My Sedimentary Lifestyle: Dad's Birthday

I'm a bit behind with this one, since my Dad's birthday was last week, but better late than never, right? Right!

I called my Dad the day before his b-day to ask him what he wanted, which usually is super helpful. I know that probably sounds weird to many of you, since you're "not supposed" to ask the person what they want for their b-day, but it's way better in my opinion (and my Dad's, fortunately) to get somebody something that they actually want/need that's not a surprise instead of just getting them some knick-knack or chatchky (sp?) that would surprise them. This totally worked last Christmastime when he gave me a specific thing that he wanted, but when I asked what he wanted for his b-day he said that he genuinely didn't need or want anything. I pushed a bit and asked if maybe he wanted a gas card to fill up his Harley, or some ammo for his guns, but he said that we should use the gas money to come up and visit him sometime. So that's just what we did!

My Mom had planned a b-day dinner for him at my family's favorite restaurant in Logan (El Toro Viejo) and we were going to drive up for dinner, eat, and drive back (totalling 4 hours in the car). Fortunately, when I told my Mom we were coming she moved our dinner to Maddox in Brigham City. For any of you who've never been to Maddox (or never even heard of it), it's fantastic! The rolls and raspberry butter are INSANE, and the chicken, steak and turkey steaks (yes-turkey steaks) are phenomenal! So not only did we get a great dinner out of it, but moving the location to Brigham City took an hour off of our total drive time. It was also a really great to surprise my Dad showing up at the restaurant unexpectedly. Well, I think he was surprised. Sometimes in my family we sacrifice some surprises for the sake of practicality, so my Mom may or may not have spilled the beans, but that's alright. My Dad was still really happy that we were there, and especially excited to talk to Jeff about his Argentina trip, since my Dad served his mission in Argentina like 35 years ago and loves that country. He felt validated when Jeff went on and on about how beautiful Argentina is, how amazing the beef is, etc. since he's been saying those things for about...35 years. It was really nice for both my Dad and Jeff to get to talk Argentina, since they both had so much to say about it and no one else in our family really understands how cool it is.

We also got the chance to tell my sister the hilarious story that she missed out on at my parents' house on Easter, which made us all laugh so hard that we were crying. I felt so bad for everyone that wasn't sitting at our table because they weren't having nearly as much fun as we were, and they just had to watch enviously as we had a fantastic time. I have pictures of this, too!

My Mom and sister laughing at the amazing story.

I'm sure ya'll are curious, so I'll tell you the story.
It starts about a year ago when my cute sister-in-law, Heather, was up visiting my parents in Logan. She made herself some toast and jam with some strawberry jam that was in the freezer, like a normal person would, and when my Dad came into the kitchen and went for his jam, it had been eaten. He thought that my little brothers had eaten his jam, and was upset because he had told them it was his and that they shouldn't eat it. So he says, a bit irritably and loudly (so my brothers would hear him all the way downstairs) "Who's been eating my jam?!" My poor, sweet, sister-in-law was so scared because she didn't know that my Dad had his own jam, and felt really bad for having eaten it. But of course, when my Dad realized it was Heather and not my brothers, he wasn't upset at all! He loves Heather as much as his own daughters, and felt so bad that he had scared her and made her feel bad. So it has kind of been a running joke over the past year or so that my Dad "yelled" at Heather and she was so scared. Of course, my Dad re-apologizes and hugs sweet Heather every time we joke about it, but it's still pretty funny to us.
Cut to Easter 2012. On Easter morning, one of the two dogs my parents have was rustling around in the Easter candy that my Mom had set out on the coffee table in the front room. My Mom heard him in the candy, came out, and got after him for it. Later on that afternoon, my Mom was in the kitchen cleaning up Easter dinner and heard the rustling again. Without hesitating, my mom growls "YOU GET OUTTA THERE!", thinking that it was the dog in the candy again. Nope, it was Heather grabbing some Easter candy from her own stash that her mother had sent to her from California. She was startled, of course, and kind of froze. Luckily, my Mom came out to make sure that the dog had listened to her and saw that it was just sweet Heather and she felt SO BAD! That didn't stop her from laughing her head off, of course, but Heather was laughing too so it was alright.
It might not seem like the funniest thing to anyone outside our family, but we find it hilarious that my parents keep accidentally yelling at Heather. Maybe because she's so sweet and kind and would never warrant anyone yelling at her, and most likely because it's always a misunderstanding. It's pretty darn funny to us.

Anyway, dinner at Maddox was great, and we got some great pictures afterward.