Gibson Traditions

I have learned two new traditions that Kurt did while he was growing up that we will now incorporate into our family... Kris Kringle Day and Advent Calendars. Kris Kringle Day is December 5th. It is a German tradition... all of the children set out their shoes and then in the morning, they get to see if they have been naughty or nice. If they have been nice they will find a piece of candy or a surprise, if they have been naughty there will be coal or nothing at all. Bianca and her family continue it every night until Christmas. I'm not sure how long it will go for us, but it will start on Dec. 5th next year!
This year MacKenzie,our babysitters daughter, was selling advent calendars for a fundraiser so I bought two. When I brought them home Kurt said, "My Mom would get one of these for us every year." When John saw them he commented on how Gisela would make sure each of her children had an advent calendar for Christmas. He thought it was great we were carrying on the tradition. AJ definitely has caught on. One of the first things he does when he comes home is go over to the china hutch where the calendar is kept and starts pointing and yelling until his Dad opens it up and they eat a piece of chocolate.

Baby Boy

We have been notified by our adoption agency we have been chosen as parents again!!! We are thrilled beyond words!!! We have met with the birth mother and all went well. We are hoping and praying when the baby is born in March she will have the strength and courage to sign the relinquishment papers and our family will be blessed with another boy! AJ will have a playmate! Kurt will have 2 boys and Jill will quit work and stay at home with her boys, although rumor has it she may open a preschool in our home next fall. Time will tell. We will keep our fingers crossed until he is officially ours...he's due March 14th!!

Our little helper

Kurt, AJ and I went to the store. Kurt was able to see first hand what a helper AJ can be in the store. He can turn around in the cart and anything within his reach is fair game. As you can see he helped himself to the hot dogs. :)

Tradition

I am a traditionalist, I admit it. I like family traditions. I don't particularly like it when holiday traditions are changed. A few years ago my parents decided to stop holding the Hislop Family Christmas Party on Christmas Eve. It is now the Saturday before Christmas Eve. I enjoy the party and seeing Santa and exchanging presents, but something is amiss...it is NOT the traditional party I grew up with. Our tradition was changed. It is now a NEW tradition and it has been a few years and I admit it is starting to grow on me, it really helps to have Kurt and AJ in my life; this is the only Hislop Christmas Party they have ever experienced so the Saturday before Christmas Eve is our new tradition...and nobody better mess with it! :)

I have been thinking about this because our Thanksgiving tradition was changed this year. This year we went out to eat. It was a nice meal, and it was nice to be with family, but it didn't FEEL like Thanksgiving. We didn't have a prayer, we didn't have yams or cranberry salad or rolls. The Stoffers weren't there. We didn't look through the ads or visit as some watched football, we didn't play any games. We didn't have leftovers to nibble on later in the day. It just wasn't the same.

Kurt and I talked it over and we decided from now on we will have Thanksgiving dinner at our house. That is the only way I can think of to preserve a family tradition I hold dear. We talked it over with my parents and they were actually happy one of their children wanted to take it over. Anyone will be welcome at our home for Thanksgiving. If it is the "off" year for my siblings and thier in-laws I hope they come to our home, but if they choose not to, I will still have my traditional Thanksgiving. I know traditions can be stressful for some and for others they just are not important, but they are to me and I would like to establish a few for our family so I guess I will start with cooking Thanksgiving dinner.

Umm Umm Good!

EVERYTHING tastes better when you can feed yourself!

Reading with my boy!

AJ and I were in his room playing. I picked up one of his books and started to look at it, he immediately pushed my hands away and crawled on my lap and then picked up the book and put it back in my hands. It made my heart melt. My son and I sat down on his floor and read some books. Kurt had walked in the room just as all this happened so he went and captured the moment with a camera. I LOVE being a MOM!

Gisela Fischer Gibson

Kurt's Mom passed away on November 5, 2009. The nursing home had told us they thought it would be rather soon so Kurt's sister Astrid bought a plane ticket and arrived on Wednesday, she passed away Thursday morning. Although it was sad; it was also a happy time to be with family. All of her children and grandchildren (except one who was on a mission in Greece) were able to come and pay their respect. We enjoyed having the family around. Most of them were able to stay with us at our home and we had a great visit. We were also truly thankful for a wonderful ward who provided us with a scrumptious luncheon and a Bishop who was there to support us every step of the way.

Mom Gibson will be missed, but we know she is in a better place. We are so thankful for the reassurance and peace the Gospel of Jesus Christ gives to us through the Plan of Salvation.

Happy Halloween!

Yes, I admit, I think almost EVERYTHING AJ does is adorable! Here are some pictures of him Trick or Treating! This was the first time I had met our next door neighbor and I took a picture!

