Christmas Parade!

So last Saturday was the city's Christmas Parade. It was so much fun! Andrew marched with the marching band from RP and Vaughn, the boys and I rode in the back of a city truck. It was so weird to be at the front of the parade waving to everyone as a representative of the city. But everyone from the city worked so hard and put on a wonderful parade! It was nice that we were at the front of the parade because we were able to walk to where the judges were and sit there and watch the rest of the parade. The primary children had a float and sang songs and they were so cute! But the RP band was the BEST! They looked and sounded so good. Don't have any photos of that, but you can look at Jill's blog for a picture! If you didn't see the parade this year, you really missed out. Each year it gets better and bigger and I think it is so great considering how small of a town we are! How lucky we are to live here and experience these great things!

Snow, Snow, Snow

So when Andrew woke up this morning at 5:45am, it was SNOWING! He tried to get me up to see, but I said I would look when I took him to the bus. So at 6:30am, we got the in the car and headed towards the bus stop. It was snowing so bad and the roads were terrible. After a call from my friend who works for the city, saying she was not sending her son to school, that she thought the roads were too bad, we headed home. We woke Ryan and Brandon up so they too could see the snow. After a few minutes they got all bundled up and headed out to play. This is their creation.



I know school was not canceled, but how often do we get snow like this in California. So today is our snow day, whether the school knows it or not! Enjoy kids, this doesn't happen every year.

It is now 11:06am and the snow has not let up at all! I think it might even be snowing harder now. I will take more pictures and post again if it continues to snow!

Until next time.....

Swearing In

So Wednesday night was it! I was finally sworn in to the City Council. It was a lovely evening. It was also 38th Anniversary of the City, so everyone was dressed up and the Chambers were decorated beautifully. I think my parents have the good pictures, so when I get those, I will post again. But here is the best from what my family took.



I again want to express my gratitude to all those who supported me and continue to support me on this journey. I'm sure it will have it's ups and downs, but I believe it will all be worth it in the end!

PS I finally figured out how to publish photos on my blog. I am so excited. Maybe someday I will figure out how to get pictures off the internet!

Until next time....

Christmas Parade

This years Adelanto Christmas Parade is on December 13 at 10:00am. For those who have attended before, you know how great it is and for those of you who have not, it's not a big city parade, but a nice hometown parade. Many of our kids from the ward will be participating in one way or another and Santa will even be there. I hope you can all make it, it will be a great time for all. The parade runs down Seneca from Aster to Bellflower. Hope to see you there!

BOGO!

So Vaughn's sister Melissa and her husband came down from Lehi for Thanksgiving and we had a great time. On Saturday we met them down the hill and went to a movie and went shopping. Lane Bryant was having a bogo(buy one get one free) sale and my sister in law swears by their jeans. So we went. Ok, Lane Bryant has this weird way of sizing their jeans. The sizes start at 1 and go up from there. Maybe they are trying to make us fat people feel better about ourselves. Whatever, just as long as they fit. So the lady measures me and tells me I am a yellow 4 or 5. Now my sister in law says she's a yellow 2 and now I am feeling really fat. So I try on the 5's to which they almost fall to the floor. So I try the 4's, I think I could have fit Brandon down the back of my pants they were so big. So I tell the lady what's happening and she is shocked. So she moves me to the red tagged jeans which were twice as baggy! So back to the yellow's and I finally end up in a 2. Oh, not as fat as I thought. But I did tell the clerk that maybe I just look fatter than I really am, I think she felt bad. But learn to measure or don't help! Anyway, anyone about my size, if you have not tried the jeans, I highly suggest it. They are a little more than I like to pay for jeans, but I think it's worth it. Especially if they are bogo! So thanks to Melissa for suggesting we go to Lane Bryant! I love my size 2 jeans! LOL!

Until next time.....

