Welcome home y'all!

FINALLY! I have my parents again! Those were 3 loooong years. 

Thank goodness I was serving right along with them for 1 of those :) 

Ohhh I had just been imagining this day for so long- I knew it would be dreamy no matter what! Even though I was out in Virginia, I would be calling sisters and trying to see if they needed help at least planning things to make the day great- orange Tennessee t-shirts, to yellow ribbons down the street. 

 These cute rocking chairs are from members in Tennessee that snuck 

them in the moving van for my parents! Cuties.

I was going to fly in the morning of the 4th of July- which was when my parents were trying to pull in from their long drive. Well - we all should know that if that Rich Irion can get something done sooner than planned/expected..you bet your sweet bottom he will! The fam tried to keep it a secret and surprise me that they'd pull in the night before- but failed miserably (thank goodness). I was absolutely in shock and admittedly sad because I wasn't going to be there for "the big moment" that I had been picturing and getting so excited about and even tried planning and doing what I could to make it in time! BUT it still was such a great moment and my sibs were troopers to facetime me and let me see the action. 

We had some struggles with peoples phones close to dying, poor connection, switching to other phones and so on... Such a struggle.. But still so worth it to see those faces!

the struggle...it was real.

Just please ignore my crying face....but How cute is that mom of mine?! Showing me my Tennessee Tshirt she got! Funny story is that my sister and I were trying to be cute and design shirts for all of us...but luckily found out a few days later that mom had been gathering shirts for a while now and was trying to surprise us! (guess our fam just really struggles with surprises. hah) Her shirts were MUCH cuter than ours though!

Pretty sure grandkids is the only reason why they are happy to be home. I know my place. hah

After an early morning for me, I made it to Utah where mom and dad were there to welcome ME home! Role reversal. hah. So I held up this canvas thing I made for them and yelled "welcome home!" so they remembered how this is really supposed to go. 

We made a quick stop to see my cute grandma Irion who had just recently had hip surgery. 

Ahhh love that tiny lady. 

Duncan just made himself right comfortable and plopped himself on the bed- so grandma started ticklin his toes and doing "this little piggy" 

She is just the best. She's sure glad to have her boy home.

 Then it was off to our traditional 4th of July up in Midway! I was so excited for this cause I knew there would be jumping, clapping, crying and cute family members loving being together!! We showed up RIGHT as they were about to start the bike parade. haha oops. Sorry kiddos!

 The reunions I couldnt wait to see- Grandfather, and her sister Brenda who also just got home from their presiding a mission! 

You really can't beat the Nelson fam. Can't get better than this. FINALLY all together!

 ....Or the Irions. Of course. (just missin my Kody!)

Needless to say, we TOOK OVER with those orange shirts!

I finally got to meet my newest nephew Gideon! Ohhhh He's one dangerous little bug. I'm still swooning over that little nugget. 

Got to visit with my faves- Rachel and Allie. They will always be my best friends. 

 I just LOVE spending the 4th in Midway! 

One of my favorite family traditions! (I think I say that with every tradition..)

Here is (almost) all 144 of us there! Couldn't love this family more

LOVE when the family is all together! LOVE having mom and dad home!!

our episode of cribs

no no... not baby cribs. hopefully you didn't think that and get excited. My bad...

Remember that one tv show "Cribs" where you would get a tour of celebrities ridiculous mansions? 

Well, I feel like we are ready to take that step. The reveal/guide of our cute little house and some improvements we've made already! Get ready for a bit of a picture overload. 

Also... I just really love playing house with Kody :) 

Couldn't help myself with this pillow...really though

Cutest door. Just old school things all over the place. Love it. 

Ok- There was also a large gap between the door and the floor- meaning that if we didn't dead bolt the door or have a towel shoved in the bottom - the door would just swing right open with any wind! hah Kody fixed that problem as well. Just call him Fix it Felix.

...nothin better than this new lock he put in. Praise technology. 

 Come on in!

 So I took these pics at night- sorry they are kinda dark. But here is what you see right when you walk in! Pretty spacious. Pretty awesome. 

Also...lets admire this original hardwood. ...drool...

This pic is already a little out-dated cause we made some changes in the front areas... 

We finally found a desk - so here is what the right side of the main room is NOW

And here is what the fireplace is like as well... notice our rocks signed by our reception guests on the mantel. Hooray for you being a part of our home!
That little dinky bookcase was the only piece of furniture we owned when we moved into this house!

 I just love our pillows and rug so much.

 One time while Kody was out of town- I got my craft/decorating on with a photo gallery - all the rage right now. I love it. guilty.

 here is the extra room we have. Which....queen sized air mattress... ready for visitors! ;) 

Come on down!

Next we will show the bathroom. We haven't had to do too much here

 Oh except there was no fan in there! So here is Kodester installing a fan/light. Poor man had to climb in the attic and I was just yelling in the bathroom so he could find where to go. haha
Also...I just love this necklace and smell-good storage.

Now we head to our bedroom. It was....quite the beauty before...was it not? 

