It is hard for me to wrap my brain around the fact that Rock and I have been married for 20 years. It is also hard to believe that it took that long for him to agree to go to Hawaii, but it did. And so for our 20th anniversary we went to Maui. We had a magical, unforgettable time.

Day 1

Birds greeted us in the airport as we waited for our luggage. Everything was open air and the breezes blowing through baggage claim dispelled the humidity.

Picked up our rental and drove to the resort. I couldn’t believe the flowers-everywhere, every shade! I decided I would send a picture of a new flower every day to my kids.

Had dinner at the food truck court. It misted and rained on again of again and no one there seemed to notice at all.

Day 2

We woke early thanks to jet lag and walked along the beach while the tide was out. Beautiful quiet morning.

We went to the fanciest restaurant on the island on day 2. Mama’s Fish House. It was in the most breathtaking spot, amazing food. We got all dressed up to go.

Day 3

I loved getting up and sitting on the balcony to read first thing in the morning, listening to the waves crash and watching the amazing sky change.

On Saturday we went for a walk (Rock ran, I walked) along Kaanapali beach further down the beach from our resort. Then we ate lunch at this awesome cafe.

Later in the day we went to see the Iao Needle, a sacred rock up in the mountains. It is so rainy/foggy much of the time up in the rainforests that it is hard to catch a glimpse of this unique rock. But my husband has the best luck in the world so we happened to get just the perfect view of it just before it was covered up with clouds. The rain forests are full of the most amazing plants I have ever seen. I felt like I was on another planet. In Jurassic Park, at the very least!

Stay tuned for more from Hawaii. The best is yet to come!

First, a Tradition

Fourth of July Traditions returned this year!

Levi and Liberty had a magical day with friends, climbing onto roofs to watch fireworks and setting off fireworks. Reagan bought his own massive fireworks this year and HE had a great time setting them off. I did not.

The Tween

Liberty turned 11 in July. We had a simple family party this year, but Reagan took her to the mall with his girlfriend, Brooke, and gave Libby the most magical birthday ever. They spent all day shopping with her, going to candy stores, eating at the food court and buying her jewelry and clothes. A dream day for an 11 year old girl.

Speaking of which, I don’t know if I’ve blogged about that or not. Liberty decided she wanted to redo her room in red, white and blue. No-this was not my idea. She designed it and helped decorate it. Here’s some of the finished product.

This is Libby’s twin in more ways than just the way they dress. This sweet lady in our ward has been a friend to Libby ever since she was little. They both love to sew and love to plan parties. They are kindred spirits. Thanks, Sara!

Lastly, a Trip

I took a quick trip down to Utah in July to renew my teaching certificate. We got pedicures, shopped at Ikea (ok, I shopped and the girls humored me), and they took me up to Cascade Springs and the Alpine Loop which takes you around the back side of Mount Timpanogas. So beautiful!

Alli and I also went rollerblading down the Provo River Trail that I used to rollerblade on more than 20 years ago in college. It was so much fun!! Seriously made me feel like I was 19!

A couple other random things from July. The temple opened back up and I took this picture the first time back in over a year and a half!

Also in July, my first Clematis flower bloomed! Very exciting for this novice landscaper.

Covid killed our South Carolina planned family reunion of 2020, so we opted for Park City, UT, for the 2021 reunion. As always it was lots of fun to see everyone and be in the beautiful mountains of Utah. I’ve never been to Park City before and it was gorgeous! We stayed in a beautiful cabin-like house. I wish I’d gotten some pictures of the outside.

Our first full day in Park City we went to the Olympic Sports Park to do all the cool things like the alpine slide, tubing down the ski jumps, riding the ski lifts, jumping from towers and ziplines. It was a gorgeous day and the kids had a blast.

One of our activities at the reunion was making a cyanotype. Sam helped us all make the coolest pictures! He is a photographer and asked us to take pictures of things that would work well as a cyanotype, ie-lots of contrast. I took so many cool pictures in an attempt to get just the right one. Here are some of them, then I’ll show you the final picture and cyanotype.

The kids always have a blast reconnecting with their cousins. Can’t wait for the next Hymas Family Reunion!

We usually get up to McCall quite a bit in the summer time with scout camps and boys working at scout camp, but this year we really only got up there once. Alli came along too.

We have a new place we like to stop at on the way up that we have named, “Butterfly Rock” because, well, there are always butterflies there.

Reagan graduated from high school in June of this year. I will be honest and say that this school year was anything but easy. These Seniors had an extremely unusual year. But we all survived it and hopefully learned some important life lessons. Here are some Senior Picture highlights.

