Happy Birthday Dad!!

Today is my Dad's birthday...60th Birthday, to be exact! In honor of how great I think he is, I thought I'd list 60 things I love about my dad!! So, in completely random order...here they are!...

1. I love how handsome he looks in a button down shirt with a sweater on top (something we wears pretty regularly during the winter months).

2. He knows how to give the best tickle tortures!

3. He loves my mom - completely. I have never doubted how much he cares & adores her!

4. He honors his priesthood.

5. His ability to always "look on the bright side" of every situation.

6. He can bring a smile to anyone's face!

7. He has always (and I'm sure always will) served diligently in his church callings.

8. He always takes a minute to give me a hug & kiss when I first come for a visit.

9. He is a jack-of-all-trades...he seems to know so much about so many things.

10. How he lip-synced "She Bangs" (Ricky Martin) at our families New Year's Eve party last year. (Thanks, Brig, for capturing that moment on video for all time.)

11. How he can fix just about any appliance that ended up broken in our house.

12. How he loves to sit down and chat with us kids when we are all visiting.

13. How willing (and able!) he is to baby-sit his grandkids.

14. How he loves to read and usually had several different books that he is reading at any given time.

15. His cowboy hat!

16. His patience.

17. His freckles...which I was lucky enough to receive!

18. The "I Love You" games that he would always play with his kids, and now he continues with his grandkids.

19. He always knows the right things to say, at the right time.

20. How he loves to dance with his granddaughters.

21. How he individually prays for EACH one of his kids.

22. His understanding of the scriptures.

23. He is an amazing teacher & never passes up a teaching moment.

24. Our tradition of going to cut down a fresh tree each year for Christmas.

25. His hard work ethic.

26. His summertime farmer's tan on his arms.

27. His enjoyment of lighting their house up at Christmas time...with THOUSANDS of Christmas lights!

28. His handwriting...I always had a hard time reading it when I was younger, but it is so unique (and very difficult to forge!).

29. His knowledge of the gospel.

30. He loves pork chops...which is something I just learned recently.

31. He loves to have toast and milk in the evenings (another trait I inherited).

32. He always helps with Sunday dishes...

33. And many other household chores!

34. He love for learning....and example to be a lifelong learner.

35. His willingness to help anyone, anywhere!

36. He loves taking the family on rides (usually a drive up the canyon)!

37. He loves peanut butter sandwiches.

38. How easy my kids can talk grandpa into reading "just one more" bedtime story.

39. Our annual summer hike to Mt. Timp.

40. Our annual "stop at the Purple Turtle" treat after hiking Mt. Timp.

41. His "I love you" in sign language to his family.

42. How he ties his shoes...he always does a triple twist before making a bow.

43. He is always good for a cuddle.

44. His interest and curiosity for astronomy.

45. His humility.

46. How much he loves and supports EVERY ONE of his kids.

47. Remembering how him and mom used used to go to the temple on Saturday mornings - instilling in me the importance of temple attendance.

48. His wisdom.

49. How, when Matt came to ask his blessing to marry me, Dad had a rifle on his lap the whole time.

50. How Dad had to borrow the rifle to use for Matt, cause he didn't really even own a gun.

51. His "Smokey the Bear" hat, and how, even with the hat on, he still almost burned down the forest with the white gas.

52. When I was in 9th grade, he stayed up until 4am to help me with an English paper that I procrastinated completing.

53. Christmas shopping with him! (usually on Christmas Eve!)

54. How he was prepared to push Michael back down the Magic Mtn Hill (in a wheelchair after Michael broke his femur) when Mike said he didn't want to ride the roller coaster after all.

55. How he tolerated mom's "helpful travelogue" for the ENTIRE California vacation.

56. He's successfully led us back to Provo through two blinding blizzards (Boise '98 and Green River '99).

57. His desire to do anything and everything he can to make it to his grandkids blessings.

58. The many times he cut the tv cable to prevent us from polluting our minds (and forgetting our jobs!)

59. Sitting out on the back patio to relax, enjoy the weather and all the chats that accompanied that time.

60. The power of his testimony of the Gospel - I never get tired of hearing it!

Dad...I hope you know how much I love you! I hope you have a WONDERFUL birthday!! Lots of love from all of us here!! XOXO

Happy Birthday Connor-Man!!

Today my Connor-Man turns two years old...I can hardly believe that 2 years have passed since he joined our family...it seems like just yesterday we were at the hospital having our little guy. Since the day he arrived, Connor has been the sweetest, most easy-going baby, ever! He has some of the best smiles & just wraps my heart around his little hand when he climbs up onto my lap for a little snuggle. Every morning he wakes up & comes into our bed to snuggle with us for just a few minutes before he gets on with his busy day! He loves motorcycles, his camo jammies, playing at the park, "coloring," and his Pooh Bear and "ninknie" (blankie). He puts up with a lot of flack from his big brother but is 100% loved and adored by all of us!!!

Here's a few pictures from the last 2 years....

The day he was born....our biggest baby at 7 lbs. 15 oz! It was an easy labor & delivery (so quick the dr. didn't make it in time)! He arrived at 12:23pm.

On his Blessing Day!!....April 29, 2007...at Grandma Judy's & Grandpa Bill's house.

At about 6 months old..not sure why he's wearing the bath towel, or chewing on the bowl...but it's a dang cute picture!

I love this picture!!!

This was last year at about this time....he rarely fell asleep in the high chair, but I guess this day he was plain tuckered out!

This is from last summer....see what I mean about how darn cute his smiles are?!!?

This is how he likes to "color"....his favorite is random pieces of papers, a pen & sitting on the counter!!

Eating up his yummy breakfast of rice pudding...his all time favorite breakfast is hot cereal!

This one is from just a few weeks ago (sitting on the counter, again!)!

Cute & all bundled up for some sledding!!

WE LOVE YOU CONNOR-MAN!! Happy Birthday Big Boy!!

German Pancakes

I have great memories, from when I was a little girl, of visiting my grandparent's house....it seemed like my Grandma Mae would make German Pancakes at least once during our visit! They were always a yummy treat because it wasn't something my mom made. Don't get me wrong, my mom made lots of yummy breakfasts!...it's just German Pancakes weren't one of them.

Anyway, fast forward to now. Matt is currently teaching 2 evening classes this semester, so on Tuesday & Thursday nights I usually end up fixing something easier to throw together, that wouldn't care much about, and still something the kids will gobble up. So, last week (yes, I'm posting a week later...1) because I thought I had "lost" these pictures and given up blogging about them, and 2) because I had pretty much slacked off on blogging for the last 2 months anyway, so why did it matter...) I decided to make German Pancakes! It was GREAT! The kids were facinated by how they looked & totally curious as to how they would taste. Luckily, I didn't have any fight over trying them because anything with the work "pancake" in it gets eaten at this house! :)

So, here is what the finished product looked like (before it was gobbled up)!...and, actually, if you look closely, you can tell one dish was already finished off....it was just before cutting into the second one that I thought to grab the camera...

And, here are all 4 of the kids, happily eating their dinner!!...

I guess Connor wasn't really eating his German Pancakes in this picture...but believe me when I say he enjoyed them just as much as the others!

I think we have a new dinner favorite for those nights when Matt is gone!