Five years = Family Vacation

Will and I celebrated our fifth anniversary on November 29th. We were lucky enough to mark the occasion with five days in Sedona, yay! The three of us had so much fun and it was just what we needed. This was actually our first vacation just the three of us, no family to visit or schedule to keep. It was quite exciting. It was so great to get in some real quality family time. We all had such a terrific time. Also, thanks to Mom and Dad letting us use their timeshare, we stayed at a wonderful resort with more space than we knew what to do with. Faith had her own room equipped with a bathroom, kitchenette, and King sized bed! She though it was the coolest thing ever! We mostly took our time, relaxed, and enjoyed the beautiful view around us. We did a lot of sight seeing, played in the resort rec room, did arts and crafts, had some wonderful dinners, met Santa Clause, saw a movie, built a gingerbread house, and saw about every shop on the main strip. We went to a really neat Christmas display called the Red Rock Fantasy light show. We even got to see the lighting of the town Christmas tree and happened to be standing next to the mayor. We also have a list of things we want to be sure to do next time. And oh yes, there will be a next time! Here are just a few of the hundred pictures we took while we were there. There are two really short videos at the end too.


Playing ping pong. She hit a couple!

A bear statue she just had to sit with.




Red Rock Fantasy Light Show

She was so excited to see Wall-E







Don't worry, she's holding Will's cup :)

Our family pics always come out dark!

Look what we made!

What she wanted to do the whole time!

Arts and Crafts time!

Talking to Santa


She made a friend. So cute!


When we were sitting at Starbucks, Faith provided the entertainment. She invented some new dance moves while listening to Will's Ipod. I use the term dance loosely but she had us laughing!

The "Bouncy Dance"


Running in circles

Big Girl Now

This is Faith's first school photo! I had the pleasure of being at the school on picture day since it was on Thursday, the day I volunteer. It was so cute to see all the kids dressed up. They were adorable! I still can't believe our little one is old enough to even have school pictures.

My sentiments

God Bless America! I have mixed emotions right now over last night's election. However, I am so proud to live in a country were the PEOPLE choose, regardless if they choose the way I did. It felt good to be a part of such a significant time for our country. It is amazing how far the civil rights movement has brought us and I love that more people got out to vote. I think voting is a right that every American should cherish and consider a great responsibility. This is what makes America the country that I love. These are the things I will try to focus on as I stand behind our future President, because I feel that to is the American thing to do. I also want to say how impressed I was with John McCain's concession speech. He was so gracious and I was very moved. His true character and love for his country shined brightly. Governor Mike Huckabee (a man I truly admire) summed it all up more eloquently than I.

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

We Will Be Back in Strength
by Mike Huckabee

I'm very proud to have supported Senator McCain and the only regret is that more Americans didn't share my conviction that he would have made an outstanding President. I not only recognize, but respect that we are a nation in which the people choose and tonight they have chosen Senator Obama. He was not my choice, but he will be my President and I will pray for him to lead this great nation with God's help and grace. He will face serious challenges to lead our country and he will need all Americans to give him a chance.

The campaign is over and now is the time for governing and leading. The Republican Party must now reassess where it is and where it is going. Our problem is not that our views aren't acceptable, it is that many in our party have abandoned the very principles that once drew Americans to trust us. Our party will be back with strength, but tonight we should all celebrate the historic nature of this election and put our country ahead of our party.

As disappointed as I am that we have lost the election, I can't help but feel that many courageous leaders of the civil rights movement look down from heaven tonight with a smile that the day has come when a man is elected without regard to his color. I salute President-elect Obama for his discipline and tenacity that has given our country the opportunity to witness this significant event.

Politics is not an event but a process. We sometimes lose the events but it never gives us the right to stop being faithful to our principles that enlisted us in the process. We shall live to fight another day.

TGIF

So far this weekend has been fabulous! While on the phone with my mom Friday, she said she was needing a "Faith Fix". She spontaneously decided to come pick Faith up to spend the day with her. Faith could not have been more excited to hang out with Grandma and Grandpa. After I told her that my mom was on the way to get her Faith announced, "I miss Grandma, she needs to hurry up". Well, off they went. It was actually funny how quite the house felt to me because I am never home by myself. Come to think of it, nowadays I'm never anywhere by myself! haha When Will got home from work we ended up with the extremely rare opportunity for a date night.

We started off by going to dinner at Red Lobster with Will's father, Bill. He was treating us on behalf of my upcoming birthday, which was so nice. I suppose this part of the evening may not have counted as a date night because it was not just the two of us. However, for me it was actually a treat. I feel like I never get to socialize when we dine out because I'm "kid wrangling" much of the time. This night I got to participate in adult conversation. I felt like I had graduated to the big table! We had a very nice dinner and left completely stuffed .

