No longer a CUB

Grant received his Weblos and Arrow of Light awards at Pack Meeting tonight. The Cub Scout leaders did a great job making it a special night for Grant. They read a story about an Indian named Arrow of Light. It was a long story and I am including it on the blog for journal purposes:

Many years ago there lived a tribe of Indians who had a peculiar method of choosing their chief. When the chief of a tribe became too old and knew he had only a short time to live, he would call before him all the braves of the tribe and give to each a bow and six arrows.
When these arrows hit an object they were so constructed they would break and could not be use again. Each brave took a bow and arrows and promised that he would eat no meat except that killed with the six arrows. He was to remain away from camp as long as he could and the one remaining away the longest would be made chief.
Now it so happened that there was a young Indian by the name of Arrow of Light who wished very much to be chief and for many moons had spent much time practicing with the bow and arrows and learning the ways of the wild animals. When his chief sent out word that he was about to choose a new chief, Arrow of Light secured the bow and arrows.
It was late in the afternoon when he started out and he went at once to a place where he had often seen deer come down to drink. He was obliged to wait all night but he had a great deal of PATIENCE. Just as it was getting light he saw a fine deer on the water's edge near him. He shot the deer. Then he took stone, skinned the deer, prepared the skin for clothing, and hung the meat where the wild animals could not reach it. He lived here for many days but finally the meat was almost gone so he resolved to start out again.
He had not traveled far when he came face to face with a huge bear. The bear growled and started toward him, but Arrow of Light was very BRAVE. He waited until the bear was near him. With his second arrow he shot and killed him. He used the skin to make a fine robe to sleep under in cold weather and the meat supplied him for a long time. But at last the food was gone and he was obliged to start out again.
He was walking along the path thinking how well he had done to kill such big animals with his arrows when suddenly he saw an Indian lying on the path before him. He bent over him and saw that it was one of his friends who had started out at the same time he had, but who had used up all his arrows and was starving. He knew that his friend must have food at once or he would die. He looked around but all he could see was a squirrel.
He had been saving his arrows for bigger game but he showed his FRIENDSHIP for his Indian friend by shooting this squirrel and cooking it for him. The next day the Indian was able to walk slowly so they went on together. Soon they saw a huge panther ready to spring upon them. Arrow of Light knew that he could escape but his friend was so weak that he would easily be killed so he used up another arrow to kill the panther, thus showing his UNSELFISHNESS.
As they went on together looking for a deer, they heard a wolf in hot pursuit of one. Before long they carne upon a freshly killed deer. Arrow of Light's friend said to him, "Here is some meat all ready for you," but Arrow of Light had promised that he would eat only the meat that he had killed for himself.
He showed his HONESTY by refusing to eat it.
Arrow of Light now had only one arrow left and wanted to kill a deer with it. Soon he saw a deer but just as he was about to shoot, the deer gave a jump and the arrow missed him. Now Arrow of Light was very much discouraged so he walked by himself into the woods. He still had FAITH IN THE GREAT SPIRIT and he looked up and prayed, "Oh, Great Spirit, I have tried to do my best. I have been helpful and honest but here I am many days journey from home and I know I shall starve before I reach there unless you help me." As he prayed he suddenly felt something press against his foot and looking he saw the arrow that had missed the last deer. It had not hit any object and was whole. He felt the Great Spirit had helped him. He took this arrow and killed a deer and he and his friend arrived home safely.
When the old chief heard his story he spoke thus, "Oh, Arrow of Light, you have showed, Patience in waiting for the deer, Courage in facing the bear, Friendship in helping your friend, Unselfishness in killing the panther, Honesty in refusing to eat the meat you did not kill, and Faith in the Great Spirit in asking his help. These are the qualities we need in our chiefs and it therefore gives me great pleasure to declare you to be chief of our tribe." Arrow of Light proved his worthiness to be made chief.
A great arrow, the symbol of the tribes leadership, was presented to him. Because of his great leadership it was named after him. This is where we got the Arrow of Light award.
Tonight we have a boy who has earned this great award. Will Grant and his parents please come forward.

The cool part of the night was they had a man in our ward that is a bow hunter there. He had brought his bow and arrows and set up a target. Each time in the story when an arrow was used, Joe Millet- the hunter, would shoot an arrow into his target about 30 yards away. The kids thought that was pretty cool. When the story was over, they had Grant come forward and the Cub Scout Master shook his hand and handed him over to the Boy Scout Master (Grant's dad).

