Father's Fiftieth!

My rad dad turned the big 5-0 on October 5. I decided it was high time to embarrass him for once, (he's infamous for doing this to others) so with the help of LOTS of awesome friends and family members, we were able to surprise him.

First off, we had to get him to a location without him suspecting anything...not an easy task. Since he's the custodian at a school, I decided the easiest plan would be to have his principal call him and tell him there was a water leak in the lunchroom (where the party was at) and he needed to get there ASAP! It was a Friday night, and my dad is also known for not always jumping right to things if it involves the school. (let's be honest, female teachers have a tendency to exaggerate problems that he NEEDS to fix) He does it, but more so on his own schedule...I was NERVOUS to say the least. Mainly because I had a room full of 50+ people waiting on him! Thankfully, Susan, his GF :), had a very smooth plan and told him they were going to dinner at 6 (party time) and on the way out the door, he got the frantic phone call and she urged him to fix the problem before they went to eat. And well....SURPRISE!!!

The party was a big success and I finally remembered to take some pictures towards the end. Like I said, I was a nervous wreck the whole time, but by the end my hands stopped shaking and I could breathe normally again. :)

My Nana is my hero. Far too many reasons to list here, but she is AMAZING.

The 50 wall. I put up pictures all throughout his life and along with my siblings (and a few from my girls), we wrote  "fifty fun facts about the old fart"

FIFTY

FUN

FACTS

ABOUT THE OLD

FART:

He was born

October 5,1961

He is the 2^nd youngest of 9 children

He has 6 sisters and 2 brothers

He was born in Montpelier, ID

He always gives me cheese puffs and cookies

-Navi

He calls me “Chunky Cheese”

-Trevi

He is the best “Lampa” around.

 - Navi & Trevi

He is the one I run to when Allie or Cade is chasing me

-Navi

He has only babysat me one time...when Mommy was desperate.

-Navi

He would never say no when I wanted to watch “The Little Mermaid” or “Beauty and the Beast”

-Laci

He wears his Santa pajama pants all year long.

- Laci

He taught me to like macaroni and cheese with pork and beans.

-Laci

He is the hardest worker I know.

 -Laci

He would wake me up for school by belly flopping on my bed and send me flying.

-Laci

He is always willing to help whenever I ask.

 -Laci

He let me think he made up the “Band-Aide” song when I was little. Then when I heard my cousin singing it, I said, “Hey! My dad made that up!”

 -Laci

He snores louder than anyone you’ve ever heard. Really.

-Laci

He shared his love of all things Christmas with me

 -Laci

He would attach our sleds to his team of horses and sleigh and pull us around the yard or while feeding cows.

-Laci

He can’t sleep without all of his little pillows

 -Allie

He loves to watch John Wayne movies

 -Allie

One of his pet-peeves is scratched C.D.’s

 -Allie

He loves movie theater popcorn and often asks for someone to go buy some for him

 -Allie

He always has to have is water jug filled.

 -Allie

His favorite ice cream is pralines and cream

 -Allie

One of his favorite foods is soft shelled tacos

 -Allie

He loves Butterfingers, Baby Ruths, and Almond Joys

-Allie

He hates snakes more than anything

 -Allie

His favorite thing to buy at a gas station is Mountain Dew

 -Allie

He’s always craving German Chocolate Cake

 -Bekka

He has a nickname for most everyone. Sometimes when I’m referring to someone, I have to stop and think of their real name before my Dad’s nickname for them comes out.

 -Bekka

He always finds a way to get his truck stuck. One winter when I was helping him in Amalga, he got his truck stuck in a ditch by a pond. When the guy came the next day to pull him out, he blamed me and said it was his teenage daughter who was still learning how to drive.

 -Bekka 

He has a huge collection of Christmas books. I always loved when he'd read them to all us kids every night before Christmas.

-Bekka

He likes to set a new "record" each year to see how long he can go into winter without turning the heater on. Last year we made it to Thanksgiving. This year he informed me that he's going to go into December before he touches the thermostat. 

-Bekka

Everything I know about animals and farming, I've learned from him. 

 -Bekka

Don't play board games with him unless you're willing to bend the rules and put up with cheating.

 -Bekka

He has his own dictionary of words he's made up over the years. It didn't take me very long to figure out they weren't real words when I'd use them around my friends and get weird looks.

 -Bekka 

He can be fast asleep on the couch and nothing will wake him up or disturb him, but as soon as you turn his TV channel, he's fully alert.

 -Bekka

A big pet-peeve of his is when I miss his calls on my phone, but I swear every time I call his phone, it starts ringing on his nightstand.

 -Bekka

He thinks he can go ANYWHERE on his 4-wheeler.

