Cindy Lou Who

Thought I would include a picture of my Rebecca having fun at Christmas! She is involved in an Activity Day program for 8-11 year old girls in our church, where they have lots of activities and fun every Tuesday night. Well they had a Christmas party this week and one of Vanessa's friends, Jaime Pierson did Rebecca's hair like this (Jaime has 3 sisters and she did all their hair like this last Christmas, it was pretty amazing!!) and it turned out wonderful, now she wants me to do it like this for the last day of school. Crazy, funny kids!

The Vernon Road

Here are Don and I in Winfield at a Stake Youth Activity this last weekend. We had a big volleyball day on Saturday where we played regular volleyball, blind volleyball and glow in the dark volleyball. Since it was such a cold day we didn't have as many youth as we usually do, we run around 100-120 who come out to activities. We are in the Vernon, BC Stake and so most of our activities are about an hour and a half away. So we always need lots of drivers, our ward has about 25-30 youth that go, we are one of the biggest in our Stake. Since Don is Bishop he goes to most of them and he is so good with the kids, is always right in there playing and having a good time. Here he is with an old friend Bill Boyes, who is a counselor in the Young Men Presidency. I am with Nadine Edis, the Stake Young Women President and her counselor, Ladene Rempel, (missing is Bonnie Sherwood) and I am the secretary. It keeps us busy planning activities, leadership meetings and helping the ward Young Women Presidencies. We sure love working with the people we do, they are a real example of dedication and inspiration. Its always fun working with the youth (12-18), it certainly has its challenges, but they are so enthusiastic and busy that it keeps us on our toes. Right now Vanessa is our only Young Woman since both Danielle and Melodie graduated, but Rebecca will be coming up in a year and a half and then Mitchell will be in Young Men in about 4 years, so we will be driving that Vernon road for years to come!!

Smarty Mel

Well wanted to write about our super Mel today...
we were soooo happy to find out yesterday from one of her teachers at Brocklehurst High School that she has won the Governor General's Award for Academic Achievement! This is the highest award you can win in your graduating year, it means she came out with the highest marks of her class!! We just can't believe it.....well we can, but it's just so amazing! We are so proud and happy with her. They don't find out until the year after because they have to total all the marks including finals and government exams at the end of the year. Melodie (still 18 years old) will be presented with it next spring at the scholarship assembly at Brock in June. I think what makes a real difference for Melodie is that she has this wonderful memory! She laughs it off and says it's only short term, she remembers enough to take the test and then forgets it all! She is still studying super hard because of the respiratory program she is in......it is 2 years of tough courses and then a year of practical. She had 5 classes and 3 labs this fall and she will have 6 classes and 4 labs in the spring! Needless to say, she doesn't have much of a social life right now but she tries to fit in some fun now and then. She is so looking forward to Christmas vacation and I think she intends to spend it on the hill snowboarding........Now if only I could get that brain of hers to love cooking, I would have it made......lol....... What a kid!!!

Sunday church

Sunday and I'm sending some pictures of us on the way to church! As you can see Don is not in them because he's usually out the door before 7, he's the Bishop of our church ward here (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) and so we usually don't see him before 2 or 3 in the afternoon, unless we catch a glimpse of him in the halls!.....lol..... Wasn't sure I could make it today, but felt better this morning and so we all headed out, even a little early for once !! Didn't make it long though, by Sunday school I had done so much hacking, a nice fellow behind me mentioned he had a really good Watkins product for colds and could drop it by and a lady next to me was sharing her cough drops because I had went through all 5 of mine. I decided to call it quits, headed home and went to bed. Thank goodness the rest of the day was pretty quiet, we had dinner and ended up playing Phase 10 with the kids..... Don and the kids have been pretty helpful knowing I'm not well, its kinda of funny.....Rebecca anxiously asks if I'm okay but its usually during a coughing fit and I can't answer, oh well, the downstairs bed is getting pretty comfortable!

Halloween 2006

Halloween at our house and Rebecca and Mitchell had fun dressing up....... last minute costume ideas! Mitchell decided to go as Harry Potter and then Rebecca cheerfully and enthusiastically went and painted an old tie for him, its a Gryffindor tie! It was so cold that night, we just froze. We didn't see many kids out after 8 o'clock, they went home to a warm house. Even Vanessa went out trick or treating this and I realized this year that I would much rather give the teens candy than have them out getting drunk somewhere!! I have been fighting an awful cold all week and so I wasn't too keen on being outside. I have just been miserable with all the sniffles and coughing. I don't usually have time to be sick, there's too much to do..... but then your body protests and there's not much you can do about it. Well we are into November now, and the Christmas countdown begins. I'm including some pictures that Don took....... Danielle reminded me to take some! Isn't that terrible, I would have totally forgot.

