Being a Dad

 Any man can be a father, but it takes a special man to be a DAD! 

(Or a Daddy, as our children's father is trying to get them to stop calling him. That's a hard life-long habit to break!) 

These sweet babies sang in sacrament meeting for Father's Day (I was supposed to play the piano but stayed home with poison ivy on my face instead).  I love the little boy who was sure it was a Primary song and just joined them up there.  They did a fantastic job! 

We don't get many of these "report cards" anymore, but this one gave us all a laugh!  

Our family wouldn't be nearly as wonderful as it is without such a fantastic El Padre working so hard for us every day- at his job, at teaching the gospel in our home, and at loving all of us! 

The Quiet Father

So much of what Daddy does for our family is behind the scenes- hours of work ever day, a demanding church calling, never ending yard work and fix-it repairs and project... it is a LOT of work and not always a lot of recognition.  But on Father's Day, before we headed down to Arkansas, the kids took a few minutes (literally) to show just how much they appreciate their dad!

 He is the one who keeps his cool, answers their questions, fixes their mistakes, teaches them gospel and life lessons, makes them laugh, and provides for our entire existence.  We are so grateful for such an incredible father in our family.

Father's Day

Any holiday that can be celebrated by smoking meat is a good holiday around here!

  Poor Jason, I thought I was giving him a great surprise by delivering some beef brisket for him to smoke on Father's Day.  Turns out he is still learning the ins and outs of his smoker and had to get up 4:30 to put it in.  (Not really, we're learning, but better early than late when it comes to brisket!)

 Still, he enjoyed a day of breakfast in bed, multiple foot and head rubs, and a seriously delicious dinner, even if it was ready at 2:00 in the afternoon.  No one was complaining about the brisket- it was as smooth as butter!

For all of the work and all of the play, we couldn't ask for a better Daddy in this family than Jason.  We love you!

Father's Day

 Boy!  Father's Day sure is a piece of cake (or brownies if you ask Jason's preference) compared to Mother's Day.  Cinnamon rolls, a few surprises, and a nap.  I get the feeling that there just isn't the same amount of self-evaluation on Father's Day that there is on Mother's Day, and that actually made for a perfectly pleasant day for all of us.  Jason is one easy dad to please!  

Check out these handsome boys in their matching wooden bow ties from Grandpa Mark!

After church we gathered around to test Adam's super skill at Name That Tune- he guessed so many right in Primary that he got disqualified from the game!

Game faces on!

 It was a very close competition, but Adam eventually beat everyone else 15-14.  He says it's because he reads the Primary Children's Songbook a lot.  Who knew?  

 And then it was on to the gifts (sweet corn soda- disgusting but fun to laugh about!), the naps, and the tasty dinner, grilled by Jason himself.  

This sweet paper from Noah nicely sums up Jason- 

he is as big as a standing bear, he does corn stuff, and all of the kids say they love wrestling with him, even though he does plenty of other things with him.  He's at all of their baseball and t-ball games, takes them to church on Wednesday nights, takes care of all things technology and sports around the house, is always up for a game of ball in the backyard, and is even willing to share his peanut M&Ms with everyone.  And most of all, he's always, and I mean always willing to help Mom out with whatever she needs.  He is a great example to them and to me of selfless service and love.

And Noah is right, his hair could definitely be categorized as gray.

I think Jason's efforts as the provider in our family are a lot like the presence of the sun- you know it's there, and you know it's important, and you know you'd miss it if it went away, but you can't quite describe how grateful you are for all it does for you.  All the kids know is that Daddy has to be gone a whole lot more than any of us would prefer.

Noah asked Jason the other day where he had been all day, and was shocked when he found out that Daddy had been at work. 

"Wait!  Do you have to go to work every day??"

It's a really big job, and we're all grateful that Daddy's willing to do it!

Father's Day

This pretty much sums up the way that the kids feel about Jason. 

Everyone loves Daddy!  His stories, his games, his piggyback rides and and steamroller and silly voices.  He always makes time for the things that matter most, and every day when he gets home the first thing he asks is "how can I help?"  It's music to my weary ears.

