Sister Cutler comes home from her mission!

The main reason we all drove our way to Wyoming for Thanksgiving was to welcome home Casey's younger sister from her 18 month mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Billings, Montana mission. It was a much anticipated reunion for one and all, those last few months just went so slow! She was such a faithful, diligent, obedient missionary!

The anticipation building at the airport! She didn't come in until 8:15 pm on a Saturday night! It was a long day of waiting!

Everyone was really cure standing there waiting for Tayli and then there was Max, running everywhere, pushing buttons on the vending machines and just being crazy, we all survived, that's what matters.

Waiting...thinking they see her with each person going by.

And here she comes!

The grandkids couldn't hold it in and ran up to hug her in excitement.

I played photographer all night and got pictures of her saying hi to everyone!

Tayli was very excited to hold a baby after 18 months of not doing so.

The welcoming group.

I'll need to do a comparison picture later but at Casey's high school graduation 10 years they took this picture

We definitely did not get enough with this cute girl that weekend. We stayed up until 2 am talking with her asking her questions about it all. I couldn't believe how much she has grown and matured, she is one super great girl. The next day she reported in church giving her homecoming talk to her ward, it was so wonderful to listen to her speak (for 40 minutes eloquently with no notes! That girl is close to the spirit I tell you!) I felt the spirit so strongly during so much of her talk (of what I did get to listen to with taking the kids into the hallway). She is so beautiful, inside and out. It's already been so nice to text and FaceTime her whenever we want. I can't wait to see what the future holds for her!

called to serve

this beautiful girl left on her mission this last week and we couldn't be more thrilled for her!

tayli, casey's younger sister, has been called to serve a mission for our church, the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints, in the billings, montana mission. she is going to do soooo wonderful. she is a gem of a girl and will have so many great experiences serving others and the lord while she is out there. i am so jealous she gets to go at the young ripe age of 19. such a courageous and exciting decision to serve the people in the billings, montana mission by sharing the gospel and bringing people closer to our savior jesus christ. without Him, i would not be the woman i am today, the mother, or friend. with Him all things truly are possible.

tayli, we are so proud of you, you will be an amazing missionary and we know the spirit will guide you as you keep the commandments and have a true desire to share with others your love for our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. we will miss you so much!!!!!!

this and that

i know it's been awhile since i posted when casey tells me "you should blog, it's been forever"

i told him there's nothing to blog about!

that's a lie, there's little things going on.

so here's my random compilation of life lately:

when we were in PA two weekends ago visiting the novitzke's and hunsaker's,

we finally went to Rita's.

it's a custard/italian ice place casey raved about on his mission.

it's supposedly all over the east coast but we can rarely find it .

it was actually really yummy!

we went super late after the novitzke's kids were in bed so it was just 5 adults in a small 5 passenger car.

we laughed how this felt like were were in high school again!

oh the days.

in honor of the first day of the olympics we had pancakes with red, white and blue sprinkles :)

aren't the olympics just so darn fun to watch?

with nbc making it possible to watch ALL the events live on line, it's been so totally awesome!

i have officially made my first quilt.

well, it's not completely done yet, but the hardest/longest part is over.

it's nothing actually pretty like my crazy talented sister in law, but it'll work.

my mom always had a jean blanket around when we were younger that we could take anywhere and it didn't matter what happened to it, it was just great durable jeans!

so between casey and myself, i've been saving jeans here and there.

after much cutting, sewing, debating, laying out, and pinning, all the main parts are together!

i still need to finish the sides somehow, haven't decided what i wanted to do on it yet though.

yeah for feeling like it's done!

side note: when i was sewing the two long strips together, i didn't realize it, but after like 4 inches my bobbin ran out! gah, so irritating

i was reminded how awesome casey was when he filled up our tires in the pouring rain.

he rocks.

not one complaint of getting all wet.

we went to scranton, PA last weekend to visit more families from casey's mission.

he served in scranton 6 months so it meant a lot to him.

with stayed with the shiner's again and they are just the nicest people.

oh pennsylvania...

