Author Archives: Amanda

A quick little run down

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I took a couple day break from blogging without announcing it ~ and I enjoyed it!

I’m working on a couple of special posts ~ one will be posted tomorrow for a very special birthday girl. I’m just jumping in to give a little update on US!

Our trip was wonderful! We spent 9 nights in hotels, one my absolute FAV Little American in Salt Lake City…. talk about gorgeous! We got scared to death by a scary thunder & lightening storm at Water World….. we were split up from each other taking cover, but we are still alive. We all got to go to a dinosaur museum for the first time ~ amazingly cool! We swam, we ate, we drove (a lot!) and almost finished the final book of the Twilight Saga on audio. We watched funny and scary movies, and laughed a lot. We got to visit family, see our possible future home, go see 2 gorgeous temples (including the SLC temple) and had a couple of hot dates with my oh so hot husband. And most importantly I got to see people from my past, people that mean the world to me.

The time away has helped me to clear my mind, refresh my soul, and be happy to get back into my routines. I discovered things I love about my husband, I enjoyed the constant together time, and realized that I am truly happy with my life. I got to be free for a while, and I definitely needed it!

I will be doing our vacation in pictures, but need to finish all of my editing first… so stay tuned!!! And in the meantime enjoy this shot I got of the SLC Temple… it’s is my favorite.

Just a Motivating Monday – I want the Lord to know that I REALLY LIVED!

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If you’re just joining us:

-Write a blog post about ANYTHING at all that inspires you, or something you feel will inspire others.

-Please link back to Garibay Soup

-Please snag my Just a Motivating button on your post.

-I hope that we can all go and visit each other’s blogs and read what everyone has linked up ~ I hope that this carnival can bring more traffic for you 🙂 So, spread the comment love!

This was originally posted on March 4, 2008 but it’s another of my favorites. Marjorie Hinckley who was President Hinckley’s wife of the LDS church once said….

“I don’t want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails. I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp. I want to be there with grass stains on my shoes from mowing Sister Schenk’s lawn. I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbor’s children. I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone’s garden. I want to be there with children’s sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder. I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived.”

I loved this, and I keep her words close to my heart. I hope this inspires you throughout your life as well.

Thanks for joining me!

The most BORING Garibay Soup post EVER!

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Photobucket

I’m just popping in to say hello… we’re doing quite well. If you don’t follow me on Twitter you might be wondering where the heck I’ve been. Well, I’ve been everywhere. Tonight I lay in the world’s most comfortable bed in Salt Lake City at Little America Hotel. I am planning on being home Tuesday night ~ don’t know how I feel about this yet. On one hand I can’t wait on the other hand reality sucks!

Tomorrow {Just a Motivating Monday} will be posted @ 8:00pm PST as usual. In the meantime I hope all is well with all of you. We’ve really been enjoying our vacation and have a million pictures to go through and upload… including pics of our maybe, possibly new home ~ We’re not rushing into this decision 😉 Above is a pic we took at the Salt Lake Temple today. Gorgeous… absolutely gorgeous.

So, thanks for bearing with me as tumbleweeds have been flying around these parts, but although I’ve wanted to blog… I’ve been having too much fun to blog. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers for a safe travel home. I can’t wait to get back to my addiction. When I get home I’ll have so much to share!

I never knew you, but I love you

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I never heard you, but I hear you
I never held you, but I feel you
I never knew you, but I love you

I went tonight to watch probably the scariest movie I’ve seen in such a long time, The Orphan. The above poem was in the movie and a situation much like {mine} had happened to the main character. Her baby girl had died while she was still pregnant with her.

When we saw the stone with the poem on it Gino had reached over and grabbed my hand. It still hurts at times. I will admit that things have definitely gotten better and I am ever so thankful for the blessings that I have; for the children that I have. There is still, however, {Mya}. There is still is a baby girl in heaven that I miss so much, that I love so much…. and I don’t even know her. I have felt her inside of me though, and she has a huge part of my heart and my soul.

In exactly 1 month from today it will have been 3 years since I found out my baby girl had passed. The poem above is so real to me. I didn’t know her, but I love her just as much as I love my 2 babies that are alive and well with me here on earth. 3 years ago I could hardly breathe and didn’t know how in the world I was supposed to go on. I find it amazing how much time and Heavenly Father can heal a mother’s heart.

