It's official we have another missionary. It's something I always wanted my boys to do and I'm proud that they have lived worthy to serve the Lord. Taylor has had a long wait to serve. He got his call the end of November and would have packed up and left then. I'm glad that we got some time with all the kids together before he left.
Personally after hearing stories from other parents about dropping their sons off at the MTC and watching the sad video and then seeing the missionairies go out one door and the families leave through another, I was grateful that we now just drop them off at the curb. I cry at the drop of a hat and am not a pretty when I cry. It was much easier to say a quick goodbye.
We had a number of people tell us at Taylor's farewell that he gave the talk of a returned missionary, his testimony was so strong. So I'm excited to see him grow even stronger in his testimony and to receive his e-mails. I'm glad to live in this time and to be able to receive those weekly e-mails from my missionaires. I don't know how mom's made it waiting for the snail mail.
I can't count down the days until his return because the number is too high right now, but I only have two more Christmas's without him and then he will be home. Two isn't a high number.
After dropping Taylor off at the MTC on Wednesday, I knew that I needed to get away that weekend and stay busy. Since I haven't been out to the cabin this winter we decided to snowshoe in and spend the night.
We parked the truck and walked up the road to the cabin. It is always a relief to me when I see it standing and all the windows intact. Inside it was a balmy 40 degree's, but everything looked great. It amazes me that there is no dust. You would think after sitting for a few months there would be a layer of dust, but it's perfectly clean.
We decided to go out walking and was able to cross a spot on the river that was still crusted over with ice. We headed up the road and Steve had the bright idea that we would again cross the river and walk down the ditch bank along the hill. He knew his snow boots were water-proof, but I didn't know if mine were. Luckily they were and we made it across the river okay. On the other side the snow was really deep and very soft. Even with snow shoes we still were sinking in up to the tops of our legs. At one point I could not pull my snow shoes out and had to unhook them and pull them out with my hand. Luckily by the time we hit the ditch bank the snow was firmer and we were able to walk without sinking. 
That night a storm came in and it was so beautiful watching the snow fall. We pulled the table in front of the fireplace and passed the time eating and playing cards. Steve won every hand and I'm still waiting for a rematch. We turned on the electric blanket and slept really warm all night. The next day you couldn't even see our tracks where we had walked in. Unfortunately the wind blew all morning and I had no desire to explore, so around noon we packed up and headed home. It was a fun to be with Steve and to be back up at the cabin. Can't wait to open it up General Conference weekend. 
