A Suprise Jeff Day

I woke up on Thursday to my phone ringing, the only person that ever calls me in the morning is my mom.  Usually I am the one that calls her early in the morning with little worries or things I am wondering about.  But this morning, she was calling me.  I jumped out of bed and ran to my phone, I knew something was up because she was particularly chipper...she said "Guess what?" Obviously, I responded with "WHAT?" She said "Jeff is coming home!"

Jeff (my younger brother) has been serving a mission in Boise, Idaho.  He has been scheduled to come home on June 2, so it was defiantly surprise when we heard those words.  My parents have been in contact with Jeff's mission president because he has been sick.  If you know Jeff at all you know he has a huge personality and is a really strong dude.  We missed him a lot, because without his HUGE personality there is a huge hole in our family.  Because of this big spirit Jeff has, we were NOT worried that he would have a hard time in Idaho.  He had a lot of crazy experiences (like inseminating 2 cows, and of course he sent pictures which were super gross, I WILL NOT POST THEM ON THIS BLOG). The doctors think that the reason he got sick was from drinking unpasteurized milk. It is a little ironic that he went to arguably one of the most boring places in the world and came home with serious infection.  Now, don't get me wrong...he came home 2 years after he went out.  He served a whole faithful mission and we are too proud of him.  The doctors thought he should see a specialist and there happened to be one in Orange County, CA.  My mom was pretty stoked that the magically worked out (coincidence right? haha)

We left that night.  We drove to my parents house and started the preparation.  There was a lot to do because he was coming 3 weeks early! Of course, Marilyn and Camille needed Matching outfits for the airport and we need to make outrageous signs for everyone at the airport.  We also needed to get his room ready and make it a little more manly, now that a grown man and not a weird teenage boy would be living in it.  We ate a lot and I am proud to say that even through this crazy weekend I stayed away from Diet Coke for the most part! (Big news in my life) It seemed to take forever but the time had finally come.  It was 3:00 on Saturday, time to leave our house for the airport. 

We might have gotten to the airport a little too early, about 30 minutes, because it felt like I was going to die there.  The little girls were running around like maniacs and I think we literally asked every worker there where gate 12 would come down to baggage claim. They all seemed a little too annoyed, but we didn't care time was passing...he was coming! Here is a picture of us waiting...

Jeff left days after Camille was born and about 7 weeks before Marilyn was born, so basically he has never me them...

The girls had a blast running like little maniacs holding hands the whole time...

After an eternity of waiting, it literally seemed like longer than the entire 2 years... people started coming down the escalator.  Since the flight came from Salt Lake City everyone knew what was up.  We had people congratulating us and telling us how fun it was to see and Elder on the plane.  Some one said he is coming and another person told us she sat by him...the suspense was killing us...is it killing you?

Finally we saw him, we saw his cute face and his bright smile.  Everyone broke into tears as he came down the escalator.  We knew that this hard thing was over...he was home safe and sound and our worries were done...HE WAS HOME!

All the first hugs were so special, please excuse my crying face, I couldn't help myself. It was such a special day and the feeling was so special...we loved every moment.  He is home.  He is here.  And he better come visit, ASAP.