Recipe Tag

i love tags and haven't see any lately besides keli's old picture tag. SO i am creating a tag, post your favorite recipe, picture included if you can. i am really sick of my dinners and need some creative new recipes. it would be really good if they were gluten free but that is easier said than done so just post it and i will see if i can revise it! can't wait to see your yummy dishes.

if you are listed on my blog friends list or if you are NOT i tag you all!

My recipe

Enchilada casserole my family's favorite!

1 lb. ground beef

1 c. oats

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 small can sliced black olives

1 regular size jar of spaghetti sauce

1 c. sour cream

1 c. ricotta cheese

1 can diced green chilies

1 bag tortilla chips

1 c. shredded cheddar cheese

preheat oven to 350. brown beef and drain well. return to pan and add oats, garlic powder, olives and tomato sauce.

in a bowl mix together sour cream, ricotta, and green chilies

crush tortilla chips and place half in the bottom of a 2 qt. casserole dish. (a 9x13 is a little big for this) add half the meat mixture, the half the sour cream mixture and then half the cheese.

repeat layers one more time. bake uncovered 30-40 min. until heated through and bubbly.

sorry i don't have a pic right now.

aloha Isaac

Our good friend isaac is getting ready to leave for utah this week. he will go into the MTC on the 8th which now has curbside drop off service. you used to go in and have a big thing where all the mom's cried but with swine flu they don't want so many people coming into the center so you just drop them off at the door and say goodbye, i am sure his mom and nikki will still be crying!

last night isaac wanted everyone around him before he left, so nikki had a really fun dinner with, what else a ton of food! it was so fun. isaac is so happy and got some old friends to come which it was so nice to see them. i also found out they have horses and will be visiting them at their new house very soon!!

i made isaac a cake with RWH which means return with honor, a missionary saying that apparently not everyone knows!

we will miss you isaac and can't wait to hear all about your mission in Boise, good luck and ALOHA OE' (goodbye until we meet again)

chalei's 1st b-day

Today was our friends sarah and wilson's baby, chalei's day, for her 1 yr.old birthday party and it was a celebration fit for a queen, i mean a princess! it was all things princess, these are only a few pictures, which good thing i took a lot b/c i guess matt was put in charge of the video camera and after sarah and wilson viewed it -will not be hiring him again any time soon!!

Matt with nellie and yani
wilson thanking everyone but you can see all the balloons there were! it was so cute and girly!
this was the b-day cake for everyone, chalei had her own little princess cake

this is how chalei ended the party, it was a little overwhelming for her, can you see her tiara on her head, the sleeping princess.
Chalei's dad is tongan (which i guess makes her tongan too) and they have so many traditions, this was chalei in her traditional tongan lei and skirt that was beautifully made!

it was a fun party with so many cute decorations that sarah and friends worked really hard on. and there was so much food it was crazy!

we went to a grad party that evening and did the whole thing over again!

North Shore swim series

we had a fun weekend. matt is training for the ironman in may. swimming is where he needs to train the most so he is doing the north shore swim series. the races increase in length each time, this was 1 mile swim from sunset to pipeline. the water was a little choppy but he did pretty well at 30 min. when he does the swim in the iron man it will be double this length but in a reservoir so it will be much easier than the ocean!

                       all the swimmers coming in to the finish, it was so hard to find him and i missed him coming in!

when baxter saw matt he went running over to him to congratulate him on a good swim! matt wouldn't let me take anymore pictures after that!

i got to go to the sunset market for a little bit while matt was swimming, i bought a cute necklace. they have so many cool things which are all handmade but so not cheap so it will be a little at a time while i am still building my jewelry wardrobe back up!

now she's got a job!

kiley tried really hard to find a job before she went to seattle but had no luck. she went thinking that in person she could do better but it has been really tough for one reason or another. she had an interview that she felt really good about and prayed that she would get it and she did!

she is so happy. it is a temporary thing for the summer which is perfect, she will work one of 2 shifts, the morning or afternoon until 8. she is working for a new modest clothing company that is doing trunk shows at costco's in seattle. PERFECT! I am hoping she can bring something cute home for me. she gets 2 dresses to wear for free to work in. what a lucky girl she is! she won't make as much money this summer as she thought she would but at least now they can do some fun things in seattle and oh yeah- eat! her friend chelsea got a job at a fancy restuarant, maybe she can bring home leftovers! yeah both my kids are employed!!

tagged!

my friend keli tagged everyone to put up an old funny picture of themselves. i don't have many pictures here and i cannot find my photo album from high school with matt, i think it is just buried in a rubbermaid but i came across this one, hopefully it is not that funny, but at least it shows my 80's hair. i do not know how i got that much volume in my hair, i think i always had a perm. and those bangs, now they would be called bar bangs but i did not frequent bars:)

look at my wrinkle free face, oh the days...

