Elder Jones and his Mission President (and wife)

About a month ago, we opened the mailbox to find this picture inside along with a nice letter, welcoming Eric to the Roseville, California Mission and letting us know that he is there and okay.

 

I love this picture!  Doesn't he look so good?  :)

This is his Mission President and wife, President and Sister Weston

 

A few weeks ago, I got a call from the mission president.  I missed the call, but he left a really nice voicemail on my cell phone, which, consequently, I can't seem to erase.  Would it be weird if I transcribed it?  Too late....I'm going to.  Here is what he said:

 

"Brother and Sister Jones,

 

President and Sister Weston from the California, Roseville mission.  We are just calling to say hello and thank you for your wonderful son who is serving with us.  He is outstanding.  And if you know now, he is serving up at the very north end of the mission, up in Hayfork and Weaverville, in the Redding area.  He is doing great.  He is enjoying serving with Elder Waldon.  I have spoken with him a couple of times and I'm just very impressed with your son.  We're grateful for him, he is doing well, and we'll make sure that he is safe and happy.  If you have any questions at all or concerns that come along, or things that I might be able to do to help your son, please don't hesitate to call us.  We will be happy to help in any way that we can.  It's been fun to have Elder Jones explain about his 4 younger brothers and your family.  What a great example he is and we're grateful to have him here and we love him.  Have a great day!  Bye."

Isn't that totally awesome!  It made my whole day!  (and week, actually)  :)

Since I missed the call, I decided to send them an email in response.  This is what I wrote:

Hi President and Sister Weston,

We received your message regarding Eric and his progress.  Thanks so much for taking the time to share such encouraging and kind words about our son.  We are so sorry we missed your call.

We, also, have heard great things about you and your wife from Eric.  Thanks for your service to him and the others in your mission.  We feel better, as parents, knowing there are people who truly care about his well-being.  We appreciate your dedication, your faith, and your strong example to those whom you willingly serve.  We know Elder Jones is in good hands!

Thanks again for the wonderful voicemail.  It means so much.
Todd and Melissa Jones

 

This is the same picture with Eric cropped out of it.  What a handsome young man!

 

Eric is doing really well, and I look forward to his emails every week.  Some of them are too short!  But all of them make me smile!  Here is a portion of one of his letters, explaining where he is serving right now...



"Anyways, things are going great here! We are most definitely in a car, this area is huge. We cover the Weaverville ward (which includes Weaverville, Trinity Center, Lewiston, Douglas City, and Junction City) and the Hayfork branch (which includes...Hayfork). And the members are awesome!! They take such good care of us. :) They feed us a lot and we received about nine referrals within the first week! It's definitely hard, though..it's a lot of work. We're still getting the hang of things, but we're progressing more and more as time moves forward. "

 

In another part of his letter, he told us that Hayfork is full of weed farms and basically the missionaries aren't allowed to tract there.  I think he said they go there once a month.  That's funny!

 

Well, we are so happy and proud of our Elder Jones!  He IS a great example to his younger brothers and I hope they are seeing the joy in his service!

 

Have a happy day!

 

Eric's first ugly tie!

We finally sent Eric his first package...and his first UGLY TIE!  The Cameron Family (the same family who gave Eric his lucky tie) told us how to play the ugly tie game.  Basically, we send Eric an "ugly tie" once a month and he has to get a picture with either himself wearing it, or someone else.  So fun!!  I picked up three ugly ties at the DI, and then I had to decide which one to send first. This one is a beauty and it won!  It has foxes, birds, and flowers on it.  Plus, it's orange!  Also on the back it states:  "To be worn with a black, brown or olive suit."  I'm so glad it came with instructions!  I have never seen anything like that sewn on the inside of a tie!  Hilarious!

 

 

 

This one isn't quite as ugly, but I'm keeping it incase I need it for a different month.  It definitely still has its "ugly" charm...

 



 

And this is the 3rd one!  I had to take a few pictures of it because I wanted you to see the whole tie, plus the close up what the pictures are.

 



 

This is a Tabasco/Shrimp tie!  Look closely at the picture!  So funny!

 



 

 

Look at those shrimp!  Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha...

 



We're still waiting for the picture of Eric (or someone else) and he better send it...or there's going to be trouble!  Jake Cameron said he even got his mission president to wear one of his ugly ties.... :)

 

I'll keep you updated... 

Jacob turns 9!

Jacob and his friend Max (Goff) went to cub country together. They had so much fun!

 

 

And then Jacob had a birthday!  He turned 9 years old!  He chose pizza for his dinner and ice cream sandwiches for his treat.  Yes, we are party animals!

 

Jacob got a new DS game...a Pokémon game, to be exact.

 

And a few new Yugioh booster packs!

 



 

 

I'm pretty sure we sang Happy Birthday to him, but don't quote me on that.

 



Happy Birthday Jacob!  We love you so much!

July 4th Fireworks 2013

On the 4th of July, we got together with my Mom and Dad and Brad and Michelle's family.  First we ate ice cream sandwiches!  Yum!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we lit some fireworks...

 



 

And some more...

 

And then a few more...

 

until...

 



 

 

they were all gone!

 



Happy 4th of July!  :)

Family Vacation 2013--Disneyland/California Adventure

Happy Jones Vacation!

At the end of June, we finally made it to Disneyland!  We even went to the beach one day!  Sadly, Eric didn't get to come.  We had originally planned to go the end of May, but because Eric's report date to the MTC was on June 12, we just felt like there wouldn't be time.  Plus the other kids had end-of-the-year tests, concerts, and other obligations....so we postponed it.  Yes, Eric was sad...(but he's on his mission and he's doing great.  I think he forgives us...hopefully).

 

These first few pictures were taken with Todd's iphone because my camera suddenly stopped working in the middle of our trip, so they're not great...UGH!

 

This was in front of California Screamin' in California Adventure.  And just so you know...I went on it and loved it!  Go figure! 

 

This is the hotel swimming pool.  It was nice and surrounded by palm trees.  Very secluded and totally fun!

 



 

 

This isn't a very good picture, but it was quite hilarious.  It was the shot of us at the end of Space Mountain.  Soooo funny!  (It's probably good you can't see it too clearly...I looked pretty scared--Ha).

 



 

 

Todd found this cool "Lone Ranger" hat in one of the gift shops.  He put it on and I had to get a picture!  The "paint" was a special effect from the computer...hilarious!

This was our very first ride...the safari ride.  The first day, my mom and Wendy and Anthony and their family were here with us.  The weather was perfect.  It was an overcast day and it was only in the low 80's.  We couldn't have asked for a better day!  (We tried, but sadly, that was the only "cool" day we got the whole trip).

 



This was a very cool aviation ride in California Adventure.  I think it was called, "Soarin' over California."  It was one of our favorites!

Driving the cars at Disneyland...Jacob got to steer in Todd's car, and Kyle got to steer in my car...it's good they have to wait until their 16 to drive for real!  It was just a little bumpy...

Iron Man exhibit.  Eric was jealous of this one...

 



Kyle and Jacob were fighting right before this picture was taken...they don't look too happy, but it cracks me up that Dallin and Brandon are totally smiling in the middle!  Funny stuff!

 



  It was a fun 5 days in California!  Yahoo!  (we did miss Eric though...sorry Eric)