Christmas '10

It's so so sad to say that Christmas came and went. But it was a good time (despite the weight gain from all the goodie plates and fudge mmm). After uploading the few photos I have, I'm mad that I didn't take hardly ANY. I'm trying to convince our personal home banker (Jeffrey Michael Giles), that we are in need of a camera but until then, my phone will do and me forgetting to take any pictures. I feel like we have like 10 pictures total to show for our first year of marriage. Anyway, this was the first year trying to figure out where to spend the holidays and Christmas worked out perfectly. We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas day with my family and then left that afternoon and spent a couple days with Jeff's family in Mesa, AZ.

This year was different and didn't spend it doing all our traditions with our extended family like we usually do, so just like Thanksgiving it was just me and my small (but awesome) family. My mom wanted to do something different and go to another church service and worship with them. She wanted to go to a Catholic midnight mass but my dad refused and said he's been to enough of those in his lifetime haha (he was converted when he was 26). So my mom found this church called The Church of South Las Vegas. haha. But it was awesome! There was a live band playing Christmas music. I felt like I was in the House of Blues or something. They did really cool versions of different Christmas songs. And then the pastor did a little sermon about the Nativity and then we had a candlelight service and everyone sang Silent Night. It was really cool. The people there were SO nice. I'm glad we went to a different church because it's just neat to go and worship with people who love Christ like you do.

Afterward we went back to my house and had a huge dinner and then went to my Aunt's for dessert and got to see some cousins I haven't seen in a long time. Then we came home and sat around the tree and read the nativity story from the scriptures. The next morning, Jeff and I opened our own gifts and then went to my parents to be there while they did their gifts. My brother, Sam, became my all time favorite brother because he got us 2 free tickets on Continental Airlines!! He works for JetBlue and they had a Christmas party and did a drawing with different prizes and he won 2 tickets on Continental and gave it to us!!! Ahhh I'm so excited! Hawaii here we come!!! After the gifts we went and saw True Grit and then drove from there to Arizona.

This is the candelight serivice on Christmas Eve. Not a good picture but there was a ton of people there.

Arizona was really fun. We weren't there for long at all, but it was so great spending that time with Jeff's family. I have the best in-laws! They're so fun. I love being over there because it's such a change for me with so many sibling and spouses and nieces and nephews. We just hung out and went to the dog park and played with the kids. Monday, 3 of Jeff's sisters and I went shopping and to lunch and it was really fun. I love them. I finally get sisters and they're hilarious and fun to be around.

Dallin thought it was hilarious putting a bow on Jeff's face. That kid seriously loves Jeff.

Some of the grandkids opening of gifts from Gram. It was pretty much chaos from that point haha.

It was a good weekend! Now I can't bring myself to take down Christmas lights and the tree.

So Christmas is coming FAST. I feel like it hasn't until the last couple days. But I love it! I'm so glad we've had our house decorated since the beginning of the month and I've been pretty much done with shopping for a while-- first time ever, I usually run to the mall on Christmas Eve. Classy, I know. I just love everything about Christmas and the feeling it brings. I'm glad all the "Christmas-y" stuff is all done, so I've been able to enjoy Christmas and not get caught up in running around at the mall and forgetting what we're really celebrating.

I looove looking at Christmas lights that people put up. Sure, big Christmas displays at public places are nice, but I love driving through neighborhoods to look at lights because I know that these people wanted to put them up and not get paid to do it because it was a display at some public location. I love when people get into the the Christmas spirit! So anyway, the other night we were driving home and I'm looking around to see if there's houses that have been decorated that I haven't seen yet, so I see a couple on one street so I made Jeff drive over there so we can see them. We get to this one house and I'm ooh-ing and ahh-ing at what they've done on there house and then we look closely and there's a picket sign on their front yard that says "Courtyard's Christmas House Decorating Contest-- 3rd place winner".

