The Bradshaw Family

Where On Earh.....

2009-10-08T23:03:00.000-07:00

....have we been? Well, no where in particular. Just super lazy about blogging. I don't even have a wonderful excuse like being pregnant or having a new baby or a new job. But we did have a great summer and beginning of fall. The kids are growing up too fast as usual. Here are some random pictures in no particular order.

It is rare when they are all dressed up and clean but we like it when they are.

We went to the SF Zoo. The kids loved it. They really liked the bears.

We went with my friend Becky and her 3 kids. The kids did great. We were 2 adults and 6 children 4 and under.

This was Amanda's favorite part. She could do this for hours.

We had tons of tomatoes this year. We froze some, gave away some and made tons of salsa. We miss fresh tomatoes very much now.

We had stir fry almost every other day made all from Josh's garden. Well, except for the noodles and soy sauce.

This is not even half of what he had in his garden. There were beets, chard, garlic, potatoes and zucchini.

I did some crafts. I made them crayon rolls

and appliqued their names on their own bags.

They also did tons of crafts. They love it. I love it too, not so much the mess though.

We hung out with family

and watched Samantha grow up...

...way too fast.

Collin started Pre-school on September. He loves his teacher Ms. Gina.

The kids' most favorite thing in the world now is flying a kite. They can do that for hours and hours. Collin is getting quit good at it.

Oh, here is me trying to be artistic with my favorite picture of Collin. I think this picture shows how happy he is when he is flying a kite.

Samantha Turns 1

2009-07-20T18:23:00.000-07:00

I have been neglecting my blog for a long time and I have no one to blame but Facebook. Oh boy, I told myself I won't do Facebook and now it has taken over my blog world.
Any how, Samantha turned one on the 13 of July and Josh and I are still in shock. We can't believe how fast she is growing and have no idea where the time has gone. She is the sweetest baby you'll ever meet. Just a peach. Goes with flow. She loves Collin and Amanda and follows them all the time.
For her birthday, she had a Barn Cake. She liked it a lot but Collin and Amanda were much more into it. They loved helping me making the cake and talk about what they would like for their birthday cakes. They loved opening her presents and blowing her candle. They are all so blessed to have each other and so are we to have them.

The Birthday Girl.

The Barn Cake. (this is not the best picture of it, but you get the idea)

Sweet Samantha is One Today

2009-07-13T08:37:00.000-07:00

Where has the time gone? I can't believe Samantha is One today! She is the sweetest baby ever. We love her very very much!

A Wonderful Mother's Day Present

2009-05-17T01:24:00.000-07:00

Loved the musical, love the person who took me there and appreciate our wonderful babysitter that made it possible to go.

Utah Trip and Collin's 4th Birthday

2009-04-20T12:13:00.001-07:00

So, we went to Utah for the General Conference and see some family. We needed a vacation very much and we are so glad we went. We had wonderful time and the children did a lot better than we thought. We did not even have to bring out the portable DVD player the whole time going and only half way back to California. We packed up the car the night before we left and started for our trip bright and early. Put the kids in the car in their Jammie's and drove as much as we could. They slept for a while and then were busy singing songs, looking at books and playing with toys. We only stopped 3 times for gas, diaper change and rotate the kid's seats around. We were so proud that we did not eat junk food and took lots of food, snacks and drinks.

this is were Samantha chilled while we were taking care of the things at our pit stops.

We stayed at my sister Kimia's house for the time we were in Northern Utah. Thanks Kimia for letting us stay at your house.

We got to go to Josh's mission reunion and see president and sister Call from Quito Ecuador mission. They are the sweetest people.

Samantha looooooved grandma Laurelle. She hang out with her most of the time we were visiting her. Doesn't grandma look too young to be a great-grandmother?

Collin turned 4 while we were in Utah, and we went to a dinosaur museum at BYU. It was very neat and it was free. The kids enjoyed it very much.

