4-part Harmony

One of my very favorite things is boys/men singing in 4-part harmony! Well, I just happen to have 6 brothers and a dad that all can sing! :) For sacrament meeting when Steven spoke in church for his mission report, they let us do the musical number. I played the piano while my brothers and dad all sang beautiful 4-part harmony! I had my sister-in-law Ashely record it on my camera for record sake. So click on the link below (Brightly Beams) and enjoy our rendition of:

"Brightly Beams Our Father's Mercy"

(I apologize for the not-so-perfect sound quality - it was just a recording from my camera in my parent's living room after all! And if you can't understand the second verse it's because they are singing it in Spanish which is what Steven spoke on his mission in Ecuador.)

Back to Utah...

Once again I headed back up to Utah! I flew up Saturday evening with Connor for Steven's mission homecoming talk/report in church, then I flew back home Sunday night after the festivities were over. :) (Mike stayed behind with the older two in Phoenix since we couldn't afford for all of us to back up AGAIN.) It was so fun being with my whole family! Here is the man of the hour:

Elder Steven Reid

Saturday night we all hung out and had a BBQ in my parent's backyard. After dinner was over all the boys decided to play a game of Basketball. (Please ignore the sweatiness of them all in the next few pictures due to said basketball game!) Here is my dad hanging out with Connor on the swing:

All of us girls hung out and played cards while the boys played BBall.
(Emily and Jenna with our sister-in-laws Jen, Ashley and Michelle):

All the boys goofing off after the game was over:

My 6 brothers!!! They are all so big and grown-up now! Crazy!

And here they are again, but in age order from right to left:
(Aaron, Jared, Joshua, Steven, Kevin, Derek)

This is the first time in 2 years that all 8 of us siblings have been all together!!!
(Don't you just love how all my little brothers tower over me?!)

Sunday morning we decided to get a few family pictures in before heading over to the church to listen to Steven talk. Here are me and my siblings:
(Right to left - Back row: Derek, Kevin, Emily, Jared, Joshua. Front row: Steven, Jenna, Aaron)

And here is the whole fam including mom and dad!

And here is everyone including in-laws (minus Mike and our 3 kids):
(Right to left: Jared and Ashley, Derek, Aaron and Jen, David and Lesa,
Steven, Jenna, Kevin, Emily, Joshua and Michelle)

Even though it was a quick trip (a little over 24 hours) it was so much fun have the whole family together!!!

Welcome Home Elder Steven Reid!!!

Friday night (21st) we went to the airport to pick up my brother Steven who was getting home from his 2 year mission in Ecuador!!! His plane was an hour late which made it hard to wait because we were all so anxious! (At least we knew it was late before we left home so we weren't at the airport that long!) Here is the whole group of us waiting at the airport for his plane to arrive!
All the grandparents sitting down to wait their grandson returning! Grandma Reid, and Grandma and Grandpa Dayley.
Here are the kids with their signs for Steven:
Shawn, Jenna, and Brady with their signs (they were so proud!)
And Connor with his sign. (Uncle Steven hadn't met Connor because he was already on his mission when Connor was born.) Connor was so cute - he had no idea what he was holding, but he loved holding it. When we would take it away (thinking he would maybe rip it or something) he would get so mad until we gave it back! And he just sat there so still holding it! :)
My Uncle Barry who came along and took over as our "camera man" to get the homecoming on video/camera for us!
My brother Derek waiting for the plane to arrive.
Me and my kiddos all excited and anxious to see Uncle Steven!
Joshua, Jared, Kevin and Michelle all decided to pull out the card games while waiting for the plane to arrive. Something to do to kill the waiting time!!!

Connor chilling out in the stroller. He was so tired (it was WAY past his bed time!) but he was so good!
Shawn, Jenna and Brady sharing a bag of chips Grandma bought them from the candy machine.

And here he is coming off the plane...
ELDER STEVEN REID!!!
Welcome Home Steven!!!

My mom, of course, was the first to run up and give him a hug! She was crying which in turn got just about everyone crying! :)

My mom and Steven saying hello to each other!

Jenna was the next one to run up and give Steven a hug. She was crying as well - it was so sweet! She and Steven had a special bond and she was so excited to have him home again! She ran and pretty much jumped up into his arms! :)

Steven making the rounds of hugs to all his brothers...

