The Setting apart and the MTC

 

We had the setting apart on Tuesday, June 11th, the night before Eric left for the MTC.  The stake presidency came to our home, along with the Bishop and the grandparents.  It was such an amazing experience.  The minute that Eric sat down, he turned to me and said, "I know Grandma Jones is here."  I immediately agreed.  It was very tender and sweet.  I really missed her, but could feel that she was still a part of this experience. 

 

President Bigelow (our stake president) talked to us for a minute and told us that we are witnessing something really amazing in the church right now with regard to missionary work.  There has been so many young men and women who have wanted to serve and each week, there are roughly 900 new missionaries entering the MTC (and that's just in Provo).  It's quite a historical event that so many missionaries are heeding the call to serve.  I'm so grateful Eric is a part of that right now...

 

The blessing he received from the stake president was awesome and very comforting.  After the blessing, President Bigelow asked Eric to bear his testimony.  That was amazing!  He was so excited to begin his journey.  He was ready and willing to serve.  I was even ready to let him go... (mostly)

 

Eric is pictured here with a friend's special tie from our ward.  His name is Jake Cameron.  He gave this to Eric to wear and called it his "lucky tie."  He even wrote a special message on the inside.  It was so sweet!  We LOVE the Cameron family!!

 

 

 

In the morning, Eric got up bright and early, got dressed in missionary attire and began his first day as a missionary.  He did not watch TV, he did not text on his phone, he did not play video games, he did not listen to his ipod...it was awesome!

 

He even wrote a few thank you notes...Yippee!  (I love how you can see Eric's CTR ring in this picture.  It's got the notes to the song, Choose the Right, engraved on it)

 



 

Here is a picture of Eric's luggage!  Sheryl Cameron (who we love and adore) made those little smiley faces.  She crochets them for all of the missionaries in our ward.  They are what sets his luggage apart from all the other missionaries, so he can always recognize them right away.  But guess what?  Sheryl didn't even know that I LOVE yellow smilies!  I couldn't have picked those out better myself!  Ironic, eh?  :)

 



 

 

The morning before entering the MTC...still wearing his lucky tie!

 



 

 

These pictures were taken right before we loaded up the family to go to Provo to drop Eric off...

 



 

 

"Thumbs Up!"  It's kind of an Eric Jones trademark...

 



 

Loading up the car...

 



 

 

On the curb at the MTC.  I've gotta say that dropping Eric off was so amazing.  It was so organized.  There were hundreds and hundreds of missionaries lined along the curb...some of them were greeting the new missionaries, some of them WERE new missionaries.  The feeling in the air was electric! You could feel the faith of every person and it was so overwhelming and humbling.

 

What an awesome sight!

 



 

 

See ya later, Elder Jones!  We love you and will miss you!  But you are in the right place!  Good luck and we'll see ya in a couple of years!  (ahh)...

 



 

 

I only cried a little bit on the way home.  I'm so brave.  :)

 



Eric's mission farewell

Well, I survived Eric's mission farewell...barely!  No, honestly, it was totally awesome!  Eric did an amazing job on his talk in Sacrament meeting and I was so proud of him. He had a lot of support from family and friends.  After the meeting, everyone came to our house for a luncheon.  The weather was perfect...a little hot, but not windy, so it was nice.  I'm guessing we served around 70 people, maybe more.  It was a huge success and such a fun day!  We had the party in our front yard and it was GREAT!

 

Here are some pictures of the big event...(I'll name who I know, but there are some people I don't know...sorry) 

Sara Bigelow, John Duffy, Ashleigh Hand

 



 

Nic Park, Katie ?

 



Gina Nicholson, Julie (our cousin)

 



 

 

I don't really know who these people are...the second one from the left is Rachel Colby.  The second one from the right is Brianna Dahl, and her mom, Tiffany, is on the end.

 



Yeah...don't know their names except Rachel Colby...

Matt Wall (cousin), Jayme Loveland, Brooke ? and ?

 



 

 

Jasmine, McKenna, and Owen  (all cousins)

 



Grandpa Jones, Parker (cousin), Aunt Kristin, Aunt Malissa

 



 

 

The Kimball family

 

Faye, Bethany, Janelle and in the back is Matt

 



 

 

Anne (cousin)

 



 

 

Uncle Ryan, Uncle Aaron, and Dad

 



 

 

A bunch of friends...Jayde Ford is middle left in a blue denim dress.  Tim Jenkins is on the far right of the screen (black hair)

 



Aunt Shauna, Uncle Mike, and Grandpa

 



 

 

Dad and Mom

 



 

 

Zach Wall (cousin), Dallin, and Brandon

 



 

 

Sierra, Sophie, Alexis (cousins), and Sophie's friend

 



 

 

Emma Wall (cousin)

 



 

 

Riley Nicholson (cousin), Aunt Gina, and Alexis Cruz (cousin)

 



 

 

This is one of my favorite pictures.  I absolutely love it. 

 

Eric and Riley

 



 

 

This is a picture of Eric and his good friend, Kurtis.  They have been friends since Kindergarten.  Kurtis came over to change the strings on Eric's guitar on Monday (the day after the farewell).  He's a sweet kid!

 



 

 

Eric and Kurtis...pulling a face

 



It was a wonderful day!  Good job, Eric!  You're going to be an awesome missionary!!

Family pictures May 2013

We decided we needed to get family pictures taken before Eric left on his mission...so we did.  Here they are...  :)

 

The Jones Family

 

(left to right) Kyle, Dallin, Mom, Dad, Brandon, Jacob, and Eric

 

(back row, left to right)  Kyle, Brandon, Dad, Eric, Dallin

(front row)  Mom and Jacob

 



 

 

 

 

The Jones Brothers 

Mom and Dad

 

The Boys...

(left to right)  Brandon, Kyle, Eric, Jacob, and Dallin

 





 

I love this one...They all look like, "Oh yeah...make my day.  I dare you!"  Funny!

 



I'm happy with how they turned out.  I don't love getting pictures taken, but I love it when they're done!  Yeah!

 



Life Skills

 

Todd decided that Eric should know how to sew on a button before he leaves for his mission, since we got him a little sewing kit and all...why not?

 

So, he gathered the boys together last week and had a "button-sewing" session.  (I know what you're thinking....does Melissa know how to sew on a button?  Yes, I do...barely!)  But, I gotta say, I had a few tips here and there...go figure.

 

Here are all the boys with their pieces of material, string, and their buttons.  I couldn't resist getting some pictures...

 

 

 

 

 

Way to go Dad!  What's next, you ask? 

 

Shining shoes and ironing!

 



End of the year concerts

 

Here are a few pics of Kyle's and Brandon's end-of-the-year concerts.  This band concert (in elementary school) used to be my favorite concert because each year they would play Hot Cross Buns, and it never quite sounded like that....it would just melt my little heart.  I used to just cry because the kids always tried so hard to play the tune...But now, they got new teachers and the band actually sounds pretty good.  You can even tell what song they are playing.  It was still great and it still melted my little heart! 

 

Way to go Kyle...

 

 

 

Brandon's end-of-the-year cocert was great!  The school hosted a spaghetti dinner along with the concert and it was wonderful.  Brandon played in a little group during the dinner portion of the concert.

 



 



 

Then, onto the auditorium for the bigger groups...And what would a concert be without a pair of shades?

 



 

 

Brandon played in almost every song, including the orchestra pieces.  He played 3 instruments throughout the night...flute, alto saxophone, and piccalo.  Holy Cow!

 



 

Way to go Brandon!  As always, nicely done!  :)