A lesson in tolerance and love.....

Sometimes in life, there are times that we have the opportunity to learn and feel feelings that are not every day feelings. 

Last week, I got to meet a friend that I've been on Facebook with for about a year and a half. David, in brown is a close friend to my cousin, Tam. David and I became friends through Tam. He's a GREAT guy! He and his partner of 10 years, John live together in San Francisco. We have developed a relationship of trust and love. I absolutely adore David. He has had some life experiences that are not fun, horrible actually. 

But he has a heart unlike anyone I've ever met.

David's mother lives in St. George. They have had their struggles and are not close. Sadly, David's mom, Peggy passed away 2 weeks ago. He and John came for the service and my children and I had the pleasure of meeting these 2 beautiful people.

They had a lot of family things going on, as expected with a funeral, so I was aiming for just a few minutes to meet these men and show them support. They had a break for a few minutes and were able to come to my house.

As we know, we live in "heterosexual land", so I felt I needed to maybe prepare my kids about our visitors. I told the older 3 kids, "Tam has some friends, David and John that are coming over to visit. David and John are gay, just like Tam and Sharon. They live together in California and are in love." I've always talked very openly to my kids about how all people are different and we all get to chose how we live. I expected some questions, I didn't know what kind of questions they would ask. My lovely children asked, "okkkkk, so when will they be here?!" No questions at all about them living together or loving each other.... NOTHING!!!! Just......"ok! So when will they be here?!"

It's one of those moments that you just sit back and let the tears flow. My kids are such good kids. We have tried to teach them that people are all different, including us! Some people smoke, drink, have tattoos, use different language, wear different clothes, and enjoy different activities than we do. 

But that simply means that we have a lot to learn and grow from. 

My kids GET IT!!!!! I'm so happy!!!!! When they see people making different choices than we do, they see beyond those obvious differences and are starting to see that everyone is important and deserve to be loved. I'm so proud of my children.

David and John came over to our house and chilled for a few minutes. Not long enough at all, but we are grateful for the few minutes we got!

Some of the things I took away from our meeting is:

*David has one of the best hugs I have ever felt, ever! I didn't want to let go of him! When he hugs you, you can FEEL his pure love and appreciation he has for you. So warm and comforting. Just lovely in every way. 

*I learned that they are such beautiful people, clear to the core of their beings. 

*I learned that David is lucky to have John by his side to help him through this hard time of losing his mother. 

*I learned that I am blessed to have the privilege of being a friend of these men. As long as they will tolerate me being a crazy Mormon mom, 

I will take so much away from this relationship.

*I am proud of my children's ability to love and have compassion for those I love. All 3 kids asked in the following days if the boys got home safely and expressed to me how much fun they had while David and John were in our home, even asking when it would be that we could see them again.

David just couldn't control himself!!! haha!!!! I love this man so much! He is such a blessing in my life. I thank my cousin, Tam for sharing her David with me!!! I'm a lucky girl!

I love you David and John and I look forward to years of fun and hopefully more time together, in person!!!!!

A fun weekend with my childhood best friend!

So, my childhood best friend moved far, far away last summer to the great north tundra, also known as Saratoga Springs, UT. That's right, she moved 4 hours away from me! I am still trying to forgive her ;) Anyway, their basement is unfinished and Randy and Nephi have been itching to get it framed in, so we took a trip up last weekend so the boys could work and the girls could play!!!!! 

Maddison had the opportunity to go to Youth Conference, so we left her home with the Heaton's and off we went!!!!

We stopped on the way up in Nephi (the town, not Anna's husband) to have dinner with my parents and my sister, Tish! My parents are spending the summer up Fairview Canyon on Skyline Drive, like every summer, so it was a treat to get to see them. We miss them OODLES!!!!! 

We had a great visit and lots of laughs!!!! My dad decided not to shave his goatee since they've been on the mountain! It was so cute! He looks younger and it's just cute!!!!! I LOVE MY PARENTS!!!!

Back on the road! We went up on Friday. Randy has been working CRAZY hours this summer. So, his driving lasted only a minute before he got too sleepy to drive. That's ok with me! I love to drive!!!

Finally!!! WE MADE IT!!!!!

