November for Elder Jarom

Finally he sends pictures with him in them! Doesn't he look great♥ We are really looking forward his phone call on Christmas!!! Time isn't going very fast for us here at home.....I know it will get better but it seems like he has been gone forever. He is just coming up on his first transfer week since he arrived in France, we don't know if he will move or one of the other ones or if they will just stay in the threesome.  He spend the day with their District leader Elder Jellin from Orem in another city called Montpellier and had such a great time with him. He didn't care much for the size of the city, but I think it was nice for him to be with a fun Elder and leave the stress of his companions...They have been struggling, and I think they were struggling before Jarom even arrived, but I will share with you how they let the newest Elder solve their problems.. yep I'm proud of my Jarom.   

Thanksgiving was meat and potatoes and bread. He let me know they live above a bakery that has almost American tasting chocolate cake....could be dangerous! haha..

.... i went to toulouse for the blue's conference (here we're called blues instead of greenies) and wow that was so cool!! i love our president.i LOVED that day! it was so nice. very uplifting and motivating. but yeah so eventually i had to part ways with them and when i got back, things hadn't been going well. things had been happening for a long time now and i've been praying and trying so so so hard to find a way to solve our little companionship issues. impossible! took all week and finally we all just blew up on sunday morning. bad bad morning. and i was supposed to teach sunday school (terrifying) and anyways i ended up thinking all church how to fix this problem. eventually heavenly father answered my prayers and i figured it out. i had us do a little meeting when we got back from church. i sat us all down in the middle of the room i started it with a prayer, then i had us all share our favorite scriptures and how its helped us in our lives and then started the evaluation of the problem. first, i started out by saying the things that i was having a problem with. eventually it ended up with us discussing what was wront and how it all comes down to our different perspectives of what missionary work is and stuff. all in all after about almost three hours of non contentious discussion, we all figured out what was wrong. it ends up all i found out was what type of person my trainer was and all the things he's trying to do. i really just found out how i'm supposed to deal with him and how to make things easy and good for him and at the same time have unity and be able to work good together. it was a pretty good little meeting i think. if we didn't have the spirit there, it would've been a very scary meeting. we were all pretty heated and angry in the morning and we said... fine we're calling the president... i really didn't want president to have to figure things out that we could do ourselves so i just tried this out instead. great results. we still don't really like each other but there's no tention and we can work better a lot better together.
 

 I asked to see his apartment and he finally said after they cleaned for hours that he took this picture to send to me.  I think I felt better before I knew what it looked like where he was living.....Jay didn't seem to mind he said it looked like an Elder's apartment. Jarom actually said theirs was one of the bigger and nicer apartments. Really?......our main room in my apt. we have a massive apt compared to all the others. it has a study room, main room with kitchen and couch, then a batheroom and tub and a bedroom with 4 beds. pretty sweet huh. we just spent like 4 hours deep cleaning (me and elder nicholes, while samuelson slept)........

After getting such a short haircut before leaving the MTC I was surprised to he needed another one so soon. I remember cutting his hair and he was a little picky...wonder how his companion did? Again...notice the apartment.......I might not ask for pictures of his other places! Here is some of his last letter:


