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Laura Haynie


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Laura was born in New York City and moved around a lot as a child because her Dad was in the military. She has worked at Best Friends since July 2009 and works in all classrooms. She has her Bachelors in Education and taught school in Texas for three years, and also taught in Kentucky for eight years. She used to coach athletic teams and coached younger kids in gymnastics from age 14-23. She was married in 1991 and has three kids, Nicholas who is 15, Haley who is 10, and Mandy is 5. She likes to scrapbook, sew, and read. She also likes sports. Her favorite thing about kids is their unique personalities. Kids have an unconditional love and are willing to have fun and try new things.




Birthday: February 22
Dream Vacation: Hawaii - in a beach house
Favorite Movie: Pride & Prejudice
Favorite Color: Purple
Favorite Childhood Memory: Always putting on performances with siblings for our parents. We would dance, sing, do tricks, etc. Traveling and seeing new things together was also great.










Ashley Clinger
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Ashley was born and raised in Salt Lake City. She has worked at Best Friends for about seven months and works with all ages. She graduated from USU with a bachelors in Family, Consumer and Human Development. She has two older brothers and was recently married in November 2009. She loves playing volleyball, watching movies and basically just having fun, hanging out out with her husband and friends & family. Her favorite thing about kids is that it's always an adventure working with kids! She loves how she learns so much and gains so much from teaching them, playing and loves to hear them laugh!




Birthday: April 19th
Dream Vacation: Anywhere in Europe
Favorite Movie: 500 Days of Summer & The Grinch
Favorite Color: Blue (Go Aggies!)
Favorite Childhood Memory: I love the fun memories I have when my family and I built our cabin. My dad bought the land when I was 6 and ever since then,, trips up there and having built an created the awesome cabin we hare now, it was a very hard but satisfying opportunity that I'm glad I shred with my family.










Ashley Rosser
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Ashley has lived in Utah for 8 years, and grew up in Wichita Kansas. She has worked here for about six months. She has a degree in Family, Human and Consumer Development. She has done several workshops at the University for her education. Her oldest child has Down Syndrome and she has a lot opportunity to work with families with kids and their development since he was born. She helped start the Cache Chapter of the Utah Down Syndrome Foundation, a support group for families with children with Down Syndrome. She has been married for eleven years to her husband, Johnnie. She has 3 children, Bennet is seven, Emery is 4, and Riley is one. She loves to read books and also loves history. She loves to collect pictures of design ideas and craft ideas that she can start but never finish! Her favorite things about kids is when babies discover new things for the first time. Also to watch their facial expressions and to watch them think about it in their heads whether they like it or not.




Birthday: September 21
Dream Vacation: I would love to rent a big RV and tour the U.S. See all the big cities and lots of small towns. I would love to visit all the historical places in the U.S and would love to take my kids to all the places their ancestors lived.
Favorite Movie: The Dish (it's Australian)
Favorite Color: Red most days. Other days I can't decide.
Favorite Childhood Memory: My grandparents had 40 acres in the Kansas countryside. We called it the "farm: but they only had a pony and a few ducks. The pony was mine and I would ride him all the time. He also had a buggy that I drove around. I would play in the pond, and the fields. There was a grouping of trees in one corner that was a 'magical forest'. My grandpa cut nature trails in the fields and a baseball diamond. We would have big parties and start a game or two. Forth of July was the best. We would have big parties and stay up late shooting huge fireworks. The kids would do the fireworks with our dads and everyone else would sit up on the dock and be out in the audience. Every night in the summer we would run around catching lightning bugs. My favorite part was pulling the glow part off and sticking them on my ears, then my ears would glow in the dark.










Mandy Gordon
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Mandy grew up in San Antonio, TX. She has worked at Best Friends since May 2008 and works with all ages. She is currently attending USU and am working towards her degree in Elementary Education. She is the oldest of 6 kids in her family and has been working with kids her whole life. She got married in December or 2009 to her husband, Dan. They had their first baby, a girl, in November 2010. She loves hiking at Zions and to read and write. She likes spending time with her family and friends. She also really loves movies. Her favorite thing about kids is that hey learn so fast. They are incredible! Kids always keep her busy and entertained. They're just so lovable


Birthday: March 3rd
Dream Vacation: I would love to go everywhere! Spain and Italy are high on my list.
Favorite Movie: The Emperors Club
Favorite Color: Green
Favorite Childhood Memory: One time my mom surprised us with a trip to San Francisco. We hopped in the car after dinner and she drove all night. We got to San Fransisco the next morning. It was so fun partly because it was spontaneous. My mom just took us in the middle of the school week. I will always remember this special trip that I took with my mom and two brothers.