Michael comes home from Tijuana!

After 2 long years my brother returned from his mission in Tijuana, Mexico.  We prepared by making posters.

 And awesome shirts (do you see we are the Mexican Flag?)

 And the moment finally arrived!  I am not a short person (5'9") and I look so short next to him!  We measured him that night and he is 6'5", by far the tallest in our family.

 The banner on the garage.

 Mike left when will was just 1 month old, and it's crazy what a difference 2 years makes!  I would always point to Will and say, "this is how long Michael has been gone."

This is how he acted the whole time we were waiting.

 The funny poster my mom made.  She used it on Monday when my brother Matt got home from a summer in Alaska.  Then she crossed out Matt and wrote Mike for his return on Tuesday, and then she used it again on Saturday when Nicki returned from her summer in Europe.

Yep, you read that right, everyone was ALL OVER the world, but it's so great to finally have everyone home.  In the last 8 1/2 years it has been a pretty rare thing for us all to be home at the same time.  Nicki left on her mission in 2005, and we got married while she was gone.  Richie left soon after and that's when Caydence was born.  Matt left 8 months before Richie got home, so it was over 3 years that they were apart.  And then we got a few months before Mike left (when Will was only 1 month old) and he missed Claire's birth.  WOWZA, it's nice to finally be back together!

Up next:  Caydence starts kindergarten!