happy birthday nicole!

i am so, so happy that my brother married nicole. she is truly one of the sweetest, and most caring people i know. she knows how to make a person feel loved. i'm so glad that she is my sister. today is her birthday! so here goes the dyer birthday tradition:

nicole. i appreciate you because you make me pancakes and cry with me when i'm sad.
but you also have such a positive way of looking at situations,
and you are such a good influence on my brother.

my wish for you is that you will find lots of "classic" books to use in your classroom.

i love you

bambino!

Bambino Clark #2 is being born today. I am so, so happy. My sister Becca is an angel. She is so caring and patient and loving. She is such a great mom. Everytime I am around her and B-Man, I take notes on how good she is at parenting. I think it helps that B-Man is an angel himself. (seriously though, he is a gift from heaven). Bambino #2 has been a long process in the making. As an extended family, we have spent a lot of time in prayer that B-Man would be able to have a sibling. I have watched with awe at how Becca and M have handled this process. They are so full of faith and knew that somehow and some way, their family would grow.

Today I am so grateful for miracles and for answers to prayers. I'm so grateful that B-Man will have another "man" around the house. I'm grateful for the example of faith and endurance that Becca and M have shown me. I'm grateful for families and the fact that when one of us is going through something, we can all band together and go through it with them. dyer's are like that.

i can't wait to see this little man.

i love my dad

dad, i love you because:

you taught me how to thin a fruit tree. whenever you go to the grocery store you bring home cinnamon rolls and gum drops, and soda. you don't mind that every time I call, I cry. you gave me the "beware of wolves in sheeps' clothing" speech 10 times before I went away to school. you are the most generous person I know. you taught all of us to love johnny cash and john denver. you always call to check up on me just when I need to hear from you most.


happy father's day. i love you forever.

summer

you know it is summer when:

• you can sit on the grass and have bugs swarming all around you. but you still love it.
• baseball is back (major AND little leagues)
• you want to bike everywhere
  
• your dog gets sick from eating too many peaches and plums that have fallen from the trees
• you officially pack away warm clothes (big deal in Utah)
• it is light outside until 10pm
• hiking and running actually sounds like fun
• your family goes to the fair
• you are tempted everyday to go take impulsive trips to visit your sisters
  
• you have no plans. you don't know where you will spend the next few weeks, but you aren't concerned.

i can't wait to see what the rest of this summer brings...

on hard work

i meet the best people at work. people that are just good, good souls. i just made a new friend. his name is reid. he is old, but not as old as richard. he has worked at byu for the electrical shop for decades and decades. today i had to accompany him as he worked on a project. usually when we do this, we bring a book because nobody talks and it can get real boring. reid talked to me. so much that he didn't finish his project. he asked me what my major was. when i told him, he proceeded to tell me about his daughter (who lives with him) that just got a new foster baby and how he is already too attached to her, even though he isn't supposed to be. he started to cry when he told me that sometimes this foster child says "daddy" because she misses her parents. he told me that i should call his daughter and talk to her about foster parenting so i can write a paper on it. he told me all about the electrical wiring, power sourcing, and installing that needed to be done on this project as if i was his partner. but i had no idea what he was talking about. i just kept saying, "this is tricky". when i had to rotate back to one of the desks, reid walked part way back up with me. i told him that we could be friends now. he said "yeah like on that website where you become friends". i said "facebook"? he replied "yeah, my friend signed me up for it and now i'm hooked."

i think i'm going to add reid as a friend on facebook.

i noticed that reid's hands are cracked and callused. he works hard. i admire people that know how to work hard and put in honest effort. i think people in reid's and richard's generations know how to work hard. it was a part of the learning process. i love that.

hawaii

I just got back from a very last minute trip to Hawaii. It was perfect for so many reasons:

it was a perfect place to heal,
to reflect,
to try new things,
to be brave and bold,
and to appreciate beautiful places

...i think that out of all of God's creations, these are two of the most beautiful

on new friends

i have a new friend at work. his name is richard. at my job i have the opportunity to talk with lots of people. but richard is different. he is in his 80's. he always wears a hat. the kind of hats that men wore everyday back in the 40's and 50's. he comes in everyday to work on his special project - the Joseph Smith papers. but he always stops to talk to me first. he calls me tamara.

and i kind of love it.

for some reason i feel so attached to richard. maybe it is the fact that he works so hard. last week i came to pick up a friend from the library at 11:30 pm. richard was just walking out of the building. he had been there all day working. he told me that he told his wife that morning that he was going to be at work all day so she should go do something fun for herself. maybe it is the fact that he always stops to talk to me, even though he is holding a briefcase and his arms start to shake. maybe it is the fact that he asks me questions about my life and really cares about the answers. maybe it is the fact that after he walks past me, on his way to his office, he always looks back and smiles. or maybe it is the fact that he calls me by my full name and tells me every time that it is beautiful.

all of my grandparents have been passed away for a long, long time now. i miss them. i try to remember them and things that they taught. often times i wish that i had asked them more questions and asked more advice from them. but then i remember that i was still very young. every time i talk to richard i am reminded of them. i'm grateful that richard wants to be my friend and that he takes the time to talk to me. for some reason my day gets so much better when i catch a glimpse of his hat and briefcase walking through the glass doors...