February 28, 2009 - Living For Jesus Is Fun

Today was Krystal's babyshower for little Zakkery - due to arrive April 4, 2009 - he will his big brother Brendhn to fill her house with the BEST boys in town - Daddy Travis and 2 little Bests :)

February 27, 2009 - Living For Jesus Is Fun

In less than 2 weeks - this boy will be a teen. Scary isn't it? :D

February 26, 2009 - Living For Jesus Is Fun

Just a little Zip today.

February 25, 2009 - Living For Jesus Is Fun

Today I learned that Facebook will let you use your webcam and their built in software to add a profile photo - on the spot. Now, I'm not saying this is necessarily a FLATTERING photo - but it's cool and makes changing the profile pic quick and easy! The second screen shot shows ALL of the profile pics I have used...my sweet brother took the first one, because everywhere he went to take a shot of his toddler, there I was - lying in the sand to be on her level - taking shots. Had to, the kids don't get to see their Alaskan cousin very often :) That was...2 years ago.

February 24, 2009 - Living for Jesus is Fun

Tea addicts live here. Well, tea snobs. We like good tea, and while in Honolulu I discovered Lupicia Tea. I bought a few little ones (okay, admittedly, I bought one little 3 pack on the Christmas clearance because it was half off...and the tins were cute) and I bought a tin of Hoku. When I got home, I decided Hoku was my new FAVORITE tea - it's pretty - which is important because tea creates an atmosphere; it smells delightful which is part of the atmosphere; it tastes like a tea I bought several years ago and have never been able to find again (probably because that long lost tea was an oolong, and Hoku is in an oolong base). Anyhow, HOKU is ONLY available at the Lupicia tea shop in the Ala Moana shopping center in Honolulu, HI - and they WILL NOT SHIP IT TO YOU. If you want that tea you either have to go there and get it yourself, of have a friend or relative that lives there to buy it and ship it to you. This creates a problem. I mean, I know people there, and my sister is there, but - WE DRINK A LOT OF TEA. Other families drink soda - the Smith family (minus Kurt, he's a rebellious coffee drinker) drinks tea. So, I checked their website and picked a few other flavored oolongs and am pretty sure we could live without the Hoku if we had to because the Mango and Momo (peach) oolongs are AMAZING - in fact, every Lupicia tea we've tried so far is wonderful! We also got Ume (Japanese plum oolong) and of course a plain black tea :)

Favorite tea places are:
Lupicia - Where we just got our new and wonderful teas, free shipping on orders over $35
Harney & Sons - AMAZING teas - Hot Cinnamon, Viennese Earl Grey, Wedding Tea - we have many favorites here, their Indian Spice is one of THE BEST Chai blends we have ever found - not overpowering, just perfect.
Republic of Tea - Lots of good stuff here, in trendy tins and all that - *tip* unless you really NEED the tin, just buy the refill bags and save $
Townshend's Tea - Try the Alberta Street Chai - they blend it with Russian Caravan, aka Lapsang Souchong, SMOKEY TEA - one of my faves :) It's certainly a fun one - and it's blended in Oregon, you can check them out in downtown Bend, OR in their little brick and mortar there OR in Portland, OR - their main shop!

February 23, 2009 - Living For Jesus is Fun!

Check out our California Rolls - with real crab though, for one, we didn't have any of the gross imitation crab meat, and for another - we were blessed with real crab. :)

February 22, 2009 - Living For Jesus is Fun

I am SO THANKFUL that this time I send my Rebel XT to Canon for servicing I have the point and shoot Canon A470 that took this photo as a *hold me over* :o) I am also thankful that when you send your Rebel off to Canon they send it back to you CLEAN and in like new condition. This poor thing has logged just about 34K shots. Yes, that's 34,000 - and it only had about 12K on it last time it went in for servicing - it's long overdue and now, the sensor needs cleaned beyond what I can do myself - and the sand in everything really must be removed. The man at the camera shop, last time he just rolled his eyes at me when he took the camera to box it up. Yeah Man, I totally understand. But seriously, his camera bag would probably get sand in it too if he took it in the car to the beach WITH KIDS THAT DON'T PAY ATTENTION x 5 (sometimes more). That's one of the main reasons I haven't upgraded...upgrading would give me anxiety about things like kids and sand, and I don't like anxiety - I consider it a blessing to just work with what I have and enjoy the blessing of being able to send it off in trade for being able to capture so many fun moments with the kids :D

February 21, 2009 - Living For Jesus is Fun

It's cute how she takes everyone else's glasses. She doesn't need glasses - and these are too big for her - but she's still cute :D

February 20, 2009 - Living for Jesus is Fun

Abby can do something I have never ONCE been able to do - my entire life - a chin up. Seriously, I have never done one. I have tried for hours on occasion, but never successfully pulled one off. Push ups, yes. Can do. Pull ups? NOPE. I was actually surprised that Abigail could, it's not something we've ever taught her or tried to get her to do, she just did it! GO ABBY!!

