Where Are They Now? - Lori Duke (Gift)
Occupation (and current company): Little Hands Daycare. I run a small home daycare. I watch 3 kids at a time I usually have them from 6 or 12 weeks until they go to school so they are really like my own kids by the time they leave me.
Spouse: Eric Gift
Spouse’s Occupation: Mechanical design and quoting machinery for companies like Cargill and Quaker.
Children: Kristine: 18 yrs old, Kevin: 9 yrs old, Cameron: 7 yrs old.
Current City and State: Cedar Rapids, IA
Places You’ve Lived since High School: Salt Lake, Moline, Il, Marion, Ia, and Cedar Rapids, IA.
Colleges Attended and Degrees Earned: Hamilton College, Associate Degree in Computer Networking. Never put it to use, decided to stay home and started a daycare instead, best decision of my life!
Favorite Pastimes: Reading, counted-cross-stitch, writing, running/walking, yoga, photography, hanging with the family.
Most Influential Person in High School: Coach Glen Wilson; swim team coach from 1984 until 1987. He never let us forget; how to push ourselves, how to have fun and never let forget to be good sportsmen/women.
I was amazed reading through how many of the class stayed or came back to Utah. Although Utah will always be my home in my heart, I love living in the mid-west. However, when the born and bred Iowan’s try to show me there are mountains here, I just have to shake my head and walk away laughing.
I have been in the mid-west since 1991 when I followed my husband out here. We had not even been married a year, and a 2 month old baby and I was leaving my family behind. It was the hardest thing I had ever done in my life, but it turned out to be the best move for us. I should probably back up just a bit….
I was not able to graduate with our class due to an overlooked missing ¼ credit that was not discovered until just under 3 weeks to graduation and at the time I was too lazy to cram and get the work done to be able to graduate with everyone.
I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life then so I took the party route. Smoked, drank, drugs, late nights at clubs, coffee houses, wandering around… crazy life, I don’t recommend. However somewhere in all of this my brother Bill sorted of dated a girl named Lisa Gift. It didn’t work out but we all stayed friends. Lisa and I eventually became roommates. Fast forward a year and there was a little incident with a stolen car, handcuffs, and a night in jail, 3 week of house arrest at my parents (not fun!). Charges were dropped, we moved back up to Salt Lake, kept our noses clean and 9 months later her brother moves from Illinois.
Now I am not one to believe in love at first sight but when I opened the door of our apartment I just knew he was it. We met on June 16, 1990 and were married on July 13, 1990. Yes, that is 3 weeks. 8 weeks later I was already pregnant with our first child. It was crazy! The first year was scary, we hardly knew each other, and we were having a baby on top of that. No one though it would last, including us sometimes. But fate is a fickle friend. Here we are 19 years later, 3 kids, and still together. It amazes us sometimes still.
Our oldest, Kristine was accepted to Coe, which is a small private college here in Iowa. It’s actually only about a 5 min. drive from our house, but she’s going to live in the dorms and get the full college experience. She is going for a major in History and a minor in Writing. She runs cross-country but prefers the challenge of the half marathons. She has run three and says the Disney World ½ marathon she ran with her dad was her favorite. She has now set a lofty goal of running a full marathon. She is training for it now with her Dad; they will be running it in May of 2010.
Kevin came nine years after Kristine, we were waiting for that perfect time to have another, and discovered that there is no perfect time to have another; you just have to do it. His birth scared us, the heart monitor kept dropping, he was in trouble. Turns out the cord was wrapped around his neck twice. The doctor had to cut the cord from around his neck before I could finish delivering him. Lucky for us we picked a hospital that has a pediatric ICU nurses at every birth, they whisked him away from the doctor and all I saw were dark purple legs. His first APGAR score was 0, they worked on him for a full minute before we heard that wonderful cry! His seconds APGAR score was 8. He’s been our sweet miracle since. He’s now in 4th grade and doing well. He loves to play the PS3, skateboard, ride his bike and just be outside. Kevin loves science but not math or English.
Cameron came 22 months later. He was my longest pregnancy, he was only 4 days early, where his brother and sister were both 3 weeks early. He’s been our most active child; he’s always on the move! He also loves playing the PS3, riding his bike and scooter, is learning to skateboard with his brothers old skateboard. He’s now in 2nd grade and has the same teacher Kristine and Kevin had. We are so happy because she is a wonderful teacher. He loves math and science.
When I pictured how my life would turn out in high school it was nothing like what really happened. It’s been an amazing ride and I can’t wait for more!
Kristine’s senior photo.
Cameron, Kevin and Eric on the camel at Blank Zoo in Des Moines, IA.
Kristine and Kevin at Sea World.
A sad moment; Jaws: The Ride was closed.