The thing that helps me out so much is that I know she lives in heaven. I keep her so close to my heart in a necklace. I am a strong believer that everything happens for a reason, and sadly sometimes things happen that are traumatic. I know that Mya had a very wonderful purpose, and she served it. She saved my marriage. She brought Gino and I together in a way that can’t be explained. She came to a marriage that was on the verge of destruction and made it the strongest bond I’ve ever felt. I love Mya for that, and one day I’ll be able to hug her and thank her. She served her purpose, then gave her sister a chance to be born to happy family, a strong family. And I know that through all of Ella’s traumatic experiences with her heart that she’s right there with her, because she’s her angel.

I hope that when we smile and think of her that she feels it. I hope that when we’re sad because she’s not with us she feels our love. She will always be my first daughter. I will always love her, and I don’t even know her yet. I do, however, know that she came here and saved a family and built it strong. Thank you, Mya…. I love you.

School Already?!?!?

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This summer just FLEW right before my eyes. I feel like Jayden just got out of school and in 1 month he’ll be right back in it…. and in 2nd grade! Where oh where did my baby go?

Mornings suck for us. I have a hard time getting up early enough and without structure things for us do not go well. {Kristen}, who hosts Works for Me Wednesday suggested morning cards. My thoughts exactly! I’m big on morning cards and next week’s WFMW post will go into a little more detail about these cards, and not just for your kids ;). So first off I’m seconding what Kristen wrote regarding these nifty things.

My other advice for back to school is the following:

NEVER leave things til morning to prepare, no matter how tired you are, make sure things are set and ready for an easy morning.

2 weeks before school you should put your kids on their school schedule. Make sure that they are going to bed at school time bedtime hours

I suggest getting a workbook for the school year that they’re going into to prepare them for things they’ll be learning… that way they aren’t too lost ~ and even seem a little bit of a smarty pants

Most of all, spend lots and lots of fun times with them before sending them back to school. Plan special little surprises for them like picnics or trips to the zoo…. maybe a camp out in the yard… treasure your last few weeks with them, because this next year they’re going to grow so much. Treasure the time with them.

So, I’m sorry that my back to school tips aren’t the best, but I’m tired, traveling, but wouldn’t miss Works for Me Wednesday for the world. Join me next week to learn about how I have found the solution to organizing my housekeeping, my kids housekeeping and everything else in my home ~ it’s working and I can’t wait to tell you all about it! So make sure you are either following me on {Twitter} or my {RSS Feed} so you don’t miss out on the secret I found. And check back in with me on Monday for my inspirational carnival {Just a Motivating Monday}!

Another Garibay Adventure… A possible life change

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I never thought I’d leave Sacramento. It’s where we planted our seed, it’s where we became we. Our son was born there, my mom was there. It’s where my sister and brother were, it’s where my nephew and niece were. But we left. We made a decision one day, packed our bags and off we went. We left our life behind, our seed, our families, but we kept our we.

We found a happy place, a place that was our’s. A place that we could see ourselves living forever and ever. A place that I pictured my kids growing up. A place where we could always be we…. our happy place.

An opportunity has come up that Gino and I are having a hard time passing up. An opportunity that would steal us away from our happy place, and I grow more and more excited with every passing day!

We are currently on vacation in Colorado. We drove and have soaked up in the beauty that we have seen right before our eyes. With every turn on the freeway we gasp in awe. Of course Oregon is gorgeous, there’s nothing more peaceful to me than the Oregon Coast, but is that enough to keep me there?

At the end of the day it’s just Gino, the kids and me. Can’t we be happy anywhere? I want my kids to grow up with cousins, here in Colorado they’d have that. I want to be able to own my home, and here in Colorado we’d have that. I don’t want to decide where we’ll spend the rest our lives before we’re 30, and moving to Colorado gives us another option.

I think we’re going to be moving to Colorado and I am scared, giddy, excited, feel like I’m going to Disneyland and emotional all at the same time. I mean, come on ~ I’m moving out of the Pacific Time zone…. that’s huge!

There’s a family that lives here that I love to death. My aunt Rayna and I are extremely close. I lived with her for a while as a child. She has 2 teenage daughters that are just special, precious girls, she has a son that’s 2 years older than Jayden and a son that’s 6 weeks older than Ella. She has a husband who shares some of the same interests as Gino does. We have a 4 bedroom, brick, old fashioned home waiting for us. Why wouldn’t we do this? What is keeping us in Oregon?

Tomorrow we will venture to Pueblo where our future home awaits us. We will walk in and vision our future and imagine the possibilities in front of us. We will picture what colors we want the walls, where our furniture will fit, and I will walk into my office/craft room with a smile in my heart…. it will be my dream come true.