Right now Reagan is working to save money for a mission/college selling jewelry. He might just have found his calling as a salesman. He has spent his life trying to convince people of things, and now he convinces them to buy jewelry because he is charming, funny, good looking as well as sentimental. He is breaking records and exceeding sales goals. We are thrilled he has found something he is passionate about and good at too!

I almost named this post “Life-Up in the Air” because that is how this school year, well really, all of life has been. Up in the air. We never knew what was going to happen or if it was going to happen. Events were planned tentatively. We usually didn’t find out until the last minute if an event was actually happening. Prom was one of those events.

Prom #1

Rather than leave things to chance, Cade and his friends decided to plan their own prom. They put a lot of thought and effort into it. They used our patio for their dance floor and set up lights and a sound system. They made dessert with their dates and then ate dinner in our dining room. Liberty took their orders and served them their food. Because I was getting dinner ready I didn’t get many photos, but here’s a few.

It was so fun to watch these teens who had not been allowed to dance and sing and let loose for more than a year finally let off some steam as they rocked out on our patio. It was awesome!

Prom #2

When the High School finally decided that they were indeed going to have a prom, Cade and his date decided to go AGAIN, cause, why not?! She even wore a different dress. This time I got to go for pictures.

A neighbor friend let Cade borrow his Scout for This prom so they felt pretty cool driving around town in it.

Prom #3

Covid couldn’t kill the Senior Prom for the class of 2021. Reagan and his friends planned a great prom. The restrictions wouldn’t allow non-Centennial students to attend and since two of the boys took girls from other schools they used our patio for a dance floor as well!

The 5th Grade Program

Liberty was thrilled when they finally announced that yes, she would get to perform in the rite of passage that is the 5th Grade Program. Each class gets assigned a decade to dress up as and the kids sing their hearts out to the best rock and roll tunes from each era. She has been looking forward to it since first starting elementary school and I’m so glad they decided to do the program. Our music teacher Mr. Jones is fabulous and I’m so grateful my kids got to have a great music program like I did at that age.

Liberty’s class was the 80’s. And even though her mother actually lived the 80’s, she wanted no help in deciding what to wear. She ordered her cut off fluorescent sweatshirt, leg warmers, and matching scrunchie well in advance. Unfortunately, Covid dictated that we do the program outside and with temperatures in the 100’s, she couldn’t wear her sweatshirt. We opted for a long t-shirt and belt instead.

And now she’s off to start middle school. I no longer have an elementary school kid. 😢

Though we would like to have gone on our Arches adventure in April with Great Grandma Dot, she left this life to go on to her next great adventure. We went down to Colorado for her funeral. I loved learning more about this great lady. She will be missed but we are so glad she gets to be with Grandpa again and be whole in body and mind. John and Dorothy Roper passed on their adventure genes to my kids and husband so we thought it appropriate to honor them both by exploring Arches on our way home. I’ve been wanting to go for a very long time. I guess you could count this as another goal achieved in 2021!

Our first stop was Delicate Arch.

I can’t describe how I felt when I walked around that corner and Whammo! There was Delicate Arch, larger than life, breathtaking-literally. I was stunned. It almost brought me to tears which is not something I expected. I’ve seen this landmark my whole life on calendars, t-shirts and driving behind license plates in Utah, but nothing does it justice. It was truly awe inspiring to me.

Reagan and Levi went exploring up in this slot canyon and I was sure one of them would fall to their death. But as usual, they prove me wrong.

I really loved this day. As usual there were bumps and bruises getting along with each other. But seeing this amazing park was a dream come true for me.

Reagan dreamed too.

We couldn’t do much this winter but we did work on some of our goals.

This was mine:

My goal this year was to make it down this ski run. Before 2021, I had gone skiing several times in my life but you couldn’t say that I knew how to ski. In fact, my first attempt at skiing ended with me being pulled down the hill on a ski patrol toboggan. Now that my kids can all ski I decided it was time to learn.

Just after Christmas I took a ski lesson that was not very helpful because I knew too much. So I determined to push through the fear and learn on my own. With our season pass I was able to go up at least once a week. On the day that it finally clicked and I was going to try Sunshine for my next run, I crashed and injured my knee. It took me two months of physical therapy before I got back on the mountain. But when I did, I was finally able to go down Sunshine! It was one of the most exhilarating moments of my life. It’s a very simple run, but it was a major feat for me.

Levi and Liberty also set some goals this winter. They decided to challenge each other. Liberty wanted to pogo stick jump 100 times and Levi wanted to juggle for 30 seconds. It was a race and the loser had to treat the other to a root beer float. Libby won.

Next they challenged themselves to do a Rubik’s cube in under 2 minutes. Here they are learning from videos together. Levi managed to do it in 1:10. Nobody has beaten Cade’s record, though, of 36 seconds.

