My turn!!

Okay, it has been way to long since my wife has updated our blog! Not that I am really into blogging, but if you start it then keep it going! No offense Honey, I really hope I don't get in trouble for making that comment!!

Our life has been pretty busy since I last look at it, with me and my crazy schedule and my darling wife supporting me! I have looked back over this year and I owe my wife a lot for supporting me! To all the women that will read my first BLOG, I want to personally THANK YOU on your husband's behalf! If he has thanked you then great, if not he is still working on it! Let me tell you WHY I want to thank you! If has to be hard to stay home with your kids or to just support your husband in all that we do in one day. Not to mention what we do during the week! You are the glue that keeps your family together, because your husband is somewhere doing service, at a meeting, coaching someone's else's kids or just working late! I just want you to know that even if you don't get that thanks at the end of the night before he falls asleep, is very happy to have you as the love of his life! So try and be loving and patient with us, just as you are with the kids. There is hope that we get better at showing you our love and appreciation for all that you do as Hero Support!!

To the best wife I have ever had, Heather, thank you for the bottom of my heart for all that you do for me and our family!

Now to Blog!
We have recently be accepted to be in the cast of Hill Cumorah Pageant "America's Witness of Christ" in Palmyra, NY this summer! We will be gone for 3 weeks in July to be apart of this amazing experience. The pageant runs on July 9, 10, and 13-17! So if you are in the area during July, stop in and see us. We get to experience one of the world's great outdoor theatrical productions. In July, we will do seven evening performances presented on the beautiful Cumorah hillside next to the Visitors' Center. A beautiful story on an enormous 10 level stage, twelve-tower lighting, state-of-the-art sound system, Hollywood special effects, and a costumed cast of over 650 provide a truly spectacular show.(Okay I pasted that in so it would look cool, so here is the link if you want to see more: http://www.hillcumorah.org/Pageant/)

I owe this all to my wife, she took the bull by the horn and made me and my Bishop sign the application! She sent the application in and we we are now headed to Palmyra, NY for the summer. The family is excited and can't wait to get there and be apart of this great pageant and see our old friends again. Well I think I am finished with all of my small talk for now, this was fun! I may do this again soon, as they say in the movies.....THE END!

Mr. Eddie Gist

A genetic roll of the dice...

I have spent this morning considering how lucky I am that my kids are healthy and happy.
Actually, I don't just feel lucky, I feel incredibly blessed. The economy is struggling, and our business has been hit hard, life is hectic and stressful all the way around. But we have each other, we have love, our kids are healthy, and we have peace in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

All this was brought on because I have been e-mailing and chatting with Eddie's cousin-in-law Michelle, who I think is an amazing woman. Two of her kids have a devastating genetic illness called Tuberous Sclerosis Complex. Their story was featured yesterday on a blog called Journey for Jess... you can visit it here: Journey for Jess: The Gist's Story. I just bawled reading it. I can't imagine going through the trials that they are facing. You can also read about "Jess" here: The Jess Marie Beecher story.

In her memory, Jess's parents are working to bring about awareness of seizure disorders. I don't have much, but I am determined to make a small donation to try to help. If you feel like you can donate anything, I am sure they would appreciate it. But more than that, I would appreciate it if you can please keep our "Gist Cousins" in your prayers.

Giganto-hand

So I just found this picture in my phone.

It is of two hands. E.J.'s and my new niece, Avery's



Every once in a while I look at him and ask

"Dude, how did you get so huge?"

It's weirding me out...

Shelbys New 'Do

Shelby had a hair appointment last week.

She had a "Brazilian Keratin Treatment" done,
which is a semi-permanent straightening treatment.
I LOVE her curly hair.
But when it is curly it is too snarly for her to be able to do herself
Which is just plain "tragical" when you are 13 years old.

When I called the hair school to make the appointment I asked
"How long does this usually take?"
The teacher who was making the appointment
and who supervises the students when they do this treatment said
"between 2 and 3 hours"
And I said
"But you have to understand,
my daughter has A LOT of hair"
and she said
"OK, so we will want to plan on the 3 hours - 3 and a half at the most"
And then I asked
"How much does the treatment cost?"
And she said
"We charge by the ounce of product that we put in,
it usually takes about 2-3 ounces."
And I again said
"OK, but my daughter has A LOT of hair"
And she said,
"Ok it could take up to 4 ounces for a lot of hair"

So I made the appointment,
and she assigned 3 cute students to do Shelby's hair.
When we got there her hair was contained in her usual ponytail...
They had NO IDEA what they were in for.
So they washed it
And dried it
and spent an hour
TRYING to comb it out.
I finally got tired of watching them struggle and gave them a lesson.

