IT'S A GREAT DAY TO CELEBRATE

my dad's birthday!

My father is generous

loving

funny

smart

thoughtful

interesting

an amazing grandfather who is adored by my man clan

and the best 'girlfriend' I could ask for.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY OPA!

WE LOVE YOU!!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

This guy is the jam to my toast and the HE in my sHEnanigans.  He is an amazing father to our man clan and I hope they grow up to be just like him - kind, thoughtful, selfless, loyal, loving, adventurous, spiritual, hardworking, interesting and interested and sincere.

These two blokes are amazing too.  They are wonderful fathers and even better grandfathers.  They are loved to the moon and back.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

WE LOVE YOU!!

THESE TWO LOVEBIRDS ARE CELEBRATING THEIR ANNIVERSARY

46 years!

Happy anniversary mom and dad!

We love you!

IT'S A GREAT DAY TO CELEBRATE

my father's birthday!

Ivon, fondly referred to as Dad, Daddy, Daddio, Papa Ivon, Grandpa and Old Man.
Have a piece of cake in honor of this adventurous, loving, kind, interesting man who is a golfer, quilter, photographer, world traveler and just down right awesome.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

WE LOVE YOU!!

I HAD A BIRTHDAY EXCURSION

to the Valley of the Giants with my father today.  This is a 51 acre, old growth forest with trees over 400 years old.  The trees are mostly hemlock and douglas fir and the tallest is over 200 feet tall.
There is a beautiful, peaceful trail, almost a mile and a half, that meanders through the area.

This was my favorite part of the hike.

These leaves were huge!

I was so excited to find this heart shaped mushroom.

One of my best friends, my dad.

It is out in the middle of no where, with a curvy one lane you share with logging and gravel trucks (it got a bit scary at times).  Although I got a bit queasy, (I'm one of the lucky peeps that gets car sick), it was an awesome afternoon adventure with my dad and a wonderful birthday hike.

45 YEARS AGO, THESE TWO LOVEBIRDS GOT MARRIED

Happy anniversary mom and dad!  We love you!

WOVEN QUILTING

My father signed us both up for a quilting class as one of my Christmas presents.  Yes, for those of you who don't know my father, he's a quilter - and a very good one.  We've been taking quilting classes together since 2011 and I love it.

I had never heard of woven quilting, so when we went to get our fabric and I saw the samples, I got excited - it is really cool.

It was an all day class at The Purple Frog in Jefferson.  Although we were there all day, it seemed like only a few hours.  We were sewing like crazy and it was really fun seeing it all come together.

My dad is making a table runner.  He chose really fun fabric with hot air balloons, colorful circles and orange batik.

I made a pillow.  I wanted manly colors and for it to look tribal without using tribal fabric.  My inspiration was our Fiji trip many moons ago.

I'm thrilled with the results.  I told my man clan this is a 'no touch' pillow and they looked at me like I was crazy.  It took me 10 hours to make it and it's beautiful.  It is for my hands only.  They can look with their eyes, not their hands.  Ha!  We'll see how long that lasts!

THE ROAD TRIP WITH MY FATHER AND BROTHER WAS

a lot of fun.
We had some deep discussions, reminiscing, some tears, a lot of laughter and a few adventures along the way to Utah and back home.

On the way home we saw some beautiful wide open spaces filled with crisp, white snow.  We pulled along the roadside and took pictures.  We have a few pictures of me taking a picture of Michael, who is taking a picture of dad, who is taking a picture of the snow.  We got the giggles and thought this was hilarious.

Utah is beautiful in the winter.

We stopped by Snake River in Idaho

We had also stopped in at Burley, Idaho hoping to find the house my grandfather was born in but the two addresses we had don't exist.  Man was our bubble burst.  We have some investigating to do there.

Dad and Mike begrudgingly went along with me wanting posed snuggling pictures.  I thought this was HILARIOUS but they didn't find it as funny as me.

We also stopped at Shoshone Falls, which is gorgeous!

I'd LOVE to go there in the spring when the water is heavy and raging.  I've added this little excursion to things I want my man clan to see.  It's absolutely beautiful.

BIRDY BABYSITTING

Meet Grungie.
We've been babysitting him, his woman and their three kiddos for the past week for my brother, Ivon.
Out of the five of them, he's the only one hand tamed and he thinks he's a falcon.  He is one cool bird.

Landon loved holding him, Lach held him for only a millisecond.

We had a bit of excitement with the birds.  One of the girls laid two eggs and we had an escape.

I'm not sure which one, but I wish I had a video of me running around trying to catch it.  I was chasing it all over the garage, it almost got in our attic, THEN, when one of the wee ones opened the door, it got in the house.  It took me over an hour to catch it. I could have definitely won America's Funniest Home Video.  No doubt about it.

IT'S MY DAD'S BIRTHDAY

This is one of my favorite photos of my dad - it cracks me up.  I've titled it "That is not a "2", that is a "Z"

Happy birthday old man.  We love you!

PAPER PIECING

My dad and I took a quilting class today at The Purple Frog - paper piecing. It's really fun, but man, is it time consuming. It took us seven hours to do one square but it only felt like one hour.My dad made this seam ripper for me. I love it! Best one I've ever had.
Tada, here's our seven hour Ohio star square.

WHILE MOST OF THE MAN CLAN WERE NESTLED SNUG IN THEIR SCHOOL CHAIRS,

the wee-est and I went to Grandpa's to carry on the tradition of decorating his "breakable - no touch" tree.
Lach's favorite part of the afternoon? Stacking the empty ornament boxes.

IT'S A WONDERFUL DAY TO

celebrate my father's birthday.My dad is super funny, adventurous and up for anything. He is loving, thoughtful, generous, the best navigator in the U.S., makes the quilting ladies swoon and is an awesome father and grandfather.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!
WE LOVE YOU!!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

Larry is an amazing daddy to our man clan. He teaches them, makes them laugh, encourages them and is a wonderful example.
Our fathers are best buds and awesome grandpas. They are great role models, thoughtful, giving, loving and quite the funny duo.

MY FATHER HAS A FEW THINGS

he has saved from his younger days.
One item he kept was a bowl he made, when he was a junior, in high school. It's made of pine, stained and has a thick coating of shellac.

My brother, Derek, still has a bread bin he made in wood shop.

Have you saved anything you made in high school?