All About the Smiths

I'm so excited! I never win anything, but I just found out I won Jenny's big Birthday Giveaway!!

Thanks Jenny!!!

Friday night Josh and I drove up to Northland to attend Freedom Celebration. We had a great time! It was so great to be able to see friends up there and also to enjoy the fireworks. Josh got some GREAT shots of the Fireworks. I posted a few pictures below. To see the entire collection click here.

More pictures of activities. This was bowling....also with our Extension team. I beat my all-time record and bowled a 100 that night!! Yes, yes, I know, that's not really much to brag about, but if you could see me bowl, you'd probably agree!!!

A few weeks ago we went out with our Extension team for Northland for an adventure on the ice. Seeing as how we live in the Frozen Tundra, most of the lakes in the are are totally frozen. On the particular one we were on, you could find people ice fishing, snowmobiling, cross country skiing, and a couple other winter time activities. Here are some pictures.

Josh, Brad Bladine and I are spending the weekend near Kansas City, MO with our friends Elisheba and Carolyn. The guys had an interesting find earlier today.






Yes, you saw that right, they were having fun "modeling" in some exquisite fur coats! (Those coats probably haven't had that much fun in years!!)

I'm sure there will be more exciting pictures from our weekend coming soon. So come back soon!!

What do these things all have in common you may ask. Why, these were all part of yet another busy weekend in the lives of Joshua and Shannon Smith.

Friday night we attended my company Christmas Party at the Jefferson Street Inn in Downtown Wausau, Wisconsin. We had a blast at the party. My boss had arranged the most fun gift exchange ever! We were all told to bring a book or CD to exchange. We then exchanged the gifts based on looks of the wrapping and then after opening our gift we had another opportunity to exchange our gift through bartering with others. Josh started out with a Regis CD and ended up with a really cool 3-D Art Book. We left shortly after the game as there was quite a bit of drinking going on and we didn't care to participate in that!

Here's a picture of us at the party.



















Saturday we had a kids activity for church. We had a Christmas Party at one of the families houses and invited all the neighborhood kids over. We had made a craft, played a game, sang some songs, learned John 3:16, had some stories, one of whichwas the Christmas story, and then a snack. We were thrilled with the turnout even though there were only a few kids. The ones who were there really listened and enjoyed themselves and had the opportunity to hear the Gospel.





Josh helping the kids with their craft.

















Snack Time!
















Saturday evening we spent some time enjoying Christmas Festivities with Melchor and Liz who were down from Northland for Extension for the weekend. We went on a Limo tour of the Christmas lights in Marshfield, WI. (My co-worker, Angela, and her husband and two daughters were also able to join us for the Limo ride.) We also went through a Living Nativity. The Nativity was neat and had a lot of work put into it, but we were disappointed that the church who put in all the work failed to share the most important aspect of Christmas which is the Gospel presentation. Nevertheless, we did have a great time.

















From L to R: Dad, Mom, Melchor, Liz, Shannon & Joshua

We had a very busy Thanksgiving Weekend. Josh's sister Jenny and her friend Heidi came to stay with us for the weekend from Northland. We also had some other friends from Northland Vanessa and Kyle here for the weekend as well (they stayed with my parents.) We packed a ton of fun things into the weekend.

Wednesday night I broadened my horizons and baked pumpkin. I had never done it before, but it was pretty fun and turned out really well. My pies for Thursday even turned out great!!

Thursday was a beautiful day here in Wisconsin, so we took advantage of it and went out to a park Thursday afternoon and goofed off for a while.

Friday was of course our shopping day. We weren't really going out looking for anything in particular but we did find a few good deals along the way.

Saturday, Josh, Jenny, Heidi and I went out and cut down a Christmas tree and brought it home. All of us enjoyed that as it was a new experience for us all. We decorated the tree Sunday afternoon.

Here are a few of the pictures we took this past weekend. Pictures from our tree cutting adventure will come later. :)

Our friend Megan came over tonight with her new MacBook Pro. We had fun!!

Well, I just completed yet another crazy weekend! The past few weeks have been so crazy. When life slows down (which it probably won't....) I don't think I'll ever complain of boredom again!!

