Proposition 8 Passed

My faith in the morals and values of Californians was revived when I saw the results of the election on November 3 and Proposition 8, an admendment to the California state Constitution to protect and restore marriage between only a man and a woman PASSED!!
I was so excited and moved. My testimony was strengthened in so many ways. Families is truly the foundation of the Lord's church and it was amazing to fight for something that I believe in and stand for so strongly. It was a hard fight though don't get me wrong or under estimate the passing of this Proposition. The hours and organization was truly amazing and I am proud to say that as a family we were a part of it all. Even if it hadn't passed Jay and I felt that we did all that we could have done, and that is what the Lord has asked of us.
But this does not been that the fight is over. We have to continue to stand strong and steadfast, even immovable to protect what is dear to us and valued, our testimonies in the Lord's church as well as our freedom of speech in this country. I learned one thing that there is very little tolerance for values and morals and we are not allowed, in some ways, the same freedom of speech. But if we stand strong together, and follow the Lord's plan, being instruments in the Lord's hands we can truly bring miracles to pass.
Thank you to all Christians and Americans with strong values to protect family, we must stay strong and continue to be united to provide the freedoms for our children.

Halloween for the BAT KIDS!

Halloween was an eventful Friday. It was also a full day of costumes. We began with Colton's preschool costume parade to a neighboring house where they went trick-or-treating. All the kids looked adorable. Once night fell we lit our carved pumpkins that we had got from the pumpkin farm. We had to carve a bat to represent this years Batman theme.
Sarah was actually really into getting candy this year. She would follow the kids to the door and say in her little voice "chrik chreat" and then "chansh chou" It was precious!!!

As for Colton and his good friend Kylee, they are pros and they enjoyed every moment of going house to house trick or treating for every minute until it started raining and we needed to get the little kids inside.

I think Colton and Kylee's highlight of the night was passing out candy to the bigger kids who continued to trick or treat. They even greeted some trick or treaters on the sidewalk or in the street. They had a great time while us parents chit chatted.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!!

More FUN at the Bishop's Pumpkin Farm

I believe that a child's best friend is probably dirt and water. Either one always seems to create tons of FUN! and Bishop's Pumkin Farm had both. Lots and lots of dirt, everywhere! And plenty of toys to faciliate even more fun in the dirt and water. Colton is always drawn to the trucks and dirt.
Sarah never misses a chance to play in water, even panning for marbles.

And there were slides, this was the first year that Colton was big enough for the huge slides.

But Sarah even had great FUN on the smaller slides, again and again.

Colton is always eager to teach his sister, take care of her and show her the way. They are so cute working together hand in hand.

Bishop's Pumpkin Farm Family FUN

The Thursday before Halloween, Jay took the day off and we took a drive to Wheatland, CA to the Bishop's Pumpkin Farm. We have gone in years past and treasure our memories there but have yet to take Sarah. We decided to go and let Sarah have some fun there too and continue what has become a tradition for our family. Colton likes to lead the way and show Sarah where all the fun is and what to do.

One of our favorite spots in the petting farm. The kids and I actually went into the pin with the goats and fed them food right out of our hands. Colton adores animals and likes to take care of them. Sarah however was more timid than Colton.

Sarah and I fed the goats together because her hands are so little that they goats would nibble on her finger tips hoping for more food. But she too became fond of the mini goats.

After a short hay ride out to the huge pumpkin patch we got to pick out our own pumpkins. I love the few of a field of pumpkins it is really pretty and makes everything feel like fall.

Colton couldn't decide which pumpkin was his favorite. But he was all smiles just to be there having fun on an overcast fall day.

Staying Busy and Enjoying the Life

It seems that once the leaves start to change and the weather gets just a little bit cooler that life gets busier and you loose track of time. Many things have been keeping us busy particularly our kids and we love that, every minute of it!!
Colton went on a field trip with his prescool to a Pumpkin Patch here locately. The class met at the Pumpkin Patch and got to play in the Play zone where they had a hay maze, a pool of lima beans, tree house tower, bush huts and tractors. They could even feed the goats. I am sure this was the favorite part. But the kids also went on a tractor ride through the walnut orchard over to pick a pumpkin and learn about how they grow. The trip's next station was to learn about winter pea plants and plant their own. What a great day in the sun with beautiful fall weather.

