new discovery & reunion

I recently discovered this blog...had no idea it was here...or completely forgot that one was started.  We are having a reunion in Utah on July 22nd (2013) at Riverton Splash pad if anyone is around and can make it...I would love to see you!

Froggy

Facebook Group

A counselor from another year found my blog post about Oakcrest today. She said that she started Oakcrest Facebook group.

Here is the link if anyone wants to join.

Also, on a sappy note... we read a scripture in sunday school the other day that made me think of you guys. It was Alma 17:2

"Now these sons of Mosiah were with Alma at the time the angel first appeared unto him; therefore Alma did rejoice exceedingly to see his brethren; and what added more to his joy, they were still his brethren in the Lord; yea, and they had waxed strong in the knowledge of the truth; for they were men of a sound understanding and they had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of God. "

It really made me happy to read all of your blog posts here and see you all still seem to have strong testimonies and that you are all going to church. If you have families it's neat to see your kids being raised in the gospel too. I really did "rejoice" reading all of your blog posts and it's fun to see Alma had similar thoughts. Love you girls!

Cascade (aka April Thorup Oaks)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Just taking down my Christmas tree and got a little sentimental thinking about that wonderful Christmas in July that we all spent together. Somehow these ornaments have always been a part of my tree.



I love you all and hope you had a great Christmas and a Happy New Year! Thanks for the Memories!!!
Ace

Forgot to put our Blog on here if anyone wants to check us out we're at http://robertstexastough.blogspot.com/

hadsomuchfun.blogspot. com

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

hadsomuchfun.blogspot.com

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

A Christmas card from VaVeeka!

Dear Friends and Family,

Yea! It’s Christmas! We love this time of year not because it is cold and snowy, but because it is so festive and jolly and the only time of year we actually look forward to getting our mail every day.

We’ve had a year of changes. Adam opened his own branch office of Academy Mortgage and began working exclusively from his home office which has turned out to be a great fit for our family. He loves that his commute is a flight of stairs and he can always be home for lunch. In fact after 8 months we have yet to think of any negatives about the arrangement. This new working situation gave us the freedom to move away from busy city life and build a new home in Providence, UT (right next to Logan in Cache Valley). We made the big move in September and absolutely love it here. Cache Valley is beautiful and the kids have adjusted well to their new school and friends. I enjoy volunteering at the kids’ school and try to keep the troops in line on the home front. I love being able to be at home with the kids every day.

Britton turned 7 in August and is in the 1st grade at school. He loves to read, play sports, and has just discovered Star Wars. He is tender hearted and very thoughtful and a lot of fun to be around. He is the first one up in the morning and never stops going all day long. He loves school and spending time with his Dad discussing very important things like college football and the BCS rankings. In a family with girls, they’ve learned to stick together!

Jenna is 5 and in Kindergarten and often declares, “no one loves school more than me!” She spends half the day at school and the other half playing with (and taking care of) her little sister. She is very nurturing and often surprises me by making my bed and getting Korinne dressed and ready for the day. She loves all things girly and already seems older than her 5 years.

Korinne is 3 and keeps us entertained. I’ve always said she has more personality than her little body can handle. Now that she can talk it is fun to see what comes out of her mouth. She loves to tease everyone like her brother, and dress up and play like her sister. She loves to keep Adam company while he works and enjoys going to stores with Mom. She loves it when the other kids are home, but has just as much fun when she’s got Mom and Dad to herself. She definitely keeps us on our toes at all times.

It’s been a great year for our family and we want to send our Christmas greetings to you all. We hope you have a great season filled with the true spirit of Christmas. Thanks for being a part of our lives!

With Love,
Adam, Hilary (a.k.a VaVeeka), Britton, Jenna and Korinne

This Saturday (Nov 8)

When we were at dinner the other night a couple of you said you were interested in digital scrapbooking. The free class I mentioned to you guys is this Saturday, November 8th from 10-noon in Sandy, UT. If any of you (Oakcrest '95 counselors) are interested in what I do I'll be happy to give you a couple CDs to try. I can ship them to you or you can pick them up at the class this Saturday. You can get more information on the class here: http://www.digitalscrapbookmemories.com/takeAClass.asp

Also, guess who I got to go to lunch with? J-Bird. How cool is that? She gave me a video to upload onto the blog. Unfortunately the computer I put it on has some problems so I can't post it just yet. Hopefully soon.