and lastly, we are FINALLY leaving new jersey this week for good!
so happy!!!!!
like i've said plenty of times, this is not our favorite place we've lived but it has been good.
a good experience and all.
i just personally am a lover of the west (midwest totally counts).
this will be our last move for FOUR years!
excitement is here.
oh to see the end of moving for awhile.
this will be the last time we have to waste food bc we couldn't eat it by the time we moved.
i hate having to do that.
we're doing semi good on that this time around though.

ps- an update for family.
they've decided little ruthie (logan and blair's daughter) will need to have surgery done on her pancreas.
there's only 1 surgeon in the country who does it and he's in philadelphia.
blair will be flying with ruthie to PA and will be there for 4-6 weeks.
they'll go as soon as a few other things happen.
it's so strange because ruthie looks and acts like a happy, healthy baby.
they're all doing well and are just happy there's doctors who can help.
we continue to pray for them!

the weekend in PA

this last weekend we took a little excursion to harrisburg, PA.

casey served his mission in PA so it was off to visiting old mission people.

the gist of the situation was that one of his mission companions ended up marrying a girl from the area (their names are tim and kelly),

 the family he married into was one casey and he became good friends with.

the novitzke's (kelly's sister and BIL) have become our very good friends that we've visited multiple times.

we heard tim and kelly were going to be in town from michigan so we decided to be in town too!

while there, we had casey's most favoritest pizza, caught up on each other's lives, the italian ice he always raves about, reminisced over mission stories, played with their children and just enjoyed ourselves.

it really is quite fun to have friends :)

a weekend of family.

this cute couple is known as grandpa and grandma fran to the cutler/christensen family.

in about 2 weeks they will be leaving to serve a mission in the equador temple for 18 months!

we are so very excited for them!

happy and sad to see them leave.

many of casey's mom's side of the family gathered in for the weekend to send them off and we sent them off with a bang!

food all weekend.

grandma fran is a spectacular cook.

we were fed so well all weekend and with about 10 women in the kitchen to help cook and clean, eating was a breeze.

on saturday, the men were sent with all the children to jumping jacks, and the women were left along to "cook."

cooking was actually finished in the morning before they even left!

so we all sat together and crafted for hours on end,

all during one day and the nights of both days, such a hoot with these ladies.

we were so lucky to have 2 of grandma fran's daughters to join in on the fun too!

also, miss aunt malinda "pimped" out our nails.

(those were her exact words in a text to me the day before :)

she is such a hoot. 

we all had the best time together.

a crowning event of one of the evening was to celebrate grandpa's birthday!

he 78 and is kickin like he's 60!

it is incredible to watch him go.

we had such a fun time making the cake (it was the only food project fran has ever let me be in charge of) and putting ALL 78 CANDLES on that baby.

he was a little surprised to see that cake all up in flames!

the weekend included lots of fun little kiddos as well.

jacob is the funniest 2 1/2 year old.

we got a kick from nearly every sentence that came out of that boy's mouth.

and to continue the tradition of baby whispering, casey yet again defied that odds and put another baby to sleep in his arms. 

the mother was shocked to say the least when seeing the babe went to sleep without a pacifier.

baby whispering continues...

last but not least was the sunday farewell.

they're talks were so spectacular.

fran is such an amazing lady and we are so lucky she joined the family.

grandpa is one of the most stalwart men you'll ever meet and ha stories of incredible opportunities and experiences after another.

we love them both dearly!

2 years later...

It finally happened!
Brother is home from his mission!
It was seriously so much fun getting him home
best weekend of the semester, yet!

This is a pic of all of us in the elevator at the airport going to wait for Kirk,
Seriously, so funny.
Love jokes of H1N1 :)

This is another super fun pic of most of us coming from the far land of Utah to greet our wonderful Kirky to come home from vacation with mom and dad

And our cutest friend of the weekend:
Annalee
Isn't she darling?
Well she's even better in person!
We had so much fun with her and it was so fun for Kirk to meet her.

More grrrrreat pictures to come later :)