Kirsten's Farewell

Kirsten gave her farewell speech at her LDS ward in Sammamish, Washington (suburb of Seattle), on January 26 2019.  She leaves for her mission to Independence, Missouri, on February 13, 2019.  Both sets of grandparents flew to Seattle to hear Kirsten speak, and Spencer and Naomi left their studies at BYU to attend Kirsten's farewell speech and reception, too. 

 On Friday night, we ate together at the Little Prague restaurant in Seattle. 

Kirsten's brother, Grant, returned last spring from an LDS mission to Czech Republic and Slovakia.  Our family celebrated Grant's homecoming with a dinner at the Little Prague last spring.  At Christmastime, Lisa and I cooked a Czech dinner ourselves, but we couldn't get the dumplings right.  We returned to the Little Prague to see how the experts cook svickova, the Czech national dish, with its fluffy bread dumplings.

 We also analyzed the Czech kolaches--sweet rolls with luscious fillings, such as apricot and cherry.

Each family member chose a dessert from the treats in the glass case.

 Naomi enjoyed catching up with Kirsten's Grandma JoDee Flindt.

 Kirsten took a semester off from her BYU studies to save money for her mission.  She worked as a teacher at the Seattle YMCA day camp and as a nanny for an Indian couple.

 Herb Flindt and Spencer also enjoyed being together.

Lisa was proud and happy to have most of her family together.  We missed Grant, Michael, and Rebecca, who weren't able to leave their college classes.

Bryce and Alyssa, Lisa's youngest children, have always been good friends.  For several summers, they flew together to Salt Lake City to spend a couple of weeks with their grandparents.  I remember picking the two of them up at the airport, clutching their carry-on bags anxiously.  They were brave travel mates.

 It was also a pleasure to have time with Kyle.

I take my job as family photographer seriously (except when I am working so hard at cooking that I forget to take any pictures at all).

On both Saturday and Sunday mornings, Dave and I went on five mile walks along Lake Sammamish.  We left our hotel before 7 a.m., and were back by 8:30, to drive to Lisa's house and start our fun adventures.  The forests and lakes around Lisa's house are beautiful.  Lisa lives in one of the east suburbs of Seattle, nestled against the Cascade Mountains.

Bryce had an LDS ward basketball game on Saturday morning.  He made nearly half the points for his team and was also an aggressive ball handler.   "Go Bryce!  Go Bryce!" we yelled.

On Saturday afternoon, Kirsten stayed home to write her talk, while Dave and I, Lisa, Spencer and Naomi, and Bryce and Alyssa drove into downtown Seattle.  We bought ice cream cones at a gourmet store in the stylish Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle.

"Classic flavors" included honey lavender and Rachel's raspberry ginger beer.  Lisa, Spencer and Naomi, and I all own Cuisinart ice cream machines.  We committed to trying to replicate some of those fancy concoctions at home.

 We then spent several hours at Pike Market.  Lisa and I wandered together through the Polish pottery and spice stores.  We checked out the many varieties of mustard at the gourmet store and paused to buy several French magazines at the news stand.

 Kirsten gave a powerful talk at her Sunday morning Sacrament Meeting.  I had a special treat waiting for me at Church.  When I mentioned, in an email to my Eyring cousins, that I might miss a cousin's lunch because I would be in Seattle, Linda Rose, a cousin I had never met, asked if she could meet me during my trip to Seattle.  Linda (Aunt Jen's daughter) lives in Olympia, 90 minutes drive from Sammamish.  I invited Linda to Kirsten's farewell and to the reception at Lisa's house afterwards.  Linda brought with her a cousin I know and adore, who lives in Gigue Harbor, near Olympia--Caroline Clive (Aunt Catherine's daughter).  Caroline is 87, but she could pass for 60 or 65.  Both Linda and Caroline were warm, dynamic, and delightful.  As Caroline listened to Kirsten's speech, she whispered, "She's a believer!"  So true.

Left to right:  Fred Rose, Bryce, Linda Rose, Naomi (behind), Caroline Clive, Kirsten, Alyssa, Lisa, Dave, and me.

The weekend was fun but hectic.  Dave needed a nap before we dashed for the airport to catch our Sunday evening plane.