Where Are They Now? — Shirley Baldwin (Johansen)

I keep telling everyone that I am going to post on here as soon as I can come up with a way to make my life seem as exciting and successful as all the other posts. Well I decided to just tell it like it is!

I moved away from Provo at the beginning of our junior year. I still always feel like this is My school though! We moved to Florida and thanks to all of your great examples I joined the church which led to my parents kicking me out at 15! So needless to say I was pushed into adulthood pretty early! I ended up getting my GED and going into retail management at the age of 17. I married at 19 and traveled all over the country settling down in Washington for about 3 years. While there I ended up working with wildlife and getting to know Terri Erwin who later became the crocodile hunters wife. That put me into a whole new world of knowledge! I spent about 5 years in that field during which we moved to AZ and then I became pregnant! I learned my calling in life when that baby was born! I had 2 more children and was a stay at home mom for 7 years. Unfortunately my marriage ended up in divorce and I turned 30 in the same year. I remarried about a year and a half later a good friend of mine that I met doing kung fu! He is an amazing artist both in martial arts and in fine arts! He is very supportive of my craziness and never complains about having to play “mom” when I travel. I later became pregnant with my 4th baby. I decided to go to college which I did for 6 semesters. I was in premed and had a 3.9 GPA! My oldest started Jr. High and my youngest started preschool all in the same year which led me to take a sabbatical. I started my own company, then started another one, and after all of that went back to my true love in life which is baseball! Are you keeping up?

So….I now live in Gilbert, AZ and have 4 beautiful, talented children. Kenzi my 14 year old has an amazing voice and just audition and made a huge vocal showcase in the fall. Carter is 12 and is an incredible athlete and a genius. Graycee is 9 she is a level 4 gymnast and is in the top in the state. Saber is 4 and can already play the electric guitar. They are such great kids and they keep me in line! I’m not sure where all their talent came from but I am so grateful for it!

I have 2 businesses, and work in major league baseball with the San Diego Padres! I am so blessed with the life I have been given. I travel frequently, get to meet all kinds of great and interesting people, and still spend most of my time with my babies! I’ve kept in touch with many friends from Provo High! It’s so fun to see how many high school sweethearts there are still together and the stories are enjoyable to read! I also notice that a few of you live in the Phoenix area! We should have a mini reunion down here! I look forward to seeing all of you at the reunion! My email address is usarushton@yahoo.com if any one wants to say hi!