Smiling Hill

My First Chocolate Cake From Scratch

2012-01-26T11:02:00.000-05:00

Dear Cathie,
This is what I do when Ben leaves me for the young men of our ward and I have just gotten off the phone with you and I miss you and have no one to keep me from doing bad things.

I let the girls "help" me make this and they stay up way way past bed time and then after we can eat no more cake or drink no more whole milk, we have 3/4 of a HUGE chocolate cake left.

This was so good. So we called our neighbor over to take 1/2 of the cake away. 2 days later we are still having chocolate cake for breakfast and my daughter who didn't speak until 6 weeks ago is saying,"Mommy, I want some chocolate cake! Please. Yummmy!"

Girls Weekend at Disney Land

2011-11-05T15:20:00.000-04:00

First Day of School

2011-11-05T15:12:00.000-04:00

Abbey's first day of Kindergarden and Amelia's first day of big girl pre-school. They are growing up! They both look so happy.

Summer of 2011

2011-11-05T15:09:00.000-04:00

Trip to the Shore

2011-07-26T10:01:00.000-04:00

Gibbs Reunion New Hampshire

2011-07-26T09:55:00.000-04:00

What is Your Calling In Life?

2011-06-01T13:03:00.003-04:00

I ran across this article in BYU Magazine. Abbey liked the art and begged me to read it. After the first page she was board and confused but I couldn't put it down. I'm still feeling like I am waking up from a long winter of postpartum. Marian turned a year in March but every day feels like a beautiful new beginning. It is as if I say to myself, "yesterday I must have been depressed because today I feel so much better." This article was inspiring and helped me see more meaning in the small, small, mundane, meaningless (did I say mundane? Maybe I should have capitalized it) things I do everyday. As a mother, I don't have a 9-5 as we all hear on Mother's Day, "a mother's work is never done." but the reason I work so hard is because what I do has real meaning. At least I feel that way today after having read "What Is Your Calling In Life" by Jeffery A Thompson.

Guess where we were!

2011-05-31T19:51:00.001-04:00

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Making Cookies with Daddy!

2011-05-29T23:44:00.000-04:00

It is the last chance to home teach this month and so the girls helped their dad fulfill his duty. They had so much fun. My favorite was the matching red aprons.

Abbey's favorite part was
dumping in the sugar and flour. (And yes Beth that is your mixer)

Amelia's favorite part was
eating the dough, we made her wait until the cookies were all mixed together before she got to taste, hence the sad face.

And Marian,
she was feeling left out. In the end we put and apron on her and she got to "mix" the dough too.

$1 FLIP FLOPS

2011-05-22T15:44:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Emily Lybbert I was able to remember to go to the Old Navy $1 Flip Flop Sale on Saturday. I thought I was going to be the first one there since I was arriving at 8:45 am, 15 minutes before the store was supposed to open. I was very excited. When I got there, I was a bit disappointed to see people already coming out of the store with large shopping bags in hand. It had opened at 7 for the special event. I rushed in and found flip flops in all colors and sizes. It wasn't too crowded yet. After buying 15 pair for myself and putting the bags in the car, I realized, I hadn't gotten any for anyone else in my family. So I went back into the store at 9:15 and the masses were beginning to scramble for the last few pairs of kid sizes and colors. I got there just in time to find 6 or 7 pair for each girl. And the line was already starting to grow. I got out just in time!

Bringing these home was better than Christmas. The girls didn't stop shrieking. It was so fun. So many flip flops! So many colors!

And then there was Ben...pretending to have free time. Pretending not to care about the one pair of flip flops I got for him.
He still refuses to wear them, even after seeing me go through 3 pair yesterday. The girls already have several pair outside and around the house. It's fun to have so many colors of shoes. And for only a dollar each! Thanks again Emily. Can't wait to have you here in Utah!

I love oliver + s

2011-05-18T22:33:00.002-04:00

My friend Anita told me about these cute patterns. Oliver + S is my favorite place to get sewing ideas and spend lots of money on a pattern. Her patterns have very helpful instructions. They tend to be wordy because she doesn't use sewing terms without explaining them. They are totally worth it. I've made a few cute little dresses and many, many kid pajamas. So when this book came out I just had to have it. I've been hanging on to it for a few months trying to decide which project to do first. With high ambition, I told one of Abbey's friends we could make tutus next time she came. So every play date after that she asked if we were going to make tutus. Kids don't forget promises very easily. And I am the queen of broken promises-my only weakness (besides pride).....
So with Abbey's friend's sweet smile haunting me for a few weeks, I finally broke down and ran to the store hours before the next play date.... and ....

Cute skirt tutus and no more sad faces appearing in my dreams. I must say, I do like the way they turned out. And they were much easier to make than I thought. Well, at first when I looked at them I thought to myself, "this is going to be easy!" The I started reading the directions and the project suddenly became daunting, I took a two month break and dove into them out of guilt. Turned out, easy like I first thought.

With the left overs I made one for the baby too. She only liked it because her sisters had them on too.

And yes, there is an orange extension cord in the background. Ben loves his orange extension cords. My family likes to tease him because he uses them like rope. He has been known to tie things on the tops of cars with them and use them as a clothes line while camping.....

Tubing at Soldier Hollow with Cousins!

2011-03-30T10:59:00.000-04:00

Melinda came to town for a week a bit ago. Our kids have a bond. We shared some wonderful memories in Ohio while there were babies. We love them and Cherish the moments we have with them. They now live in Oklahoma and we are trying desperately to get them to move to Utah. Before the snow melted we took them to Soldier Hollow for a good time.

Marian doesn't love the snow as much as the other kids but maybe that's because she doesn't like being called a cow.

Amelia, Alayna and Abbey had so much fun. They are about the same age. It was so fun to watch them play and get a long so well.

