons under Kori Bond, who wasn’t quite as good as a teacher as Mark Neiwirth, (the teacher I’d had while growing up) but I liked her way of teaching anyway. However, I decided that I was going to transfer to BYUI, in Rexburg. I’d gotten a really good scholarship there, and would start the winter/summer track.

BYU-I

Sun Valley

Best friends ever- Terry Bitton, Katressa Lambson, & Sara Wiegman

One of the falls that I had off I moved to Jacob Lake in AZ to work on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

Boston trip for Ali's marathon

Irish hard shoe dance in "Best of" show

International Dance Festival Tour

Dance Tour

I enjoyed living in Rexburg in January (the winter semester) when I started. Toward the end of this semester I decided I was not going to major in music. Unfortunately, I did not feel as positive about the BYU-I music department as I did about ISU and with Mark Neiwirth. I felt like they were trying to weed me out rather than help me develop my talent. I look back at it and am just more and more grateful that I had such an amazing teacher growing up. Anyhow, I switched my major to PE and Health Education.
Once the summer semester came around, however, I fell in love with the place. I didn't think that I would enjoy summer school, but I did. It was such a great place to be in the summers. We would go bridge jumping, go to Egan Lakes, float down the rivers, etc. I loved it, and had the best roommates ever. One roommate in particular that made the experience SO much better was Katressa Lambson. We were roommates until she got married in 2008.

The 'available pose'

Homemade facials

Another highlight of my schooling was the opportunity I had to participate in the dance program. I was able to be on clogging teams, folk dancing teams, and swing team. Here are a few videos that my friends recorded of a couple of swing team performance. I wish I had the rest of the videos!

Ali's wedding- 2007

Graduation trip to Cancun. Such a blast!!! Thanksgiving, 2008. (Mike came too, but I can't seem to find any pics that he was in...)

Ali & I with our pets

Myan ruins at Tuluum

Many hours of sand volleyball

Our prize for winning the bull riding competition didn't go to waste- haha

Jackson Hole

~Jackson Hole

   The summer immediately following high school graduation, Ali and I moved to Jackson Hole, WY, to work as housekeepers at a hotel called the 49ER. Ali went early and was promoted to work at the front desk of the hotel. I didn't get there until all of the good jobs were taken, so I was stuck with being a housekeeper, which was fine. I didn't care too much for the job- mostly because my supervisor, Cathleen, found joy in inflicting fear upon the housekeeping staff. She was a large lade who was angry at life and automatically disliked anyone who couldn't clean a hotel room as fast as the Latins could- i.e. 30 seconds or less. Needless to say, I didn't meet the requirements to be on her 'favorites' list. However, I eventually was able to find enjoy the job by having fun with the other housekeepers. At one point in the summer, I was the only housekeeper that spoke English as my native language. I still get a kick out of that fact :)
   One experience that I had in Jackson really reaffirmed my faith and desire to keep the Sabbath day holy. I knew once I started the housekeeping job, that I would have to work on most Sundays. Cathleen forbade switching or trading. So I prayed that the Lord would help me to figure out a way to be able to get Sunday's off of work, to at least go to church. I couldn't figure out any way to get around working, however. Well, the Lord reminded me that He is a lot smarter than me, and He answered my prayers to be able to go to church quickly. The owner of the 49ER hotel, Steve, just happened to by our branch president. Well, he called me to be the ward organist. When he called me to the position, I told him that I would love to be the organist, but that Cathleen, didn't permit us to get off on Sundays, or switch anyone shifts. Well, since Steve was Cathleen's boss, he took care of it. I only had to work like one or 2 more Sunday's the rest of the summer. It was definitely an answer to my prayers, and reminded me to believe that "man doth not comprehend all of things which the Lord can comprehend"(Mosiah 4:9).
      Despite my distaste for the job, I LOVED living in Jackson. Ali and I had SOOOOOOOOO much fun and made so many good friends. It was my first experience living away from home, and it was great. We were friends with many of 'the locals' who knew all of the fun places to go (waterfalls to jump off, beautiful hikes, lakes, hot springs, etc.) We spent most of our time with Ali's boyfriend, Jordan O'brien, and our friend Eric Johnson.
   Eric Johnson was a tall redheaded guy who was completely inactive when we became friends with him at the beginning of the summer. Not only inactive, but didn't like the church, and thought most of the people in it were close minded and snobby, etc. To demonstrate his attitude, here is an example of one conversation- he brought up the subject of faith, so I was explaining why I had faith in the gospel, and he responded by telling me that my mind was strong enough to make up feelings and make me think that I'm feeling the Holy Ghost. That was his attitude toward the gospel when we met. Well, he chose the wrong group of girls to be friends with, because by the end of the summer he was going to church every week, and planning on serving a mission! He did a complete 180 degree turn around, for the better! I think our group of friends really sparked the flame inside him- He tells Ali and I, that we are the reason that he went on a mission, the reason that he had a testimony, etc. Needless to say, it was a very memorable and rewarding friendship and experience.

