Jubilant crowd celebrates with the Smart family

Liberty Park — site of a somber candlelight vigil nine months ago for a missing Elizabeth Smart — hosted a festive welcome-home party Friday night for the 15-year-old.

f Hundreds of people crowded into the south end of the park to see Lois Smart, Elizabeth's mother, make her first public appearance since her daughter's abduction saga came to an incredible end Wednesday in Sandy.

"I am the luckiest mother in the world. I am so happy and so thrilled," Lois Smart shouted from a podium to a jubilant crowd gathered for the city-sponsored party.

A large poster adorned the front of the podium, with a recent photo of Elizabeth holding her youngest brother William and bearing a handwritten message that read: "I'm the luckiest girl in the world! Thank you for your love and prayers. It's a wish come true!! I'm HOME! I love you all, Elizabeth Smart."

Blue and yellow balloons adorned the stage, and food booths and media tents formed a circle in which people danced, cheered, hugged and at times shed tears of joy for Elizabeth's safe return.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," Lois Smart told the crowd. "Elizabeth is doing well. She's beautiful and she's happy to be home."

Elizabeth spent the night at home while her parents and other relatives gathered at Liberty Park for Friday's celebration.

"The past few days I've been told that I've had a face lift," Elizabeth's father, Ed Smart, said with an ear-to-ear grin on his face. "This smile is pretty permanent."

Besides thanking police, the media and public for their support and prayers in finding his daughter, Ed Smart used his time at the podium to again challenge Congress to pass a national Amber Alert bill.

"I don't take this lightly. I'm calling on the leadership to bring this to the floor, and it if doesn't come soon, you're going to hear from everyone in the nation," he said, eliciting a chorus of cheers.

Kathy Haggerty and Annie Bowen made the 83-mile drive from Evanston, Wyo., Friday afternoon and staked out a spot close to the stage, holding up a sign that read, "Wyoming welcomes you home Elizabeth."

"I feel like they've been a part of our family for the last nine months," Haggerty said of the Smarts.

"I brought my 7-year-old grandson because I want to teach my grandkids that there is good and bad," Carolyn Spriggs said. "I want them to be cautious and not afraid. It is an answer to a lot of prayers here."

Her grandson Hayden Spriggs nodded emphatically when she asked if they always knew they'd find Elizabeth.

Some in the crowd wore the same buttons that announced Elizabeth's disappearance but now with a sticker over the top that said "found."