Off He Goes!

Well, it's done. Peter is a missionary at the MTC! He was set apart on Tuesday at 7:00. We tried to play some family games that night, but kept being interrupted by people who wanted to see Pete one more time- including several girls bearing gifts (cookbooks, journals, etc.). *eyeroll* Ben and I helped him finish his packing and we finally got to bed way past missionary curfew hours.

In the morning we took Shannon with us to breakfast, then took the LONGEST ride to Provo. Peter fell asleep on the way and when he woke up in Orem, he made several disparaging remarks about BYU and Utah County in general, (sorry all of you that live there, but he is his father's son!).

After driving by the entrance, we quickly realized that a picture by the MTC sign was not going to work. Too crowded, nowhere to park, and they have the whole new drop-off traffic pattern. So we drove up to the temple and had some really nice elders take our picture there.
Then it was time for him to go- we drove in, a nice elder helped us unload his luggage, we took a few last pictures, and off he went with a smile on his face.Bruce and I got back in the car, and I'll admit that as we drove away, I craned my neck to look back and see his red head walk up the hill in that crowd of missionaries as long as I could. And then I cried.

Luckily, we had a few errands to run. There is a place on University Avenue that will pick up boxes from missionaries at the MTC- stuff they decide they don't need to take with them- and store them for $1.00 a box. We picked up a friend's son's boxes there, then bought a new color printer since mine died. Then we did a session at the Jordan River Temple and went to dinner. After dropping off those boxes we didn't even get home until after 8:00, so we did a good job of filling our day. Plus, there were treats from a ward member waiting on the porch for us. So nice!

I'm so happy and proud that Peter is serving a mission. I know he will be a great missionary, even though I will miss his crazy self.