Where's Elaine?

And why isn't she blogging?

I'm still blogging, but I'm concentrating on travels only in hopes of doing some "real" travel writing. You can check it out at http://www.elainematthews.com. It's all for the love of travel!

New Work Website

We've been working on a new website for work, and it's live. You can check it out at www.rswpartners.com.

New Addition

You won't believe it, but we got a dog today. I do some marketing work for Tiara Rado Animal Hospital (check out the site, we did a good job) and they told me that they had a 12-year-old Collie that needed adopting. It's an old dog, but she doesn't act that old.

Her story is a sad one. Her owners were elderly and in a car wreck. The husband passed away a couple months after the accident. Since the dog, Babe, was his dog, it was too painful for the wife to keep her around as a reminder. She's incredibly mellow, which is our style. I think she might be part cat. Now for those of you with your jaws on the floor because you still can't believe I got a dog, here's some proof.

Mo Friends

John and I spent our last day in Missouri visiting friends, and I'm so happy I got to see each and every one. We first made a stop to see Season, Pamela, Debbie and the new additions to their families. It was great catching up and seeing their babies. Unfortunately I forgot to take any photos!

Then we went to Donna's where we saw Briana, Tim, Kayla, Donna and Keith. It was just like old times hanging around with good food and conversation. Kayla, Donna and I couldn't resist getting one more holiday picture as we have done in years past. Kayla always has the perfect pose ...

Here I am looking like I'm proposing to Donna, but I'm trying to feel the baby. Don't ask me what Kayla's doing on the floor. I just noticed it!

This is the picture we got of John during the visit. I think the combination of my family plus my wonderful friends nearly drove him mad! Gotta love this guy!

Home on the Range

December meant a trip to Missouri to visit my family, and it was good for the soul. I knew I missed all my nephews, but I didn't know how much. It was a fast trip, but we got to have our family Christmas. It was like I had never left.

Wyatt must have missed me since he clung on to my leg!

Levi truly was thrilled to see us.

Wade and Chase were ready to eat so they could get on to opening presents. How cute are these faces!

Wade was perfectly content playing with his train on the floor.

Mom and Chase played Rumikub together. They're deep in concentration.



The entire family crammed in the living room. We're a motley crew!

Texas Time

Since it's been some time since I blogged, there have been a few things that have been missed. In November we went to visit John's family in Texas, and we had a great time. We were running all over the county visiting family, but it was still great fun.

We were in Texas just prior to Thanksgiving, and we wouldn't be back for the holidays, we had a Thanksgiving-style meal with John's dad, brothers and their familes. It was delicious and a lot of fun. We did manage to get a few shots of the family. Thanks for a wonderful time!

The Matthews' Men

Kevin (brother), Rick (dad), John and Van (brother)

The entire family

The entire family acting like a bunch of goof balls. You can see why I love these people!

Van's Family: Van, his wife Carla, Coley, Morgan and Evy

Kevin's Family: Kevin, his wife Kim and Kate

And you know these beautiful people, and if you don't, you wish you did.