Our Fourth

I hope that everybody had a wonderful and safe 4th of July. We kept our’s pretty low key this year. We didn’t have a big family get together, we didn’t do a BBQ, but we did enjoy the day with our kids and my husband’s brother, Rocky.

We went to Ashland and enjoyed all the delicious food and craft booths. I was kinda bummed that I didn’t set up a Wildtree booth there, but honestly I don’t think I would have last…. it was HOT!

We headed over to the church to watch the fireworks, and I must say I was disappointed. When you come from a big city where the fireworks are amazing to a small town where the fireworks look like a 5 year old is setting them off you get kinda bummed.

I took a moment yesterday to reflect what this day really means, and I know that a lot of us take what we have for granted. We have the luxury of being free, being able to choose what religion we want to be a part of, who we want for our president, what laws will go into effect. I know our country is a MESS right now, but “I am proud to be an American, where at least I know I’m free.”

I think my highlight of the whole day was watching Ella play in the petting farm ~ she LOVED the animals!

A peek into my heart…. on Father’s Day

Unfortunately, Father’s Day was never an important day for me. I have a dad, but growing up I refused to refer to the man as that. I am now older and have tried to accept him as my father, but continuously don’t feel it in my heart.

My father was 16 when I was born. That pretty much sums it up right there. He was never there, went on to conceive 3 more daughters with 3 different women. Each one I’m sure has their sob story about the man, and I still cling to mine every, single day. I want a dad. I want a dad that cares enough to call me at least once a week and see how I’m doing. I want a dad that can put me first for once… not always focus on his youngest 2 daughters. I want a dad who cares enouch about being a grandpa that he asks how they’re doing, or wants to see them. I just want a dad.

I have a couple of memories that stab my heart, and I think it’s time I talk about them. The first Father’s Day that I spent with my father was in 2006. I was newly pregnant with Mya. We drove all the way up to where I now live just to spend Father’s Day with the man. In addition to him, it was also the first time I was going to meet his 2nd daughter.. dysfunctional, unstable Britney. I know, I have hate issues…. I told you Garibay Soup is the ingredients to a dysfunctional family…. which is EXACTLY what I have.

Anyways… continuing on. I had mentioned to my dad that he could play catch or baseball or fricking something with his grandson {Jayden} that he never sees and the man actaully had the nerve to say to me, “Well, I have Tiona too… it is Father’s Day.” Wow….. this man is a loser.

My dad married his 4th daughter’s mother who is a whopping 2 years 11 months older than me. SICK! At the wedding in the middle of the ceremony they had her come up and be a part of it and even gave her a ring…. I was his only other daughter at this wedding. I felt {AWKWARD}

His 2 youngest daughters are his everything, I am nothing. For this reason alone I have not care for Father’s Day all that much. The 2 situations above are just a couple of things that have stabbed my heart…. there are many, many more, and I need to learn how to let go and be grateful that my children will never have to feel the way I have felt.

My children have a father who loves this both so much and distributes it between the two equally. They will never, ever have to feel the feelings I have felt growing up, because their dad would do anything in this world for them. I am proud to say that this man is my husband.

{Gino}, I know I tell you a lot, but I’m going to say it again……. you are a wonderful dad. You have made choices and changes that they will someday be so thanful and proud for. I just want to thank you for being a dad to my children, I couldn’t have picked a better guy. You make their eyes light up, you put smiles on their faces, and it all makes my heart melt.

My Mother’s Day…

Mother’s Day…. HEAVEN! I absolutely love being at the coast. It’s gorgeous, peaceful, and it’s a place I’d honestly like to see myself living at one day. I don’t know, it may happen… it may not. That’s the beauty of life. The only thing truly stopping me from packing up and picking my new home is the fact that there’s no Home Depot on the Oregon coast…. and Home Depot is a necessity in our life, because that is our source of health insurance… cardiac baby MUST have health insurance.

We camped literally right in front of the beach. We were in my Grandma’s RV and I’d sit in the passenger seat and watch the whales blow the water up and flip their tails (or fins… whatever) out of the water. It was absolutely amazing to me!! I can’t believe how close those whales actually get to the shore! What a great experience!!

