Our Christmas was a little different this year. Things had to be moved around and done in a different order or way than we had planned. It wasn’t very merry. But we all love and care for each other and we are all working on things that will hopefully help us have a more Merry Christmas next year.
Matthew is going to have to go through these pictures and label them with names and places when he gets home. He tells me about them when we talk on the phone but by the time I get the picture downloaded and on here, it is hard to remember all the details. These are more pictures of his time in Escada. The Bishop and his wife are really good at taking care of them it sounds like. They make sure they are fed each day. On Christmas and New Year Eve day they went to the Bishops. For Christmas Eve they went to another members house for a celebration. It looks like a beautiful area. They have Cana (I believe that is what he calls it) here. It is pure sugar water squeezed from sugar cane. Matthew-our soda addicted child- loves it and likes to stress me out by telling me it is healthy because it is ‘natural’ and even better than soda while he drinks a 24 ounce glass of it for dinner. I told him it is like getting hit by a truck or a car, it doesn’t really matter, neither is good for you.
We got to video call with him a lot on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Years Eve and Day. That was nice. I think he was a little lonely and home sick so I am glad he could spend a part of his day talking with us. Since he is three hours ahead of us we actually got to celebrate midnight with him on New Years. He watched a lot of fireworks from his apartment. They live on the third floor so they had a good view. Time zones are a weird thing. For three hours, he was not just three hours ahead of us he was in a different year than us. Isn’t that crazy?!
Matthew said there was a mini Zone Conference they went to in Recife this week. The current Mission President- President Martins and his wife will be done in July. The new President and a member of the seventy came to this meeting to introduce themselves and see some of the mission.
We are lucky to have a pretty good view of the sunrise and sunsets from our house. They are beautiful the whole year but this time of year seems to be extra vibrant and colorful. I came upstairs the other day and the whole upstairs floor of our house was a pretty pink color. I went outside and watched a gorgeous sunset. The pictures have a little more orange look to them, it was actually more pink, but they are still pretty.
This is a sunrise picture I took when I left for work. It gave everything a purple tinge. My camera doesn’t do it justice.
Allison had a meet for wrestling in Basehor. This wasn’t her best meet as far as winning her matches but I am impressed with her dedication to wrestling and how much time and effort she puts into it. It is fun to watch her and cheer her on.
I love Calvin and Hobbes comic strips. I have several books of them. Every few years I come across them and decide to read them again. I did that about a week ago. This one makes me laugh, and I remember reading it with Matthew when he was 6-7 and he thought it was hilarious too. I sent him a picture of it in his missionary photo album that our family has for him.
Emilee is still doing her riding lessons once a week. She is getting pretty good. She is still doing English riding style and does 1-1 1/2 foot jumps. I don’t know a lot about riding but I have been watching her enough to be able to tell who can ride a horse and who is sitting on a horse bouncing around. Emilee definitely looks like she is confident and knows how to work with the horse.
Since it is close to the end of the year my phone is putting collages together and showing me ‘a year in review’ or ‘people over the years’. It showed me this one of Allison and I thought it was pretty cute. She is a funny, sweet, fierce girl. I sure do love her.
Emilee has a Bluey (kids cartoon) shirt that she got this year and wears to school. It is a little bit of a thing for middle school and high school kids to wear/have items that are kids cartoon stuff. Allison has a Barbie lunch box, and Emilee likes Bluey. Matthew teases them both and gives them a hard time about it. We were Christmas shopping and Emilee found a big Bluey stuffed animal. She sent Matthew a picture and told him it would be on his bed for him when he got home.
This might be the last year I get a cute decorated Christmas list from Emilee, my other two already don’t do it anymore. So here is the list she gave me. My kids know they don’t get everything on their list but I like to have lots of ideas. They also know I don’t give living gifts but they still put them on their lists sometimes.
The second area Matthew went for his mission is Escada. We haven’t spoken to him since he got there but he posted a few pictures. It is about 3-4 hours from Recife, much closer than the 11 hours Salgueiro was. It will be more humid but in the 80’s most of the time, not 100+. I don’t know his new companion’s name yet, but I know he is Brazilian and doesn’t speak any English.
Right before he transferred to his new area he went to a Christmas celebration in Recife. Lots of missionaries came to have a fun day together. They played basketball, soccer, socialized, and ate lots of good food. Matthew said they did a little shopping and even listened to ‘non churchy’ Christmas music. Matthew loves music-including church music- they are not supposed to listen to anything besides approved church music. Not listening to his music has been hard for him, he has mentioned several times that he misses it a lot. When I hear music that I know he liked it reminds me of him singing it when he was home and it makes me miss him a lot too. I appreciate his mission president and his wife making a big effort to make a special day for them. This is Matthew’s first Christmas away from home (a lot of the missionaries first Christmas away). I am glad that they have a chance to have fun and enjoy the Christmas season together.
The second day of his trip to Recife they all went to the Recife temple together. Matthew hadn’t been to that temple yet. He said it was really beautiful. Whenever they get all the missionaries together they hand out any packages that have come since the last time they were together. We mailed one to Matthew with a private courier for Christmas…it wasn’t there. We found out a week later that it got taken to Sao Paulo (a four hour plane ride south) and is there with two other peoples Christmas packages. So frustrating. It seems like things not working the way they are supposed to happens a lot lately. At least it has been found and hopefully will make its way to Matthew at some point. He loved getting together with all the missionaries and seeing friends he made at the MTC. He loves the organized sports, he misses that a lot too.
Allison’s wrestling season has started! Her first tournament was the Spring Hill Invitational. She did awesome! She took 2nd place for the varsity 135 weight. She was disappointed that she didn’t win but she looked really good. I could already see improvement from last year. Ryan and I enjoy watching her.
Her first dual was against Pittsburg. She did great at that one too. I don’t watch her wrestle through the camera because I want to see it in real life so sometimes my camera doesn’t follow her like I think I am . I was also sitting pretty close so I had to move the camera a lot more to keep her in frame.
Her second tournament was in Douglas Kansas which is a few hours away. It was during the week so Ryan and I weren’t able to go. She won her first match and then lost her second and third. Maybe her dad and I are better luck than she thinks we are. 😜 Hopefully we won’t miss any more meets this season. She is hoping to make it to State this year. She is putting in the work, hopefully it pays off!
Matthew stayed in Salgueiro for two transfers. That is 12 weeks. He seemed to like it a lot and enjoyed his time there. He got there in September and left about mid December. That is the hot season for Salguerio, it is a dry heat and was above 100 most of the days he was there. He didn’t have any air conditioning the first half, then they had a room unit installed and they had air conditioning in their bedroom the last half. He baptized a young man named Enzo and a few of his friends and were teaching his mom when he left. These are the last of the few pictures Matthew sent of Salgueiro before he left.
I bought a set of bells many years ago with the hope that we would have a little family bell group. It didn’t really come to fruition the way I originally envisioned it but every few months or so someone pulls them out and they play a song for something. I love it. A few weeks ago it was Jovee, Emilee and Ethan that remembered them and gave us a performance.
Each missionary that goes on a mission has a plaque made with their picture and scripture of their choice and their mission on it. It hangs in the church on a wall while they are gone and they get it when they get home. Matthew’s had arrived and was hanging on the wall when I checked a few weeks ago.
Matthew stayed in Salgueiro when his mission had transfers a few weeks ago. Every six weeks they shift people around. Sometimes you stay in the same area for a few transfers sometimes you go to a new place. One of the four missionaries left and they got a new Elder from California. So Matthew is now the second newest missionary in the apartment instead of the newest. He seems to be getting into his stride. The older two left for a few days to some meetings so Matthew was ‘in charge’. He was pretty excited. He hasn’t gotten to decide what he is doing for a few months now, so he loved being the one making all the decisions for a few days. Where he is at right now there aren’t any other missionaries around besides the four of them so on P-Days they don’t really have a lot to do. That means that we get to talk to him a lot more. It won’t always be that way so I will enjoy it while it lasts. Another thing he was really excited about last time we talked is that they just got an air conditioner installed in their apartment. It is just big enough for their bedroom so they moved all their desks into their bedroom too so they can be in the air conditioning as much as possible when they are home. He says he sleeps so much better now.
He has been teaching a few people. One of them is a 12 year old boy that really wants to get baptized. His parents weren’t sure about it but after a few weeks they changed their minds and let him do it. His name is Enzo, and he is the first person Matthew baptized on his mission. He was pretty excited about it. He said he is a really cool kid.
