What a weekend!

Happy Father's Day weekend, everyone! We certainly had a great one! Saturday, I surprised Jonathan with a trip to the Reaper Aslyum in Denton to stock up on figures to paint. He was like a kid in a candy store, and we even got a tour of the production facility. How cool is that?! Interestingly enough, we also happened to run into a couple of my old friends from high school who were out there playing Warlord. It was great to see Doug and Josh, and catch up some. In the evening, we went out to dinner with some of our best friends, Jeff and Lisa, who were in town for Jeff's brother's graduation from UTD. After dinner, we all went and roamed around Fry's, because what geek can resist wandering around there? ;) For Father's Day afternoon, we went to lunch with my parents at El Fenix, and stuffed ourselves silly! Yum!

My family is so blessed to have so many wonderful dads in our lives. My daddy is, of course, a wonderful dad. Growing up, I remember him being a hard worker, but he was never too busy to be an awesome dad! I loved our family vacations, and my mom has countless pictures of Daddy and I walking along holding hands. When I was in high school, he called me every morning to tell me to have a good day, despite the fact that he had come home in the morning to have a family prayer after his work out at the YMCA. On fitness, Daddy was always staunch, a marathon runner until he was no longer able to run on concrete, and a SCUBA instructor. My dad's writing in on my SCUBA certification card, and it makes me smile when I see it! To this day, he still gets up every weekday and goes to the "Y" to work out. Mom and Dad never missed one of my high school musicals, or any of the games I performed at with drill team. The last showing of 42nd Street my senior year, Daddy was not planning on coming. He had been to every other one, after all. My mom told me this, and I was a bit disappointed, but figured out he knew the thing by heart at this point, so I wouldn't bother him. Who showed up at the dressing room door with flowers that night, but my dad! Yep, I'm a lucky girl! When I had my wisdom teeth removed, Daddy took the afternoon off of work to come to the doctor's office to be there and pray with me before I went in to surgery. I didn't know if he was actually staying for the whole time, and the first thing I asked the doctor when I woke up was "Is my dad still here?". When I had my children, Mom and Dad were my labour coaches. I had an exception from my doctor for them both to be in there with me, and Daddy was the first person after me to hold both of my beautiful girls! After I had Tatiana, he stayed with me in the hospital both nights I was there. As a granddad, he is equally wonderful, and my girls will tell you that they love their Papa sooooooooooo much! I love you, Daddy!

The second wonderful dad we have in our lives is, of course, Jonathan's dad. I really wish we were able to know Dave and Donna better. I am so blessed to be able to say that I LOVE my in-laws! They are such sweet people, and have raised an amazing son! Though we haven't had the privilege of visiting them often, they are awesome when we do. I look forward to many years as a part of the Martin family, and hope that we will be able to see them more often in the future.

The last (but certainly not least) incredible dad in our family is JONATHAN! How many wonderful things could I say about my husband? Words to express how much I love him don't exist in the English language. Right now, as I listen to him teaching Tatiana how to paint figures (remember those minis I stocked up on for him?) and listen to her sweet voice calling him "Daddy", I remember a time when I felt like I would never have a family. In one of the very early days of our dating, Tatiana was having a particularly nasty episode of colic, and I was just beside myself. She had reflux, and there was nothing I could do for her at that point. Jonathan gently took her from me, lay her down in his room and shut the door. He let me cry on his shoulder, and reminded me that she knew I was tense and that would not help calm her down. I told him that he should run away while he still had the chance. Surely, a 20-year-old genius like Jonathan deserved better than someone as broken as me with two kids. His exact words were "I take you as you come to me". So simple. He did, and we never looked back. Fast-forward almost three years later. We had just stepped back inside my parents house after being married. Celestia looked up at Jonathan, and in her sweet 5-year-old voice said "Jonathan, can we call you Daddy now?" Well, they have ever since, and Jonathan had been the best Daddy we could have asked for!

Whew! That was one loooooooong tribute, but with such amazing men in our lives, can you blame me? I hope everyone had a wonderful day honouring their fathers!