While we were up there we drove by the Tate Barn at Soldier Hollow. It is a historic barn that was rebuilt for the Olympics 2002 and symbolizes the rich history of Midway. Ben's family has some major ties to Midway. Ben's Aunt Cynthia, who lives in Vermont did some beautiful paintings of this barn. She sent them to us to display since we are the only family in Utah. I can't wait to get them framed and hung.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-17T11:12:00.000-05:00

Nothing says happy V day like red food coloring!

The girls agreed!

Then a hug from Marian to top off the night!

Best Valentines Day ever!

Aunt Cynthia!

2011-01-18T23:31:00.002-05:00

Over New Years we had the pleasure of enjoying Ben's Aunt's company. Ben's mom lives in our basement and the best part about it is that we get to enjoy her visitors. Cynthia came all the way from Vermont to get "Enough Church to last the rest of the year."

Well, the girls took to her like fish to water. They couldn't get enough. They would sneak downstairs every morning and beg her to read to them or tell them a story. Even Marian, who doesn't take to new faces, LOVED her.

And who wouldn't love someone who takes them out at night to a fancy Mexican Restaurant and tells them how well behaved they are. (Brave woman)

My favorite part of having Cynthia here was seeing her interact with her litter sister Marcia. She called her Marsh and told stories about when they were growing up and how Marsh was the baby of the family and always got nice things. That sibling revelry never gets old. They were like little girls having a week and a half long slumber party. So cute!

Ben said one of his favorite parts was, seeing his aunt reminded him of his Grandma Guild who passed away before we were married. It was a great way to start our great new year!

Happy 20011!

2011-01-17T17:47:00.000-05:00

This year has to be better than 2010. As my friend Anita Armstrong quoted from a bar marquee, "see ya 2010, you sucked!" It will be better; I can feel it already. Even as I cooked homemade mac and cheese, things felt better. The farther I get from sleepless nights with
my doll baby Marian (she sleeps all night maybe 3 times a week) the more I realize I must have had post-partum depression. I have felt and expressed at least 10 new times ,"Wow, things are getting so much better. I finally feel like myself again!" How can I do a 180 degree turn for the better 10 times?! But today is another one of those days. Wow, the last year and a half was soooo hard, I am finally starting to feel like myself again!

To celebrate, I made my favorite mac and cheese. My mom's recipe. And since (like everyone else) I am on a diet for the new year, mac and cheese also feels like an indulgence.

Did I mention I put hot dogs in it. My girls wanted them, how could I say no?

Watching tribute to Greg by Liz

2010-11-14T21:49:00.001-05:00

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Latest Gibbs Girls Photo

2010-11-13T15:35:00.000-05:00

It is amazing how much Marian and Amelia have changed in the last 6 months. Abbey's face is the same to me but she must have grown 8 inches. We just got back from the doctor, she is 85% for height and 30% for weight. I swear she eats! She eats a lot.

This seems more recent than last year but this was the last photo before the baby came.

They changed a lot here too. This was at our old how in Columbus right before we moved.

I love my girls!

Go Cougars!

2010-11-13T15:02:00.000-05:00

Marian's first BYU game! It was way back at the beginning of October. She looks so happy to be there!

We actually won this one too!

Aaaaaah aaaaa...

Natalie!

2010-09-23T22:56:00.001-04:00

Natalie Gibbs interviewed after volleyball game! Intensity!

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More Yosemite

2010-08-19T23:34:00.000-04:00

Talk about professional photo! Nice job Ben with iPhone!
Not too long after this picture was taken Ben, Alex, Uncle Joe, Aunt Melinda and Uncle Dayne hiked to the TOP of this huge rock called Half Dome.

The best family photo we could muster after 5 days camping.

They were so dirty! But so happy. And yes, Amelia is bare foot in the dirt! I don't know how many times we said in response to tears,"You wouldn't have owie feet if you put your shoes on!" Despite the hurt feet they were in heaven. We were lucky enough to get camp sights next to family so they had 5 playmates 24/7 and endless amounts of dirt.

Lower Yosemite Falls

2010-08-19T14:04:00.000-04:00

This was the closest thing to a bath they got all week. It was so great for the girls to play together. It was like they still lived 2 hours away from us like in Ohio.

We never made it to the actual pool because of all the huge rocks and little kids. But all these little pools were great. Here is my sister Melinda and her middle child- Drew. Oh, and Ethan in on the side there. He is getting so big!

We also were lucky enough to bring Ben's 14 year old nephew Alex. He was soooooooo helpful, even when he was climbing trees!

So close to the pool at the bottom of Lower Yosemite Falls, yet so far.

Marian at Yosemite

2010-08-13T20:38:00.001-04:00

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How Do I Express...?

2010-08-12T01:16:00.001-04:00

So it's been a year! One year since we moved to Utah and it has been the hardest year of my life. I love my family and there is nothing better than living with and close to your family..... unless you lived with these folks in Columbus. There are so many friends and neighbors we miss. we were lucky enough to get a few visits from some of our favorite families this year. First Cathie and Leah came What a treat. Then we got to visit with the Haradas for a few hours, then the Sondrups were in town between moves and lastly but not least THE LYBBERTS! Emily had to make a college visit as a homework assignment. OSU was just too much trouble so they had to check out BYU. We got to hang out with the Sondrups and the Lybberts at the same time while checking out Ben's office. Yes we ALL were sitting in a little college professor sized office. There was SO MUCH LAUGHTER coming out of that little room. We decided to go to the roof for some air.

One day with the Lybberts was just not enough! So we decided to go to the Pioneer Day Parade in Salt Lake. It was Katy Bug's birthday you know. Unfortunately we did not get a photo of her on her special day :( But here is Beth and Ben and Marian sitting in the sun but with a great view of the parade. How can you not love those faces!?

