The Tale of the Brain Bucket

May your coffee be strong and all your animals be put in the oven.

That has summed up our morning so far. The coffee in front of me is strong, and Kaelyn is happily putting all of her plastic animals in her play oven. That way, she can put them away and see them (might I remind you that they're in the oven?!)

She has issues.

Now she's doing leg exercises with her mom. Nothing like a morning of leg exercises and baking animals...

So last Saturday we had a big adventure here in the Smith clan. Kaelyn spent the day at the Blackman's house, helping clean it all up, and Michelle and I went up to Marmot together! She had a really strong day, linking her turns, not hitting random trees, and she looked pretty solid out there. And this is where the tale of the brain bucket comes in. By late morning, Michelle went ripping around a corner and ended up catching her heel edge on Old Road. So the next few days turned out to be an experience of whiplash and perhaps a bit of a concussion. Not too serious though. By mid-afternoon, Michelle was boarding with Erin, and I went up to mid-mountain where there's some great tree runs. My brand new helmet is super comf and has tasted its share of tree branches. I seemed to be a little sluggish on the mountain by the afternoon and took a branch through the venting of my helmet. Nothing too serious, but it shook me a bit. So all in all though, a pretty great day. The powder is amazing on Marmot this year, and I'm really enjoying the new control I have as a result of doing tree runs. I've spent a good amount of time digging myself out too when there are no paths. Hm...

Michelle and I have both been at work a lot the last two weeks. Michelle has begun tutoring, and I've spent a lot of time away. I've got a youth pastor's retreat coming up next week (Tues-Thurs) and then it's back for a busy February. So it's work! Work! Work! But at least we're enjoying it, and for the most part, still getting in time together.

Just a curiousity that I have - has anyone had the new Lay's Curry Chips? They're disgusting. I went out and bought a big bag, and by the first chip, I knew they were terrible. They taste like the inside of a city taxi. So a friend and I ate the whole bag, just to see if we could - in fact, whoever lost the race in Mario Kart had to eat a handful. Pretty gross. Even worse the next day, but for everyone else. So at least that part was enjoyable.

Well, that's pretty much a wrap on our last few weeks. Kaelyn has a command of a pile of words now, and she's very very busy. As I type, I hear her little clompers on the floor above. She's running back and forth and just having fun with her mommy. They're both laughing pretty loud right now - Michelle just yelled down that Kaelyn is trying to lick her face and thinks it's hilarious. I love this age! She's so playful, ticklish, smiley and talky. Some of my favorite times are when she yells "Daaaaaaaaddy." I'll yell back, "Baaaaaaaaaby." And then she yells out Daddy again. Very fun times.

So, on a last note, I think as much as we used to post, we'll probably scale back to once or twice a week. We haven't been home enough in the past two weeks to spend any time in front of the computer, and I think it'd be more realistic to post a little less. So keep checking in, and just know we'll do our best to keep you updated with photos!

One Beer of the Root Coming Up!

One cold authentic A& W Root Beer going out to our good friends in Kampala, Uganda! They're the ones in the background behind the Root Beer. They'll soon be in Tanzania. No, they're not that white in real life.

Well, Brian might be. He's Dutch.

So guys, the beer is free, but the shipping and handling costs will be $200. Just pay us when you get back. I think in Dutchyland dollars, that's like $5,000 (because of interest). I've mentioned them before. We've been checking their blog daily around here, watching their progress through Africa. These are a couple Google Earth snapshots of where they currently are in Africa. Keep the reports rolling guys! We're loving the updates! Missing you guys out here in Western Canadiana!

In other news, some of you may be wondering why I don't report on Saskatchewan Roughriders Cribbage anymore. Well, sometimes it's good to report the news, but you have to realize when a story has run its course.

And yes, I've been losing. So the story is not worth mentioning. Hey, I'm writing the blog, right? If I can't rub a good winning streak in someone's face or even brag about being utterly dominant, is it really worth mentioning?

