Generosity

"Love is when the other person's happiness is more important than your own."

--H. Jackson Brown Jr.

My immensely generous husband allowed me a trip back to Arizona for Father's Day. I was thrilled to be able to surprise my dad. Surprise him, I did. He even blushed when he found out I flew over

just. for. him.

I have a very deep love for my dad. I have always adored him. One example is that I cannot watch a movie where the father dies & not cry uncontrollably. I think I have done okay with being away from my family this summer. The only time I get homesick is when I start to think about my dad. Even when I was little [& sort of bratty, I hear] I could never be consoled by my mom, I always wanted my dad. Major daddy's girl.

My dad, like my husband, is also very generous. He & my mom are very service oriented. He is the "fix it" guy in the neighborhood & often comes to the rescue of many a broken items requiring patience & skill. I was sitting in my parents sacrament meeting a year or two ago when I heard the following story told by Sis. Wright (Jordan & my Sunday School teacher for many years).

Bro. Shill was working in his yard when I pulled around the corner in my car. I had remembered some of the neighbors saying how skilled he was at repairing things. I had a lamp that had been broken for quite some time & hoped he would be able to fix it for me. I rolled down my window and asked if he would come over when he had a minute and take a look at the lamp for me. I had no sooner parked the car and walked into the house when I heard his knock on the door. With great care and patience he took apart the broken lamp, examined it, & put it back together. I plugged it into the wall & it worked as good as new. I offered to pay him for his time and he refused payment & said "It was nothing." I said, "Oh, it isn't nothing. What you have done for me today can never be repaid. This lamp was my mothers and means quite a lot to me. I thought it would never work again, but you have fixed it and now I can be reminded of my mother everytime I walk by it."

"What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal."

--Albert Pike

I am so blessed to have my dad's example in my life. He loves being able to serve others & I am grateful I learned some of this valuable skill from him.I got to do lots of fun stuff while I was in Arizona.

Some of the family went early one morning to see Toy Story 3.
I got to sit next to 2 very cute little girlies.Aren't we looking fabulous?!There were several birthdays while I was there as well. Laynee-bug (far right on picture above) had a swimming party that was loads of fun. It was there that I was introduced to Fruity Pebble Treats [like Rice Krispy Treats only with Fruity Pebbles...GENIUS]!!!
We stole Heather (middle) from the crazy farm she calls home (5 kids under the age of 4 is the crazy farm I am referring to), to go to lunch for her birthday.

Sidenote: Did you know Olive Garden does not give any complimentary dessert for birthdays?!? Lame!It was a nice trip filled with lots of time with family which is always good.

Jordan suffered through kind of a hard week at work while I was gone, but managed to find this beautiful lake on his day off.

I felt kind of bad for not being there to support him through his struggles, but am grateful for his sacrifice to let me go. Wish I could have been in 2 places at once. I definitely would have been feeding the duckies.