To dream the impossible dream,

to find the impossible find...

I like to crawl on the floor to pretty much anywhere. It doesn't really matter, as long as it's someplace my momma doesn't want me to go and especially if it means my sister can't stop me. 

Today's favorite place: in the toilet. in the water. that Claire had peed in. and then suck on my hands.

love you, Daddy,

Son AKA Monster #2

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What a story! Guess you can always stay you believe in holistic medicine where urine therapy is common!

 

Good luck Deb on your opening show! Please tell me about it when you can.

 

Love you.

 

Krista

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that sounds so yummy yummy
-becky


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Dear monster #2
I am so excited for you...crawling is wondetful but wait until you can drive a car.   Give ur mommy a big kiss from me right after you drink out of the toliet.  She wil love it
Your auntie marlies

alyce (mostly grandma dunn memories)

Today’s date: Sunday, July 17, 2011

Rosemary’s reflections on the lives of Emma and Alyce

July 24, 2011 One hundred years after the birth of our Mother, Alyce Dunn, we celebrate her life and wish to make our children and grandchildren familiar with her character and her accomplishments. We wish to tie together the generations of our Dunn/Olsen family, that there might not be even one “weak link”.

Alyce was born on July 24, 1911 (Utah’s Pioneer Day) in Mercur, Utah. Her Mom, Emma Crookston, had moved to Mercur from Logan in approximately 1909 and was working as a cook/nanny. It was a mining camp and Alyce’s Father, John William Dunn, had also moved there with his father, who was a master carpenter. They had come from American Fork, Utah. They worked together in the building business. Emma and John were married on September 21, 1910.

A little background on Emma and John: (some of the information is not authenticated)

In about 1911 Mercur, a silver mining town in Tooele, Utah, burned down. It was partially rebuilt but soon the value of silver decreased. The percentage of valuable ore in the rock there was low so that it did not prove worthwhile to continue to mine the area.

John and Emma returned to the Logan area and John went to work at the sugar factories which dotted the northern Utah, Idaho and eastern Oregon area. Alyce (1911), Bill, (1916) and Jack (1919) were born along the way. It is not certain just how long they worked at the seasonal sugar factories but two things about this time stand out to Rosemary:

1. They visited Jensen cousins in Ontario Oregon who also worked at a sugar factory there. During that visit there were some great pictures taken along the Snake River of both families. It is meaningful to Rosemary because her family lived there for two years and she is very familiar with the area.

2. Grandma Dunn related to me that while they were living in Paul, Idaho (during the sugar factory days) one morning little Alyce came up missing. Grandma later found her. She had crawled up a very tall tower in the area and was stranded at the top. That story caught my young imagination.

The railroad, army and mining brought a lot of gentile influence into the Utah area. Evidently this caused some of that generation to either stray from the LDS church or to take it less seriously. This seemed to be the case with John and Emma. I never knew John (he died when I was four in l950) but I understand that he was a smoker. (Dixie relates that he died of congestive heart failure). I am not aware that Emma ever went to church. We see into her heart, however, when we read her poetry. Clearly she believed in God and loved animals and the world. She was kind to every one and served others with great energy. Grandma Dunn died in 1963, when I was 17.

After Mother’s death, in 1957, ( I was age 11), Grandma did all that she could to help my Dad and I. She would drive to Paradise each week to do some cleaning and to cook us a “real meal”. Dad got tired of the hotdogs and fish stick meals that I had learned to make in 4H.

I never felt like I was really mature enough to know Grandma the way Dixie did. When I was growing up she was older and really struggled with health issues and with her troubled son, Bill. He was an alcoholic who had served with great courage and sacrifice during World War II. He was never the same after he returned from the war. (Grandma’s other son, Jack, actually died as a consequence of World War II. He contracted malaria while in the Pacific Islands.) Grandma basically took care of Bill’s needs and was patient with his problems until she died. I know, however, that he caused her great worry and concern. When staying with her, I would hear Uncle Bill stumble into the house in the middle of the night. Sometimes he would fall. It really frightened me. I know that he didn’t always make it home and had issues with frozen feet because he had passed out (my guess) in the snow.

I did like to go to Grandma’s however. She was the only Grandparent that I ever knew. I know she loved me. In the past few years I have called her my “Gingersnap” Grandma. This was because she had so little money to live on. (She worked in the cafeteria at Utah State for a number of years. During the war, the land grant colleges were often turned into military training camps for the army. It was during this time that she worked. John, her husband, seemed to struggle to find work. It may have been partly due to his health.) So after she quit her job, Grandma lived on a small pension and social security. Grandma was paid once a month. At the beginning of the month Grandma would go to the bakery and buy raisin oatmeal cookies…delicious! I would find those in the cookie jar on her table. At the end of the month, the money was gone. Then I would find gingersnaps in her cookie jar. I use to get a big glass of milk and take a pile of gingersnaps into her modest TV room. (It was usually cold in there as she shut the door to conserve energy.) After the cookies were gone, I would find myself, stomach down, on her round, circle ottoman. I would turn it on it’s side and roll back and forth, back and forth while I watched TV.

Grandma had a small back porch. She had a wide shelf that was attached to the north east wall. She’d planted a cactus garden on that shelf with rocks that she had collected from her many travels. It was pokey but interesting. There were also statues of a donkey and the three monkeys “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.”

She also had two little Pomeranian dogs…man and wife, Timmy and Toodles. (real dogs) Timmy was a “palomino” color and Toodles a “sorrel”. They were cute but I didn’t like cleaning up their “do” from the newspapers she placed around her toilet in the bathroom. They were with us when we had our accident on April 13, 1956. (Grandma had asked if I would like to drive by the temple that evening on our way home from her cousin’s home. “yes” I had answered.) She ran into a bridge abutment. She and I were taken to the hospital in an ambulance. (Years later a siren from an ambulance would still give me the shutters.) My face had gone through the windshield. I had over 60 stitches in my face. It took over 4 hours in the operating room.) Later I would pay Grandma $50 for her little Ford Coupe that she was driving the night of our accident. She called the car “Blondie” and the name stuck. I remember that she had thought that if I paid her she would be able to tell Bill that I had actually purchased the car. That way it would not hurt his feelings so much that she didn’t give it to him. He wanted it of course, but because of his drinking, it was not a good idea. Grandma was not a very good driver. She would drive right down the middle of the road. She would say “when people see me coming, they should have enough sense to get out of the way.” Jerry Welch told me later that one time he had seen her driving towards him and had done that very thing…. Gotten out of her way.

