Time is Flying!

School has started and we're crazy busy. Zac is a sophomore and playing football. He is really doing well. It's fun to see him enjoy himself so much. Megan is now a freshman in high school. She is enjoying it, but thinks it way hyped too much. She is playing soccer on the JV team. She is having a great time. Camille is in 7th grade and loving it. She lives for school. She is also busy with soccer. Her team, the Storm, is playing in a premier league. That means half of our games are at home and half are in Portland. Between the girls soccer and Zac's football, we have 7 weekends in a row in Portland. I'm so tired of that drive! But they are all having a great time. Here are some pictures of the girls the first week of school.

Fun Times

August has been an amazing month. We celebrated both Megan and Camille's birthdays this week. Megan turned 14 and Camille turned 12. Both girls asked me to make them birthday cakes. Megan wanted a cake of Smurfette's Cottage and Camille's in the shape of a Converse tennis shoe. It proved to be more difficult than I had anticipated. After a collapse and a total remake of Camille's cake, I was able to finish it for her birthday. Megan's cake also was finished on time, but not the quality I had hoped. I was so sick of fondant that I just threw hers together. But they looked alright and tasted very good! Megan did not have an official party, but did have a few friends over to swim and have cake. After her 13th birthday, I don't host a party for them until they turn 16. But, with Camille turning 12, she had a party. Finding a theme for Camille's parties has always been difficult. She is just a unique girl. She always ends up with a swim party. Well, this year I heard about a place an hour from Grants Pass that has a zip-line course. That is so Camille. Well, Camille and 8 of her friends along with Megan, Kylee and myself headed out to give it a try. It was a blast! It was totally the perfect place for Camille! I haven't seen her have that much fun in a long time. It was worth the money, for sure. I just have to keep convincing William of that! Every year, Camille asks for the same things for her birthday. She asks for books, socks and candy. Well, she did as for a bookcase for Christmas. William and I were stumped as to what to get her this year. We found the perfect gift! We bought her an hour in a private plane with an instructor. She loved it! Camille is determined to join the Air Force and become a pilot. She has asked us for permission to join the Civil Air Patrol. She took William along with her and took her flight today. She had an instructor who allowed her to take over the controls at take off! She helped get the plane in the air and flew the airplane for the whole hour by herself. He helped her with her airspeed upon approach, but she landed on her own! She is in heaven! She has one hour of 40 down to get her license! Megan chose not to go and stay on the ground with me. For her birthday, Megan asked for a new set of scriptures. So, I bought her a new leather-bound quad with her name engraved, along with a super cute case. She was thrilled. She also got a lot of clothes, like usual! The girls are excited for school to start. I can't believe that Megan will be in high school and Camille will start 7th grade. They are growing up too fast! But, they are good girls and I am a lucky mom!

Lake Shasta

We just returned from Lake Shasta. We joined my sister Sara and her family for several days of fun and sun! Spending time on the house boat is always a lot of work, but so much fun! When we arrived, a friend from high school and his kids had joined Sara and Chris. It was fun to see him and meet his kids. He and Chris went home Sunday evening and William had to leave Monday for work. So, that left me and Sara and our kids for a few days. Sara assumed the role of driver and I, of course, was the flagger! There were 2 tubes, each could fit 3 kids. It was perfect, because we had 6! Three boys and three girls. Plus, they are all close in age to another, so that made it easy to balance the weight. There would be 2 girls and a boy on one tube, and two

boys and a girl on the other. So, Megan, Anna and Brad on one and Camille, Zac and Tanner on the other. Sara is one crazy driver and the kids loved it! On Wednesday, my brother Ed and his wife Bethany brought their 4 little ones down for the day. That was fun too! Thanks Sara and Chris (and Linda) for sharing your vacation with us! We had a blast!

Piano Recital

The girls had a piano recital a couple of weeks ago. They have only had a handful of lessons this year. With school and sports right after school, they need to have their lessons in the evening. I haven't been able to find someone who can teach then. Heidi, my friend and wonderful teacher has been very patient and flexible with them. Let's hope I can find someone for evening lessons!

Summer is Here!

Okay, it's been a while. Quick update on the family. Megan is officially out of middle school and will be a freshman next year. Gasp! She is excited to be out of 8th grade, but nervous for high school. She loved attending the 8th grade dance with her friends. She had a harder time this year.

