My girls are always asking me to tell them stories about Papa, and I usually feel at a loss to what to tell them, for the same reason I haven't put many stories up here; there are so many, I just don't know where to begin. Now though, as Sam is 15 and has her learners license, I can't help but think of my first trip back to BC after getting my learners.

Dad picked me up at the Dawson Creek Grey Hound as usual, first thing I wanted was the car keys..... Well Dad being Dad, looked me square in the eyes and said, " you're in BC now, 15 isn't old enough to drive." Well I argued and I begged and I pleaded, but there was no way Dad was giving me the car keys. I finally gave in and got in the car; it was fairly early in the morning, so Dad said, "well let's go get some breakfast before we head into Chetwynd." After stopping for eggs and toast we headed out to the car again, my head down, hands In pockets, so disappointed that Dad wasn't letting me drive. Just as I was getting in the passenger side, Dad called me over to look at something, when I got around to his side of the car he handed me a set of keys and said, "here this set's yours." I couldn't believe it; I was so excited, that is until driving back to Chetwynd we got to East Pine. It was wintertime but the roads were good... but there was a hairpin corner of that I just wasn't sure I wanted to drive through, I actually asked Dad if we could trade let him drive up the hill and then switch again at the top and I'd finished driving home. After he said no, I think that he probably had the best laugh that he had in a long time. Well I survived East Pine, with Dad talking to me the whole way telling me just to stay calm and take it easy. Once we made it to the top of the hill he put on one of his favorite songs, " Keep it Between the Lines" by Ricky Van Shelton. I think by the time we made it into Chetwynd we were both in tears after listening to the song. We got into town and stopped at the coffee shop, and as we were getting out of the car, Dad looked at me and just said, "remember Kiddo, Just take your time, and keep it between the lines."

I think back on that and it's so hard to believe that was a good 26 years ago; now watching my 15 year old learning how to drive. Papa would be so proud of how his girl's doing, and I know when it's Tori turn Papa would be just as proud of her. In fact I think Papa would kalready be pretty proud after Tori's experience on the ride on lawn mower at Auntie Eileen's

Miss you forever Dad <3

So all my life I have loved horses. When we move to the farm; my Dad got my brother and himself a couple of horses. As you can probably imagine I was quite jealous that I didn't have my own horse yet. Dad, however, would take me out riding; sometimes it was every week and sometimes it was only a couple of times a month. We had to ride double on his horse, Pet, once she stopped her prancing and dancing Dad would pull me up in the saddle in front of him. I would get a hold of that saddle horn and hang on; them I would do exactly what Dad told me not to do.... And urge Pet to run. She was a high spirited horse who loved to go, and I loved it; Dad however, wasn't so enthusiastic.... Once were back from our ride Dad would let me ride Pet, in the corral; I would still get in trouble for making her run....

For years I begged Dad to let me ride Pet on my own.... and for years he said no.... As I got a little older and a little braver, I would go out to the barn and I would grab a halter and lead rope then catch Pet. I would ride her all around just with the halter and Lead rope. No matter how hard I kicked her clicked my tongue she wouldn't do anything other than walk and i was so disappointed. I wanted to be able to ride her for a real ride but I was too scared to tell Dad that I was riding around the barnyard. 

I was about 20 before I was brave enough to tell him that I used to ride Pet. He just looked at me and laughed and told me I should have told him, to which I responded "and get my ass kicked?". Again he laughed, then told me that after he kicked my ass he probably would have let me ride Pet. We used to laugh about that story quite a bit especially since that even when I did tell him I was still totally terrified that he would kick my ass. 

A lot of my best memories come from riding horses with Dad. 

Dad's horse Pet, was the mother of my horse Flicka, and Flicka  was the mother of my daughter Samantha's horse SunDance.  Dad and I talked quite often about how cool it was that we had a family of three generations of horses for three generations of us. 

One of my favorite memories of Dad was riding in the logging truck with him. As a preschooler I spent a lot of time in the truck due to the fact that my Mom was in and out of the hospital a lot during those years. Dad made a small bed for me out of a small piece of plywood wrapped with a couple bankets to soften it up a bit. He used to pack ime out in the middle of the night in my jammies. Sometime in the morning after I woke up there was a quick stop for toast and eggs. Then back in the truck for the day, and if I was good there was a little ice cream place at Moberly Lake that we would stop at, and if I was really really good at the end of the day on the way in with the last load Dad would stop at Cameron Lake so I could go for a quick swim. He was an amazing Dad. Not many would have had the paitience to deal with a toddler letting all the air out of the air brakes or the air in his seat. I flipped a lot of switches in that truck... and got my fingers slapped more than once but he was always happy to take me along. <3