But when we got home, we had a birthday party with grandparents for Collin. Josh made the turkey and this time he made it with pineapple, BBQ sauce and wrapped it in bacon. It was out of this world.

He had been wanting a Peter Pan birthday cake for months. For the life of me I could not find any Peter Pan stuff anywhere. I went to 6 different stores and all they had was Tinkerbell. But I saw cool Toy Story figurines at the Disney store and called Collin and asked if he would like a Toy Story cake and he immediately said, Yes. That was easy and he loved the cake and got to keep the toys.

I can't believe my boy is 4 already. He is a wonderful kid and we could not love him more.

my mom got Amanda some hair stuff and she Loooooved it. She got all dolled up and was so cute.

Here she is posing for the camera.

She has been so girly girly lately. On Sunday when I was putting ribbon in her hair, she wanted some on her wrists too.

Happy Spring Everyone

2009-03-25T10:59:00.000-07:00

Yes, we are alive...

2009-02-22T00:25:00.001-08:00

Well, it has been a while since I have posted anything. We are well and life goes on like crazy. Our three little monkeys keep us on our toes but what can we do but to love them. They are after all pretty cute monkeys.

Oh, sweet Samantha is sure a cutie. She is a very good baby and loves to sit around and watch the others run around. Here she found Amanda's shoe and fell sleep holding it. Poor baby, all that entertainment is exhausting.

Amanda loves books and if you put her on your lap and read to her, she is in heaven. Thanks Hayley. You are her new favorite person now.

Oh, Collin. He follows his dad like a shadow. Here he is cutting up all the roots of the tree that we cut down couple years ago. Josh works on the yard very hard. He rotter tilled all the front yard and killed all the weeds. Dug up all the old roots and now is working on fixing the sprinkle system. He is planing to have a front-yard vegetable garden. They are nice to look at and sure wonderful to eat...

...like this rainbow chard from our front yard. I cut them up and put it in a stir fry and it was to die for. He has a lot of other vegetables and flowers and trees going on in the front yard. you can check out his new blog. I am very proud of him.

My kids are so lucky

2009-01-20T11:20:00.000-08:00

...to have friends like these.

The Kids on Christmas Eve

2008-12-24T22:15:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-14T22:09:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-02T21:23:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-21T14:15:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-11T10:03:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-04T21:58:00.000-08:00

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

2008-10-27T20:02:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-10T22:36:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-02T10:22:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-09-14T23:00:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-31T00:29:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-21T00:20:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2008-07-31T14:21:00.001-07:00

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.

Sister Sunbaths

2008-07-16T19:16:00.000-07:00

We cannot be held responsible for those of you in child bearing ages who view this post and stop using birth control!

Left: Samantha Right: Amanda

Josh's Garden - The Harvest

2008-07-16T18:08:00.000-07:00

Not only are we raising kids but we're gardening while at it. Here we have starting with the basket of green beans going clockwise, yellow squash, carrots, cucumbers, white Patti Pan squash, Persian cucumbers, okra and zucchini. The green by the fence is lettuce, beets and some climbing green beans. After taking this picture yesterday morning I picked our first two tomatoes. We've been blessed with a bounteous harvest (and our neighbors have too).

Samantha Fern Bradshaw

2008-07-14T18:43:00.000-07:00

Our baby girl Samantha joined our family on Sunday July 13, at 3:06am. She was 7 Pounds 11 Ounces and 20 and 1/4 inches long. The delivery was pretty quick and uncomplicated and we are very grateful for that. We named her Samantha and chose her middle name Fern for Josh's great grandmother. Words can not describe how much we love her and how much joy she has already brought to our lives.

We think she is a great mix between Collin and Amanda. She has Collin's chin and Amanda's eyes.

And she is already Daddy's little girl. It is going to be hard for Amanda to share her daddy with Samantha. Luckily, daddy can hold them both at the same time.

This is the first time Collin and Amanda met their new sister. It was love at the first sight.

