Ridge's first food

Ridge is a solid little guy. We thought he would be so excited to try rice cereal for the first time. Wrong again. The pictures tell the story better than I can.

We waited a week to try again. The second attempt started a little better....

and ended about the same way.

We have continued trying to feed this little guy rice cereal and his reaction is about the same. He does like bananas though. Could it be that we have a picky eater?

Orange Juice Stand

Kyleigh had her first taste of the life of an entrepreneur. We had a big cooperative garage sale a few weeks ago. She sold banana muffins, orange juice and golf balls (fill a bag for a buck). She even used her cash register for the occasion. She made $22.50 and was flying high. She put the money in savings. She gets that from Rusty. I would have been down at the gas station buying $22.50 worth of candy. She and Katelyn have been dying to "sell things."One night they were down at the bottom of the driveway selling rocks and filled water balloons. Katelyn was in her underwear SCREAMING at cars to stop and buy a rock. Katelyn didn't get to help with this sale because of the lack of supervision (Daddy and Mike were hiking to Kalalau and Holly and I were manning the crew), but I'm sure she'll jump in next time. Kyleigh's friend Haley helped her most of the morning and they had so much fun. I think she's ready to start her own business.

The girls got haircuts

The girls got super cute new haircuts. Huge thanks to Heidi. They go to sleep with wet hair, then wake up and look cute with just a little comb. It's fabulous and it's off their necks for the summer.

A day in the life of a red headed 3 year old...

The day starts with a quick potty accident on the bathroom rug. Katelyn knew she had to go, but when she got to the bathroom she felt it was more important to organize the bath toys...atleast that's what she said. Bathroom rug #1-dirty.

Later in the morning Katelyn got a plan. As soon as she had the chance (my attention was diverted) she holed up in the bathroom and concocted "minty soap." Her ingredients included a gatorade bottle, soap, toothpaste, and water. And thus minty soap and a new mess were born. Bathroom rug #2-dirty.

She appropriately used the phrase "in the meantime."

In the afternoon she was playing outside with Kyleigh. When they came in Kyleigh was clean and fresh and Katelyn looked like she had rolled through the mud. Katelyn explained,"well I wanted to be a puppy and puppies roll in the mud." It's not like Kyleigh is all innocent, she made the mud.

It goes on during an impromptu afternoon bath. I leave and the all the toilet water comes out. Literally. Clear out on the carpet and wall in the hallway. Bathroom rug #3-dirty.

When Rusty came home she convinced him that he needed his toenails painted, which she graciously volunteered to do.

On a walk around the block she wore a pink ballet tutu backwards with orange flip flops on her feet and purple crocs on her hands. She kept running ahead of us so she could stick her fingers in her ears and say "nanynanybooboo."

To accessorize her pajamas she put two pairs of socks on her hands and four pairs of socks on her feet. Then played patty cake during the prayer.

These really all happened in one 12 hour period.

P.S. We have 3 bathroom rugs.

Ridge's Blessing

Our little Ridge Michael Cook was blessed on May 23, 2010 in the Kalaheo Ward, Kauai, Hawaii Stake. He was blessed by his Daddy. Others standing in were both Grandpa's, Merrill Cook and Denton Graves, namesake Uncle Mike Cook, Bishop David Herr, Will Summerhays (counselor in the Bishoprick), John Giles, Shawn Keep, and Jeff Peterson. We blessed both of the girls at home, with members of the Bishoprick presiding. We loved blessing the girls at home, it was such a sweet quiet experience both times. We didn't think we would want to do it any other way. The reason we blessed Ridge in church is because of our ward "ohana." A big group of us moved over here for the same reason at the same time and we are all in the same ward. We are so blessed to have Mike and Holly here, but because most of our family isn't here we are lucky to have good friends. My baby shower was stuffed to the brim of all the "Layton friends" and lots of other people from our ward ohana. Also in our ward we have lots of "Aunties" that love Ridge so much. I just didn't feel like we could keep his blessing to ourselves. Rusty gave Ridge a beautiful blessing. Afterwards Shawn told me that Ridge was awake the whole time staring up at Rusty while he was recieving his blessing. My mom bought Ridge an outfit for his blessing. It was a little one-piece white linen short suit and jacket made for a 6 month old. We figured since Ridge wouldn't even be 4 months old yet that a 6 month outfit would be fine. Wrong. You couldn't button the bottom buttons without totally hunching over his shoulders. We ended up having to leave the buttons undone and covering him up with a white blanket. Regardless, he looked fabulous. When the blessing was finished Rusty held him up for everyone to see. He held him up Rusty style by lifting him up over his head. It was so cute. It is always special for a mom to hear her baby blessed and have his name put on the records of the church. Even more special to have family and friends to share it with.

