Hard to say that we have had another loss.  Matt's Uncle Gary Williamson (Matt's mom's little brother) passed away this weekend after a valiant fight against cancer. He fought hard but in the end his body was not as strong as his spirit. It has been hard on all around him to see him suffer and we are relieved he is no longer in pain. My heart and prayers are with all his close family, especially his wife who I know will miss him so dearly and his daughter Traci who will be expecting her first baby very shortly, a boy who will have a middle name after his grandfather. I have to say to her that I know Gary is watching over her sweet baby till he is in her arms! My heart and prayers are also with my sweet mother-in-law and her parents who will also miss him so much!

It is never easy to say goodbye!! That is why I am so grateful for the Gosple of Jesus Christ! To know we never really have to say goodbye, that some day we CAN be with those that we have loved and lost, that families truly are forever brings such comfort and light into my heart! It has been quite a year for losses in our family . . . but I know it is not the end! They are with us, watching over us, helping us along the way. What a wonderful thought . . . comforting and sweet!

So farewell for now Uncle Gary, Uncle Mark and Grandpa Payne . . . We can't wait to see you again!

This last week my dear sweet Uncle Mark Payne, my mothers little brother, passed away suddenly. My heart hurt terribly when I got the news! He will be terrible missed! What a wonderful man!  It was amazing to see how many people came to pay their respects. What an wonderful way to tell the impact he made in this world and to see who his life touched. I am so honored to have known and been close to him! I will miss so dearly all his teasings at the family gatherings and the light in his smile! It just beamed so bightly from his face! He was such a strong loving man and had such a strong testimony of the gosple! His funeral was beautiful and I know his memory will live forever! I feel so sorry for my Aunt and cousins who will miss him more than anyone! And also for my Dear grandmother who lost a husband and a son within 6 months of eachother.  It is so sad to see him go so soon. . . but I know he is watching over all of us and someday we will see him again!
LOVE YOU UNCLE MARK!

So I went to my old home wards talent show this Saturday to see my father sing and dance!!! YES MY FATHER RANDY HICKMAN SING AND DANCE!!  It was so fun to see him and he did such a great job!!  Enjoy the video!

I love Weekends! No Work . . . Get to be with family . . . Relaxing!   But for the past like 5 weekends it has been GO GO GO. Usually We have a busy weekend followed by a chill one, so they even out. Not recently. We had a wedding of a friend a couple weeks ago (which was beautiful) and it was kinda busy. Lots of events to share with them that kept us driving all over!
Next it was Easter the following weekend and another driving adventure to the cabin! Which (being at the cabin) you figure you will relax but by the time you get home you realize how even though it was lots of fun . . . it was also tiring.
Then the following weekend was a baby shower at  . . .  of course MY HOUSE! Which I was SOOO excited for! I LOVE having parties at my house. But I really should learn to start cleaning the whole week prior so I'm not racing the clock to get it all clean before people start showing up. But I did PROCRASTINATE and of course was cleaning all Thursday and then up late Friday and up early Saturday to clean some more. It was a wonderful shower though.  And all I really had to do was Clean . . . the food and setting up decorations was all done by Matt's sweet cousins. But after the shower as I'm passing out and finally relaxing . . . my mother in-law calmly kneels down next to me and says, "Do you have your talk ready for tomorrow?" Thank heavens she remembered!! . . . Cause I might not have!! Hahaha . . . Yes, Matt and I both had speaking assignments (15-20 minutes each) in church the next morning at 9:00 am!!  So I decided to take a nap now (cause DeLa was!!!!) and write later.  Needless to say procrastination is my life!! (Which I am not proud to admit, but hey all I can do is try harder next time!) 
So THEN . . . we stay up till 2:00 am writting our talks! Okay  . . . I stayed up till 2:00 am writting my talk and Matt was kind enough to keep me company. . . Matt was done at about 10:00pm - I don't know how he does it! He glances at the material and could speak for an hour from just his thoughts and recalling scriptures, he is too Amazing! NOT ME!! As much as I love to talk and could talk ANYONES ear off!! In front of a crowd I have to be SOOOOO PREPARED or I am SOOOO NERVOUS! But by 2:00 am I felt I was . . . and hoped that in my exhausted state I was making sense and that it would still make sense in the morning! So we get to bed at 2:00 am and usually DeLa sleeps till 7 or 8 . . . But NOT THIS NIGHT!! (Oh the joys of Motherhood!) Sweet Girl had a hard night and was up a 4:00 am, then again at 6:00 am! Hahaha! THEN . . . I had a meeting I had to be at before church at 7:15 am! By this time I am loving life and everyone around me could tell by the way I looked. I don't even think I was completely awake driving to the church for the meeting. But hey I think I was there!
I get home and there is my sweet sweet Husband and sweet sweet baby passed out together on the recliner! Sadly enough I had to wake them up and we all had to get ready and head to church.
Thank Heavens for Grandparents who live in your same ward!! They took care of DeLa for us as we sat on the stand waiting to speak. I was so tired but as I gave my talk I got a surge of energy and I really felt the spirit so strongly! Through it all I was glad to speak! It was on member missionary work and it touched my heart! (I'll have to post part of my talk later!)
Too bad the energy left soon after I sat down because by Relief Society Meeting I was dragging, and though the lesson was wonderful I could barely keep my eyes open. THAT was probably the most tiring weekend! And I haven't really been able to catch up since!
This weekend was busy too (Not as busy as last) Thursday, Friday and Saturday I had to be up in Park City for a Parent Baby Massage class! It was really fun - and DeLa LOVED it! My sister in-law was taking a class to be certified to teach these classes and I was the class that the class was learning to teach on (if that makes sense). It was really fun! But a LONG way to travel 3 days in a row. Then Saturday we had our Family pictures taken and DeLa's 3 month photos taken. (on a post coming to you soon!!) Next, Matt wanted to go to an Antique Shop Liquidation that was going on in Salt Lake and we spent the day up there and in Park City too! So it was a lot of driving AGAIN, and even though driving is just sitting there doing nothing . . . I almost feel MORE tired after I get out of the car on a long drive.
DeLa through all of these past weekends has been so sweet with putting up with her parents! I feel bad when I get too over tired, because she is the one who suffers! But she was our ray of Sunshine through it all!
WOW!!  I know there are people with lives much more busy/stressfull than mine . . . but some times it gets a little much! Matt and I agreed that this next weekend it is VEGE-time! We might leave the couch we might not! Who knows?! Hopefully nothing pressing comes up . . . but hey That's LIFE! Hahaha . . .