In the past, I have written love notes on their white board on their fridge, but after years of brainwashing, the kids have caught on!!!! I think this was Whitney's work!!! I'm so proud!!!

Friday night, the 4 of us ran into town to get the final supplies for the fun projects! Anna and I zipped over to Walmart and when we got back to pick up the boys at Lowe's, we found Randy on a riding lawn mower called "The Bronco"..... well, if you know Randy, you know that he was not just SITTING on the mower, he was riding it like a bucking bronco!!!! It was so funny!!!!!! I wish I had it on video!!! Especially the lady's face that walked out and saw him taking his 8 second ride!!! hahaha!!! It was awesome!!! We knew we were in for a fun weekend!!!!!!

Saturday morning, I woke up to this beauty cooking us breakfast! Anna is good at everything she does, and especially good at cooking! We were well fed!

Randy and Nephi started out by installing 4 ceiling fans with light kits in the girl's bedrooms! It was so fun and we all felt accomplished!!!

Then.... on to the fun.... THE BASEMENT!!!!!!!! I don't know how they do it, but those 2 men framed  in 56 linear feet and most of those walls had windows!!!! They worked and worked and worked! THEY ARE STUDS!!!!! If you don't believe me, look at the wood in this picture..... ;)

The kids did lot of playing! Here are 2 of the 3 sets of "twins"! 3 of my kids are all 5 months younger than hers, so it's like having 3 sets of twins.... Whitney and Maddison are "the big girls". Kelsey and Cambelle are "the little girls" and Hadley and Harper are "the babies"!!! It's so fun!!!!

After the full day of work, everyone took a little snooze!!!!

After nap time, it was CARD TIME!!!!!!!! A few games of Hand and Foot.... Anna and I proved that YEARS of being in each other's brain is good for killing everyone at cards!!!! Either that or we got lucky ;) I'm going with intuition!!! haha!!!!

Look how cute Anna and Hadley are!!!! I love them so much!!!!


Me and Ashley!!!! She's such a fun girl!!!

Tyler's a serious gamer...... Hand and Foot was right up his alley!!!!














































At the end of the fun weekend, we came home to our cute Maddison! We had a blast, got a lot of work done, got to spend time with my BFF, the boys got to use power tools and it was just a great time!!!!

I miss Anna and her family so much more than words can express, so this weekend was just what I needed!!!!!


There's a great quote I found that explains exactly how I feel......

Everyone has a "best friend" during each stage of life, only a precious few have the same one!

I couldn't put it better! I'm so lucky to have Anna and her wonderful family in my life! I can't wait till we get to see them again!!!!!!

A beautiful angel.......

The week we have lost a wonderful neighbor, friend and mentor. Sister Lois Hulme was 87 years old. She's been our neighbor for many years. Her and her sweetheart, Phil were married for 67 years.

Sister Hulme was one of a kind. The most kind, gentle and loving person most of us will ever know. She was VERY talented. She was a published author, an artist, an amazing musician and most of all, someone that would build everyone up and make them feel important.

She has been teaching the youth in our ward to conduct the music in Sacrament meeting for many years. They would individually go through a training course, a boot camp of sorts, to teach them music theory and how to conduct a congregation the right way. Maddison was blessed enough to be one of her students. Sister Hulme would say, "anyone can LEAD music, but it takes training and talent to start and stop a congregation.". She would take these youth under her wing and pass on her love of music. It was really quite a privilege for them!

In the initial months that she was training Maddison, she would tell me (in her intense voice), "Hope, that Maddison is ONE TALENTED GIRL! She can carry a tune like no one I've ever heard! She has natural rhythm and is an absolute joy to be with, just like her mother!" What a compliment! I don't know what she heard, but she thought I was, "the strongest alto in all of Southern Utah!" haha!!!!

She was always so complimentary. A few years ago, while doing a Relief Society lesson, I mentioned my blog. She came up to me after church an insisted I forward her the link to my blog (she was also very tech savvy, which is cool for being 87 years old!). The next Sunday, she came up to me and said, "Hope, that blog of yours is truly amazing! You have such a way with words! So descriptive! I bet you could make a blind man see with those words!" She was always so joyful!

