tsunami!

there is nothing quite like being woken up to the sound of emergency sirens to really get your blood pumping.....that was my alarm clock saturday morning. i have heard the sirens before--they test them on the first day of each month at about 11:45am. so when i heard these at what i could only guess was way too early in the morning, i popped out of bed. actually first i heard my phones text message alert early in the morning, which is normal and why i keep it down stairs....but when i started hearing what i thought was an alarm clock i really started to wake up. i hit josh and said " ummm....its not the 1st and its not 11:45.....holy crap thats the tsunami sirens!" needless to say we both quickly got up turned on the tv, got dressed, and then headed downstairs to check our phones. josh had a few missed calls and mine was ringing. josh got in touch with people from work and had to go in for a bit to help move equipment, i was talking to my mom trying to figure out what was going on, and then we really started getting stuff together. luckily we are in a really good area inland, and kind of up some hills and stuff.....we actually live inside of an old volcano crater that is obviously inactive and has been for a long long time. and the community center by where we live is actually josh's recall location. so we are good. but one of the things we did do when we first got here was put together an emergency kit just in case something like this happened. towels, sheets, canned foods, water, pasta packs, and we keep josh's camping gear handy in the garage. with josh out of the house within 15 minutes of the sirens going off, i was filling up water in all of our extra containers, bath tubs, and freezing extra water bottles. and by the time josh got home around 9 i was baking my second batch of muffins. the biggest worry in our area wasnt the water..it was the losing power thing. so since baking helps calm me and helps with extra food just in case, it was a win win situation. one of the guys josh works with was in an evacuation zone, so he just followed josh back to our house. and then we decided to invite a few more friends over and just grill out.... so we went to the little mini-mart and got the important things....beer...and lots of it, at least if the power goes out we have the essentials. and then it was time to wait....and wait...and wait...i dont think i have watched the news that much in our whole year and half here. and while nothing really big ever happened you could definitely see the changes in the water and the current of the water as it was being pulled back into the sea. i always think its better to be safe than sorry....if a small child had been in the water as it was rushing back out, i could easily see something happening. either way people are going to complain, either too much precaution is taken and people whine and complain because they were inside all morning, or not enough is taken and someone gets hurt and then everyone whines because there wasnt enough done. after seeing the damage that happened in american samoa and josh going there to see the damage and destruction first hand....i am more than happy to spend the morning with friends and family and hang out.

the muffins i made were the peanut butter and jelly ones that i have made before, but i made them a little different. i didnt add the jelly into the actual muffin batter while they were baking, i used my pan that has the silicone tips and added the jelly in the center after they were done baking. i also used brown sugar on the top instead of regular sugar. the recipe i used is from the back of the pilsbury flour bag. i didnt really take a whole lot of pictures of these since 1 i was in a tsunami warning and 2 i have made these before, just not this way. they are very tasty :)

strawberry cake with cream cheese coconut icing

when i am in a contemplative mood, or a bad mood, when im bored, or sometimes just in a baking mood...i do just that, i bake. yesterday was one of those days. i needed something to keep my mind and my hands busy, and something sweet to eat. its probably a bad thing that i bake when i am in bad mood or bored, because i also like to eat when i am in a bad mood or bored....i dont see this one working out too well for my waistline....

its been a while since i actually made a cake so i went for it. my original idea for a cake started the other day when after 3 days of no choc late or candy i needed something sweet to eat. i take after my dad...it dosent matter how full i am, i always need something sweet to eat. my first idea was a red velvet cake, but much to my surprise, when i started looking up recipes....there is chocolate in it! who know? not me, i have eaten red velvet cake many times, and my grandmother by far makes the best....but i never really stopped to think about what was actually in it. well...i can mark that one off the list until after easter! so my next idea was to use the coconut that i bought the other day, i had intended to make coconut shrimp with it, but havent gotten around to it yet. so i looked up a few recipes and i was off....i cheated and used a boxed strawberry cake, but found a great recipe for the icing. mostly butter and cream cheese but it was really good. little miss liked it so much i couldnt keep her from licking the side of the bowl. of course she wanted to lick the cake batter too. the cake turned out great, even with all of little misses' help :) ever 5 minutes from the time we started until she finally got a piece she asked "can we eat the cake now? can we eat the cake now?"