so yeah everyone in the ward is french, everybody speaks french except for an indian guy who came to church yesterday as a new investagator and he is looking like a next baptism!! its so cool! we just contacted him on the bus and invited him to come to church and he came! we taught him a bit and he's super interested and doesnt speak french. just english. so its pretty cool i think. i'm excited........... my president is so awesome. i think he's getting sick of my companion and how every single time he's told to do something by an assistant or zone leader he has to complain to president...........
   So we decided to stop by a referral that we got from a member and his name is Ihcean (ishean is how you say it?) he lost his job because he told his muslim boss that he was christian and that the boss should stop pushing his religion on him during work. understand? basically because he's not muslim, he was fired and can't find a job. but anyways we taught him the first lession and i taught quite a bit of it too, it was awesome and after the first lesson, he placed a baptismal date!!!!!!! holy crap huh?! so he came to church too and he was all excited and loved all the lessone (except i don't know what it is about french people but they're obsessed with deep docterine?! its so annoying all the sacrament talks were all about deep docterine stuff that wasn't even true and stuff, ) anyways i sat with him and helped him look things up in the gospel principles book and scriptures and stuff. it was awesome. i couldn't say much but i could try. it was pretty cool. i've never felt the spirit so strong in church than when i'm sittin next to an investigator helping them along!! its the coolest thing ever!! i love it..........anyways so this week went pretty good and i'm starving. i need to eat something. by the way i'm always thinking about bizarre foods with andrew zimmerman haha every time i eat something weird.... like salads.... and wow how come i really don't like tomatoes? why?! french LOVE tomatoes... its so weird. i never thought about it. well anyways i gotta send you some pictures so gotta go. i love you mom and its impossible not to think back at all the fun time we had just chillin and eating nasty hot dogs at maverick and stuff haha. i miss you a ton!! hope you have a great week!! love you.

Jarom

Goodbye to the MTC

 Well, as the 2 months come to an end I finally get pictures. Jarom has really enjoyed his time at the MTC. There were some really Spiritual experiences there and he is so very appreciative for the Gift of Tounges.

Let me share pieces of his letters with you.  They aren't in any order, just random.

"So ten of us french missionaries had to make a trip to San Fransisco yesterday to meet with the french consolate for our visas. totally pointless trip i thought. 2 hours over, 20 minutes to meet with the guy and give out papers to him and scan our fingerprints, then stopped at peir 39 then 2 hours back. totally pointless but i was so tempted to run over and call you from the phones but i wasn't sure if it was allowed one week in. crazy its only been a week. feels like forever. but yeah it was a heck of a trip. i'll probably never do something like that again. well in class we have been working on contacting and working with the first lesson. crazy cuz on the plane ride home (all us missionaries were sitting next so someone we don't know, i think they plan that) but i sat next to a lady from texas and she was way religious and we talked the whole way home, which i wasn't too happy about cuz i love to just watch out the window of the plane, but we talked about the church and her beliefs and all sorts of stuff and right before we got off the plane i kinda bore her my testimony and gave her a pass-along card and she took it and was way excited, it was a crazy experience. pretty cool. can't wait til i actually know what i'm doing and be able to know what to do in a situation like that."

goodness!"

Roomies.  All going to Toulouse
and a great bunch of guys!

He was lovin these P-Day clothes!

A distant shot but a powerful one!
They love the Temple♥

"About the french. its coming along, i can't believe how much i've learned since i got here but i kinda wish it would come faster. i'm workin hard and i talked to my instructors yesterday askin for tips on how to learn faster. my teachers are so cool. so i'm praying, testimony, and getting to know people in french. there is a program where every wednesday we go and teach something in french then teach a lesson to a investigator. its pretty cool. i'm always nervous, but when we finish i feel so pumped and awesome! its pretty cool haha in 2 weeks we start teaching 40 minute lessons in french. i''m terrified about it. anyways its goin pretty good :)"

"K its pretty hard not to turn into a spiritual giant here. so the people who don't change... they really really tried not to change. me and elder park have been dominating the first and second lesson. we teach great but we just gotta work on teaching equal time. i feel the spirit like a million times every day here haha love it. we're constantly studying churchy stuff or teaching. its pretty awesome. i gotta leave my comfort zone a TON here so i just deal with it. i gotta do it eventually so why not start now. no use complaining too. well out of time. love you guys! tell dad sorry i didn't write him back. i ran out of time while writing you. just saw his message. tell him i'm being as obedient as i can and haven't broke a rule yet... that i know of :) haha alright i'll talk to ya later! love ya"

First MTC Picture!

