Byron's home....

My little brother Byron has been on a mission to Guatemala. He is the youngest of all the 6 kids in my family and it was a little strange to think of him old enough to be on a mission. We got the itinerary about a month in advance. We counted down the days. We talked a lot about him coming home. We were very excited. He was supposed to fly in at 4:00pm. We sent Brynlee to school for a bit until we left. The morning was very hectic. It was one of those days that everything came up and even though he didn't fly in until late afternoon, we found ourselves rushing all day to be ready. We went up a little early to drop off our contribution to the family dinner. We got to the airport about 30 minutes early.
My parents divorced when I was 12 year old. My mom is remarried. Needless to say having all parents and step parents in the same place was very stressful. This picture was quite remarkable to see. Both my parents in the same place...in the same picture. All the stress was unnecessary. Everyone got along really great.

My sister was on her way from St. George and got to the baggage claim at exactly the same time we spotted Byron coming down the hall. Here is the rest of us waiting....

and waiting.....


and waiting.....well you get the picture.
Finally the group of 4-5 missionaries came down the hall. There was Elder Uncle Baby Roofus. There isn't anyone in our family that does not have at least one nickname. Byron, being the baby has the most. (baby)Roofus, (baby)Spike, Gordon, Junior, and a few others I can't remember right now. It was way too exciting to see him coming.

My sister got there just in time to see him.

On the way to Salt Lake I thought that maybe Roofus would be sad to leave his mission. I was expecting him to be happy to be home but missing Guatemala. All we saw from him that day was excitement to be home.

My two oldest brothers and sister-in-law couldn't be there and my sister left a Courtlynn, Maddie, and Kaylee in St. George but here is the rest of us.

After the airport we went over to Brady's house for dinner.
We ate...
looked at pictures, heard stories (envied Byron's tan)
and enjoyed that the kids had other kids to keep them busy.


Over the next couple of days we had a lot of family time. We took Byron shopping for some up to date clothes and helped him look for jobs. We are all very excited to have him home. He is so mature and while he is the same roofus who spouts off useless facts he has grown up a lot. We are all so proud of him and happy to have him back.