Dinner with Jessica Day George

When Maren got her super speedy departure date, the only thing she was sad about is that she would miss having dinner with one of her favorite authors by just six days.  Jessica Day George was signing books at Deseret Book, and she agreed to have dinner with a local writer's group I belong to.  We were so excited, and Maren was so sad to miss it.  I decided she shouldn't miss out, so I made Flat Maren and took her with us!

Jessica thought it was hilarious and kindly posed for a picture and signed books for Maren.  It was a nice, small group at McKenzie River Grill, and I really enjoyed hearing her talk about her experiences as a writer.

 Emma enjoyed it, too, although she hadn't read any of her books and has no intention of being a writer.  She does love pizza, however, so it was all worth it.  Maren looks excited to be there, too.  We sent the pictures to Maren, and she said it made her laugh so hard she almost cried.  Mission accomplished!

 "Dear Maren--It was fun having dinner with you!  JDG"

 "To Maren--Have fun in Kazakhstan!  JDG"

The Drop-off

 The morning finally arrived for us to take Maren to the MTC.  She was so excited, but as we got closer there were a few nerves, too, both hers and ours.  We decided to go through the Provo City Center Temple open house since we were a little early.  

 As we drove up to the parking area, Maren yelled, "That's Kysenya!"  We looked up and saw them crossing the street right in front of us!  We yelled to them and said hi and told them we were going to Chick-fil-A later for lunch but didn't think we'd see them again.

 We had a nice time at the open house, and the temple is beautiful!  When we came out and Googled Chick-fil-A we realized there were three in Provo, so we picked one and headed there.  We were so surprised to find the Petersons eating at a long table in the back!  It was exactly what both families needed to help calm nerves.  We got to visit with them and the girls had fun meeting again before the MTC.

 

We took a picture of the girls at the restaurant, and while they were posing a man came up to them.  He had been listening to our families talk and wanted to tell them that he was from Kazakhstan and was very excited that they were going to his country.

 After lunch we headed to the other Provo temple for family pictures.  Chris hadn't been able to come with us because he had to work, so he said goodbye before we left.

I thought it would be a good idea to get a cute picture of the girls together.  Hmmmm.... It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be.

 

  These two are pretty goofy, but they really love each other.  They'll only admit it if forced, however.  :)

 

 Finally, the time was up and we had to let Maren go.  It was faster than getting an order of fries in the drive-thru at McDonalds. We pulled up to the front of the MTC and met a sweet sister missionary who took our picture and then our daughter, all in under 2 minutes time.  

 We're so excited for Maren in her new adventure serving the Lord and the people of Kazakhstan!