My First Haircut

When I was in grade school, it was standard procedure stay at Grandma’s towards the end of summer. The week would end with a shopping trip for new school clothes at The Penny’s in Price and a trip across the pasture to Connie’s house for the new “school do”. Connie was (and still is) the "go to girl" for hair in Huntington. Being that it was the mid-80s, Grandma would request a cut and permanent(people over 70 refer to “perms” by their full name). No, I am NOT going to post a pre-braces, 1980s perm picture…it would sear out your eyeballs. However, it was with great pleasure that I was able to take Eole to Connie’s for her very first haircut!

Connie has upgraded to a new, beautiful house with her little salon right off the garage. If I could have anyone in the world give my girl her first haircut, it would have been Connie.

The Annual Pilgrimage

This past July the kids and I took the annual pilgrimage to Mecca--Utah-- to spend a fun-filled month with family. Poor daddy was left behind to endure his heaviest rotation where he got to sleep once every three days. We flew in to Denver (which cost half as much as flying into SLC…seriously, SLC?? Why you gotta be like that?). Grandpa picked us up and took us on a lovely trip along I-70 with a scenic detour through Aspen.

Aspen is full of chic people, but Eole bumped it up a notch by introducing French Chic as she took off all her clothes and ran through the town fountain. Highlights of Grandma and Grandpa’s town included

Going 4-wheeling with cousins

Running through sprinklers in the pasture

The local waterpark (with Auntie Jen)

A fossil dig in the Swell with Auntie Anna and fabulous cousins imported from Japan Salt Lake City was fun as well with

Climbing trees with more cousins

A fantastic BBQ at Auntie Sue and Michelle’s place

A wonderful priesthood ordination

And hanging out with ALL the surviving cousins we have (to date…). We look forward to doing this again in July 2013.

Oh What do you do in the Summertime?

Oh what do you do in the Summertime…

Learn to swim at Nana and Granddad’s pool

Visit Old Salem, home of early Moravian community

Climb trees

Discover the World

The Best Birthday Gift

My best birthday present this year was when my husband took our baby son in his arms and gave him a beautiful blessing. And to top it all off, we had Uncle Mike and cousins Gentry and Christy down from Virginia to participate, along with Nana and Granddad. A Special thanks to Christy for recording some highlights from the blessing which include blessing our son with “wisdom concerning others.” This is one of his daddy’s strengths too. We hosted an open house afterwards as an excuse to get together with great friends and neighbors.

...take special note of the MacKay Plaid tie and blanket.

I Love You

If I could have a nickle for every time I say "I love you" to Eole, we could retire now. I think every parent looks forward to the day when their child says, "I love you" back for the first time. Well, Eole finally said those golden words for the very first time the other day, but she didn't say them to me or to Daniel. We put baby Davyn on her lap and as she gently nuzzled him she said, "I love you, baby Davyn." We couldn't have asked for anything more tender from our little girl than that.

What’s in a name: I think it was either our first or second date when Daniel told me that his first born child would be a girl named Eole. I didn’t argue because a year later, I met the namesake, Eole F. a wonderful woman who lives in Siena, Italy. . Boy names are another story. There is a criterion for boy names that makes it very difficult for us to agree on, well, anything. For three generations, the first-born Pugmire male has been given a first name starting with “D,” and the middle name McKay (which goes back around nine generations). It so happens that there are practically no “D” names we both like enough to name a son. And so, for the past seven years we have casually tried to come up with a suitable name for a first born son. Enter December 21st: the day before we were to find out that we were having a boy. We both assumed we’d have another girl, but then the evening before the ultrasound, I started to panic. What if this was a boy? We’ve got to find a name TONIGHT!! Enter the internet: thank you technology! We like our names to have some family or personal or literature tie, but desperate times call for desperate measures. As I scanned Boy “D” names, one jumped out at me: DAVIN. It sounds so nice, doesn’t it? And I’ve never met anyone with this name (part of my personal criteria). But what does it mean? I can’t just attach a random “D” name to our boy. On further searching, I find that Davin is a derivative of David. That could be fitting seeing as Daniel’s dad’s name is David. Then I see that there is also DAVYN, which is the Welsh form of David. Daniel’s grandmother is Welsh. PERFECT!

And so, here is our Davyn McKay Pugmire, photographed against the McKay Tartan Plaid.

My girl has expensive taste:

While at our local CVS a few days ago, Eole asked if she could have a toy car. She is very into cars and trains because all her little friends are boys. I allowed her to pick out a car from the case: there were fire trucks, school buses, Model T Fords, Mustangs….and what does she reach for? The Yellow Porsche Carrera GT, 1/36 scale. You can own a full scale one, second hand, for a mere $339,000.00. I bought the car, but told Eole that this was the only Porsche I was ever going to buy her.