Heather Peel Mortenson

Since my parents moved back to California the day after we graduated from high school, I was somewhat of an orphan and moved in with my neighbors next door so I could go to school at the U of U. I was on the track team there for a year and then left Utah for sunny Southern California to work for my grandpa (and I actually missed the changing of the seasons that Utah offers so well). I went on an LDS mission to England London South from '91 to '92, and taught English to children in Russia in '94. A friend from my mission set me up with his best friend, Daren, and we got married in '95. Daren and I worked together in the lawncare business for six years, built the house we are in, and traveled a bit, while patiently waiting for children to come. We both graduated from the U in '97 (). Daren went on to graduate from law school while being a firefighter for Salt Lake City, so now he does both. We love to travel around with our family, either by car, bikes, or train. We have football and basketball season tickets to the U of U, and try taking the boys when we can--I have brainwashed Ben so that now, without hesitation, he will answer that his favorite color is red. (Though neighbors and ward members are trying to sway him to the dark (blue) side!) I love being home with our boys--oh the energy and imaginations!! I also still play soccer with friends from high school and I enjoy running--I'm getting ready to run my first marathon in May.

First off, I have to explain the elementary pictures below...they are from an ongoing discussion on the message board stemming from Mark Sanders putting Allyson Briscoe in a garbage can in 5th grade. If you want any more information, go to the message board and check it out. Anyway, high school was a blast from our sophomore year through graduation. I loved being involved in so many sports and made some lifelong friends there--though most of us were friends from even before high school. In fact, Teresa, Marcie, Jalynn, and I tracked down Jill (Sanduk) Barraclough, our coach throughout jr. high and high school, a few years ago and paid her a visit at Viewmont HS. Some of the most memorable times with friends were the summer before our senior year, when Teresa Schomburg was living with my family. We snuck out so many times that summer at night to go round up our gang-in-crime, aka: Michelle Duke, Joey Green, Brian Olson, Joe Frodsham, Derek Korth, JD Robinson, etc, to go play hide-and-seek in the graveyards or go pool hopping, (mailboxes) etc. It was great until my parents found out and we were busted in a big way. Our senior year was the best, living on Mountain Dew or Diet Coke (in the real bottles) and a Twix from the drive-thru for lunch, or skipping out on class to drive Joey's suburban through river beds and snow banks. Def Leppard, Bon Jovi...and I still love their music! Thanks to everyone for all the fun times!