Pictures, Pictures, Pictures...

So I have been "working" on sorting our old photographs for at least 6 months. Well let's say, I started it at least 6 months ago and they have been sitting in the office on this table waiting for me to finish. I started with about 13 shoeboxes full of photos and I filled a wastebasket with duplicates and ones that were poor quality and I still have almost that many boxes to fill back up.

I've been working on it most of the weekend.

I sorted them by subject. For example:

Amy
Amy & Friends
Kevin
Kevin & Friends
Amy & Kevin
Terry and Me
Hann extended family
Perkins extended family
Places we've been
Friends
Etc., Etc.

Now I just need to make up labels for the boxes and put them away so I can find what I need when I want them. I can't wait to get them off the table and then finish cleaning up the desk area. We've been living with piles for quite a while.

We also picked up these cool vintage reproduction postcards at the Grand Canyon. They are all National Parks that we've visited. Be sure to click to enlarge to see the great colors and artwork. We want to get them all in one frame with a nice mat to hang in the office with the rest of our travel posters. Too bad Andrew doesn't do framing anymore. Oh well, I guess we'll have to pay for it. I will try to save money by getting a standard size frame for them to fit into.

Happy Father's Day

In honor of fathers everywhere, Happy Father's Day! I'm so thankful for the fathers that have been in my life.

I'll start with my own dad, William Charles Perkins, Sr. He was one of the oldest in a farming family with 11 children that lived to be adults. He married my mom after only knowing her for 2 weeks (true story). Crazy huh?

The father of six children, (3 boys, 3 girls) me being the fifth of six. The photo here is my dad holding my brother, Pat. I don't think there are any pics of him holding me. I was the FIFTH after all and there aren't very many pics of me as a child anyway. My mom was too busy taking care of kids to be taking pictures.

My dad was a good provider and diligent iron worker. He was an extremely intelligent man who skipped several grades in school. He never graduated from high school or went to college, but was always a leader at work, as a construction foreman or superintendent. He was highly respected by his peers.

As a child I remember him being a man of very few words. When he talked, we listened. He didn't spend much time with us kids, but when my mom got tired of trying to get us to settle down after bedtime, she would have dad come to the bottom of the stairs. He just had to say one word in that booming low voice of his and we'd be quiet right away. He was a bit intimidating when potential dates came around in our teen years too.

I remember him being a fun grandpa to my sister's boys, in the 70's, but he passed away from lung cancer the year after I was married, just as I was beginning to know him as an adult. It makes me sad that Amy & Kevin never had a chance to be around him. He would have LOVED them and vice versa.

This family photo is from 1963, so I would have been 5 years old and the youngest in the family at that time. My younger brother, Michael didn't come along for another 2 years.

Next on the list is Terry's dad, Theron (or Terry to those who know him well). If he wasn't around, my precious husband would have never been born and wouldn't have turned out to be such a sweet guy. I'm so thankful that they moved to Arizona way back when.

I've heard many stories about the Hann family camping trips, vacations, and other escapades. I know that Terry (Sr.) was also an excellent provider and great dad. He has a dry sense of humor which most of his boys and grandkids have inherited (thanks Dad!). He loves to tease and is one of the sweetest guys I know.

This picture above is Terry standing by his (then) wife Carole who is holding their firstborn, (my) Terry. The other 2 are friends of the family.

This next pic is Terry, Carole with the 5 boys, Terry, Tom, Tim, Ted & Tod. Julie came along later. I can't quite imagine having that many boys under one roof. They have all become responsible, caring adults so they must have done something right.

And now, let's talk about the father of my children. What a gift he's been to me and our kids. He's always been a great example of a caring, responsible, patient, loving, helpful, encouraging dad. I remember before Amy was born he was so nervous about holding babies. After she was born he was a pro and helped with everything that needed to be done.

When the kids were a little older we shared responsibilities around the house. For a long time on weekdays after work, I cooked dinner and Terry took care of cleaning up the kitchen afterward, including loading the dishwasher. There came a point when we wanted Amy & Kevin to take turns loading the dishwasher, but Amy would have none of it. She said, "I'm not doing that. It's MAN's work!!!" We laughed so hard knowing just how bizarre that would sound in so many households. He was always a great help around the house even though he had a long commute and work schedule every day.

Terry was also a huge fan of Amy & Kevin, spending many hours at school & church performances, sporting events, plays and concerts. He passed along his love of reading to both of the kids and now they borrow books from each other. He also passed on his love of playing music to Kevin to the point where he was his backup bass player at church when Terry couldn't play.

I'm so thankful that he has been a consistent, positive, loving influence to them (and to me) in a time when so many dads are either physically or emotionally absent from the home.

Thanks God for the gift of our earthly fathers!

FOREVER FRIENDS GET TOGETHER:



We had an awesome time at our Annual Friends' Get Together on Saturday!

Check out the rest of the Family & Friends pics in the slideshow on the right.

As always, we enjoyed way too much food, even though we tried to keep it light this year. Everyone brought "leftovers" from the holidays, most of which were sweets. We also had a few appetizers, some great breads and 3 delicious homemade soups, absolutely amazing Seafood Bisque (thanks Michelle), Jay's wonderful Chicken Vegetable, and a great new recipe for White Chicken Chili (Thanks Betty Crocker).

Then some of us played a new game (to us) called Traveling Pictionary (thanks Kevin). It's tons of fun and all you need is paper, pens and a decent-sized group of people (like 6 or more). There are no winners or losers, just lots of laughing.

