Monday, March 31, 2008

Dancing without the STARS


I was so happy to get a ticket to be in the studio audience for the Dancing with the stars show. I went with Melissa and Allison. Our ticket said we have to be there by 330pm. We got at The CBS Studio at 315, we stood patiently in our Wedges and stilletos and cold wind for 1 hour 45 mins. Only to find out WE WERE NOT GOING INSIDE. We were so BUMMED, UPSET,MAD. This is what it said in my ticket
Congratulations, you have successfully registered 4 ticket(s)
to attend the recording of Dancing with the Stars on Monday
March 31, 2008 @ 3:30pm.
To retrieve and print your tickets online (
if you haven't done so already),
please visit the following URL:

They were only able to let in 20 people. Anyways, they gave us priority tickets for next week's episode. I got home and the boys were surprised I was home early. They said they were waiting for the show to start and check if they can see me on TV. We're so grateful for our wonderful husbands who left work early to take care of our kids so we can watch the show. And they won't mind doing it again so the Desperate Housewives can watch Dancing with the stars.

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Picnic


We had a nice picnic today after Church we went to Point Vicente in Palos Verdes Peninsula. The boys love the ocean, especially Jacob who owns about every kind of whale that exists. So we thought we'd try our hand at whale watching. Also, this is the same area where Marineland was located.




Accdg to Wikipidea
Marineland of the Pacific was a public oceanarium and tourist attraction located on the Palos Verdes Peninsula coast above the Pacific Ocean in Los Angeles County, California, USA. It operated from 1954 through 1987, when it was purchased by the owners of SeaWorld, who moved Marineland's popular Killer Whales to their San Diego facility and then abruptly closed the Marineland.


JT and Jake trying to check for whales
Jake having fun



JT trying to climb up the tree

We didn't see any whales but the "experts" with binoculars had seen 5 today


Beautiful weather for a picnic, but a bit windy.


We passed by Trump Golf course on the way home.



Beautiful driving range

Sunday Best

Breakfast is our favorite meal of the day. The boys especially. They love "gourmet breakfast" pancakes, waffles, scrambled eggs, french toast, etc..etc... That's why we have a breakfast menu during the week, it helps me squeeze in some cold cereal and oatmeal. And they love to go out on saturday to Pancake House, Y-Not or Mickey D's. And on Sunday's Daddy usually cooks something good. BUT today we woke up at 730 am! and church is at 9:00. Sorry kids NO gourmet breakfast today. We just had quick and yummy cereal and oatmeal for breakfast. And they did not complain. We hurriedly got ready and made it to Church on time! We can't even believe it. Luckily we all had matching shoes and socks. You know how sometimes when you are in a hurry you mismatch either your socks or shirt. WHEW!!!

Anyways, Paul and I had a great time substituting the 9 and 10 yr olds during Sunday School. We make a great team. The absent teachers planned to have a combined class anyway, so it worked out fantastic. During sharing time, it was nice to see the boys in their corresponding classes and see how they behaved with their class.


We got home and added a coin to our "Are we on time yet?" jar. We add coins to the jar if we are on time getting ready for Church, school, activities, parties? or just anything. Once we fill it up we'll cash it in and let the kids buy something or go out for FUN. Yeah, hopefully it's enough money for a nice Theme Park.

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Remembering Sammy


The son of Paul's cousin passed away. Here is his Obituary in the Deseret News. We pray for comfort and strength for their family.

Friday, March 28, 2008

Game Night



We had a fun game night tonight. The boys picked their 3 favorite games. We played The Cranium Hullabaloo, Apples to Apples and Reach for the stars. It was really fun. But our favorite was Reach for the stars. Because it builds self esteem and helps our family to communicate better. We had yummy treat Jamba Juice. The boys had Chocolate Moo'd and we had Peach Pleasure.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Head over HEELS


Since Anthropologie opened near where we live, It has been a long time since I shopped at The Grove or Promenade. But I think there will still be a reason for me to drive up there. I received an email with this list of stores that carry shoes. Yeah, save on the S&H ladies. So Head over Anthopologie store and yes enjoy another march madness Shopping.