There's a decorating contest in our neighborhood?! I love it! If we would've known, we would've gone all out on our house! So I then make Jeff drive around the whole neighborhood to find the 2nd and 1st place winners. I said I need to see our competition for next year. They were dang good, too! But... I think we can beat them.

I think this was 2nd place. I didn't get good pictures of the other houses. I think the owner's must've thought I was a creep for photographing their home. After I took this picture, someone opened the front door.

Yesterday was my birthday and it was a great day! We both worked all day, so in the evening we went to BJ's for dinner and then to a movie because we had free movie passes. We saw How Do You Know. Um, yeah it was lame. I was so excited to see it, too! Oh well. We had fun. Then after, we drove around different neighborhoods to look at the Christmas lights. I don't know why I love doing this so much.

Last week, my mom wanted us to take a picture with Santa, like every year, so we went to the Bass Pro Shops at the Silverton and there was a HUGE line. So we sufficed for a picture on a sled in the front of the store.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

'Tis the Season

Last night we had our little date night thang.

It went as followed:

Ate pizza and watched Curb Your Enthusiasm (Jeff's fav show now that it's on regular cable and we record all the episodes)

After that we went to Starbuck's and got THE best thing ever-- Caramel Apple Spice along with pumpkin bread

Then we drove around our area and looked at all the Christmas lights that everyone did in the neighborhood, as we sipped our cider drink from heaven and listened to the Christmas music radio station. Love it.

Afterward we went to Wal-mart and got us Christmas lights and decorated our own house.

Our cute little home!

Thanksgiving '10

So this year we had a ghetto Thanksgiving and I would laugh every time I thought about what our plans were haha. Every year since I was born we would go to my grandparent's cabin and have a huge dinner and be there all weekend and pick out a tree in the woods, cut it down, and haul it home and that would be our Christmas tree. But this year it was a little different... a lot different. Instead of our huge family, it was just my immediate family. Which means, my parents, my two brothers, me and Jeff. My mom didn't want to cook ALL day just for 6 people (since she does that every day as it is), so in light of giving my mom a break, we decided to have a ghetto fabulous holiday and go bowling and then to the Sunset Station buffet. haha. I love it. My brother Sam had to go to work at 4 anyway, so we just got together before then.

And sorry for the crappy pictures. We don't have a camera, so our phones have to suffice.

Apparently, Sunset Station's senior discount is 50 yrs old, so my dad was pretty excited about saving the $5 bucks.

Did I mention my whole family went to Hawaii last weekend without me? Oh, well, they did. So lame. But while they were there, my mom was body surfing and hurt her leg pretty bad from getting slammed by a huge wave (the only thing she was concerned about was being too old to body surf now). So her leg was hurting while we were out, so we wheeled her around in a wheelchair that day.

Thanksgiving 2010 Bowling Competitors. Despite me throwing up #1 signs, I'm pretty sure I came in last.

My mom's hurt leg came pretty handy when it came time for the buffet. There was a HUGE line to the buffet (I thought for sure it'd be empty, but who knew so many people ate at buffets on Thanksgiving?) the wait was probably like an hour, but since my mom was in a wheelchair, we conveniently made our way to the front of the line! Thanks mom. And thank you big Hawaiian wave for making this happen.

The tender parents.

Not really sure why me and Sam ended up making the same face.

It was a good day! We came home after eating the whole casino down. I couldn't move for a while. My mom had recorded Little Miss Sunshine on TV, so we came home and watched that and just relaxed.

Then on Sunday my mom had felt bad that we didn't have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, so she made a full on dinner with turkey and stuffing and the whole deal. It was delicious! On the upside, since the holiday was over, everything was on sale and they got like a 15 lb. turkey for 6 bucks! And then we went around the table and said one thing we were grateful for and why. It was really nice. My family doesn't get all tender hearted often at all, so it was a nice.

Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving! I'm soo ready for Christmas!

Happy

Since it's still Thanksgiving, I can still write my thankful list. And thinking about my blessings just makes me happy.

