Today we dropped Chris off at the MTC to begin his mission to Singapore.  He was so ready and excited that he didn’t even complain about my 38 pictures.              

One of Chris’ parting requests was a family dinner at Benihana’s.  It was an excellent choice and we had a great time being entertained while we were well fed.

Last night he was set apart and we spent a very memorable night together as a family.  Ty gave some last minute ironing tips, showed him how to polish his shoes and pack like a pro which was absolutely necessary due to the two year supply of everything I could possibly think of to buy.

We arrived super early, ate at Olive Garden and strolled around taking family pictures savouring our last moments together.

It was finally our assigned drop off time.  With the new curb side drop off, missionaries line the side walk next to a long list of numbered spots to pull into – just like NASCAR.  They waved & cheered as we drove down missionary alley and pulled into an empty slot.  The missionaries greeted us, pulled out the luggage while we hugged a quick good-bye.

Each new missionary had a missionary partner to walk him in and show him around.  Chris walked casually next to his partner who was wheeling all of his luggage for him chatting the whole way and never looking back.  As we rounded the bend on our way out, a few remaining missionaries waved and cheered as we drove past.  Elder Brown was finally where he belonged.

Normally I don’t mind a little deja vu keeping me on my toes but I could have done without it late last night.  With two days left to get Christopher packed and off to his mission, my To Do list is growing instead of shrinking. The fact that it involved a very long panicked deja vu moment that captured all of our woes did not bode well for sleep.  That is why at 4:30 am I finally have time to blog and catch up with Stephanie as she heads out the door to work.

Lots of things have kept us busy and distracted these past two weeks.  The Olympics are right there at the top of the list.  I caught my dad so riveted to Curling that he actually went up and stood in front of the TV.  For two weeks we were glued to the action.  It felt like we should have held our own closing ceremonies to bring some closure.

I would have to say that Michael’s ballroom life has come in a close second.  We have had back-to-back all day Saturday competitions with daily practices in between.  All of Hannah & Michael’s hard work paid off with their personal best finishes in every category including 2nd place in swing.  With the competition season now over, we can take a much needed breather.

Danielle got herself bamboozeled into a dance of her own.  She is taking Chinese 2 this year.  When her junior high decided to do the musical Mulan, Danielle opted out because of the time committment.  Little did we know that her Chinese class had to stay after school several times a week anyway to perfect a Chinese folk dance that would open the musical all 5 shows.  Danielle had to twirl these red cloth thingies while walking and dancing.  She did a perfect job of it and we are so relieved to be able to come home after school for a few weeks before track season starts.

Ty, of course, had to make the list.  His follow up scope to check on the progress of his throat/heartburn situation was many months overdue.  Anesthesia at first appeared to have such a sweet effect on him.  He gushed about how much he loved me and was so mushy about being married that I started writing down all the romantic things he was saying.  Then he started to wake up and all of a sudden I saw my life with him in 20 years when he has alzheimers full swing.  “Take this crap off of me!” “Let’s get out of here” ”I can drive – I know I can” ”The nurse is a wouse!”  “You know they’re just wasting time – I can go!” “You don’t know where my bag of belongings are?!?”  After requesting to kiss the nurse and trying to get up to run around the room – both in an effort to get his heart rate up so he could leave – they finally brought out the wheelchair and I took my Dr. Jekyl & Mr. Hyde home with me.  A follow up visit is today but things are looking good.

Everyone is trying to get some quality time with Chris.  Mark & Zac have first dibs since they are practically family.

These boys have spent the past three weekends hanging out, eating and doing this:

We have also had several visitors stop by.  My very favorite had to be my grandma who came down to spend the weekend with us.  We really don’t get to see her enough.

We have also squeezed in hand after hand of Mormon Bridge.  Anyone who shows up gets the chance to laugh with us as we play our favorite family game.  While Stephanie holds the all-time record high winning game, Danielle has the distinction of sluffing a 14 of trump – twice.  Not something I would reccomend trying.

None of that is getting me any closer to completing my To Do list which includes wiping an ipod and setting it up with mission appropriate music, exchanging pants we bought online for ones that are actually the color the picture said they should be, setting up mission email & money accounts, rounding up a stockpile of medicine that is unavailable in Malaysia, printing off family photos so he won’t forget us and my very favorite is the suitcase situation.