California

Santa Monica
3rd Street Promenade
1402 Third St. Promenade
Santa Monica, CA 90401
(310) 393 - 4763

San Francisco
San Francisco Shopping Center
880 Market St.
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 434 - 2210

Los Angeles
The Grove Shopping Center
6301 W. 3rd St. S. J.
Los Angeles, CA 90036
(323) 934 - 8433

Santa Barbara
901 State St.
Santa Barbara, CA 93101
(805) 962 - 5461

Corte Madera
The Village At Corte Madera
1848 Redwood Hwy
The Village #B-001
Corte Madera, CA 94925
(415) 924 - 4197

Colorado

Denver
Cherry Creek Shopping Center
3000 E. 1st Avenue #1134
Denver, CO 80206
(303) 394 - 1443

District of Columbia

Georgetown
3222 M St. N.W., #M301
Washington, DC 20007
(202) 337 - 1363

Florida

Tampa
Old Hyde Park Village
705 S. Dakota Ave.
Tampa, FL 33606
(813) 250 - 3600

Coral Gables
Village Of Merrick Park
330 San Lorenzo Avenue
Coral Gables, FL 33146
(305) 443 - 0021

Georgia

Atlanta
Lennox Square Mall
3393 Peachtree Rd. N.E.
Atlanta, GA 30326
(404) 237 - 4175

Illinois

Highland Park
1780 Green Bay Rd.
Highland Park, IL 60035
(847) 681 - 0200

Indiana

Indianapolis
The Fashion Mall
8702 Keystone Crossing
Keystone Mall
Indianapolis, IN 46240
(317) 574 - 0803

Maryland

Rockville
11500 Rockville Pike
Rockville, MD 20852
(301) 230 - 6520

Massachusetts

Chestnut Hill
Atrium Mall
300 Boylston St.
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
(617) 559 - 9995

New Jersey

Woodcliff Lake
Tice's Corner
379 Chestnut Ridge Rd.
Woodcliff Lake, NJ 07677
(201) 391 - 4321

Shrewsbury
The Grove
618 Broad St.
Shrewsbury, NJ 07702
(732) 842 - 0762

New York

New York City
50 Rockefeller Center
New York, NY 10020
(212) 246 - 0386

Greenvale
9 Northern Blvd.
Greenvale, NY 11548
(516) 626 - 8900

Ohio

Cincinnati
The Rookwood Commons
2643 Edmondson Rd.
Cincinnati, OH 45209
(513) 731 - 6424

Columbus
The Strand Easton Town Center
4235 The Strand
Columbus, OH 43219
(614) 475 - 4303

Pennsylvania

Glen Mills
Shoppes at Brinton Lakes
949 Baltimore Pike
Glen Mills, PA 19342
(484) 840 - 1502

Texas

Austin
6th And Lamar
601 N. Lamar Blvd.
Austin, TX 78703
(512) 236 - 9301

Washington

Seattle - Downtown
Fifth Avenue
1509 Fifth Ave.
Seattle, WA 98101
(206) 381 - 5900

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

What kind of a rash?


I try to apply sunscreen religiously to the boys before they go to school, park or whenever they go out. Yesterday morning I could not find the Water Babies sunscreen, because I think I have a million of sunscreens in our house or I just do not know where I've put it, I applied the Bullfrog sunscreen to them. A few hours later, I got a call from school which informed me that Jacob has a bad RASH. Could it be 5th disease, since Jacob was sniffling last week, but never had a fever.

Anywho, on my way to pick him up at school, I tried to recall what I fed him for breakfast (pancakes and scrambled eggs,milk) and what I packed for his lunch and snacks (chicken dino, carrots, fruit bowl, grapes and water bottle). I recalled, recalled and recalled but could not think of anything new that I fed him. I took him at his doctor's office and I told her everything he had for that day. I also told her he did not have any fever but just bad allergies last week. Then she asked me if I applied any sunscreen on him. AHA, I said YES! She asked if it was outdated. I said no since I put a date on our sunscreens, I told her I applied Bullfrog Sunscreen on him. And yes you got that right. It was the first time I've used it. I was just surprised JT did not have any reaction to it. Anyways BE very CAREFUL of buying and applying SUNSCREENS.
Jacob at the Doctor's office

Run like the Wind

To our family and friends who donated and pledged money for JT's jog-a-thon,
Thank you so much
for your donation. Your generosity really helped JT do his best.
The Kindergartens ran with the 4th graders and most parents were a little worried
that the younger kids will be trampled. But to our surprise they all ran very well.
It was a 1/5 mile and they have to run as many laps as they can for 20 minutes!
to our surprise those kids gave their BEST-est
JT ran 15 laps.

Race day



Before the race


Tired and sweaty




Happy SHopping

Joy Gryson...Joy who? Joy Gryson who was the Design director for Marc Jacobs, worked for Coach and Calvin Klein is partnering up with Target this Spring. Her line will be available on April 6th-June21st 2008. Price ranges from $29.99-$49.99. Her current chic handbags start at $400.00, so my friends Enjoy Spring Break and April Madness Shopping.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Happy Easter


Happy Easter Everyone. What a fun Easter Sunday. The boys had a nice Easter Egg Hunting and they surely enjoyed their presents from the Easter Bunny. For Breakfast we had a family tradition Creamed eggs on Toast and my FIL's homemade grape juice.


