My youngest sister, Joanna has been serving a mission for the LDS church since November 2013 in Tokyo, Japan. She was finished with her mission last Friday and my Dad flew out there to spend a few days with her. They will be getting home late tomorrow night.
Joanna is the youngest of the 8 kids. I was 14 when she was born so I was old enough to help out a lot with her. The best part of my day was getting home from school so I could play with her. You'll have to excuse my hair in this picture. When I was going through some old pictures today I realized that when Joanna was younger, she kind of reminds me of Alexis.
Joanna came to visit about a month after Alexis was born. She had just finished her freshman year at BYU and it worked out perfectly for her to come and visit before going back to NY for the summer. She was a huge help with Alexis.
I was lucky enough to have all my sisters come and visit in August 2013.
It was an added bonus that we got to celebrate Joanna's birthday. It was nice we could be together because Joanna would be in Japan for her next birthday.
The last time I saw Joanna before she left on her mission was in NY for Michelle's wedding in October 2013. She is such a good auntie.
Unfortunately since we are all so spread out, we aren't able to be together very often. The last time our entire family was together was when me and Brett got married in August 2011. This family picture was taken in December 2004 and it was right before Rachel and Travis got engaged. A lot has happened in the last 10 years! I am so proud of Joanna for her decision to serve a mission. She is really a wonderful example and I really admire her for that.
