IMAGINE.

What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail? I took this picture on the last night we were on #Kona 🌴at the Emerald Extravaganza. I stood there thinking about how far this team of ours had come #IMAGINEplexus . I thought about all of the lives that had been changed. And then I thought about the people who quit too soon. Then about the people who have come back 😍👏🏻. I thought about how after 7 days of using Plexus I called Brooke @7surferz to say it wasn't working, and I was quitting. I'm so glad she didn't let me. I thought about how she believed in me before I believed in myself. Before Plexus, I had convinced myself that network marketing was for the people that couldn't really make it. I had judged them so harshly for so long, that i spent the first 3 months of sharing Plexus ashamed and worrying about what people thought. i literally woke up every day and said "i won't post today, and i won't message anyone" bc i was so embarrassed and ashamed i was involved in network marketing. i felt so foolish, but I couldn't deny what it had done for me, and then I started to see it do it for people that I KNEW😂. i remember just wishing that it didn't have to be network marketing. like WHY did these products have to be with network marketing? why couldn't i just get them at the store? why did i have to be a sell out now "selling something"? i think the biggest thing was that i had been so judgmental of everyone around me that was selling things, and now in MY mind i was under my own judgement. that was more painful than anything. it was believing all of the things i had thought about everyone else now about myself. we are so hard on ourselves as people. it is a struggle to be kind to ourselves. don't eat that, it's bad for you. you're not #healthy enough. you're not a patient enough mother. You fall short here, and that other person does it better. it's not like we're necessarily meaning to be unkind to ourselves, but we know we are usually our own worst critic. this last year has been full of personal growth, but what I always come back to is that this thing called Plexus has changed lives, and there's nothing to be embarrassed about in that 🙌🏻.

the look on my face when it's bedtime.

The look on my face when it's #bedtime 😍🙌🏻💤‼️ I #LOVE 💕🎄 that sleep works 😴💤. I used to DREAD going to bed at night bc I knew it was going to take me at least an hour or two of #countingsheep 🐏🌜 , and then tossing and turning all night long. Now, I fall asleep in less than 5 minutes, and I don't wake up for a thing 😂😭 #didallthekidssleepthroughthenight ⁉️ (except when they DO wake me up of course 😂, but NOW I can fall back asleep right away, even if it's after 4am 😂. If you're a #woman I KNOW you know what I'm talking about). What's better than falling asleep before my husband and not waking up at random hours (not including #crazy #craycray kid nights and killing cats nights 😳😹) ?! What's better is waking up RESTED, alert, and ready for my day. 99.9% of the time‼️Hey, even #Santa 🎅🏻🎄 #oldsaintnick doesn't have a perfect track record 😜. Sleep 😴💤 should work, you should be able to fall asleep right away, sleep all night, and wake up rested. And don't let anyone tell you "it's just your thirties" 😜. I don't accept that anymore, and you shouldn't either! #insomnia and #insomniac NO MORE.

once every HALF a decade

Abooooooout once every HALF a decade you'll find me at the lights 🎄 on temple square 🙌🏻😍 #lighttheworld ❗️it usually takes me about 5 more years to decide to #brave the crowds again after that 😂😂😂. Also to thaw from it ❄️🔥🙌🏻. Here's what I want to know though. Can we not figure out a way to have a hot chocolate 🍫☕️ truck 🚛 parked somewhere INSIDE of temple square 😂? Like one that doesn't have lines, and maybe they just pass them out to everyone while you're moving. I'm not necessarily talking free here. I'll be a paying customer! My #vision is like a moving sidewalk with thousands of people passing out hot chocolates. I'd settle for a McDonald's walk up window too. Mostly bc I'll buy just about anything for $1 😂. And their hot chocolate is never too hot. Or maybe it was just really cold tonight. Even after a 45 min train 🚂 ride home. No? 😂😂😂 too much to ask 😂⁉️ I HAVE always been a dreamer 😜👏🏻 #IMAGINE . I hope my fingers are thawed sometime tomorrow. My thighs too. Until then, I'll be huddled under my blanket and basking in the #cute little hugs and kisses my little kiddos gave me tonight under the lights all aglow 😍😍😍. Favorite line of the entire night: "I can't wait to just hug you and be together on #Christmas Day." -Brennan 🎄 So much like his daddy 💙💙💙 #motherhood

because we can do anything for one week

'Cause we can do ANYTHING for one week 😂😂😂🎄🚂🎅🏻. 7 more sleeps, and we can't hardly wait over here in this house 🏡 full of believers! #pleasesanta #dearsanta#christmasiscoming#santapacksarecoming 😂 #choochoo And Dean keeps yelling " #HOHOHO " 🎅🏻 every time the train goes by. In heaven over here in little kid 🎄🎅🏻🚂🍭🍫🍬 #CHRISTMAS DREAMLAND!!! .

good thing i clean my potties first.