February 19, 2009 - Living For Jesus if Fun

Abby checked the mail on Wednesday and discovered postcards for Ruby and for Camden from my trip to Hawaii, but hers didn't come and she was heart broken, for a few minutes, I think she even thought I had forgotten to send one to her...but hers came today, Thursday, one day later than theirs did - so it's all good now :D

February 18, 2009 - Living For Jesus is Fun

You aren't going to believe this - but I was almost too tired to take a photo today. I almost broke out the camera to take a photo of Pastor Bigelow trying on the coconut "toupee" we found for him on the beach at Chinaman's Hat, but I just couldn't muster up the energy. SO today it's a charming photo of my honey pie...I was trying to take a photo and he decided to make a funny face - and you can't move when I'm trying to take a photo without a flash (i'm not a flash person...so even in low light, i tend to make other adjustments rather than use the flash) or you get crazy blurry looking stuff - like this :D

February 17, 2009 - Living For Jesus is Fun

Chinatown, Portland, Oregon. Walking to the Greyhound bus depot from the Max - after leaving PDX...not long into this bus ride, Becky was wishing we'd spent the extra money and rented the car - and I was wishing the loud mouthed boy in the back would get laryngitis. As people left our bus, God blessed me and put that boy in the seat directly behind me...so when he started making fun of the boy who HAD BEEN sitting there for being *scary* because he was *quiet* I took the opportunity to turn around and tell him what a delight it was to have the quiet boy behind us - because it was around 2 PM and Becky and I had been up since 8 AM the day before and really appreciated the quiet. Delightful, he softly replied, "oh," and was pretty much a delight to travel with thereafter. Phew. We napped a little on the bus, but man, we sure were trashed when we got home at 7:30 PM - after having landed at 7:10 AM :o) What a blessing it was to be able to take that trip to Oahu and back - and to be able to appreciate all of the little things we have at home - like our own beds, and familiar sights and landmarks, and most of all, our loving families that missed us while we were away! :)

February 16, 2009 - Living For Jesus is Fun - ANYWHERE

The Rock Church of Kailua is AWESOME!! Wonderful, beautiful saints of God that took us in and brought us to their party today, a picnic @ Chinaman's Hat on the Windward side for President's Day! Good food, wonderful company :)

February 15, 2009 - Living For Jesus is Fun

Becky painted a fire breathing dragon in her ketchup with her french fries after lunch today at Dave & Buster's, downtown, Waikiki, Oahu, Hawai'i. I thought it was a sea turtle heading for the reefs.

February 14, 2009 - Living For Jesus is Fun

a missile at the uss bowfin museum. not the entire thing of course.

February 13, 2009 - Living For Jesus Is FUN

musubi. it LOOKS kind of like sushi - but it's SPAM. i was really going to be brave and try one - but as soon as i saw it IRL sitting there in saran wrap, i nearly barfed. disgusting. my grandma used to feed us fried spam sandwiches. i'm sorry, i just can't do it. that is one chinatown experience i'm afraid i had to pass on, and i couldn't afford the shark fin soup ($36.95 with crab, only $30.95 with chicken...shark fin must not have much meat OR flavor if you have to eat it in some other broth...). i am tremendously blessed to be able to CHOOSE what i want to eat.

February 12, 2009 - Living for Jesus is Fun

a wave like this knocked me over and sucked me out - and i was laughing too hard to get back up - so i just got pulled out and tossed back and pulled out again, several times. kadi says this place is Sandy Beaches.

February 11, 2009 - Living for Jesus if Fun

the life raft on our cat breakfast cruise.

February 10, 2009 - Living For Jesus is FUN!

Today we picked up our Go Oahu! cards downtown. We did a little light shopping (got Dad's coffee, 100% Kona) and some other things. Rode in the fancy white car with the top down, ate lunch at Duke's (a beach front, windowless, tropical kind of place) and then went to the Sea Life Center and saw the dolphins and seals perform (we missed the penguins), then we checked out the other sea animals and then we watched the sea lions do their little act.

Feburary 9, 2009 - Living for Jesus is WAAAAAHU!

as in OAHU. We landed. We're at Kadi's!! I will make an album for the day by day on this trip...and then come link you. They ended up in opposite order - so the first photo shown is at the end of the series - and be so proud of me, I only took 70 photos on/from the plane :)

**THIS WAS BECKY'S FIRST FLIGHT!! AND WE WERE READYING FOR TAKEOFF (or perhaps we were taking off, i can't recall which of the photos this is.

January 8, 2009 - Living for Jesus if FUN

okay, today's photo is FUNNY STUFF!! Becky took this one of me - trying to try on the snorkel mask. funny stuff i tell you.