This weekend, Josh and I (and Brad Bladine) helped our new friend Megan with a project at the Wausau West High School. Megan is an English teacher there and also supervises the Pub Lab (where the students make the school newspaper and yearbook). This weekend our project was to rearrange the lab so that it functions better. Oh yeah, and we had some students there helping us as well.

Friday night we worked on emptying the lab, cleaning and organizing things to get moved back into the lab. This included removing old cables, cleaning the floors, and throwing away tons of old files and pictures and stuff. We also moved in the tables and arranged them in a much more functional manner. Saturday we moved in the computers and monitors and the rest of the furniture and then worked to organize everything.

The project was tons of work, (we were up late Friday night and up early Saturday morning) but the end result was well worth the effort we put into it. The students were so excited about the reorganization. Hopefully, they will be more productive now!! (Well, at least as productive as a group of High School students can be....)

Now, one might think our crazy busyness would end here and that Saturday evening was spent relaxing and recovering from all the work of the daytime. But, oh no! not us!! Saturday evening we joined my family and a bunch of friends for a bonfire. We were helping a friend from Scotland celebrate Guy Fawkes Day. So, we had a bonfire and cooked hot dogs and S'Mores and had a grand ol' time around the fire. We ended the evening at my parents house watching Finding Nemo.

Sunday was a rather normal Sunday for us. We had church and then dinner at my parents house. Sunday dinners are always great as we end up with tons of people there and there's always lots of laughter and joking going on. I wasn't feeling well Sunday afternoon so I went home and took a nap and actually ended up staying home from evening church because I still was feeling kinda bad. Today I'm feeling better though and feel a bit more rested, but still pretty tired!

Maybe I'll post some pics later if I get them. We took some before and after pictures of the Lab but I don't have copies of them yet.

Have a great week!! As for me, I'm going to try to get caught up on sleep!!

Sometimes it seems life never slows down. But being busy sure can be fun!! (Warning, this post is kinda long!!)

Friday night Joshua and I drove over to Northland to hear the SMS Men's Choir at the Artist Series. On the way over, we received a call from a friend (who will remain nameless to protect him!) who was having a problem and needed HELP!!! This friend had been driving through Crandon, WI the day before and had stopped to get gas and his credit card had been rejected and he was being accused of stealing gas. He called Josh since he knew Josh used to live in Crandon and had some connections there. So, we arrive in Crandon and head straight for the Police Station. Josh talks to the cops and then we head over to the gas station to pay for the "stolen" gas for our nice friend. You know, you'd think that if someone came in saying that they were going to give you money, you'd just accept it. Oh no - not this lady!! She tried giving Josh a hard time, but he won!! They finally accepted the money and gave Josh a "receipt" to prove that the gas had been paid for. His receipt was written on the back of a cigarette carton!! Well, that taken care of we proceed to go back to the Police so they can put down on the record that the gas had been paid for. Whew! What an adventure!!

With that escapade behind us we went to Subway and had supper with my parents who were also heading up for the concert. We had a nice time chatting with them and laughing over miscellaneous stories from the day.

The concert was very nice and the singing was great. There was even an appearance by a Barbershop Quartet that I particularly enjoyed! We also enjoyed sitting with Josh's friend Dan Childers and also Jenny, Josh's sister.

After the concert we were able to talk to lots of friends who we hadn't seen in a while. We also got to meet a couple of the SMS guys and enjoyed talking with them. I think we ended up talking to people until around 10:30.

Now, you might think oh 10:30 end of the night right? Nope, not for us crazy people. There was a Hockey Game Friday night and Josh and I really enjoy going to those, so us, Jenny and Holly (Jenny's friend) went to the game together. We had fun but didn't get back until around 1:15 AM or so!!

Josh and I spent the night with our good friends the Reese's. We always have a blast at their house. Phil and Shirley have 6 kids of which 5 are boys. So yes, it is never dull at their house! We were woken up by Thomas (one of the members of our fan club!) at 9 AM by him coming into our room and turning on the light to say good morning!! We enjoyed our visit with them and had fun playing with the kiddos and hearing what they are up to. (I'll post pictures later!)

