Ten Year Anniversary

Ten years ago, on June 24, 2000, I said, “I do”. Every day since then, I have spent learning more and more what an amazing gift that day was. God really does know best and I could not thank Him more for such a husband.

Here is my “Ten Year Top Ten”. . .

(these are not necessarily in any order of importance)

1. Honeymoon – Yes, we went to the “Land of Love” (That was what the sign said as we drove up.) and it was cheesy and everything was heart-shaped and it rocked! We went to the Poconos to one of those resorts they always advertised in the bridal magazines. You know the ones with the champagne glass hot tubs???? Yes we did! But, we didn’t have one of those hot tubs. Although, we did take a tour of the room with the champagne glass hot tub. :-) Ours was pretty fun though. We had our own pool and sauna in our room and a heart-shaped whirlpool tub. We had amazing food, a horse-carriage ride, ice skated, played mini golf, tennis, basketball, pool, video games, broke golf clubs, went to a pretty pitiful zoo in the mountains, paddle-boat ride, and more. The bathrooms said things like “Goddess” and “Gladiator”. It was so fun! We even had a front row seat to see Howie Mandel. Then, we hung out in Philadelphia before heading home. I enjoyed every moment with my new husband.

2. Serving our Savior Together – I have started to always sign wedding cards with this advice, “Pray together, Worship God together, and Serve God together!” I always enjoyed seeing how God chose to use me, but nothing beats allowing God to work through both of us together. We have been able to serve at Super Summer, Family Mission Trips and of course lots of ministries at our church. It has been a blessing and a blast!

3. First Vacation – Besides our great honeymoon, a couple summers later, TJ took me to Florida for my first time. Now, I had been to the beaches of the Virgin Islands, which were fabulous, but other than that, I had not been to any other beach. So, this was fun to do with TJ. And, he also took me to Disney World for the first time. We definitely had a blast! This also included our first time-share presentation for discount tickets. Somehow we got a whopper of a salesman and I will never forget how he started to lecture us in the elevator at the end that we should be learning something from every experience or something crazy. I’m pretty sure we said we weren’t going to do those any more. And, I might add. . . we did it again in Branson.

4. First House – It is always exciting to buy your first house. God really blessed us with this one. There wasn’t a whole lot of good options in our price range. And we certainly got a bargain, but that also means we are still fixing it up. Lots of fun projects here! It has provided the space we needed so far and even though it is a pain to have to remodel and update, it certainly has character and has provided lots of good memories . . . scraping lots of wallpaper/paint covered walls and ceilings, putting in a kitchen that was non-existent when we moved in, adding a nursery and extending the bathroom, putting in air-conditioning! Oh, the fun! Wait, maybe it was fun for me because I didn’t do most of that. :-)

5. First Child – Wow! This is a big one. How can you even express what it feels like to hold that first baby in your arms and see how two lives are combined into this new baby! Certainly a miracle only God can give. Jaylyn Anaye Geist came into our lives and I got to see TJ as a Dad. What a great dad he is. I can still remember when Jaylyn started cooing and gurgling like she was telling these big stories. But, she would only do really long stories for TJ. He would lean up close to her and she would just gurgle away. So sweet.

6. Second Child – Is it possible to love another child as much as that first one? Yes it is! Adley Brielle came along as our second blessing and all of us fell in love with her. Once again, seeing TJ change into a dad of two girls was so fun! He is always a big part of taking care of these girls. I really loved seeing sweet Adley sleeping on TJ completely at peace in her daddy’s arms.

7. Third Child – Again? Yes, completely head over heels in love with Leighton Aubrey! I am so thankful that TJ and I are a team together raising these girls. He takes them on Daddy-daughter dates, helps get them ready, teaches them God’s Word, and gives them plenty of tickles and kisses. Is he bothered by living in a house full of girls???? Not at all. :-)

8. Quality Time Together – Yes, this is an important part of our ten years. Dates, trips, time together on the couch watching movies. . . these are moments I have loved too. You don’t have to go on big trips together. These are the times when he makes me laugh until I cry and the times we dream about what is coming up next in our lives together. Priceless moments for sure.

9. Weird, Unexpected and Sad – What would ten years together be like without those times that aren’t like the fairy-tales? God continues to mold us and change us and grow us together. He doesn’t always use the happy times to bring us together. Yes, we have experienced the loss of loved ones together, we’ve experienced the ER together, we’ve had weird conversations while the other one was still drugged up from anesthesia after having their wisdom teeth removed, we have experienced a miscarriage together, we have experienced some things we just didn’t expect,TJ has endured my hormonal and strange pregnancy moods and we’ve even had weird visitors knocking on our door at 2am. (That was just a weird night! ) I wouldn’t have wanted to experience those things with anyone else.

