Jason's Homecoming/Family Reunion!!!

I'm so sorry I haven't posted in a month and a half!  Where does the time go Ever since Jason got home from his mission, I don't feel the pressing need to do a blog post every Sunday night, so it has kind of gone to the wayside.  SOOOO, here is a BIG catch-up!!  I will probably do this in 2 or 3 posts.  Without further adieu...

Wed., 5/27: We went to my nephew, Wyatt's, kindergarten graduation that morning and ate lunch at Sweet Burrito with Kiki's family.

After lunch, Kiki did chalk art on her front porch with the kids while I went to the store. This is all Makenna's art--a cow in blue, herself in black, and Kiki's cat in orange. So cute!!!

That evening, we stopped and ate dinner at Cracker Barrel to celebrate Jared's birthday on the way to the airport to see Jason arrive home from his mission.  Avery at dinner: "This is the best biscuit I've tasted in my life! It's in my dreams, then goes up into my brain! " I told the waitress what Avery said and she brought us a few biscuits to take home. :)

Then off to the aiport to see Jason! There was a huge crowd waiting for returning missionaries in the baggage claim area at the airport, so they had a large area at the bottom of the escalators roped off. It was so exciting to see him come down the escalator then come and give us all hugs. We hung out there for a little bit to take pictures and such, then we went home.

Avery's first hug from Uncle Jason in two years:

 And Makenna's:

 Brother reunited after two years:

 We missed Uncle Jason!

5/28: We drove up to Grandma's house so the girls could go to the "Girl Cousins' Party", which the oldest two cousins arranged--they sent invitations to all the girls and everything.

That night, we all just hung out and had fun being together, then our family went and stayed at Aunt Cindy's house. There is some kind of curse on our family that at least one of my kids get sick anytime there's a family reunion or gathering on Jared's side. Real big bummer since we hardly ever get to see everyone. This time it was Makenna. She started puking at 2 a.m. (cried with a stomach ache for an hour before that) and puked 4 times.

5/29: We stayed at Cindy's house for a while in the morning, since we had been up all night with Makenna. She held the puke bowl all morning. Really sad. Avery said she was worried about Makenna and Makenna was worried that Avery was worried about her. Aw.

We then went and visited Grandpa Ted, even though Makenna wasn't feeling all that well. She didn't puke the rest of the day but she did have a slight fever the rest of the day.

All of the family hung out and had a weenie roast that night (Makenna spent most of the time resting on a blanket in the grass).

After putting the twins to bed, I went to Grandma's house and played games (Spoons and Tripoly) with my SIL's and some of the older kids. We had so much fun but stayed up until 2am!

5/30: we had an all-day family reunion, which included a craft (wooden dragon), kids' talent show, water games/slip-n-slide, and just hanging out and having fun together.

 They were being too shy to do their talent (dance):

 Time for water games!!! Makenna looked forward to this part SO MUCH, especially as she was sick the previous day and couldn't play with all of the cousins.

 Jason ate a worm! EEEEEEEEW!

 5/31: Jason's homecoming was on Sunday and there was a luncheon after church. We hung out at Grandma's with everyone for a while before heading home to bed.  It was such a fun, but exhausting, few days!!

All the siblings. Gorgeous group!:

Since Jason served in the Scotland/Ireland mission, he wore a kilt to his homecoming:

Oh, and I saw this and thought it was pretty funny: