ARE YOU KIDDING ME!

No way, you can't be serious! These are just a few of the phrases that came out of my mouth when my mother let it slip that Brandon would be visiting Idaho with his girlfriend Kayla and Jackson their son. Words really can't describe how incredibly excited I was upon hearing the wonderful news! Talk about a fun week, from Wednesday the 17 until Friday the 19th, our days were jam packed full of fun and catching up. Brandon and Kayla left Missouri monday night, the 15th, late and arrived in Idaho Tuesday evening. I saw them on Wednesday morning at my mom's house. I just love my big brothers, it is always so fun to see each of them! Now that Matt lives in Mississippi, Brandon in Missouri, and Melissa my sister in Michigan, I only live close to one sibling. So it is no wonder that I got so excited:)

Well, Wednesday evening was spent at my Grandparents house for a family BBQ. Corey came back to Pocatello after the BBQ and stayed Wednesday and Thursday night. We had a sleepover with our kids and 2 of Corey's kids at our house. Get this, they stayed up until midnight playing and giggling. I thought for sure they would sleep in late because of this, but NO... at 6am I see 4 little heads pop out of the boys room as I was laying in our bed nursing the baby. Later in the day, Brandon and Elena took naps because of the late night/early morning stint. Thursday was a perfect day! It started with french toast at my mom's. We soon decided after breakfast to take the party to my house. We set up a badminton net and filled up the pool and also set up the slip-n-slide on the hill, and we were ready for a crazy fun day! We played many games of volleyball and badminton, switching up the players and teams. The BBQ was amazing, great food from my mom's kitchen (AMAZING pies for dessert!). The kids spent all day in the pool for the most part. I have a video of my hubby going down the slip-n-slide, and being on a hill and running and jumping onto the slide, he zoomed down that thing!

What better way to end a great day than to play games with the adults at my mom's house? Friday morning dawned bright and beautiful, and delicious with "Mor-mor's special pancakes" (Norwegian pancakes). Corey's family had to leave shortly after breakfast, and Mike was working all morning, but the fun kept on going. I stayed at my mom's all day hanging out with Kayla and Brandon and Jackson. I fell in love with that little boy, he is about the cutest thing, especially when he is next to my Zachary. Kayla and my mom and I went shopping for baby clothes, and that was just what this mom needed... time to spend some money:) It wasn't clothing for me, but it was the time with my mom and Kayla that renewed and revived me! We played Wheel of Fortune and Family Fued when Mike came over later that evening. Brandon requested a special dinner from my mom, fried chicken and mashed potatoes. I haven't had that for quite some time, it is such a comfort food from my childhood, I am glad Brandon requested it. Well, I am going to just wrap up this post with my favorite pictures from our adventures.

Cousins playing on great-grandma's tramp

Visiting on the backyard patio

My mom with 3 of her children (double love this pic!!)

Kimball holding Jackson

Mor-mor and her grandbabies

Kayla and Jackson

Corey playing a one on one game of volleyball with Brandon

The kids swimming

Sleepover at aunt Tiff's and uncle Mike's

Jackson is a thumb sucker... so darn cute!

Big Brandon and little Brandon

Holding the babies, Mike with Jackson and
Brandon with Zachary

Cousins Jackson and Zachary

Jackson's face is funny, he was probably thinking
"Who is this other baby invading my space?"

Grandparents

Monday August 15th my mother, Zach, and I headed to Idaho Falls for a fun night at my Grandma's house. We attended a wedding shower for Karlee, who married my cousin Kyle Moore on Aug 27th. It was a fun evening, but the best part for me was watching my grandpa and Zach interact at the end of the party. Zach sat on the swing outside with my grandpa for about 30 minutes, cooing at him getting to know his great-grandpa. How deeply blessed we are to live so close my my grandparents and to see them so often. Kimball talks about them all the time, and it always puts a smile on my face when he or Brandon talk about them. I wish we lived closer to Nida, who is Mike's grandmother, so that our boys could get better acquainted with her.

So if I had to choose my favorite things to do at my grandparent's house, that list would look something like this:
1. Talking with Grandma on the couch or the backyard, just her and me
2. Picking raspberries and grape tomatoes and eating it right then!
3. Helping Grandpa in the vegetable garden or Grandma in the flower beds
4. Looking at all the photo albums, reminiscing
5. Wiffle ball in the front yard
There are a million more things to add to this list, these are take the top for me though. I love you Grandpa and Grandma!!

