The Kids on Christmas Eve

The kids got to open their Christmas pajamas on Christmas Eve and they loved them. I made Amanda's and it turned out HUGE but she likes it so it was worth it. Collin got a Lightning McQueen one and was in heaven and Samantha loved the wrapping paper. We as parents are having a great time playing Santa and hanging out with our children. We feel very blessed to have them in our lives. They are growing up too fast and we are trying to enjoy as much as we can.

Christmas Came Early for Collin This Year

Anyone who knows Collin, knows that he LOVES Lightning McQueen from the Cars movie. So when grandma Poshtyar offered to have Collin and Amanda over for few days so we can catch up with Christmas, we were all excited. Instead of heading to the over crowded malls for something with Lightning McQueen for Collin, this is what I came up with. It took me a long time ( I am not an artist by nature) but he loved the end result, so it was all worth it.

First I drew it with pencil with grids to get it to look right.


Then drew over the pencil with a Sharpi.


This is to show you the original size of the picture.


Used a lot of red paint


Kept painting and painting.

AND..... 6 hours later there was Mr. Lightning McQueen on Collin's wall. Let's hope he likes Lighting McQueen for a looooong time.

Well, now Amanda wants Sally on her wall. Oh my, she is going to have to wait.

Sweet Samantha

She is a joy and a wonderful baby. She always has a smile for everyone. We could not love her any more.

Happy Birthday Josh

He is a great dad


A great example of hard work


An amazing cook (that's our old kitchen by the way)


a wonderful teacher


And, he is mine. Happy Birthday Hon.

Happy 2nd Birthday Amanda

My Sweetest Amanda, I remember the day you were born as if it was yesterday. It was a Saturday and we were going to have lunch with Grandma and Grandpa Poshtyar. We woke up in the morning and started to clean our apartment in Mountain View. Then we all got in the car around noon. I remember telling your daddy that I think my bladder is out of control but we didn't think much of it. When we got to grandma's house we were very hungry and grandma like usual had prepared something super Divine. I was sitting on the chair in the living room and got up to use the bathroom and boom my water broke. Yep, there was water all over Grandma and Grandpa's Persian rug. Just like in the movies. No pain or anything, yet. Grandma gave me a towel and said, "I guess we are going to have a baby today." And indeed we had. By 7:30 that evening, you were born.
You are the sweetest girl. Your smile is contagious. Words can not describe how much we love you. You are mommy's little friend, daddy's little girl, Collin's sanity (He would have gone nuts without you to play with) and Samantha's big sister. In a nutshell, you are a blessing to all of us.

Sep- Oct in a Nutshell

Well, we have been pretty busy the past couple of months. I am not even sure if I remember everything that has been going on. The kids are keeping us on our toes, that's for sure; but life is good and we are keeping busy. Here are some of my favorite moments that I happen to catch on camera. It is almost impossible to catch all the precious moments but what a mother of three can do...

Oh the beautiful Santa Barbara beach. We went there with Josh for his Yardi Conference in September and the beach was gorgeous.

Amanda's kissable toes

gotta love the hair.

Samantha soaking up the sun

Collin picking out a pumpkin for his best friend's birthday present from our front yard.

So, we went down to Mountain View for Landen's (Collin's best friend) birthday party. We had a blast hanging out with our friends. We had missed them so much. We were all smiles from ear to ear on our way back to east bay.

Baby Samantha always has a smile for me that melts my heart. She is an absolute angel.

We brought our pumpkins that Josh grew in our front yard (we can't afford a real landscaping yet) for our trunk or treat. We are going to have pumpkins for a very long time.

The biggest one was 47.2 pounds. Pretty impressive for a first timer, don't you think?

Our little pumpkin laying against a pumpkin. Gotta love her spit ups.

I had to snap this one when we were hurrying for church. She just looked too adorable with those pig tales. She doesn't always let me do her hair but my old Halloween bangles and a lip-gloss did the trick.

My most favorite people in the world.

Note to Parents of Trick-or-Treaters

Halloween can be a scary time, and not because of the ghosts and vampires going door to door but because of safety concerns regarding trick-or-treating. As parents it is our duty to protect our children on Halloween and every other day of the year.

Proposition 8 protects our children from being taught in public schools that same-sex marriage is the same as traditional marriage. In health education classes, state law requires teachers to instruct children as young as kindergarteners about marriage. (Education Code §51890.) If the same-sex marriage ruling is not overturned, teachers will be required to teach young children that there is no difference between gay marriage and traditional marriage. (see www.protectmarriage.com)

Proposition 8 doesn’t take away any rights or benefits from gay or lesbian domestic partners. Under California law, “domestic partners shall have the same rights, protections and benefits” as married spouses. (Family Code §297.5.) There are no exceptions to this. Proposition 8 will not change this.(see www.protectmarriage.com)

As parents of children, we ask that you join with us to protect children without endangering equality and vote YES on Proposition 8.