Last week on their P-Day they went to the store to get some groceries and the store had set up their Christmas decorations. They ended up getting a small tree for their apartment. I mailed his Christmas package through a courier service a few weeks ago and they should be getting it to him at the beginning of December. It is a few small gifts and mostly some of his favorite treats. I also sent a few small decorations for them to hang up. I am glad they found a little tree to make their place feel like Christmas.
Here are more baptism pictures from Salgueiro that Matthew added to his photo album this week.
Ryan traveled a lot this Fall for work. He was in Omaha, Wichita, Vegas, Lake of the Ozarks, Branson, and Denver. He works hard for us. He gets to do some fun stuff when he travels too. When he was in Denver one of his clients took him to the Chiefs and Broncos game. The Chiefs unfortunately did not win.
Our church had the Relief Society Christmas dinner. They like to do it in November because December is always pretty busy. It was a nice dinner and they asked us to dress up as fancy as we wanted too. They also invited the teenage girls to come. Allison had a wrestling practice so she didn’t come but Emilee came with me. She dressed up by putting her hair up. 😜
Emilee became an official teenager this year! She decided to have a sleep over with her friends to celebrate. They came over and had pizza for dinner. She had cupcakes and we sang to her and opened presents. Emilee wanted to do a craft with them so after dinner we loaded up in the car and went to Hobby Lobby. They each had a frame and picked out little things to decorate the frames with. Once everyone picked out their stuff we stopped by Andy’s Ice cream on the way home. They decorated their frames and we took a picture of everyone together for them to put in their frames. Then they watched a movie, painted their nails and stayed up late talking. Emilee requested her dad make cinnamon rolls for breakfast the next morning. It was a pretty successful birthday party.
We went to K-Machos for dinner on Monday, which was her actual birthday. She loves her some K-Machos chips and queso with chicken nachos. After dinner we went to Grandmas. Instead of a cake she wanted donuts, and grandma had some brownies that we ate with them. Emilee loves sweets so she managed to get as many different ones over the weekend as she could. While we were at grandmas, Matthew called so we face timed with him while we sang happy birthday and she blew out her candles and she talked with him for a few minutes…that is why I didn’t get any pictures of the blowing out candles…we were using my phone to talk to him on. I will do better next time. But we did celebrate and have a fun night. Dad and I gave her a bow and arrow for her birthday. She went to a church activity and they shot some bows. Ever since then she has been saying she wants to get one so she can practice.
It was a fun weekend celebrating our Emilee. We are very happy that she is a part of our family and we love her a ton!! Happy 13th birthday Emilee!
It was a pretty quiet Halloween for me this year. Ryan was out of town for a work trip. Allison invited a friend over to hangout. They watched a movie and ate pizza. Emilee went trick or treating with her friend Harriet. They dressed up as skeletons. When they were all done she had 14 pounds of candy.
I snuck a piece of pizza from the girls and then decided to set up my Christmas tree. We have a big tree and it takes a lot of work to get it set up so I wanted to make sure that it was up long enough to enjoy it. So we have had all our Thanksgiving decorations and our Christmas tree this year. It is pretty and makes me happy.
My lovely sisters and I decided it was time for another trip together. It was a little last minute. We started talking about it at the beginning of September and we went mid October. We decided to go for easy travel for all of us to get there. We settled on Breckenridge Colorado. It was a direct short flight for all of us to Denver.
We arrived Thursday morning. We got a rental car and headed to Breckenridge, which was about 2 hours away. We stopped and had lunch a little outside Denver on our way. When we got to Breckenridge we walked around and explored the down town/main street area for a few hours until our place was ready for check in. We stayed in a little apartment two streets away from main street. It was a perfect place. It had one bedroom with a king and twin bed in it so we could all sleep in the same room and stay up talking as late as we wanted. We got a few snacks and some breakfast food at the grocery store. The rest of our meals we found cool restaurants in town.
It is officially the off season in Breckenridge in October. There were still a good amount of people around but it was not crowded at all. We did a couple different hikes. Breck’s elevation is 9600. Olathe is 900. The first hike we went on was 10500. My mid 40’s self struggled a bit with the elevation, which has never been an issue before. I also think I was starting to get a cold but I know I am not as out of shape as I felt when we were hiking. It was I can walk, or I can talk, I can’t do both. I bought a hat I thought had bears on it but Sherri pointed out later, and was correct, it wasn’t bears- it was dinosaurs! LOL! On the last hike we decided to cross the river and walk back on the other side instead of the same side. I thought for sure one of us was going to slip and totally fall it (probably me) but we all made it safely and were just wet from the middle of our calves down for the last 30 minutes or so. There was still some orange and red Fall leaves, some ice starting to form in the rivers. It was definitely chilly or just plain cold in the evenings but it was beautiful. Fresh crisp mountain air. We even had a few snowflakes one of the days. DeAnna is usually the one that has a list of activities for us to choose from. We picked several of her hikes, and one of the days we went to a Paint and Fire place to let our creative selves enjoy a few hours of crafting. I painted some pottery, DeAnna did a mosaic, and Sherri painted a canvas.
We tried a local pizza place, breakfast place, and burger place. They were all great food. The vibe is pretty fun. It looks just like a old western mountain village in a film would but it isn’t old. It is new and clean and well kept.
We almost tried out the hot tub but only the outdoor one was open and we weren’t filling walking to and from the hot tub in 40 degree weather. We played games and talked for hours at our place. One card game DeAnna and I fixed Sherri’s hand to finally bring the game to an end while she was in the restroom. We didn’t change any outcomes, just hurried it along. Sherri wasn’t going to win so she switched her strategy to sabotaging whoever was winning and while we were having fun, it was getting a little long. We stayed until Sunday late afternoon. It was awesome. I love my sisters and I love hanging out with them. It makes me sad that we don’t live closer.
We checked out Sunday and DeAnna found us a church to go to. It was in Golden Colorado. When we were younger we lived in Colorado and went to a building in Golden that was just down the road from the Coors beer factory. This building fit that description. It didn’t look familiar to me (it was 5th grade for me) Its hard to be sure what memories I have are from what place because we moved so often but it could have been the building 30ish years ago I was taking a picture of with the primary on the front lawn after the primary program. After church we grabbed lunch and then went to the airport. We waited with Sherri at her gate until she left, then I waited with DeAnna at hers until she left, then I caught my flight. It was a great weekend. I loved every minute of it!
After 6 weeks in the Brazil MTC, Matthew hopped on a plain at 3am and went to Recife Brazil. It was about a three hour flight almost straight north and a little east from Sao Paulo.
His Mission President Brother Martins and his wife picked him and the other missionaries up at the airport. The first thing they did was go to a Brazilian Steak house to eat as much food as they could. Matthew greatly appreciated that. He was very excited to have some good food! The MTC food was pretty bland and not very good. They had some training meetings and went over the rules and guidelines of the Recife South Mission. He was assigned to a new companion, Elder Waite. He is a zone leader and has been on his mission for about 15 months. Matthew also had to get his Visa changed from a one year to a two year Visa while he was in Recife. I believe he stayed just one night in Recife then at the end of his second day he got on a bus and traveled 11 hours almost straight west, overnight to his first area Salgueiro Brazil.
When you google Salgueiro, it doesn’t have much about it. It is desert. Matthew said Recife was pretty humid. Salgueiro is a dry heat, and Matt arrived on the first day of the start of the hot season. The average temperature from September-December is 99 degrees. Last week when I talked to him he said it was 104 degrees that day. Pretty toasty. It is not humid though and it does cool down to the 60’s at night so they get a little relief. They are working with the mission finance person to get them an air conditioner but currently do not have one. The population is about 60,000 and it is Matthew and three other missionaries for the whole area. The city is surrounded by a whole lot of nothing. It is pretty remote. There is one other area two hours west of them that has missionaries, otherwise they are as far west as their mission goes. Matthew says there are stray cats and dogs everywhere which he wasn’t surprised about…there is also wild horses roaming around everywhere which did surprise. There are paved roads but a lot of dirt or cobblestone roads. They walk everywhere all day. Their preparation day (P-Day) is on Mondays. That is the day we get to talk to him. He usually calls me at 6am our time before I go to work. He talks to Ryan sometime during the day. And often will call right before he goes to bed to talk with his sisters or all of us again. Tuesday through Saturday they wake up and do their morning study, exercise and get ready for the day then they head out and walk around to find people to teach or teach people they have already found. They usually meet the other two missionaries they live with for lunch at a café area, it sounds like what we would call a food court. They get all you can eat rice and beans. Matthew says they have a new seafood restaurant he is excited to try, and he also likes the acai bowls. He says he craves water because they drink juices and coke most of the time when they are out. Sunday they go to church and try and bring new people with them every week. It is a small branch for their area that has about 40 regular members. That is the one day they usually eat dinner at a members home as well. It is tricky getting people to come to church. Most people they meet are catholic and even if they say they will come to church, on Sunday when it is actually time they don’t want to get up that early. Matthew says they have found a few people that seem genuinely interested and he hopes will get baptized.
