Millenial Choir and Orchestra

Millenial Choir and Orchestra (MCO) started in Utah a few years ago.  I tried to get Mason to join in the fall, but he wasn't interested until after Christmas.  We have quite a few kids in our area that do it, so carpools are really nice.  This choir combines kids as young as 4, up to the adults in the grand chorus.  Mason is in the Concert Choir with the other high school kids.  His first concert was last night.  IT WAS AMAZING.  I love it when you go to a concert and the roof just about raises.  The chorus was accompanied by a full orchestra and it worked.  I usually hate this as it drowns out the chorus.  But they were able to get the balance perfect and it was beautiful.  There is another concert this summer in the middle of July, so if you are in the neighborhood, you really need to try and come.  It is really a neat experience.

The glass art at Abravenel Hall in downtown SLC

On a side note, you know there are those times when your child starts something that you realize he loves.  Well, that is the way with this choir and singing for Mason.  He told me last night that he NEEDS to come back because he really enjoyed this experience.  It also gave him the courage to try out for the advanced choir in high school next year.  We will find out if he made it on Friday.  But we are so excited to have Mason excited about an aspect of his life and be able to improve and have some drive for an activity.
Enjoy the pics!

Hello Mijo

 Wes has a new companion, Elder Russel.  He looks a lot like our good friend Mr. Duffin.  Crazy world we live in.  The Lord only made a few molds and set us to work in them!  Here is the message from Wes:

well anyways! this week was crazy! we said goodbye to lots of members for elder dickson. then on tuesday we go to the wetherbye chapel in orlando early for the trainer meeting.....there i was informed that my companion wasnt here yet.  i was like... "WHAT?" 

So apparently he missed his flight in the mexico airport! (for all who dont know what the mexico city airport is like......he is lucky to have made it out alive! its a literal maze in there!) so he finally found someone from the MTC and had to stay one more day there overnight until they could get him on the next available flight the next day! so i had to wait around from 7:30 in the morning till 2:30 in the afternoon not having a companion and just hanging out with other missionaries. 

he finally got here and he just looked Wasted! i mean that would probably be the most stressful thing of anybodies life! 

but the week went well we taught lots of less actives in the ward. we started sending out a Daily Scripture to all of the people we are teaching. its crazy me and elder husbands have been in the same district for 5 transfers now (collectively of course!) that is insane! one of the highlights of the week was that we had 3 less actives come to church! we tried to do a FHE with a less active family but none of their family was there the times that we wanted to do it! but we were able to put a FAMILY: PROCLAMATION TO THE WORLD on their wall! haha SUCCESS! other than that the area is starting to regress again and we are just trying to find solid people! its so hard! but it was a pretty calm week! nothing out of the ordinary. 

Elder Russell is my companion's name by the way. he is from El Cerrito California. he is 21 years old. he looks freakishly like Uncle John. (just a little bit chubbier) his spanish is super good and i am excited to be his companion!

here are some pics!

-- 

Love Elder Jones

RAGNAR!!!!

I am so excited to run.......

Yah, we are cleaning up today.  Don't know if they will
ever be the same!

Before we left, all clean and dry!

Victory pose!

So Morgan had the opportunity to join a Ragnar team.  These are the crazy races that each team runs approx 120 miles non-stop for about 15 (for really fast teams) to up to 28 hours ( for more casual teams).  There were about 400 teams running.  This was Ragnar Trail down right outside of Zions where you camp and run 3 different trails, each ending at the same point.  We went down with a group from our ward.  I was the volunteer/ camp cook and Morgan's biggest cheerleader!  We finished what was required, but not the entire race due to rain delays!  And I mean RAIN!  The trails turned into mud slides and some runners encountered snow during the night.  but we survived as you can see and have a wonderful adventure to recall.  We are planning on having the whole family do it next year when Wes is back and Morgan is done with her first year of school.  It will be AWESOME.  But that just means more training for me and Jeff :o).  Enjoy the pics, and have a wonderful week.

We had to haul all our gear from the parking lot to the
camp site with hand carts... Not looking forward
to Trek!

LARPING???

so this week we larped as you can tell.

that took up all of my time! yikes well here is a miracle. so we get to one of our appointments on thursday and all of the sudden there is this guy who taps on our window and asks ,"you guys mormons?" we say, "yes!" and so he says, "well i am kinda curious about your religion, could you tell me more?" 

......:O.......LIKE WHO SAYS THAT!!!!! haha i know that was a huge miracle of the lord! we were able to teach him right there and give him a book of mormon, he accepted to be baptized and the english elders are going to teach him since he speaks english!

another miracle is that we found a super solid investigator family! like one of the most sincere solid families i have ever seen! and they are looking for a new church! they are one of those people who you would think would be mormon but they arent! they are so cool! but they also are an english family. so we have been finding a lot for all of the missionaries in our district! but our area is still doing good!

