Tyler's Homecoming

It felt like we had to wait forever for Tyler to be able to speak in our ward for his homecoming! He got home on the 17th of July and didn't get to speak until August 9th! He wasn't too happy about it and neither were we. But the wait was well worth it. It is crazy to me how much missionaries grow during their missions and Tyler was no exception. He did very well. He didn't even have to prepare very much for it and he gave an awesome talk! At home it was a different story! We had help from many people as we were getting ready for the homecoming dinner. We borrowed tables and chairs, shade tents, and had many people bring salads and desserts. It is a lot of work but always so much fun to be able to see everyone! And so many people came! During sacrament the poor boys had to do the blessing 3 times because they kept running out! And so many people had to sit out in the hall!

So many people came and supported Tyler on this special day for him. We are so blessed to have such great family and friends! Thanks everyone and good job Ty! I am so proud of you!

He's Home!

Oh my gosh it has finally come! Tyler is home finally! We have been putting on a sticker a day for the past two years and it was so exciting to put on the last sticker! It looks so much better filled than empty! He came home on Friday night at 9:30. I was watching his flight and had planned on leaving Usana when there was a half an hour til his plane landed. It would be worth missing George to be able to see him step off the plane. Well... for some reason the stupid plane was early! So I got to the airport, parked at the wrong terminal and literally ran through the entire airport. This might come as a shock to some people but I am not really a runner. I kind of get a sort of asthma whenever I even jog. Well I was fullout sprinting! It wasn't really a pretty sight. People were telling me to slow down and yelling other random things. It was pretty embarrassing. And even after all that, I missed him by like a minute and a half! I was so ticked! I missed George and I missed Tyler. Oh well. It was still really fun at the airport!

There were so many people that came and supported him at the airport. It was so nice of everyone! Tyler said that one of the missionaries that he was traveling with asked who all of the people were. Then he turned to Ty and said, "are they all here for you?" Then some random person walking by asked the person that they were with if Tyler was some sort of celebrity because of all of the people around him. It was pretty funny.

I think that Tyler was a little overwhelmed. But he kept saying funny things. One of the best phrases was... Morgan is like a young woman now. And then Karen informed him that she is not like a young woman, she is a young woman! It was pretty funny. Everyone has grown up since he's been gone.

I thought that this was such a cute picture of our future missionary Jayden. Everytime that I looked over at him he was just holding his poster and staring at Tyler. It is pretty crazy because I will always remember when his dad, my cousin Korey, came home from his mission. It was so exciting to me and such a good example to me and all of my cousins. I hope that now Jayden will always remember Ty coming home and keep a mission as one of his goals.

This picture sums up how excited Colton seemed about Ty coming home! I hope that it was everything that he had been hoping it would be!

Kate was the only one that was not completely ecstatic about Ty coming home! But I thought her face was so cute while she was crying.

Here is Tyler with both of our grandpas.

Logan had been waiting all day to see Ty. He had text me about a billion times to see when we were going to be home. He must have been waiting on our corner or something because he showed up about 2 seconds after I told him to head on over. Here he is with his souvenir South African jersey.

We had a couple of birthday presents waiting for him on his bed. The first was the 7th Harry Potter book. The book came out about 2 weeks after he left and he was pretty bummed about it at the time. So my mom bought him one when it came out and kept it in mint condition until he got home to read it. And he also got an iPhone. I love mine so much that we decided Ty needed one.

One thing that Tyler requested for when he came home was cake batter with brownies ice cream from Frosted Rock. So Steph ordered it and Steph, Dave, Braden, Annie, Colton, Mary, and Todd came over to eat it with us. So it was a good time for Tyler to give Colton his souvenir soccer jersey and shorts. Colton says that he is not going to wait for a special occasion to wear them.

Here we all are eating our Frosted Rock. We're only missing Jaron, but soon enough we will all be together again! It was so fun to all be there hanging out.

