Alisa (Anderson) Owens

I met my husband, Brian, through friends shortly after we graduated, but we didn't really start dating until several months later. He graduated from Madison (oh the rivalry!). The fall after we graduated I moved to Twin Falls and went to 1 semester of college there. I decided I didn't like it, so I moved back home and went to another semester at ISU. While I was going to ISU, I started working at the private airport in Jackson, WY, part time. It was so much fun that I started full time after the semester ended along with Lindsay McLain, who we also graduated with. Who wants to go to college when they can meet famous people?? It was truly the best job I've ever had, and the people we met were awesome. Harrison Ford, Tommy Lee, David Letterman, the Vice President and Secret Service guys, just to name a few.

Brian and I eloped and got married under the antler arches in Jackson's town square on October 12, 2002. We had a "public" wedding in August of 2003. Braeden joined us in July 2004. He is so fun! Cutest little boy ever. McKinley was born in March 2007. She is our miracle baby. At our 20 week ultrasound we found out that she has a VERY serious heart defect called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS). My doctor in Idaho Falls told us there was nothing they could do for her and she would live at most 2 weeks after she was born. Fortunately he also sent us to Primary Childrens Medical Center in Salt Lake for further testing. We are SO grateful for the doctors there! We quickly learned that, not only WAS there things that could be done for her, the hospital had been very successful in helping this babies lead fairly normal lives. To make a LONG story short, she was born in Salt Lake and had her first open heart surgery at just 25 hours old. She has since had a second open heart surgery, as well as an intestinal surgery. McKinley will have hopefully just one more heart surgery, between 3 and 4 years old. You would never guess by looking at her that there is anything wrong. Baby Emerson (our surprise baby) will be joining us ANY day, hopefully sooner rather than later!

We are currently living in Rexburg, but we're building a house in Rigby. It's ALMOST done! It's been a LONG experience (we've done everything ourselves) but it's worth it!