After scout camp, Robert and the boys made it back up to Utah just in time for Father's Day.  It was so wonderful to have everyone back together again.  We were able to have a nice big breakfast with my family and my parents that morning.

That afternoon, all the Utah kids came up for a lovely Father's day dinner.  I loved seeing my brothers and their families.  I was surrounded by all these wonderful fathers; each one of them so different in their parenting but all of them working hard to be the best father for their children.

Here is our Father's Day group.

And of course, I was grateful for the chance to help celebrate my own Dad.  All these years, Dad has been an example of patience and love.  Whenever I come to him with a personal challenge he listens and emphasizes with me.  After that he tells me that he has faith that I will make the best choice possible.  I would love having all the answers given to me instead, but after our talks, I feel more confident in my own choices.  Still parenting, I see, even though I'm now 41.

The person I really want to talk about this year, however, is Robert.  This whole year of 2016 has been one long challenge for our family.  My health has impacted every aspect of our lives, from cutting some of the kids activities to Robert working so much from home.  I have required Robert to carry so much more than I ever thought possible.  He has supported me emotionally when I have felt at my most vulnerable.  He has supported my choice to have all of my doctors, appointments and surgeries in Utah when we both know that would make everything so much harder and more complicated than if we did it all in Henderson.  Going back and forth was difficult for me, but it was even more difficult for him to care for those kids without me.   I tried to alleviate some of that stress by taking the little boys with me as much as I could, but being a single, working parent is hard.  Robert never made me feel guilty for putting him in this situation.  Instead, he pulled up hard on his bootstraps and got to work.  I felt like we were a team, working together to get my health back on track.  I admire his love for his family and his determination to be a good Dad.  I know I'll be asking him to take over one last time in October, but I'm hoping that 2017 will be a relatively stress free year.  You can see what a wonderful Dad he is when you see how much his kids adore him.  The little boys can hardly be peeled off of him whenever he is around.  The big kids crave any time they can get from him.  He is definitely the fun parent and we all love the fun and spontaneity he brings to our lives.  So, for this father's day, I need to have it in print that Robert is by far our favorite Dad on the planet.  Here are our Father's day pictures for this year.

Here is the family "HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!" hug.

Our original photos with Robert and the kids turned out super blurry (someone had touched the lens after this picture.)  Robert and the kids were all super indulgent to me when I asked them to repose later.  I just love this picture so much and was sad when none of them had turned out.  So...the ties are different but I think Robert managed, by chance, to wear the same shirt.

WE love you Rob!