Primary Program X 2

So after church yesterday Vaughn called from Utah to check in. He and Ryan were having a nice time. They attended sacrament meeting in Lehi to hear my brother in law speak and then left to go to Salt Lake to be with his brother. When they arrived at his brothers house, his wife Kelly and their 2 boys were heading to their Sacrament meeting, so Ryan tagged along. I guess it was their Primary Program, so Ryan knew he wouldn't be to bored. Somehow once they got to the church building, someone asked Ryan if he wanted to participate in their program and amazingly he said yes. This is the same kid who a few years ago when attending church in Fontana with my grandparents wouldn't even to go primary with his brothers! Now he is in front of a whole ward he does not know singing his heart out. I guess after the program, someone from the primary told Ryan he was one of the loudest singers and one of the only kids who knew all of the songs. They told him he could visit their ward anytime! So,thanks to our primary leaders for teaching him what he needs to know. I know if it were not for your time and dedication, he would not have been prepared to participate in their program. I am still just a little shocked that he even said yes, but I guess they do grow up and become strong independent people. They do not always need their moms and dads looking out for them. They can do it on their own! I can't wait now to see and hear him in our program. He better have left some of the good stuff for me! I am so proud of you Ryan for making a pretty scary choice. What an example you are to our family!

Until next time.....

Fishing, a bus ride and many marching bands....

So Saturday was an interesting day. After going to bed at about 12:30am Friday night/Saturday morning, I got up at 4:15am to take Andrew to Desert Trails to meet the scout troop so they could go fishing. I returned home and tried to go back to sleep and just when I think I finally dosed off, around 6:30, Vaughn and Ryan were getting up to get ready to leave for Utah. So then I was up! They left around 7:00 and I found myself sitting on the coach watching my tivo'd shows. Andrew texted me at about 8:30 saying that they were bored fishing and that "Joe", Brother Schofield, was bringing him and Gage home. He also wanted me to call Mr. D, the band director, to see what time the band was leaving the school. See, Andrew had to make a decision last week about whether he wanted to go with the scout troop fishing or with the marching band to watch a field show competition. He of course chose scouts, but quickly realized that he was not going to catch any fish and wanted to go with the band. So I called Mr. D and he said they would wait for us at the school. We arrived at around 10:15 with still some time to spare. On the way I asked Andrew if he minded if we asked Mr. D if Brandon and I could tag along. Since Vaughn and Ryan were gone, Brandon and I had nothing to do. Mr. D of course said yes because he is just a wonderful teacher and off we went. Let me tell you about a bus ride to Riverside with 42 Jr high and high school students, most of whom were boys. The ride down, not so bad, the ride home, a little stinky. It was about 90 or so degress in Riverside and those kids got a stinky. But all in all it was a great day and fun to be with my son and his friends. I am so thankful that I am not too uncool to hang with my 12 year old and his friends. He didn't even hesitate when I asked if it was ok with him if we tagged along. He is such a great kid and I am proud to be his mom. Needless to say by the time we got home around 7:00pm, I was exhausted and went to bed around 9:00. Thanks Andrew for a fun day!

Until next time.....

Meetings, Meetings and more Meetings

Ok, so it's not official official, but everyone who matters says it official, so I guess it is. I am already meeting with the City Manager and the City Attorney to start learning the in's and out's of the city. I am going to a luncheon next week with our water agency and going to a training meeting in Sacramento in January. It is all a little over whelming, but at the same time very exciting! I am exciting to learn all I can so that I can make knowledgeable choices and decisions. I don't want to vote a certain way just because the rest of the council is. I want to vote one way or the other because I understand the issue at hand and have done my own research on it. So with that being said, I am getting sworn in at City Hall on December 10th at 6:30. I would LOVE for all of you to come, but unfortunately that is the same day as the Primary Program practice. And that I think is very important for the kids. So those of you with a spouse that can take your kids to the church, I would love for you to attend. I think it will be a real neat event. They are also lighting the city's Christmas tree and having a local school sing.

