Meet the Boy from Idaho

I'm going to tell you a story.

Almost exactly 11 years ago I met a Boy from Idaho who I thought was pretty great.

He was fun. He was adorable. And, he was not full of himself. 

(Rather refreshing if you ask me!)

There were some other irresistible qualities that I found in him soon after meeting him.

While he was holding an impromptu party at his apartment for the singles ward,

being the sly and snoopy girl that I was,  I casually peered around the corner to his bedroom just to nonchalantly see what I could tell about this Boy from Idaho.

Sound creepy? Yes, it does sound creepy. I did not meant to be creepy. And I was just glancing into the doorway (after all, it was open)

It's kind of interesting the things you can tell about a person from their room.

It was apparent that he was tidy and he was a minimalist. 

(His closet door was open and he had all of I think 3 shirts hanging up in his closet)

He had a list of goals posted above his nightstand to remind him about scripture study and prayer. 

His scriptures were out.

He didn't have a pillow. 

Then I glanced in his fridge. 

It was practically empty.

I started to feel sad for this boy. 

How could he sleep without a pillow?

What did he have to eat?

It wasn't long before some things became very apparent about this guy:

1. God came first, above all else.

2. He was a hard worker.

3. He was frugal.

4. He was not a ladies man.

Each of these qualities about him made him even more attractive. 

So I pursued him.

I asked him out.

(quiet, Kyle. I am telling the story here. )

I began making him lunches and giving him leftovers of our family dinners in Tupperware containers. (Mom, I promise he returned all of the containers)

We loaned him our huge family microwave that was at least 26 years old and weighed more than a couch.

I bought him a pillow and a pillowcase.
A Barbie pillowcase, in fact. I thought I had a pretty great sense of humor.

After several encounters with him I sat him down and told him I liked him.

(for some reason he was not picking up on my not-so-subtle hints)

One quality that took a little bit longer to emerge, simply because we weren't often around young kids, was that he was great with young children. 

Of course every girl swoons over a boy who is cute with children.

I was no different.

I swooned.

{this is the Boy from Idaho. 11 years ago.}

And here we are, 11 years later, with 3 little ones of our own and I could not ask for a better father for my children.
He is still tidy.
He does have more than 3 shirts hanging in his closet.
And he is not quite the minimalist I thought he was.
I love him anyway.
God still comes first in his life.
He is still a hard-working man.
And he is still wise with his money.
He is a ladies man in a very different way.
He loves me and our two little ladies very much and he is our favorite person.

I love coming home from doing errands and finding him on the couch with Ruby, reading her yet another story.

He loves taking Savvy out to the hair colleges to get her nails painted.

He loves taking the kids geo-caching.

He is seriously the only one who can draw Cade out of his depths-of-despair funk {and oh, how glum that boy can get!} and can do it over the PHONE for crying out loud.

He has potty-trained both our children.

He was the one who weaned Savannah off her bottle AND pacifier.

He's taught all of our children how to crawl. (sometimes to my dismay)

Yes, he is pretty awesome.

He is a very involved, hands-on father that is SUPER capable.

He has been from the beginning.

It's really great having a husband who you can leave the kids alone with him for an entire week and all will be well. 

{Minus what he has done to, or rather ADDED to the fridge, freezer and pantry. I try very hard to remain calm}

There is never any doubt in my mind that the kids love him.
For example,
on Mother's Day, I received a cute little questionaire that Cade filled out about me.

I think it speaks for itself. :)

Good to know Cade considers me as sweet and smart as his Daddy.
Kyle is a rare gem, that's for sure.

And I love him dearly.
Thank goodness for cameras to capture our memories together...
Here are a number of my fondest memories of Kyle doing what he does best-- being a Daddy
{in no particular order}

Brand new Daddy at the hospital. Wow, we were so young!

Still workin' hard in the bug-boy uniform...

Kyle has been determined to "bring Cade up right" and allow him to "develop" a love for watching sports. This is one of my favorite pics of all time. 

Apparently watching sports can be very exhausting.

Who says babies don't get dropped off by the stork?  Kyle has been there to catch every single one of ours.  

I'll never forget this airplane ride.  I got to sit by myself while he sat with the kids. Not gonna lie. Best air plane ride ever.

Always willing to try one of Savvy's "recipes"
...and always has his phone in hand. Trying to break him of that habit..

