the showers

Thanks for coming everyone, hopefully you all had a good time. I enjoyed getting to know a little more about Sarah & Milinda. I have some fun pictures from the showers that I will post tonight...but somehow I failed to get one with all the girls :(

my conversion to country music

I LOVE to go to concerts...any concert. I love the energy that comes from live music and hundreds of fans singing along. I used to hate country music, especially in high school, but I think that had to do more with the fact that we lived in Vernal and listening to country meant I was a "hick." While country still is not usually my number one choice, I've come to enjoy it a lot more. Greg loves Tim McGraw and for the last 4 years, we've gone to his concert every summer. Saturday night he performed at USANA, an outdoor amphitheater, which makes for an even more exciting concert. An awesome summer night, live music & my hubby...what more can I ask for?

Maybe a normal picture? It took 4 tries to get one where he was semi-smiling..struggle :)

sugar and spice and everything nice

Since Sam & Carrie don't have internet access, I'm posting their exciting news for them: they're expecting a girl! Although, Sam was supposedly a girl until the day he was born, so it's possible he passed on that tricky gene and it's really a boy?!? :)

Congrats Sam & Carrie!
With you two as parents, she'll be beautiful!

Mount Timpanogos

Greg and I decided to hike to Mount Timpanogos cave yesterday. It's about 3.5 miles and a 1200-foot elevation rise...WHEW! This picture was taken on our way back down the trail...you can see the road below, which is where we started. The view was absolutely beautiful and the caves were really cool. I didn't know this before, but there are three separate caves on Mount Timpanogos and you can take a tour through all three. The craziest part was that you could see 2 different fault lines inside the caves...danger! We had a good time, but I'm not going to lie...I'm a little sore today!

BIG SURPRISE!

Zach, Tori & Corbin
I put a surprise in the mail for you today! It should be at your house in 1 or 2 days, so check the mail!

one million strong to get caleb to join

This is a petition to get caleb to write on the family blog, i think everyone should join (Ryan)

I second!!! Caleb, seriously...don't be a hater! (Audri)

I Third It! I wanted you to expand on your Prom Story - let's see some pictures of that amazing limo you guys used. How much did it cost?!?!
Something ;) (Mom)

another day at a new lake

Do you remember when we were little and we caught all those crawdads at that lake and played on the rocks on the river that went into it? well i found that lake and we went there today. It was fun, i found a spot to jump off rocks and in the middle of the lake was a shallow part that we parked on and fished and saw about 20 enormous fish but couldn't catch any. Also i hit my arm on a rock when i jumped in and cut it up pretty bad. :( overall though it was a good day.

Kelly Update

Hey everybody,

Just wanted to let everybody know that I got a call from Kelly and he told me that he has been made a squad leader over about 15 guys. I guess this really doesn't do much other than give him the power of a Sergeant over the guys in his Squad while he's at Basic. He had told me a little earlier in a letter that they would be picking the squad leaders soon and he really hoped that he wasn't picked because he didn't want to have to baby sit 15 guys, but at the same time it would give him the right to knock some heads together. And there is an update on the Mail situation, he is now allowed to receive packages but the items you can send are very limited. No food what so ever of any kind, including gym. Nothing electronic, I tried to send him out a mini-tape recorded, but he wasn't allowed to keep it. No Medical supplies or drugs like Advil, Neosporin, or Ace Bandages. And basically they have to be small and useful items to him, which leaves almost nothing since he's not allowed to have a knife, and anything else he needs they provide.I am planing on going out to his graduation on the 25th, my plan is to fly out on the 23rd, be there for the family day on the 24th and his graduation on the 25th. He also says that he is almost positive that he will have a few days of leave, the 25-27th, since he is doing his AIT training at the same place as basic and doesn't have to travel anywhere. He will start his AIT training in the artillery unit on the 28th. I don't think that his "leave" will allow him to travel anywhere out side of the Lawton area, or allow him to stay off base over night, but his days should basically be free. If anyone else is interested in going to Graduation give me a call, I hate flying alone. From the research I've done tickets are about 350-400 per person, coach, round trip. And then a rental car will be about 300 for the duration I've stated above, and i haven't looked into hotels yet, I've been told that there is a way to get housing on the base but I'm having a hard time figuring out how. So we'll see. Please Write Him! He is craving letters and support.
As from me thank you with all your help, I'm doing ok. I miss him a lot, but there is a rumor going around on the bast that he might get to start calling home every day!!!!! But he told me not to get my hopes up, to which I replied that he shouldn't have told me then because of course I'm going to hope for that. But thats me in a nut shell. I'm working part-time up at the college tech-ing for shows, and looking for at least one more part time job if not a full time job. I hate job hunting with a passion, and have had several interviews but nothing concrete has come back yet. And since Kelly being on active duty means that there is more then enough to support me and pay for school next year I have to admit I haven't been terribly motivated to work my guts out this summer. I'm keeping myself busy though, and will continue the hunt. Again thanks for all of your help and support this summer. It means a lot to me.
Thank You.