This is them trying to figure out how to comb it:

And these are her hair all the way combed out.
(literally an hour and a half later)






















Is it Diana Ross Fabulous or what?
I love her curly hair.
But She wants to be able to do her hair herself *sigh*

They finally realized I wasn't joking
when I told them that she has A LOT of hair.
They had never seen anything like it.

ANYWAY
5 HOURS (not 3)
AND 10 OUNCES (not 4)
OF PRODUCT LATER...

Shelby's hair was tamed.
It looks beautiful... *sigh*
and she CAN comb and take care of her own hair... *sigh*
so my question is why am I so sad about it?
Is it another sign that my kids are growing up?

And when Eddie was appalled at how much it cost
with no guarantee of how long it will last
I told him the story of when I really really really wanted
a spiral perm in the 8th grade.
But I was just heart broken and despondent
because I never had enough hair or money to get one.
(Isn't it funny how the painful memories of your childhood
come back at the oddest times?
I hadn't even thought about it until I was talking to him)

So I decided that somehow
my 13-year old self was vindicated by helping
my 13 year old daughter love her hair.
Even if it's only for a little while.

The End.

Happy Anniversary!

We are having a happy anniversary today!

My amazing and very sweet husband Eddie made me pancakes
and brought them to me in bed.


It was so sweet
And I really was very grateful...

But it was 6:07 am.

And my version of morning happens at about
8...
or 9...
ok, I'm really awake by 10,
I promise.

Unfortunately I didn't even notice the flowers until about 9:00..


Anyway, it has been a really nice relaxed day
Mexican for Lunch
and then a Movie..

Yes, we went on a date in the middle of the day.

Ahhhhhhhh,
the joys of having all the kids in school....

Thanks for everything, Eddie! (Especially for marrying me and all that good stuff!)
I love you with all my heart!

Blog for Elder Ferg...

Ok, I finally did it

I started the blog

for my brothers mission.

YAY!

Go visit...

http://elderjordanferg.blogspot.com/

Easter 'fits

We had a really nice Easter.

The lesson in Young Womens was Amazing!!! (Thank you, Bree)

The thing about Easter is that everyone always looks so nice.
Everyone dressed in their "Sunday Best" It was the first time in a while that everyone in my house got dressed on a Sunday morning without whining.

If just in case any of you are wondering, this was the first and last time that Eddie will be wearing a bow-tie. It was a nod to the member of the bishopric that he replaced (Dave D always wears a bow-tie)

And the weather this Easter was B..E...A.. Utiful!

I looked out the window and what did I see?
E.J. posing 'neath the apricot tree!
(awww, isn't he so cute??)
=]

It really was a wonderful day to celebrate the resurrection of our Savior, and to enjoy the fabulous new beginnings of Spring.

Happy Easter and Happy Spring Everybody!

Sariah's Season

My daughter Sariah loves sports

ALL sports.

She is a really good soccer goalie.
(and a good forward,
but she prefers goalie)

She plays b-ball.

But most of all
She
Loves...

Wrestling.Yup, Wrestling.

Wrestling, you say? Are there a lot of girl wrestlers? No, well not in Utah, anyway. She was the only girl in her age group this season, which she has been most of the years that she has wrestled, so... she she wrestles the boys.

About half way through the year a friend of mine overheard
some parents from another school warning some other parents about
"that girl from Hillcrest...she's tough"


She did have one loss this year. It was Carson, who's dad used to coach with Eddie at Hillcrest. They were born 2 weeks apart during the '99 wrestling Season... so you could say that they have both grown up around wrestling. Plus, he is big, and really strong. But she gave him a run for his money, for sure. Until he threw her and almost broke her arm. But we were proud of her... she finished the match even though she was hurt.

I have to admit, it is fun to watch her be so successful at the sport,
but it is also nice at the end of the season when I get my little girl back.

Anyway, here is a video of one of her matches when she got a good pin.

Good job this season, Sariah,
(thanks to her amazing coach, her Dad,
could you hear him yelling in the background?)
I LOVE YOU!!!

Cousins' Day!

So last Saturday night I decided that it would be fun to have my little nieces and nephews over for some "Cousins Time".

We missed Isaac (who was at his first General Priesthood Meeting)

And E.J. and Troy (who were with Isaac)

And we most definitely missed Abby, my youngest neice
(who will not be the youngest for long ... go Kendy and Stephi!)

All of the kids made personal pizzas(I love my neice Faith's mischievous face)

And then we made some bags to use for the Easter Egg Hunt the next day between Conference Sessions. (The Easter Bunny was nice enough to come a week early because he knew we would all be together)

Hope decorating her bag with all of
the
fun
Easter
Stickers

and Hope
(and her gorgeous mom, Kendy)
with her
BEAUTIFUL
finished product:

Jared with his project
I didn't
know you
could fit
that many
stickers
on a bag..

You should have seen the other side!



