Fall Break

One thing you should know about Christopher, he has absolutely no filter.  He says what he thinks.  He also knows his aunt loves him and is super nice and has been very generous to him, and he knows that if mom can't or won't pay for something his Aunt Corrine will.

When Corrine came out for Nick's homecoming,  she probably wasn't in the house for more than 5 minutes before Christopher told her that he hadn't been to DisneyWorld in 7 years, (hint, hint) and he wanted to know when he was going to visit her at her house.

So she bought us tickets to come out for Fall Break.

Always have to take a picture of the wing.

Airplane selfie

I love Christopher's eyewear of choice. 

It was beautiful there of course.  We went down to the lake to take some pictures.  I'm not the best at sending pictures so Corrine decided we needed to take some pictures so she could have some of my kids.

First thing Maddie did was climb a tree.  In her bare feet. 

Advanced Vocal - 2nd Gen

Maddie was so excited to make it into Advanced Vocal.  Ever since she first saw them perform, back when she was in the 8th grade and came to her first High School Choir concert, she wanted more than anything to be in that group.  And guess what? 

It's WAY harder and more nerve wracking than she thought.  You have to know your part, and sing out, but if mess up, it will be noticeable.  There's no where for your voice to hide.

She's quickly becoming really good friends with most of these kids.  I can't tell you how many of them that she has declared that she "Loves them with her whole heart."  Of course she says that about a great many people, so I don't know how the math on that works.

Of course being in Advanced Vocal also means she has to be in Concert Choir.  Which just means there is a lot more people for her to love with her whole heart.

And then of course there is one of her friends that comes to the concert and likes to bring her flowers, but thinks real ones are a waste of money, so she brings fake ones, and ones that light up or dance.   She isn't in choir, but Maddie loves her with her whole heart too.

There's a lot of love going around.

Never miss an opportunity to dress up.

That's Maddie's motto at least.  And so when her High School's Homecoming was Disney themed, OF COURSE she would be dressing up. There was no question about it. 

At first she was just going to go with a group of girls as the fairies from Sleeping Beauty no matter what, but then Nelson asked her so she had to come up with a new idea.  (side note, Nelson asked her the most hilarious way - I have her reaction on video but no pictures.  He froze a CD in a block of ice, and on that CD he had recorded his own parody of Vanilla Ice's "Ice, Ice, Baby."  It was pretty fantastic.   She answered with the "melted ice" and other things for him to make a snowman.

Her date did give her a little bit of push back since no one else in the group was dressing up, but Maddie prevailed.   She researched several different Disney-bounding type options, most of which were a little too casual, and we ended up going with a classic- Minnie Mouse.

We found a cute dress, a bow tie to match, and the cutest yellow heels.  And of course her Fairy Godmother jumped in and made it happen.

She had a magical evening.

And she was a pretty dang cute Minnie Mouse.

Marching Band

Maybe it's just me, and I'm a totally pathetic mom, but it's been my experience that something curious happens when you have teenagers and they start to really do well in their chosen activities.  When you stop to pay attention, and think about how far they've come and how hard they've worked (even if they are #lastrowbestrow, this overwhelming feeling of pride just wells up within you and you start to cry.

I'm usually late to the football games because I had just gotten home from work, I'm tired, I'm hungry, and there's usually some sort of mess that demands my attention.  Anyways, I've often found myself walking through the school parking lot towards the stadium, and I can hear the marching band playing in the stands from clear across the field, and I think to myself "That's my kid."  And I get a little choked up.  And a little embarrassed as I'm trying to not cry as I head towards a football game.

The same thing has happened during plays and orchestra concerts and choir concerts.  Not all the time, but from time to time.   Anyways,  it's a pretty cool moment when you think about all the classes and hours and lessons, and elementary school concerts have lead up to this moment, and although this particular moment isn't in itself too particularly amazing, and you're just listening to average stand tunes from the bleachers,  to see and hear your kid participate in something they've worked so hard for, and be a part of something bigger than themselves, it's a pretty cool moment.

Imagine Dragons

One of Maddie's very favorite bands is Imagine Dragons.  Like, she's obsessed.  So naturally when she found out that they were coming, she begged to go.  She even helped pay for her ticket.  And since I couldn't just send my teenage girl to a concert alone, I had to buy myself a ticket.  Naturally.

However, at some point I realized that the person who introduced Maddie that band was Nick.   It's one of his favorite bands too, and he would be home from his mission before the concert.  So I decided I would give my ticket to him.