They walk everywhere. He has some comfy, fashionable but probably won’t last long if you walk in them on cobblestone roads for 10 hours a day shoes he took. He wore them in the MTC. He also took some comfy but not fashionable-looks like my grandpas shoes- but every missionary mom I talked to said their kid loved them or wished they had taken them. They are made to last forever but in Brazil will last most missionaries about 6 months. He switched to those about two weeks after he got to Salgueiro. He saves the fashionable ones for zone conference or the temple. His feet are still pretty sore at the end of most days but are getting tougher. He also has a bunch of insoles he can switch every month or so to help keep his feet happy.
I think he is doing pretty good. Right before his birthday he seemed a little homesick when I talked to him. A few days later on his birthday he was in better spirits. Before he left I had as many friends and family as I could write him a birthday note and put them all in an envelope. Then I put a small picture book together for him of family and friends. I also made a banner that said Happy Birthday Elder Terry in Portuguese. That along with some peach ring candy all went into a little package that I hid in his suitcase for him to open on his birthday.
In other areas there will be a lot more missionaries to interact with-especially on P-Days, since it is just the four of them in Salgueiro their P-Days are a little less exciting. It is a nice break and chance to rest. Sometimes they watch a church approved movie. The other three have guitars. Matthew is trying to find a good deal on one. He took a personal credit card for things like that. His card has not been working pretty much since he got to Brazil. It worked for three days in the MTC. I have been trying to get it figured out. The mission gives him a card that they add money to every month for food. Sometimes the money isn’t available on the expected day and takes a few extra days to arrive. Matthew is a big person and is walking in heat 10-12 hours a day so in case he is extra hungry one day or the mission card doesn’t work is another reason I sent him with a personal credit card. Long story short- the week he arrived was a few days before the end of the month. Between Matthew getting a few extra supplies needed from just arriving and the mission card not getting charged right away, and his personal credit card STILL not working after me talking to the bank 2-3 times a week for two months, Matthew had no money for food for about 4 days. By the time he told me about it, his mission card had money again and he was fine for food. That was the last straw for me for the bank though. I did not support Matthew going to Brazil to go hungry. Another long story short- Matthew’s credit card is now working and I have the personal cell numbers of our banks local and regional vice presidents if I have any further issues.
Here are some pictures from Salgueiro. All the missionaries have a cell phone but when they go out for the day, they are only supposed to take one with them. (The main reason I have heard is muggings aren’t uncommon, and then they still have a phone if one gets taken🤷♀️ ) The senior companion (longest time in the mission) is usually the one that takes their phone so Matthew leaves his at home. That is why for now the pictures are all pretty much taken from Elder Waites phone.
This past week Matthew went to his first Zone Conference. Every six weeks, all the missionaries in a big area of his mission get together and do some training, discussions, eat together, get a chance to socialize and see other missionaries from around their mission. Sunday evening they all took an 8 hour overnight bus ride to Caruaru. This one had a fun P-Day attached to it. There were about 100 other missionaries there. They had a blow up volleyball/football court. Not sure exactly what that was but Matthew described it as a giant blow up court that they could tackle each other and get a little crazy with. Each of the groups of missionaries did a little skit/dressed up. Matthew and his three companions did the three witnesses from the Book of Mormon. There were some amazing brownies, and lots of good food. They building they stayed in was pretty tall and they were on the 32 floor. It also had air conditioning so Matthew was super excited to have the best night sleep in weeks probably. They were there Monday and Tuesday and then took an overnight bus back to Salgueiro. Matthew has a hard time with the overnight but trips. The buses are nice and pretty comfortable but he is to big to curl up on his side so he has to lay flat and the seats recline about half way so he says it is really hard to sleep. Here are some pictures from the zone conference. Matthew will have to write the names of people in the margins of this book when he gets home. I am not sure who everyone is.
Matthew has been on his mission for about 2 1/2 months now. It still feels weird to not have him home. We miss him A LOT and think about him and pray for him all the time. We look forward to talking to him every week and hearing about what he has been up to. I am not a morning person but I happily set my alarm for 5:45 Monday mornings so I can be ready for work when he calls about 6:15 and talk to him as long as he can. I don’t know if Mondays will always start and end with a call from Matthew while he is on his mission, but I am grateful for it right now. We are all proud of him and what he is doing. He is setting a great example for all of us. I know sometimes will be harder than other times for him on his mission and right now seems like a good time. I am grateful for that and am glad he seems to be doing so well.
We tried a new softball team for Emilee this Fall. We went to a new team at the club level for Advanced Fast Pitch Academy. She is the youngest girl on the team. She seemed to like it and got along well with the girls. The girls seemed nice. They are not very good. They played in five tournaments. 4-5 games per tournament and one two games total. That is a little frustrating for Ryan and I. She seemed to lose skills she had because they weren’t taught or reinforced…and we are paying club prices now, not rec team. She had a fun season and it takes time for teams to mesh so we will see how winter conditioning and Spring go but I don’t feel like we have found ‘her team’ yet. One of the tournaments they did was the Monster Bash. Here are some cute pictures from after the game.
My sister Sherri and her family stopped in a few weeks ago. They were taking a road trip to see our Grandma June and were stopping at family along the way. When they left our house their next stop was Colorado. They were well on the way when they started to come up on an RV and moved over to pass it. When they did Kenny saw that it was one of our old RV’s that we sold when we closed our RV business. It still had our logo on the side! It was the one we called “Cowboy”. Pretty crazy!
Spring Hill had their homecoming dance at the beginning of September this year. Allison went with a group of her friends. They came over here after school and each of them brought some food. They had a potluck dinner while they got ready together to go take pictures. Then I drove them all to Heritage Park. Several of their moms met us there and we took pictures. After pictures were taken they changed into football game attire and I dropped them off at the game. It is a bit of a hectic night because they have the game and the dance on the same night. A little after halftime I picked them up again and they came back to our house to get back into their dance outfits. When they were ready I took them back to the school to attend the dance. They said it was fun and they had a good time. When I picked them up we stopped at McDonalds for some ice cream on the way home and then some of them went home, some of them spent the night. I think everyone had fun, looked pretty and made good high school memories.
Matthew can message people but emails and and phone calls to family are supposed to be done on his preparation day (P-day). It was 8 days after he left before he had a p-day. In the MTC it isn’t a full day, its just a few hours. That is a little stressful for me because some of the times he is available I am at work. Its only a few weeks but I still want to talk to him. It was so good to hear his voice and see him over facetime. All of us got to talk to him, and all of us were looking forward to it and anticipating it. Emilee even said she would skip her riding lesson so she could talk to him. It had ‘only’ been eight days but it felt like a month. We talked for a while. I think he is getting frustrated with the speed he is learning Portuguese. I’m sure its going to get a lot more frustrating before it gets better. Especially once he is in Recife and learning and figuring it out or not being able to communicate with people. I’m also sure that he will get it and then have the confidence and pride that comes with conquering a huge challenge and task. He likes his district and seems like he is already forming some pretty solid new friendships. It was great to talk to him and I am going to look forward to it every week.
Matthew started a photo album that he can add pictures to for us to see. We made one for him too. Here are his pictures from the Brazil MTC.
The first weekend after Matthew left I was pretty down in the dumps. Ryan tried to distract me a little bit. There was a Commemorative Airplane Show at an airport near by so we went with some friends to check it out. There were jeeps, helicopters, a museum and a handful of plans from WWII and Vietnam.
Allison went on her annual lake trip with a group of her friends for their friend Olivia’s birthday. This is the third year she has gone.
The Jones family picture that was taken on at Thanksgiving has now become outdated. John and Rachel had their fourth baby, second girl, Johanna. I believe they are going to call her Jojo. She was in the NICU for a few days because her breathing was struggling but she is doing great now.
Allison has been taking drivers education and practicing driving the past year. She recently got her learners permit for driving bumped up to her restricted driver license. That means she can now drive by herself, or with one sibling, to work, church, or school. For her first drive with Emilee to the church for youth night we took these pictures of her backing out. Its kind of hard to see but the first one is Allison crossing her fingers, and the second one is Emilee’s reaction when she saw her doing it. It was pretty funny. Allison did great and everyone got to and from where they were supposed to safely.
