8 Great Memories!

I, too have been thinking about dad today and am grateful for him and for our family.
Thanks Michele for the tag! Normally I ignore or avoid those silly tag games:), but this one was definitely worth the time!

1. I can't think of dad and not think of dinners at Casa, Mattas, & the Tiki. Ice cream at Tastee Freeze, Nielsens, & Swensons. I mean if Swensons was good for a scorpion bite then it (ice cream) must be good for all ailments!

2. When I was the last one at home dad would make me fresh squeezed orange juice for breakfast - sometimes like a smoothie with banana, too - and bring it to me in the bathroom, while I was getting ready for classes at EA. When I didn't think I had time for breakfast he always made sure I had something.

3. I love the memories I have of dad driving to pick me and Kolten up to go visit Cheri in Tucson while she was in the hospital before having Katelyn. We would talk the whole way there & back (oh the things I learned!:)), then visit with Cheri, then he would lay down on the floor of Cheri's hospital room and take a nap while Cheri & I visited some more & Kolten played with the bed and tv switches. We would stop for a little "bite to eat" on our way home. I cherish those memories.

4. Dutch oven cookouts, homemade ice cream and rattlesnakes under every board, table or whatever he'd lift up. Skinning the rattlesnakes for the missionaries and then cooking it up so they could say they had eaten rattlesnake. Yes, it did taste like chicken! (Maybe because it was fried in the same Dutch oven as the chicken...hmmm...)

5. When I received my YW Medallion, they asked the fathers to talk. Dad gave a really nice talk and shared his love for me. Ric Mattice had said something about Mitzi and having a special place in his heart for her - the oldest child, then dad got up and said the same is true for the youngest child. Sorry everyone else!:)

6. Of course the pig trips to Phoenix is a fun memory. It was so neat to have that one on one time with dad. Who knew it could be so fun getting up SO early, taking smelly pigs to be butchered, sleeping on some relative's floor, and driving back home again!?!

7. One of my best memories is when dad held Kolten at the altar, when he was being sealed to Brad and me. I didn't know ahead of time that I needed to ask someone to hold Kolten, so when the temple worker who was helping me came to the dressing room to ask me who it was going to be, all I could think of was "dad, of course". I'm so thankful for that memory and the reminder that families really are forever.

8. One time at a Daddy-Daughter Date in Merrie Miss, (For those of you youngins, Merrie Miss was like the Valiant 12 girls primary class.) the fathers got on their hands and knees on the stage behind the curtain. Then the girls were blindfolded and had to walk along and feel the different hands and try to guess which were their dads. I knew dad's immediately. Even as I write this I can picture his hands - the way they looked and felt. Sometimes when I think of that it reminds me of something I heard once about how familiar our Heavenly Father will be to us when we see Him. And then of course what it would be like to feel our Savior's hands and have Him touch me. Thanks to dad and mom for their teachings and examples and helping me to have my own testimony.