Happy Father's Day Adam!

Where do I begin? What an amazing Dad my husband is. I always look back on the time when we met & started dating at BYU & think, "I didn't really know what kind of man/husband/father this guy was going to end up being." Luckily he's exceeded every expectation I could have had.

One reason I'm amazed at how incredible Adam is at fatherhood is because of his lack of an example growing up...he didn't have a strong, reliable, present Father to look up to & learn from. Instead of being bitter & pointing to his past as an 'excuse,' Adam made a conscious decision to be completely different & take his responsibilities as a husband and father seriously (and his life in general--career, moral choices, positive outlook...) The occasional feelings of resentment I feel in Adam's behalf are a far cry from Adam's attitude of "letting the past go" and moving on with making the best life he can for himself and his family. He credits the gospel & the military to the life he's made for himself, but I'm pretty sure a lot of it is his noble spirit. I don't have words to express how proud I am of him.

He's a great example and "father-figure" to the youth in our church as well. He's dug in with zeal as the ward mission leader & does all he can to reach out to new, potential, & inactive members of the church, as well as assisting the missionaries & ward missionaries in everything he can. He recently challenged a member's friend to get baptized & then performed the baptism a few weeks later. He's pretty awesome.

Our little (actually it was kind of big!) scare with Guillione Barre was a real wake-up call in realizing just how much of a blessing his time with us is. We're so grateful that he's in complete recovery (thanks to everyone's prayers), and we will never take his health & well-being for granted. We kinda like having him around.

One important quality that makes him a great Dad is how he's also a wonderful husband. He always emphasizes how much he needs & wants "Trace time," and I know our children will watch and learn from that as they continue to grow (this was an iPhone-bad-quality shot of him across from me during a recent dinner cruise he surprised me with). Just this weekend we had "date night," and though we laughed about missing the kids, we took advantage of the time alone to talk & enjoy one another (& some good food & a nice sunset beach). Did I mention that he's awesome?!!

He had a couple of small requests for gifts, but the one we worked extra hard on was organizing/cleaning out the garage so both cars can finally fit. Yes, his ultimate gift would be a huge yard sale where we have no more crap to organize/clean...we'll have to work on that one, heh heh! Happy Father's Day honey, you're the best!