(that is NOT our stuff ps- that's our first impression we had from lookin at the place online)  

We obviously jumped on this project on the QUICK! Bye-bye wallpaper and wood paneling

 Again- these pictures were taken at night, so this paint is lookin fairly dark...but you get the idea

And now on to the other big project...the kitchen

Whenever people first came to our house, right when they would walk in here they would just say "wow...this has a lot of...character!"

WOOF right?! haha 

Kode re-painted/glazed the cabinets. 

 After tearing down wallpaper, crackled mirrors that were backsplash/also above the cabinets, adding canned lights, painting cabinets, walls and adding a below-the-counter-shelf for our microwave....finally the finished product! 

Well...for now. 

We still wanna change the floors, add backsplash and possibly change the countertops. 

but not right now. We will enjoy what we've got now!  

 That back door leads to our laundry which also connects to the basement AND separate entrance for the renters downstairs. Such a great set up. 

Don't let this tour stop you from coming to see the real thing! 

I sure love this cute old house. 

all i've wanted to blog about

But seriously...This blog is struggling and I apologize. Here's hoping it'll get better from here...
ALTHOUGH, I WILL say that i've just been dying to blog about the crazy happenings from 1 year ago. Yes that's right. Buckle up for...

THE PROPOSAL 

(and no I'm not talking about the Sandra Bullock movie...although it is very accurate to mine and Kody's life..seriously..scary)

Can you believe that it was a year ago that Kody and I got engaged? How in the world.

So...last October 20th was just a regular day. I remember that Kody wasn't feeling so great. So earlier that day I surprised him by leaving juice and bagels at his house with a little note to feel better. Little did I know how he would repay me later that night!

Later that afternoon we were watching a football game at his apartment with his guy friends and seriously with about 2 minutes left in the game, him and some of his roommates said they had to leave for their golfing tee-time. Weirdos. I just stayed and finished the game with the guys. baha I thought it was funny, but what do ya do.
Little did I know that they were NOT golfing, but setting things up for later that night! (lies.)

So that night Kody said that his roommates had planned a date up the canyon and needed us to come along...totally a normal thing. I didn't think anything of it. PLUS he was so good at acting like he had no idea what was really going on cause he didn't plan it... so I didn't ask too many questions.
    One funny side note was that I had been texting Ellen about her plans that night ("hanging out with mission people" again. lies - She was with Kody) and I had asked how cold it was cause I was trying to borrow one of her puffy comfy sweatshirts so I wouldn't be too cold in the canyon....bless her sneaky heart she told me that it would be way too warm and to wear something lighter...but really it was cause she knew I wouldn't want to be wearing her not-so-attractive hoody when I was getting proposed to- I still had zero clue. Thats what best friends are for people. Hilarious. (I resorted to the jacket I knew Kody loved - in case you were wondering)

Anyway, Kody picked me up and we headed up the canyon. We were running behind so I again didn't think anything of it.
It was dark once we got up the canyon and were heading up the trail to find the other guys. Kody just said that we'd see lights...so I was searchin kinda, but also like "wow look at the moon! why are you walking so fast?! This is beautiful! Oh hey there are some lights up there I think? But it looks like way too much light to just be the guys..."
But that was where Kody was heading! There were a BUNCH of little battery-powered tea candles leading off of the main trail to a little spot in the trees to a whole LOT more lights that were around a blanket and also hanging from trees. I saw it and said "oh this has Connors name written all OVER it!" ...embarrassing. It wasn't till we got closer and I realized 1. we were alone and 2. that there were also a ton of pictures of me and Kody hanging from the trees as well that the lightbulb finally went off! I then yelled "You sneaky mom!" and was in shock from there on out!

Right when we got in the middle of the circle of lights/pictures of us, Kody got down on his knee. Told me how he has always loved me and always will and pulled out a BEAUTIFUL RING! I of course said yes so fast and I just kept saying "are you kidding me? what the? you're kidding" over and over. Kody yelled "she said yes!" and his roommates and Ellen and Christie came out of the trees to congratulate us. Kody also had a blanket and adorable picnic basket full of little snack and martinellis of course. So we all sat and celebrated, they told me all of the little lies they've told me throughout the day, then they left us to be alone. We didn't stay long though cause I saw a MOUSE jumping towards us...hahah So Kode and I cleaned up quick and left so we could call our families!

 I was 100% shocked and surprised. I was still to scared to talk to Kody about what kind of ring I wanted! Well...the ring he picked was MUCH better than any I would have chosen. I like to think that it's a perfect way to foreshadow how Kody will always go above and beyond for me.

I was seriously on cloud 9. Still am. Hashtag luckiest.

one year flashback

On the 11th of July, I celebrated being home from my mission for a year. 

Well, technically... I was released a year ago...I was lucky enough to travel a bit before coming home. But still- I remember this day as if it was yesterday. 

aaaaand scene:

I couldn't sleep the night before. I was just praying and crying all night. (My companion later told me she could hear me- which made HER cry. haha oops) 

I woke up and finished packing, because I had put it off- of course.

As I packed, my cute mini missionary companion made me the best blini ever. 