It's definitely fall here in BC, which means the trees are turning yellow and falling and its cold in the morning and at night but we still get some pretty warm afternoons. The saddest sight for me is looking out the window above my sink and seeing our pool gray because its covered, the summer is always so bright because its a nice fun blue. I am doing lunch duty at the school and have to admit, sure like being outside during that hour just taking in the last of the sunshiny days! The field is full of busy, happy little soccer players. Because its cooler I have to push myself outside but once I'm out there I sure like it....... but I'm usually just hopping in and out of the van. Halloween is coming and still need to get candy, if I get it too early it just disappears!...and I wish I could say it's the kids......have a happy October!

Friends

Couldn't resist adding this picture, I loved how it turned out. This was taken at Thanksgiving when we were all out enjoying the fall weather. Don had organized a game of soccer and then circle volleyball and while the kids played the ladies visited. These are my good friends Shauneen Jotie and Sandra Frazier. I was fooling with my camera trying to get some good black and white shots, then had Don take a couple of us and just loved this one...... we will really appreciate 20 years from now! I am also including a good one of my friends Sandra and Deanne Pierson, will have to try and get one in b&w next time. It sure makes me recognize the importance of good girl friends who pull you through the good times and bad, how blessed I am to have the friends I do.

Mother and Daughter

As I look at this picture of my Mom, Reina Granger and I taken last year at our family reunion, I can't help reflect on the fact that I am the same age my Mom was when I left home. I still think of her being that age........will Danielle have the same memories as I grow older? Now that she is married and gone from home, will she sometimes look at herself in the mirror and see the face of her mother? I miss them both and even they are both far away, Mom in Nova Scotia and Danielle in Calgary, there will always be a mother/daughter connection that transcends time and distance.......... it is the face in the mirror looking back at me. Love you Mom......... love you Danielle........

Clay and Shirley's visit

We were so happy to have Clay and Shirley Boyes come through the Monday after the wedding..... ate lots of wedding leftovers and did lots of visiting.. we never change but the kids sure do!! Their 4, Nathan, Natalie, Olivia and Morgan are all so much bigger....... time sure passes. It was so fun to visit.... it always makes us grateful when people take the time to come visit, makes you feel important and connected!

Mathieson Journal

Danielle's Wedding.....
Well as you can imagine it has been a hectic, wonderful week! Danielle was married to Timothy Chlifton Pederson on Thursday, August 10 in the Cardston, AB temple. It was beautiful and we were so happy to be there. They had a reception in High River, AB that night and met lots of Tim's family and then we had a reception on Saturday here in Kamloops. I was so worried about it and it ended up being such a joyous occasion! Danielle's bridesmaids were Melodie, Vanessa, Rebecca, Jaime Wilson and Denise Muraski.......and the groomsmen were Joseph Hirsche, Mark Thompson, Don Pederson and Mitchell Mathieson! Because of the different locations some of them couldn't always be there but we had fun with whoever was there. I was grateful to have Tim's parents take care of the reception in High River and we did the one here. I was also so thankful for all the wonderful people that stepped in to help from decorating, making the cake, helping me sew bridesmaids dresses, cooking tons of food, doing hair and making dozens of wedding favours.........sure don't realize how much work goes into it, so thank goodness for family and friends........it was a special, wonderful day!

Thought I would send a picture of our youth temple trip! We had 37 youth with us as we went down to Seattle, as you can imagine it was pretty hectic! They're such a great group though, that they make it exciting. Here we are in front of the fountain at the Seattle temple. Seattle had flowers blooming and it was so green already. We stayed with the Engen family in Langley that Friday night, they were pretty amazing..... had boxes of donuts waiting for us, and a big breakfast for us the next morning. We went to the UBC ropes course on Saturday and the kids had a great time there too. It was a fun weekend...... as much fun as you can have with 37 teenagers......lol.

Here are the Mathiesons......Kathy, Don and Jeannie! We were only missing Bernie, he was home not feeling well. Jeannie is living on the Island now as well and loves it.

Mathiesons in Nanaimo

Another family picture in Nanaimo. We visited an animal recovery centre quite well known on the island... they had many birds and here was an archway of beautiful ivy. March 18, 2006.

Nanaimo

Here we are in Victoria at the Royal Museum....we were visiting the Island for spring break. It was so fun to get away and just spend time as a family. We sure missed Danielle! Had fun with Don's sister Kathy and brother Bernie and sister-in-law Barb.