Serving For The Greater Good

Our Family has a Firm Focus of which side we are on. Especially at this time of year, the focus on our Saviour Lord Jesus Christ, has ever so increased. What a wonderful time of the year this is, for us to pause from our busy lives. To refocus and align ourselves towards the shinning star, in reverence and in remembrance of his 1st coming.
Our family prays for the continued success of the missionaries all over the world, to find all those who still have yet to hear of this Good News. That people may know where and who to look towards when life is given unwanted experiences that cause pain and heartache. I have come to really understand that no matter what the trial and hardships we are confronted with, they ALL have the same goal for us... To point our lives and help us focus on the Lord. Our Mortal bodies are not strong enough to carry these burdens on our own, but through the Lord Jesus Christ, there IS a way. Our mortal eyes can NOT see very far, but with our spiritual eyes we CAN see the bigger perspective of life, and life yet to come... Blessed be the Lord. We are grateful that our family understands this truth. We will always hurt physically, from the loss of Caleb's presence, but spiritually we know we will forever have peace and have strength to continue living each day of our lives.

Our Family's accomplishments this year:
Montey of 20 months: loves to sing and march with his siblings as they would memorize their scripture verses, and the articles of faith. He is very good at folding his arms for all prayers. And will keep them folded throughout the duration of the whole prayer, usually.
Tamara of 5: loves to read, and do her math work. She has 11 articles of faith memorized and enjoys singing them where ever she goes. She has taken a couple of ballet classes and could dance the day away with her new found talent.
Liahona of 7: loves to create with arts and crafts. She has also reached up to the 11th article of faith, and has them memorized to the "T". She could sing them but would rather just recite them. Her favorite PE activity is swimming, she past many levels of swim classes and is a confident swimmer now.
Caleb of 8: Accomplished so much!
His whole goal before he was baptized was to become a good swimmer. He practiced and worked ever so hard on his own and in his swim classes. Passing a couple, and passing a swim test to get a special wrist band to go down the slides at the "Y", did gain a strong confidence for the water right before he was to be baptized. He accomplished and overcame his fear of the water.
Caleb had a huge love for the scriptures, the words of Christ. He had up to the 6th article of faith memorized and could sing them in song. He would sing with much power at home but at church he was timid. He accomplished and overcame that fear by sing a solo with his sisters in Primary, the 4th article of faith.
Caleb loved sports, but to play them made him nervous. He played spring soccer and summer baseball. With baseball being his first season experience he went from not knowing anything, other than the basics; you hit the ball and then you run-- to knowing just about everything. He was by far one of the most improved players on his team. He accomplished and overcame his fear of learning new things and gained a new love for playing sports.
Caleb loved being with his family, and would have to do the things that his sisters would do, even if it was scary to him. He had a fear of heights and we went apple picking the morning of the accident. His sisters would climb the ladder to pick the apples, and Caleb though ever so nervous would do it too. Then I had the girls one at a time climb to the tip top of the apple tree with me and got a picture taken by Eric from the ground. Caleb though scared, climbed to the tip top of that apple tree and got his picture taken with his mom. He accomplished and overcame his fear of heights.
Now, Caleb's Goal of all goals, he worked hardest to achieve through his obedience, has now successfully accomplished his ultimate goal, to return back to a Very Loving Heavenly Father, of which he never had a fear of, but only a strong love learned through a great life lived.

Our Family Prayer for you, our wonderful family and friends, that we may all be more like Caleb... willing to step outside our comfort zones to overcome our fears, by trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ. Looking to him with pure love, and simple faith as Caleb and you will find the Savior reaching out to you. Because he will help you in all things. We know that Christ Lives! How wonderful is this news, share it with everyone, tell them how much they are loved by our Sweet and Wonderful Savior who was born, to save us all.
This our Prayer in the Name of Jesus Christ Amen, Love The Mathison Family Eric, Tanya, Caleb, Liahona, Tamara, and Montey

So After school the Girls decided to make an Eagle's Nest in our living room. Which required the use of ALL the sheets, pillows, blankets and pillow covers that filled my linen's closet. The closet was bare, not one thing was left. The old me would have freaked out, but we are welcoming the new ease in life... Why be so uptight about things? Even when they are as simple as cleaning out the linen's closet to play with? Not a big deal, seriously. They had fun and worked together, so I snapped some cute pictures to share with you all.

