So I've known this day was coming since February but....are you ever REALLY ready for a child to leave home??? I think having her at BYU this past year really helped me into this new phase of life. I can't believe I have a missionary out in the field! I swear I just picked her up from BYU to come home for the summer (okay, so that was like April).
She got to come home and was blessed to find a full-time job so she did work a lot this summer but
we sure packed in a lot of life and love her last couple of weeks here. I can't even begin to express how incredibly PROUD I am of her.
Her farewell talk was AMAZING. She writes so darn well--she did ACE the English portion of the ACT (scored a perfect 36). I laughed at her when she asked ME to proof-read her talk. Please girl! I was overwhelmed with the amount of people that came out to the Santan Branch meeting that morning. How blessed we have been to be in our current home for 15 years. In this one location, we have been in 9 wards, 3 stakes, and 2 zip codes which is a TON of change for sure but we have come to know a lot of great people because of it.
On her farewell day, an Elder from our Branch was returning home the same week after completing his 2 year mission--so it was a "farewell" for BOTH. This Elder had served on the Reservation for a year and was well-loved by all the members. When he finished his testimony, he received a Native "war-cry" from a member which is a great honor amongst the Natives--but FREAKED OUT all the white folk. Here is a video of my Great Niece, Lennon, mimicking the sound:
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| The Wilsons! |
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| The Biggs |
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| BFFs--Kayleah & Tayte |
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| BEST MISSIONARIES EVER! From right to left: Elder Wright, Elder Bennett, & Elder Mickelson |
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| The Knoop Troop |
The Open House that night was STANDING ROOM ONLY! I was blown away of all the people who came. Seriously did NOT expect the turn-out we had. Such an INCREDIBLE place we live.
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| Tayte, Kayleah, Carlie, Lois, Kalissa, & Rhett |
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| My boys LOVE these Elders! One last pic with Elder Wright before he left! |
Last family dinner was at Si Senor of course. This is a funny pic of all 4 of our kids in the back of dad's truck. They wanted to be sure they all fit before we took her to the airport:)
President Hansen came over on Tuesday night to set her apart. We were having MAJOR issues getting our boys dressed PROPERLY for the occasion! Seriously boys...
We were up bright and EARLY for her 6:05 am flight on Wednesday. We got up at 3:45 to leave by 4. At 3:47 am we got an email saying her flight was delayed 2 hours. No biggie. We were already awake and not going back to sleep, just gave us time to grab breakfast. While at Dennys, another email came through saying her flight had been delayed another 2 hours. Ugh...so we got her to the airport in plenty of time. Casually got her bags checked in and hung out for a short time. I was doing really well holding it together until I saw a good friend of mine, Susan S., dropping her son off and balling her eyes out. That was IT for me. Ugly crying, didn't even care who was looking. We said our goodbyes and then off we went leaving our baby girl at the airport.
She made it to the MTC--4 hours later than planned--but she made it. Some kind soul in the SLC airport sent this pic to me. I'm ALWAYS gonna do this from now on--when I see missionaries coming/going in any airport, I'm gonna take their pic and send it to their families. TOTALLY MADE MY DAY!
So there you go Canada...you're getting some of my best work so treat her good okay?