Whenever he drove home to visit us after we moved from Chicago, he always managed to find Cade his favorite treat-- Triple powered push pop at a truck stop somewhere in the middle of the country. Cade is pretty thrilled about it if you couldn't tell.

Sav and Kyle in Seattle, Washington. She loves her Daddy!

Father's Day last year. Marshmallows + Graham crackers + chocolate = great way to use the new fire pit he got.

Having a blast driving crazy at Disneyland!

A man on skates. With dinner. Irresistible!

Drinking Root beer with Cade in the mountains and teaching him how to do "Cheers!" Pretty cute.

Carving on a tree.

the kids are mesmerized.

This is a common sight. Sav loves snuggling with her Daddy.

All finished preparing the Halloween tray. 

Cade and Savvy were disappointed they couldn't trick or treat our door.

Kyle teaching Cade for the first time how to properly make and eat a double decker S'more in the mountains.

Wrestle time is anytime Dad is home. This is when we were living in Barb's basement after we sold our house in Chicago. 

Oh I LOVE how curly Savvy's hair would get in the humidity there. So adorable.

2 years later and she still does this!

For Kyle's birthday this year he was out of town. When he returned we made a cake but pretended it was for the Young Women. The kids put on a charade that they were mad that it was for the Young Women and not for us and even had me take away some of their privileges so he wouldn't have a clue the cake was for him.  I've never seen them so excited about a "plan" in their lives. It was pretty adorable. He doesn't like desserts much, but he's okay with a slice of funfetti cake.
So we delivered. 

Believe it or not, this right here was Kyle's favorite part about our getaway to Hawaii this past February:

Perfectly cubed ice cubes.

I mean really, it doesn't take much to make this guy happy!

Wisconsin Dells, Daddy's birthday-- February 2008. You can't tell by the photo, but a matter of 12 hours after this photo was taken we all came down with the flu. Do you remember the flu of 2008? It was a bad one. I couldn't even lift Savvy. Sadly,we passed it on to Melody who came to visit us that week and she had the bug for months after.

A very common sight around here. He's the best story teller. We love Zaks and Sneetches. They are the best ones on the beaches. 

Bonding with Ruby at just a few days old.

watching an apparently hilarious Donald Duck clip on YouTube.

Holding our babes in our future church building --- we didn't even know it at the time. We were just visiting my sister. Who would have thought we'd spend every Sunday in this building just a few years later?

The last two years Kyle has participated in Science Day at Cade's school.

He takes the experiment he presents very seriously.

I lost count how many times he went to Lowe's for supplies.

The experiment was on erosion. Cade asked him if he could tell the class, "I'm Cade's Dad. And I have a secret. Cade likes princesses and pink ponies." He said that last year and Cade's class got a kick out of it. 

Cad loves his dad to tease him in front of his friends. Must be a boy thing??

My handsome boys on Cade's Baptism Day.

All great men. Four generations of them. All in need of some sunglasses.

 Kyle playing with Ruby at the park in Moab, UT.

I think she misses him the very most when he travels during the summers. 

If she so much as hears his voice on speakerphone she shrieks with delight and comes running.

She could say "Hi Daddy! How are ya?" for 2 hours straight and just delight in him saying, "Hi Ruby!" over and over and over again.

Savvy was thrilled as can be that Daddy did this with her...

Nauvoo, Illinois. In front of the property his ancestors owned. I would like to direct your attention to Cade and Savvy's faces. Notice their orange lips? Yes, that was allllll Daddy. I can't remember if it was a bag of Cheetos or a can of Sunkist. Whatever it was, it was all Daddy's doing. And boy do they love him for that.

 Scotty, Kyle and Ruby visiting Gramma's when she was sick. It's a tender thing to watch your husband lose his mother.

 Kyle is really good at multi-tasking. He can listen to music, swim, and keep track of young toddlers all at the same time. Pretty remarkable.

Sav loved his impromptu visits during the busy pest control summers in Chicago.

Cade and Sav loved hanging out with Pops on the Prairie Path in the Fall.

Devils Lake was a ton of fun.

"Boys Only" Boise State Football Game

There's so many qualities about Kyle that make him awesome.

He's silly,

 

super tough,

oh-so-serious, (riiight)

and most of the time just inexplicably "Kyle."

We love him so much.
He is one awesome Daddy!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, KYLE!

We're sad you're sick today. 

Boo.

To make you feel better, Cade built you this just for Father's Day: