Thanksgiving 2008

What do you get when you put together 14 kids 8 adults and a lot of good food? A Great Thanksgiving! This year my family, including my Mom and Dad, joined the Garcia-Young clan and their friends the Saunders' from Wyoming to celebrate Thanksgiving. Ben and Holly Kroutil joined us for a short time as well. The food was a great compilation of everyone's efforts, especially the hosts. We were very grateful to have such wonderful friends to invite us over and to be able to have my Mom and Dad with us as well. One of our favorite parts of the meal was the pies. Karen made her famous apple pie, my Mom made her yummy banana cream pie, and I made pumpkin (Brian's favorite) and chocolate cream pie (my favorite). You can never have to many pies! Just ask me!

At this time of Thanksgiving, I recognize that there is truly much to be grateful for. In a time of economic uncertainty and many new changes upon us, I am especially grateful for every little thing that we have been blessed with! I am thrilled that Brian has a good job, and that we can still afford our home (as many people in our neighborhood have lost theirs). I have a wonderful family whom I love dearly and I learn from daily. Most of all, I am grateful we have the gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives, which gives us hope and encouragement and has taught us to prepare ourselves for whatever may lie ahead. I am grateful to have leaders who are in tune with the spirit who guide us in the things we should do to find joy in our journey. I am very grateful that we can have the spirit in our home, that we may enjoy the peace that it offers us, provided we let it! (ha/ha) Overall, I really have no complaints. The only things I could complain about are things that are my own fault anyway. I guess I still have a lot of work to do! Thank you to all my family and friends whom I love and care for so much. You've had such an impact on my life and have helped in making me who I am today. (I hope your not too disappointed) (ha/ha). All my love- Jessica

I love to see them playing

While working in the kitchen I glanced around looking for Colby who was normally hanging on my leg about this time. To my great pleasure I found him sitting on the floor with his sisters. The girls were teaching him how to roll a ball back and forth instead of just hogging it. He would take turns sitting in front of each of the girls playing and then they finally they let him into the circle. As I worked I could hear the constant giggling and chattering of the kids.

One of my favorite things to see is my children laughing and playing together. In this particular instance there was even a valuable lesson of sharing and taking turns being taught. I am so proud of my wonderful children. I am very grateful for the wonder examples they are for each other. I know that I am their mother and slightly biased, but they are the best.

Yeskidettes Jungle Book Play

This Season Jade and Cambrie both were involved in the Yes Kidettes Production of "The Jungle Book". Their friend Claire Pace made it also. So after a solid 6-8 weeks of driving back and forth to practices in different parts of downtown Modesto, and of course no two kids ever seemed to have practice at the same time because they all had different parts, they finally had their big weekend of performances. When we finally got to see the show I was so impressed. I can't believe they can pull that many kids together in such a short amount of time and make it look so good. It was especially enjoyable for us because throughout the entire show, we had a child on stage. Either Jade or Cambrie were on the stage the entire time and a lot of the time it was both of them. Jade was a Monkey in King Louie's crew, a star and a flower, and Cambrie was a bumble bee. Cambrie even had a little speaking part which she was very proud of! She ran up to Mowgli the man cub and said "Awh, come on what's wrong?" I was so proud of both of them, they did a great job. It has been interesting to see the confidence that they have gained through this experience. Even from the small part Jade had in the last YES performance, she had much better confidence and stage presence when trying out for this one. She even had a call back for the part of Ashanti. In the end I was very glad they had the opportunity to be in the show. Even if it meant the tripling of my gas bill, the juggling of Colby's nap times, the rearranging of carpools, and the lack of dinners provided during that time, I think it was a great experience!

A Quick Stop In

One of the great parts of living in the "city" with parents who live in the "country", is that when they to do any big shopping, they come down to where we are. Consequently we get little surprise visits more often. This stop in happened to be after Nana got a new cast for her hand that she had surgery on. All the kids love when Nana and Papa stop by. Lucky for them Colby was in rare form tonight. (ok so maybe not so rare) but Colby was on one of his kicks. He was just being silly and thought it was funny to imitate what Papa was doing. Papa would make a face and he would make a face. Then Papa would make a face and shake his head and hands and Colby would make the face and do this shaking thing that he does when he grits his teeth. It totally cracks me up! Of course if you laugh he keeps on going! Anyway he was enjoying putting on a show and giving loves... and then some. I love that my kids have the opportunity to get to know their grandparents so well and be able to play with and love on them.
Check out these little video clips of Colby imitating Papa, and then giving him loves. That is until he realizes that I have a camera on him and then he just wants to pose.