And here are my girls! How can I get my daughters to grow up and become even a little bit as impressive as these girls are? Emily and Allyson are my two favorite high school girls in the whole wide world. I met these two girls just a few years ago but have been impressed by them since day one. At 12 years old Emily gave a talk at church and it was the most inspiring and beautiful talk ever. I remember thinking, "man, that girl gives better talks than I do and she's only 12. Imagine what will become of her after she serves a mission (if that's what she wants to do)." And now that she is going to be a senior in high school.... yep just what you would expect, she's amazing! Then Allyson, she is my hero. I feel nothing but love exuding from her. She is a true example of Christ like service. Her siblings may laugh, she also bites and hits like a hockey player but I really do feel her genuine love for others (not related to her). I loved getting Allyson talking on the way home from babysitting. She has so much wisdom. I think she asks the right kinds of questions. Even though she has extreme confidence in herself (to say the least) there is a true humble spirit in her. In quiet moments there is some real soul searching humility. Just look at these two, they are so beautiful and full of life. Being around these two is like a big sloppy hug with giggles and pink frosting. We love you and hope to see you again soon!

John, we love your hat almost as much a we love you. You are my favorite Lybbert boy. Keep being a boy no matter how much all those women in your house give you grief.

And Katie, thanks for sharing your birthday with us. I think President Ukdorf could sense it was your birthday and made a special wave to you and my girls. You are great!

Marian Photo Shoot

2010-07-28T21:48:00.001-04:00

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Sing with me!

2010-07-24T20:48:00.001-04:00

No words for this one.

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Cathy the Carrot

2010-07-24T13:12:00.001-04:00

Hanging with the Gybberts at the pioneer day parade in SLC.

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For Bruce

2010-07-23T01:14:00.001-04:00

For Bruce, the chicken man.

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Hooty hooo!

2010-07-09T22:05:00.001-04:00

Go Orem Owlzzz

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World cup fever is everywhere

2010-07-03T13:56:00.001-04:00

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Word to yer mother

2010-07-03T12:50:00.001-04:00

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Swimming pool?

2010-06-30T20:19:00.001-04:00

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Here we go!

2010-06-30T20:16:00.001-04:00

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Thanks Miranda!

2010-06-19T18:21:00.001-04:00

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What is that thing?

2010-06-08T19:13:00.001-04:00

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My Niece

2010-06-05T23:52:00.001-04:00

My niece Addie. She's a cutie!

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Midway House

2010-05-31T17:39:00.001-04:00

Mom and our family went to the Midway cemetary and had a family reunion of sorts. On the way home we noticed contractors in the front yard of my grandmothers childhood home. With little battery life on my phone, I squeezed in some interesting video of the abandoned inside.

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Bubbletime with cousins

2010-05-20T10:31:00.001-04:00

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Marian bobble head

2010-05-01T00:21:00.001-04:00

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Marian 5 weeks

2010-04-26T21:37:00.001-04:00

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Marian

2010-03-27T21:52:00.001-04:00

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Sister show true selves

2010-03-20T19:10:00.001-04:00

Notice how Amelia turns into a cat at the end of the clip.

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Marian meets sisters and family

2010-03-20T15:12:00.001-04:00

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Marian Guild Gibbs

2010-03-20T11:51:00.001-04:00

Welcome baby Marian to the world! She arrived an hour before here due date, March 19th, 10:45pm after only an hour of active labor (unlike her sisters). She is the biggest Muse grandchild to date, weighing 9 pounds 11 ounces and measuring 21 1/2 inches long. She is healthy and strong, only needing an IV for the next couple hours to keep her sugar levels up until she feeds regulaly.

Her name comes from her great-grandmother Mary Gibbs and her Hungarian Great-great grandmother Mari (Mum) Nagy. We added "an" for her Aunt Anne, thinking Marian justed sounded better than Mary Anne. She looks like a little Amelia so we are in for trouble. Thanks for everyones support, look for more pictures in the coming days!

B & D

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no baby.

2010-03-09T13:21:00.004-05:00

but you can see the photo shoot from earlier that day with cheryl bishop. she is one of our best friends here in utah. and she has a good eye for good looking people..... see for yourself!

www.cherylbishop.blogspot.com

At the hospital

2010-03-06T15:30:00.001-05:00

Not sure if we will stay yet.

Dani is doing well.

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Krafty Cathy (and Kiki)

2010-03-01T21:00:00.001-05:00

Check out these fun gifts from Cathy and her sister. Sooo fun.

They couldn't wait, so they put them on over their clothes.

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Olives Anyone?

2010-02-28T13:13:00.001-05:00

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Little Marcia?

2010-02-26T20:14:00.001-05:00

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Location:S 200 W,Orem,United States

Dinner at Kim and Bens

2010-01-24T21:51:00.001-05:00

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Location:E 10785 S,Sandy,United States

Girls' new dresses

2010-01-21T16:03:00.001-05:00

D made the girls same very fashionable dresses. Nothing for dad though.

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Location:E 700 N St,Provo,United States

2010-01-01T02:09:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year!

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Princess and the Frog

2009-12-20T22:40:00.001-05:00

We had such a good time going to see Princess and the Frog last week with Grammy. The girls had never been to the theatre before and were absolutely amazed. Amelia said, with a 64 oz cup in her lap "I love this!"

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Puzzle time at Lybberts

2009-12-20T20:13:00.001-05:00

C-Bus

2009-12-20T12:12:00.001-05:00

Leah's hair-do.

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Here are a few things we miss about Comlumbus Ohio

2009-09-17T15:42:00.000-04:00

...all these great friends. Although we are making new wonderful friends here in Utah my kids talk a lot about their friends in Columbus, Ohio. Abbey often asks, "When are we going back to Columbus, Ohio?" It's just so cute the way she says "Columbus, Ohiiiiiio." We miss you friends!

