Carlie is HOME/Ethan's 19th Birthday!!!

The day had FINALLY come!!!  I've waited 18 AND A HALF months for this girl to get home--YES!  Those extra 17 days were the LONGEST!!!  And of course there was record-breaking snow in Dallas, TX the day before she got home--her flight route went from Vancouver, BC to Dallas, TX, then on to Phoenix, AZ.  The snow caused 90% of the flights the day before (Tuesday, Feb. 16th) to be cancelled so I was kinda freaking out.  Chris was just sure she would have to be re-routed.  But MANY prayers were answered and she was able to arrive home through Dallas as planned (and only 10 minutes late!).  I think Heavenly Father knew that ONE MORE day would have made me BURST!!!

We could HARDLY wait.  We kicked ideas around for months about how we would pick her up.  Because heaven forbid, we just pick her up like normal people--Max was NOT having that!  So we all had a part to play.  We did have normal sign:

So here we are in all our glory:

Me: Pregnant

Chris:  Crazy tourist guy--with black socks and sandals

Max:  SUPER Prep

Tatum:  Goth

Papa Frank:  Full head of hair

Of course with her FaceTiming weekly with us made her not believe any of it!  She just laughed at us and asked, "WHAT are you wearing???"  The flight attendant she was talking to was LDS also and he was asking her if she wanted him to record it--he was super excited for her to be home.  He had a good laugh at us as well and told me a very funny joke:

"What is the difference between a Catholic and a Mormon wedding?  At a Catholic wedding, the bride is pregnant.  At a Mormon wedding, the mother of the bride is pregnant."

So this first video is from my phone and the second one is from my dad's android phone (sucky quality but has better content:)

Tatum is ALMOST as tall!!!

We then headed straight over to the Stake Center to meet with President Hansen.  We talked with him for about an hour and she was "released."  We grabbed Panda Express--her favorite restaurant that she hadn't had in 18+ months--and headed home for surprise #2:  Her best friends, Kayleah & Tatye, were at our house decorating it with Post-Its and hiding with bubble guns.  (And I'm KICKING myself for NOT getting a pic with her and the two of them!!!)

We all finally got to bed around Midnight.  What a great day!!!

There wasn't a flight out of Idaho Falls until Thursday night--which was great because Ethan didn't miss any classes--so we flew Ethan home.  First time my kids were all under ONE roof in 18+ months:

It was a WHIRLWIND of a weekend as we had Carlie home AND we celebrated Ethan's 19th Birthday little early pizza/ice cream cake and a movie at Take One Cinema (the newly remolded theatre room at my husband's work which seats 15 people).  We watched JoJo Rabbit--a family favorite and one Carlie had not yet seen.  

Then on Sunday, Carlie gave an AMAZING talk--which was watched by about 200 people all over AZ, NM, and Canada.  Can't even believe that that is my child!!!  She's accomplished more than most 20 year olds her age.  Just CRAZY proud of her!

Right after church, we had a quick lunch, Come Follow Me lesson, and then my dad had to leave for NM.  We then had a missionaries over for dinner--ALWAYS a party when they're here.  Then we had to take Ethan back to the airport to catch his flight back to snowy ID.

All in all, it was a FANTASTIC weekend.  Everything fell into place perfectly and it was just a great parent "payday" for both Chris and myself.  Not sure what we ever did to deserve such amazing kids.

Max's FIRST job!!!

 

Max was almost done with his basketball season so we thought it would be a good idea for him to "start" looking for a job.  It took Ethan about 2 months to get a job a couple of years ago at Burger King.  But within 24 hours, Max had a call from Popeye's!!!  (He was also called by Burger King the next day but had to turn it down:). 

So Max is now gainfully employed by Popeye's which is less than 1 mile from our house.  I am SUPER proud of this boy and how excited he is to have a job.  He is going to balance this job along with the 3 piano students he already has (he doesn't want to give them up because he LOVES them--and they love him too:). Way to go Max!!!

SNOW DAY!!!

     We decided to take a quick trip out of town this weekend to go see some snow!  We took our pup with us--we left poor Rocco home with his favorite piano students checking in on him.  He just doesn't get around well in his old age.

    We left Friday at lunch and made it up to Pine by mid-afternoon.  HOLY MOLY!  I've never been in such deep snow--easily 18-24 inches deep.  Lola absolutely LOVED it away.  She is definitely a "Snow Dog!"

    We played all day, slept, played all morning, then loaded up to come home as we all had things to do Saturday night/Sunday.  Not even 24 hours there but being able to escape to some snow less than 2 hours away was exactly what we needed.