While Matthew started the MTC the girls started school! Allison is a soft more at Spring Hill High School. She is taking honors math and chemistry and an AP History class. She is planning on wrestling in the winter. Emilee is a 7th grader at Forest Springs Middle School. She is excited for math, spanish and her engineering class. She is doing club softball and still doing her riding lessons. Hopefully they will both have busy fun school years!
Matthew was set apart Sunday, August 10th. The day before he started home MTC. He gave his farewell talk in sacrament that morning, and was set apart that afternoon. Our church still zoom’s the sacrament meeting for people that can’t be there in person but want to listen, so we were able to send the link to family that was far away to watch if they wanted too. I was planning on recording it, but new I would probably forget so I asked Emilee to record it for me. I did forget until about half way through so I was glad she did it for me. A few of his friends from high school that hadn’t left for college yet came and listened to his talk. I think he did a great job. I am proud of him and excited for him.
Monday, August 11th Matthew started the MTC (Missionary Training Center) at home through online zoom meetings. August 11th is the day our family has always remembered Aaron. I think it is pretty special and not a coincidence that Matthew started his mission on the same day Aaron returned to heaven and started his mission there.
Home MTC is a little rough, its is several 3 hour long online zoom meetings and studying with your companion for several more hours each day. Day one was fun to start meeting people and exciting that your mission is actually starting. His first companion is Elder Stewart (not sure if that is how he spells it though). He did a year of college at a military college in Colorado. They are a good pair. I am writing this a few weeks after they met but they seemed like a good fit from the beginning. By day two he was already getting a little stir crazy. It is hard to focus for three hours but on a zoom call it is even harder. We tried to take him out of the house for lunch. I tried to be around on his breaks to give him someone to interact with in person. We played games after family dinner. Campbell came over most evenings to hangout. It was a little awkward for them because Matthew is supposed to follow all the mission rules so he was trying to keep it friendly. Campbell knew but still wanted to sit close and snuggle. Matthew handled it with pats on the back and lots of pacing and walking around while he talked with her. A little awkward.
Overall, it is a good transition for starting a mission. He is still home so I get to ease into him leaving, and he gets to ease into following the rules and getting on the missionary schedule. After a week of it though, he was itching to get to the real MTC. I imagine the process will be the same for the MTC, excitement and adjusting at first, then going crazy and ready to get to your actual mission by the time the five weeks are up.
He flew out Tuesday, August 19th. He flew by himself to Atlanta Georgia. In Atlanta, he thought he would meat up with about 20 missionaries and fly to Sao Paulo. I found out later it was more like 60. That would be cool to see 60 missionaries getting on a plane together. There was no communication with us about his flight and meeting other people. As far as I knew he was flying the whole way by himself. He wasn’t supposed to take his phone with him, so that meant I had no way to see if he was where he was supposed to be or for him to communicate with anyone if there was a change or problem with flights, or if he even made it to his final destination. That bothered me a lot. I told him he had to take his phone and he could turn it off once he got there. Matthew is a rule follower so he didn’t want to take his phone. After several discussions and not coming to an agreement, Ryan told Matthew that even Jesus broke a rule when his mom asked him to do something so he had to take the phone. Matthew didn’t like it but being the sweet respectful son he is, he grudgingly agreed. However, when he found out there were at least a dozen other missionaries meeting him in Atlanta, I felt much better. Normally I wouldn’t be to comforted having to rely on a think tank of a dozen teenagers, but knowing if there was a problem, or missed flight, he wouldn’t be completely alone I felt a lot calmer about sending him off to a foreign country with no phone. I told him I was ok with him not taking his phone, but I was putting an air tag in his carryon luggage so I could at least see where he was.
Dropping him off at the airport is one of the hardest days of my life. A piece of my heart literally walked away, waved at me one last time through the security gate and will be gone for the next two years. Somehow I am supposed to carry on like everything is great. I don’t even want to write about how hard its been. Just. Hard.
Ryan tried to get a video of some hugs for me to watch while he was gone, Allison ruined it. I am angry about it but I am still keeping the video.
The air tag in his luggage was a life line for me. I really appreciated being able to know he made it to Atlanta, and then Sao Paulo, and then the MTC. It helped me a lot. Once he made it to the MTC they gave him a phone and he texted to say he made it, the flight was horrible and ask if he packed any temple clothes. It was the best text ever. The MTC sent us a picture of everyone together to let us know they arrived too.
I am going to tag all the missionary posts I write while he is gone and then when he gets home I can print them all into a book for him. This is the first post. Only 23 1/2 months to go.
When we got back from Gulf Shores, that meant it was just a few days, eleven to be exact until Matthew started his mission. Just like the Summer they flew by way to fast.
Matthew went through the temple on August 2nd. It was a special day. He had the Terry, Jones, and Torgerson grandparents, and his aunt and uncles-Dave, Jen, Ross and Lauren come with him along with us. Bishop Sirois also came. When I went through the temple for the first time it was a little overwhelming and I wasn’t very well prepared. Matthew said he thought it was exactly what he was expecting it to be. I was very impressed and grateful for the Covenant Prep class, and Bishop Sirois’ personal temple prep class he did along with us to help Matthew be prepared and understand more about what he was committing to do before he went.
We got there a little early and took some pictures outside. They make a plaque for each missionary with their picture, a favorite scripture of theirs and where they are serving their mission. Matthew wanted his picture for his plaque to be at the temple with the Brazil flag.
When we were done, we all took a group picture together outside and then went to lunch together at a Greek restaurant called Meddi’s.
The last week was pretty busy. The girls were getting ready for school. We did some last minute shopping to make sure everyone had everything they needed for school or the mission. Nadia and a few of her brothers-Jesse and Alex- came up to spend a few days. Matt had one last night with his high school friends before most of them left for college. We just tried to cram as many ‘one last time’ things in we wanted to do with Matthew. Most of them revolved around what he wanted to eat. Ryan grilled lots of steak-specifically picanha. Our family went to a Brazilian steak house called Fogo de Chao with Grandpa Terry and Campbell. One of the favorite meats we had there was picanha, so we got some to grill on our own a few nights afterwards. We had lots of Costa Vida and K-macho’s. Matthew really loves food. One of our last Sunday dinners with the Terry’s we did a root beer tasting contest. Matthew, dad and the girls went golfing together. There was also a lot of just following Matthew around, especially from me. Probably driving him crazy but he didn’t show it. He let me sit by him, hug him and talk with him as much as I could. We went to a couple missionary welcome homes too. His buddy Bret Sawaya came home from Brazil, and Tanner Lewis came home from Saratoga Utah.
We tried to make the most of it. I know I am going to miss Matthew A LOT, we all will. He is a big piece of our family and two years is a long time. This past year, I have tried to enjoy all the memories we have made and not focus on it being ‘the last’ or focusing on the sad part of that. I wanted to enjoy the moments and remember them as happy, not crying or sad about it meaning we were getting closer to him leaving everyday. I did pretty good and we made lots of great happy memories. When it got to about a month out, it started to get a little harder to do that. The last few days in August, I was pretty weepy. I still tried to push it off the sad part until later but it broke through more than I wanted. It is a surreal thing to have a child leave. It was like a real of his life going on in my head every time I look at him. I remember the first time I saw and held him, I could not believe we just left the hospital with a baby that was ours to keep forever. I remember him rolling around like a bowling pin learning to sit, then walk, then playing hide-n-seek, and watching Mickey Mouse Club house and laughing himself to tears about Goofy’s stinky shoes. I asked him on his 6th birthday if he would stop getting older and he said with all seriousness that he would do his best but he didn’t know how. Over the next few years I would remind him to stop growing up and he gave the same answer until he finally told me he wasn’t going to be able to but he will always give me hugs and love me. Countless trips to the zoo, learning all about animals. Hundreds of baseball games, basketball, football, racing his dad each year on his birthday. Thousands of memories. Its been 18 years, almost 19 now, but it really feels like no time at all. The hardest part of his mission I think for me will be not physically being with him and able to hug him for two years. Ugg, that is such a long time. It wasn’t perfect but I think we were able to be present in the moment and enjoy Matthew and the last few days with him as much as we could.
The whole Terry clan was here in July. It will be a few years at least before that will be possible again so we took the opportunity to update the family pictures.
I think I have the ages right on the individual pictures, the younger ones I might be off by a year. 😊
It was a little last minute but we decided to work in one more family vacation before Matthew left. He loves the heat and the ocean so we decided to go with Gulf Shores.
We left on a Friday afternoon. The Torgerson’s were in Branson at Silver Dollar City so we drove to them and spent the evening with them and doing as many rides and roller coasters as we could. After we ended the night watching the drone/firework show (which was pretty cool) we stayed in a hotel near by and then left early the next morning to get to Gulf Shores.