A Consideration on Proposition 8

By Josh Bradshaw

I believe all men and women are created equal and that all should have the same rights regardless of race, religion, gender, social status or any other categorization. I also believe the first marriage was performed by God between Adam and Eve and marriage originated as a religious ceremony. Two beliefs that are reported by many to be at odds when it comes to Proposition 8 on the ballot which would amend the constitution of the State of California to read: "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."

How can I reconcile equality with religious belief? How can I decide with finality the correct course of action for the pen in my hand on this fall's ballot without fear of offending those living in monogamous homosexual relationships and at the same time not offend a loving God who created all of his children?

I reconcile the two beliefs by considering the following: Over time in national, state and local governments legal benefits have been associated with marriage, the union between a man and a woman. These benefits are significant enough that those who cannot obtain marital status feel they are, although created equal, not considered equal. Among those who feel this way are some of my friends, co-workers and family members, people who I respect and consider created equal to all of the other members of the human race.

I then consider the equality problem as not that same-sex couples cannot marry but that same-sex couples feel they cannot obtain the same government-granted legal benefits associated with marriage. In granting marriage to same-sex couples, the State of California effectively breaks marriage as established by God; mending domestic partnership, creating a legal union equivalent granting spousal benefits similar to those achieved through traditional marriage for same sex partners could possibly be solutions for equality. There are also possible alternatives that would instead of increasing benefits granted to homosexual couples, decrease benefits granted to heterosexual married couples.

While strongly believing equality belongs to all people in this state and nation and the entire Earth, I support a constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union between a man and a woman because I believe there is a way for equality to exist, for equal rights for everyone, without same-sex marriage. I will vote YES on Proposition 8 in the election this November.

This Election

I have been trying to research as much as I can about the upcoming presidential election but I find myself still undecided. I am trying to base my decision more on facts than popularity but there are facts on both sides.

One thing that I can relate to personally is that I am a home owner and the bad economy is effecting us more than other issues. Maybe if I were still in college, I would care more about issues like global warming and such ( don't take me wrong, I still care about these issues) but at this stage of my life, the bad economy is effecting us directly. I have tried to see the both sides of this Bail out plan, but have not come in peace either way. Josh thinks it is a bad idea because it will put our country in more debt and will cause more inflation than we have right now. I think, if they don't bail out we might go into a depression. What do you think and why? Are we better off with another republican or we are ready for a democrat? Is there any way out of this big financial crisis? Who has the better plan?

Here is a link to a video that I came across and it is interesting. It is still biased but informative. Let me know what you think of it. As citizens, I believe it is our duty to research (even pray) before we cast our votes. It is a very crucial time.

Burning Down The House: What Caused Our Economic Crisis?

The video is about 10 minutes. You probably don't need the sound. It is just a loud music.

When I was Young...

I really did not like people who always talked about their children as if they did not have a life. I wondered if they had any clue what was going on in the world and how serious were some of it's problems. Did they really know what was going on beyond their little homes? Well, now that I am a busy mother of three little ones, all I can talk about is my children. They are my life. I can talk hours about their birthing stories, feeding habits, potty training, anything and everything that has got to do with them AND I like it. Like in the real world, we do have our hard times and we do mess up. There are moments that feel like it is the end of the world and impossible to put ourselves together. what happens when you leave your tub of butter unattended for a minute? It gets everywhere.

Amanda loves dirt and mud. She gets it every where, her hair, face, even in her ears.

But then there are these beautiful moments that are just about perfect (of course until somebody messes things up again)

Samantha loves her baths, whenever she gets them =)

Their new thing is putting on our clothes.

Samantha smiles and cooes now. It melts our hearts.

They just love each other. He somehow knows how to calm her down.

(Collin loves reading books and Amanda loves listening to him. And I love getting a break from reading to them. After the thirteenth time, it gets really boring.)

I am grateful to be a mother and I feel like by teaching my children to be good decent human beings, I can contribute to the world in a good positive way and make a difference.

Livin' La Vida Loca

The whole month of August was livin' one crazy life. Good Crazy though. Let's see if I remember it all. As many of you know, last September we bought a fixer upper (I mean Fixeeer Uppeeeer) in Concord. Last year we mainly remodeled the Living room (if you don't remember, here is the link to the post about it in our 2007 Christmas Letter), the kids' rooms, the hallway bathroom and this month well lets see: August 9: Took the kitchen apart. Everything. All the cabinets and appliances, the floor (four layers of linoleum- Yes four) and later on the windows and the sliding glass door. August 10: Blessed Baby Samantha. Had a party in our house. We barbecued outside and I made the side dishes at my mom's house the day before. We had Grandma Grandpa Bradshaw from Beaver Utah, My sister Kimia and her husband Jeff from Provo, Our good friends Parvin and Rostam and our parents. Josh gave a very beautiful blessing and we had so much fun having family in town.

For the next two weeks we (the kids and I) lived out of our car and stayed with our parents in San Jose while Josh was remodeling the kitchen with the workers. Thank you for letting us live with you for a while.

