Sara's Last Week

Dandi's kids got my kids playing poker. They use the Sequence chips. Susanna wiped them out in this game. She was pretty proud of herself. 

Tuesday, Sara and I ran some errands together. We made a stop at Yogurtland, one of our favorite places! It was only 100 degrees out, so we enjoyed our yogurt outside in the shade with the beautiful breeze. One of the employees came out and asked if we were enjoying our yogurt. He was very sweet and friendly. He gave us both a coupon for buy one get one free and told us to come back soon. 

I put mine in my purse, and then Sara asked me if mine had anything on the back. I pulled it back out and said it didn't. Hers did.

Tuesday evening, we were going through her clothes and narrowing down what she was taking with her on her mission. Gavin came over and helped with the decision making. She had a navy polka dot skirt and a blouse that was pretty much the same color with slightly larger polka dots. Gavin told her that she had to try on together, just for fun. She pulled out her polka dot belt and put it all together. It almost looked like a dress. A little much, all together, but she is cute in everything!

It is so hard to narrow down your wardrobe for 18 months to fit into 2 suit cases. 

We have little birdies nesting on our front porch again. They come every year. They are fledglings now and venturing out of the nest a bit.

Wednesday, had our last party, with what is left of Sara's friends, before she leaves. Ammon and Caiden even came out from Gilbert, and brought Colton (they are MCO friends). They leave on missions soon. Caiden leaves in July (Brazil), Ammon in October (Argentina) and Colton September (Brazil). Tommy was there too, and he leaves in August (Mexico). The world is getting some pretty awesome missionaries! Her girl friends are mostly headed of to BYU later this summer.

Ammon, Caiden, Kallie, Colton, Freddy, Josh, Lilly, Andrew, Tommy, Isabelle, Sarah

Zanna, Averi, Sara, Laney, Daniel, Rachel

They all love each other and Sara bunches and bunches!

Tommy Lundquist, Isabelle Hunsaker, Sara, Rachel Smith

Lilly and Sara

Best friends since Lilly's mom and I were 5 years old!

Foosball battle, of course!

Sara and Kallie have also been best friends for many years.

Jungle Uno, it's really crazy with this big of a group!

MCO buddies!

Noah, Josh, Freddy, Colton, Caiden, Daniel, Ammon and Andrew

It's hard to watch these guys grow up and move on. We are already missing some of our favorite fellas, who have moved away or are serving missions. They have left big holes and are missed a ton. Thank goodness for emails and messaging, we can stay in touch while they are gone!!!!

Sara will leave a huge hole as well. Everyone loves her kind heart and playful, silly personality!

Goodbye kisses

I love these guys. They have been calling me Mom for years at MCO. Next year will not be the same with out them and the others who have left. I will miss all their hugs and smiles!

Sarah and Freddy have broken up since she is about to go off to BYU. Their hearts and feelings have not changed, but it will be good for them both to focus this next year on school and getting ready for missions next summer. They both are planning to leave in a year.

There was lots of piano playing and singing too. That is what we do! Josh and Daniel are both getting so good! They are getting to be really good friends as well. Josh is not just the twins best friend, he is one of Daniel's as well.

I will miss this cute, crazy girl!!!!!

She melts my heart.

Freddy, Sara, Noah

More Kallie loves!

When Sara comes home, Kallie's baby will be just over 1 year old.

Laney is SUCH a goofball. She put on a ton of clothing and then had us watch her remove them. It was quite a show. She insisted that it needed to be documented on the blog.

Pants under the swimming trunks.

And several layers of pants under the first pair.

Finally down to her bottom layer of clothing. She was quite entertaining, and ridiculous.

These guys stayed until early in the morning. They are the hardcore friends that just couldn't leave.

Saying goodbye is SOOO hard!

Tommy was so sad. He loves Sara. She is one of his best friends. We all love Tommy. He is all heart!

Sisters

Sara needed some new casual shoes for her mission. I hadn't gotten her a new pair since her freshman year in high school. I got a good deal on Rocket Dog shoes so I got Laney a pair to get free shipping. They were so cute in their new shoes!

Not only are they cute, but they are super comfy!

Thursday, we met Grammy for lunch at our favorite Chinese restaurant by her house. It was DELICIOUS!!!! And we love spending time with Grammy. 

She came back home with us and helped us clean out Richard's office so that we could store Sara's things in the closet and under the bed in there. It was a wonderful afternoon with her!

