July 9, 2023

3,180 miles later... and we are home!  It was a long trip and we had some wonderful adventures.


We left my brother's house in Topeka early Monday morning and drove as far as Fort Collins, CO.  That was 8 1/2 hours and another 8 hours on Tuesday brought us home.  There is nothing quite as exciting as driving I-80 across southern Wyoming!  On a positive note, the road is pretty straight all the way!


Welcome to Utah!

We stopped at a rest stop just across the WY-UT state line.  These little critters were everywhere!  People were taking pictures and feeding them; thinking they were so adorable.  Not us - we have bait boxes in our yard to keep the little monsters away!  May they all stay at the rest stops and entertain there.


Our neighborhood has changed a lot in 18 months, with many, many more new houses built.  It was fun to turn onto our street and see the flag waving and a big welcome home banner in our yard (thank you nephew Bob!).


As great as a mission is, it is great to come home.  We love our home and yard; we love having space to walk around.  Space for all the things we don't really need!  A good neighbor ran over to greet us and helped us unload the car.  There were lots of hugs with friends at church today.

Our yard was well maintained and the garden was planted for us.  We have already picked a bowl of fresh strawberries and eaten a cucumber from the garden.


Our fast food cravings have been satisfied and we are settling in to the gentile way of life!

Café Rio pork burrito, enchilada style

Jersey Mikes #5, Mikes way

We tearfully removed our name tags 😢 on Wednesday evening as the Stake President released us.  He was so impressed with the recent Area Presidency devotional about Seniors serving missions at home or away that he felt he should devote some of our upcoming Stake Conference to that topic.  He asked us to speak in the Saturday evening adult session but we had to decline.  That is the Cooper family reunion weekend in Alberta and we will be there.  I do love to encourage seniors to serve and would have loved the opportunity.


The next few weeks are filled with doctor and dentist appointments, eye exams and adjusting to regular life again.  We feel so blessed to have been able to serve again and for the great experiences we have had.  We still don't know when we will be reporting our mission; we'll let you know as soon as we know!


Comments

  1. LaverneJuly 10, 2023 at 10:09 AM

    Welcome home! I loved reading your weekly posts. It was a fabulous mission. Love you!

    ReplyDelete

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