AJ's Moves

AJ is quite the dancer. He will turn his hands and lift one leg up and then the other. We find it endearing.

Pizza & Pumpkins

The Meikle clan brought Pizza over the other night. We enjoyed a yummy dinner and had a nice visit. Drew rode AJ's three-wheeler around the house. Travertine tile and maple floors make a great roadway! I guess we know what we have to look forward to when AJ can reach the pedals!

After dinner we went over to Lyle Dabb's and picked out a few pumpkins. The kids had a fun time exploring. AJ loved throwing a little pumpkin...he thought he was in Heaven---Lot's of balls!

Kim picked out some Indian corn to put in a vase---what a great idea! She is sure creative and GREAT at home decorating. I'm still hoping we can work out a deal and she will decorate (or at least give SIGNIFICANT guidance) our new home.

Thank you Meikle's for a wonderful relaxing evening!

Cutest Triceretops EVER!

I tried AJ's Halloween costume on today...what do you think?

Bits and pieces

We are now in our new home. We closed on October 1st. We are loving the space, but it still seems we are living out of boxes. Unpacking takes awhile!

Our shed at the old house was broken into. The perpetrator cut the lock with bolt cutters and was making a haul, but lucky for us, we have alert neighbors. Some of the neighbors noticed something fishy and called the cops. The police caught one of the guys, the others got away on bikes, but we also got all of our stuff back! YEAH! The policeman told us that doesn't happen very often! We feel blessed!

Kurt's Dad had knee replacement surgery and has moved in with us. He is doing better every day. AJ thinks it is a lot of fun to be able to see Opa whenever he wants.

Our Custer house was on the market for one week when we got an offer, it has taken a few repairs and quite a bit of time, but (cross our fingers) it is suppose to close on Wednesday! Our other house went on the market last week, but no one has even been to look at it yet. We are hoping for the best. If you know of anyone who wants a home...go to www.utahrealestate.com and enter the MLS# 920655 and you'll see our house!

Toot Toot X2

I have some good news and some bad news. The good news I found out I am one of four finalists for the Teacher of the Year for the State of Utah. The bad news is that on the same day I found this out... I found 4 grey hairs!!! UGH!

Good news, I went down for the interview and its over! It was a good experience for me. I was interviewed by a committee of eight ( I think it was eight, they were all sitting around a table and I was quite nervous) and I answered the questions the best I could. A couple of them caught me off guard... such as, "If you are selected as teacher of the year for the state of Utah, you will be be speaking to teachers all over the state. What message will you share?" I felt like I was Miss America being asked about her platform. :) The interview was a great opportunity and I feel privileged to have had that honor.

Bad news I didn't win the state competition; although I still think being one of the top 4 in the state of Utah is something to be proud of. I received a call from the chair of the interview committee and was told they could not decide between the other 3 so they decided to give all of us $3,000! YEAH! Kurt and I go down for a banquet on the 6th of November.

I received a very nice letter from our district superintendent. In part he said, "You are a credit to the education profession. You represent your fellow teachers in an extraordinary way." Yes, after the reading the letter I had lot's of warm fuzzies!

Okay, that's enough of me tooting. Thanks for indulging my wanting to note this for history sake.

Good-bye WSU 16th Ward

My last official duty in my calling was to go on a field trip down to the general RS meeting in SLC at the Conference Center. We had an adventure! One of the buses broke down so we had to squish together for half the ride. The meeting itself was great! The feeling is always amazing, Heavenly Father's spirit is so strong when you are in the presence of a Prophet of God.

I did not know it was my last official duty because we did this on Saturday evening and then I was release on Sunday morning. I have LOVED my calling and will miss it dearly. I will miss my girls and the other stake leaders I had the privilege of serving with. It's not often one looks forward to a monthly meeting, but I certainly looked forward to my stake meetings. They were true spiritual highs.

I am looking forward to going to church with Kurt again. Our new ward won't think he is a single father! :)

Update to this post... We went to our new ward for the first time. Everyone seemed nice and friendly. I don't think I made a very good impression in RS, AJ wanted to be on the move. At one point he got away from me and when I got up to get him he thought it was a game of chase so he started to RUN and GIGGLE. Good thing he's so dang cute! It may be a long 2 months until he can go to nursery! :)

Sallie's Creation

Sallie made Kurt a birthday cake on October 4th. It wasn't your ordinary birthday cake, it was special and DELICIOUS! She knows Kurt loves pineapple and coconut and made a super moist yummy cake with the above ingredients and more. I have asked her to write down the recipe, it was a keeper!

