Spring Breaks...April 2017

 Now that we have been in our house for over a year we thought it was time to actually put some stuff up on the walls and get some table decorations for the living room to cover the bare tables. During this process I have found that Ashley doesn't like change. She was not very happy when I was putting this on the wall and said it looked better with nothing on it. After a day of it being up she got used to it thank goodness.

At the end of Taylor's Spring break we decided to take a drive to the beach and walk on the pier and then go to our favorite restaurant in Newport, Mama D's. Here's the kids eating Calamari...Ashley pulled off all the breading and showed us the little squid underneath...I stopped eating after that

(even though it was good)

Virginia's kids spring break was different than my kids so I thought it would be fun to meet up at the San Diego Safari park for the day even if it was just me. 

Dean had never been before and it was close to Virginia's birthday so it was a great place to hang out and celebrate both.

The weather was great, nice and cool and most of the animals were pretty active.

At the Lemur encounter this was our view.

I guess he didn't want to have people looking at him, ha ha.

Going on the safari...

It was a nice day and we stayed until Dean was tired and done...but not before we saw all the animals. I really enjoyed hanging out with them for the day. We'll have to do it more often! 

April 1st...Jeff and I went to the Riverside Air show. 

Jeff has an office neighbor that owns a plane and she was hosting a hangar party and we were invited.

We picked up Darren Gunnel (who works with Jeff) and his son which was fun since our kids had their own plans. (Ashley was at the beach and Taylor was in Carlsbad with friends.)

We saw lots of war artifacts and planes...

including ones you could walk inside of.

I always love watching the aerobatics too. It was the perfect day for it and we had fun.

That weekend was also General conference. While I was watching I worked on cutting out fabric for memory bears...

and making Spring and Easter cards for hospitalized kids. It's nice to listen to talks and be able to do service at the same time. It's nice to hear uplifting speakers for the weekend...and it's nice to hang out at home to do it too :)

 Jeff has a client that has been offering to sign us in to Disneyland for about a year and it finally worked out that our schedules aligned.  Monday was Ashley's first day of Spring Break. Taylor's was done but he didn't have classes that Monday.

We were happy that it worked out that we could go but he couldn't sign us in until after 1:00...

So we arrived in the heart of the madness.  Looks like we were there with all of the Utah and Midwest Spring Breakers (we met people from all over in the lines)

I was so happy to be done with strollers!!

Ashley was able to go on a couple of rides for the first time ever. One was Indiana Jones and the other was Splash Mountain.

We made sure that she sat up front so she got the full experience...including getting nice and wet.

(Notice Taylor trying to pretend that he's choking her)

We headed over to California Adventure before it closed to try the new Soaring and watch the Magical Color Water Show (I know it's not called that but I don't remember what it's called)

We tried going on the Toy Story Ride but it had mechanical problems about 1/2 hour into the line so we had to leave.

Space Mountain is now Hyperspace Mountain with a Star Wars theme (it's been awhile since we've been there) Fun.

Before we left we watched the Electrical Parade.

If the kids couldn't have a Spring Break together we were happy to at least have one day together.

On Wednesday Ashley got her wisdom teeth out.

Jolene was a great cousin and came to spend the night, come with us to the surgery the next day and hang out with Ashley for moral support. I thought it was so sweet!!

Here is Ashley before...

Here is Ashley after.

She didn't say anything too silly but she kept feeling her lip and her tongue over and over and thought her tongue was her lip. She kept falling asleep and then asking me the same questions over and over. She also asked me why she kept shivering even though she wasn't cold but that was just an effect of her anesthesia.  

This is Ashley on the way home...trying to smile, ha ha.

That day Ashley and Jolene watched movies, went to buy popsicles and swam a bit in the pool...and of course they took a nap. The rest of the week she has been on the couch trying to recover.

She ended up with giant chipmunk cheeks, especially on one side and it's been hard to eat but she's recovering. She didn't feel up to doing anything but staying home the rest of the week but it didn't keep her from being bored and wishing she could do something. The good thing was she had plenty of time to recover before she has to go back to school.

And the latest from Jacob...

March 20, 2017

Hello Family! 

 

I hit 6 months! That's why I'm burning a tie haha, it went by a so fast! I got the package and it was great! I'm listening to the music right now :) to answer your questions:

The ward is great! There a bit smaller than my last one but the members here are great at pushing missionary work! I think the biggest thing I've learned about my companion is patience, it's been tough but the district said that since I've been with him he's gotten a lot better so that's good that I'm helping him! A cool spiritual insight I learned at ward conference was in Jacob 7:3 The enemy is working diligently to draw people's hearts away from God, so we must work even more diligently to draw peoples hearts to God. 

