This Week's Recipe

Announcement!!! Announcement!!! This is CARL!

Some of you, our dear friends, know that my wife is awesome in the kitchen! If you've ever been to our apartment in TVA when we were still in BYU-Hawaii, you've probably tasted some of her delicious labor of love!

In line with sharing, JV has added a page in our blog where she weekly features what she's done special in the kitchen. By just clicking on each featured food's name, you will be directed to a site where she posts some of her recipes.

This week's featured recipe is her version of LUMPIANG SHANGHAI. Check it out!

By the way, each featured recipe is posted on our blog for a week, and then she replaces it with a different one the week after. So you probably should visit her food blog too!

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 :)

time to chop that hair

Carl has asked me several times in the past couple of months if I wanted to cut my hair already...and I always had two reasons why it wasn't time to cut it. First, a haircut is not my priority. Second, I need the length to cover my nape during the winter season so i didn't have to buy a scarf. And plus, I like my hair long. The third one wasn't a reason, its just me stating a fact.

But like anything in this world, there comes a point when its just too much -  and yeah, I finally figured my hair got much longer than is convenient. So last Saturday, I bid goodbye to probably 8 inches of hair. The hairdresser actually asked me maybe 3 or 4 times if I was sure I wanted to cut that much... and I, without blinking, said YES, CHOP IT. 

It was my freshman year in high school when I last allowed myself to grow my hair too long, and I remember having to braid it almost everyday just so it would look neat on my face. So when I started resorting to braiding my hair whenever I don't have enough time to fix it - that was it.

My last visit to the hair salon was on Thanksgiving 2008...and after 17 months, I guess it's about time. 

And by the way, I kept the hair that she cut... maybe i'll try to beat my own record!

608 Days, a Postcard and a Cake

Carl and I have been married for 608 days now. Since the day we've been married, we've lived in 3 states, stayed in 4 houses, and bought a $2000 car. Its been a total adventure -  we've had our ups and downs, but somehow through each other's strength and with the Lord's grace, we always pull through.

If I had to go through those 20 months by myself, I might have gone crazy every other 2 months. Haha!! Seriously, the not-so-good times were a lot better because I had Carl. Well, for Carl, he always tells me I'm patient and supportive and amazing... I don't feel like I measure up sometimes... but I do the best I can to be a better wife everyday.

As a gift to Carl, I baked and decorated a cake for him. I am very proud of this cake because it's the first time I am making its kind. I baked the cake and made the fondant last Tuesday. I stored them in the freezer, and worked on it yesterday. It took me maybe 4 hours to finish the whole thing, even though its pretty small. I stored it in the fridge after, even though I know I'm not supposed to - condensation inside the fridge is supposed to make the fondant wet, because I had to keep it from Carl. I intended for it to be a surprise, and Carl was not allowed to open the fridge.

Check out my kitchen to learn more about how I made my 1st fondant cake :)

So anyway, when it was time for Carl to see the cake, he almost didn't want to eat it...he said its too pretty! Well, that's Carl - he always makes me feel good about the things I make. We ate some anyway!!!

He bought me a little postcard of the Laie Hawaii Temple, our special temple. Hawaii is our special place - where it all began 4 years ago. Tomorrow, we'll attend the Oquirrh Mountain Temple in South Jordan to celebrate the spiritual essence of our marriage.

It has been an amazing 20 months - and I won't trade anything for the laughs and tears that had been. I love my husband, and I know he loves me - and that makes life great!

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!!!

the baby that makes everybody happy

I should have written something about this little princess couple of weeks ago... but well, I waited until her momma took enough baby pictures of her :)

This is our family's newest little princess, Keana Leirose. She is now 6 weeks old... and she's getting prettier and prettier everyday.

Carl and I love watching and playing with her while momma Jasmine is busy doing something or taking a break.

We are content with her while we're waiting for our own, who will come when Heavenly Father decides we've had enough vicarious parenting experience and its time for us to do the real thing.

We love Keana!!!

We're Proud of Our Brothers

Carl and I are very proud siblings of these two very smart boys..

Carl's youngest brother James graduated Valedictorian from St. Leonard Academy in Paranaque. He was also awarded Best in Math. James will be attending college at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines come June, and he will be majoring in computer science. Way to go James!!! Kuya Carl and I are very proud of you!

