Home Again..Home Again...Jiggity Jig!

Sometimes counting the days makes every minute go so SLOW! I remember when Cameron left for his mission, I cried for a week. Then I decided to not count the days until he returned, and just look forward to the fast Sundays, and before I knew it there were only two fast Sundays until it was time for Elder Leavitt to come home. So, I am a crazy kind of person, and miss my kids alot. So about a month ago I started planning on making signs for us to take to the Airport, and Steve's Aunt Linda, offered to do her "Card in a Yard" Doesn't our yard look amazing!
Here I am with a couple of signs that I made to take to the airport(Thanks Lexi for helping me). I was just practicing my "Excited Face".

Unfortunatley, I can't say everyone was excited as I was about the great signs I made. Steve was helping me hold the "FINISH LINE" sign, but his knee was hurting, so I had to recruit Casey to come and help me hold the sign. I was surprised how many people stopped to either take a picture of the sign, tell us they were from the Philippines, or that they served in the Philippines, or just tell us how excited they were for us and our missionary. Yeah...the "FINISH LINE" was a BIG hit with our spectators.

Tineke holding a few signs. She was on "Video" crew, so she stood right up front to watch for Cameron to come down the stairs.

Okay, so the story behind the "I See YOU First". There were about four other missionary families there to meet their missionary from the Philippines. Their missionaries came, they had their reunion, and they were leaving, and still no Elder Leavitt or Elder Long, who was Cameron's traveling companion. Finally about 30-minutes after his flight had landed, here comes Elder Leavitt and Elder Long. "SCREAM" "DANCE".....hurry up Elder Leavitt! This is the first picture as he see's us and we see him.

When he called from San Francisco, we told him to look for the yellow sign. And he ran SLOOOOOOOOOW motion to the "Finish Line" He is really going to have to step it up if he is going to beat me in a race any time soon!

Ohhh. The wait was worth every minute of the HUG! I was soo proud of myself, I didn't even cry. Heck, I cried too much when he left, and I must say that I really don't like to cry. Smiling is so much funner!

So after my hug, I had to hug him again for Courtney, she told me to HUG him for 10-minutes then tell him there is plenty more coming when she gets home. Heck, it was a tough job doing all that hugging, but someone had to do it!

Kandace waited patiently for her HUG! I think she kinda likes her Baby Brother!

Brotherly LOVE....somethings never change!

Dad letting Cameron know that his suit is a little BIG! Cameron told us that he took off his suit jacket and left it in the mission office the day he arrived in the Philippines. Two years and 70-pounds lighter, ah...it is too BIG. We went to a tailor today who told us that it couldn't be altared, since the shoulders were way to big, so we went and had him fitted for a new suit today. Dad just inherited a new suit, since it did fit him.

SKINNY Boy!

Cameron LOVED the yard sign, and I had to take his picture in front of it. He had to go have a close up look before he even came into the house.

Little did he know that his friends were inside the house waiting for him! What great friends he has. Thanks Nic and Diego for taking time to stop in! Of course many of his friends are on their missions, and we will see them soon.

Cameron made sure to go downstairs to give Grandma and Grandpa a Welcome Home Hug.

What a couple of Goof Balls....but I just love these two goofs!

So, Kandace got a puppy in June and Courtney and Cameron named her. Her offical name is Ollyonka JAM JAM. Cameron gave her the JAM JAM. So this was their first offical meeting and I think Olly approves of Cameron. She has been following him around all day, her new BEST FRIEND!

We were all just sitting and visiting then Cameron disappeared and came back in his "U" T-Shirt. Nic is a HUGE BYU fan, so we had to snap this picture.

We are all soo HAPPY to have our Elder Leavitt home. He made us dinner tonight, and we are so glad to have our CHEF back in the house. Welcome Home Elder Leavitt!

Bunco Babes...Girl Trip!

Okay, my daughter thinks I am crazy, I say I just like to have FUN! Last weekend I was able to take a "Girl Trip" with some of my favorite "BUNCO" ladies. We were going to Mesquite,NV to play in the Bunco Tournament for Breast Cancer. They have been going for the past few years, but I always have a missionary just about to leave, so had to miss out on the FUN. This year it fell just a couple of weeks before my missionary comes home, so I was so excited to get away with the girls. This is at our first "PIT Stop. Julie told us that there was some great shopping in Beaver. Of course we had to stop! We didn't find any great deals at the Beaver Valley Chevron, but we did get a great picture in the HUGE rocking chair!
Friday night we had tickets to see "Little Mermaid" at the Tuacahn. Don't you think I make a great Sebastian?

You can't go wrong with the Tuacahn, what amazing scenery all around you! The weather was perfect, in the 8o's, not a cloud in the sky. I had several friends in St. George that were running the St. George Marathon on Saturday morning. I was thinking of them, and hoping it wouldn't be too hot for them.

We had GREAT seats for the play, right in the middle of the stage and the seating. The play was absolutley amazing! I have seen many, many broadway plays, and I must say that this was one of the BEST! The water effects could not be done on a broadway stage, what a treat it was!

This is the stage after the play was over, no photograhy during the play. You can see the stage is wet, and I loved how the actors were on "Heelys" to look like they were swiming under water. At the end, there were even fireworks, now how could you pull that off in a theater inside? What can I say, other than it was AWESOME!

Saturday I got up at 6 AM, went for a 5 mile run, then we hung out at the pool most of the day. When we came in to shower and get ready for the night, Judy and I laided out our outfits, don't we look like Jack and Jill?