   Living with Jackson with Ali was probably the funnest summer I've ever had. Ali and I dated a ton. The funny thing was, they happened to be all of the same guys. Here is how it seemed to work- Ali would get asked out first, (every guy in the ward was head over heels for Ali) then he'd realize that he didn't have a chance with her; so he would asked me out late that summer. I swear that happened with like six different guys. It was always fun to compare date stories and pickup likes after going on a few dates with the same guy. We had some good laughs about that.

Growing up years

This blog is my (Stacey's ) attempt at a personal/family history. It is written so that my posterity will gain a sense of who I am and/or was...i.e. my memories, values, goals, struggles, and testimony. I want my children and grandchildren to get a taste of what my life was like from my own words.

~Growing up

I loved growing up with a big family (I am the youngest of 8 children; 3 brothers, 4 sisters). It seemed like our house was always full, whether it was my older brothers and sisters' friends, neighbors, cousins, or just my own siblings filling the space. It became second nature to me to fight for the bathroom, protect my portion of dessert, and to be teased mercilessly by my brother Scott.

1 month

6 wks 6 months 6 months

9 months                                                         1 yr                                                  17 months
1 3/4 yr    17 months 2 yrs

3 yrs 4 1/2 yrs

Pre-school

Kindergarten

1st grade

6 yrs Grandma's 90th Mom's dance studio


2nd grade

3rd grade

Ben's homecoming

7 1/2 yrs

Dancing at Jeremey's wedding Hawaii trip 1997

Mom's dance class Baseball season

9th birthday

Warren Bybee's pictures

Can't remember why, but I was mad this day, so not smiling came naturally :)

Soccer & Volleyball teams

9th grade Kim Belnap, Annie Velasquez, Tonya Jacobson, Scott's Farewell; 8th grade
Michelle Wright, Annie Ryman, Ashley Riebeek

Girls Camp Drill Team 9th grade

~High School

Once it came time for high school, things became much quieter around the house. Ali and I were the only ones living at home because Dave, Ben, Ann Jill, and Katie were all married, and Scott was on his mission in Guatamala. At this time, Ali and I started to become much better friends and did a lot together- cheer leading, volleyball, friends, etc. However, around the time when I was a junior in high school, I remember thinking that our house had become so boring. I realize now that its probably because I'd relied on my family's companionship for so long, that when they were all off doing their own thing, I hadn't learned to create other outlets for myself. Luckily I learned quickly.
When I was a senior in high school, I was the only child living at home because Ali was in HI going to school, and Scott had gotten his own apartment in Pocatello after his mission. Things were pretty lame at times, but luckily I had some freaking awesome friends to keep me company... to name a few, Michelle Wright, Ashley Riebeek, Annie Velasquez, Kim Belnap, Whitney Mennear, Nate Call, Jesse Balls, Taylor Brown, Nathaniel Lammers, etc. My group of friends were definitely the 'Mormon' goodie-goodies, but I loved it! I fit in perfectly with them! On top of that, I was SO busy...from off the top of my head, these are the activities I remember being involved in:
Piano, piano, and more piano (My own senior recital, competitions, juries, tryouts, accompanying, etc)
Volleyball (Varsity team, Jr. year)
Cheerleading (Sophmore & Senior year)
Drama- (2 melodramas, and the costume mistress)
Student Counsel (Soph. class pres., Student body VP, & Student body Chief Clerk)
National Honors Society
4.0 GPA
Life Guard- Juniper Hills (3 summers in a row)
Key Club (We just went for the pizza they served during the meetings at lunch time:)
Jazz Band- (piano player)
Junior Miss (got 1st runner up and a lot of scholarship money)
Miss Pocatello (didn't win any money so it was a total waste of time and effort, but it was fun because I did it with Ali and met a few girls that I became friends with)
So that was high school for me. I graduated from Pocatello High School (Poky) in 2005.

Sophomore Year-