They're Home!!!

After almost 2 years Grandma Lyn and Grandpa Jerry (or as Andrew calls them Grandma and Grandpa Missionaries) came home from Austria and completed their assignment to serve as missionaries for our church. We were so lucky to be able to go to Utah and welcome them home. Originally we thought we'd just wait and go out over the Christmas Holiday and spend some good time with them then. Then our plans changed just a month or so before. It worked out pretty great that they came in two days before the Thanksgiving holiday.  We were able to fly in just about and hour before they landed in Salt Lake City and so we stayed behind and found their gate without them know. Mind you they'd been traveling for probably the last 18 hours and it was 4 am in Austria when they landed. But we were excited to get the first hugs and chat with them a bit before the 19 other grand kids. Who I might add...were anxiously waiting behind security for their turn.

Andrew giving grandpa a long-awaited kiss in person

It was a wonderful reunion! 21 months is a long time to be gone and Andrew was only just a small baby when they left.

This was just before they left

I loved seeing how excited all the grand kids got, especially over the last few weeks before they got home! Some made paper chains to count down the days. Others made countdown clocks on their ipods/phones that showed down to the number of seconds until Grandma and Grandpa returned from their mission. We all couldn't wait...it was like Christmas morning.

After all the hugs and pictures we headed to their house and had a "waffle night" My parents served the Young Adults who lived in Graz, Austria. As part of their assignment they would do institute one night a week, FHE one night a week, my dad taught English and my mom taught piano, and with each of these activities my mom was involved with cooking food. Many many meals and snacks for each of the events. Friday nights were "waffle nights" and the YA loved American waffles. So to make them feel right at home we had our own family waffle night and stay up until after 1am chatting and laughing and catching up.

It was fun to see my parents just walk around their house in amazement and notice the little things they did without for so long. A large kitchen sink, a disposal, a dishwasher, a garage and then realizing their entire apartment in Austria could fit inside their master bedroom at home. They were in a bit of a culture shock.

We had a great afternoon the next day when they showed us some of their souvenirs and gifts people had made them. They talked to us about the many dear friends they had made. Each one of us siblings were able to visit them at some point during their mission and seem them in action as missionaries, meet the YA they worked with, see where they lived and tour the beautiful country of Austria. Such a neat opportunity to be able to share a small part of their mission with them.

The celebrations continued. for about four days straight with a little Thanksgiving mixed in the middle. It was so wonderful to have them home and be together as an entire family....probably the first time in 5 or 6 years that we had EVERYONE together. We are so grateful for their service as missionaries and felt truly blessed for the sacrifices they made to leave their family and serve the Lord.  They are wonderful examples to me and I wish I could be there today as they reported and shared the experiences they had with all the wonderful people they served in Austria.