Other fun parts of the night included Grant painting the Weblos symbol on my hand

and me painting the Arrow of Light Symbol on his face,

Grant pinning the mother's pins on my shirt,

and of course refreshments.

Good job Grant!

It's official... Grant's 11

Grant's birthday fell on Easter Sunday this year. He had a party with his friends a week ago, but we celebrated his birthday with family on Sunday.

Eleven years ago, I began having contractions with Grant on April 22nd. As the day progressed, the contractions grew closer together. I decided to lie down and get some rest before I went to the hospital. My contractions stopped. I woke up on Easter morning and just cried. I sent Russ and Garrett to church and I stayed home and cried. I was SO swollen, had gained 75 pounds, was incredibly sick my entire pregnancy, and absolutely miserable. Later that morning, I went for a 10 mile walk in the rain trying to induce labor. No luck. My dear friend Kellie called me that night from Colorado. She could tell I was so sad. She sent her sister, Hollie, to see me. Hollie was a student in massage therapy school. She lived right behind us and showed up on my doorstep at 10:00 pm and asked if she could practice pregnancy massage on me. Who could say no to that? Hollie gave me the greatest 2 hour massage of my life. At the very end, she was massaging my hands. She said, "I need to be careful because there is a pressure point in your hand that can induce labor". I said, "Uh- huh, sure. Whatever (I was a total non-believer)". But then I said, "Go ahead, push it. Let's see what you can do". It was midnight. Hollie pushed that pressure point. My water broke. My labor started immediately. Grant was born 8 hours later.

He was a beautiful baby with a tiny, perfect head. He had a rough start due to 7 months of TERRIBLE colic. If he was awake he was SCREAMING! Once the doctor determined he was lactose intolerant, I eliminated dairy from my diet, and added a soy formula to his eating plan. He was a new baby in 2 weeks. He is now my easiest kid.

Well, this Easter Sunday was much better than the one I remember 11 years ago. It was fun today to celebrate Grant. He has been such a blessing to our family and we are so grateful for him.

At age 11 Grant is a great brother to Garrett and Gracie. He loves his Nintendo DSi XL with his many Pokemon video games. Grant plays football, basketball, and baseball. He loves roping at school and riding his bike after school. Grant is very witty and fun and has a great personality. He is small, but has an attitude. He is independent, but has many friends. He likes girls, and the scary part is... that girls like him, too. He has a touch of ADD when it comes to homework and chores, but excels at whatever catches his interest. Grant is smart and clever and is developing so many wonderful talents. We can't wait to see what he grows up to become.

A big thanks to all who attended Grant's birthday dinner and made it a special night for him (the party included his immediate family, Grandma and Grandpa Brooks, Kami and Brent, Nana and Papa, and his great-grandpa Harris).

Spring Jamboree

Tonight Gracie had a Spring Jamboree at the school. All of the 2nd grade classes participated in the performance. First, they showed off their skills with different instruments. Gracie's class played the drums. The other classes used bells and sticks and one class sang a song while their teacher played the guitar. For the next part of the jamboree, the kids entertained us with square dancing. It was darling. They had a professional square dance caller there who has been working with the classes for the past few weeks. The teachers announced that the first couple of days they spent all their energy just getting the boys and girls to touch each other's hands. The kids didn't seem to have a problem with that tonight. They did fantastic. When the classes were done performing, they had the kids get a parent to dance with. They were performing the Virginia Reel. Well, Russ was at batting lessons with Garrett and I am a GIRL and I NEEDED to take pictures for the blog (those were my excuses anyway), so I had Grant dance with Gracie. They were so cute and coordinated. It was a fun night.

FRO No Mo'

We like Sundays in our house. When we get home from church we make dinner, eat, make a dessert, eat it, and play games as a family. We enjoy spending time together, not having schedules, and just relaxing. This year, we have had an added bonus on Sundays. Reese comes over every Sunday and eats with us while he does his laundry for the week. He plays games with us and shows us all of the cool new apps on his iPhone. It has been fun to have him be part of our family while he is at college. About 4 months ago, Reese decided to grow out his hair. He is getting ready to go on a mission and decided to do something fun before he left. We have laughed over the past few months as his afro has grown and grown. Tonight Reese decided to shave it off. Russ has a set of clippers and has helped Reese shave his head before. So, Reese had Russ and the boys shave his head. The boys were a little hesitant at first. But Reese took the clippers right down the middle of his fro and told the boys they couldn't mess it up. Garrett reluctantly took the clippers and shaved a few rows. Grant couldn't wait to get his hands on the clippers. He added a few stripes to Reese's head. Russ finished the job. At one point Russ had to take the scissors to the hair because it was so long, it was jamming the clippers. It was a fun experience for the Hyde men. Russ is considering changing careers. He thinks he has a natural ability for shaving heads. Should I be scared? I may wake up bald in the morning... Reese's mission papers are in and he should be receiving his mission call this week. We are so excited for him.

