Carl's Birthday Weekend

It has been a tradition that we greet our birthdays at exactly 12 midnight... It doesn't matter what it takes, it has to happen! Before the strike of midnight, we had some visitors to celebrate the tradition. But when it was just the two of us again... it was time to bring out the surprise. While Carl was at work, I baked some banana cupcakes and kept them inside the oven (a place Carl never checks). After dinner, Carl was commissioned to stay inside the workroom while I worked my magic in the kitchen... and so Carl's birthday weekend started with this:

Banana Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
topped with semi-sweet chocolate shavings

On the morning of his birthday, we had a BIG BREAKFAST! Carl and I seldom eat breakfast together because he usually packs his breakfast and eating breakfast too early gives me tummy problems, so on most days we have brunch hahaha! But this is CARL's day - and its got to be special!

Birthday Breakfast: Garlic Rice, Bacon, Spam,
and Mushroom Frittata with Cheese and Scallions

If there is one food Carl is willing to travel for, it's a warm serving of Jollibee Spaghetti and Crispy Fried Chicken. Believe me when I say that I have never seen him crave so much for something! But then again, the closest place to get this favorite is a 6-hour drive away from home - in Las Vegas! If it was a weekend, I bet Carl would just pick up the keys and we'll drive to Vegas! So I made my version of Jolly Spaghetti (complete with sweet sauce and hotdogs!) and crispy fried chicken for his birthday lunch!

Birthday Baon: Home-made Jolly Spaghetti Meal :)
PS. It was served on a serving platter we got from Jollibee

For weeks, we have been planning on watching the last installment of the Harry Potter series, and where to have dinner after the movie. Again, we can not say this enough - we are seafood lovers! But we live in a place that is no way close to a coast, and we've never found any good place to satisfy our seafood cravings. So in the end - Carl requested I make dinner myself! And so we bought tilapia and some shrimp from the store - and prepared one awesome seafood dinner!

Birthday Dinner: Garlic Shrimp, Fried Tilapia, Corn on the Cob,
Tomato & Mango Salad, and UNLIMITED Rice

...and we watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows after...
it was a great culmination to an amazing series!

Saturday was gym day, and laundry day, and most importantly TEMPLE DAY! Since the Provo Temple was closed for maintenance, we went to the Mt. Timpanogos Temple and grabbed a burger from Carl's Jr. on our way home...

Sunday was Carl's birthday party... It wasn't a big party - just friends and family... the biggest thing about Carl's party was his CAKE - his BART SIMPSON birthday cake. You see, Carl loves me so much he thinks I can do anything in the kitchen - including baking and decorating molded/sculpted cakes! So high his expectations hahaha!!! So anyway, I went ahead and bought a molded pan from eBay because Wilton has discontinued the Bart Simpson cake pan forever ago. I baked the cake on Sunday morning, cooked the rest of the menu while the cake was baking and cooling, and when everything was cooked, I started frosting the cake (which took forever I ended up missing church).

Happy Birthday Cake!!!

At the end of the day, everyone was full, and everyone was happy - especially Carl. Our friends even brought food!!! We ate and laughed and talked stories... and it was an amazing birthday weekend! Carl definitely had a blast!

HAPPY 27th BIRTHDAY, MY LOVE!

Well, sometimes you've got to try to sleep outside...

Last Friday, Carl and I went to Hobble Creek Canyon to camp with the ward. We were at the Cherry campground, and we had a beautiful spot right by the creek(ish), good food, good company, and a very interesting cold night :)

Bravo!!! We were able to put up our tent!

The guys played frisbee golf in the woods nearby, and the kids had a blast! We all had navajo tacos for dinner and the men made DESSERTS that were really yummy and sweet - my favorite was the pineapple upside down dutch oven cake! For Carl, I think he got some sugar over load - he made this water bottle rocket!

The infamous "where-did-it-go"
water bottle rocket courtesy of Carl

So basically, they put water inside the water bottles, place it upside down on the launch pad connected to an air pump, and they pump air inside the bottle, and when enough pressure has built up they release the string that keeps the bottle in place, and the water bottle rockets up (and some get wet). And so after much pumping...

