telling mom

Telling my family was one of my favorite parts of this whole experience. Their reactions were priceless. I wish I could have caught them all on video. 

The first person I told was my 16 year old brother, Austin. I moved home on Thursday night and on Friday he texted me and told me to come check him out of school. So I told him I would on one condition. He had to go to lunch and then fishing with me. He said he would. When he got home we were talking about where we should go eat and I said I wanted to go to Zupas in Park City because it's my favorite restaurant and they don't have one in Cedar and I had been craving their Wisconsin cauliflower soup (if you haven't tried it, go right now! It's delish!) He started complaining that it was too far and we should just go somewhere in town and close to the lake. So I said, 

"My mission call gets here on Wednesday! I'm leaving for 18 months. An extra hour with your sister won't kill you!" 

He was sitting on the kitchen counter and his eyes got as big as a grapefruit and his jaw dropped and then he broke out in a huge smile and said,

"Are you serious?"

I told him I was. He then asked if my mom knew. I told him that she didn't and he better not tell her either or he'd be in BIG trouble! He jumped off the counter and told me that she was going to kill me for not telling her but then gave me a big hug.

The second person that found out was my mom. We were talking about some things that had happened this past semester that I was feeling kind of sad about and that I didn't understand why they had to happen right now and not down the road. And this was our conversation:

Mom: "Don't worry. Everything will work out the way it needs to. You're going back to school in a few months anyways, so you'll be fine."

Me: "Umm. I'm not going back to school in the fall."

(My mom slowed the car down and gave me a funny look).

Me: "My mission call will be here on Wednesday..."

(My mom completely stopped the car and just starred at me with her mouth open).

Mom: "Are you serious?!"

Me: (smiling like a total crazy person) "Yes!!"

Mom: (by now she was smiling and had tears running down her face) "I'm going to bawl!"

Me: "Don't cry! This is happy news!"

And then the rest of the car ride and the rest of the night consisted of my mom trying to wrap her head around the fact that I would be leaving soon and actually have my call in a few days. She would walk into the room I would be sitting in and start saying something along the lines of:

"A missionary. I can't believe it. Oh my gosh. What the..I...I...I just don't even know what to think. Wow. I just can't even. My brain is floored. This is so unexpected. Oh my goodness." 

And then she'd walk about of the room and come back a few minutes later and pace and say about the exact same thing. My dad and I couldn't stop laughing all night. 

My little 10 year old brother, Dallen, was in the car when I told my mom and he had a grin from ear to ear. I love my little bubba so much. He was so excited to find out.

The next person that found out was my 13 year old sister, Ellie. She got home from soccer practice and my mom and I were sitting in our kitchen talking about the big news and my mom told me to tell her what was going on so I told her and I got attacked with a huge bear hug. (I just think she was more excited to get all of my clothes--she already has plans to demolish my room and turn it into her giant hang out area/walk in closet). 

After that we started calling extended family. I called my aunt and grandma that live in Salt Lake and they were both very happy for me. My grandma's reaction was so funny. I called her and said that I had some big news and said that my mission call would be here on Wednesday and I would love for her to be there when I opened it and she said, "Oh your mission call is coming. That's cool. Good for you." And she said it very causally like I had just told her I was going to the dentist. Then after a few times of her repeating it, it finally sank in what I had said and she began to freak out and was very excited. I got a good laugh out of that one.

I then had a seven way phone call with all of my wonderful family members that live in Logan. They were all so excited. I couldn't catch all of the specific reactions because we had so many people talking at once, but I was so much fun to be able to have so many people excited for me. It only made me more enthusiastic about serving. 

I am so grateful for the wonderful family that I was born with and all the support that comes from them. I love them dearly. I am also very lucky to have such an awesome home ward that is so full of loving and supportive people.  I truly don't know what I would do without them.