I remember New Years celebrations at Grandma’s. She had certain superstitions. One was about the first person that you met on New Year’s Day. Also, she would never give anything “sharp” as a wedding gift… knife, scissors, etc. Another interesting thing about Grandma was that she liked to read tea leaves. I am not certain just how it worked, just that it was fortune telling in some form. She would serve a wonderful dessert every New Year’s. It was a pudding with rum sauce. (Hmmm never thought much about the “rum” part until now.)

One of the things that I am most proud of about my Grandma was that she was a poet. She published a book of her poetry not long before she died. It is titled Life Begins at Sixty Five. (That is good news for me, as I turned 65 in April. Is my life truly just beginning?) There are just a few of those books around and each of us that has one, holds it dear. I have been reading from it this morning and it is so tender. It expresses her feelings about her family, friends, religion, animals, the war and more. I realize that I can glean from it’s pages, portraits of my ancestors, as seen through Emma’s eyes. Most history that is passed down is interpreted by the author, so I count these caricatures as valued if somewhat biased. When I was in grade school my teacher gave us an assignment to write a poem. Well, I felt like Grandma should help me with that project. She did and it is included in her book. It is called “Gold Fish” on page 12.

I went on a couple of trips with Grandma. The major trip was to Ohio soon after my mother died. We took the train. She sat and looked out at the world for the whole trip. She would get after me for reading a comic book and missing the interesting world she was viewing. I accompanied her on a reunion trip to Mercur, Utah as well. I did not sense what she was feeling on that trip until I read her poems about Mercur just this morning. She had a deep love for the place. It appears that even though it was a mining town with lots of men, she was held in respect and did not drink liquor.

When my mother, Alyce, died in l957, it brought her great sadness. She writes about it in her poetry.

“Since Allie Went Away”

1957

The skies are not as bright

I cannot sleep at night;

Her cheery smile I really miss,

And her loving tender kiss;

Life has lost its joy and bliss

Since Allie went away.

She gave us much of happiness,

We loved her far too well, I guess;

I’d like to know the reason why,

The ones I love all have to die;

Leave me dejected and alone,

With just the memories I own.

It shocked me when I realized this morning that I knew my Grandma longer than I did my own Mother. I knew Grandma for 17 years and my Mom for just barely 11 years. It makes me feel cheated. (However, my Grandma only had her Mom for 2 or 3 years… her Grandma raised her. I guess that I shouldn’t feel so badly.) So, when I try to rehearse my memories of my Mom, it won’t take nearly so many words as it did to relate my experiences with my Grandma.

Many of my memories of momma are shadowy. I have thought through the years that I might have blocked some of those memories because of the pain involved. After mother’s death I remember getting on my horse Dixie and riding up into the mountains. Our dog, Bobbie, would tag along. There, in those mountains, I would cry and sing. I felt so much emptiness.

What do I remember about my Mom? She played the piano for me and wanted me to succeed as a singer. She helped me learn songs, particularly “Che Sara, Sara” for the County Farm Bureau competition. (Interestingly, this was my first Italian song. I would sing scores of Italian songs throughout my life.) I have blurry memories of going to 4H Camp with mom (when I was about five) where her 4H club members helped me learn to braid boondoggle. I remember that she played the organ at church and that she accompanied many of the local singers. In first grade, I was determined at the end of the year, not to go home. My mom had to come and get me. Mom loved the color blue. She loved blue bells, the wild flowers; and one of her favorite songs was “In My Sweet Little Alice Blue Gown”. She also loved the song “My Wonderful One”. I loved the layered frozen dessert that she used to make.

I have some special things that belonged to my Mother. We have her piano and her Aunt Virginia’s old organ. A red and white pieced quilt top that was made by my Mom (that Arlynn had quilted when I married) currently hangs in our kitchen. I have her cedar chest and an end table that was purchased in about 1954.

I have some very special, even spiritual, memories of my momma in the last two years of her life. They show some of her cardinal virtues that I have kept in mind at difficult moments in my life.

Shoe polish story: Forgiveness

In about 1954, Dad and Mom purchased new carpet for our home. It was a rose color and had a kidney shape design in it. Mom had bought me some new red shoes. She cautioned me never to polish those shoes in the living room on the carpet. One day, while she was in Logan, I needed to polish my shoes and there was one of my favorite programs on TV. I thought that I could be careful enough not to spill, but I was wrong. Sitting on the floor in front of the heat vent (a spot I regularly took during the winter to stay warm) I knocked over the liquid RED POLISH and it spilled a huge red puddle of polish on my Mom’s new carpet. I felt absolutely awful. I found rags and rubbed and rubbed trying so hard to get the stain out. Of course, the stain was still there. I remember standing at the kitchen window watching for my Mom to come home. I could see the traffic as it entered Paradise from Logan. The moment I saw her driving into town I began running down the road to meet her. I stopped her in the middle of the highway. She rolled down the window and I told her what had happened. I apologized with all of my heart. She could tell how sorry I was. She continued on into town to drop off a friend who was with her. I never remember her ever saying anything about the carpet. She seemed to simply forgive me.

Prayer:

My Mom became ill with cancer in the fall of l956. Her health deteriorated quickly and she was very sick. She never went to the hospital but stayed at home and spent her time in her bedroom in Paradise. Fluid collected in the cavities of her body and Daddy would occasionally take her to the doctor in Hyrum who would drain the fluid with large needles. The pressure from the collected fluids was painful. I knew that she was very ill. The adults in our home were quiet about her exact condition but I sensed a sorrow about it all. I would on occasion go to her bedroom and crawl under a large overstuffed chair that had tall wooden legs. It was an excellent vantage point for me to quietly observe my momma from a distance. One evening, just before she settled in for the night, I saw my mom painfully pull her legs from under the covers and carefully slip onto her knees on the floor. There I saw her pray to our Father in Heaven. I am sure that she had much to talk about. Certainly she was looking for relief and for courage to face her future. Maybe she was talking with him about her dear family and a little 11 year old girl that she knew she would be leaving behind for someone else to raise. At any rate, I have never forgotten that example. When ever I feel too tired to pray I remember her devotion and commitment to prayer at that difficult time in her life.

