The Year of the Ox + bringing you up to date

Kung hee fat choy or Gung Hay Fat Choy!!! Luckily for all the procrastinators Chinese New Year gives us about a month to catch up on the things we wanted to tell our family and friends during Christmas.

Well we all know how the beginning of 2008 was for us so I’m going to tell you how it ended.







In September Keoki & I decided to take the boys to Disneyland! We got to stay for 6 days and we had a blast. Logan was a little scared of the characters walking around but Mason had no fear. He jumped out of the stroller and walked right up to them. Logan couldn’t bear to be the scaredy cat in front of his younger brother so he instantly got over his fear and hugged them. Pretty soon they were the typical crazy children wanting their picture with every character they saw.












Keoki doesn’t like to ride on the rides and the boys were too little to go on the big stuff so I didn’t do most of them. I did go on the Maliboomer, Space Mountain & Indiana Jones though. We absolutely LOOVED the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters ride. I think we did that and the Astro Orbitor everyday atleast twice. Our favorite place to hang out was Tomorrowland and Toontown.



My most memorable moment was when we all went on the Toy Story ride. We must’ve stood in line about 45min. Anyway when we got on we entered the ride with our 3D glasses and we were being spun around. Then we stopped. Some technical failure but our guns still kept shooting at the screen. I looked over to Logan sitting next to me and Keoki & Mason in the other cart and everyone is having the time of their life smiling and laughing. It was priceless. I’m smiling now just thinking about it.



Then right after that I got hired to do a movie called “Tempest” on Lanai and the Big Island. I was gone from the boys from October until right before Christmas. It was the hardest show I’ve worked on. You have to ship everything you need to Lanai. No fast food restaurants, Office Depot or Home Depot on that island. But the hardest thing was being away from the boys for that long. They came to see me once but I was working so long that it was hard to spend time with them.

Keoki is my rock. He took care of the boys and worked during that time. I’m not sure how he pulled it off without strangling any of the boys but he did. He’s awesome!


Logan also enrolled in Chinese school. He goes every week on Sundays for a couple of hours. Everytime I ask him what he did in school his reply is “eat snacks”..lol. He knows how to say “hello”, “goodbye”, and count to 4. He really enjoys it and I like the fact that he’s able to learn another language and culture.


Christmas & New Year came and went so fast. Then January was here and all the birthdays. We had so many birthdays to celebrate like my mom, Ayva, and BJ. We also had a whole bunch of our friends and their kids celebrating too.

Then Mason turned 2 on the 21st and Logan turned 4 on the 25th. We celebrated with a combined party for them at the Box Car Track. It was lots of fun. Logan even did a short lion dance with his costume we bought in Chinatown.


Now I hope it’ll slowdown so I can get on my photography again but some movie or show always comes in and my photography gets put on the back burner. We’ll see how much I get done during this break.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

I hope the year of the Ox brings you Happiness, Health & Prosperity!

December 4

On this day one year ago I found out I had cancer. I will never forget that day, that moment, that feeling. Thinking about it I get choked up as I know not only I got cancer that day but my family and friends did too. Many of my treatment’s side effects are gone. I’m rockin’ short hair and bangs nowadays and everyone thinks it’s cool. I feel so blessed that I was diagnosed at stage 3 and my treatment plan was successful in putting me in remission.

The lessons learned while going through this journey is invaluable. I wouldn’t have changed it for the world although my Keoki would say different. I think it was the hardest on him. I was having everyday epiphanies while he was not getting sleep, being my nurse, working and being both mom and dad to the boys. Bald, bloated and sick he still looked at me like I was the most beautiful thing in the room. I never felt self-conscious. Today we are so strong because of it.

Each day I’m grateful to be living even when I’m having a bad day. I don’t get so worked up about things. I’m so proud of family and friends for stepping in without question to help me heal. I really do feel lucky to have had cancer. It definitely changed my life and I feel blessed to have experienced all of that and now be healthy and living life with wings.

In the photo above we participated in the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Fundraiser. We were part of group F.L.U.S.H:

(F)ighting
(L)eukemia & Lymphoma
(U)nderstanding
(S)upporting
(H)elping

It was the first time our group entered and I’m thrilled to announce that our team raised the most money. We raised over $6000…YAHOOOO! I was so proud wearing the blue shirt that had SURVIVOR on the back. It really made me cry when Byron (our other team member who battled leukemia) & I held our team sign and lead our team around the waterpark. I felt triumphant. I loved standing out that night. The color of my shirt showed I fought and won. My balloon was white while everyone’s was red. Everything reminded me that it was ok to be proud of this past year.

