She's a UTE!

Holy COW! You'd think Chesea was moving for a long time or something! LOL! Actually she didn't take much at all. We took her to Salt Lake City on Wednesday and she moved into her dorm on Thursday. Thankfully they had mail-carts you could use to hall your stuff up with. They were great. Too bad I wasn't with Andy & Chesea when she crawled in the cart with the last of her stuff and rolled down the little hill to her dorm -- that would have made a great picture! Oh well!

Thankfully we have a friend, Amber, who came and stayed with the rest of our children while we were gone. The boys LOVED her! It was wonderful not to have to worry about them and how tired they were getting. With the hours we kept, they would have been WORN OUT! We were supposed to come home on Friday, but ended up staying until Sunday. So we also felt very thankful to Quaelii and Jaeci for being such GREAT big sisters! They held down the fort over the weekend!

Chesea got a big surprise when the Jones' came to her dorm to see her. We LOVE ROB, TIF, EMMA AND TATE! Thanks for your support guys! You are the best! Chesea got this cool UofU shirt and was proud to show off her new school spirit. And look at that amazing quilt behind her. She was so excited to get a quilt made by the tender hands of her Grandma Whetten.

The very best part of taking her up there was going to the Salt Lake Tempe with her on Saturday morning. We had said that was one thing we wanted to do, so we got up and did that before anything else. It was a tender moment!

I have done many hard things in my life. It was hard when I left home for college. It was difficult when I had my miscarriage. It was excruciating when I said my final earthly good-byes to my Aunt Hettie, my Dad, and my Gram. As difficult as each of those was, I do believe leaving my first born was harder than any of them. I cried for two weeks before she left. I cried when she and Matt cherished there last few days together, and then he came by at 5:30am on his way to work Wednesday to hold her once more before she was gone... I cried when she hugged Jaeci and Quaelii good-bye and wished them luck in their schooling... I cried when Tallin held her so tightly as he was leaving for school that he almost missed the bus... I cried when she hugged Paden good-bye and he lovingly said, "You're my best riding buddy!"... I cried when Porter gave her a quick hug and said, "See ya, Ches!" like she'd be back tomorrow... I cried as we headed for her dorm -- thankfully she was riding with Andy in her car and I was alone to cry as I wanted to, holding nothing back... And I cried, like a baby, when Andy and I got in our car and headed south on I-15 and she got in her car and headed north... I held my right hand up to the window in "I love you" sign language, and watched as her car disappeared. And as I sit her and tell you all of this, tears continue to stream down my cheeks. She is my little girl. I am so proud of her and I love her so much... I am blessed to be the mother of my Wynchester Dakota! My God has been merciful to me!