My current calling is to make and print the Sacrament meeting program. Just a couple of weeks ago, she caught me in the hall and said, "Hope, (she always used your name) I have been in this church for a long, LONG time and I have NEVER seen someone do a program like you! You are so great at it! Everything you touch turns to gold! I just love you!" It made me laugh and made me so happy. She was complimenting me on the silliest calling in the church but made me feel 10 feet tall!

At her funeral today, as her children spoke, they talked about all the students she has taught to play piano, organ and conduct. They figure it's in the thousands by the time it trickles down the line. What a blessing!

The closing hymn of her funeral was very emotional. 7 of her (many) students got up to lead the closing hymn in unison. Maddison was one of them. 7 beautiful youth, leading all together. Sharing the talent that she had passed on to them. There was also one girl on the organ and one on the piano that were also students of Sister Hulme! It was very sweet. We could FEEL that beautiful angel with us at that moment! Smiling, like she always did and whispering the words, "well done".

Sister Hulme never missed a step, never missed a note! She was as beautiful on the inside as she was on the outside! We all love her so very much!

This earth got a little bit darker on Tuesday, but Heaven got a lot brighter, for sure!!!! I am blessed to have known this amazing woman, I love her so very much.

"I'd be glad to!"


Sister Hulme's Obituary

Wanna RIDE???

So Randy has a second love, after me of course ;) He loves to ride bikes! Motorcycles and 4 wheelers. He has a Honda 450R, it's a fast bike. Really fast!

He LOVES going out riding. His brother, Steven and a bunch of their friends go out together regularly. It's such a fun thing for them! They usually go to Sand Hollow, which is about 15 miles from our house. One time they took at trip out to Coral Pinks Sand Dunes that is a couple of hours away. They always have a great time!

Here is a group of them together at Sand Hallow. I love that they are all experienced riders and wear full protective gear! I think guys that wear helmets are SEXY ;)

Here is Randy and Austin Winder racing at Sand Hollow last summer before he left on his mission to Detroit! He and Austin LOVED to go riding! Randy missed his riding buddy and we know Austin misses it too!!!

Here is Randy (in the red) and Steven (in the black) racing up the "Backside" of Sand Hollow. It's SUPER steep and most bikes can't even make it up the incline, let alone RACE up it!!! They have paddle tires on their bikes that are designed for riding in sand!

Randy and Steven jumping!

This is a cool picture of 3 of them jumping at the same time! SO FUN!!!

Here they are out at Coral Pinks. It was a great day for them out there. They attach "GoPro" video cameras to their helmets and bikes and then make videos of their adventures!

THIS is the link to a video I made of Randy's fun on his bike!

When they went to Coral Pinks, it was a cold day, so they all wore jackets. It was PERFECT!

I love this picture of Randy jumping out at Sand Hollow! We live in an amazing area of the world and these pictures show the colors that we get to see everyday!!!

I'm so glad Randy has something that he gets to enjoy all to himself! He works so hard to support our family, so when he gets to go out and ride, it's all play and fun! What a great reward for a great man!

I love you, babe!!!! And for the record, I think you're super sexy on that bike ;)

Who's your mama?

So, the question is.... WHO'S YOUR MAMA?

This is Cambelle and I both at age 7!

And then we have THIS! Randy, Me and Maddison all at age 13!

Oh my word! Where did she come from? She is unbelievably gorgeous! 

We've got some pretty children! What lucky parents, we are!!!

What are YOU doing?

So, I'm sitting here on a Monday morning at 12:30am thinking about all the things I need to get done tomorrow. Do you ever get overwhelmed and think you're going crazy? I try my best to avoid that. I really hate the "rat race"! Randy's been working some crazy hours and the kids are out for summer, so we've done a lot of playing and a little bit of household chores! Our life is pretty fun right now. I intend to get active on my blog again so we can better journal our journeys!

This last weekend, Maddison took an ATV training course so she can get the license required by the state of Utah to drive an ATV legally. Anyone over the age of 8 is supposed to have been licensed to ride an ATV. So, with this course, Maddison and my niece, Layla got certified. The others will do the next round!