 -Cade

One of his most common quotes:

“Good thing I’m quick and agile at the same time”

 -Cade

He has driven his truck into the same pond more than once.

 -Cade

He can quote any line of “The Outlaw Josey Wales”

 -Cade

He is scared of anything that resembles a snake

 -Cade

He wants a Harley

 -Cade

His favorite TV show is “Sister Wives”

 -Cade

He knows the family tree of every cow in the herd

 -Cade

When you help him herd cows you better know how to translate all his hand motions and/or read his mind.

 -Laci

One of his favorite John Wayne quotes is: “Hurry it up! We’re burnin’ daylight!”

 -Laci

(they were all mixed up while hanging...but you get the idea)

The birthday boy, himself

My dad is a jokester and a teaser. He loves to laugh and is good at making other people laugh too. He is the hardest worker I know. He is also tender-hearted. He is sentimental, patient and loving. He is brave and was the rock in our family while my mom was sick and after she has passed away. He is generous and is always willing to help others. He is spiritual and is the one I go to when I have question about church docterine. My dad gave me wonderful childhood memories and is now creating memories as a grandpa with my girls. I love him more than I can explain and I am so grateful I get to be his daughter!

Dads are Delightful

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads in my life!

Nate is one super Daddy to my beautiful girls!

My awesome Dad, or "Lampa" as Navi calls him, in his even awesome-er pajamas. :)

My wonderful dad-in-law with all his kids

Navi's Greats, Earthquakes, and Things That Keep Me Awake

Navi's Greats
- moments that is

This video was an attempt to catch her "dancing" to Dora. Instead, she decided to show off her walking skills.
So here's the proof:



Well, after looking through all the videos we took, I realized we did get an ok one of her dancing. This is mild compared to some of her great moments, but at least we got something.




Earthquakes

A few years from now we will all be able to look back and say, remember 2010 and all its earthquakes? Well, assuming we even live a few more years cause after all, 2012 is just around the corner. Who doesn't believe the Mayans? No but seriously, it is kinda scary.

Almost four years ago, I received the worst early morning phone call I have ever received. The one when my dad called me and Nate to tell us we needed to get to the hospital immediately. The one we got when we found out my mom wasn't going to be living much longer.

I will never forget the awful, gut-wrenching, too-horrible-for-words feeling I had when I heard the phone ring at 4:30 AM on April 17, 2006. I knew what the purpose of the call was before Nate even answered the phone. I can also remember the only words I could string together after he hung up. "So this is how it goes then, huh?"

Obviously the memory of that day isn't easy to talk about, and the only reason I mention it is because on the morning of February 27, 2010, I had a very similar experience. (for the feeling anyway)

I had 5 minutes left on the treadmill (another reason this morning was unique - it's probably the only time I've EVER been on the treadmill that early) and in the middle of my workout playlist (some sped up techno version of "Big Girls Don't Cry" - irony in its own right) my phone ditched Fergie and started playing Michael Buble's "Home". Aka, my family's ringtone. I hesitated to answer, thinking, I've only got five more minutes...I'll call them back when I'm done and not so out of breath...but something (more like someone - I think the Holy Ghost) told me I needed to answer.

Panting and breathing heavy, I answered the phone expecting to hear one of my little sisters with another one of their odd requests. So when I heard my dad's voice I was taken back, and his question took away any breath I had left. "Have you been watching the news this morning?"

I didn't know what was on the news or who it was about, but all of the sudden I felt like I was sitting up in bed at 4:30 AM, four years ago in the first apartment Nate and I lived in, just a month after our wedding.

Back in reality, my dad continued to tell me there had been an earthquake in Chile. One that measured 500 times stronger than the one Haiti experienced. (and we all know how bad Haiti's was) The phone call might seem odd considering Chile is a far away South American country I've never been to, but when you take into account that it's the country where my 20 year old brother is serving a mission, its significance isn't questioned.

I immediately turned on the first news channel I could find. Which was infact harder than normal because it was a Saturday morning. My shaking fingers finally found CNN and some of the first images I saw resembled this:



My dad asked me to check my email to see if by some chance Cade had been able to write us and when he hadn't, my dad said he was going to try and call the Church Office Building in Salt Lake to attempt to get some answers.

After waking Nate, we sat paralyzed in front of the TV while images of more crumpled buildings cluttered the screen. When one taken in Vina del Mar (the main city of Cade's mission) flashed on, it's fair to say I didn't take Fergie's advice.

The next 2 hours felt like 6 as we tried to contact someone who could give us an answer. Finally around 9:30 I was able to reach a woman at the Church Office Building. She asked what mission my brother was in and when I told her, there was a short pause as she replied, "All the missionaries in Vina del Mar are safe and accounted for."