We can't believe that our children have out-numbered us. It is going to be crazy and tons of fun.

Thank You Mack...

2008-07-11T14:00:00.000-07:00

Collin finally pooped in the toilet for the first time yesterday. We have been trying to encourage him to do so for a very long time. We decided to take a positive approach into potty training by only making it fun and have him do it when he is ready. We tried to bribe with candy, his favorites M&M's, but he would flat out tell us that he did not want to. So, we left it at that. He would go pee pee in the toilet right before his bath but that was it. He was not potty trained. Until a couple of months ago, when Collin's cousin Walter who is exactly the same age was visiting from Arizona, Collin saw his toy Mack from the Cars movie and was in love. He loved it so much that I thought I would get it for him for Christmas or his birthday. But then it suddenly came to me and I told him that I would buy it for him if he goes poo poo in the toilet. I could tell he was torn. He still refused to go to the potty but every time I changed his poo poo, I kept telling him that he would get Mack if he does it in the toilet. I also realized that he has been telling me he has to go poo poo for the last few weeks, I just did not know it. He would come up to me and say, "Mommy, I am sick". Me thinking he has a upset stomach kept offering him a bowl in case he needs to barf. But after a while, we realized whenever he gets the cramps to go poo poo, he kept telling us he was sick. So, when we put two and two together, it happened. Yesterday, he told his daddy that he was sick. Josh told him to sit on the toilet and if he does poo poo, he will get Mack. And HE DID IT. The whole thing. He showed it to me and I screamed. Then I got Josh and he came then we both screamed. Collin kept saying, "Mommy, Daddy, that is too loud". Then we realized, we did not have Mack. So, out the door I run to Toys R Us to get Mack. When I came back huffing and puffing, Josh told me that I had not taken my cell and I could have gone into labor. Well, no such luck. When I got home, Collin had just got off the phone from calling grandparents to tell them the good news and was bouncing off the wall for Mack. So, Collin has Mack now and is beyond himself. We just loved watching him playing with it and look at his happy face. I could not come home empty handed for Amanda so I bought her Sally. You see, Amanda does not like dolls or girly stuff, and she was more than happy to get Sally.

Collin keeps wanting to play with Sally and I keep telling him that it is Amanda's but he can play with it when Amanda is sleep. So, this morning he is playing with McQueen, Mack and Sally and when Amanda woke up, she wanted her Sally. Collin told her, "Amanda, Sally needs to be with Lightning McQueen. They are going to get married in the temple". My ears perked up and I asked him what temple they are going to be married at. I thought he would say Oakland since that is the temple he knows but he said, "They are going to get married in the temple that cars get married at mommy." I thought that was so cute and I was so happy that he associated marriage with temple. Wow, our little ones are growing up fast and I bet when the time comes and I am at the temple for Collin's wedding, I would think that it was yesterday when he was playing with his cars and telling me that they would get married in the cars' temple.