So, here’s a picture of the view from the RV

Unfortunately, I didn’t get any pictures with my Grandma, but she was there. It was a nice little get away for us all… much needed! We really don’t live too far away from the coast, but we rarely go… usually just once a year. I want to start going more often. I want to take advantage of the beauty that’s just around the corner. I’d LOVE to take a trip up 101 for a couple of weeks and get to see all of the Oregon coast… it’s just so beautiful.

Of course I have a few pictures to show. I’m not going to overwhelm my blog with a million pictures, but these are a few of my favorites

I haven’t talked much about her, but this is our love Sophie…. I actually love her – shocking! I know, I know, she looks like a pit, but she’s NOT! She’s an Olde English Bulldog 🙂





Jayden FINALLY got to make smores, which is something this kid has been wanting to do for a REALLY long time. Jayden picked out a little chest for me, I’m thinking I might be keeping things he makes me in it. It’s special, because he had to get it for me…. there was no talking him out of it, and that’s the best!

I’m so thankful to be a mom, and I’m thankful to have 2 of the most special little souls I’ve ever encountered. I love my life, I love my children, and I love my husband…. I’m forever grateful for the way things have turned out for me.

Friday Favorites

Been a while, but I want to get back into this…..

My favorites of this week are as follows:

  • Jayden finally made it to the dentist for the first time and did AMAZING! My 7 year old doesn’t even have a cavity. I’m so proud of him 🙂 I highly believe that this is because I never let him go to bed with a bottle or anything to suck on, but it might just be because he’s a super star brusher.
  • My superstar husband helped me to start clearing out the clutter out of our garage. We have one section completed and a shelving thing in its place. I love organization, even though I suck at it, and am glad we’re on an organizing mission. He also cleared off our old kitchen table and carried upstairs so that it can serve as a return on my desk. I LOVE IT!!! We were actually going to spend money on a new desk and now I really have no reason. I can even use my table as my sewing area…. THANKS WONDERFUL HUSBAND!!
  • Ella has begun potty training and to my shock and surprise is doing amazing with it! My little girl isn’t even 2 and is telling me when she needs to go potty and even held up on a 2 1/2 hour outing of the house!! WTG, Ella!!
  • We got to bring in my husband 28th year with him. Thursday was his birthday and we got to go as a family to dinner. Amazing thing is – we got together when he was 18. We’ve last almost 10 years together and 5 years of marriage. I love him. Here’s to another year of his life that will be spent with ME!!
  • Jayden tested for another belt in Karate. He got called on in Karate class to give a Code of Ethics and he said, “I will forget my mistakes and concentrate on the future.” That made me proud. He makes me proud. I sure was blessed with a special little boy. I can’t wait until we find out if he earned his belt!! I think he did a great job.

That pretty much sums up my favorite things of this week. I love my life. I know sometimes I can complain and get overwhelmed and discouraged, but at the end of the day….I love my life, and I’m so thankful for it and the many blessings that are poured on my family. I’m excited for the next week to come and to talk about my favorite things.

I really am alive…. I promise

Hi blog, if you forgot who I am since I neglect you I’m still Amanda. I still have cute kids, hard kids, funny kids, family drama and I’m still selling food.

Life for us has been wonderful. We’ve had an extra toddler with us for now 3 weeks. I can pretty much say that I hope God never blesses us with twins…. EVER. In fact, my husband has informed me that we’re no longer having any more children.

My niece Alana from Sacramento came to stay with us a few weeks ago, because she comes from a horrible home. A party home, she’s been neglected and the whole sad sob story that you can come up in your head probably happened to her.

She’s going back to her glorious life she came from tomorrow. Sad… I know. But there’s not much I can do about it… besides informed CPS, which will be done.

Here’s where the bad part comes in. I’m relieved that she’s going to be gone and I hate to say that, but I have been going INSANE. I haven’t been able to get my work done, she’s very clingy, and I’m EXHAUSTED. I wasn’t going to let my brother know that I have her.. he lives here, but I needed a break. I needed my family back even if just for a day. I’ve realized this week as much as I want to save her, I can’t. It is a fight I don’t have in me. I wouldn’t just be fighting her mom, but I’d be fighting her mom’s horrible mom… which would get her over me. I just hope that either her mom cleans up her act or my brother does…. somebody needs to for this poor baby girl’s sake. Ella and Alana are only 6 weeks apart.