We headed to the beach once we got to Gulf Shores, it was great weather and the waves were really nice, but unfortunately they were having one of their worst peak jellyfish seasons. It was a bit of a bummer. We played in the water a little bit, we all got a little sting here and there but Emilee got a pretty bad sting on her arm and neck. They were sea nettles which are not lethal but extremely painful. She was mad, frustrated, sad, and hurt all at once. After that we waded in the waves and stuck pretty close to the beach instead of the water. We played catch and enjoyed relaxing but we didn’t get to spend as much time on the beach as we hoped.
We spent the next few days relaxing and enjoying each others company. We went to the movies, a waterpark, played lots of games, Matthew, Ryan and Emilee went golfing, we swam in the pool, went shopping, did icee runs at the gas station and got ice cream at our usual spot. It used to be called Matt’s Ice Cream but they changed the name to Sweet Cone. We liked the first name better for obvious reasons.
We drove home on Allison’s birthday which isn’t very fun for her so we let her pick our activity the night before we left. She went with a 3D glow in the dark dinosaur miniature golf. It was pretty fun! I think Emilee lost but the score card showed that I lost.
We got home around 10pm on Allison’s birthday. Happy 15th birthday! Her presents were at Grandma Terry’s along with her guinea pigs so we stopped there first and brought them home with us so she could open them. Friday we did her birthday cake and she went swimming with a friend. Sunday we had more birthday cake with all the family in town-including Grandma and Grandpa Jones who were here to visit. And on Monday she went to brunch with some friends and then they hung out at our house for the day. So we spread it out over a few days but she still had some good birthday celebrating.
This is last Summer but I wanted to make sure it is in one of my books. This is from our back porch. I love our view and seeing the beautiful sky.
We went to a karaoke bar for Ryan’s birthday. They had a band playing for part of the night and the friends we were with had them announce happy birthday to Ryan. He was thrilled and loved getting to sing-If I Had A Million Dollars.
I got these pretty flowers for my porch but they blooms only lasted like a day and I kept cutting the dead ones off every morning and was frustrated they didn’t last very long. Then somewhere in the cobwebs of my brain I remembered that some flowers close up at night and then open in the day. So I waited a little longer and then went out and checked them and sure enough they had opened and looked beautiful! I’m glad I remembered before I cut off perfectly good flowers all summer.
Allison went on a youth temple trip.
Found this sign above a drinking fountain in Emilee’s softball facility. It is now one of my favorite quotes to share with my children.
Emilee went to her first church girls camp and had a great time. The food was ‘tolerable’ the weather was 80’s-AMAZING, the cabins were air conditioned and there was a lot of fun activities!
We didn’t make an official summer bucket list like we used to when the kids were younger but we had a few things that Matthew wanted to do that we made sure got worked in.
One was an awesome 4th of July, which we did. Awesome overalls and all. Visiting grandparents in Florida. Watching all the new summer movies. Eating lots of Costa Vida food. Things like that.
Ryan’s family was here at the beginning of July. We went to Lake Olathe with cousins while they were here. There is a small beach area to swim and a blow up water obstacle course. We usually go once a summer and Matthew specifically mentioned wanting to do it. We were there for a little over an hour before we got rained out but Matthew said it counted.
We usually do at least one if not several family Royals games. We worked that in right after the fourth. The Royals won and they hit 4-5 home runs, that always makes it an exciting game.
All the cousins played games inside and out. Matthew and Ethan organized a game of whiffle ball. That was fun to watch. We had lots of family meals, eating is one of Matthew’s favorite activities so he loves a family meal. We did smores’ a few times in Grandpa Terry’s firepit and caught fireflies.
Matthew was set apart as an Elder in our church and got the Melchizedek priesthood. That was one of the things he needed to do to go on his mission. His Dad, Grandpa Terry, Bishop Sirois, and Uncle Kris and Uncle Ross were able to set him apart. Kris was wearing a tie but took it off before I took the picture and I wasn’t patient enough to let him put it back on. There have been several times this summer that I just look at Matthew and feel so proud of him and thankful to him for setting a good example and being a good person. He is very kind and inclusive to everyone around him.
Playing some baseball was of course on the bucket list. There wasn’t as much as we usually put into a summer but we attended several tournaments. The team did pretty good. Everyone had fun and enjoyed it. A lot of the team is going to keep playing in college but several are done so it was time for them to enjoy their team and have fun playing ball. Matthew has played with some of them since 5th grade. Their banter with each other on and off the field is fun to see. Their last tournament was in mid-July. Matthew was in a little bit of a hitting slump but he turned it around and had some great last games. He had a triple, a few doubles, a home run, and for the very last game to win the whole tournament- he scored the walk off run. 😜🤷♀️ Kind of a silly way to win a tournament, but we will take it. The video is a few videos of their final huddle and walk out to the field and then the last 10 minutes or so of the game, starting with Matthew’s last at bat.
And not on the summer bucket list but worthy of mentioning is saving this little guy-only about 2 inches big- we found him wandering on our sidewalk while we were doing yard work one day. Emi and I walked him over to the creek by our house and put him in it. Hopefully he is living a happy life there.
Way back in January or February, Ryan found a fourth of July outfit that he ordered for me and him to wear on the 4th. He was pretty excited about it. It was overalls with the flag on it. He wanted to be festive and over the top. A few weeks before the 4th Matthew sent me a link on his phone and asked if I would help him order an outfit he wanted to wear for the 4th. It was the same overalls! Ryan was delighted, he thought it was hilarious and was very excited. When the day arrived Ryan shaved his beard and left a gross mustache and they both decided to go shirtless to make it as red-neck as they could. It was pretty funny. We went to the firework booth to get our fireworks and there was a teenage girl there wearing the same outfit. She looked pretty embarrassed that we were all wearing the same outfit she was. We had a BBQ lunch at our house and lots of Ryan’s family, some of Lauren’s, and a few friends of ours came. Fourth of July has always been one of our favorite holidays, we did it in Nebraska for years and then had to tone it down when Roger and Rhonda moved here until we had a place we could light fireworks off again. The kids love the cousin time and always look forward to it. I don’t know how much longer it will be like we are used to but it was a fun time this year!
Right before the 4th before Matthew and Emilee got back from Florida, the rest of us went to Arkansas. All of Sherrie and Dave’s kids were there and we to celebrate the 4th and they wanted to take a family picture…so we kind of ruined it by not bring all of our kids, but we didn’t know about it until they were already going to be gone. So we did our best. We got some great pictures, and it was nice to see everyone. We haven’t gotten to know Austin and Giselle and their families as well because they live in Utah. We are getting to know everyone better and better though and it is nice to spend time with them.
Memorial Day weekend usually feels like the kick off to Summer for us. This year is was cold and rainy, so it was a bit of a ‘waawaa’ kick off but it was still Summer! The first few weeks were unusually cool and lots of rain, it wasn’t really hot until almost the end of June, we still squeezed in fun stuff.
Allison started her Summer with Girl Scout Day camp. She was a youth leader again this year so they had a few sleep overs in addition to just the day camp that the younger girls do. The theme this year was the Lorax from Dr Suess and Allison kept her streak of winning the swap award for her creative swaps she makes. They recommend bring 10-20 swaps. Allison always makes about 100 and this year she came home and made more because people were seeking her out wanting her swaps and she ran out.
After GS camp, she had a wrestling camp that she did. then she was off to Florida for a few weeks to spend some time with Grandma and Grandpa Jones. They love having her and she loves going.
When she got back from Florida, her and Leah had a Creative Camp for kids age 4-12 that they planned and did together. They did a really good job. They had 10 kids sign up and their crafts were pretty awesome. I was impressed with their organization and planning and carrying the whole thing out. They are both really great with kids.
Emilee has been reading, hanging out with friends and swimming as much as she can. She started the Summer by going to Arkansas and spending the week with her cousin Lizzy at her house and then a few days at Mimi’s house. They have a pool in their back yard so they love being able to swim whenever they feel like it. She has been playing softball. She did a rec team this year, and quickly decided that she would rather do a competitive team again so we signed her up for tryouts in July.
When she got back from Arkansas she had horse camp for a week. She still enjoys it but she is becoming a fair weather horse rider. If it is to hot or to cold she would rather pass. We will see how much longer she is interested in it.
