Wow, okay, sorry... I haven't posted in a while... quite a while! Just wanted to give everyone a quick (probably) update on us and what we have going on.

Patty and myself visited Arizona for 3 weeks in October. It was a spur of the moment, fly out there to try and get the house fixed up and hopefully refinanced. Unfortunately, while we were approved, the market has dropped so much that we were going to have to come up with thousands more dollars than we had originally planned on. Anyway, *GASP* I can't believe I'm going to do this (those of you who know me, know why I say that), but I'm going to put up some SOOC (Straight out of the Camera) pictures. I hate doing this. I always know how much more I can do to make them look better before sending them out, but I just don't have the gumption right now to do that.

Here is Patty and a cutie patootie little girl named Alecia (pronounced Uh lee see a). It was sooo fun to watch the two of them color and share crackers back and forth! :)

I swear, on the plane, my daughter's "good twin" came out. She was nice and polite and just enjoyed coloring and eating crackers. I am not sure where it came from... fortunately the good twin returned for the flight home (but has yet to be seen again!)

We visited with Grandma and Patty got to ride on Grandma's scooter with her and go on the "bumpy umps" as Grandma calls them (and Patty now calls them). Here's a picture of the two of them:

Patty is still talking about going on bumpy umps every time we go out. :) (I think she had a little bit of fun, don't you?)

Awesome Auntie Laurie took Patty to the Zoo on the Friday before we left. She even got to ride the camel with Auntie Wowrie. Here are a few pictures from the zoo:

Auntie Wowrie spoiled her favoritest adopted niece, because, as she put it "how often do I get to see her... uhmmm.... like, never!" okay, so maybe that wasn't a perfect quote, but it was darned close! (LOVE YOU LAURIE!!! TOTALLY MISS YOU!!! AND YOU TOO BECKY!!!) (Sorry, just had to put that in!)

Unfortunately, I didn't get all the pictures copied from Auntie Wowrie's computer to mine before we left, so there are a lot of pictures out there that I don't have (but she promised to bring them to me when she comes out in December! YEAH!)

Life since we've been back has been pretty uneventful. Ashley, Patty and I have been passing around some sort of virus since Patty and I returned to Maryland. We are hoping it is almost gone. We had a laid back Thanksgiving. Just the three of us. It was really weird. I am so used to being around bunches of people at someone's house for Thanksgiving. I made my first turkey ever, and Ashley pretty much did everything else! :) I hadn't gotten any sleep the night before because I was determined to make it to CVS for there Thanksgiving Day sales! :) After there many free with store bucks items combined with the coupons I had, they ended up paying me to shop with them! :) How fun was that! (And I got a LOT of good free stuff - Aussie Shampoo and Conditioner's; cool lip glosses; Garnier Cleansing Towelettes; and 5 things of Gilette Clinical Strength Deodorant!). Gotta love a great deal! :)

Oops, before I close (and I almost forgot to post these, lol) here are the family pictures we had taken at Wal-mart (we bought the CD so posting these is totally legal!) -

With love and hope for a wonderful Christmas Season for all -

The Matteson's

Papa and Patty's Big Date

I hope you are sitting down! I don't know what the shock of seeing two blog posts from me in one week might do to you! :)

Patty and Ashley had a "Big Date" on September 13th. Patty had been looking forward to it as soon as mama and papa started talking about it. What was her big date with papa, you ask? Well... what gets Patty excited?

A. Elmo
B. Big Bird
C. Cookie Monster
D. Grover
E. All of the Above.


If you guessed "E" you would be totally correct (all the rest you'd just be 25% correct, lol!) Yep, Patty and Papa went to see the Sesame Street Live Performance of "Elmo's Green Thumb" at the 1st Mariner Arena and Baltimore.











Patty had an absolute blast! :) Papa really treated her while they were there! :) She got Dippin Dots -


and french fries. Papa even let her pick out ONE thing from the "Elmo Store". She chose a ball (what could be better for Patty than a ball with the entire Sesame Street gang on it? Not much!)
You can see it in this picture:


It's at Patty's eye level off to the right. She just loves that ball.