Prop 8 part 2

The greatest of blessings were never given without overcoming a little adversity right? When we did our last street walk to support Yes on prop 8 we had organized another walk for Monday, the day before the big election. We had quite a few people who said they were going to be there as well. As Monday approached we quickly found that it had a really good chance of raining Monday night. At first I thought they might cancel the walk, but after talking to Bob Rawe the regional coordinator for prop 8, he mentioned that it was snowing when the pioneers crossed the plains and that didn’t stop them. Brian’s thought was that doesn’t mean they weren’t crazy either. Ha/ha So anyway, out into the rain we went. Originally I was thinking of just keeping the kids in the car and letting them watch a movie while we stood outside with the signs, but they protested that idea. Especially Jade and Cambrie, since they didn’t get to help the last time. So out we all went. Except Colby of course, I wasn’t about to deal with him on a busy street in the rain. I was so impressed with all the people that were there rain or shine to support this cause. There were actually quite a few other kids out there, and everyone was getting drenched, which to the kids was pure fun. Some of our signs started to fall apart in the rain, so we turn the kids into human signs, while protecting them only slightly from the rain. We took the plastic yard signs and cut holes in the tops for their heads and then put it over the top of them. They loved it and almost all the kids wanted one. Jade and Savannah Pace and a few of the other had made up a little cheer that they were hollering at the top of their lungs. “Yes on 8 is really great” over and over and over again. I have to admit my favorite sign was the one Jen Miyakawa made from yellow foam core board. She cut out the word Yes and the number 8. It was way cute! I loved seeing the enthusiasm and dedication that everyone there had. I am so grateful to live in a community of people with whom I share common views and interests. There was even a guy who when he saw what we were doing came over and asked to join us. How cool is that!! Yea for Yes on Prop 8!!!

Halloween in Kindergarten

For whatever reason the schools in our area don't let the kids dress up in thier Halloween cosutmes at school, but in Kindergarten they keep it fun with some of the little things they do. Just check out these precious pictures of A.J. and Hailey after we picked them up from school. I never thought I would see a spider on someones head as cute.

It's Halloween!!

Well... it is what it is right?!? Halloween a day where everyone gets to pretend to be someone or something they aren't and they are rewarded with candy for doing so. You've gotta love Halloween! Jade was Padame in her battle suit,(Star Wars) Cambrie was Princess Leia (I made her costume) Hailey was Super Girl, and Colby was a Dog! Brian and I even took a little stab and prentending to be someone else this year. If you watch the show NCIS you would know that I was Abby the freaky forensic scientist, and Brian was a 70's dude, with the tan leather, butterfly collar jacket and all! This year the Pace's were kind enough to host the gathering of creatures big and small. Everything is more fun with friends right!! Even Nana and Papa came to see the crazies! We had pizza and some yummy appitizers, including a disney pasta salad and a cheese ball in the shape of an owl (way cool Karen)! The kids had a blast just playing and eating with thier friends, as they always do. Then we hit the streets.
The girls took off in the first wave of "runners". Luckily Becca had the energy to head up that group. Brian, my Mom, Dad and I helped bring up the rear with some of the smaller, slower and more easily distracted animals. Literally... Colby was a dog Dakota Lewis was a monkey and Calli was a Tiger. Colby was chillin' by Dakota for a while until he got tired of walking, (just 2 or 3 houses later). He was more interested in opening the candy he got, than he was in going and getting more candy. Finally he took refuge in Karen's bike stroller with Calli. The funny part of it was Karen kept trying to get Calli to sit in it so she could push her, and Calli for awhile wanted nothing to do with it. But Colby on the other hand would jump right in, weither he was welcome or not! (In Calli's opinion, he wasn't always welcome)

Every once in a while I caught a hi Mom as the girls ran by and eventually Hailey got tired and decided to hang back with us. "I just want to walk with Papa" she said. I know they all had a great time. When it started sprinkling rain we all headed back to the Pace's house for some hot chocolate. Once we got back everybody dumped their loot out into piles to be compared and inspected. There were quite a few kids running around and candy everywhere! Somehow everytime I saw Colby go by he had a different sucker in his mouth. I am not sure where he got them or how he got them open, but boy was he happy! It was like there was an endless supply. I don't think he ever finished a whole sucker, he just kept putting new ones in everytime he found one. Oh well, it's Halloween right?

I made a costume!!