(Blini is the Russian version of crepes) 

And we headed to the mission office. I was fighting tears the whole time.
I looked over and saw that Cectpa Klimash drew something on her planner that just cracked me up

She wrote in English "Sister Irion...Never Forget" on the tomb stone. haha She's hilarious. 

The next page/day on her planner she wrote "Return Sister Irion! I miss her!"

We made it to the office and I got all of my suitcases together. 

I traveled around, and ended up in a new area the last 3 weeks of my mission, so I was just living out of a carry-on at that point. Made me realize I packed too much...

It was so much fun to see all of the missionaries- as always. They would try and talk to me about home and I'd just say I couldn't talk about it. I was just trying to soak in every second. 

At one point, the Sr. Couple Elder that works in the office came up to me and asked what my twin brother looks like and how tall he was...cause he was about to go to the airport to pick him up.
WHAT?!

I obviously knew that Russ was coming, but I never asked when he was coming! I assumed it would be the next day! I got SO excited at that point- but tried to hide it so the other missionaries wouldn't get real trunky or anything...but woah. I became REAL curious at that moment!

We had our transfer meeting where 2 missionaries were randomly chosen to testify about our purpose as missionaries...then it was my turn to testify.

I was the only exiting missionary, so when Pres. Clark was saying the program, he said I would testify because I was finishing my missionary service today...in fact, that NIGHT because I was going to skype my Stake Pres. back home and be released in a few hours..

WHAT?!

Again - I had NO clue that would be happening so soon! 

I was probably put into shock right then. In fact, I gasped and reached for my name tag. 

haha What a nerd. Guess it was a bad idea not to ask specifics about my last days in the field?

So with that...it was my turn to testify...

Ah it was just so hard to do. In English, for one.. but to talk about missionary work and

try to express how much it meant to me and to try and inspire those there to give it their all. 

Also, not fun to look down at past companions just crying as I was trying not to cry. Pshh..yeah right.

After the meeting, we sang our mission song that Cectpa Clark wrote that just makes me cry every time anyway. And said a few goodbyes. The worst. 

 Did NOT look great. But what do ya do. 

(Cectpa Kovalenko from Moscow, and Cectpa Denisenko from Ukraine)

 Pres. Clark decided to have my exit interview at his office at home when he got finished with things... So I helped Cectpa Clark carry things over to the home and helped her finish up preparing my exit dinner. I kept looking around for my companion.. so weird.

My interview was so good with President. A lot of reflecting on favorite experiences, what I loved and learned from companions, hardest experiences, etc. 

Aaaand since I can write about it now- He asked about boys. To which I said that I had been writing someone for 3 years and hoped something would come of it. He asked his name, where he was from, where he served...but that was pretty much it. 

He didn't go into marriage advice because all of the sudden- the doorbell rang...and we both smiled SO big at each other!

We booked it to the door (along with Cectpa Clark) to see that Russ was on the other side of the door! AHHH! ALREADY!

 THAT was one AWESOME and CRAZY moment! Weirdest/best hug ever!

The Clarks couldn't get enough of us twins together. haha (or Russ' beard. hilarious)

A bit after Russ got there, he and President went to the store to grab something while I would have my skyping/releasing session. (fun fact- Russ and Pres. would speak to each other in German because that's where Pres. served his mission.) 

So, I went in the office and there was President Daw and also had my parents listening in on his cell phone! (they were in the middle of a zone conference or something- bless their hearts for leaving to listen in on this!) We talked about my mission and the church is St. Petersburg, I testified, and then boom...like that he released me. I ended the video and I just sat in there and cried a bit. 

Luckily though, he didn't tell me to take off my tag...which I was dreading that moment...

so I kept it on :)

After I controlled myself a bit, I went in the room and apparently still had cry-face cause 

Cectpa Clark was walkin towards me with her arms out saying "ohhh....this is hard isnt it?"

cried. again..... shocker. 

BUT Russ and Pres. came back and  dinner was ready - so that cheered me up real fast :)

They spoiled us with Cectpa Clark's amazing cooking. Complete with a traditional Russian bread for celebrations. Cectpa Clark is incredible. oh my world. 

At one point as we ate, Pres. mentioned to Cectpa Clark that I was writing someone- she just lit up and

said "ohh! We have to wait till the end to ask these questions! I have good questions!" haha They didn't ask too much, but every once in a while, they would just randomly say "...Kody Wood..."

I loved it. 

After dinner, we had a mini testimony meeting, us 4, where Russ testified in German. Then we had family prayers and they went to bed while Russ and I stayed up (PAST 10:30!) and talked. 

It was a roller-coaster day to say the least. But most of the tears were tears of joy.

I can't believe it's already been a year...but at the same time. I can. 

I just wanted to share a bit of what it was like that specific day, because it's hard to really put all of my thoughts and feelings together about my precious mission, or the year that has passed since then. Plus it's just fun to have detailed flashbacks and share them :) 

I miss my mission so much. I loved it with all of my being. 

Russia, the people, the missionaries, the food, the embarrassing/awkward moments, even the hard ones. All of it. 

Still love it. 

I am changed forever because of it.