Hard time? Not a problem! It's a true blessing!

I am chopping up veggies for Chic soup right now. Jet is my little partner sitting chatting and singing with me while I chop. First song we sang was "I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ". Jet knows that song surprisingly well! then he wanted to sing "Jesus Want Me For a Sunbeam". Here's how that song went:

Jet-Jesus wants me for a SUN (then he points to me)
Me-BEAM
Jet-a Sun (Points to me)
Me-Beam
and so on..

I don't have good sharp knives...I was struggling a little bit to get the onion started. Jet noticed:

Jet-that onion is wealy hard ha Mom.
Me-Yeah. It's not the easiest to get these started
(then I cut into it and am crying my eyes out)
Jet-(a lot of rambling about how it's hard to cut the onions while I am struggling just to see well enough to avoid cutting my fingers. Then I hear him say) But That's ok Mom, cause YOU CAN DO HARD THINGS!

I LOVE IT!!! Often times when I ask the kids to do something I hear "It's hard!" Wether it's homework or cleaning or whatever. I almost always say. "That's ok if it is hard because you can do hard things." ..."go do your very very best and if that's not enough I will help." (of course that offer to help requires that they really can't do it with out it.)

It just made my heart smile to hear Jet say that. I just hope and pray my kids are internalizing the very real and important meaning of what I am trying to teach them!

"I can do hard things with the help of my Savior" and "All that is required of me is my very very best" Has been one of my most valuable lessons learned to date. For me, that lesson is motivating and empowering.

Back in my "step mom" days I thought life was pretty hard then. It was! My youth leader, Debbie Freeman, told me something to the effect of "Everything in life will either make you BITTER or BETTER. It's up to you to choose which it will be for you." That has stuck with me all my life and proven to be true. I am forever grateful to know the I CAN DO HARD THINGS. I chose to be BETTER for it. Most of all, my very very best IS REQUIRED but perfection is not. Christ will help me along the way and will make up the difference.

I consider my very basic testimony (that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love me, want what is best for me, and know how I can be at my happiest) to be the deepest doctrine I know. I am grateful for that knowledge! It is the core of my FAITH and dissipates any and all fear or rebellion.

A to Z

This is my big brother Aaron Zambrana. He is exploring advertisement options. I got this video off of Utube. I LOVE my bro Aar! He is a HUGE example of HARD work, endurance and tenacity! If any of you live in, or know somebody who does, the Sacramento area and need screens (MANY types...custom made) and or a chimney sweep, HE'S your man! Honest and Dependable!

Easy CHRISTmas Challenge

Christmas Challenge: Start today (December 1st) and read the first chapter of St Luke. Read a chapter a day of Luke and you will finish on December 24th (finishing the last chapter of Luke). You will have read the entire life of our Savior Jesus Christ (from birth to resurrection). What a perfect way to celebrate Him and keep us focused on what this season is all about.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!

The Prophets Take on Freedom and Socialism

Recent Family Fun

Heidi turned 9 late last month. This is my first attempt at a tiered cake and my first time using fondant with out help. Heidi loved it and felt special. Mission accomplished!


Instead of throwing birthday "parties" we have been letting our children pick a friend or two and we take them on an outing of some kind. It makes life simpler and cheaper. Heidi, Kayla, and Marin enjoyed some grown up girl time getting their nails done at Milan Beauty School. I brought some Pottery Barn magazines to look at while they waited for their manicure. Aren't they DARLING!!!! Sweet, good natured, innocent, tender girls having a wholesome good giggling fun time together and creating memories. To me.... pure JOY!

That's my Cha Cha!

Heidi being the little lady she is...and TALKING the ear off her manicurist. All I have to say is money well spent!!! I sat back, let the girls enjoy some pampering while I looked at Potter Barn Catalogs. $30.00 later my house was still clean and the girls were happy as can be. There is no way I could have done a party as cheep or stress-free.



Kayla just received the Character award at school. LOVE that!

Jet and I went to Gwens house to visit our new little 3 week old niece Colby. I can't believe I didn't get a pic with her that day. Jet got came out wearing Liv's Mickey Mouse ears. Too darling not to document. He LOVES LOVES LOVES Mickey Mouse. Sleeps with his Baby Mickey often!This is a pic of Colby Jane Zambrana and I at the hospital. She was less then a day old. I fell in love. She is just perfect and soooo beautiful!


Today was the first day I sent the girls to school in warm clothes. They almost never dress alike these days. They looked so cute it made my heart melt this morning. I had to take some pics before sending them off to school. I found those sweaters at Wallmart last year for $3.00. They each have one in pink and cream.

This pose was Cannon's lovely idea. The girls thought it be funny and I knew I could get some REAL smiles out of them doing this. Good enough me me.



Heidi got this neclace from Stacy Miller when she got baptized. Heidi quickly broke the chain and I never remembered to replace it. Heidi showed Grandma Z her locket...problem solved. Grandma gave her a NICE chain AND put a pic of Heidi's choosing in the locket.
Thank you Stacy! I'm happy to report that the only time that Heidi takes it off is in the shower. The outside of the locket says I Am A Child of God and I love it! This is one of my favorite quotes of all time regarding the FACT that we are God's Children.

