I'm back!

I know it's been a very long time since I blogged but I'm back and I'm ready to start blogging away.

Malik's Birthday Weekend

Our celebration of Malik's 3 birthday started on Saturday, October 9th. This morning we woke up very early since Malik ran in the 200 meters Cougar Run. The Cougar Run was held at the Clarence Robinson track at BYU at 8:30 a.m. Both grandparents were there and aunt Saane and it was so much fun to watch the little kids run around the track.  Prior to the race, Malik and I went practicing around the track. The funniest part was, after our first practice run Malik said to me "Momma, I'm tired running." But we competed and it was so cute! As soon as the gun fired away, Malik got really scared and didn't want to run anymore. But Malik made it to the finish line. It was just so fun to watch him run. Malik had a lot of fans cheering on the side line for him!

Right after the race, we went to McDonald for breakfast then we went over to watch the BYU Homecoming parade. This was our 2nd year at the parade and I would have to say that this year was much better. Our goal today was to have Malik take a picture with Cosmo. Since we've been going to the BYU games, Malik had been dying to meet Cosmo so we made it our goal to find Cosmo. Watching the parade was a lot of fun both for us (Danny, me, Malik) and my parents. And top it off, Cosmo came by and stopped right in front of Malik and they took pictures. It was so cute to watch Malik finally meet his little hero :). I mean he came out of nowhere and it was the perfect gift for Malik. He couldn't stop smilling.  Thanks you so much COSMO!

After the parade, we dashed home and got ready for the Homecoming Football game.  It was BYU against San Diego State.  It was a very intense game and it was so fun to watch. The final score was BYU (24) and San Diego (21).  By the end of the day we were so worned out from everything we did today. 

  

General Conference

I love General Conference!  It's an enjoyable time to be spiritually fed.  Danny and I always try to go up to Salt Lake when it's conference time.  I always feel it's a shame that we live so close yet we don't usually go.  I remembered when I used to live in California every year my sister and I and our friends would make the 9+ hrs drive to be able to come to conference.   On Sunday, Danny and I woke up early and made some sandwiches and drinks so we can take them up to Conference.  It was a beautiful day!  We had our blankets out on the east side of the old tabernacle and we sat there and had our little family picnic while listening to conference.  It was fun!  This would be an annual event.  The weather was perfect!  It wasn't too hot or cold but it was perfect to be outside and we really enjoy our time together.  In between talks, we had snacks and sandwiches.  Malik really enjoyed himself and so was his dad!

We also had the Kuuipo Photography took our family pictures around temple square in between sessions. The photoshoot was only for 20 minutes or so but I was very impressed that we were able to get some amazing shot (if I can say so myself :)) A great big thanks to Kuuipo Photography!  We had a great time.

Eating for Less!

After putting my title for this post, I'm thinking I should have said, "eating less!" but that's for another post :).  So, I have been looking for ways to save money for example our bathroom project.  Even though it's going to take longer by having Sipa and Danny doing it but in the long run we will save some serious money (because they work graveyard and try to find time during the day to do it).  The other thing that I have been working on is eating out less.  Most evenings I come home from work and I just don't feel like cooking and it's much easier to just run to Wendy's, L&L, chinese food, or 5 Bucks Pizza and just grab something real quick for dinner.  But every month as I review and do our budgetting, I am just amazed at how much we spent on eating out.  So this time I try cooking what we usually get when we eat out.  I looked up some easy recipes online and got some awesome recipes from my sisters and I went to work. 

My first attempt was pizza.  Malik was so excited to help since he absolutely loves pizza.  Our first one didn't really turn out because I added too much water when I made my dough but we still ate it and the second one was much better. 

My second attempt was on Rhubarb pie.  One of the sisters in my ward made it for a Relief Society's dinner few weeks ago and I have been craving this so I got the recipe and made it.  It turned out good but I definitely need more practice on making the base.



The third thing I tried to cook was the chinese orange chicken.  It was supposed to take half an hour but it took me an hour an a half to make it and I didn't have all the ingredients.  And I was surprised that it turned out pretty good.  Even Danny and Malik liked it and I even had leftovers for lunch the next day.  This is a dish I'm definitely going to make again when I have all the ingredients.  Love it!

My next one will have to be the L&L chicken kutsu but I haven't gotten a recipe yet.  So if you have it and you are reading this, please email me the recipe @ sanftyvix@hotmail.com.

I'm Frugal not Cheap!

In our attempt to save some money and for me to live up to my title (Miss Cheap, this comes from my siblings), Danny and I have been doing some projects around the house that have enabled us to save some money. 

First, we reupholstered an old couch for our basement.  I picked out the fabric and Danny mainly reupholstered it.  Malik and I even helped but Danny did most of the work.  It was a fun family project.  It took a whole Saturday but it was worth it at the end. I really really enjoyed it and planning to reupholster another one pretty soon.

We also have started with the work on our bathroom in our basement.  This has been a project that I have been dying to start on since we bought the house.  Luckily for us we know Sipa.  He does construction on the side and he told Danny if we would get the materials and stuff he will help us finish the bathroom.  So we went to Lowes and bought a bathtub, some pipes, dry walls, some 2 X 4's, and cement boards.   

("before" pic of the unfinished bathroom)

("before" pic of the ceiling)

(Day 1 -unloading the stuff we got at Lowes from Sipa's truck)

(Day 2 - put a base form for the tub to sit on)

(Day 3- finishing up the base and hooking up the pipes underneath the base)

(Day 4 - getting ready to put the tub in and doing the wiring for the outlets and lights)

(Day 5 - put the tub in and put up the cement boards around the tub for the tiling)

(Malik even helped out by modelling the bathroom!)