Ben with his bag
Dude I'm sorry about the purple bag!
Thanks for being a good sport!
(Again, notice the amazing amount of stickers... do you think he was trying to cover up that it was purple?)





And last but not least,


Sariah!


Such a
good
job!





And....

Faith






Can I just say that I love being Mom and an Aunt?
Seriously, I think I had more fun than the kids did!

Thanks for coming over you guys! I LOVE YOU!!!

Another one bites the dust...

So I was wondering, what really are the chances of both of my boys in hospital gowns in 1 week?

Anyway, I took some gorgeous pics of E.J. in his. I wasn't as prepared with my good camera, so these ones are from my camera phone:

Do ya like the pajama pants sticking out underneath?

And here is his "I AM NOT letting them draw my blood" mad face:

He was almost right, his superman veins kept rolling and they had a really hard time drawing blood. They still never figured out what was wrong, just put him on way strong antibiotics and sent us home. Dang Doctors! Anyway, both E.J. and Troy missed most of last week, but are back at school today, although neither one of them seemed to be nearly as excited about it as I was!

So I've been wondering, are blogs just another way for moms to embarrass their children?

And Troy wears a gown...

OK, don't freak out...
it's a hospital gown!
But I knew that would make ya'll look!

So the question of the day is
How does this..

(Notice the cute happy smile?)

Go to this...AWWWW! How sad!!!

In less than an hour?

It's called a tonsilectomy, my friends, and after 24 hours of observation, having not experienced this myself, I would not suggest it to anyone unless it was ABSOLUTELY Necessary.

P.S. He is going to kill me for posting these pics...

Girls Night OUT!!!

OK, so it's been a bit since this happened, but I had to blog about the Girls Night that I had with my friends Shellie and Kimberlee a few weekends ago. Props (and a huge thank-you) to my girl Shellie for booking her flight, our hotel, everything.

It was soooooo nice to spend 24 hours NOT being the mom, NOT being on-call for work, and JUST hanging out.

Quick run down of our girl time:

Talking and laughing

really loud while eating

at several different restaurants

Talking and laughing while trying

to park my suburban

Talking and laughing while laying around

the hotel

Talking and laughing while getting pedicures

Talking and laughing at ourselves because we were talking about our kids when we were trying NOT to be the moms.

Talking and laughing while tearing up when it was time to go

Planning the next escapade!

I love you guys! Thanks for being the kind of friends that you don't get to see or talk to every day, but you know they are always there! I had so much fun talking, laughing, relaxing, rolling up our pants, giggling until we should have been kicked out of the hotel, talking about "snake dreams" and so many other random subjects, and and getting "cute toes" with you! (Thanks for the new addiction, Shell!)

Oh dear, I might be getting old.

OK, this last week I have felt like I have aged every day. I started out feeling like I was about 27. Yes, that is my default age. 27 was a really good year for me, so I just kind of like to stick with it (you can't call me a quitter, right?). But this week we had a lot of big things happen that made me feel older. It really has been quite disturbing.

It all started last Saturday with Valentines, when Eddie and I celebrated 16 years together. Sixteen years???? How could that have gone by so quickly? I guess time flies when you are having fun...they have been good years. But 16???

Then on Tuesday night we took E.J. and Troy to Hillcrest to their Sophomore orientation. Not only was it weird to think about them going to high school, but they kept saying things like "drivers ed" and "graduation requirements". It was horrific. I sat there thinking "how can I possibly have kids going to high school?"

Then yesterday Eddie turned 40. Yes, you read that right, four - 0. And I kept wondering how he could have gotten so old. And it made me worry that oh dear, I must be getting old too. Thank goodness he is 5 years older than me, so no matter how old he gets I will always be younger. The only problem with that is that I feel older physically. Eddie works out and is in great shape, whereas I really don't like to sweat (really, I don't like it... ever, I have joked that it is against my religion). Eddie only has one gray hair that I have been able to find, it was in his mustache until he plucked it out. But I have many many silvery highlights if I do not get my hair colored monthly. Thank goodness my friend Jenny helps me keep on top of that. Unfortunately she has a new baby and I have been busy, so as of right now I have a beautiful streak of gray reminiscent of a skunk.

But don't worry about me. I will get my hair colored this week, and I am going to start working out tomorrow. I will go to work and hang out with my teenage employees (they help me remember being young). And next friday night I am having a slumber party/girls night out with 2 of my best friends in the world. Yes, I am pretty sure I will be able to be 27 again by the end of this week. No worries.

