Father's Day

I'm going to jump on the blogging about Dads bandwagon!

HAPPY FATHER'S Day Dad Farrell, Dad Gollihugh, and my very favorite of all Dads... JESSIE!!!!

I tried to make today special for Jess by preparing peanut butter pancakes, swiss cheese omelet, and having the girls present him with a card we actually purchased. Jess loves toys. Christmas just isn't the same unless he gets something to play with. I believe that same idea carries over to anything I want to make special. To be special, provide a toy. ^_^ Well, in lieu of a toy, I purchased a funny singing card. It's really perfect and says that he's the whole enchilada (food related for the Chef) and sings "You're HOT HOT HOT!" :)

In addition to sharing those little bits above, I wanted to share some advice given me by the two first Dads mentioned that I still use today. (I heard this sort of thing on a radio program earlier in the week while driving.) As for Dad Farrell, the best thing I could think of it kinda silly, but then, if you know my Dad, that's sort of fitting (I mean that in a complimentary way). My Dad told me a long time ago that as a driver, one should always drive for the comfort of one's passengers BEFORE one's own. While this is pretty straight forward (and was explicitly meant for actually driving in a vehicle), I think it's pretty profound when generalized to parenting - as much as possible and definitely true for driving a vehicle. I have attempted to apply this principle to my driving ALL the time and to my role as a Mama as much as possible. My temper does get the best of me all too often, but I DO try... constantly!

I haven't known Dad Gollihugh all that long, nor all that well, but when he was here to surprise us for Jessie's birthday about 1.5 years ago he kept saying one thing that I believe is very good advice and I've been trying to apply. He said, "Just love each other. Keep loving each other. Take care of each other."

As for Jessie... well, he says WAY too much good stuff for me to even begin to describe. He offers me suggestions for problems I present him and I almost always at least attempt to apply his council. So, instead of even trying to describe any WOW (words of wisdom) from Jess, I'm going to describe why he is an AWESOME Dad.

Jessie is an awesome Dad because...
...he loves and respects his children's mother.
...he loves his daughters unconditionally.
...he plays with his girls.
...he pretends with his daughters.
...he performs as his daughters' teacher on his days off.
...he works hard out in the world so his kiddos can always have a parent to take care of them at home!
...he wants to provide for ALL the needs of his family and some of their desires, to boot.
...he tries to quit smoking whenever he feels up to the challenge.
...he makes a strong effort to alter negative behaviors so as to provide a better example.
...he accepts his wife and daughters as the people they are and loves them in spite of every negative quality they possess.
...he is willing to work at home in the garden, cleaning, and in other ways as needed, as well as work a minimum of 60 hours each week as a Chef.
...he attends Church with his family just because he wants to enable them to do something they desire to do and he wants to be WITH his family while they do it.
...he makes it possible for his family to make a monthly temple trip just because they want to do it.
...he prays over his family.
...he protects his daughters and wife (with weapon in hand a few times!).
...he has the best interests of his family in mind.
...he is good and tries to always be kind.

I'm sure I could go on, but those were the easy ones to get down and Tea is feeling frustrated with just sitting. As she is still not feeling well, I'm trying to defer to her a bit more than usual.