So first the lion 🦁 fell into the toilet 🚽 (because he was refusing to get into the bath 🙈. Chase, not the lion 🦁), then chase ran into the handle on the door from the trauma of the lion 🦁falling into the toilet 🚽 and started crying and screaming even louder, and because baby dean 👶🏻💙 is a sympathy crier 😂😭 he burst into tears, and then right at that moment @sdgib walked in the door from work 😂😭. Just another day in the #gibsonhouseofchaos 😂😭 #neveradullmoment#nolionswereharmed #soap#workseverytime#goodthingiALWAYScleanmyPOTTIESfirst 😜🚽💁🏼 .

i can do hard things

I literally BURST 😭 into tears after taking this picture yesterday. Full on sob fest #uglycry 😭🙈. Then I made @sdgib promise me that we weren't actually "done" 💙👶🏻. It's like all of the #memories ✨💕 I've had with all of my #babies flashed before my eyes 👀 and my #mamaheart ❤️ was overflowing. Repeat to yourself 10x: collecting memories not things, collecting memories not things, collecting memories not things 😭😭😭. Somebody tell me they need some baby things or know someone that needs some baby things⁉️ I don't know if I can just drop them off at the #DI goodwill #collectingmemories 😭🙌🏻✨ #icandohardthings 🙏🏻💕 This is way harder than the Abercrombie pants!!! 😂😭🙈

WHIP in your NOGgins {good things utah}

Good Morning Sunshine!

If you're tuning in from 

Good Things Utah,

WELCOME!

We're so glad you're here.

Whether you love egg nog or hate it,

this recipe is for you.

Please note: 

i don't love egg nog.

but this,

I LOVE!

and it's just not New Year's Eve without it.

My friend Tammy is the one who I give ownership to it,

and one day I hope to grow up just like her.

...

THE

WHIPPING CREAM

EGG NOG

{once mixed, CHILL--in other words,

make in the morning before party time}

Ingredients:

1 pint Whipping Cream {heavy cream}

Powdered Sugar to taste {this is what makes more fluffy whipping cream}

4 eggs

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tbls vanilla

1 quart half and half

3 quarts 2% or whole milk

Vanilla Ice Cream

Directions:

Whip 1 pint whipping cream, sweeten with powered sugar and set aside.

Combine 4 eggs and 1 can sweetened condensed milk.

Add:

1/2 tsp salt

1tbls vanilla

1 quart half and half

3 quarts 2% or whole milk

Fold in whipping cream and top with nutmeg.

Add small balls of ice cream before serving, and top with more nutmeg.

...

Click here for the Grandma Max's Gingerbread Men recipe.

They're also hanging out on the 

Good Morning America 

{yep, you read that right}

website 

for their 15 minutes {errr 26 seconds} 

of fame!

way to go champs.

you're making mama proud ;)

NINETY

Celebrating 🎉 Grandma Gigi's 90th #birthday 🎁🎂! You've never met a lady with a funnier sense of humor 😂👵🏻. Facts about Gigi you should know: her first name is actually Carol (my mom was named after her 😜), she was dear friends with Louis Armstrong 🎺 and family (my mom @cccarol626 used to babysit their kids), she had 5 babies in 5 years 👶🏻👶🏻👶🏻👶🏻👶🏻 and then she had two more 👶🏻👶🏻 #yep , NOBODY on this planet is a better "waker-upper" of people (she had this song she used to sing to me--her voice was the perfect pitch, never too demanding, and was always just the right amount of HAPPY for the #morning ☀️), she used to have the most beautiful jet black hair (and now it's perfectly silver) and blue eyes 💙👀 (this was something Frank Sinatra liked about her, but we'll get to that later), her red Ford Fairlane car 🚗 is always where I picture her in my mind when I think of her as a young #mom , she broke her shoulder on the #GreatWallofChina 🏯⛩ right after we alpine slid down it 😂, she likes to golf 🏌️‍♀️⛳️ more than bowl 🎳, but she'll whip you in both, even at 90, and once Frank Sinatra 🎹 hit on her in front of her hubby 🙊, while she was sitting next to Al Collins#truestory (she's also met Sophia Lauren, Count Bassie, Benny Goodman, Janis Joplin--she didn't like her much 😂, Ella Fitzgerald, and Jimmy Durantee). In an interview I did with her on my #blog eight years ago, she gave me the best advice I've ever heard: BE HONEST. HAPPY 90th BDAY 🎁🎈🎉Grandma Gigi!!! I love you 💕 SO much, and am so #grateful for all of the things you have taught me about #life !!!