But then Maddie told me that every time the subject of the concert came up, Zach would get really sad.   He wanted to go as well, but didn't have the money, and I had already bought the tickets.  So I got online and it just so happened that weeks later, there was one ticket left in that section, and it was in the same row my other two kids were in, and only like two seats away.   It was fate.  I decided that that would be a fantastic opportunity for my three teenagers (ok, two teenagers and one adult child) to get to know each other again.  They haven't spent time all together for two years, and they've all grown and changed quite a bit.  So Zach got a *bonus* present for his birthday. 

They had so much fun.  They came home and talked and talked and talked and showed me videos, and have been listening to the music non stop.  It was Zach's and Nick's first concert, and I am sure one they will never forget.

Car Show

I've made some interesting friends at work.  One of them is John.  He's a retired Navy vet, and he's also Vice President of his American Legion post.  He's some sort of leader of a biker  gang  group that rides around and raises money for charity.   He swears like a sailor (cause he used to be one) and he shows me pictures of the random pipes and crap and things he has to deal with.  Someday he says he will take me for a ride on the back of his bike.

Anyways, his American Legion post was having a big car show, and my two youngest boys have turned into quite the car fanatics.  Especially Christopher.  If Zach LOVES cars, Christopher LLLOOOOVVVEEES cars.  Most our conversations these days are about cars.

So I had to take my boys.  They met my friend John who was all decked out in his biker gear.  He proudly showed off his Harley, and a couple other cool bikes.  And then we looked at all the cars.  Nick and I gushed over the cool old cars, Zach just pretty much enjoyed everything, and Christopher flipped out when he saw a Lamborghini.  I'm sure every boy in the 80's had this car on the top of their lists of dream cars.

Ward Family Campout

Once again we found ourselves in a position where there was a ward event to go camping, but Christopher was the only one available to go.    This time it was for families, not just fathers and sons, but whole families.  But I had to work, and Nick and to work, and Zach and Maddie had other obligations.

But Christopher, ever the optimist, "Someone will invite" and "someone" did, in the form of my sweet friend Julie.  She and her daughters (husband stayed home to work) took Christopher with them.  She said that he was awesome and she'd be happy to take him any time.

He had a lot of fun, and I think our whole ward family took care of him.  He played, went fishing, rode on the zip line, made s'mores... .

And came back a very literal Happy Camper.

return to "normal"

We're all adjusting to Nick being home.   It's been a real adjustment for all of us.

Nick is still on missionary mode, and wakes up automatically at 5:30 am (6:30 am Montana time).  He misses Montana and Wyoming and being on a mission like crazy.  He's happy to be home, but in a way he's mourning the loss of that life a little bit as well.

He's turned into kind of an introvert, interestingly enough.  He's perfectly happy to sit at home and hang out with the fam.   Christopher loves this, and wants to play video games with him every free moment he has and can usually be found right by his side.

He's been enjoying doing some family activities like supporting his brother at football games.

I secretly love that he just wants to be home with us, but I know he can't do that forever, so I kick him in the pants and have encouraged him to go to school (he is - at Chandler Gilbert) get a job (he did- he works in the office of a lawyer) go out with friends

and go on dates.  That's the harder one.   He's gone out with a couple cute girls, but he's also asked out a couple girls who were already engaged.  Almost all of the girls he knows are either on missions, away at school, or seriously dating someone else. Or already married.

And of course, we definitely don't want a 'pre-mission normal'.  I sent him off with the faith that the Lord would change him and he'd grow up a bit, and grow and learn the things he needed to, but that he couldn't get from me.   One small change I've seen is that he now thanks me regularly for the things I do that once upon a time he took for granted.  (household cleaning and stuff)

Anyways, we are loving having him home.

~Fifteen~

My blue eyed baby turned 15 today.   That's 15 years of being grateful that I said NO to the doctors when they suggested on several occasions that I should just abort him and start over. 

Our family would definitely not be complete without this sweet boy.  And this world is definitely a better place with him in it. 

His birthday has been overshadowed by the fact that his brother got home yesterday, but he thinks having him come home is a pretty great birthday present.  (Sure beats the pants off the last couple years when his brother left the day before his birthday and then the next year when we moved on his birthday.) 

Returned with Honor

Two years.

24 months.

104 weeks.

731 days.

And more hours, minutes, and seconds than I'd care to count.

But the day we've waited for had finally arrived.

Friends and family gathered at the airport to welcome him home.  Corrine and my parents came in to town for the big event.

My dad thought the display of posters was obnoxious, and they probably were, but Nick loved them, and that's all that matters.

There were 5 missionaries from Nick's mission on that plane.

Of course EVERYONE knew I got the first hug.  I LOVE this picture.

Overwhelming.  It was all just so overwhelming.  I was totally fine until I saw him, and then I just burst into tears.  Maddie too.  That was unexpected for both of us.

We all are so happy he's home.  We sure missed that kid.