Bye Summer!

Hello Friends! Summer is over (sort of) they say after Labor day weekend (unofficially). I’ve been seeing lots of fall decorations all over the place and I already enjoyed a pumpkin spice latte. I’m not a big fan of it…but the hubs loves a white chocolate mocha with a pump of pumpkin spice added!  It has been such a joy watching our little Mia-boo grow up.  She has taken a liking to water, like most kids.  It has been hard to keep her out of her little kiddie pool.  Perhaps she’ll even be ready for some swimming lessons next year!  I was just commenting to the hubs how early it’s getting dark again….so sad!  I hope you all had an amazing summer….here comes the fall…..kids are already back to school (at least where the teachers aren’t striking ;)…before you know it we’ll be welcoming the trick-o-treaters 😉

My fave summer salad: greens,candies pecans,blue cheese,strawberry

Hubs smoking some ribs!

Working on pulled pork

Pulled pork tacos!
Cherry tomatoes!
Harvest time!

Celebrating our community!

Summertime!

Hello friends! It’s officially summer here in the PNW. It’s been hot outside and as much as I enjoy this weather, I don’t want to stay outside for a long time. It’s so nice to have an AC, one of the best decisions my hubs and I made regarding our house. We have been doing a lot of house updates these last couple of weeks.  We had our house and fence painted and we really like the colors. The painters are done now (thank God!) Riley’s been barking nonstop at them. He’s so territorial. Very protective of us. Love our Riley!

My Hubs got a Traeger Smoker and he made beef brisket for our 4th of July celebration. He spent so much time on that thing, and I’m glad it turned out so well. I hate to see him disappointed when he puts so much effort and time into a slab of meat!HA..

YUM!
Our 4th of July family pic!
My In laws celebrated with us!

Our little Boo is spending a lot of time in her kiddie pool! She loves to splash and chilax in there! Her Grandma watches her every Wednesday and they go to McDonalds because she really likes their play area!

making sure she got enough sunblock!HAHA

Playtime with Grandma!

Parktime !

Have a great summer friends!

Father’s Day weekend!

Hello Friends! I hope you were all able to celebrate Father’s day with the Daddies in your life! We had our family here for a nice dinner to celebrate my hubs and DIL! Good, decent, loving fathers are so worth celebrating everyday. I thank God for blessing Mia with a loving and hands on Daddy. My father is not here with us anymore, but I always think of him often! We surely missed him and wish he was able to see Mia.

For our dinner, we got some Rib-eye steaks at whole foods and some charcuterie. My hubs likes meat and cheese so much and it’s been a while since we had it.  That’s why we decided to shop at Whole foods (we like their prosciutto) everybody enjoyed the charcuterie! Good job Ga (he selected all of the meat and cheese)! We also got some crabs at the asian market, and roasted some veggies, corn.  We had some blue cheese sauce for the steaks, and Hubs made watermelon juice for everybody! Perfect for summertime:)

Making sure we got everything on our list!

Hubs, Riley, and Dad In Law!
Happy Father’s day Ga! Thank you for everything you do for our family! We sure do love you:)

Memorial Weekend!

Hi friends! Belated memorial day to all!  Thankful for all the men and women (and their families) in this country who sacrificed everything for our freedom! We had a simple celebration at home. We grilled some burgers (they were so good!) and had all the fixins. The hubs got a lot of yard cleaning done during this weekend and then we got to enjoy some time out on the patio. He also prepared the majority of our food, I don’t even remember what I was doing! HA! I helped a little:) Anyways, I’m so looking forward to summer night dinners at home now that our picnic table is out and yard is cleaned and  pressure washed! Mia loves being in the yard too. She’s our little gardener like her Grandma! Have a great weekend friends:)

Nap time before memorial weekend chaos starts!
Rhododendron going crazy in the front yard!
pressure washing the yard with our little helper!
Hubs made deviled eggs!
Hubs made guacamole
Preparing the burger!

Hubs made the fruit salad!
Hubs about to enjoy his dinner! Thanks Ga for all your memorial weekend cleaning! You sure deserve that burger! HA
Park Time!

