The Whirl-Wind Prep

for entering the MTC the following Monday.  That became even more complicated because we also had to take our car to the shop in Salt Lake. Fortunately, we still have our old white truck so we were able to still do the needed things and go where we needed to go during the next few days.

Waiting for the front runner--Gary and I love trains and
we have missed our frequent trips over the train crossing
on Gordon Ave, so Jena took a picture as we were heading
down to Salt Lake to take the car in.

While we didn't have much snow coming into Utah, we woke up to snow on the truck on Friday.  Winter does not want to stop in Utah this year.

I opened up my planner to make a list for our errands and found that the last week I used my planner was the week we left our last mission--February 20-27th--that is what vacations do to you.

Gary did discover one "missionary rule" he could break during our vacation--no shaving!  This was his month of growth right before he shaved before going to our Stake Conference Saturday night meeting.

Our suitcases were packed with our traveling clothes and one set of Church clothes.  We cleaned all of those and then picked up all of our Church clothes from our storage unit and from Karla's house in Salt Lake (where we had hung most of our nice clothes) and then gathered them together to figure out packing for the MTC which was different than packing for Arkansas.

Fortunately, our little rental had a great laundry room where we could pile things in different piles as we switched from different suitcases and bags.  It was a production.

I finally found a bag to replace my very worn out green bag.  It is not exactly what I was looking for, but it is working great and I love the yellow.

Our last dinner before the MTC.....

and in addition to all of the packing there was the normal amount of paperwork to take care of and to shred.  All the little things that are involved with moving out of state.

We spent some time with Jessica and her family and also with Ben but we didn't take any pictures.  At least I didn't.  Saying goodbye to our other grandchildren is an emotional event.  They know that they will not see us for awhile.  It is different with Jessica and Elessia's kids--they have never lived more than 45 minutes from us.  Even though they did not see us as much as missionaries in Salt Lake, we still did see them on important events and usually once a month or so.  It was hard to not make a big deal about saying goodbye when we left because it wasn't a big deal to them.  They couldn't understand that Arkansas is much farther away than Salt Lake, even when we had talked about it before and showed them on the map.  I teared up AFTER we left.  18 months is a long time to say goodbye to your kids and grandkids.  We only do it because we know that is what we are suppose to do and above everything, we want to be found following Jesus and helping His children home.  Happy for texting and Facetime and photos on our electronic picture frame.