Onto a different subject, but still within my council position. I have the great opportunity to appoint 2 people to 2 different committees. One person to the planning commissions which meets the 1st and 3rd Tuesday at 6:00pm and one to the parks and recs commission which meets quarterly. Since one of the reasons I think I was elected is because I am a women, I would love to appoint a women to the commissions. If anyone is interested, please let me know. I know we are all busy with kids, scouts, church and what ever else, but if you have the time and the desire, just let me know. Us women can take over the city one committee at a time. HA HA HA!

Thanks again for all of your support through all of this. I could not have done it without you!

Until next time...........

Almost Official......

I just spoke with the reporter from the Daily Press and she said that the results from Adelanto are official, I won, coming in second to Ed Camargo. I will check the county website again at 5:00pm to see for sure, but I think the paper is right, which is so exciting!!!!!!!!! Thanks again to everyone who supported me, I could not have done it without you!


EDGAR ''ED'' RUBEN CAMARGO 1448 26.72%
CARI THOMAS 1236 22.81%
STEVE R BAISDEN 1065 19.65%
MICHAEL LEE HARRIS 905 16.70%
F.J. ''ABE'' ABERCROMBIE 765 14.12%


Until next time.....

Not Official Yet.....

As I have been flooded with calls late last night and this morning, I am truly grateful for my supporters! With only 2 of the 11 precincts reported as of 6am this morning, I am in second place. Not to shabby for a mormon mom of 3! But what I am most appreciative of is my friends and families support. I could not have even fathomed this idea without the support of my husband! He has truly been my rock through this whole thing. When I wanted to say, "I have done enough", he would say, "just a little more". And so a little more we did. Our last ditch effort was this weekend as we hung 1500 door hangers through our neighborhoods. Although my kids were less than thrilled to do this, it actually went rather quickly. On Saturday we met to distribute Prop 8 door hangers and I asked the few present if they would also hang my hangers. They of course said yes, which I am truly grateful for. So once we ran out of Prop 8 hangers, my family continued with mine. We worked from 10am until about 2:30pm on Saturday and then again on Sunday from about 3:30 until 5:00. Let me give a shout out to Dustin Belew who was a big help on Sunday. Him and Ryan raced through the neighborhoods to see who could work faster. As I told Ryan later that night, many hands makes light work. And that sure was true with Dustin. So thanks Dustin!!!!!!!!! But to all of my church family and to my friends, thank you for believing in me. Thank you for never wavering on whether I could do this. If I had met with opposition when I first started, I do not know that I could have continued. But know one was ever negative towards me. Everyone was always so supportive and continued to be all the way through. So thank you from the bottom of my heart for your sincerest support! I pray that if the results stay as they are, that I can represent you, the citizens of Adelanto, in a way that would be both pleasing to you and to our Heavenly Father. For I know that non of this would be possible without all of your support.

I will post again when I find out more.

Until next time................

Places I have visited........

visited 10 states (20%)


Ok, so Susan did this and I thought it was cool. I thought I had been more places, but I guess not. I have been to Washington D.C., but since that is technically not a state, it is not listed. Just something fun to do this morning.

Help us protect our kids!!!!!!!

I do not believe for one minute that if this proposition does not pass that our children will not be taught in school about same sex marriage. We have to do all we can to help this proposition pass. I do believe I have done a pretty good job helping to get the word out about "YES on 8". I have gone door to door twice with fliers, helped pass out signs last saturday and again will help this saturday with door hangers. I even helped at the Dalebouts for hours the evening before our first walk. I am not saying I have done more than anyone else or more than my fair share, but I am saying that I feel I have done a lot to help this proposition pass.

In going door to door with the fliers and with putting signs out last week, it has been such a positive experience. I have met some wonderful people that live in Adelanto who have the same values as I do. Even though they may not be LDS, they are still good people who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and are striving everyday to live a good life. We live in such paralious times and it is such a comfort to know that outside of our church family, we actually have a community family that believes in many instances, the same way we do. What a blessing it is to live in a place like this! I know you have to look past the dirt, tumble weeds, and often the punk kids walking down the street, to see the beauty that lies here in Adelanto. Sometimes it takes us getting out of our comfort zone, opening our mouth and moving our feet to see the good that is out there. Let that be a lesson to us all. Judge not what you do not know. In other words, do not dog on how bad Adelanto is without actually getting to know it's residents! Of course with the good often comes the bad, but that is everywhere. Let us not lose sight of that. The grass always seems greener somewhere else, but is it really? I think not. The grass is only green where we water it ourselves, take care of it ourselves and sometimes, even water our neighbors grass. Then will our grass be green and others will think, the grass is greener in Adelanto.

