Going to Utah!!!

Matt passed from "Student" level to "Supervisor" level right on time, two Wednesdays ago. In order to have a visit, he needs to have two successful weeks on the following level. Matt's weeks run Wednesday-Wednesday, so today would be the marker we have been waiting for. There was some academy-wide event today, so he didn't have his weekly evaluation, but as of a couple of days ago, he was in the midst of a perfect week (no negative points). Hence, unless he REALLY blew it somehow in the past couple of days, he has had a successful week and WE GET TO SEE HIM!

We are leaving in the morning... well, I guess I should say we are leaving later this morning, as it is 2am Thursday already. We'll drive the 6 hours (not including stops) to our hotel, which is 30 minutes from DRA (which is strategically placed in the middle of nowhere!). We'll spend a very anxious evening in/near St. George, and on Friday at 10am, we'll be at DRA with bells on, so to speak.

On Friday and Saturday, we get seven hours with Matt: four hours onsite and three hours offsite. We'll be breaking the day up in blocks: two hours on, three hours off, and the final two hours on. Because DRA is in the middle of nowhere, we can expect that the three hour visit will basically be driving to a restaurant in another town, eating, and returning to DRA. Friday will be awesome and I have a hunch that Saturday will be heart breaking - particularly those last two hours when we know we'll have to say goodbye again.

The camera is packed and we're ready to go. Matt will finally meet his little brother and we will finally get to wrap our arms around him. It will be very hard to let go.