Who We Are September 14, 2007

We are friends and we are family. Please respond with a brief bio about yourself and how you are related to us. I’ll redo this section and post the bio with a photo of you.

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Susie:

Hmmm…I can’t really remember much of life pre-Yennifer–she’s been my best friend for decades (yes, plural!)–we grew up together on Malta Street and she’s managed to keep track of me even when I can’t quite find myself! I’m so happy and blessed to be part of her family! I just wish I weren’t so far awary–hopefully not for too much longer!

 

As for the basics, my name is Susie Nicholson-Dykstra. I’m in graduate school out in New Hampshire where I’m studying the cytoskeleton of lymphocytes. In my spare time, I play hockey (badly), and I live with 400+ Dartmouth undergrads as their Graduate Advisor. My favorite source of nutrition is coffee, and I’m trying to become non-nocturnal. And, notably, I have a very bad habit of writing terribly verbose sentences!

 

I’m psyched to be part of this again!

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Zach:

Hey again, Mixed up minds!!

 

It has been awhile but we are back together again!

 

Let me re-introduce myself. I am the incomparable Zach. I have recently turned 30 which used to seem really old to me but really nothing has changed with the slight exception that my farts seem to stink a bit worse now. I have been blessed with the most beautiful person ever as my wife, Jenn. I have 2 dogs that we treat as though they are humans and we all live in a great house that gets better with every project.

 

The rest of my life is a bit stressful and busy right now but it’s really no big deal when you’ve got everything I mentioned above.

 

Glad we are all back together and looking forward to keeping the lines of “mixed-up” communication open better this time. Talk to you all soon!

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Stacy:

Who is Stacy Morgan? This is a task that could be very difficult to achieve in full. Mostly I’m a silly girl that has a passion for working with kids and traveling. I have a habit of attempting to learn languages despite how much time and effort it takes me. I’m not exceptionally good at it, I just enjoy the challenge. As far as I’m concerned ducks, Switchfoot, peas, art, biking, Rice Bran and sunny days all go in the same category because I love them all! My boyfriend that I love so very very much is unfortunately in the Navy, but he still finds a way to be there for me everyday

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Ron:

We are friends and we are family. Friends are family. I am Rondad. That is to say I am Ron and Zachary and Cody’s father. Jenn says I should write a little bio so here goes. I was born in Colorado Springs, Jan, 26th 1949. Yep a long time ago. It was 17 below zero outside when I was born and I’ve been cold ever since. My parents were the best. Father passed away in 1974. My younger sister Carolyn and best friend growing up passed away 4 years ago. I miss her terribly. Lived a few years in California. Drafted into the Army. I served a tour of duty in Vietnam (1969-1970) with the 101st Airborne Division in the Northern part of Vietnam in the Ashau Valley. Very proud of my service and the 101st, they are now currently deployed and serving in Iraq. Came home OK from Nam and played 15 years in a rock & roll band playing our own original music. The best of times and the worst of times. Came back to Colorado in 1976 to raise horses in Summit County but got married instead, and thus …Zachary. Divorced, Married again in 1986 and walla…Cody. Divorced again but blessed with the most wonderful sons a man could wish for. Now I am an automotive service writer, which means I spend my day dealing with unhappy people. Oh well, it’s a living. I like to write short stories but would like to write a book someday while I still can. All of you in mixed up minds are terrific people. Stacy is a lovely young woman and just cracks me up. She can make you laugh just by scrunching up her face. She sings out loud to herself which I think is just fine. Susie is a most unique person whom I’m getting to know better a little at a time. Jenn’s best pal. She misses you a lot Susie! My sons are amazing young men, different in their own right. I’m so very proud of them and love more than words can say. Jenn is more than I could have hoped for for a daughter-in law. I love her dearly and I think we have become great friends and she has helped me become fairly competent on the computer which has helped me in my writing immensely and she lets me clean her kitchen when I visit which I actually enjoy! Anyway I don’t want this to go on forever so will cut it off here. Hey…where’s Hanna? I have a couple of pictures for you you might enjoy. Welcome back to Mixed up Minds everyone. This site looks great Jenn. Give the dogs a hug for me. Love ya all. Good-night and God bless.
Rondad

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Ryann:

Hello! I’m Ryann… and having a tough time figuring how to put myself into these odd characters we call words. I know most of you because I’m Cody’s girlfriend, have been for over a year now! Currently I’m a student at the U. of Nebraska on the D1 Women’s Rifle Team. In my spare time (haha) I like to dance in the rain, draw,laugh, travel and spend quality time with family and friends. Soy bilingue y yo quiero hablar en espanol con personas de estos paises. In the future I hope to live in Spain or Italy.

 

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Jenn:

I suppose we all have trouble with this section, but my husband has been giving me crap about not doing this, so here you go. I am the creator of this little blog and the one who tries to keep it up and running. I grew up in Colorado, living in the same house until I got married. Zach and I were married in April 2004 and now live in our house with our two dogs, Lexi and Guinness.

 

Last year I taught English and Journalism at Gateway High School, but I’ve gone back to my office job this year to allow me more time to pursue my master’s. I’m taking classes at University of Colorado at Denver and should have my master’s in eLearning in August 2009 (somehow I keep managing to have the same grad year as my little sis). As you might guess, I love computers and the internet world, which would be why I think blogging is one of the best things ever invented. I also love reading, cooking, photography (man, those seem cliche), taking the dogs to the dog park, hiking, gardening and I’m trying to learn to like running.

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Russ:

Hello everyone! What can I say? I’m just proud to be among such a good looking group of people.

 

I know most of you already, but I like the idea of getting to know the rest of you. I’ve been friends with Zach since our freshman year of high school–half our lives ago–and I think Zach acquired a video recently of us back then in the 1993 Smoky Hill Pops Show, in case any of you want a good laugh! Since then, I’ve grown up and out, but remain a kid at heart. After a failed career in music, for which I was mostly sustaining an income by temping in random offices around Chicago, and 10 total years in the midwest, I moved back to Denver last year. Since then, I’ve had the good fortune to hang and get to know a lot of you much more, and it tickles me to know such great people. Currently, I am in nursing school at U of Colorado and set to graduate in May. Because of this, my life has never been busier, and I have to apologize to all of you as I’m sure you miss my presence dearly Jenn, thanks for getting this together, and thanks for inviting me. It should be fun!

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Cody:

So I’m Cody, and if you were looking for the coolest, most amazing, and the best looking guy in all the land…well you found me!! Yay for you. Really yay for you. Just don’t tell ryann, she’ll throw down. Any way I’m me and me is awesome.

I like sports, movies, books, tv, and deep thought (abstract, what’s that?) hehe I crack myself up all the time over stupid things. Basically I’m a smart guy with a motivation problem until I started thinking about the marines. My goal after high school is to be either a scout sniper (preferable), recon, or infantry.

That’s me for now I guess.

Word of advice from me for ya:
live everyday with happiness in your heart and show it through your actions. Have a good moment each and every chance you get, you only get so many, and many of them are bad moments. Don’t waste your moments!!