Although we’ve finished our mission, the road home is long. That means plenty of time to stop and see people…
When our young missionary friends heard we’d be in Orem, three of them said “Hey, my parents live there– you should totally stop in and see them!” So we did.
Sister Packer’s parents:
Sister Tennis’ parents:
What a blast to spend a little time talking about these fine young women and the good times we’d had together. Parents always love hearing about their missionary kids, and we loved learning a little more about their lives and families. (Unfortunately our third stop to see Elder Searcy’s parents didn’t work out.)
Later that day we reconnected with a gaggle of friends from our days in Longmont. All of them live in Utah now, and it seemed worth throwing a party. The Nielsens, Robisons, Galazes, von Niederhauserns, and Bartholomews all congratulated us on the end of our mission. Interestingly, the Bartholomews just started serving a mission of their own in Heber!
It was also good to see Tara and her family. She and Trent came out to visit us on our mission…
We hung out with Cil and Jim…
And we met up with six of our senior missionary friends for dinner! They’d all finished their missions a few weeks before we did.
After a few more days with the boys, and a few pinball games…
… it was time to finally go home. We started the long drive from Utah to Montana. And when we crossed into Montana, I was reminded why I love living up here.
The scenery was so familiar, and yet it was strange to see it again after so long in the desert of the Imperial Valley and the green hills and beaches of San Diego. It did my heart good.
Back in Bigfork, the first order of business– even before unpacking the car– was to jump in Kyra’s shiny new car and head down the road to Rosa’s for some pizza.
Kyra’s been house-sitting for us, although she took a few days to visit us in San Diego last August. It was nice to see her again.
Yep, it’s good to be home. We sent this picture to all our California friends to let them know we’d made it safely back.