Just before my Mom’s death in May of 1957, Marvin J. Ashton, who then worked in the Young Mens and Young Womens General Church organization, paid a visit to our home to present Alyce with an Honorary Golden Gleaner Award. We, as a family, came to know how much our Mom was respected not only by church members but by many others in Cache County and in the state of Utah.

Grandma Dunn wrote a poem about me in 1957. It was the same year that my mother had died.

Rosemary

1957

Rosemary was a beautiful baby

A perfect little lady;

Her childhood was happy, free from care

Her loving parents were always there;

Ready to grant her every wish

From clothes and toys to a favorite dish.

At the age of eleven she lost her mother

A place hard to fill by another;

Leaving her lonely all the day

To learn to work the hard way;

But watching over her from above

Will always be her mother’s love;

Guiding her onward spiritually

To reach her rightful destiny.

As I reread this poem this morning, I am struck at the wisdom and perception of my Grandmother. It is the truth that I have felt my Mother watching over and guiding me. In 1982 I was pregnant with our 6^th child and was very low. I felt little support from those around me. One summer evening in darkness I sought refuge on a curb in a protected area in Brigham City, Utah. There I sat weeping. I began to think about my Mother and a sweet peace came over me. I sensed her approval of my life’s choices and with that approval came a feeling of well being. It was a tender experience that I still treasure and know that, in a spiritual sense, she visited me that night and brought me comfort.

These are my memories of my mother, Mary Alyce Dunn Olsen and her mother, Emma Crookston Dunn. I wish to be linked with them for eternity. They will make my departure from this life easier. I believe they will be there in the spirit world to greet me.

I have made a copy of Emma’s book of poetry. I wish to give it to her great grandchildren. (There are twelve of you.) Some day, it would be nice to have more bound copies prepared to share with her posterity. In them you will learn of her family, her beliefs and her spirit.

I love you all and am very proud of you.

Rosemary Olsen Mathews

nick and deb sorensen

Wow, I really appreciate Tamme for keeping us all together. It has been CRAZY over here for the last month. Mostly with Nick's work. The kids took off to go to Amy's house for a week and Nick and I left of Washington DC to do some work for the University.

Our first day consisted of waking at 330am, driving to the airport with a crazy driver not to be named (AHHHH!!!), flying to Detroit, layover, flying into Allentown, PA, driving four hours to Bethesda, MA. With the time difference, etc, I think we had 3 hours of sleep before we got up to go to a USU aluminus' home right of Dupoint Circle in DC during the Cherry Blossom Festive. This man was donating anything he possibly could to the university. He is 94 and had determined that he was dying in 2 weeks time and wanted to get us stuff so his kids wouldn't give it away to places he didn't want it to go to. He has a HUGE collection of antique rugs from Asia that he donated and we were just rounding up the last bits of those and any other odds and ends he wanted us to take. Very interesting man.

At the end of the day we met up with a tour group of USU alumni to tour the Civil War Battlefields. It was a nonstop ride of every historical site (not really, but it felt like it) in 90 miles. Gettysburg, Fredricksburg, Antietam, Manassass, Harper's Ferry, Valley Forge, Fort McHenry, Richmond, the Confederate Whitehouse, Amish Country, Montecello, Shanandoah, and those were just the ones I can remember right now. Very wonderful experience.

Nick was meeting some of the top donors on this trip and he did very well. We even had one man comment to us that "the best thing that could happen to USU would be if I were hit by a truck" because he has so much money going to the University due to accidental death insurance. His boss, who technically isn't his boss anymore but still is, had him doing a lot as well and Nick loved being that busy. We came home exhausted.

Matthew suffered and ear infection while staying with Amy (poor Amy!) and Claire suffered cheering for BYU. When we called her one day, Amy warned us about...oh goodness, I can't remember very well, but it was a warning...then Claire gets on and says, "go BYU!" The girls were pretending to be cheerleaders for BYU! AH! Pretty hilarious. Amy got Matthew's eczema almost completely cleared up with her humidifier and water softener. He's been suffering ever since.

Now we're home and boy did I miss my kids. Enough to be grumpy with Claire about something trivial the same day I got home!

Yesterday in the store, Claire was WHINING! I put her in time out and she just screamed and screamed...in the store. I walked away for a few minutes (still within sight for you paranoid siblings) and she continued to scream. Finally, she calmed down and we chatted about not screaming and whining or we need to go to time out...anyway, she didn't want to get back in the cart, so I put her on my shoulders and within five minutes, I feel wet and Claire is SCREAMING on my head. Yeah, she barfed all over me and herself, and the floor. I took her to the bathroom, stripped her down and wrapped her in Matthew's coat and her shirt. 5 minutes later, she warns me that she needs to barf and I catch....some....of it in a store plastic bag...the rest is on my shoes and hers and her sort of clean shirt and Matthew's coat...we get home and she barfs and barfs...poor kid. Took her to the doctor today...she has an ear infection, too. Just a fun story to remember next time you're out shopping!

Love you all,
-deb

adam and becky frus

Wow it really is amazing to hear all about the Texas Mathews family. They are all growing up and it seems so long ago that we were able to see them all. We here in AZ love you all of you guys so much and want you to know that we think of you often.

The Frus's have made some big decisions over the last month and the biggest decision is that we are moving to New Mexico. I have accepted the offer to get a PhD at the University of New Mexico and I will be working with Dr. Laura Crossey on a water quality management project. I am very excited about the opportunity, but also a bit overwhelmed about the fact that I am STILL IN SCHOOL. I guess once this is over I will be officially done, but WOW it seems like it has been a long time since I haven't had homework.

We put in a lot of thought and prayers to make this decision and I appreciate everyone's prayers for us. We know that we will have to make quite a few sacrifices to complete the PhD, but once it is done...watch out! Our hope is to have me find a tenured faculty position at a small university or community college and feel that it will afford us stability and flexibility. Otherwise working for the government (federal or state) will also be a good option where I can again find some good stability and flexibility. We will see, but first I have to finish.

