Kimber Smith:  

Life After 8 years of Catholic school and my non-eventful high school career I went straight to West Valley Junior College and to work in retail part-time. I was never really fully dedicated to college and did just enough to get by....I enjoyed being in the workforce more. I majored in Fashion Merchandising and worked in many retail stores, ending up working in Saratoga at an exclusive men’s store and doing window displays for two stores on Union street in San Francisco. I always thought I would end up working for some big department store, doing merchandising or buying. However, through life’s twists and turns I ended up going back to work at a day care center I had worked at in high school and continued going to college, but for early childhood education. When I was 22 I met my husband at the saddlerack...for those not familiar, it was a large country/western bar in San Jose (with a mechanical bull and all!). It was pure chance that both of us were there that night, but we have been together ever since. We bought a house together in 1988 and then got married in 1991....buying the house was scarier! In 1992 our first son Dakota was born, he’ll be 12 April 2004. I continued to work in early childhood education, while my husband was a bartender at a restaurant he had worked at since he was 15! In 1994 our second son Austin was born, he’ll be 10 in September 2004, then I was lucky enough to be able not to be employed outside of the home. During the boys infancy and toddler years I was still taking college courses....I figured slow and steady was better than nothing! In 1997 our daughter Cassidy was born, she’ll be 7 in June 2004. We all lived in our tiny 1070 square foot house in downtown San Jose until 1999. My husband changed careers and went into the industrial water industry, so we moved to Manteca, CA ...his job was in Stockton (about 10 minutes away). We were lucky, my parents and grandmother followed us here and live only 5 minutes away...built in babysitting! In 2002 I finally finished my 18 years of community college and earned my Associates degree in Family and Consumer Sciences, I used to be embarrassed that it took so long....but then I saw my three children’s faces at my graduation ceremony (where I felt REALLY old!) and it made it all worth it. I’m still taking classes to finish my bachelor’s now....my children may finish college before I do, but at least I can lead by example! I volunteer many, many hours per week in my children’s classrooms and I am very involved in school site and district issues, having served on as many committees as time will allow! Recently my husband got a position with the city of Livermore, we are all very excited about this because he gets to spend a lot more time with the family. As a family we like to camp, water ski / wake board, motorcycle ride, garage sale, fish and my husband(Russell) and Austin like to go hunting. As my children are getting older ...Expand for more