I think a huge change is coming to the Garibays and I believe with all of my heart that this change will be good. Please keep us in your prayers as we pray ourselves to ensure that this is what will be best for our family. With how I feel already, I think it’s it. I think this is where we belong.

I will take pictures of our home tomorrow ~ from my understanding it’s an adorable, vintage home, but needs some work…. all the better ~ we will can put our own sweat and love into it and make it ours ~ because we will be bringing our “we” into it.

Just a Motivating Monday – Nurturing Heart

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I LOVE inspiration ~ I’m sure you’ve heard me say that a million times, but I thrive on it in my life. I hope that through Garibay Soup I have inspired at least one soul. I can definitely, without a doubt say that I have been inspired by so many people through their blogs… that is why I have started this carnival.

If you’re just joining us:

-Write a blog post about ANYTHING at all that inspires you, or something you feel will inspire others.

-Please link back to Garibay Soup

-Please snag my Just a Motivating button on your post.

-I hope that we can all go and visit each other’s blogs and read what everyone has linked up ~ I hope that this carnival can bring more traffic for you 🙂 So, spread the comment love!

This was originally posted October 5, 2008, but I love it so much I wanted to bring it back for Just a Motivating Monday!

“Each of us must direct our own lives, chart our own course and make our own decisions, and what is best for me is probably constraining for you. We too often forget the fact that what most of us need is to be nurtured, not improved. An emphasis on improvement confirms our inadequacies, while nurturing affirms who we really are and who really loves us. Too often we try to help others by seeking solutions to their problems, or giving them our plan for personal improvement when what they need is love, understanding and acceptance.

Let us remember these two things: that personal joy comes from appreciating the present and that the greatest gift we give to others is a nurturing heart.”

~Author Unknown


I think that if we all lived by what is said above that we would all be much more joyous and happier in our own personal lives.

The Kid is a CRACK UP!

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One thing Mr. Jadakiss (as I call my Jayden)is good for is to MAKE YOU LAUGH! This kid says the most hilarious things!! Things that he’s usually 110% serious about and things that make you go… hmmmm… where the heck did he learn that from?!?! Here’s a few of my favorites, if you follow me on {Twitter}, you just may have heard some of these before:

Situation: Gino and Jayden in the car and conversation comes up about the neighbor lady. Jayden says to Gino, “Dad, she’s married don’t try to sex her.” WHAT????? How does he even know the word sex???? New inside joke between Gino and I is.. “Don’t try to sex her/him/me LOL!”

Situation: We’re in the bank drive through and there’s a car next to our’s. I guess the girl in the said car was staring at me…I failed to notice. We take off and Jayden says, “Mom, that girl was staring about you.” and I said, “Why do you think she was staring at me, Jayden? Do you think she likes our car?” and he says, “No, she was staring at you because you’re so great.” That boy melts my heart!

Situation: We’re just randomly in our house and Jayden needs something to drink… “Mom, we should get a butler, and we can name him Alfred.” He was completely serious… what does he think my 16 year old sister is for 3 hours/day??? He can call her Alfred if he wants to… Alyssa, if you’re reading this you can laugh with me it’s okay HAHA

Situation: In Kindergarten I went to pick up my little man and he came walking out holding hands with a girl. My heart just about collapsed, but he was pretty convinced that it was love. Don’t they all at that age? He came home and told his dad, “Dad, I need to get a new dress shirt for my hot date.” OH boy… my heart broke in half at that moment.

Situation: Oh girl talked about above broke up with Jayden and he told my sister that the reason why is because she took him in the girl’s bathroom and kissed his cheek and he told people. So, he needs to find a new girlfriend to marry so he can have his baby when he’s 16… she corrected him w/um, Jayden that doesn’t happen until you’re 25.

Situation: Jayden is 3 and is watching cartoons while I took a shower. He’s the type of kid that will not move if placed in front of a TV. Should I have left him there, probably not… but that 4 years ago and I’m pretty sure I was not as responsible as I am now LOL ~ anyways…. I get out of the shower and notice that Jayden is still planted right in front of the TV yet our Beagle, Baxter, is missing. I look around… nope, no Baxter. So, I ask Jayden… his reply, “Oh, he wanted to go to the store to buy a pie so I let him out.” Great… we’ve never seen Baxter again.