...putting "free stuff" (garbage) on your side walk and watching it disappear within a day. Not to mention FINDING cool "free stuff" or garbage on other people's side walks. O.K. maybe that's not just a Columbus thing.... I think it is a Hilltop thing. Regardless, we miss it.

...sitting on our front porch interacting with our neighbors on a daily basis. Ben could tell you more about the Sociology of front porches and how our society has changed to a more back yard, individualistic way of living. I just miss the daily eye contact with people you had no reason to talk to other than you ran into them. I don't know if we would have gotten to know very many of our neighbors. We didn't have a whole lot in common as far as family situations or professions, but we saw them on their porches often and struck up conversations often. Now they are some of our closest friends.

...and one of our neighbors/best friend that did have a lot in common with us. In fact I saw and talked and was with her more than my own husband. We spent just about every day together. Being in Utah near my mother and brother and tons of Mormons (he he) has been incredible. People are so helpful and kind and you can't beat living close to my mother (one of my other best friends). Still, I can't get over missing my friend Cathie. It's hard to understand the impact someone has on your life until you don't have them in your life anymore. We have all experienced that. I have lots of times. But Cathie is different. Like she said in her blog, "some say motherhood is like warfare which means she and I were in the trenches together." And some one said to me, "Cathie is like a ray of sunshine. When ever I talk to her she just makes me feel happier." It's true. I was trying to figure out why that is. I mean don't we all want to be like that? She is so quick to laugh. I always feel like the funniest person when I talk to her. So slow to judge. Not that she doesn't disagree sometimes but in a totally non-offensive way. And she just exudes love. I always felt like she admired me for who I was. She knows how to focus on the good things about you. I can hear her laugh right now.

So, when I got the best phone call yesterday morning from her announcing she would be coming with her daughter Leah for Abbey's birthday I was bursting with emotion.

These last 6 weeks have been hard. The constant sea sick feelings and throwing up twice a day has really gotten to me. I must admit, I'm a little down (to put it lightly) I miss my friends in Columbus Ohio and I wished I could call up Cathie or Kim or Rebecca or Melody or Beth or Mari Anne or several others and ask if I could come over and just visit. Knowing Cathie is coming next month gives me something to look forward to. I can't wait! I can't believe she really gets to come here! I can't wait!

2009-08-20T18:02:00.000-04:00

maybe this will work:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue11ecGaIlA

The Video didn't work

2009-08-20T17:40:00.000-04:00

Just a few more pictures from this morning at our neighbor's house.

We're in Utah....

2009-08-20T17:01:00.001-04:00

This is supposed to be a silent video of our neighborhood. We'll see if it turns out...

These are my girls across the street from our house playing in our neighbor's "garden." This is the Critchfiel's home built in the 70's. They bought it from "an ornery ol' farmer" and built their own home. They have a HUGE back yard that 26 grand kids come play in every 3 weeks. The rest of the neighborhood was a cherry orchard until the early 90's when it was developed into Stonewood Estates. Now Brother Critchfiel is the "ornery old farmer." We saw the lake develop this morning in his front yard and the girls wanted to check it out. Ben took them over there and before we knew it the girls had no clothes and we were sitting on the Critchfield's back porch eating fresh green beans. They played in that mud for 2 hours. I guess they still have water rights and the field gets flooded every week. It's so cool having a farm in the middle of the neighborhood. It was better than the pool down the road. Brother Critchfield said they could come play in the mud when ever they saw the water. They are a great couple with lots of history in the area.

Well as you have noticed, there isn't much activity lately on the blog. Danielle is really sickly. She (o.k. I... i'm writing this so let's just make it 1st person) I get these awful migraines. And I lay around all day doing nothing. I was throwing up twice a day and then last week my old friend Jenny Smith (who is 7 months pregnant) told me about ginger chews. They have changed everything. They work better than the $30 a pill Zofran. Soooo that has been great. No more vomiting. And how can you beat living close to most of your family. I do miss my friends in Columbus though. We'll be out there for 24 hours next weekend so hopefully we'll get to see a bunch of you!

http://np2yosemite.blogspot.com/

2009-07-01T14:03:00.004-04:00

We are planning a HUGE (Donal Trump accent) trip to Yosemite National Park in California. Summer of 2010. We used to go there in the summer with friends from church and would like to get as many of those people involved to return with us as possible. You make reservations 1 year (for hotel) and 6months (for camping) in advance. I am starting a new blog to help coordinate people. Please visit the blog and make as many comments to help get people going. This will be a fabulous adventure now that we are all a little older, some just old....

Maybe we could get Jimmy Long to pull a trailer full of bikes for us.

Yosemite or BUST!

http://np2yosemite.blogspot.com/

Utah!

2009-06-18T10:27:00.000-04:00

Cathie, this is why Utah is beautiful. And this isn't even a good picture of it.
The view of Mt. Timpinogas from Thanksgiving Point Petting Zoo. I must admit, after being at the historical 1880's working farm in Columbus, OH, this is the cleanest petting zoo i have ever seen. Concrete and lush green lawn everywhere.

Grandma Teresa holding up Amelia Teresa. Abbey is back there riding the BIG horse. We had such a great time.

Little T sitting with his dad. And those hammock swings they are sitting in... best invention ever!

Cousins! I was really surprised to see how much this little guy looks like Amelia. They were the same height and running around together I almost thought they could be siblings. Great friends at least. We sure had fun with you guys! See you at the end of the summer. We are moving to Orem, Utah right around the corner from my parent's house! We found a great house that will hopefully be our home for many, many years. More house pictures to come.

like a worm becomes a butterfly...

2009-05-20T11:20:00.008-04:00

Happy 2nd Birthday Amelia!