We are always so glad when Daddy is home.

We've seen a lot of him over the last few weeks (as is usually the case in June while he's waiting for the corn to grow), but that may change a bit now since he received a new church calling on Father's Day.

 He's now the stake president of the Des Moines Iowa Stake.  That was a whirlwind change that came to us by complete surprise over Father's Day weekend.  It means that now, instead of just being the leader of our congregation (one of two in our city), he is the leader over 10 congregations (including a young single adults and a Spanish-speaking congregation) covering over a two hour, 100-mile area and caring for nearly 4,000 members. The expected duration of this calling is 9 years.  That's a big change and a big commitment that our family is excited and terrified to take on.

 But we know we're number one.  Daddy always makes us feel that way!

Taking the Leap

While we were at the Mall of America, Adam decided that he wanted to spend his money on Dutchman's Deck- a ropes course/mega-slide/zipline adventure that towers nearly 60 feet over the amusement park.  He was intending to do it all by himself, with Jason nearby to take pictures and send me updates as he went along.  

He was all set to do the zipline first- all smiles and no fear- until he realized he was first in line to climb the tower and jump off.  Then he froze. 

He was listening to encouraging words from the worker, but without any experience in the harness yet (this was the first of the three activities) and without anyone familiar with him to lead the way, or even another child to watch jump off before him, Adam wasn't quite confident enough to make the leap.  After five minutes or so on the platform, he came back down and explained to Jason with tears in his eyes what had happened.  

But his daddy didn't let him give up!  They maneuvered through the obstacle course together, figuring out how to feel the weight of the harness, and deciding which paths to take together.  I had long since given up trying to keep track of them (they had already been over there for almost an hour) but happened to see the big moment when Adam finally, and without reservation, jumped on the zipline.  And, hilariously, this is what happened when I tried to video his return run.

Jason said he was all smiles both ways.  He had a great time on the Dutchman's Deck, and I was so proud of him for not giving up!  Jason shared this experience in church a few weeks ago and likened it to any big or scary decisions that we are faced with in our lives- we may feel fear or loneliness or unsure about what to do, but with the help of our Savior we can overcome trials and find the strength and courage to do anything- a lesson that Adam learned that day!

Thoughts on Jason

We spent Father's Day eating way too much yummy food, attending church, playing ball in the yard, roasting s'mores and skipping rocks on the lake.  

Jason is an expert rock skipper- it's a hidden talent of his.

He's also really good at slowing down and taking time to be with us.  Really be with us.

Our kids general lack of time-urgency-awareness comes from Jason, and that's a really good thing.  Life is not an emergency, and Jason gets that.  

He is a great listener, a deep thinker, a hard worker, and most of all, a really nice guy.  Really, really nice.  Jason is exactly the kind of man that I hope my girls marry, and that my boys become.  I'm grateful that they have him as an example to look up to.

Even if he does make everything "really scientific and complicated".  We always know that when he clears his throat he's about to say something that no one else understands, and secretly, we all love it.

The First Annual Boys Trip {by Jason}

Melanie's family has always had a tradition of having a guys trip on Memorial Day weekend.  While we lived in Utah I joined them but haven't taken part in one since we moved to the mid-west because of the distance.  When Melanie's dad told us that their next guy's trip would be to Rocky Mountain National Park I was really excited because it was close enough for us to drive.  I was also excited because Adam would be old enough to join us.  He'd get to spend time with his uncles, cousins, and grandpa, go fishing, and learn about dirty biscuit stew!  As an added bonus, we could stop and visit my mom and go to a Colorado Rockies game - I can remember going to my first Rockies game as a kid and have dreamed about the day when I would get to take Adam to his first game.  Unfortunately, a week before the trip there was a big snow storm and camping in the park was cancelled for Memorial Day weekend.  We had to cancel the guy's trip with the Henscheid clan.  However, Adam and I had really been looking forward to some time together and, at the last minute, decided to go on the Inaugural Morales Boys Trip and head to Colorado for a couple of days. 

