Phone Call!!

I just got done talking to this guy....

Today he left the MTC in Provo, Utah to head to El Salvador. He left the SLC airport at 8:25am this morning and flew to Dallas, TX. He arrived there at 12:05pm. After a 3-and-a-half hour layover, he boarded a plane for El Salvador at 4:40pm. He will arrive in El Salvador this evening at 6:05pm. And then his "new life" will start. I'm excited to hear from him over the next 22 months as he serves in different areas in El Salvador. He'll have many different experiences--some hard and some great--and I hope he'll share many of those with us. If you want to follow his experiences, check out the link for "A Tar Heel in El Salvador" on the right side of this blog.

He sounded good. He sounded happy. He is excited to get to El Salvador. He says his Spanish is pretty good--but he knows that he'll struggle with the native speakers for a while. He was excited to have a double cheeseburger at McDonald's in Dallas. I LOVED talking to him. It was hard to hang up the phone--but easier than I thought it would be since he seemed so happy and so excited. I can't wait to see what the next 22 months hold for him. :-)

Soccer!!

A weekend or so ago, our friends, the Clawsons, went out of town and left their 7-year-old (Ethan) with us over night and their 5-year-old (Bronwen) with us for the weekend. We had a great time. You've probably seen Bronwen on here before. We like to think she's one of us. In fact, for a long time we had her believing that her name was "Bronwen Amelia Clawson Gilreath". :-)

Anyway, on Saturday, we got to take them to their soccer games. It's been a long time since we've been to a youth soccer game and it was a great two hours. Bronwen played first and I wish I had a video of that game. It is just a mass of kids all trying to kick the ball. Occasionally you'd have a breakout play and those were always exciting. Bronwen did great and we so enjoyed watching her.Right after her game, Ethan had his game. These kids have played soccer for a couple more years so they are better at staying in position and kicking to other members of their team. Their game was actually like a real soccer game.(Why go get the ball--especially when you're the goalie?)

Thanks for sharing your children with us, Matt and Megan!! As always, we enjoyed them!!

Family dinner

We have a family dinner with everyone once a month. It started off with me doing all the cooking and the kids (Jamie and Devin) coming home from UNC so that we were all home at the same time at least once a month. As our family as grown, different members of the family have taken on different parts of the dinner so it's not so much work for any one person. Usually it's at our house, but sometimes it's at Devin and Sarah's home or Jenna and Erik's. This month it was at our home and Jamie had dessert. Will's surprise birthday party was the night before and she had gotten a chocolate mousse cake from Costco. It was a yummy cake--but more fun to play in than to eat...

Vernal Utah

For a week I stayed at my mom and Jim's ranch which is between Vernal and Jensen in Eastern Utah. I read, slept, wrote letters (wonder to who??), watched a little tv, went to the temple, and ran errands with them. It was kind of like being a child again without someone telling me what to do. I helped with meals but I didn't decide what we were going to eat or when we were going to eat. When we went somewhere, I sat in the back seat. I didn't answer the phone--it wasn't for me. I didn't decide what to watch on TV; I just watched along with them or not. (BTW, I am now a big fan of BYU-TV--we watched a lot of that.) No one wanted or needed anything from me and for the first few days, that was nice--then I missed being needed.
Mom has chickens which were kind of interesting to watch and a peacock. The male peacock was beautiful but I never saw him with his feathers spread. The female hen was on her nest which is just under the tree you see in the right of the picture above.

It was a quiet, restful week...

THE DAY--July 28, 2010

We got up early and after breakfast we headed back to Shanna and Austin's so Darin could do some computer training before entering the MTC.

While we were at Austin's, we got a phone call from my mom and she was in Provo on her way to Salt Lake for a doctor's appointment. Darin and I headed back quickly to our hotel so we could meet up with my mom and Jim.

After Mom and Jim left, we shopped for a few things Darin still needed and then we did the final packing. Austin and Shanna had told me how quick good-byes are at the MTC and suggested that we say our good-byes before we got there. So Darin and I said good-bye in the hotel room and it was pretty much downhill from there....
Provo (well, actually Orem) has an In-N-Out now and Darin wanted to go there for his "last" lunch. It was packed and Darin hardly ate anything as the time was getting close to when he needed to check in. As we started the drive towards the MTC, it was awfully quiet in the car. I could tell he was nervous and I was just trying to keep from a total breakdown in the car. As we turned the corner to the MTC, we saw missionaries playing soccer. Darin perked up immediately and decided that at least the soccer would be great!!
Leaving a son or daughter at the MTC has changed--and it's a quick good-bye!! We drove in and they directed us to a parking spot right at the curb. As we parked, three missionaries converged on our car. One was getting the luggage out of the trunk and the other two were busy greeting Darin and asking him where he was going. Before I knew it, he was heading off with the other missionaries. I said, "Wait!! Don't I get a hug?" Darin quickly turned around and came back and hugged me and then he was off without a backwards glance.
I am so sad that I didn't get any pictures at In-N-Out or at the MTC....
The drive to Salt Lake was hard. (I had to pull off twice because I was having a hard time driving....) I dropped off the rental car and my mom and Jim picked me up and took me to their ranch for a week.

July 27, 2010

Our morning started early since Darin and I had a 6:20 am flight out. Darin and I flew through Detroit and then on to Salt Lake City. We picked up our rental car and when to my brother's office. It was so good to see Mark!! From there we were off to Distribution and a walk through temple square.

After a delicious dinner with Mark, we headed down to Provo with a quick stop at the Draper Temple. My mom and Jim were the missionaries in charge of the building of the Draper temple so we were excited to see it up close and personal.From Draper we headed to Provo and our hotel. We quickly dropped in on Austin and Shanna and enjoyed a good visit with them and then we were off to bed. It had been a l-0-n-g day!

July 26, 2010

Darin's last day in Raleigh for two years was spent running errands and packing. That night we went to Devin and Sarah's for dinner all together and Sarah had an impromptu photo shoot with Darin. Here are a few of my favorites....

July 25, 2010

Sunday, July 25, was a busy day for us. It started in the Durham 4 ward with Devin and Sarah. They were blessing baby Sallie.

I made Sallie's blessing dress and it turned out almost perfectly... :-)

Sunday afternoon we headed to Devin and Sarah's for to celebrate Delainey's 2nd birthday. I can't believe it's been 2 years!! In some ways it seems like she's always been here and in other ways it seems SO short....
After the birthday celebration, we were off to President Harding's home so Darin could be set apart as a missionary. That was kind of the beginning of the end for me...it was becoming so real...he really was going to leave to serve a mission for two years in El Salvador....in just two and a half days!!!