At church today the mother of the missionary on the right showed me this picture! Her son is also in our ward and he had Jarom's good friend (first elder) from Gunnison in his district. I was so excited!! I miss my Jarom so much, so its great to get a picture of him. Sorry the quality isn't good, for some reason it wouldn't let me upload the scanned image so its a picture of a picture. I haven't gotten any pictures from Jarom yet because he has been having trouble with his camera card but has now found a machine that will read his card so pictures will come soon!!! How cute is he? I don't care how hard things might be in France, how could anyone turn away such a handsome boy?! haha...yep, that would be a 'mother' talking.
So he will be flying out about the 8 or 9 of November and I am so looking forward to his phone call. He has a 4 hour lay-over in Dallas so his call should be a long one:) Just an update on his time at the MTC. His companion is a little taller and skinnier than Jarom, is quiet like Jarom and they really enjoy each other. Thank goodness. His district is the BEST! All of this has helped him adjust even tho there were some really homesick days the first week there. He is doing great, teaching and speaking in French all the time, loving the continuous Spiritual moments that happen every day and looks forward to attending the temple every Friday.  A new group of  forty French speaking missionaries have come in and now he is one of the 'old' missionaries. He was hilarious when he said the newbies all looked so innocent..haha.. Imagine feeling old at 19...He has been able to see his friends come and leave the MTC and he is still there, but hey, thats the price for getting to serve in France:)  His last letter home he said many times that he is so ready to go and serve the people in France. When I hear that, it makes the missing him a little easier.

Puffer Lake

Leaving the Office early to go and relax and take pictures up at Puffer Lake was just what I needed today!  Life was getting in the way of me going and seeing the beautiful fall leaves and I've almost missed them.  I took many pictures and I am sharing only a few but probably too many :)

Jay caught his first fish almost faster than I could get my camera ready! It was crazy, the first few fish bit almost as soon as the power-bait hit the water. I truly enjoy watching my guys having so much fun with the excitement of catching fish after fish! I Unfortunately fishing isn't always this easy... I have to laugh though when Kambren is the only one who touches the fish. Jay just says its his turn, haha..Good thing he doesn't mind! The quakies were so beautiful, but its crazy how some have lost their leaves and then it varies to some that are still green. Fall is my favorite time of year.

This is the look of perfect happiness! Kambren caught a Native Brown along with all the Rainbow trout!

Mo is the best dog a boy could ever have, he never leaves Kambrens side.  How cool is this spiderweb? Never saw the spider thank goodness.

When I downloaded this picture I had to turn it around and  really had to look closely to see which side was the reflection.

Totally grosses me out and doesn't even bother him but he made a face just to humor me. The brown stuff I'm thinking is what he squeezed out of the fish just to see what they've been eating....

How cute is this picture?! They limited out in less than 30 minutes.

Beautiful ride home for an afternoon of enjoying the beautiful gifts of Fall.
Wondering if I should post the pictures of cleaning the fish, cooking and eating of the fish?

What do you do on your Son's last day to play?

Nothing feels like freedom of riding a four-wheeler and driving fast and getting dirty!  Jarom really enjoys the four-wheelers so off to the desert we went. Thanks to Uncle James for lending us his so Jarom didn't have to share with Kayla who by the way absolutely loved being by herself.  Jay loves the desert so we headed off to Sugar Loaf, the old Volcano.

Along the way we stopped to see the Indian Writings and seriously I'm quite impressed with my cell phone camera! Yep all these pictures were taken with my phone because it was just too dusty for my real camera.


I've decided I will never be thin so I might as well start adding some pictures of me and my wonderful hubby.  I love going on outings with him, especially when it involves holding onto him when he's driving the four-wheeler!

At the top of Sugar of Sugar Loaf a long time ago before the depression, some guy was building a windmill for electricity, but took the money and ran when the economy fell apart. There are only some pillars left, kinda reminded me something from an Alien movie.

Oh the joy! Nothing like a

 dirty face and a fast ride!!!  

  Best part of it all was watching Jarom riding wild and free with his headphones on and music cranked.

Oh how he will miss his music, but what a  fun day! 

Friend and Family Support!

Jarom's Farewell will be one remembered by his friends as 'the funnest farewell I've ever been to!'

The support shown to Jarom from family and friends just warmed our hearts. A big thanks to all who came and especially to the ones who worked so hard to help feed us all!