laughter is the best medicine

while losing someone is never easy....it sucks even more when you are, at best, 6000 miles away. not just once this week, but twice this week our family has had bad news. first a good neighbor that lived by us at our old house suddenly passed away, and now my uncle is in the hospital and the prognosis is not good, they expect him to pass sometime tomorrow. the worst part, is not being able to be there for the people who need it most. my cousin is more than just a cousin, she is more of a sister...guess thats what living together for 2 years in close quarters will do to you. we fight like sisters, laugh like sisters, and love like sisters. we tell each other everything and whether we want to hear it or not. and then of course theres my dad....what can i say, hes my dad. its goes without saying how hard it is to be so far away when he needs all of his family close. so to both, the best i can do is tell you i love you and i am here for you. uncle joe-you will be greatly missed.

i am so thankful that i have my own little giggle box to help with my sadness....every time i hear her laugh, its hard not to follow. and boy am i glad that she laughs often. and when she does see that i am sad, she normally has this off the wall thing that she comes up with to tell me. the girl has quite an imagination and is already very sassy. good thing for me i have some of these on video....they help brighten even the darkest day. i have quite a few of these, but this is the most recent.

lent (and not the pocket kind)

Lent is a season of soul-searching and repentance. It is a season for reflection and taking stock. Lent originated in the very earliest days of the Church as a preparatory time for Easter, when the faithful rededicated themselves and when converts were instructed in the faith and prepared for baptism. By observing the forty days of Lent, the individual Christian imitates Jesus’ withdrawal into the wilderness for forty days. All churches that have a continuous history extending before AD 1500 observe Lent. The ancient church that wrote, collected, canonized, and propagated the New Testament also observed Lent, believing it to be a commandment from the apostles. (the best explanation i found... from kencollins.com)

for me, lent is a time of remembering. to reflect and remember what was given up for us and what we do to "repay" that. lent starts on ash wednesday and ends on easter, during that time most people give up something as a way to repent. ever since it was little i can remember giving up something extra each year to go along with the not eating meat on fridays....not hitting my brothers, not saying bad words or mean things, and of course candy or deserts. this year i am somewhat sticking to that. no candy or chocolate (yes there is a difference) during lent for me. that is my goal for giving up, my goals for remembering and reflecting the true meaning of easter are to attend church more(we have not done a very good job of this since moving to hawaii) and to show more patience and understanding to those who i may not have given it to. and i know ahead of time that this is going to be hard, but if its not hard to accomplish then to me its not worth doing.

and with that....this is just some of the chocolate that is in my house right now...yep, going to be tricky.

great aloha run

this monday my friend tonya and i ran the great aloha run...yes, you might ask...what made katy decide to run a race? especially since i really hate to run...and i do mean hate to run. running is just not fun. never has been and probably never will be. and yes you might say...but katy you run in soccer....but running in soccer is so much different that just running. or at least it is to me. in soccer i am running to get the ball, keep it away from the other team, and especially keep it from getting to my goalie. running...even in races...has no goal for me. even though your goal is technically to get to the finish line, thats not really a good enough goal for me. i come from a long line of a.d.d. family members (which makes soccer a great sport because there is always something going on and its never the same game twice) and running just holds no interest, and its even worse running on the treadmill...i just dont know how people do it. even watching tv or listening to my ipod...i can do that from the comfort of my couch. thanks anyways though! and yeah, we ran some to train, but my longest run until then was only 3.5 miles. mostly we walked our 3.7 mile loop which consists with only about 1 mile of sort of flat land and the rest is hills (big ones).

