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!!!!!!