The Mathews Family

A few of my favorite houses...

2011-03-02T17:51:00.000-08:00

I always love having a reason to pass by these houses. The first one is top on my list as I have always loved colonial style houses. In high school we went on a trip to Boston and we toured Concord and Lexington and a small town called Grafton where some of my ancestors were from. We were able to see some of the actual houses that my ancestors lived in including going into the home where my great-great grandfather was born. I love the symmetry in the architecture and just how classic the style is.

The last three houses are such cute cottage houses and I have always loved driving by them. The last house is one that we often pass by on the way to my parents' house and it always looks magazine perfect. I especially love how the decorate for the holidays.

Is anyone up for the challenge to find some of your favorite houses?

Just some random cuteness...

2011-03-02T17:02:00.000-08:00

One of the cute words that J has been saying is "hostable" for hospital and I just love how she says it when we read her "Madeline" book. She had RSV a few weeks ago and she asked me if she could go to the "hostable" to help her get better. I don't want to correct her yet because she melts my heart when she says it.

Another random topic that is often in our conversations is fire alarms. In the Fall, we had a one month period in our church building where the fire alarm went off three times. This has made J so observant to the point that anywhere we go in most public buildings, she has to scout out where the fire alarm is. She knows that it is very bad to pull the alarm, but she is inquisitive as to why we need them. I can't wait to work past this phase because I do not want her to be afraid of the alarm.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-12T09:34:00.000-08:00

I figured that I better do this post early because knowing how unfrequent I am about posting, I did not want to miss Valentine's Day. I love the third one down of Miss J with her friend because it says so much of their personalities. Happy Valentine's Day!

A Beautiful Day!

2011-02-12T09:14:00.000-08:00

I love to get in the car and go for a drive. It is the best time to talk and to feel refreshed and recharged. That is something I loved doing with my parents when I was growing up and it continues to be something I love with my own little family. A couple of weeks ago we drove to one of Truman's favorite places, Hobart Creek (even though we didn't actually see it because you have to hike to get there), and then we drove to Lake Tahoe and had lunch at Tahoe City. It was a perfect day!

My Twinkle Toes

2011-01-24T22:48:00.000-08:00

I love this girl of mine! Last week I was able to practice taking pictures of Miss J and her adorable friend. More to come...

My nanny family!

2011-01-16T17:13:00.000-08:00

My nanny family came to Gabrielle's reception and she also had a part in their lives because she spent many hours taking care of them as well. Though we are not related, they are family to me and the kids are like my own. I started with them when the oldest (in the gray and white striped sweater) was 11 months and then we anticipated the twins birth when she was 15 months and now she is almost 9. The boy in the blue sweater and the girl in the black dress are the twins. They mean the world to me and we have such a special relationship with their family.

The top picture of J with K is so symbolic to me because I have never thought that they could look like sisters as I think they do in this picture. J's hair has lightened and it is almost the same color as K's. My nanny kids are the reason why I could survive before we were blessed to have our own daughter because they were and continue to be like my own. Their parents, Karen and Tom are wonderful friends and I am so thankful that they are such a special part of my life.

Just a few pics of the Reception...

2011-01-16T16:51:00.000-08:00

The first two are of the kids table and then the third one is my sister-in-law and my brother and their adorable little one who is 17 days apart from J, then my cousin and Truman.

Gabrielle's Wedding

2011-01-12T22:07:00.000-08:00

This past weekend, we celebrated my beautiful niece's wedding. She and I are six years apart and we grew up like sisters. It was such a special day for our family and we are beyond thrilled that she found such a wonderful man who could take her to the temple.

One regret that I have from our wedding day is that we do not have good good wedding pictures. We had a photographer that was recommended to us and he really did not know how to take pictures at the temple...so you can imagine what was top on my list for Gabrielle. My beautiful and extremely talented friend, Marielle, took their wedding pictures. You can see some of their wedding pictures on her website: www.mariellehayes.com

Just a few memories from 2010...

2011-01-02T23:53:00.000-08:00

You can tell who is the joy of our lives. We are thankful for a wonderful year!

Gingerbread Houses

2010-12-21T23:49:00.000-08:00

J had a gingerbread house party at her preschool. Miss Susan is such a wonderful teacher and she is always doing something fun and special for the kids. She invited the moms to come. It was such a privilege to come to this little party to see J in action as well and to see all that Miss Susan had done for them.

Friends

2010-12-21T23:32:00.000-08:00

I had my first trial run photo shoot with our friends just before it got too cold. I was very nervous to say the least, but you have to start somewhere, right? Aren't they a cute little family? My wonderful friend helped me edit the last picture for them.

The playhouse

2010-12-13T00:13:00.000-08:00

You might remember a post from several months ago about the child size china cabinet that is special to our family. A few too many projects took over and I did not get to finish this when I wanted, but it is now repainted with new hardware. The doll bed in the corner was my mom's and grandma's. For the playhouse, we have turned the closet under the stairs into a little play space for J. I always dreamed of having a playhouse as a little girl and since I never had my playhouse I have always wanted to build one for my children. I still have that dream, but the closet is perfect for now until J grows too tall. She loves it!