We made it to Church on time today, Yipee, we are so proud of ourselves. We thought we were late but we made it. The talks were so inspiring, the songs and Sunday School was awesome. The boys were a little antsy during Sacrament Meeting, they couldn't wait to go to primary and of course home to play with their toys.




For lunch our good friends Jeremy and Natalie came, my brother who just arrived from IL with Tito Prime, a family friend, Denise had to stay home and get some rest. She has final exams tomorrow. We feasted on Honey baked ham, cheese potatoes, macaroni salad and potato salad. And Sprinkles Cupcakes. Yummy food. We were all stuffed. I told Natalie she could take a nap on the couch but we kept chatting all afternoon. Then the Mish (Missionaries) came over around 6-ish and celebrated easter with us.



We called my family back home in the Philippines and greeted them Happy Easter. My Mom is in the hospital, yeah it is really not nice to celebrate Easter when you are sick. Anyways we prayed for her speedy recovery and we are so happy she's feeling better. She went in with hypotension and UTI. She will be Discharged tomorrow, I think.

Then we called Paul's family in UT and they were having a party there as well.
Our nephew's son, Boston was blessed today and at the same time our other nephew ( Alex)


gave his farewell talk, he is going on his mission to Texas. Vietnamese speaking. Isn't that crazy? I'm sure he is excited for that. We heard that Gpa was very competitive playing Wii baseball with the g-kids.



It was a fun Easter Sunday here at our household. Happy Easter everyone!

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Easter Reflections

Growing up in the Philippines during this time of year is so special to me. The culture and how the Filipinos observe the Lenten Season is still in my heart. Growing up we have a tradition in our family. I remember during Black Friday-Saturday there are no TV shows on, other than The Testaments or The Life of Jesus Christ. We would go to Church, bible study etc. The malls, stores, theaters are closed and streets are very empty as people are at home and observing the Lenten Season. And this is some of the Culture I would want to pass on to my boys. Like watching Testaments movie, Finding Faith in Christ, etc This week we watched "The Testaments". They surely loved it and just asked questions. They were so receptive and very much interested in the movie.


For Easter egg hunting one of our traditions is have a fun game and activity. Yeah it is more than the Peeps and Chocolate Eggs. Here are my giveaways this year.


There are a lot of versions of this.
I have done the Resurrection Eggs version , but this year I will use the Time and Seasons version for a change. And at the end of the activity, that's when I feel the Holy Spirit and always cry.






Easter Weekend

What a whirlwind day today. We had a nice Pancake Breakfast at Church to support the Boy Scouts. They had a silent auction and we bid on Miniature Golf and Go-Kart which we both won. Yipeee! Then we went to do some quick errands and went to the park.

Around lunch time we drove up to L.A and stopped by our favorite Tito's tacos on our way to the L.A Temple. Yum..Yum..We arrived at the temple and the visitor's center was CLOSED! We were so bummed! However, we still enjoyed chilling out around the temple grounds. We also went to Seagull Bookstore to check for some Church Books , activities, video and CD's.


Tito's Tacos


Yummy Tacos


L.A Temple


We drove back to the South bay and enjoyed the weather. It was so beautiful today, 72 deg. And we are loving it. My brother and SIL are in Chicago and freezing right now as it snowed and it is snowing in IL. Anyways, since Jacob is not feeling too good today, his Asthma is acting up we did not go to the beach today but JT had fun playing outside with a water spraying Beach Ball.


After dinner tonight the boys colored the eggs and had a fun Easter Activity (resurrection eggs) and we watched Finding Faith in Christ.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Easter Activities

After work today, Paul and I had a very nice Lunch date before going to the boys' school. I had a wonderful time volunteering at JT's and Jacob's school. I helped some of the moms at JT's school hide the eggs for a nice egg hunting at the play area outside the Kindergarten classrooms.
Here are their bunny bags to use for
Egg hunting


JT looking for some eggs and checking for his name

Looking for more Eggs
Then JT and I went to Jacob's school.
We decorated some Easter Egg Cookies I got from Michaels.
It's really cool.


Jacob is surely having a great time. You can
just see it from his face.

The kids loved decorating those easter cookies and couldn't wait to get home to eat it.
Then after easter egg decorating, We cut out some bunny
masks, taped Popsicle's sticks
and they all looked so Cute!