If you are on my list and not on keli's i TAG YOU, let's see those old pics!

Jon and Kate

i just have to vent- i have been a fan of jon and kate from the beginning. on last night's episode it was revealed that they would be divorcing. it is so sad. i know there have been many accusations from the media etc. but i am sad that all they have been through, 8 children will now have divorced parents. kate has always been a little neurotic and demanding but jon has changed . in earlier interviews he had t-shirts with scriptures on them, references to God and they seemed to be a team. they now do interviews seperately. jon has a shattered skull t-shirt on and 2 diamond earrings. i guess he feels he has been controlled for a long time and it is time to make himself happy at 32 yrs. old. i think it is selfish. you made a choice to be married and can at least work on it, did they go to counseling, did he communicate to kate that he was feeling beaten down and controlled, i don't know but i doubt it. i know that there are situations where divorce is necessary but i do feel that marriage is sacred and has to be given the highest priority to work, whatever has to be done. i know that TLC has halted production of the show. for me i think i am done watching. i do think in a way the show, money, the media etc. has changed them and in essence ruined their marriage and family but that is a choice they have made for themselves in doing the show. i would end the show and work on my family but that's just me and my old fashioned, american, christian values speaking!

sunday sundae's and playdough

after the farewell on sunday nellie wanted to come home with me. drake was spending the night at my house so his grandparents could go to an early dr.'s appt. so we had a sleepover.

nellie wanted to make homemade playdough that we have made before, she wanted it pink!

nellie and drake playing with the playdough, homemade is the best!! Drake is always silly!!

                            Sunday Sundae's ummm! silly drake again!
 they love to create things, especially nellie, this is my living room, in process. they are good about cleaning up though and i don't mind.

they went to lola's for last night and are back today. we are going to go to the library and a movie. it's fun to have someone to entertain once in a while.

ki's blog

in case you want to see where ki is at you can click on the seattle summer link to the right. she just kept going with her spain blog. her daddy bought her a new camera before she left, due to the robber that decided she wanted ki's. she is loving it. they went canoeing yesterday and she took some really cool pictures. i am at that point again of missing her. i guess it's that when you are apart you have so much to share and i really love hearing from her and about all the fun things they are seeing. it really makes me want to go but as always it's about the money and time to be able to go. today she got to have some gluten free treats that were very yummy, you can't understand this unless it's been months since you have had a brownie or a cookie or a cupcake then you get very excited to find a treat you can eat and there is a commradarie among GF eaters and bakers that is very fun. i am happy for her fun experience!

Father's Day

we kind of had a busy father's day and had to miss the father's day lunch at church but it was great to go to see isaac. matt got a few new shirts, that was about the extent of his celebration today.

matt is a great dad though, his children love him. caleb will always choose matt over me whether it's to ride with, talk to or ask for something. ki is very independent and i would not call her a daddy's girl but she loves her dad and works hard for his approval. he has been a good example to them of determination, goal setting, education, hard work , love of the gospel and especially a good husband and father!

vegas 2008

isaac's farewell

today we went to our ward and then we went to kaimuki for isaac's missionary farewell. it was really nice. nikki gave a great talk, along with both of his brother in laws and isaac.  we are so proud of isaac and his decision to go on a mission. he will be a great missionary in boise, idaho!

