On Monday we took a family day.
I was up early with Zach and we finished off packing. So much to pack!
After packing, and a few tears, Zach went for a walk with Josh.
We decided to pick up some Burgers Priest for lunch and headed to the beach for a picnic. We laughed because we made it to the grassy area only and found a nice table and chilled there.
We had some special family time back at home which included Rob giving Zach a painting he painted of the Northern Lights – which Zach had been asking for all year and thought Rob forgot. It was an emotional family time as it was our last “family home evening” – that was a thin moment for us.
The kids hung out with friends that night- and Zach said most of his goodbyes to his good friends (most had to work the next day so could not come to the airport).
All our kids stayed up super late because we had to take Josh and Sam to the church as they were leaving on a bus at 3am to go on a trip with the youth to Nauvoo. We all went to see them off and Zach said goodbyes. Zandra did too since she wouldn’t see these girls until Christmas!
Nothing like a family photo taken at 2:30am:
It was very emotional for the boys to say goodbye. My heart took many more pictures. Zach gave them each a letter too. And his red towel is his “cry towel” which he carried around all day.
Honestly one of the most beautiful parts was watching the boys interact. It’s not very often to see expressions of love as intense as we did – especially at this age. These brothers have special bonds and I feel very blessed that my kids are so close to each other.
We watched the bus pull out, then headed home and crawled back in bed for a few hours and got some sleep.
We did some last minute packing and final conversations when we woke up.
Zach had to be set apart (by way if a special blessing/prayer) as a missionary so he got ready and we headed to the church for that.
This will substitute for his first day of school pic!
Unfortunately the person who was setting him apart had forgotten! We sat and waited and had a few more hugs:
We ended up finally getting in touch with the person and he met us back at home since we had to get ready for the airport.
Again, we had a little family meeting and a very emotional last few words and then he was set apart as Elder Fiore – what he will be called the next two years!
He said good bye to Reggie.
Then loaded the car:
Zach had some friends come to the airport.
I handed out Kleenex.
He said some emotional good byes and we were off.
At the gate, he had a snack, and then he crashed.
I didn’t mind.
His friends sent me a pic to show him; they needed hydration:
On the plane, he wanted back scratches too. Of course, I obliged.
When we arrived, he thought my brother was picking us up… but we hugely surprised him and he was thrilled to be greeted by Gabe and Shannon. Shannon took an awesome video of it – but you can tell on his face how happy he was:
We went to grab some dinner with a couple of cousins.
Then we hung out until late into the night talking. It was a great distraction and so fun to catch up.
Not sure how much sleep I got…
