Happy B-day! to my Dad!

Today is my Dad's birthday. Assuming I post this before midnight.

As I have done so far this year, I am posting some photos and explaining a little bit about each.

This first photo is my dad on his mission in Argentina. I don't know exactly who he is with, but it looks like they are having a great time!



This next one, if you can't guess, is my parents' wedding day. Don't they look so young? I think some one should make sure they were over 12....



Here is a picture of me and my dad. We are actually swimming in the pool at the apartments that we lived in about 37 years ago. Oh yeah, and they are about a mile and a half from my house now. Pretty crazy!



Here I am learning how to blow bubbles with my dad. He taught me a lot of things.



While I don't really remember learning how to blow bubbles, I do remember being taught (at 6 years old) the importance of not procrastinating. I was (surprise!) procrastinating--probably in cleaning my bedroom--and my dad and I read and highlighted Alma 13. A few years ago, my mom was going through old books and was going to donate that Book of Mormon. I took the pages out so I could scrap book them. That is if I don't continue procrastinating. Clearly I didn't learn it well.

Here is a photo of my dad after he had taken his first solo flight (I think). He was in the Air Force and was a pilot for much of that time.



He also trained other pilots. I don't know if that is what he is doing here, but it sort of looks like it.



I always thought it was pretty cool, but was disappointed I never got to fly with him. He eventually retired from the Air Force and worked for America West as a pilot. I finally got to fly on a flight that he piloted--his last flight from Phoenix to Reno and back. The whole family got that chance and it was fun! Here I am with my dad right before we took off to Reno. And yeah! I'm in the cockpit!



You are probably asking why I am showing a picture of Bryce National Park.



Well, part of the summer of 1974 was spent in Idaho. We were travelling back to Arizona and stopped in Bryce National Park on the way. My dad decided to take a quick look at the park. But since I was 4 and Jennilyn was 2, it was a bad idea for us to hike too much. My mom decided we could stay in the station wagon and wait, since it was only for 20 minutes. So, it was hot outside, so we rolled down the windows (power windows--I thought they were so fancy!). We drank ice cold root beer. And then came the bees! So we rolled up the windows. And sweated our guts out. So we rolled down the windows. And were again attacked by bees. I think you see where this is going. I don't remember much about this, but I do remember being hot and drinking sugar. From what I understand, the twenty minute hike ended up being well over an hour. But we got lots of pretty photos! And this was one of them.

This is a photo of me, my sister Jennilyn, and my dad at Disneyland.



We were moving from Arizona to Sacramento in 1974. We stopped at Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm, and Marine Land. I still remember not wanting to go on a roller coaster. My parents took me on the Matterhorn (Space Mountain wasn't invented yet). I yelled the whole time--"This is a roller coaster!" I ended up not going on the flying Dumbos because I was afraid of those after the Matterhorn debacle.

There aren't so many photos of my dad, since he typically was the one taking the pictures, but these were some of my favorites.



Hope your birthday was great, Dad!

PS--I missed the deadline...it's just after midnight, so I really need to re-read Alma 13!