The Hyde-lights of 2010

Gracie- decided thumb sucking was "embarrassing and gross", started gymnastics, was deaf for 6 months, had her ears pierced, started 2nd grade, learned to swim, read lots and lots of books, traveled out of the country for the first time, cheered and danced at her first football game, found many new friends, still loved being girly, never stopped TALKING since last Christmas.

Grant- sang his first solo, ran the ball in football, was picked for the 2010 All-Star baseball team, still had braces, started 5th grade, discovered his love for the (virgin) Miami Vice in Mexico, began roping at school, owned a cowboy hat (what?!), was amazing on a rip stick, was still the smallest kid on every team he played on, learned that girls are cute (oh no), used the phrase "I'm kind of a big deal" whenever we complimented him (we thank his cousin Reese for that one), was still the proud owner of his hamster- Ginger, never stopped SMILING since last Christmas.

Garrett- was drafted onto a tournament baseball team, developed a love for boogie boarding in Mexico, had his first set of stitches, began 7th grade, finally hit 90 lbs, was chosen for PAC (Principal's Advisory Council), got his first interception playing corner in football, played in an All-Star football tournament in Las Vegas, got his first zit, earned his hunter safety certification, was chosen to represent his school in the math competitions this year, received the priesthood, earned his Life scout award, never stopped EATING since last Christmas.

Kori- started falling apart this year, was hanging out with all of the senior citizens in town, finished all of her classes for her Master's Degree (except her thesis), still worked as an exercise physiologist at the hospital in Cardiac Rehab, still served in the Primary Presidency (4 years now), still worked as the medical volunteer coordinator for the Huntsman World Senior Games, still hated to cook and clean, never stopped DOING LAUNDRY since last Christmas.

Russ- got four new stamps in his passport (Guatemala, Canada, and two from Mexico), caught his first sailfish... 100+ lbs, attended a bamboo rod builders conference, took the family to Puerta Vallarta, played basketball every week, still worked for Alsco, was still a partner with Castaway Films, still served in the Young Men's Presidency and as Scout Master, went on a camp-out every month, coached Grant's football team, began reloading bullets, never stopped DREAMING OF HIS NEXT ADVENTURES since last Christmas.

Turkey Talk

We celebrated a very non-traditional Thanksgiving this year. Garrett was participating in a football tournament in Las Vegas. He and Russ drove down to Vegas Wednesday night for weigh-ins. They stayed the night at Jill's. Grant, Gracie, and I got up Thanksgiving morning and got dressed in our warmest clothes (it was only 17 degrees here during the night). We went over to Nana and Papa's and loaded up their car with as many blankets and jackets as we could find. The five of us then drove to Vegas. When we got there we grabbed a quick bite to eat at Carl's Jr. Then we went over to Garrett's game. They were just starting as we got seated. Garrett's team did great. They won easily 35-0. Garrett had a fantastic game. He stripped the ball from his opponent which his team recovered and converted into their second touchdown of the game. In the 4th quarter he had an interception. They were up by so much in the 4th quarter, that the coaches started letting all of the boys carry the ball. Garrett got a direct snap and ran the ball. I don't think he has ever done anything like that! It was a very fun game.

After Garrett's game, we all went to Claim Jumper for Thanksgiving dinner. There was so much food at the table, and we have enough left-overs for turkey sandwiches for a couple of days. It was great not to have to cook all day, or clean up after.

Poor mom and dad celebrated their 44th wedding anniversary with us in Vegas. I am not sure that was best anniversay celebration, but we were sure happy to have them with us. Congratulations to them on 44 years! That is quite an accomplishment. I feel very lucky to come from parents who are so unselfish, giving, loving, and kind to one another (as long as they are not driving in the car) Hahahaha. Happy Anniversary to you both!

Months of Memories...

It seems we have been in a tsunami for the past few months. I feel as though we are just coming up for air before we get pounded again. I have had such a surge of emotions... anger and elation, frustration and peace, sadness and happiness, disappointment and joy, etc. Where to begin?