Farmers Market and Life

Hi Friends! How are you all?  It’s been a while since I posted, not much going on here! Aside from watching my In laws dog (they’re already back from their vacation!), going to parks during nice days (we’ve had a couple of sunny days), our local farmers market officially opened, and we started our garden (the slugs are already eating some of our veggies!UGH!)..Life is good! We “failed” our WHOLE30! HA! Day 21 during Mother’s day, I ate rice with my ahi poke! My mothers day gift to myself! So we basically lasted 3 weeks of the journey! Between me and the Hubs we lost 14lbs! Hubby is still going strong though! We still plan to eat whole foods, plus will probably “tweek” things around like adding creamer to my coffee, and treats every now and then!

Farmers Market goodies

so fresh!

so worth it!goodbye whole30!haha
Mothers Day flowers from Hubs!

She’s so happy whenever she’s in the yard!
Gifts from grandparents!
cupcakes to celebrate Grandma’s bday!

Off to do some gardening right now, I still have some annuals to plan! Have a great weekend friends!

Happy Birthday!

Hello Friends! How’s your week going? I’m still battling a cough and I’m so over it! UGH! Anyways, last week we celebrated my Dad In law’s birthday at home with a fondue (on his actual bday), but we also had a dinner at Maggiano’s Little Italy restaurant.

The Hubs made the fondue, Wisconsin Trio Fondue and it was so good! Thanks for doing all of the work, Ga. We also had crab cakes and shrimps. We used this fondue set we’ve had for 8 years now and it’s been worth it! YUM!

Love celebrating our Grandpa Phil! He’s such a special guy. So good to me and my little family! Happy Birthday to my DIL!

What are you having Mia?

Anniversary Weekend!

Hi Family and Friends! The Hubs and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary this weekend! We had a simple celebration (movie and sushi), but we plan to do something nice this summer. After our Philippine trip just 3 weeks ago, I personally have no desire to be on a plane somewhere this week. I need time to recover!HA!

We had a little lunch celebration with Mia at one of the local restaurants near our place:

calamari
ahi tuna salad
Grilled salmon
Shrimps and Grits
Happy Anniversary Ga! He’s giving his eyes a break from contact lens, thus the glasses!

YUM!

Saturday night My In laws offered to babysit Mia while we watched the movie “I can only Imagine”, such a good movie! If you have the chance to watch it, you should. Great story about forgiveness and redemption, even if you’re a non-believer, I think you can appreciate the story! We had sushi after the movie! Looks like we ordered too much!

The hubs and I decided not to give “BIG” gifts this anniversary because we are getting a new refrigerator that will arrive this coming Tuesday. I’m so excited to have a new fridge! Our current one is acting up,and we think it’s worth it to get a new one! But my Hubs was nice enough to still give me some of my “wish list” on the Lenox site!HA..Thanks Hubs!

Got these angel figurines! I have them in the kitchen.
I plan to get something that will elevate them!
I got this Lenox Anniversary Plate! With our names and wedding date!
Roses too! I plan to put the plate in our bedroom but for now its staying in the kitchen!
Thanks, GA!

Some throwback pics before the wedding:

This is Us 10 years after:

Mia makes me laugh on this pic!

Thank God for blessing me with my Hubs whose so good to me! So grateful for the gift of marriage and family! Thanks to our family and friends who share this beautiful journey with us. To God be the Glory!

 

Philippines Trip!

Hello Friends! I’ve mentioned in the last post that Mia and I got to visit my hometown (in the Philippines) for 2 weeks. It was a short, yet fun visit. I wanted to introduce Mia to my family/relatives who were eager to meet her! US-Philippines is such a long flight, what a journey! I’m so grateful that my sister offered to help me with this trip because I don’t think I could have made it without her! International travel and an active toddler ALONE is something else! Mia did fine going to the Philippines but the trip going back to the US was a nightmare! She cried a lot of times in the 12 hours journey (MANILA- LOS ANGELES). The woman beside us offered to give us lavender essential oil to rub on her forehead! HA! She did calm down for 15 minutes! OH FUN!

Despite the long travels, it was so worth having the rest of my family finally meet Mia. Her cousins got to play with her. She was so clingy to me during the first week but eventually she did fine when others wanted to carry her. My friends got to see her also, so that was special!

