Nate's Home!

My younger brother Nate got home from his mission last week! 

His plane was scheduled to fly in at 1:10pm on Wednesday the 16th to the Boise Airport.  Due to the fact that I'm already taking so much time off work for Nauvoo, Rick & Marnae's Wedding, and Lake Powell, I didn't feel like I could make it to his arrival.  Besides, I'd see him this week when we went to Nauvoo right?

Well that just wasn't good enough...

I decided randomly to ask my father-in-law, who flies to Boise a few times a year for work, if he just so happened to be going to Boise the next week (the week of Nate's arrival.)  Much to my surprise, he said, "Well actually I am, on Wednesday."  I was shocked, I said, "Really?  What time?"  He said, "Around 10:00am..."

To make a long story short, he arranged for Jeff and I to fly to Boise with him on Clyde Companies' private plane!  Neither Jeff or I had ever been on a private plane before, so we had a lot of fun.  (Minus the extra turbulence you feel in a small aircraft...)

We didn't find out till Monday the 14th that we were going to be able to go for sure, so we decided not to even tell my parents or Tanner that we were coming. 

We also found out that the plane had to make a stop in Twin Falls so Wilford, Rhys, and Kay could go and check out a job site there.  They were planning on a three hour delay, which would put us into Boise around 2:30-3pm.  I was feeling pretty bummed when I found this out, knowing that I'd miss Nate getting off the plane.  But I didn't let it disappoint me too much.  I would still get to see him and it was a free and fast trip up and back. 

We conveniently took off from the Provo airport (which is so much closer than Salt Lake and there was NO security or baggage checks or any of that...)  And arrived in Twin Falls around 11:40am.  Just before we landed in Twin Falls Wilford (the CEO of Clyde Companies and the one who makes all the decisions) asked us when Nate arrived.  When we told him he said, "Well, don't you want to be there when he gets off?"  I said, "Well, it'd be nice, but we're just happy to be going."  After we landed he turned to the pilot and said, "Well, since you guys don't have anything to do for a few hours, why don't you take Jeff and Lindsey to Boise and just come back and get us around 3."   

I couldn't believe it!  We were so excited.  We were one, going to make it on time to see Nate get off and surprise my parents, and two, we got to fly BY OURSELVES on a private plane!  Who gets to do that?  It was a once in a lifetime experience. 

We landed in Boise around 12:45 and our super nice pilot pulled into the private terminal closest to the main part of the Boise airport, and gave us a ride over in the car he borrowed!  We got inside and looked for my family.  When we didn't see them right off I got a little worried, texted Tanner asking if Nate was already home, and he responded, "No, we're at the airport waiting."  Perfect!  Now we just had to find them...

Well, seeing as how the Boise airport is TINY and there is only one terminal, all we had to do was go up the stairs before we saw where they were.  Tanner saw us get off the escalator, but was able to turn his face away and hide his smile so he wouldn't spoil the surprise for my parents.  Jeff and I decided to just walk straight toward my parents and wait for them to notice us.  My dad's back was to us but my mom was facing us and as soon as she saw us the perfect definition of shock crossed her face.  Check it out:

My dad had just turned because of her reaction and hadn't recognized who was standing there yet... I caught him just before his face had a similar reaction.  It was AWESOME!

Then not 15 minutes later Nate got off the plane!  It was so perfect.  The timing seriously couldn't have worked out better!  He wasn't quite as surprised to see us, but he was glad we were there. 

We went out to eat a little Mexican restaurant that Tanner had coupons for and Jeff and Nate enjoyed talking to the cute waitress from Mexico in Spanish. 

We then went home and helped Nate empty his suitcases and dig out his old clothes.  I loved that he asked me for help picking out outfits.  He's a little out of the habit.  :)  He's always had a sense of style, so I enjoyed helping a little. 

We got to stay overnight since the plane wasn't headed back till Thursday afternoon.  We asked Nate what he wanted to do on his first day home, and he said, "Sit down and actually watch a movie!"  So we borrowed a projector, hooked up Tanner's big speakers, and watched Avatar.  Definitely the way to watch that awesome movie!

I really enjoyed being able to visit my family and see Nate his first day home.  I can't wait to see them this week when we go to Nauvoo!

We flew home Thursday afternoon and enjoyed the trip even more since the clouds were WAY cool looking and there was less turbulence.  We made it home just int time to change and head up to Lehi for Rick and Marnae's wedding BBQ! 

More to come on that and wedding pictures soon!