Football, football, football, and more football. This is what has been consuming our lives for the past three months. This has been the greatest cause of most of the above mentioned emotions. I love sports. I love that my children participate in sports. I love the growth that comes from competition. But what I do not love is the POLITICS involved in sports, and here in St. George those politics begin in the 3rd grade. We have been dealing with it for 5 years now, since Garrett was in 3rd grade, but it doesn't seem to get any easier. That is all I am going to say about that...
Anyway, we have had football practices and games 5-6 days/week for the past three months. Garrett practiced T,W, and F with games on Saturday. Grant practiced T,W, and Th with games on Saturday. We went to the Hurricane High School games on Friday nights, and some Dixie State College games on Saturdays as well.

Garrett's team only lost one game during the football season this year. Garrett played corner this year and did a great job. His highlights of the season were 1. an interception against Virgin Valley in Mesquite 2. stripping the ball from Desert Hills in the semi-finals which we recovered and 3. some great solo tackles all season (see photo below)
They made it to the championship game where they led most of the game. Then the darn Pine View Panthers, who we have lost to for the past three years, beat us in the end by one point. Garrett's face in this picture says it all.Grant's team struggled this year. Three-fourths of the boys on his team had never played football before. Although they never won a game, they were very close on most. The last three games they played went into over-time in fact. They somehow still went to the play-offs... we haven't quite figured that one out yet. Grant had a blast. He was able to play both offense and defense. His highlights this year were 1. receiving 3 kick-offs 2. actually running the ball on offense in a couple of games and 3. having his dad as an assistant coach.

This year Russ was on the field at all of the Hurricane High football games, snapping pictures. He loves to be right in the middle of all the action. He got to know some of the players, talked strategy with all of the other side-line fans, got the inside scoop from the coaches themselves, and loved feeling a part of the team. Our Tiger's season was a carbon copy of Garrett's season. The tigers lost one game in the regular season, then lost to Juan Diego in the state championship for the 3rd season in a row. It was very disappointing after such a great season.This is the newest addition to our family... Meet Maurice (or Reese)Reese is Russ' oldest sister's son. He was offered a scholarship to play football for Dixie State College here in St. George. He is #82 and plays tight end. He lived with us for a few weeks before he could get into his dorm room. Now, he comes over for dinner, games, and to do his laundry every Sunday. Russ and I have also enjoyed taking him out to lunch on Tuesdays. If there is food involved, Reese is there. I thought Garrett ate a lot. Let me just say, we no longer have left overs. This kid can eat! We love him and are so grateful to have him as part of our family. We miss him on the days he is not with us. We were able to go to a few of Reese's home football games this year. He actually played quite a bit as a TRUE FRESHMAN. Anyway, there will probably more posts with Reese. This is a picture of Grant in Reese's jersey. Reese is 6'4" and about 225 lbs. I think Grant hit 60 lbs this year...

Somehow in the football mix, Garrett, Grant, and Russ are able to be involved in scouts. Garrett will be eligible for his Life scout advancement the first week of December. He works so hard on his scouting merit badges in his free time. He and Russ go on a campout once each month with the rest of the troop. It is very time consuming, but Garrett is very self motivated and gets his assignments accomplished with little encouragement from us. Grant is working hard on his Weblos rank. He will finish up by April and then become a Boy Scout and start working on his merit badges... thank heaven we only have 2 boys!
Grant is participating in the school choir, Sunset Express, again this year. He is so darling to watch. He loves to perform and puts on quite a show. You should see him "Turkey Talk". I am trying to learn how to compress my video files so I can post a video of him shaking his feathers. He is positioned front and center on stage and is not one bit frightened of the audience... in fact I think the bigger the crowd, the bigger ham he is.

We had one weekend off of football and so we headed out of town, up to the Lund's. We had a great time visiting and not having a schedule. Russ was able to go fishing on the Provo, and the kids and I were able to play with Kaci and her kids. On Saturday night we went to Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point. It was over-priced, but we got some cute and some really funny pictures.

Here are just a few of the hundred pictures I took that night...

Going to Cornbelly's did get us in the spirit of Halloween. Halloween became a last minute ordeal. The night before the Halloween parade at school, Grant decided he wanted to be something scary, and Gracie changed her mind (for the 40th time) and decided she wanted to be a witch. I said we would go look at Walgreens for costumes. If we could find something, great... if not, too bad. Well we found a scary costume and a witch costume, just my luck. Grant's was $19.99 and Gracie's was $14.99. It was more than I wanted to pay, but what can I say for last minute (honestly 1 minute before Grant had to be to football practice). Well when I got up to the register, they rang up at 50% off... FANTASTIC! Then the cashier scanned a $5 off coupon for each costume. I ended up only paying $10 for two costumes and a bag of candy. It was the best Halloween EVER! I took Garrett back later and let him get one too.