So Spoiled and Blessed

2008-07-03T14:28:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, my wonderful husband arranged for a sitter to come ALL day and sent me out to have fun and pretty much do whatever I wanted before the baby comes and things get super crazy. The first stop was to get a pedicure and a manicure and while I was there I cut my hair few inches shorter. Ahhhhhhh, the pedicure was out of this world. There is nothing like when you are 9 months pregnant with tired swollen feet and get the royal treatment. Everyone there kept asking how far along I was and could not believe this was my third child. I told them that I am not that young but I guess some people don't get married or have kids until much later in life. Anyways, the lady that was massaging my feet and legs, kept doing it for a long time. You get great services when you are pregnant. So, after 3 or 4 hours of getting spoiled, I went to the next door diner called "Diggers Diner" that has the best burgers in the world. The waiter came to check up on me two minutes after he brought my burger and it was gone. He said, "Wow, did you like your burger?". I said, "Yep, ate it in two bites." Then off to get some gas for the minivan, ouch, so pricey, then to target. Bought lots of odds and ends and some dippers for the new one to come. For the last two we did Huggies but this time I decided to try Pampers Baby Swaddler. We'll see. I heard babies don't leak with this one. I will let you know how that will work out. Then to Babies R Us and bought two potty seats. Yes, Josh wants to train Amanda while he is training Collin for the two weeks that he is going to stay home. We hope it works. She is showing a lot more interest than Collin but second children always have someone to look up to. Afterwards, I got a milkshake and went to Safeway for some grocery shopping and came home with cute toes, short hair ( a lot cooler for the summer and lighter) and nice fingernails. Thanks honey for spoiling me. I feel so much more relaxed and ready to tackle motherhood one more time. I also felt extremely blessed today. You know sometimes when you feel this deep gratitude in your heart towards Heavenly Father? Well, I was just reading Amanda some books, the kinds that she has to look and find stuff! Well, Collin came and said that he wanted to read her the book. I kind of wanted to read if myself because Amanda was being really cute and doing a great job but I let Collin try it. He was the cutest thing I have ever seen. He was sitting next to her on the couch and making her find all these different things and telling her what color they were. I loved it more when he was using his soft voice like he is an adult talking to a baby. It just melted my heart like no other. I felt extremely grateful for having these little angels and be trusted to be their mother.

Tagged

2008-06-21T16:24:00.000-07:00

I was tagged by Mandy so here it goes: 3 Joys -Watching my kids play. They usually fight but there are times that they get a game going (usually involves making a mess) and laugh and giggle. It gives me a pleasure without measure. One time they were quiet for a while and when Josh and I walked on them in Collin's room, they had taken out 4 container of wipes and when Collin saw us he said, "Mommy, Daddy look. Amanda is in the snow." -Traveling. I don't do it as often as I like but I love being in a place that I have not been before. I always get butterflies in my stomach. -When my food arrives in a restaurant. Silly huh, but you know the second the waiter puts a big plate of your favorite food right in front of you? I always say wow... 3 Fears -That my children will get some weird disease. -My water will break in public -All my girlfriends move away ( It did happen that 3 of my girlfriends moved away within two weeks) 3 Goals -Potty train Collin -Be a better mom that I am right now ( a little too general but I always think about it) -Be more spiritually connected with my Heavenly Father 3 Current Obsessions -Farmers market -Blogging -Checking out food blogs and wishing I could cook them ( check this web-site, you will want to eat with your eyes. http://foodgawker.com/) 3 Random facts -we got 3 little chickens on Monday for the kids to play with. Lets hope they are not all roosters. -We are having the hardest time coming up with a name for our baby girl to come. It is so frustrating. Any suggestions. -Even though I love to talk, I do love to listen more. So, if you want a free ear, let me know. 3 People to tag -April Murphy -Eliza Turner -Julia Wade Our three little chickens. Amanda in the snow.

Oh the Beautiful Santa Barbara

2008-06-15T23:55:00.000-07:00

Josh was a guest speaker for a company called Yardi in Santa Barbara last week and he insisted that I should tag along too. He had been there 4 times before and each time he told me how beautiful that city was and I should go with him next time. For some reason something always happened and I could not go But this time my wonderful parents told us that they would watch the kids and we should go and a have a little get away before the baby is born and life gets even more crazy ( If you can imagine that..) Anyhow we all packed up on Thursday and left the kids at my parents and headed down to Santa Barbara. The drive was absolutely beautiful. We listened to music, (the grown up kind), and had lots of uninterrupted conversations. That night we stayed at a little town 40 min from SB called Solvang and had a great time. The little downtown, all the vineyards, the quietness of the town was breathtaking. We slept like babies and even got to watch TV. After flipping through the channels for about an hour, we realized that we have not been missing much since we stopped watching TV 6 months ago. On Friday morning we got ready and headed down for Josh's presentation. He did great and everyone laughed at all his jokes too. He was so proud of his jokes (more than the technical stuff that he presented) that he wants to be a comedian when he retires =) Afterwards we checked into our hotel ( which turned out to be a resort) that Yardi had got for us and I have to tell you that it was the fanciest thing I have ever been to. It was right at the beach and our room had an ocean view. The lady that checked us in gave us fresh backed cookies and told us that our room was at the Camellia building. Was that a sign that I should have gone or what? We had dinner with some of his friends at the Warf and could not get over how beautiful the ocean was. We decided that even though we pay way too much for our run-down small house in CA it is worth every penny. We’ve got great weather, culture, and boy great food. We had a great ride back. We talked, listened to good music, watch the ocean and fruit farms and got fresh cherries from the side of the road. We came home rejuvenated and missing our kids like crazy. Thank you hon for letting me tag along. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family. Here are some pictures we took on our trip.

