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I'm never quite sure how Meg's mind works.  One day, she'll just decide that she is coming to visit me, and within the hour, I need to approve the dates and she'll buy the tickets.  For some reason, she wanted to come visit me in the fall to which I repeatedly told her that it's my busiest season and not the greatest time.  But in true Enneagram 8 fashion, she pushed me until we had three days set aside for it. Normally, this kind of thing would push me close to the edge in stress leading up to it, but finding my new mantra of "I am enough" is resetting how I see and react to so many things.  Plus, I absolutely love Enneagram 8s (I believe Katrina is one as well)--they set most people off the wrong way, but I appreciate their honesty and authenticity.  Meg is who she is, she loves me, and there's no hidden agenda. She doesn't expect anything from me, she doesn't criticize me, and she doesn't undermine me. No joke, I can relax and be myself ...

 Last night we had the best night ever at a Tiger's Game. I brought a group of residents to a Tiger's baseball game this past summer and because of that I got on the list of "group leaders", people who brought a group to a Tigers Game.  So recently, I was contacted by the Tigers to come on Fan Appreciation weekend to a special Group Leaders Appreciation activity.  We got two free tickets and I had to go to a presentation beforehand but it included a drink and some snacks and during the presentation, they had drawings.  The amazing thing was that  out of 4 prizes, Larisa won a signed picture of Al Kaline and I won a signed picture of Ron Gardenhire, the Tiger's old manager.  We got to come in to the park through the club entrance and we got our promotional blankets from some friendly ticket takers without anyone else lining up with us.  After we leisurely heard the presentation and had our pop and snacks, we went down to our seats on the first base line...

We are so lucky! We live just 20 minutes from a FABULOUS apple orchard that offers U-Pick apples (and raspberries!).  I first found out about it from one of John's residents who planned the 2020 Resident Retreat here.  I've been wanting to go for several weeks now (I'm looking at you, early ripening McIntosh apples), and we finally made it happen.  Thankfully, Mark was home too, so he got to partake in the goodness.  Erwin's makes it super easy to do: Pay for your empty plastic bag and hop on the wagon (pulled unceremoniously through the mud by a tractor): Hop off.  Pick apples.  Eat as many as you can before you fill your bag.  John wants Macs, Hannah opted for a variety of Golden Delicious, Macs and Empires.        (You'll notice that I am NOT eating any apples in any pictures.  Yeah, I don't really want to repeat the "hillbilly" look that I got the one time I bit into an apple and snapped my front tooth out....) Ten minutes ...

Yesterday, I asked Ethan who was/were the animals of his childhood?  Who were the pets who are inextricably linked with growing up? For me, it was my three cats, Rabbit, Zeb and Noah.  I can't think of my childhood without thinking of them--they were literally there for me around every turn.  Ethan replied that it's Jake and Roxy. Today, we said goodbye to Jake.  It's been an 18-year-long life with him, and Ethan might be the only Kennedy child who doesn't remember a time before Jake was with us.  We only got him because one of his siblings, Ruby, who we had adopted a few weeks before was found poisoned under our car.  John trooped back up the street to get a different cat, and Jake it was.  The German woman who gave Jake to John told John that the cat liked to jump up on the counter to get food. Today, I gave Jake his last can of tuna on the kitchen counter where he has been eating for the last couple of years. Jake personified Germans down to his ver...

FanX 2021, Saturday (Mark, using Glo's Blogger account) It’s hard to talk about a comic con and convey exactly how cool and fun it is, except to just bring people along to the next one and let them experience it for themselves. I think I felt that the first time I went to SLC, and I think Allison felt that before she went to the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo the March before COVID, but as soon as you go, you see just how cool it can be. Especially for someone like me who generally hides their nerdiness in favor of professionalism and to keep my business face on, it’s always crazy gratifying to just let that go for a weekend and realize that I’m actually probably on the more chill side of things(: This one felt special though. I don’t like throwing that phrase around lightly, and that’s not to say that past comic cons haven’t been really awesome, but this one felt especially fun. We were staying with the Mechams, who are AWESOME hosts in every sense of the word, Hannah and ...

 Salt Lake Comic Con comes once every year. Soon after the start of the new BYU semester, a 3 days tidal wave of all things fandom that carrys me in it's wake till the later months of fall semester when I can go home and recharge :) Course SLCC doesn't really carry me physically because I was SO TIRED after this weekend, but it was a good emotional high :) The whirlwind weekend started late Wednesday night when I went to pick up Mark and Hannah up. Having just finished my first Kennedy Cousin soccer game, I was still in my soccer clothes when I arrived at good ol' SLC International Airport. Once we got to the Mecham's we of course chatted with Sister Mecham who had prepared a sheet cake in honor of Hannah's birthday, though we could only tussle up two candles for the occasion, it was a good cake :) Having my first conducting trial the next day, I also randomly practiced, at 11pm at night at the Mecham's kitchen table, the Allegro de Fuoco from Dvorjak and Ravel...

After my fun and family-and friend-laden summer, I knew that September was going to be hard on me.  Fall isn't my favorite season (horrors, I know), and it's usually kinda stressful with the majority of Kennedy birthdays "fall"ing squarely in it, and with Glo leaving for school, I knew to expect that I wouldn't be feeling super great.  Also, I'm going through a bit of a mid-life crisis, trying to figure out what I'm going to do with myself for the next 40-50 years (if my family longevity plays into my life as well)--I always figured I would be busy with in-law children and grand babies, but so far, that isn't panning out.  So, I tried to convince Mark to come on a trip to Latvia with me, and I almost had him convinced, but in the end, he backed out.  And with the temple closed, and no calling on the horizon, I knew I needed a FOCUS.  Dianne Armbrust, the breeder of Dodge, Cherry and Maize, was advertising her last litter of puppies for the season, and ...