The Love of a Grandparent...

Growing up, my dad was always the fun, active parent. He would take us hiking, biking, and on daddy-daughter dates, which we all loved. However, he was also the strict and sometimes tempered parent, especially when we messed up his things (which I'm sure happened quite frequently)! Over time, we learned to be extra careful around his most treasured possessions, such as his CD collection, his audio system, his bikes, and perhaps most importantly, his flowerbeds! And as we grew older, we began to understand the value these things had to my dad and why he worked so hard to keep them nice and in order. So, when the first grandson Connor was born, I think we were all shocked that so many of my dad's rules about his things went flying out the window! He has turned into quite the softy for these little grandsons (oh, you know you have Dad!) and they love him just as much in return. I know this firsthand from little Gavin who is constantly talking about Poppy, and always wants to be with him when we are down visiting. The past few weeks have really showed me what a great grandfather our little kids have, and how much he melts for them! :)

Case in Point #1: When Greg and I were on our cruise, my parents kept our kids. Well Gavin loves to play in the dirt, especially with his cars and tractors, which we have discovered firsthand at our house by finding cars buried in our flowerbeds. We really don't care much since we don't have a perfectly manicured yard, but I always thought I'd better watch Gavin at my dad's house since he keeps his yard so nice. Well, based on my childhood and how the only time we were allowed in my dad's flowerbeds was if we were picking rocks, you would imagine my dismay seeing the picture to the left! Sure enough, Gavin played in my dad's flowerbeds with his truck and tractor, and my dad sent me this picture of it. I was a little upset at first thinking that Gavin knows better than that (he has a pretty incriminating look on his face), until I scrolled down under the picture and saw that my dad said he let Gavin do it! Wow, what a change from my childhood! And he didn't even make Gavin pick up rocks! (Just kidding, we actually got paid for that - 1 cent for every 2 rocks! :) Ha ha, but we still weren't allowed to play in them!)

Case in Point #2: Greg went out of town this past week for work, so I went and stayed with my parents while he was gone (I know, I'm a wuss!). When we first got there on Monday, my Dad was outside tuning up his racing bike (for the Logan to Jackson Hole race this weekend - he's crazy!). Gavin ran up and of course wanted to play with his bike, so he started spinning the tires. And what does my Dad do? Once again, he let's him! (Of course, Gavin had to spin it slowly, but I seriously don't think that would have been allowed when I was young!)

And Case in Point #3: This is the greatest one of them all! Within the past month, Gavin has started stuttering a little bit. It doesn't happen all the time, but apparently it was happening enough in nursery that one of the other parents thought they needed to come talk to me about it and recommend speech therapy. I was a little offended at first since it has only been happening for the past month, but then I got thinking that maybe she's right and that I should at least have him tested. So, when I got to my parents house on Monday, I told them what had happened and that I was thinking about having Gavin tested, and you should have seen the look on my Dad's face! I honestly think the last time I saw him so irrate was when the cops caught me out at 1:00 AM after I snuck out of the house (ha ha, bet you didn't know I was such a rebel at 15! But that's a whole other story for a whole other time...)! Anyway, he had some extremely choice words to say about this lady in my ward, and said that she better not do it again because "nobody messes with [his] grandsons!" I think we were all a bit shocked at how mad my dad was about the whole situation! I expected him to say that Gavin was fine, and he would grow out of it, but I never expected in a million years that he would really raise his voice like that and almost start swearing (I think he only watched his wording because the boys were around)! After it was all said and done, I got thinking about how just those 5 minutes showed the love my dad has for these little grandsons; in fact, it may be more than I have for Gavin! (I hope not, but I didn't get that upset over the whole situation!)

Now, I don't want you to think my dad was mean when we were younger and would never have done the things for us that he does for his grandsons, but he was just a bit more strict when we were younger! And now, with a little extra testosterone (something out family was lacking for quite some time), little high pitched voices, and even those stinky diapers, he has turned into a complete softy! And we love it!!! Keep it up, Dad! Until next time! -Ash