I Love My Dad!

With my Dad's Birthday coming up, I started looking through pictures of me with my dad. To be honest, there are not very many. I think that my dad was usually the one taking the pictures! I First learned how to take pictures from my dad. I learned on his old Pentax manual camera. He bought me my first SLR (a pentax of course!) and I am now on my 4th or 5th Pentax. Since I could only find a couple of pictures of me and my dad, I decided to include a couple of pictures of my dad with his mom too.

This is one of my favorite pictures of my dad (and his guitar).
This is a picture of my sister and I reading with my dad.



Finally, Here is my very favorite picture of me with my dad.


Here are a few of the many reasons why I love my dad:

1. My dad is one of the wisest people that I know. He seems to know what to do in every situation. He taught me to choose my battles in life. I depend on him for advice.
2. My dad is a walking source of knowledge. If I have a question, whether it be about the scriptures, history or literature, I go to my dad for an answer (in essay format).
3. My dad has had a life full of health problems and adversity, yet is one of the most productive people that I know. When I feel tired and frustrated I often think that if my dad can write numerous books and be a professor at Stanford, then I can do great things too.
4. My dad is a great example of continual learning. His love of learning has been an inspiration to me throughout my life. When I think of my dad, I imagine him sitting in his chair reading. He is also is a self-taught guitarist. I cannot hear Eric Clapton without thinking of my dad playing the guitar every night while I was going to bed.
5. My dad has taught me to think for myself even when it is not popular. He has taught me by example to stand up for what I believe in.
6. My dad loves children and especially babies. If you look at his mission pictures, a lot of them include babies and children. Riley seems to have inherited this quality and I love that!
7. He is generous and thinks of others needs first. He doesn't know how much it costs to buy a pair of pants, but if one of his kids needs something, he finds a way to provide it.
8. My dad loves my mom and always stands up for her.
9. My dad is an AMAZING teacher! I have never looked forward to gospel doctrine until I heard my dad teach it.
9. My dad takes the time to get to know each one of his grandchildren. He spends time individually with them.

Here is what the kids had to say about Grandpa:

1. He’s very nice –Mia and Ella
2. He takes us to Deseret Book and lets us buy a book-Riley, Mia and Ella
3. He’s the best grandpa in the world-Mia and Ella
4. He loves us-Ella
5. He brings us cookies-Ella
6. He’s fun to be with-Mia
7. He plays with us-Riley
8. He gets out the playdoh for me-Ella

Here are a few of the many pictures of my dad with my kids. He really is a great grandpa!

Dad and Riley and the playdoh!

Dad and Mia (and a balloon).

Dad and Riley.

Dad having fun with Riley.

Dad going down the slide with Mia at the Dennis the Menace playground.

Same Slide, another year!

Dad reading to Caroline and Mia.

Dad and the kids having a water fight!

Dad and Ella sitting in his chair.

Dad and Mia in the cave at the dinosaur museum. She was scared to get in so Grandpa took her in.

Digging for dinosaur bones!

Dad, Riley and Mia at the beach.

Dad and Riley going for a walk in the park.

Dad and Ella

Dad, I love you and I am so grateful for everything that you have taught me and everything that you have done to make my life better. You are amazing. I hope that you have a wonderful birthday!

I Love My Mom!

This is where it all began. I was born 2 days after my mom's birthday in 1975.

Every day of my life, I am thankful to have the mother that I have. As I have become a mother myself, I have often thought about how much my mom has taught me by example. Here are some reasons why I love my mom:

1. She is unselfish and giving.

2. She is always taking care of everyone else.

3. She does the "little things" for us that mean a lot. Examples are, preparing your favorite foods, taking me to get a pedicure, sending something in the mail. She used to get up at the crack of dawn to make me breakfast. Now that I am a mom, I realize how much of a sacrifice this was. These are just a few of the things that she has done over the years

4. She is empathetic. Growing up I was sick a lot and she always comforted me and did whatever she could to help me. When you call her on the phone with a problem, she is understanding and always tries to help.

5. The greatest thing that my mom has ever done for me has been the fact that she takes two weeks of her life each time I have a baby to care for me. Since I have C-sections and I am not good at having babies, having her there to be my personal nurse is essential. I am eternally grateful for this.

This is My mom with Riley (he looked pretty beat up after a rough start!)

This is newborn Ella with my mom.

6. Finally, I love watching my mom interact with my kids. She has a way of letting them know in little ways how much she loves them. I asked them tonight why they love "grandma in California" and this is what they said:

"Because she brings suckers." -Ella

"Whenever she is near me, I feel happy."-Mia

"She takes us to fun places."-Riley

"She made me a blanket."-Ella

"She plays with us."-Mia

"She loves me."-Riley

"She comes to my house."-Ella

"She brings things to do when we go to a restaurant." -Mia

I have taken a lot of pictures over the years of the kids with my mom. I noticed that she is always doing something with them. She reads to them, plays games with them and pays attention to them. They feel her love for them because she takes such an interest in them. She is the grandma that every child should have. Here are a few of the pictures that I have taken of her with the kids.

Thanks mom for sacrificing so much for me and for being one of my best friends. I love you and I hope that you have a wonderful birthday.

My American Girls

So, Mia and Ella are really into their American Girl Dolls right now.  They call them their "girls." When Mia and Ella are not fighting, they are playing with their "girls."  I must admit that I like American girl dolls.  If they had them when I was young, I would have wanted one.  They are rather expensive, but I still like them better than some of the other dolls out there.  The girls always want to wear clothes that match their dolls.  So, this year I talked to my mom and asked her to use her sewing skills to help with this.  For Christmas, she gave the girls and their dolls matching pajamas.  They were so excited to wear them.  They would wear them to church and school if I let them!  I must admit that it is really fun to have two little girls!  

So Cal 2009

I have been spending some time editing and picking out pictures of the kids to put on my wall, and I decided that I would go back in time a little and talk about our family trip to Southern California in November.  The first day of our trip, we decided to go to the beach. This is honestly one of my favorite things to do with the kids.  I particularly love to capture the moments with my camera. It just seems like they are so free at the beach.  Riley is especially fun to watch.  We went to one of my favorite beaches (Crystal Cove) growing up.  It is not a really busy beach and that is why I love it.  Riley and Mia took to the beach right away and loved every minute of it (Riley did complain after the beach that he had sand in his shorts though).  Ella was not really sure of the sand and the waves.  It took a little coaxing from Riley, but she eventually warmed up a little.  There are some really darling shots of Riley taking Ella into the water.  I even had Ryan take a few pictures of me with the kids (a picture of me is definitely a rare occurrence).  For me, this afternoon was perfect.  I always have a wall in my house dedicated to my pictures at the beach.