On the way home, Patty fell asleep. Ashley called me and said, wanna go for a drive? I said sure! :) Just let me get dressed! (HAHA - It was a lazy day for me since Patty was gone!) I went downstairs and joined them in the car. We ended up driving to D.C. and walked the National Mall. I, of course, left the camera in the car (which was at the Park and Ride as we took the Metro in to save on parking headaches!) Once out of the Smithsonian Metro Exit we sat on the National Mall and ate our Sub Sandwiches (which we had brought with us). Patty had devoured all the Potato chips on the Metro, and so, being full she decided to run around and explore! That definitely made for a quick lunch! From there we went to the Capital and back. We stopped at the Capital Gardens. A beautiful sight to behold. As we continued on to the Capital, what passed us but a group of tourists on Segway's (the scooter that you stand up and ride on!) I hadn't seen any group like that before and thought "how lazy", however, after walking up and up and up to the Capital Building, I started thinking how smart, lol! :) On the way back from the Capital Building we started passing some of the Smithsonian Buildings (we decided to walk down the opposite side of the National Mall). And, remember when I couldn't find the Museum of Natural History? Yep, there it was - in plain sight! :) How silly am I? VERY! :) We only had a few minutes before it closed, but Patty loved the massive elephant in the main entry and the dinosaurs off to the right. Of course, I loved the ice cold water I forced Ashley to go buy (Yes, we had brought water bottles with us, but who knew 3 bottles of water weren't going to be enough to ward off our thirst?!?!) (darn humidity and heat!!)

Well, I'm gonna go now - things to do and couches to rest on! :)

Love you all and miss you all very much!! :) Take Care!!

Another day, another adventure!
Thanks for reading!
The Matteson's

Well, here we are in September. The air is crisp and cool at night and the days are beautiful (getting into the mid 70's during the day). I am so waiting for the colors to start changing. Ever since living in Illinois Fall has been my favorite season (followed closely by my least favorite season - winter) Patty and mama are getting lots of walking time in while we still can. We've had lots of fun this month so far (papa, too!). I love living within walking distance of so many shopping centers. We are 100 yards from our village center (it's an East Coast thing). About 3/4 of a mile from the Target shopping center (which also has a Toys 'R Us among many different shopping options) and another 1/2 mile further is the Wal Mart Shopping Center (again with many other shopping options)

Ashley was working for a week in Virginia (in one of the cities that is considered a D.C. suburb) a couple weeks ago. On the first day, he took Patty and myself to tour the afternoon in D.C. while he was working. We had a blast!! And, for once, Patty was worn out!! YEAH!!! :)

Patty had her first "Metro" ride. That is the train that runs metro D.C. (all us insiders, call it the Metro! lol) Here she is "holding on" to the railing.

She loved the ride there, the ride back, well THAT was entirely another story (more about that later!) Our first stop was quite unexpected. As we got off at our stop, I turned the wrong way and instead of heading for the Smithsonian's Natural History Museum, we ended up heading towards the Washington Monument. On our way there, I spotted the United States Holocaust Museum. We (actually, I) decided to go in and see what there was to see. No pictures are allowed, and honestly, it is something you have to see for yourself to understand the immensity of it. One of the exhibit was thousands of SHOES that had survived one of the incinerators. The museum was laid out from beginning to end of the entire holocaust. What an extremely moving museum. Next time, though, Patty isn't going with me (yes, there will be a next time! Even in the 1 1/2 I spent there I didn't get to take in NEARLY what there was to see). Before you enter the elevators to go to the exhibit, you are given a "passport". Inside you read about someone who went through the holocaust. Some of them survived, others didn't. It makes the whole museum more meaningful.

After the Holocaust museum Patty and I kept wandering towards the Washington Monument. Instead of stopping there, I just snapped a couple of pictures:

Our next stop was the World War II Memorial. It is located just west of the Washington Monument. It was quite amazing. There were even some WWII Vets there telling about their experiences. Absolutely loved it.

Our next stop was the Jefferson Memorial. It is probably about a 3/4 of a mile walk from the WWII Memorial. Before we'd even crossed one street, Patty was asleep. She had been fighting it for awhile, so I was glad she finally succombed. I remembered why I don't like umbrella strollers. Patty's head was in a forward position for most of the time. I even tried making her a make shift pillow to help, but it kept falling out of place with every jostle of the stroller, so she finally ended up like this:

Of course, we had a great view from where I propped her up to sleep. The Potomac and Jefferson Memorial. :) Loved it. After Patty's hour long nap, we finished our trip to the Jefferson Memorial. However, she was having none of having to sit in the stroller anymore, so she ended up pushing the stroller!

I think Patty's favorite part of the day was the Jefferson Memorial. And, no, she doesn't know anything about Jefferson, but boy did she have fun at his memorial. This was her favorite part:

Yep, you guessed it. The stairs. And, when I say stairs, I don't mean a piddly 10 or 12 stairs. There are probably a total of 60 steps. Imagine having a toddler who ONLY wants to go up and down these steps while the adult gets stuck carrying the stroller and tote up and down each time. Fun stuff!! NOT!!! :) All in all I think we went up and down the steps probably a half dozen times. Her next favorite thing were the benches, but Patty, she took the benches to a whole new level, jumping up, walking across, and jumping down than running (faster than mama could get to her) to the next one and starting all over! ARGH!! Toddlers!!

