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The Jones family picture that was taken on at Thanksgiving has now become outdated.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.
Bishop Sirois
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.
Elder Terry on a zoom meetingHe needed a nap after waking up early the first few days. He was still adjusting from his Summer sleep schedule.Family game night.Blake is Matthews best friend Carter’s brother. Carter is already on his mission in the Philippines. Blake brought him some snacks for the plane and came to say goodbye the night before he left.
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.
Campbell said goodbye at the house before we left for the airport.
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.
First picture from the mission, arriving at the MTC
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.
Allison painted a life size MatthewLast game night with his high school buddiesRoot beer tasting.Allison wasn’t feeling the root beer.Lunch at K-Pot, Matt’s seafood soup had a live giant shrimp in it…until he cooked it.Golfing…dad won.More golfing…I think this is actually in Gulf Shores though…Saying goodbye to Grandma because they went to Idaho for two weeks and were gone when he left.
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 always like a good pre-picture action
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.
Our traditional family vacation picture ❤
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.
Ryan took this picture to make fun of me for wearing a sweatshirt in July-but I was nice and warm in the movie theater so jokes on him.Getting an Icee to cool off.Doing some golfing and golf cart driving.Seafood at Lulu’sSweet Cone ice cream stop, formally known as Matt’s Ice Cream Shop
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.
I asked her to smile and this is what she gave me.
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.
The older cousins found a place to hide from the younger ones for a bit and play a game against each other on their phones.
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.
Last team dinner at Hawaiian BrosThis picture is missing Jimmy Adams, he is the head coach but missed the last tournament because they were in Canada.
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!
We got three years of fireworks to make sure Matt got his fill to last the next few times he won’t be here for the 4th.I see all 18 years of Matthew when I look at this picture.
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.