A Grown-up home

We have been house hunting pretty much all summer. We have seen some wonderful homes and some I will not ever enter again! In July Dad Hislop introduced us to a home close to them that we really liked, but we didn't like the price and the owners were not ready to come down so we kept looking. About 2 weeks ago we went and looked at a home we had actually looked at in June, but it had come down in price since then. We REALLY liked both homes and had a VERY difficult time trying to decide. We went over and talked to the owners by my parents and they still did not want to come down very far, so after much thought and prayer we decided to put an offer in the home in Farr West. We put a low offer in thinking we would get a counter back and then we could take it to the owners of the other property and see if that made them a little more willing to come down in price. Well, they only upped our offer $5, 000! That made the house in Farr West VERY pleasing. We knew the other owners of the other property would not come down that low (Yes, I did go talk to them). So we thought and prayed some more and decided to accept their counter offer. We set the closing for October 12th.

This is both exciting and scary, this is DEFINITELY the most we have EVER spent on a home... this is a GROWN-UP home... you know the type you will raise your family in. It is beautiful and has many amenities. It has six bedrooms, 5 bathrooms and a large room downstairs where I could run a pre-school. It has a 3 car garage, but one bay is double deep so I guess it's really a four car garage. It sits on .61 of an acre. It was built in 2007 and has sat empty for almost two years. The owner/builder got a can't pass up job offer in CA so it was only lived in for 6 weeks, so everything is basically brand new. We will be selling our rental and the home we currently live in so our payments won't be too horrendous. We will need to put in a yard, but the home is move-in ready.

So here's to buying a grown-up home! :)

Teacher of the Year

I received my award today for "Teacher of the Year" for Ogden City School District. It's always nice to feel appreciated. I had great support from my family! THANK YOU!

Hislop Family Reunion

The Hislop Family reunion was today. Mark and Elynn and there family were in town so Mom decided to get a family picture. Here we all are in our "Team Hislop" shirts designed by JL. My Aunt Linda was in charge of this year's reunion and did a fabulous job, although whenever she is in charge expectations are really high! We all had loads of fun--volleyball, giant blow-up water slide, lots of delicious food, great conversations, fun fashion show and more! Another wonderful reunion goes down in the books!

Can you play?

We have some neighbor kids that come over and ask if AJ can come outside and play. Sometimes we go outside and let AJ crawl around and “play” with the kids. Kurt and I have even been known to join in a few games with the neighborhood kids. About a month ago one of the little neighbor girls came over and asked Kurt if he could play outside. He said maybe another day. Kurt told her to ask her Dad to play, she responded, “You guys are the only grown-ups in the neighborhood that will play with us. My Dad won’t do it!”

Last night this same little girl came over and asked Kurt if he would come out and play. He told her we were just getting AJ ready for bed so he couldn’t. About an hour later when Kurt and I were getting ready for bed, the doorbell rang again. There stood the neighbor girl… “Did you get AJ to bed? Can you come out and play now?” :)

Adoption Papers are IN!

Kurt and I have everything turned in for our next adoption. We had the paperwork done before our trip, but I didn’t get our profile done. On our trip Jason took some great family photos of us so when we arrived home I could get it all put together. Or I would be more accurate in saying… Having Kim put it together. I don’t know why but putting together the profile, picking out the pictures and the color scheme and then the whole layout of the profile itself is VERY INTIMIDATING to me! I want it to be just right so a birthmother will see it and think, “I want this family!” I guess I don’t have confidence in my decorating ability; I do however have a lot of confidence in Kim’s! She basically forced me to pick out the paper…Kurt, AJ and I went to Robert’s and I himmed and hawed over several different patterns, then I finally went with a grouping of papers that all had the same color scheme and some embellishments to match. I then went up to Kim’s and pleaded for her help. It took us one night to pick the pictures we wanted to use and get the writing printed off on the paper. The next night Wakely and Drew had invited the girl cousins over for a sleepover. I took all the girls and AJ to a park and out for ice cream while Kim perfected the layouts for the profile. Later that night I tried as best as I could to copy the pages she had done. (We need to turn in 3 copies of the same profile, one for the birth mom, one for the agency and one to be given back to us when we get our baby.) I didn’t leave until about midnight, but I left with all but the last page completely done, we decided to use different photos so I had to print them at Costco the next day and then finish up. When I turned it in, the social workers gushed over it. They commented on how well our last profile showed and this one looks just as good! THANK YOU KIM!!!!

Homework for the teacher

As part of winning teacher of the year for my school district, I had to fulfill the requirements for the state teacher of the year. As part of the process I had a 10 page packet I had to fill out, over half of the pages were essay questions to answer. UGH! I also had to have “letters of support” from different people. I admit those where kind of fun for 2 reasons #1 I didn’t have to write them. :) #2 it was fun to read what others think are my strengths in being a teacher. I am very pleased to say I got it all done and mailed off to the state before the deadline! YEAH!!! Thanks to Teresa for editing and Jeanette the public relations person from the district for going over it with a fine tooth comb!