Randy, Tyler and the rest of the Clyde boys (Jim, Cory, Lyman, Steven and Elijah) went "boy camping" on Friday night, so the girls met at Dairy Queen in Hurricane for dinner! It was fun! Mazie slept at our house, Maddison slept at the cousin's house. It's always fun when the kids get cousin time! They all love their cousins so much! It's great!

We took the girls and Tyler to the Ivins Splash Pad for a little fun before we had to meet and make the swap! Harper and Mazie were blowing bubbles in the water! It was so cute!!!

3 weeks ago, Randy's mom had her knee replacement surgery. This one has been quite a bit harder on her than the first one. The first one, she sailed through. I kept telling her that it wasn't normal how well she was doing on that one. Well, this one has been totally different! It's so sad to see her in pain and depressed thinking that this is how it's going to be forever :( It's been a rough one for her. She went to Dairy Queen on Friday with all the girls, she even bought dinner for us! She did good while she was out for that little bit. Today, she was cruising around pretty good! It's getting better, but it's NO FUN! Knee replacements SUCK! I hope she starts getting better soon.

Harper and Uncle Cory enjoying some old Disneyland photos on his computer! 

She loves her Uncle Cory!

Last week, I spent a full week passing my 23rd kidney stone. It was pretty bad. I got a priesthood by Randy and our neighbor, Kurt. After that blessing, I knew I would be able to pass it at home. It was extraordinarily painful. It was killing me. But I knew if I did what I was responsible to do to pass it, that it would be done at home. There were a few times I almost gave up and went to the ER, but I held out. Sunday, after a full week of pain (during the last week of school.... awesome!) it came down to a violent 45 minute episode. Throwing up, horrific pain, shaking, sweating, diarrhea and feeling like I was going to pass out......  IT PASSED! What a relief! I'm so grateful I was able to stay at home. Those buggers are really difficult :(

Summer has been fun, so far. We got a summer, family pass to Sand Hollow Aquatic Center. We've been over there every day or so, swimming! It's been great, but the kids are POOPED! It's been late nights and crazy sleep schedules, so we're going to crack down this week a little and get these kids some rest!

Harper was all dolled up to go to Grandma and Grandpa Clyde's house today! Sunday dress, purse, baby doll and her shades! She's ready!!!! 

So there's a lot to catch up on and blogging/journaling had always been a priority for me, so I am re-dedicating myself to record our family's happenings! I'm excited to get into it again! Sometimes it will be short posts and sometimes it will be longs posts, but I'm going to do the best I can so my family has a record of how we lived! Wish me luck!!!!

SEE YOU SOON!!!!!!

Dr. Black, Tyler's CDH repair follow-up

Today was an AWESOME day! We got to meet with Dr. Black, our pediatric surgeon that did both of Tyler's CDH repairs! He hasn't seen Tyler for all these years and boy was he surprised when he saw him come in! He was SO impressed with how Tyler is. No problems at all! YEA! Flat feet, reflux hat is controlled by meds and no scoliosis! He told us how he is phasing into retirement but he would love to hear from us for the rest of Tyler's life. He loves hearing about his patients even when it's been many years. He was so happy with Tyler's progress and didn't for see any problems in the future! That was GREAT!!!!

Yea, I'm a stoner :)

 

I'm a regular kidney stone passer. It's not something I do for fun. It's not something I would wish upon my worst enemy, but it is something I have lived with for about 10 years now. This last week, I passed stone #21, I named him "Holy Roller". A few days passed and I was thinking that I had a UTI, maybe. I called the doctor and none of the tests showed anything to lean towards an infection, just the stone (that I had passed). As the day went on, there wasn't much pain, just some discomfort. So I ignored it. That night as I got ready for bed.... BOOM!!!!!! Stone #22!?! "Mr. T." is his name because of the massive Mohawk he has! This sucker is only 3mm but those edges are razor sharp! I don't know how he didn't hurt worse!?!


The top 2 pictures are of Mr. T. just from different angles. Check that sucker out! He was a bad one!!!

And here, from left to right is Mr. T, Holy Roller and Big Bertha. She's the biggest one I kept. 

By the way, the tubing that those stones have to come out of are WAY smaller than those stones! Big Bertha is 6mm and I've passes a few that big. If they become 7mm or larger, they have to surgically retrieve them or blast them, neither option is without major pain and possible serious complications. 

