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!

Spring Break in Utah

We had a wonderful time in Utah last week. We started the week at my sister Stacey's home. It was my nephew's birthday. Hayden turned four. It was a ton of fun. We went to Boondock's and a place called Jump-on-It. It was a warehouse filled with trampolines. Camille was in heaven! I will try to get photos from Stacey and post them. I was able to have lunch with a dear friend, Julie. She and her husband were in the same ward and me and Troy. We met when Megan was just a baby. I was so happy to see her. We also had the opportunity to have dinner and go bowling with our friends Tana and Craig Davis and crew. They lived in Medford when I moved home. Tana was my Visiting Teacher. We became good friends. They left Medford several years ago and are now settled in Heber City. They are a great family. Our kids are around the same ages so they all had a great time! We went skiing on three days. One day with Matt, another with Jonas and the final day with Shera and her family. It was a blast. The snow was perfect. Troy's parents arrived from the D.R. Thursday night. They came a few days early to see us. They needed to be in Utah for General Conference and meetings this week. We were so happy that they came early to see us! We had such a great time with them. Shera's family and our family, stayed in Grandma and Grandpa's new house. There was plenty of room for all of us, and a little more. The kids enjoyed spending time and playing games with them.

I love it that the girls get that time with Troy's family. It was especially good for Camille. She really needed to feel like her dad was a real guy and not someone I just tell her about. Being with his family and seeing his pictures all over the house, helped her feel like she has roots. We spend Saturday on Temple Square and at the History Museum. We had a great time! Saturday evening, the girls, Troy's mom, Angie and I all went to the General Young Women's Conference. It was wonderful! We were sitting very close (thanks Pop for the great seats!). The girls could see everything. They were both so excited to see the YW leaders and the Prophet. The meeting was fantastic and the girls really enjoyed it. Megan is so hopeful that the YW

in our ward will do a hike and "unfurl their banners for

Virtue". Anyway, we drove home to Oregon on Sunday, after 9 days in Utah. We were sad to leave everyone. Time went too quickly. I am excited to go back to Utah in a couple of months when Stacey has her baby! It will be good to see everyone again and those that I missed.

Our New Family Member

I suppose it's time for an update. I am sure it will be long, so be patient! I have been so busy doing nothing. At least it feels that way. We got a new puppy. I am crazy, I know! His name is Jasper and he is the same breed as Simon. His mother was a cockapoo and his dad was a poodle. He was the smallest of his litter, like Simon. They both look very different from a traditional cockapoo. He has been a good friend to Simon. They love to play and run around. It has really helped with Simon's level of excitement. Jasper, for the most part, has been pretty good about house training. It is work, but he is getting better. My brother, Robert, helped me to find Jasper. Cockapoo's are hard to find here. Especially because I wanted a small, under 10 lbs as an adult, dog. Megan and many extended family members have allergies to pets. Cockapoos are wonderful for that. They do not shed and are hypo-allergenic. They do not have fur, they have hair. We found him at a breeder about 4 hours away. She was kind and met us half way. Simon really responds to Megan the best. He sleeps with her every night and waits for her to come home from school. Around 3 o'clock everyday, he goes to the garage door and jumps. He knows it's time for me to leave for the school. Camille was felt very rejected. Zac has Max, our cat and now Simon only wanted Megan. Well, William came home one day after seeing a puppy and

told me how we should get one. I adamantly refused! But, I saw the look on Camille's face when she called for Simon and he ran past her to reach Megan. She now has the pleasure of taking care of Jasper. She has been very good, except the one night she slept through his whining and needed to go out. That was a fun one to clean. Ugh, she slept through that as well! She must have been very tired. Megan has started track again at school. Last year she ran the 3000 meter. She didn't know what it was when she signed her name for the event, but it sounded fun. When she realized it was 8 1/2 laps, she cried. I remember to well the first few meets when she would cry and beg me to let her quit. But, by the end of the year, she was able to finish the race in under 13 minutes. That was her personal best. I was very proud of her. She started the year at 17 minutes, (she walked a lot). Well, this year I asked her what even she signed for, and she said the 3000! She was excited. She explained that she was in the best shape for soccer last year and had better endurance. She knows that speed is not her best event, so she went for distance. She even had a couple of friends convinced to run with her! What a difference a year makes! Now, the hard part has been finding good running shoes for a girl with small feet. Kid's tennis shoes are not designed for long running and adult shoes are very hard to find in size 5 women's. But, with many hours on-line, I was able to find a good pair of running shoes in her size. I know this will help her knees feel better. (thanks shera). Camille just finished basketball. She was on nice team that struggled. They lost in the playoffs, 27-28. Camille had 16 of the points. She did well, but it's a little embarrassing. I wish they would make a play around someone else! Too much pressure for her. She feels it too deep. But now that basketball is over, soccer has begun! Both girls are excited to start the season. This will be Megan's last year in soccer. She has decided to not play in high school. Her course load is very heavy and she doesn't think she can do both. I am a little sad, but I know that in the long run, it's the best. She loves playing but is kind of over the competition. She has traveled with her team for 4 years and just wants to play for fun. Zac just finished up his basketball season as well. His team really struggled, but he had fun. It was fun to watch him play in a high school jersey. I hope he will play next year too! In a couple of weeks William and I are taking the kids to Utah for spring break! We hope to ski for 2 or 3 days, spend time with my family and just have fun. Near the end of that week, Dan and LeAnn will come from the D.R. and we will get to see them for a couple of days. The kids are so excited! We were planning to spend much time with them in July, but it's not looking so good. Both girls have Girl's Camp the second week of July. We were hoping Megan would get into EFY the last week of July. If so, we could head to Utah just after camp and spend time with them before she went to EFY, but she was accepted to a date in August, the 10-16th. We'll just have to see how it works out! Okay, that's enough rambling for a while. Time to take Jasper outside.