I am excited about working with Dr. Crossey. In all of my school experiences, she is the only woman scientist that was able to have both children and a faculty position. I have had a hard time finding mentors that understand my primary focus is on my family and it is really nice to know that she understands it. We were in Albuquerque two weeks ago looking at the campus and getting introduced to the city. Dr. Crossey had us stay with her and I was really glad to have her meet Adam and Elizabeth and let her see how important my family is. She and I had some very good conversations about balancing school and home and she seems ready to be flexible. We even went so far as to talk about what my project will be and the great news is that my field area will be a 30 minute drive from the house. This means that I won't have to be away overnight and that Elizabeth will be able to come into the field with me!! I will be super busy over the next three semesters trying to get my course work completed, but after that it is focusing on research and being able to work from home for quite a bit of it.

The move for Adam is going to be a bit different. The city does not have anything like the Mesa Arts Center, which will be very hard. He has been the artist in residence at the MAC for the last 3 years and it will be difficult to not have the facilities. He is being really positive about the move. He is currently building his own studio that we will install in the backyard, where ever we move. This will allow him to work from home. There will be limitations to the new studio, but I know he can make it work. While in ABQ we did head up to Santa Fe (the artist community of New Mexico) and met several big name glass blowers. The entire glass community was very welcoming and excited to have our family moving into the area. One of the studios has already offered a space for Adam to come and blow glass and work for them. It is not a paid position, but it allows him to work for trade. He makes product for them and then gets free time in the studio to make his own work. It is also a good opportunity to meet and work with fellow glass blowers.

It is also a chance to expand the frus glass market. We have become well known here in AZ and will now get to widen our market. The southwest is going to be Frus glass territory soon! This is very exciting for us. Adam will have a lot of work ahead of him, but I know he can do it. I will hopefully be able to help with some of the marketing and will also plan to be his assistant in the studio on the weekends.

He also has been accepted into the Pilchuck glass school for the July session. This is a very prestigous school that he applied to at the end of last year. It is highly regarded and he is one of seven that was accepted. He will be in Washington State for most of July. While we will miss him here, it is a totally awesome opportunity. He will be learning from one of the great sculptural glass workers and is really excited to be surrounded by the glass community.

As for Elizabeth she is just so great! I call her my little party girl because she loves to be around people. The mobile hotshop had a private party over the weekend and Elizabeth and I were invited to attend the party. Of course once we got there I was put to work, but the baby girl was SO good. She was passed around from person to person and just sat and smiled and talked to everyone. She was the hit of the party and even got a tip of $50 at the end of the gig because she was such a pleasure to have around. Everyone was so sad to see her put down for the night, they wanted her to stay awake with all of us.

She is so strong. She just started turning from her back onto her belly and is getting really good at it. She loves to sing and suck on anything she can get her hands on. No teeth yet and still not sleeping through the night, but hopefully soon. She loves to stand and she loves to smile.

We hope everyone is doing well and miss all of you. Because of the move to ABQ I will not be able to attend the July 24th party in Utah. I do plan to be in Utah between the 17th to the 22nd. So if any of you are planning to come to the reunion, try to plan to get there early rather than late. That way we will be able to spend some time together.

We love all of you so much! Hope everyone had a nice easter.
love the Frus's

ben and tamme mathews

We haven't sent out an update in a while and I thought it was time. This past few months have been busy. Kloey's birthday in March kicked off the parade of birthdays in our household. I'll start with her.

Kloey turned eight in March. She has been waiting, mostly patiently, for her BIG friend birthday party for years. I had been thinking about it for months. I don't really want to admit how long, but lets just say pumpkins and costumes were around. She invited 11 friends and they had a lot of fun. We decorated flip flops, painted nails, had cake and ice cream and opened presents. She received so many Barbies from her friends. By the end, I was ready for them to go. I think Kloey really had fun and I hope she knew how much she was thought of on her special day.

Two weeks later she was baptized. Rosi and Bill were able to come and it was very special to have them there. Kloey planned the whole thing. She decided who would do what and even asked people to bring treats. It was a wonderful day. My whole family came and after the baptism we took pictures in the Texas Blue Bonnets. I capped the day off with running out of gas, but my knight in a golden big truck came to my rescue.

Next on our list, was Sadee and Galilee's birthdays. Sadee turned one and the 11th and Galilee turned three on the 12th. We had a fun little party for them with Bill and Rosi. Galilee is a hoot. Every present she opened was the best thing ever! Sadee didn't really care for the presents, but she loved the cake. We didn't need to coax her into eating it. I realized it will be difficult to make their birthdays special and make them feel like they are loved on their day.

Sadee is our small fry. At her one year check up she was only in the 50%, but she is so sweet and fun. She is not walking, but is starting to straighten her legs when she is playing and stood up on her own once. I know she will do it on her own time, just like she has done everything on her own time. She still loves to wear shoes on her hands and I find them all over the house. If we can't find one shoe, its usually because she has crawled off with it somewhere and ditched it when she found another one.

Galilee is a riot. I love her animation. She has a little boyfriend at church and they are great buddies. He prays for her to come over and she says she loves him all the time. His name is Cooper, but she says Pooper. Kloey and Kael think its great fun to have her say his name. She is not shy and loves to befriend new people. At the store she will find new friends all the time and tells me they are her friend. Love that about her.

Last weekend, we celebrated Kael's 6th birthday. It happened to be Good Friday on his birthday, so he got the day off from school. For his day, we went to the movie Rio, he got to choose where to eat dinner and then got a surprise. We took him to pick out a new bike. He was really excited about that. He is playing baseball and really likes it. I think its great how he loves every sport he has played. He really tries hard and does a good job. Its fun to watch him learn and grow in each one.

Ben is working hard as usual. If its not in his office, its out in the yard. He has really made the yard look great this year. We added concert to our back porch and driveway. I am loving the porch, it is actually usable. Ben is loving the driveway, because it gives him more room to play on his new basketball hoop. He planted some seeds over Spring Break and its been fun watching them grow. The other day a horse ran through the garden, hopefull he didn't hurt to many plants. Ben is still working with the young men in the branch and really tries to give them the opportunity to grow and lead. He has helped them lead some service project in the community lately. I am constantly amazed at all he does.