The next night was the Weber State fireworks. I probably say this a lot too but I really think that it is my favorite night of the whole summer. We go every year and I love it. Alyssa and the Peterson boys came with us. I didn't remember to take pictures until we were on our way home. Oops. Our hair is kind of going crazy because the windows are down. Tyler made the comment that it was just like old times except that Josh was the one driving and we didn't have to hold Jaydn and Morgan's hand as we crossed the road! Crazy how time goes so fast!

I am so grateful that Tyler is home now! It has been a way fun weekend with so many fun memories. I know that there will be many more to come. I am so glad that he went and was such a good example to all of us. He has so many stories that he has started to tell us. I love hearing them all. And while I am so grateful that he went and was able to have that experience, I am even more grateful that he is home now. I love him and missed him so much! Welcome home Ty!

Take A Look!

I don't know if anyone has noticed the countdown clock on the side of my blog but I would like everyone to take a second right now and check it out... Can you believe it? There were days when I never thought that this time would come but at the same time, these past two years have flown by! So much has changed but at the same time it seems that nothing has changed.

It is crazy to think how our family and friends have grown since he left. Braden met and married Annie since Ty left so Tyler and Annie have never even met. And to me it feels like Annie has been in our family for a long time. We have had babies born since he has left. All of the little kids will be so much bigger to him. I have had a close friend pass away. There have been many, many friends get married. The more things that I start to think about the more it seems like so many things have changed. But it doesn't feel like it really. I am still going to school. We all still have the same jobs (thankfully) and it feels like we haven't really changed too much. I guess we'll see if it feels like it changed or stayed the same to him when he gets home.

We have been doing a lot to get ready for him to get home. Doing the finishing touches on the house and things but tonight we did something that was actually fun. We made the traditional welcome home posters! We all worked on them up at my Grandma Smith's house. I think everyone helped in someway or another.

We are all pretty excited about him coming home. But I don't think any of us are quite as excited as his "favorite cousin" Colton.

This is how he reacts whenever Tyler is brought up. He is continually asking what Ty is going to say when he gets home, what we are going to say to Ty when he gets home, how many more days until Ty gets home, etc. He has many plans made for Ty so hopefully he doesn't get disapointed!

From many of the pictures that Ty sent home it looks like he has definitely embraced the South African culture and fits in very well. But at the same time it always looks like he is still the same fun brother that we sent off two years ago. I'm sure that he'll have changed quite a bit but I hope that he adjusts quickly!

I know that Tyler will definitely be missed by all of the many South African people that love him, but we need him home! He has been gone long enough and we are ready! I can't even wait to see him when he steps off the airplane! It has been a good two years with many fun stories but I am so glad that it is almost over! Friday can't come soon enough!

Welcome back Kenny!

I am so excited that I just had to blog about this! I bought my tickets to Kenny Chesney today and I can't even wait! The concert is on July 23 so I still have to wait a few months but actually purchasing the tickets made it seem so close! I have so many fun memories of the Kenny Chesney concerts that I have been to. I thought I'd post some pictures of the past concerts...

This is the picture of kenny giving me a private concert back on some private island. We've been to so many that I forget which island we were on for this particular concert.

We have had some interesting experiences at the Kenny concerts. This particular year started out with Pearl breaking down in the middle of Salt Lake. We HAD to get there asap to get our spot in line so Ty and Paige had to hitch hike to the concert while Jaron and I waited for my dad to come pick us up.

Once we made it to Usana we had to find things to do to entertain us for the next 7 hours while we waited for the concert to start. While exploring we found Kenny and though we all have some weird ways of showing it, we are so excited to be touching Kenny's chest!

Kenny also has a way of bringing people together like nothing else. These are some cute, young girls that we met a few years ago at a concert and we were lucky enough to find them and sit by them again at the next one! I don't even know their names but hopefully we'll see them again this year!

Kenny also has a way of bringing out the emotions. I have to admit that I usually shed a few tears when he comes out as well!

Here is a picture of all of us Kenny fans after a long, fun day of being in the Kenny spirit.

So obviously I am really excited about seeing Kenny again but the reason that I am so so so excited is because Tyler will have just barely gotten home and will be able to go to Kenny with us! Yay! I just hope that he will be able to handle that level of excitement so soon!