My Dad is # Juan!

Sara and Dad :)

I have been born of goodly parents. Seriously. Today is Father's Day 2012. Usually on Father's Day we (my brothers and myself) spend time at my dad's house to celebrate. It always turns into the same experience... my brothers sitting around on the couch watching some random show on the T.V. and me napping on a bed.. for a few hours minutes... Then we eat beans, meat, rice, tortillas and other delicious foods, open gifts (Eeets a sun-teen!), and eventually hug and leave. This year we celebrated a little differently. My brothers were going to go on a trip to Zion's this weekend, but it didn't work out so we moved the camping trip a little bit closer (North Fork) and invited the Daddy-o. I was really impressed with this switch-up and excited to go camping again with my dad. A favorite childhood memory with my dad was hearing his voice early in the morning outside of my tent on camping trips. He and my mom  chopped wood by the fire, while I stayed tucked in my sleeping bag with only the tip of my nose catching a hint of the freeeeezing mountain air. 

Yesterday (Saturday), my brothers and Brittie spent the afternoon staking out our campsite (the one by the stream where we always stay), and my dad and I spent the afternoon getting organized. This included making sure we had extra C batteries for my dad's emergency siren/radio/flashlight. He obviously needed to "listen" to talk radio throughout the evening and in case he got lost--he'd have a siren to signal for help. We bought eggs and sausage for breakfast, and packed the ketchup and mustard picnic kit that he's probably never used and then bought actual ketchup and mustard to fill the bottle containers. Of course, he also didn't forget to pack his sombrero for the camping trip. Did I mention how much I love my father? Well-- I do. 

Everyone just LOVED that I was taking pictures...

It was a crazy evening, including two trips down the canyon for various reasons and a trip to my mom's "camping store" in her basement for the camping stove, bed mats, and weenie roasters. I finally made it back up to the campsite a little after eight. Sara and Alesha met up with everyone earlier in the evening. Chon (Lorenzo) made me a hobo dinner and it was delicious and consumed with gratitude and lots of ketchup! 

We sat around the fire for a couple of hours roasting candy and marshmallows and trying to get the lantern started. I almost burned my face off trying to get it going-- but we won that battle! Dad told stories about times in Mexico and JP told scary stories that kept me awake most of the night... Thanks, Bum. Oh, and thank goodness his Brittie made him stop after awhile because I was already jumping up and down like a lunatic begging him to stop. Chon started putting all of the food in the cars and I couldn't have been more grateful. I have this irrational fear of bears attacking me when camping and putting the food in the cars is the only way I can get over it. Even with all of the careful storage we still had a visitor in the campsite last night. He left his grubby little raccoon footprints all over our table and benches. Hope he liked that sour patch kid that I forgot to throw out.

I have decided that I so very much WANT to love camping. I do. I really, really do. And for the most part, I do love it. I love the mountains. I love the fire. I love the stories (except for JP's). I love hearing the rushing stream. I love the outdoor smells and feelings. I love the time spent with my family. I so desperately love all of that. But, that being said-- I do not love being dirty. I do not love sleeping on rocks. I do not love listening to raccoons stomping on metal tables all night. I swear-- well I don't really swear (unless I'm scared in the middle of the canyon on a dark night... that's another story), I am the last one to fall asleep when I go camping. Anyone who knows me well, knows that I have a talent for falling asleep in .5834 seconds anywhere, on anything, at anytime, EXCEPT when I am camping. So-- I am a lover and a hater of camping. The end.

JP forgot a jacket. :(

Morning came and I had to giggle a little as I listened to Dad and Sara try to get out of their tent. I mostly heard a bunch of grunting and phrases like "I can't bend my knee," or "I can't even move," or "I can't feel my hands." Haha. I never think anything is funny at 5:30AM, but that was pretty funny. My dad got out of the tent and started chopping wood to start the fire. I curled up in my blanket and just enjoyed the experience. Chon got up not too long after and I followed. Dad made a fantastic breakfast of hash browns, eggs and sausage. My favorite part about breakfast was his fake spatula that he made out of cardboard and aluminum foil. Ha! He is a "Don't have it? Gonna make it" sort of man.. always has been.

We all cleaned up the campsite (left if better than we found it, Mom) and then I rushed home down the canyon to shampoo the smoke out of my hair and get to church in time for Relief Society. (PS I love my calling, and I love my sisters in the ward.)