10. Lastly. . . Looking forward to the next ten years and many, many more after that! I am so thankful that we still get to dream together and look forward to so much more that God has in store. We definitely need to take some better pictures together by then. And also, maybe by then, you will all be able to endure another long post. :-)

TJ, I love you and wish you a Happy Ten Year Anniversary!(This photo courtesy of Jaylyn and her camera.)

Funny Comparison

Remember this picture of Adley from a while back?
Today, I came across this picture Jaylyn took of me with her camera. I instantly thought of Adley's picture.

More Summer Fun

We went to the sculpture park for the first time.  It was nice out there.  The area was much bigger than I thought it was.  Lots of space!  Next time I will know that it is a great place to bring your kite.  Off they go to see what is next.

Checking out the water.  Do you ever feel like you are being watched?

I told TJ to go stand on the concrete where it said “No Climbing on the Sculpture” and made Jaylyn go climb on him.  He gave me one of those looks.  :-)  But, Jaylyn appreciated my cheesy humor and jumped all over him.  Then we went to have ice cream for supper at Ted Drewes.  Can you believe it. . . they complained that ice cream wasn’t supper and demanded real food????  We also made a fun visit to Grandma and Papa Geist.

Here is another day of playing in the water.

Happy Birthday Leighton!

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One Sweet Girl is ONE

Our little blessing who tried to come out ear first is now cracking us up one year later with her crinkly nose smile and silly laugh.  She loves all things silly.  I do all I can to soak up her extra cuddliness and sweet spirit as she leans over to hug her sisters and calls for “Da Da!”.  (She is more of a daddy’s girl than the other girls.)  So, today we celebrate what a blessing we have with Leighton. 

It is so fun to see her interacting with her sisters more and more each day.  She gives them hugs and kisses and sometimes leans in to hug them.  But, they also have to watch out, because Miss Temper is sure to tell them when she is all done with them.  She has no problem pushing them away with her pretty strong arm!  They dance together and giggle in the car, they chase each other and feed each other.  What fun these girls have together.

She is still not walking, but she could easily take off any time.  She will stand up without holding on to anything and is VERY proud of herself when she does this.  She just waits for everyone to cheer and clap.  With two big sister as your cheerleader, you can do ANYTHING!  She walks all along the furniture too.  She is ready – just take that step! 

Her vocabulary and animal sounds are growing.  She often repeats what you are saying with the right syllables and inflection, but not all of the sounds are there.  She is a true parrot.  Peek-a-boo, uh-oh, more (pretty close anyway), ni-ni (nighty night), eh-o (hello), monkey sounds, dog sounds and the elephant arm and squeal are some of her most used words and sounds. 

Just like her sisters, she loves to eat.  Hamburger seems to be her favorite meat, just like Jaylyn!  And although you can only see 4 teeth, her crabiness lately seems to indicate some others are coming soon.  She sucks her thumb just like Adley and since she doesn’t have much hair, she has to grab her ear with her other hand instead of twirling her hair like Adley.  :-)

Happy Birthday!  We love you Leighton!

Here and There

Since New Orleans, we have been "here and there" a few places.

We were able to make it to cousin Hailee’s birthday party. 

Elijah, Mylee, Adley, everyone’s favorite Amber holding Leighton, birthday girl Hailee and Jaylyn.

Then we were able to make it to the Lake of the Ozarks with some other cousins.  We were definitely thankful to have that opportunity to visit with Shane before he heads off to China for quite a while (or forever).  Although, we did miss out on a visit with Dawn and Terry who were in town while we were out!  Missed you all!

Silly Girls

Leighton enjoying her lunch at the pool 

A little swimming inside

 And some swimming outside.   

Can you tell Adley was having a good time? 

Mavery and Adley 

There is always a fashion show with clothes bought by grandma’s at the outlet mall! 

Leighton enjoyed the condo. Mavery, Makenna, Sage, Sawyer, Malaine, Adley, Jaylyn, Leighton on Memorial Day.

We also made a couple trips to my parent’s house.  Once just for fun and to pay a visit to my grandma who just had a birthday.  Happy birthday!!!

Here is my mom and Leighton enjoying the front porch and Adley’s bubbles.

 Jaylyn loves to play in their trees.  Swing!  

They also love to swing in this swing hung from one of the tree branches. 

Well, Jaylyn is a little big to swing this way now.  Although, she did try.  

More tree climbing.

Adley riding the tricycle.

Jaylyn likes to make cookies there.  She came up with a great idea for these cookies. 

Sugar cookies with frosting, sprinkles and a strawberry on top!  It sounded great to us.

Then there was a little Uncle Scott Jungle Gym Time 

 Trying to get a picture of all three.  A little tougher now with wiggly monkey.

We also made it down there for my cousin, Elizabeth’s wedding.  She was beautiful and it was another nice visit.

Leighton at the reception 

Jaylyn and Daddy

Adley and Grandma