Being a Dad

Being a dad must be great! My friend Donna's post from the other day made me think about this and I've started to notice that dad's have some pretty special talents. (The picture here is Jason throwing Owen on the sofa repeatedly tonight. Apparently this was super cool. "Again, daddy! Again daddy!") For instance, Jason can come up with any game to make Owen laugh in fits. The other night, I was downstairs and they were in his room playing. Jason took all Owen's rubber ducks and put each one on top of a fan blade- then he turned the fan on! Ducks flying everywhere! Owen thought this was hysterical- as you can imagine. They must have done it 10 times. I asked Jason how he ever thought to do that (and if he could dust while he was up there) and he said that he just thought it would be cool, so he knew Owen would like it. Must be a guy thing. Jason thinks of things like this ALL the time while I'm counting and singing alphabet songs. Good thing our boys have both of us to balance out their nerdy (me) and cool (Jas) sides.

Here's a link to Donna's post with wonderful poem: http://deusnosconjuxit.blogspot.com/2008/03/childrens-hour.html

Jason and I both are very blessed to have both had strong, Christian, active and caring dads.

Here's my dad and mom with us at Harris's baptism in January:

This Jason's dad with Jason and Owen at Grandma Dunham's house on Thanksgiving:

They are our heroes and set such strong examples of how to raise a family- without us realizing it as children! While balancing discipline and humor, lessons and sermons and love and punishment, they set the tone to a grounded and stable home. Of course, we have wonderful moms that love and support us, too, (that's another post) but dads are pretty special. They taught us how to hit softballs (my dad) and defend soccer balls (Jason's dad), how to win multiplication flash card games (my dad) and how to read (Jason's dad). My dad even stayed up LATE one night teaching me the strategy of tic-tac-toe in 3rd grade so I wouldn't get beaten by the boys every day. Can you tell where I get my competitive streak!?!

Our dads have always been to church with us and never missed sports games. They've always told us they loved us, but never spoiled us. They've always loved our moms (super important) and never made us doubt the strength of our family.

I am so thankful to our heavenly Father for setting such a wonderful example for them and so overwhelmed at the blessings of their following His direction.

We have big shoes to fill (size 11D and 12, if you're shopping), but I'm thrilled and honored to get the opportunity to try.

Thanks, dads! We love you!