After relaying the message to my family, I was able to breath normally again and we spent the rest of the day hoping for an email or call from my brother.

Later that afternoon we recieved this:

Hey People,

President called and told everyone to write their families to tell them that we are ok. We felt the earthquake at about 3:30 last night. It was pretty strong. It woke everybody up, and it lasted for about 30 seconds. It felt like I was on some kind of kids ride or something. But after it ended we just went back to sleep. We didnt even get out of bed. Nothing at all happened here. The power was off in the morning. Hey the zone leaders just called me, and said we could call you guys. I bet everybody and their dogs, are calling the mission office. Glad I`m not there. Talk to you in a few.

You have to know my brother in order to fully appreciate this email, but I'm sure you can gather that he is one of the most chilled-out, low-key, relaxed people you will ever meet. But seriously, "We just went back to sleep. We didn't even get out of bed." It's good thing there are thousands of miles between us or I might have slapped him.

However, Nate did remind me that for missionaries, experiencess like these are completely different when compared to a normal person. Since they don't have any form of communication to the outside world like TV or internet (in their apartment), they don't know the severity of the situation. So when Cade was lucky enough to experience a mild version of the quake; he had no idea that 5 or 6 hours later in the U.S., we were all watching the devastation from hardest hit areas and freaking out.

In the end, I'm so grateful that my brother and all the other missionaries in Chile were protected. Not a coincidence by any means. He was in one of the Northern most areas of his mission and about as far away from epicenter as he could possibly be. Which I like to think is also not a coincidence. I'm grateful he's safe and I continue to pray for his safety. And I'm also grateful I was spared of another horrific morning to add to my list.

Here is the email he sent us on the Monday after the quake:
(and no, he's never been one for greetings or salutations. It falls under his low-key personality trait, and for him it's the fewer words the better)

Hey,

So yeah this week was a little different. I cant even remember what day it was, friday I guess, that the earthquake happened. So we were sleeping, then I woke up and everything was just rocking back and forth, It was pretty strong, but not enough to do any damage. It lasted for about 30 or 40 seconds, which is quite a while when you think about it. In the morning the power was off, and that day the water was out, I guess for some damage, but nothing much happened here in La Serena. In the morning we were laughing, because we got a text in the morning that told everybody to stay in their houses. We didnt know it was that strong even in Viña. But I guess there was some damage in Viña and Valparaiso, and everything from there on south just got hammered. A member in our ward was at the temple that day, and the trumpet of the angel Moroni fell off, but that was all that happened to the Temple. I have only seen on news of what its like down in the south. People tell us all about it, but every story is different. So we dont really know that well. I dont think any of our mission will be helping in any major clean up, but like i said I dont know how bad it is in Viña. It was funny though, because yesterday there were about 20 innactive people that all came to church. It makes me mad sometimes how people dont need God when everything is fine and dandy. So we just worked normally the rest of the week. We had a baptism on Saturday, another 9 year old girl. There are so many children around here, that their parents want baptized, but we are just going to find families, and men who can help in the church. That is what the ward needs. We put a fecha yesterday with a 17 year old girl, who is excited to get baptized. She told us how she felt the spirit so strong in the baptism on Saturday. She said she couldnt stop looking at us when, we were in the font, and how she felt such a strong feeling when I actually baptized the girl. I love the ward I am in right now, I hope I stay here for a while. I have so many great experiences each day, I cant count them. I am so glad I have the chance to be on a mission right now. In my district we had 4 baptisms this weekend, so we are really doing well. Our zone is putting up the best numbers in the mission, so its great to have so much success.

We were supposed to have changes today, but it looks like they will be postponed until next week, because the new missionaries cant land in Santiago, because the airport isnt working for a few days, is what I hear. So maybe next week, we will have changes. Well have a great week.

(love you little brother)

Things That Keep Me Awake

Which could also be traded out for Yellow Cake and Tummy Aches

This section is mostly because I like to rhyme in 3s and I couldn't just leave they blog title with "Navi's Greats and Earthquakes". But also to remind myself of the things that have been keeping me up at night lately, in hopes that I won't let them happen again.

