Father's Day

Today I am grateful to celebrate what an amazing father I have and what an amazing father my kids have.  My kids are so lucky to have Todd as their dad.  He loves them so much.  Todd is willing to do anything for our family and is the rock that hold us together.  When things get crazy he is steady.  He is so much fun and loves to play with the kids.  He loves the garden and anytime I can't find him he's out doing work to make the garden even better.  He is always willing to go along with any crazy thing I come up with.  We throw parties and play just dance - and he is right in the middle of it all never complaining.

I am also so very grateful for the dad I grew up with.  Today in church they had us go around the room and say one thing about our fathers.  It was so hard for me to pick one thing for my dad. I ended up chosing his unconditional love.  He is the perfect example of loving people more than anything else.  He loves his family and puts family before everything else.  Things never matter as much as people to him.  He loves without judging and has taught me so much about love.  I am so grateful for his example and that I get to be his daughter.

Father's Day

I'm happy to announce I have the best dad and husband in the world!

A great surprise

Today while I was at work my awesome dad came over and finished hauling gravel into the garden.  He filled it all the rest of the way and now we just have to do the final touches on Friday before our dirt gets delivered.  Seriously - he is amazing!!  I am sure grateful to have my parents living so close and I can't believe how much they do for me all the time.  I already ask too much of them and then they still surprise me by doing more.  Thanks dad!!

Fall Harvest

I love that my parents are amazing gardeners. I have benefited from it greatly. On Monday I asked my mom if she could work on my back and she said sure come over for dinner too. BEST MOM EVER!! It was so nice to not have to cook or clean up on the first day back at school. She made a delicious dinner with so much food from her garden. It was soooooo good! While we were there she sent the boys out with a basket to pick peaches. They came in with a full basket and then we got to take them all home since my mom already had a big box of them (and she threw in a yellow squash for me since they are my favorite). I really need to learn how to can so I can benefit even more. They have way more food than they can use.

Happy 70th Birthday Dad!

We decided to go out to eat for my dad's birthday this year. He picked Rodizios so we left the little ones at home with babysitters and ate enough meat to feed a small village. It was fun hanging out just the adults. It was a little weird for me to be at Rodizio's without Todd though. He loves the Brazilian restaurants. At the end of dinner they came out and sang to my dad and he played the tambourine. It was classic. Then we picked up the kids and went to his house for presents, desert and to sing to him.






My mom bought my dad a 110 dirt bike for his birthday and they tried it out on some trails. They only crashed (or fell over) twice - not bad for a couple of senior citizens :) I love that my parents are still so active and having so much fun. I sure hope I can have as much fun as they do when I'm 70. I really do have the greatest dad ever and I am so glad that I live around the corner from him. He helps me out all the time, my kids adore him and we get to do fun stuff all the time together.

Happy Birthday Dad

Today is my dad's birthday so I thought I would take a few minutes to give him a shout out. I might be slightly prejudice but I think I have the best dad in the entire world.

My dad was so great when I was growing up he taught me the importance of hard work which has gotten me to where I am in life. He always had his priorities straight I don't ever remember him coming home from work and being too stressed out from a hard day to get down and play with us and be a dad. He never brought home his work, when he came home he was 100% ours and I never realized how important this was until I became a mom and I struggle so much to leave work at work and really be there for my kids.

My dad has more patience than anyone I have ever met - to put up with 10 kids and a very spunky mom. I don't remember him ever raising his voice at us - he just mastered the "look" which struck fear into us kids. I'm sure I didn't appreciate him for how amazing he was when I lived at home, but the older I get the more I realize just how amazing my dad is.

My dad has always been a worth priesthood holder and I can remember so many times as a kid waking him up in the dead of night because I was sick and needed a blessing. Never once did he tell me I was fine and to wait until morning. I remember one time it was because my knee hurt - growing pains I'm sure and it was 2:00 am. Not a word of complaint from him, he simply got out of bed and took care of me. Even now I won't turn down the yearly "back-to-school" blessing from him even though I've been out of school for a very, very long time.

My kids absolutely love their grandpa. I am so glad that I live a half mile away from him. He's always there when I need him and I love it when he just stops by. He's always ready for a party especially with his kids and grand kids. He bought 2 boats just so he could play with us all summer at the lake.

Happy Birthday Dad! I love you and am glad I was lucky enough to be part of the best family in the world!!!

Flashback Friday

Why I hate fish...

As long as I can remember I have hated fish. Why you ask? I believe it all stems back to this point in my childhood when my dad stuck this disgusting fish in my face. Probably not. But, honestly that fish is so gross.

I hate swimming in open water because I'm afraid that a fish will touch me. The night before a triathlon I have nightmares about fish in the water, not wrecking my bike or tripping on the run, or missing the race all together, just that there are fish lurking below me in the dark water waiting to nibble on my toes. YUCK!

I have been to some beautiful places and snorkeled with amazing tropical fish and all I can think of when I'm in the water is that I hope a fish doesn't touch me. I have even gotten mad at Todd for making the fish "attack" me when they swim towards me. Yes I realize this is silly and the fish aren't going to do anything to me but I really am freaked out by them.

Don't you love my dad's sweet glasses in this picture? And honestly I had no hair when I was a kid, I'm probably 2 years old in this picture and still not enough for a pig tail. Sad. At least my sweet Claire has hair and doesn't take after her mom.