It was especially hard with finals. The first week of school, many of her teachers told them that to keep ALL of their notes from the entire year because they would have to turn in textbooks 2 weeks before school was out, but that their finals would be the last week of school. Well, Megan was out of school for the first 10 days with her appendix, so she missed those little talks. So, as the year progressed and she cleaned out her notebooks, she tossed old notes. Well, finals came and she had nothing to study from. All of her teachers but one allowed her to copy chapters for the textbook. The one teacher that told her that this was a responsibility lesson gave her a study guide. But she had no book or notes to study from. So, for the first time she completely bombed a test and dropped her trimester grade by a whole letter. Megan had her first B on a report card with a 89.4. in that class. It was very traumatic for her. It meant that she was ineligible for the 4.0 club and any awards that come with that. She was so sad. Camille is thrilled to be done with 6th grade and now will not be the "new kid" in middle school. She is looking forward to 7th grade. She did very well in her math class. She had an A+ which thrilled her! She is very competitive and this particular class is an 8th grade math. She is excited to have Algebra next year and loves that in 8th grade she will have to attend the high school for her math class. Zac will be a sophomore next year. His first year in high school was challenging for him. I wish he would spend as much time on home work as he does on his social life. But he finished, I think, with mostly A's and B's. It was harder than he anticipated playing sports and balancing his classes. He missed a lot of school in the afternoons to travel with the basketball team. He missed a few of his core classes and had a hard time recovering. He is going to get all of his core classes in the morning next year (hopefully). William and I are busy as ever, with what, I don't know. His work is interesting right now. I am busy with the girls and all of the summer things. We are excited to go to Utah for Angie's wedding. She is Troy's youngest sister and the last of the Johnson's to marry. We are excited for her. Troy's cousing Andrea is also marrying a neat guy named Chris while we are in Utah. The whole family should be there. It will be a blast to see everyone from both sides of the family. Megan is looking forward to EFY and Camille is excited to attend her first YW Girl's Camp. Crazy but excited summer.

New Blog

Okay, in addition to my blog about the comings and goings of my family, I have created an additional blog. It's more like therapy. Here's the link www.weirdwalmartstories.blogspot.com

Read and share your stories, too.

I hope you enjoy.

A Week Away From The World

William and I just returned from our annual cruise to the Caribbean, sans children. We had a wonderful time. Our friends, the Huddlestons, went along too. This was our third cruise together as couples. William and I had decided that with the economy, we wouldn't take our trip this year. But, as time went on, and William becoming more stressed with work, I knew he needed to get away. Well, the only place that he can really get away is somewhere he has no cell service. There are no cell towers in the middle of the ocean. (I was unaware that ships now had them on board). We cruised the Eastern Caribbean, again. We have done that route three other times, but it is our favorite, next to Southern. We did switch it up again and try a new cruise line. We always cruise on Royal Caribbean, but tried Princess this year. Without going into detail, I can safely say that we will never try it again. Aside from the ship, we had a wonderful time. William was so relaxed. We loved

all of our stops, but especially enjoyed St. Thomas. We usually take the ferry across to St. John, but this time we tried a beach right on St. Thomas, Sapphire Beach. Heidi and I had

both heard great things about this beach. The snorkeling was great and it was very pretty. That island is always so clean. Most of the islands are so dirty. We did enjoy St. Maarten. We went to Orient Bay. It's a great beach with excellent food. It is on the French side. So, the beach was....interesting, but funny. We stopped in Tampa on our way out and back to visit my grandparents. When I took the girls to see them in February, William didn't go. He hasn't seen them since our honeymoon. We had a great time with them. We were gone for 11 days. We were extremely blessed that Troy's youngest sister, Angie, came and stayed with the girls. They loved it. Camille loved the fact that she looked like somebody. Angie has the same freckles all over as Camille. Everyone would comment on how much family resemblance they saw between them. Plus, their personalities are very similar. Megan felt a little out of place. She is very social and talkative, but found herself with two bookworms and quiet girls. She got to live a little of Camille's life for a while. When I am home, Megan and I are talking, a lot. It was good for her. We loved having Angie here. She is a great woman. I have to say woman because she is 25 now. Thanks Angie, for taking two weeks away from your life to spend with two crazy girls!