Will and I both have wanted to see the new movie Ghost Town. Friday was the opening night, so we lucked out. I cannot express how great this movie was. Granted, my movie going excursions usually come around about twice a year, but this one is a new favorite. Seriously, my sides still hurt. Ricky Gervais (from the English version of "The Office) is the lead and he is fantastic. What was also really great about this movie was its simple and beautifully done underlying message. I don't want to give anything away because you all need to see it so, it basically boils down to this- Each of the dozens of people you pass throughout your day have their own story. You may not know what it is, but it's significant and relevant to them, it matters. My synopsis may not be as eloquent as a few of the lines in the movie, but this really strikes a cord with me. Its not very profound really, but how often do we consider this as we interact with those we meet? A few times over the years I have found myself pondering just what was going on in the lives of the strangers I crossed paths with. Usually this occurs when I'm dealing with something big in my life or perhaps a loved one is. Maybe I realized I had just helped my 100th customer that day at the bank. I would end up just fascinated by the thought that the rude customer might be going through a tragedy, or the supper sweet older woman is stronger than I can ever imagine. More than a few times, I would be assisting a client who needed to reorganize his/her accounts and find out ten minutes in that they had recently lost there spouse of fifty or so years and the spouse had always run the finances. I think sometimes I had more trouble keeping my composure than the client in this situation. I can't even imagine how you go about taking the next step in your life and essentially starting over. All of this to say that this movie was a great reminder of a simple truth that is to look past. God made us all so unique and yet really interconnected in the grand scheme of things. I can't help but wonder how often he shakes his head as we glance right over encounters with others in the busy haze of the day.

On a much less serious note... :) Faith ended up spending the night at my parents, which was her very first sleepover! She had a blast and was thoroughly spoiled. There were puzzles, games, and even french toast for breakfast. God bless Grandparents! Will and I had a wonderful night. We stayed up ridiculously late and it was so nice to just spend some time together. This morning when I called over there, a bubbly Faith told me she loved me and missed me and then announced she wasn't ready to leave yet. (The girl knows what she wants!) Will and I took the opportunity to have brunch together before we went to my parents. Then we all just visited and relaxed for a couple hours. When we got home, I cooked (chicken parmigan) and the three of us got to enjoy dinner together, both of which don't happen all that often (sheepish grin). We also stopped for Starbucks on the way home, which as far as I'm concerned, is the perfect end to any day! For those of you who want to scold me for the Starbucks because you know I have quite the costly addiction, I say it still counts as the date night which is a reasonable exception so back off! hehe P.S. I love you

Hope all of you have a wonderful weekend as well.

The Mathis' join the blogging world

Hello all, whoever that may be. Welcome to the very first Mathis blog post! We'll try to keep any interested readers up to date with the current events of our household. Hopefully we'll also have some entertaining stories to share as well. Generally the posts will be written by Somer, but Will might decide to do one every so often.

I suppose I'll use this first entry to do a brief synopsis of what's going on in each of our lives right now. Our littlest family member, Faith has just started prekindergarten. She really enjoys it and loves her teacher, Mrs. Ortega. Its amazing how quickly she is growing. Will and I love to watch her as she learns new things. She is still as spunky and vivacious and fills our home with laughter daily.

Will is still enjoying working at Mesa Community College at Red Mountain as an AV Technician. He has been there a little over three years. It is so great to see him liking his job so much. He also really enjoys his coworker, which is an added plus. Will has also been taking online classes the last few semesters. He's pretty near his first degree, which will mean a greatly appreciated pay raise. Will continues to be a wonderful father and husband, showering his girls with affection.

As for me, I have loved being able to spend this last year at home with Faith. I'm immensely grateful for the opportunity and the financial, shall we say "rearranging" was well worth it. I have recently started taking classes again and I'm thrilled. It feels great to be in school again and I'm only a couple classes from a degree. However, it will only be my AA and just the beginning. Regardless, its about darn time! :)

The biggest change in the Mathis family will most likely be coming in October. We started looking at houses a couple of weeks ago. We decided on Queen Creek because, after looking around other areas, it was abundantly clear we would get sooo much more for our money. Well, we put an offer in and it was accepted! The inspection was just done yesterday and we were assured the house would not be falling over anytime soon! The house was built in 2005, so we were hoping we wouldn't be to shocked by any findings. At this point it is nearly a done deal. There are a couple contracts that need to go back and forth from the bank and then it's as good as ours! Have no doubt that when that day comes, I will be shouting from the rooftops! You might just want to keep your ears peeled because you might hear it where you live. If all continues as scheduled, we will be closing escrow on October 22nd. Stay tuned for an invite to our house warming party!