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What a creative Santa!  Baby and Brother didn't really want anything to do with him, so he came up with this idea.

It's crazy to think how much John and I used to travel.  Before we moved to Michigan, I think we were generally going somewhere at least once a month, and they were pretty big trips.  I can't even imagine now going diving at least three times a year--that feels like a dream now. Something I learned with my other children who served missions:  take advantage of that "last" opportunity to see them do something before they leave, because chances are, they won't do it when they get back. Example:  When Mark was rowing his freshman year at Michigan, I only went to one of his regattas (guess I was too busy traveling?). I told myself that it was okay--he would be rowing for three more years at Michigan.  He never rowed again after coming home from his mission. Example #2:  I never went to one of Hannah's concerts at BYU.  Not that that was a great loss--the concerts at Interlochen were much better than anything I've seen come out of BYU.  But I to...

November 23, 2018.  The last time I took a child of mine through the temple.  It was everything I had hoped it would be, and more. I can't even begin to describe the happiness that came from that evening.  If I look back on my life, and think of the happiest moments, I believe that evening would rank at the top of the list.  It just doesn't get any better than having all of my children in the temple together.  I wish I could tell everyone I know (and their kids) that nothing is worth not making that happen.  Drop what you are doing, change your lives, and get there.  It's worth everything. It did feel a bit sad, not taking Glo through the Washington DC temple in Kennedy tradition (John, me, Ethan, Mark and Hannah), but it's closed for two years for renovations.  However, the Detroit temple has definitely become "our" temple, so in some ways, it felt much sweeter. Several months ago, a young woman receiving her own endowments came through the...

I hear about people who stop celebrating holidays because of some bad associated memory, or who have some kind of anxiety as certain dates approach on the calendar.  I've never understood that, because for some strange reason, God gave me the ability to forget things rather easily.  I'm not talking about how I forget a movie from one night to the next, but more I can let go of traumatic events.  For sure, this came about because there were so many daily traumatic events in the years of my childhood that it was a matter of survival to be able to forget.  In fact, 30 years later, certain moments will only come back to me now in horrific flashes.  And when I think back on when my dad died in 1983, I can hardly believe that I just went to school the next day and moved on with life with absolutely no time to grieve.  As that fateful September day rolls around each year, I don't pause to remember it or think about him--it comes and goes without fanfare or even re...

Glo has always planned on serving a mission.  Like, always.  I can't think of a time when she wasn't planning on going, and then seeing her brothers leave on missions and receiving her patriarchal blessing solidified her plans. It's just been a matter of waiting for her to turn 19 to be able to submit her papers.  We got everything done over the summer while she was home (doctors' appointments, and religious interviews) so that when the 100 days before the possible date to leave arrived, she was ready to put her papers in. There was a lot of pressure on Glo with three older siblings who have all served foreign missions.  We always joke that if you just plan on Kansas (or in my mind, Indiana would be the worst), you can never be disappointed.  In all honesty, Ethan just didn't want France because of his bad experience attempting to speak French throughout most of his life, and Mark didn't want anywhere cold.  One for two isn't bad, right? :-) Glo seeme...

I can hardly even believe that it's been an entire year since we came back to Grand Cayman.  We used to come here two or three times a year, but with the Kennedy budget cuts, we have learned to be grateful for even being able to return at all. It's too bad that we returned under the cloud of not knowing the status of John's job in Chelsea, because even though the sun was shining, it was pretty dark in our daily existence.  And in all honesty, I'm not sure I can come back and ever feel the unadulterated happiness that I always felt in Cayman before. Anyway.... The diving was really terrific.  There was some crazy wind blowing onto the island for the first three days we were there which meant that the waves on the west side were high and strong.  In fact, when we went to breakfast at the Westin the first morning, the waves were CRASHING onto the shore.  And that night, the waves completely washed out the beach and came all the way up to the bungalows on the ...

(This should probably be a "journal only" post, but since no one reads my blog anymore, I think it's safe.) Since I've posted about all of my kids' first loves, I find that I can't really delete Glo from the spotlight.  Per the usual post about my kids, I wish that they would write the details since they are living their own lives, but per the usual actions of my kids, they don't.  So here I go! Back at the end of September, I was on the phone with Glo (at BYU), and she told me to hold on--there was someone at her door.  I then proceeded to hear what sounded like a very nice, very deep-voiced man ask her if she'd like to go out to dinner with him.  Olive Garden, I believe.  She came back on the phone, acting like nothing had even happened, and it took a minute for me to say, "Glo, did you just get asked out on a DATE?"  Yeah, in true Glo form, it was no big deal... Turns out, Ethan (yes, what are the chances?) had been thinking about a...

Sixteen months now.  We've been living in Michigan now for sixteen months.  We sold our house five months ago. It has been such a relief to be where we are.  I seriously love where we live. I love that John and I always have so much to do.  There is always some athletic event to watch, or some cider mill to visit on a Saturday morning, or some restaurant we want to try, or some concert to attend.  We never have a lack of things to do which is nice since we don't have the kids around anymore. I also love the Border 2 Border trail that I walk every day.  Five to seven miles of a paved trail through woods and fields.  In all the years we lived in PA, I never found a path that I could walk outside comfortably, so the treadmills at Planet Fitness and the Nittany Mall became my daily walking routes.  I love heading outdoors with very few people around, seeing different animal friends along the way, and listening to my scriptures.  It's been a...