Army's Army

You may have noticed in my post yesterday that my family all had the same t-shirt on. It says Army's Army. Some may say it's redundant others think it doesn't make sense so please allow me to clarify.

Here is Army...

And this is his army

Army is my grandpa, his full name is Armand but he goes by Army. This was taken at our yearly beach camping trip in Carlsbad. I can't remember a summer where we didn't camp at the beach. This past May my grandpa turned 80 and for his birthday he wanted all of his family at the beach. One of the days we were there was our "All about Army day" We ate some of his favorite foods for dinner, we wore our Army's Army t-shirts that Kerilynn's boyfriend Cory designed, we had a little program where we sang a song to him, we made him a scrapbook, and finished the night off with red vines and lemon heads (his favorites). It was such a wonderful day-week really.

My grandpa is amazing, he is the most active 80 year old I know. He competes in the senior Olympics and almost always wins gold, be it double or singles. (At the beach he gave all his family a medal he has won, it was very touching) He is very competitive and still teaches all of the younger grand kids and now great grand kids how to boogie board, hit a ball, play volleyball etc. My grandpa was a high school coach so he comes by it naturally. I remember in high school he was at my water polo game freshman year when I scored my first goal. At half time he came over not to congratulate me but to run a play and check my defense. Many of my cousins swam, when we would go over to grandma and grandpa's pool we would be so excited to be playing in the pool rather than practicing. At some point during the day he would have us do flip turns or treading water just to check our form blah blah blah. My grandparents recently moved back to Utah, I miss them terribly but I know grandpa is loving being up there for ski season. He gets in free now, apparently there are many 80 year old who ski, let alone the black diamond runs.

Here are a few more things about my grandpa Matern.

• He is such a loving person and is always serving.
• During the winter he plows all of his neighbors driveways!
• He loves the church and is currently the young mens secretary
• He knows everyone, no matter where we go someone knows Coach Matern
• He is one of the hardest workers I know
• He loves bargains

I'll leave you with the song we sang to him on his day (to the tune of Take Me Out To The Ball Game)

Army Matern is eighty

He hasn't slowed down one bit

Playing in tournaments from coast to coast

Winning Gold medals but he'll never boast

Now it's gold in singles and doubles

In any age group he plays

Let's sing hip, hip, hip, hip hooray this is Army's day!

Army sure loves his bargains

Good deals he always will find

Buying a few is not his style

He's not satisfied til he's cleared the whole aisle

Then pass them out to the masses

To friend or unknown it's okay

Let's sing hip, hip, hip, hip hooray this is army's day!

Now when it comes to fashion

Good deals he always will find

Gucci, Armani he never will buy

Unless it is found on the racks at DI

Socks, ties, and suspenders

For every holiday

Let's sing hip, hip, hip, hip hooray this is Army's day!

I can't remember the last verse right now but I'll post is when I find my lyrics.

Anyhow, that's my Grandpa Army!