January: Happy Birthday Lynnsey, We Have a Missionary, Frigid Winter, and A Big Day for Lynnsey

Now that April is here, let's talk about January! One of these days I really want to catch up on these posts. And then stay caught up. Anyway, here we go:

We started off the year well with Kaya healing nicely so far from surgery and the kids resumed their usual school schedule without incident. Lynnsey celebrated her 12th birthday! It will never cease to amaze me how fast my children are growing up. This birthday marks the end of her time in the Primary organization at church and she enters the Young Women program. She is ready. She has been ready for awhile now and so far she absolutely loves her leaders and all the girls in there with her.

Since it is an even numbered year, she was able to have a friend party. It just so happened that there was a kid friendly movie playing at the Bohm Theater so she decided to invite a few friends to do that. Then everyone came back to our house for gifts at cake. Kendall stayed home from the movie to work on her cake with some of his new cake decorating tools that he got for Christmas. It was his first experiment with them and we thought he did a great job on both the cake (red velvet) and the decorating.

After all the girls left to go home, we had another little mini family party so she could open up her family gifts before Taylor had to leave for work.

As January went on, it started sinking in that Taylor was actually going to be leaving us! He worked right up until just a few days before he had to leave so he wound up getting behind on some of his preparations. We did make a few shopping trips to get the items he needed but he hadn't packed up anything for his mission or anything in his room which Kendall was anxiously waiting to take over. We wound up having a bunch of the Duchesne relatives come out for the weekend before Taylor had to leave so they could be here for his farewell talk at church. It was wonderful that they could come and it gave Taylor the chance to visit with Timothy and play his new Doctor Who Risk game. We also were able to make one last trip to the temple with him. But it sure didn't help the packing up process happen. His farewell talk was great--he went over his time by A LOT but it was a great talk. The men (and one young woman) in the branch paid a fun tribute to Taylor by all wearing bow ties that day. My camera was dead so I need to see if I can get a picture from someone  who took one of the whole group, but it was such a sweet gesture and I know it meant a lot to Taylor to be surprised that way.

The day before Taylor was set to leave, he still hadn't packed a single thing. So it was a day of meltdowns as he realized he was just out of time and everything was hitting him that he was actually leaving. He was so emotional all day and when he wasn't crying, he was panicking. Finally, late into the night he got everything packed to go. His room just had to be left with promises that we would box everything up and not get rid of anything because he wants to go through it when he comes home.

After only a few hours sleep we got everyone up and headed for the airport. (Except Kendall who didn't think he could afford to miss school so we dropped him off at my mom's so she could get him there.) It was a hard ride as we contemplated that this was actually happening. How was this actually happening? How did this happen so fast? How do I have a son old enough to even go on a mission? We arrived at the airport and got Taylor all checked in and then we had a few minutes to say goodbye before he had to go through security. It was emotional but amazing to think about the experience that he is embarking upon and about all of his life of good choices leading up to this moment. We are so proud of him and we know that this experience will help him grow and mature like nothing else will.

                                       

After one last wave before he disappeared through security, we headed back home to embark upon our new experience of having only four kids at home. Taylor's flight went well and he was able to spend some time with the Oswald side of the family for the rest of Tuesday before they took him to the MTC on Wednesday. He had a great time and I think that helped calm some of his nerves about the mission just to spend time with them. He and Todd spent a lot of time in Logan Canyon on Tuesday and I think that was his favorite part of the visit.

The next day they all journeyed to Provo and spent some time on the temple grounds and going to eat lunch before it was time to send him off. I wish we had been able to do it ourselves, but we are so thankful that in our absence, we had such a great group of family who could be there for him. 

                                     
While Taylor was having the time of his life at the MTC (he LOVED it there!) life here continued as usual. We got to have another trip to the temple, this time for a youth temple trip. My mom watched the younger kids so I could go along too since this was Lynnsey's first time ever being able to go and perform baptisms. It was a wonderful day and I think she really enjoyed the experience.

These kids of mine just keep on growing up, but I am so happy when I see the way they are turning out to be such wonderful people who make good choices that will bless them for the rest of their lives if they continue along the path they are headed.