Making a cake for my new nephew

I had to much fun making this receiving blanket and diaper cake for our new nephew Luke this week. The girls and I ran it over the their house on Saturday and surprised the family with a few little treats. We wouldn't have taken it over so urgently, but Macey kept trying to take everything off and the pacifiers would have disappeared pretty soon. Abby thought the dinosaur was purchased for her and she was a little perturbed when her mom put it on a cake for a baby. "Mom he's to little to play with that and I want it" was her comment. Needless to say she didn't get the dinosaur and it was my cake topper.

Anyone wanting to make a cake, use a 8 oz bottle in the center (it will hold the 1st 2 layers together), unfold the diapers, roll them up, and fasten them shut with a clear plastic hair tie. I tore part of the material from the receiving blanket (which was my cake base) to use as a tie to go around each layer. They are really fun to make and quite easy, it just takes a little time.

Not quite right.

Last night we had a babysitter come and John and I went out to each at Magleby's restaurant here in Provo. We didn't know prior to going but there was a Prime Rib/Crab leg buffet going on. We chose that, but it wasn't quite like the ones we're used to in Kauai (of coarse the price was only 1/2 of what we paid there also). I thought alot of Karen Summerhays during the dinner and how much she loved crab legs and could out eat anyone I know hands down in a crab eating contest.

My visiting teaching partner here in Provo was having a mock prom in the church's rec hall to celebrate her hubby's 35 birthday. So after the dinner we headed over to the church to the party, even though we didn't even know who her hubby was. It was more of a retro prom. There was lots of 80's music and it was lots of fun. The last mock prom we went to was about 8 months ago in Kauai and I kept thinking of how much fun we had with all our friends there. I love the picture we took with all the women jumping in the air :) We did have fun last night, but John and I both commented more than once how much Dale and Genevieve Keep would have loved the dance. There was even some break dancing going on and John wished he could break dance like Dale and Will could.

Today for Sunday dinner, I made Navajo tacos. I knew I would have way to much fry bread for my family, and remembered the last time I made these at Holly and Mike Cook's house. Mandy Cook loves these and I really wished that I could take the extras over to her house so she could enjoy them while they were hot. As you can tell, I'm dwelling to much on the past and have just got to bite the bullet and get into my life here. Karen, Genevieve, Holly, Mandy and Dawn will never be replaced and I don't want to replace them. I don't know if John will ever have as good a friend as Dale or Will, Mike, Rusty and Jeff, but it's time that we do make things right here in Utah.

Hailey and Alyssa are doing really good and Hailey seems to be making the adjustment better now than she first had been. For about two weeks, she had to call her friend, Olivia, every day .... I was getting a little worried there for a while. There are lots of little girls in the neighborhood and Alyssa is thrilled to have someone different to play with everyday. Hailey is coming along and realizing that it's easier to be friends with the girls across the street rather than the girls across the ocean. So hopefully so everything will be right but as for now we're making do with our life being not quite right!

This does not mean I will ever forget Hawaii or try to, I just have to try to move on. But, Genevieve Holly and Mandy I will still be calling you!!!

Happy St. Patricks Day!

Yesterday we woke up to a little girl who had to have green pancakes for breakfast. Actually she wanted green eggs and ham but I only had one egg in the refrigerator, so she would settle for the pancakes. She had to make sure there was green on her PJ's and all of her sisters before she went to bed the night before. She also checked everyone in the families wardrobes to make sure we all had ENOUGH green on. She kicked her dad in the shin because on his green shirt there was some small red stitching and you CAN'T wear red on St. Patricks Day! She was almost late to school because her fingernails had to be painted green (thanks Dawn for helping set that tradition). Can you guess which daughter ..... yes, it was Alyssa. She makes sure everything is the way she wants it and that we celebrate holiday's to the extreme. While she may seem a little aggressive in getting her way, she is lots of fun and makes our lives more exciting :)

John parents just recently left to go on their LDS mission to Nauvoo, IL. Annette, his mother, always said that she thought Matt and Kamelle should have their baby on St. Patricks Day. Guess what, they did and I am a new Aunt as of yesterday!

Baby Giles was born March 17, 2011 at @11:30 am

Weight: 7 lbs 14 oz
Length: 19 inches
Baby and Mommy are both doing well!

Update on our building: We are suppose to start building in 2 weeks!!!! If (that's a big if) the bank gets everything done in the time they say it will take the hole will be dug somewhere between April 1st and 7th. It's really exciting watching the house next door go up and it was just started the first week of March. Knowing we're 1 month behind gets me nervouse but excited. I'll try to keep pictures and updates on here so family far away can see the progress.

Some friends of ours let me know that I am not updating my blog enough and they would really appreciate more frequent updates, so I will try a little harder!!!

We have Snow!!!

We woke up Friday morning to snow and lots of it. I measured 10 inches on the steps of our porch that morning!!! While I wasn't that excited for the snow (personally I still would prefer to join Genevieve at the beach for the day), my girls and John showed much more enthusiasm for playing in the snow. Hailey and Alyssa got to wear their snow boots for their walk to school. Abby got to make snow angels in the front yard. John shoveled snow and then I got to reshovel a couple of times.

John doesn't really like the snow shoveling, but he was looking ahead and thinking about he could take the girls sledding over on the hill by the high school the next day. He's such a good dad and knew that I had a stake RS conference today so he did the sledding with our girls alone.

This is Macey first time to really play in the snow, last year we went tubing, but she was only 2 months old and staying in the cars bundled up most the time.

Alyssa and Abby are all about getting cold and wet. They love sliding down the hill together.

Hailey has always loved playing in the snow and is just so happy to get to use the sled she got for Christmas when she was 4. She is now 8 and has only used the sled a few times because it didn't move to Hawaii with us. (I wonder why)

Smile girls, I hope there isn't this much snow again until next winter!!!

Not a Hawaiian Giles Family Anymore :(

Well it's time to fix my blog and change us from being a Hawaiian family. Abby may still have a Hawaiian tan, but she's the only one of us that still has one. Last month we packed up our bags had a moving truck come in and we moved back to Provo Utah. I'll try to update more on this later this week.