Barnes Family: January HIghlights

I've been dreading blogging about January! It was a really hard month! We had to pack up our boy and drop him off at the MTC! It's everything I ever wanted for him, but I had no idea how much it would hurt my heart! I feel like a piece of me is missing! But, I keep reminding myself that this is what I want and I would be hurting more if he wasn't going!

The first week of January was full of goodbyes! Everyone made me cry! But this one really made me cry... I hope they remember their Mitchooo when he gets home. Jack loves him so much! He comes to the house and looks around for him. Then he says that Mitchooo is on a mishan to Mexico. It's so cute!

Jenn and the kids say their goodbyes to Jack. (Scott was at school.)

We tried to spend some good quality time at home with him before he left.

Skipbo. One of his favorite games.

Picking out his best ties!

Packing everything in 2 suitcases for 2 years was hard. But he did it!

I washed and ironed all of his shirts... not sure why? They were going to be wrinkled when he got there.

On Monday night the 7th Mitchell was set apart as a full time missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. President Schlauder set him apart and it was a beautiful blessing. He promised him many wonderful things. He had us go around the room and say something to Mitchell. It was very sweet. I tried my best to hold it together, but it was tough. Tanner could barely get his words out. It was very tender.

On Tuesday we headed up to Utah. We stopped for dinner in Provo and Ashley joined us. She was in between classes. We went to the Brick Oven. It was yummy. Cindy and Spencer came by to say goodbye since they couldn't come the next day. Spencer and Mitchell have been great friends all their lives. Spencer just got his call to Columbia! He leaves in June. It was sweet to see them together.

Ashley, Spencer, Mitchell and Tanner

John, Cindy and I

After dinner we went up to Todd's house to spend the night. It was great to spend some time with them and see their cute kids! This is baby Aubrey. She is so cute!!

Auntie Allison holding cute little Aubrey

I crocheted this cute hat for her! I love how it turned out!

I made Charity and Emily these little headbands! Sharolyn says they wear them everyday to school!

Emily loves her cousin Mitchell! She was climbing all over him!

Uncle Todd showed Mitchell his mission scrapbook.

We got up Wednesday morning and headed down to Provo. We met Ashley and Scotty at the temple and took some pictures.

Then we went to lunch at Zupas. We invited all the family in Utah to join us, so they could say goodbye to Mitchell. It was lots of fun.

Tanner and Scotty playing on their phones.

Sharolyn and Todd and little Justin

Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Mark.

Uncle John with little Aubrey

John loving his son!

Mitchell and his cousin Keaton. They are almost the same age and have been great friends! Keaton is on the baseball team at BYU and he is getting his papers ready.

Mitchell and Keaton

Cousin Kathryn came to join us. She just graduated from BYU. It was great to see her.

Todd and my dad

Me and my boy!

Reality was sinking in. Only a few more minutes with his boy.

Mitchell deep in thought...

We said our goodbyes after lunch and then drove to the MTC. Tanner cried the whole way there. That didn't help me much!

Saying goodbye to Dad.

Hugs for Ashley

Tanner is going to miss his big brother!

The whole family

Off he went... He didn't even look back. He was ready to go.

It was a long drive back to Las Vegas! We hardly said a word the first hour! We will miss our boy! But we are so proud of him and he is doing so good! We wouldn't want him doing anything else. He is so excited to get to Culiacán, Mexico. We know he will be a great missionary!

Tanner had his 15th birthday on the 13th. I can't believe my baby is 15! He decorated his own cake!

A new controller for his video game.

One Sunday night in January I came home from church very tired. I just wanted to make pancakes for dinner. But Tanner said no... he made dinner. He cooked up some chicken in his special spices and made chicken alfredo. It was so good! He is our little chef!

One Saturday I got a text from Jared Clark. He works at the MTC and saw my boy! This text made my day!

John surprised me with a date night in January. We went to this place called "The Social Paintbrush". It was the best date ever! It's this room full of tables and each spot had a canvas, paint and paintbrushes. Everything was all ready to go. The room had about 30 people in it. The teacher stood on a stage up front and she walked us through every step of the painting! It was so fun.