Called to Serve

We dropped dear brother Jake off at the MTC today. I can't believe that my little brother is officially Elder Kartchner. I am so proud of him and his choice to serve the Lord for two years in Monterrey, Mexico. Jake is an outstanding person and has continuously been an example to me throughout the years despite him being four years younger than me. I love him so much and am so excited to be able to share his experiences with him through letters and emails. It takes a lot of strength, courage, and most of all faith to serve a mission and Elder Kartchner is definitely prepared. Love you Bocaj, God speed.

Couper and Jake have become very close in the 2 years Couper and I have been married. I think Couper is going to miss his buddy what do you think??

I know this is kind of a lot of pictures, and really there's more where this came from. But I just wanted to post some of the memories we've made with Jake in the few short months this summer that he's been living in Logan. We were so lucky to have my family move to Logan shortly after Jake got his call so that we could take advantage of the summer months we had to spend with him before he left!

Lagoon trip! Last time for two years! We were excited that Chelsey and Nicole Gleave could come too!

Canyon cookouts were the best!

This was a common sight with these two together :).

What a spiritual and heartfelt day to go through the temple with someone you love so dearly.

Bountiful Temple.

The proud parents.

Having a good laugh at our 4th of July celebrations as we tumbled down the giant hill on ice-blocks after an intriguing game of kick-ball.

You may think this picture is random, but to me it was kind of the essence of Jake and Couper. They have a love-hate relationship. They are the best of friends but are almost always arguing about trivial things just for the sake of arguing. They both always have a certain tone of voice they use during these moments and each one is "always right." This moment during the kick-ball game was no different. (lol...I sound like I'm talking about a married couple)

Hard work and working hard. The house my parents moved into here in Logan was in need of some major renovations. Due to working endless hours with my dad on various projects Jake has become quite the handyman and became the boss on site, always making sure projects were getting done so that he could see as much progression as possible before he left the country. There were a few late nights where I think the paint fumes started getting to us. . .

hmm..what did I tell you???

Well Jake, we'll miss watching Discovery channel and sports with you, we'll miss making midnight runs for rice pudding and always making sure we buy extra groceries when we know you're going to visit, we'll miss the late night talks and movie watching! But we are so excited for what is in store for you! We love you and know you'll make a great missionary!