2009-04-30T14:33:00.000-04:00

Happy Easter

2009-04-30T13:55:00.000-04:00

We have loved our time in Ohio. We love our neighborhood and we LOVE Spring. It has been so nice to have things be green and sunny again. This Easter was very nice and the girls had the prettiest dresses I've ever seen. Grandma Muse helped us out of course. They had it all, fancy dresses, sweaters with bows, hats, gloves, purses and new sparkle shoes with pink tights. They loved feeling beautiful. Yikes, it was really hard to keep them reverent during our 1pm church. You can dress them up....

But they are still my kids!

Pie Day Part II

2009-03-25T22:13:00.000-04:00

The real reason I loved Pie Day.
If you can't tell, these are a few of my favorite "Brothers" at church. If I participated in a pie eating contest then, I could win a chance to throw a pie at one of these guys! After eating 5 pieces of pie from the other delicious pies brought by the wonderful members of our ward, I decided to go for the contest.

Who wouldn't want to throw a pie in this face?! He thought he was so cool, being the MC of the Marble Cliff Pie-newood derby 2009.
So, maybe he is so cool....

So I did it.
We still don't know if Rebecca (Left) or Brother Simmons (a sweet old guy that just got home from his grandpa mission) who smashed my face in the pie. I do know Brother Simmons (the sweet grandpa RM) was whispering trash talk in my ear as I was doing my best to eat pie with my face.

I didn't win BUT I did get to throw a pie at Ben. If you review the picture above, he has the MOST pie in his face!
Here the girls follow the example of their mother.

"Pie"newood Derby 3.14 2009

2009-03-23T15:54:00.000-04:00

So am I the only one that never celebrated "Pie" day? March 14th is every nerdy math teachers' favorite day of the year. Apparently our Activities committee is made of nerdy Math teachers. But Pie day is my new favorite day. Just look at all those pies! We also had to tie in our other favorite ward activity and have a Pinewood Derby. There were some super fun cars!

The kids and dads had the night of their lives.

Best Valentine's Day Ever!

2009-02-25T14:34:00.001-05:00

Some friend's had us over for a Valentine's Party. It was more fun than I've had in a long time. When we got there Ben had to carve our initials into a tree on the wall and then we had our picture in front of it. We played some cute games and then the women and the men separated. The ladies made Valentin's cards and the guys drew pictures of our fist dates. We had to guess which one's were ours and tell our story. Later there was a surprise poem read. Our 'dates' had written us love poems the night before and then had to read them in front of everyone. Most were really short and sweet and the guys were shyly smiling. So cute! Ben's was so long and so awkward. People asked him several times to stop reading. I have not laughed so hard in a long time. He prefaced it with "The Office is our favorite show." I think he meant to have Dwight's voice in people's minds but it came out a little different as tears streamed down our faces from laughing so hard. After almost every line break we laughed and laughed. I don't know if it reads the same in the Internet as it did at the party but here goes:

My Halo, Your Halo

In the sun glow
I can see your halo
Not the video game
Although you do maliciously hunt me
With your fantastic love
...but unlike that game, you really don't kill me,
just everything up until that point.

It is in the afternoon,
Autumn
6pm
And the sun is behind you
Setting
You have golden dark hair
As you roll around
In a field of tall grass
You have a blanket
With many cheeses
You beacon forth
With your fork
And we embrace
We are making out
...what those small little letters say
On all those cheeses.

You are unpredictably coy
As you toy
With my feet
Which are tired
From the hike
And scavenger hunt
You made me do
Before I could meet you
In this, secret/sacred place
That I've never been before
Is this heaven?

I am the scavenger
Hunt
ing
Like in Halo
The video game
My scopes
Are on your lips
But I spy you in my scope
not from a tall building
Or from an abandoned coal mine
Like the one Pat worked at briefly.
but millimeters from those
Frail, quivering, soft, wild, huggable lips
That whisper
"Surrender,
You sweaty hunter
With muscular feet and wheezing breath"
And I say,
"No you surrender
Because my scope is really close to your lips
And you couldn't possibly hurt me
With those puny arms"
But you can,
And I don't tell you this,
you do have muscular arms, but only in metaphor
Instead of arms, its your heart
And it is really good at beating to get all the blood around in your body
And I see your pulse going super fast on that rather large vain on your neck and on your forehead

I slowly drop my controller, which I brought with me pretending it was a gun with a long distance scope
And I move
Closer
And closer
Now closer
And your raspberry lips
Caresses my breath
Like Castellano cheese
That I just ate while you
Slipped off my socks

Game over
I need a code to continue
but you do
Continue
Without a code,
You hold
my perfect body, in your mind.
and I hold your perfect body in my mind too.

Yeah Best Valentine's Day ever! Then at the end of the party we were given our pictures in a frame with a magnet on the back so we could put it on the fridge. We look at it and remember the best day of our married lives. Well, maybe one of the best.

Columbus Freeze and BYU Freeze

2009-01-29T11:12:00.000-05:00

The first snow started out lots of fun. We played for a while.

The Cuteness of Amelia's first snow was in full force.

Then we had an ice storm with more snow on top. This tree fell down in our neighbor's yard. Fox news even had a news crew there last night.

But Best of All, Grandma Muse came to visit for a few days. Her flight got snowed out and she got to stay for an extra day. We had so much fun. We were so glad she was there for the storm. There were two freezes. The ice storm and the "official BYU job freeze." We found out for sure there would be no BYU this coming year. That's right, a "hiring freeze" really means there will be no hires. My best friend Cathie was very excited to hear the news. There are some benefits to staying in Columbus one more year. But it was sure hard to send my mommy away knowing I wouldn't see her this summer. We love you Teresa!

Christmas Morning

2008-12-27T14:53:00.000-05:00

It was an early morning for Amelia. And for mom and dad. Abbey is getting the Santa idea better this year. She went right to bed Christmas eve and woke up early Christmas morning.

