The Beaulieu Bunch: September the Ellen show, Taking Jacob up to the MTC

So a friend of ours that we met through cheer offered to bring Jacob to the Ellen show before he left on his mission. He was a mascot with Capri the older sister and then when she graduated he was a mascot with Claire. Because she had connections she was able to pull strings and get them on just days before he left for the MTC. They had a fun day together enjoying Ellen.

Jacob wearing his favorite outfit.

They even got the VIP treatment. They stopped off for a yummy dinner on the way home too. He had a fun time with them.

My birthday came and went. Jeff got me flowers and my parents sent birthday money. My celebration was asking my boys if they wanted to come with me to Chili's and I would buy them lunch.

On Jacob's farewell we had a nice turn out from family and friends to hear him speak. We were touched with how many people came. Here is Jacob right after he got set apart as an Elder.

Since all the family was there dressed in church clothes we thought it would be a great opportunity to take family pictures with whoever was there that day.

Relaxing outside, good weather, food and nice to spend time with family.

Saying our goodbyes and on our way to Utah to drop Jacob off.

When we got up to Provo we had one day to hang out with Jacob and shop. It happened to be on the day that they did the BYU devotional and we got to hear Dalin H. Oaks along with all the other BYU students and staff. Taylor admitted that BYU had cuter girls than his school did.

Afterwards we went to the Creamery to have some of their awesome ice cream.

A quick visit to Cabellas always includes a turn at the shooting game.

We had a couple of hours to kill before we were supposed to be at dinner and we were thinking it would be nice to do a quick visit with someone who was on the way and we thought of the Pendeltons. We lucked out and we caught them with a free hour, sort of, two of the boys were working at Kneaders so we met there instead and still got to see everyone. It was a great impromptu visit.

We went to temple square and it was fun to talk to the missionaries there. There was a fun sister missionary that had just arrived from Hawaii from her mission. Everyone was excited for Jacob and encouraging.

This man was outside the temple and was talking to Jacob about his upcoming mission. At the end of our conversation he gave Jacob a smooth stone and told him to carry it throughout his mission and gave him a scripture that went with it talking about building our testimony on the rock of the redeemer.

We had a lovely dinner on the top of the Joseph Smith building.

We woke up the next day and Jacob dressed in his suit and was ready to go. This long awaited day was here. We were excited and nervous for him, I can only imagine what he was feeling.

When we dropped off Jacob there were a group of elders there to welcome him and help him with his bags. We wondered how he was doing but as we were driving home I got a quick email telling us that he was doing fine and was not nervous as soon as he got in and got settled.

We are hoping that Jacob will love his mission and are happy that he made this decision and is excited that he is ready to start on this next adventure in life.

Once we got back home life resumed to a new normal

We lost a family friend this last month. Ron Richards is someone we met through Steve and has become friends with us over the years. We have been on lots of dinners, lunches and outings with him and his family. His health hasn't been the best the last couple of years and he finally passed away. We were able to enjoy services for him with his family and his children who flew out from Nebraska.

We will miss you Ronnie!

Ashley has been wanting to go to the Ellen show for years. Unfortunately I am finding that its next to impossible to get tickets and I had pretty much given up.

Well Amy Richardson who hooked Jacob up with tickets emailed me and said she had and opportunity to come out to the Ellen studio and attend a taping for Ellen's Christmas QVC special. If we came we could get tickets to her show later in the season so we jumped on the chance.

Ashley and Claire at the Ellen shop

We had a lot of fun watching Ellen with the QVC host making jokes as she tried to show her Christmas QVC offerings. She was hilarious and it ended up being entertaining and we were happy to receive $100 each to spend at QVC.

.The start of the school year starts a new mascot season. Jolene has enjoyed coming to the King football games to support Ashley and to hang out with friends.

Ashley has fun out on the field and seems to know all the cheer routines. Jacob would run all over the field but I don't know how much he knew the routines he was supposed to know, ha ha.

Ashley on the field wearing her pink and yellow for break cancer awareness day

And we got our first letter from Jacob in the MTC. He is loving it so far.

Here is Jacob's first letter

First week in the mtc is finished! This week has been very crazy, we're always doing something, but its a good something! The classes are very long but im learning so much in them! The lack of sleep is getting to me though, at night its very hard to go to sleep, but i get up very easy! But by the time lunch is over, i struggle staying awake in class. The food here is pretty good... most days, i've learned never to drink the orange juice, hot chocolate, or eat the bagels. Basically all ive been drinking so far is water and chocolate milk.

But this place is amazing! Im having the best time here! The people here are all so cool, and so is my companion! I dont think its really hit me that im gonna be here for two years yet, but so far i love my mission! Im already very well known here, which is pretty cool, and im able to get my companion out of his shell cuz hes not really an out going person! But practicing with investigators has gotten me really excited to serve people!

I think ive been setting a good example, since ive had multiple people come want to talk to me since they saw me, and saw i was always happy! Its cool because i so far had not had any hard days here, just hard moments. Ive been able to be completely optimistic and overly energetic (at the right times) and ive been able to lift many peoples spirits! Ive also felt the spirit alot here! its pretty amazing!

i started our district doing a district devotional before bed, and ive got us all sitting together at meals! (Jacob is district leader) I just gave my second blessing to my companion who has a nasty cold, and the next day he felt better! I think im adjusting really well, a couple days in i felt like an expert at this! Ever since the first day of people saying welcome to the mtc to me, ive been saying it to everyone i walk by, and its pretty funny to see there reaction sometime

The people here though are amazing! Whenever i meet someone new, we become best friends instantly! My companion is very cool too! He is very helpful when i get lazy, and he basically talks through all the doctrine while i get the personal stuff in lessons. After one week, ive already become very well known! Ive had multiple people come up to me and tell me they wanted to talk to me because they saw me around and said i always looked happy, so they wanted to meet me! Its very cool to see im already affecting people.

And then we also got to work out! Its been a struggle, since my companion is a runner, but its getting easier now... slowly getting easier! But for now, i need to get all the exercise i can since once i get to north Carolina, ill be getting FAT. Teaching and talking about these investigators really gets me excited to go out and serve where im needed! I know ill be able to make a difference in these peoples lives and im very excited to affect them in anyway i can. They say, its the best two years, and ive already seen, this is the best week of my life! Even though the days are long and sometimes hard, i always go to bed satisfied, happy and feeling the spirit!

So my P-Days are thursdays so ill try and write every week! I look forward to hearing back from you guys!