Note(s) to self:

- On days when you go to school on campus, try and at least eat a few HEALTHY snacks throughout the day. DO NOT by any means let yourself go from 11:00 AM to 11:00 PM with only a pack of Hostess crumb doughnuts and Diet Coke to sustain you. You might be tempted to pig out around midnight and shove yourself silly with chips and salsa, pasta with spaghetti sauce, and a big piece of yellow cake (with chocolate frosting) even though common sense tells you it isn't such a good idea. As a result you WILL be up all night with a horrendous tummy ache and at 6 AM you won't be able to sleep anymore. (Hence, the writing of this blog post)

- Also, during any semesters proceeding this one, when you get the urge to complain about homework or writing a paper, just try and place yourself back in the spring semester of 2010 when you had nightmares containing little beauties like these:

KE = 1/2mv^2 , kg m2/s2 = J , GPE = mass x g x height above zero

or

"How many Joules of GPE does a 5 kg cat have when it is sitting on a tree branch 5m above the surface of the Earth?"

Yeah...remember that when you want to complain.

Especially since you missed the day on KE (kinetic energy) due to a sick baby, only to find out that is one of the most important parts of your exam...NEXT WEEK. Remember.

In other words, if anyone reading this is a Physics scholar, I'd take any help I can get. Preferably by next Tuesday....please.

This is What Grandpas are For

These pictures aren't the best quality because they're all from my phone, but it's the easiest way to snap a pic when I'm in a hurry.


It's kind of hard to tell but Navi is holding a big wad of paper; her favorite toy, and Grandpa is always so willing to give some to her.


Yes, we start early around here.


She loves when Grandpa Darrell tickles her. She freezes on the spot.


And last but not least...the one that made this first time, still very protective mom CRINGE...a delicious sucker. (and Grandpa may or may not be wearing his garmet top...any one who knows my dad knows this is not a rare occurrence)


I also wanted to throw in this video for fun. Allie and Bekka can always get her laughing.

Dad's Day

Happy Father's Day -and now Grandfather's Day- to our dads.

We love both of you so much!




Also, happy FIRST Father's Day to Nate. He is a wonderful dad already. LOVE YOU.

Happy Dad's Day!

A few of my favorite memories with my Dad:
~One of my earliest memories was tagging along to an old milk barn where he kept some of his cows. I would watch him while he worked and I even named all the cows. Some were: Laci Jae (how original), Licorice, and I think even Lollipop. Either I only knew “L” names or my parents fed me too much candy. :)
~Some of my favorite afternoons were when he would get home from work and we would watch movies in the basement. I would always choose Little Mermaid or Beauty and the Beast. What a good sport he was...although I guess he would always end up taking a nap by the end anyways.
~ Most Saturdays we would drive to Bear Lake to my cousin's house. We would stop in Preston at the Arctic Circle, then at the convenience store to get brown licorice. We'd listen to Marty Robbins (that's why he's in my music play list) or Patsy Cline and play 20 questions on the way.
~During the winter he would move his huge draft horses to the pasture behind our house. On really snowy days he would hook them up to a sleigh and pull me and my brother all around our yard, making sure to send us flying over the big mounds of shoveled snow.
~Beginning in the winter I was in 3^rd grade, he would pick me up from school and we would go to Amalga to feed cows. I would “drive” the truck or tractor while he fed hay to the cows off the back. My driving was basically just steering the vehicle while it was in neutral or low gear. We still laugh about some of the close calls we experienced. A few included getting stuck in the snow (more than once), or when I sent us careening down a hill towards the Bear River.
~During the summer he would have me and my brother move firewood from the pile that was against our house, to a new stack across the other side of our yard. I had to use a wheel-barrow while Cade got to pull the red wagon. Sometimes I think he just had us do that for busy work. :)
~He helped us raise 4-H animals every year for the fair. The fair was, and still is, my favorite event of the summer.
~When Cade and I weren’t stacking wood or picking up rotten apples that had fallen from our apple tree, we would move the big sprinkler pipe for an older couple in the field behind their house. I complained A LOT, but now that I look back I’m so grateful my dad taught me the importance of hard work and service. Those are two traits I definitely want to teach my kids.
~Anyone who knows me, knows I LOVE Christmas time. I am positive I inherited that from my Dad. Every year we would go to Rudy’s Greenhouse and pick out our Christmas tree together. He’d always let me have the final say and it made me feel pretty special. He’d also break out his collection of Christmas books and we’d read one every night for the month of December. A tradition he still continues with my littlest sister.
~I loved summer vacation because we'd always go camping or make a trip to Riverdale Resort. Dad and I were the only "brave" ones to go down the slide.
~During Jr. High and high school, he would attempt to wake me up every morning by coming down and belly flopping on my bed so I would be launched in the air. He’d laugh, I’d scream.
~These are just a few of the memories I love to look back on. Dad, you are my example of hard work, honesty, patience, fun, love, and especially faith. I take comfort in knowing you are just a phone call or even text message :) away. You give of yourself all the time and I love you so much! Happy Father’s Day Dad!