A fun Day in the Sun

2008-06-09T15:53:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went to Josh's paernts' house and got to swim for the first time this year. It was great. My three favorite people in the world. I could not watch them from the side anymore and had to get in. I was not sure if I I could fit into my swim suit but you will be surprized how much these babies stretch. I felt I looked like 10 months pregnant. Collin and his causin Walter enjoying ice-pops. They had the most fun in the pool.

Amanda looked really cute in her swim suit. She loved the water and called the plastic dolphin "ish" for fish.

I wish they made cute swim suits like this for adults.

Sometimes...

2008-05-05T17:12:00.000-07:00

I wonder how life was before I had kids. Once in a while I remember the life that I used to shower everyday, wear make up and do my hair, Sleep like a rock, have a clean organized home, knew what was going on in the world, had privacy in the bathroom and ....the list can go on forever. But then while in the midst of all the craziness of children fighting, diper changing, mess cleaning and all, I see these moments that remind me why I love being a mother so much and I feel so lucky to have these little angels sent to us from Heaven. Here are some that I got to catch with the camera. Amanda loves trying on our shoes. I saw her wearing her daddy's shoes before church.

Looking cute right before church. It was also Amanda's first day at nursury.

She won't hold anyone's hand when daddy is around. She is such a daddy's little girl.

On Saturday we went to a park and enjoyed the beautiful spring day.

They love to sit on their chairs and have a drink, especially chocolate milk.

Amanda enjoying a smoothie so much that she was also wearing it.

Collin's 3 year old Pictures

2008-05-03T20:57:00.000-07:00

Few days after Collin's 3rd birthday we took him for his pictures to be taken. He did great. After a while, Amanda wanted to get in. It turned out to be great photo-shoot.

The Luau Party

2008-04-22T16:22:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday we got to go to our ward's Luau party. It was tons of fun. We had roast pig, chicken, chop Sui ( sp?), tons of side dishes and this amazing Hawaiian drink. We also got to dress up, watch a fun dance program and see our Bishop trying to dance. ( He was a great sport).

Josh's Garden

2008-04-20T20:23:00.000-07:00

Lots of work has gone on inside the house and out. This summer I will be working on the yard and the first priority was to get the garden planted. I’ve worked the soil adding compost to make the ground fertile to grow and it appears things are going well. Take a look at the picture: On the right are three types of squash each in front of two rows of okra, two rows of green beans and two rows of peas. There are also radishes around the Fuji apple tree which is center in the photo. The apple tree has a bandage on it from when Collin busted its main branch nearly off. The leaves have survived so hopefully it will be ok. The next door neighbor and I planted another Fuji apple in the front yard in case things don’t work out. In the back row of the picture are three of the four different tomato plants, another planting of squash and the big green spot by the fence is my pea patch planted in February followed by two different types of cucumber. In the corner is the blood orange tree. Around it are planted carrots and to the left of it, you can’t see very well are the beets and climbing green beans (the hope is they will climb on the fence-I’ve never grown climbing plants). Out of sight to the left of this picture are the grape vine, cherry tree and an herb garden where the hope is to pick fresh parsley, chives, cilantro, thyme, mint, dill and two different types of lettuce right off the patio. Out of sight to the right of this picture are the Persian cucumbers, a fourth kind of tomato, strawberries and a row of climbing peas that will climb on the back fence. And this is only pretty much one corner of the back yard. I’m planning on putting in a small well. The water table is very high here and many of our neighbors have them for watering their yards. It is basically an 8 inch pipe 20-30 ft down with a pump on top so no drowning kids (The well is a low priority for now because there are a million other things to do. I’m waiting for the first water bill to see if my accountant thinks it should move up in the priority list. I love my accountant!)