Of course, by the time we got on the Metro to go back to Virginia (where Ash was picking us up at) It was the "commuting hour". The Metro was sooo packed that Patty had to sit on my lap, because everyone was crammed in like sardines with no place to move. Talk about an interesting ride (especially with a toddler who was sooooo cranky! I ended up singing to her just so she would calm down!)

As you can (hopefully) tell from the pictures both Patty and myself had a blast and can't wait to go back again and visit more places (who knew there was SO MUCH FREE stuff to do in D.C.!) Our next stop will likely be an extended visit to the Smithsonian's Natural History Museum (which we ended up finding on our last trip to D.C. which we took with Papa).

Have a Great Night Everyone! :) We Miss and Love you all out there!! :) :) :)

Don't forget to let us know what is going on in all of your lives!! :)

Another day, another adventure!
Thanks for reading!
The Matteson's

Properly Chastised and Patty's Haircut

Well, I have been properly chastised by both Becky and Laurie for not having blogged in awhile, so I am taking care of that by blogging. I promised over 2 weeks ago to post the pictures of Patty's first hair cut, and never got around to it (or, as my dad would say - I didn't choose to get around to it).

We were at the mall that night because Ashley had taken off his glasses while he was in the shower and Patty thought it would be great fun to try them on (by bending them any which way she could until they broke). We went to LensCrafters to have them fixed. The Mall here is owned by the same people who own the Sierra Vista Mall (and they were just as clever in naming it. It is called "The Mall at Columbia") It is quite a bit bigger (about the size of the Tucson Mall) and so is much more enjoyable to browse and see all there is to see. After we were done getting his glasses fixed, we just started wandering around. It has quite a few smaller shops along with the normal anchor stores. Towards the end of Patty's patience, what did my eye spy? A KIDS haircutting place (aptly named Cartoon Cuts). PERFECT! I hadn't taken Patty to get her much needed hair cut, because I wasn't sure how she would react in a normal place. This place was just the ticket I was looking for. SCORE!!!!

We walked in and were immediately impressed - Television's at every hair cutting station. All you had to do was tell them what video to put on, and WALLAH! magic! (LOL... at least that's what I think!!) Patty was immediately mesmerized watching a "My Little Pony" Video. YEAH!

This picture shows perfectly where her attention was the entire time her hair was getting cut -

right at the t.v. :) And she was definitely NOT happy when the lady cutting her hair got in front of her and the television:

Anyway, all of this typing to say that she has now had her very first hair cut, and all went well.

Hope everyone is having a great night/evening (depending on your time zone!)

Take Care!

The Matteson's

Well, here for less than a week and Ashley drug (actually I drug him, lol) on a road trip. We went to visit his awesome Sister, Chris and her family before they left the D.C. area for Hungary!! (They are leaving today!!) They lived in Falls Church, Virginia on the sixth story of an apartment building (and I thought I was gonna die... lol... the images that went through my head concerning falling off the balcony or the floors falling out from underneath me... yikes...). Despite my racing mind, I had a wonderful time with them. Jacqui showed me her Sims 2 expansion packs (which I like totally need now, lol.. thanks Jacqui!!) Here are a few of the pictures of Patty and Aunt Chris in the swimming pool...

Here she's trying to get back in... lol... (She's over here saying "look Patty Swimming" She even said "Aunt Chrissy" once). She had an absolute blast with Aunt Chris!Here's a fun video of the two of them in the pool -

Wish they were staying in D.C. longer, but very glad we got to meet them before they left! Here is everyone (minus Jacob - he was with friends and the one picture I snapped of him is blurry.... blech!) -

You all enjoy Hungary! We will miss you!! :) :) :)

And now, just for Becky - we took a "driving" tour of D.C. - here are some of the pictures I took:

Something fun happened on our way out of town. We saw the motorcade with the guy who lives in this building in it pass in front of us. -

Okay, almost done, lol ;) A few facts about the D.C. Temple. It's not actually in Washington D.C. It's actually in Maryland! The church had to dim the lights at night because it was causing too many accidents (it appears out of nowhere!) and when there is an accident or a slow down near the temple the news people say "It's slow going from (where ever the slow down starts) to the Mormon Temple." And Here's one last video.

Thanks for sticking in with me during this long post! All you Collett's out there have fun at reunion this weekend!!

Another day, another adventure!
Thanks for reading!
The Matteson's

First Horse Ride

Well, Ashley and I did it. Since at least 3 times a day we here Patty say "Wanna ride horse" we decided to take her on her first horse ride, and let me tell you - she LOVED IT!!!!!!! (I'm not sure I used enough exclamation points, but you get the idea.) Here is a picture of her waiting (not so patiently - even though it looks like she is.) We started watching and talking about the other horses and colors and size and stuff and she almost couldn't sit still to go and get on one!