My family is growing up so very quickly.....I never thought I would become the shortest, but I'm thinking that's going to happen!
Having a Son like Jarom is such a blessing. He seems to have been a Mama's boy since his first breath, and he still is! (at least that's what I choose to believe;)  I know he will be an amazing Missionary and I am so proud of his decision to serve.  I will try and be unselfish enough to share him for 2 years....or as we like to look at it - just 24 fast Sundays!  Sending a child off and out of reach for 18 months or 2 years, brings about feelings that are just too hard to explain.  I cry alot the last week before they leave, and have my moments throughout, but am so thankful to my Heavenly Father for helping me while they are gone.  I know He helps keep me distracted with life, and most of the time even makes the time move along quickly.  But no matter what it's a long time not to hug your child.

Jarom's Farewell!!! August 29, 2010

Just in case someone is still looking at my neglected blog I thought I would invite you to Jarom's Farewell!  August 29 at 9:00 am at the Fillmore 1st and 4th ward building. (same as Kayla's homecoming)  This is different then the first scheduled farewell, but the weekend before his scheduled date we received a call from our Stake President that his mission had been postponed for six weeks.  Crazy huh? Never heard of such a thing,  so a few days later I called the MTC and all they said was all the missionaries who were scheduled for Toulouse France on July 28 had been changed to Sept 8 with no reason given to them. So  we weren't alone!  It was pretty hard for Jarom, but honestly it wasn't hard for me!!! I got to keep him a little longer ;)  Now the time has just flown by and I'm no better prepared for the farewell then I was then.  Here's the plans so far, Sacrament meeting at 9:00 then off to the North Park for sandwiches and salads and some sort of chocolate. If you would like to bring a salad that would be great, but if you just want to come and visit that works too;)  I hope to see everyone there, but totally understand if life gets in the way and you can't join us. I'll post Jarom's address as soon as I get it.

I'm Back!

Somewhat embarrassed at how long it has been since my last blog....For a while I couldn't sign in, which drove me crazy and then I guess working and Facebook has taken its toll. But things will be different now because I'm going to have another missionary out! This is the Best/Worst news I will share.  Let me clarify that....of course I want Jarom to serve his mission, but saying goodbye and not hugging him for 2 years is almost more than I can handle. The time before they leave is the hardest in some ways because everything starts to be "this will be the last time we will do this" and such, but then when the e-mails start coming, it gets easier.
Jarom received his Endowments at the Manti Temple on a beautiful day, in a small session with his Bishop on one side and his Father on the other with his favorite Young Mens leader on the same row. For those of you who don't know, Bishop used to be Jarom's Young Mens leader and has pretty much followed him through his teenage years and is one of Jarom's very Best friends. Grandma Thora and Dayla were also able to make it to the temple with us today too.  Just a Mom note, I was surprised to see how natural it was to see Jarom sitting in the temple. He just really fit and wasn't blown away with any of it! Sitting the the Celestial Room with Jay and two of my four children was so very special, yep, shed a few tears♥

Well, I just lost all the pictures I had downloaded for this post so I'm thinking that means its time for my Sunday nap. I'll catch up my blog a little later!  (I hope)

Birthday & Graduation!!!

Jarom had a busy birthday this year. His birthday fell on Friday, and it was the end of finals with graduation from Snow College Saturday morning!We just couldn't be more proud of all he has accomplished since graduating from high school last year. He received his associates in only one year! He has been so working so hard that he is enjoying being home now with no responsibilities other than getting things ready for his mission.  So the guest speaker for the Snow graduation was Elder Jeffrey R Holland! Jarom was pretty excited to shake his hand.

The person who was taking the pictures of the graduates with the dean, really should have been taking pictures with Elder Holland! haha ;) Just kidding. Afterwords we moved him out of his apartment and it is definitely easier moving a son than a daughter! They just don't accumulate much in the way of decorations. It has been such a busy few weeks for me and my emotions have been crazy. I have been blessed with such amazing children and they bring me so much happiness. Add a wonderful husband to the mix and I sometimes sit back and wonder how I can be this blessed? I am so grateful for my family♥