So this has all been going on with us…. which is why my blog has been neglected. Here’s a couple pics I took at Easter……….

THIS IS ALANA






Our Easter was wonderful!!! We went to my inlaws and got to see my husband’s grandparents. Definitely enjoyed myself….. as did the kids.

Taking a trip for Easter

We’re taking a trip to the inlaws tonight!! We’re heading to California to go and spend Easter with my inlaws and my husband’s grandparents. We won’t be going all the way to Sacramento ~ they only live about 3 1/2 hours from us… which is nice. We actually were planning on just leaving in the morning, but decided it would give us a little bit more time with everybody if we came tonight… we will be home tomorrow night.

Ella’s Easter dress is adorable. I actually bought 2 and haven’t decided which one to put her in. Pictures will definitely be coming when we return. The property that Gino’s parents live on is beautiful and I can get some great pics there… they even have an old barn!!

I talked a while back about changes happening in our lives here and they’re still going on. I wish I could talk in detail on here about it, but for the safety of others it’s best I don’t. Just keep us and our family in your prayers…. you can contact me via email if you’re really curious LOL. I do talk about it on Facebook since Facebook is private.

I hope everyone has a very beautiful and wonderful Easter!! Don’t forget that it’s not just about bunnies and eggs… but it’s about Jesus and what he did for us, his ressurection, and that one day we will have the opportunity to have eternal life thanks to what he did for us. I’m sad that we won’t be able to attend church this Easter, but he definitely will be in our thoughts throughout the day…. I’m still trying to figure out something I can do with the kids so they remember (well, Jayden at least LOL)

Tiona’s 10th Birthday


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.


HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Nothing’s better than celebrating the New Year with your family. Prior years we’ve gone out and let me tell you from experience, IT FEELS SO MUCH BETTER TO START THE NEW YEARS WITHOUT A HANGOVER!!!

We rang in the year with movies, Uno and a little Welch’s Grape Bubbly. It was the perfect night! I got to kiss my babies right after kissing my husband and was happy that we were all safe at home…. together.

Here’s a couple pics and a video of Jayden singing. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!


She conked out until the blowing of the New Years horns I bought woke her up

Welcoming in 2009

As 2008 comes to a close and we are yet approaching another year, I get excited inside. It’s a fresh new start and I think tomorrow I can wake up and everything that I did wrong in 2008 doesn’t matter…. or what I didn’t do. It’s a fresh new start to start over.

I’m happy with myself. I don’t have a resolution to lose weight, but I would like to start working out on the Wii more – for health reasons, and dropping a few pounds wouldn’t be too bad LOL.

I want to do more homemade gifts for people for their birthdays. And learn more about sewing and expand in my photography. I’d even like to pick up a couple of classes/seminars on these.

I want to read more to Jayden. I’d like to get through the whole series of Magic Tree House books this year. We read the first book today and he loved it! And I really enjoyed reading it. I think they’re great books that he can learn a lot from. I also would like to see Jayden reading more books himself. So…. reading a BIG thing for 2009 for us.

I suck at scripture study, and usually opt out and end up reading the Ensign instead, but I want to be more deligent in this area this year. I would like to have my Book of Mormon blog updated daily. Even if I’m just reading 1 chapter a day out of the Book of Mormon I’d be happy.

I want to pay more attention to my husband, and not let the little things in life distract me.

I want the kids to watch less TV this year, and not use it as much for a babysitter. Being a Work at home mom, this can be hard, but I need to be more creative in my efforts.

I want to be on top of things with my work. I want to have a set working schedule and to make sure that I get so many hours in a week so things don’t build up on me.

My biggest goal of 2009 is ORGANIZATION!!!! I want to do the Flylady and stick with it. Even use her tactics with my work. I need order and a smooth running home/office in order for me to keep my head on and strong!!!

I hope everyone reading my blog has a Very Happy & Safe New Year ~ we’ll just be hanging at home tonight watching movies and being with our babies, because there’s no other way we’d rather bring in this New Year. If you’re drinking this year, please don’t drive. You could take away someone’s life… including your own, and that’s no way to start out a New Year.

2008 Garibay Christmas

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!