Where Are They Now? — Karen Simons (Cox)

Woo Hoo! We are coming to the reunion! It has been so much fun, and sometimes emotional reading all your blogs. Thanks for posting and thanks to the my techno savey classmates that have created this site. I belong to such a smart class! :) I'm looking forward to our visit on Saturday. My daughter has basketball camp until Thursday, so we'll be traveling on Friday to catch the fun on Saturday!

Wow! 20 years has flown by. I can hardly believe it. So, for a little update . . . . .

After high school I went to CEU (College of Eastern Utah) in Price. Great experience of learning how to live away from home. I graduated and then returned home:-) to attend BYU. I graduated from there in 1993 in Elementary Education and was fortunate to find a job in Payson. I lived there for 2 years while teaching 3rd grade and then 1st grade. I absolutely loved it!

In 1996, I married my high school sweetheart, Mick Cox (PHS 85). He moved me to a small town in Eastern Oregon called Burns, where we have had quite a few adventures! :-) Burns is about 3 1/2 hours north-west of Boise, Idaho. I love being a school teacher and fortunately again I was able to find work at a great grade school. I taught 4th grade for 4 years and then moved to kindergarten 1/2 time when our sweet little Emily was born. Mick's work schedule was such that he could stay with Emily while I taught 1/2 day and they were able to have some great daddy-daughter bonding time. In 2003 we were blessed with another sweet baby, a son, James Michael and I left the public school teaching profession, for the stay at home mom profession, which I love! My children are the best and bring such joy to my life!

I imagine everyone has experienced many joys and sorrows in life and in 2004 I too experienced some terrible sorrow. My sweet husband passed away in an automobile accident. He was on his way home when his truck slid on ice, putting it into a spin and then rolling it several times. My heart still breaks thinking about it, however, I find comfort in knowing that families are forever, I know where he is and life continues after this. Some experiences sure have a way of putting things into perspective and helping align our priorities a little better. I have learned so much from this experience and it has been the greatest challenge I have ever faced, but we have been blessed so much during this experience. Thankfully, I was able to take over part of the business Mick owned and operated. I am the proud owner of The Oregonian Newspaper Dealership for our county. Really that's just a fancy way of saying I'm the "papergirl." It's not my dream job, but it is a huge blessing a this time in life. I work a couple hours a day, with my children along with me and have the rest of the day free to do as we need and have enough money to support our family. We really have a great situation and the community here is amazing! I've never been in a place where the people are so caring and loving and just wonderful! I love it here, but I can't convince all our family in Utah to move here, so we do have plans to make a move back. I'm not sure when, but I know when the time is right, the Lord will take care of everything and we'll be there close to family, which will be great.

As I said, we were blessed with two amazing children. Emily is 8 and is so smart and beautiful and so very helpful and just the best daughter ever! She likes to dance, read, play games and have fun with friends an cousins. James is 5 and is all boy! He is so much fun and makes me laugh all the time. He loves to run, jump, climb, wrestle, play anything and tease his sister. I can't wait for you all to meet them. They really are wonderful! I keep busy taking care of our family, mixed with gardening, scrap-booking, reading, learning while taking classes online, and teaching a few guitar lessons on the side.

I sure am looking forward to Saturday! I just hope my memory is sharp for that day! It has been 20 years! :-)