Thanks Auntie for helping us!
She was excited!
Jollibee spag was in order!HA! First meal in the car once we arrived in the PH!
Oh Goodness! A welcome tarp from mom!
With Uncle (my brother!)
lunch time with Auntie and Uncle!

Beach time with cousins!
with auntie and uncle
with cousins
with my nephews!
she liked her first coconut juice!
with cousins Abigail and Bengbeng!
with kuya Krammy! (her cousin)
with my Friends! We’ve been friends since gradeschool!
with my friend Sweetlove and her cute kids!
with my nursing friends! Macky and Ping!
visited my Dads burial place!
Nice white beach!

Lots of family time during this trip! We did water parks, swimming at a local resort near our place, beach time too! I wish my family lived closer. It would be so nice to see them often! But for the mean time, we’ll be fine with facetime/facebook! Till next time guys! We miss you so much!

Gotta have a family picture taken when everybody is home!

 

 

Easter 2018!

Hello Family and Friends! Happy Easter! He is Risen! Hallelujah!! Thank You Jesus for what you’ve done on the Cross! I hope that you had a meaningful Easter celebration with your loved ones! We had a fun Easter weekend here. Mia had her first Egg hunt at a local church near our place. We didn’t stay for a long time because she wasn’t really participating and overwhelmed with all the festivities surrounding her. She was still so cute though!

After the egg hunt, we had lunch at Chic fil-A! We also had to stop at our Asian market to get some crabs for our Easter brunch (Hubby made Crabs eggs Benedict).

Saturday evening I prepared Mia’s easter basket! She got a spring dress and a stuffed cow toy from us. Grandma/Grandpa got her an Easter dress and candies/crayons!

With Auntie Juju!

Daddy took some Easter pics of Mia and Riley!

Easter Brunch! Crabs benedict, bacon/sausages,fruits! It was busy in the kitchen, but the food was delicious! Thanks Ga for all the cooking!

With Grandma!

After all the festivities I need sometime to recover! HA!

I’ve been MIA for the month of March because Mia and I just got back from the Philippines (we stayed for 12 days), I’ll share more of our mini vacation in the coming days! Have a good start of the week Friends! Blessings!

Valentines 2018!

Hello Friends! Happy Belated Valentines Day! I hope you had a lovely V-day! My hubs and I decided a couple of years ago that we will not give each other gifts/cards or expensive things to show that we value each other. He was still nice enough to get me red roses and a cookbook I’ve been wanting! We did “celebrate” though in our favorite restaurant, John Howie! My In laws (Parents, Sis IL) gave us a very generous gift card last Christmas and we wanted to use it. They offered to watch Mia also. We had dinner the Friday of V-day week, because I personally don’t like going out on the 14th ( I cannot deal with the crowds!).

Little Miss Mia was in the V-day spirit too! She wore her valentines outfit, gifted from her Aunties! She also got a cute card from her grandparents! Hubs and I got a card and Franz chocolates also! YUM!

We usually have my In laws over every Wednesday night for dinner! My DIL prepared meatloaf and potatoes!

My new cookbook!

Our John Howie Dinner!

salmon bisque (courtesy of the chef)
A5 Japanese Wagyu Beef Striploin  Sashimi, sweet onion, pickled cucumber, cherry tomato, sesame soy vinaigrette, black sea salt, chives, micro greens (we didn’t like this,sauce was overpowering)
La Belle Farm Foie Gras, caramelized Honeycrisp apple , cabbage and purple onion, crisp guanciale, 10 year aged sherry vinegar, Chinese five spice, pinenuts, Madeira honey
My Valentine enjoying dinner!
Lobster Bisque: fresh Maine lobster, caviar cream, chives
Honeycrisp Apple: Organic Honeycrisp apples, purple onion, dried cranberries, organic greens, preserved apricot vinaigrette, Coombe Castle Blue Stilton, candied black pepper pecans
Fried Brussels Sprouts,:Fried Brussels Sprouts lemon caper vinaigrette, toasted garlic, Reggiano
We did tableside for two!

 

Mishima Reserve American Wagyu Beef “Long Bone” Rib Eye: mesquite grilled, duck fat roasted Yukon gold potatoes and Cipollini onions, Roasted bone marrow, bordelaise