This Is Us

Happy Father's Day....
June 17, 2007

I know this is a couple days late, but for those of you who know me, you know that only a couple days late is good progress! I just wanted to talk a little about my wonderful husband, this father's day was kinda special because it was his first. Last father's day we told our families that we were expecting, it is weird to think that it has already been a year! Our daughter Talia is five months old, and since the day she was born she has been his pride and joy. Craig takes such good care of his daughter, and she trusts him so much. When we took her swimming for the second time (the first time she hated it), I was video taping and Craig was taking her into the water. The water was pretty cold and she was really squirming, but she just kept looking at her daddy, and I know she was thinking, "well if daddy is doing it, I know it's OK!" She didn't cry one bit! My favorite memory of Craig as a father is when we were still in the hospital. Talia needed her diaper changed, so Craig set her on the end of the bed and opened her diaper. The look on his face is unforgettable. He told me to come look, he couldn't believe her poop was black, he thought there was something horribly wrong with her, I explained it was normal and went into the bathroom. A few seconds later Craig was shouting for me again, I went back out there, and there he was holding his hand under her little bum as she continued to poop, right into his hand. Definitely the sign of a rookie, now he knows that you must get a new diaper ready before you ever take off the old one! He is such a wonderful father and husband, I don't know what I did to deserve him, I am so blessed.

Craig holding Talia on the day she was born, it was love at first sight!

Talia's favorite part of the day is when daddy gets home from work, she hears his voice and goes crazy. She has to have her daddy time before she goes to bed,
or she is not a happy girl.

Craig is going to hate me for posting this picture, but I love it! I know this is something you are supposed to do with your son's, but Talia thought she was so cool! Look at that little smirk!
Happy Father's Day to my dad! My dad and I have always had a special relationship, he calls me his first son because I have always loved doing things with him like camping, fishing, workin' in the yard and building things. I love spending time with him, he has so much knowledge and I have learned so much from him. He has such a kind heart and is always doing things for other people even though he is one of the busiest people I know. Some of the best memories I have with my dad are of us hangin' out down at his office when I worked for him all through high school. I have a funny story to share about my dad. When I was in high school, I went fishing with my dad at black river. I don't know if any of you have ever heard of black river, but it is known for it's great fishing, but also for the bears. It was the first day we were there, and we were hiking along the river and fishing as we went, I cast my fishing line into the water, and the line got stuck on something, so I started walking out into the river to release the line. The river wasn't very deep in that area, so I thought it was no big deal. I walked out to were I could almost reach the end of the line, when suddenly the water got really deep and I was fighting to stay above the surface. It would have been really easy to let go of the fishing pole and float down river a little to a more shallow area, but the first thought that came to my head was "my dad is going to kill me if I loose this fishing pole!" So I just hung on! Lucky for me, my dad was watching the whole thing and was there in no time to pull me out. He was glad I didn't loose the fishing pole, but he said it wasn't worth drowning! Later on that day, after we had been fishing for awhile and I had a good amount of fish hooked on the chain on my belt,we were walking along, and we saw a bear. I was down river quite a ways from my dad, and the bear came down the mountain and was between us. The bear was slowly walking closer and closer to me, my dad yelled at me not to panic, so what do I do, I panic! I looked down at my belt and saw the slew of fish that I was carrying with me and thought the bear would attack me for sure with these on me! So I ripped the chain of fish off my belt loop and took off running, which in turn made the bear start running toward me. My dad took the gun out that he was carrying, fired few shots in the air, and the bear ran back up the mountain. when my dad got over to me, you guessed it he was mad, but not because I ran from a bear, but because I almost wasted perfectly good fish by just throwing them on the ground! I will never forget that black river trip. What I have learned, fishing poles aren't worth drowning over, but near drowning is OK, and don't throw down your fish even if a bear is chasing you! This is us at my wedding reception during the father daughter dance, we were both balling like babies! I love you dad,

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to my father-in-law. I am so blessed to have married a husband with such a wonderful father. Craig looks up to and respects his dad so much. Whenever Craig doesn't know what to do, or has a difficult decision, he will ask for his dad's advice, and he is always willing to help. Last year when I was pregnant with Talia, we thought father's day would be a perfect time to tell our families. We made a frame that said "grandpa" on it, and put a picture of Loran holding a baby in it. When he opened it up, he didn't even see that it said "grandpa" on it, he just pretended like he liked it and passed it over for Craig's mom to see, both Craig and I were trying to keep a straight face. Craig's mom noticed it and sarcastically asked if we had something to announce, she thought we were kidding. We said we did, and everyone started screaming, it was so fun! Thank you Loran for being such a wonderful example to your son, and raising him so well. I love you! Happy Father's Day!