We had actually decided to cancel the trip altogether because we were behind on planting at work and I needed to work on Saturday.  However, a crazy storm blew on on Saturday morning and it rained so much we had to stop planting.  After a quick conversation on the phone with Melanie, we decided to load up the car and go.

Melanie had already taken the kids to the zoo so I hurried home, packed up, and then met Melanie and the kids at the zoo to pick up Adam.  We said a quick goodbye and were off!

The drive out to Denver may have been the best part of the trip.  Adam and I got to spend 10 hours talking to each other, asking each other questions, playing games, and telling stories.  I think that it's important as a parent to spend one-on-one time with your kids in a setting like this where you're not in a rush, there's nowhere to go, and nothing to distract you so you can really listen to your kids and learn from each other.  

Every once in a while we'll take the kids hiking in Iowa.  On one of our recent adventures, one of the kids said, "that was a nice mountain."  That's when we know it's time to take the kids to Colorado/Utah so we can remind them what real mountains are like.  On our first day in Colorado, we went to church in the morning and then on a hike up El Dorado Canyon.   

The canyon is just outside of Superior and has steep cliffs with rock climbers, a river to cross, and great views.  It was gorgeous and Adam loved exploring the trail.    

After our hike we built a fire and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows.  

After dinner we played by the river for a bit and then headed back into town.  

On our way home we stopped by Grandma Miller's house for a quick visit.  Grandma is still as sharp as a tack and we had a great time sharing stories with her.

The next day was the big day!  Adam and I were finally going to a Rockies game.  We picked out a hat and shirt for Adam before the game and packed up some treats.  Adam played coach-recovery baseball this year- the pitcher throws 4 pitches and then the coach throws 4 pitches.  We focus a lot on fundamentals and Adam and I spent a lot of time talking about what each player was doing.  I also got to point out examples of things we had talked about during the season.  

We got rained on for a bit but, in true Colorado fashion, after a few minutes the weather changed from cold, wet, and cloudy to hot, dry, and sunny.  I think the game was a little long for Adam's attention span (he only plays 3-4 innings) but exploring the stadium helped us get through the game.  

We weren't happy that the Rockies lost to Mommy's childhood team the Mariners.

In between all of these activities Adam and I got to spend a lot of time with Grandma and her dogs Scout and Riley.  Adam loved listening to Grandma's stories.  He also took advantage of having her undivided attention and told her all about school, Iowa, the kids, books he's read, and some of his crazy inventions.  He also loved playing with the dogs and spent quite a bit of time with them.  The night before we left the dogs kept licking his hands and Adam thought it was so funny he was almost hysterical with laughter.  It was hard for everyone to say goodbye the next morning but we were happy to have made some good memories with each other.  

The trip back to Colorado was just as good as the trip out.  Adam and I talked about our favorite parts of the trip, why we want a dog, what kids of dog we would like to have, and how we should do this more often.  Adam also spent some time playing with a box of GI Joe's we brought home that I used to play with while I was a kid.  Getting to show Adam where I grew up and telling him stories about when I caught a fish with nothing but a hook at that pond, how I would ride my bike to that 7-11, or when I crashed by bike riding on that trail was an experience that definitely goes on the Top 10 list.  Here's to many more Morales guy's trips!

{Side note from the editor- who wouldn't love being an only child for a few days?  I wasn't surprised at how much Adam loved the trip, but I was surprised at how much he and I were able to connect while he was gone.  20 hours in the car is a long time, and I got lots of text updates along the way- everything from guess that emoji riddle to updates on his car bingo board to late night pictures of Adam as a half moon. 

Jason and I have talked about other ways we can create these kinds of trips for our kids- they are truly invaluable.  A trip to anywhere would be fun, but the real benefit to this trip was the family history, heritage, and connection with extended family that came with it.  It will be a bit trickier with the girls since they are both old enough for such a trip and making sure everything is "fair" is a huge part of their existence, but we'll be trying our best to create meaningful family experiences for them, as well as Noah once he's a bit older.}