”We are Gods children, and if we ever got that through our heads thoroughly, and understood that completely. We would never do a small thing, We would never say a cross word. We would not use bad language. We would not criticize anybody. We would love everyone the way the Savior loves us. As I have loved you, love one another.”
Sis Hinkley






What can I say. Life has been very good! We've been thrown some curve balls and things are not certain or predictable but I still feel so peaceful. Paul is my FOREVER LOVE! We are enjoying our little family so much these days. Our children are curious, faithful, respectful, happy, healthy, darling, and hilarious. Loving and enjoying them is effortless for me! We've started a new tradition of walking after family dinner (family dinners are my favorite part of the day) a few nights a week. (LOVING that fact that Paul is licensed and does NOT have to study all the time. YAY!) We are in the popcorn game phase of family scripture study. We read and stop at any time...could be several verses or one word...say Popcorn...then call on another family member to pick up where we left off. It's been fun and insures that everybody is paying attention and reading along with us. We pray as a family morning and night and have FHE. I am sharing this with you all for a couple reasons... I am grateful for the ideas you've shared and thought I'd share some with you. Most importantly, I hope my children will want to do the same when they are parents ...when life is smooth or when curve balls are sent their way. I know that Obedience to the commandments = peace and happiness. Simple as that. There is nothing I want more then to have my children to know what I know, for themselves! I attribute every good thing I have in my life to doing my VERY BEST (I do nothing perfectly) to follow the commandments.I know we have commandments/trials because Heavenly Father loves us, wants us to learn and grow to our full potential and wants to bless us with all that he has. No price was to high for him to pay for our eternal happiness....he gave his only begotten son.I love my Heavenly Father and my older brother and Savior Jesus Christ. My life's aspiration is to live worthy to return to them and to return WITH my family!

Little Treasures of Mine

I pulled up the Happy Birthday Hulio pic that I put on the Gage website today..because it's her BD.

Heidi-What's that?
Me-That's Aunt Julie riding a buffalo statue.
Heidi-Aunt Julie? (as if she didn't know she had an Aunt Julie)
Me-You know..Aunt Hulio. (That's what I usually call her....but only I call her that)
Heidi-Oh (as in, that makes sense. She knows who Aunt Hulio is)
Kayla-You mean Aunt Goofy! (Kayla remembers that Hulio wore a Goofy hat at Disneyland the first time we went.)


Can I just say...I am LOVING this phase of parenthood! It's the best! My kids say HILARIOUS things often! Love that they like to be near me! Love that I always know where they are and who they are with! Love that the still think what I say is doctrine!!!!!!! EVERY one of the kids wipes their own bum. Tonight we had 4 friends come over and hang out...it wasN'T total chaos. We all had dinner, then the kids made and decorated a caramel apple, then the girls watched Princess Diary and the boys played board games in Cannon's room.

These are the days!

These are the Days!

Heaven X 4

A MUST SEE!

"80's" Party

My sister Gwen had a surprise birthday party for her husband's 40th. They made the theme 80's..you know, like the totally rad 80's. Paul and I decided that we'd have more fun making fun Chris age and go to the party as "80 yr olds" instead of dressing in neon colors, leg warmers, and pegged jeans. I wish I could say I thought of it myself but I can't. I got the idea from some of my hilarious friends, (Kasie and Jared West, Niel and Candi Kennington) I'm glad we did because Paul and I got into it and it was a lot of fun! These are some pics our babysitter took for us before we went to the party. In these pics we don't have all our props. I used Jason Reiders old walker and Paul used a cane we barrowed from the Dunnings as well. It really was a fun party!




That's a picture of TRUE LOVE right there!

That's right...my body is more then bootylicious...it's ZAMBOOTYLICIOUS!
Sweet Thang, I think I got another hernia.
What? What? Speak up Sunny, we can't hear you.
Come here Baby and give me a big shmackeroo.

Jet Punk Gage

Jet has been having a hard time going to sleep at bed time these days. Today I didn't put him down for a nap hopeing he'll be more tired at bed time....he's grouchy...cryin for EVERY little thing.

Me- Jet, are you tired?
Jet-I'm NOT tired....I'm CRYING!!!!!!


Tonight Paul thought that Jet had "sore throat breath"
Paul- Jet open your mouth
(Jet-opens his mouth. Paul gets real close trying to see if Jet's throat looks red. )
Paul-Stick out your tongue.
(Jet- gives Paul a big raspberry spray right in his face and giggles)
Poor Paul

You all probably know that EVERYTHING is Jet's fault...according to the kids...most of the time..it's true. We SARCASTICALLY say to the kids "NOT Jet! He's our sweet innocent baby boy." Today Jet opened the blinds in the girls room. Paul saw that the blinds were open and got on the girls case for opening the blinds.

