Home From the Dominican Republic

Ethan arrived home safe this morning - very early this morning. The plane landed at 2 am, after an 8 hour layover in New York, which was followed by a 3 hour delay on the runway... We tried to get a little bit of sleep, and when we went to bed it showed his arrival time as 2:24, but when we left at 1:40 am, it showed 2, so we were booking it trying to get there in time, (we didn't want to miss him like we did Mel)... We were glad that we made it, with time to spare, to see him walking through the sliding doors with the other missionaries, doing a triumphant movie walk, after their victorious battles against sin -

Here's a video of the moment - 

Hugs all around - Lily ~

Grandpa Wride ~

Joseph ~

He hugged Mel and me too, I didn't get pics of ours. I'm not sure if I got those in proper order, refer to video for correct timeline of hugs. A picture with the sign Corey's parents brought ~

The kids had made some posters, but once the arrival time changed from 11:00pm to 2am, we decided that the little kids would stay home, Abi and Wes were our sitters. Ethan meeting Katharine - 

It's probably been a while since he's held an infant. I think holding other people's children is not allowed for missionaries these days. 

(It was ok when I was a missionary.)

With Corey's parents. They were there nice and early, at 1:11 am according to life 360. We were grateful to know that they were there when we were worried we'd miss it.

Group picture!

Walking to get his baggage - 

Three generations of "Elder Wride"-s

Ethan with other Dominican missionaries - 

I thought I'd try to recreate the photo of when he left - 

but too bad, I just looked at that link and he was on the escalator in that pic, not the moving walkway. Oh well. Katharine did pretty good in the car. 

Being awake at 2 am is just average working hours for her, so it wasn't bad. 

Holding Mel's finger, so cute.

We came home, and Ethan was tearful. We knelt with him in a prayer of gratitude to God for his safe return, and then we listened to him walk around in amazement at our home. "There's carpet!!" Ethan went to the bathroom to get a tissue to wipe his tears, and said "This toilet is huge!!" followed by a nostalgic and tearful "I pooped in so many places..." (that made me laugh, as I remembered the "toilet hunt" story at the end of this post) Ethan had some of Mel's amazing rice and beans as he continued to experience mixed emotions...

They stayed up laughing and talking, Corey and I went to bed. O and P were up at their usual times this morning. Soon they were all in the boys room and waking up Ethan. Ethan said he felt like he was in this scene from Galaxy Quest, which made me laugh! Natalie, Owen, and Daniel were staring at him and ready to talk.

Ethan wanted to see Katharine, and she just quietly stared at him. I think she could see a special spirit about him - 

Other kids started to wake up - Ethan is more tired than any of us, and if he can't sleep anymore, neither can you! Corey asked Peter as he pointed at Ethan "Peter, who's that?!?!" "JOE!!"

Joseph to Owen "Did you see Ethan?" "Yeah!" followed by "...I thought he was our cousin..." Ha! Ethan got a bag out of his luggage and then went into our room to give his siblings some gifts of Larimar jewelry. 

Then he played his ukulele for us and we all talked and laughed in our room for a bit. 

Abi mentioned this morning how she had a dream that she was in a talent show playing the ukulele, and then she learned that Ethan had been playing it for Mel and Joe while Abi was asleep, so that was funny. At 11 we went out to eat for brunch at Black Bear diner. 

Eth getting to know Katharine ~

Reading over the menu -

Eth and Wes played tic-tac-toe and squares while we waited for our food.

Eth to Wes "You're going to cry when you lose..."

Everyone enjoyed the meal. 

I had already had peaches for breakfast, so I nursed Katharine and enjoyed the visit. 

We took a family picture after we got home - 

...and then Ethan took a short and well deserved nap. He will be released tonight at 6. Mel woke him pu at 2:30 to leave for a 3pm eye exam appointment. He needs new contacts. Mel went as his companion. She just sent us a pic of his answer to some questions for them...

    "What is your occupation" - "Recently lost job"

    "Please list your hobbies and activities" - "Preach the gospel"

Ha, that was funny, and reminded me of Ethan's answers to his medical exam before his mission. He is really funny and makes us all laugh, it's going to be fun having him around for the next few weeks before he heads down to school. I'm sure we'll take more pictures today, I'll maybe update this later with those pics or will just share them tomorrow. We're so grateful that Ethan is home!

One Month Old

Katharine is (almost) one month old. Having a birthday on the 31st, I'm not sure where that falls since some months don't have a 31. She's over 4 weeks old, so that's good enough - we'll count that as meaning she's a month old. She's working hard and doing well at holding up her head, look!!

Natalie took these two pics of her - she's so cute.

Katharine loves Mel and feels very safe and content in her arms.

A few pics of them on the couch - 

...before I took away her sleeping pill to go change and feed her. 

