Elder Brad returned home!

Look at the biggest smiles! Welcoming Brad home at the airport was pure excitement... especially when we spotted him out of the many people walking towards us: 

Brad served in the Brazil Jaoa Pessoa Mission (I could be spelling that wrong). He was gone for 2 years and our first words after seeing him were "he is soooo skinny". 

 

All the girls with our "bee bee" brother:

Russ met Brad for the first time, and we're excited for the girls to meet him soon!

Brad set a great example for all these kids.

PROUD Parents!!

Noah LOVES having Brad around. We went out for lunch and Noah wanted to be right by him. On the way home he told Brad "Let's take a ride in your truck, then you can change, then we'll play catch..." (it went on and on). Then later that day, he asked me if he could spend the night with Brad. haha

We are so happy to have Brad back home and we are thankful for the blessings that came to us while he was serving a mission. He was a great missionary and I'm sure the people of Brazil miss him already. I'm looking forward to hearing more stories about his mission as time goes on. I am also already excited / nervous for when Noah turns 19 and serves a mission. He has a great example to look up to.

Fun weekend

My weekend started on Thursday when I took the day off work to chaperone Noah's class at the zoo. It turned out that Noah was the only one I was in charge of but him and I had a good time together. I loved being able to be there with him, that's something I couldn't really do until recently - and he loved it too.

Thursday was also a great day because I got my cast off! Seriously that thing was BUGGIN! The funny thing is that Russ and I were matching for one night before I got mine off... I broke my wrist, then 4 weeks later he broke his pinky finger. We totally posed for a pic - and Russ said "this better not end up on a blog". Oopsie! The self-timer function on cameras can be so handy sometimes!

Friday was the day my family had been anticipating for the past 2 years... Brad returned from his mission to Brazil!!

Saturday was a good day too... no pictures, but we watched conference and spent all day together - it doesn't get much better than being with people you love all day long. :)

Sunday of course was Easter and we woke up to find goodies the Easter Bunny left. (The girls weren't with us - hence the reason Noah is the only one in pictures!)

 

More general conference watching on Sunday was perfect for Easter. We also took a long drive, enjoyed sitting by a creek in perfect weather, and had fun that night at a family party. I was telling Russ how the 4 days leading up to Sunday night were such good days - and then it all ended perfectly too... Noah cuddled up in bed with us all night - something that never happens - I loved it and had to get a pic of him the next morning. I have so many sleeping pics of him - I love it!