Friday, August 29, 2008

Matt Orton


Greetings from the Pacific Northwest;

Thank you Angie and Shanda for putting this together. It is so good to hear from everyone and how you are doing. I miss our Jerusalem experience and those Sunday field trips.

After graduating BYU I was recruited to work for Boeing in Seattle, WA in procurement and I have never left since. I had never been to the Pacific Northwest before, but fell instantly in love with it. I love the fact that you can be at the beach along the ocean one minute and in a short drive you can be at the top of the mountains in pine trees and glaciers the next. Everyone is invited to come and visit at mro38@hotmail.com.

My wife and I had both already graduated from BYU and were working when we first met. I was in WA and she was working in SLC. I was able to convince her that WA was better than UT and we were married that next year in November 2002. We have since added Seth to our family who is a busy two year-old and we recently found out that # 2 will be joining us in March 2009. More photos are available at: http://allaboutortons.blogspot.com/

Jerusalem was such a defining moment for me. So many great memories. It is my goal to one day go back and visit with my wife.

Keep those posts coming and if anyone has some good Fall Jerusalem 99 photos they want to share, lets see those too.

Matt Orton

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Jennifer (Longmore) Bryce



After Jerusalem and graduating from the Ricks College Nursing Program, I worked in Provo at Utah Valley Hospital for a year. I then served a mission to Guatemala where I was the mission nurse in addition to being a regular missionary. After my mission, I returned home to Idaho Falls where I worked as a labor and delivery nurse for two years. After that, I decided to teach English in China through the ILP Program and ended up with Desiree (Harrison) Funk as my roommate. (She and I only kind-of knew each other in Jerusalem, then randomly ended up as roommates in China a few years later. What are the chances?!) After that semester, I returned to Provo where I met my husband, Jefferson Bryce. He had just graduated and helped start a company that does online reservations for bed & breakfasts. That was fun because until we had our first baby, we got to do some traveling and stay at some fun bed & breakfasts. We now have two girls. Hannah is almost two years and Leah is two months. We live in Payson and love it here!
I attached a picture from Leah's blessing, but we also have a blog with lots of pictures. It is www.jbrycefamily.blogspot.com. Hope everyone is doing great!

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Linda Gregersen


The last 10 years of my life have been unusual, not exactly what I expected, but adventurous and educational, so I can't complain!
Shortly after Jerusalem, I graduated BYU, and went to Spain for a couple of months to work as a nanny on an organic farm on a little island called Mallorca. There, I discovered a passion for everything organic and have since become a bit of a health freak/new age hippie. (I still bathe, though, and shave my armpits.) Over the last few years, I've been traveling to Costa Rica during the winter to cleanse/fast and practice yoga at a rustic little jungle resort on the Nicoya peninsula. If you'd like to check it out, visit www.sunvacation.org. I'm going to be there from December to the end of February this year, and anyone's welcome to come for a visit! I'm including a few pics to tempt you. :)

Traveling has been a big part of my life over the years. I went to Africa a few years ago and did a humanitarian trip with a great group of folks. We helped build a school in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya. That website is www.reachthechildren.org if anyone wants to know more about that organization. We visited orphanages, went on a safari and worked very closely with the locals. They were beautiful people. I highly recommend going over. I've since been volunteering with the African refugee community in Salt Lake. I didn't realize there were so many of them here. It's kept me pretty busy.

Currently, I live in Salt Lake. I've been into real estate investing for about 8 years now....had a business with a partner buying, fixing and selling houses back when the market was good for that. Now, I have a few rentals, and I sell properties locally as an agent. I live not far from downtown in a my own little house with a garden and really crappy grass I can't seem to get green. Any ideas?

I'm not married or divorced; no kids, but would like to start on that path. Until then, I have a the sweetest little dog who I spoil rotten and love like a child. :) He's so much easier than a child also. Is it really necessary to upgrade, I wonder? lol. I did get laser surgery on my eyes many years ago, so if you remember me with black rimmed glasses, they are no more, and my hair's gotten quite long. Other than that, you should recognize me!

I hope you are all well. I look forward to hearing about your lives and seeing your pictures.

Wishing you the best.

Linda Gregersen