Dad's Birthday!

It's my dad's birthday! And since I rarely get to see him on his birthday or Father's Day, I wanted to make this extra special post just for him. SO- I thought I'd throw a few memories in along with the Top Ten reasons we love him. Here we go, dad!!!

Here he is looking mighty handsome if you ask me- I have no idea of the history of this picture (I'll have to ask) but, I've always liked it. I feel like I could have been there with him- I can almost hear his voice whenever I look at it.
This is one of my very favorites, simply because this is how my parents met. They were "partners in crime"- well, fighting against crime anyway. And I love the pictures of them in their uniforms. He's a cute little "trooper"- isn't he?
I think this is their engagement picture, I love it because my mom looks so beautiful. And I always tried to imagine why my dad didn't smile. My best conclusion is he was getting annoyed with all of the pictures and was ready to beat down the photographer. Dad- you'll have to explain to me later... ;)

Dad and his "Boo-baby"
The three "Yay-hoo's"- Me, Dad, Doug and Derrick

These shorts (the ones he's wearing in the picture) were a source of constant embarrassment for us kids. He's probably not going to be very happy with me for putting this on here, but that's just one small day in the life of these awful short-shorts. He would wear these and take us to the Boise Mall- AND make us stay right with him...it's not like we could run away and pretend we didn't know the man in the crazy shorts and tube socks...we had to quietly endure the torture by his side. I thank the great Lord above that he doesn't wear these anymore!

There are a couple of things my dad got to do within his job (Director of Security for the Idaho Lottery) that gave me bragging rights as a child. This was one of them, he had his own face put on a lottery ticket that sold state wide- this was my own personalized version- I've had it for about 20 years now.
Here is another one, a picture of him and Jerry VanDyke (the guy from "Coach")- He gave me this picture in a frame when I was about 10 yrs. old and I used to keep it out so I could brag to all of my friends that "MY DAD" knew "Luther" from "Coach"- I thought I was so cool. ;)
This is by far my favorite picture to brag about. My dear father must love me because when he met Matt Kenseth he called me on the phone and I got to talk to him!!!
Here's a picture of when he was talking to me on the phone... the conversation went something along these lines...Andrea-"Hello??" Matt- "Are you there, I can't hear you" A-" I'm here- I'm SUCH A BIG FAN!!" M- "What?? I can't hear you?" A- " I SAID I"M A HUGE FAN! GOOD LUCK ON SUNDAY!!" M- "What?? OK- umm...thanks..." A- "BYE!!! THANKS FOR TALKING TO ME!!!" M- "bye?...."
yeah, it was a pretty awesome conversation. But- the best part was when I got to call Clint and say, "Guess who I just talked to?"- He was utterly jealous- it was great. Thanks DAD! I owe ya for that one!

Me and Dad at my wedding. He was so supportive for a man who's 17 yr. old daughter was wanting to get married. But both of my parents loved Clint- and I'm grateful to them both for being so understanding and trusting me to make my decision.
Pretty good-looking aren't we? It's the KLINGLER CHARM...
Happy Family...
Love ya dad!!!

And here are the TOP TEN reasons I Love my dad...

No. 10- He smells amazing ALL of the time and listens to Elvis ALL of the time- those will always be the 2 things that come to mind first whenever I think of him.

No. 9- He always drives "cool cars." ( Including the Viper, dad. That was pretty sweet- another reason to brag to my friends... they all thought you were soooooo cool)

No. 8- (from Cara)- When I asked her 'how come she loves grandpa?- "Because, he's my best friend and he plays with me- and he's your dad and he's my grandpa, huh?"

No. 7- (from Clinton)- because " he drives race-ee cars with me!"

No. 6- (from Clint) - He has a great handshake... ( for those of you who don't know this so-called handshake turns into some funky cop-move that about takes your arm off- it's very painful and whenever the boys get sassy with my dad, he just offers to shake hands and make nice...very tricky)

No. 5- The delightful stories he'd tell of "fluffy" and my mother at Christmas time. My mom didn't appreciate his storytelling... but us kids thought it was Hilllll-arious!

No. 4- He'd take us out on our go-cart and search for places all over Boise that we could ride. It had to be very frustrating because just when we'd get unloaded and going, someone would kick us out, so we'd have to go somewhere else. Thanks for your persistence, dad!

No. 3- The motion-activated "surveillance camera" at Christmas Time. A swell way to keep your kids from peeking at Santa on Christmas Eve. Smart.

No. 2- Wild Waters, Boon-Docks, Chuck-E-Cheese, PoJo's, and the baseball park... Awesome summer, anyone?

No. 1- Because he's got Boooooooooooooones in 'em!!!

I love ya daddy!! I hope you have the best year ever! I'm so blessed to have you for my dad! I love ya! ~ Boo Baby