Fathers Day

I have always been a daddy's girl. One of my fondest memories with my dad was of going rattlesnake hunting when I was 8-10 years old. I would take turns with my younger brother, but if we both woke up at the same time, then he'd take us both. When it was just Dad and I, I felt extra special. We lived in Arizona and he would load up his 4-wheeler at 5am and we'd head off into the desert. We'd ride around on the 4-wheeler and look for rattlesnakes. When we'd find one **stop reading now if you're into rattlesnake preservation** he'd kill it, bag it and freeze it. It didn't happen often, only twice that I could remember. I have an old picture somewhere of myself holding up a dead rattlesnake, I was pretty darn excited about it too. I even took a frozen one to show and tell with me once..... yeah, I was real popular with the other girls. I was obviously a tomboy and still am to a degree.

I am always fascinated with my dad's past because we have very few pictures to document it. His parents house burned down when he was in college and the only pictures we have now are the ones his relatives sent after the fire. I hear lots of stories, but it's hard to imagine the way things were. I'm a photo girl, I see a story in a picture. It's hard to see it the other way around.

Here is the earliest picture I have of my dad, he doesn't know exactly how old he was because he really loved this cowboy shirt and wore it for special occasions for 3 years.


Here's dad in his element. He loves hunting, target practicing at the range and is a gun enthusiast.


Dad was playing frisbee with us and actually caught about 6 inches of air in this picture while jumping to catch this frisbee.


I took this one for him because he needed it for work, I guess it's on a calender. I've never thought of my dad as a calender-guy. He's not even a firefighter. :)