Thursday, January 1, 2009

Happy Birthday, Dad and Happy 2009....

Before I send out my Happy New Year wishes, I must pay tribute to my dad. He weighed in at 13 lbs. when he was born 81 years ago today. He left us 6 years ago in October and we all miss him so much but I'm just so glad he didn't have to grow any older. He hated being old. He was always young at heart and loved his grandkids so much. When my girls were little, he never missed a day of stopping by in the mornings on the way to the farm to hold them and bounce them on his knee or fly them around the room by holding on to the backs of their overalls, and give them hugs and kisses. There are so many "grandpa-isms" that we all still laugh about today. "It'll feel better when it quits hurtin' " or "I'm sure glad you got to see me." He loved a good joke and he loved to laugh. He loved his land and he worked it to the day he died. He loved Pine Valley and he loved his wife and his family. Happy Birthday, Grandpa. We miss you. (You can click on this picture to enlarge it.)

Texas Roadhouse and First Night make for a great ringing in of the New Year. Ashley came down to celebrate with us. The city puts on a great celebration. If you couldn't make it this year, consider joining us next year. Hopefully we'll be able to convince them to bring back the cotton candy and not make the hot chocolate line so long but eating at Roadhouse first made it fine that we didn't want to wait in lines for food.....(and if you didn't know, Roadhouse has "call ahead" seating. That's as good as "fast passes" at Disneyland, uh huh....)

2 comments:

Staheli said...

I love that scrapbook page. It was great talking to Grandma today. I cried a little as I thought of Grandpa and how great it would be to have him here now but you're right he didn't like getting old and I'll see him again someday. Thank you mom for your posts I truly love them.

Diana said...

Your dad was an awesome guy and made everyone feel like they were important, accepted and loved. I can hear him saying, "Aren't you glad you got to see me?" And really hope I will hear it again someday. Diana