Finally, it was her turn to get on the horse. We got her a helmet (required by the stables we were at). Only problem - it was 2 sizes to big and kept falling off of her head. Definitely need to get her her own helmet (one that fits) before we take her riding again! Here is Papa holding her waiting to get on the horse (look at that face - she definitely doesn't want to wait anymore!)

YEAH!!! Finally she is on. She kept saying "Weee.... Fun!" while riding. Of course, when I took video she wasn't doing anything, see:

But that's okay. She had the most fun and the biggest smile on her face that I think I've ever seen! It was also nice to spend the day as a family before Ashley leaves for Maryland on the 3rd.

I can't believe he is going to be gone so soon! And he leaves the day before the Fourth of July and has to travel all day the 4th! Yuck!

Another day, another adventure!
Thanks for reading!
The Matteson's

P.S. Before I forget we are having a farewell to us/welcome to our friends (our renters) this Saturday. Email me or Ashley for details!

MY HUSBAND TOTALLY ROCKS!

Wow! I just have to say what an absolutely amazing husband I have. He just completed his Thesis for his MBA program! He got a B+! (It would've been an A if he had time to properly finish it, but the new job in Maryland wanted it done BEFORE he gets there in July). On top of completing his thesis, these are just some of the things my husband did in the past month (I know, I know, I am shamelessly using this blog to show off my great taste in men!)

1. Moved us out of our old house

2. Moved his mother into her new house (this required going up and down a flight of stairs numerous times as his mom is on the 2nd floor)

3. Finished his woodbadge requirements and got his certificate

4. Moved our belongings into a storage unit

5. Took on extra jobs editing and tutoring other graduate students

6. Finished cleaning out our house before the renters got there (because my back had gone out)

7. Helped the renters move into the house

8. Took a trip to the temple (a 6+ hour drive round trip)

9. Kept me from going insane (that was a huge job!)

10. Set up my computer at my dad's house so I wouldn't go through withdrawls!

11. Got me out of a "dirty" situation (those that know the trash story will understand this)

12. Drove an extra 2 hours to stay with me at my dad's house before returning to work last Monday

And all of that is on top of the normal awesome stuff he does! I SOOO LOVE MY HUSBAND!!! He is my rock in this bumpy world and my shoulder to cry on! I just have to tell him thank you for everything you do for Patty and me!

Another day, another adventure!
Thanks for reading!
The Matteson's

My First Post :) YEAH!

Well, I figured since the three of us (five, if you count the dogs) are leaving God's Country, as my dad calls it, for Maryland I thought I would start a personal blog so that our family and friends could keep up with our "going's on". I may or may not let Ashley contribute from time to time ;).

Today is the first full day Patty and I are at my dad's. It feels really weird to be here. Of course, Patty is being no help. First thing she did last night was to find a permanent marker and "draw" on my dad's mirror and walls. She even got my "new to me and almost looks brand new" love seat. Fortunately, that was on the underneath side and should come out very easily with a good upholstery stain remover (I just have to find one next time I am in Sierra Vista.)

I can't believe that the time for the move is so very close. Ashley should know Wednesday when he is to report to his new job (which will either be the end of June or the beginning of July). I will sure miss him when he is gone, as Patty and I are going to stay with my dad for an extra month to attend our annual Phillips Family Reunion before leaving. Every time I turn around I find something else that I am going to miss about Arizona. It's hard to think of...

Wow! Had the whole rest of my post planned when life happened! Patty got a massive "I'm gonna scream and scream and not do anything else but pull my ear" earache. And, of course, I am all alone in Elfrida. Ashley is in Sierra Vista working, dad and Uncle Jim are cooking for scout camp, and Nina is working in Douglas till tomorrow morning. So, here I am in the middle of the sticks - and all of my medicine is in Sierra Vista! AARRRGGGHHH!!! Duh! Fortunately I remembered the "recipe" for a holistic ear cleaner, I just didn't have the vinegar. ARGH! Again! Finally got a hold of some (thanks to my awesome sister!) and felt like Patty needed a Priesthood blessing. Only problem - everyone I knew was GONE! And then the thought crossed my mind - Dale Mortenson. I had seen him walking with his wife this morning. Maybe he was available. YEAH! He was!!! We went across the street to another member's house and Patty was given the blessing. After we got back home, I called and located another member who had the fever/pain reducer that I needed for Patty. Anyways, all that to say - Patty is doing just fine and pounding on my nephew's piano (which is at my dad's right now!)

Another day, another adventure!
Thanks for reading!
The Matteson's