                                                 the runnels family
                                                           Isaac with the Bishop's

                                                          isaac with the Mozo's

                               good luck isaac, Return With Honor and stay warm!

etc.

this is out at kekela's for nikki's ward camp

                                         camp set up and lunch
this is our friend paul's dog snowy. paul used to live in san francisco so one time matt and i went to san fran so paul came downtown to meet us at our hotel to go to dinner. he brought his dog snowy. paul has traveled everywhere and brought this cute terrier mix home from africa with him. he brought the dog with him to go to dinner, we were walking down the wharf in san fran with this dog on no leash, he was such a good dog and we fell in love with him. he came in with us to a nice restaurant and sat under the table.  i think this dog is why we have baxter, we wanted a dog just like snowy. snowy has been with a friend in california since  paul has moved here but now snowy moved to hawaii, happy to see snowy again! can't wait for baxter to meet him.
                                          beautiful kekala beach. yani got to be baptized here.

busy summer week

well life lately seems a little crazy but i go crazy when i am bored too so i guess life is better busy. this week was a good week, i got to go help my friend nikki clean her rental house, i haven't been able to help much lately so i am happy to help her. my friend dawn's birthday was sat. so fri. we went out to haleiwa's to opals  for lunch. after all of my raving she wanted to try it. i told her you don't really get to order what you want and opal proved me right but he always offers good suggestions and it is always yummy. dawn is such a good friend to me and i was so happy to spend some fun time talking with her! we had book club and even though our numbers have been small i enjoy getting together with even a few friends and talk about books! so after a busy week we had a youth camp leader retreat in punalu'u on the other side of the island with the stake leaders and girl leaders to prepare for camp and to help them bond together. it was a lot of fun, a big girls sleep over!

we played some get to know you games this one was fun! there was a big pile of candy, can't go wrong there! you had to choose a candy not knowing what was next, i love this candy bar, chocolate covered marshmallow with little bits of cashew in it-YUM so i picked that. well you had to write the name of the candy bar down the side of your card and then write something that describes you that starts with that letter. so i had rocky road. R-responsible,O-outgoing,C-child lover,K-kind,Y-yes man   R-realistic and rule follower,O-obedient,A- adult leader,D-delicate, dramatic, dog lover!

i was in charge of dessert so i made campfire cupcakes, the girls gobbled them up!
we had a nighttime scavenger hunt where they collected glow sticks and light up bracelets
                                        of course we had dinner, there is always food!
this is andi, we made birthday card kits for the girls at girls camp to make for homeless children in the shelter when it is their birthday. one of the leaders had a cricut machine, it is so amazing and andi and i were in love and camped on the machine cutting out everything for everyone else. so cool!! we stayed up until 1:30 having a blast with the girls!

after the YCL retreat i went to  nikki's ward camp for the afternoon, i came home showered, napped and then we went to the roadshow at church. what a week!

where are all the bloggers?

so it is summer now and it would seem everyone would be out having great fun, taking pictures and posting them on their blog! i guess they are just out having fun but it seems like no one is posting very often. i love reading everyone else's blog since my life is boring most days.come back please and post!

youth conference 3rd day

i was in charge of the activity on sat. the last day of youth conference. i stressed a LOT over this activity but it turned out pretty good. it was called the carnival of life, i did not come up with the idea just executed it. each ward did 2 games. one of the games was "worldly" and one was spiritual. the kids got 16 tickets at the beginning of the carnival and could play any or all of the games they chose but unknowing to them if they played a spiritual game they received a talent back which was just a red ticket with a T. so long story short, we had them "die" after playing for a while and then they went to "heaven" being directed where to go depending on how many talents they had earned. we went into the chapel and had speakers that talked about how you can't take material things with you, the only things you can take are your knowledge and talents you have developed here on this earth. it really made an impact on some of them and was a great activity.

this is ring around the prophet, they had to throw a ring and whatever soda bottle it landed on they had to identify that prophet, some were very old and hard but if they won they got the soda, which they then had to leave behind to enter heaven. they got it back later.
this was rock band, a lot of kids waited in line for this one but later found out that they had wasted their time and developed no talents.
same with this game, the boys spent the whole time playing basketball and gained no talents.

                          this was just a church memory game.

it was really fun, it is a lot of planning but i know that it is important to do activities like this for the youth to teach them the things they need to learn to draw closer to Christ.

youth conference 2nd day

well i made it back from target. i told my friend marj that you cannot go to target without spending 70$ she had the experience and now agrees but matt and i went yesterday and went over that, it's a dangerous place but they have lots of snacks i can eat!

anyway, on the second day of youth conference we did a service project. a guy from our stake,kupono kim, talked about how he had lukemia when he was a child. how hard it was to spend months in the hospital and how much it meant to him when someone did something for him or his family. this really impacted the kids. for the service they made sock puppets and door hangers and boy did they get into it.

