All Grown Up! (Part II)

As I mentioned previously, my youngest brother, Ben, just entered the MTC last week for a few weeks of training before heading off to Hawaii to be a full-time missionary for the church.  And my only sister, Natalie, has now officially accepted a job as a reporter for a news station in El Paso and will be moving there in the next few weeks. Kind of crazy.  In any case, prior to both of them taking off, we managed to get together for a sibling dinner (Sorry we didn't invite you, Geo) and a movie. 

We hit up the Cheesecake Factory, and even got cheesecake! :)  And then we went to an opening night screening of X-Men: First Class that I thought was definitely a worthwhile choice.







The next week, Natalie had to head off to San Francisco to win more national awards for her broadcasting prowess, so it was just me, Ben, mom, and dad for the Ben's setting apart and for the actual drop-off in Provo.  They've sped up the dropping off process since I was there, and there's no more "watch a movie and cry together" portion anymore. You just drive in the gates, they direct you to a number on the curb and you unload. And off they go. For 2 years. Kind of surreal.

Before getting set apart

Packing (and watching the NBA Finals)

Taking some last minute photos before heading to the MTC


Hang Loose!


Heading out

I know from experience that when it comes to missing people, I'm really not very good at missing them in the moment that they're leaving. Generally I miss them at some unknown point in the future when I wish they were around.  So, so far I've managed to avoid getting to teary about Ben and Natalie ditching Utah for warmer pastures (I was going to say greener, but I think El Paso is probably not so much green as it is dry), but I'm sure soon enough I'll find myself wishing they weren't so far away.  Good luck, guys!