Happy Father's Day

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. 

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!  

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