"Who took the cookie from the cookie jar?"

2010-12-12T23:55:00.000-08:00

We had J's friends over for a little cookie decorating party and their moms brought fondue for lunch. What a treat!

"Baby A"

2010-11-20T23:46:00.000-08:00

There is no end of what you can know in the world of photography and I am so excited to learn new things all the time of how to take better pictures. Truman surprised me on my birthday the year that J was born with my camera so that I could capture the special moments with our baby who was and is such a miracle in our lives. I take pictures of our family moments often, but I only wish that I could have known how to take better pictures when J was born. There is nothing like a newborn baby and oh how the time goes by way too quickly. I was so fortunate to take the above pictures with my sweet friend who has been wonderful to give me some lessons on what she knows with photography and we were able to take our other friend's baby pictures. I have been so excited that I have a couple of friends with new babies so that I can practice taking baby pictures.

More of Apple Hill...

2010-11-16T00:02:00.000-08:00

Apple Hill

2010-11-15T23:37:00.000-08:00

Last week, J and I went with my sister and her three kids to Apple Hill. It was a perfect day! I just love fall. These are my adorable nieces, Lauren and Haylie. I love the doors that are behind them.

Neighbors

2010-11-15T23:05:00.000-08:00

These adorable kids were our neighbors for three short months. When our realtor took me to see our house for the first time, their family was out playing on the front lawn. Although I did not know that this would be the house that we would put an offer on I felt hope to have such great neighbors and thought this better be a good house because the neighbors had me sold. We had some frustrating neighbor problems at our old house and this was one of our big requirements in a new house-to find a good safe neighborhood (and fun neighbors too). They asked me if I was LDS and so we found out that we both go to the same (Mormon) church. We did get the house right next door and you can imagine the comfort that gave me just to know that we had great people so close to us. We had some fun times visiting out front while watching the kids ride their bikes and scooters, etc. They even gave J a Barbie bike that she calls her "Darbie" bike. Then about a month ago, they announced that they would be moving to Chicago. We have been so sad as last Thursday they ventured out on their journey to their new city. So far away. It is so sad to drive by their house and to know that they are not there. Life has some hard lessons and it is so hard to make new friends and have them move away. We have only known them for a short time, but we already feel like they are special friends. I know that we all miss them.

J's First Day at Preschool

2010-11-15T18:39:00.000-08:00

I have not blogged about our move yet and I will have to post some pictures later, but with the move came a few new changes for our family and one of those changes was moving into a new ward. We started to hear wonderful things about Miss Susan's preschool from friends in the new and old ward and I called her after the school year had already begun fully expecting to get on the list for next year and she happened to have one opening. J has 8 children in her class and she loves going to school! I'm the one who had a hard time. Miss Susan even made an accommodation for J's friend to be in class with her and we also found out that Miss Susan's mom was one of my favorite professors in college.

Gabrielle and Jordan

2010-11-15T18:27:00.000-08:00

I am so behind with our blog, but better late than never right? My niece, Gabrielle, is engaged and we are so excited for her. She met Jordan at BYU Idaho and we love him. J loves being with Gabrielle and Jordan and she loves all the attention they give her. In this picture, J is reading "Who stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar" and it is so cute to hear her tell the story in her little voice.

Fun with Friends

2010-11-04T22:48:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I was able to see these two special friends. It does not matter how long we go without seeing each other, we just pick up where we left off. Amber (right) and I were in first grade together and then she moved and we were never at the same school again until college. Marielle and Amber are cousins and they are so much fun to be around. We had some fun group dates together in high school and then we all were in college together. When I was a nanny, I got Amber to work with me and we worked our school schedules out so that our nanny family could have full-time help. Anyone who knows me knows how much I love my nanny family and how much I treasure that time I got to spend with their family. Amber and her kids and J and I went to visit our nanny kids last week and how wonderful it was to all be there together. She is such a special friend. Marielle is one of the sweetest people I know. I have always admired how special she can make anyone feel when they are in her presence. She has developed such amazing photography skills and I love to see her share her talents.
I am just so grateful for wonderful friends in all walks of life.

4th of July

2010-07-15T08:35:00.000-07:00

My sister and brother-in-law hosted their annual 4th of July party that we all love! They work so hard to make this the perfect family party. This year our cousin from Colorado was here with her kids. We loved spending time with them. I love this last picture of all the big cousins with J; they include her in anything they are doing. We are so fortunate to have such a wonderful family.

Beautiful Lake Tahoe

2010-07-07T10:04:00.000-07:00

Last week we had a perfect day at Lake Tahoe with my two sisters and my cousin from Denver and all the kids. J just loves all of her big cousins. I love the picture of her sitting in the middle of Sam and Taylor. This was the longest we were able to stay at the Lake with J and she loved it! Now we can't wait for next week to come so that we can see my brother and his family who will be returning from Mexico. We have not seen them for a year and it will be so fun to have J see her same age cousin.

San Diego

2010-05-14T23:10:00.000-07:00

Just some fun pics of baby J from our trip to Cali last month.

