Florida

We kicked off our summer this year by taking a trip to what's become one of my favorite places: Destin, Florida.

I've decided that I was really meant to live closer to the beach, or at least within a few hours drive of it. I don't think Kansas counts. *Sigh* Oh well.

Knowing that Chris is not a hot weather person (remember he grew up in Seattle), we thought earlier in the season would be better (and I figured there would be a better chance he'd want to go back if it weren't as hot, ha ha!).

We had a GREAT time. Really, how couldn't we? Spending every day at the beach, the pool, playing games with the kids, searching for sea shells, playing tennis, eating gelato and ice cream and pizza and seafood...no schedule, no stresses, just an all around good vacation.

We went to Grayton Beach in search of sea shells. Last year in the same location we found some good shells and a lot man-of-wars that had washed up on the beach. This year, no animals on the shore, but I did get pinched by a crab and stung by a jellyfish in the water!

Love this pic of Chris scanning the beach with Kierst.

Lisi was a lot more courageous this year when it came to the water...sometimes...

We had been watching the reports for days before leaving for Florida, worried that the beaches would be covered with oil, fortunately for us there wasn't a tar ball in sight! But we had to deal with something else on the beach by our cottage...algae! Ewwww it was disgusting!!

Chris convinced Kierst to go out past the algae and try to do a little snorkeling.

We went back to Grayton Beach a few times to avoid the nasty green stuff.

We had a lot of the beach to ourselves, I guess something good can come out of the oil spill, at least for those of us visiting, not for those who live there!

Chris doesn't like to just sit on the beach (remember, his dislike for hot weather and add to it skin prone to burn easily, whereas I can happily bake for hours), so he spent a lot of his time snorkeling, looking for sea shells and sand dollars.

He found live shells, and sand dollars, but only brought back a couple of perfect ones for me from his adventures.

If you don't know, I love collecting sea shells. Our master bath is decorated with jars full of shells we've collected or been given over the years. My kids have taken up my liking of shells, we had bagfulls of shells after a few days at the beach, so we sorted through and brought the best home.

More beach shots...

We took flashlights to the beach one night hoping to snag a few crabs...

...but there was too much algae in the water to see any! :(

It looked like split pea soup!

Another night we bought a coconut and Chris managed to crack it open. It must not have been very ripe because it tasted horrible! I guess there's something to be said for store-bought coconut baked in sugar.

One night we ate at Dewey Destin, lots of seafood that was fried, fried and more fried. Yummy! I tried deep fat fried bacon-wrapped shrimp stuffed with crab. I'm guessing it wasn't trans-fat free.

Chris had to fly back to KC on Saturday, I guess somebody has to work! How we missed him!!

For our last day on the beach we pulled out the bubble wands.

And the shovels!

Abs and I made one more attempt to get a crab, and even with the muck we were able to catch a couple of small ones and some sea fleas with a shovel.

A good friend of mine from my folk dance years met us in Destin with her husband and baby for a few days. We had a lot of fun catching up, it felt like just yesterday that we were at BYU, instead of 15 years ago!

Her little boy is just absolutely adorable--my girls could not get enough of him, it actually made me baby hungry (do I dare say that???)

She taught the girls how to make a froggy castle in the sand.

Last night on the beach.

Until next year...

Last Day of School & Other Fun Stuff

Last day of school!!

Chris made a variety of pancakes for breakfast. Chocolate chip pancakes, by the way, are absolutely yummy and if you've never tried putting chocolate chips in pancakes you are missing out--try them!!

School got out early and so we did silly string to celebrate, then hit the pool with the rest of the neighboorhood.


In the evening, Abs performed a couple of cheerleading dances at the T-Bones game opener.


Abs was in her element, I don't think that girl has a shy bone in her body:)

After the performance, we stayed to watch a little T-Bones action. I've been to a lot of Royals games since living in KC, but this was my first T-Bones. I have to say that the T-Bones were a lot of fun.

My sister, Tiffanie, and Kierst and Abs.

Chris' brother, J, came into town to present a paper at a scholarly Mormon history conference, so he joined us afterwards.
Chris' parents came, too, to hear J's presentation, we were lucky to see everyone for a few days--it just wasn't long enough.

Kierst and Abs also had a dance recital that weekend.

Abs did a tap number, and knew her part perfectly.

Kierst's was ballet, and her hands were lovely.

Loved watching them perform!

My Favorite Dads

Since today is Father's Day I'm writing about my two favorite dads.


And yes, you've already guessed who they are, but I'm going to do a little reminiscing and yes, just a little bragging because I feel pretty lucky to have these two men in my life.

