Dad Day

I've been procrastinating writing this post.

I think it's because when I think about Corey and how I feel about him as the Father of our family and what I'd like to say... there's just so much, and I feel like the post will be lame compared to my actual feelings. You know? I'm sure you can relate.

I guess it's safe to start with a run-down of the day.
We spent Saturday evening with Gram and Grampa, so Sunday was just our little family.
Here are the pre-church shots:

The Father, and the Birthday Boy (we celebrated his birthday on Saturday, but his actual B-day was on Sunday):

At church the boys sang to Daddy, and at home we had a special presentation.
The original plan was to do our own version of "Follow the Prophet." It was going to be called "We love our Daddy." We spent about an hour re-working the lyrics but in the end it was no good. It turns out song writing is more difficult than I thought!

Sooooo.... in the end we recited a poem:

Jack: Happy Father's Day
Truman: Da Da Da Da (he doesn't know what it means, but he does say it on command... so we decided he should participate too!)
Aly: May all your Dreams come True
Everyone: Here are some things that we love about YOU! (and we all pointed to him - hence the awesome photo of me in the collage)

The boys spent time writing down all the things they love about their Daddy. After our poem we read them aloud. Jack read his alone, I whispered into Aly's ear, and Truman sat there sweetly:

The rest of Father's Day was filled with typical Sunday things. Here's Corey helping Jack prepare an FHE lesson, enjoying some snuggles, and feeding Truman:

And since it was his birthday... I couldn't resist a breakfast collage of the boy:

So you saw our feel-goody gift... this is what I gave him for his actual present. It's a hunk of steel (which you can order for pretty cheap!) and an iron (?) rod. Any guesses as to what he plans to do with them?

Hint: It has involved the use of a home-made forge and the Fire Pit at our Stake Center. I will also tell you that the project is well under way at this point and it will probably be the coolest thing he's ever made. (And of course I will post when it's completed!)

I had a bunch of random Daddy/Son shots in Picasa. Now seems like an appropriate time to post them...

These boys love their daddy so much. They love to snuggle him, wrestle him, play with him, talk with him, work with him, and follow his example.

A weekly tradition at our house is Father/Son interviews. Corey takes each boy aside for a good one-on-one chat. He talks with them about our family, events in their life, and the gospel. He answers questions they have and sets goals with them.

The boys love this special time with their dad. They are always racing to go first, and if we forget... they are sure to remind us.

Corey conducting these Sunday afternoon interviews has blessed our family in so many ways. Just last night Corey talked to the boys about what we could do to make family scripture study more successful (we've run into some challenges lately). He asked sincerely what would help them and the boys responded in surprisingly sweet ways. Right away we changed our format and had a great experience.

Corey was adamant that this spring the boys should learn to ride bikes. I wasn't so concerned, but he felt like they were missing out on a real childhood.

One Saturday Corey spent hours outside teaching Jack to ride a 2 wheeler. We were all a little surprised that Jack kind of struggled... he usually picks up anything athletic with ease!
Well... Corey worked with him on it. They worked every chance they could get! Corey sacrificed precious evening hours that he could have been sleeping to be outside with his boy. Jack would wait all afternoon for him to come home and immediately he would ask "Can we ride bikes now???" I tried to help him one afternoon and got frustrated within 10 minutes. My patience wasn't strong enough for the task. Daddy it would have to be!

Eventually Jack got the hang of it, and the two of them love to go on rides together.

And Aly too :)

Corey thinks about the boys even when he is away. Here are some mazes (inspired by our home teacher Scott) that he printed off for them to do. These were the first ones. He does it every so often now for a quiet activity at home or for church. (Aly's hair is wet from a bath, not sweaty)

Corey loves the boys tremendously. He is proud of them. He worries about them. He spends as much time with them as he possibly can. He puts all of our needs above his own and works day in and day out for the benefit of our family. I don't know where we would be without him.

I am so proud to call him my husband, and I know the boys are proud to call him their dad.
We love you Honey!