Stalkings first! I remember last year Abbey was way into chocolate. This year it was Amelia who wanted the chocolate more than anything. We found her later with half sucked chocolates all over the coffee table and her hands. None left for Abbey. Most had one bite missing (I don't know how you do that with a Hershey's Kiss) or they were sucked on and spit out. Fun fun!

Some one was way excited about the MARACAS but it wasn't Abbey....

After the morning rush was over, the Dora table and a few other items scattered around.

Elmo's Christmas

2008-12-27T14:39:00.000-05:00

Someone asked us what the girls' favorite presents were. First I thought the amazing doll house that our favorite neighbor gave us. (they got it the day before Christmas and haven't stopped playing with it) Later looking at the pictures I remembered ELMO!!!! Both girls had so much fun looking at and playing with the elmo chair and "tickel me elmo." So cute.

Later that day we went to the Shafer's home for dinner and the girls had another present explosion. So many people love our girls. It is almost like having family here in Ohio. We are so blessed!

The Cougar King gets an A!

2008-12-14T21:11:00.000-05:00

Congrats to the COUG for getting a 4.0 the first quarter of college. He made the Dean's and the Gibbs list.
Watch out Columbus State, don't make him angry.

No that is not Columbus State, that is a replica that Danielle made.
School tastes delicious.

Merry Christmas!!!!!

2008-12-13T22:02:00.000-05:00

The Girls

2008-12-09T19:59:00.000-05:00

Abbey 3 Amelia 1.5

Abbey 2.5 Amelia 1

Abbey 2 Amelia .5

Amelia .005 Abbey 1.5

Adult book store explodes, why were we there?

2008-11-10T22:28:00.003-05:00

We Had Some Visitors!

2008-11-10T22:14:00.000-05:00

If you can't tell we've misplaced our good camera....
So we had Ben's Best Friend from high school (Brooke) and his wife stay with us for Halloween. They were passing through to Colorado. We thought we'd show 'em a great time in Westgate. Well, on our way down Broad St. to visit the fabulos Science Museum, COSI, there was an EXPLOSION. No joke. There was a natural gas leak and it filled "The Cherry Box" and the house turned Adult Book Store EXPLODED. We were right there and had been seperated from our friends. We were behind the building in the ally (doing who knows what...) and Brooke and Christina were stuck at a stoplight. They saw the whole building blow up. We both thought the other was smashed by the tons of bricks that were sprayed into the air. To see a full article see THIS.

We still made it to COSI and back home to carve pumpkins. Just in time for the trick-o-treaters.

We also took them to OSU. We ate lunch on "the big stairs." It is part of the OSU Architecture department. Abbey wanted to walk all the way to the top. So we ate at the tip top trying to keep our baby and Brooke and Christina's baby (Isobel) from falling down "the big stairs."

The whole building is made of concrete. Everything echoed. There are NO secrets in the Architecture Department at OSU.
And no flying brick possibilites. We had a semi-safe Halloween visit.

Oahu!

2008-09-18T14:12:00.001-04:00

Here we are at the PCC. I went to BYU-Hawaii for a couple of years. The show is done by students paying for their college education. The night show is the best part. My Hale (dorm) was right behind the stage and I used to do my homework/fall asleep to the music of the night show. They did such a great job. I feel so lucky to have gone to school at such an amazing place and to now have returned for a visit. Maybe I can talk Ben into do some sort of Summer sabbatical there in a couple of years....

It was very very windy at Pali Look Out. Ben is wearing a tie if you can't tell!

This is a great place to stop and take a look. No hiking involved. The view so beautiful but the coolest part is the wind.

jon & jodi

2008-09-18T14:09:00.000-04:00

We were so excited to see Hawaii, we even took pictures out the window in our airplane!

We stayed with jon and jodi in Waikiki for a couple of days. They had the best accommodations! Our bed was on the Lanai of their 19th story apartment. Then they took us to their favorite Korean BBQ for dinner. You get to cook your own meat over the grill in the middle of the table. So good!

Here is the view we woke to every morning. If you look close, you can see a faint rainbow!

AND to every one's disgust ben continued to work through our vacation. (there was a big deadline he was aiming for-he made it... barley)

BFF 4-ever

2008-08-08T09:54:00.000-04:00

This has to be one of my favorite pictures of the three of us. (and little dave) I think this is Halloween 1987?
These are my real BFF's. They came out to visit me in little ol' Ohio. They have been so good to me ever since were were in 2nd grade at Cypress Elementary School. It has been 2 years since we have seen each other but it felt like yesterday we were singing Happy Birthday to Quinn.

I don't know how I managed to NOT get a picture of the three of us together. Maybe juggling 2 kids between 3 women was too much for me??? They were such a great help! I miss you guys already!

Ben was out of town for the week-end so we came up with the girliest thing we could think of: butterflies at the Franklin Park Conservatory.

We had so much fun together and my girls will never forget the fun they had with their new friends!
K. I. T.
Have a great summer!
Love,
Your Best Friend
Danielle

(p.s. bec, I hope we can be better friends next year)

Leap for the Ligars

2008-08-05T14:20:00.000-04:00

We did it. We (maybe just I) relived my high school cross country years. My best friend Quinn was ALWAYS way faster than me. I always wished I could beat her. I invited her to a friendly 5k fundraiser for our Boy Scouts 12 years after our last cross country meet. Little did she know that all I wanted was to run her into the ground. I had been training for over 3 months just so I could smoke her at the race. It would have helped me if I have told her all these years I was holding a competitive grudge. Quinn didn't even train. In fact she has a slight stress fracture from her NYC Marathon from last year.

Here she is beating my home teacher. Go Quinn!

All I could do was maybe tie with her at the end of the race.
(Someone had already finished and decided to finish the race again with one of her best friends)

Someone here is a little too into this race!
Thanks for the good times!

