Wonderful Weekend

This has been by far the best weekend I've had in a long time, that says a lot. The reason being was that Eva was well behaved, sociable, and not afraid to meet people. Before she used to cry and run away from other little kids, now she welcomes their interaction.

This weekend was packed full of fun and lots of time for me to have mommy therapy, something every woman needs. This week I've been looking for to Saturday because it is one of my best friend's baby shower. Ahhh, I got to be there for her wedding reception and now this momentous occasion to herald the incoming birth of her baby girl. This was an important occasion to show your support and love plus who doesn't love shopping for baby girl clothes? (They come up with the cutest outfits!) We got her Winnie the Pooh towel and books and other matching pink outfit and a pink blanket (I know I'm pretty stuck on pink for girls, I think red is too bold of a color). It was nice. I also got to make one of my favorite dishes, orange chicken. It's really weird because lately I've been fixated in making this dish, probably because I finally mastered it and wanted to show off my cooking skills. Anyways it was compliments to the chef when everyone asked who made it, and people wanted to take it home and asked for the recipe. Well the baby shower was a huge success, we got to do fun things like pretend we were all pregnant by stuffing our shirts with balloons, we all looked so funny! It reminded me more a bridal shower for some reason.



Eva at the end of the Baby Shower She's so pooped


Tons of yummy food! I made the fried rice and orange chicken to die for! Here's the recipe.




My friend Ckaz holding Eva, I love it when others can relieve me of being mom even if its for a little while.



I was so happy Eva's appetite for food came back after she had been sick.


This is a silly picture of us helping the real pregnant woman not feel so bad!


A group picture, tons of fun!


After the Bridal Shower Daniel picked me and Eva up at my in-laws and we headed to our good friend's house, the Cameron's. This couple is amazing. They have a wonderful deck overlooking the Kakela Beach, they're house is closest to Pounder's Beach, ahhh so wonderful. Anyways everytime we visit for the weekend we seem to always get together and have such wonderful BBQ's, we are so spoiled here in Hawaii! This time there place was packed and there was so much ono'licious food. Yeah there goes my diet! I love this cake especially called the Queen Emma cake from Foodland, it's funny cause it's well understood in our group of friends that this cake is our favorite cake. It was great seeing Eva just play and thoroughly enjoy feeling like she is a part of the group of babies there. She would just walk towards and smile so widely with her eyes and mouth that you couldn't help but lover her everytime she twinkled. I love this girl so much and it warms my heart when others love her too. We have so much in common with our group of friends like our babies, our age group, that we enjoy Hawaii and are so blessed to still have jobs to support our families. Life is good!

When we got home at my in-laws we stayed up late, I got to watch one of my favorite reality tv shows, Hell's Kitchen. I know, I know I shouldn't be watching a show like this because there's so much cussing, sorry but I'm addicted! I love this show because it is like a competition to me, you have to think well on your feet, improvise when making new dishes, and also be able to survive Chef Ramsey's wrath and aweful degradation, that's why they call it Hell's Kitchen. It's funny cause Chef Ramsey is so mean and down right sad in how he put the contestants down in the kitchen, but when he's off the kitchen it's like he turns that devil switch off...yeah if I ever get the chance I will definitely go and get some type of censoring device on the laptop.

Sunday was great because I got to make another home run hit of a dish, cassava cake! Yummy, delicious, with only five ingredients I was sold on making it.

I made two round pans of this and it was devoured by my in-laws and at my friend Janette's house. So yeah, I am now obligated to make large batches of this next week when I go to Laie again for mother's day! So if you want some let me know, I'll most likely leave a large batch at Janette's house where all the Filipinos usually gather.

I was so grateful to visit with so many friends from my old ward today, there were four baby blessings and outside the chapel doors there was a parking lot full of baby strollers! Everyone was either expecting or had a baby they were holding in their arms. I can't believe it's only been a year since I left but it feels like eons ago that I was in the same student ward...memories. Today I got to put Eva in the nursery for the first time (I snook her in 'cause we were considered visitors). I got to see the Lau family there, what a pleasant surprise. As we made our way back to Janette's house we were bombarded by offers of food left and right, we went home with a plateful of delicious teriyaki chicken, we were gifted with homemade cream puffs and cookies. Gosh life is so good in Laie, especially in TVA (Temple View Apartments, married housing for BYUH students and their families), it is like a Zion place to live where people share so abundantly of what they have.

Well got back to my in-laws and decided to act on the lesson today, of making the most of sacrament meeting and the sabbath in general, so I decided to go to the Laie Temple Visitor's Center, and take Eva along with me. It was so wonderful because it was extremely peaceful and serene, it was like the grounds were consecrated for the sole purpose of reflection and wonder and awe of the appreciation of God's creation. Needless to say it's been a long time since I went to the visitor's center so I welcomed the chance to see of the changes. They have an exhibit there of Christ's life called "Reflections of Christ" I thought it was neat that they change it up in there to keep people coming and seeing what's new. I just loved this spiritual aspect of the day and relished sharing it with my baby Eva.