You've had a birthday…

…shout "Hooray!"

We want to sing to you today.

One year older and wiser, too,

Happy birthday… to you!

(to hear this little song--in a round, even--click here)

Birthdays I am celebrating this month:

June 5 - sister Camie, age 32

June 11 - grandma Gwen Udall, age 89

June 25 - nephew Jackson, age 8

and as long as I'm celebrating, I'd like to congratulate three of my brothers on their wedding anniversaries (unfortunately, I don't have recent pictures of them together with their wives--but I do, conveniently, have these side shots):

June 5 - Cord & Heidi, 14 years

June 19 - Boomer & Tennille, 10 years

June 28 - Travis & Amy, 19 years


I love you all, and am VERY glad I have you in my life!
....

Happy first day of June…

…and Happy Summer! Did you know that in many countries, June 1 signifies the official beginning of summer? Sounds good to me! Isn't it a great feeling to know we have the whole summer ahead of us, instead of that feeling in September when we know the cold and snow will be here all too soon (except for you people living in the Arizona valley of the sun, of course)?

Speaking of June, I flipped the page on my calendar today (Georgia O'Keeffe flowers - Christmas gift from Aki) to show this beautiful image, and the colors seemed fitting. Perhaps because it made me think of Flaming June by Frederic Leighton (see painting below). We studied it in Academic Decathlon, and it is an absolutely gorgeous painting! I had the opportunity to see it in real life, not in its permanent gallery in Spain—actually, it's in Puerto Rico, good ol' Mindy pointed out—, but in a traveling Victorian exhibit that came to the National Gallery in D.C. That was 10 years ago…wow. I know this is Mindy's favorite painting, so here's a shout out to Mindy. As a sidenote, another celebration of 10 years is the 1997 opening of the Georgia O'Keeffe museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I've never been, but hope to someday!