Here we all are, ready to ROLL! What site we were. There was a baseball tournament going on in town, and a lot of older men were there at our hotel. They wanted to come and watch our tournament, and they even made our first donation to Breast Cancer!

This is Angela's 91 year old Grandma that came to play in the tournament, and we got her to "Bedazzle" a bra and join in the FUN!

Our whole group. Yes, we were the main attraction in the parking lot that night!

There were 370 ladies at the Bunco Tournament, our group had 24 people. This is my group, "Table Eight". I didn't win anything, which is okay with me. But I had such a great time with my friends, it was priceless.

I have to say, we were a hit with everyone there. We were being stopped by strangers that wanted their picture taken with us. It was just so fun to see all of us being crazy together.

Cute Judy and me. Judy really was a "HOOT", she said now she knows how the Naked Cowboy in NYC feels having everyone stop to take a picture with him. Love Judy!

So.."We are Family....I got all my JetBlue Sista's with me". We didn't go to a beach, or to Europe, but this was one of the Funnest trips I have ever had! I am looking forward to next year's trip. We just don't know what we will do to top our outfits this year...hummm... I am sure we will come up with something great!

Hitting the "Finish Line" for Elder Leavitt...

In less than three weeks Elder Leavitt will cross the "Finish" line of his mission, and what a race it has been. Just like a real race, and the last few miles are the most enduring, and don't give up miles. He is going strong and giving his all to the end. He has been sick for the past week and in bed. He HATES to be sick and make his companion stay home from missionary work. This is a recent picture of Elder Leavitt and his companion Elder Dela Cruz. His companion makes fun of his Tagalog and he makes fun of his companion's English. He has really enjoyed his companion.
Why is it that Cameron always have to pull the "Goofy" face? This lady was their latest baptism. She took them to this park for a picnic lunch and site seeing.

Enjoying their picnic lunch.

Just driving in the car.....not a Jeepney or taxi.

One of the sites they visited.

We are so excited for him to come home, and know that he will miss the people. What a LIFE adventure he has had and will have stories to tell for a lifetime. Can't wait for him to cross that finish line in three weeks. Go STRONG Elder Leavitt......you don't get to the finish line and quit!

HP Holy Rollers Take Two....

Okay, it is that time of year again when the weather starts to cool down and the guys think they need to get their bikes out for the final rides of the season. Last weekend we hit the road with our HP Holy Rollers for our ride to Bear Lake. The plan this year was to leave early enough that we would be in Logan to meet Marathon Margaret at the finish line as she completed her race "TOP of UTAH". Our plans had a huge damper when Mother Nature decided that we needed some rain and hail just before we hit Brigham City. We forged through the storm and some how made it to the finish line just as Margaret was coming in. So, the funny thing about getting there just as Margaret was coming in, I just hopped off the bike and told Matt and Steve to go find somewhere to park the bikes and come find me. We were two blocks away from the finsih line and as I rounded the corner and saw the "FINISH" arch I felt a hand come over my shoulder and say "Hey Karen, you made it" I turned and looked and there was Margaret running her last block, I started to run with her in all my leathers, helmet and all. Then I looked at my silly self and told Margaret to just go finish the race and I would be there. I can only image what the onlookers were thinking as I was running down the street in my leathers, kinda crazy! So here we all are after the race. You can't tell, but everyone had wet pants and shoes. We all went back to Margaret's hotel and put on dry pants, socks and Steve had to go buy new boots. Then we all went to lunch. Mike and Connie were too cold to continue the ride and stayed in Logan. The rest of us went on to Bear Lake, it rainned for about 5-minutes up the canyon, then it was dry the rest of the ride. I was disappointed that the leaves were not changing yet, I am sure after last weekend they are now changing.
Once we got to the cabin, we all changed and got cleaned up to go and watch the BIG game, UTAH VS BYU at Coopers bar. Holy cow, what a crazy night. We were the only ones in the bar that were not drinking, and the more the U scored the louder the crowd got. Let's just say, it was very interesting being there. We left when the score was 38-10 and poor BYU kept fumbling.

The next morning was BEAUTIFUL! We all went on a nice walk and enjoyed the beauty all arounnd us.

Cute Matt and Margaret....what an amazing lady, runs a marathon then hops on a bike. I still can't believe she did that and kept up with us.

These were about the only fall colors I could find.....but at least there were some colors.

Here we are as we chatted with the neighbors that had just got home from church. We were just leaving to enjoy the ride home.

Bear Lake is so beautiful, next year we are going to try and stay longer so we can enjoy the water.

Matt and Margaret zipping around the lake in front of us.

BLUER than BLUE! The lake is so BLUE!

We had to stop at the beach and snap a quick picture!

Wild things....Matt and Margaret!

We went home a different route, through Randdolph, UT, which took us over some high mountains and into Huntsville.

At the summit, such a beautiful view! But it was COLD! I was glad I had my leathers handy to put on.

The bikes enjoying the view. We had such great weather for the ride home. Steve got a little too much sun...which you will see in a few....

When we got home, Kandace had made us all "HOT Peach Pie" just waiting for us! It was her first attempt at any pie, and it was soo YUMMY!

Yes, I still had my duo rag on from riding all day...but can't wait to have some peach pie!

Poor Matt choking down his pie......he bet Kandace she couldn't do it again? Actually she did last night and it was even better!

And here is Steve...see what I mean about too much sun. I felt bad I kept laughing at him because he looked like an Easter Egg that was half dyed. At least he really enjoyed his pie. We had a great weekend even though the rain tried to ruin it for us. Next year, please let us have more SUN!!!