I have all the meds I need to pass them but my doctor is trying to get to the bottom of them. Medically speaking, there's not really a lot that can be done for them. But we're going to try!

HAPPY PEEING!!!!

An anniversary we love to remember!

Today is an anniversary that Randy and I love to celebrate. I think it's just as fun as our real wedding anniversary! It was 17 years ago on January 12th that Randy took me on our first date!!!

He had been coming in my work (Canyonland Gifts in the factory stores) to visit his sweet cousin, Wendy. They were really close, so we got to see a lot of this boy that just got off his mission to Scotland! I was in an extremely long term and committed relationship when I met Randy. He was fun and flirty. He would come in to visit Wendy and "play" with the rest of us too!

One day I was working and "Wendy's cousin" (because I couldn't remember his name) came in. I was standing in the doorway to the back room and Randy, in TYPICAL RANDY STYLE, brushed against me as he went through the door as if he was too big for the door (teasing, like always). But THIS TIME something strange happened. I got butterflies in my tummy. This can't happen! I'm not single! It freaked me out and for a while after that, I didn't know if I should even talk to him because I felt like I was having feelings for him and that would betray my current relationship. So, I backed off quite a bit. I made myself  kind of unavailable to talk to when he came in. 

Well, some time went on and some things happened with my relationship that were out of my control and my boyfriend and I broke up. It was not fun. It was not easy, but it was right.

Soon, "Wendy's cousin" heard I was single and asked me out! YIKES!!!!!!! I wrote RANDY on my hand the whole week in hopes I would remember his name. I was super nervous. I hadn't gone on a first date in 4 years!

Friday night rolled around, he picked me up at my house and we went to Taco Bell because the lines everywhere else were super long. We decided we would rather eat and chat than wait and chat! After dinner we went to the dumbest movie ever made, Bio Dome. But it's ok, there wasn't much movie watching going on ;)

I was having a sleepover with all the girls at work, so he took me over there and those poor girls got this giddy, ridiculously smitten Hopie that night!!! I was so happy! He made me feel so good! He was polite, funny, SO CUTE, he smelled good and his kisses were something I longed for more of!!!

As time went on, we dated more and more. To me, it was pretty quick that he was the man I wanted to be with forever. He honored his priesthood, he was a hard worker and he loved me. Those 3 things usually don't change. My family was afraid I was in a "rebound" relationship and they were very vocal about that. So, I tried to have an open mind and take it slow and separate the 2 relationships. But again, it was very clear to me that it was not a rebound!!!

It was a short 7 months later we were engaged and 2 months after that he took me to the St. George Temple to make me his bride!!!


So here we are, 17 full years later! There have been many ups and downs:

*6 pregnancies, 4 births, 2 kids with NICU stays and a foster baby that came and went.
*many surgeries
*4 jobs for me, the latest being the BEST!!! Stay At Home Mommy!!! 1 job for Randy!
*we went from 2 cars that seat 7 people to 3 cars that seat 18 people!?!?!?!
*we've had many church callings. For me, Relief Society presidency, Primary presidency, Young Woman presidency, the "party girl" and currently I'm the "bulletin babe". Randy's been in the Young Men presidency a few times, ward mission leader, Elder's Quorum presidency, Bishopric member and currently Scoutmaster.
*We've gone on about 30 Disneyland trips and many other great adventures!
*We've watched siblings get married and have babies and then we've seen those babies, have babies!
*We went from my first cell phone the "flip phone" (it was gigantic, but the only other option was "the brick" that contractors used and they couldn't fit in my purse) to my iPhone that I love so much!!!
*We've lost loved grandparents and had to support each other in those hard times.


But most of all, what has not changed is the love we have for one another! I still get butterflies in my tummy when I hear Randy pull in from work, just like 17 years ago. He still calls me his "little lady" even though most of me is anything but little. Our love has grown to a level that is amazing. We are as solid as a rock and it is very comfortable.

I'm so lucky to get to have Randy as my eternal companion. I am so grateful for that time, 17 years ago that he looked at me and for whatever reason, wanted to take me out! It has been extremely fun with a few challenges and I wouldn't change ONE THING!!!!

Here's to the NEXT 17 years! I love you Babe!!!