G'day from down unda! My mom and dad made it back from their mission on Thursday this week, and everyone surprised them and came out to welcome them home! We waited all the way until a few days before to let the kids know to make sure they didn't accidentally say something and give it away.
Earlier in the week, some wonderful ducklings were seen. Quack quack.
It would appear that the longhorns were out and by the fence while the kids were driving back from preschool. Monica stopped to let them all go have a closer look. Those are some pretty crazy longhorns!
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Brooke held a snake at toadstools this week, and for some reason no one ever told me. It's just a little guy, but I never know what my kids are or aren't going to be willing to do. Could I see Winry holding a snake? Yes. Brooke? I guess yes now.
On Thursday morning we headed to the airport to head to Utah. We stopped by our favorite store with the pink hand chair. After we found seats at our gate, I went back with Grayson and we picked up a 1-up mushroom for him, and he shared the candy inside with everyone.
Here we are enjoying our flight.
When we got off the plane, there was a whole greeting party waiting for us at the gate, which was awesome. I don't think I've ever been greeted at the gate before, and I wish it happened every time I flew. Now that we were getting together in a group, it was naturally time for us to all get our kangaroo suits out.
We got to the gate where my parents plane was coming in a little bit before it actually arrived, so Grayson and I went over to watch for the plane from the window. We slowly built up a crowd. In fact, the pilot could see us all there waiting and opened up a side window, stuck out his hand, and waved to us. I didn't know you could open a window in the cockpit, but there ya go.
And eventually my parents walked off the plane to a surprise greeting of ~30 kangaroos, and a koala. In addition to all of us who flew in in the morning so we could be at my parents gate, my sisters also bought cheap plane tickets so they could come through security and join us at the gate. Pretty slick planning, and my parents were shocked to see us all there.
Here's our whole family together. Brooke was the lone koala in the group.
After Grayson darted all around the airport, I just knew it was time to get my joey back in my pouch, but boy has he grown!
And Grayson wanted to collect everyone's flags. He was really excited as he collected more and more. He's also really loved playing a new game in the car where you count all the flags you see on the drive, so maybe it's related. I'm just realizing that the flag counting started at spring break I believe, so maybe his love of counting flags led to him collecting them here.
After being gone for 18 months, it was a little surprising to see just how quickly my dad got back into the swing of things. I can hardly tell he's retired AND gone on a mission. That desk nap just looks too natural.
Grayson does not want to take his kangaroo suit off, and that's been working pretty well as it's been cold here in Utah. We actually drove home from the airport in a snow storm. The snow wasn't too bad. It never really stuck on the roads and wasn't quite enough for sledding, but it was nice to enjoy some cold as a kangaroo.
On Friday we went to see the new Mario Galaxy Movie, to Grayson's elation. I mean, I think we were all excited to go see it, but definitely some of my excitement was from Grayson's excitement and seeing how he'd react, etc. I thought the movie was great. It was silly Nintendo fun, and all the kids had a great time too. The theater had this Mario scene for us to take a picture at.
And this one's a little more galaxy like. Andrew really loved spending time with Grayson and offered many times to let him come stay at his apartment at BYU for a week if we wanted. Maybe next time we're staying at Gram and Pop's they can have a sleepover.
After the movie, Monica, Oriah and I did some grocery shopping and I just couldn't help but indulge in a Reese's cup.
While we were in Utah, Grayson lost his first tooth! It's been wiggly for a while, but it was finally time for it to come out. Fortunately, the Tooth Fairy was able to find us even though we were travelling.
Not only did we get to visit for my parents coming home, but it was also Easter AND General Conference. What a great weekend to visit. We brought our Easter Egg dying cups we've saved through the years, and a bunch of dye tablets too. I'm realizing that we didn't go get clearance egg dying kits when we got home, so next year we might have to pay full price... yikes! Oh, and one of our egg dippers broke. It's like these things aren't meant to be used year after year.
Here's the egg dyeing crew, busy with their task. I think people came and dyed eggs throughout the day as I know I did several after the kids were done.
One night we played telestrations. To play, everyone writes a sentence at the top of a paper. Then the next person draws a picture of that sentence, and then folds the paper back so you can only see the picture and passes it to the next person. So it's like telephone but you keep going back and forth between words and pictures. Anyway, I think this was probably the best/funniest of them all.
Grayson had the best time wrestling with his big cousins. It was a pretty good combo because Grayson was too small to cause any real harm, and they were enough bigger that they were able to prevent any big accidents from happening. I don't remember anyone getting hurt at all, but I do remember a lot of laughing.
Growing up, we always had to find our Easter baskets on Sunday morning. Because of the elevated count, there were baskets hidden all over my parents house this year. At our house the baskets are usually out and eggs are hidden, but the kids really enjoyed searching for baskets. The baskets were really hidden, making us have to dig through bins and closets and just about everywhere. Brooke enjoyed it so much that she said she hopes the baskets get hidden at our house next year. So maybe we'll have to leave out a note for the Easter bunny.
I went out to hide Easter eggs on Sunday morning for an egg hunt between conference sessions, and while I was out there I saw this lovely tree blooming. This tree has a special place in my heart. As a kid mowing the lawn, I decided not to mow down a tree shoot for a week or two, and then it was too big to mow down... and now it's this tree in the middle of the lawn! You're welcome mom and dad!
The kids enjoyed Easter egg hunting in the backyard.
The eggs were even all Mario eggs. Or, maybe I should say Yoshi eggs. I guess that would make more sense.
On Sunday afternoon we flew back home. We often just check our bags for convenience when we get to the airport. Once we picked them up, the kids all insisted on pulling them along to the shuttle! Like, what was I even there for?
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