One of the Best Recipe Book.

Every single recipe that I have tried from this book has been a hit. Williams Sonoma is the best. I totally recommend it. I made some beef Strudel and Moroccan pork chops lately. . . hmm, delicious.

Photo Sessions back in Texas.

I never had a chance to post some photos of my friends that I took before our move. Looking at these pictures made me miss them so much.

JuliAnn at 3 weeks old.
 This colorful quilt was made with grandfather's Hawaiian shirts.

Cute Daddy and Baby's feet.

One of my friend called this the "Titanic" post.

What a sweet tender moment. . .

Bobbie Ann, I can't believe she is already 5 months old! She's gorgeous.

Sweet little Abbie at 2 months old.

She's such a peaceful little baby.

 

The photogenic Deshazers at the park in one sunny afternoon:
I can't help smiling whenever I see this sweet little face.

I think she knows what's going on behind her. . .

Adore this sweet face.

Love love love this picture!

 

What better models could I ask for! I miss you all so much!

Little Keira's Bows New Look.

My sister Kaye Starr asked me to create a new look for her Etsy Store when an Australian boutique contacted her for a humongous order of her Little Keira's Bows accessories. I was so excited for her and thought it was really time for a refreshing change to the store. 

Here's her new store banner:

 
Back papers (also in black not shown):

There are also some new business cards, shelf display cards. . . and many many more. I always thought of watermelon when I see her hair bows, so I picked lime green and pink. It was so fun, and I think they turned out really well. Don't you think?

p.s. I just found out her store is having a deal for some free Halloween hair clips like this,

go to Little Keira's Bows to check it out!

UPDATE.

To my dear friends who thought we were rapidly expanding in family size, I apologize for my poor choice of wording (to even dare to combine the phrase "sick" and "important things to blog about" together. I was not aware of it until I read your comments.) Now that I finally get it off my chest, you know that we currently think that Eli is the one and only one perfect child for us, since Eli to me seems to have 4 sets of limbs, 3 sets of lungs, and his 3rd tooth is already out and the 4th is bursting out. . . you know how that goes. :) I was just having my annual allergy episode, although I feel warm and fuzzy from all your warm greetings, your comments, however, probably had given my mother-in-law a heart attack and thinking that we are not telling her a good news. That would have been a fun April 1st blog post. . . oh, yeah, and I actually has another Egg-plosion story to tell, next post I guess.

Time for bed, good nite!

Phoenix Arizona Temple.

I found the Beuf Community Center, as I could see every car from the main road was pulling into that direction, and so, that must be the place. I was a couple of minutes late, the parking lot was full already. The frustrating voices through the microphone guided me perfectly to which direction I had to go for the meeting. I stepped inside the Multipurpose Room and found myself a standing spot at the back wall. For the first time I attended meetings like this, the councilwoman Thelda Williams was also there with the neighborhood to discuss the case. I had a prayer in my heart that I would be open minded and calm and be a listening ear.

This goes back to last Tuesday as I read a flyer which was distributed to the community (also online here) about their concerns of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints filing a rezoning request to build a Temple in our neighborhood. An uneasy feeling overcame me after I read the flyer and online about what these people are trying to tell the neighbors about it, because I felt that the information are misled.

So, back in the meeting: After sitting through the meeting about half an hour, I had gathered the ideas of those in opposition had 4 main concerns:

1. the size of the temple will block the neighbors' view of the surrounding mountains

2. the lighting will be too bright that will destroy their view of the dark sky and they will not be able to see the stars from their houses

3. the location to have the temple built will create traffic jams in the area that is already an issue

4. drainage issue

I was not surprised by those ideas, because I already read it online. They were obviously their main concerns because they were being told exactly word from word. Half way through the meeting, hearing what my neighbors had to say, I was perplexed and at the same time, felt a little bit funny, because I recalled when I once lived in a town with a temple, whenever I need a place to find some quiet moments to think, it was always the street down by the temple, because around the temple ground was always so quiet and peaceful. Also, when my family decided to leave the busy Hong Kong and move closer to us, they moved 3 times within 2 years, because my parents wanted to find a place where they would like to grow old, and they ended up to be right across the street behind the temple, because they said they wanted a home which is exactly opposite from back home: they want to be able to see a nice view of the valley from their windows, quiet and peace, and certainly don't want to deal with any traffic. . . they have been dealing with traffic every day all of their lives in Hong Kong. Yes, and they picked the house right behind the temple.