• a ridiculously loving husband who makes me happy everyday
• my amazing parents who having given me more than I deserve and taught me so much.
• I wish I always had a sister (but thanks to Jeff, I've gained 4 :)), but man do I love my brothers! We have so much fun together and they're hilarious
• the piano... I could listen to any kind of piano music for forever.
• my car... I can't imagine riding the bus everywhere or having to bum rides off people all the time
• hot showers
• Dr. Pepper
• air planes and being able to see some really awesome places
• my health
• unlimited texting
• cameras and photos so I can remember the happy times
• playing ping pong with Jeff
• Sunday dinner at my parents
• lip gloss
• my DVR that jeff finallllyyy let me get
• being able to spend all 3 hours of church with Jeff and the crazy 5 yr olds we get to teach together

Jeff's list: (I made him do this because I was curious what his list would be)

• I'm thankful my wife isn't one of the idiots on 16 and pregnant (she's watching it now)
• a wife who is kind, thoughtful, pretty, smart, an excellent cook and many other things
• the house that we have to live in
• the ping pong table in the garage
• good health
• the jobs that we have
• that we have everything we need
• my wonderful family: wife, mom, siblings, nieces, nephews, in-laws
• the gospel of Jesus Christ that gives us a much better perspective about what really matters

Lucky to Have My Half

Nothing notable has happened this week, except for just realizing how great it is to be married to the person you love the absolute most. Sometimes I accidentally forget that. I mean, I always know, but at times I don't fully recognize the meaning of how wonderful it really is. The sweet times that make you reflect for an instant how much you have a deep love for that person.

Like when I do silly things like make up songs and just sing about whatever is happening at the moment, he just laughs (even when it's like the 10th song that day haha) and kisses me on the forehead and tells me I'm funny.

Or like last week we went to go look at gigantic model homes just for fun and he got so into it, acting like we were actually going to buy one of them (we're talking like 4,000 sq. ft. homes for like $500,000) and excitedly gave his opinion about the layout/design and yelling "Now THIS is what brings a family together!!" (talking about how open the upstairs was) and being dead serious. It was seriously the hardest I'd laughed in a long time.

Or no matter how dead we are laying in bed and on the verge of REM sleep, he shakes me and says lets say prayers.

Last night we had our usual date night and at the beginning we had to run over to his Uncle's house to pick something up. His uncle coincidentally lives a block away from the house I grew up in from age 2 to 13. So that neighborhood is so special to me. Driving there flashes back a gazillion memories from my childhood. And I was telling Jeff a ton of little stories while we were driving through the neighborhood. And he's the one person that cares about little stuff like that, like my past, because he knows how meaningful it is to me.

When we spoke in church a few months ago, I told a story from when I was 9 and used it as an analogy about our relationship with Christ. The story was one time my friend and I walked to McDonald's and for whatever reason we didn't feel like walking home, so we hopped on some random city Cat bus thinking it was going to drive straight to my house and drop us off on my driveway and we ended up driving around the city for over 2 hours until the bus driver finally pulled over and walked to the back of the bus to help us and long story short, we ended up getting dropped off at bus stop directly across the street from where we were initially. So anyway, when we walked to McDonald's, we walked through a big ditch with railroad tracks on it (on the other side of my backyard wall, was that ditch). I really wanted to see what my old backyard looked like, so Jeff insisted we parked at that McDonald's and walk on the railroad tracks-- it was probably a half a mile walk-- so we could peek over the wall into my old backyard that I played in for so many years.

I thought that was so sweet. This whole area had no sentiment to him, but he knew it did to me, so we walked all that way in the pitch dark just to see my old backyard. That's especially when I knew he's such a great guy. Because he'd insist on doing that just for me.

I just love him!

