The Giles Family

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Family Camp time! Yahoo!

Did I get your attention? Besides Pringles, what do we need for a campout? I have lots of equipment we can share, but we may also want to have duplicate things at each campground.

Things I have:

Lrge tent -- Klevens are going to use it.

Med. tent

2 2-man tents (one belongs to Jeff)

EZ UP cabana

small pop-up beach shelter tent

several large tarps to put under tents

table

lg ice chest

stove

lantern

cooking pots

lg & small griddles

rack for over the fire

lg water jug (the big orange kind)

smaller portable water jug

2 good camping mattresses (air cushioned)

1 double air camp mattress - not the one we use in the house

rake and broom

and a bunch of other small stuff: rope, flashlights, etc.

If you want to uses any of this, I'll plan to bring it. Grampa suggested I bring his big car, too.

Take it away, Campers!

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

The Life and Times of James Benjamin: Extraordinary Newborn

Over the last 4 days I had the privilege of being part of the beginning of baby James life. And watching (along with offering occasional advice) Sally and Eter learn the ropes of parenthood. It was really and truly a privilege. Seeing him, holding him, smelling him, being in the beautiful weather, spending time talking with Sally and Eter, reading a great book ("The Forgotten Garden"), sleeping in (unintentionally- but savored nonetheless) And taking a few pictures :) Sally gave me permission to post about their cute little baby and I REALLY had a struggle to narrow it down a little or else I'd post about 50 pictures (which is the first narrowed-down number and they are all cute). But it is a family blog and lets face it, a new family member isn't born every day. So no one's complaining about too many pictures right?

A few are blurry- but still cute. He kept trying to smile.

Got to spend one day with mom there :)

Might be my favorite.

Also a top contender.

Ready for 1st bath. Soo handsome! (and mommy in the background:)

Sleepy boy.

He's telling me I'm his favorite aunt really loudly. (actually his cry is very little and sweet).

Emma's favorite.

The very cute family of 3!

Welcome sweet baby boy! Can't wait to see you (and all the rest of you) in 2 weeks!!!

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Jane's 11 year old trip- Catalina

Yesterday was the Catalina day trip. We had such a great time!

Earlier in the week (Monday) Mom fell at school at broke both pinkies! We didn't think that they would let her Parasail but they said "she didn't have to hold onto anything, so she was free to go"

Here we are.... it was sooo fun 1200 ft high!

After a long day, sitting on the submarine put poor mom to sleep!

Sunday, May 15, 2011

It's Time

Okay I've been meaning to get this up here for awhile. Are you feeling like your excited for camping at the beach this summer but want some info? Yes, I thought so. So here's the map of the campground with our sites marked:

The first one on the left is site #001 and it's for Mon-Wed (2 nights)

The next red dot is site #106 Tues-Thurs (2 nights)

The next red dot being under the previous site is #107 Mon-Tues (1 night)

And lastly closest to the beach #90 Thurs-Fri (1 night)

So we need to figure out who's going where and when. Sorry we have no weekend nights but this is all we could get. So we have 2 sites Monday-Wednesday with one group moving from 107 to 106 on Tuesday. But that group can stay there until Thursday. Then Thursday that group or a new group can take 90. We are going to try and get a couple nights at that BW we stayed at last time so let me know if that interests anyone else too.

Check-in is at 2pm check-out at 12 pm so the people moving will have that 2 hr window. Here's the link for more info:

http://www.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=1029

Hopefully we can make this work for everyone :)

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Remind you of anyone....?

GRAVE YARD!!!

Here's the big question... is it nature or nurture?! Hmmmm.................
Both Eter and I had colds this past weekend. Him first, then me. I CAN assure you and I'm sure he'd like you to know, he did NOT do this. :)

Saturday, May 7, 2011

I gather the blossoms...

"For if I love flowers and meadows and walking,
I learned how to love them, dear Mother, from you."

I have always really liked the primary song 'I Often Go Walking' because it reminds me of Mom. I still pretty small when Mom went through her Landscape/learn every plant in Latin phase. It was a little like having a mom who was also The Good Witch of the Garden, learning to cast spells to make things grow beautiful around her.
Today I spent my afternoon at a local nursery looking for perennials with good color mixes. I said the Latin names out loud as well as I could, casting poor attempts to give my summer a little more beauty to help balance the craziness of work.
I brought my flowers home and got too much sun as I mixed the dirt with my hands and put the fragile little guys into their friendly little pots.
I hope the spells work.

Happy Mother's Day to the best Good Witch of the Garden Mamma.

And happy Mother's Day to my beautiful Sister-Mommas,
I hope I can be as good as you when I grow up.

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Happy Easter!

I hope each of you had a great Easter Sunday. We don't have any major changes from last year but nothing's wrong with a little grandkid cuteness right?