In our spare time at home Sarah and Colton enjoying playing together. Sarah adores her big brother and tries to find any way to do exactly what he is doing. Even if it means standing on a box of blocks just to make a slam dunk. They have a great brother and sister connection.

The kids love to play outside and Colton has learned to ride his bike without training wheels. He had a friend that did not have the training wheels and hopped on a started riding all by himself. And he didn't fall at all. We are so proud of his accomplishment.

Even when life is busy we LOVE ONE ANOTHER!

We still have not decided if Sarah is a tomboy or a premodonna. But she certianly LOVES to wear Mommmy's heels. Everyday she gets into my closet and clicks around the house in heels.

Even in the Busy moments of life it is important to capture and remember those precious memories that make you smile even for a minute!

Baby Girl, Our Sarah!

Sarah keeps us on our toes. She is into lots of things with curiousity wanting to be like Coco, Mom or Dada. She just wants to be a big girl. She certainly is getting big and learning so much.

Some of Sarah's favorites things: Baby dolls. She even says "Baby" and loves carrying and pushing around her Baby dolls.
Sarah other favorite thing is her Big brother, she calls "Coco" or "Bubba." But she is always looking out and asking for her Bubba, notice they both have sippy cups. Sarah always asks for her juice and then one for Colton.
"CHEESE" She can be a ham, when she wants to but not too often on demand. Here she is being more daring than normal by standing on her car. She is becoming a climber.
Two Peas in a Pod or a Laundry basket which ever is available. But either way they sure do love one another and it is great to see that relationship grow.
If his little sister is not destroying whatever he is building with then he is smiling and ready to play with Sarah.

Children are such a joy and really do grow up so, so, so Fast! Blogging is a nice way to keep track of their lifes and share with family great moments, all in one quick task.

We LOVE soccer!!

Colton is our SOCCER ALL STAR

and he looks forward to every Saturday he has a soccer game.

For some reason he kicks better when he sticks out his tongue. I think it is a concentration technique. And it seems to help in scoring all those goals.

1...2...3... KICK!
And we never forget to stretch after the game with our friends.

We do not want to strain a muscle.

And Sarah is the purplest cheerleader always yelling "GO GO CO CO!!" Our family loves soccer and we are enjoying this season with the YMCA.

Another Weekend at the fields!

Colton's skills in soccer have really inmporved this year.

He hustles, dribbles even shoots and scores...GOOOOAALLLL!!

An Evening at the Park!

One really great thing about California is that there are parks everywhere. We have searched out some great parks. This is a no sand, no bark, in otherwords not too dirty of a park, that is made for smaller kids with great swings.

Sarah is never happy to leave and is thinking "Oh no Mom!"

Colton still loves the slides and this tunnel slide is lots of fun, however Sarah didn't share the same opinion. No matter how much Big brother encouraged her she would not adventure down.
PEEK-A-BOO!! I see you!
Never Fear our Superhero is here up high and ready to fly!
We always have FUN at the park and the kids would go everyday if they could. There are many other parks that we are regulars at especially the park just up the street from us. But it is not my absolute favorite because of the sand and the kids get so dirty.

There is Officially Peace in the House when they are all Sleeping!!

Colton is by far our best sleeper!! I only wish he would sleep later than 6:30am. If I am lucky he doesn't come into my room and wake me up until 7am. But he sleeps like a ROCK!

Sarah is another story when it comes to sleeping. She sleeps through the night Yes, but at any noise she will stir. We think it is because she does not want to miss out on something. However she is so sweet when she sleeps and quite too.

"Did I see you taking a picture of me MOM?!"
The other funny thing about Sarah is that she doesn't try to climb out of her crib but she loves sticking her feet between the bars. One night when I went to check on her, she had fallen asleep with both legs stuck between the bars. If she keeps this up we will have to put her in a bed way before I want to. I still can't figure out how she got into this position.
Lullaby, my Sweets!! Nighty-night and Goodnight!

Precious Children of Mine!

Say "Cheese!" and these are the smiles I get. They are all dressed up for church. We are heading out the door. Sarah can't forget her purse and Colton wanted to wear a white shirt and tie, "like Daddy" today. We love Sarah's princess dress(from Morgan and Crystal's wedding) and thought she should wear it again. Sarah also wanted to add her brown sweater.Aren't I the cutest?!
I am handsome too!!
Colton and Sarah are our pride and joy!