My younger brother Jave Yken graduated among the top of his class and received his Bachelor's degree in Nursing from Easter Colleges in Baguio City. He was also given a Varsity award for playing in the school's basketball team.

Yken will start his review classes this April in preparation for the Nursing Licensure Exam in July. While doing so, he is also processing his mission papers and is preparing to leave right after he takes his boards.

Carl and I are very proud of our brothers. They have both studied very diligently and they were blessed for their hard work.

Congratulations James and we hope you have fun in college!

To Yken, we wish you all the best and we welcome you to the bigger world!!!

We love you both!!!

Date Night and Twilight

My awesome husband Carl surprised me last week when he came home from work. After he left the office, he dropped by the Walmart Supercenter to get an oil change for our car. When he got home, he asked me, "do you want to go to a Twilight Party this Saturday?" More than surprised, I was intrigued. Carl understands my enthusiasm with Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series, in fact he gifted me with the books for Christmas. So, anyway, I thought he was joking because I had just been reading the books again for he nth time. But he was serious...because Twilight Saga cast members were making an appearance at the Riverton Walmart for the Midnight Release of the Twilight Saga: New Moon DVD.

So Friday was date night - he was so patient with me, and he endured all the girlish cheesiness of the fans. I guess he was surprised too, to see young girls, young ladies, young moms, old moms, and SOME boys at the party! LOL. The cast members came out at about past 10pm and they sent the crowd screaming in excitement. Christian Serratos (Angela Weber), Michael Welch (Mike Newton), and Justin Chon (Eric Yorkie), who played Bella's high school friends in the movie, were there to sign New Moon DVDs for the first 300 fans. Too bad, we were probably the 3000th fan to get there...with all those Twilight moms and their daughters already lined up since lunch time, I would still be the 1000th fan to arrive even if I came at 3pm.

But anyway, Carl completed my Twilight DVDs so far... and he watched them with me. He'd actually grown an appreciation for it after he saw how the movie was made - from conceptualization down to post-production. He actually said, we might probably see Eclipse at an IMAX Theatre!!! I am so excited for June 30th!!

I love you Hon - Twilight or no Twilight!!! :)

when it rains, it pours

FEBRUARY 2010

While Carl was out of a job, he sent out countless resumes to prospective employers. When he accepted the job offer from Silla Automitive, he was still waiting for word from 2 other companies. One was a healthcare company in Los Angeles, and the other one was from The Corporation of the President, LDS Church. The latter one was a one-year internship that has promising IT training for Carl, but something that would require us to move to Riverton, Utah. On his 1^st week with Silla, Carl received a call from the Church Headquarters asking him when he will be available for a video conference interview. What's gonna happen after that interview was something we would have never expected after all that we've been through.

One night, after we've said our prayers, Carl asked me... “are you ready to move to Utah?” I thought at first he was talking about my application to BYU Graduate School. It didn't quite sink in to me that he was referring to his internship with the church. I was speechless there lying in our bed. He began by telling me how they asked him to start by April 15^th or earlier. It hasn't been a month yet since he started with Silla, and he's just about to quit...and we have a month and a half to pack up. Our kind of good rain pour has literally started...especially because Carl received a request from his future boss for him to start as early as March 1^st. Now we had barely 3 weeks to pack up and move 700 miles north of California.

We spent Valentine's weekend with friends. We watched Valentine's Day on the 13^th in Glendale, with Aprilon, Mhar and Liezel and later had dinner at Pho Citi. Mhar and Liezel stayed for the night. It was kind of our last couple of weeks together. They went to church with us, and later went on their own Valentine's day date at Kincaid. Carl and I on the other hand, bought a bouquet of flowers for Joyce. I received a gorgeous bouquet too, and we had heart shaped pancakes for breakfast earlier that day. Carl and I had dinner at Hokkaido's Seafood Buffet in Long Beach. It was awesome – better than Honolulu's Makino Chaya. Carl bought me a silver necklace for Valentine's. This was way better than last years...

