Petersen Farewell

On July 29 I had the opportunity to go to the Petersen's farewell. They are going on their second mission to the Ukraine Kiev Temple. I'm so excited and proud of them. I know how wonderful they were in Sherbrooke, and I bet they will be just as amazing in Kiev. I'm excited to see what adventures they find.

I went to the first 2 hours of my ward because I had primary, but then I headed out to South Weber. Who else did I see and was able to sit by... The Hatfields. It was so nice to see them and to have someone to sit by during sacrament meeting. Unfortunately they were not able to stay for the dinner. I stuck around and I went to Sunday School (the Petersen's daughter was teaching) and then to Relief Society, although it was a combined meeting since it was 5th Sunday. After that we went to their home for dinner. I sat next to Jan's sisters and brother in-law. They were great and I had a great time getting to know them. I also got to meet all of their daughters and one has even been to Altamont. Crazy right!

After saying my goodbyes I decided to go visit some more friends that live in Riverdale (it is only 10 min. away) Kurt, Kelsey, and their daughter Kindsey are doing great. It was fun to see them. Kindsey can almost walk by herself and she loves Ring Around the Rosies. Although you really only get through saying, "Ring around the rosies... we all fall down. Falling down is her favorite part.

All in all it was a great day spent with great people!

Photo's I have with the Petersen's. I realized we haven't taken one since the mission.

Altamont Longhorn Days 2018

Altamont Longhorn Days has come again. From the looks of the facebook page it looks like it was a successful week. I wasn't able to come home until Saturday morning. Emma had come out to Provo and spent Thursday and Friday night at the house. It was great to see her!

Anyway so I made it home in time to go to the children's play Rock Bottom. It was cute with some great 1 liners. I was impressed with the leads' singing. Great job ladies!

It was time for the parade. We didn't have as many semi's from the oil fields this year. We were also missing Ken Pugh driving Hullinger's buggy. They did have some other fun entries. Meg and Mandy were in the parade.

We later went to the park to see what vendors there were and how much the quilts sold for at the action (Mom pieced the ones the wards donated). Then we ended the night at Millers eating Sue's homemade ice cream and chatting. We didn't have fireworks. Originally we were, but the wind picked up and some hot spots from the Talmage Fire sparked. The fire trucks/crew went to get that back under control.

Thanks to the Longhorn Days Committee! You guys do a great job!

Favorite Scenes from the Parade. (Most photo's are from Carol and the video is Emily's)

                                          

Welcome Back Jon, Debbie, Mary, Lucy, Henry and Ben

In true Mathis Style we had an impromptu party on Sunday. Jon and Debbie and their family have just gotten back from Mexico (where Jon was doing a sabbatical) and are on their way home to Illinois. We had a good turnout. We enjoyed a great meal and each other's company late into the evening. Everyone who came: Aunt Ann, Uncle Lee, Anna, Avan, Nathan, McKay, Easton, Aunt Mary, Uncle Boyd, Kate, Laird, Duncan, Liam, little Anna, David, Kara, Jackson, Lily, Asher, Corrine, Bel, Millie, Evie, Jon, Debbie, Mary, Lucy, Henry, Ben, Uncle Stan, Aunt Jerilyn, Uncle Wayne, Aunt Dianne, Mom, Mandy, Mary, and me.

Thank you Marty for leaving your family party to come up to work so that I could go to mine! I haven't seen Jon, Debbie or their kids since before my mission. So it was fun to catch up.

Phantom of the Opera

This past Christmas Dad and John gave the family tickets to Phantom of the Opera at the Eccles Theater in Salt Lake. They also provided hotel rooms for us at the Radisson Hotel and dinner that evening. Meg and Mary came and picked me up from Provo and we drove up to the hotel and met up with everyone else around 4:30 that afternoon. We checked in, chatted for about an hour and then went out to eat.

We decided on eating at Johnny Rockets. It is a 1950's theme diner. I enjoyed the music and the atmosphere. The food was pretty good too. Their fries come in big portions, but we didn't know that. So needless to say we had a lot of fries left over. Dad also told our waiter that it was Mom's birthday. If looks could kill, Dad might be dead. The waiter brought back an ice cream sundae for Mom and the rest of us to enjoy.