As for me, I was asked to be in charge of girls camp this year. I am excited. I always LOVED girls camp and hope my girls will too. I am almost done with seminary for the year and I am glad. I might be running a 5k this Saturday for the Onion Festival. It will be my first one and I am excited about it.

I guess that is it for us Mathews in Texas. Hope you all are well and happy.
Love Tamme

Claire is Claire. She is a bossy, precosious 2 year old that thinks she's at least 29 (I'm twenty-eight. I just means she thinks she's older than me). A few days ago, I was teaching, Nick was late for a class and he needed to feed Matthew before he left. This is what I walked into:



The only reason I heard anything at all to know to even look was because Matthew was choking...repeatedly. She did do a pretty good job, all said and done. Made me laugh my pants off.


She regularly tells me "I'm the momma." because I say it so often to her to stop bossing, or pushing others around. HA!

bill and rosi mathews

March 27^th, 2011

Kloey’s 8^th birthday

Hello Family,

I am missing you all this weekend and have been thinking about how blessed I am to have such a wonderful group of people who make up my family. Dad and I continue to pray for you all each day…. Dad in particular for his grandbabies… including Roderick, who is hardly a baby. He prays that they are safe, happy and progressing… well maybe I put a few words in his mouth. His prayers are generally very short and to the point.

Spring (Fruhling in German) is upon us here in Utah. Last night however the weather wasn’t sure as there was a heavy rain, then ice and wind pelting our windows. There was also a nice clap of thunder in the early hours. This morning is mild, sunny, wet looking and smells fresh. I went for an early walk and enjoyed every second of it.

Our thoughts turn to Kloey down there in Princeton, Texas. She is eight today and that is certainly a milestone. We are so grateful for her and the great young lady that she is becoming. We know that she is a good example to her friends and that she is an excellent big sister and daughter. We have also heard that she is a terrific student and that like her cousin, Tyler, she loves to read. (Tyler seems to read nonstop. When at our house, he is usually sitting on our couch in the living room with his head in a book.)

There has been lots of basket ball in our lives these days. Not only was Tyler playing in a league (with Amy as his coach…lucky boy) but also Amy and Luke were playing church ball. I am not sure what the outcome was for the adults. Luke’s church team may have taken the big prize. We have also been watching BYU and the Jimmer Show. Wow, he is really something. When they lost to Florida, Dad and I were so nervous it almost made us sick. At this point, I think that we have both pretty much recovered. No hospitalization was necessary. The Jazz scene is dismal. I have only worn my “Matthews” Jazz jersey to school once this year. (Matthews, the player, is playing for Portland this year.) Oh well, maybe next year. Our A Cappella Choir did have a great time singing the national anthem for their game against Detroit in January. They did win that one. Maybe we just need to sing at all of their games.

Luke recently brought Dad a small bracelet labeled “power balance performance technology”. It has seemed to give Dad added strength in his limbs. It pleased him that Luke would be so thoughtful. Now Dad says that he needs to try one around his ankles. I teasingly told him that we should both try one around our necks. We laughed.

Yesterday I asked Dad to open a large plastic storage container of oatmeal. It had been sealed at a plant somewhere and it was next to impossible to open. He worked on it for over an hour. I could see that he was frustrated, but he was determined to not let the bucket be the “winner”. He succeeded in getting enough of it to open that we were able to pour it into another container so we could use it. I have a feeling that those other storage buckets of oatmeal that are downstairs will be opened by someone else. I threw that detestable bucket in the trash this morning.

Marlies, Becky and Debbie, you will be proud of our recycling efforts. We are doing pretty well at being green in that regard. (although that above bucket went in the REGULAR TRASH!!!)

Yesterday one of my students suggested that we drive out to Nephi and have lunch at a restaurant called “The China Town”. She assured us that it would be good. We went and it was very tasty. While there, the student’s Dad came in and invited us to visit their home which he is in the process of remodeling. It is a Victorian style home and was built in the 1850’s. They had recently had a fire in one of the rooms and so the whole house has been in repair. The old windows and sills, wow, it was awesome, but what a lot of work. It was a fun little excursion. We drove on the back roads coming home…through Mona (I think that Nick’s parents are interested in that area) and Santiquin. (Ben and Tamme, there are some great pieces of property available out there…. Hint, hint)

This morning I am making Oatmeal Cookies… in honor of the deceased bucket. Wow, they are baking and they smell GOOD. (Maybe Dad’s hour of frustration was worth it.) I have also been preparing a talk for church this afternoon. I was released from the primary last week. So this week I get to speak on “the joy of service”. I have spent lots of quiet moments this week trying to figure out what to say. It seems like I go from one challenge to another. How about you? It is either preparing a lesson for sharing time, or a meeting at school, or preparing for a choir performance or tour, or going to the dentist. How do those all line up? I sure don’t know.

Becky has been busy with her challenges at school. Sure hope that your interview-- milestone check on your Masters went well. I am sure it did. You are amazing! Thanks for the pictures of beautiful Elizabeth!!

Dad and I will be flying to Dallas to spend time with Ben’s family over spring break… April 9-14^th. (Kloey’s baptism.) Then we are excited to watch Claire Bear and Matthew for a couple of days. In June we will be flying to Rhode Island to spend a week with Tim and Jill. It will be so wonderful to see them and Elle and Liam. Those two kids are really changing. Thanks to both Tim and Jill for sending us pictures via the mobile phone so that we can watch their growth.

I asked Dad this morning “when was the last time that Marlies came to visit?” It has seemed like a long time, Sister. He reminded me that it was at Christmas time. That made me feel better but we would still like to see you up our way more often. We miss you!!! By the way, I think we have one of Roderick’s shirts in our closet. Black, long sleeved.

Love you all,

tim and jill mathews

Hello all…it is always so nice to hear how everyone is doing on a regular basis. Things are going well here. Just busy bees…



The best news lately is that Tim is doing amazing as a Residential Consultant. He is so respected by the Director and other higher ups and that is great for future positions with Boys Town! We are praying that Tim will have the opportunity to become program director in September (rumors let us know it will be available to at least apply for!!!) . Tim is also teaching every Sunday at church a Spanish Gospel Essentials class and is so well liked!



