4th of July weekend at the cabin

We went to the cabin for the 4th of July weekend, and we had a great time. We took the 4-wheelers and we found some beautiful trails. The wildflowers were just amazing!

So, John is officially engaged to Ashley. They had lots of fun finding all the mud on the ride we took with them.
We found some great look out spots that made us feel like we were on the top of the world.

Wow, we actually have pictures of Dave and Me together, thank to photographer John.

Grandma Nancy and Liz braved the trail with Dave one afternoon while I stayed at the cabin while Luke was napping.

Luke loved to poke his head through the Christmas trees on the deck, scaring his mother to death. Plus, he liked to chew on the wood a bit just to bother his mother a little bit more. (notice I am sitting right next to him holding on to his legs.)

Luke added to the dirty camping experience by playing in the dogs' pet porter. He loved having his own little hut, and it kept him busy all afternoon. We did put in a clean pillow to make it a little nicer for him.

More pictures of our little love birds frollicking in the flowers.

What a babe Liz

Liz was a tough driver to make it across some of this rough terrain.

I think Sam may love the 4-wheelers the very most. These blue flowers were so amazing in real life, and the meadows just went on forever.

What a cute family!!

slip 'n slide

We have had lot of fun playing on the slip-n-slide this summer. You may notice that Sam is surrounded by bathing beauties. All the girls in the neighborhood love to come over to play with Sam. We were extra lucky on this day to have Grandma Paula bring Ashlin and Ava over.



Ava is still terrified of water, but she still had fun watching the action with Grandma.

Sam really thought we was tough stuff.

Nice form!

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.

Sam's 4th Birthday

Sam got a nasty case of strep throat for an early birthday present this year. He started fevering up Friday night and Saturday morning we found a very nasty looking pair of tonsils. I knew he was really not feeling well when he just wanted to cuddle on the couch with his blanket. Sam doesn't usually stay still long. We tried to make the best of it. We watched a few movies, ate popsicles, and just chilled. His antibiotics started kicking in and he really started feeling better on his birthday on Sunday, but I still thought it wouldn't be the best idea to have his big birthday bash at our house that we were planning. We had to call all the family to tell them the the party was canceled. Grandpa Robert wasn't afraid of a little strep throat, so he ivited us over to his house for a little party. Sam had picked out this really cool Transformers cake at the bakery, and he even added another one of his own transformer to the top ( I promised I washed it very well first). He was so excited about it. He LOVES birthday cakes and candles. He never really actually eats any of it. He likes to have a few tastes of frosting and then he's good. It's all about the excitement of the cake and especially the candles. Sam did a really great job at blowing out all the candles this year, and he had a lot of candles - just because he wanted to.

What a proud 4 year old!!!



He got some very fun presents. Transformers was definately the theme of the birthday bash.

We all wore green in honor of Sam's favorite color.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAM! We love you so much and our lives would be so dull without you. I love to hear all of your "plans" and marvel everyday at how fast you are growing up. You are such a good helper and a wonderful brother. You have learned so much this year: you can dress yourself (always fun to see what you put together), you can race your bike so fast, you can write your name, you know all your letters and numbers, you graduated from your first year of pre-school, you are a great big brother to Luke, you love to read chapters in you scriptures, and you know how to sneak out the basement door. You have also taught me countless life lessons. Thanks for sharing your insights, silliness, and kindness with us all.

May

I always love visiting the cemetary on Memorial Day. When we lived in Oregon I was always a little homesick on Memorial Day. I couldn't just go to the cemetary to take flowers to strangers. I have great memories of going to the cemetary with my Grandma Frampton. She was busy the whole week before cleaning the head stones and making sure she had the perfect flower arrangements, always fresh cut from her gardens of course. Grandma always had stories to tell about all the family and her memories growing up. I wish I remembered more of them to tell my own boys. It is a great time to remember my great heritage and a time to be thankful for the family that I have with me today.
Lukey loved being out in the sunshine after all the rain we have had. He can be such a snuggle little boy sometimes.