We bought two spiffy suitcases over a month ago only to discover that they really smell.  I’ve tried several dousings of fabreeze, pet de-odorizer and charcoal briquettes but they still reek.  I keep making people sniff them to identify what could possibly be the problem.  I think Patricia is most likely the closest with a water-proofing chemcial spray smell.  I kept thinking it would fade over time. Ha.  Finally, Chris himself decided to take an interest after my deja vu moment that involved having no suitcases to pack all his stuff.  His verdict was “I like it.  I think it smells good – a just like new smell.”  Well, that just-like-new smell will have to be in the same room with him for two years.  So I made him sleep with the bags in his bedroom and we’ll see how much he enjoys that smell when he wakes up in about five more hours.  Just to be safe (and to combat the deja vu) Chris & I have a little suitcase shopping to do today.  I’m pretty sure that wasn’t on my list.

On a normal day when Ty asks, “What’s for dinner?” I can be sure that he wants to figure out how excited and/or hungry he should be at meal time.  On Sundays that phrase has a whole different meaning due to his self assigned chore.  He prowls around the kitchen checking out the goings on just to get a feel for how many dishes I’m creating.  He faces a very serious dilemna each week since most tasty meals require dirtying several pans.  He has to battle with his desire to eat something delicious and do a lot of dishes or sacrifice his satisfaction for an easy time at the sink. 

Today I tormented him with vagueness.  I’m on to him.  He kept saying, “Something really smells good!  What are you cooking?”  He doesn’t really enjoy the answer, “Food” but, like I said, I’m on to him.  When we finally sat down to eat, he chanced a look over towards the stove and my guess is that he was a very happy man because he did a victory yell complete with the fist pumps.  Apparently you can have a good dinner with very few dishes.

Then he got serious about some real cleaning.  He does this about once a week. We all know not to joke around and to answer fast & honest because there’s no going back.  You just have to look him firmly in the eye (never show weakness!) and tell him very fast before his thumb has a chance to move, “Don’t delete that show!  It’s the one you watched without me while I was stranded on the side of the road and couldn’t make it home in time!”

Yes, Ty has put himself in charge of the tivo.  He vigilantly checks the remaining time of which there is never enough.  There are six people recording shows and if you want to make sure yours doesn’t get bumped (Super sorry, Steph), you had better have a really good reason for taking up time on the tivo. 

Dani currently has about 15 hours of “Who’s Line Is It Anyway” and about the same amount for “Curious George”.  This is so completely foreign to Ty.  He has a very strong sense of duty to his shows.  He will fly in from a 30 hr travel day and watch a week’s worth of shows before he lets himself go to bed.  Like I said, this is important stuff which is why I think Ty must have given me an eternal pass.  It usually takes me six months to find time to watch a one hour show and it’s still there waiting – taking up precious HD space.  We are talking serious love here that may be in for the ultimate test.  My love for the Olympics may be the cause of his twitchy thumb getting twitchier.  Which  is why he’s already done with dishes enjoying some Creme Brulee ice cream – serious return love!

Michael was not waiting for anyone or anything when it came to turning 16.  It was the moment he had been dreaming of for the last 15.9 years and he wanted to make sure we quit dilly dallying. 

It has been a good week for Michael.  He sweet talked his dad into checking him out of school on his birthday to pay an important visit to the DMV.  I’m not sure how sweetly he actually had to talk because Ty has been in charge of getting Michael to school each morning across town.  For someone who never cared enough to get to school on time his entire high school career, it has been an ironic twist that he has a son who likes to get to school twenty minutes early each day and he is the person who has to get him there.

So it’s pretty safe to say there was probably more emotion in this moment when Michael left the house to drive himself to guitar than there was when he went off to kindergarten.  Sixteen is sweet indeed!

I am under orders to blog.  Immediately.  That requires time, which I don’t have, and blogging material that is acceptable to share with the unsuspecting public.  I wish that Ty would start singing along to “Grease” again or pull out his riveting book on how to avoid a heart attack.  After months of trying to invent a new email address and a family website name, he has turned his attention to finding a hobby.  He has decided he needs something to do besides writing in his super secret private blog/journal and waiting for NASCAR to start it’s 10 month season.  

All the hobbies he has stopped to consider are exceptionally expensive – restoring old cars, doing triple gun competitions, car racing, and flying just aren’t going to happen in the here & now.  I’ve done my best to persuade him to start doing a hobby he doesn’t like with an attitude that he could learn to like it.  They were good options like learning to play a musical instrument, becoming artistic, starting a collection, or learning to cook something that was edible.  It was all too much too soon.  I may have quashed the hobby hunt because it’s been a few days and he hasn’t brought it up which is unusual for Ty.

I guess for now he will stick to the usual habits of passing on his wit and wisdom to the children, making sure the tivo has enough free space for his shows, doing hourly patrols of the pantry to see if anything new has appeared and mastering all 1057 levels of his latest fave game on his phone.  Right.  I’m off to save him from himself or retirement will not be the joy he is imagining it to be.