Ellie is our smarty pants these days… keeping Mom on her toes all day long teaching to showing respect by not talking back! It’s funny, I posted on my facebook a couple of days ago that I asked Elle to clean her room because it was messy and her response was… “Well Mom, I like it that way, it’s like a party!” Anytime I go to clean her room, she says to leave her PARTY alone! Elle’s dance recital is in June and her teacher asked her to be the leader to help get the kids on and off stage. She likes being the teacher’s helper…you should she her dance these days…she is really doing well in her class.



Liam has started talking more, saying and signing please, more, thank you and dadadada all day long while pounding on the front door waiting for daddy to come home. He is still taking his time walking. Mom has the whole house childproofed because he is into everything. His favorite thing to get into is the dog’s food and water bowl. It is a race to catch him if he makes it through the kitchen doorway.



I am busy being Mom, wife, working with the young women at church, and working my job lots! I recently took on a childcare position taking care of a 5 year old girl overnight. It was short lived as her mother is struggling financially.



…We just hit the rainy season here…summer is around the corner…I can’t wait!!!



Miss ya all and love you...

Tim, Jill, Elle, and Liam

adam and becky frus

Arizona is getting warm and humid. We are in the high 80's all week. Really quite beautiful.

Adam has his big show next weekend. The furnace at the Mesa Arts Center keeps breaking down. That place has a great volunteer in Adam, luckily he gets it back in free hours in the studio.

Becky is so busy writing and getting ready for Monday's presentation. Having a hard time concentrating on anything else, except baby.

Elizabeth is not yet sleeping through the night...she was up twice last night...that mean's mom was too. she is big. I like to feed her when she is naked. I really get to see how much she is growing. She is all smiles. You look her in the eyes and all she can do is smile and talk to you. No laughs yet. can't wait.

love you all
bec

bill and rosi mathews

Nick... you are so fun. Thanks for the update on your family. I will, of course, be cheering for the Aggies. If they had a better seeding I think that they would have a better chance than BYU. I followed the Aggies even while in Seattle. One of the chaperones ... man... had his ipod or whatever and was keeping us up to date on the Cougars. I would always ask "how is Utah State doing?"

Thanks for taking Dad with you. You guys are so thoughtful. I hope you guys had fun in Nevada.

Rosi Mathews

nick and deb sorensen

This last weekend we went down to Las Vegas to watch our men’s basketball team, the Aggies. beat two other teams to win our conference championship. The Aggies will be playing on Thursday in Round 2 of the NCAA tournament. Go Aggies!

Nick has been busy with work. He’s currently transitioning from one job to another and therefore is very busy doing a little of both jobs. Deb has been memorizing lines and music for an upcoming “cheesy church musical” as she likes to call it. I believe she performs Thursday night if anyone wants to come. Claire is busy, as usual. She loves playing with puzzles right now. She is also working on her alphabet and numbers. I think her favorite number is 8 and her favorite letter is o. Matthew is always happy, even when his eczema is really bad. Last night I fed him two new things, we’ll see what mom says when she finds out. I fed him peas and Rice Krispies.

-Nick

ROSEMARY’S BABY

Alright all you old-timers. I know what you’re thinking. This message can’t possibly be about the 1968 horror movie by the same title, starring Mia Farrow. Don’t worry…it’s not. (For you youngsters, don’t bother to look it up.) No, this message is about a much more interesting Rosemary – Rosemary Mathews, the Choir Director at Mountain View High School in Orem. Her baby, of course, is the best choir program in the state and one of the best in the whole country.

Mrs. Mathews was a professional opera singer in her early career, including performances in notable operas, such as the Marriage of Figaro. Later, she taught at the University of Nevada, Reno and BYU. In 1996, Mrs. Mathews answered the call to work with students in the public schools and within a short time had built up a remarkable program with a whole series of choirs, needed to accommodate the large number of students who wanted to participate…including my own high-school-junior daughter (Betty).

On Friday, February 11, our family went to the school auditorium for the annual Valentine’s concert. This one, like some others, was a fundraiser for an upcoming student tour. The tickets were $10 each…and the place was packed (on Saturday too!). The theme this year was a tribute to the work of Andrew Lloyd Webber, with memorable tunes from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream-coat, Cats and Phantom of the Opera. But this wasn’t just a concert – it was an entire performance, with elegant costumes and elaborate choreography. Just to make sure that the evening was unforgettable, Mrs. Mathews had the choirs from the two feeder junior high schools, Lakeridge and Orem, participate as well. The opening number included a cast of 400 student performers. The performance of Cats included, well…lots of cats – in the form of senior and junior high school students with feline costumes, teased hair and face makeup. You could really tell these kids were having a blast! The performance from Phantom, was simply over the top. Elegant formal costumes in dance and rich young voices filled the hall, accompanied by a real organ (unseen by the audience until the last few numbers, when the backstage curtain lifted to reveal that the Phantom – in full costume – had been the accompanist all along!).

Oh, as an aside, this production was so well planned that Mrs. Matthews sat in the audience enjoying the performance along with everyone else.

Now, it might occur to any of us that this sounds like a lot more than we would be willing to do. All those evening and Saturday rehearsals probably aren’t in Mrs. Mathew’s job description. She was exceeding expectations by a long shot. Why? Because she loves what she does and loves the students. As you might suspect, they love her too. When she invited choir alumni to come up on stage to join in singing the Hallelujah Chorus at the Christmas Concert, there was barely room to stand. It is clear that Rosemary Mathews is an outstanding example of “Legendary Service and Value” – our BYU administrative vision. So are many of you. You do more, just because you want to. Just because you love it so much.

Have a great week!