BOO

Sorry that the picture is a little blurry but we had such a fun Halloween week I just had to put in a little note! The picture is me with my little lion nephew, Dalton (my son) the vampire, my sister and my other nephew as the transformer Bumblebee. They were so adorable! I decided to throw together my witch costume and it was so much fun putting it together! It would be great to see others Halloween pictures. I hope you are all having a wonderful fall. The holidays are now on their way! Love you guys! Harmony

HOME SAFE AND SOUND

Just wanted to report that we made it home safe and sound. We touched down on Australian soil yesterday morning and I was so happy to see those familiar faces after going through customs. Thanks to the benefits of Benadryl Rylee actually slept most of the flight - yeah! So glad that we got to have dinner together. I was going to post some pictures, but there are plenty already.

Rylee and her daddy after a long time apart.

Do You Know This Song?

One of Sport's campers found my blog while googling the lyrics to an old Oakcrest song. This doesn't sound at all familiar to me. Does it sound familiar to any of you? Here are the lyrics she put in a comment on my blog:

I looked out over the mountain...
And watched as the fields and the valleys below ...
wake up to greet the sun in its morning glow...
listen in as the flowers seem to tell of the might that has come and gone....
People some are lost and trying to find the music and violen...
Slow down and on your way discover yourself there's a syphany within.

the 2nd part

falling rain brings a rainbow...
a heart is stirred and a child is told with the rainbow comes his prize of gold....
Men like children are searching but the untold path to rainbow is christ...
Its the light within mans eye.

the chrorus

then quietly I ask myself the beauty that I see is oh so simple men can't understand?

Baby Kate Warby

Now that she's more than a month old, I figured I should put a picture on. Katrien (Kate) Warby was born a bit early--September 8, 2008. She's doing well and we're so glad to have her.

(love Fuzz)

Getting Together

Olive Garden Atmosphere

These are the two pictures from my camera for our fun night out. It was so amazing to see those who were able to make it. I am sure the Olive Garden staff just loved us for the amount of time we were able to gab. I think they thought we would never leave!! Maybe we should plan an Oakcrest trip to Florida! I wonder if the sunshine state could handle all of us! =0) I know that Zazu would love it! Better yet, Let's go visit Mickey in Australia!!

Left to Right: Mickey, Flounder, Hershey, Twix, Spot, Twix's little girl, Harmony, Cascade, and Jazz'd

Thanks girls for the sweet memory! We have to do it again! Also, thanks for setting up the blog! This is an awesome way to keep in touch. It would be so great to hear from others who haven't posted yet or even more from those that have. You gals are the greatest!

Fun Stuff!

It was great to see so many of you last night. I loved that after not seeing most of you for 13 years that we could just pick up and chat the night away. Thank you Stacy for setting this up!!



Let's see... on the front row you can see Spot, Hershey, Mickey, and Founder. On the back row you'll find Twix, Cascade (me), Harmony and Jazz'd.

All totally fun cool girls. I'm totally impressed with our group. We are a strong group of people. Go Oakcrest!

Harmony is in the House!!

Hi Ladies!! It is so fun to hear what everyone has been up to over the years! After Oakcrest I went back to Snow to finish my degree.

1996-Graduated from Snow College

1997-1998 Served in the Australia Brisbane Mission

1999-Attended the U of U and taught gospel doctrine!! Yea...for four years!! =0)

2000-Moved Back to Henderson, NV to spend more time with my family. I ended up working for a hospital there as an Admisnistrative Assistant. I met my husband on Christmas Eve this year.

2001-Got married and continued to work at the hospital.

2002-Had Dalton and moved to Salt Lake City (My husband is a snowboarder and a speed skater. He didn't like the Las Vegas heat!!) This year was awesome because I was assistant stake YW camp leader! What a blast!

2003-Moved Back to Henderson NV. (So yea, my boss wanted me to come back and build a new hospital with him...so I did. =0) I moved in to the Teacher development calling at this point. I loved teaching this class!! It will always be one of my favorite callings! I got to teach it for three years so basically I taught sunday school for seven years! They wanted to keep me on my toes!

