Thanksgiving Weekend

Little Kamalu a day after he got 3 staples on top of his head. Kalei pushed him down and he hit his head on the TV stand.
You can kind of see them in this pic. He screamed when they put them in but pretty much slept the rest of the day. I felt so bad for him.

Always showing his 'opu.

Trying to take a pic for the Christmas cards. Not sure if we'll be using this one but we'll see. Took us a while to get it.

This would've been perfect if Kalei wasn't wiping his nose and was looking at the camera.

Then Kamalu was pretty much done with taking pictures.

Me and my buddy.

Well this Thanksgiving weekend was a great one. My brother-in-law, wife Emi, and daughter Moani drove from Oklahoma to visit. We had a lot of fun spending time with Emi's family, the Snows and Kainoa's sister's family the Todds. We slept over in American Fork for two nights. Kamalu kept us up all night on Wednesday because he was constipated. He was happy after that problem was resolved.

On Thanksgiving Day my sister-in-law Ilima and I were busy cooking. She pretty much made everything-turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green salad, and rolls. I made pumpkin and apple pie and the sweet potatoes. Everything was 'ono.

Our Black Friday shopping started at midnight. Ilima and I went to Walmart. It was crazy. We started at the towels. This stupid guy was pushing and shoving so he could get armfuls of towels. He was part Polynesian, I think Samoan or something. I was mad so I said to him, "Eh, you no gotta push." He just ignored me. Why you gotta make us brown people look bad? Not saying that I'm super brown but I have a little tinge of brownness. I was giving him stink eye big time.

Anyways, I did get some good deals at Walmart. We came home from AF a little later and Kainoa pretty much kicked me and the kids out of the house so he could write a paper. So being the crazy deal snatcher that I am, I went to Costco, University Mall, and Walmart (again) with the kiddos. I went to Costco just to get diapers because the $6 off coupon expired today. It was super crowded. Now that the new shopping carts at Costco are a little taller and me being the short person that I am, it's harder for me to see where I'm going. Steering that dumb cart was challenging in the sea of people.

Next to University Mall...Tai Pan Trading Company (home decor store), Macy's and Toys R Us Express. I tried going into other stores with my double stroller but gave up. I got some pretty good deals.

Then to Walmart. It was still crowded and I got there at about 4pm. I picked up a few more things and left.

On Saturday we went to the Instacare and got Kamalu's staples removed. He has a pink scar and he screamed when they removed them but fell asleep in the car as we headed back to American Fork to watch the BYU vs. Utah game. I made some Korean style drummettes aka crispy shoyu chicken and some potato mac salad. Well the game was so sad. BYU made some mistakes but the refs were pretty dumb on a call that should've been reversed. Poor Mitch Payne. He was awesome all night and some player didn't do his job and his last kick was blocked. Oh well. You gotta say that they played well considering how they started off this season. Wish we could've ended on a win but maybe next year.

It snowed all last night and most of this morning. "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas." We still need to put up our Christmas tree. We'll do it sometime this week. Kainoa's been so busy with school and it's not going to get any better until the semester's done. Hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving. Until next time...a hui hou!

New Bread Recipe

Last week we were running out of bread, so I decided to look for a new recipe online. We love Grandma Sycamore bread so I tried looking for a recipe for it but couldn't find one. I did however find a recipe for someone's grandma's recipe. One loaf came out super nice (the first picture) and the others came out small kine different looking. I only have 3 loaf pans and they're all different. One's glass and the other two are metal but different brands. Maybe I should invest in loaf pans of the same brand. Anyways, the bread came out super good so I'm sharing the recipe. I came out lighter than most recipes I've tried. It's probably because you have to let it rise 3 times. Good luck to all you that try out the recipe.

Ingredients:

3 cups warm water
3 tablespoons active dry yeast
3 teaspoons salt
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup white sugar
8 cups bread flour

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine warm water, yeast, salt, oil, sugar, and 4 cups flour. Mix thoroughly, and let sponge rise until doubled in size.
Gradually add about 4 cups flour, kneading until smooth. Place dough in a greased bowl, and turn several times to coat. Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled.
Punch down the dough, let it rest a few minutes. Divide dough into three equal parts. Shape into loaves, and place in three 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch greased bread pans. Let rise until almost doubled.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 35 to 45 minutes. The loaves may need to be covered for the last few minutes with foil to prevent excess browning.

The Haps

Yes I know I've been out of the blog world for way to long and I've promised to be better but didn't keep that promise. But here I am now blogging again. A lot has happened during the past two months.

In the beginning of October my mom came over to attend General Conference. While she was here we took the kids to pick their pumpkins in the pumpkin patch close to our house. They enjoyed getting in the dirt and looking for their pumpkins.


There was a little petting zoo next to the pumpkin patch. The kids had fun feeding the animals.


It was Ku'uliko's 5th Birthday on October 26th. Here she is in front of her preschool wearing the birthday crown she made on the first day of school. She wore it all day.

Two days before her birthday we had a little birthday dinner with the Todds, Granty Heather, Uncle Shaun, Uncle Teren, and Uncle Ben. I love Kamalu's face in this picture.


The kids rode the train at Provo Towne Center. They loved it especially Kalei.


Here we are on our 6th anniversary. We went to the Portuguese Kings of Comedy Show with Augie T and Frank Delima. We were cracking up the whole time. We stayed at the Marriot right there in Thanksgiving Point thanks to my parents, the Todds, and the Lindseys. It was first overnight stay without the kids.


Here's Augie T signing our DVD.

The boys loving giving each other hugs.


Here's Kamalu. He loves saying, "Cheese!" He's speaking a whole lot more.


Only Kamalu looked at the camera. The others were too busy watching TV.

We celebrated Liko's birthday again with our friends at their Halloween party. I don't have any pics of the kids in their costumes because I forgot to bring it to our Ward Party. I'll have to get the ones our friends took. Liko was Jessie, Kalei was Woody, and Kamalu was Bullseye from Toy Story. I made all their costumes. It was hard work and I wish I had taken pictures of them.

Here I am with some friends-Melissa, Priscilla, Raiann (sp?) and Tammy. I changed out of my costume. I just wore Kainoa's clothes including his shoes.


Blowing out the candles on my cookies and cream ice cream cake. Good thing that all 29 candles weren't in the cake or it would've melted the cake.
Me and the kiddies. The two boys have the same mouth. Then there's Liko posing. It was good birthday weekend. On Friday we went to the BYU/BYU Hawaii men's basketball game. BYU Hawaii didn't win but we still had fun with our friends the Settles, Lindseys, and Silvas. We were able to get a babysitter (thank you Hoku).
Then on Saturday we had a BBQ at the Settles' home and it was good fun just to get together again. Of course we enjoyed some good food as well.
Yesterday was a good day too. Kainoa made me breakfast (oops! We didn't fast). We had portuguese sausage, eggs, and rice. I also got an extra hour of sleep because of daylight savings time. Kainoa also got me some roses which is all I really wanted. Later that night, the Lindseys surprised me with ice cream cake.
We have been really blessed to be in our new ward and have been able to meet and get to know two really great families from Hawai'i, the Lindseys and the Settles. It's nice to get together so we're not missing home too much. We always have tons of fun together. I was telling Kainoa that I wouldn't mind living here permanently if he could find a job here just so we could stay close to them. Of course we would go home to visit. We still don't know what's in store for us yet but as soon as we know we'll let you know. That's it for now. A hui hou!