Brian

FWD from:Dee Bevan
Dixie, I just felt you needed to see this! It's so glowing and true! My daughter Collette works at BYU and this was sent to her by one of the VP's. (boss?) as an inspiration to the staff. We are all so proud of Rosie. I don't know if she will see this, so forward it on to her. (I don't have her e-mail.) Love you guys! Dee

FWD from: Dixie Clifford
Rosemary, Left you a message as we got back into town last night. Had this message waiting early this morning on email from Dee Bevan. See how the creme of the crop rises and gets credit and attention from unexpected sources. I don't know the last name of the BYU VP who wrote it, but he was intent on expressing himself. Dee asked me to send it along to you. YOU ARE THE VERY, VERY BEST OF THE BEST ! ! xoxoxo doc

tim and jill mathews

Well, we are pushing through this brutal winter in Rhode Island. I know Elle and I will be so happy when the weather is hot again (probably more like warm, forgot we aren’t in Vegas anymore). Just officially became Rhode Islanders…the car is finally registered here (9 months expired plates from Nevada)…LOL. We are so lucky that we never even got a ticket for expired plates…Tim was even pulled over three times and the police always let him go! What a blessing that is!



The kiddos are doing well. Liam is not quite walking yet…but he is getting closer. We entered him into a baby crawling contest and he whooped everyone, then at the very end he stopped and looked around at all the other cute babies. The babies had to actually cross over the line to win…oh well…he is still a winner in our hearts! He is just a happy baby and always so loving. He sure loves his daddy!



Elle is doing well. She is writing her name and other letters and can say the months of the year and days of the week. She is so smart. She literally could play dolls all day long. Tim and I will play with her too…I think Tim is better than me at it, he breaks out the Disney songs as the princess dolls dance with the prince. Elle loves it!



As for Tim and I, we are busy, busy, busy working lots! I feel sometimes the only break is the needed sleep I finally get. I will let Tim speak for himself. I am so grateful everyday for all that we have! I have recently started up with Avon (it was so cheap to join, only 10 bucks). I don't imagine I will make a fortune, but for extra money, I thought it might help. I am still doing Live-Ops and thankfully it is paying the bills. Tim is loved at his job and he does so well at it. He just learned that there are promotions in September coming up for him to apply for, so we ask for all your prayers in making this possible. Not only would it be great for Tim’s career, but also financially! Thank you to those that recently helped us. We are so appreciative and grateful.

Hope you all are doing well. We miss you tons…

Love,

Tim, Jill, Elle, Liam

adam and becky frus

hello from arizona...

Things here in AZ are going great! Elizabeth is all smiles but has yet to laugh. She seems to be growing so much everyday and is getting so strong. I got to spend the last week with her and she is so good. Everyday is a different sleep schedule, no matter how hard I try, but it seems to be working! she slept 8 hours last night. (instead of the 4-5 hours)

I got some great news and that was an unofficial offer from University of New Mexico (UNM) in Albuquerque, to attain my PhD in Geological Sciences. I would be studying hydrology and chemistry along with geology to look at water deposits, possibly in the Grand Canyon. I was offered a 4 year teaching contract on campus and it is an exciting offer. We are going through some decisions over the next several months and would appreciate everyone's prayers for guidance as we decide the next move for our family. I am also still hard at work on writing my Masters Thesis and doing a Technical Review and Defense with my advising committee...very nerve racking and lots of work.

Adam just had a really successful show at the Desert Botanical Gardens with the Highway Hotshop, the mobile glass blowing studio. They were there for 8 days (all day and night) and did demonstrations and taught lessons. It was awesome!! He worked so hard and it really paid off.

You are all in our thoughts and hope all is good
becky

nick and deb sorensen

Hello Family!

small things: Claire lines up her toys in the bathroom corners, facing the corners, and tells me they are in time out. "Bad atchen" she says. She SINGS. wow, she sings. I teach lessons in the front room and whenever she's not at the babysitters, she will do all the warm ups with the students. Her favorite one is "Zi zo zi zo zi zo zi zo za za za". The way she says it makes me think it would be the best advertising for a Twizzler commercial. "ZZZZZZZZeeeee! ZOOOO! ZEEEEEEEEEEE! Zo! Za Za Za!" Terrible 2's are awful and I've heard 3's are worse. Does anyone wanna child for the next year or so? I hate it how I ask her to do something and she does the exact opposite. I'm going to have to try the "energy drain" (from Love and Logic). We'll see how it goes.

Matthew has the worst eczema I've ever seen. It covers his poor face and it gets all swollen and painful looking. He just smiles through it until Claire whacks him in the face. Or even scratches him by accident and then he balls. Poor kid. He's so great.

Love you,
-deb

bill and rosi mathews

Feb. 27, 2011

Hello Family.

It’s Sunday night and I’ve been thinking about you.

It has been another fast paced week with some special moments.

Last Sunday Tyler, Emma and Quincey spent the night. Monday we all went swimming. It was such fun and the kids’ swimming skills have grown so much. At one point we had some Olympic games with “The Shark” Tyler, “Miss Dolphin” Emma and “The Minnow” Quincey. With a noodle I would smack the water (which sounded like a starting pistol) and the kids would be off to the races. Events included the longest leap off the edge of the pool, the crawl, the biggest jumper. We made some great memories. We even came home and looked up the various fishes on Google. The great artist, Gramma, then drew them for the kids. (None of them knew what a minnow looked like.) We decided that if Claire were here we would name her “Guppy”.

At school I am very busy getting ready to go on tour to Seattle, Washington. Last Thursday we had five different groups arrive for early morning rehearsals. We leave on tour March 9 and will be gone until March 14. On Wednesday we held a School Solo/Ensemble festival. We had an amazing 120 entries. We had 7 adjudicators (one was Aunt Dixie) who listened and gave the students scores. Next Wednesday we will be holding the Region Solo/Ensemble at our school. These are big days. It is the first time that we have held the Region event at our school while I have been here. Just a mention, our fundraising concert “An Evening with Andrew Lloyd Webber” was a tremendous success. We had three people enquire to see if Andrew would actually be there. One lady was adamant that he would be accompanying our concert. Actually we had our own organ playing phantom and with the huge organ we rented he took us over the top with his great organ skills. We actually made some money this year. Boy did we need it.

Dad and I attended the Adult session of Stake Conference last night. It was a good meeting. I came away with two meaningful thoughts. I would like to share them with you:
“When you are on your knees, you invite divinity.”
“When you are in the place where the Lord would have you be, you invite revelation”.
Cool, uh? Read them over a couple of times and look deeply. I think that you will see the truth in the statements.