Smile!

Our mini vacation

Call me crazy, but I do consider a weekend trip to Rexburg a mini vacation, especially when we can't afford a "real" vacation. Whatever the case may be, we had one heck of a weekend from August 6th to the 8th! It all started in Idaho Falls though, when Corey and Daymi took our kids while Mike and I served in the temple. I felt bad later on when I heard that Zach had been pretty fussy while we were in the temple for an hour and a half. Corey and Daymi were great though, and it was spiritually enriching for us.

They told us about activities that the Home Depot puts on for children, workshops where they can work on small projects. That weekend the project was a pencil box, so we decided to join in the fun. We made it a father/son activity only, and Daymi and I stayed in the cars with Zach and their two girls.

Working on pencil boxes at Home Depot

After their projects were done we were all pretty hungry, and what better way to entertain 5 young kiddos than a large play place... no we didn't go to McDonalds:) Arctic Circle is a little more palatable than McDonalds, at least to me anyways, so I was glad that is where we went. After making it back to Rexburg, we all got rubbed down in sunscreen and donned our bathing suits because we were headed to the new Rexburg Rapids swimming complex!! What a blast, certainly this complex is a great asset to the Rexburg community. The kids and adults alike had so much fun, and even the nursing mamma who had to sit it out on the side lines and not swim or go on the slides or lazy river had fun:)

Testing the waters

After a delicious BBQ at Corey's, Mike and Corey decided to get the boys together and spray paint their projects. While they painted, I watched the thunder clouds roll in, what a show! I just love summer thunder storms and the natural wonder and beauty of dark storm clouds against a clear summer sky with lightning dancing all around!

Painting the pencil boxes

After the kids went to bed, the adults decided to play... Wii that is:) I kind of got addicted to Tetris while we were staying there that weekend, which is why I am grateful we don't have a gaming system at home so that addiction would not last long! The next day was Sunday, the first of the month, and with that is Fast and Testimony meeting at church. I enjoyed listening to the testimonies from the mother's lounge, which was WAY nicer than the mother's lounge in Pocatello mind you!

Our summer would not be complete without a camping trip, and that is just how we decided to end our weekend together. There is a nice little campground near the teton river in Rexburg city limits and that is where we set up camp for the night. We enjoyed brats (the first time I'd eaten them... YUMMO) and hotdogs over the fire. Smores came later, of course! Corey and Mike enjoyed getting the fire going, and the kids had a blast exploring the camp site and getting filthy from head to toe! I was in the car half of the night taking care of Zachary while he had a blow out diaper, a sour tummy, and then when he got hungry. Zach and I also left camp around 9pm and headed back to Corey's house, I didn't want to take a 1 month old camping quite yet. The boys slept great in the tent. The only thing that would have made the trip more enjoyable is having a campground that had not been recently flooded by a river, the mosquitos were horrible.

Talking by the fire

Stoking the fire

Zach and mom enjoying the evening

Daymi and the girls just chillin

Kimball and Brandon ready for bed

Campfire serenade

So until next summer's rendezvous in Rexburg, we'll have memories from this trip!

Hot summer days...

What do the Matusek's do when the weather warms up? If you are just over a month old you sleep...

if you are older you play outside...

and we also try to find indoor activities to take a break from the summer sun...
and of course you just HAVE to climb poky trees in your swimsuit because the water is too chilly when it comes from the hose...
And if you are young enough, you try not to wear too many clothes:)

I have lost it all!

Every picture since 2005 after we got married... gone! I am still in shock really, I honestly can't believe this has happened to us. A few weeks ago our computer all of a sudden started bogging down and running completely and horribly slow. It would take hours to load a webpage, or to open a folder and retrieve a document. We were planning on taking it in to be looked at when we got paid again, but before that time came the computer crashed altogether. The hard drive, we found out later, was corrupt and the information on it lost.

There is still hope yet though, because there is a company in town that claims that can retrieve any information off any hard drive, no matter how corrupt. However, this hope comes with a hefty pricetag. It will cost anywhere from $200 to $2,500 to get all the information we want i.e. all our memories.

Lets say though, that for some reason this company can't get our pictures and videos recovered, all is not lost even then. I am so grateful that I have, for the most part, been a faithful blogger. I may not post that often, but when I do post I post everything that we have done as of late, a mass post if you will. Worst comes to worst, I will get all the pictures off of my blog and print them off. So far I have been able to print our pictures up to the summer of 2009, so I am missing 2 years worth of pictures in a hard copy. Also, my mom has taken quite a few pics of our family and different events, and there are pictures on facebook and our family websites.

