Someone is playing a joke on us

Last Saturday James received a phone call from a member of the bishopric. These types of Saturday night phone calls usually result in a talk, a calling or giving the prayer in Sacrament the next day. My vote was on the prayer since we had spoken less than a year before and had our callings less than a year. When James got off the phone he said "Brother Felt wants to meet with us" to which I jokingly replied "I bet you are getting a stake calling and they are releasing me ha ha ha" (such the supportive wife I know).

James looked at me and while smiling said that he knew what it was for and that I had to guess what it was. Now this is a little game James likes to play with me because I am not patient enough to wait for the news. After much begging for him to spill the beans, FINALLY he gave in and told me we were both getting released, and were being called into.....Nursery. The next day were were released and sustained.

Wish us luck, a lot of it.

I am riding my bike from now on

Last Saturday we went to Santa Maria to get gas and do our usual errands. We were met at the gas station by this lovely sign. That is right folks, 4 bucks a gallon. James was very sad, as you can see!

Thanks to gas prices we are trying to save money in other ways, like Shampoo for instance! Since I turned 23 a couple weeks ago, I have been feeling like a new, older person. It kind of crept up on me, but I feel like an adult now! A new me deserved a new hairdo. Nine inches later and I think I have achieved that. Not only do I have a great/short new look but a cancer patient gets a new wig. A win-win I think.

Mathews B&B

The Mathews' B&B is located in the friendly town of Los Alamos. We strive to make your experience a pleasant one. A few of the accomidations include:

Foods from around the world.

Our staff helps you unpack.

On-site child care and nap facilities. Children and adults are welcome to participate in nap time.

So next time you are in Los Alamos, call us up and we would be glad to have you!

Thanks Rejholecs for coming to California to visit us. It was such a nice time and we loved finally meeting baby Julia. We will definitely need to make it a tradition. Our turn coming up to Utah next! To all of our other friends scattered across the nation, we would love to have you! (hint, hint, hint)

Garden Dreams

Firstly sorry about the month delay in posting, there have been many things going on. More on that later. This post is dedicated to my first grown-up, all by myself garden.

When we first moved into our house, there were a couple of things that I REALLY REALLY wanted. One of these was a garden. I grew up with a rather large garden full of strawberries, snap peas, tomatoes, zucchini, corn, grapes, and anything else that might have been on sale at the nursery when it was planting time. The problem however is that the only location that would work for a garden is in my front yard.

My original plan was to put it on the side yard alongside the fruit trees we had already planted. The problem is that Cocoa's favorite spot in the yard is, of course, on that side where she basks in the sun. Plus James and I were not really looking forward to putting up a fence. The other side did not get enough sun and was already landscaped. So the front yard it was.

I chose a great location next to the fence hidden from the street but full sun. I purchased the perfect vegetables to plant at the perfect price. I got the perfect fertilizer for my perfect garden and last weekend I spent three hours preparing the soil, measuring out the perfect rows, digging the multiple holes at the correct dept and circumference, and lastly planing and watering my new creations. I was pretty proud of myself actually. Doing my part to be prepared and be self-sufficient. But then it happened...

Last night we got home late from work after re-locating the Explorer to a different spot with hopes someone who was looking for an SUV would drive by and have to buy it. I changed into my usual sweat pants and then grabbed the watering bucket to water the newest additions. As I turned the corner I saw it and I wanted to cry. Something/someone had eaten all of the leaves off of all of the plants. Not like an insect who munches over the course of a couple of weeks through the lush foliage, no these leaves were ripped off of the stems and consumed. Someone made a salad of my garden and left me with plant stubs!

Already I am planning on new ways to start over. They may or may not include an electric fence, no trespassing sign, security camera, and barbed wire. One day my dream of a beautiful garden will come to fruition, but I might need a couple weeks to recover from the loss.

Three Years?!

It is hard to believe that we have been married for three years now. It has been the best three years full of new experiences, travel, and life's big milestones. All of which I was able to share with James. I could not imagine being married to anyone else. It is crazy how you start your married lives as two separate people and become one. When James mentions a memory of before we met, I think "I don't remember that!" Then I have to remind myself that there was in fact a time before we were together. I like that I always think of my life as his and his as mine.

I am so excited for this next year of marriage. We have accomplished so much thus far and there is so much more we get to do together. This is what I dreamed about as a little girl and I must say that reality is even better than my dreams.

Church

Yesterday James and I got ready for church, left our house on time and arrived at church at 9:05. We walked quickly through the halls of the church and walk into the chapel. All of the seats are quite full and we take a spot in the second row from the front.

Things are good. It is our ward conference and all of the stake presidency is on the stand. In fact the Stake President is speaking. A couple of minutes go by and the President is still speaking. I check the clock, it is 9:10. I whisper to James something like did we miss Sacrament? I didn't think we were that late. James looks as confused as I am. That is until he leans over and says that we forgot about Daylight Savings Time and were in fact an hour late. Realizing our error, and the fact that we had walked in, in front of the entire ward, and in front of the entire Stake Presidency caused me to start laughing, quiet laughing but I admit it was not exactly reverent.

Once Sacrament ended, I was prepared for the worst. We only received a couple comments like "glad to see you made it" and a wave with a smile masking laughter from the First Counselor of the Bishopric. Okay maybe not everyone noticed. I can survive this embarrassing moment. That was until a counselor in the Stake Presidency, the man who had interviewed me for my Temple Recommend, stopped me in the hall and asked "Sleep in this morning Sister Mathews?" Wanted to die right there.

I have never forgotten to change my clocks for Daylight Savings time. Ever. Neither has James. Believe me, we learned our lesson.

Taxes...

Last Saturday we got our taxes done. We were very interested in how they would come out since there have been so many changes since last year. Our income went up since we both have full-time "big-people" jobs. We were not students so we lost that deduction. We bought a house this year. We lived in CA this year instead of UT where the taxes are lower. Overall it was a good experience. We got a nice return and learned a lot about the way deductions work.

The good news:

Thanks to the house deductions, we were able to buy this awesome rug with our return.


The bad news:

I worked up until December 23 2006 at BYU. Apparently the paycheck for a couple of these hours was not sent until beginning of 2007. Because it was only $60, no taxes were taken out. All of this was forgotten until BYU sent me a W-2. The problem? Because I made income in Utah in 2007, and did not pay taxes on income in 2007, I have to pay a $20.00 fee to the state of Utah and a $2 fee to Federal. Plus postage to send it to them. That is over 37% of the measly $60 check paid in fees. Lame? You bet. Good thing I love that rug so much.



PS-Buying a house is a great investment, it reduced our taxable income by a ton. I would highly recommend it.