Up, up, and away (?) "where did it go?"

As it grew darker and the winds got colder, we decided it was time to build a fire and start talking stories around it. It was cool, I must say. Talking stories around the candle during a power outage in the province is still way cooler, I think ;)

Here's Stuart, our neighbor, telling
a story about "Falling Rock"
- and why we should always WATCH OUT for "him"

Sleeping in a tent is an interesting sleeping situation. This is our second time to go camping as a couple, the first time was at Moab and we had a bigger tent and an air bed and sleeping bags. This time, we had a smaller tent, no air bed or sleeping bags, just a comforter and thick blankets. Oh it was indeed an interesting cold night! And Carl couldn't sleep... he was basically waking up almost every two hours checking if we have visitors. Most Utah camping grounds are Black Bear countries, so Carl was a little bit protective on a girl who might smell so good for bears! As for me, it was an ok sleep though I really wished we had a flatter ground - that was compensated though by the sound of running water - it literally hushes you to sleep.

Who doesn't love the sounds of running water... (sigh)

We woke up to a beautiful Saturday morning in the woods. We started to build a fire again, and soon after the men started making pancakes and eggs and bacon for breakfast. We really enjoyed camping with our ward. Being with nature is a very calming experience (minus the warning about the bears) - we got the chance to unwind and not think about my thesis or about translating mormon.org into 70 languages. It was indeed an experience worth of trying to sleep outside.

Hello Minot, North Dakota

This post might sound like we've been travelling a lot... But let me just say, as much as we like to travel and go places, we do not have bottomless pockets. This trip, almost didn't happen, for many different reasons, but we decided this one was worth taking - because there are just some things we shouldn't miss!

So we used up some of our miles to buy this trip, and we boarded a Delta flight bound to Minot, North Dakota. Where in the world is Minot? We flew out from Salt Lake City and then caught a connecting flight in Minneapolis/St. Paul. Minot is a small city, and Minot State University was a quaint little campus, pretty similar to BYU-H sans the tropics (and the sun!). We were so close to the northern border of the US, Canada was about an hour and a half drive north. In fact, we were told that North Dakota's economy gets its boost from Canadians who cross the border everyday just to shop - in fact i wouldn't doubt that at all. When we went to a nearby mall, most of the cars in the parking lot had Saskatchewan and Manitoba plates.

after the Hooding Ceremonies at
Minot State University's
Old Main Bldg
(formerly Teacher's College)

First of all, Carl earned his Masters degree in Information Systems (online program) from Minot State University, thus the trip to a city located in north central North Dakota. The reason of this trip to Minot, was in fact, Carl and my love for him. He deserved this trip - he well deserved to be there at his graduation. He worked really hard, completed his assignments, and finished his thesis - despite of occasional burn-outs from work stress and some taunting that sounded like "Cougars vs. Beavers?". I am so proud of Carl, and again, I can not emphasize enough his hard work and dedication. Go Beavers! Minot.... (drum roll)... to TOP!!!

Our Minot experience was very heart-warming. When we got there, we had a car rental reservation with Enterprise. But after some asking around locals at the airport, we decided to cancel our reservation with Enterprise. Even then, the Enterprise rep who was already at the airport to take us to the car garage to get our supposedly rental car still dropped us off at the car garage where a cab was instead waiting to take us to our motel (free of charge!). We stayed at Comfort Inn, which was very close to the mall and to some restaurants (and McDonalds of course - it actually reminded us of the McDonalds in Laie). We decided to get Chinese for dinner, but Carl ended up absolutely hating it - and thankfully McDonalds was just around the corner. We were tired from our flight - and so we hit the bed early... and soon we were out!

Carl and his graduate chair, Dr. Lory Willoughby

The following day was Carl's graduation day. We had to be there early for the hooding ceremonies. For the first time, Carl met his cohort, their professors, his graduate committee, and his mentor. We were so excited, and it was such a unique experience to watch them talk to each other in person for the first time. After the ceremonies, their Department Chair Dr. Willoughby treated the whole cohort for lunch at Badlands Grill. We were so full!!! After that, the group split because some had to drive to Bismarck to catch their flights out of North Dakota. Carl and two others who we carpooled with decided they wanted to look around campus, in fact they decided they wanted to get their school IDs! Another guy joined us later on, and they talked and talked. This third guy was a local and he talked stories about Minot and stuff.

