Family Portrait 1998

I had it planned out.  We would dress our baby up in red and go take a quick family picture at Huntington Center.  I am almost 3 months pregnant with my first born son, Kalib.  I have very bad morning sickness and really want to go home after this.  My mom and aunt Minja came with us.  So, this has been a treat.  

My aunt just moved in.  Random, out of the blue, popped up at the house with her luggage.  I didn't even realize she knew where we lived.  But, she's been at our place for about 2 months.

It is my 21st birthday and I decided I want to take a family picture to pass out in my Christmas cards.  It's just the three of us this year, but next Christmas will be the 4 of us.  

A Baby is Born

On December 23rd, 1996, my water broke at approximately 3am, and immediately after, I was in full-on labor. My daughter Sienna couldn't wait to be born, because I had her at 5:50am. This was her first picture. The hospital put a little Christmas beanie on her head. What a great Christmas present to both her dad and I. She was the tie that binds.  We took her home on Christmas Eve and then to 2 Christmas celebrations, one at my sister Jeri's and then the next stop was my Aunt Jacki's.

Her name:

• Sienna - raw Sienna is a yellowish-brown clay, kinda like the yellow of her mommy and the brown of her daddy. I'm real witty. LOL
• Cecilija - the Russian spelling of Cecilia, the female version of Cecil, named for her paternal great-grandfather Cecil Harris who passed away earlier the same year.
• Arcala - to honor my side of the family
• Anderson - to honor her dad's side of the family

Christmas 1994

 My father, Thomas Arcala and his wife Penny took my sister Jeri and I to San Diego to visit my sister April Davis.  While taking photography classes and practicing using a camera, I shot this photo of April and her son David and this photo of my father Thomas Arcala playing with April's daughter Anna.

It didn't come out great because my shutterspeed was not set correctly, but this is a photo to be cherished.

Teen Drama Queen Christmas

This was a bad Christmas.  I was 16 years old.  My mom didn't remember the holidays, therefore there was no tree and no gifts at home.  My sister Jeri was now married and didn't invite me over like she usually did, and my aunt Jacki didn't invite me either.  It wasn't like I had any way to get over to either of their homes if I just wanted to stop by. 

I was at home crying.  My boyfriend Michael's mom came to pick him up from Anaheim, CA where he lived and he asked if she could stop by my place and pick me up.  We had a two hour drive to Oxnard, CA where we celebrated Christmas at his grandparents' home. 

Here I was, sitting on the guest bed in his Grandmother's home.  I did get a Christmas gift from his mom, two tickets to the movie theater for me and her son.

Christmas 1988

Christmas of 1988 welcomed a new addition to our family.  I am the little girl looking down at the small child, my cousin Mathew.  He was kissing our 1st cousin 1x removed, Alyssandra.  She was born earlier in the month.  Looking on, in the green beret (I have yet to find one for myself) is my great-aunt Betty Arcala.  In the teal sweater is my brother Tommy.  Our great-uncle Tony (Antonio Arcala) was holding Alyssandra.  This was taken at my Aunt Jacki Arcala's apartment in Long Beach, California.