Bang Bang

Heidi has not let me do her hair for about two months now.  Every time I go to comb it, let alone pull it out of her eyes, she screams "OWWW!" and runs away, and then immediately rips whatever is in her hair out.  Every once in a blue moon she would cooperate, giving me hope, but then we'd be right back to a week of a ragamuffin with hair in her eyes.  ALL THE TIME.  Like so:

 You might be thinking I combed her hair forwards here, but this is just how it falls.  So she was constantly sweeping it our of her eyes.

So, I set her in the tree, and took a quickie portrait of my pretty little girl before her hair was ever cut.  

So off to the kiddo salon we went.  They did a great job and didn't even bat an eye when I told them I was probably going to be a nut case about the whole thing.

 She did exactly as I asked and gave us some bangs and a very slight trim up the back.  Of course she let the lady put her hair up.  She waited until we got into the car to pull it out.  :)

And here we are!  Looking so grown up.  And so much more comfortable.  No more ragamuffin hair for Heidi.  Sniff sniff!

This and that. . .

Here's a little bit of this and that from our past week or so. . .

Our budding author, Emilee has written another masterpiece.  This one entitled, "There Was a Pickle."

Gordon went to China, Korea, and Japan.  We are all still catching our breath.  He is back and one of his fun surprises this time was the biggest hit yet.  A disguise from Shanghai, with an expandable mustache that shoots out the sides when you blow into it.

 Heidi has run a fever for three days, twice now.  Always starting on Sunday.  Here she is taking her temperature.  If those little teeth would finish cutting through she would be a happier girl.

 Oh and this one is funny.  The boys took off their shirts during a wrestling match that was getting warm.  Heidi understood the rules to be, "if you are naked from the waist up you can play!"  So, she stripped from the waist up and joined the fun.  It was so cute.

Well, that's about the size of it!  See you soon!

Pumpkin Patchin

What a fun morning we had today!  Everybody was out of school so we headed to our first pumpkin patch in a few years.  We had a great time!

The Brotherhood of the Traveling Wildes

When Ethan was about 2, Gordon came up with the idea of taking him to his first priesthood session at the conference center in SLC.  He's been looking forward to it ever since!  So, since Ethan turned 12 in July and the time had come, he told his brothers about it who also thought it was an awesome idea.  They ALL gathered to Salt Lake City, where they enjoyed some guy time and conference together.  Here are some picture highlights:

I am told there was a LOT of food.  :)  This first stop being made on the way home from the airport.

 fun time. . .

 They hiked the Y!

 And then proceeded to the bookstore and a campus tour.  They got to meet some students in the music building who showed Ethan how they use the computers hooked to piano's to compose.  He loved it!

 Here they are at the conference center.  In order: Spencer, Ethan, Gordon, Joseph, Dad, Jeremy, and Wayne.  Jeremy and Wayne are Keren and Angelina's hub's, respectively.

 And as an added bonus, Spencer's newest baby Eli was blessed that Sunday morning.

What a great trip and a great tradition!  They are all planning on meeting up again each time one of the cousins turns 12.  That's a lot of trips to Utah, but it will be great fun, and a great memory, for sure.

Knee Socks

Some day, Emilee is not going to believe me any more when I tell her that knee socks are the cutest thing ever.  And that's okay.  They definitely have a time and a place.  But I sure am enjoying that time right now.

Soccer!

Aidan, our resident sports pro has been keeping it hot on the soccer field!  Today, he scored a goal and stopped several when he played goalie.  It is so fun to watch Aidan play soccer.  He is intense, and happy, and just plays with his whole heart.  Great job Aidan!

Alaska

This past weekend Gordon and I had the opportunity to go up to Alaska.  By ourselves.  Let me repeat that.  By OURSELVES.  Many thanks to the Richards family and Gordon's sister and her husband who took care of our little flock while we were away.  They did a great job and the kids were happy as clams!  Here are a few highlights from our trip:

Friday:  We slept in, which was heaven.  Made ourselves a yummy breakfast, and then headed out to explore Anchorage on Gordon's parents sweet bikes.  These bikes are so awesome.  I've always wanted to toodle around on a cruiser, and this was the perfect opportunity!  Anchorage is very flat, and full of bike trails, so off we went!

 We stopped at this coffee shop down town for a bowl of hot soup and a cup of cocoa.  It was so fun.  Do you know how often Gordon and I get to go out to lunch together?  About once a year. It felt like such a treat to just be together and do whatever we did or didn't want to.

 On our way home we decided to take a slightly different path, and ran into four giant moose.  We eventually rode by slowly, and as you can see in this picture, I may have been a little bit out of my comfort zone, but it was fun!

 This picture was taken after we rode by, looking back.  Do you see the two females about 4 feet from the road?  It was crazy.

 That evening we rode down to Aleska, which is along the coastal highway.  We saw mountain sheep which was fun, and stopped to take a picture or two of the beautiful scenery.

 We went to dinner at the "Double Musky" Inn which Gordon has been telling me about for the past 15 years.  It did not disappoint. Great food, and fun atmosphere.  Gordon's mom Ann was able to go with us, which was a delight.

Saturday:  We headed out to see Gordon's grandfather Saturday mid day.  He has recently moved to an assisted living situation, and we got to have a nice visit with him there.  Grandpa Wilde was a WW2 pilot of B-17 bombers, and flew 30 successful missions within just 5 months of the war.  If you lived through 30 missions, they let you retire.  He has a lot of amazing stories to tell.

Since it was such a pretty fall day, we took Grandpa out for a drive.  We drove up the canyon and had an ice cream cone and got to see a bit more of Alaska's majestic landscape.  It is so beautiful!

 That night we had dinner with Shawn and Megen, some friends from HS days and then college for me.  It was so much fun!  We headed home Sunday morning feeling rejuvenated and ready to get back to our little brood.

Thanks everyone who helped make this little run up to Alaska possible!  It was well worth the time and effort it took, and watch out. . . I think Gordon and I are both planning our next adventure already!