2004-2007 Pretty much a blur! Crazy work schedules, lots of fun family memories and more crazy work schedules. Then at the end of the year...you got it...moved back to Salt Lake City!! I am here to stay!!

Now I am working at the U of U part time and raising my little man. The picture on here he was trying not to smile! He is such a crack up and I love him tons!!

I am looking forward to being back in school to finally finish my degree! I am predicting that I will be graduating class of 2013! he he I am currently un-busy as far as church callings are concerned. My life has been a little unpredictable since April because of some trials with my marriage but all things are for our growth and learning.

I am looking forward to getting together with those that are in Salt Lake and all the rest of you will be greatly missed! Sure love you gals!!

Harmony

Hello from Thunder!

I've been meaning to post since Vaveeka first started this blog, but for some reason haven't had the time to sit down and do it. Here is a very brief run down of what I have been doing since Oakcrest and then you can check out my blog for a more detailed look at my life (if you're interested).

summer 1996--worked at Oakcrest again
1997-1999--mission in Marseille, France
Dec. 2000--married Jason Kemp
April 2001--graduated from BYU in Biology Teaching
2001-2002--worked at Independence High School teaching Biology
April 2002--son Britton was born (yes, Vaveeka and I both have a son named Britton, pretty random)
Aug. 2002--moved to Orem
2003-2005--worked at Landmark High School teaching Math
March 2004--daughter Haley was born
Aug. 2007--moved to China, taught math and science at Clifford Bilingual School
July 2008--moved back to Orem

Now I'm a stay-at-home mom and loving every minute of it!
It's so fun being in touch with so many again. Let's keep it going!

Aloha from Smiley!

Aloha from Oahu, Hawaii! This is "Smiley" or Sophie

1995-Went back to Rick's College (It'll always be called this in my mind) Met my hubby, Kelly, two weeks after school started. We worked in the cafeteria together everyday and talked the entire time about the people we were dating, studies, friends, family, etc. but I never considered seriously dating him because he was "just a friend" and I was dating two other guys at the same time. :) Well "Mickey" my roomie, kept trying to get me to consider dating him because he was (and is) such a sweetheart. I finally consented to go on a date with him when we were both in Salt Lake for the weekend. We went Ballroom dancing with his parents--quite a start. Long story short, we were married 11 months after we first met. We just celebrated our 12th anniversary. And they lived happily ever after...
1996-Finished at Rick's, went to Weber State in Ogden, son Elijah "Eli" was born 5 weeks early right after finals...
1997-1999-More Weber State
1999-2003--Case Western Reserve Dental School in Cleveland, OH (my hubby) I worked and took care of our kids Eli and Noah (born in April 2001).
2003-2004--Military payback for school scholarship, Residency in Colorado Springs,CO
2004-Nov., Daughter Eva Sophia born, moved to Germany after 6 Weeks!
2004-2006--lived in Wurzburg, Germany for 18months, toured all over Europe. That was an awesome experience, I can't wait to get back there. We're hoping to go to Vicenza, Italy in 2011 for another military tour of duty.
2006-Present--Oahu, Hawaii. We Love, love, love it here. It's definitely a nice place for the kids to grow and enjoy the outdoors. We're saving on travel--the beach is free! If anyone needs a vacation and a place to crash, we're here!
Hubby is in IRAQ, currently on deployment until November--yeah, it sucks.
2009--We'll be heading to Louisville, KY for Orthodontics residency until 2011.

My blog is Johnson Ohana, I'm still working on it.

COMING HOME FOR A VISIT!!!

Hey ladies. My husband - the best guy in the world - has worked it out so that I can come home for a visit. Since we don't have the benefit of a yearly trip home in our package from the company we originally thought we would just stay the whole time here in Australia. However, I think that he wants to keep me happy for the next year and a half so he has figured it all out. He is going to work from home for three weeks so he can get the two older kids to school and stuff. The baby, Rylee, is coming with me. I am so excited. I will be in Utah Oct 2-21. I was just wondering if anyone in Utah wanted to get together and do lunch or something since I missed the Oakcrest reunion. Let me know!!

