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.