I don't think so. Whoever said classy winning was the way to go obviously has lost a lot. It's not about winning or losing. It's about making sure the loser know that you won. That's called sportsmanship.

So I had a crazy thing happen today - I enjoyed church. Not that I hate church (mostly), but my brain has been churning over different and artistic and inventive ways to do church - and I got some encouragement today. Our senior pastor wore jeans. I know that sounds pretty lame, and we're really an open church, but the senior mostly had to get over his own fears, and he did that today! Pretty stoked about that, and that flavored the entire morning. It was almost like a return to realness and courage in that. I dig that. So it was pretty refreshing that Dave (our senior) spoke on the exact same thing I did last week, just from a different angle (Religion vs. relationship). I'm finding great freedom in my job because of that. The boundaries that I thought might potentially exist here are definitely a lot further than I thought. That's pretty refreshing.

In fact, we were at a family's house tonight, and they mentioned that they viewed me as a bit of a rebel, which I take as a high compliment. But it was nice the way they put it. It didn't fit into the "you're a rebel-extremist" camp, but instead into the "you do things differently" camp. Good place to exist. I'm continually being surprised by the authenticity of this community of people. Makes you excited just to be around them.

So in my last (possibly) seemingly random rambling, Kaelyn has been missing Tristan a little bit around here. There'll be times when she'll stop and say, "Where's Chistee? Where's Chistee?" And then we have to tell her that Tristy went home. So it'll be nice when the wee cousins get together and have some more time to play.

So with that, that's my ramblings for today! Here's some older pictures for you once again, and hope everyone is having a fantastic week! One picture is from hiking last spring with Grandma and Grandpa Smith, one from the Oiler's playoff drive, and one with Kaelyn and one of her favorite uncles - Uncle Lea! And now, I'm off to read another really great book by James Patterson, and my favorite time of the week is here - my day off! Cheers!

This is me trying to sleep...

...and this is my daughter, trying to find a comfortable place to sit while she opens her phone.

So today was one of those days that wouldn't make it into any sitcom, or any highlight reel. Just one of those days where the hours tick by and nothing exciting happens. Well, one exciting thing happened, but it's really not that cool. I left three cans of root beer in the truck and when I went out there this morning, they had all exploded. So the inside of the truck was covered in frozen root beer. I'm glad it was frozen; it was very easy to clean.

Kaelyn's tooth has broken through, so she's returned to her steadfast commitment to being smiley and happy. And talky. And that, in a brief nutshell, is the Smith Scene for January 11. Now I'm just waiting up for my drugs to kick in (Kaelyn and I are still fighting boogery colds), and then it's off to sleep for me. Sorry, we'll try and pick up the dramatic pace a bit tomorrow.

And now for a picture from way back, all the way to May 15 of 2006. What Kaelyn would refer to as "the good old days."

A Girl After My Own Heart and the Day the Sun Stopped

Michelle and I are moving to Dominican Republic! We've had enough of this weird weather, so we've decided to put up the house for unrent, and we're packing our bags. We'll be leaving tomorrow.

The thing is, everyone in Western Canada is buried under 20 feet of snow. For us, it's cold here. But no snow. Not even a full centimeter. I should know. I measured. Meanwhile, everyone is talking about this crazy amount of snow and we get nothing.

Zippo.

In fact, I even called a cross country ski place and asked if they had any snow. I thought it was a serious question, and the lady laughed on the other end. They're 20 km away. How could that be funny?

Because they had snow. Lots of it.

So I grumble.

So Kaelyn is now speaking an absolute ton of words. Some phrases too. "Mommy's nose." "Daddy's eye." Michelle was teaching Kaelyn to say "I love you" and when she taught Kaelyn "I", the little scamp tried to poke out my eye. Actually, it was pretty cute and gave me hope that my little girl could one day be a ninja. Michelle said "I love you Kaelyn" (even before M tried to teach K), and Kaelyn repeated it, saying, "I uv yoo oo." Pretty cute, and it made Michelle cry. That's called a quality afternoon.

