Happy Birthday Dad!

Yesterday was my Dad's 45th birthday (and also a very bad day for me which is an attempt to explain why I didn't write about this yesterday).

My dad is one of the funniest people I know. Almost every time I talk to him he tells me a new joke or something funny that is always sure to make me laugh. He is always up for playing little jokes on people, especially scaring the pants off people! I am scared of Bigfoot to this day because of a story he made up and told us kids when I was little. He always got a kick out of scaring my friend Lindsay. Once he snuck up behind her while we were watching a scary movie, and he grabbed her and yelled really loud and she jumped so far out of the couch that she landed on her butt on the living room floor. I will never forget that image.

My brothers and I all inherited my Dad's crooked bottom tooth. I love it. I love my Dad's smile. When he smiles big, he looks like a kid on Christmas morning. My dad and I both share a love for Disneyland. We've gone to Disneyworld and Disneyland on family vacations before and other theme parks. We always said when we grew up that he would be a firefighter in Disneyland and I would be Belle. I am still looking forward to that.

My dad is one of the hardest workers I know. His work ethic is outstanding and I may not have inherited all of that, but I know he taught me it and I will always be grateful to him for that. He works hard, but he also plays hard. My dad's idea of a fun day consists of either hiking, hunting, fishing, chopping wood, etc. Anything outdoorsy really. He is a mountain goat...he can scale any mountain with little difficulty and in half the time that most other people he is with can do it (I say most other because my husband and my brother are the only other two I know that can keep up with him). Last summer, Dad and my hubs dragged my Mom and I up an almost vertical (Dad, I know you think I'm exaggerating, but that was steep) mountainside to get to a freezing lake that we had to vacate soon because of a bear. But despite the fact that he is twice as fast, he still had patience and a smile the whole way.


Speaking of hunting, Dad loves hunting. That is one constant thing I remember from growing up that he has ALWAYS loved and ALWAYS done. He watches the hunting channel, he gets ups at 3 or 4 in the morning to hike all day and then shoot a deer and haul it back to the truck (doesn't sound fun to me, but like I said, he plays hard), he dreams of hunting, and eats hunting, or he eats the hunted rather. Dad has great aim and taught me to shoot (and he did pretty well because I am quite the "dead-eye" these days).

I have never had to doubt whether my Dad loved my Mom, ever. I always knew he did when he would bring home flowers after work for her, or leave her a card or a note on the counter before work in the morning. My Dad calls my Mom "Brown Eyes." My Dad can describe exactly what my Mom was wearing the first day he met her...when he was 14. They are my second favorite couple in this world (1st being me and J).

You know how you have those people in your life that you turn to in times of hopelessness, stress, and confusion because you know that they will bring you comfort and give you strength? My dad is that person for me. He is definitely one of the rocks in my life. I admire that so much and hope that I can emulate that as I mature and gain more wisdom. Mom always says that Dad has more integrity in one of his little pinky's than most people do in their whole bodies and I believe it.

There is so much more I could say about my Dad, but I won't, because then it would probably turn into a novel, but Dad, I love you so much and want you to know what an awesome example you are and have always been to me. I hope your birthday was the best and I can't wait to see you next week!