Father's Day

He didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it.  ~Clarence Budington Kelland

I have a tradition of rocking Kenners and singing Primary songs to/with her before putting her down for nap time and bedtime.

I've been doing it since she was 6 months old and it is one of my favorite times of the day. 

In the last weeks of my pregnancy with Lila, my belly was getting too big to hold Kenadie in my lap and my back was killing me, so Garrett began to take over the privilege of singing to Kenners before bedtime.

I loved hearing him sing to her every night :)

Now that I am no longer pregnant, I have reclaimed my place as the official putter-to-bed-parent.

However,

Kenners no longer wants me to sing her Primary Songs.

Instead,

she keeps requesting Bob Marley and Pearl Jam songs,

most of which I do not know the lyrics to.

Apparently Garrett has not been singing Primary songs to Kenadie before bedtime

and this is making my job of singing to Kenadie quite difficult, because she gets seriously upset when I tell her that I don't know the song she wants me to sing to her.

My husband has turned our daughter into a fan of Pearl Jam and Reggae music.

And I think it's rather cute.

Unconventional, but cute.

And it reminds me of what a good daddy Garrett is to our little girls.

He plays with Kenadie as long as she wants him to,

he sings to her,

he rocks baby Lila and loves on her,

he takes Kenadie on daddy-daughter outings quite frequently (last night it was to Home Depot and Best Buy to get some tools and stuff for our car--I swear he's gonna turn her into a tom boy!). 

He handles the current organized chaos of our household with calm and love and doesn't get frazzled (like I do) when both girls are literally screaming for attention.

He reads the scriptures to our daughters after dinner and leads us in family prayer each night.

So many reasons why he is a good father.

But mostly, he is a good father because of the way he lives his life: willing to serve and help others, putting his family and his faith first, working hard, and living a life of gratitude and joy. 

This is similar to how my own father has lived his life and what has made him such a good daddy to his seven children.  I feel so blessed to have had a wonderful father and to now see my husband being such a great father to his little girls.

A good father makes all the difference in the world

and I'm glad to celebrate this day in honor of those fathers. 

Thank you all, and I love you.