Grant's BIG day

Grant had a BIG day today! It began at school where he watched "the video". Grant had to watch the maturation video this afternoon at school. I am always amazed at the difference between my boys. When Garrett watched "the video", he got in the car and looked straight ahead. He said he was too embarressed to look at me. He didn't wan't to talk about it. He felt punished that they gave him a stick of deodorant. And then there is Grant. He told me ALL about "the video". He explained, in detail, everything he learned. I was embarrassed! He was very excited about getting deodorant and can't wait to use it. I didn't have the heart to tell him he wouldn't be needing it for a few years.

Then Grant had his first baseball game today. He was pretty excited about it. He played 2nd base, short-stop, and pitcher. He looked very confident and did great! He walked each time he was at bat. He stole 2nd, 3rd, and home. That is the hardest part of little league. There are a ton of walks, almost every ball pitched is missed by the catcher, and lots of stolen bases. It was fun, nevertheless.

As soon as Grant's game was over, we rushed to the movies to celebrate his birthday with his buddies. This year, Grant's birthday falls on Easter Sunday, and the kids are out of school the Friday before and the Monday after. We figured with a four day weekend, some of his friends might be out of town. So, we celebrated a little early. Tonight was the opening night of "Rio", the newest animated film. We took the kids to see the movie in 3-D.

It was a cute show and the kids really liked it. After the movie, we came back to our house for cake, ice-cream, and some night games (capture the flag). It was a good time, the boys behaved pretty well, and we survived! Grant's cousin, Brayden, came to his game and went to the movie with us. Then his cousin, Reese, and his girlfriend, Kellie, came over for cake and ice-cream. Grant is one lucky kid to have so many people who love him. We will celebrate his birthday with the rest of his family on his actual birthday.

Holy SPLIT

Miss Gracie is amazing! Last week she advanced in gymnastics from the bronze level to the silver level.

Then last night Gracie joined the Banana Split Club at gymnastics. This is an amazing accomplishment. In order to be in the banana split club, she had to be able to do her splits three ways (left leg forward, right leg forward, and middle) and be able to do a pancake. A pancake is when your legs are straddled and your stomach is on the floor. She has been practicing her splits everyday since they offered her the challenge at the beginning of the year. She has become so flexible that she now just falls into the splits.

Gracie absolutely loves gymnastics. I love them too. If I tell Gracie that she has to do her homework for the week before she can go to gymnastics, she has it done within the hour. If I tell her she can't go to gymnastics until her room is clean, her room will be spotless within 20 minutes. She is such a good little girl and works so hard to do whatever is expected of her. I am so happy that we have found an activity for her that she enjoys so much. And good for her for working so hard to achieve her splits goal.

Family Night

We went to the St. George Temple tonight for Family Night. Unfortunately, Russ and I took the boys for a little batting practice right before we went. Russ and I changed our clothes before we left for the temple, but nobody did their hair, touched up make-up, or made any effort to look cute. Of course, we took a ton of pictures and my family looks as if we all just got out of bed. Oh well, we never said we were classy.

It was fun to all get together and see the new photography exhibit of Jesus' life in the visitor's center. We especially loved having some of the Lund/Koenig family there.

a Blast from Russ' Past

Tonight, Russ was supposed to go on an over-night campout with the Boy Scouts. It had rained all day, was supposed to rain all night, and the temperatures were supposed to drop into the 30's. Russ, being the avid camper that he is, cancelled the campout. I didn't hear anyone complain and actually heard a few cheers from the other leaders. Well, that left us without a plan for the evening.

