Happy Belated Bday Dad/Elder Meehan's New Area

Our nephew, my beautiful mom, my neice, and my daddy-o at his Birthday Dinner (and Panda Inn in Pasadena).

Yesterday was my daddy-o's bday, and I failed to post! 

What kinda daughter am I? [Don't answer that.]

I love my dad so much. He's an incredible dad and grandpa (and husband to my mom). So I thought in honor of his birthday I would post some of the things I've learned from, and love, about him:

--He likes to read (and, like me, spends time in the Self Help section more than other sections of the virtual bookstore).

--He and my mom have been married a ton of years and yet they still write notes to each other most mornings.

--He is a hard-worker. He worked for the same organization from the time he was 16 until he retired. A job that required him to be at work typically at 5am every day, six days a week.

--He is a great father, despite not really having his own dad as a role model growing up (My Grandpa Woody passed away from a sudden heart attack when my dad was 5 years old.)

--He likes healthy foods. Like PREFERS them. Eating is really not his hobby. It always kinda cracked me up as a kid. (Well, I take some of that back, he would rarely turn down a Rocky Road ice cream or Rocky Road candy bar. And when I asked my mom what kind of cake he was having yesterday she said "rocky road ice cream cake.")

--He can ride a unicycle.

--He can YELP like a peacock (they live near an arboretum and he sounds just like the peacocks there).

--When I was maybe 4, he brought me home a teddy bear and I vividly remember him giving it to me. It's super strong memory for some reason (the actual day he came home with it). It was not a giant teddy bear or anything, but I literally slept with it until it's eyes fell off (At maybe age 17? I know, says more about me than you wanted to know.).

--He likes working in the yard, on the house, and painting. Even when it's summer and 100+ degrees.

--He lived on the horse track (Horse Racing is big in California) when he was age 14/15 in a "tack room"--which is pretty much a not-glorified shed where tackle for the horses is kept. At this time in his life he was a little over 5' tall--and expected to be a jockey. Little did he know he'd grow to be nearly 6' tall! So those plans changed. (But he continued to work in horse-racing.)

--He is a good son. He was always always good to his mom (Grandma Dottie)--and continues to be to this day though she has passed. (He and my mom definitely honor her.)

--His first job was at Wiener Schnitzel as a manager, and when I was a bambino he would give me hotdogs and write my name in mustard on the dog. I'm shocked personalized hot dogs never caught on (like bday cake inscriptions).

--He adores my mom and they really are best friends.

My brother and I--and our families--got him a group gift for his
bday: Maine lobsters and a basket for making a lobster dinner. We don't live in the same state as my brother and parents, so my brother and his wife made this awesome gift basket for everything. So cute.

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And now, for news on another big man in my life: Elder Meehan!

We were able to email him on Monday and hear a little about his new missionary service area. He's still in Indiana and somewhat close to the city where he last served, but he has a new companion (from Alaska), is in a new house (with another set of missionaries), and is getting to know the people and ward there this week.

Oh, and because missionary life needs to be a little more challenging, he had an emergency root canal and crown procedure on Friday.

And he's got a rash over 80% of his torso (front and back) that needs to be seen STAT.

So ... that's fun. (I keep telling him, and I'm sure he's tired of hearing about Survivor, but I do believe there are lessons that come from suffering and enduring physical pain. Not that you can equate Survivor with a mission in the USA, but still ... there's some application, right? Work with me.)

Here are some photos from his new area and a few "goodbye photos" from his last area.

PS: We are so thankful for the people who continue to share information and care for him while he serves. It's neat: these are people we do not know in person, but they contact us, write or call, to tell us how he is doing, how their family has met him, etc. It's been so so special. One family even drove out to his new area to get him some special soap and allergy spray for his wonky rash. SO KIND, right? Missionary service really does show you the good in all humankind. Wow.

Elder Meehan and his new companion at Transfer Meeting--first day of meeting.

Not the mission car--but a SWEET neighbor's car in the new area.

Still snowing and freezing in Indiana. Record-breaking snow in Indiana this winter!

Families in his former area.

New companion on Valentine's Day.
(We sent some candy hearts, so it was kind of them to let us know they got them.)

Learning to keep records on their mission: contacts made, follow-up, appointments, etc.

Another family in his previous area.

One of the other elders he shares the home with--but not his companion.

A man from his previous area.

Elder Meehan and Elder R--probably life-long friends. They served in the same ward, but not as companions during his time in his previous area. Elder R is from Provo--not far from where we live. 

"Downtown" in his new area. Walking home. (They share the car with the other set of elders.)

And this is the cool part about Elder Meehan's service--this man was baptized a year ago in Indiana and he is visiting Utah to do a kind of Temple tour (the Temple in Indiana is still under construction). So ... he has known our son in the mission field and now we were able to meet him! Here's a photo of Dave and he on their way to lunch yesterday.

****

And finally, our family here in Utah!

This week we are preparing for Bill's funeral, trying to reset priorities (having a friend pass does bring some clarity to a lot of your life-decisions and plans), and STILL trying to recover from sicknesses. Between the 7 of us, someone has been sick every day since Christmas. UGH!

Our Relief Society (women's organization at church) inspired me to get our family to begin making Emergency Preparedness Kits. We are only at the 24-hour Kit stage, but it's a start!
(At Family Home Evening this week.)

It's not all healthy, but that's because we are thinking in an emergency, the first 24 hours would be STRESSFUL--so we will want stuff that helps us feel comfort and like "oh, everything's okay." If it ever became an extended-emergency, we'd definitely stick to rice, beans, and dried fruit--and water (with a filtration of some kind).

Dave and Jr. packing their own. (Each person packed theirs. We found a list on Google and just copied that. Although when I went to check each person's bag, they'd all made substitutions. Kinda funny, "Oh, I didn't want the beef jerky, so I added another bag of cookies.") 

Bam and Lu--our biggest substitution people.

And Whitney-the-Cat who seems to prefer the ukulele box to her cat-thingy.
(Funny because it's a triangle-ish box.)