Dad you should get a birthday package with sydneys letter in it! 

Morgan you have grown up so much! you are like an adult now!

and mason....i freaking love that selfie with mom in the background! that is so funny!

sydney! you are so tall now! i didnt even recognize you in the pics! haha wow i cant wait to come back and see you again!

well i hope you have a great week and that you enjoyed the pics! :)

-- 

Love Elder Jones

Well, Wesley had a fun time this last P-day.  They had a war in an elementary playground with costumes and so forth.  They call it Larping.  But it looked like they had a great time and we are so glad that he is enjoying this experience.

Spring Break!

 OH Yeah~  Spring Break in Cedar City.  Morgan is officially a Thunderbird!  We have started scheduling her classes.  We had a great campus tour and a schedule to follow so that she can get her BSN in 4 years.  Great campus and great feeling there.  I have a feeling we will be down there a little more than not during the next school year.  We also get to go down for orientation during the summer and then she will have to be down there 3 days earlier than school starting to go through the "freshman" thing.  We are so excited for her.  She will have an amazing experience if she will just "jump in the pool!"  If you don't embrace the fun that is available to you, you only have yourself to blame for a bummer experience.

Didn't you know Morgan was a Hobbit?

Yes, the kids got a hold of the camera.  This is just a sampling of the fun and hilarity that followed.

 Then on Saturday, we went out west of Cedar City and went to pocket rocks.  It was covered with lots of little ridges and tiny pockets that you could use for hand holds.  We all did all of the routes and were terribly tired and sore afterwards, since we haven't been on an adventure in so long.  But we had a wonderful trip and played hard.  We slacklined after the climbing, but the kids killed the battery in the camera, so we didn't get the video of Jeff and Morgan trying to butt bounce on the slack line.  It was memorable.  Hopefully next time.  Have a wonderful week!!!!

The Party

Well, we had a wonderful birthday party for Mason.  He is not great about inviting people, so we only ended up with 5 friends.  But that turned out really well.  He had a track meet that day so between shopping for the dinner and party and Easter, attending the track meet, and try to get dinner on, it was a crazy day!  But Mason came in 3rd in his heat in the hurdles and he looked really good.  Amidst all of the craziness, I forgot the camera.  I will fix that next time.

We started the party about 7, we ate dinner and then played about 4-5 minute to win it games.  Only Mason got the cookie monster in.  Sydney ended up winning the marshmallow stack.  His friend Nathaniel (part asian) rocked the chopstick challenge.  But Mason won the chubby bunny!  Then they went outside and played ball tag for 30 minutes.  Perfect to get the wiggles out before the movie.  We watched the movie and had a great time and everyone was home by 10:30.

After Friday, we had to move 1 1/2 yards of sand up into the garden.  We still have another 1/2 yard to move :o(.  Then we tilled the garden and got it all ready to plant.  A little early I know, but Jeff was eager and willing, so we went with it!  Every year the garden gets a little more even.  We think we saved quite a few blossoms with our efforts, but we will see how we fare this next cold front.

Easter cometh....  We still have to have Easter Eggs for Sydney.  She got up and found as many as she could.  Needless to say they were all empty by last night, and Mason and Sydney were bouncing off the walls!  But we had a wonderful Easter feast with ham, scallopped potatoes and a beautiful green salad.  And were spiritually fed by the wonderful conference messages we were able to listen to.

We just found out that Wes gets to come home on October 6th.  A few weeks earlier than we thought.  I am not complaining.  Now we look forward to our trip to SUU.  Will post soon.  Have a wonderful week!

Birthday Fun!

As you read from Wesley's e-mail, his birthday was not so much fun.  Well, we make the best of things around here!  No birthday is ever fun on a Monday, so we decided to go Hawaiian.  We made Hawaiian Haystacks for dinner and had pina coladas for drink, and then had pina colada cake for dessert.  Jeff got his Kindle for his birthday and has been really excited about it, although with all of his projects and late night conference calls he hasn't been able to use it much.  Mason got his own MP3 player and a new Wii game.  He is also having a big friend party on Friday night, so we are gearing up for that.  He is inviting boys and girls, so I am trying to find fun games for he and his friends to play before they watch the 3rd Hobbit movie.  And we will have a chili bar for dinner too.  We will post pics after that grand adventure.

Our peach trees finally bloomed.  We were sooo excited.  They are so pretty, all three of them.  And then we get a cold snap.  We tried to save them, but we will see what happens tonight.  It is supposed to be a hard freeze (in the 20's) so we may lose all our blossoms.  Bummer!  But we need the moisture way more than we need peaches right now, so it will be what it will be!  We went from 80's to 40's in 2 days!

Ooooh, and we found out that Mason could get his braces off in 1-2 months!!!  1 if he is really good about using his rubber bands.  Yeah!

Our effort to cover the trees to prevent frost bite!