Happy Birthday Dad!

Sunday my dad turns the big 70! Happy birthday, Dad! We love you! My dad is the nicest guy I know—Matt's almost tied. He's extremely humble, has a great sense of humor, and treats my mom and my sister and me like queens. He's notorious for worrying about his girls. I can't count how many cans of pepper spray he's given me (to tote along as I run, of course). Growing up he'd always give us kisses before going to bed and he opens the doors for my mom without fail.

One of the things I admire most about my dad is that he's a convert. Before he met my mom he was living in Montana and knew his neighbors were LDS. So he sought out the church through them. He's told me that he knew within the first five minutes of his first sacrament meeting that this was the church for him.

Last week I listened to Elder Richard Hinckley's conference address , and even though my dad isn't the prophet, I feel this way about my dad too:

"I do not know what to say of my father that would not embarrass him, except that I love him.... My mind goes back to days when we were little children, when he would lie on the floor and wrestle and play with us and lift us in his arms and hug us and tickle us, or pull us up into bed with Mother and him when we were sick or frightened in the night. My memories of him will ever be of laughter and love, of steadiness, of testimony, of relentless hard work, of faith and fidelity. He is kind and wise, and I am blessed beyond measure that I ... claim him as my father now and throughout all eternity."