Bridal Shower for Chelsea

2010-05-14T22:41:00.000-07:00

When we moved into our ward almost eight years ago, we were followed by this amazing family. They are such great friends and we treasure our friendship. I had Chelsea in Young Women and it is exciting to see her take this next step in her life. What a fun night! We love you guys!

Easter

2010-04-06T20:06:00.000-07:00

We hope that everyone had a wonderful Easter! My parents are in Mexico visiting my brother and sister-in-law and their family and so we did our own Easter at home. We decided to have our Easter egg hunt inside because it has been so cold here. We had some of our friends over for a fun visit and egg hunt in the morning and then we had the Lytle's over for dinner. It was nice to watch Conference at home and to have our first Easter at our house. We are so blessed to have our family so close that we are usually with them on the holidays. We hope that everyone had a wonderful Easter!

Fun with Friends

2010-03-30T10:13:00.000-07:00

We went with our friends to the local pottery place where they had story time and then they each painted a tile. Then we all walked to the park and then we went to lunch. It was a beautiful Spring day and the moms and the kids had so much fun.

Easter Egg Hunt

2010-03-30T09:58:00.000-07:00

We had an Easter Egg hunt for playgroup and J loved it. This is the first year where she really understands how much fun the holidays are. It was a windy day, but the kids still enjoyed the day. So much fun!

Birthday Time!

2010-03-30T09:39:00.000-07:00

This is our friend's adorable little girl Emma on her 1st birthday. It was so much fun to take part in this special day. She was a doll and the decorations and cake were adorable. Sabrina, she is beautiful!

Friends

2010-03-01T22:37:00.000-08:00

We had a sweet little friend from our ward at our house today. J and this little cutie are almost exactly one year apart and J just towers over her. I love watching them interact. J needs all the playtime and all the help to share as she does not have any siblings to teach her that she is not the only one. And look, they just happened to be dressed alike.

China Cabinet

2010-02-24T23:16:00.000-08:00

This a a little child size china cabinet that we just brought over from my parent's house. It was made for my grandmother by her father and then my mom had it as a little girl. Then my sisters and I all had it and I remember specifically asking my mom as a little girl if I could keep it for my children someday. I was living a dream to bring it to our house for J to play with-first that we have a little girl, and second that she is the 4th generation to have this special family heirloom. There is even a distinct smell in the wood that brings back childhood memories.
My mom lost her mom and dad and little sister in an airplane accident when my oldest brother and sister were very little. We all have wished that we could have known our grandparents and aunt, but our mom has kept them alive through her stories and through such special things like this cabinet that were from her family home. Now J gets to have memories of this special cabinet.
The first picture is of J and Truman at Home Depot after we had purchased new hardware and some supplies for the cabinet. We have sanded it and next we will paint it. When it is completed, I will show the finished product. Stay tuned...

Just some fun...

2010-02-24T22:57:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago we had a micro photography class for the women in our ward. I am only beginning to learn about photography, but I feel so excited to learn new things. Most of all I want to be able to take good quality pictures of my family. We have another awesome class coming up in April (just f.y.i).

We love our Gabrielle!

2010-02-18T22:09:00.000-08:00

This is my niece, Gabrielle and we want to wish her a happy Valentine's (a few days late). There are six years between us and we grew up just like sisters in many ways. We are so proud of her as she is nearing the completion of her degree in business marketing at BYU Idaho! We love you so much Gabrielle!

My love bug

2010-02-02T23:30:00.000-08:00

There is not a day that goes by without some sweet reminder of the miracle that J is. She brings so much joy into our lives. I love to watch how she is playing more on her own without needing me by her side every second. We like to have tea parties and I usually set them up with her, but the other day she got her dishes out and set them up how she wanted. These are the sweet moments where I feel as though I am living a dream. Girls are so much fun!

One Fine Day

2010-01-25T19:50:00.000-08:00

Some days we stay home and work on projects around the house and some days we get to have some fun outings. On this particular day J's playgroup was at story time at Barnes and Noble and then everyone went to Whole Foods for lunch. Following lunch, J got a haircut and then I was able to go to the temple with my mom and sisters, while my dad had J for me. What a treat! These are the special moments in life and I feel so blessed beyond words to be a mom!

Christmas 2009

2010-01-03T22:08:00.000-08:00

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

More Utah Fun Pics...

2009-12-10T23:15:00.000-08:00

We had the opportunity to visit my parents in Salt Lake two times in one month. We had a lot of fun and we are so blessed to be able to go and stay with Grammie and Grampie. (J calls them Buggy and Buckey; however, she is getting much better with the pronunciation of Grammie and Grampie)

Utah Fun

2009-12-10T22:44:00.000-08:00

Disney on Ice

2009-11-09T22:41:00.000-08:00

I had the novel idea to take J to see Disney on Ice. She loved it for the first half and then she lost it just after the intermission, so we decided to take her home. What a lovely frustrating experience for what I had hoped would be a perfect evening. We couldn't even get a smile out of her for the picture. We will have to try again when she is older.

Family Home Evening

2009-11-09T22:22:00.000-08:00

We had our first official F.H.E lesson with J tonight. We ended with a coloring page which happened to be the highlight as she is our little color girl.