Oh Baby

While Joy was working at the Powder House restaurant she met a super awesome woman, Syringa, who she became friends with. Unfortunately I didn't get the chance to become a close friend, but even so, she's the type of person you can't help but love. She is someone you want to be around. She has a super nice hubby, and a super awesome dog. I was so excited for them when I found out from Joy she was expecting and disappointed to hear they were moving to Anchorage. When we found out she wasn't having a baby shower we volunteered to throw her a little shower/send off party this weekend.

I remember how nice it was when my friend Patti in Florida volunteered to throw a shower for me. Being so far away from family and not having a lot of friends made it all the more sweet. I guess her awesome gesture gave me the desire to pay the kindness forward to Syringa...and it gave me an excuse to make a cool cake!

Maybe her pregnancy state enhances it a bit, but Syringa definitely exudes this great positive energy. It's contagious and I can't help but feel excited for her. I have a good feeling she will be an awesome Mom.

Dads

We had a quiet Father's Day this year. Darius had to go back to work after his 3 days off with Jimy, so we only had a little bit of time with him in the morning before he took off. The rest of us were all kind of tired after a busy weekend, so it was kind of a lazy day. Dad and Mom went to church and gave talks. After they got home Ben, Zach, and Dad took naps and Joy, Jimy, and I took a drive out the road to Child's Glacier. The drive out there was beautiful and we lucked up a got to watch a big chunk of the glacier break off.

Later after we got back from the Glacier, Mom had a great dinner made for everyone. With full bellies the laziness continued throughout the rest of the evening.

It's a big responsibility to be a father, and even more so to be a good one. Kudos to the great fathers in this world that set good examples for their children and others. Our world needs more of them! I'm fortunate that my dad is one of those good ones...great ones. I'm also very fortunate that Darius had strong women who raised him to be a good man and father. My hat goes off to single mothers who have both roles to play.

As I was adding pictures of my Dad to this post, Zach pointed at them excitedly and shouted "Grandpa!" Ben and Zach have had a great opportunity these past couple of years to get to know their grandma and grandpa. Although they're early memories, I hope they're ones they will hold onto as they get older.

A whole lot of Halibut!

Our friend Jimy has been here visiting us since last week. He loves to fish and was hoping to take a cooler full of halibut home with him. Darius took him out fishing for 3 straight days around the Strawberry Channel and they got into some serious halibut. They caught a total of 18 halibut and ended up with several hundred pounds of meat. I think it was a pretty successful trip for Jimy, but I think he's happy to be heading home today. There's a lot of work involved with cleaning, cutting, and prepping the fish to freeze. I was exhausted just watching them work! It's a good thing he was able to take fish home with him, and good that my mom and Joy are taking some with them to Utah today too. Otherwise, I don't think there would be enough room in the freezers for all of it...and that's saying a lot! We have 2 large freezers and still had to take a bunch of fish to store in the freezer of our apartment.

It's always great when we have visitors that stay and have a great experience like Jimy did. You never know what the fishing conditions will be like, and all you can do is hope for the best! So far he's had 2 great trips here with plenty of fish to take home. We're hoping he has another successful trip in August when he comes back to fish for Silvers.

Taste of Home

I have always considered "home" to be the house in Spring City where I grew up. If I close my eyes and concentrate I can still remember what the rooms in our house looked like, where the furniture was, the sound of the back screen door slamming shut, the creaks in the floors. I can remember all the smells...the grass after it was cut, the hay in the barn, "Sanpete Turkey" on the grill over the fire pit out back, the smell of the trampoline when we slept on it in our sleeping bags, the garden veggies in the summer, the apple orchard in the fall, and the delicious aromas of my mom's cooking. It's a shame that I couldn't better appreciate those things when I was young. There are moments when I wish I could go back for just a day and soak everything in.

Mom gave me a little taste of home today that I haven't had in a long time. She baked homemade bread, fry bread, and rhubarb pie. I felt like a kid again eating my fry bread hot off the iron skillet, smothered with strawberry jam.

I could remember exactly what it was like when my mom used to make it in our old house. That's the best thing about Moms, they will forever hold that link back to your childhood, and can take you home with a few simple ingredients mixed together with a little bit of love.

Delta Picnic

Sunday afternoon my parents, Ben, Zach, Joy and I enjoyed a little "beach" picnic out the road a little way, amongst some great big piles of sand, along the Copper River Delta.

The boys had fun playing in the sand, and Zach enjoyed some of the shallow pools of water nearby. The weather was beautiful with just enough of a breeze to keep the bugs away...with the exception of the dragonfly that Zach captured and tried to eat.

We've been enjoying some absolutely gorgeous weather lately, and we're happy to have our very long days of sunlight back. Darius and I took a drive last night and it still wasn't dark yet at 11:00. The winter here is tough, but the summer months sure do make up for it!