He's Home ~ Shane is Back!

(This will be backdated to June 1997)

Shane had left on his mission to Brazil on July 19, 1995. He returned June 25, 1997. Family went to greet him at the airport to welcome him back. Not a lot of photos, but some film footage was found capturing the event ...

https://youtu.be/tNsjs3OtD9Q

 Here's an excerpt from Dad/Lamar's Journal

25 June 1997  "I took another vacation day, we left about 3:00 for the airport to see Shane's arrival. He was scheduled to arrive at 3:58 pm on United Flight 385 from Denver, but the plane didn't arrive until 4:30. The twins and their buddies, Nate and Wendy arrived, then Scott and Amy and kids, and Rick and Wendy and Janika and Landon. Jen was having back problems and Rick and Wendy were tending Landon. It was quite a crowd there at the gate, with lots of missionaries arriving home. Shane looked great, albiet a little close cropped in the coiffure. We drove home and had a nice evening at home, hosting lots of visitors, and had a nice lasagna dinner.

Mom has mentioned the funny memory of Derek coming downstairs laughing and telling her "Shane has been talking to me in Portuguese for the last fifteen minutes and he doesn't even realize it!"  

A few days before at the Blackham home ...

From Jen's Journal: Monday, June 23 ... Rick called with the idea of getting all the grandkids together to make welcome home signs for Shane. We hosted, and they brought some posterboard and paint. 

A few days after the airport, there was a big Westra gathering held in Scott&Amy's backyard (Hello/Goodbye) ... the first time EVERYONE had been together in a couple of years. A family photo was taken. We welcomed Shane home from his mission, and bid Jensen's good luck in their new home in St. George.

Shane's homecoming was Sunday, June 29. Jen sang and Wendy signed. 

There was a luncheon back at the Westra Backyard after the church meeting. 

There is a little video from that gathering too ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnqCDP6L41c

Check out the Pre-Mission Photoshoot/Mission Call Memories for how it all began ...

Hello ... Goodbye

This picture was taken in June, so looking back I assumed it was a Father's Day gathering, but it wasn't. Wendy has kept a journal for YEARS, and was able to note that this was a group gathering, welcoming back Shane from his mission (June 25) and a farewell before Wendy and her family moved to St. George (June 28, 1997, even though we would still see them often). So this was at Scott and Amy's Rosewood Park house in Draper.   Here's a peek at Wendy's memories ...

June 27: Tonight Scott and Amy had a BBQ at their house for Shane's return and our departure! It was a lot of fun and Chris and Sandy were able to come with their three boys and so that was nice. We finally got to see their little baby Corin. He is a little cutie. We had a wonderful meal and I stuffed myself. The kids then went swimming in the kiddie pool. Jani loved every minute of it. We showed our family pictures of our new house that are on our laptop.

I believe all these photos are from Jen's camera ... 

but Scott and Wendy have cameras in the picture above ... are there more photos somewhere?

Found some video - live action of the event!

https://youtu.be/dBVN-wON9ig

June 28: I wrote a few paragraphs about moving out of our condo and how we stayed overnight at Jen and Gray's. I wrote: "We forgot to pack Jani's nightgown and so she borrowed a little white onesie from Landon and they looked so cute in their twinner onesies. They ran around and had a great time." (We have a few pictures of them in their matching onesies!) We all went to Shane's homecoming on Sunday June 29th. I wrote: "Today was Shane's homecoming. He did a great job on his talk and we were very proud of him. Jeni sang a song and I signed it and it went well. We enjoyed food and company over at Mom and Dad's afterwards." We then slept at the Blackhams again and headed out Monday morning for our new home in Ivins!

Said matching onsie picture ...