So they started talking stories at around 2pm... an hour later, they decided to get coffee at Starbucks (of course we had hot chocolate), and another 2 hours of talking ensued. At one point I couldn't blend anymore 'coz the started talking tech stuff, so I went and read at Barnes and Nobles. But then they decided they wanted to have dinner together. We were gonna bail since our motel was already around the corner, but they insisted. So we went to this only Thai restaurant in town called Baan Rao. Carl order a very spicy dish, which he did enjoy, but regretted ordering it to a very spicy specification! It was a very heart-warming experience, and we were blessed with very hospitable and generous new friends. See, we went on this trip with a very strict budget. At the end of the trip, we only paid for our plane tickets, 3 cab rides, (discounted) motel rate, one yucky Chinese dinner, and 3 dollar burgers. And to top that, we had a very kind-hearted friend waiting to pick us up at the SLC Airport when we landed the day after.

My graduate :)

Some of Carl's MSIS cohort with Dept. Chair Dr. Willoughby
(we carpooled with the guys on the far right and 3rd from right,
and they paid for dinner too)

Carl and his new friends at the
Scandinavian Heritage Park

Our trip to Minot, North Dakota - was indeed worth taking!

An Eventful Month of March

There were a lot of beautiful things that happened in March...

We had birthdays, milestones, missions, baptisms, and conference posters to name a few...

March 12th was Mama's 49th birthday - yup, she doesn't look her age at all!

March 22nd was Mara's 19th birthday - this is in fact her last teenage year... :)

March 25th &26th - Yken went to the temple to receive his endowments with Mama and Papa, and it was a very spiritual one. The next day, he entered the MTC in Manila and officially started his 24-month mission. It was a very special day, our hearts are full and we all feel blessed that Yken has made the righteous decision to work on the Lord's sacred errand.

March 27th - Ricky entered the waters of baptism - FINALLY. It was a very beautiful rainy Sunday. It was an amazing feeling. Carl confirmed him the gift of the holy ghost that same day, and the spirit was so strong. It was indeed the right time. We pray that Ricky and ate Lei soon attend the temple together, and will be sealed for time and all eternity

last week of March - Carl and I (mostly I) spend a total of 54 hours at the MFHD Graduate Lab running Structural Equation models for my Mary Lou Fulton Conference project on Asian-White Intimate Relationships. I ate my breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the lab for almost 3 days, and Carl is the most awesome husband one can ever have - he brought me meals, stayed with me at the lab, and stayed up late with me...

The year that was - and our New Years Roadtrip to Southern California

Its quite interesting to think that we did the exact opposite for New Years 2010. We were still living then in Southern California, and we took a road trip to Las Vegas all the way to Utah. It was a very memorable one, and that road trip was very humbling. Both Carl and I were jobless and all we had were each other, and wonderful family and friends. I will never forget what our very good friend Liz said as we welcomed 2010 in flamboyant Las Vegas. She said, "2010 is going to be an awesome year!"

For many reasons, she was right. By the end of February 2010, Carl and I found ourselves packing our things and moving north to Utah - Carl was offered a job with the LDS Church Headquarters, and I was eventually admitted to BYU's graduate program. It was quite a year - and we had so many things to be grateful for. It was quite an adventure too. I had to take an emergency trip to the Philippines to renew my student visa. While I had the opportunity to spend time with family back home, Carl and I missed each others' birthdays and 2nd anniversary. When I came back, we had the opportunity to celebrate all three wonderful occasions.

The rest of the year flew by so fast... and next thing we knew, the snow has come and we were putting up our Christmas tree and Carl has learned to snowboard.

Taking the road trip to Southern California was an emotional one for me, but above and beyond that, it was a celebration of everything 2010 has blessed us with - family, friends, and countless blessings from the Lord!

