Category Archives: Family

Pictures

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We had the icky stomach flu hit our home again. It had the domino effect… hit us all. Started Sunday @ 1am w/Ella, Monday with me, Tuesday with Jayden & Tuesday into Wednesday with Gino.

I’m just happy it’s all over with, we’re all feeling better and we can get on with life.

I thought I’d share some of our family pictures that we took in California. They’re with me and the girls in my family.

My mom, my sister Jess, my Grandma & Me 🙂

My mom & my Grandma

My Favorite Pic of my sister with my nephew Vani

Me, My Aunt Ksee, My Grandma, My Mom & Jess

My & My Sister…. I love her!

Tiona’s 10th Birthday

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My littlest sister, Tiona turned 10 on Friday. Friday night we went out to dinner with her and had a pretty fun time, but yesterday we went to her birthday party and had A BLAST! I honestly can’t believe how much fun I had. It was at the skating ring and when I showed up I had no intentions on skating. I finally caved, put the skates on and took Jayden out. He actually was doing really well for it being his first time.

It really had me thinking while out there skating with my little man that it saddens me that we don’t do a lot of things with just the two of us. I think it’s important for him and me that we do something with just the two of us at least once every two weeks. He needs that. I need that.

Ella was great, which was shocking. My sister Britney took care of her while I spent my quality time with Jayden. She was cute and everyone oooooed and ahhhhed over her, and she loved the attention she got.

Picture time…… oh… my sister’s date on the pics hasn’t been set – so don’t mind the date 🙂 It’s pretty wrong.

My cute little man sporting his new haircut


Ella looks intoxicated, maybe too much ice cream???

Jayden was really enjoying the bubbles…. you’d think the kid never seen them before


Ella holding her brother’s new recorder – she was all smiles

She caught me… a picture of me I didn’t know was taken.


This is Ella with my dad ~ this morning while snagging these pics off my sister’s myspace Ella saw this pic and said, “Papa.” I was kinda shocked that she remembered since we’re not around him too much, but I thought it was kinda neat – so I thought I’d document it. So, Ella with her Papa.


Dealing With Hate

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I’ve been going through an array of mixed feelings lately, and I’m not sure what to make of them. I’m struggling with my brother, and feel hate, pity, sadness, love and it’s frustrating. When I think of him I think of him as a little boy and I shouldn’t do that. I think about the time that his dad came to get him when he was only 5 years old (little did I know I wouldn’t see him again until he was 12) and he hid in the closet because he didn’t want to go.

I need to stop thinking about that little boy hiding in the closet, because he has turned into something that I think is despicable. He moved here in August to get his life together. He’s definitely not done that. He managed to get a girl pregnant and now has nothing to do with her, so Gino and I are doing everything we can to help her out, because that is our niece or nephew. Gino and I have had so many conversations about this and it sickens both of us how he can just turn his back on his own flesh and blood because he’d rather have a “FREAKY” girl as he said. When you have 2 kids with 2 different girls, it’s time to stop. Stop trying to hustle the world. Stop trying to meet a million girls on myspace…. and then end up with my husband’s cousin who is just as ghetto as he is, with 5 kids and lives 10 hours away from here. Real logical. It’s time to grow up, get a job, pay child support and have good impact on BOTH of your kid’s lives.

I don’t like the hateful feelings that I have right now. It bugs me, and I’m trying not to even think about him and his stupidity, but it’s hard. The kid lived a hard life and was tossed around and unfortunately, caused him a lot of damage and that’s too bad, because now he has kids and that damage will end up effecting them. Such a sick, vicious cycle. Definitely makes me want to do my kids right by giving them a good life, being a good mom and keeping them in church.

I’ve tried waking up and reading scriptures, or a good Ensign article that will hopefully help me out, and it works, but I’m still struggling. Hate is something that I don’t want to have in my heart, and I hope that I can eventually conquer it.

What our FHE taught me

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On Sunday I woke up and I really thought that it was going to be a great Sunday! We all had our church clothes laid out and then the unexpected (well, I should have expected it) happened. Gino asked if he’d like me to keep Ella with him. This threw me! THREW ME for a loop. I didn’t flip, and I just said, “No, thanks, but she’s going to nursery this Sunday.” The kids and I proceeded to get ready and we went to church. Okay… I know, I wouldn’t walk out the door that easily w/out saying something horribly harsh and stabbing. So, luckily I had Gino to start me off by saying to me, “I’ll pray for you today.” I turned around and said, “Hmmm…. I’ll pray for you and ask for your name to be taken off the rolls of the church so you can join Satan’s church.”

Wow.

Did I REALLY say that? YUP. I most certainly did, and felt like bawling all the way to church. I’ve been so confused as to why Gino is going backwards when all I want to do is make it to the temple and get sealed.