Happy 4th on the 23rd

2008-07-22T20:55:00.001-04:00

Ben's oldest brother Chad brought his family for the 4th of July! Coleman (who is Ben's 14 year old twin) really wanted fireworks. They live in Colorado where fireworks are illegal. So here in Ohio there were sure to be crazy amazing fireworks at Wal-mart. Here are just a few of the miracles we call "Ohio fireworks from Wal-mart."

Watch out, here come the sparklers! This just got us ready for the HUGE bomb, the biggest one in the package.

Brave Heart Coleman lit the massive box and stood way, way back. First we saw gray smoke. Then yellow... then more yellow. We then began to choke. There was soooo much SMOKE.

We then realized, the title on the box is....
"Double Eagle Smoke"
We had tons of smoke bombs. And they smelled GREAT!
Happy 4th! Thanks for visiting, we had tons of fun. We can't wait to live close to you guys.

These are the Pics that go with last post..

2008-07-05T11:40:00.000-04:00

Pajamas For EVERYONE!

2008-07-02T11:58:00.000-04:00

At church we have mid-week activities that range from play groups to craft stuff. This last week we learned to make pajamas. I happen to be incredibly impressed with myself. Abbey is posing and showing off her pocket. The pocket is my personal favorite.

I decided these were so easy that I am going to make matching ones for all my friends and family. Since I LOVE wearing my own pajamas that must mean, so must everyone else. And who wouldn't want to match me and my family.

So there aren't any buttons yet but that is the hardest part. And maybe the shirt is also the hard part so maybe i will only make pants for all my friends and family. And maybe the fabric isn't MAN friendly... when I say friends and family I mean all the girls. And since fabric is $2 a yard at Walmart maybe I will only make them for all the little friends and family I have. we are still poor, time starved students you know.

A Westgate Favortie

2008-06-23T09:42:00.003-04:00

If you have ever been to the Westside of Columbus you know how 'good local food' is a treasure. Well the 'daritwist' is a timeless treasure that is super popular not just to Westgate residents but to all walks of life that live on the Hilltop. It's always an adventure waiting in line.

We took my sister and her family before they moved to St. Louis. We wanted to give them a late night on the Westside to remember.... After the drive-through car yelled some extra strong expletives to his friend and squealed his tires as he pulled onto Sullivant Ave, we had a great time.

Amelia was the first to get her sprinkle cone and I wished I had a video. She LOVED this cone. Everyone in line was noticing how much she was loving it.

Abbey was happy too. She is just too cute.

Here is most of the gang (minus husbands). I think I posted this picture because it is the most flattering picture of me I have ever taken.

Aren't my nice and nephews soooo cute. We will miss you living so close!

~d

The Physical Toll...

2008-06-19T22:24:00.000-04:00

When does it pay to have a surgeon in the family??? We always called him for things like, "my kid has a runny nose and is crying a lot... what should I do." I'm sure he rolled his eyes more than once at our calls... If I had to guess his favorite calls were the ones about strange rashes Ben had... all those rashes....

So again my question....
When does it pay to have not just a Dr. in the family, but a surgeon?

When you are helping your favorite big sister move and your baby girl falls on a dangerous metal moving ramp and splits the back of her head open. (blood everywhere--sorry no pictures of that) Only 5 free stitches later this is what Abbey had to say about it... for several days.... over and over..., "I got an owiiiiiies. Uncle Dayne fixed it." Then she would scratch the back of her head.

Even when their life flashes before your eyes, they still say the cutest things that make you smile!
~d

The Girls

2008-06-14T12:00:00.000-04:00

Abbey 2 1/2 years
Amelia 1 year

Abbey 2 years
Amelia 6 months

Abbey 18 months
Amelia 1 month

5th Year Wedding Anniversary...to the Country Club Muffy!

2008-05-18T20:59:00.000-04:00

NOW THAT'S A PIG CAKE!!

2008-05-12T15:30:00.000-04:00

Happy birthday Daddy. We can't believe you thought Cathie's teddy bear cake looked like a pig. We know about your pig fettish that you passed off on your evil twin sister all those years...

Soooo here is your beautiful red velvet pig cake. You have to admit it was as delicious as it was cute. We hope you had a happy Birthday.

No birthday would be complete with out a new baby kitten.
Baby Max was a big hit.
Now if we could only get him litter box trained.
I know, what was I thinking??? I hate cats!

~d

Wild Child

2008-05-07T11:16:00.000-04:00

For a little less than $1 a day, you can sponser this child.

New Shed = New Mysterious Man in Kitchen

2008-04-28T22:14:00.001-04:00

Can a shed be a home?

Is this a pig?

2008-04-28T22:11:00.000-04:00

Please register your vote. My contention is that no bear has a circular snout...or some kind of vest/jacket with buttons (as all pigs have).

Teddy Bear Picnic

2008-04-28T22:05:00.000-04:00

The gang post-cake and ice cream, Amelia reclines while Ethan passes out.

Amelia & Ethan

2008-04-28T22:03:00.000-04:00

Amelia and Ethan shoveling cake (the cake was supposedly shaped like a bear (which I think looked like a pig (and so did Amelia and Ethan, obviously (I mean look at the way they are cramming all that cake in their faces)))).
Amelia squealing with delight
Family Portrait

Happy Spring/Easter

2008-04-20T22:22:00.000-04:00

After a long cold snowy winter the first flowers bloomed right around Easter. We were very happy to see color come to life in our yard. Every year these bulbs bloom and they remind us of our first Fall when Abbey was born. Marcia came to see her new grand baby and she planted these flowers. Spring has brought new blooms every week. As one set dies, another blast of red, orange and yellow pops up.

Easter with Daddy. We have been so busy these last several months. I guess it is all relative. Talk to any of Ben's siblings and ask if WE have been busy. I know it will just get worse. So we took time out on Easter Sunday while Amelia was asleep and took a picture before Abbey had a potty accident or pulled out her cute hair do completely.

