It has been a good day. After church Daniel played some games like Memory and Life with the kids while I made the above cake. It was yummy, but very sweet.
Above is the only family photo from the day. You will notice Olivia is not in the picture. She is staying at my parents house for a few weeks. Lucky girl! And poor Chloë she looks kind of tired. I think she wanted to eat and not take a picture.
For my dad for Father's Day my sisters and I gave dad ingredients for s'mores and roasting sticks. Then we all shared a memory or two about him. Valerie complied our stories and asked is to send a self portrait. Mine turned out better than I expected. I figure I don't have many pictures on my blog so here is me.
And here are the stories we all wrote about my dad.
HAPPY FATHER’S DAY TO OUR GREAT DAD!
~~Essays from Your Daughters~~
JUNE 2015
Why I CAN
By Andrea Girand Miner
I've recently come to understand that I am a pretty optimistic person. That
optimism comes from the knowledge that through hard work, mental
toughness and the enabling power I receive through the Atonement, I can
figure out a way to walk through hard experiences or unknown situations
and ultimately feel at peace and intellectually invigorated.
Why am I an optimistic person with an I CAN attitude? It's not just that I
was born that way. I had experiences in my young life that built my
optimistic mindset. Tracks were laid down from ages 0 to 18 that shaped
me into a person who is not willing to be unskilled or useless to the
community. I have been shaped into an I CAN person...
This is why I CAN.
When I was little...meaning really little...about 3 or 4 years of age, Dad
decided he, Valerie and I would ride our bikes from our home in
southeast Scottsdale to Mesa in the middle of the blistering hot Arizona
summer. We were to join the extended Stapley family for a swim party
celebrating the return of Don Stapley from his mission in 1971. As it luck
would have it, I did not have to do the hard pumping because I was too
young. But it was still SO hot that I have memories from that very young
age, of riding of the black top through the land of desolation which was
the Indian reservation between the two cities. I have visions of the tan
rocky dirt and the wavy horizontal lines rising above the road in the
distance. And if Val or I complained about the heat Dad would just tell us
it was snowing outside and would have us imagining that we were
bundled up, shivering from the cold. This was my first introduction to
being mentally tough.
Another transformative experience for me was an even that occurred in
my early teenage years. I was tasked to remove a grapefruit tree with all
its glorious roots from the southwest corner of the Mariposa property. I'm
not sure why it was being removed, except maybe to put in the small
storage house. Removing the grapefruit tree was my project. And Dad
was there to offer tips, support and to stick with me. But of course I was
not in a very good mood or able to appreciate his help as we did the
project. As you all remember, we had to do yard work
every Saturday morning, and sometimes into the afternoon. I really hated
this. Really hated this. Really hated this. But taking out the tree, complete
with the stump, was an even worse assignment. One might say impossible
given the roots had been buried in what seemed like concrete for at least
50 years. I spent hours with furious thoughts in my head as I dug and dug
to get those roots out. It was only toward the end that I started to see the
value in the project and felt a great sense of accomplishment. I'd done an
impossible task. I could do anything if I worked hard enough.
I credit my healthy feelings about Heavenly Father and His Church to the
way Mom and Dad lived and still live their religious life. Since this is
Father's Day and we are talking about him, I will focus on his example,
but this applies equally to them both. Dad showed up to his meetings on
Sunday. He taught me the principle that "There is no saving seats in the
Celestial Kingdom." We have to get there on our own and not rely on
other humans to carry us there. He taught me that the most important
behavior is to be like Jesus. I had a lot of internal conflict when I was a
teen about less than perfect leaders leading our ward and stake. Some lost
their temper, cursed in public, some were overly focused on money,
others gave out odd advice at times or seemed less than compassionate
and detached from their families. The worldly interpretation might be that
these men held their callings because they were the most spiritual in the
ward. And clearly they were not. I would have been really messed up in
my spiritual life if Dad lived a life of hypocrisy. But he didn't. He
exercised enough self-control that he was a model of Christ-like behavior
toward me and others. His consistently unselfish behavior helped me
understand Heavenly Father better. That understanding allowed me to be
open to following the prophet, allowed me to be able to listen to the Holy
Ghost and always try to be a doer of the Word.
Love, Andrea
West Fork Trail Head Reconnaissance Mission…
Making Lemon Aid out of a Lemon Station Wagon
By Leslie Girand Mitchell
Growing up with dad was always an adventure. We had lots of fun
exploring the outdoors. I loved it when dad would come home from
work on a Friday night and tell Lindsay and I to pack our bags, we were
going camping. We’d always stop at the grocery store on the South West
Corner of Tatum and Shea. Dad would let us pick out steak, eggs, bacon
and lots of other great food for the trip. Then we’d pack it in the cooler
in the store parking lot and head north.