Steven and my dad. The first thing Steven said to my dad was "Whoa! You're skinny!" It was funny! (My dad has been working hard at losing weight and has lost a lot of it so far this year so it was probably good for my dad to have him notice!) :)

And another hug for Jenna!

Now I have to take a time out and do a little comparison.
This is Steven and me the day of his farewell 2 years ago:

And here is Steven and me now:

I can't get over how grown-up he looks! No more baby face! :) It is amazing how much someone changes in just 2 years!!! He hasn't changed in any way (no weight gain/loss, etc) except that he is so much more grown-up looking!


Here everyone is after getting his luggage. heading out to the car to go home:
When we got home Brady jumped out of the car and held up his sign again for Steven to see along with the sign on the garage. It was so cute of him! He was so excited to see his Uncle Steven! :)

Welcome Home!!!

Steven kissing Connor goodnight (he had to go to sleep as soon as we got home).

We all had rootbeer floats and cookies and then we sat around and chatted with Steven as he told us about his mission and showed us a bunch of things from Ecuador. It was so neat! I think we stayed up until like 2:00 in the morning just talking! We were all so tired, but it was so good to have him home and hear stories about his mission and what things were like in Ecuador.

It is so good to have Steven home. We are very proud of him for serving the Lord on a mission and for all the work he has done with the people in Ecuador and teaching them the gospel! He definitely has "Returned With Honor!" We love you Steven! Welcome Home!!!

Homecoming Preparations!

Thursday and Friday were busy with preparation for my brother Steven to come home from his mission on Friday night. Thursday we did all the yard work, washed cars, etc. Brady had a blast using the water gun and helping Grandma Lesa spray down the cement outside.

Friday morning was spent cleaning the whole house (goes pretty quick when you have so many people helping!) Then it was time to decorate!!!
We went for a walk around the neighborhood and tied up these yellow ribbons on all the trees, poles, etc. down the main street and then on our street to our house. Here are some pics of us putting up the ribbons. (I forgot to take pics of our house with the ribbons tied in all the trees, etc. Oh well!:)
Derek and Brady tying a ribbon.
The whole crew working together to get it done! (It was SO hot outside walking around!)
Jared and Ashley with my mom behind them.
Kevin "helping" Shawn push Connor in the stroller. :)
Here is everyone coloring the sign for Steven to be hung on the garage door.
And the finished sign on the garage door:
It was fun being there to help get everything ready for Steven to come home. The kids all made signs to hold up at the airport and they were so excited! My mom (and all of us, but especially her) were all nervous and excited and we could hardly wait!

Playing at Grandma's

After Las Vegas, Mike flew back to Phoenix so he could work the rest of the week. I flew back up to Utah (our kids were there being babysat by Grandma) and we spent the rest of the week there with family. One of the days we went to my brother Jared's and his wife Ashley's house to help them unpack some. (They just bought their very first house!) Here is Connor trying to help unpack one of the boxes:
And this is how the other boys helped out--- playing their gameboys on the stairs. They are such boys! :)
One of the things my kids love the most about my parents house is the giant sandbox/swingset. They spend hours out there every time we visit! This trip was Connor's first time in the sandbox and he absolutely loved it! Here is Brady and Connor putting sand in the buckets:
Connor wasn't quite sure what to think at first until brothers showed him how to dig with the shovel! :)
Brady having fun!
Shawn loves the swings! He wishes we had some at our house or even at the playground in our neighborhood. Maybe someday ....
All the kiddos playing together. (Even my mom was out there digging around in the sand --- I will leave out the fact the she was scooping out cat poop from someone's cat that pooped in there! So gross!) OK, maybe I won't leave it out.
The last day we were there (Saturday) we let the kids get out the slip-n-slide and they had so much fun! Even Connor enjoyed playing in the water!

Shawn and my sister Jenna being silly!
Connor loved playing with the rubber ducky in the bucket of water. :)
Shawn, Brady and Jenna all loved dumping buckets of water over their heads as well as throwing them up in the air. They wanted us to take a few pictures of this:




The kids had so much fun being in Utah and at both Grandparent's houses for the week! They said it was so much fun to just spend time playing at Grandma's (unlike previous vacations when we are so busy going from place to place and activity to activity). It was a fun week for everyone!