As soon as Amelia woke up we took this photo and dashed off to Kevin and Melissa's house. Our last dinner with our dear friends before they abandoned us for BYU.

Amelia's picture was taken at Kevin & Melissa's house. Sorry Amelia, being second child really does mean photo ops are fewer and farther between. You really do look cute though (even if you are not sitting out in the green grass on a nice sunny day like abbey and dad).

Family Fun Day!

2008-04-20T21:52:00.001-04:00

Ben has been working two jobs lately. He decided to figure out how to finish basements. He started with our neighbor's back in December and has already completed....almost half of it. We'll have to get a picture of the progress. But he has been working there Saturdays and the family has been missing their daddy. Soooo Ben decided to surprise us with a "FAMILY FUN DAY." We just started driving south on I-71 and none of us (but Ben) knew where we were going. 2 hours later we pulled off a bit before Cincinnati and there was TONS of traffic. We thought maybe the traffic was for the Gun Show. NOT the family fun day surprise I wanted. But as we got closer to our real destination the traffic got worse. There were police officers directing traffic in the rain....

Then I saw the overfull parking lot. Then I knew... We were going to the new IKEA in Cincinnati! There were soooo many people. We were not allowed to park because the lot was full. There was no where to go. This place was surrounded by farm fields. So we (along with hundreds of other people) circled. We finally just parked semi-illegally and went in. So crowded! Worse than Disneyland.

But as you can see we still had fun. Here we are waiting in line for a Swedish Meatball dinner. Amelia was surprised to find it was not in Ben's ear but on the amazing (and cheap) highchair.

We limited ourselves to $50. That still seemed like a lot to me. By the end we spent around $75 for gas, food and amazing new home decor. My personal favorite were these "Great Big Huge" Ronnbar Plant Pots only $6. (Some day I'll learn how to get photos from the Internet onto my blog so you can see for yourself. Or just go to http://www.ikea.com/ and put in Ronnbar Plant Pots) It truly was a Family FUN Day!

Dirty Dishes

2008-02-26T16:00:00.000-05:00

The other day after breakfast Amelia was particularly dirty so instead of merely wiping her hands I would rinse them in the sink. Well one thing lead to another and she had pulled herself into the sink. She is stronger then me.... Her sister saw how much fun she was having and decided she wanted to play too.
I decided the kitchen sink is way better than the tub.
Less water.
No bending.
No reaching.
They can wash dishes while they are in there.
More Safe?

Not quite. Amelia is not as easily contained as her sister.

She tried to climb out several times.

Abbey and Michelle Finally Meet and Shake Hands

2008-02-15T14:58:00.005-05:00

Usually we are ridiculous on this blog, but today may be a slight exception. We have taken advantage of the Democrats interest in Ohio the past three days. I went to see a very unanimated Chelsea Clinton speak on campus, juxtaposed to a very exuberant but somewhat generic Hillary Clinton the day after. This afternoon “d”, “double a” (or the “A Team”) and I heard Michelle Obama speak. Her approach was more candid and unscripted. Although we are never sure about any party or politician when it comes to this stuff, there is something about the Obama duo that is unique and authentic, more so than what we hoped to find with Romney and McCain. Abbey did squeak out a “hi” as Mrs. Obama asked Abbey “Do you know this guy?” suggesting that I was some homeless man that grabbed a stray little girl for a near perfect photo op. She also complimented Abbey on her pretty jacket, still doubting if I was the father by saying, “Someone needs to check this guy out.” Unfortunately Abbey’s follow-up question, “Will Obama represent another tax and spend liberal bent on making a big government bigger and expanding government programs, programs that have 1) no incentives to be efficient, 2) no evidence of effective implementation and 3) no results of lasting meaningful change?”, went unaswered as Michelle, rattled, looked on.

The Contest

2008-01-06T22:35:00.000-05:00

Dani once the front runner, loses lead to a series of design flip flops and structural gaffs.

The field narrowed to two, Ben runs on his years of experience, whereas Alex runs on a platform based on "change."

Ben's result represents a well manicured suburban dreamland and Alex...

...reality

Modesty at BYU

2007-12-10T21:49:00.001-05:00

Do you want to play a game?

2007-12-06T11:20:00.000-05:00

As a way to entice Abbey to eat, we told her that her food is people, more specifically family members that want to play in her tummy. This approach has quickly become awkward with Abbey taking more creative license making statements such as "Aunt Melinda tastes yummy" or "I want to eat grandma".

Lately Abbey has been whispering to her food, saying this morning "Do you want to play a game?". She then followed up with the next bean, "Do you want to play a game with music?"
Then, after we asked what kind of exciting game she was referring to, she asked "Do you want to play a game with music, Baby Einstein?" Well, she's happy to eat beans and we are happy she's eating!

From ABD to ABD

2007-12-05T22:21:00.000-05:00

The Gibbs have made the transition from "All But Dad" to "All But Dissertation" and Amelia couldn't possibly be happier!

Sky Monkey

2007-11-25T23:17:00.000-05:00

Sky monkey is on his mission in Houston and his great mom is making a quilt of all his favorite family members for Christmas. Luckily we are nearly missing the deadline. This means we are still on his "favorite family members" list. Close call.

On the phone with mommy, Ben poses with his creation. He actually is way more excited than he looks. As I (danielle) have been stitching the monkey together the past two days, Ben has come to look over my shoulder. I could swear the look on his face was one of longing. A longing to hold a child. Sheer pride. He LOVES this thing. Hopefully we can sneak it away to mail it to Nancy.

And this is just one of the cutest pictures of Milia I've ever taken. So... I had to show her off. She is soooo cute! Even Abbey (who had pretended she didn't have a sister for a long time) will say to Amelia "You're so cute Miliaiaiaiaia."