Category Archives: Family

The marriage of Reagan and Sam was an impossible dream come true. Reagan’s parents, Mike and Leslie, are among our oldest and dearest friends. We had often spoken of having our children marry each other–we had some match ups that could happen. But of course, those things never happen. Sam and Reagan and Fred andContinue reading “Reagan”

Because a Sam already existed in our family, Sam Hirt immediately and permanently became Samhirt. Raised in Alaska as the 6th of 10 children, he already knew what he was about to get into when he married Kim. When a father thinks about his daughter getting married, he hopes for the greatest young man thatContinue reading “Samhirt”

One of the greatest things that happened to our family was the induction of Shane as our 11th. He, Sam and Katherine were friends in high school and he shared a lot of our values. He and Sam were teammates on the wrestling and football teams. One day after practice they were talking and ShaneContinue reading “Shane”

Jack is our most photographed child. Our kids have told us that the greatest thing that we have ever done was to have our 10th child. Katherine calls him magic and so he is. It is interesting to watch him work with his neighborhood friends and see the influence he has on them. He isContinue reading “Jack”

Tommy is the only one of the kids of whom my favorite memory is really recent. Katherine wrote about it in her blog much better than I can here but here we go. I had had a really good and promising day–good meetings, lots of good signs of things to come. Even to the pointContinue reading “Tommy”

Annie has always been 10 years older than her age, even when she was 2. Her peer group was her brothers and sisters so many of her friends were 20 when she was 8. Everyone of Freds friends just knew they would eventually marry her. Some of my favorite memories of Annie as a littleContinue reading “Annie”

An obvious funny memory of Fred was when he pour cherrios on the kitchen floor and then milk, then swimming. But one of the times that made me proudest of him was when he was playing baseball for Kevin Gleed. The had a good team and Kevin’s son, Cameron, was on it. Cameron had aContinue reading “Fred”

Sam was notoriously happy and violent. One of my favorite family videos is of him slam dunking the basketball in his bedroom, then kicking Jimmie as hard as he could over and over again. Nothing made him happier than at least trying to inflict pain on his big brother or dad. I loved the time,Continue reading “Sam”

The video of “I’m the Queen” is legendary in our household. But my favorite memory of Katherine as a little girl is more personal. We had just moved to Fremont and we had a pool in the backyard. Our yard was big and it looked really pretty in the middle of that big lawn. WeContinue reading “Katherine”

I will always remember that on her eighth birthday, Kim asked the bishop if she could sing in church. She did and it was great, and it started her career in singing. When she was in high school she was already an accomplished singer. She did the national anthem at sports events, and she sangContinue reading “Kimberley”