February 7, 2009 - Living For Jesus Is Fun

today...beach with the Bridges family. cold but beautiful (well not cold cold, but not comfortably warm without an extra top layer) today, i took 300+ photos - with my new telephoto lens. got tons of great ones of the girls playing, and mr. & mrs. bridges being so cute (they are an adorable couple). i chose this one because...i didn't ask them for permission to post their photos...and well, the fisherman, that's bill. he just bought the same lens as i did (like right after i told him i found a good deal on a canon telephoto lens, he went and bought the last one that had it's box, all that was left was the display model, which is the one i bought) and he can't use his this weekend because his camera went camping with his son. bummer. so when my son spotted him fishing at the same beach as we were at, i thought it would be funny to use my lens and take his picture. :o)

he didn't catch any fish, we had 15 foot swells breaking HARD, it wasn't a good fishing day. it was an minus tide day though and i am wondering, where did all of the shellfish that used to be in these tidepools go? no more urchins. no more mussels. no more starfish. what's going on??

February 6, 2009 - Living for Jesus is fun!

Another day...another - HOW DO I PUT MY CAMERA
SOFTWARE THAT'S ON CD ON THE ACER 1?? no cd drive. can't connect to canon's site to download drivers. oh well, pull photos off by folder manually. i can live with that. this is kurt's computer. shhhh. don't tell him i really bought it for me.

ANYHOW, today's photo by KURT - who used the FLASH (something I usually don't do) and I will edit the photo and remove the demon eyes before scrapping it. He was VERY proud of this shot...he's usually afraid to even touch the camera. It could have been worse, he could have included the rest of me, covered in flour - I was rolling dough :)

February 5, 2009 - Living for Jesus is FUN

Camden and Nathan Kahler playing their harmonica duo bluegrass jam for me - Nathan is so funny - he even did his little ho-down dance, complete with knee slapping! I really had planned to post the photo of me & Sandy Main on our lunch date to the Blue Heron, but this was so cute (sorry boys, cute is how I saw it, but not in a sissy sort of way) I had to post it instead :) And I took it with the new telephoto lens I picked up at Bi-Mart {the display model, THANKS BILL ;) }, because we all know I'll need that in Hawaii ;)

Late posting photo because I wasn't home to post it until wayyyyy late yesterday and we're all sick and I didn't feel like it - because we were all playing with the new tiny laptop (an acer1 [one?] ) anyhow, it didn't have anything on it yet. Trying to NOT clutter it but looking forward to having a little portable purse sized lappy for the trip to Hawaii. If only planes had electrical outlets...by my calculations, the battery will last only 2 hours. *sigh* It's all good, I have the Bible on my iPod and travel scrabble and a traveling companion as well :D

February 4, 2009 - Living For Jesus is Fun

Camera out bathroom window to capture shot of their "fort."

February 3, 2009 - Living For Jesus is Fun

*heeeheeeheee*
Sandy took this picture FOR ME because I wasn't wearing the right shoes for climbing up and down the rocks, so I SAT IN THE SLIMY WET STUFF AND SLID so that I wouldn't fall and slide :D
*Sigh*
In my favorite skirt too :)

February 2, 2009 - Living For Jesus - Amidst Destraction - Is Fun

The sun's in his eyes. Isn't that so sad? No fog. No rain. No wind. Just sun in eye...
Weeds had a challenge today - take a photo of something that disrupts your day, throws a hitch in your giddyup so to speak - well...MINE IS SUNSHINE. Doesn't always have to be something bad to disrupt our day...in fact, we're pretty fly by the seat of our pants, so not a whole lot derails the Smith clan :)

How am I supposed to get kids focused on lessons when the SUN is out, it's a wonderful blessing and I am thankful for it, but it IS a distraction. It's beautiful. It's not too cold to go out and play without a coat. It's perfect without wind to go to the beach and check out tide pools. So, Lord, please help us to get through this terrible, awful, wonderful and blessed distraction :)

February 1, 2009 - Living for Jesus is Fun

Today is my mother's 51st birthday!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!

Seagulls, while usually a nuisance, were good entertainment this afternoon, they will catch things (stale bread for example) if you throw it up to them, while they are flying. Cheap amusement for me, they're pretty sharp - the ones that aren't smart and lazy that is. Smart, lazy gulls simply gather on the ground and wait because they know eventually something will land and they can eat it without work.

Church was FUN today - Tim was a great teacher on THE BODY (like, if the hand is mad at the foot, does it just get to say, 'I'm not a part of the body anymore, I don't like what the hand is doing...' - of course not, that's ridiculous). Kurt made funnies during the worship service. Brother Bigelow added a little shorntnin' to the preachin'...that doesn't happen often, and Cub started singing Happy Birthday toward the end of service and had all the teens and kiddos chuckling and wriggling in pews (it wasn't anyone's birthday, Cub is close to 5).