Is that my litte brother?

I am really behind on some recent life happenings, so I will try to get caught up soon! The first big event was that my little brother, Michael, returned from his mission from Tegucigalpa, Honduras on Tuesday, the 23rd. I am quite shocked at the transformation that he has made, not only physically (he lost 60 lbs!!), but maturity wise as well. He did an amazing job on his mission and I can only imagine the impact that he had on people's lives there.

Since his flight came in at 11:40 pm in Salt Lake, we were all really chipper to be hanging out at the airport at that hour, but oh well! Here is Devin, me, Jen and Chris waiting.

While we waited, we glanced over at the family next to us who was also waiting for a missionary to come in with Mike. We immediately started feeling like slacker family of America as they had hoards of balloons, signs, streamers...and need I go on? We looked at our pathetic little bunch and decided that we would make the most of the means we had.
Turns out all we had was a kleenex and a pen. So here was our big "WELCOME HOME MIKEY" sign. Good thing we think we are funny. It's also a good thing that this picture makes my teeth look like they glisten, particularly one or two of them.

Mike came down the ramp with a completely Honduran wardrobe along with a guitar he had made there slung over his shoulder, no case or anything. I had a picture, but it's blurry, dang it. Instead I have this gem. Here is the, "oh my gosh I am home and who are these people?" look. In case you wondered, everything in Michael's life has been displaced or changed since he left. Who knew that so much could happen in two years? But to give you a short sampling, he had never met Devin (we started dating like 2 weeks after Mike left), my dad got re-married and he had never met his wife, my mom also got re-married and he had never met her husband. Along with that, Chris, my sister's husband, got cancer and due to the side effects is quite different. So, litterally, half the people at the airport were new faces. Also, Jennifer and I are both expecting babies (Mike introduced me to the companion that he flew home with as his "fat sister"--how friendly), both my parents moved while he was gone, his car was sold, his "girlfriend" got married, and we had three deaths in the family (our uncle, our cousin's husband, and my dad's previous wife). YIKES. You have to feel bad for him.

Still feeling a little overwhelmed...here he is with my dad and Sharon.
And judging from his shoes, I'd say he put in some hard work in Honduras. This picture does not even do them justice, but they were flapping all over. Yeah...his emails were like 3 lines per week if we were lucky, so no one had any idea that his shoes were in such rough shape, or we probably would have sent him some more!

Anyway, despite all the changes, we are so happy to have him home. We were up in Idaho this weekend for a few family events, one being his homecoming speech. I have never in my life heard such a great talk from a newly returned missionary, and I am not just saying that because he is my brother. He also had some time to spend with Devin and Chris during baby showers (more on those later), so he got to know Devin at least some. They bonded over Mexican food at lunch while the girls were at the shower.

WELCOME HOME MIKE!!!!!