so tonya picked me up at about 5:10 am (i got up at 4) so that we could head to the stadium and catch a bus to town. once on our (school) but we were ready! we got into town at about 5:35, we went to find our staging area and wait. when we started to hear the military chants we knew we were getting close to time. we went and watched them line up and watch the sun come up. at about 6:45 they started with the national anthem and the hawaii anthem. at 7 we heard the shot and we slowly started moving. finally around 7:20 we crossed over the start line and we were off! we started with a run, as our strategy was the run as long as we could and then finish with a run/walk. we checked the watches at mile one and we had been running for 10 and 1/2 mins...awesome! we hit mile 2 and we were at 21ish. still good and we were still running. we made it to mile 3 and were shocked to find out we were still running a good pace and that we were still running....we made it to mile 4 in 43 minutes, we couldnt believe it! not only did we have a good time, we were still running! we decided we would walk , but then quickly changed our minds when we started to get stiff and picked up the running again. miles 5 and 6 came and went and we were still going. miles 7 and 8 were by far the hardest but we werent about to stop now. the last .3 miles consisted of running into the stadium parking lot down into the tunnel, and out onto the field to cross the finish line. pretty cool, but so glad to be done. we got to walk across the rest of the field, through the locker rooms, and out to get our shirts and all of the wonderful goodies! water, oatmeal creme pies, and POG-pineapple orange guava juice-yummy!

im still not a runner, and i dont think i really ever will be, but i think that if i were to actually train....i could finish a half marathon. and that will be my next goal... i think the one on kauai would be awesome!

here are some of the pictures-i will post the rest on facebook :)

Cupcakes

okay, so i made some cupcakes this week and i am finally getting around to adding them on here. sara and i are part of a playgroup that is here on the base where we live and everyone month or so (or holidays) we have a little party and everyone brings in something to share. so we had our normal valenties day party and what better opportunity will come along than that to use my new cupcake pan. so i showed a few of the pictures in my other post, but i have more.....i have a tendancy to take a lot of pictures :) but the new pan worked out great and it does make things so much easier. i started making these at 6am and finished them right before time to leave....and right after i got home from our 3.7 mile walk...... i had other ideas but not enough time, so a few of the other ideas will me made next time i have an excuse to make them :) but so nothing fancy, just red butter creme icing in the middle and then lots on top....but i did save half of the icing and made chocolate butter creme icing....i also have a tendancy to squeese the chocolate icing straight into my mouth, after i have used what i need of course. So the chocolate ones have red icing in the middle and and chocolate on top.....they were yummy!

another year older

well tuesday was my birthday....i am no longer just 30...i am now officially in my early thirties. i thought turning 30 was going to be a big deal, but it came an went....and now 31, its again just another day.....only difference is i get presents :)

so i knew i was getting a camera, its the only big thing i wanted that i didnt get for christmas, and i picked out the 2 i gave josh the choice of getting. the other reason i reason i knew was getting a camera was little miss kind of gave it away. i came home from soccer practice the other day and they had just gotten home from shopping. as soon as i walked through the door she goes "mama, we bought you a camera!" well i knew i was getting one, just didnt know what kind...until 2 days later little miss and i were playing with my old camera and she goes "mama, where is your blue camera?" when i told her i didnt have one she asked again, when i told her that was supposed to be a suprise for my birthday, she smiles and goes "oh, sorry" and giggles. she is always making me laugh.

so far my birthday week, as i am calling it, has been good. cuban food and mojitos on monday. steak, baked potatoes, sauted mushrooms, and baked onions on tuesday. cupcakes made with chocolate buttercreme icicng (and i got to use my new pan!). wonder what i will eat tomorrow :)

i also got some beautiful flowers from my mother-in-law....its been a while since i have gotten flowers :) and i also got the wallace and gromit cookbook from my parents, to go along with my new cupcake pan.