This year the girls started with a theme in mind for thier costumes. From the beginning Jade knew she wanted to be Padame from Star Wars and Cambrie was set on being Princess Leia. Hailey started out wanting to be Princess Leia as well, then she wanted to be Padame, then I showed her a Super Girl costume that I borrowed from a friend, and she was sold. (especially since her birthday party this year was a super girl theme) Originally they wanted to make Colby a wookie, but when Hailey broke the theme, which I was almost grateful for, Colby was allowed to be what ever he wanted.- Which in the end was a Dog, because that's what a friend of mine had on hand. But he did have the sound down perfectly. Still Jade and Cambrie were absolute on what they wanted. Luckily I found a Padame costume at Toys R Us, but there was no decent Princess Leia costume to be found. The night before our ward trunk or treat, I was at a loss for Cambrie and started asking her what else she would like to be. With a sad look on her sweet little face she said " I guess I could be something else."

That was it. I would be making a Princess Leia costume. - oh no- the sewing machine was coming out. Well actually mine stayed packed away and I went over to my friend Karen's house to use hers. It wasn't buried quite as deep as mine was. Karen also had experience making hoods, which was one of Cambrie's favorite parts of the costume, so I knew I would be needing help!! With a quick trip to JoAnn's for some fabric, I was off to meet up with Karen. We grabbed some dessert first at Applebee's where I sketched out what I thought I wanted to do on a scrap paper, and we tried to figure out the best and easiest way to make the dress. I didn't have a pattern of course, that would have been to easy. I almost never do things the easy way. So we head back to Karen's and started laying out the fabric. We used one of Emily's (Karen's daughter Cambrie's age) dresses to sort of trace. After a few interesting cuts, I decided to just start sewing and see what happened. As I got started sewing, Karen started on the hood- I tried to describe the type of hood that I was hoping for... I kept telling her it would be cool if it was one of those big plush hoods. For some reason I kept using the word plush, which to me meant one that billows down and is really full at the bottom, to Karen it meant something more along the lines of softness. At the time which was already fairly late in the evening I couldn't find any other word to describe it. Finally after searching for every synonim for plush to get my point across, she crossed over to the "dark side" and saw the vision I had in my head. So as far as late night projects go, which is usually have cocked and with much laughter, we actually were doing pretty well. Although at my first attempt at sewing a sleeve on I sewed it on inside out, but what's a sewing project without a little seam ripping? I did in the end get it sewed on correctly, and I was so proud... I SEWED A SLEEVE!! Yes this was a first for me. You can call me super mom. Anyway last but not least was the best part of the whole costume "The Hood". Karen had folded and pleated and done all kinds of things that had me confused and lost. When it was all pinned together and ready to sew onto the dress, I carefully took the hood. It was like handing a new born baby to it's mother for the first time. I was careful and unsure, but so excited. (I know, all this over a hood... but yes, it was like a right of passage for me!) Anyway, on a wing and a prayer I somehow sewed the hood with all it's pleats and gathers to the dress and... Tada!!!! I made her Princess Leia costume. Granted we finished it about 3:00 in the morning, but hey it was done!! Not only that but since her hair is still pretty short I got some brown yarn and made her some serious Leia buns. The next morning when I showed her the dress, her face lit up!! "You made me a Princess Leia dress, Mom?" It was all worth it for that!!!

Prop 8 Street Walk

I am so grateful that I live in a country where we have the right to express our opinions and fight for the things we believe in. Many of you may or may not know about what is going on with Proposition 8 here in California. For all the details you can go to http://www.protectmarriage.com/. In regards to us locally Brian was asked to be the zip code coordinator for 95367, all of Riverbank. We have been working for the past 2 1/2 months putting together routes and coordinating walks for polling, going through over 5,000 names of registered voters, making calls, inputting data, organizing rallies and more. We have had some wonderful help from many great people, but some of my favorite volunteers helped on this last demonstration.

Thursday we stood on the corner of a busy intersection in our town, making people aware and showing support for Yes on 8. My favorite part, and I think the most effective part of this volunteer group was the kids!!! Jade and Cambrie had a play practice so they could not be there, but Brian, myself, Hailey and Colby were out on the corner along with many of our friends and their families!! We got lots of good honks and thumbs up in support. Only a few opposing which is to be expected. Hailey loved dancing around running up and down the sidewalk, hooting and hollering and holding her sign. She was a great little cheerleader! Colby was pretty good in the backpack for awhile, but then he wanted to take part as well. So we gave him a sign and put him to work too! It actually felt really good to be out there as a family supporting something that we believe so strongly in! I was so happy to see such a great turn out of families in support of this action!

We are doing it again on Monday at 4:30pm at the corner by KFC in Riverbank, and would love anyone to join us!! Don't Forget To Vote!!! YES ON 8!!!

