Killing the Fatted Calf

Even though Andrew is the opposite of the prodical son, we still decided to throw him a huge party. It was so nice to see all of the people who came to show their love and support to Andrew.

Welcome Home

Some supportive friends

The happy host (AKA PAPA)

Andrew's wrestling coach and family even came

Family Photos

WHO LOOKS UP TO WHO???

GOOD OLD DUKE (MY BABY BOY)

We are a happy family (missing the Hendersons though)

cheese

Mom and her sons

Me and the innocent BROS

Now not so innocent! LOL

ME and Andrew

Drinking the famous Brazilian Drink

Andrew is showing us how it's done

I don't know whos face I love more Aunt Susan's or Mom's

Relaxing

The Welcome Home from our good friend Hannah and her husband Daniel was in the car. Such good friends we have!

THE END

HOME SWEET HOME

YES that is right Andrew is home, and it was an amazing 5 days at home with him. I arrived in Washington on Weds night and Andrew got in on Thursday, so I was able to be there to photograph the important event as he walked off the plane. Lots of pics, showing our joy!!! This was such a special moment that I will never forget.

IS HE HERE YET, WE ARE LOOKING

YES we see him for the first time in 2 YEARS!!!

There he is walking towards us!!!

LOTS OF HUGS

I love this pic, Andrew looks so over joyed

HUGGING his mommy

ONE MORE DAY!!!

Andrew gets home tomorrow!!! I can hardly believe it. I am so excited to see him it will be so fun to get caught up on the past two years of his life. Get excited for some cool pics of him walking off his plane.

Count Down Still Continues!!! Only 3 more days left

My brother Andrew only has three more days of his mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints left! He has been a great missionary working hard til the very end. This picture was taken of him with the family he baptized just two weeks ago... see I told you he was working hard even though it's the end!

Game Nights

Scottie and I have started a tradition with some friends here in good old OHIO and every Sunday we get together and play games. We did our first one at my lovely abode and I have some fun pics thanks to Hannah for documenting the exciting event. Our next one is scheduled for this Sunday at Hannah's, so I will make sure I bring my camera so you can see some more fun pics. Hannah and I also decided we are starting a tradition of a girl's night in or out when our husbands are all studying for their tests. We had our first one last night, and Hannah and I had lots of fun talking and laughing together while our poor husbands were up late studying. We decided it is better for us to be out of their hair, so they can study without any distractions. Wish our wonderful hubbies good luck on their first medical test!

Marathon Runner Extraordinaire!!!

So I have officially given myself the title of Marathon Runner Extraordinaire. If you wish to speak with me that is how I must be addressed...OK OK Ok I am just joking, but I hope you can tell I am now done with my marathon and I am very proud of it! So here is the update on how it went.

Scottie and I drove over to Kirksville, Missouri, to spend the Labor day weekend with my sister April, and her adorable family.

Then Sunday night Scottie and I left to Columbia, Mo to check in for the marathon that would be happening the next day and to get a good nights rest before the big race. Before we checked in at the hotel we decided to drive the course I would be running the next day, and man alive I haven't quite yet decided if that was a good idea or not. The majority of the course was all uphill and to be honest quite intimidating. So I went to bed a very nervous little girl. I woke up the next morning bright and early at 5:15am but wait it wasn't bright it was dark! And it was already 78 degrees outside with lots and lots and lots of humidity ( and by the end of the race it was 91 degrees outside, so very hot!). We started the race at 6am and had to wear a light so we could be seen in the dark. It only stayed dark for about 45min, which was good.

So there I was running the marathon of my life, I reminded myself several times that I was doing this for fun and that I needed to have a good time. So I found lots of little things along the way that made it enjoyable for me. Plus I had an incredible husband and sister who made the run even more fun for me. Scottie was there every step of the way for me and he would met me every 5 miles or so and video tape me and cheer me on. Then in between he would text or call me to make sure I was alive.

NOW my sister April played a very important key role because she joined in at mile 13 and kept pushing me for the rest of the way. Once we got to mile marker 23 I realized "I have done this" and I felt like I got this splurge of energy that helped me finish the rest of the race. The last three miles were tough but ones I will never forget, for example at mile 25 a huge blister popped on my foot, but I was like oh well lets keep running to the finish line!!!

I can't even explain how it felt as I heard them call out my name as I crossed the finish line, it sounded something like this, "Here is Angie Parker finishing her first marathon in 6 hours and 9 minutes". Yes yes yes I know this is a long time to be running, but because so much of it was up hill I spent some time walking and averaged about 13minute miles. I was just glad to finish and I even got a trophy for being in second place for my age group (female). Now here is the disclaimer for that amazing award... there were only 150 people who attempted to finish this marathon and only about 25 of them were girls. So i didn't have a ton of competition.

So there you have it, now I can call myself a Marathon Extraordinaire! (and wow I didn't realize this was going to be such a long post)

9 MORE DAYS!!!! The count down continues.

Now Elder Hansen only has 9 days left of his mission, I can hardly believe it!!! I have attached another fun picture of him so you can all see how much fun I will have with this bro once he gets home. I will try to scare the ladies off of him so I can have sometime alone with him. LOL

Marathon...26.2 miles here I come!!!

So the day of reckoning is here for me. For those of you who didn't know I have been training for a full marathon, and it is going to be taking place in just 3 days (which is on Labor day). I am both excited and nervous for this big event. My goal is just to be able to finish LOL, but seriously 26.2 miles in a long way. Plus I found out this is one of the hardest courses in the US and that a majority of it is up hill. I have been training though and I am excited to say I have done a full marathon, so wish me luck and I hope I will survive... For those of you who are seriously worried (like my MOM) don't worry I will really be ok, I have been training! (I will post pics of the event after it happens on Monday)

Catfishing in Columbus

So what better to do the weekend before school starts than go catfishing with chicken liver from 11:00pm to 2:00am in the middle of a lake? Brian Mitchell came to visit last saturday, so our good buddy eric allan took us out with his canoe to some of the finer places in columbus. We went midnight catfishing and we caught 10 total catfish, some descent sized, some tiny, but man it sure was fun. We used chicken liver for bait which stunk pretty bad but got me ready for anatomy i suppose. Anyway, more pictures and maybe video will follow, I just haven't got them yet...

We also got pretty creative with anchoring the canoe onto the car. Eric does a good job of making this really look good.