New Years Eve Morning~

And this is why we love Idaho~

Humanitarian Bowl

Shelby and her friends all headed down to the Humanitarian Bowl to "work" concessions :) Money raised working concessions will be applied to summer basketball camps so we like the idea until we saw all the pictures of them working :)

Christmas has come and gone....

As I sit here this morning, I am thinking of all the time, effort and stress that is put into one day, the most wonderful day of the year! Christmas, this year, was spent at home and I would have to say it was very nice to be home for Christmas! A couple months prior to Christmas, Shelby asked if we could stay home for Christmas this year and we did. Dave has been putting in extremely long hours at work and it was nice to be able to be home as a family. Christmas Eve, we had a nice lasagna dinner and then watched a movie together. Then Christmas morning, we opened presents, had breakfast and about 2pm made our way to my sister's house to spend the rest of the day with the rest of the family. The one thing that I am enjoying the most this Christmas break is HOME TIME, it is so rare as the year goes on.... We are now preparing for the New Year and what it may have in store for us....

The Holiday Season....

We are right in the middle of the Holiday Season with so much to do and so little time to do it! Friday was the last day of school for the kids and myself and we have our fingers crossed that Dave will at least have the week between Christmas and New Years off! Throughout the Christmas rush, I have reminded myself what it important in life. The happiness and togetherness of our family and friends and we hope to enjoy as much family and friend time as possible this holiday season!

Here's a couple pics of Shelby ready to go to her Christmas Choir Concert~

December 7, 1993 "CODY LEE MATHEWS"

It was 16 years ago this morning at about 5:30am that my water broke and we were headed to the hospital so excited, our first born was on "his" way. At the time, we didn't know that "he" was a "he". As we arrived at the hospital on the morning of December 6th with the entire family not far behind, we were not aware of the fact that although my water broke I still had a long way to go. In fact, a whole day! I believe Dad had the December 6th newspaper in hand thinking that was the paper to keep! Needless to say we needed the December 7th newspaper! Wow, 16 years tomorrow! It is so hard to believe! Tomorrow December 7, 2009 at 9:47am, Cody will be 16 years old, a sophomore in high school, driving and not really thinking that his parents know much at all! He is just realizing himself that he only has a few years left of high school and then off to college. As he has grown up, it has been many laughs, some tears and yelling and I'm sure more of all to come!

Yesterday we were able to celebrate his birthday with plans of going out tomorrow after Shelby's basketball game also. Dave took Cody and 4 teenage boys to Fast Lanes, a go-cart track in Meridian to race. I think Dave just wanted to go to beat them all! Then they came home for food and it was actually pretty mellow. We ended up with only 1 of them over night! Mostly because Cody was in charge of invites, etc.. since I wasn't sure who he was inviting. I am pretty sure that he will still need us for a few more years and not just for gas money!

Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving Day was spent this year at Mom's house in Star, Idaho. The Mathews', The Jablonski's, Mom, Donny and Diana were all there. The food was great, it was prepared mostly by Mom and the pies were made by Diana. Heather and I were able to bring a relish tray and the green bean casserole. After dinner, the boys went outside to put up Mom's Christmas lights and the girls began thinking about their early morning shopping trip which has become somewhat of a tradition. We have decided that we aren't sure if we really get great bargains, it is done mostly to get ourselves in the Holiday mood and get some of the Christmas and birthday shopping done! It is a great people watching day also! I even saw many of my friends and co-workers out for the same adventure. After getting up at 3am and shopping until around 3:30pm, I came home and began putting up the Christmas village. Around 7pm, we decided to watch "Fred Claus" and that is when my day ended!! As soon as I sat down!

Basketball has begun!

Basketball for Shelby started a couple of weeks ago! The first games were last week, the first game was a non-conference game and a great time to get back into the swing of things. Realize that we are switching gears and playing basketball not volleyball! So the first game, the girls sort of looked like they had never played basketball before then a couple of days later they played again and won 28-8 and yesterday won again in OT 24-22. I promise to actually get some pictures of her playing. It is much easier to video basketball and much harder to get action shots in basketball but I will keep working on it! Practice make perfect!! Go Lady Vikes!

Halloween 2009

This year Halloween fell on a Saturday and we had a couple of great invites. Unfortunately we were unable to make them all and chose to help our long time friend, Steve celebrate his 40th birthday! Both kids came with us at first but as the night went on Cody decided to head to a much better party or so he thought. The theme of Steve's party was western but since Shelby decided to go at the last minute she went as an 80's girl! We had a great time with friends we don't see so often and did realize that we aren't as young as we once were!

Dave's 40th Birthday Party!

Not wanting to have a birthday party was his request so the first of the month we headed to the Oregon Coast "for Dave's Birthday" yet we never celebrated his birthday but had a wonderful time. As the date quickly approached and with a Middle School choir concert scheduled for the same evening, I decided to throw together a quick party at the local pizza place in Middleton, "Garbonzo's". I think he was truly surprised and once again The Garner's pulled off the best present....check out the first picture. This morning while talking we decided that it seemed to take awhile to go from 20 to 30 but going from 30 to 40 went by so much faster! I think we still have the best years to come!

HAPPY 40TH BIRTHDAY, DAVE!

Cody gets his Drivers License & truck!

Monday, October 19th was the date of the final test to obtain his Drivers License, the skills test. Having already passed the written test on my birthday, we made an appointment for the dreaded skills test on Monday and he passed with a 96% then we were off to the DMV to get the license. He has driven to school two days this past week in the GMC truck but on Dave's birthday yesterday, Grandpa brought the truck down that he worked so hard on painting and it is all ready to go. Today we put insurance on it and now all my worries start!!

Volleyball and Baseball Weekend

This weekend ended the Volleyball season and only a couple more weeks and Fall baseball is over! Shelby and her 8th grade team did a great job in the tournament, they beat LoneStar the first game then played 3 tough matches against Vallivue and lost and again 3 matches against Emmett and lost again. After Cody's baseball game of which he sprained his ankle sliding into second base, we were off to The Nike Outlet store to get basketball shoes. Basketball season begins tomorrow for Shelby!! Good Luck, Shelby!!

More of the Oregon Coast Trip!

Just some more pics from the Oregon Coast Trip! Once again , we had a wonderful time with great weather!