Wesley's Home!

Today is the day! We got to welcomed Wesley home!!! Corey got first the first hug -

then Peter!

Then Katharine, then hugs all around, so many people to hug!

Video of the moment below.

He flew in at 12:30 pm, and so after the kids played Mario Kart for a bit while I took Abi to a dentist appointment. She's working on her mission papers, and I was able to get her in for an appointment at a new place at 9am today. Suuuper nice dental office! "Sandy Center Family and Cosmetic Dentistry". We got there with 5 min to spare, and they got us back right on time, yay. Very kind and welcoming! I plan on taking the other kids there soon. They have a special for a family plan through their office for cleaning and x-rays for $250, so that would be a really good deal, even better than their 

She had no cavities, yay!! A bit of gingivitis though. I'm going to start getting us electric toothbrushes. She got back, played a game of Mario Kart, we've been doing very good at being lazy this winter break

Then I felt it was time to clean up (I wanted to leave at 11:45). Corey had told them they could play until 10:30. 10:30, I went to enforce, they said "let us finish this race" or something like that, and so I said ok. Hyrum was watching from the kitchen and said "The mother I grew up with wouldn't stand for that..." (he says I've gone soft). You're right Hyrum! So then I just went up and turned off the screen. Daniel protested "We were almost done!" I said "You ARE done." and Hyrum was satisfied. 

I put some music on the Bose and we started to clean up. We played songs that remind us of Wes, like "Falling for Ya". We might have done a bit more dancing that we did cleaning....

Lily said "I don't remember doing this for the others when they came home... do we just like Wes better?" Well, those homecomings were a little different (covid, landing at 2am) (After picking up Melodie from the airport, we all went out to eat after. We didn't do that this time, and it's not cause we like Mel more, it was just cause Wesley was being released at 2:30 so we had to hurry home. We've done different things so far, we'll see which traditions stick. This one is a pretty easy one to keep, so yeah, let's do this again. We'll take any reason to help the kids be motivated to clean. 

I went up to make a quick post for Mary and Alvie to hold. Then it was time leave cause ahh his plane was arriving early! Was arriving 12:37 but now it was 12:14. We were all pulling up at 12:16. I was worried he'd beat us to the gate and we'd miss him like we did with Mel. But we didn't have anything to worry about. We were watching and waiting....

We were almost ready to give up. 

He finally came out 12:59. See the pics at the top of this post. I got the final hug!

A lot of bitter sweet emotions at the end of a mission.

Group picture!

Photo with Mary and Alvie!

Peter getting some brother time. 

So it's been great. We went by my parents house on the drive home, so Wes could give my parents a hug and hello. 

My mom is sick, so she gave a wave from a distance. 

When my dad saw us, he thought were there to pick him up for the museum. My dad and I had been planning on going for a few weeks to see the current exhibit before it ends this Saturday, so it's been on my to-do list. But no not yet, but maybe later! The Stake President came by from 2:30-3 and Wes was released, then we had lunch...

...then Wes opened Christmas presents and Peter and Katharine opened gifts from Wes (he got both of them cowboy boots!)

Then the kids watched some AI videos Ethan has made. It's a strange world. Funny, but strange.

We talked about plans for the next few days. We decided we would go tonight to the Church History Museum at 5, then maybe climbing after that. We picked up my dad on our way out. I thought that was a good transition activity for a recently returned missionary. Joseph Eliza & Mary, Ethan Bella & Alvie, and Hyrum, Peter and Katharine came a long too. I was glad I was able to enjoy the exhibit even with the toddlers there. Wes was nice to keep them entertained in the kid area. Wes made an epic temple. The service missionaries said it was the best one they've ever seen. 

I enjoyed the exhibit and got what I wanted out of it - some inspiration, some resolve to submit an entry someday. Dad enjoyed it, then we slowly gathered and got ready to go at 7:45 (museum closed at 8).

We parked at the conference center. I went and got the car with the marrieds, who drove in a separate car.

I got the van then picked up Dad and WPK. There was a flurry of activity after we got home, with people asking what was for dinner at 8:30pm. Corey apologized for not having something ready - he said it wasn't on his radar. Neither of us were hungry after the big lunch we had. I don't think I can serve up two big meals a day! Plus yeah, 8:30/9 is past dinner time for me... everyone was cooking their own stuff - rice, steak, top ramen, wontons, veggies, sourdough bread, just a ton of activity goin' on, and I am up here recording the days events. I would have done a sit down dinner, but that got vetoed in my mind when we decided to do the museum. And after everyone started cooking and eating, I figured climbing wasn't going to happen tonight, so I came up here to blog. It's been a good day. I have started a highlights post for 2025 that I need to work on, and there's a lot from this past year that I still need to catch up on!! Ahhh.... plus a wedding next weekend! CRAZY! There's a lot to do!! Good day.