Star Soccer Player and little Cheerleader!

Colton was so excited about his "soccer clothes" because these are the clothes that his uncles wear for soccer. He loves his uncles, Morgan and Brandon, and surely idolisms them when it comes to playing soccer, he was hoping to look just like them. He even wanted great shoes like Uncle Brandon so Colton is wear white Puma cleats with the laces on the side. Run Colton Run!!
This year Colton is playing on a YMCA team in Lodi, CA with his best buddy, Micah (seen on the left in the zip-up sweat jacket). They are by far the stars of the team. So far Micah scored lots of goals last game and Colton was assisting and this game Colton scored lots of goals and Micah was assisting. Unfortunately, they take turns being bummed when they don't score, too.
Colton has gotten a lot better this year with dribbling the ball down field and turning it to score!
Here is our little pink cheerleader. She is bummed that she doesn't get to play, just a few more years and her turn will come. But she yells "GO, GO, Go CO CO!!" (Co Co is Colton in Sarah language.) I think it was Crystal that first taught her to say Go!! Thanks!
Even though Jay is a big football and basketball fan and would never have gotten into soccer if it wasn't for the Gilliam family(me, my brothers and parents) he is really enjoying playing with Colton and watching him play! We, as a family, have really enjoyed sports together.

Got to get ALL the cars clean!!

Sarah and Colton LOVE to play outside and even more, they LOVE with excitement to play in the water. So what a better activity then washing the cars, besides Jay and my cars were beyond dirty. So the kids and I went to work, more so me of course, but they were thoroughly entertained.

But Sarah thought it was necessary to clean her car too. She needed "Wah! Wah!"(water) in her bucket, so we all got our own. Even though this car has been around since Colton was little Sarah takes full possession these days, and lets everyone know that it is hers with a loud yell.

As for Colton, he was a big helping wiping down the car. However the real fun was making bubbles and becoming bubble man. Aarrurrrg! Bubble smash!! Splash!

First Day of School!

The School year has begun again and Colton is our Varsity player at Snell's Preschool. He is always ready to learn and make new friends.



Here Colton is in front of his school, Snells. His preschool reminds me of the little yellow house, Mrs. Tally's preschool, where I attended prescholl.

We love that Colton has a great day everytime he goes, even more I get excited when he enjoys going to Blue room, which is the more structured learning room he attends once a week out of his three day he goes. As a parent it is very rewarding to watch our children learn and grow.

Fighting for YES for Proposition 8

This past year here in California a judge ruled that Marriage only between a man and a woman was "Unconstitutional." Now the marriage lisence in the state of California says Partner A and Partner B, so there has been a proposition presented to make an amendment to the state constition which DOES NOT take away anyones rights but firmly defines marriage to be between a man and a woman. With our religious beliefs and morals, you can see how this can be upsetting and something to fight for. So Jay has been knocking doors, with other members of our congegation, helping to inform people about what Prop 8 really is and we are praying that the votes will come through in favor of the Proposition. Yesterday we read an article in the Wall Street journal about the fight that the church has take on, with everything that we as a church organization have done it was amazing to be recognized nationally. Here is the link, check it out: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122186063716658279.html
And please pray that this Propostion will pass to protect the sanctity of marriage that is so precious to us all. And it will also help to protect the morals that seems to be faultering in our society. This is a little of what has been consumming our thoughts and energies the last month.

How the year keep flying by!

Today I was at the grocery store and there were already pumkins for sale and there is Halloween stuff at every store. The nights are cooler here and so I am starting to feel like fall. Thus I changed our Blog background to have a little fall spirit about it. Happy Fall to you! We look forward to the harvesting of great vegtables here in the California and some really fun Fall Festivals.

Family is what counts in Life

It is always great to be with family!

Colton with Uncle Morgan and Uncle Brandon
FOUR GENERATIONS

Great-Granddaddy, Granddaddy, Mom(Me), Colton & Sarah
Me, Colton, Sarah and Aunt Shayna, who flew in from Olympia, Washington
WE LOVE YOU ALL!!