Welcome Home

Today we got to spend the day with my family, which was totally fun as always. There were many here ... which I'm sure was a delight (and overwhelming) to my parents. :)

Yes, my Mom and Dad returned home from their mission Thursday, much to the delight of many. :) This is the banner my sister made to welcome them home (with some of the grandkids who were there to shout and cheer as they pulled up):


They had been in the car for way too many days. :) After leaving Omaha, they decided to drive to South Carolina to spend time with my brother's family. Then they brought my two nieces home with them. (All of us here are excited about that, because we haven't seen Hailey and B for four years now!) After leaving South Carolina they drove across the country to arrive in Utah Thursday afternoon. I called to find out how close they were, and they said they were .7 miles away. That .7 miles seemed to take FOREVER as we excitedly awaited their return! :)

My parents are the most selfless people I know! They were very blessed for their service, but their service wasn't without sacrifice. This is only a partial list of what my parents missed to serve for 1 year:

- Tyler's baptism
- Cris' ordination to deacon
- Alyssa's wedding (their first granddaughter to get married)
- Dustin and Heidi's engagement and Heidi's bridal shower
(Fortunately they got to come home for two days for Dustin and Heidi's wedding!)
- Aspen's birth
- Austin's birth
- Gavin's birth
(Kimmie went to them for her baptism :)

For some people this may not be too bad, but my parents live for their kids and grandkids, so I know it was hard to miss so many special occasions. But, hey, we all survived. :)

Although they missed many things, they had experiences on their mission they wouldn't have had at home. We know that was exactly where they needed to be for the past year. They've had the goal for a long time to serve, and now they have done it. Here are pics of them meeting Gavin for the first time:


And you can see Austin is also happy to have them home:

(Shayla's been telling people he's so happy because G&G are home. :)

And speaking of Austin, this is how cute he looks in Gavin's borrowed Bumbo:


Needless to say, Ridge Way is going to be seeing our car a lot more often in the days to come. :)