Visit with GG and Gramps

Who would have guessed that my parents just needed one little trip to Hawaii to become wild and crazy vacationers? They were here for the third time since we have moved here (fourth for my mom who came when Ridge was born). They have so much fun together. They rented a car and on their own they went to the Kalalau lookout at the top of Waimea Canyon, on a helicopter tour , to the coffee plantation, and on a Na Pali coast boat trip. The captain of their boat was a man from our ward who let my mom drive the boat which she was pretty excited about. They also bought a video of their helicopter tour so we got to see what they saw from the air. My mom's goal was 6 beach days and we made it. We spent two Saturday's at Hanalei Bay and the most amazing thing happened. MY MOM GOT IN THE WATER, ON A BODY BOARD, AND CAUGHT A WAVE! My mom loves the beach but not the water. She actually got in the chest deep water, layed on a board, and jumped right on to a wave and rode it to shore. Holly jumped up screaming and ran to give her a huge hug. We were all so excited. Our other beach days were at Kalapaki, Lydgate, and Poipu Beach x 2. My mom and dad always bring or buy good treats for beach days so the girls are extra excited to go to the beach with Geeg and Gramps. My Dad loves golf, but you will only understand how much when I tell you how many holes he golfed in two weeks. Are you ready for this..... 112 holes! When he got here he had a case of gout in his elbow but he played golf through the gout the very next day and just kept going. On my mom's birthday Holly and I got a babysitter for the kids in the morning, sent my dad golfing, and took my mom on a scavenger hunt. We gave her clues for each stop. The first stop was island soap and candle works where she had to spend all of the money that was in the envelope. She got a lava rock foot scrubber, some lotion and some chapstick. The second stop was the jungle girl, where she had to pick a necklace. The next clue led us to the Kalaheo flowers farm. Luckily the owners of Kalaheo flowers are in our ward and I was able to set up a tour of the farm. First we did a walking tour of one part of the farm, then I kept Ridge in the car and Holly and my mom did the rest of the tour in a golf cart. Holly told me it was like a flower Disneyland ride. When we left they gave us a big bunch of beautiful flowers. I think it was a highlight for my mom. Last but not least, we took my mom to Keoki's. We made her get a fancy drink with her lunch and introduced her to the best desert in Hawaii, Hula pie. Other fun things we did were check out the lighthouse by the Marriot in Lihue, walk on the "turtle path" in Poipu, walk on the Kukuiolono golf course, and visit the Kamokila Hawaiian village (a mock up of a traditional Hawaiian village). It started to rain on us at the Hawaiian village so we took cover under some trees . The trees happened to be right by some pig pens. The pigs started snorting and scared my mom to death. It was really funny. I'm so glad they got to come to see us. I know they think it is more fun to visit us in Hawaii than Boise, Utah, or New Mexico. As for the next time we venture out of the state... I think traveling gets exponentially harder with each kid. Especially when you have to travel across the ocean, have several layovers, rent a car, sometimes with a hotel stop, and drive to wherever you are going. I'm not sure when we will be back on the mainland next. I am sure that we miss our families like crazy and HOPE to see them soon.

Visit with Merrill and Nancy

In addition to the six days we spent on the Big Island, we got to have Steve on Kauai for 5 days and Merrill and Nancy for 11 days. We did our best to make the most of that time. Here is the rundown...
Wednesday-dinner at Poipu beach park, ice cream at Lapperts.
Thursday - lunches at the beach, Poipu Beach day, farkle and family stories. Steve taught us to play farkle a couple of years ago and it became a family classic.
Friday - Na Pali Charter. I have attempted being on chartered boats twice now. The first time I fed the fish (threw up over the edge of the boat). The second time I took some medication and felt like I wanted to throw myself overboard to feed the fish. Needless to say, I did not go on this one. I stayed home with all the kids. Everybody else had a great time and I'm glad they got to go.
Saturday - Jungle hike (pics on separate post), Kalapaki beach with paddleboards, and Kyleigh's dance recital (another separate post).
Sunday - Steve went home. We wish he could have stayed another week. Kokee hot dog roast. Kokee is the only place we can go where we need to wear jackets in the evening. It is so fun to wear our jackets. No really, it is.
Monday - made hippie salve. Hippie salve is a recipe for topical skin ailments made with medicinal plants. Mike and Holly started making it when Katelyn was having lots of skin problems. They also named it. The official name is MH hippie salve and we love it.
Tuesday - bike riding at the golf course. I guess it just took someone to show off for, but Kyleigh finally decided she was going to officially be a bike rider. Both her and Katelyn improved significantly in one night.
Wednesday - pack meeting (edible fires and demonstration on bow drill fires). Rusty is the cubmaster and he talked Mike into doing the demonstration for us. He is the family expert on bow drill fires. The kids were all in awe.
Thursday - picked up GG and Gpa. Potato bar and noodle ball with s'mores. Noodle ball is a game where there are two teams and everyone has a pool noodle. You try to hit a large inflatable ball to your goal. Rusty was on Kyleigh's team and he taught her a strategy. He told her to run around and hit everyone in the face so they would be distracted and he could hit the ball. What can I even say about that? I'll make a separate post for my parents visit, but this is where their visit began.
Friday - golfing at Kukuiolono (Russ, Mike, Merrill and Dad). Dinner at the Aston. This was our anniversary (11 years and still going strong) so we got a babysitter and all the adults went to the Aston. They have an all you can eat prime rib and crab leg buffet on Friday nights. All you can eat crab is like my Disneyland. I kept coming back with huge plates of crab and nothing else. They also had a ginormous chocolate fountain. Could it get any better? Everyone was finished while I was still eating. I went to ask one of the servers a question at the end of the meal. Someone mentioned that I had gone to ask a question then looked up and said, "Oh, I guess not, she's at the dessert table again." Is there anyone who can walk past a monstrous chocolate fountain and not stop?
Saturday - Hanalei - saw Rusty's project at St. Regis Hotel and spent the day at Hanalei bay. The kids jumped off the pier, and Rusty and Kyleigh saw a manta ray while they were snorkeling.
Sunday - blessed Ridge (another post). Rode bikes again at the golf course.
Typical Sunday afternoon. Mike is riling up the dogs by doing karate kicks and running around in circles.

Dusk at Hanalei.

Cute buried girls.

Seriously, does it get any cuter.

Mike and Merrill paddle boarding at Kalapaki.

Serious sand castle concentration.

Kyleigh standing on her board.

Papa and Nama are good sports.

The group on the NaPali coast.