Shortly after Allison got back from Florida, her and Matthew headed out and spent a week there. She loves going to Florida too. Grandma makes them all kinds of yummy foods, stays up late watching shows and movies, and takes them swimming and to fun places around Tampa. Kenny and Sherri visited for a few of the days while Matt and Emilee were in Florida so they got to see them and spend time with cousins too. Matt kicked Sherri’s butt in pickle ball a half dozen times and then she made him play her left handed and ended up beating him by a hair. She talks about beating him in pickle ball now…but doesn’t mention the first 6 games.😂😉
Matthew has been enjoying his Summer before he heads to Brazil on his mission. We have been getting all his clothes and supplies that he is supposed to bring gathered together. His friends Carter left on his mission at the end of June so they spent as much time hanging out, playing games, eating Costa Vida, and fishing as they could. He has done some odd jobs for people to earn a little money, been a huge help in getting the girls to and from their activities, and playing some baseball.
His FBC team decided to do a handful of tournaments this Summer. We didn’t think they would but enough of them were around for the Summer that it ended up working out. His competitive team is way more fun than high school, it has been fun to see them playing together and having a good time. Coach Jimmy has been his coach since 5th grade. He has spent hundreds of hours coaching and practicing. He has been an amazing coach.
He also loves going to Tampa to spend time with the grandparents. He has a fishing pole he keeps at their house and they have a lake right by them so he can literally walk out the front door and fish anytime he wants. Grandma keeps a steady supply of ice cream and other treats for him too.
June has flown by. This summer is going way to fast, and I don’t think it is going to slow down. We are trying to make the most of it and enjoy every minute together before Matt leaves.
Matthew has a lot of friends that have already left on their mission or are going to leave soon. He is on the tail end of his main group of friends. They are going to be all over the world. Tanner Lewis-Utah, Adam Orme-Brazil, Brent Gillis-Sweden, Isaac Barlow- Singapore, Parker Lindman-Panama, Brett Sawaya-Brazil, Caleb Jones-Argentina. His best friend Carter left in June for the Philippines. It is pretty awesome that they are all committing two years of their lives to sharing the gospel full time with other people. It is a life changing opportunity and I am happy and proud of them for doing it. Letting go is a lot harder than I thought it would be.
Matthew thought it was ok to not have a graduation party and celebrate him, but I told him he was wrong. I kept is simple for him though. We had it at our house and combined with his buddy Ramey. We had cookies and brownies and chips and salsa and wings. Lots of Matthew’s favorite. The thing he was most excited about was the soda bar. He loves his soda. We did it a few weeks after graduation so I was a little worried about the turn out but we had lots of people come and it was a fun party. Sherri and Kenny came, Dave and Sherrie and their daughter Gen and husband Robert came from the Torgerson family. All the local Terry’s came. Then lots of friends, teachers, team mates and coaches. It was a fun time. I was busy visiting or restocking food and forgot to take pictures, luckily I got a few from other people. I learned a few things too, since this was my first graduation party, I will have improvements next time I do it for Allison.
We went to MANY graduation parties during the three weeks after graduation. Matthew went to probably twice as many and Ryan and I did. It was fun celebrating everyone. I am really glad Matthew has such good friends and team mates. They are all a good group of kids. We finished them all off with Campbells. She was the only girl party we went to actually. Great job Class of 2025!!
After lots of fun Senior Events, the day for graduation finally arrived. The seniors started walking in at 9:50. It was in the school gym. We got to the school at 8:45 to get a good seat. Matthew has a saved seat so he rolled out of bed at 8:45 and showed up at 9:20. Boys are a little less concerned with pictures and details like that. I tried to not be to annoying with taking all the pictures but I still wanted to get them. Sherrie and Dave and Lizzy came up from Arkansas. Grandma and Grandpa Terry and the Ross Terry family all came. There were 253 graduates. Each of the students handed their principal a bouncy ball when they shook his hand. Someone eventually got him a bucket but by the end there were bouncy balls in every pocket he had and all over the floor when they escaped his small bucket. I thought that was a pretty creative, harmless prank to play. It was a pretty quick ceremony. We were done and headed outside to take pictures at 11:15. It was a little windy but it was sunny, which was nice because we have had a lot of rain lately and it took a brief pause for graduation.
After the ceremony we took lots of pictures with family and friends. Then we all went to lunch together at Costa Vida-Matthew’s favorite. Then there were A LOT of graduation parties to go to so everyone dispersed and Ryan, Matt and I hit as many of them as we could for the rest of the weekend, and the next three weekends.
He did it! Matthew attended seminary for four years, 80% of that was before school, and completed all the requirements to graduate from seminary. He calculated his attendance down to the day to get 75%. He did all the makeup work he missed but stressed me out by not turning it in until the last day. But he did it!
I am joking around but seriously, he did complete his 4 years and he did it with very little coaxing or pushing from me. I am proud of him for making it a priority to graduate. It is no small feat for a high school student to sacrifice sleep, time, and effort everyday and keep up on all the other things they have going on as well. He had some really great teachers along the way. They had engaging lessons and new just how to encourage them to come- with food and friendship and activities.
The mission he is going to in Brazil requires a minimum of two years of formal religious training for anyone that wants to come there to be a missionary. If he hadn’t committed to doing seminary he wouldn’t be able to go to that Brazil.
We are proud of him for his accomplishment.
There is a hawk that hangs out around our house a lot. We love it because he is cool to watch and because he eats the animals I don’t want around my house. The girls named him Thomas a while ago. Last week when we would come home he was often perched on the peak of our roof above our back deck. He looked like a giant weather vane. It was rainy so he even had his wings open because he was all wet.
One of the mornings I woke up and looked out my bedroom window and found Thomas looking back!
Ryan and I celebrated our 23rd wedding anniversary this year. Ryan had some hotel points built up so we decided to do a quick weekend get away to Nashville. We stopped there one night on our way home from Florida a few years ago and really liked it and have wanted to go back since.
He booked an awesome hotel with a roof top pool and we planned to set by the pool all weekend and relax and soak up the sun and then check out Broadway at night and listen to amazing live music.
We left Thursday evening after work. The girls stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Terry for the weekend and Matthew went on a senior retreat for his Covenant Prep class he has been taking Sunday afternoons. We drove about half way and then finished Friday morning. The hotel was amazing. The pool was gorgeous. But it rained. The. Entire. Weekend. Ugh. That was a little disappointing. But we found other things to do. We brought some games and actually went up to the pool and played for a while on the covered patio part. It was chilly and raining but we could see the pool.😜 We found lots of great live music and food. Our hotel had a different musician each night. Broadway had tons of options. There is live music everywhere in Nashville. We walked by a Taco Bell and they had a live band playing, in the Taco Bell. Despite the rain we still had fun. We both said we would come back and stay in the same place again, just later in the Summer so there was less chance of rain. We drove home Sunday and arrived in time to see the kids for a few hours before bed Sunday night. They missed us so much and were glad we were home.😉
The weekend after we got home from Nashville was Mother’s Day. I was feeling a little more emotional and sentimental this year because it is the last one before Matthew leaves. On my way to church I was reminiscing about how when the kids were in primary they would always sign a song at church on Mother’s Day. When church started they announced that for a special surprise the youth would be doing the sacrament program. Several of them did musical numbers, and several gave talks-including Matthew- that were all really good and very thoughtful. Then, all the youth sang a song together which meant all three of my kids were singing a song on Mother’s Day just like they did when they were younger. I was bawling like a baby. The primary kids came up and sang a duet with the youth so they even sang two songs. I loved it. It is the last time that will probably ever happen and I soaked it in.
After church Ryan smoked some pulled pork and Grandma and Grandpa came over and spent the afternoon with us. It was very relaxing and I really enjoyed it. I even had some time in the hammock while everyone played catch together in the yard. I am really glad that I have been blessed to be a mom to my kids. I am not the best but I love them and I hope they know that. They are pretty special. It really is scary how fast the years go by and they grow and change.
Emilee had a celebration for the end of the school year. It was a family picnic day. Dad and I had work and didn’t have enough notice to take it off, but Matthew saved the day. He was done with school already so he took Emilee some Chipotle and ate lunch with her. I told him to send us a picture of their picnic…this is what we got.🤦♀️ Emilee thought it was awesome that he came and ate with her though. Probably thought it was cooler than if dad or I had come.
After Prom there were lots of events that happened and I collected many pictures from them.
College Signing Night
Matthew has lots of friends that signed to play at different schools for sports with a scholarship. Some for golf, baseball, and softball. We went to signing night to help celebrate their accomplishments.
Senior Softball Night
Campbells softball senior night. She had one for wrestling a few months ago that we went to as well but I didn’t get a picture from that one. She had a great game! She hit a home run, a double, and got lots of RBI’s. Matthew had baseball practice on the field next to hers for the first part of her game, when she hit her home run he and some of his team mates cheered for her from the baseball field.