This Father's Day, we celebrated our dad for all of his unique and fabulous qualities. Mi papi es un gran hombre. Siempre ha sido el papa perfecto para mi. Lo amo, lo quiero, y lo admiro. I'm so grateful for him.

Family Party and La Navidad

The Dearden Family Christmas Party 2011 was hosted by my Uncle Tom and Aunt Jana in Kaysville. They built a pool house this summer, and Tom joked that we were having the party in Uncle Tom's Cabin. Haha! We were all able to go this year, minus JP, who claimed the very familiar "nobody told me about it" excuse. It was probably legit....we were all busy. And of course, we missed Alex, who has been in Peru for about 18 months now! It was fun to be with the family and meet the new babies. I got to hold Malcom (Ashley's little cuteness). He was such a content little guy!

For the party, everyone was invited to perform a talent. I thought about what to perform for a good couple of weeks. In the past, my mom and I usually sing a song (usually Silent Night in Spanish or something). I love to sing, but I wasn't really feeling the whole "sing a song thing" this year. Soooo.... on the night of the party I was brainstorming quick talents, and I remembered one awesome talent that Amber and I performed (or didn't perform... sorry for leaving you hanging, Am.. and for turning around and hiding while banging my head on the wall as you tried desperately to continue...) for a YSA ward talent show. Let me explain- I once watched someone on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno laugh a song. She just laughed each note of the song instead of singing it. The secret is to use the laughter that naturally comes from feeling like an idiot to "sing" the next line of the song. We attempted to perform Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in front of our singles ward. Excellent. Why am I not married? Ha. ANYWAY. I figured that my mother and I could totally pull it off at the family party. We "practiced" a couple times on our way to Kaysville. Here are a couple of re-enactment photos.



I think we nailed it. HA-ha. Ha-ha-ha ha-ha.



Lorenzo read us all the Night Before Christmas story. Lovely.



Sorry for not posting pictures of the other talents. They were all great! Including Jamie keeping her baby alive, Hailey and Tom performing ballet (mostly Hailey), Jana and Grandma Ann singing/accompanying, Jordan soldering a pipe joint (that sounds both dangerous and gangsta), Malcom reaching for his toy (and then spitting up :), Ashley yodeling (very cool), Laura shaking her thang, and Dan and Vivian ballroom dancing.

After the talents, we hung around for some caroling with Grandma Ann.



Ha. Lorenzo and Katie were copying Jordan and MiQuelle's dance moves.



Overall, the party was very nice. I'm very grateful for my family.


CHRISTMAS EVE 2011

Kjersty was Mary this year in our family nativity program. I thought it was fitting. :) However, she did not think my joke of her being "great with child" was very funny. I still do. Hehe.



Of course, I pulled out our favorite black Baby Jesus. He was my doll when I was little. I named him Matthew. I gave him a "bowl-cut" hair cut a long time ago. I figured that that was how all boys cut their hair... but actually it was just my brothers. Haha.



My mom played the angel. Grandma Lou used to always be the angel in our nativity program. Mom has done a nice job filling in. I love Kjersty's face. She just got the news. :)



Here we have our shepherds (Brittie and Katie). Brittie had her costume on her lap. Haha. JP was our King Herod, and Lorenzo was Joseph. Mom was getting the myrrh ready.



Lance really got into his part. He was definitely sore afraid.

After the nativity program, Kjersty had to leave for work. Before she left, we made her open her presents. She was so lucky- "Santa" brought Kjersty a puzzle, new maternity pants (ha- she said it was like opening underwear in front of people), and new gloves to use with her phone. I gave her the spice rack that she has been asking for and a new portable heater for her room. She got a super cool cookbook to make me lots of yummy food from my mom and Lance. Win.


Baby Kole got a few presents, as well!

JP and Lorenzo enjoyed their new "chuyos" (the beanies) that Alex sent all of us from Peru. I'm not sure why Chon was hyperventilating into the bag... hmm..



And now for a nice picture.... I said a NICE picture... Oh well.



Finally- Stella and Lupe had a stare down over the top of Baby Jesus. He was nice and protected.



I love my family and my friends. My blessings are numerous. Jesus is the Christ. His birth was a miracle. His life was a blessing. His death and resurrection were real. The atonement that He performed is a gift. Everyday I am thankful.

Merry CHRISTmas.