Missing L-Infinity...

Who would have thought that 17 years ago, I would be blessed with a beautiful, intelligent and kind little girl? Her name means"God's promise" in Hebrew. Boy, was she a promise! Heavenly Father listened to my pleas almost 18 years ago and last week, one of the many promises we exchanged have again come to fruition-that I would see her off to college...

Not just any college, but one where He can keep an eye on her; BYU Hawaii, next to the Laie temple... A beautiful place for a beautiful soul...

She earned to be there... Her grades allowed her to be there, at no expense to us, not one penny! Even FAFSA gave her extra money! How amazing is that?! We were able to help her get set up nicely (above and beyond with the money we didn't have to use for college fees) in her side of the room (she has three roommates in a two-bedroom faculty housing unit, and they are all just lovely and all four get along great!)

(After we landed in Honolulu, just right outside the baggage claim)

(Above-at Costco; Below-inside Max's of Manila (Filipino restaurant) in Honolulu)

(A group hug after school blessings)

(Celebrating her move-in and our last night there over a delicious pu-pu platter.)

(These two, right in front of the temple; it's being renovated until October. Her housing unit, is mere minutes away.)

(Inside her unit, in the faculty housing complex. She was lucky to have this, it's spacious!)

(Her self-portrait; at a beach park in Hau'ula where we stayed.)

(At the Dole Plantation Garden tour; their bromeliad collection, a cousin of the pineapple, are amazing!)

Even though we are separated for now, and she is somewhere...

the sun sighs when it shines over...
the clouds happily congregate and tease the water above majestic mountains...
where pineapples grow to be sweet and juicy... I know that wherever she is...
Our little family of five, because we believe in Jesus Christ, will always be together-FOREVER!

Some families get 18 years, some more... I only get 17, but I have never been more looking forward to all the school holiday breaks! See you in December, baby!

Tax Free BTS Weekend

Today until Sunday, it will be "Back to School Tax Free Shopping Days" here in our area. To take advantage of that, the kiddos and I walked to Kohl's this morning. See, the kiddos didn't mind carrying all the bags. Yes, I helped of course. We started out with the clouds threatening to "cry" again but after (as proof in above photo) the sun was also happy with our haul!

We were able to get everything we needed: (clearance 60-80% off) sneakers, placemats, shorts, undershirts; and two lunch boxes for well under my budget! It helped that Kohl's sent out those $10 giftcards in the mail and that they were doing their "$10 for every $50 spent" deal. Mr. Man will like that!

Great shopping, exercise and being together. Can't beat that great feeling!

Migraine!

Totally got sidetracked with migraine today, most of the day and Facebook was driving me nuts!... But I knew I couldn't hide in my bedroom the whole time so, I made sure that the kids and I did something together after I made a quick dinner out of leftover chicken and Pasta Roni.

Yep, more baking! We made cinnamon rolls! We, as in all four of us! I didn't use the Lion House recipe, not yet anyway, but instead we made the Light Wheat Rolls recipe turned cinnamon rolls.
I can't wait for the final rise to be done (10 mins left). I'll be putting the dough in the fridge so the kids have fresh cinnamon rolls for breakfast... I can't wait to taste one! I'll bake one to test.

If these turn out good, I will try the Lion's House recipe and then Lara's mom's recipe. Not to compare but to familiarize myself with the different variations.

You know a good chef would do that... *smiling wickedly*

UPDATE: Decided to add the pictures and to report that the final product tasted great! I used Graham Wheat Flour (whole grain) by Hodgson Mill and the nutty cinnamon-y flavor is nothing I've tasted in other cinnamon rolls before! I like it! I'll make my own glaze tomorrow...

I apologize if you're getting sick of me talking about (ok, deliriously happy talking) baking. I've really never baked before and now, I find that I truly like it!

Mr. Man, thanks for believing in me!

Happy Friday!!!

Still Trying to Slow Down...

At least I still have my fingers crossed! LOL

This day was spent going to Marshall's looking at some dishes to get my fix. Then got some laundry done and more reorganizing / paring down of clothes while Mr. Man still has some time before he starts his new work schedule next week.

After the kiddos got home, there's the Ac Dec Banquet to get ready for and the B1G1FREE Year-End School Book Fair. We were served a free Hotdog dinner and I-Dude even won a $5 Polser Bucks Coupon and earned himself a FREE Book! Plus, I found myself volunteering for any At-Home PTA assignments. They're thinking Directory. I'm thinking... I did that for L-Infinity's 6th grade year, I can do it again for J-Pony's 5th grade year.

Now, we actually have some resting time and are watching the movie "RV". It's fun so far except I highly recommend watching with no subtitles on if with children.

Since Monday was spent with Memorial Day dinner, Tuesday was Awards night, Wednesday was school errands night, we decided to appoint tonight as FHE night, just being together... Something worth trying!

See you all tomorrow...

FHE: Baking Together

We didn't have much time to spare all day as we are cleaning up for our trip this weekend so today for Family Home Evening, we baked together our own dessert!

Yes, I still have a lot of opened flour packets; a few more days of baking I guess. ;-)

We discussed why baking together is good for our family and overall, "a good thing".

***We learn to serve each other
***We appreciate each other more
***We learn to serve others
***We learn new skills
***We learn to let others help us
***We learn to be more flexible
***We learn from each other

***We also learned that baking together means being together which means serving each other therefore serving God.

Mosiah 2:17 (Book of Mormon)
"And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."

Cooking With Your Kids blog:
"You don't have to be Martha Stewart to share fun experiences with your kids that yield delicious results."

Food Network:
"As soon as you preheat your oven and get out the butter and sugar, your kids know they're in for a treat. But if you enlist their help the next time you're in the mood to bake, they'll have as much fun mixing ingredients as they do munching on the sweet results — and so will you!"

This is what we baked together:


Berry Biscuit Tart
1 1/2 cups Clabber Baking mix

1 cup of milk

1/2 cup sugar

6 strawberries diced

Blackberries

Strawberries

1 tsp sugar

egg white


Preheat oven to 450 degrees

Sift flour and sugar

Make a dibit and pour in milk

Slowly mix in diced strawberries and dough until it looks well blended and close to biscuit batter consistency

Put in shallow flat pan or a tart pan

Line top with sliced strawberries and blackberries

Mix some water with egg white and brush berries with it

Sprinkle 1 tsp sugar on the top of tart

Bake for 10 minutes or until top is golden brown


Serve with Great Divide ice cream. Yum!

How was your Monday night?