Liahona getting ready.......

Liahona baby eagle flying so high.......

Landing in home sweet home!

Tamara getting ready.....

Tamara baby eagle flying.....

Perfect Landing into the Eagle's Nest!


*BY THE WAY: You all were right with which Pooh is Who. Caleb was the 1st picture, and Montey was the 2nd. Good Job!!!

All of my kids have been Pumpkin Pooh at the age of 18months for Halloween. However I have taken Montey's picture the same way as I did for Caleb. Can you guess Which Pooh is Who? =)

Our Halloween Party Last Year.


Carving Pumpkins last year


Carving Pumpkins this year.


Halloween Last Year


Halloween This Year (Caleb would have been a transformer, Optimus Prime.)


Last Year my kids talked me into doing a haunted house for them in our downstairs room. And of course how Halloween used to be my favorite holiday I said "YES!" It was a fun time, wished I would of had strength to do it again for this year, but I was unable too. Instead we just hung out with the Drapers, our Nebraska cousins. We had a strobe light, black light, fog machine dance party after some fun trick or treating. The weather was the best, simply a beautiful fall evening and night.

Snow at the beginning of October, who has ever heard of that, crazy! Yup it snowed for my birthday, something that has never happened before, who would have known? Hey does anyone know if there is a brand that makes "manly" strollers? Montey loves to push Tamara's old baby doll stroller, but it's so girly......

There are many things that we are going to miss about our Caleb. We can't help but want to just back in time to relive these fun times as a whole family. So we have posted some of his best qualities to share with you......

1. Our little sports-aholic boy. He loved playing any sport, and enjoyed having us play them with him.


2. He had a greatest sense of humor, and was very funny and super goofy!


3. The best big brother our kids have ever known. He was always helping someone.


4. He made it to the guppy level at our local YMCA, and when he wanted something he worked really hard to achieve it. Of which he became such a great swimmer, and swimming buddy.


5. If anyone pushed themselves to overcome their fears it would be our Caleb. One who was afraid of heights climbed an apple tree with his mom and stayed there long enough to get his picture taken for proof.


We love this boy so SO much! What a great example he was to us. It is truly hard for us to believe that our time with him is up. How much it will hurt with his presence gone, until that great day we will be reunited as a WHOLE family again.

Caleb Luccas Mathison, 8, of Lincoln, returned to live with his Heavenly Father early Tuesday (8/25/09) with his parents by his side, after sustaining injuries from a car accident. He was born on (06/23/01) in Rexburg, Idaho, to Eric and Tanya (Brooks) Mathison. Caleb was a new member of the boy scouts and was riding with his mother on Monday as they were searching for the Boy Scout office in Walton to purchase his scout shirt and Cub Scout book. He was a very happy, active boy and had just finished his first year in baseball through the YMCA, where his dad helped coach his team. He loved soccer and played two seasons in Lincoln with Capital Soccer Association. Caleb was proud to have passed his swim test at the YMCA and spent many hours swimming with family and friends. When he wasn't playing team sports, Caleb enjoyed challenging his mom and dad to games of soccer and baseball in the backyard. Caleb was a helpful, obedient big brother and son, and his big smile found a place in many hearts. While his experience on this earth was short, Caleb's spirit will live on with those who love him most, as we know families can be together forever.

Survivors: parents, Eric and Tanya Mathison; younger sisters, Liahona Pearl Mathison; Tamara Jade Mathison; little brother, Montey Jaycob Mathison; grandparents, Don and Christine Mathison; Keith and Nancy Brooks; a large extended family including many aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Funeral services will be held at 7 p.m. on Friday (8-28-09) at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 3000 Old Cheney Road. Burial: A family burial will be held in Washington. Visitation: Friday (8-28-09) one hour prior to services at the church. Memorials in lieu of flowers: donations may be made to the "Caleb Mathison Memorial Fund" at any Wells Fargo Bank location. Online condolences at www.lincolnfh.com

Here is our big 7 year old!! Hooray to the birthday Girl!! Liahona wanted to invite her best friends here in Nebraska to a fun filled party at "Lost in Fun." This is one super fun indoor play ground, with bounce houses, a basketball court, mini golf, indoor playgrounds, and ball pits.

