My Ode to Dads

Happy Father's Day weekend everyone! Since the weekend will be full of family activities, I thought I'd do an early appreciation post for the Fathers in my life.

First of all, most obviously, there's my own dad. I remember him scooping us ice cream, telling us jokes, and just being overall awesome as I was growing up. He is an even "awesomer" grandpa. Almost always, the first thing Carrie asks for when we come to my parents' house is for grandpa to take her to the park. And he does. Sometimes for hours at a time. I'm sure if I took her, after about 20 minutes, I'd get antsy and make her come home, but he doesn't. They play for.ev.er....

Sadly, I never really "ran to him" when I had a problem as a teenager, but I realize now I should have. Our personalities are very alike. Our brains work the same way. I LOVE that I inherited his creativity. For example, we both love drawing up house blueprints, just for fun. We love playing brain games that challenge our ability to think outside the box. One of my favorite memories with my dad from high school is him helping me add sleeves to my Winter Formal dress Junior year. That's right. Not my mom, my dad. He has the ability to take the picture in his brain and make it happen in real life. I only wish I had inherited his singing voice, because it's absolutely beautiful. I love to hear my dad sing!

(Me and my daddy on the day I graduated college in December 2007)

Then there's Justin's dad. It's taken a few years, but when we're all together, I just call him dad too. I've only known him for a little over 5 years, but he's always been great. He always has good advice, but respects our space and lets us make our own decisions. He is so incredibly knowledgeable about the church that I occasionally feel like I haven't learned anything in all my years of Primary and Sunday School. He has fantastic integrity and is always looking out for his family's best interest. And I've never seen a Papa get down on the floor and play with his grandkids as much as Earl does. If the kids are around, he's playing with them, and strangely, it usually involves some kind of growling.... ;)

(Me and Earl on my college graduation day) ** Sorry for the old pictures, sadly they're the only ones I could really find of me with each of them!

And finally, where do I begin on this guy?First of all, oober hot picture, just sayin'...... Moving on. To me, Justin is the most important Father I know. Without him, I wouldn't be a Mother. Therefore, he gets 1st place.

Justin is so incredible with Carrie. He'll tickle her, swing her upside down, and throw her in the air (wow, that actually sounds a little "violent", but anyways, she LOVES it!) Anytime she hears the air conditioner kick on, she thinks it's the garage, gets excited and screams, "DADDY'S HOME!!" I feel bad having to tell her daddy won't be home for a few more hours, but it makes it even better when I can say, "YES! That IS the garage!" :) He helps me stay calm when I'm about to lose my cool. He reminds me that our little family is the most important thing in the whole world to him.

He goes to work every single day because he knows that's his job. And obviously, yes, it's his vocation-job, but that's not what I mean. He realizes that his role in life is to provide for our family and be a strong Priesthood leader in our home. I know he doesn't like waking up early and sitting at a desk on the phone all day, but he still does it. I'm sure he doesn't enjoy taking out the garbage or mowing the lawn (especially when it's HOT outside!), but he still does it. I know being "the grown-up" man responsible for a family can be stressful, but he still does it. And he's terrific at it.

We make a pretty good team. When we found out about Brigham's birth defect (months before he was born), we banded together even more. Our marriage was strengthened through that trial, where others could have easily crumbled. He has been such a support to me for as long as I've known him.

One night when we were brand-newlywed he said, "Sweet dreams my Queen" at bedtime, and he's said it every night since. He told me early on in our relationship that he has reserved the word "gorgeous" for me. There will never be any other person, or thing (including pickup trucks ;) ) that will ever be gorgeous. It's my word. And I LOVE that. He makes me feel special, even when I feel awful. He makes me laugh. He makes me smile. And very often, he makes me swoon.

I AM SO BLESSED to have so many wonderful Fathers in my life! HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!