On another note, you'll notice my lovely daughter sitting in a chair with a N64 joystick in her hands. I believe that's called 'learning.' For the last days of family visiting during New Years, Auntie Erin, Uncle Lea, Michelle and I sat in front of the TV playing Mario Kart. Kaelyn now goes to her chair, sits down and says, "teee mo" (TV, more). And she grabs the gamepad. A girl after my own heart.

On a sad note, today the sun stopped for a brief period of time over Hinton. It stopped for about a half an hour. Because today, on a questionable note (see Dallas Stars Stanley Cup victory in '00 for similar comparison), the reign of victory has come to an end at 10 wins and 0 losses. Let me give you the background though, because I think it's important to keep in mind. In about the middle of Roughriders Cribbage, Michelle realized she was moving my pieces. After moving everything back to its "proper" place, she went on to victory. Now, I appeal to you as the jury - when in the history of professional sports has there ever been a game continued on account of a bad scorekeeper? Never. They would replay the match. And fire the scorekeeper.

But alas, when food is hard to come by, even squirrels will become aggressive, vicious even. So the game, as it was, was called in favor of Michelle. Apparently, things like fair play and justice are not important to teach the next generation.

Think of the children.

And so, with the sun stopped over Hinton, I conceded a loss and my current record is now 10 wins 1 loss.

Well, make that 11 wins now. I won later.

So with that, I'll leave you to your day. Hope your day was filled with things like justice and fairness for all, and that you, even when you have a dominant winning streak on the line, are able to humbly step aside and let others win. Even when it hurts.

Think of the children.

Some Christmas Season Leftovers

Because of the vast hugeness of the previous blog, things were slowing down to a crawl. So here are pictures from the latter half of the Christmas season. Actually, they are from January 1-5th. As you can tell, things were great around here! So without further ado, more pictures! Yay!









Tristy helping Auntie Shell open her present.






Full of Christmas cheer, even on January 5.










Busy people doing important things.







Kaelyn, Tristan, and the guy hired to read them a story.







One kid, three servants.

Goliath and the Blog

It's like a 300 pound linebacker running unopposed at a quarterback who weighs about 173 pounds. Or 570 wimpy ninjas deciding to fight an army of 1,210 really good ninjas. Or asking a boy who weighs 100 pounds to eat a cow that weighs 173 pounds. A cow that is angry. With horns.

It just doesn't happen because it's impossible.

Funny word - impossible. Let's just say im is Latin for 'no stinkin' way' and possible is French for 'you're about to get run over.' That would mean that it's impossible for me to lose at Saskatchewan Roughrider cribbage. Im-possible. In other words, "No stinkin' way, buddy, you're about to get run over." I would have to go back over the blog, but I believe this latest victory puts me at 8 wins, 0 losses. Or 9. I can't remember. I haven't lost a game since...oh wait, there hasn't been a loss. None that I can remember. Some would say that's a touch arrogant. Boastful even. Perhaps borderline rude to brag about such a streak of victory.

Hey, my job is to inform everyone of the facts. And the facts from the latest game are this:
Shaun - 121 pts for the victory.
Michelle - 70 pts for the heartbreaking loss.
Do the math and you'll find that my opening statements are no exaggeration. They're mathematically accurate. It's all about balanced journalism here.

And to top it off, I just had Michelle proofread this section. Had to make sure there were no spelling errors. Phew.

There were none.

And she's not impressed.

That should be double points.

So onwards to the promised section that I teased you about yesterday. Lots to report, so I'll try and stick to the highlights so it doesn't become about how many potatoes I had for supper. The beginning of course, is a great place to begin any story, so there I shall begin.

Our section of the Smith clan spent Christmas day with Grandma and Grandpa Lewis, which is where we last left off. We got there just in time for Christmas supper, which was fantastic. Then we watched Kaelyn open her presents - she's getting more proficient at ripping stuff - and after that, it was games time. It was a pretty relaxed time - walking, Starbucks, and the works - and Kaelyn entertained us for pretty much the entire time.