Saturday evening we had a night of excitement which was supper and several crazy rounds of Uno Attack with the Eckdal's, Silvia, Liz, Jen, Dan and Mark on Saturday night. If you've never played this game you should try it sometime!!

Sunday was a bit calmer in which I was able to take a nap (yay!!) and we just did some relaxing.
Sunday evening at church the kids from church had the opportunity to show their parents and the other adults what they've been learning in Children's Church. Josh and I love teaching them on Sundays and have so much fun with the kids. Right now Josh is teaching through the book of Acts and the kids are really enjoying it. They sang 2 songs and then answered some questions about their lessons. We were so proud of the kids - they all did an excellent job!!

Wow, I'm tired just thinking back on all that we did this weekend. I'll post pictures later on.

Last weekend we went bowling with some friends.
The first picture is of Anneliese. The second picture is of Liz and Jen. Liz and Jen are comind down from Nortland each weekend to work in our church as their Extension Ministry.

Story: Right after this picture was taken Anneliese fell down while holding her bowling ball and ended up breaking the tip of her finger. Poor kid!! She's doing great now though and was a real trooper through the whole ordeal. 

Sunday afternoon Josh and I spent some time with one of our friends children. We took them to the park to play and took a bunch of pictures while we were there. The kids had a blast playing on the playground and also walking around the park. Here are some of the pictures that Josh took.

Josh and I enjoyed our long weekend. We enjoyed having some time at home to relax and also some time to get out and do things with friends. Here's what we did: (If you'd like to skip all this text, there are photos below!)

Friday night I had a girls night at my house. My Mom and sister came over and we did some Stamping. We are just getting into the Rubber Stamping craze and have fun making cards and using our creative prowess (or lack thereof!)

Saturday Josh and I slept in and then just hung out at home doing a lot of nothing. Saturday evening we went to my parents for a cookout and then went bowling. One of our friends from Northland, Stewart MacLean was visiting with his friend, Jeff, for the weekend. We all had a great time together.

Sunday afternoon, myself, Josh, Jeff and Stewart went to Rib Mountain State Park and spent some time up there. They have a 60 foot (1400 feet above sea level so Joshua tells me) lookout tower there that we went up to see the views. We also walked one of the many hiking trails there. The one we ended up on was about a mile long with TONS of hills. I was tired by the time we were done, but we throughly enjoyed ourselves.

Monday, Josh's friend Dan Childers and another new friend of ours, Erick, and my brother Mark came over and the 5 of us went to the Eau Claire Dells which is about half an hour from our house. The guys all had a blast climbing around on the rocks and trying not to fall in the water! Our next stop was a driving tour of Wausau, WI for Erick since he had never been here before. Our tour ended at Rib Mountain State Park where we climbed the lookout tower and took tons of pictures of the beautiful landscape. After that we went back to the Smith apartment where we grilled out and had some fun eating and fellowshipping together. Our evening ended late (11:00), but we all had a great time.

Needless to say, after my busy weekend, I am ready for another day off just to have some time to rest!

My good friend from college Janelle (Benson) Miller has finally joined the blogging community. You can visit her blog at http://janellemiller.blogspot.com/

A lady in our church was moving today so I volunteered to watch her 5 month old daughter, Faith, for the day and it has turned into an overnight.

Josh and I have had a blast with Faith. She is a very happy baby and she is very fun to be around. Tonight I had her lying on a blanket in our living room and she was quite content to be there by herself and laugh and giggle at nothing.

We decided tonight that if we were guaranteed to have a baby this happy and content, we'd have one tomorrow. Yes, we know that tomorrow is not an option (church...duh!!) so we've decided to wait until Monday.

Right now she's sleeping (9:00 PM). I wonder what my chances are that she'll stay asleep for the night? Good luck to me!!


(Update: Faith did sleep all night and was quite happy when she woke up. Her mother must love having such a happy child! This experience did teach me one thing. While I always knew that having a child was hard work, it has made me realize that I don't think I'm quite ready to have the full-time responsibility of a baby!)

We enjoyed our lunch with Janelle and her little man, Aaron. It's so much fun to catch up with college friends that we haven't seen in a while.