At the end of May we made a quick trip to our beautiful home state of Utah for one special reason.
The week prior we received this invitation in the mail.
The front said “Rich is goin’ fishin’…”
And on the back was this cute picture of my dad who retired from his amazing career as a College President. We have known for a while that my dad would retire this year and his co workers at the college planned a huge good-bye celebration in his honor. There was no way I was going to miss it!
A beautiful display table was set up with many of his awards throughout the years.
And pictures of his family.
It was fun seeing this picture displayed. This was taken the year that Kenny and I graduated from college before Kenny went to law school. We were engaged at the time and my mom had gone back to school to get her masters degree, my sister was graduating from High School, and my dad attended the college graduation every year (of course) so almost the whole family was in a cap and gown that year! Kenny was the college Valedictorian (smarty pants) and he spoke about my dad and what a great mentor he was. It was a really cool year for all of us. My brother who was in 8th grade at the time was just happy to be along for the ride. :)
Crowds of people from the college and the community gathered together to wish my dad a happy retirement. It was really great to see so many people who care about him and look up to him. He is well respected and loved by so many people. I am always so proud to say I’m his daughter.
The Vice President who is now taking his place made him this quilt (she did such a beautiful job!). It has a square from all of the different college departments (technology, nursing program, etc).
Then everyone signed the back.
Another amazing tribute to my dad was this picture that Del Parson painted of him to hang on the college campus. Del Parson is an amazing artist who paints a lot of portraits for the LDS church. My mom was worried about how it would look and we all kept teasing her saying “Del paints pictures of Jesus for crying out loud! I’m sure dad’s portrait will turn out just fine!” ;)
My mom looked so beautiful the day of the party. She is so happy my dad is retiring. We all are! This is a picture of her with two of her best friends. Their daughters are two of my best friends and they are like second moms to me. :)
Love these two. The three of us are always so happy to be together.
We can talk and laugh until we are all in tears.
Like the night before the retirement party.
We stayed up way too late brainstorming ideas for a poem my sister wrote about my dad.
During the program, several people spoke about my dad and what an inspiration he was. Then my sister got up and read a poem showing the other side of my dad. The side that we all know. It was the best tribute I’ve ever heard. She had everyone laughing and crying all at the same time. My sister has that effect on people. :)
The two of us with “dad.”
Then I asked the guys to get in a picture and my brother decided to be a dork and pose. So I asked him to knock it off and to just sit up and smile…
and he did this.
Several pictures later I finally got this one. Thank you Austin. It’s always such a pleasure getting you to be serious. **Notice my husband plastered on a smile and didn’t move in all three pics. He has been trained well.
And one of the six of us.
We all had red eyes from crying during the program. When my dad got up to speak he talked about how proud he was of his career, but how he was the most proud of us six. He referred to us as “his six kids” which brought tears to our eyes so quickly. He has always treated Kenny, Shawn, and Dayna like they are his own. He talked about our degrees and how proud he is that we all took our education seriously and how much we have all achieved. Then he talked about his six sweet grand kids and how excited he is to spend more time with them. I’ll never forget the sweet things my dad said about his family and how that was the one time in his talk that he got choked up. We all love him so much.
My mom and I were talking after and couldn’t believe we didn’t get one picture that day with my dad in it! He was too busy socializing with all of his friends and co-workers! Popular guy. :) So here are a few of my favorite childhood pics with my dad..
The two men in my life.
So what does my dad have on his agenda now?
A little bit of this…
And a whole lot of this.
Dad – I am SO happy for you. Nobody deserves it more!
You mean the world to me and I love you so much.
Your favorite, Erin
(we can keep the favorite part between us – we both know it’s true)
p.s. I know I’ve mentioned this before, but just in case you find yourself with more spare time than you can handle…
I could sure use an extra set of hands around here!
:)
Love you dad.
xoxo, Erin
So sweet Erin, family’s are everything!! :)
Hi Erin, I was wondering: are your whole family member of the LDS church? Were you brought up in that faith & was Kenny also? Do LDS people ever marry outside their faith? I read a few blogs written by LDS Mums and I am intrigued to know more!
Aaaaww what a great tribute to your dad. When my dad retired, he and my mom moved to Portugal to live on a beach. They visit twice a year but I wish I could just get in the car and go visit them.
Erin, this is awesome!!! I would love to hear the poem Carly read, I can only imagine the humor and inspiration she came up with, she is just amazing, like the rest of you. Sure miss you guys! I love your blog!
Such a beautiful tribute. Congratulations to all of you. Enjoy!
What a sweet post for your cute dad. That was such a fun day and he is one of the finest men I know. I hope he enjoys his retirement with all of you! Now if we could just get your cute mom to retire we could have so much fun! Love you cute little Erin!
Congrats to your Dad!
That was such a sweet post Erin, you left me a bit teary eyed.
He sounds like such a great guy.
Hope he enjoys his retirement and catches lots of fish. ;)
Congrats to your Dad. Looks like you all had a blast.
I don’t even know you or your dad but I had tears in my eyes reading this! I love the childhood pics. :)
Thanks everyone! Such kind comments. LeAnn and Tammy! So fun to hear from the two of you! :)
Margot – Yes – Kenny and I grew up as members of the LDS church, although not everyone in my family is active. And yes – LDS people do marry outside of their faith all the time, although I think that would be hard just because our beliefs are so much of a lifestyle choice. You can learn more about our church here:
http://www.lds.org
Also feel free to email me if you have any other questions. I’d love to answer them for you!
erin@thesunnysideupblog.com
How absolutely sweet – looks like it was a great time and your Dad has accomplished so much!
How fun for your family! Congrats to your Dad, what an amazing Dad he is indeed! Ryan said Carly’s poem was great!
I was bummed, you should have told me you were coming and I would have come to the party with him!!!
Congratulations for your father and Family!
Aww what a beautiful celebration and congratulations to your dad. He sounds like a wonderful man.
Hello Erin, what college did your dad just retire from?
my dad is retiring in August too. This sparks some fun ideas… congratulations to your dad. I bet you are so glad you made the trip out!
adorable!!!!!
Erin, I’d love to subscribe to your blog. Is there a way to do that by email? Thanks, Sue
Hi Sue!
I haven’t set up a way to subscribe through e-mail, but I’m working on a facebook page for my blog so you can get e-mail updates through facebook. Will that help?
:)
Thanks!
It’s so nice when your family respect your achievements
Oh, hey, you’re LDS too! :) It makes me smile to find a fellow member out here in the blogosphere. Lol about being worried about the outcome of a Del Parson portrait, it turned out great.
And good luck with the new house, how exciting!! Can’t wait to see how you decorate it. Happy planning!