Returning with Honor

This was a fairly big weekend for my family. My second brother, Reed, returned home from Phenom Phen Cambodia serving a 2 year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We were all so excited to see him after two years! Here's how the weekend went...I'll try to keep it short. :)

I took Friday off to do (mostly fold) laundry so when we returned home we would have a clean house. My sister, Katelyn, who life guards at Lava's "Olympic Swimming Complex" invited us to use up some of her free passes, so we of course took advantage of that! We arrived around 5 pm, which is when people start to leave, and we literally had the whole pool and all four slides to ourselves. Granted, it was a windy 65 degrees Fahrenheit, but we had a blast! The little boys and I stayed in the pool while Katelyn, Clay, Deseret and Ryan hit the slides. Ryan commented that his behind was SOOO sore from going down so many times! We spent the night at my mom and dad's (Thanks for the bed, Katelyn!) and was able to visit with my Grandpa Wright, my mom's dad. Can I just say, it must be hell to get old. My parents brought him up from Springville after going down for Tricia's (my loverly sister-in-law) graduation from BYU.

Saturday morning was filled with prepping food in the kitchen, setting up the galley tent on the lawn for Sunday dinner, and music. Home isn't home without some sort of a jam session, and we sure rocked the house! Stephanie on her violin, Katelyn singing, and me jammin' on the piano was just the release we needed. The boys helped immensely by staying out of the way and jumping on the trampoline throughout the day.

In addition to all the fun we were having, we got word that Reed's flight had been canceled, but was reassigned to a different airline to fly into Salt Lake. He was originally scheduled to fly in at 9:35pm, but plans changed to 11:57pm. We were all a little put out by this change, but my Aunt Camille was gracious (along with her sons and husband) and let us leave the little boys home with her family. We drove down with my family, attended a fun and spunky reception where we inappropriately stuffed our pockets with pop-rocks and cotton candy from the refreshment table to keep us awake, then went to Keith and Tricia's new flat in Salt Lake (10 minutes from the airport) to get a cat nap in before heading to the airport at 11pm.

Meanwhile, Tricia and Stephanie picked up Keith (who was flying in from CO from another cousin's wedding where he was the best man) whose flight was late getting in. By the time they got back from the airport and Keith showered and changed clothes (he still had his suit and boutonniere from the reception on) we sped to the airport and got parked at 11:55pm. We made good time, but cut it close, nonetheless.

We arrived at Terminal 1, set up our sign, and had a moment to visit with the other family whose missionary was also returning home. At precisely 12:05am, Elder Crandall walked right into our arms!!!


We wasted no time in getting fancy pictures, just enough to wait for luggage.

We were in our cars with homemade cinnamon rolls for the ride home (thank you, mom!) in less than 30 minutes.

Ryan and I rode flew with Keith and Tricia in his BMW and we all arrived at my parents house without incident at 3:00 am. We. were. exhausted. But wait, there's more; our angelic children, specifically Taylor, was up every 23 minutes until he took a 30 minute nap that ended at 7am. Tanner woke up at 3:45 screaming that he didn't eat dinner, and we just could not get either one to sleep soundly. Uggggh!

Sunday was quite enjoyable, despite the lack of sleep. My brother did a fantastic job reporting in church, and my little "Crayon Cozy" did have some magical powers. The boys did pretty good sitting through the meeting. I was proud!

Church was followed by a myriad of family and friends, food, laughter, catching-up, roaring laughter (Kellie, your mom's stories of Gavin were hilarious! & Kim, Kathy's stories of your darlings were great, too!) and did I mention food? I think I gained at least 10 pounds Sunday (and my mom sent us all home with MORE food!).

After everyone left, we begged Reed to show us the 'trinkets' and fabric he brought home, and the poor kid relented. He was EXHAUSTED after being awake for nearly 48 hours straight, but since us older kids were headed out that night, we just HAD to see his stuff.

He had some beautiful silk pieces for my mom, other interesting cotton pieces for us girls (that I think we all gave back to my mom so she could make him a quit...where were we going to wear it?) and silk ties for the boys. He tried to give us other 'treasures', but he finally agreed to keep them for he and his future wife. Tricia landed a darling pair of sandals, since the rest of us wear a size 10. :) He brought Tanner a silk wallet with coins, and Tanner LOVED it!

He brought Taylor a woven soccer ball...which I think was the coolest thing!

It bounces and is pretty hardy. The boys had a ball (ha ha!) with it, and are still fighting over it at home. I took Tanner's silk wallet and coins and put them in a 'safe' place. :)

We of course had to have a family picture, with Tricia and Taylor added to the family since the last picture, but alas, we waited too long to take them, none of us were in Sunday clothes, and by that time, the sun was down so far it cast shadows on our faces...none of the entire family turned out, but we got a fun 'girls' picture.

Oh, it is so good to have Reed home. We received so many blessing by him being out there and serving. My heart is full of gratitude for he and the men in my life (my father, my husband, and brothers, and others) that have served missions faithfully, and honorably. I pray that as we teach our sons the importance of serving missions, that they, too, will someday be willing and wanting to serve.