 the kids in their youth conference shirts listening to kupono speak.
this is a puppet this boy worked on for an hour and a half. he kept going back and adding to it, they really loved this project. i am not sure how many were kid safe when they were done but the leaders were going to take care of that.
this was one of the simpler ones but they made these pillows with butterflies on them. they hang on hospital doors of kids with cancer so that those who enter know about germs and what they say.
                                             aaron, brandon, and caleb. church friends
this was caleb's puppet, it was really cute, the teeth clacked when you closed the mouth.

they really put their heart into it and said that having someone speak to them about how they would be helping really affected the way they did the project.

youth conference

so last weekend i had youth conference, thurs, fri.and sat.  but something has not been working with my camera on the computer, i borrowed my friend marj's cord, that wasn't it. then matt after days of me whining about it says get out my laptop and it worked so something is going on with the computer, hopefully we can figure it out. it is driving me crazy not to post pictures on my blog!

First day of youth conference: games and talent show

it's really hard to get actions shots but this ward did an excellent break dance performance
 these are the stake leaders, i am over on the left, we did some Y O U song that was really silly but we had fun!
this is our ward Young Men, caleb would be the tall skinny second boy! they did a synchronized swimming act that has been going all over the internet or on you tube, it is really funny but i could not get good pictures they kept jumping all around, it would be better on video but i am a photo girl!
just some games they played, the sponge, water race, they did not want to get wet but it was just a little water!
this is one of the get to know you games, first you had to stand on half of a tarp and without stepping off turn the tarp over, they did it to my surprise, then they had to take the tarp and see how small they could fold it and still fit their group on, it got pretty small and we started to worry they were getting a little close!

it was a great first day with a grand scavenger hunt and dinner. matt says if i want to go to target i have to come now so off i go to be continued later!

Lost Generation

i saw this video on creativehomemakers.blogspot.com it is really cool but you have to watch the whole thing.

Here's the explanation that came with it:
"This is a video that was submitted in a contest by a 20 year old. The contest was titled "u @ 50", by the AARP. This video won second place.
When they showed it, everyone in the room was awe-struck and broke into spontaneous applause. So simple and yet so brilliant. 

technical difficulties

something with my camera cord is not working to the computer. it is making me crazy not to be able to put pictures on the computer. we have had youth conference this weekend. it has gone pretty well. if i can get my cord figured out or get a new one i will post pictures...

her excitement is contagious!

Kiley got to seattle safely. she said flying in was so beautiful seeing so many green trees. she said they have a cute house. she got put in the basement with no windows and it is very cold down there but she said it is fine and she doesn't have to spend a lot of time in her bedroom. she said that her neighborhood looks like houses were set down in the forest. today she was able to go downtown and to pikes place market. she just loves it. they got to go through the market and try scrumptious fruit! there's nothing like fresh summer fruit, peaches, strawberries, nectarines etc.

she found some gluten free food at the regular grocery store and a pizza place with a sign that said gluten free pizza. she said it is very easy to eat healthy and gluten free there, that is a big relief since that was hard for her in spain. she hasn't applied for a job yet, it has only been 2 days but i told her she has to move fast on it! she is really really making me want to go. she wants to go sailing which is something i have always wanted to do. we'll just have to wait a bit and see.

she should be putting pics on her blog soon. what a lucky girl!

she left again!

for the back story- kiley's good friend from school jordan, invited her to come live in seattle for the summer. her dad has a house there that no one is living in and he is trying to sell. he told jordan she could come live there for the summer and work. so kiley, her friend chelsea and jordan are going to live just outside downtown seattle for the summer. we are hoping she can find a job, she tried really hard on line with no success, they just need to see her smile in person! i am really excited for her, despite the crying during the prayer for matt's birthday dinner. it's just hard to see her go for 3 1/2 months again. i think it is so great though that she gets to have these experiences to travel to different places, experience somewhere different and be independent. and this one didn't even cost us much, she had frequent flyer miles to get her there and there is no rent, she just needed a little start up money! i really want to go see her there but we'll just see how things are going for her, how bored i get this summer and how much matt's bike costs! (previous post)

           leaving for her flight, this time she decided to take a different bag, she has a bag that has been all over the world with her but it just doesn't fit much so she paid to take 2 bags on so she wouldn't have to wear the same thing over and over.
 heading into the airport, shaking her head at me taking pictures. how did she get to be this old? i am so proud yet so sad at the same time.
she has been home for a few months, she couldn't get a job in that time so she was bored a lot of the time and i think we drove each other a little crazy but i am going to miss her. i know she'll be back soon. i got her to start reading twilight finally! she is going to be right there and can go visit forks! i think she likes it! ki ki have a good time, be good, find a job and soak in your new experience. oh and don't forget to blog!

