Fathers Day 2012

For Father's Day we headed to Pocatello to Dustin's neice Julie's baby blessing.  It was emotional for me.  Her husband passed away in December so her brother in law blessed the baby.  I'm so happy she has such good in laws who take such good care of her.  Her baby Kailey is beautiful!

We had lunch at her mother and father in laws house and with Dustin's family then headed to my grandmas for round 2 with my family.  

Here is the cute daddy that lives in my house with our 3 beautiful baby girls.  I feel so blessed to have him beside me raising these girls because they are a ton of work!  I know the girls love their daddy to pieces.  Molly is the biggest daddy's girl.  She gets excited when he comes home from work and loves to snuggle him while he watches TV in our bed.  I think one of the things the girls love most about their daddy is dancing with him or laughing at him while he dances in the kitchen.   He plays hide and go seek and with a little nudging will sit and read to them on the couch.  I know Ella thinks he is SUPER dad.  She once said, "Dad, can you really jump all the way to the sky?"  She would believe anything he would tell her.  We were on a little bike ride a few weeks ago and Ella had a friend along with us and Dustin was chasing them on the bikes.  The neighbor overheard Ella say to her friend, "See, I told you my dad is tricky."  They just think he is so great.. and he is!

This is my dad and I think he is Super!  As I sat and listened to the talks given in church today I pondered some of my fondest memories with my dad.

I love how when we came home from church each week he would pull out either chips & salsa, crackers & cheese or make a crazy concoction of mac n cheese with clams, tuna, tomato sauce or some other random ingredient.

I love the memory of all the "shortcuts" dad would take us on.  Every time we would go on a road trip somewhere we would end up taking an extra hour or more in the car because dad had to see where this road went.  When we asked where we were he would say, "We took a shortcut."  I HATED IT, but it's funny now.

I love that my dad encouraged me to be brave and try new things.  Dad is brave.. mom is not so brave and trying to figure out what was safe and what was not was/is sometimes challenging.  One of my favorite memories was when dad was trying to help me gain courage to jump off this big rock cliff into the lake.  He told me he would tell all his scouts how brave I was if I would do it.  That's all it took - off I went.  It made me feel so good to do something that scared me.

I love how every time we would go out to eat he threatened he would never take us anywhere again because without fail somebody would spill their drink all over the table. But he never left us behind.

I love that on cold mornings he would go out and start my car for me so it would be warm when I got in it to leave.

I love that my dad loves my mom. 

I have the best dad!  I am so grateful that he showed me what I needed to look for in a husband and accepted and loves Dustin.  It means a lot to me!

This is my father in law.  I think he is pretty super too and so does Dustin.  You know that song called I've been Watching You by Brad Paisley?  It fits Dustin to a T!  He admires his dad so much and his dad can give him advice and it is solid in Dusitn's mind.  I do really love the admiration he has for his dad.

David has taught me a lot of valuable lessons in the 10 years he has been my father in law.

I love that he loves everybody.  He accepts them and loves them no matter what!

I love that he is humble.  He doesn't feel like because he is 75 that he is any better or wiser than anybody else.  Even though he is much wiser than most of us.

I love that he is a wonderful pianist.  He has amazing talent to hear music and plays such beautiful music on the piano.  I love that he now listens to Ella try to plunk away at the piano and encourages her.

I love that he is frugal and has taught Dustin how to be frugal and manage money well.

I love that he and Carol are excellent gardeners.  His garden is beautiful and he (and she) are always willing to let you just walk through and eat dinner in their garden and fill a doggie bag to take home.   They don't criticize or even give advice without us asking on our sad garden.  I guess they believe that trial and error is the best way to learn.

He calls Carol his angel.  He love, loves his wife and I love that!

I am so blessed to have a husband, dad and dad in law in my life.  They are all excellent men who hold and honor the priesthood.  So grateful!!