We arrived home and the boys each had bags of candies and chocolates
from school.
I got home and I saw this on the dining table. I got a treat too
from my Visiting Teacher - Thanks Laura. You are so awesome!!!
I love..love...love See's Candies


We opened the bag and the boys we're so excited they got some
candies for them too. Thanks a lot Laura!


Before going to bed
we brushed our teeth with our "personalized toothbrushes"
that we got from Toys R Us to brush off those Sugar bugs.
Too Cool - J.T's
All Star - Jacob's
Boys Rule - Daddy
Total Babe - of course who else MOMMY!!!

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Agony of Defeat

And March Madness has begun...
around this time of year, Paul brings out the TV from our bedroom
sets it up in the fam room,
hooks it up to the computer and he gets to watch
2 games at a time.
Tonight his 2 teams BYU and USC played at the same time
and yes, the THRILL of Victory
and the AGONY OF DEFEAT.
It is not nice when your favorite team loses,
but not BOTH teams at the same time and same day.
YIKES!!!




JT cheering for both teams


image : BYU



image: USC

Thought from Dad

I just wanted to share this thought that My Dad wrote to me.

The season of LENT reminds us that the life we have and the material possessions we hold are LENT to us. We are not immigrants but pilgrims on the road who will pass by only once. We can bring nothing when we die... But we can leave behind the Love we have shared, the Hope we have given and the Goodness we have done.


Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Ken Lee

My friend Karen sent this video to me. I believe this video is from Bulgarian Music Idol. Please watch the video and please name that tune. Please...

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

More Random Posts

Getting ready for Church on Sunday is always a struggle for our fam. Our Church starts at 9:00am, and that means waking up and getting ready the same time as school nights. right?... WRONG!! With Daylight Savings time to top that really makes it harder for us to wake up and get ready for Church. But we are doing better and striving harder to get to Church on time.

So the boys were getting ready for Church and here they are posing as "Statue of Liberty" . Jacob is so cute with his dragon on his left arm. They are posing because they are going to New York someday.



For dinner the Secret Ingredient to a YUMMY SPAGHETTI SAUCE is My FIL's homemade canned tomatoes. YUM-Oh!! Everytime we visit them in UT, I always remind Paul not to forget to pack canned tomatoes and tomato juice to bring it back to CA.


Lemon, Lemon, Lemon...I love Lemon. The scent, the flavor and the sour-y taste of it
2 weeks ago, Jacob and I attended Caleb's Birthday Party
see previous post. Heather (Caleb's Mom) gave Suzi and I
a plastic bag and told us to pick some lemons. And we were like SURE!!
I totally picked a lot of lemons I think.
These are the remaining lemons.
I've made lemonade, used it as marinade to cook salmon, on our fish tacos
And I made this yummy dessert
Fluffy Lemon Paradise Dessert
or
Lemon Dream Dessert
I told Shauna, I really do not know how to name this dessert, I got this recipe from
a friend and she called it Lemon Dessert here's the Recipe.



1 ( 12 ounce) can evaporated milk
1 (3 ounce) package lemon gelatin
1 C sugar
1 3/4 C boiling water
1/4 C lemon juice
3/4 C whipped topping
1 Med. Lemon sliced
sprigs mint

Directions:
  1. Pour milk into a small mixinf bowl; place the mixer beaters in the boowl. Cover and Refrigerate for a t least 2 hours or until chilled.
  2. Meanwhile in a large mixing bowl, dissolve gelatin and sugar in water. Stir in lemon juice,cover and refrigerate until syrupy 1 1/2 - 2 hours.
  3. Beat gelatin until tiny bubbles form, Beat chilled milk until SOFT PEAKS form; fold into gelatin. Pour into serving dishes. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight.
  4. Garnish with whipped topping, lemon and mint.
  5. Put the kids to bed early, watch your TV show and ENJOY

It is Parent -Teacher Conference this week
We met with JT's teacher yesterday. Of course in Kindergarten it is always good remarks we hear from the teachers. We are so proud of JT.

photo: Foto search

It was ST. Patrick's Day yesterday and we were planning on eating Corned beef and Cabbage. BUT JT said "Since I did great with my report card can I get a treat for dinner? And we were like "Yeah of course" We were thinking maybe MickeyD's or Chuck-E-Cheese. BUT he requested SOUPLANTATION.
I love my boys so much. And Jacob was so excited too. "YIPPEEE SOUPLANTATION" Who would have thought that a Soup and Salad restaurant can make my kids so HAPPY, and yes they did! They ate really good and behaved well of course.
Then for FHE night we had a nice Lesson by Daddy and JT picked Smores again for dessert.
graham crackers-oven roasted marshmallows-hersheys.
Then the Mish came and talked to us a little bit. What a night, it surely was a fun Monday Madness at our household.