Happy Birthday DAD!!

I just wanted to give a shout out to him. He has brought so many wonderful experiences into my life. I get my adventurous side from him. He loves to go to new places and watch people to get a feel for a place. On family vacations, I would stay up late at night with him while he was driving and look at the maps of where we had been and where we were going.

So many times I have been teaching about a place and I can teach about it so much better because he has taken us there. Like when we were talking about immigration in the early 1900’s. How the immigrants passed by the Statue of Liberty. I was able to show them pictures of me as a little girl there and as an adult. It was so fun and the kids loved it too and had tons of questions. Especially teaching here in Alaska where few of the kids have been “outside” it has been wonderful to show them pictures of the country.

The Alamo is another place I have got to teach about where I have been. Again it is because of my dad that I was able to go there and spend Spring Break in San Antonio. It was amazing; all because he had to drop off a car in Laredo, Texas.

He is so giving and wants everyone to love what he loves; weather it is music or traveling or eating. He wants to share it with us. I am grateful for that too. That makes me so much more willing to give and share. Material things have never been important to him he is always willing to give monetarily to others who are in need.

He has taken us to lots of places. There are only 7 states I have not been to with him. A short list of my favorite places Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Mt. Rushmore, The Avenue of the Giants, and Niagara Falls.

He has also provided us with a great example of entrepreneur skills. He has always found work or made work. He has a lot of faith in risking things to get what he wants. He can build anything. I am confident of that. By owning land and farming he gave us that wonderful experience of hard farm work.

He has never let failure or set back get him down. He is a great example to me for going after things I want and that you only get one chance to live so why not drive through Death Valley, or get that ring that you really want, or spend an extra hour stopping by to see people you care about. He loves my mom which is one of the best things he has given or shown us. He loves the gospel and spent a lot of time trying to impart his spiritual wisdom to us. He is quirky and “John McKinney” in everyway but that is how we like him and we wouldn’t know what to do without him.

I hope he has a great day today! I love you dad. I know we have many more experience to have together. Some suggestions lets cross the Atlantic on a Mediterranean cruise or do a train tour of Europe.