tiny dancer

Words can't express how much we LOVE Miss Emalia @emalia_lani 👯💕. Wish I could find the pic like this from when max was 3 yrs old in the lion 🦁 costume ahhhh #memories !!! This pink hat though 😍💕👏🏻. She STILL talks about this little ditty #4yrsold and the lollipop 🍭 song. Today when we were taking pics, i couldn't help but get nostalgic. Love this sweet dancer of mine, and this amazing #teacher and dance studio that have loved on her since she was a wee little thing.

 

just to make sure they're juuuuuuuuuust right.

I can remember when I was pregnant with Dean,

day dreaming about what he would look like,

smell like,

if he would cry a lot,

eat well,

sleep?

Two of my babies had been horrible nursers.

One had been good.

She slept too.

God bless Maxine.

I was ready for hard,

but what Dean gave me was bliss.

His little noises he would make.

The smell of his head.

And the little fur all over his back and shoulders.

I loved to nurse him in just a diaper,

so I could pet his furry little body while he ate.

Even after four babies, 

I can vividly remember the first time my milk came in with Dean,

thinking how amazing it was that my body created life,

and then sustained it.

And I was just so proud of this amazing process 

that had been hard for me so many times before.

Everything that had ever bothered me about my body as a teenager 

was liberated in motherhood haha.

I forgive you imperfect self because dang it,

succeeding at 9lb baby child birthing 

{3 of my 4 babes were OVER 9 pounds. YEP} 

made up for it all!

I prided myself in breastfeeding.

Almost like a badge of honor.

So when my milk started drying up when Dean was 4 months old,

I was devastated.

I remember sobbing to my beloved lactation counsellor.

She was so warm and encouraging.

And I thought long and hard about why I was so upset.

You can read about it here.

I knew formula was really good.

I knew I was good enough either way,

and I knew that it would open so many beautiful moments to bottle feed for my three other children, husband, and family and friends all around.

It taught me a great lesson about life, 

and how it cannot always look the way we want it to look.

Control freaks unite ;)

Can I get an amen?!

Everyone say YES!

Looking back I can see that in my fog of frustration,

it wasn't that quitting nursing was about anything I thought I THOUGHT it was about.

It was that closeness, those memories,

those smells.

OHHHH I can almost smell him right now.

That was what I was hanging onto.

That time where it was just us.

In the nursery on the glider.

With the sun coming into the room,

making the pale yellow walls all aglow.

And no one else could step in for me.

It was just the two of us.

Through thick and through thin.

Reflux and all.

It couldn't be handed off.

And it forced time to slow down.

There's something amazing about being able to hideaway, 

and steal your baby from everyone else. 

From the hustle and the bustle of everything around you.

Like an excuse to taste the sweet potatoes on Thanksgiving 

just to make sure they're juuuuuuust right.

And I think I knew deep inside of myself that if nursing was really over,

I wouldn't be strong enough to make that time sacred with just us anymore.

I would let everyone else do it.

And not that it was a bad thing to do that,

just a different thing.

A thing I wasn't ready for yet.

In the good kind of selfish way.

Maybe that was me putting my worth in the pride of it all,

or maybe not.

Maybe it doesn't even matter.

But deep inside of my core,

I know it was more than that.

Because even now, having weaned my sweet baby Dean 6 months ago, 

when I pick him up,

and he leans into my neck with his face buried in my hair,

for those few minutes it takes me back.

Not to the WAY I fed him,

but to the way we felt when I fed him.

And whatever avenue that gets you to that.

THAT is truly the miracle of motherhood.

even if my kids are crazy and out of control.

Eyes open 👀, eyes closed 😑, and chase ray in rare form in every single shot 😂😭🎄🎅🏻. I like the pictures where things are out of place. They make me feel like we look more normal😜. I feel like I've reached a point in the#slowcooker phase of #motherhoodwhere I have no clue what I'm doing.#Babies 👶🏻, I get them 🙌🏻. #Toddlers, yes please! And #Preschool makes my heart ❤️ skip a beat! But this big kid stuff, welp, sometimes I just feel like I'm one of those people on #americaninjawarrior 🇺🇸🙅🏼 trying to cross an ocean 🌊 while walking on a spinning log 🙈. Did you get the visual on that one 😂😭⁉️ Me too 😂💁🏼. I#believe ✨ that the adversary 👹wants us to think that we aren't capable. I believe that he wants us to buy into the FALSE idea that the challenges in our lives are beyond our reach, and that we cannot do this...but I know that he is the master of pessimism, and the creator of all lies. I know that i have light ✨💡 at my fingertips to help me achieve all things. I know that I have everything I need to master these challenges 🙌🏻💕. I know that the greatest distance between a problem and a solution is the distance between my knees and the floor. I'm#grateful to have this knowledge, and I'm#thankful the lord has always and will always bless me through the power of#prayer 🙏🏻. Amen #throughHIM#allthingsarepossible 💕 

even if my kids are crazy and out of control.

tooooooooooe piiiiiiiiiick!

