So, it's Father's Day

After we came home from church and had lunch, we settled down into quiet time at our house. It's a marvelous thing, that quiet time. I mentioned to my wife that I was thinking about my blog and didn't know what I'd write about yet today. "How about Father's Day?"

Oh, ya. It's Father's Day.

Sweet.

That means awesome dinner, presents and extra family love. Ya, baby! Our family tradition is to choose dinner on our special day. Normally I'd go with lasagna, but I slaved over buying and heating one up for Mother's Day so I went with something Mexican. I said I wanted burritos with chicken. Then Angie went to town on the supporting feast. She's so awesome! We'll eat it soon so ask me later how it was.

My wife is so rockin' awesome for many reasons. I'm glad I married her and I'm glad we have an awesome family together. I'm looking around the house at my little kiddies right now and I am so happy to have them in my family. She and I make a great team. We work hard and are on the same page with just about everything. She makes my life worth living. When I get a quiet moment around the house I like to look at her for a minute or two. Sometimes she catches me, sometimes not. I'm so lucky to have her.

On to the rest of what makes today a special day.

One of my kids doesn't have any teeth. I really like that about him. No, seriously. He's sooo cute! I kinda forget that he doesn't have teeth until I see in his mouth. Otherwise I don't think of it. When his first tooth comes in it's going to change him a lot. Or so I think. I'm trying to love him up every day just in case his look changes too much. I think I'll still love him. He's rolling around next to me and I think that's so cute too! His cackle is my favorite sound. His smile is about the best thing there is to look at. I should post a picture so you can see it. Stay tuned.

The next closest child in the room happens to be the next oldest boy, Mr Wes. I love Mr Wes. He's silly in the morning, energetic in the afternoon and unpredictable in the evening. He brought a lot of love with him from the celestial world when he came to join our family. He's great. He's frustrating sometimes, but that's not his problem. From his point of view the only problem is when he can't open his fruit snacks. "Dad, I willy, willy need your help!" He is growing up so fast right now. His speech is improving a ton and so is his vocabulary. He has impressed me with him mobility lately too and climbs the stairs pretty well. He's awesome. And silly. Silly, silly Mr Wes!

My oldest boy (who is now the closest one in the room; no, wait, now he's in the other room) also brings a lot of happiness into my life. According to one of the great sacrament meeting talks today (quoting from a recent General Conference talk), parents learn more from their kids than kids learn from their parents. This has been the case with Skyler. Putting it another way, the Lord has scrubbed my soul and rounded off some of my rough edges with this child. There have been lots of ups and downs with this little fella. The downs drown out all else in life and the ups make me realize how good it is to be a dad and father in a gospel-centered home. He's also naturally talented! I love seeing him pick up new things so quickly.

Now for a surprise Father's Day treat. My younger (and taller, he would have you know) brother sent me some of our childhood family videos on DVD and they arrived yesterday. It had footage of all my family members from my younger brother to my four grandparents. This so cool for Father's Day because I got to see my dad and both grandpas. It had more of one of my grandpas, the one that I knew as quiet. He was pretty jovial in these videos. That was so cool to see. He died when I was about 15 and I don't remember him being very verbal before that. He had a stroke, I think, when I was little so I didn't see the side of him that I watched yesterday on DVD. It was awesome. I love that man.

I got to see my dad in the videos too and it was so cool to see how sweet he was to my siblings and me. I was about 5 in these videos and don't remember much of it from back then. My older siblings are 4 and 6 years older than I am and I'm excited to see what they think after they watch it. Anyway, I called my dad today and talked to him. He is happy to hear how close I am to graduating and finding a job. He's getting on in years. Hopefully we'll be able to visit him soon. The transition from here to my next job could be a good time, but we don't know which direction we're going yet. He really wants to see us. It will be good for my boys too because they don't remember seeing him before. Sounds like we need to head over to One Man Band again. That's where we'd always go eat together. Navajo tacos. Mmm, boy!