Colorado: Mom and Dad's farewell

The last weekend in September, I flew to Colorado for my parents' missionary farewell. They left the beginning of October for a mission to India. If you're interested to read about their experiences, you can read their blog here.

My parents knew I was coming for their farewell. What they didn't know was that Cheryl-Lynn, Cris and Jon were coming as well. (Somebody had to be the spy, right? To know when the farewell was going to be, make sure we had a place to stay and try to get the setting apart for that weekend. That and the fact that I told my parents I was coming as soon as they got their call made me the logical choice.)

My parents had just been at Cheryl-Lynn's house. After she dropped them off at the airport, she went to pick up her husband and had him take her back to the airport. When Cheryl-Lynn showed up at the gate, my parents were really confused how she got there. When she told them she'd used a boarding pass, they thought she had printed one of theirs so that she could spend 20 more minutes with them (forget the fact that she also would have had to forge an id!). They were surprised and delighted when she said she was coming with them for the weekend. When they arrived in Denver, they had another surprise when Cris met them at the gate. Cheryl-Lynn and Cris went to get the minivan we had rented (it even had Nevada plates! very appropriate with Cheryl-Lynn driving!) while mom and dad got their luggage and waited for me. We got to my aunt and uncle's home and visited with them and my cousin a bit before heading off the bed.

Saturday morning, another aunt and uncle picked my brother up at the airport and brought him to us. It was cool to see my parents' reaction ("What are you doing here? We didn't know you were coming!") They were super happy to have the whole family together. We actually figured out it was the first time that it had been just my parents and the four kids. (Cris joined the family while my brother and I were on our missions and then I was married by the time Jon got home.) We had a nice afternoon, helping my parents finish packing, eating lunch at Subway, going by the old home and running a few errands including helping my mom get a wedding band to wear on her mission.

Cheryl-Lynn and Cris looking at family history books.

Packing!

Jon swapping out the attachment on my mom's curling iron so she can use it in India. (That alone was worth the cost of the flight, right?)

Lunch at Subway.

The storage unit. All my parents' possessions are in something the size of a one car garage.

Saturday evening, a bunch of the women went to dinner and then watched the Women's Session of General Conference.

Cris and Jessie. Jessie is so funny! We arrived at her house on her birthday (nice of us to come for the celebration, right?) and she had us laughing all evening!

Back row: Me, Aunt Connie, Aunt Jackie, mom, Cheryl-Lynn, Kelly

Front row: Aunt Rolayne, Natalie, Cris, Kate, Jessie

Sunday we went to my parents' church for their farewell. They gave excellent talks! We then went to the stake center for their setting aparts. That was really neat! All the women took notes and afterwards, Cheryl-Lynn, Cris and I combined them so that they could take a copy with them to read on their missions. (I read my setting apart a lot while I was on my mission.) There are already a few things that we can see being fulfilled, like being able to eat well.

Mom and dad right before they were set apart.

The six of us.

That night, we had a really nice dinner at my aunt and uncle's home. We weren't allowed to help with it at all--they wanted to give us time to visit. My dad gave all of us blessings. We also saw the blood moon.

Some photos of the blood moon. I have to say that it really didn't look super red where we were. Still, it was cool to watch the eclipse.

Early Monday morning, we got up to head home. We gave my parents some last hugs and then headed to the airport. Jon and I were dropped off since we had the earliest flights. The car drop-off went quickly, so Cris and Cheryl-Lynn joined us at Jon's gate. It was a really nice weekend. I'm glad we were all able to go there to support my parents and I look forward to hearing all about their adventures in India! They will be excellent missionaries!