. . . art masterpiece . . .

. . . the title . . .

. . . the drawing . . .

. . . the model . . .

. . . the artist . . .

. . . addi ~ age 7 years 10 months . . .

{i foresee a future in illustrations for national geographic}

. . . dwew & bwad . . .

. . . fwiends for life . . .

. . . back when this photo was taken,

both boys had a little twouble

saying their "r"s . . .

. . . which was quite endearing

since they were named

drew romney and brad sherwood . . .

. . . also endearing is the fact that they wore

{almost exclusively}

gymboree and osh kosh b'gosh outfits . . .

. . . and awesome bowl cuts . . .

. . . most of the time . . .

. . . they were pretty much inseparable . . .

. . . graduating together

{at the top of their class, no doubt}

from peggy's house preschool . . .

. . . we taught them early on

to have a healthy appreciation

for el charro . . .

. . . but we're not sure

when they turned into

gansta dr. suess characters . . .

. . . they shared a

{meeting formerly known as}

farewell on easter sunday

two years ago . . .

. . . and a going away dinner . . .

. . . where they got to take their pick of ties

their young men leaders

and bishopric were sporting . . .

. . . and they posed with six of their seven sisters . . .

{can you tell the romneys and the sherwoods had family pictures earlier that day?}

. . . they even managed to find each other

at the mtc in provo . . .

. . . which was amazing

since brad was supposed to go

straight to the mtc in brazil . . .

. . . thank heaven for visa delays! . . .

. . . or maybe not . . .

. . . today they once again spoke together

in a meeting formerly known as

a missionary homecoming . . .

. . . they are wonderful young men . . .

. . . with strong testimonies . . .

{i could tell ~ even though they were speaking spanish and portuguese}

. . . and their moms were super proud of them . . .

. . . fyi ~ "friends for life" is a great program . . .

. . . vicki and i met in eighth grade

and we're going on forty years of friendship . . .

. . . i highly recommend it! . . .

. . . fiesta . . .

. . . oh, yeah . . .

. . . then we had a really great party . . .

. . . wherein this group was reunited

for the first time in a long time . . .

{say hello to rick, brad, seth, drew/dew, tc, josh, craig and jeff [in front]}

. . . and cute girls came . . .

. . . and it was legal, once again . . .

. . . to hug them . . .

{eduardo really enjoyed the tacos!}

. . . and molly and her dad

grilled up the most delicious pork al pastor . . .

{and when i say the most i mean 50 pounds}

. . . and amber {very enthusiastically}

whipped up multiple batches of guacamole . . .

. . . while brian and amanda

discussed the ins and outs of law school . . .

{with uncle eric in the background on tortilla duty ~ gracias, gracias, gracias!}

. . . amelia? . . .

. . . she's a poser . . .

. . . then we discovered that many, many people

had migrated to our bedroom . . .

. . . why? you may ask . . .

. . . well ~ march madness

only happens once a year . . .

. . . even though the championship game

was played on the fifth of april . . .

. . . homecoming . . .

. . . well . . .

. . . let me just say that

homecomings are much more fun

than farewells . . .

. . . first, i was bossy

and tried to get

everyone organized . . .

. . . some were cooperating more than others . . .

. . . but we finally managed to find our places . . .

. . . amanda was really insistent

about which letters she wanted to hold . . .

. . . tate was super ticked off . . .

. . . he really wanted to go on an earplane . . .

. . . then ~ about 45 minutes

after their scheduled arrival time . . .

. . . we caught a glimpse of

{first} elder arnett

and then elder romney . . .

. . . that is one l • o • n • g hallway! . . .

. . . check out that smile . . .

. . . see mother throw down

her exclamation point . . .

. . . and cue the ugly cry . . .

. . . i think i scared him . . .

. . . one glad dad . . .

. . . and happy sister . . .

. . . second happy sister . . .

. . . i know there was a third sister hug, too . . .

. . . but, alas ~ no photo . . .

. . . meeting tagg . . .

. . . and elliott . . .

. . . greeting big girl addi . . .

. . . and gramma romney . . .

. . . best photo of the day . . .

. . . amber, drew, amanda and amelia . . .

. . . love it! . . .

. . . he said he was super nervous to come home . . .

. . . i'd say he hides it pretty well . . .

. . . what a joyous day . . .