Homecoming

What a wonderful week we have had in our family. Alex came home from his mission and our entire family gathered for the wonderful occasion. The first one to arrive was Kira. She flew into town on Friday (June 15). After Kira had booked her flight however a bridal shower for Sarah was planned on the Saturday so Kira dropped her boys off with me and her and Mom headed north to Utah. It has been a long time since I've had a four year old and a two year old and I'm not sure I've ever had a four year old like Evan or a two year old like Landon. In the end it was like riding a bike and boys will be boys so I built a fire in the back yard and pitched a tent and we had a lot of fun.

Mom and Kira returned home on Sunday and brought Alycia and Sarah with them. It was wonderful to have all of my girls at home. Sunday was Fathers Day but we decided to wait and celebrate Fathers Day after Alex got home. Ben and Sharley arrived Monday evening and we were all on pins and needles awaiting the big day on Tuesday. It was very sad but Justin wasn't able to come with Kira, Trevor wasn't able to come with Alycia, Sam wasn't able to come with Sarah and Brandon (with his new job) wasn't able to take the entire week so he chose to come on the weekend to be here for Alex's homecoming talk and for the big party. Serene and the girls had to choose between Sarah's wedding or Alex's home coming so Alex lost out.

Monday we also went for a run. Since Ben, Alycia, Sarah, Sam and myself are all training for a marathon we decided to go for a run. Of course Sam wasn't there but it was a ton of fun running with my kids. You will have to excuse the picture. I was trying to stay ahead of them and it was getting dark so the picture is quite blurry. They say it is a big no-no to share your bad pictures but I love the whole concept and it's the only picture I have.

Tuesday morning we cleaned up after the little kids (as well as several of the big kids) and then headed to the airport. It was a very surreal experience walking into the airport and waiting for our son that we haven't seen in two years but we were very excited. Lisa was so into this that she actually hired a young girl to video tape the whole event. We wanted to focus on Alex and not have to worry about taking pictures. She did a great job.

We went straight from the temple to our Stake Presidents office downtown where Alex visited with President Ellsworth and then was released. We spent the remainder of the day just visiting and enjoying each others presence. Finally we decided to get Alex caught up on the Avenger movies that he has missed out on so that we can take him to the Avenger movie. We watched Thor the first night and then on Thursday we watched captain America. Thursday we went to Seaworld. Thursday is also the day that Sam arrived in town.

Friday was a busy day. Lisa dragged me off shopping so we could feed the masses. We were all planning on going on a long run Friday night but then one of Alex's friends offered to get everyone into Nickel City for free so all the boys disappeared leaving me and my girls to go on our run. We ran five miles and it was so fun . I would have no problem training for this marathon if I could do every run with my kids. Sarah is home for the summer though so I expect that we will do a lot of running together. 

Brandon was supposed to arrive into town around 8:00 Friday night and that would have been in time for him to go to Nickel City with the boys but alas... his plane was delayed three hours in Houston and he didn't get here until 11:40. I think I have been delayed every single time I travel to Texas. That place hates me.

I will give you all a break and talk about Saturday and Sunday in a follow up email.

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Utah has the lowest child poverty rate, the lowest teen pregnancy rate, the third-lowest abortion rate, the third-highest high school graduate rate at 94 percent, the highest scores on Advanced Placement exams, fewest births to unwed mothers (also the highest overall birthrate), lowest cancer rate, lowest smoking rate and the lowest per capita rate of alcohol use. Mormons as a group have the lowest rates of violence and depression among religious groups, are seven times less likely to commit suicide (if active church members), and have the lowest divorce rates of any social-religious group. Sixty-five percent of Utah residents have personal computers, the highest penetration rate in the country. Crime has decreased in the state of Utah by anywhere from 15-18 percent over the past 10 years. Mormon women are more likely to be employed in professional occupations than Catholic or Protestant women (similar to Jewish women) and more likely to graduate from college than Catholic or Protestant women (but less than Jewish women). One survey indicated Mormon women are more satisfied with their married lives than non-Mormons.

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