What Have We Been Up To?

Guildy's First Haircut

The blue Listerine we used to kill off the head lice we had a few weeks back turned the blond ends of Guildy's hair a lovely tint of blue. So, after 3 years of growing her long mane, we had to trim about 4" off the bottom. She actually enjoyed the whole process. I guess the moral of the story is to use a neutral shade of Listerine when nuking your head lice:o) The Tunnel

We have a little pop-up toy tunnel that the neighbor kids outgrew and gave to Guildy and Hadley. They think it's the funnest thing ever. And Hadley thinks her big sister is the greatest. They snuggle and wrestle and giggle and have lots of fun. And Guildy is very patient with Hadley's hair pulling and occasional skin nibble. Climbing

Hadley seems to view her world in terms of how she plans to climb each new thing. I caught her the other day scaling the little rocking chair on her way up the high chair. She was well in control of the situation and got herself back down without incident.
Hiking

We hiked up south Cottonwood a few days ago and enjoyed the late summer flowers and berries and coolness.

Helping

Guildy is always game to "help," and feeding Hadley is one of her favorite ways to lend a hand. She actually does a really good job, and they both find it immensely entertaining. Guildy even makes the appropriate faces and says, "yummmm" after every bite.

Aaron and Lauren's Wedding

The Mews Family (Josh's Mom's family) is quite the bunch of characters, and when they all get together, as was the case last weekend for Cousin Lauren's wedding, good times are had by all.

The lovely bride and groom getting the pesky formal part of the evening over with!! The wedding was a Doug's (Linda's husband) vineyard, and it was beautiful. You can see the grapes in the background. Unfortunately, this was the only good picture I got of the happy couple, so you'll just have to imagine how beautiful Lauren was from the front.
Josh and Zech and Uncle Guy...quite the trio!! Josh's Aunt Cathy and cousins Joanna and Alisha.The kids had lots of fun playing on the green and pink wedding color blanket.

Little man Owen.
Tilly (Josh's stepsister's daughter)
Emma (Josh's aunt's daughter)
And Hadley. Guildy with Aunts Sydney and Cade, wearing a dress that used to be theirs....one of the many perks to having family so close in age!The evening grew quite chilly, but fortunately for me, Linda loaned me one of her classic second hand store finds, a lavish black fur coat that reminded us a little of Cruella DeVille.

Chinatown

Cooper's boyfriend, Lex, is from New York's Chinatown, so we thought since we had such a knowledgable tour guide, it would be fun to go see San Francisco's Chinatown. The architecture was really interesting, and the sights and sounds and smells made it feel like a completely different world. It was fun to hear Lex's explainations of how things work in a Chinatown and listen to him talk to the shop keepers in Chinese.

The picture is a little fuzzy, but this guy was playing a traditional Chinese violin. Guildy, Josh, and Lex.
The whole fam-damily. Linda, Josh, Me and Hadley, Zech and Owen, Coops, Lex, and Guildy.

Chinese Bath House

While we were in CA, Josh took me around to some of his favority childhood spots, one of which was an old Chinese bath house. There is an old mine in the area, and the bath house was for the Chinese laborers who built the mine and its infrastructure. Near the remains of the bath house were lots of old rock foundations and stoves from the semi-permanent settlement where they all had lived.

When Josh was a kid, there were a couple more arches intact, and it was basically just missing the roof. But the trees have pretty much taken over, as you can see.

The one remaining archway. But if you look closely, you can see that it's about to fall, too. Guildy and Uncle Tony.

Travelling Kiddos

All our recent travel has provided lots of laugh with/at the kids. On our trip out to Circle, Guildy was car sick and threw up a couple times all over herself and the car seat, and Hadley cried for about 4 hours of the 6 hour drive. When we finally got to Circle, Guildy, who had been riding in her pukey car seat in her undies (no reason to ruin a third set of clothes), piped up as cheerily as could be, "That was a pretty fun trip, huh!" I love her positive little outlook!

In the Denver airport on our way to California, we visited with a gal from Missoula with a little boy the same age as Hadley. He was crawling all over and even walking a little, so they had a fun time chasing each other around, slobbering on each other's toys, and trying to eat crud off the airport floor.

Anderson tried for all he was worth to get Hadley's socks, but she managed to scoot away.

Below are Emma (Josh's cousin) and Hadley at Linda's house in St. Helena, CA. Emma had been contentedly playing for quite some time when I set Hadley in with her. Hadley immediately cornered Emma and set about snatching her pacifier. Emma took evasive action, but Hadly got it and was about to give it a good licking when Emma grabbed it right back and bopped her on the head with it. But being the sweet 16-month-old that she is, she gave Hadley a kiss on the head to let her know all was forgiven. Pretty cute!

To Circle and Back

A couple weeks ago, we made the trek out to Circle for a 30th anniversary party for my parents. Brad and Denise and Sarah and Owen were there from Minnesota, as well as lots of other family and friends.

Guildy was surprised to realize she has another cousin Owen.

Josh visiting with my great aunt Mary.Lee and I with our Grandma Pearl.Cheryl entertaining Hadley....or maybe the other way around:o)Hadley with the beautiful quilt Aunt Denise made for her. Glad Mom and Dad got married way back in '78 so we could have such a fun shin dig in '08!