Today is the day!! You sent in your nominations, and with the help of our lovely contributor team we have narrowed it down to 6 finalists (which was NO easy task!!). All of the dads that you nominated are amazing, and as you vote this week let’s remember that all the dads in our lives are super in some way!
**Our Super Dad winner will receive an amazing prize package including a one hour massage from Massage Heights in Iowa River Landing, $50 Tailgate gift card, Raygun Midwest book, and a $25 gift certificate from Running Wild.
Without further ado, here are the finalists! (In alphabetical order to prevent bias)…Please read their nominations and then cast your vote at the end! Each voter may vote only once, and only for one finalist. Voting begins today and will go through Thursday, June 18th. The winner will be announced on Friday on our Facebook page!!
::Chase (Nominated by his wife, Aubrey)::
If the Webster Dictionary had a definition for the words ‘Super Dad’ it would say, “See Chase Stafford”. Let me try to explain why.
Most couples our age do not truly understand the marriage vows they take on their wedding day.
“To have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do us part.”
Unfortunately, Chase and I have already lived through the worse, the sickness, and the death – and have somehow come through it all in one piece, together; and you could even say, better. Chase has stood by my side through the sickest and worse moments of my life. Not only do I have Crohn’s disease, which causes major bowel flares, I also have horrible pregnancies. In turn, for the majority of the 5 years we’ve been married it has been Chase carrying the weight of household chores, cooking and cleaning. During the first year of our marriage my husband and I suffered the loss of our first son, Dolan. After I had an unexpected abruption resulting in an emergency c-section at 31 weeks, our son passed away after living a short life of two days. During the two days we were given with Dolan, it was Chase’s unwavering strength and love for not only me but our son that kept me going. Whenever I’ve hit rock bottom, Chase is the one that reminds me of the good in our lives and helps me focus on that. I do not know where I would be without him.
Chase is now the proud father of two boys. Our first son, Dolan, and our second son, Liam. Liam is 2 1/2 years old and is the light of our lives. Liam will tell you his Daddy is a Super Daddy. Liam is not shy about admitting Daddy is his favorite person in the whole world. And at least once a week while Chase is at work Liam states, “I want my Daddy,” OR “I miss my Daddy” OR asks “Where is my Super Daddy?” This is no joke. I often wonder if people in ear shot of us think that I am his nanny and not his mother.
From the moment Chase walks in the door each night until bedtime, Liam is by Chase’s side. No matter how exhausted Chase is from work Chase spends every single evening with Liam. Whether they are playing baseball in the yard or pretending to save the world in their super hero capes (Chase even has his own cape) it is Liam’s favorite time of day. Every night before bed it is Daddy who puts Liam to bed, not mommy, and it is Daddy who reads Liam books, not mommy. It is even Daddy who encourages mommy to have some time away to recharge, whether it’s a mom’s night out or a weekend away – he knows I need time to myself and loves getting to spend time alone with Liam.
My husband is the most selfless person I know. He always puts Liam and I’s needs ahead of his own. I feel so blessed to have a husband who is present every single day in our son’s life. He is Liam’s best friend, his hero, his companion, and his role model. I know Dolan would have looked up to Chase just as much as Liam does. I can only hope Liam turns out to be just like his daddy.
::Jeremy (Nominated by his significant other, Amanda)::
When I first met Jeremy in 2007 he was a single dad of 3. He was working full time as a diesel mechanic plus raising his 3 young children on his own. The children’s ages then were 6 months old, 2 years old, and 4 years old.
When Jeremy wasn’t working he was spending time with the kids. In fact, our very first date was to Chuck E Cheese’s with them!
Almost 9 years later and he’s still the most amazing father to our kids. We had a little boy together at the end of 2010, so he’s now a father to 4 all together! (2 girls and 2 boys)
He does anything and everything he can to make sure he has a happy family. He is a hero in each of our children’s eyes. They know they can always go to their dad for anything. He’s always there to rescue them unconditionally.
Jeremy puts in long hours at work hauling grain for local farmers. In his spare time he enjoys hunting, fishing, boating, camping, football, or anything outdoors. When the kids pick up an activity or sport that he isn’t so interested in (softball for example) he’s still there willing to practice with them with whatever it is they need to practice doing and he encourages them to chase their dreams and ambitions even if they seem out of reach.
Jeremy is the true definition of a family man and he isn’t ashamed one bit to admit it. We love him for that and all that he does for us. I couldn’t ask for a better father to our children. I know many would agree with me that Jeremy deserves to know that he’s doing a great job! We appreciate you and we are so thankful for you. Thank you for being you. We love you big daddy 🙂
::Josh (Nominated by his daughters, Hadley and Brinley)::
The fact that this is called “Super Dad” is perfect because our Daddy is SUPER in every way….literally!
Our Mommy shares with us that our Daddy was in love with kids even before we were born and upon meeting our Mommy and on date #2 put out that there that he wanted 4 kids no matter what. In fact, the day our Mommy and Daddy got married he strategically incorporated the statement of wanting “many babies” into their wedding vows in front of 200 people (there is video evidence of that!).
