Happy Birthday Dad!!

Well today is my dad's birthday and as I was laying in bed tonight memories came flooding back to me about my dad. This seems to happened often, it is when I lay in bed at night waiting to fall asleep, this is when I think of my dad. Not to say I don't think about him every hour of every day but it is difficult when you have you kids constantly around to distract you. These last few minutes of the day when it is the quietest is when I reflect on what an amazing father I had. December 22, 2006 I lost my father and I guess you can say it was unexpected. It was the hardest most painful thing I have gone through thus far in my life. I don't want this entry to bum anyone out that is not my intention. I was not sure I even wanted to make an entry regarding the subject but as I layed there tonight the tears slowly came and I felt that this was the only way to really honor my dad. My dad would have been 61 today and he would have probably taken the day off from work and him and my mom would've come out to see the kids gone to lunch with us and went somewhere where he would have gotten a free birthday dinner. Or he could have been in the white mountains fishing since he hated the heat so badly. I have so many good memories of my dad when I was growing up. I remember friday nights would usually mean movie night we would go to rent a movie and have popcorn and root beer floats for dinner. Summer meant we would rent a cabin somewhere in the white mountains and wake up hours before the sun would come up so we can drive to the perfect fishing spot and get there before the sun came up. Every year we would take a big trip somewhere (driving of course) and it was usually to Sacramento CA. to see my grandparents. We would not just drive straight through but we would always have to make all the tourist stops along the way. If it were not for my dad I would have seen some of the prettiest of our Heavenly Fathers creations. I have so many more memories I just cannot list them all, but some of my more recent ones are my dad with my 2 kids Katelyn and Michel. Wow what a grandpa my dad was to them he was the grandpa I wish I had for myself. Always willing to drop everything to babysit or to spend time with them. Everytime the kids would see him he always had a toy of a treat for them. Katelyn's would often be a polly pocket of some kind and Michel would often be truck or car. Dad wouldn't stop at just buying them the toys you would always see him at the table with Katelyn as she pulled out all her polly pockets and her big castle and set them on the table to play with, he was always right there playing with her. Or he would be playing cars with Michel in the toy room. Everything stoped when the kids were over they were the center of his life and he did anything and everything for them. My kids still talk about all the fun grandpa was and the tickling he would do to them. I am so glad he has left a lasting impression of himself as someone who loved them and they felt his love. My dad was a good father, grandpa, and husband to my mom and I am so greatful that I had him in my life for so long and that 2 of my kids knew there grandpa. I know I will see him again because he made the choice to come back into the church when my mom said she wanted to see the LDS missionaries and be baptized. We were sealed in the Mesa AZ. temple to be an eternal family. To that I will be forever greatful. I am thankful to my dad for raising me in a good home where I knew the church was a priority and that he had a testimony of it and all that it stood for. I never wanted for anything he could not give me no matter how much he had to sacrifice. My dad was a truly amazing man and I miss him every minute I am honored to be his daughter and strive everyday to live up to his example. Happy Birthday Dad. Love Shanon