We were excited to hear that Becky has a wonderful offer to go to the University of New Mexico and earn her PHD. Wow, that is terrific. She and Adam are looking carefully at that possibility. Nick begins his new job at Utah State in March. We understand that he got a whale of a raise. Congratulations, Nick O, Ben called from San Jose this week. He was there for a few days getting Cisco straightened out.

Sports? Some good news. Jimmer Fredette is amazing and BYU basketball is rising to the top. The Aggies at Utah State have also had lots of success. (We had the opportunity to see the Aggies play…sat in the “special” box because of Nick. What fun.) The Jazz, ouch!!! But I am glad that D Will is gone. MVHS sports?… basket ball, not looking so good.

Well, have a wonderful week. We love you ALL!!!!!!

Mom

ben and tamme mathews

The Texas Mathews are fat and happy. Well not all are fat, but all are happy.

Kloey is on the 4th installment of the Percy Jackson series. The last one took her 6 days to read. I had a meeting with her teacher and she told me that whenever there is free time in class, Kloey always asks to read. She also told me that Kloey is reading at a 4th grade level. I am grateful she loves to read. At pickup one day her 1st grade teacher said, "every time I see her, her book is bigger." She is in basketball (which she doesn't really like) and in her last game she scored 2 points. Her coach also put her on the tallest girl on the other team and she did a great job defending her. Kloey will be turning eight next month and she is really excited to have her big birthday party.

Kael is one silly boy. He just loves to make people laugh. I think he is the class clown at school. He really loves to play sports. Now that the weather is nicer, he spends most of his time outside, either shooting baskets or playing football. Every now and then Kloey will join him, but he is mostly out there by himself. I love watching him run plays and dodge imaginary players. He is excited to play baseball in the spring.

Galilee is a hoot. The other night after a bath she tooted while she was still naked. She was shocked and was bending over trying to see what happened and where it came from. Kael and I just laughed at her. I wish I could understand her more, but it doesn't stop her from talking. She is a chatterbox. She is really into her princess shoes and playing the "chicken game" on Ben's new phone.

Sadee has started crawling! She is still very vocal and VERY loud. The other day I was in the dressing room, Gali had Sadee laughing so loud. I could hear the ladies next door laughing at them. It was so cute. She is one smart cookie. She tries to put the little Cinderella doll shoes on her feet. She sets the on her big toes. She also just cut two new teeth. We will have a little vampire in the house for awhile, until the middle teeth grow in.

Ben is feeling the challenges of a new role at work. But he is amazing and tries hard to learn and do things right. He just got an new phone and sometimes, I lose to the phone and all its bells and whistles. He just returned from San Jose, CA and I am always glad to have him home.

I just bought my first pair of high heel shoes. They are purple and fabulous! Now I just need to find something to wear with them. I started a boot camp which is kicking my behind and I am realizing that I am getting older. But it is fun and I enjoy the hard work.

The weather is becoming nice and warm here. Spring is coming and my favorite thing about our large yard is all the bulbs that bloom. We have white, yellow, purple and red flowers. Plus the Blue Bonnets all around, the wild flowers in Texas are breathtaking. Y'all should come see them...hint, hint.

nick and deb sorensen

Matthew:

has been battling sickness and junk still. It seems never ending, and I guess it is. He was running 103 fever for a few days, but doc couldn't find a great reason but I did get chastised a bit for not bringing him in sooner.
I don't know what to say about him besides that he's adorable. Nick has found out that whenever you open your eyeballs really wide at him, he starts to giggle. If you shake your head from side to side, he starts to giggle. If Claire is within reach, the kid totally attacks her! Pulls her hair, clothes, whatever to get more of her. She's going to be in trouble when he can crawl over to her and pound her into the ground!

Claire:

LOVES everyone and everything. Is doing such a great job being a helper and big sister. She bosses everyone around, even me. She is constantly asking for food and that is okay with me because she has really started to EAT! I developed a thing lately because I was so tired of wrestling with her to eat and eating became my least patient time of the day. Tears were common (claire) and anger eminent (deb). So, finally I decided to let her choose how much to eat and what was on her plate was the only thing she was allowed to eat. As soon as she said she was all done, I let her be but then I wouldn't feed her until the next meal AT ALL! and the first few days I wasn't in positions to allow her to eat any sooner than breakfast at 8 amish and then lunch at almost 2! She was so hungry that she'd eat whatever I gave her. Now, it's not perfect but we are both so much happier! HURRAY!

She is still in pull ups and I feel like it's going to be until the end of time. She's so hit or miss with it. 3 days in a row she'll be GREAT and she'll be in panties the whole time. Then on the 4th day she won't pee in the toilet once, but will wet her pants all day long. Finally we'll just put her back in pull ups because I'm tired of trying to not yell, spank, etc. (which does happen at times...HELP MOMS!)

Yesterday was a day off for Nick. After baths/showers, Nick laid on the bed with a crying Matthew, gave him his sucker (pacifier) and a blanket and just held him. Matthew reached up and rubbed his daddy's whiskers and loved every minute of it. Claire watched and decided she wanted a turn when Nick put Matthew to bed. She sat still for 5 WHOLE MINUTES! very impressive.

We've started to call Claire, Miss Bare for 2 reasons: 1-Claire Bear shortened kinda name. 2- she loves to be naked...specifically when others are around. We had a house guest for three days this last weekend (JT Tullis) and she wanted so much to be naked all the time.

Nick:

Starts his new job officially on March 1st, but has really already begun the enormous work load. We are so blessed with this job change. It'll be something so hard and so new to him, but he's always so good about digging right in. His boss is retiring April 1st and has really set Nick up more than we could have ever dreamed. I cannot explain the blessings we've received for his hard work and God's love.

Deb:

I've just finished helping Rosi's concert last weekend. I was so sad that all of you couldn't have come. Mom really has vision. I didn't get to spend as much time as I have in the past and this wasn't Rosi's bestest ever fund raising concert (maybe because I wasn't there for six weeks...only for 2...ha ha ha), but it was still phenomenal. I've also been working on a CD for Dixie's American Mother's thingy. Been interesting and definitely a lot more work than I would have liked. But it'll be in the mail tomorrow and I'll be able to let a lot of things rest. I've been battling a cold and the stress level will help fight that more than almost anything, I'm sure.

I miss you all so much. I've been praying for you, thinking about you. Be safe, happy, healthy.