What's cookin'?

Well, at our house this week....

Monday: {Crock Pot} Chicken Tortilla Soup

Tuesday: Sweet and Sour Ribs

Boil ribs in: 1.5 cups sugar, 1/2 cup soy sauce, 2/3 cup white vinegar

After a little while of boiling, add 1 small can of pineapple juice. Before serving, add 1 and 1/3 cup of water mixed with 6 tsp cornstarch to thicken.

Wednesday: Meatloaf

1.5 lbs ground beef

1 egg

2 tsp worsestershire sauce

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

garlic and chopped onions to taste

1/4 cup Italian style bread crumbs

1/4-1/2 cup BBQ sauce

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl and then place in a 13x9 pan however you want.

Cover with sauce (1/2 cup brown sugar mixed with 1/2 cup ketchup)

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

Thursday: {Crock Pot} Brisket Quesadillas

Friday: {Crock Pot} Crockin Chicken Pot Pie

'Ihi's 1st Tooth

This little girl is growing way too fast. She cut her very first tooth yesterday (the bottom right middle one) and the one next to it will cut through any day now.

{And yes, she did scratch her face right before I took this pic.}

This week's menu...

Sunday: {Crock Pot}Mediterranean Pork Loin with Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Corn

Monday: Chili with Rice and {leftover} Corn

Tuesday: Tuna Casserole with Rice and Strawberries {on the side, of course}

Wednesday: {Crock Pot}Beef Au Jus Sandwiches on French Rolls

Thursday: {Crock Pot}Creamy Chicken Potatoes

Friday: {Crock Pot}Chicken Tortilla Soup

Saturday: Free Day

Healthy Me!

I make resolutions all the time. I just don't write them down for the whole world to judge me. HAHA. I guess that means no one can hold me accountable either! Well, many of you know I love to bake. When Kahili and I got married about 2 and a half years ago, he did most of the cooking and I did most of the baking. It made sense at the time because I was so busy with volleyball and school. I still cooked every once and awhile but cooking was not something that I considered myself "good" at. Plus, all the foods I knew how to cook were mostly Italian and Mexican and those happen to be Kahili's least favorite types of food. He ate them but didn't love it. Over the years, I have practiced and I have learned to make many of the dishes that he enjoys from his mother.

Well Kahili started working 50-70 hours a week starting back in October. Since then, I have taken over most if not all of the cooking responsibilities. My goal for this year is to learn new recipes and be able to provide us with healthy, home cooked meals 5-6 days a week. This will not only help keep us healthy it will save us money as well. One way I have been able to accomplish this is learning how to use my crock pot. I LOVE MY CROCK POT! It saves me so much time and I am able to have dinner done whenever Kahili is ready to eat. This website is where I get the majority of my crock pot recipes: Crockin Girls. I like it because most of their recipes have less that 5 ingredients.

I am also starting a freezer dinner group with some of my friends in the next couple of weeks. We will decide on a few different recipes to try for the month then go to a kitchen (probably at the church) and prepare all those meals and freeze them. That way we have a few different meals on hand for those crazy days where it seems impossible to cook dinner. I am very excited. Not only for the dinners but also to be able to get together with friends for a couple hours every month and chat. If anyone has done this before, please leave a comment with your ideas and/or recipes! Thanks!

Getting healthy not only includes eating well, it requires exercise. Honestly, I have been slacking in that department. However, yesterday I started a routine. Its an iPhone app called Get Running and the main purpose is to get you from the couch to running a 5K in 9 weeks. You work out 3 days a week and it is interval training which is great because that is what we used to do for volleyball. On my first day, yesterday, I did a 5 min warm up then did 8 one min runs with 1:30 of walking in between, then a 5 min cool down. It turned out to be a little over 2 miles of combined walking and running. The app is like a personal trainer and talks you through each interval while giving you time cues on when to start, 30 seconds, and 10 seconds. It's the best $.99 I have spent. haha. Now if only I could find a reasonable jogging stroller!

That's all I have for now. Sorry for my little rant!

On the Road Again

...or I guess it should say, "In the Air Again..."

2 weeks ago, we started a 10 day trip to see how much family we could visit. Haha. Alright so it wasn't exactly like that but we did try to see as much family as we could while we were in Hawaii and California because 'Ihi is growing so fast and those people don't get to see her as often to witness it.

To start our trip off, we got to travel as a family to San Francisco! I was so excited to have Kahili flying with us because 'Ihi is getting much more difficult to entertain. When we got to San Fran, we had every intention to go down to the pier, get some clam chowder and ghiradellis, and just go exploring! However, we quickly found out that we were kinda far from all the cool stuff and it would be way expensive to get anywhere. So instead we just lounged in the nice waterfront hotel and went to a nearby Elephant bar to eat. It was quite the adventure and nice to just hang out with Kahili since he always seems to be on the go from one job to the other.

After spending the night in San Fran, we headed to the airport very early to catch our flight to Hawaii which was oversold and Kahili and I had middle seats. NOT fun. AT ALL. With a teething baby who wanted to stand the whole time and only sleep 30 mins of the whole flight. Don't get me wrong, she was good as long as we were standing or entertaining her the whole time. The people on the flight adored her though.