After dinner we walked on over to the Eccles Theater, got pictures and souvenirs. I bought a red shirt. Then we went to find our seats and get ready for the show. As we were sitting I was looking down the isle and I saw a woman that looked like Angie Panas (a woman from Altamont). I thought, "No, that can't be Angie." The closer she came the more I thought she was. When she got to me and I realized it really was her I said something like, "Hey, it really is you." She looked up and told us she couldn't find her seat, which was a few seats down from us. The people that were initially next to us realized that we new each other, so they offered to slide down a seat so that Angie could sit with us. Super kind of them.

After the show we walked back to the hotel and Dad and John had bought a German Chocolate Cake for us all to enjoy in celebration of Mom's birthday. I don't think we left their room until close to midnight.

The next day we walked to JB's and had their breakfast bar, which we were pleasantly surprised at how good it was. Then we went to City Creek Mall and Mom, Mary, and I went to a Scottish Import Store. Yes I found some Double Decker Candy Bars and a book on the Sinclaire's.

It was then time to part ways. It was an awesome weekend! Thank you Dad and John for the wonderful gift. Happy Birthday to Mom and Angie!

4th of July 2018

Another 4th of July has come and gone. This year I was able to go to Green River and party with the family. First we went on a river run, my partner was Avan. We had a good group for the river. The river runners were Amy, Nathan, McKay, Easton, Kate, Laird, Duncan, Liam, David, Jackson, Lily, Asher, Aunt Mary, Uncle Boyd, Avan, and me.

Meeting back up with the others who didn't go down the river (Mom, Mandy, Mary, Aunt Ann, Uncle Lee, Anna, Uncle Stan, Aunt Jerilyn, Uncle Wayn, Aunt Dianne, Kara, little Anna, and Corrine) we had lunch/dinner of pulled pork sandwiches and salads. It was delicious!

After that we had book club. The book we read was Where'd You Go, Bernadette? The synopsis from Amazon: "Bernadette Fox is notorious. To her Microsoft-guru husband, she's a fearlessly opinionated partner; to fellow private-school mothers in Seattle, she's a disgrace; to design mavens, she's a revolutionary architect, and to 15-year-old Bee, she is a best friend and, simply, Mom.

Then Bernadette disappears. It began when Bee aced her report card and claimed her promised reward: a family trip to Antarctica. But Bernadette's intensifying allergy to Seattle--and people in general--has made her so agoraphobic that a virtual assistant in India now runs her most basic errands. A trip to the end of the earth is problematic.To find her mother, Bee compiles email messages, official documents, secret correspondence--creating a compulsively readable and touching novel about misplaced genius and a mother and daughter's role in an absurd world."

We ended the day with fireworks by Green River City. I love fireworks. They always make me feel happy.

Thanks everyone for a great 4th!

Tending Kids

My cousin and his wife took a trip to Peru this past June. My sisters and I took turns tending their kids. They have 4 kids from the age of 4 to 12. I took the last 4 days or so of tending before Dave and Kara came home. We definitely had some adventures and some funny memories. I thought I would share some and some of the ones my sisters had with them as well.

From Mandy:
The kids talking about a grasshopper. Jack: How do you know if it's a girl or a boy? Corrine: It doesn't have eyelashes (with tone in her voice) so it's a boy.

After a meltdown at dinner Corine fell asleep at the table. While moving her to a chair she woke up and remembered she was suppose to be crying. Then she'll stop, look at Mandy and remember to cry again.

From Meg and Mandy:
Anytime one of the kids would want something they would ask and if Meg or Mandy said no, the kids would say, "Well, (insert Meg or Mandy depending on who they were talking to) would let me."

They took the kids to watch Incredibles 2. At one point Corinne had it figured out on how to defeat they bad guys. So in the middle-end of the movie she yelled out, "Why don't they just..." I haven't ever heard her answer but I think they got her quite before she yelled her entire thought out.