Levi had a goal to beat his mile record time of 5:45 in track this year. He succeeded with 5:33. It was fun to watch him push himself to be better with every race.

Watching Levi in track and cross country this year reminded Rock of his glory days running in school. So he set a goal to run a 6 minute mile this spring and he used Levi to race with to push himself. He succeeded about the end of May!

Cade achieved every teenager’s dream goal to get his license. I thought worrying about one teen driver was bad enough, now I have two. 😳

Another goal I’ve had for years was to make this ugly section of our yard better looking and to solve the drainage problems. These before pictures were taken in February. I’ve been working on it ever since. It’s still a work in progress and the fence still needs to be painted. Lol.

So even though Covid killed a lot of winter and spring activities, we kept ourselves busy.

Reagan turned 18 in October and was able to vote in his first election! I won’t tell you who he voted for, but it wasn’t the senile candidate. 😉 Take that to mean whichever one you want.

Random Fall Happenings

Levi built his hamster a cool house

Liberty played in the leaves. Don’t know how much longer she’ll want to do this. 😢 I would really rather my kids stop growing up.

Thanksgiving

We spent thanksgiving in Grand Junction this year. We haven’t traveled for Turkey Day in a while, but we made the trip in part so we could see both of Rock’s grandmas who are now at the same Senior facility. We don’t know how much longer they will be with us. Due to Covid we couldn’t go inside so we shivered outside their little bedroom windows to visit with them.

I love these two ladies.

They are both so different. One is little, the other very tall. One a powerhouse of positivity and the other a positive powerhouse. One, a force of nature who led out in everything she did and the other a force of unconditional love for everyone she knows. They shaped the hearts of the people who shaped Rock. And they have loved me as one of their own. So grateful I have had the chance to have four grandmas in my life. The two who loved me as a child and the two who loved me as a woman and wife.

Grateful Reflections

There have been many trials and hardships, fears and annoyances in 2020. But I am grateful for several things. Some I took for granted before Covid. Some I didn’t take for granted but am even more grateful for now, and some would not have happened but for Covid.

I am grateful for the chance to homeschool my kids again just for a little bit. Grateful for the millions of teachers who figured out how to teach online and those who were willing to teach in person. I’m grateful for full shelves at the grocery store. Toilet paper. Grateful for my big backyard during a lockdown. I am Grateful for the internet which made so many things possible during the pandemic that would have been impossible from school to shopping to new release movies. I’m thankful for the chance to be the only two people in a movie theater and for getting to see Goonies and Jurassic Park on the big screen again. I’m grateful that public bathrooms are cleaned like crazy now and menus are wiped down well. I’m grateful for crowds united in a common purpose and standing close to strangers in a line. Grateful for hugs from my friends and extended family.

I’m grateful for the Constitution and honest elections, for the freedom of association and the freedom to assemble. I’m grateful for Policeman everywhere. I’m grateful I live in Idaho.

I’m grateful for singing hymns in church without a mask. I’m grateful for the ability to hear what people say clearly without having to ask them to repeat it. Grateful for the ability to cough in public without everyone near you freaking out or apologizing profusely when they cough. I’m so grateful for the smiles of store clerks, waiters and secretaries, as well as the stranger on the street.

I am grateful to have weathered this crazy year fairly well. And I am grateful it’s almost Christmas and 2020 is almost over.

Cross Country

I asked Levi to give me some P words that describe Cross Country for my title alliteration and he quickly came up with pain and perseverance. Covid couldn’t kill Cross Country, though it did limit the number of spectators. Levi continues to be at the front of the pack, typically 3rd in his school. He’s fun to watch.

Paychecks

Both Cade and Reagan are working men now. Cade at Burger King and Reagan at the movie theater (when it’s open, that is).

Homecoming

Covid killed the school Homecoming dance and there were no spectators allowed at the football game but these girls took matters into their own hands and did their own Homecoming dance.

Pumpkins

This year was quite possibly our last Pumpkin Patch trip with all the kids. 😢 They still love it just for tradition’s sake. It’s definitely one of my favorites.

The older boys were so busy this year with work and school and friends that they never got their pumpkins carved. Here are Levi and Libby’s.

Halloween

Covid couldn’t kill Halloween here in Boise. There were definitely fewer homes giving out candy but the kids still made a haul. This was our first year not going out with the kids. They wanted to go with their friends so Rock and I just handed out candy. 😳

Usually 12 years old is the cutoff for trick or treating at our house, but after Covid killed everything else this year we felt like Levi should get to do something fun. And like I said, he made a Haul.

Funny anecdotes from Covid Trick-or- treating; lots of candy handed out with tongs and one house put the candy in a tube at the top of the driveway and rolled it down to the trick-or-treaters at the bottom. Good sports, all!