Either way, our Daddy is so deserving of this award because of the many sacrifices he makes and all of the fun things he does with us. Most little girls our age are playing dress-up in princess outfits, dancing, painting our nails, etc. (which we do like to do too), however, our Daddy does fun things like play Captain America, Spiderman, Thor, Hulk, and Ironman with us on a daily basis. Every single Halloween our Daddy even dresses up with us and one year went as an adult Captain America with us (we have a picture to prove it)! Speaking of dressing up, our Daddy even dressed up as a giant Elmo for our birthday party last year too (yep–you guessed it, we have a picture of this too!)!
Outside of that our Dad spends each summer at home with us (since he’s a teacher and has the summer off) and we have all kinds of fun adventures getting ice cream, swimming, fishing, and playing in our backyard. It’s safe to say, if our Mommy let him, our Daddy would LOVE to be a stay-at-home Daddy with us.
Have I also mentioned that our Daddy is teaching us to be active with lifting weights and running? I don’t know any other Daddy’s that take their two little girls to the weight room weekly to work on their skills! We are so proud of the good example our Daddy sets for us in regards to living healthy (but we still do love our ice cream!). Our Daddy jokes that he won’t allow us to date until the guy we’d like to date can lift more than our Daddy…I hope we aren’t 30 years old before that happens…
Once again, we think our Dad fits this award perfect because he is SUPER DADDY in every sense of the word (dress up costumes included), and regardless, he will always be our HERO no matter what. 🙂
::Keith (Nominated by his wife, Brittany)::
There are so many reasons why my husband deserves to this award.
First off, he is so supportive. With each pregnancy I had some complications. The last pregnancy I had the most complications and things got a little scary. Keith was there, making sure I was getting the appropriate care. I could not tend to our newborn baby but he was there, staying up even later after not getting sleep for 24 hours taking care of our new baby girl. I can honestly say that with each delivery of our kids, I could not have done it without him. Especially when it came to taking care of me and our baby after birth.
Keith is an amazing father. The way he plays with our kids and devotes the short time he has with them is amazing to me. I learn so much from him every single day. When he is with our kids, he is 100% with our kids. The other day our son asked to play Rescuebots. He amazed me watching him play with the boys. He transformed into the characters and the boys were laughing the entire time.
Lastly, over the past couple of months I have decided it was time to get back into the gym. Keith has been so supportive of me. He makes sure the kids are taken care of every morning and never once has complained.
Keith is very busy (like most dads) but he is working so hard at finishing a goal he made in his life…his career. Every single day he is making sure that he makes time for his family even if it is only for 5 minutes. He is there for us and I feel so incredibly grateful I am his wife but also that he is the father to our children.
::Michael (Nominated by his wife, Amy)::
Michael is, simply put, AMAZING! He works 55+ hours a week at a full time job and then works his 2nd full time job as a Dad to 2 wonderful little girls. Grace (5 ½) and Taylor (5) are so lucky to have Michael as a dad. He is very involved in raising them and never gets one moment to himself. Because I am a manager of a restaurant, he works full time at work and then comes home and works full time at home. He is always fixing up our home so that we have a great place to live, he prepares 99.9% of the meals, he does baths, reads to the girls, plays outside with the girls, and is just all around a very involved, loving, fun, and “Super Dad”! For Michael to be rewarded by you would be amazing. He is rewarded by being Grace and Taylor’s dad and my loving husband every day, but he definitely deserves a bigger pat on the back than any of us can provide. He is 100% dad and we all love him very much. Thanks much for your consideration.
::Mike (Nominated by his wife, Megan)::
My husband is an excellent father. He followed his dream and became a truck driver. This supported our family, but he was gone 2 to 3 nights. He didn’t like this…he felt he was missing out on so much. He was. Our oldest and him had a nightly ritual that he would give love, kisses, high five and knuckles. My husband didn’t know that our son would actually kiss, high five, etc. the phone. This melted his heart. He decided it was time to be home every night. He loved his job so much but he took the leap and switched jobs so that he can be home for our boys.
He is so wonderful with our boys, we’re lucky he made this change!
WOW!!! What an AMAZING group of fathers in our community! Now it’s YOUR turn to decide which one of these awesome daddies will receive the title of Super Dad!!
::How to vote for your favorite Super Dad nominee::
Fill out the survey below. Each person is allowed to vote for only 1 nominee, and you are only allowed to vote once. An email address is required to verify and submit your vote, but will not be used further unless you choose to be added to our email list! Be sure to share this post on your Facebook page and with all of your friends and encourage them to vote as well! Voting will end Thursday, June 18th at midnight and the winner will be announced on Friday!
**Voting is closed.
All I can say is hands Michael Hubbard is one in the best dad’s I know!
Hands down I vote for the best daddy in the world, Jeremy Rockwell. Everything that was written about him is 100% true. Even though they may not have a lot, Jeremy ensures they have it all with his love and dedication to his family. Good luck Jeremy you deserve this!
I am very thrilled to support the nomination of Jeremy Rockwell. Having a larger family in today’s economy requires some planning when it comes to supporting and/or planning family day trips, events, supporting and care of children including food, shelter.etc. Jeremy does all this and more and is very honest with his family as to how much they can or can’t do. Jeremy has a huge desire to teach his family the simpler things in life such as fishing, camping, building campfires and cooking a great meal on the grill. Jeremy’a family adores him and are always waiting for daddy to come home. When daddy does come home no matter how tired he may be from many hours on the road, he takes the time first to catch up and play with his family. Jeremy could not be prouder of his family! He has a huge heart and is willing to help anyone. Jeremy is truly a family man. Good luck with your nomination Jeremy!