Scholarship and Academic Assembly
This is Matthew and his friends at the scholarship recognition assembly. They area fun group of boys and very positive and supportive of each other.
Senior Baseball Night
Matthew had a Senior night for baseball too. A long story short his coach was a bit of a jerk to him this season and we are all going to be glad when it is over. It is really disappointing and frustrating and Ryan and Matt and I all wish his senior year of high school baseball could have been much better, but it is what it is. We made the most of his senior night. After the game they had each boy go up and hit a ball from someone of their choice (they all picked there dads, even though the coach suggested himself) to throw their ‘last pitch’ and then run the bases while they read a letter from their parents. Then their moms were waiting for them at first base. It was pretty cool for each of the boys. Campbell recorded it for us. Our whole family was there and Grandma and Grandpa Terry came and both of his seminary teachers came to watch him play.
Senior Sunset
At the beginning of the year they did a senior sunrise at the school. At the end of the year they did a senior sunset. I think Spring Hill did a great job of making the seniors feel special and recognizing them and doing things like the sunrise and sunset to make their year memorable. Another thing they do is for the graduation rehearsal, each student gets a card on their chair from their parents or a teacher. When they find their seat at rehearsal it is waiting on the seat.
Senior and Parent Breakfast
Senior Breakfast. Before graduation rehearsal they have a senior breakfast for parents and their senior. If parents want to they can make a poster to hang up in the gym for the breakfast. I dusted off my scrapbooking skills and made one for him.
Matthew’s senior year really picked up the pace once April got here. There was lots of senior activities, ceremonies, and special events. There were several things almost every week which made the last few months fly by.
Prom was the first big event. He participated in a fundraiser for the after prom party the week of prom called Buff Puff. There was about 10 volleyball teams of boys that competed against each other and the girls were their coaches. His team was called the Black Aces and they actually ended up taking second.
Prom was on a Saturday. Early afternoon they went downtown to the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art and took pictures. The weather was rainy all week but it was beautiful on Saturday and they got great pictures. Campbell has been planning on a yellow dress for her senior prom for years. Matthew decided on a gray tux to match her.
Here are their group photos.
After pictures they went to dinner at an Italian place called Buca di Beppo. Then it was off to the dance. This was the first year they had Prom at a different location than the school. Usually they rent a tent and have it somewhere around the school. This year it was at the Embassy Hotel in their ballroom.
They announced the prom King and Queen at the dance, and Matthew was prom King!! He told me by sending this picture to me. No words or explanation, just the picture. I loved that he thought to tell me instead of waiting until he got home.
After the dance Campbell and Matthew went to the after prom party with most of their group. A bus took everyone to a rented out space that had all kinds of activities for them to do and tons of food. There was a prize wheel that each of the Seniors got to spin and win different prizes that were at least worth $100. Matthew and Campbell each won a 41″ TV! He had a pretty exciting night! The party ended at 2. By the time the bus got them back to the school and Matthew dropped Campbell off and came home to go to bed it was about 3:30. He slept every spare second he could for the next two days.
And last but not least, I have this great picture of Matt and Campbell’s first dance together in high school- Freshman Homecoming, and their last dance together-Senior Prom.💕 They have grown up a bit!
Easter was really nice this year. After church we had dinner with Ross and Lauren’s family and Roger and Rhonda. We usually take a family picture at the church before we leave, we forgot this year so we did it when we got home. Someone didn’t want to but did it anyway.
Allison had her wrestling banquet a few months after the season was over. They had a dessert bar and beverages with an awards ceremony. They asked all the wrestlers to dress nice. Usually we only see them in their singlets and head gear, so a few of them I almost didn’t recognize. Allison got the JV Wrestler of the year award!
March brought us a semi chilly Spring Break this year. We decided to go and see some family for part of our break. Ryan had some work and his annual man trip with his mission buddies to work around our break. Matthew had some baseball games and practices to work around.
So, Friday, the girls and Ryan left for Arkansas to see the Torgerson family. My girls really like spending time with there cousins down there so they were packed and ready to go the second they got home from school. There was a pretty bad storm passing through. Ryan joked that he was more scared of telling the girls we had to wait for the storm then driving through the storm. So he braved the weather and it ended up not being to bad and they made it Friday night. Matthew and I followed them and arrived in Arkansas early Saturday afternoon. We played games, visited, went to Top Golf, went shopping, played outside, went to church with them on Sunday, and enjoyed their company. They are a very easy family to spend time with. I enjoy getting to know them better each time we see them.
Monday morning, Ryan left for home for a few meetings he had for work before leaving for Vegas on Tuesday evening. The kids and I left Arkansas and headed to Dallas to see Sherri and her family. We played games, hit all the cookie spots, drink spots, and ice cream spots, watched movies and hung out. Tuesday morning we got up a early and went to a drive through safari. It was all enjoyable but the giraffes were a hit. They were hungry and had no problem using there giant lips and tongue to search out the food they new we had. One of them took the whole bag from Matthew and ate it with the food inside.
Matthew had baseball games Thursday morning so we left Dallas Wednesday morning and spent the day on the road. The games were pretty chilly, down right frigid, but the sun did come out so it seemed not as bad. Friday and Saturday were relax at home days and catch up on ‘all the things’ that pile up. Ryan got home Sunday and he and I both went back to work Monday, but for some reason the kids had one more day of Spring Break so they got to sleep in and be lazy an extra day. It was a nice Spring Break. Its nice to see family and have some new experiences with them.
The Senior year of high school baseball it starting! They did tryout a few weeks earlier than usual this year. Matt has been working hard practicing hitting and conditioning the past several months. He is doing great with hitting right now. Matthew is a great baseball player and a good team mate- I know I am biased as his mother but I think objectively he is those things too. There are lots of politics and other annoying parts to high school sports so no matter how prepared ‘we’ feel going into try outs it is always nerve racking. But he made it!! Only 4 seniors were kept, there were a lot of surprise cuts. We are excited for him and proud of him for making it and working hard.
They had the first Jamboree during spring break and starting this week have 2-3 games almost every week until the end of the season. Here we go!
The seniors have banners made of them each year that they hand on the fences at the baseball fields. There were only for seniors that made the team this year. Once they made it they had a little photo shoot to get there banners. Matthew doesn’t like taking pictures, I told him to suck it up because the next several months are going to be filled with picture taking.
I found a few highlight reals in my phone from competitive Summer/Fall baseball. I decided to add them onto this post to lead into high school baseball. He had a pretty awesome Summer/Fall season.
Ryan has always worked hard and pushes himself in his career to be an amazing professional in his field provide a great life for his family. He has always wanted to be an owner in the company he is at and has been aiming for that for a long time. A few years ago, the process of what that would be started taking shape and this past year he has been making it happen. The offer and plan for ownership was presented to him and two other people at the company he work at in December. After a few tweaks and negotiations the final contract was signed and it became official a few weeks ago. He has been at this company since it started. He was the first employee and 12 years later it is still a great company and has grown and become very successful and has a great culture. Ryan has been a big part of that from the beginning.
I am proud of him and really appreciate all his hard work. I am very very grateful to have a partner that is driven and sets and make goals for himself and then achieves those goals. It is one of many great qualities Ryan has and I am super proud of him for working so hard to accomplish this. I am also glad he has such great people to work with and they all want to create something that is good and meaningful for their clients and the company. Congratulations!!
Matthew decided that he is going to go on a mission as soon as he graduates from high school. He started filling out the paperwork for it and submitted it this week. He has an interview next week and then within a week or two after that he should find out where he is going! We did a couple practice photos to submit with his paperwork. A lot of his friends have gotten there calls or have already left. They are going to Brazil, Sweden, Singapore, Philippines, Panama, Utah and Italy. He is really hoping to get somewhere out of the United States. He is worried that having asthma will make it so they want him to stay in the US. I think he could easily go to Europe or Australia. We shall see!
It has been a few weeks since I wrote the first part and it is time to find out where he ended up getting called to! Several people told us they usually found out on a Monday between 10-14 days after submitting their paperwork. When we were in that window we were anticipating it coming on a Monday, so I made some snacks and treats, Matthew put his friends and family on alert to come over Monday night when he opened it. Ryan was going out of town on Wednesday of that week so we were hoping it would come before he left too. Monday came and went…Tuesday came and went. The Stake president checked the status and it said it was still waiting for assignment so we figured it would be the next week on Monday. Wednesday came and went. We had the missionaries in our area over for dinner Wednesday night. They told us a way to check and see if the call was on the way. We did it and it still didn’t show us anything. Thursday evening I was sitting in Emilee’s room talking with her and Matthew called me. When I answered the phone he asked where I was because he had just gotten his call. We were all pretty surprised!