STOP OVER: Circus Circus in Las Vegas, NV

DESTINATION: Disneyland in Anaheim, CA

QUICK STOP: Santa Monica Pier in Santa Monica, CA

A TASTE OF HOME: Jollibee in Las Vegas, NV

___oo00000oo___

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

2011 IS GOING TO BE AWESOME TOO!!!

ITS CHRISTMAS MORNING

This year, we got to have NOCHE BUENA twice!!!

We were at the Catubays in South Jordan with some friends for a hearty pot luck noche buena! There was an abundance of great food, and we had to be careful not get too full because we still have something for ourselves at home!

"early" Noche Buena at the Catubays in South Jordan

We were back at our humble Wymount apartment in Provo at around 10pm. We have some pizza and soda and stuff, like a midnight snack sort of noche buena part 2! we also exchanged gifts, which was really fun. I got a vanilla cinnamon scented candle from Jasmine and Carl got an emergency car kit from Scott. Carl gave Norman new bath towels, and I gave Scott a Japan Mission t-shirt. Of course, we gave little Keana a very cute sweater dress from Gymboree!!! The Milburys had to be home too, so they went ahead a little after midnight... but the rest of us watched SALT (and that movie is now on Carl's favorite movies list).

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

With love from the extended Canlas family

But our favorite part was CHRISTMAS MORNING!!!

Carl opening his humongous gift!!!

Opening the FedEx surprise :)

a glimpse of Fall

We better start savoring the beautiful colors of fall before they're gone and replaced by white powdery snow!

Here's a couple of things that happened this Fall

October 2010 General Conference with Wonderful Friends from Southern California

BYU Homecoming Weekend 2010

Halloween at the Bybees

Thanksgiving with the Dixons in Brigham City

Time went by so fast, and its almost the end of the year... and so its time to put up that CHRISTMAS TREE!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!

THE WHOLE SIX WEEKS

This blog update is extra special... and will be sort of extra long... i hope you can bear with us. As most of you know, I took an emergency trip to the Philippines and had to stay there for about six weeks. You must have read my post early in July which I wrote while at the San Francisco Airport wait for my connecting flight via Philippine Airlines.This post will basically give details of those six weeks in the Philippines, mostly from my point of view... and then the two weeks that followed after my arrival in Salt Lake City...

THE HOMELAND
Mama and Papa and Carl's parent's met me at the airport and we spent the whole morning in Paranaque. Ezra was overjoyed to have his Thomas the Train toy and Esther absolutely loved her little stuffie! Later that day I took the 6-hour bus trip with Mama and Papa back to La Union. I can honestly say I was still out of my head... of course I was extremely glad that I was home...but my mind kept wondering and worrying about my visa interview...because if worse come to worst...my 6-week vacation can become 6 years or more. I spent 2 days in La Union visiting family and friends, especially my sister whose been staying in Baguio City attending school. And then it was time to face the music at the US Embassy.

THE GATEWAY TO AMERICA

We were there really early. Mama, Papa, and I - just like the first time. It was sort of a deja vu... except that I know it will be harder for me to bear the consequences of any unpleasant outcome this time. I was inside the embassy for probably 4 hours, and I only spent more or less 5 minutes explaining my reasons why I should be granted a new student visa. I honestly thought the consul was going to deny my application. At the back of my mind, I was praying, Amen after Amen...I was asking Heavenly Father to please, more than anything, reunite me with Carl. And then the answer was YES. I can almost hear Carl whisper, "Welcome Home."

THE VACATION
I spent a week with my new extended family. I truly enjoyed cooking for them - from Garlic Shrimp to my Lumpiang Shanghai! Ezra and Esther were the perfect playmates... and I love love love them to pieces. Ate Ruth and I took them to the mall and we all had a blast as the two little munchkins joined other kids participate at a kid's show mall tour. Being shy certainly doesn't run in the Canlas' blood - that's for sure. Mom took me to Divisoria for some budget friendly shopping... and with Dad they showed me their house where Carl spent most of his younger days... I should have taken a picture of it, but I was so overwhelmed I forgot all about it - but that particular house of theirs has the Laie Hawaii Temple engraved on its main door. I also met up with some of my college girlfriends including Carl's cousin Ann. For me the highlight of my whole stay with Carl's family was Carl's birthday - Mom and I went to the Manila Philippines Temple together.

