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