Avon

For your info: A woman I met through work sells Avon and she is giving me a 15% discount on whatever I buy! Let me know if you want to look through the magazines. They have a lot of nice stuff and it's already fairly cheap. They have everything beauty related: makeup, jewelry, perfume, bath products, skin care, and hair care. Even a few clothes. The order date is Monday Sept. 22 so let me know if you are interested. There are several things that would be nice gifts...

Remember the Avon lady in Edward Scissorhands? She was so nice.

Reflections of Christ

Rob's brother Tony sent us a link to a video of photographs taken to depict Christ's life. I really felt the Spirit as I watched it and thought about Christ.

It made me think about what He did for me, and made me wonder what I am doing to show my gratitude. I feel like there is so much I can improve in my life. It is so easy to become comfortable with your level of spirituality. Sometimes I wonder, am I really worthy to be in the presence of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ? With the time of my death being indefinite, it's easy to forget about the big picture and just focus on what is happening now. I'm grateful for little spiritual reminders, like this, to make myself a better person, now.

For She Loved Much by Simon Dewey

Click here to watch the video.

Labor Day

For Labor Day, Ashlyn organized a beach day at Kahana Bay. It is a beautiful bay surrounded by mountains and trees. There were about 10 couples there. The guys played football in the shallow water while the girls relaxed.

We all brought our own meat to grill and something to share. There were lots of yummy things to eat. I'm craving more peach cobbler and cowboy caviar.
Nate and Kim brought their kayak and we took turns going out in that. The 2nd time Rob and I went out there was a boat making waves which made it a little more exciting than I wanted.

Baby Nate on the rope swing

The guys were adventurous and climbed way up in the trees to go off the rope swing. The original rope swing branch had broken so they improvised. The water was shallow and calm and nice to just relax in. We spent about 5 1/2 hrs there. It was a fun Labor Day. Thanks Ashlyn for organizing it!

Game Night

Sunday, our friends the Howards had the Crosbys, Jones, and us over to play games. We played Cranium family fun edition (which is easier and faster), girls against guys. It ended up being a forfeit because they had to put kids to bed. I introduced most of them to rotel which they liked. I also took over homeade cinnamon-raisin bread from our bread machine. It was so good and disappeard fast! Rob and I stayed and played Swap and Munchkin with Kim and Nate until 1 am. Nate won Munchkin both times. We need to have a rematch!

Kim & Nate and Shanae's baby Krew

Me (see my new glasses), Shanae, Melissa, Kim

Little Nate

Home-Stay Student

Two weekends ago we had a girl named Kana come stay with us for a few days. She is 13, from Japan, and she came with her class to be immersed in the English language. Several of our friends had students stay with them too, so we did things with them so the girls would have each other to talk to.

We were just supposed to carry on with our normal lives so they can see our culture. What better way to do this than to eat and spend money? We picked her up on Saturday and went to Ala Moana mall and Wal Mart. Then we ate at Kua Aina and stopped at turtle beach for pictures on our way home.
That night we went to the night show at the PCC and got ice cream at Angel's. Sunday we took her to church. We had some of our Japanese friends tell her a little about what was going on. She went to primary during sunday school which was probably more entertaining for her.

Kap-the Samoan fire dancer

After church we went to the temple visitor's center and a missionary was able to teach them in Japanese and translate our testimonies for them.
That night we had a bbq with several friends. Then we played games at our apt. Monday morning we dropped her off with her group.
Kana's English was limited so our apt was pretty quiet. It was a lot more difficult to communicate than we imagined but we kept trying. Kana showed us a photo album of her family and also brought us several nice gifts which were unexpected.
We enjoyed having her here and we hope that her few days with us helped her learn English.

Photo Tag

I was tagged by Kim to take pictures of certain things and to do it right away (before cleaning up- ha ha, yeah right). So here we go...

1. The kitchen sink: I love having a sink with 2 sides now.
2. Laundry room: This is the laundromat for our complex so I don't have to worry about keeping it clean.
3. The toilet: Pretty nice...for a toilet
4. Inside the fridge: I'll admit this picture is a little old. Now our fridge is almost empty.
5. What is your spouse doing right now? Rob is always walking out the door to go do his RA duties.
6. Favorite shoes: Slippers are a necessity in Hawaii and these are comfortable and cheap
7. Favorite room: I love my everyday activities but my favorite time of the day is when I get to climb into bed and sleep! This room is also where our air conditioner is located-another bonus.
8. Your Closet: We just moved to this apt not too long ago so everything is still in the right place. Plus it's a small closet so there's not much to mess up.
9. Dream Vacation: Tahiti-I love the scenery, seclusion, and the dancing!
My other dream vacation is to go to Disney World. I've never been to d-world or land. If we went though, I would want to spend 2 weeks there so we can see everything. That's why it's a dream. 10. Self-Portrait:
Well, there you go. I tag Ashlyn, Shanae, Leah, Kelsy, Mia, Kareena, Kaleen & anyone else who wants to play along. Have fun!

Ward BBQ

A few Saturdays ago our ward had a BBQ/water party. We ate some burgers and dogs and then some played soccer and some played on the giant slip-n-slide. They also played water balloon volleyball. It was fun to play and socialize with the ward members. Our activities committee always does an excellent job with their activities. Thank you!

Some of the girls talking

Ali's baby has so much hair and is so cute