A couple of months ago, Elder Thomas told me about his homecoming in Utah. I asked the dates, checked for airline tickets, and decided to go. He did so much for us when he was in Chelsea that I felt like I owed him BIG TIME. Conveniently, his homecoming was just a week before Hannie's birthday, so it was a double win!
I had been collecting gifts for Hannah over the past few months, and when the day came to leave, there wasn't much room in my suitcase for my own clothes ;-). But saving the money on shipping? Yes, please.
So when I landed in Salt Lake, I called Hannah. She told me that she was in a cell phone lot, waiting for me, but she would be right there. This is what drove up:
Oh my gosh, she was priceless! She came straight from Salt Lake Comic Con, so I got to see her in her full glory, and to her credit, her costume was AMAZING!
We were supposed to go to bed early because we had a big day the next day, but of course we didn't.
The next morning, we were up and *almost* ready to go on time (looking at you, and your fifteen minutes of lateness, Hannie....). We had planned something most exciting--attending a live endowment session in the Salt Lake temple. No movie here, but instead live people saying and acting out everything.
Hannah had invited Ethan Sulik to come with us. He was so cool about us being late which I appreciated. And holy smokes, I could hardly believe the change in him when I saw him--turns out, he has lost 30 pounds!
The temple was INCREDIBLE! I mean, walking through the halls of the Salt Lake temple alone feels like an art museum. Everything is hand-crafted, and old, and beautiful, and I did wonder which of the paintings hanging there is real. It's too bad they don't give tours of the temple, because I'm sure there are some stories there ;-).
When we were waiting in the chapel, Ethan showed us the name he had been given. The crazy part wasn't the name itself, but the submitter--Wendy Watson Nelson, or the prophet's wife. What I wouldn't have given to have my camera with me because her address and phone number were on the card, and seeing that it was President Nelson's birthday, we could have, you know, dropped off some brownies or something!
I loved the live endowment. I went over 30 years ago, and I remember I didn't like it, but maybe it's maturity? I don't know. I just loved it. Plus, moving from room to room? It means a lot more when you have walls to look at that are painted to represent where you are. And being there with Hannah was so fun.
Afterwards, we switched shoes (Hannah's were given her blisters, and my feet were suffering from practicing Air Force exercises the day before with John), and the three of us walked over to The Cheesecake Factory.
I have a love/hate relationship with The Cheesecake Factory. I seriously love the food (especially the cheesecake, duh!), but it does NOT love me. I have to order something "lite" and even then, only eat a portion of it. I think I might have found a winner though--chicken tacos. Man, those were so tasty. Hannah ordered a turkey/avocado sandwich, and Ethan ordered orange chicken.
Holy smokes, Ethan can put away food! He didn't need to stop or slow down. He just kept going, while I was sitting there talking and talking and talking...and Hannah was in the bathroom. Yep, Cheesecake Factory doesn't treat her very well either ;-( It was so good to catch up with him. I've missed having him in our lives.
With a quick stop in Provo at Deseret Book (to pick me up some new garments....since I couldn't fit any in my suitcase) and another stop at Hannah's apartment, we were off, headed (as we say in Michigan) down state.
And by the way, Hannah has gone to town on bumper stickers on Jewel....
I love getting out of Happy Valley. The traffic thins, and the air clears. Central and Southern Utah are really beautiful, although with the lack of rain they've had this year, it wasn't near as green as when we were there in May.
As it turned out, Elder Thomas could meet with us to practice. So, three hours later, we drove into Enoch (cue eye roll) and walked up to the church where we would be performing.
Yes, when I asked Elder Thomas if I could do anything for his homecoming, he asked me to do a musical number. He had sent me some songs over the past few weeks, changing his mind occasionally (poor Hannie didn't get the memo, and had been listening painfully to "Come to Jesus" for the past two weeks, scoops and all). He finally settled on "If The Savior Stood Beside Me" with Hannah singing solo. Well, three days out, I called Hannah and we sang/played it over the phone together. All we got from it is that it is such a boring arrangement, so I asked Elder Thomas if he would like to sing melody, and Hannah could sing harmony. Well as he put it (from the pulpit during his homecoming talk, no less), when Sister Kennedy "asks", it really means that he will "do" :-) So, we met him to rehearse it. Thankfully, he's an excellent musician, so it only took two run-throughs to get it, and Hannah was the super star, for sure. She just made up harmonies on the spot which someone should write down because they sounded so good.
