Father’s Day Weekend

So, my dad’s on a mission in Germany and I miss him really bad.

Joe’s dad was out of town this weekend, so we weren’t able to see him either.

Thank goodness I have the wonderful father of my children to celebrate. He’s pretty awesome.

Early Saturday, we met Peach and Heather at the golf course for a quick (ha!) nine holes. It would’ve been quicker if I knew what I was doing, but the boys were patient. Besides our near-death experience when Joe was driving the cart, it was fun to have a few good hits and even more whiffs, slicing my wrist with my fingernail because I had no idea how to hold the club, and spending time with our fun brother and sister-in-law. By the ninth hole, we were just getting warmed up, but left to go to breakfast instead.

A teaching moment…

Strike a pose…

Look at that form!

So handsome.

We spent a fun day with the kids, then went out for dinner and a movie (sidenote: Super 8 was super lame….the acting was good, the story was not. I am NOT an alien-film girl), but dinner was fantastic…Lone Star Taqueria (as seen on Diner’s, Drive-ins, and Dives).

Sunday was great with good meetings and yummy dinner for my favorite man, fun gifts from the kids, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

I struck gold when I found Joe, clear over in France. Little did I know that someday Elder Heugly from my mission would become my best friend, my true love, the best thing that’s ever happened to me. Happy Father’s Day Joe!

At the Zoo!

More playing…

We met our friends at the Zoo for some Zoorassic Fun…Dinosaurs everywhere.

Watch out, they spit.

Lions…

and tigers…

and bones, oh my…

We saw the bird show…

We rode “horses”…

Took a spin on the carousel…

We rode gorillas and dinosaurs and rhinos…

Watch out for T-Rex!

Bye, buddy, we’ll be back soon.

It’s been a long day and we’re tired.

Staycation fun!

Joe took a couple of well-deserved, well-needed days off work so we decided to make the most of every minute! He’s a busy guy, but for two whole days we had him all to ourselves! Let the fun begin…

Monday, we headed way down south….first stop, Pirate Island in Orem. On a Monday morning we had the place to ourselves, it was awesome!

The food was okay, but the atmosphere was pirate heaven for our crew…check out the skulls in the background…

Lots of fun games, lots of cute kids.

A little help from Dad…

Good time had by all, but we’re just beginning…onward to my alma mater. We showed the kids around BYU, we stopped to see my old apartment building (2 years at F. Smith!!), Brigham Young himself, then we met Cheryl and the gang at the Bean Museum. Of course we had to get some yummy Creamery Ice Cream before we left.

Rise and shout, the future cougars are out!!

Pop

Father’s Day

by Joe

With Father’s Day this Sunday I thought I would write down some thoughts to honor my Dad and ensure they are remembered by my kids. If you’ve heard these before enjoy them again, like I have…

Spiritual – On a regular basis I would earn a 3.6, 3.7, or 3.8 GPA in High School. I wouldn’t say I was an academic, but I tried to do what was asked. Seminary was a different story. I was told attendance didn’t effect your GPA and neither did the grade (as long as you passed). Well, that’s what I did…I shot for “Ps” sometimes falling short of meeting the required attendance days….until something happened. My Dad opened my report card from seminary and he was not disappointed (like a failed test or that I broke something in the house that needed to be fixed), it was a different kind of emotion than he normally showed. It looked like he felt bad, felt sorry, or that I had hurt him deeply. Honestly, I wondered what the big deal was, but he quietly shared his testimony to me. Eye to eye, spirit to spirit…he told me that seminary was more important than graduating High School…that grades in seminary were more important than grades in school. My attitude changed, my work ethic changed. I started reading the required readings, I started making up attendance by doing extra credit. I did what it took to get back on track. I wouldn’t have graduated seminary without my Dad.

Work – Dad wasn’t the motivational speaker or anything like that…he taught and led by example. Hard work, education, and friends would lead to success in the workplace. Dad taught me that acquiring skills was more important than the current paycheck. 7 dollars an hour at the bank was more important than 12 dollars an hour or more repairing fire, water, and wind damage. Every time a critical decision came, I drew from his experience. “What would you do, Dad?” I found more success, quicker success, by following his example and advice. I have learned many professional lessons from my Dad. In fact, I teach others these same things day in and day out. Some of my favorite lines are (funny to me): “Just because it came out of your mouth doesn’t make it true.” “So, what you’re telling me is that you don’t know what you are talking about.” But often it wasn’t what he said, it’s what he did. One of the best things he ever said were words of encouragement. “I’m proud of you.” “You’re a better operations manager than I am.” “You listen well, but more importantly you know how to apply that advice.” “You teach well, and have a gift in making complicated things seem simple.” I can tell you this, every word is gold, every comment etched in cement. He’s lifted me up when the world wants to take you down and offered encouragement when I needed it most. He was honest, even brutally honest, when he needed to be…but it was always done in love.

Good Things Utah!

Where the good things are.

Dakota participated in JA BizTown this year with her fifth grade class…they planned and participated in a mini-community for a whole day up at the Children’s Museum at the Gateway. They elect a mayor, have businesses and banks, radio, and even live telecast. Koko applied for (and got) the job as a news reporter. Her interviews and news segments were broadcast on t.v. throughout the “town” all day and she got a taste of journalism that she really loved.

So,

I took her and Emma to go see a live broadcast of Good Things Utah this morning. It was fun to see behind the scenes…

They made a yummy steak with Café of Paris butter….whatever, it smelled delish!

Loved Reagan’s shoes!!

We got to chat with the ladies during commercial breaks and the girls got less nervous about talking to them after the show. We talked to the intern there and Dakota asked her some questions about what she can do to be a t.v. reporter someday. She answered our questions, then pointed out the producer of the show to us. We talked to Roxanne for quite a while and she gave Koko some great pointers of things she can do to start down the path. She invited her to shadow a reporter one day to see what it’s really like and gave us her card to set it up. While we were visiting with her, she said, “Hold on,” and left for a second. She came back and handed Koko a fancy notepad, “Here’s your first official reporter’s notebook.”

So cool!

Maybe one day, that’ll be Koko on the air….stay tuned…