But before that happened we had a busy couple of weeks. First, we picked Brandon up from the airport as he returned from his mission in Hungary. A week later we had a lovely Thanksgiving Day. On November 25 both Brandon and Ryan spoke in church, and we had lots of family and friends over to our house that day. (Too bad I was not cool enough to take any pictures.) Jason and Adreanna were here, too, so it was our big opportunity—and the only opportunity for two years!—to have a family photo. We didn't hire a photographer, but Jason brought the camera he's using for his photography class, and a tripod, and we got a couple of photos.
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| It's not professional, or spectacular, but we are all there! |
It is possible that the next time we have a family picture with all of us in it that there could be more spouses, and maybe even a baby. (This is not an announcement; there are no baby plans yet.)
Well, then we had to finish getting Ryan ready, and packed up, on Monday and Tuesday, and on Wednesday morning we got to say our goodbyes. Or farewell, anyway.
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| Lindsey got up to take the girls to school; before they left I told them it would be their last chance to hug their brother. So they all did, one by one, before I could point the camera at them. This is a group hug (sort of) staged for a pic. |
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| This is a real, genuine hug. Brandon is a little sad that he only got two weeks with Ryan, but he's also happy that Ryan is serving a mission. |
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| Jessica's hug is also genuine. |
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| And this one was so funny and awkward that I wish I'd taken a video. My plan was to take pictures of my kids actually giving Ryan real hugs, but Michael tried to give a side hug for the camera. It was very funny. Of course, after the picture he gave Ryan a real hug (that I didn't capture). |
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| packing his suitcases into the car |
And then we were off, to make the three-hour trip to Provo. The drive was uneventful—at least I'm pretty sure it was; I slept through most of it. We got there a couple of hours before Ryan had to report to the MTC, so we stopped at the Provo City Center Temple to take some pictures. In the Visitor's Center we were greeted by Elder Walter who took our pictures.
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| inside the Visitor's Center |
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| outside the Provo City Center Temple |
Elder Walter also recommended a really great Mexican restaurant (Los Hermanos) for lunch. Los Hermanos gives a free meal to every missionary entering the MTC. There were a lot of missionaries and their families there, but the wait wasn't too long, and the food was delicious. We had no time (or room in our stomachs!) to go around the corner to the ice cream shop that Elder Walter recommended. It was time to take Ryan to the MTC.
There's a lot of traffic around the Provo MTC on Wednesdays, but we only had to wait through about six or seven light cycles to get in. Down in the parking garage we were met by a nice young missionary (I don't recall his name) who took our picture one last time, and helped Ryan get his bags, and escorted him into the MTC. (Where, I suspect, one of the first things he'll have to do is get his hair cut...)
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| speaking of awkward photos... |
And that was it. My youngest son is off, gone for the next two years. I did cry a little after he left. I don't like it when my family goes away; it was good Bruce was there to cheer me up. But this—Ryan's going—is good.
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