Welcome home Jonathan! Let's go sailing!

The day after we got back from our trip, my nephew Jonathan returned from his LDS mission to Bahia Blanca, Argentina. What's funny is that he actually left Argentina the same time we left Baltimore, but it took him an extra day to get here! His plane landed half an hour early, and we just barely made it on time!

 Luke made his own sign; Peter recycled one from Christopher's homecoming.

 There he is! I love our small airport, where we can peek through the fence to see him exit the plane.

I told them to hug him closer to the window for better picture lighting, but they didn't listen! 

What a moment!  

Another brother for Kate to meet! She was born 1 month after he left.

 

 Everyone grew "this much" in two years.

 Isn't he handsome? He has a fun accent, too. Missions are awesome!

Their whole family, minus Christopher at school. 

Love this picture of all of us!

Jonathan had a list of things he wanted to do when he got home, such as sailing. He fixed up this little sailboat before his mission and only got to take it out once or twice before he left. It's super fun! 

We joined them at the lake with our kayaks. It was a lovely day.

 We were finally able to take our double kayak out for the first time. We got it for Christmas. 

There really wasn't much of a beach there, but Chloe still had fun playing in the mud. 

I went sailing for the first time with Jonathan, but we don't have any pictures of that. It was fun, but the wind had kind of died down; it took awhile to back. Here are Kristen, Nathan, Eric and Kate. 

Beautiful!

First family picture with everyone! I have a terrible habit of cutting off people's feet. I'm so focused on everyone looking at me and smiling that I don't notice the feet until later. Oops! Oh well, they all look fabulous. What a great family!

Caps vs. Sharks

Since he grew up outside of D.C., Dave is a huge Washington Capitals hockey fan. In fact it's really the only sports team he follows. Once a year they come here to play the California teams. For Christmas we bought tickets for the 4 oldest boys to go with us to a game in San Jose. It was on a Saturday, so we had plenty of time to get there nice and early. 

In fact we had to wait awhile before they opened the doors. We visited with other Capitals fans in line, and we were both impressed with how many other red jerseys we saw in line!

When Dave and I went here last year, I thought, "The boys would love this!" If you haven't been to an NHL game before, I highly recommend it. It's very entertaining, even if you don't know all that much about hockey. Remember to dress warm!  

 Brennan was our token Sharks fan to protect us. Just kidding, their fans are great!

We ended up losing, but it was still fun. Then when we got to our car, it had a flat tire. Dave had to change it in the cold and rain. What a man! The Caps had an amazing season. They were first in the entire league by a large margin. They went to the playoffs and ended up losing in the second round to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Guess which two teams are going to the Stanley Cup.....the Penguins and the Sharks!

Back East: Easter at Grandma's house

We dyed eggs at Grandma's house the day before Easter while Dave and Spencer played golf with Patrick and Tony. It was Spencer's first time playing, and it's a really nice course. He was fine with missing the Easter eggs, but we managed to save a couple for him to do later.

 Nice swirly pattern there, Levi!

 I LOVE this little bunny!

Chloe did a great job spending time on each egg. Last year she sped through them and kept wanting more.

 She drew on them and everything!

 Classic Dallin egg face.

This is Ashley - she's Thomas's girlfriend's daughter. Her sister Kaitlin didn't want to dye eggs. They live with Dave's mom.

 Love those messy fingers!

We couldn't dye TOO many, since we were leaving 2 days later and didn't want to leave them a bunch to eat.

The Easter Bunny managed to find us in West Virginia! But it was all a little different than usual (they were just left on the table instead of hidden with clues throughout the house), so Levi was convinced that the Easter Bunny came to our house in California too. As soon as we got home, he ran around the house looking for the baskets. 

After a quick breakfast of eggs and candy, we got all ready for church. Chloe was not in the mood for pictures, so Dave distracted her by pointing out a toy in the window. The boys are wearing ties from their grandpa. Grandma let them all choose a couple to keep, which was pretty special.

 I really like this picture Levi took of grandma. 

Then ALL the family came for an Easter egg hunt. Crystal organized the whole thing and even had money in some of the eggs! Levi got the jackpot egg: $10! He had to climb a tree to reach it!

 Christine and Juliet, so cute!!

 They hid the eggs in two different sections, which worked out well.

Allison                                                      Theresa and Chloe

                                High fives for Celestial!

 Brian and Kai

Kai was so excited to have so many boy cousins to play with! He did NOT want us to leave! 

 Juliet's cuteness just about killed me! Those glasses!!

Here are Kevin and Crystal's two kids, Trinity and Kevin. 

 Andrew just finished his first year at Alderson-Broaddus College. He was there on a band scholarship, but he doesn't want to go back.

                                                                                                             Luke and Juliet

 Thomas, Alicia, Dave and Mary

Cousins! 

Cute family picture of Mary, Brian and Kai. They just bought their first home and moved in the day before this, so they were pretty tired! We stayed with them the night before we flew home, since they're closer to the airport.

Kat and her fiancee, Jeremiah. He's super nice! We approve!

First sibling picture since Kevin died.

The whole family! Minus dad and Kevin.

Angie and her kids came over to say goodbye the next morning.  

 Good-bye cousins! We miss you!