From Me:
We were watching the movie Enchanted and we were close to the end where Queen Narissa turns into a dragon. Corinne started yelling at the screen, "Give her the poison apple! Just give her the apple!"

Jack was wanting some cadbury egg cookies. I told him if he wanted cookies he would have to help me make them. On Sunday I had him help me find the ingredients and I gave him the task of smashing the cadbury eggs. He started with a rolling pin, but decided that wasn't doing a good enough job. So he went in search of a hammer. His search took him to the garage. Instead of coming back with a hammer, he came back with a bat. He told me he couldn't find the hammer so he brought the next best thing, a bat. He proceeded to use the bat to smash the eggs.

Later that evening when Asher came back from his fireside (which Paul and Bel took him to with Millie while I watch Evie) the kids were playing outside. After a little while Lily and Millie come in holding hands and Millie whispers loudly to Lily, "Just act natural." Bel and I shared a look of what are they up to now. They went up to Lily's room where they started yelling out the window to the other kids.

Monday came and Jack and Lily have swim lessons. I took Lily to her lessons and when I picked her up, I dropped of Jack. I went to pick him up at noon. He didn't come out to the car. I didn't think too much of it. Lily's lessons had run a little long. By 12:15-12:20 I was hot so I went in the building to sit and wait. At about 12:30 I decided to go find Jack. I went and looked in the indoor and outdoor pool, but didn't see him. Went to the front desk and we sent someone into the boys locker room. Still no Jack. Another worker came and said she thought he may have gotten a ride home with a friend. She called the friend's mom and left a voice message. The other staff member gave me the home phone number (I realized I didn't have the home phone). I was just getting ready to call the home phone when the friend's mom called back and said she had taken Jack home. So I thank them and leave to go back to the house. As I'm pulling up to the house I see Lily and Corinne eating popsicles on the curb. I get out of my car and and ask if Jack is inside. Lily then proceeded to tell me that when Jack found out I had gone to get him, he decided he needed to go back to the pool so I could find him.  and Asher went with him. Jack thought I had forgotten about him, so he had found another ride home.

Now I should point out the pool is 2ish miles away from their house. I never saw them walking down the road on my way back from the pool. I got back in my car and started to drive to the pool. I realized I forgot to give Lily my number. I called the house phone and talked to Lily. She said the pool had just called and Jack and Asher where there. I got to the pool and walked into the lobby. Asher and Jack were sitting at one of the tables with some water and evidence of Frosty's from Wendy's and no shoes on. They looked pretty glum and guilty. I took them to my car so we could have a little chat and go home. I first asked them about the shoes and Frosties. Jack said he was in a hurry to get back to the pool that he didn't think of shoes. Asher thought the walk sounded like fun but Jack was already outside so he didn't have time to grab shoes. As for the Frosties, some kind soul picked the kids up and got them Frosties and then took them to the pool.

On the way home we had a little chat. I told them I wasn't angry. Personally, I think they did enough to themselves with their own guilt that I didn't need to add to it. We talked how getting the ride home wasn't the problem it wasn't calling home or telling the front desk he was leaving with a friend. I also said it was my bad too for not giving him my number so he could get ahold of me.

The ride was silent for a few minutes until from the back seat Asher discovered my roll-down windows. He started to roll down the window and exclaimed, "Whoa!" I guess he has never seen a roll-down window before. He then proceeded to tell me how cool it was and then he said, "Normally there is a button right here" (pointing to the spot where a button normally is). After that Jack found the levers to adjust my mirrors. They are manual too. He asked, "What does this do?" right before he moved it. I told him that was how I adjusted my side mirrors. He was pretty fascinated with them and he kept moving the one on the passenger side and told me how it looked my car was waving.

All in all it was a fun few days full of adventures and memories playing on the tramp, playing tag like games, drawing with chalk, watching Dark Wing Duck and other movies and of course the pool/my car.

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day! Like with mothers, I have been blessed with several dads in my life. Thank you, especially to Dad, John, Rob, and my uncles. I appreciate the continued love and support you give me.