Here is Caleb with his best pal Dylan shooting some hoops. These boys love just about any sport placed in their paths. =)

And Here are my TWO big 7 year old kids. Every year for almost 2 weeks they are the same age. It always blows me away, it's so weird, and yet it doesn't even bother them....I guess time will tell.


Honi blowing out her 7 candles!!


Honi smiling with her best friend Makayla.


We had a GREAT time with our dear friends, and the best thing about it, is that all these friends are in the same family. It's been super nice to have 1 friend for each of our kids. This doesn't happen too often. Thanks you great Draper Family. =)

Our First time camping last year, here in Nebraska, was NOT a pleasent one! And still our kids wanted to go camping again this year. Even with us reminding them of all the "FUN" we had with the deer ticks. Seeing that we could not change their minds, we picked a place far away from the camping spot we went to last year. We scheduled a 3 night camping trip at Two Rivers, here in Nebraska. The First day and night went well, on the Second night things didn't not so go as good. A thunderstom came in and we pretty much got rained out. Then our van would not start on the third day. Towards the evening of the third day we finally got our van to work, packed up and headed to the Mathison Campground. There we finished our special foil dinner, roasted smores for dessert and finished our third night camping on a clean, dry floor. =) Isn't camping fun!? The things we do for our kids?!


Here are the famous dogs that my kids grew to LOVE while we were camping for the weekend. The gray one was Liahona's favorite, her name was Ananna. And the Brown one was named Savannah, the other kids like this dog the best.




Playing at the playground was an ongoing free play for the kids. They loved having a campsite near the playground, so they could run back and forth, since "Mom" could still see them. Plus we brought our wakkie takkies to stay in contact with eachother, this made it a little more FUN!





We bought worms to give Lake fishing a try. Eric is more of a river fisherman, and tends to think that Lake fishing is too boring, but he was still willing to teach the kids how to fish. Our worms all died by the next day, so the kids were a little disappointed that we couldn't fish anymore. Tamara was the most interested with fishing, out of all the kids. I however was thankful that we didn't catch anything because I didn't want to clean it, cook it, or eat it! YUCK!






Here we are playing in one of the many lakes around the campground. They all were very brown and pretty yucky looking, but it was really warm outside for us Northwest people. So, we decided to take our chances just like everyone else and cool off in the lake. The kids had a blast playing in the sand and splashing in the water. Montey has really taken to the water lately, and has become a true water baby. I think this was one of the many highlights of the camping, that the kids liked the BEST!

Another Spring Birthday was celebrated in the Mathison Home. Tamara was counting down for many months, when her birthday would finally come. She has a huge fascination with knowing how many days before or til a certain event, the good thing is that it sure helps with her counting. After her birthday she asked "How many more days til my birthday again?!" Sheesh... it never stops. We had a fun family afternoon birthday party. And thankfully by-passed the hair catching on fire, unlike when she turned three. The kids always seem to bring it up again and again, laughing about how funny that was. It's a good thing that nothing serious happened from it. I somehow managed to tape the whole thing not realizing that her hair was on fire, even with Eric reaching over me trying to put it out. I thought he was just getting in my way of the camera..... great memories! This birthday, however, was a success and above all, calm! The way I like it. =)
(Thankyou Grandma and Grandpa Mathison)

(Thankyou Grandma and Grandpa Mathison)

(Thankyou Grandma and Grandpa Brooks)



Then in the evening she wanted to go to this Fast Food Restaurant with a play structure called Runza. It is one of the Nebraskans favorite fast food places to eat at, everyone who lives here raves about it.I for one am NOT a big fan, ( it's actually
pretty gross.) But they do have a fun play structure so that's where the party was at this year. Plus it kept my house clean, and
gave the kids more running room, which equals = lots of FUN! Happy Birthday Miss Tammie Lambie.