(Day 6 - put in the fiber glass all around the bathroom)

It's fun for me to watch the progress of our bathroom.  Danny and Sipa do most of the work while I'm at work so it's been fun to watch the progress of this project.  I just can't wait for it to be over. And thankfully to Sipa we are able to save a lot of money on this project. 

Labor Day Holiday

I just love Monday Holidays! It just makes my weekend a little longer. Danny and I didn't have a lot of things plan for this weekend other than wanting to hike the Y and relax. Sunday night, my two sisters in law came over for a movie night and to sleep over. It was fun! We went to Redbox and got 3 movies. They were Backup Plan, Why did I get marry too, and IP Man. We stayed up watching movie until really late and we all knocked out. When my alarm went off at 5:30 a.m, I quickly turned it off and went back to sleep. We finally woke up an hour later and around 7 a.m Danny and I left to go hike the Y.


For those of you who have lived here in Provo you know this is a very popular hike especially with families and students. On our hike we saw some amazing things. There were couple of people with babies and strollers, some were running up the trail, and some older folks who were faster than we were. Yes, it was very impressive! I was just glad that Danny and I were out hiking and since Danny and I never hike to the top of the Y, we wanted to make it there this time.

Well we finally made it up to the top and I just have to say we both love out hike. It took us 30 mins to go up and 30 mins to come down but it was fun to be out early in the morning. It was all worth it. The view of Utah Valley was amazing. We could even see Utah Lake from up there. This will be a tradition that we would do every Labor Day Holiday!

If you didn't know here are some facts that I found out about the Y.

* The block letter is 380 feet high and 180 feet wide, and is said to be the largest collegiate symbol in the United States. I thought that was cool!

*Early 1906 - When the junior class of Brigham Young University High School wanted to paint '07 on the side of the mountain, the BYHS senior class became upset. To settle this conflict BYU President George H. Brimhall and BYHS Principal that year, Edwin S. Hinckley, proposed that they paint the letters BYU on the mountain instead.

*April 1906 - The plans to construct the BYU on the mountain were begun. Professor Ernest D. Partridge was assigned to conduct a survey and designed the emblem. When this was complete, a line of high school and university students, and some faculty, passed buckets of lime, sand, and rocks up the mountain in order to fill up the letters. After six hours of hard labor, only the Y had been completed, so the filling in of the remaining two letters was postponed and later abandoned.

*1907 - The BYU Y Day tradition began. This consisted of thousands of students hauling, by bucket Brigade, gallons of whitewash up the mountain to paint the giant Y. This tradition lasted until 1973. It was abandoned due to erosion of the mountain.

*1908 - A three-foot high wall was erected around the letter to keep it together. This required an additional 20,000 pounds of concrete.

*1911 - Serifs were added to the top and bottom of the Y, giving it its current look.

*1924 - The tradition of "lighting the Y" began. Each year during special evenings (such as homecoming), mattress batting was placed in buckets and soaked in kerosene. The buckets were then set around the edges of the Y and lit with torches. Eventually, this process evolved into using mattress batting soaked in used vehicle oil whick was carried up the mountainside. Once at the Y the mixture was formed into "gook" balls (a little bigger than softballs) with a thumb size hole poked into the top. These were placed around the Y and just before lighting a bit of gasoline was poured into the holes to allow the torches to quickly light the entire Y. Using this method the Y would remain lit for about 20 minutes.

*1975 - BYU began to use a helicopter to carry thousands of pounds of whitewash to repaint the Y. This is now redone about every 5 years.

*1985 - As the previously used method of lighting the Y was long considered hazardous (due to the potential wildland fire risk) and because of the short duration of the time the Y would actually remain lit, it was discontinued after the lighting in the spring of 1985. A generator and strands of lights were purchased for exclusive use on the Y, with up to 14 strands of the 25-watt lights bulbs being needed to outline the Y. These lights were first used for homecoming in 1985 and provided several hours of much brighter light and lit for several consecutive nights per event rather than just a single evening. Intitially, the lights and generator were dropped off and picked up by helicopter, but after a few years a old military ammunition bunker was installed on the mountainside near the Y to securely store the equipment when not in use.

*May 20, 2006 - The 100th anniversary of the Y was celebrated. Many people hiked the Y that day to commemorate the occasion.

1st BYU Football game (BYU 23, WASH 17)

Every year since Danny and I have been married we've always gotten seasonal football tickets. We both love sports especially football. Over the years we have friends and relatives in the football team and it's been so fun to watch them. Also we love going to the games as a family. I can still remember sitting in the rain and cold weather when I was pregnant with Malik watching BYU football games. Even when Malik was born we took him to every game and some away games. Some people might say we are crazy fans, some may say we are die hard fans, but I think we are just devoted BYU FANS! If you know BYU football at all, you know that they have the most devoted fans in the nation which makes me so thrill that they are going independence next year.

Well, BYU first game this year was with Washington and BYU won 23-17. It was a perfect day to be outside. We all met up with Danny's cousin, Sinai Pauni, her daughter Lini ,and husband Haloti at the game. We had lunch from L & L before the game which was so good. Not only that but we got free t-shirts and our section was the lucky section. Everyone in our section got a BYU bag, Y sticker, and a BYU viser. The game was one of the most exciting games I have ever seen and the fans went crazy. Also, this was the first year probably in history for BYU to ever use 2 quarterbacks. Both Nelson and Hepas did an amazing job executing the ball and calling plays. Overall, it was a great game.


Eventhough it was so hot, we all had a great time at the game even Malik. We also met up with some of my friends Karen and Erica. Go COUGARS!