And I'm writing this as he's working til midnight doing his second job, valet, because he wants to earn some extra money. And he doesn't complain. He just works hard. He's so great.

and Ps- I know you're probably wondering how the heck that short bus story could've been a gospel related analogy, but I made it work :)

Every time I see a dog my heart gets super sad and I just want one! About this time last year, we put our sweet dog, Sadie, down. I got really sad about it. Like really sad. It was the first time Jeff ever saw me cry, and I never cry. Ask anyone. He basically didn't know what to do haha. My dad surprised me with how down he got over it (because the first time we brought her home he was NOT happy about it). Her little dog collar still hangs in his rear view mirror. So tender, right? He wouldn't let my mom throw away her food bowl for months after she was gone (it sat in the same spot for years). We got Sadie when when I was about 6 years old. Hello, that's a long time! She was seriously THE best dog ever. My brother, Sam, will try telling you it's HIS dog, because when I was like 9, me and my brothers played a game of Uno and bet Sadie. So whoever won got to keep her.

I try to convince Jeff that we need a dog so we can "practice being parents". baha. He's not fooled.

This was taken the day my mom took her in.

Is it pathetic I'm posting about Sadie? Probably. Bah! But this is like journal ish so whateva.

On a lighter note, I'm just 2 measly math classes short of a lame Associates degree. I know, even more pathetic than dog reminiscing. I honestly have a massive load of hatred for Math. It's strictly a hate hate relationship. That's why when it was the only thing keeping me back from said degree, I said forget it and moved on to Esthetic school-- what I really wanted to do. So, 3 years later I figure I just need to suck it up and DO IT. But it's such a PAAAAIN. The whole process of figuring out which Dixie math classes are equivalent to CSN's, talking to counselors from both schools, being put on hold over the phone for centuries, etc. and I still have yet to sign up for my class. I know, I'm so whiney right now. Math puts me in a terrible mood. I better feel accomplished once I pass these stupid things! okthatsallbye.

Date Night

We recently decided to have "date night" every Friday night. I plan the whole date for one Friday, he does it all for the next, etc. and we just alternate. So since it was my idea, Jeff was kind enough to allow me to do the first one (thanks for the pressure, honey). So last week we gave it a go! I was planning on going to Canada today, but that didn't work out, so since I thought I was going to be gone Halloween weekend, I wanted to do something "Halloweeny", since we hadn't done any of that yet. So I started our night out at Fausto's. America's best Mexican establishment. Jeff had never been there, and who could beat a good cheap meal?

Next we went to a haunted house on the North side of town at the Cannery. It was so fun! We decided it was the best one we've ever been to. I was seriously screaming the entire time. And we ended up selling our second set of tickets (since there were two haunted houses), so long story short we ended up only paying $7 bucks for the both of us! (originally $27). GO US. We were so proud of ourselves that we went to Dairy Queen afterward and stuffed our faces in Blizzards. I got the pumpkin pie blizzard and it's ammmmaazzzinnngg.

So let's recap...

Dinner: $8

Activity: $7

Dessert: $5

total- $20!!!!

3 course date for 10 bucks each? SCORE.

I've set the bar high.

Partying with Dee-isney

Last weekend we went to California for a surprise birthday party Jeff and the siblings threw for my mother-in-law's big 60th! There was about 80 people that were invited so I was pretty sure it was going to get back to Jeff's mom by the night of, but it didn't! It was a total surprise which made it so much better. It was a lot of fun sneaking around trying to finalize last minute arrangements beforehand. The party turned out great and it was an awesome weekend with the whole fam.

We got to CA on Friday and went to Disneyland with Jeff's sister, her husband, and their four kids, and Jeff's mom. Amy had a Free Admission ticket from 1985 that hadn't been used yet!! She got it from a friend years ago who got it from a friend and forgot all about it til this weekend, and sure enough it totally worked! We had fun that day. I should really try to take more pictures, but I'm terrible about it. Sorry, folks.

Jeff was really good at this shooting game. I was pretty impressed.

Dallin loves his Uncle Jeffy.

Everyone on Small World.