Matt decided he wanted to open his call with just his immediate family first and then read it again when he invited the rest of his family and friends over later. He said in case he was going somewhere lame he didn’t want to open it with everyone first. I think that was maybe a small part of it but I think most of it was he was nervous and wanted to be able to process it a little first. Which is just fine. The bummer part was Ryan was out of town, but he left the conference he was at for a while and found a quiet place he could face time with us.
Once we had Ryan on the phone he opened his call and found out he will be going to the Brazil Recife South Mission!! He starts online training in our home on August 11, 2025 and then will go to the Brazil Training Center on August 20th. I thought it was pretty touching that the day he starts happens to he his brother Aaron’s birthday. I like to think that Aaron will help Matt and be a companion for him throughout his mission from heaven.
After he read his call with us, we invited his friends and family over to read it later that night. We did a zoom call for friends and family that were not here in KC. Several of his baseball and school friends that aren’t members of our church came. It was really cool to see them support him and be excited for him. They all wrote their guesses on a white board before he read it. Many of them stayed for a while after he read it to start researching and finding information out about Recife.
It has been pretty exciting learning and starting to plan for his mission. The first thing we had to do was get the process started for getting his Visa. It take 4-6 months so they want you to get started right away. There were a few little hiccups but we got it done pretty quick and got the paperwork sent in. He will be speaking Portuguese while he is there so he got a few apps on his phone to help him start learning. It is 138 days until he goes from when I am writing this. We have discovered lots of people that have been to Brazil on there mission, some even the same one Matthew will be at, or have family or experience with sending a missionary to Brazil. It is comforting to have there advice and insight. I am sure Matthew will have a lot of amazing experiences and grow a lot. It will be challenging for him. It is exciting, and overwhelming and a little surreal all at the same time. There are a lot of things going on at school between now and when he graduates and the Summer is already starting to fill up. Ryan and I are trying to soak it all in and enjoy and appreciate the last few months with him before he leaves, as much as we can.
Emilee told me several weeks in advance that she was excited to see what she was getting for Valentine’s Day this year. She loved waking up and seeing what was on the counter for her. So, I took her hint and did the same thing this year. I just leave them a little note with a small gift for each of them. Emilee also mentioned she was specifically looking forward to the candy because the girl has the biggest sweet tooth I have ever seen. I don’t love just giving them a bunch of candy but I did include a treat for them too.
Ryan gave me the flowers. He took me on a date to a new Mediterranean restaurant I had never had before called Meddy’s. It was very yummy. We came home and watched the next episode in the show we are hooked on right now called Severance and then we were going to go country dancing but since we had come home and settled on the couch we decided we were good for the night and saved that for another day.
Well the Chiefs made it to the Super Bowl AGAIN! It is a lot more fun to watch a Super Bowl when your team is in it. We had a family party again and all got together to watch it. Ross and Lauren brought a big balloon arch they used at their gym the day before. That made it festive and fun. Allison and Leah made lots of football themed treats and Ryan, Ross and Roger made lots of food to eat. In the past we have watched it upstairs but we decided to go downstairs this time and watch on the big TV. And I am now told that because we switched up our routine and didn’t do things exactly like we have done in the past we are a contributing factor to why they had one of the worst losses the Chiefs have ever had. It was awful. It put a bit of a damper on the party- that is a downside to having your team in the Super Bowl, if they don’t win, its like handing out a turd at the end of a fun party. Several of us just quit watching, Matthew disappeared into his room for a while. It is the last Chiefs game he will watch for a few years so he took it personally that they lost. Definitely not how we wanted it to go, someday, probably the next day, life will go on. Hopefully we do better next year!
Winter was filled with Allison’s wrestling matches. This was Allison’s first High School wrestling season. It is from November to February, if they make state it is a few weeks longer. She initially started on varsity because she beat the girl for her weight class. A few weeks later another girl dropped down to Allison’s weight class and took her spot on varsity and she was bumped to JV. Allison decided to drop down another weight class and then wrestled in that weight class the rest of the season sometimes on varsity sometimes on JV depending on another senior girl wrestler.
I think she did pretty awesome! She didn’t seem to think she did overly great but when she wrestled JV she won most of the time. Two of her meets and one dual she took 1st place. When she wrestled varsity her record was pretty close to 50/50 wins vs losses. That’s were she thought she didn’t do good but as a freshman wrestling mostly Junior and Senior girls with a lot more experience I think that is a great first year.
It is fun to watch her and see her determination and commitment to it. Not just at meets but watching weight and maintaining it where she wants it while conditioning and putting a lot of time into practice between meets. Ryan and I learned a lot more about it too. I am still not an expert but I know how points are scored and more of what the verbiage and things the ref does or says while she is wrestling means. I also figured out how to combine her individual match videos into one so I can have one video instead of a bunch of short ones. Very proud of myself for that.
It was a good season. She loves to be busy so it was good for her to have that. She is contemplating doing track next…
This is a match that was far away so I didn’t make it to watch her but she won 1st place.
Here are a few of her matches. The first one is a dual she won by technical fall which means she won by getting 15 points ahead of her opponent.
This next one is a match that she wrestled seniors every time. She took 7th in her weight class.
The last one is her last JV match of the season and she took 1st place again. She dominated the first match, used her endurance in the second match, and dominated again the third match.
January was a typical January this year. There were a lot of social media comments and jokes about how January is a 12 years long, never ends and the most miserable month of the year. I don’t think that. February seems longer to me, ironic since it is the shortest month of the year. I get why people struggle though. It is a long cold and dreary month. I am ready for the calm boringness after several months of go go go with the holidays. We had a few things that spiced the month up though.
RJ and Dani decided we should all go to a show together at the Kaufmann Center downtown. They had never been and it had been a long time for us. We all went to Chicago together. I had seen the movie, never the play. I think the play was a lot better. It was a nice adult date night down town. Allison watched their son and dogs overnight at their house and Matthew and Emilee watched each other so we stayed downtown and used hotel points after the show. It was nice to not have to drive all the way home afterwards.
The following weekend was Ryan’s works holiday party. They rented out a speak easy under the KC Hotel downtown with a roaring twenties theme. It was pretty fun, everyone dressed up and had a good time. We were going to stay in the hotel that night too but mid week Ryan got sick and we didn’t know if we were going to be able to go or not so we canceled it just in case. Luckily he was better and we got to go. It is a pretty fun hotel but I didn’t mind coming home since we had stayed downtown the weekend before. I was talking to the new marketing person Ryan just hired and her spouse. They seemed really familiar and eventually we figured out that they come to my office for dental work, so they reason they looked familiar is because I have cleaned their whole families teeth for the past few years. LOL. Small world. There were some group pictures taken but I didn’t get any copies so I just have the pictures of Ryan and I. I thought we looked pretty good, Emilee thought we looked silly but she clearly doesn’t know how people dressed in the 20’s. Our costumes came with fake cigarettes but we decided to not carry those around all night.
The next weekend we had Grandpa Terry’s 73rd birthday to celebrate! Every year he says he just wants a very simple meal for his birthday dinner with everyone. This year he said he wanted tacos, Ross said that was boring and made chicken fajitas instead. They were very good… I think Roger enjoyed them and ended up being ok with the switch. Rhonda made him a carrot cake-she makes a very good carrot cake-and he blew out all the candles successfully. The Terry family has decided we are going to continue with the decades old tradition of blowing out the candles on a birthday cake despite COVID trying to do away with it. It is kind of gross if you think about it, but we have all survived this long. 🤷♀️🤷♀️ I do not have a clue why Allison is holding a candle up in an orange for him to blow out too-I would guess either an inside joke or she didn’t want to eat cake for wrestling reasons and was including her orange in the celebration.
And last but not least for January-for part of the kids Christmas present Ryan got tickets to the Chiefs playoff game…if they made it. Of course they made it to the playoffs. We have gone to the super bowl 6 times in the last 7 years and will probably go again this year. He had four tickets. I was fine with not going because if I watch the game I prefer to do it in the warmth of my living room. IT WAS COLD! Allison had some wrestling stuff she didn’t want to miss so she passed her ticket onto Matthew’s friend Carter. So Emilee, Carter, Matthew and Ryan braved the weather and went to the game. We won and it was a fun game. No one lost any toes or fingers to the cold. The Chiefs hold the record for loudest stadium in the NFL and Emilee said she believes it. She had a fun time with her dad and brother. Next we have to try for a three win in a row at the Super Bowl!