Let us all continue to do our part in helping prop 8 pass! Until next time..........................

Candidates Forum

So last night I was invited, along with all the other candidates, to attend a candidates forum. We were going to have the opportunity to answer questions from the citizens of our community about their needs and concerns. All the questions were prewritten and we were given topics ahead of time, not that that helped! So I went, not really sure what I would say but non the less I went. I have to say, it went rather well, in my opinion. If you want a blow by blow, just ask Rachel or Miriama. They came and it was great to see a couple familiar faces in the crowd besides my family. My son Andrew said that I slammed one of the other candidates when he made the comment about half way through that "I'm hearing a lot of peoples comments but no one giving any solutions to the questions." I quickly grabbed the microphone and answered back "that I am not here to make any promises I cannot keep, but am running because I know there are needs in our city and would like to help me part of the solution, not part of the problem." I thought I was just giving a comment, but according to my 12 year old, I "slammed" the other candidate. Whatever, I don't really like him anyway! He's too old to represent our city and our cities needs. After the forum we had a chance to mingle with the audience and most of the people running for school board were there also. I had the opportunity to speak with a lady who attended that said she was very impressed with me. She asked about my formal education and if I had ever been in city government before. I said I really had no college and had never worked with city government before. I think she was a little shocked but quickly said that those things are not always important. I told her of my experience working in the schools and with little league and that seemed to apese her. I believe before she left she said she would vote for me!

I also spoke with the candidates running for school board. What a wonderful group of people! If you haven't attended a school board meeting recently or ever, let me tell what has happened over the last couple of years. Several years ago an acquiantance of mine from Desert Trails was appointed to the school board, her name is Holly Eckes. I did not know her well, but knew that she loved her kids, her husband and wanted a good education for her boys. I occassionally would attend school board meetings and see her there and thought she was doing an ok job. But as the years went by, I became more and more frustrated with our school district, hence why I pulled my kids out, and always attritubted a little bit of that frustration towards her. Not personally, face to face, but in my mind. Come to find out, some of which I already knew, our school board is mostly made up of people from Victorville, most of whom no longer have children in our district. According to Holly, these board members give her a run for her money. They fight her tooth and nail on everything and she says that nothing ever gets done because they vote everything down. So if I may give you a piece of my mind on who "I" think should or should not be voted onto our school board. We should NOT vote for Dan Tan or Christine Turner. I think any of the other candidates would be ok. I would tell you who I am voting for, but unfortunatley other than Holly Eckes, their names have escaped my mind. Maybe I will look it up later and let you know.

So I just told Jill that I suppose I should get off my high horse and stop typing. Maybe this blogging thing isn't such a good idea for say it like it is people like me. Well see, if I get too annoying just tell me and I will try and tame it down.

Until next time.......................

It's a FIRST!

OK, so I finally gave in and became a blogger. I know I can be kind of slow up on the uptake of things but I do finally get around to it. I don't guarantee much and I definantley don't guarantee many pictures, since taking pictures is my down fall in life, especially when my camera is always at home, but I can at least write about things that happen in mine and my families lives.

I do have to say that I have been very inspired and uplifted by many of my friends posts. I feel that blogging is a way to convey a message without having to really speak with anyone. Sometimes I believe if we write down what happens in our lives, it allows for greater self reflection of the things we have done and said and gives us that hind sight we always say is 20/20.

As most of you know you get what you see with me, so I hope to not offend any of you! So here is my disclaimer, if I offend you, I am very sorry. I do not intentionally try to offend, but just try to speak my mind.

That's all I have for now, so until next time...............