I walked into church and of course the bishop’s wife who has that motherly touch was right there and hugged me and….. I LOST IT! I started bawling and couldn’t stop. Then I went to the bathroom, got myself together then my friend Kari came to sit by me and I lost it again. I mean, the tears were FLOWING! It was horrible. It was a momentous day, the first day Ella went to nursery and I was sad that Gino wasn’t going to be there for it. I had many emotions that day, and I felt beyond emotional.

So, Bishop and I talked and I’m not going to be in primary anymore. I didn’t have to ask, but when I told him that I think it’s my calling that’s keeping Gino from coming to church he said he’d take care of it. I wanted to be in primary so badly. I loved being in there with Jayden, and I just might sneak in and hang out in there after Sunday school.

I have to do what’s best for my family, and if Gino’s not ready for me to leave him for the last 2 hours of church by himself, then I have to put his needs first. I feel good. I came home and we had a great talk and I think that he’ll be at church on Sunday. I hope he is.

This is an example of where I need to try to Be like Jesus. Just like our Family Home Evening lesson LAST NIGHT. I need to be compassionate of Gino’s feelings, be patient with his journey, and understanding. I also need to put him first. Right now, he’s got to be feeling somewhat insecure, because this is really all new to him. I may have been active now for a year, but Gino’s just really starting out here. There’s so much to learn and instead of feeling pressures, that’s exactly what he should be doing. If there’s a Sunday where he doesn’t want to go to church I need to be understanding and not push. Not get mad, but love him even more for the progress that he’s already made. The hard steps of changing his life because he loves us that much.

Family Home Evening – Trying to be like Jesus

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I have not been very consistent on Family Home Evening, but I’ve decided that this family REALLY needs it!! So, I’ve prepared my lesson and I think it’s one that I need the most. Our lesson is Trying to be like Jesus. If you want to learn more about Family Home Evening and how it can strengthen your family SEE HERE.

We will be reading THIS STORY out of The Friend and then we’ll throw some scenarios out there and take turns deciding whether the reaction is being like Jesus or not. We’ll also play a fun little game where we make a story. We’ll each add on two sentences and form a fun story that we’ll write down and treasure forever…. it might even pop up on Garibay Soup.

Our music will be I’m Trying to Be like Jesus from the Children’s Primary Book. We have a CD with the song on it, so we’ll just play it and sing along. I’ve printed out the lyrics and we’ll try to learn them together as a family tonight.

If you have any ideas to add to our Family Home Evening vault please leave me a comment and let me know!! And I hope that you will join along with the Garibay Family tonight as we make this family STRONG!

Our trip in pictures and some words

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Our trip to California was quick. We had such a fun time though. Friday after Jayden got out of school we took off and got into town around 8:30pm. At 10:30 pm we went to the movies with my sister while my mom watched the kids. We saw that 3D My Bloody Valentine movie – I actually really liked it!

Saturday I picked up my niece Alana so that she could go to the birthday party. She is such a beautiful little girl. I hadn’t seen her since she was 6 weeks old, so it was an amazing reunion. And so fun to watch her and Ella with each other.

We went to Chuck E Cheese for Vani’s 2nd Birthday. Ella was in HEAVEN there! She’d never been to anything like it before, so her eyes lit up and she was having the time of her life. The little smarty pants even figured out that you needed tokens and would take the token and try to put it in the machine.

We finally got a picture of all of the cousins together. This is the first time that they’ve all been together at the same time. Sad it took so long, but we FINALLY got it!!

Then on Sunday morning we woke up early and went to Stockton to see Gino’s mom and little brother, Gabriel. We took them to Arroyo’s, which is probably the best Mexican food I’ve ever had in my life. It was a nice visit. I really do enjoy visiting with his mom.


After lunch on Sunday we headed on our way home, but we had one more stop to make. We were going to do a surprise visit to Gino’s dad and step-mom’s house. We pulled up and they were so happy to see us. We only stayed for a couple hours, then we ventured on our way home and arrived at 9:30pm. And we went straight to bed.



So, it was a quick, but very enjoyable trip.

Building a Strong Family

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If you’re a reader of my blog, then you’ve read this post before. I wanted to bring it back though. Especially for Works for Me Wednesday. Rocks in My Dryer hosts a wonderful carnival that gathers hundreds of bloggers that share what works for them. This week I want to share what works for us on building a strong family.

Remember the days when families used to sit together as a family for dinner. Talk about their days and bring laughter into their lives. Our society has cut this out of their lives and it’s sad. It’s sad that families are so busy that they don’t stop to appreciate what God has given them. A beautiful family that should be providing each other with unconditional love.

Bringing families close and together is a very important thing to the Mormon church, as it is to most religions. We implement something into our homes that strengthens our families and all it takes is one night a week.