Mini-Vaca

Jeff was in between jobs last week (his old clients wanted him back and he wasn't the happiest at his current job), so he quit and didn't have to start for a whole week! I've been begging to go to Knott's Berry Farm all summer, but Jeff insisted on waiting til school started so it would less crowded. So I patiently waited all summer (I love theme parks), and when the opportunity came with this whole job thing, we took it and it was perfect! We drove to California Tuesday night and stayed at Jeff's Mom's house. It was nice to visit with her-- we don't see his family nearly enough. The next morning we got up and ventured to Knott's. I'm SO glad we waited! The whole place was totally empty and we walked onto every ride. It was the best! I had so much fun (despite the fact my favorite ride "Ghost Rider"--the wooden roller coaster-- was under construction). Ahh, I love theme parks! It'd been so long. Jeff was trying to keep up with me (bless his heart that entire day haha). It all brought back the best memories, because my family grew up going to Knott's (we weren't Disneyland type folk). On one ride, X-celerator, this one man rode the whole time we were there. I was curious how many times he had ridden it, so Jeff asked him and he said "In the past 8 years I've ridden this 31,804 times"!!! Did I mention he was probably like 65 yrs old? My hero. So funny.

Boysenberry Funnel Cake!

On the way home, we spontaneously stopped at Calico Ghost Town. I hadn't been there since I camped there as a Girl Scout and it was so awesome to me back then, but it was hilarious this time around because it was seriously a GHOST TOWN. We didn't even see one worker. It was so funny. And so boring. I'm glad we got around paying the $6 a person to get in (again... the workers were missing).

Peneplain Ave. Update

We have these nice next door neighbors from former Yugoslavia that were the first (and only) to acknowledge us since Jeff got this house. They were always sitting on their porch, smoking a cigarette or drinking a cup of coffee and would always say "hi" whenever we pulled up. Well, a couple days ago I noticed that ALL their porch furniture has disappeared and all their shoes they leave out there are gone as well. The lights are off. No sign of inhabitation. We've been dying to know if they just picked up and left some time while we were at work or something. Tonight we did some 007 of our own and got a flashlight to creep in their back room windows. To our dismay-- EMPTY. No more nice foreign neighbors. And now we get to park in their driveway. SCORE! But I do hope these kind people are doing okay and didn't have to pick up and leave because of the outrageous mortgage (they told us before they bought at the worst time possible and paid more than double than what we did :(

Education Week

Sorry, people. No pictures this time, because I forgot to take any. But last week, Jeff let me go to Education Week at BYU! I was really excited about it, because I've always heard how amazing it is and it IS AMAZING! I loved every minute of it. My brother and I flew up there at 6am Tuesday morning, and we took classes for 7 hours straight that day. That night I got to spend time with two of my really good friends from Esthetic school-- Diana and Vanessa-- it was so fun! I haven't seen them in forEVER. Diana is going to have her baby in like 5 weeks and I haven't even seen her since she's been pregs and it was just great to hang out with them. The next day we did another 7 hours of classes before we had to fly home.

I couldn't wait to come home and tell Jeff everything I learned. I took a ton of notes and went through every class I took and told him everything. The whole time I kept thinking how much he'd love it, so I really hope we can go together next year. My favorite class I went to was about tender mercies of the Lord.

It was a great experience because it's just what I needed. Don't get me wrong, I love teaching the 5 yr old primary kids, but it was really nice to learn from the church's best educators. Can't wait to go back next year!

Cheers from Maui!

So... before I said I was going on one last trip with my brother. It happened! We originally wanted to go to St. Lucia, but we checked the weather for when we were going and it was raining ALL week. so lame. So our back up plan was to Maui and it was awesome! We went to Maui for spring break when I was 16, but didn't really remember it, so this was def so much fun. The weather was ah-mazing. Mid 80s all week. But obviously I missed Jeffy! 

Day 1: hike. so fun. we went with some people from our hostel we stayed at. 

Our group before starting the hike. It was seriously GORG! ah I want to move there. 

Someone in our group broke her ankle half way into the hike. Her foot was full on dangling. It was pretty gnarly. Two of the guys wrapped her up and carried her all the way back.

