father's day

dave didn't quite get the pampering treatment he deserved on father's day. in fact, he was working pretty hard "fathering" 7 kids while we watched my sister's 5 kids for 4 days. church was at 9 am and dave ran a tight ship getting everyone breakfast [no breakfast in bed for him :( ] making sure beds were made, kids were dressed and into the car on time. in fact, they were all waiting on me (sad but true). i am quite proud of the fact that our whole gang made it to church 5 minutes early! i did try to spoil him a little and let him know how much we love and appreciate him though. he found the following goodies set up in the kitchen when he came down in the morning:

(world's best pop! the tie was colored by logan...hopefully you could tell that though:)

we were lucky enough to attend church with my dad on father's day. the youth in his ward each paid tribute to their father and it was fantastic. i was so touched by the things they shared. almost all of them talked about their father's spending time with them (and how much it meant to them) and the example their dad was as a disciple of christ and his gospel. those would be the exact things i would share about my dad. he has always been involved in my life and supportive of whatever i have done. and he has been an incredible example of a faithful priesthood leader and disciple of christ. i feel so blessed that he is my dad! we also got to have dinner at dave's parent's house. pete smoked some brisket and ribs and it was amazing (we are all benefiting from his new smoker)! i am so grateful for pete, for the wonderful son he raised, who is kind, loving and respectful, and the incredible pappy he is to our kids. he is a wonderful example of love, fun and spending time with family. he is always willing to help us in any way we need and i am so grateful to have him as my father-in-law!

and i couldn't ask for a more incredible father for my kids. dave loves logan and emma so much and the feeling is clearly mutual. logan lights up the instant dave gets home and they play practically until bedtime. when dave is around i am definitely 2nd pick (and that's ok, he is more fun). dave has taught logan all about the important things: star wars, trucks and dinosaurs, a love of chips (i've taught him a love of sweets), "booms" before bed, that kung fu panda is great movie and of course so much more. but most importantly he teaches logan about the priesthood, prayer (he is the one who helps logan pray), jesus christ, the prophet and the book of mormon. i'm so grateful my kids will be taught about the gospel from their father. i'm so grateful to have dave as my partner in parenting. i love you david!

and the few pictures i took from our adventures in parenting 7 kids. dave has made it clear that we will not be having 7 kids! the kids were wonderful and it was so fun to spend so much time with them. plus logan adores all of them and they are so good to him. i think he has gone through a little withdrawal now that he is stuck with just me (and emma) all day long. it was definitely busy and tiring and i will say that i am glad that in most cases kids come one at a time because it was hard going from 2 to 7 instantly!