Chris became a dad 10 years ago when Kiersten arrived unexpectedly 3 weeks early. She was so tiny that I was petrified to change her diaper or bathe her or clip her tiny fingernails. Add on to this that she had to sleep on a bilirubin bed because of jaundice and I didn't know what to do! But Chris took charge, acting like he had done this all life, taking care of her and teaching ME what to do. From the minute she was born I think she had him wrapped around her finger.

Here are Kierst and Chris in her first snow outside the townhouses where we lived during med school.
With all of the girls he got up in the middle of the night for feedings, changing diapers, etc...how great is he??? This was right after Abs was born:

Chris sharing one of his favorite things with Kierst and Abs...fireworks!! O.K., he's looking a little tired with baby #3...

I always laugh when people say that they feel sorry for him having three girls and no boys, because I was the one who wanted boys, Chris loves his girls!!

Really, the best compliment I can give Chris is that the girls prefer him over me!

How do I describe the person whom I feel lucky to have as the father of my children?? I love that he cooks for our family, knows how to fix anything (and if he doesn't he'll figure out how to do it), can answer scientific questions, is tech saavy, is willing to try new and crazy things with his family, is slightly OCD (ha ha!), and puts in long hours and lots of hard work to provide well for us.

Most importantly, he honors the priesthood that he has been entrusted with.

And after 3 girls he's even pretty good at putting in hair bows.

We love you!!!

The other dad I feel lucky to have in my life is my own Dad. I think of all the memories I have about him and realize how much he shaped the person I have become.

Just a little background about him: He was a miracle baby. Born 3 months premature in 1940 meant that you would not survive, but the nurse who delivered him dunked him alternately in hot and cold water until he started to cry.

He met my mom while attending Stanford and they were married in the Idaho Falls temple in 1964. My mom was diagnosed with M.S. the following year. When they found out, my mom asked my dad to divorce her, knowing that it would be a long road for him. He refused. That pretty much tells you what my dad was like.

Growing up my dad would work a full day as an attorney then spend the rest of the night taking care of his family. I'm not sure how he did it. Like my mom, I never heard him complain about how much work he had to do or how tired he was and he must have been pretty tired most of the time.

This is one of my favorite pictures with my dad. It's an old polaroid that I have up in my house. It was taken at Easter and I think I was about 6??

My dad loved scouting. At one point he had considered becoming a professional scouter, so there's some irony that he had three girls (although he did take my older sister on a scout white water rafting adventure:), but he was always involved with the boy scouts as a legal advisor, he even received a silver beaver.

Here's our family pic sometime in the 70's. My older sister has most of our family pics at her house. I'm the girl on the far left.

My Dad made the best fudge. It was his mom's recipe and he would make huge batches of it every year at Christmastime and take it to our friends and neighbors. I can see him standing over the stove carefully stirring the butter and sugar so that it wouldn't burn.

Sometimes my Dad traded his legal services for goods so we often had fun things at our house: full sized arcade games, a pool table, and for a few years fireworks! My dad blockaded the street and we set off hundreds of fireworks and ate Casco nut bars (ice cream-don't know if they exist anymore, but yum), maybe that's where I get my love for fireworks?

My dad really got interested in geneology when computers really took off, he and my mom spent hours and hours in the geneology library, here he is working on some sheets:
My dad loved singing and when I was little I performed with him in "South Pacific," and "Fiddler on the Roof," and other various church musicals back in the day when stakes would have big productions.

My dad was always involved with politics and the Republican party in our city. We were always passing out fliers or stuffing handouts, I remember that he took me with him to a few Republican party dinners and breakfasts, it was really exciting for me.

One of my favorite memories is my dad showing up to one of my tennis matches. I remember his car pulling up as we had just started to play and I was thrilled that he had moved around his schedule enough to make it. Even though he was busy he always made time for us.

My dad instilled in me a sense of integrity. Someone gives you back a penny more than they should have? You better return it. Sneaking into a movie like the rest of my friends was never even an option in my world.

Like my mom, my dad loved to laugh, he and I would turn on music and dance around the room, our goofiness was pretty much the same.

My dad could talk to any stranger on the street and usually did. Kierst remarked the other day that I could talk to anyone and I took it as the highest compliment to be like my Dad.

It didn't matter to my Dad who you were or what you did, you were important to him and he would do anything for you. I can't think of someone who practiced charity in life more than he did. He loved the gospel and his Savior and truly honored his priesthood.

Here we are at my wedding in 1995:

My Dad died suddenly in 1998. He had had an emergency surgery and Chris and I flew out during his spring break to be with my mom, thinking that he was recovering well. Our family friends took us directly to the hospital when we arrived, he had gone septic and the doctors were trying to stabilize him. By the next night he was gone.

I miss my Dad more than I can even say. Writing this post was really hard for me, to bring back such good memories, memories that I wish my children had of my Dad, the smiles and laughter and friendliness that made my Dad who he was.

Happy Father's Day, Dad. I miss you.