Steeper than it looks! Grabbing on to tree roots and sliding on mud down the hill.

Getting our hike on.

Pretty. 

Possibly National Geographic status. Possibly. 

Because the girl in the group broke her right ankle, she couldn't drive her rental, so we graciously offered to drive her around the island. We stopped to hike down to this blow hole to jump off some rocks. She may or may not have waiting in the car...

 

This place was tight. So clearly a ninja type stance is mandatory. 

Fruit stand on the side of the road. Pleasant view= pic opp., obviously.

To get to "Big Beach", we had to take 2 different buses and got off on the last stop and had to hitch hike the rest of the way.  A fine citizen by the name of Kevin was kind enough to give us a ride. Thank, Kev!

Maui 2010! Cheers.

Water was bluuuue. and perfect. and clear. and warm. and perfect.

Just me riding the waves. NBD. 

Our hostel. Inside here you would find a kitchen, pool table, tv. Everyone hung out in here at night. 

And that was our trip! Although we stayed the last night on the airport floor, it was so worth it. Thanks, Sammy, for allowing me to share all these trips with you!! 

friday friday friday.

(He's the one on the left)

My younger brother, Luke, comes home from his mission [[Japan]] on FRIDAY!! I can't wait. I've missed that booker bug. My family will officially be complete (with the exception of future spouses). See you soon, Lukie!

As of Late

I feel like I've neglected my wifely duties by not updating what's been going on. Mostly because it's the least bit interesting to the outside reader. I don't even have any pictures for interest, because my camera broke on Saturday. But here are some things that have been going with us as of late:

• Jeff has begun his new job and loves it, we'll be going to a pool party with the company this friday at the boss's house
• We got new ward callings-- Primary workers-- we should be getting our permanent class this week. We've just been subbing whatever class up until now. It's hilarious.
• One of my best friends, Kelli, got married on Saturday! It was so fun. She looked gorg, but alas, my camera broke right as I was trying to take a picture of her coming out of the temple
• We're speaking in church on Sunday. Don't remind me (why do I hate getting up in front of people so much?! oy-vey)
• Loving the Bachelorette (well, Jeff doesn't, but now he has to get in on it because new clients of his LOVE reality tv, so he has to impress him with his newfound useless knowledge about Ali and the weatherman and entertainer wrestler etc.)

And that sums up our lives. baha. Told you nothing to blog about. Until next time!

Bid Thee Farewell

Ok, this new layout is a little distracting, but too lazy to change it. Blogs are too much maintenance, yeah?

So, the past 2 years I have been able to fly for FREE (or if going out of country, we pay a small international tax. AKA- we spent a measly $30 flying to Peru amongst many other foreign destinations). So basically it was awe-some. This has happened because my older brother, Sam, works for JetBlue and was kind enough to put me as his significant other, which means I get all the same benefits. I must say that I have gotten much too comfortable with this luxury. My brother and I have been on SO many trips these past 2 years and saying I'm sad is an understatement of the year. Jeff, on the other hand, is sick of this amazingness because he's been just watching me leave on these adventurous travels while he stays home and wins the bread.

So this is all sadly coming to an end for me, because my younger brother, Luke, is coming home from his mission in a few weeks and Sam is deciding to let him rejoice and feast on this delicious meal since I've been indulging in it while he's been gone and I'm a married hag now. Sam and I want to do one last hurrah before I get the boot, and we're not sure where to go! We were thinking Barbados, but that's a lot of flying since we can only be gone for a couple days. Although, once we randomly decided last minute to go to Puerto Rico and after flying we were there for literally 24 hrs and came back home. And it was awesome.

I'm grateful that I had this because I was able to have a stronger bond with my brother. It's been fun going on so many trips together. So you better believe that Jeff and I will be saving all pennies and dimes in between the couch cushions so we can join the rest of my family on more fun filled excursions!