Sleeping with Katharine is heavenly. Mel is the only one I trust to sleep with her right now, although it looks like in the past, I've let lots of the kids sleep with the baby. I'm not as free with Katharine yet, but she's only a month old, maybe I'll relax a bit more as she grows. 

Ethan left the Dominican Republic early this morning and is on his way back home. He is in New York right now for a long layover (8 hours) and should be arriving here at 11:10. When we first saw that time, Corey and I said "Darn, that's gonna ruin the next day..." So it's not an ideal time for the whole family to be out and about, but it's a sacrifice we're willing to make. Today I got a bed ready for him (Peter sleeps on our floor anyway, so Ethan get's his bottom bunk bed) and we are trying to clean up a bit. A kind neighbor came by to ask if we needed posters. I had a few, but she picked up a few more for us and yellow ribbon and balloons too. Each kid made a poster, some of them two or three (cause they kept messing up)

Peter made his own this time - a blue poster with lots of scribbles. As for the balloons, the kids got to them before I hid them, and they were all blown up and here is the brief moment when there were still 4...

And now they've all been popped. But they had fun. Toddlers love balloons! 

And now it's later and I've come and gone typing up this post, and we've been refreshing Ethan's flight status over and over again, and he was on the runway for 3 hours but they finally took off. Ha, so I thought an 11pm arrival time was late? Well how's 2:24 am? Ha, TAKE THAT!

So we're going to go to bed now and have set an alarm for 1:30 to get up and go pick him up. We aren't going to take the little kids anymore. Joseph and Mel are both coming, they are adults and get to decide what they want to do. We're excited to see him. He's gonna be exhausted. 

Tabernacle Experience

My little bro recently sent a family polo about the Tabernacle Experience. He and his family live in Layton and they were able to volunteer to help give tours, which was cool for them. I knew it would be a memorable experience and made plans for when our family could go. Today was the day we made it happen. Here the kids are in the Holy of Holies by their replica of the Ark of the Covenant -

June was pretty busy, and thus we weren't able to make it until this week, which worked out perfectly since it was going on through June 28th. I put it a reminder on our calendar for Saturday to make sure we gave ourselves time in our schedule, and we were able to go after violin today. Summer music lessons are more spaced out, and I think this is our last violin lesson for a month, but it was good. That lesson was at 4, and we were excited to show off Katharine to Miss Amy ~

A friend from high school, Shannon, has two girls who also take lessons from Miss Amy, and they were there right before us, and when Shannon was picking up her girls and found out we were there, she came in to see Katharine. I know it's special to hold a tiny baby, since they grow so quickly it's a rare opportunity. I knew she is a woman after my own heart when she said "I'd give anything for another baby!" Her youngest is starting first grade next year, so she's trying to figure out what to do with her time now as she says goodbye to the baby and toddler part of her life. I'm sure that day will come for me, and I know I'm lucky to be able to enjoy the baby phase a little longer. I fed Katharine while we were there, and Daniel was playing with a swan puzzle and got these two pieces so stuck together, I was trying to get them apart for over a half hour. We'd say a prayer and try to budge it to no avail. I went to pick up Melodie, who took the bus from work to Holladay, and when she came in she said a prayer and was able to get it apart within a few minutes, phew! She's got more power prayers as a recently released missionary! I was slightly irritated at that hassle, but I was grateful Mel saved the day. And I was grateful that Peter was so perfect the whole time, giving me time to nurse K and try to fix the puzzle. I didn't hear a peep out of him - he just sat in a chair reading for the whole hour! So cute ~

So after violin, we went home, Abi had dinner ready, we ate, then we loaded up and left for Kaysville. Mel drove the fiesta with Sophi, and I had the rest of the kids in the van. It was a hot day. I had thought of trying to go before violin, but with how hot it was, I was glad that we were there in the evening!

There was a little introduction video in a church building - then we went out to the replica of the tabernacle.

It was built to scale according to the measurements in Exodus, and was smaller than I thought it would be. It was really cool. Mel ready to go through the gate - 

In the Outer Courtyard, we saw the altar of sacrifice, the bronze laver, and then we entered the Holy Place ~

with the Golden Menorah, table of showbread, and altar of incense and the veil ~

I love how the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has so many connections to the Old and New Testaments. Next we went into the Holy of Holies - 

After the tour ther, I asked if we could take a quick picture. Another tour group was coming in right behind us, and it was a small space, so I didn't quite get Lily and Katharine in the picture, but I was rushed.

And then we walked back inside the church, where they explained the top ceiling coverings of the Holy Place, and that was followed by a exhibit with other replicas and cool things - 

Lily holding up baby Katharine, in her blue blanket, like baby Jesus when he was presented at the temple (in the pic behind them)

It was really cool, and I'm glad we went. There are lots of videos on the YouTube channel "Messages of Christ" that talk about the Old Testament Tabernacle.