A week later, Lui visited us from Salt Lake and Mhar came down again to interview for Carl's position with Silla. It was our last weekend in California. Almost all our friends from SoCal got together that weekend – to see Lui, to welcome Mhar to SoCal, and to send us off to Utah. We had dinner at Hokkaido's on Friday night, on Saturday night ate dinner at Home Town Buffet and later hit Santa Monica and walked down 3^rd Street Promenade and watched Leo DiCaprio's Shutter Island. It was another good weekend. It would have been nicer if the Pascuals were able to join us, but they were busy with getting into their new home (which was another good thing to celebrate actually!).

The week that followed was all excited, sad, rushed, but glad. We finished packing the rest of our stuff. Our bed was donated to a new family in the ward. I said goodbye to my kids Brent, Chase, and Kaylie. We had family dinner with Joyce, Jen and her kids, the missionaries, and Lei and Ricky. Jasmine gave birth to a healthy 6.9-pound baby Keana Leirose and will be home from the hospital when we arrive later that week. Carl prepped our car, and we were all set to move by Thursday night...

At the beginning of the year, Liezel told me 2010's gotta be a good year. Well, for one, Carl and I have finally found a better deal with the US economy. As for our friends, the Pascuals finally bought a home for themselves, Mhar has found a job in Southern California and can now live closer to Liezel, Becky's almost done with school, Jennifer has found a family friend company and now has more time with her kids, and Joyce can help another family when an opportunity comes up just like the way she helped us get back on our tracks. I guess Liezel's vision of a better 2010 is pretty accurate...

Now its time for a new adventure...

greeting the new year

JANUARY 2010

We greeted 2010 with our friends in no less than Las Vegas. Yes - a bunch of broke young adults went to Las Vegas with hopes of having fun and setting aside our stressful lives for just a couple of days. Andrew was visiting from Hawaii, and so we took him around – maybe too much. Mhar took him around San Francisco, and with Liezel and Becky he was taken around Los Angeles. When we met up with them on the 30^th, he was bound to explore Las Vegas and probably Salt Lake City in the next 2 days. Carl and Mhar took turns as we took off to Vegas for New Year's Eve. With no hotel accommodations waiting for us, we just braved ourselves and decided we were gonna have fun as we greet the turn of the decade with a bang! We walked down the strip and took endless pictures until we were tired and feet were all numb. Carl and Mhar took a nap in the car, to recharge for another stretch of a couple hundred mile drive to Salt Lake City. Andrew from the islands wanted to see snow, and Carl and I wanted to take the chance to visit Jasmine before she gives birth.

We enjoyed ourselves in the lights and sounds of Las Vegas. The boys, perhaps, had too much to see! We “partied” to the New Year!!! We left Vegas at around 3am.

We reached Draper around 7am. The Milburys made us breakfast and were too kind they let us use their bathroom so we could all shower. Carl and I were very happy to visit Jasmine before she gives birth.

We went to Provo and took pictures around BYU campus,the Missionary Training Center, and Provo temple. We had dinner at Jenneth and Daniel Hampton's home. We had a good time reconnecting with old friends like the Catahans and the Comptons from Hawaii.

We later met up with Carl's mission companion Scott Warner and his fiance Cherise.

We stayed at Shey and Micah Bybee's apartment for the night (unfortunately, the Bybees were spending New Years in Pocatello). We had breakfast the next day at ate Jan's place...and Lui prepared Curry for our lunch!

Utah friends are so awesome! Shey and Micah made it to Salt Lake right before we had to leave for California. It had been an awesome holiday weekend.

Two weeks later, the gang met up again in Southern California for Kohath's 2^nd birthday.

KC Cornelio took time off from her training in North Carolina and paid us a visit. We spent that weekend in Bakersfield celebrating with the Pascuals. Ate Yvonne and kuya Kamille prepared a feast for their little Koko. Koko had a Mickey-themed party. We filled ourselves with pork bbq, pancit, grilled squid, addobo, salad and a lot of karaoke singing on top! It was fun. Of course, no trip to Bakersfield is complete without stopping by for ice cream at Dewar's... so we did that before driving back to LA.

In LA, we took KC around Universal City Walk. It was a rainy and rather gloomy day in sunny California.

The following week, Carl started his new job with Silla Automotive in Compton. He's be working as the company's Network Administrator. You know what they say, “when it rains, it pours”? Our kind of good rain showers was about to come our way...the kind of good rain pouring – its unbelievably overwhelming...