Daniel's Homecoming :)

On July 24th, the much awaited homecoming of my brother, Daniel, finally came! He had been serving the past two years in Bolivia and it was quite the anticipated event to have him come home.

It was also fun because Cindy and AJ traveled from Salt Lake and were able to spend almost a week here!

Since Daniel's flight wasn't due to come in until 8:30 at night, we figured that we should do something fun that day. We decided to go to the zoo. As always, Mason totally loved it! We always have a great time when we are spending time with family!

As many of you know from experience, a fun day in the sun almost always translates to a very tired evening. Because of the exciting nature of our evening trip to the airport, most of the adults were able to stay energetic on pure adrenaline. Poor Mason was pretty exhausted, as these pictures will attest. He did very well though, all things considered.

It helped that there was a water fountain close to where we were waiting, Katie is always such a nice aunt, and the kids flocked to her!

And finally...after two years....the whole family was together. Daniel was able to meet a brother-in-law and two nephews that were not part of the family when he left. It was so great to see him again and to have his fun personality around! We only get to enjoy his continual presence for a few weeks, and then he will head off to BYU. I know that he'll have a blast out there, but it is sad to see him go again so soon!

My parents very generously had us over for dinner every night that week, so we were able to spend a lot of time together. Here is a typical evening scene:

The boys always enjoy watching movies or tv while the girls get to chat away and watch the little ones.

On Saturday, we went and had a family picture taken. The most difficult part was getting the two one-year-olds, Levi and Mason, to sit still and look happy. In the cousin picture, Mason kept running off, or had a very sour look on his face, so the photographer offered this selection: I think it is really cute, and it will always remind me what an energetic boy I have (haha like I really need reminding of that!). Aren't they all so photogenic?

Here is the group family picture of all of us: Aren't we a fun looking bunch? I feel so lucky to have such a great family!

Later that night, my parents took us all to see a Rockies game. I grew up watching baseball and attending many games, so it was fun for me to start Mason enjoying the same tradition!