Trips we've been on:

• Countless trips to SLC to visit my homegirls from school
• Spending my 22nd birthday in St. Maarten and NYC during Christmas time (amazing)
• Peru for 2 weeks. in love with that place.
• Canada to visit my wonderful family!
• Florida to hang out with my very best friend who was home before she left on her mission
• Puerto Rico which was totally out of nowhere that we went. We found out the flight was leaving in 1 hour and I just packed a backpack and we headed to the airport
• Houston, TX (our preferred destination was New Orleans, but all the flights were full, so we just decided to stay in Houston for a night and day. Come what may! It was fun.
• NYC again, but with this time Jeff (boyfriend at the time), Sam, and our engaged friends (at the time) Mel, and Preston. we were there for the 4th of july. FREAKING FUN.

And I'm sure some more, but can't think of them. But so many memories were made on these trips and I bid thee farewell, oh sweet treasure of mine. I will miss the incredibly fine dining of the JFK airport food (seriously. it's the bomb dig).

So I will update on a later date of my final free of charge trip!!

No title.

So, you may know I am not really much of a movie person. I just get kind of wrestless during the 2 hour duration and I'd rather just chat with friends than sit and watch a movie. But me and Jeff rented a movie that I love (we both did)! It's so cute. Typical story: Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love. Girl doesn't. It had a small release in the theaters, so I had heard of the name, but that was it. So we decided to pick it up. Good pick! It was only one other time I have been able to pick a movie that Jeff likes (I picked out Stephen King's "Misery" one night for us to watch and he LOVED it. even bought it). But we both loved this movie. So if you haven't watched it-- watch it! Oh, and Jeff..... I also really want the soundtrack. Please and thank you.

Also, Joseph Gordon-Levitt looked reeeally seriously attractive in this movie. Loved all his clothes. Jeff and I are using him as our inspiration for next round-up of clothes shopping for Jeff (per his request, not mine, but I'm not going to argue!)

Clearly, our lives are far from interesting if I'm managing to blog about this. But humor me.

Hallelujah!

Despite the current economic meltdown, Jeff found a JOB! And one he's really excited for! For those of you who didn't know, Jeff was laid off from the ad agency he was working at. So the past couple weeks have been really stressful for him (not so much for me, because I knew he'd find something soon). He spent countless hours sending his resume to a million agencies in town, following up, and just looking for any possible temporary solutions. I'm so lucky to have such a go-getter of a husband, because he wasn't going to give up until he found something. He was really impressed and had high hopes for this particular agency because it's a big one here in Las Vegas, so he knows it's going to be awesome for career building experience and beneficial. He'll learn a lot from the "big boys", if you will (which he will).

We are truly blessed to have been able to get this considering he was unemployed for only 2 weeks. That's amazing since Vegas has been hit hard with the lack of jobs (we have 14% unemployment rate), especially advertising jobs at that. I know Jeff got this job because our Father in Heaven was looking out for us and Jeff lives so righteously (he won't brag about that, so I will do it for him).

So without further ado, I'd like you to reacquaint yourselves with the newest Account Executive at Virgen Advertising!!!! Love you babe!

http://www.virgenad.com/

(that's the place he'll be at-- I'm proud of you, Jeff!)

Check Your Box

Ok, before I continue this post, can I just say what an incredible husband I have? I mean, c'mon, people. What men blog and more importantly-- what men blog about the special women in his life? That's my man! I'm so lucky to have him.

Ok, moving along...

So, I've heard many-a-stories of couples taking 4,213,928 years to do their thank you cards. I've read and have been told it's proper to do them by your one year anniversary. Is this for real?! If I got a thank you card from 11 months prior, I don't think I would even remember what gift I gave. I guess hearing many friends say they are close to their one year mark and have yet to complete them or even do them at all, I feel like the Gileses (I hate how redundant that looks, but I guess it's correct) is in pretty good shape! We are just about 7 weeks post wedding and we got almost ALL of our cards sent out! Give or take a few addresses that we haven't been able to get yet, but still! I'm pretty proud. I mean, that's good, right? I guess it has helped having Jeff do his side and me do my side. He's so helpful. Love him. Anyway, just giving you an exciting life update. This is our life. And it's exciting.