I came to the conclusion that they were so upset not because of the not-yet-existed temple in their neighborhood causing troubles in their life, however, it is the rumors that are creating angers and heartaches. I cannot imagine if I were in their boat, not knowing the facts, just hearing the information they had been fed, if I were one of them, I would certainly against to have a temple by my house also.

I disagreed with them because in reality, none of those problems had ever been caused by any LDS temples all over the world, this proposed Phoenix Arizona Temple in a roughly 4.5 acres land will obviously be a "mini-Temple" and not a 12-story "commercial building". The beautiful view of the valley will certainly still be available, not to mention that the gorgeous mountains are all around us in this neighborhood.

And as they spoke of the exterior lighting of the temple, they compared it to a lighthouse/beacon, and claiming the temple will be lighted with "high intensity floodlights". None of the small scale temples use such lighting. I also read the city planning application myself (link is also provided in their website) and it clearly stated that warm lighting will be used.

Our neighbors also complaint about the drawn traffic that will be caused by the constant wedding ceremonies and receptions that are held by the temple is also a false idea, although some members of the church did try to explain about the ceremonies would be held in small sessions and were distributed/spread out throughout the days and throughout the week, and 5 days a week, not 7 days a week. Only if they can understand what kind of wedding ceremonies are held in the temple, they are quiet ceremonies, and very reverent! They are not wedding parties with DJs, bands, microphones, . . . there are no receptions at the temple, period.

There are many many more things I wish to explain, but this is so lengthy already. . . all I can say is that only if they know the truth about the LDS temples. . . I felt sorry for their heartaches over things that are false. Find a friend or anyone they know who has ever lived by a temple, or even who has visited one, LDS or not, they would tell them the same things as I did. I just want to write this to hold some justice to the truth, and voice my thoughts. And if you are interested, read this article by President Gordon B. Hinckley on "Why These Temples?" which has really good insights on purpose of a temple. A temple can bring nothing but only goodness in one's life. That is the fact. What is your thought on this?

Egg-plosion!

Did you ever put things in the back burner?

I did, I was boiling some eggs. . . couple hours later I heard some loud noises from the kitchen and I was sure that Santino wasn't home yet, so then I was scared that maybe someone broke in the house. Luckily nothing was broken (except the eggs, sad thing, I love boiled eggs) but it was pretty powerful. It went all over the countertop, stove top, back wall, under the cabinets, the lid shot off to the edge of the countertop and knocked down the pepper shaker (as you can see in the first picture).

Anyway, even more ironically, I do have something important I have been wanting to blog about but I am also putting it in the back burner. I have many excuses. . . Eli and I have been sick for a couple of days now, half way through my blogging internet connection was out and I lost half of what I wrote. . . I promise I will get that out soon. I haven't been able to sleep well not being able to accomplish it, and because I have been sick. . .

Learning from the Learned.

Put it on paper

interpret with own colours
beautify it with imagination

tell a thought
make it feel good
joyful to the soul

embrace it
share your gift

Don't Have to Wait for Christmas is my. . .

2 FRONT TEETH!

These are not the best pictures but that's the best I could do to show his teeth. This boy is way too active and I don't wanna be bitten by those sharp little white things! Don't be deceived by these sweet smiley faces. They came out 2 weeks apart a few weeks ago and no one got any sleep those nights. . .

Up-to-date: After 2 weeks, the 3rd tooth is coming out.

A Stuntman Show on Labor Day Weekend.

He was sitting on the seat, and all in a sudden, he stood up on it and decided that wasn't adventurous enough . . .

We were laughing and giggling, and grabbing cameras to capture this million dollar shot. He stared at us (still didn't move a bit) with the "what's the big deal??" face. This boy could be quite entertaining sometimes.

Love This Boy.

I have been saving these pictures for almost a month now because his smiles here really resemble my infamous "no teeth grandma smile" (according to my family) and I wanted to compare them here. However, my mom said those pictures were at home, so someday I will post them up with these cute Eli smiley faces. He was really into kneeling last month...

We really love this boy. He is so sweet and fun, he has brought us so much blessings and joy. Thank you for everything, Eli. We love you.