Back to School (with a little bit of Pirate Pride)

I don't have a back to school picture of Erin yet because she doesn't start until next week. But, I do have the other kids. And oh how happy Josh was to have yet another picture taken of him.


Abby and Emma lining up for class on the first day. Emma has done so well so far! 3 days in a row of staying all day. Whew. I know that sounds pathetic but it's HUGE progress after how last year ended.

This picture is for all those alumni that had to do the Pirate hook and "argh." Tasha came home from school after the first day and said she already had homework. She needed a picture of herself for one of her classes. So we took some pictures. Too fun. For someone that is a Wolverine thru and thru, I'm seein' some Pirate pride in her (maybe it's the giant C she is standing next to).

SwEeper or KeEper?

On the first day of school, the kids usually have to write a paper of some sort about what they did during the summer. Josh tells me that will be easy for him: soccer. In the past, summertime has been "off season" for Josh. But, this new team he is on doesn't ever have "off season" time. They've been doing 60 minutes of drills on their own 6 days a week, two team practices a week, two tournaments in the last 3 weeks and several scrimmages with the other USA team. What makes me laugh is that this doesn't seem to be enough for Josh. What he does during his "play" time is play soccer with his friends outside, practice shooting at the net my dad made him or plays FIFA 2010 on the PS3. He and Logan have been "working on their skills" together lately and the other day Logan brought over his Ipod touch. Josh discovered FIFA on that and insists that he now needs an Ipod touch. Oh, and I mustn't forget FIFA on Facebook.

Don't people say that too much of anything is not healthy? I absolutely feel that way - except in this case. Josh knows how to balance things. We had a 10am game Saturday in the semi-finals of the Adidas Tournament. It was an amazing game and the second half our team played like it was the World Cup. However, we lost 6 to 4. The first half, Josh played sweeper. Sweeper is the center defender. He is in charge of the defensive line. It's his job to move the line up, communicate with the other defensive players and by all means, clear the ball from the box. Well, Josh ran his guts out and had a beautiful slide in attempt to clear the ball. But, he was 1/100th of a second too late and the other team scored. Then, during the second half of the game, Josh played Keeper. This is by far his preferred position. Today was not his day. He let 3 in. Nevermind the fact that he had that many saves as well. It was the 3 that got in that haunted him all day. So (back to balancing), in order to pull himself together and clear his head, he came home and showered and then read a few chapters in Harry Potter. Can a mom complain? Really. Nothing kills a mom more than when their child gets upset over something. He had his grumpy time, but then he got on with it.

I don't often blog about my Josh. As I've said, his life consists of nothing but a whole lot of soccer. But, this summer has been full of proud mama moments for me. He deserves a post all to himself once in a while (he hates it when I blog about him).

Shush It

For those that already know, I apologize. For those that had no idea, I apologize. For everyone else - IT'S OFFICIAL! On July 29, we met with a judge at the Third District Court in Salt Lake City and finalized the adoption for Tash. We were all a little nervous - unsure of what the judge was going to say and ask. She asked each one of us if we understood what we were doing and what it meant. After hearing our 30 seconds worth of "testimony" the judge was a little teary eyed. Then, she congratulated us and sent us on our way. It has been awesome having Tash a part of our family. She has lived here for five months now, but now she is officially Natalia Marie Johnson. It's been amazing having her here, but now she honestly is part of the family! How cool is that? Welcome to the family, Tash! We love you more than words can say!

500 Days of Summer

July has been busy busy busy! I have been wanting to sit down and get caught up for a while, but haven't had 2 minutes to spare. I always feel a little guilty saying that I am as busy as I am because we are all busy with our own things, but my goodness (sigh)... this post is proof. I know I'm cramming a lot into one post, but since this is my form of journaling/scrapbooking, I gotsta get it all down before it's too late.

July 3: Farmers Market at Pioneer Park, Magna Parade, BBQ, Fireworks in Magna

Emma, Alyssa, Hanah and Erin at the Magna Parade.

back row: Josh (trying to pretend he's not going to be in the picture), Tasha (pretending she didn't just throw the candy back at the princesses in the parade), Jer (trying to decide whether to "be the parent" with Tash or laugh at her).

July 4 Church, meditate, ponder (I don't really remember doing anything spectacular or worth blogging over, but it was the actual holiday so I thought I should give it some attention)

July 5 Neighborhood BBQ

Good friends over for good food. Jer made 4 racks of ribs, 2 dozen pieces of chicken, 2 tri-tip roasts and a dozen hot dogs. He also makes his own bbq sauce. There was 1 piece of chicken left and a dozen hot dogs. Everyone brought a side dish (which I am grateful for - I love frog eye salad and I never have it 'cause I don't have the know how or the patience to make it myself). Thanks everyone! We will plan on next year and hopefully Hendricksons can be here.

