THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS!: WELCOME HOME ELDER RILEY PHIPPEN

Elder Riley Phippen is home!!!

He has been home for a few

months and is actually gone again.

We dropped him off at Utah State a few weeks ago.

Words cannot do justice in explaining the pure

JOY

it was to have Riley back home again.

We all loved being around him for the few months that he was home.

Riley grew to love Peru very much while he was gone.

I could tell at times his heart longed to be back in Peru. It was so much fun to listen to him speak in Spanish, we would go eat at certain Mexican restaurants just so we could listen to him have a conversation with the waiter. The younger kids were always begging to have Ry give the family prayer, in Spanish.

One of my favorites about Riley being home is how conscious

he was about giving time to Ashlynn and Britton. He would purposely take time

to make memories with them. He took Ashlynn to Dairy Queen a few times and would tease her about silly things to make her laugh, he would take time to go in her room and tell her goodnight. Before he left on his mission, Ashlynn gave him this bear she had gotten from the dollar store. He called it Jimmy the bear. I remember the first time we talked to him in Peru, she asked him if he had it? Oh no I thought, here comes a melt down, no way he kept that thing. He had kept it, he kept it his entire mission and returned it to her upon his return. He always acted like it was his favorite thing and despite it looking beyond worn out she is in heaven that her brother kept this bear she gave him.

One of my favorites as a mom is listening to my boys talk and laugh at night time. It does not matter if they got along that day or not, at night time they are always talking and laughing about the craziest things and I love it. Ry took Britton deer hunting and when he missed the first trip he made sure to take him again. He was determined that Britton was going to get a deer.

The first thing Ry did when he came in the house was fall onto the carpet

and say, "Oh, I love this." He kept commenting how thankful he was to feel soft carpet.

It is a little messy in this picture so you can't tell but after

two years he did not bring much home at all.

His suitcases were pretty empty.

His plane was delayed numerous times the day of his return.

His flight scheduled to come in early that afternoon. He ended up not getting home until very late.

Here we are at the airport, all very anxious for him to arrive.

The HAPPINESS that filled the air when he started

coming down those stairs was overwhelming. As you can see from the pictures,

we all just kept staring at him.

I have loved the conversations I have had with Riley since he came home. It is amazing to me how well he knows the General Conference talks and Scriptures. I appreciate the love and thoughtfulness he has towards others in the comments he has to say.

JD and I have commented often since Ry returned, a missionary coming home is a pay day as a parent. They come home and have learned all these new skills and gained all this knowledge that you could have never given them as a parent. It is a beautiful thing to witness. It brings a great sense of gratitude to look at your children and know that you played a part in raising that amazing human being!

JD and I worried when both of our children returned that they might wonder why we had not grown up in maturity as much as they had over the last few years. When you behave badly in front of little children they forgive and move on. When your children get older, you worry they will wonder why the parents they have can't pull it together. You all the sudden become more accountable for your behavior!:)

A few of the things I noticed about Riley right after he returned was... It did not matter how much he disagreed with your behavior, he stayed silent. He did not put you in your place and many times he had the opportunity to. One morning I was trying to get out the door for class. Ashlynn wanted Riley to make her pancakes. He agreed and I was not overly happy because the house was already a mess. I decided to leave and go get ready for class. When I returned downstairs, Ashlynn was still eating and was not ready to leave. I started to get upset with her, I did not want to be late. I made the morning pretty unpleasant. Ry said nothing to me at all. When I returned the house was spotless, dishes were done, laundry was going, floors were vacuumed, and the thing that made me most happy is Ashlynns room was clean with all her little stuffed animals sitting organized and cute on her bed!