It’s called Family Home Evening. Monday nights, the majority of the members of the church are gathered together in their homes strengthening the bonds that God has given us with our families. It’s a date and time that’s a guarantee in each of our homes that we will be together as a family, without media, without stresses, just us, God and the ones we love.

The way Family Home Evening is typically organized is as follows:

Opening Prayer
Sing a church song together
Quick lesson on any of these topics
Family Activity
Special Treat
Closing Song
Closing Prayer

You don’t have to be a member of the Mormon church to practice this. You don’t have to even give lessons or sing songs. Just having a set day a week to do some family activity together will do amazing things. Even if it’s just playing a board game and eating some ice cream afterwards.

Family Home Evening is a great time to discuss anything that needs to be discussed as a family. You can use this time to discuss weekly meal plans and chores, and go over the family’s weekly calendar. But the main thing is it’s important that you’re consistent, and you always end it with a fun activity and treat.

The last time that I posted this post I had a reader contact me to tell me that she’s not Mormon, but she absolutely loved this and implemented it into her family, and they all loved it. I feel so wonderful that her kids will have beautiful memories of their childhood, because she read this post from me.

I hope that I get some of you out there to join in with me. I’ll try to update every Monday with what we have planned. On my Topics that I Discuss on my sidebar, FHE stands for Family Home Evening. If you have ideas for great lesson ideas or activities, or even a yummy treat recipe you’d like to share please leave a comment and share it. Remember, you don’t have to be Mormon to have a Family Home Evening.

2008 Garibay Christmas

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Our Christmas was very peaceful this year. Our Christmas Eve was spent with traditions, smiles, ice cream sundaes and just a good feeling of knowing that this year we are celebrating Christmas a little bit more differently than the years before. This year, we actually have an understanding of what Jesus was put here for, and I’m so thankful for all that he stands for. So, this year was a celebration of Jesus, not just a celebration for presents, and Jayden knew that….. and that made me feel like a great mom!

Christmas morning we ran downstairs to see what Santa had left behind for the kids. They were both REALLY happy, and have enjoyed playing with everything they got ever since that happy morning. Jayden got a handheld Leapfrog Didj, which is a educational video game system….. I’M THRILLED about it. Jayden’s a video game junkie (like his father) and what better than to buy him something that is what he loves, but is educational at the same time.

After our Christmas morning we picked up my brother and headed up to my grandparent’s house to eat a good Christmas turkey dinner. I really expected there to be a ton of people and for it to be hectic like Thanksgiving, but Christmas with the Hurds was actually quite enjoyable. All of my sisters from my father were there. Everyone was happy and I was happy. As dysfunctional as the Hurds family can be, they still are family, and I really got that sense this year.

I didn’t go camera crazy this year, and unfortunately didn’t get much of the kids even…. and I didn’t even get a family picture. But I snapped a few of family and thought I’d share some pics…




Ella and her cousin Ethan hugging – too cute huh?

These are two of my sisters – the one on the left is 16 Year Old Alyssa and on the right is 19 year old Britney

I love this man a lot! It’s my Grandpa 🙂

This, believe it or not, is my step-mom and yes, she’s only a little under 3 years older than me.

This is my dad

This is my wonderful Grandma who is my crafty inspiration 🙂
Align Center

Ella with her uncle Mitch (my brother)

Isn’t this face just perfect? I love this little girl so much!


Snow Day Pictures

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Yesterday we took the kids up to my Grandparent’s property to get some pictures of them in the snow – so I could finally make some Christmas cards and get them sent off before Christmas. I can’t believe how fast this holiday is creeping up on us. Next week is Christmas and I’m really not all that prepared. There’s not 1 present under the tree (not because we haven’t bought any, but because we have a very rambunctious 16 month old daugher) and it’s weird. Also, this is the first year that Gino and I won’t have surprises under the tree and that’s kinda sad, but I’m happy that we’re both getting exactly what we want. I’m getting a sewing machine! I’ll pick it out and he can wrap it and I’ll act surprised and excited.

Anyway… so, they had lots of fun in the snow. Jayden got sleds and went sledding down the hills on their property, and even sled right into Ella. It was so sad. So, I took Ella inside by the nice fire and had hot chocolate. I finished our Christmas card last night and sent it off to Costco for printing. I’m not going to post it on the blog until Christmas ~ I’d like everyone to be surprised when they get it.






A Baby Niece!!

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I’ve been waiting a long time to hear these words…… IT’S A GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My sister is having a baby girl due April 20, 2009! I am sooooooooo happy for her and absolutely thrilled that all these cute baby girl clothes that I have are going her way! A huge congrats to my baby sister, Jessie and her little family ~ she now has 1 boy and 1 girl, just like her big sister!

So, current count is 1 Nephew, 2 Nieces & 1 one that’s unknown right now. Who would’ve thought in 2 years my mom would go from having 1 grandson to 6 grandkids total. Pretty crazy stuff there 😉 And one fertile family!