Tadpoles

Ryan brought us some toad eggs that hatched into tadpoles. They are changing every day and it's fun to watch them and remember all the tadpoles we had as kids.

(POST BY SARAH)

True Loves Kiss

Tori brought me an apple today and said, "have a bite of this poisoneous apple." I took a bite and then pretended to be dead. Tori and Zach giggled. Finally I said, "only true loves kiss can wake me." Zach climbed up next to me and started to blow on my face, I didn't move. So he stuck out his tongue and licked my mouth. I freaked out and he busted out laughing!! He laughed for 10 minutes. Then we were all laughing because he couldn't stop. Tori sings songs from enchanted 24/7 and she and Zach pretend like she's Jezzel and he's prince Edward who has come to rescue her every day. They are so funny together. Enchanted is their favorite movie, Corbin's is Strawberry Shortcake and he starts jumping up and down when he hears it start playing.
(POST BY SARAH)

I just bought this

do you remember this movie? i just bought it!!! I'm so excited to watch it. This week is my week off so i'm excited to see you guys later in the week.

Kelly Letters

Here are the two letters we have received from Kelly (click on them and you'll be able to read them). The third letter is from the Office of The Seventy, it's pretty cool, made me cry though :( PLEASE WRITE HIM! Love you all!

Cafe Sabor

On our way home from the Family Campout Mom, Denny, Caleb, Greg and I stopped in Logan at one of my all-time favorite restaurants, Cafe Sabor...it was just as good as I remember...thanks guys for going with me! Cabes...you look so excited :)

Grandma Johnson

For those who don't know, Grandma turned 80! We sang Happy Birthday and had cake on Friday night at the Family Campout. Here's a picture from when she was giving her "speech." She wanted everyone to know that she was proud of and loved each of us...We Love You too Grandma!

on the lake

So last week when i was off we took sarah and her kids with us to steineker to boat around a bit. They loved it, everyone except zach who got really mad when we tipped over. We were doing doughnuts (sarah zach and i) and zach had a death grip on the back of my life jacket so when we tipped over i came up out of the water and he was still clung onto me. The whole ride back all zach could say was "that was crap" ha ha ha. Corbin wouldn't get off the wave runners, even when we were beached and playing in the sand he had to be sitting on them. It was a fun day.

Greg & Audri go to Vegas!

Greg and I spent last weekend in Vegas! We originally planned to go for the Kenny Chesney concert, but then decided to stay a few days and do a few more things. We saw Le Reve (which was incredible) and Phantom (I haven't listened to it forever, but I was surprised, I knew exactly what words were coming next through the entire show...guess that's what happens when you grow up listening to it...burned into memory)! We also went to the Bodies Exhibit (crazy but absolutely amazing) and the Titanic Exhibit (it was good....but nothing compared to Bodies). We spent all day Saturday at the pool, so I finally have a tan...whoo! Other than that we just walked around, ate good food, oh...and went to M&M World!