Valentine's Day 2010

This is what the Mathatas Valentine's Day looked like this year. James' sent roses to work, which I would have liked to have kept in the classroom, but I didn't trust the preschoolers not to knock them over.

I got James some XBOX accessories, including this chatpad which makes it easier to talk to friends who have XBOX live and also to update his facebook status.

We exchanged cards (can you guess which one is from Christy and which one is from James?) and went to Olive Garden for dinner.

Olive Garden was a highlight. The food never tasted so good and we had a really awesome waitress whom we tipped well for her service. We celebrated on Friday night, but when we woke up on Sunday morning it was snowing. Beautiful Valentine's Day! I love the snow. I'm the one who keeps looking out the window to see if its still snowing and how much snow is on the ground.

Weekend in Conifer

James' cousin has a cabin in Conifer, CO (about an hour away). We went up this weekend for a little R&R with some friends, John and Ashley, and Christy's parents came up for Saturday. We played board games, ate good food, played pool, watched some movies and worked on a puzzle. It was nice to get away and the view was amazing! Also, we saw a young buck with little antlers, a large red fox and a chipmunk. The only disappointing part was last time we went there was a hot tub and this time the hot tub was gone : (.

Relax... Recap

Well, it has been quite some time since we updated our blog, as we are reminded almost weekly by Christy’s mom.

Since last April:

1. We brought our puppy Cooper home

2. Went to Ohio to visit James’ family (Christy with her trophy largemouth bass)

3. Survived camping in Utah with Christy’s family (Bad Mosquitoes and long walks downhill)

4. James received a promotion at work

5. Celebrated our 1 year anniversary

6. Christy went to Girl’s Camp (Ward camp director)

7. We bought a 2bed 2bath condo in Aurora and moved into it as well as making several improvements.

8. Enjoyed getting to know our new ward, while serving as ward missionaries

9. Travelled to Washington DC for James’ grandfather’s memorial service

10. Shared Thanksgiving with James’ mom in Colorado

11. Enjoyed Christmas in Colorado with Christy’s family including the Mathews who came from Portland

We look forward to all the excitement this year will bring....which we probably won’t blog about. But let’s just see. Maybe we’ll change our habits.

General Conference

James and I went to Utah for Conference Weekend. We went for my mission reunion and to see Laura and Jeff, who are living in Provo. Above is a picture of James and I with my first mission president, President Banks and his wife. One of the highlights of the reunion was playing chair football with old mission friends and seeing two of my companions, Sister Smith and Sister Anderson (Panchuk). That meant I got to see 100% of my American companions, which I think is pretty lucky.

Most of the time we were in Utah we hung out with Laura and Jeff and met their new kitten Olivia, who is so cute, and very adventurous. She loves to play, and she loves to sleep on Jeff. Conference was really good. I was inspired by so many of the talks and I only fell a sleep a couple times. While I was awake (and listening) I had time to take incriminating pictures.

We're Getting a Puppy!

Last Sunday James and I went up to Cheyenne, Wyoming to meet a daschund breeder. We weren't planning on getting a puppy until later, after we are in a place that we own, but the puppies were so cute and good-natured. We picked out a male piebald (that means he's spotted) and we're going to name him Cooper. We will pick him up next Sunday on our way back from Utah. Here he is with his brother at 7 weeks. He is a miniature daschund, also known as a doxen or a wiener dog. Yea!!!

Valentine's Day 2009

James and I had a good and relaxing Valentine's Day. On Friday he sent me flowers and made me dinner. I made him chocolate peanut clusters because the line at See's was 45 minutes long! Then on Saturday we went to the Brian Regan concert in Colorado Springs with my parents. It was really good. He is hilarious! This is a picture of us at the concert. We weren't allowed to take a picture of Brian Regan...or my parents.

National Western Stock Show

James and I went to the National Western Stock Show on January 19, 2009. It was Martin Luther King Day. The Stock Show was kind of a big deal, it was here for two weeks and everyone went at some point or another. And some people got e'coli from it. (Eeek!) We went to the rodeo first of all. We were sitting there, James enjoying his barbequed turkey leg and me eating my pulled pork sandwich, and a rider comes out with an Obama flag. Which could be expected, he was being sworn in the next day as President. Then a rider comes in with the African American national flag and a lady starts singing the Black National Anthem. James looks at me and says, "I think we're at the Black Rodeo." And it was. It was good. Kind of weird that they still segregate rodeos, huh? They don't, but that's a little what it felt like. We also walked around the booths and saw lots of farm equipment, carhardts and belt buckles. James looks real excited, huh?