Elder Moose Returns

The day I have been waiting for for two whole years arrived on Friday, May 29 at 5:20pm. Elder Moose returned home from his mission in Jacksonville Florida. I was thrilled to be there to welcome him home with our entire family and two of Derick’s friends. Andrew was kind enough to document the event working the best he could with really bad airport lighting.

We all arrived at the airport with building anticipation of seeing our missionary. Emily was the only one that didn’t seem to feel the minutes dragging by as she explored the airport.

As people began crossing over the security line we got a whole lot of curious looks. The Salt Lake Airport might be used to returning missionaries, but Moline, IL is not. Every once in a while someone would say, “He was right behind me.” or “He’s coming” or “I saw him. He’s nervous!”.

All of a sudden he arrived! See that big blurry smile.

I think he is saying it’s weird to be home.

Andrew snapped a few fun shots of Emily while we were waiting for his luggage.

We left Derick and my parents to go to the stake president’s home to be released from being a missionary while the rest of us went home to make dinner. Derick’s request: hamburgers and hot dogs. We added watermelon, french fries, salad, and rice. It was a great evening around the dinner table full of great missionary stories and catching up.

Derick’s welcome home sign. We figured he would appreciate the duct tape more than anything else.

Right before I dropped Derick off at the MTC, we took pictures of his shoes. Here is the comparison two years later. He brought out two pairs of shoes, and he wore one pair out and the other pair home.