Monthly Archives: August 2008

Goin back to Cali!

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In about 2 hours we will be in our car on our way to Cali!!!! I can’t wait to see everyone and for everyone to see the kids!

First stop is San Ramon to visit our friends Jen & David. Then Thursday (Ella’s first birthday) we’re going to San Francisco and eating great food and seeing some sites.

Haven’t decided yet if we’re staying in Frisco Thursday night or not. We might drive back that night to Sacramento, but that’s not set in stone. I think Gino’s BFF Dave wants us to stay with him.

Then Friday I think we’re going to Stockton to see Gino’s mom. Friday night is BBQ at my cousin Jenna’s house!!

Saturday is Ella’s birthday party.

Sunday we come home!

Boy that’s a lot of visiting!!

Pray we have a safe, happy and joyous trip.

Just Tired!

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This is really hard. It’s the little things that get under my skin and drive me crazy. For instance, sleeping on my couch. Why does he keep sleeping on my couch when there’s a bedroom upstairs with a bed that he can sleep on??? I actually woke him up in the middle of the night and made him get off my couch. I know, I’m horribly mean.

Another irritating thing ~ the ghetto talk, the pants hanging off his butt, him just sitting in my living room. What’s wrong with me?!?!?! Everything about this boy is irritating me. I don’t do well with other people living with me. This kindof is a reason why I moved from Sacramento and here I am having to take care of this grown adult all because he’s irresponsible and thought he could hustle his way through life in Sacramento.

That makes me mad.

It’s not fair to my little family here that’s trying to have a structured, happy home.

I’m leaving for a few days and I’m so upset. I’m leaving him here, all alone for 5 days ~ that’s WAY too long. What if eats on my couch and spills something? What if he lets some strange girl in my house while I’m gone? I’m stressing about things I SHOULDN’T have to stress about.

Why is it that I have to be the responsible one and pick up the pieces? It’s not fair…. I’m tired of the cussing, the rolling of the eyes when I talk about my religion……I’m just tired and I don’t know how long I can handle having another person living in my home.

~~ I’m sorry for the rant, but I needed to get this all out ~~

24 Hour Vacation

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That was one exhausting weekend! I made a decision out of the middle of nowhere that we were going to the coast. So we packed up and had everything ready to take off as soon as Gino got home from work.

We were at the ocean at 6:00pm and it was beautiful. We brought along Mitch and Ryli so we took 2 cars. The boys were in 1 and the girls were in the other. It was probably one of the most beautiful drives I’ve ever driven.

The redwoods are breathtaking and I got MANY pictures!!! We went to Ocean World, the beach twice and to the Trees of Mystery. Ella really enjoyed Ocean World ~ especially the Sea Lion. We did it all in 24 hours! I have to go through all of my pictures and resize them all and then I’ll post a couple up. It’s going to be so hard to choose from them all!

We get home and I was EXHAUSTED! To the point of almost being emotional ~ well, Ella had no diapers, so I had to leave and drive to the store to buy the diapers. I get home and finally am in bed when Jayden wakes up crying and crying and telling me that his ear is broken. Poor guy has swimmer’s ear. So this morning we went to the doctors and got him some medication.

My visit with my little cousin Ryli was wonderful. She is such a sweet girl and I was happy she was able to have such a fun time. Sometimes it can be hard when you’re the oldest of 4, and I’m happy that she got some one on one time w/my Grandma and me! She’s flying out today and I’m going to miss her so much! I need make sure that I get together with her at least once a year. She has always held a special place in my heart since she was a baby…. I lived with her when she was a baby, and helped my aunt out during a very difficult time in her life.

Stay tuned for pictures!!

Our First Discussion

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Last night we had the missionaries and some friends over from church to start Gino with discussions. The initial plan was they were going to do a mini lesson (cut it in half) so that Gino wasn’t overwhelmed. The night didn’t start out too great ~ right when they got here our toilet overflowed upstairs and Jayden slipped in the thick water on the floor ~ luckily 10 minutes later Gino had it all taken care of. 1 hour and 45 minutes later they left. We had the whole discussion and then some. I was amazed at involved Gino was with it all. He asked the questions that he had and told them that there’s no doubt in his mind that it’s all true.

