Our Sister Missionary!

Yesterday was my little Sister Al's Farewell. There sure is a lot of work that goes into preparing for a farewell, and not just Al's talk, getting ready to go, but all the food, the cleaning, the organizing, picking up chairs for the millions of people that show up at your house, and did I help with any of that??....hardly. Sorry Mom. The night before I flew to Utah I started getting really sick with a bad cold, and by the next morning it had really attacked me. Perfect timing of course! And that is exactly how I wanted my family, cousins, friends, etc. to see me. With my big pregnant belly (feeling pretty big), red puffy eyes, nose, face, (and hair), bad cough, and hardly able to talk or breathe through my nose. I mean it's already hard enough to breathe when you're pregnant and not sick, but when you are, it's that much harder to keep a conversation up while laughing (because my family makes me laugh), and trying to breathe out of your mouth when you can't from your nose.
So basically I spent the weekend mostly lying on the couch trying to keep my eyes open because I wasn't getting any sleep! I was banned from touching any food in the kitchen, of course, but I got a little dusting and vaccumming in. Kudos to my Mom, Angie, Natalie, Hilary, Ben, Lisa, and my Dad for doing all the work. I'm hoping my Mom is getting some rest now.


And of course yesterday went very well and was super fun. Al of course did great on her talk. She had quite the crowd there. About 415 people!! (And I think most of them showed up at the house too!) Al is a great speaker, and so many people thought it was more of a homecoming talk than a farewell because she was so spiritual and awesome! That's my sis! She actually likes speaking in church! (what?) I wish I could feel that way.


Back at the house it was standing room only, until someone had the genius idea of taking the basement door off the hinges so it was easier to get downstairs. After that we were able to herd the Taylor clan down there which freed up a bit of space. (There are so many of us, and most are as tall as Amazons! My one cousin Patrick who is 18 is 6'7"!) So besides my Mom's side of the family, we had some of my Brewster fam there which was great because I haven't seen them forever either, and then of course Allison's huge group of friends were there too! So....full house to say the least.


Luckily we had enough food, and PLENTY of desserts! What a fun party to celebrate Al's decision to go on a mission! We are all so proud of her! What a great decision she has made to serve the Lord in Panama and teach those Panamanians the Gospel! They are in for a real treat to have Sister Brewster in their midst. (Just be careful Al not to get worms, and lay off the intestines!) :)
It was very hard to say goodbye early this morning but 18 months will fly by. Good luck Al, you will be awesome and I love you!