I'm a textin' Fool!!!

I love texting especially now that Keoki is sporting around with the iphone 3G. I had to wait days for a reply now he's responding quicker than I. Here's a little conversation we had about December 4th.

Lanai

I've been so busy working that I've never really gotten a chance to see this island. We're staying at the Koele Lodge and I have a huge room. I think all the rooms here are huge. Only last night did I walk around to see part of their property. It's beautiful here. There's a beautiful old fashioned library that I would love to sit in all day and read books. Then you go out toward the pool and you have a great workout room. Each machine has its own T.V. I have to use it before our whole crew gets in. We've pretty much booked the whole hotel. I think we're going to venture towards shipwreck beach. I heard there is still some gold to be found over there. I'm sure if there is its very, very little but going to check it out and see.

Then we're going over to Manele Bay. I would've loved to stay at that hotel but it's a little farther from our production office. I'm just 5 minutes away at the Lodge.

We have a 4WD but if you guys doing hear from me after 5pm..please send help..lol

I'll tell you all about it when I get back...Hope you enjoy your Sunday!!

A little Political humor

We're getting close to Nov. 4th and just thought this was really appropriate as many people are so worked up over this year's election. Go out there and vote. Just mailed my absentee vote from Lanai. Make sure to make yours count!!!

Chasing Pavements

Keoki and I were watching Conan O'Brien and Adele was the guest singer. I was mesmerized. She has an amazing voice. Play her video below and you'll agree she's phenomenal.

Adele - Chasing Pavements
by slzaza

The Year of a Million Dreams...

In my almost 30 years of life I have never been to Disneyland. I know sad ya? So, guess who was more excited in the Kalihi Smith clan than anyone else??...YUP..ME!!! We got to our hotel at around 3:30pm. We got settled in and I kept begging Keoki like a little baby to go to hurry up so could go. Luckily we bought the Anaheim Resort Transit (ART) Pass because I didn't know you had to pay to park at the happiest place on earth. Shocking! Anyway, we jumped on the shuttle and even though it was Logan asking "Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" It was me that really wanted to know ARE WE THERE YET??? Right when you walk off the shuttle it feels exciting. When you swipe your ticket it sounds like pixie dust being sprinkled. Everything is just magical!

We were lucky to go and see Disneyland a day before they put out all of their Halloween decorations. I do have to say that the most rudest people go to the happiest place on earth. Everyone there has a Black Friday mentality. Luckily I have been trained many years on that and could hang with the big boys. Keoki is not so hip to that game so there were a couple of times where I told him he could stay back with Mason and Logan & I would go for a couple of hours. Logan complained a bit here and there about the walk but I didn't mind because it was super far. We rode rides together, laughed about silly things. It was awesome. It was nice to just do that with him one on one.

We spent six days at Disneyland and California Adventure. I'm so glad we got to do that with the kids. I can't wait for them to get a little older so they'll be able to ride big rides with me. Keoki hates those rides. He got a little woozy on the Star Tours ride. He cracks me up!

This year is The Year of a Million Dreams where cast members choose random people in Disneyland and do things for them ranging from giving away free embroidery on the Mickey ears hats to staying the Cinderella Suite. We weren't chosen for that but Keoki started to talk to one of the cast members and he got a set of collectable pins and some other pins. A total of about 11 pins in all. SCORE! Check my ebay listing and happy bidding..nah! Not selling those pins.

Oh and one more reason why Disneyland is so awesome. We were running around doing all kinds of stuff and I didn't realize until I got home that I was missing a bag. I called our hotel and the shuttle service and nothing. I called Disneyland and talked to their Lost and Found Department. I retraced all my steps with them and they went and tried to locate it. Luckily they found it. Without hesitation they asked to send it to my address. OMY! Did I mention how much I love that place??? My sister Nicole went to Disneyland Tokyo the other year and my niece lost her jacket. My sister called their lost and found and they found it and mailed it to her too.

Hope we can see EM-AI-SEE-KAY-EE-WHY EM-OH-YOU-ES-EE again, maybe we'll catch him in Florida or Tokyo next??? *elbowing Keoki*..haha