Hawaii was wonderful! The weather was great and we got to spend the perfect amount of time with family. Saturday 'Ihi was a huge fuss. Going from just her and I in our little apartment to 30 different people wanting to hold her and play with her was rough. By the end of the day she would scream every time anyone other than me was holding her (even her Daddy!). The whole family came over for dinner that night and Tyler and Alana even visited after dinner! It was so good to see them (even though 'Ihi was being a grouch, sorry!).

Sunday we went to church and then everyone came over for dinner again. It is so fun to be with the whole family on Sundays instead of just hearing the craziness over the phone :).

Monday was a beautiful day so of course, we took advantage and celebrated Baby's 1st Beach Day! We headed down to Kaiwas because they have a beach right by their house that is very calm and perfect for the keikis. At first, 'Ihi didn't really like the water but then she got used to it and loved it!I have videos but they take forever to load on here so I'll just share a picture for now. Dad was watching the babies on the beach and the rest of us were in the water. He wanted to take a video of them so he sat the 2 boys on boogie boards and had Poki (4 years old), hold 'Ihi. Well, I don't know what happened but 'Ihi was all of a sudden face first in the sand! And Dad caught it all on tape! haha. So Uncle Wai had to blow in her face and dunk her under water because obviously I was traumatized! It was a great beach day.

The rest of the week went by so fast, too fast! Kahili woke up sick on Tuesday so we just hung out at home all day despite our dinner plans with the Yates (Sad!). Wednesday started off as another beautiful day but it turned ugly right when we got the Kaiwas. That's ok though because the kids got out of school early that day and the Kahalepunas and Haverlys met us there so we just hung out and eventually got to go in the water when the rain passed. Kahili and Wai went spearing again just like they did on Monday with no success. After, we got to go visit Auntie Maile, Lemao, and Malia and they loved seeing baby. That night we all went to Mui Kwai (Kahili's absolute favorite Chinese food).

Kahili left Thursday morning and I packed all day while the grandparents and Wai got their last play time with 'Ihi. Early Friday morning, 'Ihi and I got on our flight to Cali. She was a good girl again, she just needed to be entertained for all but an hour (when she slept) of the flight. I could tell her teeth were hurting so we sucked/chewed on lots of ice.

Our time in Cali was short and kinda felt like a whirlwind. Maybe that's because the first 2 nights we ('Ihi and I) didn't sleep. Teething. What I do remember: Friday we went to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner, Saturday we watched Daylene play basketball and Coco play softball, Sunday we went to church and then went to Grandma and Uncle Bretts for a yummy beef stroganoff dinner. Finally, Monday we went to lunch at CPK with Stacey, Dani, and Jenna (BFFs from high school) and had our last family dinner with the Marzorinis. Auntie June made bomb BBQ chicken wraps. Yum.

Tuesday 'Ihi took her 12th flight of her short 5 month old life. HOME SWEET HOME. Don't get me wrong, I love visiting family but traveling with a baby is stressful. And tiring. And stressful. Did I mention tiring? Because we did not get much sleep. But we did have lots of fun! Thanks family!

These were the ONLY 2 pictures I took the entire trip. FAIL.

5 Months

A am a little behind on my monthly update of all things Ka'ihilei. I have a really good reason though. The past week and a half we have been traveling! First to Hawaii for 6 days and then Cali for 4 days! It was so much fun but those adventures deserve their own post. So, more on that later.

On Saturday, while we were in California, 'Ihi turned 5 months! She is such a big girl now! Normally I wouldn't have a weight update for this month but I had to take her in to the doctor yesterday for a cough that she started on Tuesday morning right before we got on the plane home. The girl is 16 lbs 4.5 ounces! Here are some new things that she has learned this month:

*She discovered both her lower lip and her tongue. It is so funny because I can hear her sucking and when I look, she has her lower lip pulled into her mouth and she's sucking on it. She also loves to chew on her tongue.

*She loves sitting up (probably because she is so nosey!) and looking around. She still has some trouble in her car seat and I think it's because she can't see anything but the seat! lol. She does this thing whenever we lay her down on a blanket or put her in her car seat where she lifts her head up and won't sit back and relax. She has also learned that it makes it very difficult for us to strap her in her car seat if she pushes her elbows out and leans forward. It is quite annoying.

*Besides the foods I listed before, she has now tried prunes (they definitely help keep her regular!), sweet potatoes, and peas. I also bought her some of those little gerber snacks that dissolve in your mouth (the Apple-Strawberry ones) but she doesn't seem to like them too much.

*We are pretty sure we can feel a tooth coming in on the bottom. She won't let us touch it (she closes her mouth or sticks her tongue out when I try to feel) so I can't really see but judging by the lack of sleep I have gotten this week, that sucker is coming soon!

*I just wanted to record some of the things that people seem to say about 'Ihi that seem to be recurring: "She is soooo adorable!" "OMG, are her eyes blue?! So cute!" "Wow, she sure loves to talk." and the most common: "She is such a happy/smily baby!"

*She smiles at everyone!

