Last few in Utah

Let's see, there was the temple dedication Sunday, which I loved. Then the bbq with the fam and cousins, followed by a few episodes of Arrested Development with Amy and Wendy (we're trying to convince Wendy she should love it, too), and then a great chat with Eli at the Enclave. Left me missing our good old days in Moscow, and still regretting that I didn't stay home from the poxod (camp out) to hang out with his fam when they were in town.

Monday brought visits with the Harrisons and catching up with Tyler. Then on to some packing. Tuesday made for a great last full day in Utah. Went up to temple square with Ryan and Tyler, where we walked around, sat in the grass, ran into one of my Russian-speaking friends, did some family history work, and watched the Joseph Smith movie. I was really glad we went to see it. It had been awhile and reminded me how much I love it. I felt like I took away a lot about sacrifice and remaining faithful to what we believe in.

Great talk with Tyler on the way down about the movie, Moscow, lessons we've learned, coming to know ourselves better, etc. Then dinner with the fam and talking my dad into one last trip out to Utah Lake. Tyler was the first to be thrown from the tube, but made sure Amy and I had a dunk in the lake as well! I was laughing/screaming pretty much the whole time we were on the tube. So much fun!!! The lake was beautiful as the sunset behind our beautiful mountains. After losing Tyler in the dark and finding him by his voice, we decided it was time to head in for the night. We tried to surf the tube in, and I fell off.

Back at home, dad got a blessing, and he and mom went to bed. Amy, Tyler, and I opted to watch the Saint (great Val Kilmer movie). It takes place in Moscow, and the address where Val Kilmer and Elizabeth Shue hide out was the building right by Tyler's! Seeing Red Square in the movie made me really miss Moscow! I have missed aspects of Moscow, people, etc, but not the city itself until that night. It made me really nostalgic for this summer. I suddenly realized that I wouldn't be getting off the green line stop around center any more to go for a walk to Red Square, drop by Novokuznetskaya for Akuly (my favorite street band), or even be seeing the Adam and Eve fountain any time soon. I was surprised at how much I missed it, and by how many memories came flooding back just from seeing Red Square (all the times we went to the GUM, hung out on the square, went back cuz the soldiers were all celebrating, and we could hear them from far away).

To add to the home (I guess I should say Moscow, but it was my home for the summer) sickness, I received a really long email from Acia in Russian telling me about everything that was going on. She talked about all the stuff we had done, and what we would be doing if I was still there, and I really missed it and her. This really was an amazing summer!

I packed up my things Wednesday morning and headed out to try and get to my 7:00 pm class at USC in Los Angeles. Only stopped in Mesquite to fill up and grab a phone charger, then back on the road. Vegas traffic slowed me down by about an hour, which led to my being 30 minutes late to my first day of class. But that is already a part of LA, and not Utah.