Saturday, March 17, 2012

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today my dad turns 56. 
Yes it's St. Patrick's day and he always tells me 
"If anybody tries to pinch you, you tell them to stop cuz your dad's a leprechaun."
So if I told you that the man can spot a four leaf clover anywhere he goes,
would you believe me?
Well, he can. 

I hate to admit what comes next.
This morning I called him because I needed some advice.
My dad always has advice.
It turns out the plumbing under our kitchen sink has a leak.
My dad's dealt with a lot of leaky sinks in his day, 
so of course that's who I'd call.
Stupid me, was so caught up with the sink issue that we talked for like 15 minutes
with no mention of his birthday.
He was finished with his advice and I said, "Okay, I'll call ya later"
and he said, "oh, okay, is that all you called for?"
my.
heart.
sank.
If you know me, you know birthdays aren't something I forget, 
or don't make a big deal about.
I mean, not that I even needed to, but his birthday is (of course) in my planner.
And I had sent his card and it had arrived in Pulaskifield already. 
I knew it was his birthday and he must have known I knew it was his birthday.
But still, my. heart. sank.
So I know my dad won't read this for most likely weeks or even months.
(when he has a computer in front of him and internet access, 
which is really, really RARE.)

But this post is about to be a photo-dedication to my dad, whom I love very much.
So you're warned-if you don't want to scroll through a bunch of photos, 
leave this page now.
. . .
Here's my personal leprechaun celebrating last year's birthday.
He's a hoot.
Here are a few from this past summer's trip to Northern Ireland.
The first time for both of my parents to visit another country.

Enjoying a spot of tea.
This trip was my dad's first time to see the ocean.
He even got to do donuts in the beach in a BMW.
His grin was from ear to ear.

Here he is with Jonny's younger sister Esther, at Giant's Causeway.
On a double decker bus tour of Belfast.
(I love his hair in this picture.)
At the lookout dome on top of Victoria's Square in Belfast.

This one is picture proof that dad enjoys 'guy time'
Before our wedding, Jonny's groomsmen wanted to give him a proper bachelor beating.
Dad was eager to join in and even lured Jonny into a trap by
asking him about the chicken on the grill.

Again, dad was grinning from ear to ear for the entire ordeal.
And I can't blame him. The man never got a lot of 'guy time' 
with just me and mom.
He likes it when people come over and want to shoot guns.
Some people say I have expressive eyes and quirky facial expressions.
And here's where it comes from folks.
This is dad walking me down the aisle.
It's no secret my dad doesn't hear to well.
Bad ears run in the family.
Combine that with Jonny's (ever fading) Northern Irish accent and it can be messy.
Jonny and I hadn't been dating long and dad just looked him in the eyes and said, 
"Jonny I'm having trouble understandin' ya."
But they're becoming good friends more and more.
(Even hunting buds)
 One thing is for certain. 
You can always count on this man for a laugh.
He's really not a jokester.
It's usually an expression, or something just out of the blue and off-the-cuff.
To witness one of these moments for yourself,
Countless times have my mom and I been brought to tears laughing
because of something he's done or said.
I think we laughed our way through the entire
father-daughter dance at our wedding.
As I mentioned earlier, my dad always has advice.
Captured below is dad giving me advice in the middle of dancing at our wedding reception.
It was probably something like,
"Always straighten your wheels when you park Janaye,
 I ain't kidding-it's hard on them cars if you don't."
or
"Slow down"
That's his favorite, even if I'm going well under the speed limit.
I know this is because I'm an only child, he told me the other day
"Ya know, if we had more kids we wouldn't care as much."
So happy birthday to my dad, 
who isn't too manly to let puppies lick his chin.
But manly enough to own 9+ guns and wear at least one piece of camo clothing everyday.
Who is always full of sweet surprises 
at the most unexpected moments.
And who still calls me "little bubbie" 
and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Happy Birthday to the coolest dad a girl could ask for.


Friday, March 16, 2012

it's been a while.

I haven't blogged in three weeks.
I know there's probably only one person who
has noticed and that's my mom.
(She wrote me a message saying she missed seeing the "blogs")
Well, here's my semi-excuse...
Blogger has a limit to how many photos you can put up 
and I had apparently met that limit.
So I couldn't bring myself to pay five dollars for the extra storage until today.
Now I'm free to post up to 10,000 pictures.
We all know a blog post is just no fun without pictures.
So I'm back.
Back to documenting our lives again here on the world wide web.
Not because our lives are fascinating, 
but because I want to remember our stories...
I don't want our first year of marriage to be a blur when we look back on it. 
...

This evening (as soon as Jonny is done reading) we are headed to pick
up some gardeny things.
It has been absolutely gorgeous weather in Louisville. Nearly 80 degrees for the past 3 days,
and it's going to continue for a while!
I love it.
Flowers are blooming everywhere.
Needless to say, 
I'm itching to dig in the dirt and plant stuff.
Vegetables, flowers, you name it.
If you have any ideas, send them my way!



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