Happy Birthday Ricker.

Today my dad would've turned 64 years old.  We were going to have a big birthday party for him, Rangi and Rocky were even planning on coming in town for it.  It makes me sad we weren't able to throw one last bitchin' Birthday party for him.  He has been gone for about a month and a half.  It's still so weird and sad not having him around.  I miss him so much everyday.  Everyone does. 

Even though our baby is two weeks old, his due date was actually today.  No one was as excited to hear we were pregnant as the Ricker.  His excitement quadrupled when he found out the due date was on his birthday.  So excited he couldn't help but start calling people or yelling it across the street to neighbors, even when we had only known for about ten minutes.  When I said, "Dad!  You can't tell people that early!"  He replied, "What are you talking about?  People need good news.  And this is awesome news!"  It was fun to have someone as excited as us, but honestly he probably was even more.  Danny told Ricker that day that if it was a boy, his middle name would be Ricker.  My dad was stoked.  Every time someone in our family found out they were having a boy, he always asked, "What I wanna know, is why no one has claimed the name Ricker??"  AnnaBelle always rebutted saying, "Wait til' I have a boy grandpa!"

Around July Danny and I started talking about naming our baby's first name, Ricker.  Actually, Danny started with Richard and I immediately said no, it'd have to be Ricker.  My dad's name was Richard, but we all knew he was a Ricker.  We both really liked the name, and loved my dad.  We kind of wondered how my family would like it, or if it would be too weird.  Then unexpectedly, on August 26th my dad passed away.  We thought what a cool tribute it'd be to my dad and how lucky our baby boy would be to share a name with him. 

When our baby was born he actually did look like he could be named Ricker and we knew just minutes before he had been lucky enough to be in the presence of my dad. 

In the hospital we named our baby Ricker Scott Elder.

I am not a very emotional person.  I don't cry in movies, or hardly ever for that matter.  But for some reason every time I tried to say our baby's name, my eyes filled with tears.  I really wanted to name our baby after my dad, but it probably weirds people out when they ask your baby's name and you start bawling.  EVERYONE, including my immediate family, was wondering what his name was.  I couldn't tell them.  I felt like a psycho not having a name I could say out loud for our beautiful baby boy.  And when I tried to explain myself I also wanted to cry.  When Pearl was born, my dad kept saying, "Don't you just love being a mom?  Can you believe how lucky you are?  Being a parent is the greatest thing in this world."

I agree with him completely. 

 With both births of our babies, I immediately felt connected to them like we were old friends.

 It has been an emotional couple of weeks, but an amazing time for our family. We are so blessed to have this sweet baby in our home and I know the Ricker is watching out for us and baby Ricker too.  

Nothing was more important to my dad than his grandkids.   And I know even though he's not here, he's stoked to have gotten a new one 2 weeks ago an another one on the way in November (Rocky & Sarah).

 

Wishing so much I could give my dad a hug today on his Birthday.

We all need to try and be happy today, my dad would want us to be.

In honor of the Ricker the fam is headed to his favorite place tonight, Chuck-A-Rama.  

Such a funny thing, I know. We loved to go there:)

I hope he's getting some good food up in Heaven today!  

Happy Birthday dad!  Love you!

To read more reasons about why my dad is the coolest go here.