*After our travels this past week she has now been on 12 flights traveling to Hawaii 2 times and California 4 times! I hope she will grow up and get to travel the world and see even more places than I have. :)

*The glorious "non-smelly-breastmilk-poopy-diaper days" are long over and we now have very smelly multiple colored poops to change. Is it too early to start potty-training? haha

Well, I think those are all the updates I have for this month. We hope her tooth cuts soon so we can all get some much needed sleep around here!

Solids

I think I posted about this in 'Ihi's 4 month update but I'm not sure. Our doctor has advised us to start solids so this past month we have tried a few new foods. I was planning on making my own so that I could make them as fresh as possible but due to the bad timing (who has time to do anything around the holidays?!) and not being prepared because I wasn't planning on starting until 6 months, we have just bought a couple different first foods. We started with poi, a first food for a lot of Hawaiian babies. 'Ihi threw up twice in 2 days so we stopped giving it to her. Then we tried some rice cereal and she wasn't a fan. Next we tried mixing some rice cereal with applesauce and she liked that a little better. At this point, we started having some problems with constipation and sickness ('Ihi and I both got the stomach flu) so we stopped solids for a few days. I bought some pears and green beans because I heard they both help with constipation. We tried the pears and 'Ihi loved them! She couldn't get enough and they helped keep her bowel movements regular (TMI for you non-moms?...sorry!). after a few days, we tried green beans and unfortunately, they made her constipated again. Let me just tell you, a constipated baby= a fussy baby who does not sleep very well which makes for some grumpy parents. I know firsthand. Needless to say, we went back to pears and she is regular again and back to being a happy happy baby! Thank goodness!

Christmas and New Years 2011

Happy Holidays!

{Warning: This post includes a loooonnnnnngggg rant.}

I have been absent from the blogging world and enjoying the holidays in the real world ;) I will start by saying that I was NOT looking forward to this holiday season. Back in October when Kahili interviewed for the MTC job, I asked him if he would ask specifically about the holidays and when he would be expected to work. They told him that he would have no responsibility during Thanksgiving but he would need to work the Christmas devotional that takes place on Christmas morning at the MTC. His shifts at the Marriott allowed him to choose weather he got Thanksgiving or Christmas off. So, seeing as how he had to be in Provo for Christmas anyway, we decided to have him get Thanksgiving off so we could spend at least one of the holidays with our family. Thanksgiving was great. However, we came back to Provo and it dawned on me that it was almost Christmas and we weren't going to be able to spend it with either of our families. We wouldn't even get to spend it as a family of 3 because Kahili would be working at the MTC all morning and then the Marriott all afternoon/evening. It would just be 'Ihi and I all alone on Christmas. I started to get really sad and talked to Kahili about it. He told me that I should just take 'Ihi down to California and spend Christmas with my family. I didn't want to leave him to be all by himself so I sucked it up and was determined to make it the best that I could.

The week after Kahili and I had this talk, our friends, the Panees, came back into town for the holidays. We spent almost every day with them and kept busy. We went to BYU Men's Basketball games, shopping at the mall, to the movies, out to eat (a LOT! haha), played games, and just cruised the mall. Even when Kahili had to work, they invited 'Ihi and I to tag along to wherever they were going. This was just what I needed. To get out of the house and stop thinking about how sad the holidays going to be. Before we knew it, Christmas week was here! Kahili found out on the Wednesday before Christmas that he wasn't scheduled to work on Christmas and I was so excited! That meant he would only have to work at the MTC in the morning and then we would have the rest of the day to do whatever we wanted to do.

On Christmas Eve, we attended a family/family friend party with the Panees that was really fun. We had a potluck and I made cake bites/oreo bites. After we ate, we played basketball and volleyball. It felt so good to get some exercise. I was blessed to have some of the aunties take care of 'Ihi so I could play. Then we went home and were able to skype and open presents with my family. On Christmas morning, we were able to join Kahili at the MTC for the Christmas devotional where Elder Bednar spoke. We skyped with my family again and then Kahili came home around 2. We went to the Tusieseinas to have dinner and while we were over there we were able to skype with the Soons and open our grab bag presents. From there, we went to have dessert and play games at the Panees. It was such a busy and fun day and we were so blessed to be around people who we view as our "Utah family".

New Years Eve was a lot like Christmas Eve. We had a potluck with lots of good food then played sports until midnight and welcomed in the New Year with good friends. On New Years Day, we went to church and then went to spend our last night of the break with the Panees before they left this morning. We were so sad to see them go back to Seattle but we promised to visit them soon! We love you Panees!

Here are some pictures I have randomly taken throughout the past couple of weeks:

'Ihi and Mommy

'Ihi and Daddy

Happy girl!

At the BYU basketball game

At Ready to Learn playing in the 'snow'

Helping mommy cook dinner (She LOVES this!)

The blessing dress I made for 'Ihi's friend, Keilani

Give me some food!

She will not sit back and relax anymore! She's all about sitting up and working on those abs of steel!

Kahili and his old roommates at Thain's wedding

'Ihi and Keilani on NYE

'Ihi on January 1st, 2012...great start to a new year!