Keolanani Kinghorn

If you didn't notice, I took a break from blogging for the entire summer. It was glorious. Sometimes you need to live life without taking too much time to document it. We spent lots of time enjoying the warm weather and now we're back to life, whatever that means. Phil is back in school (starting year 2 out of 3). Fall is emerging and I love it. I'm planning to go play in the piles of leaves as soon as they start falling. Phil turned 27 last month and I turned 25 in April. I'm starting to feel old. What's new with us you may ask? Well, Phil has found a new hobby: building planes. He is obsessed with it, and its pretty impressive, if I say so myself. He's always loved planes and has wanted a remote control airplane, but they are WAY to expensive, so he's putting his engineering skills to work and has started building them himself. Here's a video of the first plane he built. He has since built another and is currently working on his 3rd plane. ...

Emma turned one on April 27th, 2013. It's crazy to think she is no longer the baby I used to cradle in my arms. Then again, she stopped wanting to be held in my arms a long time ago. She is SO independent. She  wants to do everything by herself: sleeping, eating, crawling, exploring, etc... I had not realized Emma had grown so much until last week. Suddenly her face was no longer a baby face, her feet no longer fit those tiny socks or the same pair of shoes she's been wearing since she was 4-months-old, and her eyes, unlike a newborn, seemed bigger and open wider in exploration at almost every moment of the day. Even the weekly emails I receive updating me on my baby's progression started calling her a "toddler" instead of the baby I see her as. And the deal breaker of it all was that SHE decided that she was done with breastfeeding. Never mind that I had planned to slowly ween her off, maybe stopping at 18 months. I guess children are like that, ...

Ingredients Paprika Dried oregano Salt Dried thyme Black pepper Garlic powder (or chopped garlic) Oil  4 pork chops. Directions Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Cover each chop the spices, sprinkling (on both sides). Cook pork chops with onions with oil on stove top getting a nice brown sear on each side. (5-10 minutes). Place in preheated oven to let it cook through for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit for 5-10 minutes. Serve with potatoes or rice. Optional: Make a gravy with the left over juices to cover the rice or mashed potatoes.                                                                                * Recipe altered from  Herb Rubbed Sirloin Tip Roast     ...

One of my favorite things about my birthday (now that I live in Utah) is my free Tucanos  meal. Its kind of a pricey place, but twice a year Phil and I go, because we only pay for one meal (and get two). It is awesome. So, I decided on my birthday this year that there must be other deals out there. Here is what I found... Ice Cream Baskin Robbins  –  Sign up  to get a free 2.5 oz. single scoop or soft serve & $3 off a birthday cake.  You’ll get the coupon 5 days before your birthday & have 10 days to use it!  You can even sign up within a few days of your birthday & get print your coupon for a free scoop immediately. Ben & Jerry’s  –  Sign up  to a get a free scoop & $3 off a birthday cake.  Coldstone Creamery :   Join the Birthday Club and you’ll get a Buy 1 Get1 free ice cream creation (or really anything on the menu) Maggie Moo’s  –  Sign up  for a free ice cream cone. (Only in Salt L...

I'm constantly looking for traditions to start with my own family and even though I only have a baby some of these activities are things Phil and I can start doing. However, these are meant for families with children. Easter My favorite site for Easter traditions was this one:  A Deliberate Mother’s Guide to a Christ-Centered Easter  from the blog, The Power of Moms. It has a week worth of activities to do, all centered around Christ (not just the Easter Bunny). It also has ideas for gifts and decorating your house during Easter. Here are some of the images taken off this post... General Conference (If you are not sure what this is read my old post about it here ) My favorite site that has an activity pack to help kids to pay attention during General Conference was this one:  The Ultimate General Conference Packet And here's a link to my last General Conference post with ideas for kids:  why-i-am-so-stoked-fo...

So, I found a really easy recipe for crockpot Hawaiian BBQ chicken onine, but I didn't want to buy the  Hawaiian Style Barbecue Sauce from Target that it called for. So, I found one online and tweaked it. Here is the final recipe I came up with...                       Crock Pot Hawaiian BBQ Chicken(for 5-8 people) Ingredients: 4 or 5 Boneless Chicken Breasts (thawed or frozen) 1 20 oz. can Pineapple Chunks, drained 3/4 cup -1 cup unsweetend pineapple juice (just use juice from can of pineapple  chunks) 1/2 cup ketchup 1/2 cup of BBQ sauce (optional) 3/4 cup aloha shoyu sauce 3 tbsp brown sugar 1 tbsp Molasses 3 tsp ginger 2 minced garlic cloves 8 ounces  tropical fruit juice or puree'  (I used  1 jar of mango baby food because that is what I had). 1 cup water Directions: Spray the inside of your crock pot with cooking spray for an easy c...

 Well, I guess its true. Time really does fly with a baby.  Before you know it, Emma will be turning one. It's weird to think about, and at the same time so exciting! Emma weighs in at 18.36 lbs and she is 28 inches long. She learns new things daily and has started mimicking a lot of our movements (an equally cute and terrifying prospect). She loves to clap her hands and give us fives. She also loves to click her tongue in her mouth (or at least try). She giggles every time she does it. So we start doing it too. Hmmm... now that I think about it, maybe its Phil and I who mimik her (instead of the reverse).  Haha. This is at least true of her screaming. I don't know where she gets it from, but since she was a newborn she has been a screamer. She does it SO much that sometimes we don't know what to do, except scream with her. Emma is also finally starting to crawl, or rather scoot. She can only go backwards so far, but she can roll and dive forward (from a s...