It is hard to beleive, but the day finally came and Carlitos is currently at the MTC!
Sunday, December 30th
His last Sunday at home was December 30th. He, my husband and I all spoke at church during sacrament meeting and sweet little Emily bore her testimony. Once church was over, we had a potluck in the gym for everyone to gather, eat and wish Carlitos farewell.
That evening, we drove out to the stake center for Carlitos to be set apart by our stake president. He gave all of our kids commitment pins. Emily and David have both said they are going to serve missions. David says he is going to Arizona, just like his big brother.
Some of Carlitos’ closest friends wanted to stay with him as long as possible. We would be leaving around 4am, to set out on our trip to Utah. I thought it was the sweetest thing, that these boys didn’t sit on their phones, play video games all night or watch TV or movies. They ordered pizza and played a few rounds of sorry instead.
Monday, December 31st
We took lots of pictures on the beginning of our trip as those would be our last pictures taken with Carlitos for the next two years.
We spent our last day of 2018 driving to Utah. We made it there safely and have much to be thankful for at the end of the year. 2018 was a hard year for me, and yet I feel very blessed. I can’t wait to see what 2019 has in store for our family. I know it will be better than 2018. How could it not be, when we are starting off the year by bringing our oldest son to the MTC? 🙂
Tuesday, January 1st
We were so happy to be at my Grandma Evelyn’s home. It was great to see her, as it had been 2.5 years. We had the opportunity to visit with my Aunt Karen, my cousin Julie and her daughter Sophia. Here is a pic of my kids their cute little 2nd cousin, Sophie in the middle.
That evening, my Aunt Amy and Uncle Eric and my cousins Emily and Preston came over for dinner. The picture below is my cousin Emily looking at Ian’s photo album with him. Ian and Emily were born the same year. They are 2 months apart. It was so sweet of her to take a few minutes to visit with Ian. My hubby took this pic! I must be rubbing off on him. 😉
Our last day with Carlitos! We thought it would be fun and meaningful to take a walk down on temple square and see all the lights.
Wednesday, January 2nd ~ The Big Day!
MTC Day has arrived! I was so happy, but also knew I would end up crying. In the morning, Carlos and I had a sat down with Carlitos had a nice talk with him, about how much we love him, how proud we are of him and gave him some kind and encouraging words. Carlos did most of the talking, because there was a big lump in my throat. We ended with hugs and a few tears. We gave Carlitos a pin that says, “return with honor” there was a matching heart shaped pin for me that says, “missionary mom.”
Once we were all upstairs, Carlos gave Carlitos a Father’s Blessing before we headed out.
Next, we met our friends, The Gows in Provo for lunch. It was nice to see them and chat for a little bit. I didn’t get any pictures though. Then we went to the Provo Temple, where we all piled out of the car for our last family photo with all 8 of us together for a while.
Then it was off to the Missionary Training Center. We stopped to take our last family picture at the Provo Temple. Many of us felt the tears start coming as soon as that picture was taken. We had our last hugs, as we knew we might not all be able to get out of the expedition at the MTC.
The MTC drop off was joyous and yet sad. The only way I can explain it is that we were so happy for Carlitos and the decision he has made to serve the Lord and yet we are going to be missing him terribly. Even though we are going to be missing him so much, there is no other place we would want him to be at more than at the MTC. What a mixture of emotions! We love our missionary so much and are very proud of him. And yes, we all cried.
Afterward, it was almost as if we didn’t know what to do with our selves. We drove to the nearby BYU campus parking lot and sat there for a few minutes. We watched the video we took of Carlitos getting out and our hugs and him walking away with his luggage. We cried some more. Then we decided we needed to let these kids do something fun. So, Ashley & Jose went over to the Gow’s house to hand out with their friends Addie and Sarah. Carlos and I took Emily, David and Ian to Nickle City to play some games.
Back at grandma’s that evening, we played some games together after dinner. Pig Out and Skipbo were the games of the night.
Thursday, January 3rd
This was our first full day without our dear Carlitos. We wanted the kids to have some more fun and keep things positive, so we went out for lunch.
My sweet Aunt Amy had given us some passes to a sports complex, so we headed there next. I was impressed with all there was to do at the sports complex! We were there for three hours and were not able to do everything. This is definitely a place I’d like to take the kids to again.
Friday, January 4th
Today we took things easy. Carlos went to a job interview in Ogden. From there, we went out to visit some friends who live in Huntsville. They took of sledding and then we ate dinner with them at their house. We have never gone sledding before. This was the most snow my kids have ever played in. They all had fun. Emily and David went down the hill once together and the bumped up at the end of the hill and they fell off the sled. David ended up skinning his little nose. It was really cold, but lots of fun.
Here are little Gideon and David. The Burtons moved away when these two were just a few months old. They quickly became friends today. 🙂 It was nice to be able to visit and catch up with our old friends.
January 5th, 2019
Earlier during the week, we had gone to Deseret Book. I LOVE this store. I buy things from their online store every Christmas and few other times throughout the year. We don’t have one nearby where we live. Anyway, while we were there, the kids each picked something out. Ashley picked out a lego set of the Salt Lake Temple. She had put it together while we were staying at my grandma’s. I took these pictures right before we left on our road trip back home. It was wonderful to be able to see my dear grandma. We always love coming to visit her. On our way out of Utah we made a quick stop to see my cousin Cami, her husband Isaac and a few of their kids. We were also able to see the home the renovating. It was great to catch up with her for a little bit.
Above are a few pictures from swimming at the hotel. Below are pictures from the following morning, which was El Dia De Los Reyes.
Well, this brought our trip of bringing our dear Carlitos (or as little David would remind me, “Mom, he is Elder Juarez now!”) to the MTC to an end. Now I’m a missionary mom! I will admit that I cried once a day for the first week. Getting that 1st email helped….of course I cried when I read that too! I am so thankful for the opportunity he has to serve a mission. <3