Grandpa Giles

My Grandpa Irving Giles passed away at the end of March. He was one of the most caring, selfless, spiritually strong and intelligent men that I have ever known. I am so lucky to have had him in my life for so many years. Even though the funeral and the death were kind of quick, it was a great, wonderful and sweet experience to be able to sit back and take a moment to remember and honor him.

Because I live in Arizona and he was in St. George around other family, I did not get to participate that much in the planning of the funeral. I did however get to put together some pictures for a table at the service.


My Grandpa was in the Navy for many years. He received a full military burial which was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. There were several retired Navy men that were in their 80's and older that helped out with the service. Seeing them shoot off theirs riffles was a sight to see!


Here is a picture of the burial sight along with the plaque where all their names are listed. It really is a beautiful place.


My Grandma has not been feeling too well herself and was not up to sitting through the graveside service. My Dad was then appointed to receive the flag in my Grandpa's honor.


Here is all of us sitting around my Grandma. When I was younger I kinda thought she was a mean old lady. As I have grown older I have come to appreciate her sense of humor and her forwardness. I love spending time with her, she can make me laugh so hard without even trying. I love you Grandma!

What a fun job!

So for those of you who don't know I am a medical assistant for a sports medicine doctor. There are a lot of pros and cons to my job. One of the perks is getting some great tickets to some really fun sporting events.

My bosses family are big hockey fans. They were unable to go one night so Brian and I jumped at the chance. We are not huge hockey fans but we always have a lot of fun going to a live game.


We didn't take too many pictures but here is one with all of the players on the ice.


The Coyotes won! Good way to go guys!!


One of my patients is a retired NBA player so he recently hooked me up with some great tickets to see the Suns vs. Clippers. Brian had a church meeting so I took my Mom as my date.


Here is Shaq, Nash and Lou sitting on the bench. Shaq is even larger in person than I thought he would be.


Nash at the free throw. I had never been to an NBA game and this was a great first experience. Thank You Bob!!

Poor Brian

Well we have had an exciting last few months. I guess Brian thought my surgery looked like so much fun so he decided to have one of his own. Since we have been married I have slept with ear plugs. There are a lot of reasons for that but one of the major reasons was my husbands snoring! Well, good bye snoring! Brian had a septoplasty which surgically repaired his deviated septum YAY!!!!

They were so kind to allow me to go and see Brian after they got him all hooked up to IV's and stuff. As I was approaching his bed, the nurse cam up to me and said "Your husband did so well with the needle." Oh boy, I knew what that meant! For those of you who dont know Brian is not so good with needles and blood, (I guess opposites do attract!) as I rounded the curtain this is what I saw. So sad!


Brian said that the IV was making him freeze, so the nurses loaded him up with some heated blankets. He is so spoiled!


Right before being wheeled away, cap and all! Smiling on the outside and stressing on the inside, what a trooper!


Here is Brian after surgery, so miserable!


Brian is doing well now, once the swelling goes down some more we will get some "after" pictures up.

Fun Video!

Ok, you have to watch the ENTIRE video, even if you have seen the commercial before!

Cookie Recipe

Ok, so I decided I am too lazy to send the recipe to the individuals who requested it, so everyone gets it! Here is the recipe for the cookies shown below. They are delicious! Enjoy!



Cookies:
1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® sugar cookie mix
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon


Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla


Baking instructions:
1. Heat oven to 375°F. In large bowl, mix cookie mix and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Stir in butter and egg until soft dough forms.
2. On piece of waxed paper, shape 1 tablespoon cinnamon into a line about 5 inches long. Using floured fingers, shape 1 tablespoon of dough into a rope 5 inches long. Press one side of dough rope into cinnamon.
3. On ungreased cookie sheet, coil dough rope tightly, cinnamon side facing center, into cinnamon-roll shape. Press end of rope into roll to seal. Repeat with remaining dough. Place cookies 2 inches apart on cookie sheets.
4. Bake 7 to 10 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 15 minutes.
5. In small bowl, mix glaze ingredients until smooth. Drizzle over cookies.

High Altitude (3500-6500 ft): Decrease butter to 1/3 cup.

Yummy Cookies!

So I was invited to a cookie exchange party this year. It was so much fun! Here are the cookies I made. They are called Cinna-Swirls. They were so yummy! They look like cinnamon rolls and taste like snicker doodles. If you would like the recipe I would be more than happy to share it with you.


Here is me baking. It is a rare sight in my house. I know the picture is sideways, I am unable to get to the other computer to rotate it. Oh well, you get the idea!

Our Holidays!

I know it has been awhile since I have posted anything but we had a very busy holiday season and things are slowly getting back to normal.

We were able to go to California for Thanksgiving. I don't have any pictures of our yummy food but we did see a movie with some of Brian's family. Here we are after seeing the movie.


This was our first Christmas as a married couple and we had so much fun decorating for the holidays. Here is Brian hanging Christmas lights.


Brian really wanted a fake tree but I told him that was against my religion. So being the good husband he is he let me get a real one. It is just not Christmas without the smell of a fresh tree in your home.


Here is a shot of my decorating the tree. I love it!!!!


We were sad this year when we found out that Brian had to work the day before and the day after Christmas. But we had so much with just the two of us, creating out own traditions as a family. This is what we looked like Christmas morning opening our presents. We were both spoiled by Santa this year!




Brian made a lovely Christmas dinner. We even had honeybaked ham! Notice I am still in my pajamas?! I decided that was a good tradition. Hey, we had nowhere to go! Best day ever!


We were actually able to go to California for the weekend after Christmas. Here we are with Jessica and her kids outside of Wahoo's. We also met up with my Dad there who is not in the picture since he was the photographer. We just can not go home without eating there. Hopefully one day they will have one in Arizona. Or maybe we should just move back!