August 15: We celebrated our fifth anniversary. We were not together for the actual day but we went to Diggers diner for burgers and shakes two nights before.

We finally got back home on the 17th and tried to put our kitchen and our life back together. It was a lot of work with three little children but it was worth it. Our kitchen was absolutely disgusting. Now, let's just say everything we did was a huge improvement. Ready for the big reveal? K. First lets start off with some before pictures.

I know embarrassing, even for a before picture but here we are getting ready to pack the kitchen up.

Icky floor. We were planning where the Dishwasher and some base cabinets go.

We needed some room for our pantry so we had brought in the garage cabinets.

One of the worst part of the kitchen was this ugly ceiling fan.

OK. Ready.....

Tadaaaaaa

We put in granite tile countertops (The one piece kind was way expensive), tile floor (no more linoleum, yeah) and new windows and sliding glass door.

Since our kitchen shares a wall with garage, we made a hole in the wall to put the fridge in and a pantry next to it.

Ahhhh, the clean nice ceiling fan. We also put in recessed lighting with dimmers.

We love our new kitchen. The food even tastes better in this nice clean kitchen.

5 Wonderful Years

Last Friday was 5 years that Josh and I were married for time and all eternity. I remember thinking that day that how wonderful life was and I could not love him any more. But not only my life has gotten better everyday, my love has grown a lot more along with deep fondness and appreciation. I love you honey and here is to many more years together.

Are We Crazy Or What!!!

So when Samantha was just a week old Josh came home from church with Collin and Amanda and this is how the conversation went: Josh: Honey, I have a crazy idea. Me: (Trying to guess the idea by reading his face) I am not gonna like it, aren't I? Josh: Probably not, but it came to me at church so I will give it a try. Me: K. Shoot. Josh: Well, the kids were crazy during the sacrament meeting and we had two High Counselmen speaking but one was actually interesting. But all I could get from his talk was that he got a flat tire on the way to Utah and had to drive 600 miles on a doughnut since he had to have a specially made tire for his SUV. So here is the crazy idea, since you are doing well, Samantha is perfect (at least in our eyes, and grandparents), why don’t we go to Utah for the 24th? Me: You mean drive to Utah? Josh: Yep, we have a minivan now, I have this whole week off for Paternity leave and we can drive and stop as much as we want. We can also surprise my grandparents and show up for the family reunion for the July 24th. Me: That sounds like a good idea. I just have to think about it some more. Josh: You mean you are actually considering it? Me: Why not? Josh: Ok. Let me call Tony (his brother who lives in Idaho) and let him know we are thinking about going and see what he says. So, we called Tony and talked to his wife since he was at work and told her our plan and had her swear not to tell a soul since we really wanted to surprise Grandma and Grandpa Bradshaw. By Sunday evening we kind of talked ourselves out of going but Monday morning we get an e-mail from Tony and the title was, WE ARE GOING TOO. Then we for sure decided to go. We called and arranged with them and they were going to go straight to Beaver on Tuesday evening and we would go to Hurricane and spend the night with Josh’s aunt Nancy and met up with them on Wednesday morning and on Saturday we would all caravan to California together. So on Tuesday evening they went and surprised the heck out of Grandma but kept to themselves that there were more family coming. And on Wednesday morning we walked to Grandma’s living room with our then 10 day old baby. (Note that no one really locks their door in Beaver) She was half sleeping on the couch and when he saw Josh coming at first thought to herself whose baby is Tony carrying? (Josh and Tony do look a lot alike) but then realizes that it were us. She was very much surprised and excited to see us and we were so happy we did not cause heart attacks. Then we took the kids and drove to Grandpa’s Auto Shop and entered from the back door and surprised Grandpa with our presence and the new baby. That was way fun. We stayed at Beaver on Wednesday and watched the Parade on Thursday morning the 24th and met up with tons and tons of family. The star of the show was baby Samantha and everyone loved holding a new born. They just don’t stay that little for long .Then we head out to the John Flat campsite in the Beaver Canyon and pitched our tent and got ready for the reunion. We ate lots and lots, talked and talked, played and played and rode four wheelers and horses and had tons and tons of fun. On Thursday night my sister Kimia and her husband Jeff came down to Beaver from Provo and visited with us. We had not seen them since their wedding on February. It was wonderful seeing them. Then we headed back to California early in the Saturday morning with Tony and his family behind us and killed 5 birds in last 20 minutes before we left the Utah border. We were not sure why the birds were flying into our car but they kept coming and there was nothing we could do about it. We had a great time and the kids were fabulous thanks to the new born that slept most of the way and the portable DVD Player that we bought the last minute before we left home.

This is the Bradshaw's float. It says The Bradshaw's 6th and 7th Generations in Beaver since 1861.

Our spot at the campsite.

She picked these wild flowers for me. Isn's she just adorable?

Kimia and Amanda

From Left to Right: Josh and Amanda. Emily and Liahona and Tony and Collin.

This is what we found on our first pit stop.

Liahona came to our car for a visit to watch Elmo with Collin.