Ate Ruth and her babies, Ezra and Esther, at SM Bicutan

UP Baguio Girls - Love (UPB Econ '04, Davao Mission bound),

En (UPB Econ '03, career woman looking for Mr. R)

JV (UPB SocAn '03, happily married), and

Ann (UPB Comm '04, Baguio Mission bound)

Mom and I at the Manila Philippines Temple on Carl's birthday

FAMILY and FRIENDS
A day after I got my passport/visa in the mail. Papa picked me up in Manila. During the 4 weeks that followed, I was able to spend some quality time with my family. On my first weekend, I actually went out with my High School friends and we visited our good friend's grave who died from bacterial meningitis in 2008. I also went out on a date with my big little brother and watched a movie, and I also attended his first baptism ever. Papa took us out and we had a feast at Shakey's. I met up with my good friend Angela in Baguio and had a great lunch at VOCAS with ate Chona. Angela was also leaving the Philippines for graduate school... she'll be attending the University of Nebraska-Lincoln on a Fulbright Scholarship. I know.. its great to have friends as smart as Angela! Mama and I also went to Baguio a couple of times, mostly to do some shopping at the famous Ukay-Ukay. On a normal day though, I was just at home, with Lola and two little kindergarteners who make life interesting for everyone - Ydian and Ylyzza. Carl and I talk at least twice a day. I spent a lot of time talking stories with my lola... she has lots and lots of stories... and I can never have enough :)

Ylyzza and Ydian: BATH TIME PINOY STYLE!

THE WEIGHT..THE FOOD... AND ALL OTHER REASONS.
I know... I gained 25 lbs over the last 4 years. And everyone seemed to notice... And almost everyone told me I should lose weight so I can get pregnant. In reality, its like the other way around... this whole weight gain is an effect, not a cause, of a medical condition I didn't know I have ... it's called Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS). Because of PCOS, conceiving will be a challenge for Carl and I... it won't be impossible, but it will take a while (and some medical intervention). And according to my OB-GYN, one of my condition's side effect is weight gain. So there... everytime some one said I've gotten HUGE, I just dismissed it... knowing that its not entirely my fault... and so I continued to eat like I usually do. HAHAHA! I ate A LOT of veggies and fruits - ONLY IN THE PHILIPPINES STYLE! Can't beat that!

THE BIRTHDAY and THE ANNIVERSARY
I received a birthday card and an anniversary card from my only love Carl. Can't ask for more... My family organized a simple gathering for me - to celebrate my birthday and Carl and mine's 2nd anniversary... and for many more reasons close to the heart. We all had a great time catching up, realizing how kids have grown up so fast, and seeing what the future has promised to all of us. Families are awesome - no matter what size and shape they come in. I am ever glad to have a family like mine. I wish Carl was there.. I know how much he wished he could. Friends from my home ward also came, and my very good friend Joreen came down all the way from Manila to spend time with me over the weekend. It was good...and it felt great to be 24!


THE MOST NEEDED TIME FAMILY TIME
A couple of days before I had to leave for the US, we had to be in Manila to pick up my aunt's family from the airport. We visited our family in Pampanga on our way to Manila.Tita Jen's family arrives from Texas a day before my flight. and we spent some time with them in Subic before driving back to the airport for my flight.. We had a blast at Zoobic Safari in Subic, feeding tigers and all that fun stuff. We stayed at the Grand Seas Resort in Olongapo, and enjoyed their pool's cool water and their yummy breakfast. We had a late lunch at Gerry's Grill with the super uncle in the world, Chammy. It has been a while since our family was able to have a "get-away." We were always a busy family, and we usually don't go very far. My aunt's family was so nice to include us in their budget ;) Seriously, the last family trip we probably had was 10 years ago... It was really heartwarming, and again, I was wishing Carl was with us...