Tooooooeeeeeeee Piiiiiiiiiiick!!!

Tonight was magical ✨🎄⛸❄️‼️ My mister and I twirled ⛸ around this rink with the #Christmas 🎄🎅🏻 lights all aglow. One song after another, we belted our hearts out 🎤 with a hundred other skaters ⛸ like Christmas Cheer you've never seen before. 

Also we ran into our cute neighbor Sage.❤️❄️ it's a small world after all 😂‼️

All iwant for christmas and White Christmas ❄️🎄 were my personal favorites 💁🏼🎤, and I still can't wipe the smile off of my face. Sean warmed up my fingers holding hands round and round, and we didn't even fall 😂👏🏻😜. Then we met up with friends for sushi 🍣🍥 and laughed our faces off all night long 😂😭. I love this life, and the this December 🎄🎅🏻 birthday 🎁🎉 of mine #34 .

 {the end.}

Good Morning America!

If you're tuning in from 

Good Morning America, 

WELCOME! 

So glad you are here, 

and thanks for stopping by!

...

Grandma Max’s 

Gingerbread Men

1 egg

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 c butter, melted

1/2 c molasses

1/2 c sugar

1/2 c milk

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/8tps ginger

Preheat oven to 400*. 

Mix egg, sugar, molasses, butter, and milk. 

Sift together dry ingredients and add to sugar mixture while mixing. 

Sometimes I have to add more or less flour, depending on the weather.

You want it to be like Play-doh.

Roll out dough and cut into desired shapes. 

Put cut out Gingerbread Men into your FREEZER for 5 min

{so they hold their cute little shape when they cook},

and then...

Bake for 8 min., cool, and decorate!

I like to buy the tubes of frosting

from the grocery store to make things simple,

and I LOOOOVE to just let my kids at it 

all by themselves.

These little cutie pies were the perfect afternoon snack,

and my Gibbies gobbled them up the minute they walked through the door.

Got milk?

NOTE: 

There is an adorable 

children's book called 

"The Gingerbread Pirates" 

by Kristin Kladstrup that we read all Christmas season long. It's especially fun to whip out the night we've made 

Grandma Max's Gingerbread Men. 

Cheers!

how it took 5 hours to make a 26 second clip.

That one time when I called Bree 

and yelled 

"THE PRODUCERS at 

GOOD MORNING AMERICA just called me,

 and said I'm going to be ON THE SHOW tomorrow!!!!! 

Can you come over right now and help me make gingerbread cookies?!"

true story.

i

kid

you

not.

 So she dropped EVERYTHING to pick up tube icing and Christmas sprinkles 

(thank you Teresa for your 1 cup of Molasses!!! and Julie for your rolling pin bc mine is still at Good Things Utah AND your gingerbread man cookie cutter. 

{Was that a runon sentence? I'm not sure if my brain is still here right now???} 

Then we masterminded a 2 min recorded clip that ended up being a miscommunication of time length, which we didn't know until after I had left for carpool and let chase eat😛 TTWO of the cookies 

AT WHICH POINT 

the ever great Millie {my 15 yr old babysitter} enters the story, 

who sat on my counter and told me what to do with my hands🤗 and eyes, 

while we bribed Max and Teagan with more cookies😂

 to keep Dean downstairs with them 

so we could do 16 more takes to get the clip down to the 26 allotted seconds. 

HOLY COW

it might have been one of my most fun days of my entire liiiiiiiiife, 

and I can't wait to see my BLINK of a 26 second clip on the real

LIVE

GOOD MORNING AMERICA

☕️IN in the 

BIG APPLE 

of NYC 

bright and early 

TOMORROW MORNING!!! 

So set your DVR folks, and don't blink or you might miss it.

I'll be on there with my signature "E" apron, 

and now you know the story of how it took 5 hours to film a 26 second clip💁🏼. 

You can find my recipe on the GMA website. How BOUT THEM apples?!🍎