When I was about 10 years old dad decided he was going to take me and
five of my friends back-packing down the West Fork of Oak Creek
Canyon. I was super excited. The weekend before the big trip, Dad
decided we needed a reconnaissance mission to scout out the trail head.
Friday after work Dad, Andrea, Christine O’Brien (Andrea’s friend) and I
headed north to Flagstaff to check out the scene. It was approaching dusk
when we turned off the main highway onto a rocky dirt road in search of
the trail head. The roads were dusty with tall wild grass on the sides and
lots of cattle grazing. It was starting to get dark and we hadn’t yet found
the trail head, or more importantly, a spot to camp for the evening. Dad
turned onto a dirt road with really large boulders. As we raced against the
setting sun to find the trail head, our old lemon colored station wagon
struggled to miss the boulders. Dad slowed down as the boulders became
larger and more prominent in the road. But despite slowing down disaster
struck…a boulder hit the oil pan, causing significant damage. We pulled
over and dad crawled under the car to check out the situation. It wasn’t
good. We’d have to stop where we were and camp. Dad made a
delicious cowboy dinner of steak and beans. He said he’d look at the car
again in the morning and then we’d decide what we needed to do.
Morning came quickly as we camped in the open field with the cattle,
absent of trees to shade the strong, morning sun. Dad had a great
breakfast that he served to us as he delivered the news. The car was
inoperable. All the oil had leaked out. We had no choice but to walk
back to civilization in order to find a phone and call mom to come get us.
Best guess was that we had a 15 mile walk in front of us. We packed up
one sleeping bag, the little food we had, threw it on our backs and began
our walk. We walked for hours before we saw a single car. A green
pickup truck was finally seen around noon. It was a forest service
worker. This was our chance to get a ride back into town. We jumped
and waived, signaling the Forest ranger to stop. He pulled over and
verified that we were on the right road, heading back to town. Yes, we
were relieved that we were walking in the right direction. Now for the
ride….Unfortunately he politely let us know that it was against forest
service regulations to transport people in his vehicle. He assured us we
only had 5 miles to go and said good bye. We continued our walk along
the dusty forest road. We walked and walked and walked. By mid-
afternoon we were tired and hungry. The only food we had left was dried
melba toast crackers, water and crystal light powder. In an effort to make
the Melba toast taste better dad offered them to us with lemon Crystal
Light dusted on top of them. He said it was a nice refreshing lemony
treat. It was ok…but a glass of lemon aid would have tasted better. Dad
kept us walking along cheerily. Never upset or frustrated at all the
whining I must have been doing. We finally reached the main highway in
the late afternoon. Once there I lay down on the sleeping bag that dad
carried and fell fast asleep. When I awoke, mom was there to pick us up.
This trip was a great lesson in the importance of enduring to the end
gracefully, peacefully, and happily. Dad said it was all going to be
alright. And it was…after the long days walk, we successfully made
lemon aid, or lemon Melba toasts, out of the old lemon station wagon.
THE BENEFIT OF LAST
By Lindsay Michael Girand Ledesma
One benefit I have with being the youngest is that you and Mom worked
out a lot of problems that I would encounter in life before it was my turn
to experience them. It seems I don't have as many adventures as the other
girls. I'm sure I have some of those, such as the time Dad and I
spontaneously decided to go to Disneyland. We had a great time, too bad
the hospital and police department had to get involved! I would like to
focus on how you have been and are a great example to me as I am on this
road of parenting.
I learned the importance of just doing what I am asked to do. Don't come
up with excuses, don't try, just do it. Even if I am not going to be the best
at something, I need to put in all my effort and be happy with my results.
"I don't want to hear CAN'T," Dad would always say. Many years ago
Mom and Dad wanted to put in a new sprinkler system in the front yard. I
had no idea that someone who wasn't a landscaper could put in a water
system. But Dad and I did it. I learned how to paint the PVC pipes with
the purple primer before adding the glue. It was a great experience.
I learned to treat people kindly. Dad was always kind to Mom and
Leslie. (Andrea and Valerie were off at school by the time I started
picking up on these interactions.) Sometimes I wondered what good Dad
was doing since he wasn't up in arms over something Leslie had done.
