Quinn and Morgan were both born in Santa Maria, CA at Marian Hospital. In 1981, when Morgan was 3 months old we moved to Newbury Park, CA. We had two beagles, Jake and Ginger. Doug was born in 1985 at Los Robles Hospital in Thousand Oaks. At the time of our move to NP, Kelly became inactive in church. I continued to attend and met Teresa and Dwight Muse who had kids the same age as mine; Danielle, Quinn’s age, and Joey, Morgan’s age. Melinda and Steven were older. Our ward was the Newbury Park 2nd.
Teresa was called to be the Primary President and she told me that when she prayed about counselors, my name kept coming to her mind, but she pushed it away thinking I would not want to serve in Primary because Kelly was not active. However, she finally listened and I was called to be her counselor along with Kim Higbee. Around the same time, Dwight was made our Home Teacher. We became good friends with both families and soon Kelly was attending church! An answer to mine and Teresa’s prayers!
Soon the Gholdston family moved in down the street. Their kids, Rebecca, David and Kathryn were the same ages as our kids. Kelly, Muse, Higbee and Gholdston families became very good friends and made a lot of memories together!
Camping at Leo Carrillo State Beach, mostly every spring, with other families from the ward was an event we all looked forward to. We also camped at Sequoia National Park, and Yosemite.
We loved camping! We had a big blue and white striped tent that we all could fit in. We called it our “circus” tent. No RV’s for us! We loved planning meals and cooking out and then sitting around the campfire and eating s’mores. These are memories I will cherish forever!
We had a half cocker spaniel as a pet. She was black and sooo cute and smart! Her name was Lady. Kelly didn’t like dogs much and didn’t want her in our bedroom. So she would come upstairs and sit outside our bedroom door if he was in the room. If it was only me in the room, she would run up and jump on the bed! Loved that dog! I was so sad when she died and have never had another dog. The thought of losing another dog was too painful.
Quinn and Morgan both graduated from Newbury Park High School and both had 100% attendance in Seminary all four years!
Doug took the GED and passed and then left high school early, He wanted to work with his friend Tyson Fitgerald, selling products online. This didn’t last long, so Doug attempted some classes at Moorpark College. This was about the time he got involved with drugs and it was a very trying time for Kelly and I. I look back now and wish I could have done something different to help him, but I didn’t know how to deal with his addiction. I think all moms think they made many mistakes and wish they could change things. I just need to know I did the best I could and forgive myself my inadequacies. Everything I did, was done with love.
I think we did OK giving our kids a good childhood. Thousand Oaks was a beautiful and safe community.