Well, in my mind, ten minutes isn't near long enough to play and sing, so I pulled out the backup song that I figured would work in a pinch: "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" arranged by Michael Hicks, my old BYU professor. By this time, his mother had arrived, and we decided to just sightread it too (again with super star, harmonizing Hannah), and it was beautiful as well.
At this point, Elder Thomas asked us what we were doing (we were originally planning on going to the St. George temple that night, but were postponing it until the next evening), and when we replied that we had nothing going on, he asked if we would go over to his grandma's house to sing for her. Sure! I mean, this is what we Kennedys LIVE for!
So we drove about ten minutes down the road. His grandma is a treasure. Seriously, she's what all of my kids wish they had. She didn't look old enough to have 13+ grandchildren, she was vibrant, and her house was spotless. We sang for her, and she was in tears, and without missing a beat, she told us that we needed to sing BOTH of the songs for the homecoming. I kid you not, Elder Thomas didn't miss a beat (which is yet another reason he was so successful as a missionary). He was on the phone, making calls, to see if it could happen. It was only a couple of hours later that he texted us and told us that we would be singing "Redeemer" at 10:30 on Sunday in the ward that was his ward when he left on his mission, and we would be singing "Savior" at noon in his new ward :-)
Before we left Cedar City to head to our hotel near Zion National Park, I stopped at Joann's. One of the gifts I had brought for Hannah was a hemp "Anne of Green Gables" hat that John had bought for her at Ann Arbor art fair (along with buying Glo and me one as well). I had to give it to her first thing, because I had had to hand carry it on the plane so she naturally saw it right away. I didn't think she'd particularly love it, but I kid you not, she hadn't taken it off all day, even wearing it while we were rehearsing and on the 3-hour car ride. Hannah is nothing if not an embellisher, so she ran into Joann's to find some flowers to put on her hat.
It was only 45 minutes to our hotel which wasn't far from the entrance to the park. Again, I thought we would go to be early, but nope. We finally turned off the lights at 1 a.m., but how nice it was to say a nighttime prayer together before we shut our eyes <3
I had been collecting gifts for Hannah over the past few months, and when the day came to leave, there wasn't much room in my suitcase for my own clothes ;-). But saving the money on shipping? Yes, please.
So when I landed in Salt Lake, I called Hannah. She told me that she was in a cell phone lot, waiting for me, but she would be right there. This is what drove up:
Oh my gosh, she was priceless! She came straight from Salt Lake Comic Con, so I got to see her in her full glory, and to her credit, her costume was AMAZING!
We were supposed to go to bed early because we had a big day the next day, but of course we didn't.
The next morning, we were up and *almost* ready to go on time (looking at you, and your fifteen minutes of lateness, Hannie....). We had planned something most exciting--attending a live endowment session in the Salt Lake temple. No movie here, but instead live people saying and acting out everything.
Hannah had invited Ethan Sulik to come with us. He was so cool about us being late which I appreciated. And holy smokes, I could hardly believe the change in him when I saw him--turns out, he has lost 30 pounds!
The temple was INCREDIBLE! I mean, walking through the halls of the Salt Lake temple alone feels like an art museum. Everything is hand-crafted, and old, and beautiful, and I did wonder which of the paintings hanging there is real. It's too bad they don't give tours of the temple, because I'm sure there are some stories there ;-).
 |
| I took this picture INSIDE THE TEMPLE because one of Glo's favorite artists in Minerva Teichert. |
I loved the live endowment. I went over 30 years ago, and I remember I didn't like it, but maybe it's maturity? I don't know. I just loved it. Plus, moving from room to room? It means a lot more when you have walls to look at that are painted to represent where you are. And being there with Hannah was so fun.
