Beautiful

Nathan texted this image to me this morning. This is a view of the sunrise from where he parks for work in the morning. I can't help but thank God for his beautiful creation. What an amazing gift.

New year and more

It's been a long time since I last used this blog, but I figured that I should just start again. We have had quite a year this past year and I'm so thankful every day for my family. As for blog news, most of you already know that we are expecting our third baby, but some of you may not know that we are expecting our first GIRL!!! We are beyond excited about this (we would have been with a boy too, but still... it's a little different.) Now we get to come up with girl names and start filling our home with pink in preparation of her arrival.

In other news, the week after Christmas, Nate and I drove with my sister Keturah and her roommate Kristianna across most of the country to Kansas City Missouri. We felt strongly that God was leading us to go to a conference called "One Thing" hosted by the International House of Prayer in Kansas City. Tino & Donna graciously took the boys for a week while we went. It ended up being an amazing transforming trip for both of us. God met us there and we definitely have a renewed need to follow Him, to know Him and to fulfill our God-given calling to love and obey Him by worship, prayer and reading His word.

Tomato Basil Meatballs

In early June our family decided to start following the Paleo lifestyle. We have removed grains, dairy, refined sugars, legumes and nightshades from our diet. It has been pretty amazing. I've been pretty challenged by the necessity of cooking all of our food. Granted we can still eat out if we do major modifications to our meals, but for the most part, we are eating pretty tasty home cooked meals. I have been so grateful for all the people out there who love blogging! there are so many people who live paleo and have tons of great recipes on their blogs. We have enjoyed all kinds of foods that stay within the paleo limits. Including cake, brownies, cookies, hamburgers and pizza! I've really enjoyed trying to come up with good recipe's of my own too. So here is the first one that I feel like is absolutely amazing. I feel silly putting that out there because I realize that everyone has different tastes, but I think this is pretty good.

Tomato Basil Meatballs

Makes approx 36 meatballs

3 lbs Grass-fed ground beef

1 pint cherry tomatoes diced

5 bunches of fresh basil

1/3 cup of garlic cloves

11 oz tomato paste

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

3 eggs

1/2 tbs Honey

turn your oven to 400 degrees

Lightly grease an 9 x 13 and 9 x 9 baking dish

Place eggs, garlic, tomato paste, basil leaves, salt and pepper and honey in a food processor or blender until mostly creamy, but still has a few bits of garlic and basil.

In a large bowl place the ground beef and tomatoes. Add the contents of the blender and combine using your hands or a spatula. Once combined roll into golf ball sized balls and place in the baking dish. Bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes. Enjoy!!

Isaiah Tumau is 1!!!

Isaiah Tumau Allen

June 30, 2011, 3:37 am

8lbs 2oz, 20 1/4 inches long

Birth Story

Dear Isaiah,

Every day I am amazed by you, by your appearance, our blond hair, blue eyed boy! Then by personality. You are CRAZY! I love your attitude. You are always up for a laugh. Always trying to get others to laugh. You make the most amazing crazy faces... Like your famous scrunchy face which I really hope you keep forever! You are sweet and considerate. You love playing, you love people, you love to explore! I was amazed when you were six months old and were completely mesmerized by a car wheel, the way you looked at it and touched it and watched the effect of your hand make the wheel go around. You are always trying to figure out how things work. Your mind seems to be racing all the time. Now, you try to mimic the syllables we use while talking to you! Dog, duck, dad and cat all sound similar. Isaiah, you are such a gift. God provided the perfect son for your dad and I and the perfect little brother for Zeke. I love the way you look up to Zeke and want to play with him or attack him whenever he allows it. You are great at bringing him out of his shell and being a great friend to him. I love watching the bro's play together! Thank you Isaiah for the blessing that you are. I am utterly amazed by you. I can't wait to see the things you learn and the ways you develop this year. I'm so thankful that you are here. I can't imagine life without you!

Ezekiel is 3 years old!!

June 26, 2008

4:21 am, 7 lbs 15 oz, 20.5 inches

Happy 3rd Birthday Ezekiel Manuia Allen!

