Elder Lowry: home MTC and Peru MTC

James was set apart on Tuesday, September 8th. It was a happy and exciting milestone. I was so sad that my parent's couldn't be there. Grandpa and Grandma Lowry came. 

It felt different in our home after he was set apart. There was a special spirit. Kind of like when James was born and we brought him home. There was a difference in our home that first night.

He started home MTC on Wednesday, September 9. I was around all day and enjoyed his breaks with him. We had lunch together. We cleaned up the art room so he could have a private area and quiet area. His home MTC was with the Peru MTC since that is where he was headed after home MTC. The schedule he was on was Peru time. The schedule was 6:30am wake up and exercise, shower, breakfast, and then classes start. Since Peru was on central time. That meant James had to be up by 5:30am. Marshall and I took turns working out in the mornings with James. Some times they went for bike rides and some mornings James and I went running. We went to North Lake Park track one morning and the high school track another morning so we could run at different paces. 

On one of his last days, we picked up pizza from Pier 49 for dinner and he got to stay hi to his work buddies. 

He had one P-day. It was on a Thursday and we made the most of the day. We packed in all of the last minute preparations. He went to the temple with Hannah and Lynnlee. 

Drew came to say goodbye a few nights before James flew to Peru.

Packing felt overwhelming to me. Marshall was excited to help. I purchased everything James needed, and some packing envelopes. Marshall and James did all the packing. His suitcases were under weight and he fit everything he needed plus extra space for random food, clothes, mini Jesus's and hacky sacks. 

James's friends came over Monday night, the night before he flew out. They stayed until 11:00pm. James was suppose to be in bed by 9:30 but we figured we could make an exception for his last night. 

The morning he flew out, we took a picture of him with Chewie. Hopefully Chewie is still around when James gets home.

I was the only one who cried at the airport. I tried to be strong through the pictures but then when it was time to say goodbye, I broke down. Ugh, it is so hard! I am so happy he is doing what he is suppose to and so I told him they were happy tears.

This is out of order, but it is too hard to move it in the post. This was from James's first day of home MTC with his district. 

I found these pictures on the Peru MTC facebook page. This is James and his companion Elder Bates.

This was taken in Peru and is James's district. 

This was his district when they got to the Peru MTC.

We put air tags in James's bags. I labeled each so I would know which bag they were in. We followed the location and were happy to see that he made it to Atlanta, and then to Peru. Then finally felt relief when he made it to the MTC. He also had permission to send a quick short email letting us know he made it. He didn't get a P Day the first week because he got there Wednesday and his P Day would have been Thursday but they didn't give it to him. It was a long time before we finally got to talk to him. 

He loves the food there and his stomach has been feeling good. 

Labor Day

Lynnlee and I had colds and I had lots of homework so we stayed at my parent's house and then headed home before dinner. Marshall, James, Kade, Hayden, Tag and Sienna went crawdad fishing with Kasey's family. They went to Strawberry. They had a really fun time and ended up with a lot of crawdads. 

That night they went to the Whitakers for a crawdad boil 

They loved it!

Swiss Days Weekend

I had my pediatric clinical Friday all day until 5:00. Then I had to head home and get Chewie and my stuff and then got to Heber around 8:00. Marshall went up right after school with the kids. That allowed them to volunteer in the scone booth and walk around the shops. James had a sleepover at Grandma Lowry's with Brooke and her kids. 

Saturday morning James, Tag, and I ran the Swiss Days 10k. It is a new course so that was fun! It was a bad idea to do our 50-mile bike ride this week because my legs were not fresh. We all just pushed hard and ran as fast as we could. 

James took first in the whole race. Tag and I took first in our age groups. It was so epic! James won a prize basket with a minky blanket, some hats, stein, and a nice Owala water bottle. 

Sienna and her cousins bought these cute bags. 

We watched the parade and cheered for Grandpa's band. Marshall drove the float. Lynnlee, Kade, and Kade's friend Hayden. This was Kade's year to bring a friend for the weekend. Aunt Kathy and Stacey came to the parade to support my dad. Brooke's family was there and the cousins had fun together. 

Kaden, Hayden, Tag, and Sienna volunteered in the scone booth Saturday night. Lynnlee and I went shopping at the booths. Marshall and James left after the parade to go hike Mt Nebo. 

We enjoyed hanging out at my parent's house the rest of the weekend. The girls did lots of crafts.

We enjoyed our evening walk with my Mom. 

The sky was really cool.

Pajama party in the twin room!

We went to the hot pot one night so Hayden could experience the hot pots. It was a cooler night so it felt good. 

Stay tuned to Part 2 with Labor Day crawdading. 

It was a very emotional weekend. I knew it would be the last Swiss Days and Labor Day weekend with my mom. I felt so sad. I also knew that my mom's time on earth was coming to an end and that was also very difficult to think about. 

50 Mile Biking Adventure to Bridal Veil

James and I did a long bike ride on a Tuesday morning that we both had free. We started after everyone left to school. It was a nice cool and cloudy morning. It was perfect for a long ride. I love that the Murdock Trail goes next to the Lindon Temple.

We felt really good when we got to Bridal Veil. The way down Provo Canyon was so fun and so fast. Then riding up 800 N. was hard and my legs felt like wet noodles. I didn't know how I was going to complete the rest of the ride. We just kept pushing. The sun came out around mile 40 and it was hot but we were glad we didn't have that much to go. We were really happy when we finished the ravine. 

In the end, we went 53 miles! My legs were so tired, but it was so fun and awesome to do that with James. We had similar paces, so it was enjoyable.