Father’s Day smiles and family pics

I will take a break from my cruising smiles to post some Father’s Day smiles that we made yesterday.

My father deserted  our family when I was 7  and both of my grandfathers died before I was born so I never really had a relationship with a father or grandfather growing up.  I missed having a dad and a granddad. That is one reason that I am so thrilled that my children and grands have great dads and at least one grandfather in their lives. The following men in our family make my heart smile.

John is the patriarch of our family.  He is the father of our 3 daughters, Lynell, Mindy and Erin and our son, David.

Dathan is married to our oldest daughter, Lynell. He is the father of Jordan, Justin, Jalen, Johnny and Loni.

Ernie is married to our 2nd daughter, Mindy. He is the father of EJ, Claire and Austin.

Patrick is married to our youngest daughter, Erin. He is the father of Calan and Ellie.

Our son David is married to Marla. He is the father of Emma, Grace, Davey and Evan.

Each of these men are good husbands and fathers. They all love the Lord and seek His guidance in raising their families. I am thankful for each one of them and love them all dearly.

Grampy John’s father’s day started out with a big breakfast in the patio. We were attending church with our daughter, Mindy, which meets 2 hours later than ours so I had plenty of time to fix John all of his favorite breakfast dishes.

After attending church, we spent the rest of the day at Mindy’s.

Mindy is our only child that lives in CA. We are thankful to have her family live close to us.

Little Austin started out the day sick & throwing up but thankfully perked up as the day progressed.

Mindy always makes a traditional Japanese dinner every year for Father’s Day.

She took a sushi making class years ago and has become quite the sushi chef.

EJ put together the salad…

while Claire made the Miso soup and Mindy fried the tempura shrimp and veggies.

All the boys gave each dish a big thumbs up….

… and so did we girls.

Pictures were taken and rhubarb pie was eaten for dessert. (Rhubarb pie may not be in keeping with the Japanese theme…. but it is Grampy’s favorite pie.)

My heart smiled ….

…as I watched these children have fun with their dad…

and their Grampy.

Yoda and I both had big smiles on our faces at the end of the  day. Each of our out-of-state kids called John to wish him well and express their love for him.

It was a lovely Father’s Day. I think Grampy John and Ernie felt loved and appreciated.  I hope all good fathers everywhere were as blessed.

Have a great week. Hugs, Grammy Lura

Father Day Smiles for 2013

Those of you who have been reading my blog through the years know that I do not have many happy memories with my father. There are a few… but since he ran off with a teenager and left our family when I was 7 there are not very many.  Then, shortly after I reconnected with him as an adult, he died. Thankfully I always felt my Heavenly Father’s love even though I didn’t feel love from my dad. However, Father’s day was never really a happy time for my mom and me when I was growing up. 

However, that has all changed since I have a family of my own.

Now I love celebrating this holiday as a time to honor the good men in my family. I am thankful for my hubby. He is a good husband and father. He is a righteous man who loves the Lord and his family. 

As the patriarch of our family, he sets a good example for all the young men and their dads to follow. I could not be more blessed with loving men in our family. I could not be with our son or two of my  sons-in-law  but I was thinking of them today with thanksgiving in my heart.

We did spend a lovely day with Mindy and her family. We went to church with them. Claire sang a beautiful solo and the talks were inspirational.  We feel blessed that we live close to this sweet family  and  get to share special times with them.

After church we had fun being together with their family.

Mindy made her traditional Japanese Father’s Day Dinner.

If she ever decides to stop being a speech therapist, she could get a job as a sushi chef.  She does a great job making the two “dads” in her life their favorite dinner.

Sushi, miso soup, salad, rice, teriyaki salmon…. it was a dinner fit for an emperor.  Thank you once again Mindy for all of your hard work.

Erin asked me to get her dad his favorite rhubarb pie for dessert. He enjoyed every bite. I got Ernie a piecake from Marie Callendar’s. I’ve never heard of such a thing before. It was a cake on top of a pie covered with whipping cream… and it was yummy.

After dessert, cards and presents were opened.

I think these two dads felt loved and appreciated….. at least I hope they did.

I am thankful for my husband, our son and each of our daughter’s husbands. They are all good men, good husbands and good fathers. Each one of them makes my heart smile.

I am happy to say that Father’s Day is no longer a sad day in my life…. it is a joyous occasion.   I hope your Father’s Day was lovely too.

On my next post I’ll send you 4th of July smiles and then I plan to take you all with me to Denali, Alaska.  I hope you will join me there. 

Hugs, Grammy Lura

Father’s Day Smiles are better late than never

I was not up to posting my Father’s Day smiles last week but I will make up for it today. Thanks to those of you who encourage me to keep blogging. It is getting harder for me to do it but maybe someday my family will look back at these posts and be glad that I did them. I hope so.  At any rate, I appreciate those who encourage me to keep posting. I do have lots to smile about in my life. This is a good way to document it.

Father’s Day started out for my John with a lovely breakfast on the patio. Our normal church time is 9:00 a.m. and we never have time for a big breakfast. However, we were attending Mindy and Ernie’s ward (congregation) which starts later so I had plenty of time to make Grampy a breakfast feast. I was happy to do it.

I know I’ve said this before, but I thought I had lost him during our car accident last year. He was unconscious for a long time.  I was soaked in his blood.   The emotions of thinking he was dead were far worse than my own injuries which were severe.  I am so thankful to have him still with me. I treasure each special occasion… each day with him…. more than I can say.

We went to church with Mindy and Ernie and then went to their home for dinner. In our faith, one of the things that we do to try to keep the Sabbath holy is not going anywhere on Sunday that causes someone else to have to work. We never go out to eat on Sunday.

It is a traditions that Mindy always makes a delicious Japanese dinner for Father’s Day.

EJ, Claire (not pictured) and I  helped Mindy prepare some of the food but Mindy did most of the work.

We started out with Miso soup, salad and soy beans. ( I forget their Japanese name.)

Then came the sushi. Mindy took a special class to learn how to make sushi.

This is Grampy’s and Ernie’s favorite food!

Next came the tempura…. batter fried shrimp and all sorts of veggies.  YUMMY!

It was a meal fit for an Emperor. I am thankful that our dear Mindy makes such a special meal for her dad, her hubby and all of us. It involves a lot of work. She is sweet to do this every year. It is her gift of love to the men in her life.  I’m glad that I get in on it too.  Lucky me.

After all that delicious dinner we were stuffed to the gills, but we had to make room for dessert.

Once again, Ernie and Grampy got their favorite …. strawberry short cake.

After eating, the dads opened their gifts .. Claire even wrote a song and sang it to Grampy with her beautiful voice. ( I recorded it on my iPad but I can’t get it into this blog.)

The best gift of all is the love and gratitude we feel for each other.

All these things brought me smiles on Father’s day.

Even though I couldn’t be with them, I was also smiling that my son David and my sons-in-law in Utah, Patrick and Dathan, are such good husband and fathers  ….and …..sons to me.

I know that I am greatly blessed.

I am thankful and smiling.

I am also smiling that my friend Buttercup is recovering nicely from her surgery and the tumor was benign. That is an answer to many prayers in her behalf.  My dear friend Jan is also feeling a little better after a terrible week of suffering. I am thankful both of these friends are doing better.

I hope that you are smiling too.  Have a great week. Hugs, Grammy Lura