Zeke had a wonderful birthday! When we woke up in the morning Zeke opened his first present and then had some breakfast with Nate and Zai. We had a pretty good morning. Zeke helped put the favors in bags for his cousins. We did a very cute train birthday theme and it turned out amazing! The kids loved the favors and everyone seemed to have a great time. Zeke did a great job opening his presents and thanking everyone for all the great stuff they gave him. We all had a wonderful day, especially Zeke!

Kaden, Ezekiel, Danica and Isaiah dressed up like Train Engineers

Chugga chugga, choo choo!!

Dear Ezekiel,

It's hard to find words to describe how completely blessed I am everyday by you. You are such an amazing boy. So thoughtful, careful, curious, grateful, sensitive, loving, joyful... the list goes on. Zeke, you are growing into such a wonderful and amazing young boy. God loves you so much and is shaping you into an awesome person. You want to help all the time, you absolutely love your little brother and you are so good to him. I love the questions you ask, the stories you tell and your silly pretend voices. I love watching you try tirelessly to figure out how to accomplish difficult tasks and that you are willing to ask for help if you need it. I love it when you figure new things out and do your wonderful celebratory dance! Jumping up and down on your tip toes!! Your joy is contagious and your smile melts my heart. Thank you for being who you are. Thank you for filling this house with smiles, laughter, joy and love. I can't wait to see the new things you try and the new things you learn this year. I know that I will be continually amazed. You are a blessing. You are strong inside and out. I love you my little warrior!

love, mom

Happy 30th Nathan!

In honor of my wonderful husband Nathan's 30th birthday I thought I would share some of the many amazing things about him.

- He chose to marry me!!!! For this, I am forever grateful.

- He is an absolutely wonderful Dad and role model for our two beautiful boys.

- He loves me and supports all my crazy needs for exercise

- He hangs out with the boys so I can go out with friends and so I can train for my marathon.

- He works 40+ hours a week so that we can have food in our bellies and a roof over our heads and never ever complains.

- He believes that being a stay-at-home-mom is a full time job and respects me for what I do with the boys.

- He still looks at me like I mean the world to him.

- He gives great hugs.

- He loves what I cook for him.

- He puts up with my rambling graciously and is a great listener. =)

- He loves God and tries hard to lead our family toward Him.

- He is strong and handy.

- He is pretty stinking handsome for a 30 year old!!!

Some of his accomplishments this year (forgive me if I can't remember all of them, I was pregnant half the year after all):

- He lived through my 3rd trimester with Isaiah.

- He was the only one present during Isaiah's birth and he did an absolutely amazing job. He was calm and in control the whole time. Hands down the best birth partner anyone could have asked for. He caught Isaiah! What a MAN!!!

- He took us for a couple amazing camping trips.

- He kept his job through a huge amount of layoffs from his employer.

- He was promoted at work.

- He did the "whole30" challenge with me an made it all the way through!

- He designed and built a very handsome fence gate for our backyard.

- He (along with our brother-in-law) fixed our broken sewer pipe.

I am really so thankful for being Nathan's wife and being able to spend all my days with him. He is a wonderful gift from God. Thanks Tino & Donna for raising such a wonderful man.

I love you Nathan!

"Boat Dinner"

I'm trying to change my family's eating style to primarily Paleo... I've had a hard time recently because I (and Nathan) have felt like a lot of the Paleo food I've been making is a whole lot of the same thing... so, I researched a bunch of blogs and found lots of ideas and that is where the inspiration for this "boat dinner" came from (Zeke calls it "boat dinner." Cutie).

Boat Dinner

2 Delicata Squash halved

1 TBS Coconut Oil

Salt

Pepper

Onion powder

Garlic powder

Filling:

1 lb Ground Beef

1 red bell pepper

1/2 a yellow onion

2 cloves garlic

1/2 inch of Serrano Pepper

1 small bunch of Broccolini cut into bite sized pieces

Heat oven to 415 degrees use coconut oil to cover the insides of the delicota squash and place skin side down on a baking sheet. Sprinkle seasonings on the squash to taste. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the squash become soft. Remove from the oven.

Meanwhile, brown the ground beef and in a separate skillet saute the onions, garlic and Serrano pepper on medium heat. After about two minutes, add the peppers and broccolini.

Put a thin layer of the veggies in the squash then top with ground beef and place in the oven for 10-15 minutes. Combine the remaining beef and veggies. Once the squash are done, top with the remaining mixture and serve. Yum!