Dad was slow and methodical. I can see the wisdom in being slow to
react. Dad treated us with respect and kindness. I
remember Sunday visits to the boys in the Young Men's program when
Dad was serving there. Once we rode our bikes to visit Jimmy Dana. I
don't remember what was said, but I remember looking at their family
pictures on the wall. We visited Tony Horsley. For some reason Dad
wanted me to live with them in their all boy household in exchange for
their youngest boy to live in our girl house. Shane Beus came to our
house regularly for a time when he and Dad renovated a small blue GMC
truck. I saw Dad treat all these boys and their families with respect. He
never said anything unkind after we were done with our visits.
I learned how important it is to spend time with my children. It seemed
like once a month before I was in high school (I think) Mom would tell
me that when Dad came home from work, Dad and I would be going
camping. Other than a few of Dad's camping supply basics we would
head off with little direction. Our first stop was always at the Fry's
grocery store for dinner from the deli section. We would get fried
chicken and potato wedges, then we would stock up on breakfast food
which always included Pillsbury cinnamon rolls. After eating we would
get in the car and decide where we were going to camp. It didn't really
matter where, so we just started to drive. I don't remember anything
profound or novel that happened. It was just time together. Time is
something I would like to give to my children.
I am sure I could come up with more stories about Christ-like attributes
for Mom and Dad, but for now, I am grateful for the lessons in work,
kindness and time. Happy Father's Day, Dad. I am ready for many more
years of lessons and good experiences!
I love you! Lindsay Michael
Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation
By Valerie Girand Wilson
There are lots of great adventures that were spurred by Dad. Climbing
Camelback Mountain at 5 (Andrea) and 7 (me) years of age in our Sunday
dresses and white patent-leather shoes after church was one of those
typical memories. Another was creating a plaster mask of my face, with
straws sticking out of my nose and mouth, and Mom coming home,
rounding the corner into the bathroom in our house on Diana Drive, and
exclaiming, “What is Going On!” There was the time he brought the goat
home for a Mother’s Day present (-is that right, Mom?). We loved the
goat because we got to ride the goat. The goat loved Mom’s roses, so the
goat had to go. We had great hikes in Oak Creek, Havasu Falls (that
Orange soda tasted so great after the heat on the switch-backs!), and the
Mount Baldy backpack trip with his brother, Jon, and our cousins. So I
think these and other great adventures taught me to think and do big
things and not to be constrained by the usual.
I think watching him turn a usual conversation or typical lesson into
something magical and memorable was a quality I wanted to emulate. He
does this so well. One of the first examples of this was his famous ‘moral
standards’ talk. When in doubt, be scientific, so basically he taught the
following: [Newton’s law of universal gravitation] – any two bodies in
the universe attract each other with a force that is directly proportional to
the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the
distance between them.
where
F12 is the force applied on object 2 due to object 1,
G is the gravitational constant,
m1 and m2 are respectively the masses of objects 1 and 2,
|r12| = |r2 − r1| is the distance between objects 1 and 2
So I got the message…thanks, Dad. And I’ve been able to pass it along.
Dad’s love of science and scientific inquiry is something he infuses into
everything he does. I think he taught me how to approach all of life and
learning in this scientific way - - or as far as science can reach into our
human perspective. And then Faith kicks in and his perspective broadens
to the Eternal. This is one of the Greatest Lessons I have learned from
Dad. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is what he lives and shares, with broad
passion, always looking for the bigger lessons and the finer connections.
The first time I remember Dad bearing his testimony was when he talked
about helping me with a science project to demonstrate friction
coefficient on ramps with a weighted string. I remember him trying to
help me find a project to share. I remember not liking any of his ideas. He
went into the shed, in the carport (in the rental house we were in, before
moving to Mariposa), and in his testimony he talked about praying there
to help me find a project that I would love. It was important to him that
we loved school and our projects. He came out of the shed and presented
his new post-prayer idea - - and I loved it! I remember the feeling of
excitement when he explained his idea and I remember him letting me
build and develop the project. However, most of all I remember feeling so
proud of my dad as he bore his testimony about prayer and a loving
Heavenly Father, through tears, that Sabbath Day.
From Dad’s example I have learned to think big in creative ways for life-
long learning, to be sensitive to the language of the Spirit for better life
navigation, and to set goals and study the Gospel with exuberance –
always sharing this with others.
Thanks, Dad! love, Val
After games and a little rest we had burgers for dinner. We cooked them Barbie style which is the best way according to my kids. Her recipe : cook them in butter and olive oil in a skillet! Tender and soft! 
Chloë was complaining about her eye hurting, so I took her to the eye doctor. Sure enough she needed glasses. She was SUPER excited to wear them. I think she likes the look and attention. So fun. I am glad my kids had a good attitude about glasses. I'm hoping this will help Chloë's reading. I'm sure it will make it easier. Get reading has improved, and now she is going to take off.
