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  Reasons why COVID Summer 2020 will forever be my favorite: 1. I met, and fell in love with, the most amazing man. Zach is everything I ever wanted, and everything I didn’t know I needed. He brings joy into my life, and makes everyday an adventure. We love to explore together, and he makes me laugh all the time. Had COVID not cancelled everything this summer, he might not have been in Provo, and we may never have met. So, thanks COVID. 2. GLO CAME HOME!!!!!! My sister means everything to me, and I am so glad she’s back from her mission so that we can go to school together, and see new movies together, and play music together, and talk about pop culture together. We got to retire the Hermana Kennedy missionary tag, at least until a new one is called. 3. I fulfilled my dream of going to Alaska, which is the most beautiful state ever. I mean, is there anything in Alaska that isn’t beautiful? It was only made better by the fact that I got to go with my awesome brother, Marky. I got to...

I wish I had kept a log through the years of all the trips Greenie made, but let the number of miles Greenie had when I turned him over to Glo suffice:  299, 773. That is a heck of a lot of miles.  The irony is not lost on me that the first trip I made in Greenie was with all of the kids before Ethan left on his mission, and we drove out to Utah--and the final trip I made in him was with Glo, taking him out to Utah.  Yes, when Glo leaves BYU, I'll probably be there, helping her drive him to her next destination in life, but for now, it was goodbye. I have loved Greenie almost like one of my own children.  Before him, there had been numerous Toyota vans that I would drive into the ground at which point John would buy me another used van.  But once we got Greenie, I wanted nor needed another car. What a throwback photo! Greenie outlasted Pearlie ;-) We bought him on a whim when we were out in Germany in late 2009.  John wandered over to Volvo Mil...

For the final three days in Utah, there was lots to do, but nothing of real significance.  It was a lot of picking up things the girls needed and delivering them to them. I also got to have breakfast with Hannie each morning at her work.  Her 15 minute break was at 9:00, so I would grab some dry cereal from the hotel and drive it over.  And those are the moments when I wish my kids lived in the same town as me.  What I wouldn't give to just drive over and have breakfast each day with my girl.  I can't imagine that it will ever happen, but a mom can dream ;-) Each night, we went out for dinner as a foursome (Zach, Hannah, Glo and me).  The first night was a crazy one.  We tried this one Mexican place, but despite one of the doors being open, and the sign saying they were open, there was nobody there and it was closed.  So Zach stepped up and chose the next place--another Mexican joint--which was basically street tacos.  Holy smokes, huge g...

Zach McAllister. I first heard of Zach a few weeks ago when Hannah called me.  She let me talk about my life for a good 20 minutes before telling me that she had something to tell me.  Actually, she had something to tell me about someone .  Three weeks prior, she had gone on a date with a boy that she had met over Mutual, the LDS dating app. Hannah's friend, Jill, had come over and wanted to see how the app worked (she already has a boyfriend), and since Hannah has an account (but didn't have the app on her phone at the time), they downloaded the app again and started "playing".  Yes, that's what Hannah says it is--more of a game than anything.  I guess they swiped on a few boys that they thought were attractive...and one of them happened to be Zach. For Hannah, height is the first qualifier.  If he's short, he's out.  Zach is 6'3". And she saw he was from Michigan and thought that could be fun.  Shortly after "matching", she got a mes...

I haven't been to a lot of national parks outside of Utah, so we could have gone to one of several of them, but with a heat wave punishing the western states, I found the park with the coolest daily temperature ;-) The Grand Tetons were showing at 78 degrees for a high (versus 100+ temperatures everywhere else, including Yellowstone).   We left Idaho and drove two hours to the Tetons.  It's magnificent scenery as one nears the park--they just stand out in the middle of the plains.  But what a surprise as we neared the closest town of Jackson AND THERE WAS A MOOSE ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD! Yeah, we turned around as soon as we saw him so we could take some pictures. Hannah told us that it was good we weren't going to nearby Yellowstone because the crowds would be terrible, but in all honesty, the crowds were pretty bad at the Tetons too.  Maybe it's because we always visit the parks during the off-season, or maybe it's because the majority of Americans have nowhere to ...

Throughout Glo's mission, Ethan Sulik (her boyfriend before her mission) wrote her.  I'm not sure how often he wrote her (I doubt he wrote her when he had a girlfriend), but he was definitely a support to her.  Flowers from him arrived at our home the day she got home from her mission, and she was only home a few days before she called him.  While I couldn't hear the details of her conversations with him over the next few weeks, she would come downstairs energized and happy after talking to him.  He wanted to come out to Michigan to visit her before she headed back to school, but she didn't think that would be the best idea. So, since we had some time after moving the girls in, and before Glo started her RA job, we decided to take a trip up to the Grand Tetons and stop in Idaho along the way for Glo to reconnect with Ethan.  A huge problem was that Ethan wouldn't plan anything--he just kept asking Glo what she wanted to do, and I hope we can all agree that girls...