The rest of the gang sat by the warm fire outside and caught up on the latest in each other's lives. I'm kinda sad that I didn't get a chance to get out there by the fire. I was enjoying time with the "kids" and never got outside to enjoy the "grown-ups". That's one of my favorite times of year, slowing down for a few hours to catch up with some of our dear friends. What a blessing to have these people in our lives after over 30 years and seeing our children grow up together too! We love being back in town so we have more chances to enjoy these precious friendships.

Sadly we missed a few of the kids and regulars from the group, but we hope they get to join us next year. We really need to set a date now so we can all block it for next season.





We also stopped before the gathering at ASU to take some family photos in front of Grady Gammage, the beautiful auditorium designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. They're in the slideshow as well. Enjoy!

Just a little glimpse of photos from yesterday. We tried to do a family photo shoot. I'm not sure there's any particular one where we can see everyone's face that someone doesn't have a funny look (on purpose). The kids didn't really get serious about it, but that's understandable.

I'd like to try it again before Kevin leaves on the 2nd, but not sure that's going to happen. We also got together with some of our lifelong friends for our annual holiday gathering, but I'll write more about that later.

Off to have a picnic in the park with our Home Group! The high today is 60 degrees and sunny...a nice day for a picnic.

TRAVELING BACK IN TIME:
Our wonderful daughter, Amy has been scanning and scanning slides and old photos lately...

...(by the way, Amy if you want to start taking our boxes of photos and/or negatives, they're ready anytime).

She just gave me all the old Hann photos from Terry's childhood that she's been posting highlights about over the last month or so, plus she gave me some old ones of Terry's and mine from 4th grade (for me) and beyond. I'm trying to go through them and label the ones that she wasn't able to identify and it's so fun to look at all these old photos. I'm also sending individual ones to old friends here and there as I come across them. So, if you've known us for a long time, you may get a photo or two from us in the coming days or weeks.

I came across this one of Terry (in Colorado, I think) in AUGUST 1978. We had been married about 9 months. First of all, I love that it was snowing in August. Second, I think it looks like an album cover, doesn't it? Pretty fun!

This one of me is puzzling. The tag says its 1980, but I don't have a wedding ring on and I always wore my ring (except maybe a few months when I was pregnant, because it didn't fit). The only thing I can think of is that it's a reverse image and we're looking at my right hand...or maybe the date is wrong...hmmmm.

These ones of us with the kids are hilarious!

The first one was taken in Sedona when we went up with the Haugens and Thrushes. Lots of great stories from that trip. Look at how big Kevin was compared to Amy and they were 2 years apart. He was a big boy, but Amy still loved to hold him and play with him and love on him!


The other two were in Del Mar in 1984 when we went over for the Olympics. One of the few seasons when Terry didn't have a beard.

Isn't it amazing the expressions and actions we can catch our kids doing? Kevin was a comedian from the get-go. Be sure to click to enlarge . What precious memories...they make me laugh out loud.

I imagine I'll be posting more in the coming weeks as well. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Another candidate for the family gallery:

Hope and Steve's kids in 2005. Joshua, Kassidy & Jacob (or is it Jacob, Kassidy & Joshua)?

Lisa will have to help me out. Aren't they adorable?

Random Thoughts:

Wow! It's been almost 2 weeks since my last post. Where did the time go? So I just have a bunch of random stuff to post today.

First: Obadiah Parker made it to the 3rd round. Yay! Now they only have 5 more days of voting to get into the final 5 and they really need your help. Here's a note from Mat. "They've chosen the top 20 bands for the Austin City Limits Concert possibilities and have six days to get as many votes as we can to get in the top five. If we do this we will automatically go to Austin to participate in the final round. This is a really cool opportunity for us and we're relying solely on our fans to make this happen for us. You can vote everyday for every email address that you have. You can also spread the word anyway you can!"

Here the link. Click here to vote please!

Next: I came across this photo that Julie Thrush took of Terry & me when we were in Greer. I don't remember if I posted it before, but I really like it, so here it is again.

I got together with my mom on Friday night and got started gathering some family history. I sat with my laptop and just asked her questions about her and my dad and typed the answers. I'm hoping to continue doing this when we get together, because there's so much that we don't have documented about their lives and those of our family, and she rarely took pictures. I think it made her feel good that someone is interested in her life and I love getting the info down in writing. Since I've been blogging and taking more photos, and since Amy's been scanning the old Hann family photos, I realize just how precious all that information will be in a generation or two. I would love to find details about my grandparents and great grandparents, but there isn't much around. Someday, hopefully someone will really enjoy all this info. Even if they don't, I'm enjoying gathering it.

She also showed me some pics that my brother, Pat sent to her. This is the little house that he's living in now in Vermilion, Ohio. He really likes the fact that it's so quiet. It's also just a few blocks to Lake Erie and just steps to the post office, a little cafe, stores, etc. He seems to be much happier there. He's quite a loner and very sensitive to outside noises, so a detached home is the perfect option for him.

Next random thought...Terry and I watched Rain Man last night. I LOVE that movie! I'm not usually much for rating my absolute favorites of anything, because I have a hard time being that black and white, but Rain Man has got to be in my top picks for best movies ever. Dustin Hoffman is fantastic in this role and the story is just so sweet!!

I'm trying to go through my photos and determine which ones will go on the wall in our hallway. We have a decent amount of space for a little family gallery, but with the big families that we both have, it's hard to decide what to put up. I have an 8 x 10 of my dad at 24 and my mom at 13 that are great! They will definitely be in the mix. I'm trying to post them here, but I keep getting an error. I'll keep trying because they're worth seeing.

Maybe I'll choose a couple of the old Hann photos for the wall too. I'm looking forward to getting them from Amy when she's done scanning all the old slides. She's been sending some great ones...like this of the Hann boys in Tombstone AZ! (Terry is the cute one on the right.) And don't miss Tom behind the bar.