Our First Discussion

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


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

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

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

Photography Obsession

I really need to take a photography class. I have this amazing camera in my hands and there’s so much that I have no clue about. The pictures that I’m getting are beautiful, but I know they could be so much more and that bugs the crap out of me.

I found one class online that teaches about my camera, and I think I just might be signing up for it. I never realized how much I loved taking pictures until I bought this camera. It’s like all I want to do now is get out there and take pictures. I look at people differently now. The other night I was at Olive Garden and was sitting in the waiting lounge and there was this family sitting on the couch. At the moment I had wished more than anything that I had my camera, because it would have made the most beautiful family picture. They were so happy and I just wanted to capture that for them so badly.

Not only do I now need to take a class on photography, but I think I should take a class on Photoshop as well. I know all about layers and a few effects, but I know there’s a whole photo editing world inside that program that I am clueless on.

Sweet, Devil Child

It’s been a few weeks since I participated in Sincerely Fro Me to You over at Kristen’s fabulous blog. I decided to finally post a picture of this sweet, precious little girl. Can’t you just tell by looking at her that she was just filled with sugar & spice? YEAH RIGHT! You’re looking at the one and only devil child as my husband describes me in this picture. He thinks this one’s bad ~ wait til I find the one of me only 2 on a rocking horse ~ CREEPY! So, there’s looking into my past.

Mean Baby!

Baby girls are SO HARD! It might have something to do with her being a Leo, but wow ~ she thinks she runs this house. Maybe I should rephrase and say SHE RUNS THIS HOUSE! If her brother has something that she wants she will fight for it. She pulls hair, hits and has even attempted to bite. I promise, she really is sweet on top of all of this, but they sure learn young don’t they?

Busy Weekend Coming Up

We’re getting more visitors!! I’m happy to say though that at least these visitors won’t keep me out of church. My cousin Jenna, Ryli, Irie are coming on Friday and my aunt Ksee w/her little girl Berklee will be coming on Sunday. I’m excited for my cousin Jenna to come and see what a wonderful ward I go too.

I have a huge list of things to accomplish before everyone get here so tomorrow I will be soooooo busy!

Since I worked all day today I’m rewarding myself with some fun playing time tonight. I’m working on my neighbor’s birth announcements. I LOVE designing these types of things.

I realized earlier that it’s Wednesday, and I totally skipped out on Works for me Wednesday ~ maybe I’ll have better luck remembering next week.