Well, first let me explain that we arrived in CA Thursday night. My parents and Jenna picked us up from the airport, and we ate dinner at In-N-Out, which was perfect. Zak and I stayed at my grandparents' house, but hung out the majority of the night at my parents' place. So that was Thursday.
On Friday, we woke up, got ready and went over to hang out with Jenna, while Mom & Dad were finishing up their last day of work for a week. We got some Jamba juice and I ran to get bruise cream; I had woken up on Thursday morning with a very deep purple bruise on my chin. We still don't know what happened, but it's most likely due to the fact that I had been sleeping poorly the few days before our trip, and probably as resting my chin on my knuckles. I bruise pretty easily and am clumsy, so it's not really hard to believe, right? Then I ran off to grab lunch with two of my best friends, Amy & Mari. And despite me bringing my camera, I forgot to take pictures, oh well. We ate at this little Mexican/Central American restaurant and it was so yummy! It was great to have some time with us three girls to talk and have fun together, especially because I was pretty much booked the entire week.
The rest of the afternoon was kind of a blur. Mom came home, we drove over to the BART station to pick up Dad from work, then headed into Oakland. We tried to find some balloons/balloon bouquet for Kenny at Wal-Mart but that didn't happen. Kenny was due to arrive at 5:56 PM; we got to the airport to discover it had been pushed back to like, 6:08 PM. The Robisons & Beth had arrived at the same time, Grandma & Grandpa had been waiting for a few minutes at the arrival spot, and Aunt Jackie/Uncle Jeff/Chris/Dani were moments behind us. We had made two signs for Kenny, and everyone had helped decorate them, they were pretty cool. Jenna brought a poster Kenny had done for a scout project that involved photography. Jenna thought it would be hilarious to bring it, so she did.
the poster in question
waiting (and yes, I cut my hair, a week before our trip, but I didn't tell anyone so I could surprise everyone!)So 6:08 rolls around, there is nothing on the arrival screen about Kenny's flight. A few more minutes pass, we start seeing people, adrenaline kicks in....still nothing. Ten minutes later, still no Kenny! I wondered aloud if we should've brought a picture of him to hold up and ask if anyone had seen him! There was no way of knowing if he was on the flight, he didn't have a cell phone and didn't call when he had a layover in SLC, nothing. We started to worry if maybe he didn't make one of his connecting flights, what were we supposed to do--the arrival sign said the plane had landed, where was he??? It didn't help that there were some guys in suits or white shirts, which totally psyched us out. We asked a few people, with minimal help.
such a cute picture
all signs go!
Finally, around 6:30, we have our first sighting of him! He was all alone (he swore he got off the plane in the middle of a group, that the plane didn't even land until 6:25 or something, despite what the arrival board said), walking quickly to us. He looked so handsome and grown up in his suit and duel tags!
the first good picture I got of him!
Mom got the first embrace, obviously, and it was one of the sweetest moments to witness. I knew I was crying from that point on. Dad was next to hug him, then me. It was unbelievable, to be able to hug my little brother after being separated for two years. I was crying like a baby and I didn't want to let go. It was such a great feeling, knowing he was home and done such a good job in Sweden, I could not have been prouder of him.
looking at this makes me all teary!
awh, sibling love
More crying and hugs for everyone, and lots and lots of pictures! Mom had forgotten her camera, so I was militant about taking pictures of EVERYONE with Kenny. The pictures can be found on the overview page I posted previous to this entry.
non-crying siblings
first family picture after 2 years!
the proudest parents!
with Grandpa Claude & Grandma Myrth and their cute signs
goofy, and with half of his two signs
walking to get his luggage with cousins Allie & Chris, being the security guard, haha
with most of the Robisons (Jordan will be back from his mission in Nicaragua in Sept., oldest Brandon was working), Allie, Uncle Jerry, Aunt Karri, Matt
After everyone had embraced Kenny, we got his luggage, and headed to Fenton's. Fenton's is kind of a big deal. It's tradition, and has the best ice cream around, period. And it was the best welcome home dinner I think anyone could have asked for. There were 26 of us, probably the biggest group we've had there in a long time. One of Kenny's companions, Elder Watts, was there with his family. His family is from the South Bay, so they know the Fenton's tradition as well. We took some pictures with the missionaries and their sisters, it was pretty cute.
with Elder Watts & his sister
We ended up waiting for tables for awhile, but it was ok. We all got to chat and have fun together, block up the sidewalks, all of that good stuff. Zak, Kenny and my cousin Matt talked about nerdy computer things, so that was nice for me. It was so nice to be back in California, with almost the whole family around. I was loving every minute and was probably irritating everyone with all the pictures I took. Well, once we got inside, it actually was a lot of fun. The poor waitress was actually a really good sport about everything and I don't think anyone's meal was messed up or forgotten (another 'family tradition', it always seems to happen). Zak had only been there once, but he got into the groove of it quickly.
ready to feast!
Everything was delicious, and for some reason that I can't now remember, Zak and I decided to split the BIG, monstrous banana split. Not the Junior size, the huge size. Oh, but it was amazing and we finished it and then felt sick for awhile after. Everyone had a good time, and it was so much fun!
we felt pretty confident initially
Kenny still needed to be released as a missionary, however. On our way home, he called the Stake President and left a voice mail. Once we were about home, he called again and the S.P. answered, whew! We went over to his house (despite it being late at night) and Kenny went into a room with him and was released. We chatted with his wife and admired their really sweet cabin-style house. It was beautiful.
By this time, Kenny had been up for a ridiculous 26 or 28 hours, because he couldn't sleep on the plane (he also almost missed the flight from Sweden to Paris, didn't get to sit with any of the other missionaries--it was like he was telling us a movie plot, it's crazy what he went through to get home!), but he was such a good sport about everything. Plus, he was pretty jazzed to be home. He handed out presents and chocolate (which I forgot to take pictures of, again, lame) and even was like, 'Yeah I can pay video games, let's do it!'. But we told him he needed to sleep, no matter what his body was telling him he could do. Besides, we were all pretty beat and were getting up early the following morning for breakfast on Mt. Diablo, another family tradition with food and pictures and fun.
So off we went, back to Grandma's and zonked out quickly. The following day will continue with a different post...
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