Good Things About My Dad.

Photo by me, Summer 2010

• He's taught us how to work hard.
• He's silly.
• He tells great stories.
• He can't enjoy something he thinks he paid too much for-especially food. 
• He sets me straight when I'm being irrational.
• He's never given me a curfew. Not an official one, anyway. Just drops the hint that "nothing good happens after midnight."
• He loves his family. 

Un Coup de Soleil, Indeed.

Life's been pretty crazy lately. Living alone can be depressing. And that can make it easy to be stressed about work. And everything else.

Thursday I decided to take a half day off to go to the beach with my family. It was fun! 

There were dolphins playing close to the shore! It was a perfect day! I didn't wear sunscreen--I tan!

There I was wrong. I got a nasty sunburn. On the way home, we stopped for supplies. I got back to Claremont, unloaded some supplies, and started working. Then my sunburn really started to hurt, so I took a break to watch old episodes of Arrested Development. Then I got up to answer a text. I got dizzy and fell while replying. I got up and knew something was wrong. I felt sick. I called my mom and fell again while on the phone. I woke up on the bathroom floor with my head throbbing--I had hit it on the tile. My mom called again and I answered. She had me lie on the bed and talk to her until Dad could get to my house. I felt nauseous, I had chills, and felt like dying. She and WebMD decided that I had sun poisoning, and that's when I realized that my "falls" had been faints. My dad got there and hung out until I felt well enough to get up and go back to my parents'. Friday I was sick again, but I went back to work. Dallin actually did the bulk of it because I felt awful. Thank goodness for him!

I'm feeling better now, but my sunburn still hurts and I'm starting to peel. My friend Sabrina shared some of her Biafine, a wonderful amazing sunburn cream that they sell over-the-counter in France that has helped me heal so much more quickly. (Is that correct grammar?) Dallin and I are going to be able to catch up with work, so it's not the end of the world on that front.


Moral of the story: When at the beach,

• Wear suncreen.
• Eat.
• Don't fall asleep.

I have no formal post. Just captions for pictures.

 This is my dad fixing the pipes. They're partway through redoing the kitchen, and it's going to look great!

 There's a clothesline in the backyard of my new place. 

 I plan to take unnecessary amounts of pictures of my clothes drying this summer.

 I actually plan to take unnecessary amounts of pictures in general, because now I have a real camera for the first time since November! I bought a Canon EOS Rebel XSi for my photography classes. Huzzah.

I was home alone with nothing to do tonight, so I got started making chocolate hazelnut gelato. 

 Side note: I made the bacon ice cream earlier this week. It was really, really good. My family loved it, too! (See? I am neither pregnant nor crazy.)

I wore an apron and everything!

It's not finished yet, though. It has to chill for a lot longer before it can go into the machine. But it'll be worth the wait. 

20 Years and Counting!

Once upon a time, it was Fall 1989 semester at BYU. Chris Taylor and Staci Parks were called to be FHE group leaders. He was a music education major, new to BYU, with a mission to Brazil and a few years at community college under his belt. She was a early childhood education major and totally thought he was a freshman. They became good friends and started dating. By the time the semester was over, they were engaged. 

The night after they were engaged, Staci didn't tell anyone about it. But Luana called the next morning and asked if she had something to tell her. (I'm curious to see if the same thing happens to me when I get engaged...)

They were married April 27, 1990 in the Salt Lake Temple. Yep, twenty years ago today.

In a fairy tale, you'd simply say "and they lived happily ever after." 

Call me biased, but the "happily ever after" deserves some attention too.

1991

1998

2009

Here's to my parents on their anniversary. Congrats, Mom and Dad!

The Old Man

Here are some Fun Facts about my dad.

He's an amazing teacher and he jumps through all kinds of dumb hoops so that the state will let him stay there. He did graduate work at APU and spent a whole summer or two doing online classes because he had to be certified in things he was already good at.

He works harder than almost anyone I know. 

He adores his children. (P.S. He built that fort they're sitting on.)

He teaches band, orchestra, choir, and yearbook; he's second counselor in the bishopric, and he puts 110% in to absolutely everything he does. This is a more comment sight than you'd expect.

And yesterday he turned 43. Happy Birthday, Dad!