Matt's birthday

yesterday, June 8th was matt's birthday. he did not want to do anything. he is going to start training for the st. george ironman may 2010 and he has to buy a triathalon bike so he doesn't want any extra money spent on him. but it was his birthday so we just went lowkey.

we get to be the same age for2 months, then i bump again-darn!

                we got takout from ruby tuesdays, ribs, mashed potatoes and broccoli
we got him this thing he had seen on t.v. and thought was pretty cool. it is an automatic hammer, it does the pounding for you. 
shot for the blog! he was pretty excited about the hammer, not about having his picture taken:)

happy birthday hon, i love you. wish you would let us spoil you more but you try to be responsible, until it comes to choosing that bike!

school's out for summer!

school is finally out for summer. i feel like i have been waiting for a while. i have so much i need to do and i keep putting it off until school was out. youth conference is this week and i have an activity i am doing for the conference on sat. i am just hoping it all goes well and i will be able to breathe a sigh of relief when it is over with. i am a little jealous because matt has a conference at the grand wailea on big island but i have youth conference so i can't go.i am still debating if i should just go and spend the night on sat. night to unwind from youth conference! 

my goals for the summer:

clean my house, go from room to room, declutter and dust.

exercise including yoga, i haven't been in so long!

get a tan and enjoy the beach. that sounds like an easy goal but i never make the effort to go to the beach and then i feel like i take it for granted it's just easier to hang out at home.

read, i have many books i want to read and i want to reread the twilight series before new moon comes out.

and  work on my new years resolution, Do More. (self improvement)

HAPPY SUMMER!  

my bestie!

this is me and nikki. one of my best friends. she has been through a lot in her life. really really hard things. she is faithful and strong and never plays the victim. she has helped countless people whether financially, letting someone live with her, or calling  new widows or good friends to give support or plan a funeral which sadly enough she has had to do too many times. she is the mother of 4 wonderful kids 2 of which are teenagers and are, on some days, challenging but she  loves them unconditionally and delights in their talents and successes. she has been there for me and my family and loves us also unconditonally. i feel like i can be totally myself when i am with her. we are very different but compliment each other and have joked many times about how we are such good friends. we have been through a lot together which has bonded us as sisters and friends.i hate being photographed next to her, she is a beautiful brown skinned maori woman. nikki, i love you and have a prayer in my heart for you daily.

Jason's 1st birthday

after the baptism we went to jason rivers 1st birthday party. i showed a picture of him a few weeks ago from memorial day. rachel did such a great job!! it was adorable! they had a cookie monster theme and she went all out.

                         this is the cake she made herself! isn't it so cute. and the gift bags.
   these are the cupcakes she made and had sitting all over the tables with jars of chocolate chip cookies. she really did a great job.
                yani and sarah's little girl chalei, in the water again, she can't get enough

everyone was giving me a hard time all day long about taking pictures and saying "that's one for the blog"!! i told them they just wish they could get on my blog. isaac is leaving for his mission in july and we weren't able to attend the temple with him so i told him he could have a spot on my blog, there may be a future post for his farewell but for now this is lovable, crazy isaac!

rachel made cupcakes but they were not for baby jason. her husband jason insisted that he get a cupcake for his birthday. baby jason is not allowed to have any sugar. i told rachel that he won't even eat it just take some cute pictures so she let him. at first he didn't know what to do but he started slowly licking and breaking off pieces of the little cookie on top, i think he was liking it! poor mom's we try so hard to be good mom's and get overrode sometimes, it's just a little though and it's his b-day. in the words of carlos- it'll be o.k.!

after the first birthday which was really fun at a nice pool with great food we went to kathy kamiya's grad party. she was one of my young women. we had a really fun time just talking with friends and hanging out in their yard with more great food. i think we ate all day long! it was a fun saturday and there are a few more to come, june is the time for weddings, grad parties and sometimes 1st birthdays and baptisms!