smarty pants friends

so one of the bad things about being a military wife is the constant moving. and while i try to stay positive about it most of the time, but sometimes it gets you down. one of the up and down sides is making new friends. it sucks to move so far away from the good friends you have made, but then again you get to make new ones! more people to get to visit in really cool places once everyone moves again! we have been really lucky and have had some great friends come into our lives here in hawaii. they have helped me out many times, and especially here lately with me going back to school. i mean really, who else would meet my crazy child and still volunteer to keep her for me so i can go to class :) and again on sunday she proved yet again why she is such a great friend....kind of :) tomorrow is my birthday and since we were getting together for the superbowl she made me a cake too. she didnt just make me any cake...it was this layered cake with cut up pound cake, pudding, cherry filling, and then some coolwhip on top. it was fantastic!!! only problem is...my smarty pants friend made the cake into a bowl...a bowl that she was giving me as a present for my birthday. she also got me a fondant roller, a cool cake shaper thing (yes thats the technical term), some new measuring spoons (which i desperately needed), and a spatula. by making the cake into the bowl, how could i possibly leave all of the left overs at her house....i couldnt. so you know what tonya...i had left over cake today for lunch....and for dinner... :) so now we have to walk an extra lap on wed! :) thanks again! the cake was awesome (it tasted as good as it smelled...and if you can see from the picture...i thought it smelled amazing) i also got some birthday kisses from sara, and miss k helped her mommy put the sprinkles on, so we all had to get pictures with the cake :) it was a very fun day!

Happy Superbowl!

im not really a big fan of football, or at least of the american persuasion. but i do love the commercials! and of course drinking beer. its just a nice excuse to hang out with friends, have some good food, and relax. and here in hawaii it comes on at 1 in the afternoon, so there is not going to be much else on today :)

with soccer back in full swing (practice 3 nights a week, and actually 4 when my womens team starts practice again)and school 3 days a week its gotten pretty busy in our house. of course some of that will change again in another few weeks when one of my classes is over, but for now finding time to do much of anything else is at a minimum. We did get to spend some family time together yesterday, in between josh getting home late on Friday, little miss got to come to practice with me, and his boarding this morning (why did i get up at 5:30 with him again?) we got to head to makapu lighthouse and actually got to see some whales! Iif you know me, you know lighthouses are my favorite. i would own one if it were possible! they are all over my bedroom, my living room, and anywhere nelse i deem necessary. and even though we have hiked to this one before, i still love it. one of the even better things about this lighthouse is the view. from the top of the mountian/big hill its on you can see the winding coast of the east shore and the amazing open ocean....and at this time of year it means whales. they travel from the waters of alaska to the warm water to have their babies. So from the top of makapu point you can see them spouting and quite often you can see them breech (come out of the water). its an amazing sight. we did remember to bring our binoculars this time which was cool, but you could see it without. now if only i had a bigger lense on my camera. this was the first time i had actually gotten to see any of them. josh gets to see them quite often since part of his job involves going out to inspect ships that have not come into the port yet. the other day he got to see one "jump" out of the water... (on a funny side note, we actually paid for a whale watching tour last year....i saw more whales yesterday on my walk than i did on the boat tour). i have added a "picture" or one of the ones we saw...this was after it had flipped its tail out and was going back down, almost dead center of the picture you can see something :) we are planning on going back next week since its a really good mostly paved path, and its something little miss enjoys doing too. its also one that dogs are allowed on....alexi had a blast, but was very tired after!

i love presents! (who doesnt?)

so with my birthday just around the corner, i got an early present yesterday. even though i already knew what it was it didnt take away from any of the excitement. i asked my mom if it was okay to open it, again....even though i knew what it was, since it is a gift from my parents :) (thanks mom and dad!!) now little miss loves presents just as much as the next kid and when she saw it she goes "oh wow! its from grandma? can we open it?" trying to explain to a 3 year old that a present is not for her is a whole other entry, so of course she got to help! when we got it open i was a little disappointed....there was another box...my first thought was...did they do this mean trick on purpose? and after getting though the next box it was well worth the wait. and not that stuffing/filling muffins or cupcakes are even that hard, but this cool handy dandy toy will make it just that much easier! the red tips sit in the mix and when the muffin/cupcake bakes around it, it will leave a nice little hole in which to fill with yummy goodness....think peanut butter muffins stuff with strawberry jelly in the middle and over the top.... i cant wait to try out my new toy! tough decisions ahead....what to make first?






on a very funny but kind of disturbing side note.....i couldnt remember the name of the pan when i was telling my mom about them, so i just googled muffin pan with silicone tips....you would (or maybe you wouldnt) be surprised at what you find if you google silicone tips :)