Awapuhi Hike.

Kyleigh and Katelyn love awapuhi. Awapuhi (ava pu hee) is a natural conditioner. You squeeze the bulbs (without breaking the stems so they can refill). The thick liquid that comes out of the bulb can go right onto your hair. They love to smear it in their hair until they are dripping the snot like substance down the backs of their necks. It is in season right now so we promised Kyleigh we could go on a hike just to harvest awapuhi. I even bought a funnel. We went on the Kuilau hike, an easy 2.5 mile round trip hike with lots of guava and awapuhi. We filled all of our bottles before we reached the half mile mark then decided to keep going to the top. Once at our destination we played tag in the grassy field and ate banana bread at the covered picnic tables.

We ate lots of natures treats on the way. To reach the strawberry and lemon guavas Rusty holds Kyleigh up and she has to stay "stiff as a board." Luckily this is a game Rusty has played with the girls since they were tiny and now it is coming in handy. Kyleigh has to keep her legs straight and Rusty lifts her up over his head so she can pick the ripe guavas.

This was Katelyn's first hike hike. We have wondered when she would decide hiking might be more fun that riding in the backpack. She hiked 3/4 of the hike, or about 1.8 miles. I guess it's time to start planning her first backpacking trip.

Still under 30

I have only one more year until I hit the big 30. As for right now, I am still under 30! This year the girls picked out some very special gifts for me. I got...

- a bell for my bike. Katelyn is quick to say it is just like the bell on her bike and KyKy doesn't have a bell.
- yahtzee score card refill pack. Rusty and I have always loved yahtzee. One summer in college we played atleast 5 games a day. I just this month beat the high score, a record I have held for about 8 years. I got 4 yahtzee's in one game for a score of 619 points.
- dish cloths. I have gotten so much flack for my holy dish towels that even my kids thought it appropriate to buy me new dish cloths for my birthday. I have to admit that I love them.

Rusty got me a watch and a contraption to practice my golf swing. He also took me to my favorite sandwich shop. We got dinner to go and had a picnic and fed the fish at Kauai lagoons. My favorite is to put the bread in my toes and the fish nip at your feet. We also went to the movie, the time travelors wife. Mike and Holly made me a delicious pasta dinner with lime pie for dessert and gave me an ebay gift card. I'm still trying to decide what I need off of ebay. My mom and dad sent me a fun card and some money with strict instructions to buy something completely frivolous. Merrill and Nancy sent me a fun package with some shoes, a necklace, a shirt and tons of neccos.

I had a great birthday, with no pictures because it is usually me manning the camera and I can't take pictures of myself. I'm O.K. with turning 30 as long as I get another fun birthday.

A fun weekend

A few weekends ago we had the idea for an appetizer night. We invited all of our friends over for a potluck appetizer dinner on Friday night. Good food, good people. Can't go wrong with that. Nic and Heidi stayed at our house that night and the next morning we went kayaking up the Kalihiwai river. We attempted to make it to the waterfall you can see from the highway but found it harder than expected. We plan on trying again but taking tennis shoes to hike up the river the last little way to make it to the waterfall. Despite not reaching the waterfall we had fun. We saw only one other kayak and enjoyed the peaceful river.

Saturday night we went to the Kauai County Fair. I love the fair. It has been bred into me. We watched the "circus," rode the ferris wheel, went to the petting zoo, met Smokey the bear and the firedog, and looked at the fair entries and exibits. The food at the fair here is not like back home. No tiger ears, corn on the cob, or homemade bread. Lots of rice, saimin, kahlua pork, and malasadas. We ate at subway before we went.

I still love the fair!

When they grow up...

When Kyleigh grows up she wants to be a... Doctor, Costco stand person, or a hiking guide.
When Katelyn grows up she wants to be a... Bear.

Kyleigh's 6th birthday!

August 26th rolled around again. It comes too fast. We had a small party for Kyleigh's 6th birthday. Mike and Holly and the Giles family came over for dinner, cupcakes, and a golf ball hike. Kyleigh got to choose all of the above. We had taco salad for dinner, with doritos instead of tortilla chips ( a specific request). We had spent a bunch of time on the internet to find the right cupcake to make. We found a random recipe for cupcakes with not all the way cooked cookie dough inside, and a cute froggie cupcake pattern. The cupcakes were a combo of the two. The kids loved them and they had fun creating their own frog cupcakes.


The golf ball hike was a huge success. I don't think anyone had been on our route for awhile and all the kids ended up with a huge bag of balls. We opended presents after the hike and she loved all of her presents. We gave her a new bike. She told us that she wasn't sure if she wanted one because she wanted to be able to ride her old bike without training wheels before she tried on a bigger bike. We got her one anyway and a few nights later on her first try on the golf course she rode from the tee box to the flag without any problems. She was so excited. Who knew that all she needed was a bigger bike? She was so surprised that her knees weren't hitting the handlebars and it didn't hurt to ride a bike. She is getting too big too fast. Happy Birthday Kyky!

Mainland Idaho.

We spent about 8 days in Idaho and crammed as much as we could into our time there. Darci and Alma flew in from Moscow, and Nate drove down from Moscow so the whole family was home for a few days. Here are a few highlights...

- Met new cousin baby Alma for the first time. We instantly fell in love with her (how could you not?). Kyleigh held her every chance she could get.

- Played with Graves family cousins, Tucker and Payton.

- Got the grand tour of Rissie and Tylers new house. They just bought their first house a couple of months ago and it is very cute. They have already painted the living room and are planning more fun projects.

- Kyleigh and GG went on a shopping trip one day and to the play Aladdin at the Mystique theatre. They had lots of fun. Kyleigh's favorite part of the play was the three "magic tricks," including the genie popping out of the lamp, the magic carpet that really flew and the confetti coming from the ceiling.

- Had a birthday party for KyKy and Katelyn, including lunch at Mrs. Powells in the mall (best soup ever), riding the little rides at the mall, and a famous GG birthday cake.

- Played with Uncle Nate, who is an excellent horse, lion, cat, etc.

- Played in the whale pool and sprinkler, and with bubbles in GG's back yard.

- Got together with some friends from high school and their kids. Played at the park and had lunch and popsicles at GG and Gpa's house.

- Went to the annual Graves family golf tournament. My brother Nate won the tournament this year. It was his fourth win in the 24 year run of the tournament. Not bad, considering he is 24 years old. We had a picnic at Indian Springs (the Nat) near American Falls and got to visit with family that we rarely see. Super fun.

- Had a hot dog roast with the Larsen family at Indian Springs. Kyleigh always loves to see her second cousins Mason and Eden. Eden is 9 days older than Kyleigh. They immediately gravitated toward the creek and spent the entire time gathering shells, trying to catch fish, making mud pies, and having water (and mud) fights. I remember doing the same things in the same creek just a generation ago.

Mainland New Mexico

Aside from our backpacking adventure, we had a great trip to NM and ID. Here are a few of the highlights from our time in New Mexico...

- Played with all of the Cook family cousins.
- Played on Nama and Papa's swing set.
- Ate Mexican food at Jalisco's and La Familia.
- Had a combined birthday party for Josh (Aug. 5th) and Kyky (Aug 26th).
- Became a foster family for two baby rabbits.
- Went to church in cute new matching dresses from Nama and Papa.