James's post about saying goodbye to his parents.

I have been asked to chronicle my side of the weekend since we split up for most of Saturday through Monday. It was a really emotional week for all of us last week thinking about all splitting up for the next few years while my Dad begins what will likely be his last active duty assignment with the Air Force. They'll probably be gone for the next 3-5 years and it's pretty far away (Hawaii). So, while there is definitely excitement to be moving to such a paradisaical place, we are all starting to realize how much we've enjoyed being so close and being able to spend so much time together.

Jeremy, Chelsea, Tori and I all joined my parents for the weekend to take advantage of our last opportunity to spend some time together before they left. We all left Saturday to go down to Glendale (Southern Utah, near Kanab) to visit my grandparents, which was en route for my parents. They were driving down to California to drop off their vehicles to be shipped before flying out to Hawaii. Melinda was very supportive and understanding and took care of our sick baby so I could go down and spend the last couple of days visiting my grandparents and saying goodbye to Mom and Dad.

We got down to my grandparents on Saturday evening just in time to watch the BYU game all together with my Grandpa, the original BYU fan. We enjoyed wonderful homemade meals from my grandma with fresh food grown in her own garden. We had taco soup Saturday night, Hawaiian haystacks Sunday afternoon, Roasted ham and green bean casserole Sunday evening, and Grandma Verla even got up early to make us all French toast Monday morning before we all had to leave. It was so much fun to spend the time all together telling stories, playing pool, going to church and watching one of Grandma's Shirley Temple movies from her collection.

See if you can notice something wrong in this picture. Just so you know, we're not really that dumb. We just thought it would be funny to see who was paying attention to the photo. Can you say staged? :)

Grandma Verla and Grandpa Burdell's House in Glendale, UT

I love my parents so so much and I'm grateful for the amazing opportunity to spend their last weekend here all together. We will miss them so much but look forward to Skyping to hear all about their new adventures! Love you Mom and Dad!