Happy 83rd Birthday!!!

Today is my father's 83rd Birthday!!

Happy Birthday Dad!!

I hope you have a wonderful day--and many more years of life ahead!!

Last year I posted all about my dad on his 82nd birthday. In that post I tell all about his wonderful life and what a great man he is--complete with pictures!

To read it, click here!

Thank you Dad for being such a great father and grandfather!

We love you!

SOME OF THE THINGS I ADMIRE MOST ABOUT MY DAD

Hard working.

Still gets up at 3:30 every Friday and Saturday morning to work at the Timpanogos Temple.

Is always the first person up--every day--and then greets anyone who sleeps in after 8 with "Good Afternoon".

Always serving. He often not only takes out his garbage can on garbage day, but the neighbor's as well--and then puts all the cans back after the garbage truck comes.

Can still walk faster than almost anyone I know.

Organized--with a capital O. (I did not inherit that gene)

Always a teacher--When I wrote letters home from my mission he would circle in red the misspelled words.

Defender of the faith

Honest--more so than anyone else I have ever met in my life.

A powerful example of diligence and enduring to the end.

Athletic--go see the pictures on last year's post to see what I mean.

Adventurous!! (Still doesn't pass up an opportunity to do something fun)

And a great care giver. He has been helping care for my mother this past year with patience and love. His example has been inspiring.

Happy 82nd Birthday To A Wonderful Man-- Also an update on my mom

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

March 4, is my father's 82nd birthday. He was born two months premature, was the 11th child in his family (and the last) and weighed only 4 pounds.

He attended college at the University of Utah where he studied business and was both the quarterback and kicker for the football team.

How many of you can kick your leg that high?

Although a U of U football fan, he later had to divide his loyalties with BYU where he was a finance professor, undergraduate chairman in the Business Department and later Associate Dean of the Marriott School of Management.

Near the end of WWII he served in the Navy. This picture is my daughters' favorite. I guess even back then men were show offs. :-)



Dad served a mission to Argentina, and then many years later was called to be the mission president over the Central American Mission. This included Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. I am the one standing on the left. This picture was taken at the end of our three years there and my oldest brother and sister had already graduated from high school and returned to Utah to attend college there. (One more sister was born after we returned home.)


Dad is always up for fun. In this picture we were crabbing in Alaska. I also have pictures of him kayaking last fall in the Jordan River in Israel, going down a water slide in Colorado and floating in the Dead Sea.



In later years he and my mother served as the temple president and matron of the Guatemala Temple. This picture was taken the day a stake came with their primary children.

And here are my parents together in front of the temple.

Dad's Favorites:

Anything blue

Fruit juices

Soup

text books, the scriptures, Louis L'amour books

Golf

BYU sports

Being a sealer in the Timpanogos Temple

His Family--of Course!

Most Likely To:

Be the first one at a meeting

Help anyone in need

Show up to every service project

Least Likely To:

Be late anywhere

Be dishonest

Be idle

Quick Story

A little over a year ago I attended a BYU football game with my dad. Due to no parking being available nearby, we had to park far away and walk to the stadium. Dad took off walking very briskly--so much so that I had to run to keep up with him.

I commented on how fast he walked and he replied, "Oh, I walk like this on the golf course with my friends every morning."

And then I realized there was a whole group of octogenarians out there who walk faster than I do!

That is so sad!

And The Best Birthday Gift of All

For my Dad's birthday present, after nearly four weeks in a hospital, my mother gets to go home! Due to suffering a stroke at some point during her surgery or soon afterwards, her recovery has been slow, but it is happening and we are very grateful for all the prayers that have been offered in her behalf.