TIME TO LEAVE

After an exhilarating day at Zoobic Safari, we scrambled to get back to our hotel and get ready to leave for Manila. The trip from Olongapo to Manila was about 3 to 4 hours, plus traffic because it was a Friday. We left Olongapo at around 3:30 in the afternoon, and you bet we got caught in traffic. My flight was at 10, we arrived at the airport at 15 till 8. Awesome. Carl's dad was there with more stuff for us. And then, in a whirlwind, I was inside and checking-in my bags. Mama and Papa, oh yes those two were teary eyed, as they always are. After i checked-in my stuff, I went out again to spend a couple more minutes with them since I still have time. Papa wasn't able to give me a blessing, so he just lead us in a family prayer. It is going to quite a while before we will become a family of five again. Later this year, Yken will be leaving for his mission... so lets say, the next reunion for this awesome family will not be until 2 years from now... and yeah, Papa felt awkward to give his big baby girl a hug, not because he's not affectionately expressive, but because he doesn't want to cry...

one last time... before five becomes three (for the next two years)

UP IN THE AIR
There's nothing much to say about my flight back to the US except for the fact that I was afraid my flight was gonna be cancelled because of the airline's issues with its staff and crew. Seems like international flights weren't as affected as the domestic ones... And so, every couple thousand miles, my heart felt closer to my one eternal love... Carl.

Our Niece's Baby Blessing

Today was our niece's baby blessing. Her dad gave her a beautiful blessing and it was a very touching moment at sacrament meeting. The whole Milbury family (with the exception of one who lives out in California) attended our ward today. Mom Maren and Dad Gary Dixon, Paul and Ligaya Kuiken, the Catubays, and the Hamptons were also there to witness the joyous occasion.

Mommy Jasmine and Baby Keana

After church, we all had a little get together at the Milbury's - and Keana had a good time. Good food and good friends always make a happy occasion. Jasmine's mom-in-law Pat and Scott's sister Jill made spaghetti, home-made bread-sticks, tossed green salad, and pineapple punch. Carl and I prepared the Lumpia and Mini Hotdogs for hors'oeuvres.

The Catubays, the Hamptons, and the newly wed Kuiken couple celebrating with Baby Keana

Friends + Food = Fun

Since we've moved to Utah, Carl and I haven't gotten the time to visit and hang-out with friends. We usually spend our weekends doing errands. The only times we had "friend-time" was when we slept over at Jared's (Carl's BYUH room mate) after the New Moon party back in March, and when we attended Music and the Spoken Word couple of weeks ago.

So, Carl and I had a really good time last Saturday when we got the chance to get together with friends and had a potluck at the Catubay's in Daybreak. It was just the perfect timing because friends from Hawaii are either visiting or moving here, just like us. Thanks to Shey's reminder that "we need to hang-out," Jenneth's potluck idea, and ate Lally's warm accommodations - last Saturday's get together was so much fun!

Everyone brought food, and at the end of the night, all the food was almost gone. I guess when someone announces its Videoke time, we all forget there's some more food left!

Thanks everyone for bringing good food and sharing good laughs! Hope we can do it again sometime :)

Awesome Moab Weekend!!!

Our Easter Weekend was definitely awesome!!!

This year, we were invited by Mom and Dad Dixon to join their annual family camping trip to Moab. Carl and I were so excited because we've had the thought of going on a camping trip since last summer when we were still living in California.

So last Friday, Klisty and her sons picked us up and we all drove up to Moab.We had tons of fun!!! And that's because Carl and I did something we've never tried before. We enjoyed it a lot, and we were so glad that the weather was very cooperative. 

When we hiked on Saturday, it was the perfect weather to be in the great outdoors. I was physically challenged on some spots during the hike - as I realized how my short legs can not quite reach when I try to pass through. We were so beat and tired, but we enjoyed the thrill and the view of Fiery Furnace at Arches National Park. It was stunningly beautiful out there!!!

Carl was thrilled to drive Brady's Jeep, though I freaked out when I thought Carl panicked. Carl also tried mountain biking with Dad Gary at Slick Rock. 

We also watched as Jeeps and trucks fall in line at Potato Salad Hill and ascend one by one up the boulders. 

On Easter morning, we watched the kids paint their eggs, and later on rolled them on the hill.

 It was such a fun weekend!!!