At 4:30 PM Russ called and said, "Hey, let's go to the Station Wagon concert". (Yes, it is really REO Speed Wagon... but Russ has always called them the Station Wagon). "Really?", was my reply. They were one of Russ' favorite groups when he was growing up. Being married to Russ for almost 15 years now, I know most of the Station Wagon's music. The concert was supposed to be at Tuacahn (our outdoor theater). But due to the nasty weather we are having, it was moved to the Dixie Center. After dinner, Russ and I drove over to the Dixie Center to just "check things out". Next thing I know, Russ has tickets in hand and I am on my way into a concert.

Russ is a little bit older than me, not much, but that age difference really manifests itself when it comes to music. He loves all of the music that was popular about the time I was being brought into this world. Tonight it was obvious... I was way out of my music generation (and Russ too, for that matter). I had two of my senior citizen patients from the hospital there. There were more wrinkles at that concert than music notes, and more hearing aids than ear plugs. Instead of waving lighters during the slow songs, this crowd was waving canes.

Needless to say, it was very fun. The music was great and I knew ALL but three songs. The Station Wagon has aged quite a bit as well, but could still "bring it". I was laughing at all of the older women that were working their way up to the stage. Then next thing I know- my husband has worked his way right up next to the stage and was rocking out with the groupies, taking pictures of the band with my cell phone. It was pretty funny. Russ was having the time of his life and I was glad we were there.

So here is my re-cap of the band. Rod Stewart is now the lead singer, Meatloaf plays lead guitar, Rob Schneider (from Saturday Night Live) plays drums, and Lucious Malfoy (from the Harry Potter movies) plays bass, and they grabbed some bum off the street before they went on stage to play keyboard.

Meatloaf was inviting the women standing by Russ backstage. Russ kept thinking he was pointing to him. At first I was laughing, but then I saw that Russ was given a collection of Meatloaf's guitar picks, and now I am wondering if he really did want Russ backstage.

Rod Stewart changed his shirt and his guitar after every song. I am not really sure why, but he did. It was kind of fun to see what he would be wearing next, or what color his next guitar would be. He also claimed to have gotten Bronchitis from his twin 11 year old boys, and said that was why he couldn't hit any of the high notes. Hmmm. Not sue about that one. He is like 70 years old.

Lucious Malfoy was just there, playing his same little bass guitar. He sang two of the songs, but his long white hair was always over his face so you couldn't really tell if he was into the concert or not. You could tell he was proud that he still had hair.

Rob Schneider was wearing a tank top and was really dramatic. After the concert he gave Russ a high five and shook my hand. Ew! He had on sweaty, germy gloves, plus he was wearing a tank top. Old man in a tank top... not pretty.

There was a keyboard guy too, but everyone knows the keyboardist is not very cool... He is kinda like the kicker on a football team.

Anyway, it was a really fun night. Russ and I are both deaf now and the kids are wondering why we keep yelling everything we have to say. Hopefully, I will be able to hear again tomorrow. Then again, I might be able to use this temporary hearing loss to my advantage. Say what?

Wild, Wild West

Tonight was Grant's (and Gavin's) final performance as a member of Sunset Express. He is thrilled. He enjoyed missing school for performances, but that was the extent of his excitement... or so he says. You would never know it watching him on stage. He loves the spotlight and puts on quite a show.

Tonight, they performed out at Tuacahn. It was a perfect night. There were choirs from 10 elementary schools that performed.

They had a western theme and so our kids were decked out in their western wear. Lucky for Grant, one of his buddies is an all out cowboy. We were able to borrow a belt buckle and some boots. I told Grant, "You look so cute". He said to me, "Cute is NOT the look I am going for". Oops! I guess we have out-grown the days of being cute.

I must say that our school sounded so good. I was proud that Grant was in Sunset Express and so glad that he finished with a good attitude.

Tournament Champs

Garrett had a baseball tournament this weekend. Garrett played really well. He has been moved in the batting order to lead-off batter. He has been working very hard on his batting this season. He works with a hitting coach once a week, and Russ and I take him batting twice each week. He has made some great progress and we saw the fruits of his labor this weekend. They played in four games on Saturday. Their first game was at 11:00 in the morning. They played a team of 15 year old boys that were two heads bigger than any boy on our team. It was just a practice game, but our boys hung with them pretty well. They lost by 3 runs. Their second game was at 3:00 p.m., which they won 22-5. Their third game was at 5:00 p.m., which they won 20-5. That put the boys in the championship game. That game started at 9:30 p.m. They won the championship game 19-4. It was a REALLY LONG day. The boys were exhausted as we left the baseball fields at 11:45 p.m., but they all had huge smiles on their faces and huge trophies in their hands.