My dad

 I love my dad.  He taught me the names of the mountains, stars, clouds and rocks.  He taught me how to forecast the weather--my lifelong passion.  He taught me to love science.  He taught me to love languages.  He taught me to love people no matter what they look like. He taught me how to read a map and find my directions no matter where I am.  He taught me how to do wordsearches and how to build a fire.  He taught me to love the music of the 60's, and how to harmonize a song as we sang them in the car.  He taught me the stories of the Old Testament heroes.  He taught me the stories of Br'er Rabbit, The Five Chinese Brothers and the Fisherman and His Wife.  He taught me to ride a bike, to change a tire, to plant a garden and how to type.  He taught me to love camping and hiking.  He taught me to never go anywhere without a first aid kit, and that fanny packs can be cool.  He slept with us in the living room so he could wake us up at 2AM to see the eclipse of a lifetime.  He made my childhood awesome.  And he is doing it all again for my kids.

I am so grateful that he is still here.  He is a colon and liver cancer survivor.  He is tough.  He is awesome.  He is super fun.  He is a super hero.  I love this picture of him with Baby Abram in the high Uintahs.  I have a picture of him holding every one of my kids in either this same position, or the pose at the top of the page.