My Brother Larry

Paul and Larry before church.

Caught in the act!  I guess he really WAS thirsty.

Daddy's little helper.

Larry was being so creative, entertaining me with a soap box.

He used to go through the dirty clothes bin and find funny outfits and clown around for a laugh!

Looking dapper for the first day of school in Metarie Lousiana. 

Big shoes to fill!  My dad used to try to get out of the pictures.  Usually, he just looked funny scrunched up against a wall or the furniture!

Fine looking lad.

 A fish story for sure!

High School.  This is how I remember Larry!  I loved his hair like this.

The Hart five.

Notice how the youngest gets squished in the middle even though he's the biggest.

With his beautiful wife Christina on their wedding day.

Larry's Memorial Service

We were all caught off guard by Larry's unexpected death.  The strange part of it was not being able to say good bye.  If I had the chance to I would have thanked him for the laughter he brought into my life. I could always count on Larry to provide humor in any situation, and to appreciate humor from me. 

We had a very nice memorial service for Larry on Friday, August 6, 2010.  It was at a funeral home in Issaquah.  Christina picked out flowers with special meanings behind them, they turned out beautiful.

The heart is from Christina, symbolizing their love.  The low arrangement in front is from mom.  A mothers love covers and fills your life.  The tall arrangement to the right is from Paul and I.  It symbolizes that even though siblings grow apart through the years, their love is still like beautiful blooms. The tall, angular arrangement to the left is from Christina's mother symbolizing the odd sense of humor they shared.  The green X is from Wes, a reminder of all the hours of fun they had playing xbox and other games.  The candles are for each of the pets Larry and Christina had.  The two round domes symbolize the eternal nature of love.

We watched a slideshow of pictures from throughout his life.  Paul, Wes, Keith and Christina spoke, my cousin Wendy and her husband Mark sang with the guitar, Richard and I gave prayers. 

Lots of people came, mostly friends from work. 

We don't have a lot of family in this area anymore, so it was wonderful to have Wendy there.

There was a reception following the service.

After a very nice time talking of Larry and visiting with one another, some of us went to lunch and enjoyed the opportunity to visit a little longer.

Wes treated us all to lunch at Red Robin.  How generous!  He is sitting by his long time friend, Connie.

Richard and Diana joined us.

and baby Michael.

Mom and me.  We felt the whole day turned out very nicely. 

Good bye Larry, we'll miss you.

Katie's Bold Jump

On Samish Lake there is a fun (so I'm told) rope swing. Only the bravest souls attempt this bold feat. On this day, the men, Keith, Dennis and Eric all had their turns. Then Katie decided that she would not be outdone, and pregnant or not, she was determined to have the great rope swing adventure for herself. Pardon the long lead up to the actual event, the big jump is over a minute and a half into the video, but my editing capabilities were made impossible by the type of camera that took the movie.

Lake Samish Part Two

A few candid shots just for fun. Eric was a fabulous driver, exerted great skill in manuevering around the lake and giving his dad a fun ride.

Katie, looking very stylish in her matching brown and green outfit is without a doubt a nearly professional flagger. She can whip that stick up in the air at the first sign of trouble like nobody's business.

And Dennis, just being Dennis.

Keith's Wipeout

Diane, ready for fun.

Keith, looking for some action.

It all started out well enough. Everyone on their own tube, minding their own business.

Then Keith couldn't stand being Mr. Nice guy anymore.
He just had to play it tough and try to ram Diane's
innertube.

\
Looks like the plan backfired.

Well, better luck next time, bad boy!

Salmon Dinner

The one thing Katie has really been wanting is some good salmon.  In fact she and Josh had some the other day and Josh said, "This isn't nearly as good as the salmon your dad made for us."  Katie said "Oh, Josh, you can never compare other people's salmon to my dad's!" 

So Keith cooked up some of his recent catch from the high adventure fishing trip while the girls were here for their short week of home time this Summer. We invited both Grandmas so they would have a chance to visit with everyone.