What have we learned from this fiasco? Back your computer up in a viable way. Our computer used to be backed up on an external hard drive, but that hard drive crashed a few months back and we never got around to replacing it. We are investing in an online backup program that automatically backs all information up on your computer when you use it.

All that aside, I luckily had 300 photos on my camera that have been sitting on there during our computer mess... and now guess what time it is? Thats right, Tiffany's mass posting:) I'll start off with 2 quick pics of my baby Zach when he was about one month. I stuffed him into a newborn outfit when he was definitely too big for it. I had to though, the outfit was so darn cute, and he hadn't worn it yet.



The second picture is from a photo shoot that he had with mommy, lots of camera flashes and cooing trying to get him to smile. I love spending time with this little guy, he is so fun!

Motherhood Is a Calling (And Where Your Children Rank)

Motherhood Is a Calling (And Where Your Children Rank)
I saw this article on Facebook on a friends page and it struck home so deeply, I have read it twice today. I needed this article, especially now as I have had several women at grocery stores and around town comment to me "Gee, you have your hands full don't you." Now I know exactly what to say and will no longer return home after receiving these comments frustrated and upset. Read the article and you will see what I mean:)

I chose motherhood. I chose to have three children and will be having more in the future. I chose not to pursue a career in the field that I graduated in. I chose to live on one income (really 1/2 an income because Mike is in school). I chose today to dance, paint, laugh, and play with my boys instead of making sure that my home is spotless. I choose every day (sometimes it is a struggle) to put my children's value ahead of mine. I am a mother, it is my calling, it is hard work, but in being a mother I am fulfilled and find joy each and every day.

A quarter of a century...

I have gained 25 years of wisdom, experience, and memories...
I don't feel old at all, what I feel is gratitude for 25 years...
and I look forward to the next 25...

I had a wonderful birthday this year, very relaxing and enjoyable. Mike treated me to a lovely buttermilk pancake breakfast, delicious! I spent the whole day at home with my boys while Mike worked. We played on the slip-n-slide for a good majority of that afternoon, what a grand time that was! A good friend of mine, Shawna Morissey, brought us a spaghetti dinner and a cake. Mike made me cupcakes, and we had a little birthday celebration with the boys.

Zach didn't care that I was about to blow out candles,
he wanted to nurse:)

Kimball and Brandon helped me blow out the candles

Mor-mor took the boys that night for a sleepover, and Mike and I went out for ice cream and then rented a movie.

Here is hoping that the next 25 years finds me many more days as relaxing and fun as my birthday was!

Grammy and Grampy time!!

We are very excited to say that we once again live very close to Mike's parents! Grammy and Grampy Matusek made the move from Florida to Utah, hopefully for the last time. Kimball and Brandon could not be happier that we live so close to them! They are anxiously awaiting their special trip to Utah so they can spend the weekend with Grammy and Grampy... without Mommy and Daddy there!

We had a wonderful time visiting with them on July 8th when they took a break from unpacking boxes to come and meet their newest grandson. They spent the whole day with us at our home visiting, and playing with their grandkids. Kimball was SO bummed when they left, he wanted to go home with them, cute kid.

The three amigos

Introducing the Matusek boys!! Life is crazy with 3, but let me tell you about how my older boys have taken to having a new little brother around.


This is what I heard constantly from Kimball for about 2 weeks after he came home from Rexburg: "Can I hold baby Zachary?" Kimball is a great big brother! Besides being a great friend and playmate to Brandon, he is Zach's "Guardian." He has to be there for everything, runs to his aide if he starts to fuss, talks to him, and comments on any little thing that Zach does. It is amazing to watch how he interacts with Zach.

"Mom, I gave Zach my bunny!"

Kimball is so proud of his brother Zach

Brandon has adjusted so well to being a big brother. It was his reaction to a new baby that we were concerned about, but we were both pleasantly surprised when he warmed right up to Zachary. He likes to be around Zachary and show him some of his toys. If mommy asks, he will go and put Zach's pacifier in (or attempt to). He likes to sit by Zachary and look at his face and watch his movements. He will hold Zach, but doesn't beg us like Kimball does. He is a caring big brother, Zach is lucky to have Brandon!

Brandon watching Zach