Situation: We’re at church and this is right when we first started going. Gino’s friend/co-worker was there as well, and Jayden looks at him and says, “Do you like hot chicks? My dad likes hot chicks.” O.M.G…. did my son really just say that in church???? Of course my husband only likes THIS HOT CHICK!

I saved the best for last……..

Situation: at my mom’s house where my sister is hanging out with her friends. One friend of her named Tyler walks in and he’s a pretty big boy. Jayden walks up to him, taps him on his belly and says, “Did you eat all the foods?” I WAS MORTIFIED.

Okay, that’s it for tonight ~ as I remember more of Jayden says I’ll write them down and do another post. There’s so many things that have sent us laughing our butts off, but my mind is now coming to a blank as I approach 11:30pm ~ happens to the best of us.

**Picture was taken today at my Grandpa’s dining house called Jailhouse in Ely, NV. It has ALWAYS been my favorite steak house. As a little girl it was always a treat to get to go there, and even now it’s the one thing I always look forward to when coming back to Ely. Sorry about picture quality ~ it was w/my camera phone.

The People Along Life’s Path

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We finally escaped from our house and got on the road late last night. By the time we arrived at our first hotel at 1am I thought I was going to die of exhaustion. Have you ever gotten to the point when driving late at night where you think, if I just close my eyes and wake up in a hospital bed, at least I’ll be sleeping…. I know, terrible but that’s how I felt. The kids and husband in the car with me are what kept my eyes pried open.

Today we arrived at our first destination. Miserable, loney Ely, Nevada. If you’ve ever been to Ely you know exactly what I’m talking about. Anytime that I come to this town I get this sick feeling in my gut and just want to turn the car around and not look back. It just has the icky feeling to it.

Today was different. Right when we pulled into town I pulled in front of a sports bar that my mom’s ex from when I was a little girl owns. Seeing him did something to me I think. He came out and got to meet my family and had a smile on his face that made my soul feel like it was smiling. I miss him. I miss him and my mom together. When they were together we were a family. I was happy.

I think on this trip this is going to happen a lot to me. I’m backtracking and going to places that are from my past and I’m going to see people and places from my past that will bring back memories and feelings… feelings I really didn’t realize I had in me.

How is it possible for people to come in and out of your life? There are so many moments that happen in our life, relationships that we form, and as we grow apart, move apart, lose contact we forget. We forget how much these people mean to us. I think it is dreadfully sad, and I want to make it a goal to stay in contact with the people that have meant something to me. Not just the current people in my life, but with everyone that has had an impact in my life.

I didn’t have the privilege of having a father growing up. My dad as I’ve talked about many time on this blog has never been my dad. But because of this I have had the privilege of having some wonderful father figures in my life. 1 of them met my children tonight. The other will be meeting them in Salt Lake next weekend. Dustin in Salt Lake was never a step-dad of mine, but he holds the place in my heart that a Dad holds in a girl. He is such a wonderful person and did so much to help me out through my teenage years, and I disappointed him. I just want him to know now and always that I appreciate him, and I am so happy that he has such a wonderful family ~ and I’m happy he continues to help troubled teens. I only hope that they realize what a wonderful guy they have there for them…. Dustin rocks and I CANNOT wait to see him next weekend and have him meet my husband, my children and to see that I didn’t turn out too bad.

I want to remember the people that have impacted my life. I want to make contact with them all and let them know how they helped to make me who I am today, because that’s what happens…. the people in our path of life help to make us who we are.

I Figured Out Why

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I read a quote on Twitter talking of how there are 2 important days in everybody’s life ~ The day we are born and the day we figure out why.

It reminds me a lot of {this post}.

But more importantly it reminds me that I am a mom, and my life has taken a completely different turn that before and the reason why I live, breathe, eat… everything is for my children. One reason why I am here is to be an example to them. To bring them up with values that will carry on with them throughout their life. To love God and be thankful and thoughtful of what Jesus Christ did for them. To be a good mother to my children, to God’s children, and to treat all of God’s children with the respect that he wishes we would treat each other with.

It reminds me that I make mistakes every, single day of my life, and I have a wonderful savior that died for me so that I can learn from these mistakes and be forgiven. That there is such a thing as unconditional love, and that I should express this to the people in my life, since it is expressed to me from Him.

It reminds me that I’m not just on this earth to live in the moment of life, but look at the eternity aspect and think of that before my actions. To think before I act, so that I can be proud of who I am and for what I stand for.

It reminds me that I am here for a reason, and a reason that is worth living for, and reason that will have rewards in the next life ~ in eternity.