On the day of the school parade, I helped with Gracie's class Halloween party. It was very fun. The kids decorated cookies, made an art project, and played several games. It made for a long day, but we had a good time.

Needless to say, we have had a crazy few months. To show you just how exhausted everyone has been, I have snapped a few pictures in the last couple of weeks of my family members at the end of the day. I don't think they even know where their beds are anymore. If they stop moving for just one minute, this is the result...

Well, sweet dreams. Here's to the upcoming holidays, the start of basketball and baseball, and beginning gymnastics!

Football Party!!!... by Russ

This weekend was a virtual football party for the Hyde's! Grant started the day with his playoff game at 9:00 am playing Desert Hills. Well they lost and the season is over. Grant got to carry the ball and his SportsCenter moment came as he ran over his tackler. Grant jumped up with a huge smile on his face giving "high fives" and chest bumping. If only I could have caught it on film. It's been alot of fun this year coaching Grant and his teammates! It's a great feeling to watch the boys improve each week even though this season has had alot of setbacks. This picture is of Grant later that night at Garrett's game.

Following Grant's game we traveled up to Cedar City for a tailgate party with Jill's family, Ken and Stacy (Connie's daughter), Grandpa and Grandma Hyde along with Tina and her children...

and to watch Dixie State College play Southern Utah University. Well the tailgate party was fun and the game...well not so much. Blow out!!!! It was 42-0 at half time. Maurice is #82 and as a freshman he doesn't get a lot of playing time but he looks good when he is in!!!

Go Big Lou

Little Lou came home from school with a flyer a couple of weeks ago. She had it in her hand and said, "Mom, there is a cheer clinic next week on Wednesday and Thursday". She handed me the flyer to look over. I asked her if she would like to participate in the clinic and she said yes. She would perform at halftime during the Snow Canyon High School football game. I thought this might be a problem, because we attend the Hurricane High football games. I checked the HHS football schedule and it just so happened that night they were playing against Snow Canyon. I was very excited that there would be NO conflict other than Gracie being dressed in Snow Canyon attire (sorry, Uncle Chris). We told Russ that Gracie was going to attend the cheer clinic and he began teasing her, asking if she was going to wear her Tigers shirt on the field. You could see she was very troubled. "But dad, I can't wear a Tigers shirt to cheer for Snow Canyon". She was very worried that Russ was going to make her wear Hurricane Tigers shirt. She went to the two days of practice at the high school where the SCHS cheerleaders taught them a dance and a cheer. She had a few girls that she knew in her group. On Friday night we did her hair. She had to wear it pulled back with a ribbon.

She was so excited... and nervous. Just as we were leaving she ran in her room to grab her red t-shirt to wear under her Snow Canyon cheer shirt. We told her that Russ was just kidding and that she didn't really need to wear her Tiger colors.

Little Lou did a great job. The dance they learned was pretty complex for only having 2 days to learn it. She was cute to watch and we especially loved her high kicks at the end of each cheer.

Way to go Gracie! You R-O-C-K Rock!

She ain't Cinderella

So tonight Gracie came in from jumping on the trampoline and said to me, "I can sing opera". I said, "Oh yeah?". So she proceeds to sing in her opera voice which kind of cracked at the end. Then she said, "Well, I sing opera better when I am outside at recess. I know I am good because I make the birds go away."

It's knockin' heads and talkin' trash

The transition has been made. We have officially moved from baseball into football. Last night was our season opener... and it was CHAOTIC to say the least. We traveled down to Mesquite, Nevada for "MIDNIGHT MADNESS". The title of the tournament couldn't have been more true.

The MADNESS- The boys played every team in their division last night. Each team ran ten plays against the opponent and then they switched to the next team. We played at a complex that had 5 football fields. The fields were broken down into a 30 yard playing area. They had all of the teams from 3rd grade to 8th grade playing, with at least 10 games going on at a time. As soon as a game was finished, the boys were being shuttled around to find the next field. Parking was a nightmare, there were people everywhere, and the games were absolutely crazy.

The MIDNIGHT- They weren't kidding. We left the fields at midnight-thirty (St. George time) last night and there were still games going on! We got home at 1:30 a.m.! Needless to say, it was late and dark and we couldn't get any really good pictures. Here is what we got...

