Happy Father's Day

I cannot take credit for this idea...as Holly did it a couple of years ago, but given that I have been playing a lot of Scrabble the last couple of days with my parents, and that one of my dad's Father's day gifts from us was a new Scrabble dictionary, I thought this would be an appropriate way to honor my dad and let him know some of the things I love about him and am grateful for...so here goes :)

fa’ther n 1 a male parent. 2 a person who begins, invents, or first makes something. 3 one who is an example. 4 one who supports: financially, emotionally, spiritually. 5 one who coaches countless soccer teams. 6 one who truly has the best interest of his children at heart . 7 one who loves unconditionally. 8 one who tells juvenile delinquent stories. 9 one who is determined to be physically fit, even when it means late nights at the gym after a long day. 10 one who still turns his Blackberry OFF after each use, making it impossible to reach him :) 11 one who let me drive to seminary every morning, calming my fears when we would get stuck at a red light on an incline while I was still learning to drive stick 12 one who loves my mom and is a great husband and father 13 one who teaches (both me and thousands of students). 14 one who loves In-N-Out and can share my pain of biting into an animal style cheeseburger with a huge canker. 15 one who I inherited getting cankers from :(. 16 one who knows his way around the kitchen and grill. 17 one who makes a mean chocolate chip cookie and has "cookie nights" several times a week. 18 one who is frugal in his own life but so generous and willing to help me and others. 19 one who supports me in educational decisions. 19 one who I would ask his advice on most anything. 20 one who likes to joke around and as a wonderful sense of humor. 21. one who inspires me to be better in all aspects of my life. 22. one who says “I love you.”

Synonyms: patriarch, dad, example, teacher, friend
I am so blessed to have an incredible father who is truly a friend, inspiration and amazing parent.
I was fortunate this year to get to spend Father's Day with my dad! Our day was not eventful, fairly calm and relaxing, just the way it should be spent. My dad is still recovering from a mitral valve repair, and having had open heart surgery a mere 3 weeks ago, we are still in the relaxing stage...which is kind of nice. It's like a vacation at home.

To celebrate, I gave him this dark chocolate with sea salt candy bar with a personalized candy bar wrapper...he is big into biking and this just fit perfectly :)

We enjoyed talking as a family with Holly and Karleigh on Skype from Utah, and my dad opened some presents and we sang "I'm so glad when daddy comes home" for him like when we were little ;)

Dad and his daughters (lucky man to be surrounded by so many girls :)

Then we enjoyed a delicious dinner of steak, fruit salad, roasted garlic potatoes, salad and lime zest corn on the cob (a recipe from the new MS Living magazine-and a new favorite recipe of mine!)

(and one can't forget the "You are Special" plate on an occasion such as this!)We finally rounded out the evening chatting and reading in the backyard, at which time I brought this out to him...
Happy Father's Day!!!...to my dad...and also to my wonderful father-in-law whom I am also fortunate to have in my life! I am also grateful to have so many friends who make terrific dads and I look forward to the day when we can celebrate Grant being a father (I can only imagine the fun dad he will be).