7 Months

Trooper turned 7 months old on the day we left Hawaii. Needless to say, there was a little too much going on that day for me to sit down and blog. But here's the quick update on our little Troop-Dog. His bottom two teeth have come in; and they're super cute. He's more smiley and giggly than ever and I love it. He's a pro at scooting/army crawling. Over the past month he's also become quite adept at pulling himself up onto his hands and knees and rocking back and forth. In the past couple days he's even crawled a few inches. I'm thinking any day now he's just going to take off. He loves to pull himself up to kneeling and standing by climbing on anything and everything. Diaper changing and dressing have become quite the wrestling match because he wants to be on his stomach and scooting away.

He's eaten all kinds of vegetables but he's getting picky! He practically choked down his last meal of squash and he won't even swallow peas. Sweet potatoes, carrots, and of course his baby oatmeal are the favorites right now. He gets super messy when he eats; mainly because he only looks at me long enough to get the spoon in his mouth then is swiveling and turning every which way to look at what's around him and grab at anything that might possibly be in his reach. He has the most expressive face and it makes me laugh. He uses his little mouth and throat to make cute/silly noises and he says "mama" all day long. He took his first dip in the pool earlier this month and warmed up to it pretty quickly. He loves being outside.

I love how adventurous and wiggly and curious he is. Seriously though, the kid will not sit still. He moves so much more than the other babies I see at church! I think it's one of the reasons he's so skinny.

Too cool for school

Enjoying his first parade at Meridian Dairy Days. Oh my gosh he's cute!

This is what I would wake up to every morning in Hawaii. Great start to every day!

A particularly stinky diaper...

Brent's ingenious solution.

We miss you, Kinoshitas!

He got his first haircut this past month! It was so past due, but there's something so hard about cutting your baby's hair! I don't know what it is... because it means he's not a newborn anymore and he's growing up?... I really don't know, but it honestly almost caused a panic attack inside me. But he looked so cute afterwards so I don't think it will be as hard from here on out.

He was such a little trooper on our trip home;) The red-eye from Hawaii to Washington went surprisingly smoothly. The flight attendants fell in love with him and even took him up to meet the captain!

Lambson Ohana

We had family pictures taken right before we left Hawaii and I love how they turned out! Even though Trooper was being a bit of a poop that day and cried more than smiled. And he was teething so his hand was in his mouth constantly and therefore he ate a lot of sand...:) Good thing he's always cute no matter what. Anyways, thanks Ashlee. I really do love them! We will always look back on these pictures and remember our Hawaiian adventure!

Our Hawaiian Home

Well... this post might be a little mushy, I apologize. We left Hawaii two weeks ago. We love being near family again, but we missed Hawaii before we even stepped on the plane to leave. I just want to take a minute and share with everyone the reason that BYU-Hawaii is such a special place and why we will always cherish the two years that we got to spend in Laie, Hawaii.

 The Friday night before we left Hawaii, we were invited to a "family dinner" with our neighbors downstairs who are both from Cambodia. These two met and married in Cambodia.. They have lived through a civil war and lost family members to it. They are two of the kindest people I have ever met.  And they ADORE our little Trooper:) They are here to learn English, gain an education, start a family, and return to Cambodia to share what they have learned. They invited us to dinner, we arrived at 7pm, and over the next hour I watched as people from Mongolia, Taiwan, New Zealand, Tuvalu, the Philippines, Samoa, Latvia and Lithuania walked through the door to join our "family dinner." We talked, laughed, ate delicious native foods, and became fast friends and "family." We had our own foodfest.

I couldn't help but just sit in awe at the scene around me and appreciate this once in a lifetime experience that BYU-Hawaii has given us. We have truly gained an international family. I loved our time in Hawaii specifically for this reason. Just in our building we had neighbors from Australia, Bolivia, Canada, Utah, Hong Kong, Arizona, California, Korea, Tonga, Samoa, Brazil, Tahiti, Japan, Fiji, and more. We all come from entirely different backgrounds, some from war-torn countries, some who are the first from their country to come to college and are therefore national heroes, and some who hail from Idaho - the land of potatoes. Yet there we all are; living in our tiny apartments, struggling to make it as starving students, having dinners together, doing laundry together, sharing our traditions with each other, raising our kids together, making future plans to meet up in various countries, sharing what little we have with each other, and becoming brothers and sisters. Those two years in Hawaii taught us a lifetime's worth about cultural diversity, international livelihoods, and the true worth of every human being on this planet. The world is bigger than we even know. We are all Heavenly Father's children and, living in Hawaii amongst all of these wonderful people, has helped me to see even an inkling of His love for all of us. It's amazing.

Thank you, Hawaii. Thank you for being exactly the kind of adventure that Brent and I were looking for. Thank you for helping us prove to ourselves that we could do it. Thank you for being the perfect place for us to welcome our first baby into the world. Thank you for the memories. 

I already miss the warm breezes, the palm trees, the sweet smell of plumeria in the air, and the crazy rainstorms. I miss the sense of family that exists in everyone there and I miss the laid back, easy-going way of life. I miss taking evening walks to see the temple and I miss running along the shores of turquoise water. Most of all, I miss the "family" that we left behind.

K Building's "Sunday Sit"

And so...

 Aloha Oe', Until We Meet Again.

World Fireknife Championships

Last week was the 20th Annual World Fireknife Championship at the Polynesian Cultural Center. We had been waiting for this since we bought our annual passes last year. This event was one of the main reasons we bought the passes; so we could get in free! And it did not disappoint. The best fireknife dancers from AROUND THE WORLD gather in one place and show off everything they've got for the chance to be named World Champion. It was A-MA-ZING! And we were only feet away from the stage. After just one performance I declared it one of the coolest experiences we've had since living in Hawaii. Definitely makes it hard to be leaving in three weeks! :(((!

This guy, Joseph Cadousteau from Tahiti (who eventually won the whole thing), was my favorite from the very first night. He literally had me screaming in my seat; he was that amazing. Here's clips of his final performance that won him first place.

See the other finalists perform at the bottom of this article. We also watched the junior division championships. It was pretty cool to see a 7 year old twirling two sticks around his head with fire on both ends. Leading up to the competition, we saw some little boys outside at night practicing their routines. I can just imagine: only in Polynesia will a mother tell her little boy to go outside in the pitch black and twirl fire sticks around in the yard... awesome. Check it all out at worldfireknife.com. And watch the livestream next year. We will be!

Solid Foods-Day 3

Well, if he isn't just the cutest little thing!

He's now up to two meals a day; eating rice cereal, oatmeal, and squash. It took him a couple meals to warm up to squash. I think tomorrow we'll try sweet potato! (Oh, the things you get excited about when you're a parent!)

The Lambson's Hawaiian Vacation

Brent's parents flew out for graduation and then stayed on the island to party with us for a week afterwards! Trooper loved meeting his Grandma and Grandpa Lambson and we had so much fun exploring the island together. Here are a few snapshots of their trip.

 We loved having you here Mom and Dad! See you soon!