Elder Andrew Hawks

 

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Andrew gave his farewell message and did a fantastic job. 

My mom hosted a really fun open house afterwards and Andrew had lots of friends and family members come show their love, support and excitement for Andrew.

After the festivities started to die down, we headed up to the park for some family pictures from my sweet friend Kortney who has started a photography business. She got some great shots and it was fun to capture the family as we are now and see the growth that is sure to come in the two years Andrew is gone.

Wednesday November 16, 2011

One of the best things about dropping Andrew off at the MTC, which is usually not a very "fun" part of the process, was the 15 passenger van. My brother Jason was able to borrow this van for the day, which meant that we were able to drive the 45 minutes south to Provo all together. 

As you can imagine, both my mom and dad (and many of us siblings) decided we needed to start the day, which was sure to be full of emotion, off with a little bit of "bubbly". We started for the freeway and pulled off at the Draper Chevron to pick up some soda. As my dad was perfecting his 13 point turn to get this monster van into the parking spot, guess who pulls up? That's right, Andrew's girlfriend of 2 years who he had tearfully (don't tell him I said that!) said goodbye to the day before. Andrew, who is normally very calm, started to semi freak out - telling my dad to back up immediately. She could not see him, he could not see her. So my dad backed up as quickly as he could without crashing into her car and sped off to a different gas station. This unlikely encounter lightened the mood for everyone and provided lots of laughs as we headed south on I-15.

The girls were blissfully unaware of the fact that this goodbye to Uncle Andrew was really for two years. They just had a great time playing in the leaves and chasing each other around the grass!

 Who knew the obnoxious little brothers I affectionately labeled "Andrea" and "Michelle" instead of Andrew and Michael, would turn out to be such handsome young men. I'm sure proud of Michael and Andrew for choosing to serve missions and will greatly look forward to hearing all about Andrew's adventures in Panama.

The whole Hawks family - minus Kylan and my sister's husband Jayson - who both had to go home for school/work on Sunday evening. What a support system Andrew will have!

And he's off! The new drop off at the MTC is brilliant. Kind of like ripping off a band aid, even though it's hard, it's always best to just rip it right off. Bad example?

To follow Andrew's mission adventures, check out his blog:

Elder Andrew Hawks

God Speed, my brother.