My Daddy's home!

So the long awaited day has come and gone, my Dad is back in Utah where he belongs! I have to say a day later that it is kind of a let down because we got him for one great night and then had to take him to the half-way house this morning. We knew that was how it would be and even last night my Dad kept reminding us he was still "incarcerated" but it is hard to think of that when you are so happy to have him back in Utah. I visited him several times in California, the boys went 3 of those times so it is not like he hasn't seen them. But he hasn't gotten to play with them like a grandpa should. It's not like he could be free to play as he would like in a little room with guards all around. I also haven't seen him in jeans since before he left and he is even littler in them than the prison pants. He lost like 60 lbs and looks like a shell of my old Dad. That isn't because they starved him, though the food wasn't exactly exceptional, it's because he took up running to pass the time. I'll have to get the exact amounts for you all, but he ran enough miles to have run home 10 times while he was there. He almost ran a marathon one day. He just ran and his waist line certainly shows it. Anyway, here's some photos of my skinny Dad. My dad with the boys overlooking the gardens at Thanksgiving Point. We went there for dinner after picking him up at the airport (the flight was 15 minutes early and I missed his grand entrance, hrmph! But it was still nice and several family members were there. We had a nice visit.
My new favorite picture, it just screams for me to blow more money at artscow! This was still at dinner, Hillary works at the gardens and she pulled her strings so we could eat out on the balcony of the Terrace Cafe all by ourselves. It was chilly but nice. Not to exclude her, Cyndel is the head in the background.
Hillary pulled even more strings and we got to tear around the gardens in the golf carts. Wow, she rocks! The boys have wanted to do this all summer but I didn't want to shell out the $25. Uncle Robbie took the boys for a quick drive and they are still talking about it and then we piled in 3 carts and really went cruising. Lowell was driving so fast and cutting corners I was sure we would tip. I am a woos, I'll admit that. Hillary was with me though, she was freaking out that she'd get fired for all the corners Robbie and Lowell were cutting. It was fun though, and Lowell and the boys L O V E D it. Thanks Hill, I hope we didn't get you in too much trouble.
Sorry, forgot to flip this one. So after the gardens we came to my house for cake and for my dad to see my house for the first time. He also got to rough-house with his grandsons who just loved it. They were laughing so hard (and were heart-broken when we left to see the other houses--they stayed as it was bed time). Right after this Carter jumped on the floor, pulled up his shirt, and said, 'grampa, pllbbtt' which meant he wanted more raspberries on his tummy. My Dad also got his first try at Wii golf--I think he is alread better than me.
Yummy, Costco cake, it read Welcome home Dad, we love you! The boys thought the big cake was way better than their individial slices sitting right in front of them. So after my house we went to Robbie's new house and then BJ and Angela's apartment. We laughed a lot and joked in the car. We snagged chili cheese dogs with onions from Wienerschnitzel in there and also Slurpees for my dad's cravings. He also got fresh green beans and a peach from my garden (side note, our peaches this year are SO good. There's nothing like a ripe, juicy peach right off the tree. Tomorrow's mission: jam).

So it is nice to have him back but I do wish we could have him all the way already. A little at a time I guess. It was like he was never gone though, which is so odd since so much has changed in 32 months. So he technically has 3.5 months of half-way house time followed by home confinement but it is likely that the half-way house time with be significantly less. He will also be able to work and we can meet him for lunch and we are hoping he'll have some weekend time out as well, my kids' birthday party being a priority for me, but we'll see. Anyway, smiles from the Dodenbier clan tonight!