homecomings should be filed under "some of the happiest days ever".

We headed out to Utah (by car...and decided to drive straight through all 24 hours without any stops with a 2 and 1 year old...yep we're a bit insane but it sure was nice to have it over and done with and to get there faster.) mid-August for our big summer trip.

We waited so late into the summer because my sister, Annie was finishing up her 18 month full-time service as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Perth, Australia mission.

Annie had about 30 hours of travel time with layovers to get all the way from Western Australia back to SLC, Utah. (yuck, luckily she sleeps really well on planes...) She had quite an incredible experience, check out her mission blog here.

These last 18 months have gone slow and fast, as anyone who's had someone gone for an extended period of time can attest to.  It really felt like a substantial amount of time when I thought about the fact that Lee was Drew's age when Annie left and that she'd never even MET baby Drew, who's now about 14 months old.

Her flight wasn't scheduled to get in until about 6 pm on a Thursday evening (and once we got to the airport it got delayed just a bit).

The boys didn't really understand what we were all so excited about.

waiting and waiting.

me and my youngest brother, Matty.

mom is so hip she even photo bombs. :)

Annie came home with a couple other sisters from her mission and several other LDS missionaries were also arriving home at about the same time.  Such a fun group to be a part of. Kevin isn't in any of our pictures from the airport because he was the designated camera man.  Of course after being reunited it was as if Annie had never been gone at all, weird how that happens too.

we see her :)

You'd probably never be able to guess it now, but when we were growing up the six year difference in our ages and the extreme similarity in our (sometimes intense) personalities made it pretty hard for us to get along very well.
Thankfully we got past that, especially when I moved out, and became the closest of friends.  Annie even lived with me two separate times after I got married when Kevin was getting his Master's at the same university she's attended for her Undergraduate degree.
Anyway, needless to say, after weeks of writing each other back and forth and keeping in the best touch possible for once a week contact, I was so excited to see Ann in the flesh again and spend some quality time with her before she got back into school and I headed back home.

meeting baby Nathan.

with Papa.

with Matty.

meeting baby Drew.

loves for Lee.

Chloe was a bit wary.

with Alexis.

with Kami.

with Grandma Twitchell.

with Grandpa Twitchell.

The two babies born in the family obviously needed a little time and space to get used to the aunt they'd just seen pictures of and heard about.  

It didn't take long though, leaving "her babies" was probably one of the biggest sacrifices for Annie, she loves her nieces and nephews intensely and is really gifted at being close to each of them.

We so missed having the whole family together, not sure when that'll next happen, isn't that one of the hardest things about families growing up?

I never ever think of myself as the runt of the family even though I'm more than 4 inches shorter than the next shortest person. :)

The whole airport group.

Annie, has a deep love for treats, and she brought home nearly a suitcase full of Aussie chocolate for all of us to try, as if having her back wasn't enough, I'll rarely say no to chocolate. :)

Yay! She is HOME.