Oh this is Josh writing by the way.....

Our Baby boy turned 3 today

2008-04-07T19:53:00.001-07:00

Collin turned 3 today and we just cannot believe it. It feels like it was yesterday that he was born. When he was born, he brought so much happiness to our lives. He made us parents for the first time, our parents grandparents for the first time and all of our siblings aunts and uncles. He is such a sweet and cute little boy. He loves everything boys love, cars, planes, trucks, airplanes, balls and the list goes on. He talks all the time and is becoming a book junky like his mama. His favorite books are Dr. Seuss books, Bernstein Bears series and any book with trucks and planes in it. One of my most favorite memories of him is, when was just born, all the nurses called him the eyelash baby. He had the longest and thickest eyelashes that they kind of looked fake. He still has them pretty long. His face has grown into them now. But I guess he was always a pretty boy. The other day, I asked him to wipe his mouth after eating and he said, " Here mommy, I cleaned my pretty face." I was laughing because, that's what I always tell him, "Go wipe your pretty face". I have attached a small slide show of some of his pictures we took during the last three years. Happy Birthday Collin and we love you very much.

On the waggon for two weeks and trying to get off

2008-03-02T19:55:00.000-08:00

Our TV has been 'broken' for two weeks to clear up some bad behavior. Daddy broke it by removing the three prong adapter from the power strip. Saturday (3/1/08) Collin was Daddy's shadow working out in the yard and in the garage. After 'helping' remove some hardware from the old garage side door Collin dissppeared inside. We found him 'fixing' the TV: power drill, screw drivers and all. Notice the screw driver crammed into the input on the front of the TV. With Collin's fix it job the TV may very well be broken now. Who knows, it hasn't been turned on to find out because everyone is still on the wagon. (and yes, the behavior is better, no more nagging every single morning to watch morning cartoons)

Our Cuttie Petitties

2008-03-02T19:46:00.001-08:00

I could not resist. They looked so cute. Collin got a tux from grandma and looked good in it. He would not pose for a picture but I stole one.

Amanda, always smiles for camera. I have to say, they did great for all that was going on that day.

My Sister's Big Fat Persian Wedding

2008-03-02T19:07:00.000-08:00

So my sister got married on Feb 22nd and it was indeed a beautiful wedding. She was very very happy so was the groom. We were a little dead since we had worked so much the days and weeks before preparing. My mom and I ( just the two of us) managed to make tons and tons of food. My mom being an Iron Chef ( and me the sous chef) was not impressed by the food from my wedding so she decided to cook herself for my sister's wedding. And my mother of course never does a short cut and everything has to be made from scratch. I have to say that we indeed did a great job. Not that we managed to make a lot of food (Persians always cook for an army), it did taste fabulous. Many people would come for seconds and thirds and complain that they should not eat anymore but had to. At the end of the reception, my mother sent almost everyone with a container of food and we got tons of e-mail addresses requesting recipes. But what they don't understand was that my mom never follows recipes. Actually Persian foods are so complicated that it takes a lot of practices to learn how to cook them. I personally only know some easy ones but I told people that I will e-mail the Orzo salad recipe, the only thing that I had made following a recipe.

