not goodbye….See you 2

Monday night July 22nd I told Weston I would take him to the dinner of his choice…and for him not to think about price ~ this would be his last American meal for 2 years and I wanted it to be just want he wanted.  He really hadn't decided until he was cleaning out his wallet and came across a gift card that was stuffed in his Christmas stocking.  Santa Claus meant for it to be used as date money but he had never used it so he chose Outback Steakhouse in Layton.  Crazy kid!  We all had a great dinner the conversation was light and lots of laughs.  Weston of course chose a New York strip medium rare with french fries and a Coke.  :)

These are photos of the dinner… Tom was trying to get us all but we decided to ask our nice waitress to capture the night for us

After dinner we all headed over to the stake center, Weston had an 8:30 PM appointment to be set apart as an official missionary.  Josh, Jenn, Liam and Hadlee met us there as did Shane, Heidi, Kaelton, Mariah, Mckenzie, Matti, Mari and Karver.   Debbie, Josh, Landon, and Parker Winterbottom also joined us.  It was such an emotional experience for everyone.  The blessing that President Christensen gave to Weston touched on literally all of my fears and concerns for my son while he is away.  I hadn't really cried to too much until that night and then I literally could not stop the flood gates. 

There were several more photos taken that night ….I will edit this post when I get them. No one wanted to leave because we all knew if we went home we were that much closer to saying goodbye.
Not too many dry eyes at the stake center that night.
Once we were home we finished packing his suitcases and just chatted.  Josh, Kaelton, and Sterling all came over to visit (these 3 boys just couldn't leave his side ~ it was very touching)  We finally told Weston that he needed to sleep he had a very long day ahead of him.  His friends were more than welcome to stay but they needed to let Weston sleep.
We woke up about 4:30 to prepare to leave for the airport by 5:20 or so.  One last photo in front of the fireplace

The Taylors gave Weston this flag as a gift.  What an awesome family, one that our family really looks up to and loves.

I had told Wes that if Ster wanted to go to the airport this us that was fine just let me know and I would try to borrow a bigger car just for the morning.  I was never given an answer to I just assumed they would say their goodbyes at the house….WRONG!!!!!!  So we all piled in our Blazer, yep the Blazer made for 5 but 6 wasn't too bad.  As we backed out of the drive way Kaelton was fighting back the tears so Tom and I looked at eachother and knew what needed to done.  Kaelton too climbed in the Blazer made for 5 so now the 7 of us headed to the SLC airport.  The ride down was full of laughs followed by moments of silence and back to laughs.  I listened and fought back the tears.  Once at the airport, Wes was never without help.

When we finally made our way to the American Airlines terminal we were simply overcome with emotion as we witnessed literally 100s of other missionaries and their families saying their goodbyes.  It was an awesome sight.  The gospel is literally reaching all corners of the earth.  AMAZING.
We waited as long as we could but finally we had to let go..

Let me tell you real quick what these two men mean to my boy…… THE WORLD!

They are both his heros in so many ways.  They have seen Weston at his worst, at his best and at his in between and they have never stopped loving him.  Yep I can say love because they seriously love each other in a brotherly/best friend way.  I too love them and thank them from the bottom of my heart for supporting him as he leads the way.  Kaelt and Ster please know you will ALWAYS have a room here as well as an open fridge ~ please stop by and say hi to mom.  

Weston told us:

"it is not goodbye ~ it is see U in 2"