First Haircut

AJ had his first haircut on July 14th, Pam cut it for him. He was much more interested in trying to grab the scissors than he was in getting his haircut; I had to hold his head for awhile. Kurt said he could go to with him to reserves now because his hair is off his ears. :)

When we walked into Cabela’s in Sidney NE the greeter said, “Oh what a cute little girl.” In the humid weather AJ had little curls all around the back of his head. The curls are gone, there is now no mistaking…he’s a boy!

I'm one, I don't need it anymore!

Kurt and I decided to take the bottle away from AJ when we got back home from our trip. Our logic was he would be so happy to be home if we just didn’t give it to him anymore he wouldn’t miss it much. Kurt had a little slip and gave him a bottle of juice the night we got back, but since then we hadn’t given him a bottle. Although he has not been feeling very well, he contacted some type of viral infection the last few days of our vacation and just hasn’t been feeling up to snuff. On Friday night I thought we maybe better give in and give him a bottle to make sure he is getting enough fluids. Kurt agreed and fixed him a bottle. AJ refused to take it! He sure made getting off the bottle easy for us! Thanks AJ!

JCH Strikes Again!

This year for the JCH family reunion, Linda and her family rented the bowling alley up at WSU for two hours. Good times had by all! AJ helped me bowl and we hit one pin (using bumpersJ) AJ helped his Dad bowl and they got a strike (without bumpers)!

There were lots of delectable treats as always! Jaylene brought her marvelous marshmallow brownies, Teresa brought a jiggly jell-o salad with raspberries from her garden, Sallie brought her luscious lemon cake, Mom brought her scrumptious shrimp macaroni salad, I brought a beautiful broccoli slaw salad, Kim brought fun fruit roll-ups. Guess what was the biggest hit with the kids? You got it the fruit roll-ups!

Roadtrip!

We drove from Ogden, Utah to Washington DC and back and had a GREAT time! A few highlights… seeing AJ comfortable in his new car seat, he looks like he’s in his very own Lazy Boy. Meeting up with Cindy Bowcut Floyd and her family in Tipp City OH while Kurt was in his class, we had a great visit! We borrowed mom and Dad Hislop’s GPS and it was great fun to use! I got on and off 3 different freeways and onto the right freeway going through Indiana while Kurt was asleep thanks to that little toy! We had a trip to Children’s Medical Center in Dayton OH for AJ, he had a severe ear infection in both ears. ***Note to self remember insurance cards next time. Driving to Kentucky to go to a keg party, Staying with Linnea Cottam DelHoyo and her family in Leesburg VA , playing BANG and watching Star Wars and of course going for pedicures! AJ celebrating his first birthday in VA, Getting family pictures and AJ’s picture taken by Jason, AJ riding a train (metro) for the first time. Visiting the sights in DC and relishing in all of the history. Buying kettle corn at a roadside stand in VA, Seeing a live reenactment of the civil war in Gettysburg PA, Staying in Base Lodging (the price’s can’t be beat!), Going to the National Museum of the Unites States Air Force in OH, Staying overnight with Cindy’s family on the way back and discovering long lost friends on Facebook (No, I do not have a page, but I searched using Cindy’s :)) and talking to her mom and dad using Skype, Driving to Indiana and surprising Lillie, AJ’s first time in a swimming pool, Finding a restaurant Kurt had found online called Whiskey Creek Firewood Grill and having some good eats, Stopping in Far West NE and seeing the church historical sites, Singing songs and Hislop family sayings, Stopping in Sydney NE to go to Cabela’s World Headquarters, Relishing in watching AJ push anything he could so he could walk (In DC he pushed the stroller and it looked like he was pushing a handcart :) In OH I bet he walked at least ¼ of a mile pushing the stroller around the museum and in NE the people at Cabela’s loved watching him push the cart around the store) and last but certainly not least spending almost 3 weeks traveling together as the Gibson Family. (Those Gibson’s are quite an amazing group! :)) It was an incredible vacation thanks to fantastic friends!

Happy Birthday AJ!

AJ had two birthday celebrations, one at Javier's with his cuz Mac. Mac turned one on June 5th, AJ turned one on June 27th we celebrated with both boys on the 15th! AJ was a wild man and threw his cupcake all over. Mac loved the cake, but wasn't to hip on the singing.

The second celebration came on AJ's actual birthday. We celebrated with Linnea and her family in Leesburg VA. Good times had by all!

Cool Car

AJ and I went grocery shopping yesterday, while in the store I let him play with my keys. When we left the store and walked outside it looked like the car was running. Sure enough when we got closer it really was! I guess while playing with the keys AJ pushed the buttons in the right order and long enough to start the car with the automatic car starter! I guess he won't be playing with my keys in the store again! The car was nice and cool though! :)