Erin and Ashlyn (BFF)

I had to get a picture of the hungry adults. This is one, this is two, this is three, this is a polar bear, how many igloos? I'm so confused.

July 13 Jordan River Temple with Tasha

For several years, Tasha has gone with the youth to the temple. But, she wasn't a member so she always sat in the waiting room. She was finally able to go down to the baptismal font and participate. It was awesome to see her there in all white. Jer baptized me and then Tasha and the cute temple workers allowed me to stand on the stairs and watch her. It was an emotional night for all three of us. Love you, Tash.

July 16 - 18 A weekend at the cabin

Hot dogs, marshmallows, twinkies....

While sitting around the fire, Tasha decided to do my hair. I could "feel" the craziness. Then we went inside and she did my make-up. When she started wiping mascara on my forehead, I knew sexy wasn't the look she was going for. When I saw the pictures, I realized I was a "Cat" straight off Broadway.



The highlight of the kids weekend at the cabin was the zip line. Our next door neighbors happen to be family members and since the last time we were there, they made this little ditty. Rather entertaining.



July 19 - 21 Youth Conference at USU
Yah, you read it right. We got home from the cabin Sunday night and Tasha and I left Monday morning for Youth Conference. Crazy, but so worth it.

Alyssa, Tasha, Brielle waiting for Alex Boy-yay (an amazing keynote speaker from the MoTab). We were spoiled with eight amazing speakers during the two days including Greg Simpson and Alex Boye.

This is Tasha still daring to admit she is with me after a night of dancing. I know I am 35 years old and one of "the leaders" but I love to dance!!! So the youth in our ward tolerated my moves.


Yep, that's as high as I went. But, at least I tried. I've never been one for heights. I was doing fine until Jackie told me to stop so that she could get a picture of my cute toes on the rock wall. As soon as I paused, I realized how high I was and that was that.

This is the group from our ward that went to Youth Conference. We had five leaders and twenty youth. I couldn't ask for a better group. I was the only leader from YW that went with our ward and I couldn't be more pleased with them. It's always great to rub shoulders with the great leaders too. I always feel like I have so much to learn from them.

July 23 Lagoon

Jer and I have felt like our kids have been carted from one thing to the next all summer, but none of it has been just a fun family summer activity. So, on a whim, we decided to go to Lagoon. I knew Cari was there on Friday so we were hoping to play with her, but she didn't last long (Lagoon isn't fun when you are going off a 3 hour night). The kids drug Jer and I around for 8 or 9 hours and when they realized they had gone on every ride in the park, it was time to go.

July 24 Pioneer Day
I'll be honest. My favorite thing to do on Pioneer Day is go to Spanish Fork for all the small town festivities. But, this year, I was worn out from everything else and opted to not wake up the kids and cart them down there. Boring. And, kind of nice, actually.

July 25 My Anniversary
14 Years, 7 moves, 4 kids, 6 cars, 2 lawnmowers, 2 toasters, 6000 loads of laundry....


July 26 Swimming lessons
And now that brings us to today. Swimming lessons started today and go for two weeks. Then we have two soccer tournaments and before you know it... school starts. Whew.

Emma Lou

Emma had her end of the year Recital last week. I love watching her clog. This year it was at the Murray Amphitheater (way better than the Empress Theater last year) so the kids swam before the performance. It made for a fun little activity and Emma was one happy girl by the end of the day. She has spent this week at her summer clinic for clogging. The girl loves to clog. She clogs in her sleep, under the table during dinner, at the pool, while cleaning her room ... her feet are moving pretty much all the time.






I finally have some of Emma's pictures (yes, from Easter) that are gorgeous and must be seen. I know I'm her mama and I am biased, but tell me this girl isn't beautiful. She is fun to take pictures of. Most photography moms can't get great shots of their own kids, but this is one area that I don't have much stress over. Both Emma and Erin are fun to photograph. Now I just have to convince Josh and Tasha to have theirs done. Stubborn little stink butts.

I have updated Emma's pictures on my photography blog and I have lot's more that will be posted soon so take a minute to check it out. And, if you need pictures of your kiddos, you can contact me (aimeebjer@msn.com) to schedule a time.

"At Your Age"

Craziest thing. Jer was playing this:

Okay, so he was coaching the 11 year old boys and made a sweet move on one of the kids when suddenly he was shot in the back of his leg. Well, not really, but it felt like it! So it's not a gunshot wound, but it is a tear in his gastrocnemius which feels like you've been shot.