Silly Thoughts & Favorite Quotes

I love quotes. I collect them. Inspiring ones, and silly ones, and thoughtful ones. Some give me strength. Some make me smile. I have them all over the walls in my office. I love the power of well-thought-out words, and I think we have to be more careful in the way that we use them (at least I know I do) Anyway, here are some of my favorites:

• I do not suffer from Insanity - I enjoy every minute of it!
• "I saw that" ~God
• I don't think it counts as math when there are more letters than numbers!
• Due to Budget constraints, the light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off until further notice.
• Don't make me get the flying monkeys!
• Chinese Proverb: Good things no cheap, cheap things no good!
• "You have brains in your head, and feet in your shoes, you can steer yourself any direction you choose" ~Dr. Seuss
• People fall away from the church for the same reason they fall out of bed; they weren't in far enough.
• Stop telling God how big the storm is; instead try telling the storm how big your God is.
• Our Challenge is not in getting the Lord to speak to us; our challenge is in understanding what he is trying to say.
• It is never ok to be mean or spiteful, for we are followers of God, and our words and our actions should reflect that.
• I don't have ADHD, I just....hey, do you like waffles?

And last, but not least: Dorothy said to the Scarecrow "How can you talk if you haven't got a brain?" and the Scarecrow replied "I don't know, but some people without brains do an awful lot of talking, don't they?"

My Amazing Valentine!

So today is 16 years for Eddie and I. We met on Valentines Day 1993 at the NCO club on Hill Air Force Base. He was so sweet the night that we met. He had to ask me to dance 3 times before I finally said yes (it is a whole 'nother story). But when we danced, wow!

Over the years he has become my best friend. He is such a good listener (when he doesn't fall asleep - I have learned to talk before 9:00 P.M.). There is an old saying that says "a best friend is someone who knows everything about you and loves you just the same".

Eddie is such a good husband. I have said many times that I feel like an 8 cow wife.

He told me that I was beautiful so many times that I finally gave in and believed him. He has given me confidence in myself.... confidence that I am worth more than I ever thought. And confidence that I can do so much more than I ever knew.

Eddie is an amazing father. I apologized the other day for being the "pushover" parent, because it forces him to have to be the "mean one". The amazing part is that even though he is strict with them, the kids never wonder if he loves them, they just know.

Eddie is a good man. In so many ways. I watch him coach wrestling, and see the amazing influence that he is on these kids. They look up to him, and he doesn't let them down.
He loves God and stands firm in his beliefs. He is not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and he works at being a valiant priesthood holder.

And he makes me laugh, which I will be forever grateful for:)


Happy Valentines day Eddie! Thank you for 16 amazing years! I love you!

The Confession

Dear Blog,

Ok, I know this might be hard for you to hear...

But I have been cheating

"Gasp"


With another web-site.

It's called Facebook,


And I think I might be

well, addicted.

I am so sorry, it's just that it's new and exciting, and.... well...

it's interactive. I can make friends, and invite people.

and it just makes me feel cool.

Please

Don't get me wrong, I still want to (up)date you,

and I hope we will still be friends,

But I wanted you to know I might not be around as much.

Can you be ok with that?

Where did my little man go?

So I have been thinking about little boys lately. Our friends Jenny and John just adopted a beautiful baby boy who is 5 days old as of today. He is a miracle and I am so happy for their family. Then today at church I was talking to my friend Emily G (see the "Gibson Family" link) and holding her way cute not-so-little boy Brennan, and it started me thinking about when E.J. was little (sometimes I long for those “easy” days). He was absolutely hyperactive, devastatingly cute, wonderfully cuddly, my nap buddy and my constant companion. His favorite movies were "The Lion King" and “The Goofy Movie” and his favorite books were “Where the Wild Things Are” and “Lady and the Tramp”. He was such a sweetheart. In one of my journal entries when we lived in New York (I think he was 3) I had a cold and he kept feeling my head and my cheeks. His little eyes were so worried, and he would shake his head, and ask “temp-ture sick? ...need soup?” It seemed like it was the perfect time in our little families’ life.

Now my little man is not so little any more. He is so big, in fact, that he leans over to hug me. But I can be ok with that. Because even though I miss my little E.J. I am enjoying this stage as well. He will be 15 next month, and he is still devastatingly cute. I LOVE his sense of humor, and he cracks me up all the time. He is trying all kinds of new things, like wrestling, auditioning for plays, and texting 24-7 (ok, maybe I don’t like that part so much) But really, I am so proud of the young man that he has become, and for the choices that he is making in his life. He turned around in church today and mouthed “I love you, Mom”. My heart just melted and I decided that I was wrong before… right now is the perfect time in our life. I love you too E.J., and I feel so blessed to be your Mom!

Silence is Silver?

I have 15- and 14-year-old boys,13- and 9-year-old girls and various nieces and nephews.

I have been stuck in the house for almost 2 weeks at the same time the kids have been out of school.

Everyone stayed up all night to celebrate the New Year last night and they have been crabbing at each other all day.

I am leaning towards the Silver version of silence.

Is that so wrong?

I hope you are enjoying a peaceful New Year's Day!