there's no place like home

Elder Nickle got home last Friday, and it was quite the eventful day! Let's start at the very beginning (a very good place to start):

On the way to the airport- we were running a little late because my dad called to check the status of the flight and they were set to land 30 minutes early. So, we ... hastily... made our way to the airport.

We thought we might miss him! So we hustled inside and waited by baggage claim.
And waited.
And waited.

And waited.
I have about 20 "sneak attack" photos of Bryson while waiting. He was not amused.

Oh, don't worry, here we are still waiting.
Well, no Elder Nickle arrived! Some missionaries coming home from Vancouver did, though, in case you were wondering.

Turns out all the D.C. South missionaries missed their flight! They were late to check their bags by less than two minutes, and the airline made them switch flights, and pay $60 each. They were re-routed to Atlanta, but we were unaware of this fact until we had waited almost an hour holding the sign at the airport!

We had over four hours to kill, so first, we went to meet Jonathan's puppy at his place. Here's a little video of our drive there, we have fun. :)

And here's Dad with the 5 month old puppy, Bentley. So cute!

We still had a bunch of time to kill, so we went out to breakfast at Village Inn, which Braden and Justin admitted they had always thought was a motel. :)

Hmmm, still three hours to go? Let's go to the zoo!

We had tons of fun seeing all the animals. I LOVE this first photo of Mom & Dad.

Some of our favorites:

And now back to waiting at the airport. Does this photo look strangely familiar?

Oh, probably because this was Justin that very morning with the same look on his face.

When we got to the airport the second time, there were about six families waiting for D.C. South missionaries. That morning, we had been the only one.
One lady said to us, "So, what time did you get your call this morning? Our elder called us at 5 am!"
Our response, "You got a call?!"
You've got some explaining to do, Elder Nickle...

Here he is upon arrival...FINALLY!

The conversation as soon as Zander walked up:
Us: "Thanks for calling us!"
Zander: "I called you at 5 am and left a message, you didn't get it?"
Us: "No! We waited here this morning for an hour!"
Zander: {laughing}

Us: "Mom never checks the messages, and sometimes our phone doesn't ring when people call. Did you think it would be important to talk to someone in person?!"

Zander: "I'm sorry, I'm on so many painkillers for my hernia I just thought you knew." {more laughing}

"No, seriously Dad, I called and left a message."

Ha ha. Okay, I guess it's funny, Zander.

Here's us last spring when Zander came home for surgery:

And here we are now! It was nice not to have to make a sign. Ha.

Reunited and it feels so good!
Dad & Mom:

Melissa & Jonathan:

Justin & Braden:

and Bryson. This is my favorite photo. The hernia brothers- they had to be pretty careful hugging each other!

On our way out:

Together at last!

Welcome home {again}, Elder Nickle. For good!