I know you've been thinking it. You didn't want to say anything; it would be impolite. And you didn't have to. We know that boy of ours sure is getting shaggy.

Well, no longer. We figured six months was old enough for his first haircut. He didn't like the clippers very much, so we ended up with me holding him while dear father wielded the clippers. We all got hairy.


But what cute hair it is. I wasn't at all sentimental about the first haircut until it was over. Then, "What have I done? My little boy looks so BIG!"


And he also looks clean cut. No more wisps sticking out all directions, up, out, over his ears. And if you'd like to, you may join me in bidding a fond farewell to the ever-famous baby mullet.

And if you someday find yourself missing the baby mullet to the point where you can no longer cope, just come on over. You can sigh over times gone by with the plastic sandwich bag that is the mullet's final resting place.

We just couldn't throw cute hair like that away.

Baby, it snowed outside.

Oh, buddy, did it snow. I was expecting a little sprinkling when I got up Sunday morning, but there was already a few inches. There were a few more inches by the time we got out of church. And it just kept on snowing. We watched the neighbors shovel their (north-facing) driveway, and the neighbor kids had a snowball fight. Luckily, we knew our (south-facing) driveway would melt the next day, so we could be lazy and avoid shoveling.

This wasn't Nathan's first snow, but he wasn't really into snow the day we brought him home from the hospital. He was busy sleeping, or something. Lazy kid.

So, what else could we do but initiate him into the world of winter wonderland, through that time-honored tradition, the Polar Bear Challenge?



No. We. Didn't.

We're not bad parents. We bundled him up carefully, wearing all manner of warm clothing.



He seemed to be mildly interested by the snow. He looked, and touched, and looked, and touched. Then he started to complain. Thought it was cold or naptime or something. I told you, he's kind of a lazy kid. Always taking naps and stuff.



So we brought him inside and further exploited him by dressing him up and taking cute pictures.

The snow made it seem like Christmas. We bundled up, ate soup, and did all sorts of wintery things. In fact, it seemed so much like winter that...

(Being married to a man who would listen to Christmas music ALL YEAR long, I usually try to hold off the holiday-themed entertainment. Moderation in all things, you know. It's for his own protection, really. If I had to listen to "Jingle Bells" all year long, I can't vouch for what I would do.)

So, with that explanation, you will understand the extreme winter-ness of the day knocked my good sense out of whack so much that I actually suggested we watch Elf.

And that husband of mine was delighted, and so we did. It's one of my favorite Christmas movies. I did clearly state, however, that this did not give him free rein for all Christmas, all the time. We have to give fall its due, you know. If only the weather would cooperate.

Welcoming Autumn

Warning: this blog contains no gossip. So don't look for any. (Just to let Michael know we're taking his advice to heart.)

Fall is my absolute favorite time of year. It's not hot, and so you get to unpack all those sweaters, fuzzy socks, and flannel sheets. Last night it got so (unseasonably) cold in our house we had to turn on the heater, and I got a little giddy. I never realized before how much I love the smell of warm air coming out of the vents. I didn't even remember that warm air coming out of the vents had a smell. I am such a cold weather nerd. Anyway, it was wonderful.

Last Friday (the day before the torrential rain) we went hiking up Taylor's Canyon (see slideshow below). It was beautiful and crisp. We almost turned back when it started to sprinkle, but luckily we held out, and it stopped after a few minutes. So we kept going. And going. And then the ridge looked so deceptively close that we kept going some more. We kept going so high and so long that before we knew it, Nathan was hungry. Oh, dear. Luckily we were so far up the trail that no one saw us as I fed him while sitting on a rock.

By then it was getting dark so we had to turn back. The ridge that had looked so close got farther away the closer we got (does that even make sense?). So we left our dreams of hiking up and over to Snowbasin for another day. We'll make it sometime.

It was almost dark by the time we made it back to the car. But Nathan was a trooper through it all. He loves being outside, so even though we interrupted his nap, he was happy. He looked and looked and grabbed at whatever he could. I don't know how, but he got hold of a leaf and played with it for a long time, until he finally fell asleep. We're training him up to be another hiking, mountains, outdoors-in-general enthusiast.

I love hiking in the mountains, especially in the fall. It makes my soul feel clean and alive. We'll have to do it more often. Too bad it's SNOWING in the mountains this weekend. Darn winter storm warning.