Monday, June 22, 2009

Summer Buzz


I'm too cheep to pay for haircuts (as well as oil changes-see below). Dad was my only barber until mom took over in middleschool. I think the first time I ever paid for one was on my mission. I remember my first haircut in Denmark was from a sister missionary who was kind enough to teach me I didn't have to comb my hair straight down in front. Sister Fife gave me my last haircut in Denmark. I think the last time I paid for one was at Mtn Home AFB. I took clippers with when I was deployed because I learned from Ken that you can cut your own hair if you aren't took fussy. The Staff Seagant I deployed with wasn't that great of a corpsman, but he was pretty good with those clippers keeping the squadron trim.

Wahl was one of our first purchases as newlyweds. We went to a workshop where one of the Merten's told about how he even had his own barberchair and paid his tuition with hair clippings. I don't even have a cape, and I hate the way the clippings get in your shirt. Emily made as much cutting my hair as she did mowing the lawn when she was doing fundraisers for school trips. Esther is picking up on the trade. Getting Erik to hold still is tricky. But Gideon looks like he's ready for business in this picture.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Climing in the rain


Pam surprised me yesterday when she wanted to procede with hiking McLaughlin in spite of an unfavorable weather forecast.
It was raining as we unpacked at the trailhead, and the kids surprised my by unflinchiningly heading down the trail ahead of me while I got Gideon bundled up and loaded.
I was thinking to myself that if they're not going to complain, I'm not going to be the first. And I was wondering how we suceeded in getting them to think this sort of thing was normal.
An hour and a half later we were passing though snow fields making the dangerously short trip from uncomfortable to miserable when the rain lightened then stopped. Over the next 2 hours we partially dried out, and even saw partial sun on our way to the top. We felt very fortunate for this.
Erik was a trooper tailing me on the way down in spite of almost loosing his lunch.
The reward for sumiting (beyond the bonding, adventure, sceenery, and exercise) was Mongolian BBQ. We got there just before closing, so did take-out and had a better time eating at home than we would of there. (off-topic--When did places start charging a 20% surcharge for take-out)