A Memorable Father's Day

Father's Day this year was something special.

Unique, maybe?

We got to spend it at another one of Mark's brother Matt's ultra marathons.

Mark spent the two-day event at the most gorgeous aid station of them all; Pink Cliffs.  He and his brother Ben treated runners and tanked them up with energy-boosting snacks and water.

Katie and I babysat back at Panguitch.

This year was significantly better than the last one I attended; there were no babies besides Katie's sweet little man, and Belle and Gwen were the only potty-trainees.  Compared to three babies and five potty trainees, this was a breeze!

We spent the day talking, for the most part.  The older cousins were quite excited to be in charge of the younger, so Katie and I decided to flip on another season of Call the Midwife.

Then we got a phone call.  We were asked to pick up some runners who had dropped out of the race (not uncommon with Matt's 100 mile jaunts .... it's kind of a long way).

So we did.

But nobody was at the aid station, and our tire blew on the way back.

Thankfully a nearby family reunion was teeming with Iowa farm boys who changed it for us in five minutes flat.

Katie and I hobbled back to all the babies we had left, and prepped dinner for kiddos and race helpers who would soon be stumbling home.

My hunk of love fell into bed at around 3 a.m. (after manning his aid station for around 30 hours), and I whispered "Happy Fathers day," as his face hit the sheets.

As the sun came up and the kiddos began stirring, we discovered our cabin -- with 16 queen-sized beds -- to be over-flowing with family, abandoned racers, and race-workers.  One gal was from Brazil and had lost her bag, which held her cell phone, wallet, money, etc.  She loved speaking her native Portuguese to Adam (who served his mission there) and thanked our beautiful family over and over for the hospitality.  I don't know if she'd ever seen a family so big in her entire life.

And this isn't even close to all of us.  It's just who could fit in the kitchen at the time.

The kids and I made a little plate of breakfast for Dad (before it was gobbled up by the gobs of people) and sneaked it upstairs to him with his Father's Day cards.  He mumbled a thank you and kissed both of the kids ... and fell right back to sleep.

He has the best sleeping face.

That afternoon we made another giant Sunday dinner and packed things up; chit-chatting until we were ready to leave.

Sweet, sweet Aunt Sam made it on a very exclusive list: People Belle Will Nap On.  So far that list has only included me, my mother, and my sister.  Further proof that Adam picked a winner.

And Uncle Adam just wrestles everyone.

Belle and her twinner cousin.  Lia looked EXACTLY like this as a little girl!

Another successful Gunn family get-together ... without quite as much focus on the husbands as I would've liked.  I mean, look at this guy.  I just think he is the greatest.

Photo courtesy of Mac