Kristine with her academic medals.
Apparently I am behind the camera too much, most recent photo of me. The baby is Cameron at 7 months old.
Spouse: Eric Gift
Spouse’s Occupation: Mechanical design and quoting machinery for companies like Cargill and Quaker.
Children: Kristine: 18 yrs old, Kevin: 9 yrs old, Cameron: 7 yrs old.
Current City and State: Cedar Rapids, IA
Places You’ve Lived since High School: Salt Lake, Moline, Il, Marion, Ia, and Cedar Rapids, IA.
Colleges Attended and Degrees Earned: Hamilton College, Associate Degree in Computer Networking. Never put it to use, decided to stay home and started a daycare instead, best decision of my life!
Favorite Pastimes: Reading, counted-cross-stitch, writing, running/walking, yoga, photography, hanging with the family.
Most Influential Person in High School: Coach Glen Wilson; swim team coach from 1984 until 1987. He never let us forget; how to push ourselves, how to have fun and never let forget to be good sportsmen/women.
I was amazed reading through how many of the class stayed or came back to Utah. Although Utah will always be my home in my heart, I love living in the mid-west. However, when the born and bred Iowan’s try to show me there are mountains here, I just have to shake my head and walk away laughing.
I have been in the mid-west since 1991 when I followed my husband out here. We had not even been married a year, and a 2 month old baby and I was leaving my family behind. It was the hardest thing I had ever done in my life, but it turned out to be the best move for us. I should probably back up just a bit….
I was not able to graduate with our class due to an overlooked missing ¼ credit that was not discovered until just under 3 weeks to graduation and at the time I was too lazy to cram and get the work done to be able to graduate with everyone.
I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life then so I took the party route. Smoked, drank, drugs, late nights at clubs, coffee houses, wandering around… crazy life, I don’t recommend. However somewhere in all of this my brother Bill sorted of dated a girl named Lisa Gift. It didn’t work out but we all stayed friends. Lisa and I eventually became roommates. Fast forward a year and there was a little incident with a stolen car, handcuffs, and a night in jail, 3 week of house arrest at my parents (not fun!). Charges were dropped, we moved back up to Salt Lake, kept our noses clean and 9 months later her brother moves from Illinois.
Now I am not one to believe in love at first sight but when I opened the door of our apartment I just knew he was it. We met on June 16, 1990 and were married on July 13, 1990. Yes, that is 3 weeks. 8 weeks later I was already pregnant with our first child. It was crazy! The first year was scary, we hardly knew each other, and we were having a baby on top of that. No one though it would last, including us sometimes. But fate is a fickle friend. Here we are 19 years later, 3 kids, and still together. It amazes us sometimes still.
Our oldest, Kristine was accepted to Coe, which is a small private college here in Iowa. It’s actually only about a 5 min. drive from our house, but she’s going to live in the dorms and get the full college experience. She is going for a major in History and a minor in Writing. She runs cross-country but prefers the challenge of the half marathons. She has run three and says the Disney World ½ marathon she ran with her dad was her favorite. She has now set a lofty goal of running a full marathon. She is training for it now with her Dad; they will be running it in May of 2010.
Kevin came nine years after Kristine, we were waiting for that perfect time to have another, and discovered that there is no perfect time to have another; you just have to do it. His birth scared us, the heart monitor kept dropping, he was in trouble. Turns out the cord was wrapped around his neck twice. The doctor had to cut the cord from around his neck before I could finish delivering him. Lucky for us we picked a hospital that has a pediatric ICU nurses at every birth, they whisked him away from the doctor and all I saw were dark purple legs. His first APGAR score was 0, they worked on him for a full minute before we heard that wonderful cry! His seconds APGAR score was 8. He’s been our sweet miracle since. He’s now in 4th grade and doing well. He loves to play the PS3, skateboard, ride his bike and just be outside. Kevin loves science but not math or English.
Cameron came 22 months later. He was my longest pregnancy, he was only 4 days early, where his brother and sister were both 3 weeks early. He’s been our most active child; he’s always on the move! He also loves playing the PS3, riding his bike and scooter, is learning to skateboard with his brothers old skateboard. He’s now in 2nd grade and has the same teacher Kristine and Kevin had. We are so happy because she is a wonderful teacher. He loves math and science.
When I pictured how my life would turn out in high school it was nothing like what really happened. It’s been an amazing ride and I can’t wait for more!
Kristine’s senior photo.
Cameron, Kevin and Eric on the camel at Blank Zoo in Des Moines, IA.
Kristine and Kevin at Sea World.
A sad moment; Jaws: The Ride was closed.
Kristine with her academic medals.
Apparently I am behind the camera too much, most recent photo of me. The baby is Cameron at 7 months old.
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