Bienvenidos

As some of your know, my family is huge and full of Mormons. Happy, loving, accepting Mormons. (I don't type that sarcastically, they really are. They are an amazing bunch.) My cousin Austin has been on a mission for the past two years in Mexico City and finally got home last weekend. He is one of my favorite cousins and not just because we have the same birthday! I headed down to Phoenix after work on Friday night, we made signs, and then bright and early Saturday those of us that were in town headed to the airport. We were all panicked getting there because his flight was coming in twenty minutes early, but we made it in time with an hour to spare.

We were waiting at the terminal his flight was coming into, and continued waiting, and waiting and waiting. After talking to a security officer a million times to make sure we didn't miss him, we all remembered he was coming in from out of the country, therefore he'd have to go through customs and come out of a different area! Luckily we hadn't missed him and the international doors was just around the corner.

Eventually we saw him walking down the hallway, we all got excited, AND HE STOPPED TO TALK TO THE PERSON HE FLEW WITH! I thought my aunt and cousin were going to loose it! It was so funny. He was just finishing up a conversation with them and wanted to do it before he was accosted by us after walking through the door.

When he walked through, we were very happy he made it safe and had survived two years in a city where he got shot at in a drive-by shooting and lived without headphones. He is a MAN now, not a young teenager like when he left! It's so crazy to see such a difference in him. He seems so happy and at peace and now his english has a spanish accent.

He went and hungout with his dad's side of the family for the afternoon, so the rest of us went back to my great aunts house to hangout. It was such a nice relaxing day with perfect weather, despite being in Phoenix. My great aunt has a wonderful house and I have so many fun memories of visiting as a kid!

I'm not going to tell you my aunts age in the above gif, but I'll say her son is 21 years old. And she can still do a round-off. Pretty badass if you ask me!

I ended up leaving late Saturday night and was sad to go, but so glad I had a chance to relax a little and hang around people I love. It's such a rejuvenating thing!