He's Finally Home!!!

Yep, Elder Crane the 3rd (our youngest and 3rd son to serve a mission) is home. He flew in to the SLC airport on Wednesday morning from where he was serving a mission in Canada (Canada--Edmonton Mission).

There we were, gathered below the escalators waiting near the baggage retrieval area. His flight plans indicated that he would arrive at approximately 8:40 a.m. Aunts, cousins, a grandmother, and our entire immediate family had all met up around 8:00 a.m. and found that we didn't have long to wait. This particular flight beat the odds and came in early. Elder Crane rode down the escalator at 8:15 a.m. Then, spying all of the banners and signs everyone was holding up, he retreated back up the escalator, thinking it was funny. =)

The pull of gravity and another elder guided him back down to where he was welcomed home with style. Okay, maybe not style, but with loving arms as we all hugged the stuffings out of this valiant young man.

In lieu of a wordy blog post today, I'm simply going to paste in pictures for your enjoyment. Our entire family is here at my humble abode, and it's almost time for me to fix a gi-normous breakfast in honor of the occasion. ;)

Here is a banner my other two sons held up in celebration of the moment. (Okay, their mother may have made the banner and asked them to pose with it for a "Kodak moment," but it's still cool.) =D

This is one of the signs my nieces made in honor of their cousin's arrival home.

And here is yet another sign welcoming Elder Devin into our midst.

Even my tiny granddaughter was excited. This would be the first time she would see her Uncle Devin in person.

And then he finally came down the escalator and Elder Devin reunited with his family. It was glorious!

Numerous pictures were taken . . .

Here's a shot of Devin with 2 of the elders who also flew home that day.

Then it was time to head to G-ma J.'s abode for a traditional feast.

Elder Devin got acquainted with his new little niece . . .

Bonded with his brothers . . .

And then we drove home to Bear Lake where Devin modeled a certain cool coat he brought home with him from Canada.

Later that night, he met with our stake president and was officially released from his mission. It was a tender moment that made us all cry. Last night he reported to the high council of our stake, also making us (okay . . . maybe just me) cry. He'll speak in our ward this coming Sunday and will more than likely make his mommy cry yet again. It's all good---they're happy tears!!!