Last but not least...

A tribute to one parent would not be complete without considering the other. So, a few thoughts about my little mother (although I am very glad you are the secretary now I miss asking Mrs Karen if my little mother is there).

Where do I begin? I doubt there are any other mothers out there like mine, and I mean that in a good way. She has her quirks, like eating the same thing for breakfast all the time, or spending more time outside than she originally planned to do. But few people are as 'special' as my mom ;). She is always willing to help others, she is determined, she is persistent, she is tough, she is loving (even if she does find it hard to express it to a lot of people), she is a lot of things, and each one just adds to the character that is my little mother.

A few memories:
(mom you reminded me about this one) I was shopping with her once and she hit her head on the scale in the fruit section;
How can I forget the day of the dogs? Its a long story but to sum it up mom took off down a hill, dad and I followed, and we rescued two hunting dogs. If you want the whole story just ask;
Digging the basement with a wheelbarrow and a shovel;
Hauling rocks for landscaping;
"Mom you watch the road and I'll watch the rocks." this said as she veered close to the edge of the road in Zion;
Watching movies while eating lunch- we are 'kindred spirits' (bonus something if you can name the person I quoted) when it comes to the movies we enjoy;
And last but not least, the time James, Liahna, and I surprised her at work.

So many memories of both parents and so much gratitude that I have the parents I have. They are both amazing people and I hope I can take the very best of them into my life and share it with my kids.

To my dad- part 2- memories

As I was up with Ellie last night, I had some time to think and I started with remembering moments with my dad. Here a few of the highlights I could think of.

• Going to hunt woodchucks with him, I think our total for an afternoon was 22 or 23, I'm pretty sure that was also the day he killed the rattlesnake and gave me the rattles.
• After he and mom gave me a camera for my 16th birthday, he and I went out exploring and saw some pretty cool places around Orderville, on one of the occasions he took a picture of me with the AR-15, wish I could include it, but, oh well, we had fun.
• Skipping MIA to go get a load of wood with he and Grandpa Esplin (maybe that's where I went wrong :).
• He helped me pick out John James (my first car, the Plymouth Laser), turned out he had known the lady who owned it before. It was kind of fun to watch him try to cram himself into the car with the seat where I had it.
  
• Jeeping in Steep Trails when he put the jeep in 4-lo and got out and walked a long side for a bit.
  
• He does this whistle thing at times, not an out and out whistle (although he can do that too) but a humming whistle, used to bug mom when he would do it during songs at church.
  
• hhmm-hhhhhhhmmmmmmmm (inside thing)
• How many people actually know about cv-boots in a car? Well, he helped me change an outer cv-boot on Edward (the little geo I drove my first year at college) and an inner cv-boot on John James (and that shortly after surgery without a compression thing for the spring). How amazing is that? (don't you love my terminology?)
  
• Calling him to have him drive home through Cedar one day after he got off of work at Deseret Laboratories to have him help me put together my desk.
  
• He went with me to pick up the t-shirts for the student council, making me drive the Jeep, and remained quite calm when I was the first person in line at a light on the Boulevard and killed it.
• I could always call on him when my vehicles had a problem.
  

I have many memories of my dad, and these are but a few. I'm sure those of us who know him all have our own little memories of our interactions.