That evening Sebastian came over to help and to keep us company while we packed her room up. It was a lot of fun! He is such a happy guy and so invigorating to talk with. He is always trying to learn about the gospel, leadership, mindfulness, and any good thing. He is so energizing and he always makes me smile and laugh. He is such a great friend to everyone in our family. We love him bunches!

He tried on all of Sara's cords and awards from her high school graduation. He was quite impressed.

We stayed up late packing and then talking until the wee hours of the morning. He will be gone on his mission when Sara comes home, so it will be a long time before they see each other again. 

Friday, Laney really wanted to go play laser tag with just us girls. She had a free coupon for 4 and insisted we had to do it before Sara left. We had a fabulous time. It was a lot of fun!

Here are our battle faces. Hahahah... not very fierce looking!

Then we went and used our Yogurtland coupons!

I sewed Sara's name on to her towel. It turned out pretty cute!

Saturday evening, we had the open house for anyone who wanted to come say goodbye.

Cousins, Tony and Wendy Spooner

Elvis, Mary Duncan, their daughter, Olivia, and their grandson (I forgot his name)

Justin and Stephanie Spooner (cousins)

Chad, Melissa, Gracie, Adam and Hinkey Huebsch (cousins)

Tom, Wendi, Tommy and Faith Lundquist

Jim and Gisela Decker (our sweet neighbors)

Cadie, Daphne and Freia (cousins)

Scott Kleinow, Andrew and Sara's teacher from elementary school

Becky Allen, Sara's seminary teacher and our long time friend

She cried saying goodbye to Sara, she loves her so much. It about broke my heart.

Brittany, Ben and Kathy Barajas

One more goodbye from Kallie

Jon, Sadie, Lindsey, Krista

Kailey, Charlotte and Jackson Baker

Morgan Woerner (Noah's girlfriend)

Lilli, Tommy, Lilly and Andrew

Sebastian after some horse play with Laney 

Melissa, Jason, Josh, Averi and Lucy Jordan

The late crew

Tommy saying goodbye again

Sebastian giving his final farewells.

A hand hug

Not sure what this is. Heheheh

And then the real goodbye

Lucas Miles came with Sebastian to say goodbye as well. He is a good friend from GCC.

More Lilly goodbyes. These two will really miss each other.

Sunday at church we saw that they have Sara's mission picture up on the map.
It is fun to see her up there with Timmy!

Gavin and Peter walked over to say a final goodbye. They were so sweet!

I love this one of Peter hugging their heads.

Then he wanted a silly pic.

And after that, he said he wanted to take a picture of me making a silly face.

The agony!

Drama queens

Tommy had to come by for one last goodbye. He is really going to miss Sara. She has been his rock since his sister Makaila left on her mission. He has been a great friend to Sara as well.

He kissed her forehead and said, "Love you bud." It was pretty sweet.

Cadie came over later for one last goodbye.

Sam and Vivi had stayed Saturday and Sunday with us. They were able to stay to for Sara's setting apart as a missionary. It was wonderful to have all of our local kids there with us. We missed Josh, Leigh, baby Sammy and Timmy.

These two love each other fiercely.

Vivi has such a tender heart. She was sweet and mushy as well.

President James Ellis came to our home and set her apart.

These next pictures with the grandparents really get me. They are all gems and we love them to pieces! Grandma Alger was there too, I'm sure, even though she is in heaven now. We sure miss her.

Sara and Grammy

Papa and Sara

Sara and Grandpa

Later that night, we were still packing, getting ready to leave Monday morning. While doing all that, we had a lot of fun messaging with Josh Jensen, in Thailand! He was sharing advice and insights for her as she enters the MTC, as well as just chatting with us like old times. We have had a wonderful time messaging with him the last few weeks. Although, his pday is from 6:30 am to 6:00 pm on Mondays in Thailand, it is Sunday evening at 4:30 pm to Monday morning at 4:00 am for us. That hasn't stopped us. She wanted to talk with him as long as she could before she left. These two have a special bond that spans the world. Of course, I love Josh too, and spending time with the two of them is one of my favorite things to do. And...

 he sends us cool pictures of elephants!

and his cute face

and awesome artwork
"Balm of Gilead" by Annie Henrie

and told Sara what to bring and what not to bring

He was so kind and generous with his praise and support for Sara. It really helped to settle her about all the last minute things. There is just something comforting about having someone you trust, going through things just ahead of you, and sharing his experiences that brings peace of mind. We love and miss Josh!!!

We sent him this one.

This was at 3:04 am, still smiling! We went to bed a little after 4:00 am.

I can't believe that this day has come! She is about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime, serving the Lord and the people of Hungary and Romania. Boy am I going to miss her!