You probably had to be there, but Kaelyn was hilarious. One night, she fit herself into a small plastic bowl, and she would constantly put it over her head and say "Bop. Bop." Sounded like one of those birds from 'Finding Nemo' who were crying out, "Mine mine mine." She also was introduced to remote control cars when Grandpa Lewis was driving around her and "accidentally" crashed into some of her jungle animals. Road kill.

We came home on the morning of the 28th and it seemed like a bit of a rush from there. Michelle returned to Edmonton on the Saturday to visit Uncle John (don't worry Uncle John, he's from Ireland now), who was in from Ireland. So I had two days with Zoe to just chill out (and put together a Sunday service, so I was busy). The next Monday I worked since my SUPERNEPHEW was coming up from Meadow Lake that day. Since he's only two years old, his parents came along too. So they rolled in, and unfortunately I had to work during most of the day from Monday to Thursday. Although my sermon came together in record time, so that was good. Lots of games, lots of victories to record. Then Thursday night rolled in, and Erin and Lea came up for a visit. We old-schooled it for quite a few hours with Mario Kart on N64. I'm more than proud to say that Erin is not a girl - well, she is - but I mean, she's actually great at video games. In fact, it's Lea who could use some practice.

Tristan and Kaelyn had a fantastic time together. One moment for you, Kaelyn coughed from drinking her sippy; Tristan copied her cough. Then Kaelyn coughed back. And so on. They shared well, they played well, and Kaelyn splashed Tristy in the bathtub. One moment all is calm, the next everyone in the bathroom is wet. Now that's a good bath.

On Friday, Lea, Doug and I (from here forward known as the three bros) went up to Marmot for a day of skiing. I was happy, especially in hindsight, to pick up a brain bucket from the snowboard store.

I must say I've never had a harder day snowboarding then I did that day. For the first two hours, we stayed on trails and went fast. After that, and I love to say this because I know how Mom will react (which will make me enjoy it even more), we went off the beaten trail and blazed our own trail. I wish I had pictures, but unfortunately, just picture a bunch of rocks and trees and snow and you get the picture. At several points, we lost each other and would yell out each other's names, only to find that each person was only a few feet from each other. We were just behind trees. And under rocks. And snow. That was a pretty crazy day.

We finished, of course, by going with the whole gang out to Jasper Park Lodge, where we had the world's best waitress. Very good times out there, as usual. It was a huge gift to have everyone out there. It's pretty hard to express how much fun that was, so I'll just leave it with you.

We came home exhausted. Lea went to bed at 8; Megan was next, Michelle the next sleepy one, and Doug, Erin and I stayed awake until 1, and then just Erin and I until 1:30am. On Saturday, Doug, Megs and Tristy left in the morning, and the rest of the day was pretty much a Mario Kart day.

Sunday was a huge thing for me. I had to preach, and everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong. My video didn't work (and it was U2 Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For!) and my stand was too low, so I had to wing it a bit. But it was probably the most relaxed sermon I've done in a long time. I did get a lot of great feedback from it, so now I'm encouraged to try and preach all of March and see how it goes! My whole sermon was based around the power of weakness, and really revolved around how the church has used much of its power improperly, whereas in the ancient times, it would be speaking from a position of weakness. It really went over well.

So that's that! We're caught up! And hopefully now, we'll stay caught up! So Happy New Year to everyone, and we hope you enjoy the year of the 007!

Consider this a teaser...

...for what's coming tomorrow. I know what you're thinking.

"Does this blog ever get updated? When is it going to get updated? How come I can't update the blog myself? What will I do with my nurse friends when I have nothing but old pictures to show them while I work the night shift at the hospital? Where are the pictures and the daily updates?! What will I do with my ten minutes of time that I used to spend checking their blog? Is it possible to eat enough sugar to turn my boogers sweet instead of them always being salty?

Well, think those questions no more. Tomorrow you will have your updates, pictures and even more humor coming your way straight from the Smith household. That's right, you heard it here.

So, the title says it best.

Consider this a teaser.