Afterwards, we switched shoes (Hannah's were given her blisters, and my feet were suffering from practicing Air Force exercises the day before with John), and the three of us walked over to The Cheesecake Factory.
 |
| Little did I know that Sharon Eubank (of the General RS presidency) had just walked by us...but Hannah did! I guess Hannah played her viola for her in Ecuador. Hannah was geeking out, but I had the presence of mind to snap a quick photo! |
I have a love/hate relationship with The Cheesecake Factory. I seriously love the food (especially the cheesecake, duh!), but it does NOT love me. I have to order something "lite" and even then, only eat a portion of it. I think I might have found a winner though--chicken tacos. Man, those were so tasty. Hannah ordered a turkey/avocado sandwich, and Ethan ordered orange chicken.
Holy smokes, Ethan can put away food! He didn't need to stop or slow down. He just kept going, while I was sitting there talking and talking and talking...and Hannah was in the bathroom. Yep, Cheesecake Factory doesn't treat her very well either ;-( It was so good to catch up with him. I've missed having him in our lives.
With a quick stop in Provo at Deseret Book (to pick me up some new garments....since I couldn't fit any in my suitcase) and another stop at Hannah's apartment, we were off, headed (as we say in Michigan) down state.
 |
| Hannah's art is definitely spread around her apartment. She says her roommates are very thankful ;-) |
And by the way, Hannah has gone to town on bumper stickers on Jewel....
I love getting out of Happy Valley. The traffic thins, and the air clears. Central and Southern Utah are really beautiful, although with the lack of rain they've had this year, it wasn't near as green as when we were there in May.
As it turned out, Elder Thomas could meet with us to practice. So, three hours later, we drove into Enoch (cue eye roll) and walked up to the church where we would be performing.
Yes, when I asked Elder Thomas if I could do anything for his homecoming, he asked me to do a musical number. He had sent me some songs over the past few weeks, changing his mind occasionally (poor Hannie didn't get the memo, and had been listening painfully to "Come to Jesus" for the past two weeks, scoops and all). He finally settled on "If The Savior Stood Beside Me" with Hannah singing solo. Well, three days out, I called Hannah and we sang/played it over the phone together. All we got from it is that it is such a boring arrangement, so I asked Elder Thomas if he would like to sing melody, and Hannah could sing harmony. Well as he put it (from the pulpit during his homecoming talk, no less), when Sister Kennedy "asks", it really means that he will "do" :-) So, we met him to rehearse it. Thankfully, he's an excellent musician, so it only took two run-throughs to get it, and Hannah was the super star, for sure. She just made up harmonies on the spot which someone should write down because they sounded so good.
Well, in my mind, ten minutes isn't near long enough to play and sing, so I pulled out the backup song that I figured would work in a pinch: "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" arranged by Michael Hicks, my old BYU professor. By this time, his mother had arrived, and we decided to just sightread it too (again with super star, harmonizing Hannah), and it was beautiful as well.
At this point, Elder Thomas asked us what we were doing (we were originally planning on going to the St. George temple that night, but were postponing it until the next evening), and when we replied that we had nothing going on, he asked if we would go over to his grandma's house to sing for her. Sure! I mean, this is what we Kennedys LIVE for!
So we drove about ten minutes down the road. His grandma is a treasure. Seriously, she's what all of my kids wish they had. She didn't look old enough to have 13+ grandchildren, she was vibrant, and her house was spotless. We sang for her, and she was in tears, and without missing a beat, she told us that we needed to sing BOTH of the songs for the homecoming. I kid you not, Elder Thomas didn't miss a beat (which is yet another reason he was so successful as a missionary). He was on the phone, making calls, to see if it could happen. It was only a couple of hours later that he texted us and told us that we would be singing "Redeemer" at 10:30 on Sunday in the ward that was his ward when he left on his mission, and we would be singing "Savior" at noon in his new ward :-)
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| In the airport, rocking the outfit ;-) |
It was only 45 minutes to our hotel which wasn't far from the entrance to the park. Again, I thought we would go to be early, but nope. We finally turned off the lights at 1 a.m., but how nice it was to say a nighttime prayer together before we shut our eyes <3
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