Howdy from the great state of TX! Like Fuzzball, this is my first-ever blog. I have a myspace page but only so I can keep tabs on the YW in our ward. Think I'll take a page out of Cascade's book and do a year-by-year update of life after Oakcrest.

1995-You might remember that I had my mission call by the middle of the summer and was in the MTC just after Labor Day, on my way to Marilia, Brazil. So that's where I was for all of 1996 as well. I have to say that experience was the foundation of everything else to come.

1997-Returned from Brazil in March and within a week, had already had my first date with Christian, the handsome guy pictured as Mr. Incredible here. (This was at a ward "Fall Festival" in 2006.) Since I had was at USU and he was at the U, we did a lot of long-distance dating, which was fine since we grew up only 2 blocks from each other. We were engaged by Father's Day and married 2 days after Christmas.

1998-Student taught at Skyline HS and then started teaching math at Kennedy JHS.

1999-Chris was accepted to Baylor Law School in Waco, TX, so I got a job teaching at a great 3A high school there. Despite anything you may have heard about Branch Davidians, Waco is a great place. We loved our 3 1/2 years there as he earned his JD and MBA.

2000-2001-Got involved as a sponsor of the student council, which led to lots of conventions and after school fun such as planning Homecoming and Red Ribbon Week.

2002-Our daughter was born. I only had to finish out 7 weeks as a working mom. We headed to Dallas and Houston for summer law clerk positions.

2003-Chris graduated, passed the bar, and we moved to the Dallas area. Our first son was born 5 days before we moved into our brand-new home. If you're ever traveling I-30 through Dallas, you'll pass within a mile of our house.

2004-We settled into our current life, learning about the ups and downs of homeownership. I served as the HFPE leader, which enabled me to quickly get acquainted with people at church.

2005-Same old thing....except now I'm in the RS presidency over HFPE. Had fun doing Joy School for my daughter and other preschoolers in the ward.

2006-Second son was born and I get called to Primary. What a blast! Chris got a new job as in-house counsel at a regional bank headquartered in Dallas.

2007-I question the wisdom of our bishop in calling me to be YW President. It consumes my life. A definite love-hate calling. It was a blast to go to Girls Camp and I caught myself thinking frequently about Oakcrest. Did the Joy School thing again for son #1.

2008-Here we are. Adore my family, hate the housework. Love spring and fall in Texas, loathe these humid, triple-digit days of summer. It only snows about once a year, which is fine. Hate the ice storms, though. Enjoy jog/walking with the boys after we do the daily school carpool. Lately we spend a lot of time at the neighborhood pool, which is where we're headed in 6 1/2 hours, so I'd better get some sleep.

--Jen "Indigo"

This is for you, Ace

I found my picture of Ace imitating a very memorable camp "incident". Ahh, good times.

On a side note, I LOVE being a stay-at-home Mom, but there are days when this picture pretty much sums up how I'm feeling. Ha Ha

Wow! It is great to hear about everyone and see pictures! I guess we’ve all grown up, I am happy to be in company of such great women!

It's me Ace aka: Emily Gilman Roberts.

Quick update on me. I served a mission from 96-98 in Honduras, Tegucigalpa. Came home, met and married Brad Roberts in 1999. Had first child Benjamin and graduated from BYU in 2000. Worked as a Nursing Home Administrator for 4 years during which Jacob (2001), Audrey (2003), and Eric(2005) were born and Brad graduated(2004).
I then began my life as a stay at home mom. We moved to Amarillo, Texas in 2006 where Brad works as a network administrator for a hospital here. Since we arrived here we have added Stephen (2006) and Samuel (2007) to the mix. They are Irish twins being born just 364 days apart.
So that is mostly what I have been up to. I’m tempted to try and get pregnant before the end of 2008 just to have been pregnant in every year since 1999 making it a full 10 years, but I think I may need a break! For those of you who are counting, yes, that's 5 boys and 1 girl. We love life and enjoy raising our kids here in Texas. We’re right on I-40 if anyone is ever traveling through!

Most recent family picture from Ben's Baptism last month

Back: Brad, Stephen(19 mo), Emily and Samuel(7 mo)

Front: Eric(4), Audrey(5), Ben(8), Jacob(6)