My Little Helper

Colby is always trying to be helpful. Al tough I believe being helpful and terrorizing are synonymous in his book. On this particular occasion I was folding laundry into the kids' boxes. (Each kid has a colored box. I fold their clothes and put them in their boxes and then they are in charge of putting them away) As fast as I could put things in the boxes he would pull them out. Then after a few attempted efforts of aiming for the boxes he wasn't currently emptying, he decided to pick up all the boxes at once and head for the hills (aka the kitchen). I was actually pretty impressed that he was able to get them all at once. I think he was too! Can I just say... he's lucky he's so cute.

Reading with Grandma Stacey

One of Colby’s favorite things to do right now is reading books. He absolutely loves when you read to him and then he tries to mimic some of the words you say. Lucky for Colby, Grandma Stacey loves reading to her grandkids. It is always so precious to see the kids cuddled up in Grandma’s lap, listening to the stories. Of course if Colby was on Grandma’s lap, Gavin wanted to be there as well, and visa versa. Double trouble. Thank goodness for a patient and loving Grandma.

Grandma Kirkham's Funeral

Today was the funeral for Grandma Kirkham, Grandma Stacey's mother. It was a wonderful ceremony were instead of sorrow the room was filled with wonderful memories of the life and legacy that Grandma Kirkham left. Grandma Kirkham was Brian's last living grandparent, and the only Greatgrandparent on the Stacey side that our kids ever knew. There was a great turn out of family and friends and I loved hearing the great memories and funny stories that everyone was sharing about Grandma.

One of my favorite memories of Grandma was one christmas when Jade was little, as she had gotten a set of pretend beauty supplies and make up i.e. hair dryer, lipstick, combs, etc. So Jade and Amanda (Scot and Nancy's little girl) climbed up on Grandma's lap and proceeded to beautify her. At first I thought she was the only one who would tolerate it, but Grandma loved it. She would smile and tell the girls how much she loved having them fix her up and how beautiful they were and how much she loved them. I can still picture Grandma's large smile and lit up eyes.

Brett gave the family prayer at the viewing and Brian was asked by his Mom to dedicated the gravesite. Overall, it was a wonderful ceremony. Truly a time to celebrate her life and fun memories that Grandma gave us, instead of just morning her loss. She was a strong and wonderful women, who obviously touched the lives of many of those around her. She will be missed, but we are grateful for all that she has been to us! We love you Grandma!

Trampoline Memories

During our weekend of reminiscing about various Idaho memories, one of the favorites that came up was playing on the trampoline at Doug Pinder’s house. The kids listened to Brian, Uncle Brett, and Doug relive the fun times they had doing flips and jumping off the Pinder’s roof onto their trampoline. The girls were all impressed when they realized their Dad did all those things as a kid. So when they found out Uncle Brett had a trampoline, they were super excited for their Dad to show them some of the stuff he could still do. So out on Brett’s tramp, Brian did a few flips and then helped the girls try front and back flips on their own. It wasn’t as if they have never seen him do a flip before, but there was something nostalgic about hearing all those stories about what their Dad did as a kid growing up in Idaho and then having the opportunity to try some of those things as kids while in Idaho. They didn’t do to bad either!

It's Good To Have Friends!

No matter the time, no matter the place, having good friends puts a smile on your face!

One Of The Best Nights Ever!!!

Ok- so anyone who knows me knows about my passion for dance. So no surprise that So You Think You Can Dance is one of my favorite shows! So on this awesome evening I had the opportunity to go with some friends to see the SYTYCD tour concert. It was so much fun! We started out the evening with dinner in Sacramento at PF Changs. The food was great! Then we headed over to the concert. It was myself, Karen Garcia-Young, Sabrina Bunney, Jen Miyakawa, Holly Kroutil and of course our token male- Ben Kroutil. We teased him all night about being the only guy to come to a dance show, but we all know he had a blast and was just as passionate about the show as the rest of us were, if not more. The show was amazing! They did all the dances I had hoped for. It is still amazing to me to watch them on tv and then see them in person, that their bodies really can move that way. I was in awe. It was funny,entertaining, intense, and 4real! I really enjoyed having friends to go and share this awesome time with. This is definitely a tradition!! All of us already have decided that we will be doing this again next season. One of the things that totally topped off the evening was Karen's driving. We were all very impressed with her aggressiveness at getting us out of the parking lot. Someone made a comment about her moving into a slightly open space. Not only did she move into the space, she took it by storm it and cut off a few dozers along the way. We all proudly cheered her on! (Hey who isn't for getting home a little earlier) Over all it was the most fun I have had in a long time! Maybe since the last SYTYCD concert. (j/k)- well maybe.