The Drop Off

So.....

The Tuesday after Thanksgiving we had all managed to get time off of work (or school, in Nani's case) and load up with all 6 of us for one more road trip for the next couple years. On our way to Utah we stopped at the Farm so Grandma and a few others of the family could tell David goodbye. Grandma is so glad to have another missionary going out and she was nothing but excited for him. I asked her the other day if she cried when her boys all went on their missions, but she said that she was just so glad they had chosen to go, that she wasn't even sad. (We had to tease her that in the case of a couple of our uncles, it was probably more of a relief to have them leaving for a while :).

The weather was perfect and I have to say that I've always rather enjoyed the drive from here to Utah, so I was having a good time.

 We kept asking David all night if he was starting to feel nervous yet, but he always just said, "Nope!" He was so excited to go and I know that it made Mom feel better to know that he wasn't freaking out the whole time. We stopped for dinner at Maddocks, which I've heard about several times, and even tried some of Grandma's leftovers from there when her and Grandpa would stop for dinner - it was quite tasty!! We lad to laugh becuase our cute, young little waitress was asking if we were all related or if David was just lucky to be there with so many girls - so we had to let her down by telling her we were sisters and we were one our way to take him to the MTC. Oh well, I guess he could look her up in two years... :)

We stayed in Salt Lake that night because David wanted to go to the temple with Mom and Dad the next morning. He was too tired to want to go look at the lights on Temple Square, and since he needed a "companion" to be with him all the time, he and Mom hung out at the hotel while the rest of us walked the couple blocks to see the lights.

This is the second year in a row that I've gotten to see them and I'd say it's becoming a promising tradition! I LOVE being there at this time of year. No matter where you look it's just amazing.

Dad had to put up with us three silly girls, but he was a good sport about it.

The nice thing about being there this early before Christmas, and on a Tuesday night, was that there were hardly any crowds. Last year we went the day after Christmas and it was packed. It was so fun just to have all the open space to wander around and take as long as we wanted.

 I don't think I could ever take enough pictures of it over there, it's almost magical!

 The next morning they headed over to the temple and got in around 6:00, so when it got close to 8:00, us girls walked over and waited for them to be finished. We just took a bunch of goofy pictures and got to see the sunrise, which was so cool!
  After Mom, Dad, and David were done we decided to do a few last family pictures before going to have breakfast. Lucky for us, Nani is a master at holding the camera out in front of her and getting everyone in the shot.

 Can you see the excitement in David's face that we're making him be in another picture? I wouldn't be surprised if that's one of the things he was looking forward to doing without for the next two years. :)

It was a fun morning, but also kind of like the breath before the plunge. I know it was on all of our minds that in just a few hours we'd be saying goodbye. But we walked back and had breakfast at the hotel and went on as normally as possible. Even that morning David was still quite confident every time he got asked if he was starting to get nervous.

We got all loaded up and headed down to Provo - which didn't take quite as long as I thought it might. By then I started having a few of those "last minute" thoughts and wondering what exactly we were in for. I was still excited for him, but it was becoming waaay more real all of a sudden.

 We pulled up to the front doors of the MTC and everyone got out as they got his luggage un-loaded from the car. Crazy!! He looked officially like a missionary all of a sudden.

 Time to hug and say goodbye. The man that was there to help get David's luggage inside asked if any of us were girlfriends, so once we got that cleared up, he said we could go a head and hug David. :)

 

 Then all of a sudden it was time.

 They took his luggage and headed for the doors while we stood there and watched.

 And in the blink of an eye, he was gone through the doors and on his way to a whole new experience - and we were outside trying to comprehend it all.

 It wasn't until we drove away that it really hit me and there was a lot of sniffling in the car for the next little while. But over all I think we did pretty good.
  Now he's in Brazil and learning Portuguese and we're just waiting for the first email that he'll hopefully be sending this coming up week! It's hard but it's such a great work he's involved in and we wouldn't have it any other way.