Return of the Missionary

For the past two years my little, teeny, tiny baby brother has been on a mission for our church. 

Okay, so maybe he's not so teeny, tiny anymore, but I refuse to accept that he is this old and tall and grown up! Anyway, he came home almost two weeks ago, and we went to go meet him at the airport. The airport is only a quick drive from our house, but getting there to see him turned out to be much more complicated than you would think. First, since Marquis and I just have one car, Marquis drove his motorcycle to work that morning. The plan was that I would get me and the little girls ready and then bring him some food on my way to the airport, and then I would still be at the airport way early. In reality, the girls were very much less than cooperative and I was running behind, so I let Marquis know I'd bring him food after. We were still on track to be at the airport a little early, though, no problem. We were ready to walk out the door and I went to grab the key.

Since the car is new, we only have one key, and we have yet to go have another one made yet. It didn't take long to realize that the key was in Marquis's pocket at work, and we weren't going anywhere.  He quickly jumped on his motorcycle to bring us the key. And of course, that is right when our day that was supposed to be 0% chance of snow all day turned into snow. It wasn't much, really just a dusting, but when you have a husband out there on a motorcycle, racing home as fast as he can, those beautiful sparkles in the air turn into visions of slick roads and yucky accidents. He made it home safe and sound, though, and even agreed to let me drive him back to work in the car instead of him taking the motorcycle back.

As I was waiting for Marquis to bring us the key, I decided to check the flight status. His flight was on Skywest, which is owned by Delta, which I figured pretty much guaranteed a late flight. Except that day, the day I wanted the flight to be late, is when the plane decided to show up 20 minutes early. Of course.

We finally made it, though! The rest of my family had been there for awhile, but were still waiting for Uncle Ryan's luggage to show up so I didn't feel as bad about being late.

The kids love having their uncle back, he is the fun one!

I found out I was pregnant with Princess two years ago on Christmas day. I wanted to tell Ryan so bad before he left, but we kept it top secret because we wanted to tell CG before we told anyone else, and because Ryan is a blab who can't keep a secret. This was the first time that Princess met her uncle Ryan, and with being in a strange place with lots of people, she really just stared at him and clung to Grandma. 

I took so many pictures, and each one got more and more blurry. Someday I'll get a half decent camera and figure out how to take half decent pictures!

After the airport we went to my grandma's house for some lunch and to get reacquainted with our long lost brother. Ryan got down on the floor in his white shirt and tie with the kids and played with them and basically did anything that Sweetheart asked him to do. It didn't take long for Princess to decide he was pretty awesome, too. 

When it was time to leave, Sweetheart made Ryan help her clean up all the toys and help her put on her shoes. He had to walk her to the car, and he even attempted to buckle her in the carseat at her request, but he just wasn't smart enough to figure it out. As we were driving away Sweetheart said, "Mommy, when I grow up, I'm going to turn into a missionary too."

Ryan, we are so proud of you, and so glad you are home!