Maybe we can get baby Rodriguez out here next year :) We so need another boy in this picture. Or two.

Memories of Dad

* When Dad was in the hospital, and had been for a couple weeks. Tatum had been taking a little community tap dance class. Often when we were on our way home from school or anywhere we would stop by to say hello. Tatum wanted to show Dad her dance she was learning. Mom said "oh no, not here honey its just too loud" Dad quickly answered " No I want to see" Tatum was thrilled and Dad loved it or at least pretended he did.
* Dan was reminding me the other night about a story I had forgotten. Many of you probably remember how afraid of men Tatum was. Although she LOVED Dad and Jeff even though she hardly saw them. When Robin and Nick got married Mom and Dad came up for the wedding and stayed in a hotel. We came down from Provo and met them. As we were in the Lobby wating for them to come down,the elevator "dinged" Tatum turned to see and it was "Pappa" Tatum (about 2 yrs) just stood in one spot running and waving her arms! So excited that he was finally there. Dad with his big sweet smile walked over and scooped her up.
*I remember how whenever we went to Big Bear in spite of the fact that he'd been driving two hours. Without fail and without going into the house he would disappear with the blue Yamaha motorcycle. Then he'd be gone for as a much as two hours. Of course when he came back at least two of us kids would be waiting for him so we could go on a ride. The funnest thing for me was when he finally let me go it alone. I was about 12 and he let me red an old Honda. I fell and distinctly remember him saying something like don't tell your Mom about this.
*My biggest road trip with just Dad was going up to Idaho for my first semester. After leaving Joyce’s house on the second day we were passing Kolobe Canyon (which I pass all the time now) and he just took the exit, I don’t think he even asked me if I wanted to see it. We drove up the canyon a little ways and got out and looked around for a while. I had a disposable camera and we took some pictures. It was really beautiful, but mostly I was just happy to be with him--one of those rare spontaneous moments. Too bad I lost the camera somehow when I got to school.
*When Dana comes home from work the kids get excited and run to him and say "Daddy!" Lately, he's been saying "Yay!" in reply. I love it because I remember dad used to say the same thing a lot.
*Thinking of birthday cakes today, I remembered the first (and only) birthday cake Dad made for me. We weren't even engaged yet, and he was trying to make an impression. So he decided on the extraordinary plan to make a cake that would taste like a fruit salad; I suppose he was thinking ambrosia. He used an orange cake mix ( I don't think they even make them anymore) and strawberry flavored frosting (also thankfully retired). This must have been very early in the relationship or he might have guessed chocolate would have been more effective. I think I was polite, but I'm sure that cake never was finished. You all know he wasn't much of a cook, but I loved him for trying!
*Another funny memory I have was when Jeff was driving Mom's white car and it caught on fire. (We were living there with Mom and Dad) so we were all kneeling around the bed for prayers when jeff called. Dad anwsers, Jeff and said "the car is on fire, and the fire dept had to come put it out... kinda scared to tell I think. Dad yells YAAAHOOOO! Let it Burn! He was thrilled to be done with that car finally. And off he went to pick up Jeff!
* I was at the DMV the other day registering my new van (YEA!) When I remembered once running into Dad at the DMV in CA. It was so funny b/c he was dressed as usual in his roofer garb. Old dirty jeans and t-shirt and hat but the best part was that over the hat he was wearing those headphones the big ones with the little antanae sticking up on the side. Just standing there listening to whatever station he could get reception to in there. He was so funny I had to think for a moment to I really want to walk over and say "HI DAD!" Of couse I did. I'm glad for all those memories now.
*I just remembered a time when I was about 11. It was Sunday afternoon, I was wearing my cool new jean shorts, and dad was chasing me around the house. We were in the entry when he grabbed on to me by the belt loop on the back of my shorts. I pulled away really hard, and the loop ripped right off leaving a hole in my back side. I was so mad, but dad was laughing and laughing, so I started to laugh too. I’m sure mom was in the kitchen giving her usual opinion: ‘It’s all fun and games until…” Randa
*One of my most treasured memories is from when I was very little. For some reason I just loved when dad would hide behind the cereal box and then peek out at me from different sides- and the real suprise...the TOP! I loved that he really liked it too and played that game with me frequently. Very simple but very meaningful to me at the time. Katie
*One time driving to Utah with Dad, when I was 15 or so, we kept seeing signs for Hogi Yogi in Southern Utah. First we made fun of the goofy name. Then it started to sound good. Then we decided we'd have to stop and get some at that exit when it came. The exit came and we missed it. Dad got off at the next one and drove about 20 min through a small town, backtracking to the Hogi Yogi. We laughed about it the whole time. I love that Dad would go along with stupid kid stuff with us. Sally