 

So we got to hear Elder Zeballos speak! And I got to play piano and I got lots of compliments! I was very nervous but Elder Zeballos is a really nice guy, and I actually got to give him a hug! I got to talk to him and his wife for a little bit after too, so that was pretty neat. And then Elder MacArthur was at our ward conference yesterday! He talked about the Christ like attributes and how we need to embed them in our hearts and then he started talking about the 4th verse of hymn 21. And it's about some pretty deep stuff that my last bishop taught me a lot about. It was kinda sketchy since we had an investigator there but luckily he didn't really understand the deep stuff. 

And then I went to the bathroom and he walked in, and we were talking and it turns out his sister and brother in law are both little people. At the end of our conversation he thanked me for my service and it was very special to hear that from an area 70! And then that night we taught the youth and helped them with missionary work at a bishops youth fireside which Bishop said went great! So that's cool that we can gain that trust from Bishop! Have a great week, and congratulations Ashley on the mascot thing! 

-Elder Beaulieu 

March 27, 2017

Hello Family! 

This is gonna be a short one since my comp is getting transferred, so sorry. But this week has been crazy! We had to drive to a town an hour away 3 times last week because of our dumb car. We haven't had a lot of time to work this week cuz of dumb things like that, so it made this week kinda hard. I've really seen the difference throughout my mission just how much work makes it so much easier.

It's always tough to get out in the morning and there's many days you don't want to talk to anybody, but as soon as you talk to that first random person, it makes the rest of the day so much easier. It's kinda like every morning is a test, and once you past the test by staying diligent even when you don’t want to, then the spirit is able to come to you in greater abundance. 

The big thing I learned from this week is the power of the book of Mormon! I've been binge reading recently, since I'm really able to relate and understand the book a lot better now! I don't know how but as I've been putting in the work to read it the spirit is able to help me even more with the understanding of it! So keep reading family! And I'll tell you how the new companion is!  

April 3, 2017

Hello Family! 

This week has been pretty amazing! We have a solid guy who came to conference and he's been progressing greatly! He said that he want's to get our emails too once we leave so we can keep in touch, which i think means he likes us! Sadly he's the only guy we're really teaching right now, but this upcoming week, me and Elder Olson are going to do some major finding! 

Oh Yeah! I also got a new companion! Which you guys have already hear, but we're getting along great! I love him and the members love him, and even though he's a bit younger than me (mission age) I still have a lot to learn from him! We've been getting along great, and by the end of this transfer we're going to having Danville as the most successful area in the mission! We're going to really try and focus on members, and helping them do missionary work, since we've found here in Danville, going door to door, you talk to lots of people. But not a lot will want to change. But I think its so amazing, because it forces us to look for more creative ways to find people! So far we've been sharing the Easter initiative with members, and encouraging them to share it with their friend, so i could see some amazing things happening with this in the near future.

We watched conference at the church which was a lot better than at the MTC, since the chair were comfortable and we got to spread out, and we could control the temperature. I tried taking notes, but I've learned I am not an audio-learner. I got the main ideas and big spirit-packed statements, but it was hard to get it all. But luckily it will be out on gospel library pretty soon which is very exciting! And I'm gonna study them a little deeper then. One thing i absolutely loved about conference was that our investigator Derek was able to come! We tried to stop by 3 times between sessions on Saturday, and he wasn't there. Then Sunday morning we stopped by and invited home to the afternoon session, and he said he might be able to come, then he made it! What was so great, was that the 70 that spoke (he was the one that visited my classroom in the MTC out of the many classrooms around campus and gave me a hug! :D) and told his conversion story and about talking with the missionaries, I think really helped him! And it was really something he could relate to! It was pretty much the perfect talk on what he needed to hear. And i think it was so inspired that the one he was able to make it to was the one with that talk!  

One cool little thing, so my journal keeping has been sub-par. luckily my new comp writes in his journal and encourages me to, so I now have a voice recorder so I can have a journal on that! :D So I will now keep a better journal! 

 

I look forward to seeing the miracles that will soon happen in Danville, VA! I love you all and have a great time getting your wisdom teeth out ash! 

 

-Elder Beaulieu