They of course asked if he would give them a baptism date and we told them let’s just get through the lessons. I know it’s a scary thing to take such a huge step and just getting the discussions alone were huge.

I know this might sound strange, but every time Gino is faced with someone who thinks that the Mormon religion is a joke he gets defensive. Yes, Mr. Garibay who used to talk smack about Mormons defends them now. Before my brother got here he was a little like, Ugh I’m not in the mood for this… isn’t going to church enough…. blah blah blah ~ well, when my brother says a couple things about how he heard from someone that it’s not true and it’s all crap Gino defended the church and was REALLY involved in the lesson.

I’m so satisfied!! So, next week there will be no lesson, but every Thursday after that we will be having lessons. I really enjoyed it ~ I don’t even remember the lessons…. in fact, I don’t remember a lot so I’m learning right along with him.

One thing that was pretty amazing was the missionaries asked Gino if he has any goals and Gino said, “My goal is to go to the temple.”

Always laundry and more laundry and more laundry

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It’s Tackle It Tuesday and with so much going on here, I gotta say keeping my house in one piece is enough for me! However, for today I’m just going to get a list going of the things I need to tackle this week.

  1. 2 loads of laundry/day ~ folded and put away
  2. Tackle my work to do list for the week
  3. Finish Baby Ruthie’s birth announcements

That’s it! That’s all I’m expecting out of myself this week. Wish me luck LOL

An Addition to our Family

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What do you do when the one person who has continually done you wrong over and over again is in a desperate need for help. For love. For someone to just take him in and love him and help him feel secure? My first thoughts were definitely to turn my back and continue living the life I’ve been living. This is my happy land.

But at the end of the day, when I lay up in my bed at night, I still see that sweet little boy’s face. The one who tried to runaway on his dirt bike when he was only 4. The one who used to twirl with us girls, wearing one of my sister’s dresses. At the end of the day he’s still just my baby brother. I can’t have my baby brother helpless with no one or no where to go.

It’s going to cause problems, and that makes me sad, but it’s something I have to do. I have to do what’s right and turning my head to him isn’t. I couldn’t imagine being in the situation that he’s in right now. Helpless. Not knowing what to do. Not having a soul in the world that’s willing to let you in. I will be that soul that will open up my door, and this HAS to be the last time. He HAS to get his life on track.

My brother will be arriving here tomorrow. My life as I know it will change, but I’m going to stay positive. The positive outlooks on this will help me get through this. He needs his big sister. I love this boy so much, and he needs me ~ so I will be there for him. He has a job with my father waiting for him and this just could be the one thing that makes Mitch grow up. Become responsible. Learn to live an honest, faithful, true life.

Sadly, my niece will not be coming with him. Right now, it’s Mitch time. It time for Mitch to get it together, then hopefully he can have his family back together if that’s what Corina and Him want. For the sake of Alana, I really wish they would try. I would LOVE to get Corina up here going to church with me. Shockingly, Mitch is going to be going to church. I’m proud of him for that. If he doesn’t like it we won’t force him, but he has to at least give it a chance.

With many deep breaths, Xanax & blog entries, we will survive.

The Joys of Ashland

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Ashland is like it’s own little world. You have a little bit of everyone and everything there. They have the strangest laws you could think of and one thing that blows me away is girls can be topless. I always heard about this, but never really thought it was true.

My cousins Ryli & Irie are here visiting and Gino made a comment that he hoped that the girls didn’t have to see anything too weird while we were in Ashland. We never really do, besides the occasional 4 year old w/dreads, or the 2 year old w/dreads in the making. Well, today blew me away. We were about to pull into our parking spot and this girl actually was riding on her bike TOPLESS! I about died. Ryli & Irie both saw it and we just sat there in complete shock. Gino missed out on it, because he was already in his parking spot and luckily he had Jayden in his car ~ that would’ve been a horrible thing if Jayden saw her, and I bet secretly Gino’s a little bummed he missed out on it. LOL