June

I love long summer days. My very favorite part of the day is the evenings when it begins to cool off and we have time after dinner to just sit outside and breathe in the sweet summer air and watch the sunset. Sam loves to ride his bike (especially if the neighbor girls are out riding too), or find bugs. I like to putter with my flower beds or just relax in my rocking chair on the front porch. Dave likes to mow the lawn or even better find something to fix or build. Luke loves to run off of our beautiful lawn to eat dirt and bark in the flower beds or rocks in the road. I know, it is hard to believe that such a sweet little boy is really such a mess. I spend a lot of time chasing him, and he just laughs and runs away faster.

Here are a few pictures of Luke when he really was being the sweet-pea that he is most of the time. He loves being tickled, and he will even tickle back sometimes. He also loves to have a soft stuffed animal to drag around and cuddle.

If Luke does hold still for a bit, the front steps are his favorite seat.

What a cutie. I just love my little Luke!
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We had the big H. family Reunion this year at BYU. The best part of the event was that all of Mom's brothers and sisters were present. I think it has been 20 years or more since all 8 of them were together.

Here is Martha and most of her family (above). Wow, there are getting to be a lot of little grandkids too.

Here is our family (minus Dad, sorry you didn't hurry fast enough). Notice John's "friend" Ashley.

Uncle Sam's fun family. It was so much fun to catch up with all those fun girls.

Ta-Da! The original 8 brothers and sisters. Mom, Martha, Alice, Margaret, Frank, Sam, and Paul.

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Luke has turned into a monkey. He can climb anything. He absolutely loved climbing Grandma Nancy's ladder she had out for painting. He gets so excited he snorts, wiggles his tongue, and then squeals when he gets to the top. We have had to take the ladder off Sam's bunk-bed to keep him off the top bunk. The problem is that he doesn't believe he can fall. He gets up high, and then thinks he can just back down, no matter how high off the ground he is. Oh, this is such a dangerous age. I really pray that he makes it to 2.

Liz and I have been runners this summer. One morning Sam was pretty put out that we went running without him, so he talked Liz into running a few laps around the neighborhood. I think having him take a few laps may just be a perfect way to release some of that energy.