My dad and the others did decorate the chapel gym and did a great job. I will send out some pictures when I get them. I was very impressed what they did with the ceiling. They had long sheets of white paper hanging from the ceiling with tons of Christmas light. It was very beautiful.

OK, back to the wedding. It was a rainy day and we almost had no hope of dryness from the sky. After the sealing, which was so beautiful, the rain stopped just for about 25 minutes and we did take some pictures. We were very grateful.

The reception was a lot of fun. After a lot of eating and talking to people, we all did Persian dancing. It was a BIG PARTY. Everyone, Persian or not, was on the floor pretending to dance Persian. It was so much fun. We ate, danced, talked all night then finally sent the bride and groom to honeymoon to Monterey.... then we all cleaned up for ever and crashed for the next couple of days. Good thing that the wedding was on Friday and we had two days to rest before Monday. Fun Fun. I love weddings.

Baby # 3

2008-02-13T08:45:00.000-08:00

We are pleased to announce that we are going to have another girl at the end of July. We are very excited and a little overwhelmed but can't wait. With kids like Amanda and Collin, we are excited to have more. It wil be crazy and tons of fun. Now we are going to need a mini-van. The funny thing is that I was always apposed to mini-vans until we started to have children, now it is kind of a necessity since we all would not fit in either one of our cars. So, here goes the money we had put aside for the kitchen remodeling. I guess, who is going to have time to cook with three kids three and under, anyways =)

The Bradshaw Family Christmas Letter 2007

2007-12-26T14:35:00.000-08:00

Another year has flown by and our family has been blessed. After having Collin in 2005 and Amanda in 2006, we determined at the end of last year NOT to have any children in 2007. We did not, how- ever, decide not to have any life changing events. At the beginning of the year things went fine as we adjusted once again to sleepless nights with a new- born. For some time I had occasionally looked for jobs similar to mine in the bay area. I found one and Camelia and I talked about it for a few weeks. The job was in San Francisco and would involve a much longer commute. We finally decided that I should send my resume. Before work one morning I sent it in and they called me that afternoon. I interviewed and then while in Utah with the Poshtyars to pick up Kimia from her mission and for General Conference I was offered the job by cell phone while standing on the viewing deck of the Church Office Building. Their offer was too low and so we negotiated by phone for a couple of days and then came to terms. I actually accepted the job with BlackRock while sitting in Grandma and Grandpa Bradshaw ’ s car in Jane ’ s pasture in Beaver. (We had taken the kids to see grandpa’s moo-cows) I began commuting from Mountain View by train and started looking for ways to shorten that com- mute. Thanks to a down housing market and fixer uppers, we were able to buy a house in Concord, CA and I now ride BART to work. It saves 45 minutes a day and is much more reliable and regular than the train. We are also 22 minutes from the temple. Almost everything in the house needs to be updated, repaired or replaced and it will take a lot of time and effort to do everything. It has also been wonderful to work with my dad and others on the house and we appreciate all the help. Collin has been there through it all and enjoyed it as well. His favorite tool was the hammer and given the danger, we changed that to the battery powered drill (with supervision). He loves to play in the back yard and tags along with me wherever I go talking about something the whole time. He especially loves fixing things, riding his tricycle on the patio and playing with his sister. Amanda is daddy’s little girl. She always has a huge smile and is just an angel. She brings so much joy to our home. She has started walking and her two front teeth are coming in, just in time for Christmas. She gives the best hugs and loves hugging teddy bears. You can also tell she loves her brother and plays with him all the time. They are learning to share and also becoming partners in crime. As a stay at home mom, Camelia is blessed with the opportunity to be with the kids. It is a lot of work but she enjoys it and is quite the super mom. She ’ s adjusting to the new house and making friends in our neighborhood and ward and has started going to park days and other activities here including our family blog. She has also become handy, particularly with the important details and we’ve really enjoyed working on the house along side each other. She stenciled the kid’s rooms and painted all the baseboards and trim for the living room which we finished Saturday, just in time for Christmas. With this letter we are sending before and after pictures of the living room. The other night Camelia and I talked about how we’re able to make these changes to this house to improve it and make it into a wonderful place to be. We compared it to how our Savior, the Carpenter from Nazareth, through the atonement can purify us all, no matter our deteriorated (or fixer-upper) state. May we all remember Him this Christmas.