He went down and tried not to scream like a little girl in front of his team. I had to have my mom take me out to the practice field so that I could drive him to the insta-care (of course, it's his right leg). The doc gave him some pain meds and other pills then wheeled him out to the car so that we could go get his crutches. Best part was watching Jer suffer through sitting in a wheel chair. So funny. He hates letting people baby him. Instead he used these:

His timing couldn't have been better. I had to leave for girls camp 3 days later. Aside from the humor and sarcasm, I will say that thanks to the GREAT people in our ward (not to name any names - our Elders Quorum President and our Home Teacher) the crutches didn't last as long as originally thought. These fine men came over the night he injured his leg and gave him a blessing and reminded us of the miraculous things that can happen with faith through the power of the Priesthood. Yesterday at physical therapy, we were told that Jer is two weeks ahead of schedule as far as his recovery. His work has not been affected (just his ability to run the field with the boys).

When I got home from camp (7 days after the injury), this is what his leg looked like:

Isn't that the coolest? It's all shiny 'cause we've had to keep IcyHot on it, but that bruise is amazing. It keeps getting better every day. I'm going to be bored when it's gone.

Initially we were told 6-8 weeks for recovery and 2-4 weeks before he would be off the crutches and driving again. Needless to say, he was back to driving and walking within a few days. It still is going to be several weeks for anything else (which is frustrating given he's been losing weight like crazy and now this puts a damper in his exercise routine) and he won't be back on the soccer field until Labor Day. While this injury is quite common for soccer players, it may have been avoided had he not gone from work to Scout camp to soccer without a water bottle (he was dehydrated). So while you're all LOVING the 100 degree weather, don't forget to drink WATER.

Bananas Unite

Genesis, Ivy, Brielle, Tasha, Alyssa, Katie, Carli, Jessie, Sydnee, Taylor, Kaetlyn, Jill, Jackie,
Ashley, Tammy, me, Kristin, Maddie, Hillari, Whitney, McKel, Aubriel, Tegan.

Flushing toilets, running water, air conditioning, a real bed, clean feet... these are just a few of the conveniences I am glad to be back to. You know it's been a good week when you walk into the Park City Wendy's and the girls get excited about how "nice" the public restroom is.

Girls Camp is seriously one of my favorite things. I know I'm a nerd. I loved it when I was a Young Woman, and I love it still. Aside from having no water this year, it was an awesome experience. I love camping. I love the dirt and the grime and cooking in dutch ovens and feeding the leftovers to the chipmunks. But, most of all, I love the girls. I know. Sap. I don't usually get all cheese head on my blog. But, there's such a rewarding feeling when the girls stand up to share their testimony and you realize they really have been paying attention - that it all hasn't been for not.

We had a huge group this year - lot's of young women and and lot's of great leaders. There's a lot I could say and details I could share, but I think I'd rather summarize with pictures. Bare with the appearance of us all - this is one time when it's a good thing pictures don't smell. 4 days + 24 girls + 7 leaders + 3 mile hike + 4 hours sleep at night - water and flushing toilets = ew.


The last couple of years, we cover the tables in plastic and let the girls design them with sharpies. Love it.

This is moments before I experienced my first fire roasted twinkie. Thanks Maddie. And roasted Starburst (tastes like a warm fruit gusher - pretty cool, actually).

This is Tammy experiencing camp for the second time - she's now a professional when it comes to songs around the campfire. BANANAS UNITE - and you peel to the left and you peel to the right... my mom gave me a dime so I can buy a lime, but I don't buy no lime.. I buy me some BUMBA CHICKY CHICKY BUMBA...


These are the leaders that are teaching your daughters. Sad but true.

Tammy, Jill, Ashley, me, Kristin, Jackie, Hillari and Maryanne

I had the best Secret Sister. On day two, I got a bundle of dark chocolate and a poster of Taylor Lautner (Shark boy/Jacob). And, me being Team Edward, thought I would give it away. This was the highlight of girls camp. A bunch of screaming teenage girls as I unrolled the poster... begging... drooling... wanting. It was great. From that moment on, I was getting back rubs, foot massages, special cookies frosted for me and love notes. I worked it.. took advantage.. made them suffer a little. And, at our awards party, I will give it away. (note to girls: no decision has been made. I'm still open to some brown nosing.)

Tasha and Alyssa are both fourth year campers/youth leaders and needed to pass of "dutch oven cooking." It was fun to teach them. I think I will put it to the test and see if Tasha really knows how to light charcoal, cook in the dutch oven and then clean them. .

Overall, camp was awesome. It always is. Even though I'm a complete waste at home now and can't get caught up on my sleep. Until next year...