August and September Birthdays

We had SO much to celebrate during the months of August and September, so I'm putting them all in one blog post.

I celebrated my 40th birthday this year (August 6th),
surrounded by wonderful family and friends.

Me and Papa Bear (aka: Michael, aka: the hubby), who threw me an amazing party.

Me and the other BWOGs (aka: Beautiful Women of God)
LOVE these ladies!!

Celebrated Papa Bear's Aunt Sara's 71st birthday in August.

Celebrated my niece's 3rd birthday in late August.

Celebrated my father in law's 65th birthday, and our Baby Bear's 1st birthday (which happen to be on the exact same day!), in early September.

Here we all are: "C", "S", Papa Bear, "E", and Mama Bear

Celebrated "C's" 17th birthday just this past Sunday.

And today is my dad's 65th birthday!

God has truly blessed us with so many birthdays, so many celebrations of LIFE!

Thank you, God, for all that you have given to us, but most especially for your Son, who took our sin upon Himself, so that we might have ETERNAL LIFE.

Mama Bear

The BEST Crock Pot Kalua Pork EVER!

In March, Papa Bear and his mom celebrate their birthdays exactly one week apart. This year, we had the birthday celebration at our house, since we finally live in a place that is large enough to host everyone. We LOVE Hawaiian food, so we decided to do a Hawaiian feast of sorts, including Kalua Pork. I looked online for a good recipe and found THIS ONE at allrecipes.com, where it has 646 reviews and 4.5 out of 5 stars. It's a SUPER easy crock pot recipe, and my brother-in-law said it tasted like the real thing, so I'll take that as a compliment.

All you need is sea salt, liquid smoke and pork shoulder or butt. And time. And you end up with a SUPER tender, SUPER delicious Kalua Pork, just like you see in the photo above. Yep, that's our Kalua Pork, so juicy and yummy. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

• 1 (6 pound) pork butt roast
• 1 1/2 tablespoons Hawaiian sea salt
• 1 tablespoon liquid smoke flavoring

Directions

1. Pierce pork all over with a carving fork. Rub salt then liquid smoke over meat. Place roast in a slow cooker.
2. Cover, and cook on Low for 16 to 20 hours, turning once during cooking time.
3. Remove meat from slow cooker, and shred, adding drippings as needed to moisten.

We served it with Hawaiian sweet rolls, sweet potato fries with a tasty aioli dipping sauce, teriyaki beef kabobs, teriyaki vegetable kabobs, fresh pineapple, potato salad, and strawberries. We even had pina coladas, and pineapple sherbet, to round off the whole "Hawaiian experience".

Have fun cooking!

Mama Bear