We love Collin too

2007-12-20T15:25:00.000-08:00

It looks like we take a lot more pictures of Amanda than Collin. Well, it is really hard to have a two year old look at a camera and have him hold still. Even when we try to take candid shots, when he sees the camera, he wants it. We do love him though. He is so much fun to be around and talks no-stop ( I wonder who he got that from...) I am trying to be better at writing down some of the cute things he says. He loves to boss Amanda around and get whatever she is playing with. When we ask him why he took away her toy, he says,"because that was very very dangerous." I guess he hears that from us a lot. His other new phrase is "Oh, my goodness!!!!"

Amanda's One year Pictures

2007-12-20T15:15:00.000-08:00

A Brother Like That

2007-12-02T22:28:00.000-08:00

In this beautiful Christmas time, I pray that we all Remember the true meaning of this season. Paul received an automobile from his brother as a Christmas present. On Christmas Eve when Paul came out of his office, a street urchin was walking around the shiny new car, admiring it. "Is this your car, Mister?" he asked. Paul nodded. "My brother gave it to me for Christmas." The boy was astounded. "You mean your brother gave it to you and it didn't cost you nothing? Boy, I wish..." He hesitated. Of course Paul knew what he was going to wish for. He was going to wish he had a brother like that. But what the lad said jarred Paul all the way down to his heels. "I wish," the boy went on, "that I could be a brother like that." Paul looked at the boy in astonishment, then impulsively he added, "Would you like to take a ride in my automobile?" "Oh yes, I'd love that." After a short ride, the boy turned and with his eyes aglow, said, "Mister, would you mind driving in front of my house?" Paul smiled a little. He thought he knew what the lad wanted. He wanted to show his neighbors that he could ride home in a big automobile. But Paul was wrong again. "Will you stop where those two steps are?" the boy asked. He ran up the steps. Then in a little while Paul heard him coming back, but he was not coming fast. He was carrying his little crippled brother. He sat him down on the bottom step, then sort of squeezed up against him and pointed to the car. "There she is, Buddy, just like I told you upstairs. His brother gave it to him for Christmas and it didn't cost him a cent. And some day I'm gonna give you one just like it...then you can see for yourself all the pretty things in the Christmas windows that I've been trying to tell you about." Paul got out and lifted the lad to the front seat of his car. The shining-eyed older brother climbed in beside him and the three of them began a memorable holiday ride. That Christmas Eve, Paul learned what Jesus meant when he had said: "It is more blessed to give..."

Josh and Camelia in Beaver Canyon

2007-11-26T15:40:00.000-08:00

We took this picture when went to Beaver for Grandpa Bradshaw's 80th Birthday party.

Amanda's 1st Birthday on Nov 11th

2007-11-26T15:19:00.001-08:00

Our little Princess is One and so much fun. She had a great time on her birthday with grandparents and aunts and uncles. She especially loved the doll given to her by Grandma and Grandpa Poshtyar.

Holloween

2007-11-26T15:10:00.000-08:00

The kids had a great time on Holloween and were so cute. Collin loved getting candy so much that he wanted to go trick-or-treating again the next day. It was fun going around our new neighborhood and meet our neighbors.

Amanda and Mommy

2007-10-29T19:05:00.000-07:00

I was going through my pictures and I saw this picture of Amanda and me. She is just darling.

Collin and Amanda

2007-10-27T22:17:00.000-07:00

We took the kids to the pumpkin patch last night and they had a great time.

Joshua & Amanda

2007-10-27T21:26:00.000-07:00

Pumpkin Patch

Halloween 2007