Paul- GIRLS...you're not supposed to play with the blinds. They will break and are not toys.
Girls-JET DID IT!!!!
Paul-NOT Jet...he's innocent.
(Paul walks into the boys room.)
Paul-Jet, did you open the girls blinds?
Jet-I'm innocent.
(Paul gave Jets bum pinch)
Jet-DAD!!!
Paul-Not me Jet. I'm innocent.

Like Father Like Son continued....

(popcorn is popping in the microwave for my Popcorn Monster Jet) Me-you love popcorn, huh Jet. Jet-uh huh Me-Do you know what I love?...I love Jet Kisses. Jet- NO! Or (aka you) loves SALAD!

Like Father Like Son

Eating lunch with Jet today. My lunch...a salad.

Jet (referring to my lunch)-mmmmmm. Salad. Yummy, Yummy, Yummy!
Me-Salad IS yummy. Do you want a bite?
Jet- NO! YUKKY! I HATE SALAD!

Great Song!

Drug Problem

Family Scripture Study Tonight

We got home from Grandma and Grandpa Gage's LATE tonight...seriously we just put kids to bed and it's 9:45pm. People that know me know...that's way later then the norm for us. So we got home and still needed to do family scriptures and prayer before putting the kids to bed. Paul begins with this statement:

Paul - Girls if you misbehave during scriptures tonight Cannon will be punished.
Cannon -WHAT?! Give me those scriptures!
(Kayla and Heidi start to giggle and wrestle around on the couch so Cannon will be punished as a consequence of their bad behavior. Cannon seems to be looking up a scripture to rebuttal his fathers discipline technique.)
Cannon- Listen to this Dad. Article of Faith number 2 "We believe that man will be punished for their own sins and NOT for Adam's transgression."

Cannon has been choosing to read the scriptures on his own lately. In primary they memorize the Articles of Faith. We used to work on memorizing them with our kids at the dinner table. We've been lax on that lately and need to recommit ourselves to doing that better. I love that Cannon is obviously not only knows the A of F but he understands them to. The icing on the cake is that he knows them, understands them AND is applying them to himself. I really have high hopes for this young man. I couldn't have asked for a better boy to start off my family with!

"Well what do you know...it IS true!"

I just returned from feeding a friends dog while they are out of town. My plan was to get home then have the kids pick up before Paul gets home. Cannon wanted to stay home while the other three and I went to feed Max (my friend's dog). When we got home I was surprised to see that cannon had the fort in the living room all put away, couches pushed back into their place and the carpet was vacuumed. I was so surprised and super PLEASED!!!! I hugged him and kissed his forehead and praised him like crazy. He comes to me in the kitchen and says

Cannon- "Well what do you know....it is true!"
Me-What's true?
Cannon-Remember the scripture you read to us about serving others...and you told us that serving others was the only way to find true happiness?...I found happiness!

My Dad is a HERO!

The below quotes are my Dad commenting on FB regarding a video of my sis Gwen on the roof of her house. She is afraid of heights. The video was pretty funny but that isn't the point of this post. My dad's comments touched my heart. You'll see why at the bottom of the post.

"This is very funny Gwen. I'm not sure what was funnier, watching you cling to the roof or Gabe's laugh. I didn't know you were that afraid of heights. Must have gotten that from your mother.......not your dad who was a fireman on high ladders and hung out of the window of a rescue helicopter."



"Krista, you probably don't remember when I feel off the roof of our house in Garden Grove and landed on our VW Van and broke the windshield. It was not funny at the time, but I can laugh now because only my ego was seriously hurt. Aaron's remembers it well. Now I know to Never climb on a wet roof. Safer to hang out of a helicopter door......... actually that was fun. Especially when I would be hoisted up and down while the helicopter hovered about 30 feet off the ground. I wish I had a few picture of that. Unfortunately we didn't all have camera phones in our pockets back then."

I wish I had a picture of that too! I would love to be able to show it my children. My dad has overcome many things that I would be sooooo scared to face in life. He is a MIGHTY man! In my minds eye I saw him in his younger years doing these things. A pic of him putting his life on the line for others would pretty much represent the life he lead for me and my siblings. I really do wish I had a pic of him hanging from a helicopter or on the top of a latter built to fight fires. Just so my kids could see it and better realize how amazing, brave, and selfless their grandpa....my dad...IS. I LOVE YOU DAD! Thanks for putting your life on the line. You're a HERO to your posterity!

Improve * Beautify * Extend* Smile * Cultivate * Develop "Create"

Motor Mouth # 4

For the longest time I was worried about Jet. He has been my slowest to start walking, potty training and esp talking. All the sudden the boy can talk....and talk and talk and talk.....he's become a totally motor mouth just like our other three. Finally...all the sudden he is verbalizing what is going on in his mind not just responding to us. So here is the cute story that goes to this.

Last night I did my slogging...usually I do it in the morning but it didn't work out that way. SO I went to bed with wet hair...woke up with an afro...ran a curling iron through my hair really quick to make myself presentable. I come out and Jet smiles and says..."You pretty Mom!" So sweeeeet and sincere. It's a good thing babies aren't really edible.... He is such a chewy tender little man of mine!


Now if he could just all the sudden be done with the potty training.....