How I knew what to look for...

A few years ago I decided what it was I was looking for in a wife. After some reflection I came up with 5 things. I wanted someone who was:

1) Attractive- Not only cute but someone I had fun with and always wanted to be around.

2) Funny- Someone who could make me laugh so hard I'd pee my pants.

3) Smart- Someone who loves to learn and who knows a lot about things I'm clueless about.

4) Spiritual- A girl who lives and loves the gospel of Jesus Christ.

5) Charitable- A mother for my children. Someone who could sacrifice everything for someone else.

As I was coming up with these things I realized where I got them from. My Mother and my sisters. These are qualities I see in all of you but there's one attribute I really associate with each one of you. Can you tell what it is just by looking at the list?

It's creepy to say that your sister is attractive so I won't say it but Amy is someone I always love to be around. Even when I was being a punk teenager I still went and stayed with her and Dan in Utah. After my mission when she was living at Mom's house we used to stay up late talking all the time. She was the only person I would talk to about the girls I liked. Even now I still call her when I have a problem.

Just thinking about Kate makes me laugh. Seriously I just started chuckling when I wrote her name. I remember growing up so many times when Kate would say something that would make me crack up even if she was making fun of me. Like once we were listening to the Smashing Pumpkins song- 1979 and it says "hung down with the freaks and ghouls" and she turned to me and said you're one of the "ghouls." It caught me totally off guard and I just said "no way you are." As a joke she acted really offended and started hitting me. I couldn't stop laughing long enough to fight back.

Smart as she is I'm certain Sally saw the list and immediately knew which quality was hers. There's no getting around it she's bright and talented. The only one of us that can really play the piano, and she's been in college longer than the rest of us combined. I remember in high school having her teach me how to do algebra. Even then she was a great teacher. She remained patient even as I was being obnoxious and telling her it was pointless to learn this stuff she carried on until I finished every problem. I don't like arguing with her you never feel like you win you just feel like she gets tired of talking about it. What's most remarkable about her intelligence is the fact that she never shows it off. She never tries to make you feel dumb for not knowing something. I guess that's another thing I can learn from her.

Who's that little girl bearing her testimony oh it's Miranda every month without fail. I'm certain that she actually read The Book of Mormon before I did. She was probably ready to serve a mission before I was too. It's one thing to read your scriptures a lot but quite another to actually live it but that's what she did. How else could she have forgiven me so often for being rude and insensitive. When I was 17 we both went to get our patriarchal blessings I realized then that she really had a stronger deeper testimony than I did despite being a couple years younger. And I'll bet that's still the case.

"Charity suffereth long and is kind" I could substitute charity for Mom and it wouldn't change the meaning in the smallest degree. If everyone had a mother like ours the the world would be a completely different place. I feel guilty when I think of how much Mom has done for me. I can't count the number of times she stayed up late with me. How many times she made dinner, drove me somewhere, replied with kindness to an angry word. After the saviour the person I feel most indebted to is mom. She gives until there's nothing left with no thought for herself. I'm beyond blessed to have a mother like her.

With Carrie I really feel like I got it all in one incredible person. As you can see in the photo she's so pretty! I really didn't think I would be able to get a girl this good looking. More importantly after being together almost everyday for the last year and a half I'm not tired of being with her. We laugh all the time about the stupidest things. She says the weirdest things that crack me up. There are times when it gets to be so much that my sides ache and my eyes water. While writing this blog I've asked her how to spell several words she knew all but one of them. She can play the piano and has tried to show me a couple things but I'm hopeless. She's so faithful. She never worries about anything because she knows the Lord will bless us if we live right. Charity is where she really shines. We've only been married for like 7 weeks but she's learned how to make tons of different meals, cleans the house when I'm at work, goes to work herself and generally tries to make sure that I'm happy. I find myself more in love with her everyday.