Jaden's big adventure

The days before Jaden left were full of family activities, errands getting last minute items, and me worrying about sending my son off into the world.  The enormity of 2 whole years seemed so huge.  It still does.  Not enough time has gone by to lessen my worry or sadness that he is not here with us.  I wouldn't want him anywhere else, but I miss him so much.

The night before he left, when Jaden was set apart as an Elder was very special for our whole family.  Meeting with the stake president and bishop and hearing a special blessing for Jaden gave me great peace of mind at that time.  I had a feeling of peace and that everything would be fine.

We got up super early the next morning because Jaden had to be to the airport by 5:30.  We had Ana and Christine with us, along with Jaden's two huge bags so we took two vehicles.  When we got to the airport, Grandma and Grandpa were already there waiting to see Jaden off.  We had plenty of time to chat and take last minute pictures before Jaden went through security.  As we were waiting, more and more missionaries and their families started showing up.  Even someone that Jaden had gone to school with was leaving the same day.  In all, there were about 20 missionaries on Jaden's plane trip to the MTC.  One of the other moms that had a son leaving wanted a picture with all the missionaries that were there at the time.  Many more missionaries came after this picture.

 When Jaden was saying all of his goodbyes, he started looking around for Dallin, and couldn't find him.  Dallin was standing behind a column crying.  He had tried to be so brave, but when it was time to say goodbye, he broke down.  The same with Payton.  We are all teary eyed in these pictures, everyone except Jaden.  He was just excited to get going.

After Jaden had gone through security, Matt and Megan and kids came running up.  I was so bummed that they had made the trip to see Jaden off, but missed him by just a few minutes.  That was so nice of them to come though.  They stayed with us as we watched his plane take off.  I didn't want to leave until he was officially gone.