Luke is such a poser here with Great Grandma and Grandpa Money. He loved practicing walking in the grass and those headstones were just his height to hold on to.

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In May we went to the Zoo on our way up to spend some time in Park City. Liz and Grandam Nancy came with us. We had perfect weather and we all had a great day.

Then we headed up to Park City to stay for a couple of days. The pool was still pretty cold, but we still had fun swimming, shopping, and playing.

Liz and Sam had fun pretending to be groundhogs.

Sam and I loved the Merry-go-round. Instead of horses, the carousel was filled with all types of zoo animals. It was beautiful.

We watched a show all about birds that was really amazing. They showed off the talents of talking parrots, dancing chickens, and diving falcolns and eagles. What a show!
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We are working on finishing our basement, which has provided hours of entertainment for Sam. He loved sitting out on the deck watching this big truck deliver our sheet rock one afternoon. He gathers all his tools in his tool belt, puts on his hard hat and goggles, and is ready to help any worker who comes by. I have had to explain to him that even though I know he is a very good fixer and builder, that not everyone needs as much help as his dad does. It is very hard for him to not be right in there helping.

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This was one of Sam's best days ever when his pre-school went on a field trip to the SF Fire department. He loves firetrucks and says he wants to be a Fireman when he grows up. He really wanted to drive one of the trucks, but the tour was still pretty cool.

This is Sam at the Fathers and Sons campout. He and Dave had a great time camping out in the tent. Plus, Sam got to check out this really cool Jeep. He is thinking of changing his number from 3 to 16 just so he can be big enough to drive. I told him it's not quite that simple.

This is a great example of the outfits Sam puts together. He likes to dress himself, and he is very opinionated about what he wears. I am just glad he can do it himself and try not to interfere too much. (Yes, he is wearing Dave's white socks, because Sam said they look like soccer ball socks, and you just never know when you might be called upon to play.)

Sam has loved riding his bike all around the cul-de-sac. He is getting really fast and he doesn't even lean on his training wheels much. We are so happy to have some sunny weather to finally be able to play outside. Sam has lots of little girl friends in the neighborhood to keep him entertained. They spend lots of time riding bikes, and playing at the neighbors fun backyard with a trampoline and more playground equipment than the park.

Sam also loves to go do his "visiting". He has to go over and visit our adult neighbors just to see what they are up to and make sure they are doing okay. I think he is the best home teacher in the ward. We are lucky to live by such good neighbors who take such good care of us!

St. George trip and Sam's Mothers' Day program

Sam's preschool had a special Mothers' Day program this year. Sam memorized a part, and then the kids all sang 3 songs. They even learned sign language for the last song that I just loved. I recorded most of it on my camera, but then I ran out of Memory. I think it is time for a real video camera now that I have moments longer than 7 minutes to capture. I was so proud of Sam. It was also a little crazy for me to watch him perform something that he learned without any help from me. My little Sam is growing up!


Sam and I made cookies to take for the program. Sam was very proud of our oatmeal M&M cookies. He kept telling me not to eat them because they were for his class. He is such a good little helper in the kitchen.

Luke still just LOVES his tubs. He is getting tall enough that he can almost climb into the BIG tub all by himself. He is just so happy to be tubbin'.

We went down to St. George for the UPhA meeting in April. Mom and I spent a lot of time in meetings (and some time shopping) and the boys got to have lots of fun in the sun swimming, biking, playing in the park, and even playing croquet.

I bought the cutest little frog hat for Luke, but of course he wouldn't keep it on. Dave's hat is the only one he would wear, and I think he makes that hat look good.

I think Sam would stay in the pool 24/7 if he could. He has been spoiled with our access to the St. George pool and especially McPhee's pool. He is getting to be a pretty good swimmer (with his life jacket of course). He loved this new alligator and Luke also got a new little floaty with a palm tree shade to keep his poor little blonde head from getting burned.

I love Dave's enthusiasm if this picture. I think he was really just trying not to faint from all that blowing. What a good dad!

Yes, he is eating rocks. He loves to eat rocks and dirt. What can I say, he's a boy.