Shawna Herring Blog

I love my dad. It always hits me so much more when I see him. I moved away from Utah 20 years ago and at the time, I was totally happy to leave. I didn’t even look back. Now it seems that things have changed, or rather I have changed because I would give almost anything to live near my family again. As soon as we showed up at his house, my dad took Zoe, who had not been happy at all on the ride down. The moment she was in his arms, she just melted. She didn’t move for at least 5 minutes. She loved it. My dad loved it and so did I. It made my heart grow twice as big. Kids need their grandparents. They add a richness to a childs life that just isn’t replaced by anything else. Seeing my dad love my daughter made me love him all the more.

I should say that Addy the dog is usually my dads “grandchild.” His lap is normally hers and she doesn’t have to compete for his attention…that is until kids come around. Then there may be a stand-off.

She is really loveable though, which is a huge plus in my eyes. My experience with small dogs is that they usually don’t like small kids which in turn makes me not like them. Addy is the exception.
I told my dad that I wanted to do a photo shoot of him while I was here and he smiled and commented, “Here I am.” to which I said something about using a differnt location, maybe without Addy’s rear in the photo. He busted out laughing and said that I would need to make sure that I labeled which one was my dad. He has always had such a wonderful sense of humor. I should say that both of my sisters were there today too, and we all had such a fun time remembering the totally stupid, funny things my dad used to tell us and we always believed him. Hook, line and sinker.
So all 6 of us loaded into dad’s Dodge Ram and set out for a drive. Theres something so cool about going for a drive with dad.
First we went to Utah Lake to see who was would walk out the farthest on the frozen ice. Ha Ha.
Zoe won.
My dad mentioined something about” hor frost.” Its when fog creates ice crystals that are so light that they are almost weightless. As I was shooting the photo, bits and pieces of frost were slipping off brances and floating below.
I’m sure dad was giving Zoe some kind of lesson or telling her some kind of story while me, Madi and Ashley were out exploring the ice.
I have to interject between photos to say that after the lake we went to lunch at Macaroni Grill. Zoe was very tired and way over due for a nap so that by the time our food came, she wasn’t happy in my lap or the high chair. I was struggling to keep her happy when my dad got up from his seat, came over and took her and walked away. He returned about 4 minutes later with Zoe asleep on his shoulder. He sat down and I was trying to hurry and finish eating so that i could take her and he could eat his lunch and he looked at me and said. “One thing I’ve learned in life is that you can always eat later. There aren’t a lot of opportunities to hold a sleeping baby.” So he held her while all 3 of his daughters ate and his granddaughter slept and his lunch went in a box.
I love my dad.
He asked if we wanted to drive up Provo Canyon and see some elk, moose and deer. “Sure” we all said, hoping that we would see some and he wouldn’t be disappointed. Did I mention that when my did isn’t telling huge stories he really means what he says?

I miss the mountains.
Madison loves the snow.
We stopped at Bridal Veil Falls on the way home. It’s famous for many reasons, one being that rock climbers who are jonesing’ during the winter months will don spiked boots and ice gear and climb up the face of the falls. The guy at 3:00 was just on his way down.