Photo Shoot

So our friends just had an adorable baby girl named Claira. They wanted some baby announcement pictures and they had seen some of my old photography photos and asked me to do them. I was very flattered but a little nervous because I had never done baby pictures before. Well here’s how they turned out…

Labor Day Weekend

Well for Labor Day weekend, Stephen's family all came to visit. It was a crazy weekend but we had lots of fun. They stayed at the Hale Koa so we spent time relaxing there. We also went to sharks cove, north shore and pearl harbor. Here are a few of my favorite pictures.

Jazz for Jesus

We have been attending a Presbyterian church called Trinity Church since we moved to Hawaii. We have a great group of Christian friends that we met there and have Bible study with on Sunday nights. We like the church and the pastor but the worship music is lacking a bit. The songs that are done are usually overplayed worship songs from the 90s that lack much depth. Stephen decided about a month or so ago to join the worship band to see if he could influence the quality of the music. Since he volunteered, he has played the drums, bongos and the sax. I didn’t even know he could play the drums! The last two Sunday’s he has done the special music with a guy in our church who has written the songs and Stephen just “jams” to it. Here are the 3 videos I was able to get from my cell phone of the song he did last week. You can’t really see him (I was sitting in the very back because I was on call that week) and you’ll need to turn the volume up all the way to hear him too. But he sounded great and I am so proud of him! (I call it "Jazz for Jesus" because that is what the woman sitting behind me in churh said when Stephen was playing :o)

Polo

Well I have discovered that the awesome game of polo is in existence in Oahu. There is a great field right along the beach. We decided to get some friends from church together and go to the last game of the season. We drove out there with the two dogs in the back of the truck and parked on the edge of the field just a few yards from the beach. It is certainly interesting experience. There are some people there who are in fancy dresses and big hats and then there are people BBQing out of the back of their truck with shirt off and beer in hand. If you have never watched polo I would highly suggest it. There is nothing like watching horses gallop down a 300 yard field with riders with croquet like sticks hitting a soft ball size ball. Unfortunately I gave Stephen the task of taking pictures during the game in which we ended up with not a single picture of the actual game. Silly boy :o) Here are some of the pictures we did get. Mostly of the dogs playing on the beach at half time. Lilo loves to fetch her ball in the water. Willow is still not too sure about the water but loves to play the sand (you'll see what I mean when you see the last picture).

Best Buds

Lilo and Willow are doing great together! They play all the time and chase each other back and forth across the yard. Willow chews on Lilo's leg while Lilo chews on Willow's head. It's fun to watch. Here are some fun pictures of the two of them.

Meet Willow

Yes, yes, I know, ANOTHER pet! I promise that it’s the last one. Now we have a complete pack, 2 dogs and 2 cats. With me starting work this week, Stephen and I decided to get a second dog to keep Lilo company. We found a place called Pawprints Rescue and they had a puppy that they thought would work well with Lilo. It happened to work out that they brought her over for me and Lilo to meet on our birthday. She is sooo cute but was really shy and just hid under the table. Lilo was more interested in the lady that brought the puppy than the puppy. The lady said that she had found Willow in a parking lot when she was really little and she had Parvo.

She is probably a hound mix and about 4 months old. She is 17 pounds and will probably be a medium/large size and she has really long legs. She spent the first few hours with us hiding under the table. Then she got curious and wanted to explore outside so her and Lilo went outside together. As soon as they got out there they started playing! It was so cute. They were chasing after each other and jumping on each other and Bagheera and Giselle were watching them from the window. After that she was less shy. Lilo was a little possessive of her toys at first but now she is getting better at sharing. Bagheera has pretty much ignored her so far. Giselle surprised me by going right up to her and playing, they actually look a lot alike with their coloring.

So as for the name, none of the Disney girl names seemed fit her. But then, when I was looking at a list of Disney character names I saw “Grandma Willow” from Pocahontas and Willow fit her so well! So I got a puppy for my birthday and Lilo got a little sister.

Lilo Turns One!

Well its Lilo’s first birthday today. (And my 23rd, yes we have the same birthday). It’s been a fun week for her. I took her to a huge pet expo in Honolulu on Saturday and then to the dog park. She didn’t really like the dog park, the Chihuahua puppies scared her (no I am not kidding, they were the size of her foot and she was afraid). I took her to the beach and the park on Thursday and she got to do some swimming and digging in the sand. Then she got a bath, not her favorite, but she looks so pretty! Today I took her to Petco to get her favorite treat, a huge raw hide which she will probably finish by the end of the day. She’s been a great dog and I hope this is the first of many great birthdays to come!