Grant is such a funny kid. He loves being a part of the team. Grant is playing 4-back on offense and safety on defense. Here he is setting up in his 4-back position.This is an un-exciting picture of Grant running, but he looks cute! He is the only one in focus in the picture.
This is Garrett lining up in the corner position. He had some GREAT tackles last night. He certainly isn't afraid to hit hard!

This last picture is not really in focus, but can you say HOLDING?! And I caught it on camera!!!Garrett was still able to get a hand on the kid and assist in the tackle.

Anyway, you'll be looking at a lot of football for the next three months! Happy Hitting...

4 Stunning Stallions and a Handsome Hawk

I am just getting around to posting about the first day of school, which started August 11th. We are excited to begin a new school year. It is also fun to have our cousins at Sunset with us again this year.

Grant is in the 5th grade this year at Sunset Elementary School. He is in Mr. Prince's class. Mr. Prince is a cowboy from New Harmony, UT. During the summer he lives on his ranch and does real cowboy stuff. Mr. Prince teaches his kids how to rope and has roping contests on Friday. He has been teaching for 25 years and we are looking forward to a great year with him. Grant has his cousin, Gavin, in his class again this year. They get along really well and we are happy that they get to be in the same class for their last year in elementary school.Gracie is in 2nd grade at Sunset Elementary School. She is in Mrs. Svedin's class. She has several of her friends from last year in her class and has already been in trouble for talking too much. It is going to be a long year!

Garrett is in 7th grade at Tonaquint Intermediate School. This year he is in PAC (Principal's advisory committee). There are eight kids in PAC and they share the leadership responsibilities of the school. His assignment for the first quarter of school is to give the announcements and lead the pledge of allegiance each morning. He also has keyboarding, science, pre-algebra, language arts, and art. (No pictures of the first day- that would be too embarassing)

the annual HYDE-out

This year the annual Hyde family reunion was held here in St. George, Utah. We had a fantastic time out at Sand Hallow reservoir Friday night and all day on Saturday. The festivities involved playing in the sand, riding wave runners, throwing footballs, lots of eating, plenty of visiting, and just having an all round good time. Here are some pictures of the all the activities.
Little Lain Hyde (son of David and Tiffani) playing in the sand
Cameron Hyde (son of Kurtis and Tina) working on his sand castle

Gracie and Samantha (daughter of Jill) building sand castles

The mud slinging begins....Garrett was a good sport and allowed the little kids to coat him in mud and bury him later. I think the little kids loved this part of the day. All of them got involved and were giggling as they repeatedly scooped up the muddy sand and covered all of Garrett.

Jonathan (son of Jill) showing off his quarterback skills.

Tiffani (David's wife) showing off her skills.

Max (son of Kurtis and Tina) drying out after playing in the water.

MacKenzie (daughter of Lisa and Robert Carter), Lisa, and Lily (daughter of David and Tiffani) enjoying toys. Lily was almost as crazy of a driver as Kenzie.

Jill and her kids, Samantha and Maurice playing on the wave runner. Sammy screamed and screamed while Jill put on her life jacket and carried her out in the water. You can tell by this picture once she was on the wave runner, she had a great time.

Gracie and Shyla (doggie of Jessica and Joey Starr). Gracie held this poor dog ALL day. Shyla was ver good and just let little Lou tote her around like a baby doll.

Garrett and his BIG cousins were OUT OF CONTROL on the wave runner! I think Reese flipped them off at least 3 times. Reese was the only grandkid old enough to drive without an adult on the machine... I am not sure this was a safe trio, but they had a blast.

Grant feeling triumphant after burying his big brother.

Preston (son of Robert and Lisa Carter) taking a little swim.

Lily swimming to shore after a spin on the wave runner. She is one of the funniest and most quick witted little girls I have met. She was great to just hang with all of her boy cousins. Unfortunately, there were no girl cousins her age but she just fit right in with the boys.

Macy (daughter of Kurtis and Tina) enjoying the sandy shore.

After Sand Hallow we cleaned up and went to a park near our house for a BBQ and more play time. We had a great time being together and are so appreciative to David and Tiffani for organizing the reunion this year. They did a wonderful job! Thanks to all who came and shared in the fun. We missed the Jolley family and Nathan's family this year. Hopefully, we will get to see them all soon.