Brooke is HOME!!!

Friday was our BIG day! Brooke texted me from the airport in Minnesota saying she was about to board her flight. She had gotten us all matching t-shirts to wear. I got her some balloons, and Katelyn had made some super cute posters, as well… along with a poster that Alyssa Muller made too! They all turned out so CUTE! We drove to the airport around 1:30 for her flight arrival time of 3:00. (It was running a little bit late.) Allyson Andersen came to take pictures and video for us—which was so nice so that all of us could be in them. As the people on her flight kept going by, we were straining our eyes to find her! She FINALLY came toward the end and I spotted her in her Karen dress from pretty far off! She started to run as soon as she came a little closer and McKenzie ran out in front and intercepted her for a hug! Then we all just went in for a group hug! Then I got MY hug from her! I missed her sooooo much! It was so amazing to finally get that hug! She looks so good and has such a sweet spirit about her! I feel like she grew so much spiritually on her mission and really worked so hard on developing Christlike attributes-- I  can see these and feel them in her personality. I can feel that she is very close the the Savior! There is a special spirit about her! We got all sorts of pictures and then we drove straight to the Stake Center where President Hinton released her—which always makes me feel so sad with having to take off the tag! She didn’t want to and roamed the halls of the church for a bit before we left and then finally had to take her tag off. Then we drove to Mom’s house, where we had corned beef and cabbage cooking (Brooke's request) and we all chopped up a salad together. We ate dinner, and then all of us went to the Stake Nativity together. Brooke really enjoyed that! It was just so much fun to all be together again! After we got home, we played a game of Shanghai Rummy and it went on forever! We laughed a lot as we played though. We all went to bed pretty late… after the girls watched a Christmas movie. (I headed to bed when they started watching it.)  What an amazing day!  It's so fun to all be together-- except for Todd!  We face timed him at the airport though and got him in a couple of the pictures!  He flies in tomorrow night to be here for Brooke's homecoming talk in Sacrament Mtg. and for McKenzie's endowment next week.  Lots of big things happening right now for our family!!!