Home Again

The girls and I just returned from an amazing visit with my grandparents in Florida. My father's dad and step-mom. They were married when my dad was in high school, so she is my grandma. She is amazing. My grandpa was a B-17 pilot in WWII and spent about a year in a POW camp in Germany. He had a stroke when he was 49 years old, just six years after he married my grandma. His stroke left him paralyzed and his communication has been difficult. She has cared for him for the 40+ years they have been married. She is an incredible woman. She loves him so much and takes such sweet care of him. A couple of years ago, he had another stroke, this one leaving him too weak to be at home with her. So, he is living in a VA facility in Tampa, Florida. She visits him and takes him clean clothes everyday. He is able to come home and spend the day with her, in their home, on Saturdays. We had such an amazing visit with them. What wonderful peoplee. I have seen them only 3 times since high school. Our communication has decreased since my dad died. My sister and brother's and their families, along with my mom, all flew to Tampa to spend some time with them. The girls and I stayed the whole time in Tampa and spent everyday with him. He is in a wonderful facility. I was worried and scared about him being in a "nursing home", but this particular facility is gorgeous. It is a VA campus located on the bay in Seminole. He looks out his window and can see the bay. The facility is very well cared for and maintained and so clean. It was touching to see how the nurses care for him so kindly. This particular facility

is for "short term" rehab patients, but because he is permanent-disability and a former POW, he gets to stay there.
While we were in Tampa, the group decided to para sail. And yes, I went too. Even Camille and Megan tried it. It was a lot of fun. The girls had a great time playing at the beach with their cousins. So much fun! We had a wonderful trip, (except the flights home). I am so blessed to have grandparents this wonderful. I can't wait until William and I will see them again in April. The weather was perfect! What a pretty place to be.

I am taking a cake decorating class. It is so much fun, but I am not very good. A sweet lady from church is teaching the class in her home. I go once a week. It's really fun. Today we learned to make flowers on a flower nail. Let's just say that you couldn't tell what type of flower I had made. I have enjoyed shopping for new tips. The class does not cover working with fondant, but I wanted to try it anyway. For my first time, my cake turned out okay. I need to get some pointers from anyone who has worked on it before. It just looks so pasty and dry. Is there a trick to keeping it shiny? My hands are sore from kneading in the color. Ugh, I didn't know it was so hard at first. I have a hard time piping straight lines and writing, especially today. I am always a little shaky, but today it was a little worse than normal. Normally, in the course of my day, my shaking doesn't' really interfere. But, when trying to make a small straight line with icing, it was really bad. I had intended to outline the dots with white royal icing, but I couldn't do it. Even my small dots today are a little bumpy. Oh well, I guess Fondant was made for me. Maybe, if I continue to work in my fine piping lines, I will be able to compensate somehow. I have been baking a lot. The kids love it! Only because they each have a high metabolism! It has been so much fun learning something new. Maybe by the time the girls birthdays roll around, I will be able to make a gorgeous cake! Other than that, everything else in Oregon is moving along. The girls are doing well in school. We are excited for our upcoming trip to Florida. The girls and I are going to visit my grandfather. He is a having a hard time and the girls haven't seen him in nearly 8 years! William and I saw him about 5 years ago. We leave on the 10th of February. I would love any tips on fondant! Send them my way!

Has it been that long?

Time is flying by so quickly. I can't believe it's been so long since my last update. I will give you a quick run down of the last month. New Years has come and gone. I can't even remember what we did that night. Oh well, I am sure it was fun. We have been skiing/snowboarding a few times. William and Camille ski, Zac snowboards and that left me and Megan. I have skied on and off since high school and Megan has skied just a few times. She wanted to try snowboarding and I agreed to try with her. I will just say this, I have never been so sore! For a girl that picks up most things fairly easily, this was a tough one. I may have done better if Megan had not been with me and I had been able to just worry about myself. I spent several hours on my rear. So, the next time we went, I was back on my skis. Megan stuck with snowboarding and is doing very well. It has been a lot of fun spending the weekends together. The weather has been gorgeous. But,we need more snow! The girls don't have school on Friday, maybe the three of us will go ski a half day. Life is busy and fun. Yesterday, William and I spoke in church. Megan was the youth speaker. It was the first time, since I was married to Troy, that I had been asked to speak in church. We have been in this ward for 6 years. I have made it nearly 10 years without having to speak! I was more nervous than I could have imagined. So strange for me to be nervous about talking! I think it went well. William gave a beautiful account of his conversion. I was so proud of him. It was like he spoke in church often. Megan gave a wonderful talk on this year's Mutual Theme and what she can do to embrace it.

I am anxious about the inauguration tomorrow. I hope everyone is safe. My nephew, Brad, is attending it with a student group. He and Megan are the same age. I am so excited for him to have this experience but pray that he is safe. I am sure he will have a fantastic time!