Elder Hirschi is home!!

2.6.15

Oh what a wonderfully perfect weekend it was! We had counted down for months. 

Elder Hirschi was returning home after serving in Winnipeg, Canada for 2 years. I lost sleep thinking about this..beyond excited for the time to come! 

Teegan and Camdyn made the trip to Idaho with me. Josh and I felt strongly about them being a part of this experience, hopefully leaving an impression on these little future missionaries. We woke up at 3:00 a.m. to catch our early morning flight. They make great traveling companions. 

Mom was so sweet to pick us up at the Salt Lake airport. 

We got lunch, the kids got a good nap in and we had fun catching up on the drive home.

We were SO happy to see everyone...especially those two babies who have grown so much since we saw them last. When my dad came walking in with pizzas, he practically threw them on the counter to give lots of hugs. My dad is so sweet! I was also surprised to see a picture of an ultrasound hanging on the fridge. Brianne & Imari are expecting babe #2! And apparently Josh had known about it for weeks. 

Ohh..there's no place like home!

My mom made arrangements for us to put up a welcome for Landon at the gas station that is on our route home for him to see the next day. Brianne & I encouraged and gave input while Lex and Brylee did all the work! 

Mission accomplished.

That night dad did a drive by to see it all lit up...soak it all in. :)

Side note: I love that gas prices are crazy low.

I was in Auntie heaven with these cute girlies!

That night after dinner and kids went to bed, we prepped for our big day by making posters.

We woke up so ready to see him! It was a long trip for him from way up north in Flin Flon. We were hoping it would give his eyelashes some time to thaw. 

Imari prepping the sign in the front yard...that Dad had already put up, but darn Idaho wind! 

And this crew was off to the airport!!

We were slightly excited..with butterflies in our stomachs! It was like Christmas morning times a million! My mom said she may have been more excited for this than the day he was born! ha. :)

We saw many people walking out from the flight and some would walk by and say "oh I bet I know who you're waiting for. He should be coming soon." Little did we know he was stalling in the bathroom. 

And then we saw him!!

I believe Lexie's exact words were.."I really don't think i'll cry." Who was she fooling? 

We are an emotional family and this was a very big moment...and a first for us! When we caught a glimpse of his happy smiling missionary face coming down that escalator we were all in tears. 

After all this time, there he was! The Landon we know and love...our one and only!

What a sweet reunion it was. 

That moment when we did the ugly cry. And for the record..Lexie did in fact cry.

Camdyn wrote him a letter about how proud and happy she was and drew him a picture. 

Landon meeting his two new nieces for the first time. They were both wearing shirts that said "I've waited my whole life to meet you". Way too cute!

Oh what a happy day! I just wish Josh and Max could have been there. 

He looked the same..just seemed taller and skinnier, and had some new Canadian lingo. 

He was hilarious and we just watched him and laughed. He said coming to Idaho Falls was like coming to Hawaii, compared to the snowing, blowing and negative temperatures he left in Canada. 

On the way home from the airport, Teeg said.."this is the best day of my life!" 

He even followed Landon EVERYWHERE he went. When Landon went into the bathroom, Teeg stood outside of the door waiting. Making up for lost time I guess. 

So fun to (almost) be all together again!

Mom made tostadas, his favorite dinner and we watched a video of Landon's mission pictures put to music. He also showed us some of his videos that he took. One of his companion and him had us dying of laughter. We may have rewound it like 3 times! We also saw videos of them walking in the freezing cold with their icicle eyelashes. It was a lot of fun! We had lots to catching up to do.

Love having him home!