Student of the Month

This morning Gracie handed me a crumpled up piece of paper from her backpack.  She said, "Oh- I forgot to give this to you."  It was an invitation to her school awards assembly.  The assembly was today at 2:30.  It wasn't much notice, but at the last second I was able to get off of work in time to be there.  Yay for a good boss who realizes that stuff like this is important.  Anyway, Gracie was given the Student of the Month award.  Each month they will spotlight a student that represents a value.  This month the value was being a Peacemaker.  Unfortunately, I did not get a very good picture of her with her award because she was being very embarrassed and silly.  Oh well, I tried.

The next chapter...

I am not sure where time goes, or how things can change so quickly.  Just a couple of weeks ago I was feeling sad for our "Little Lou" because she was following her brothers to all of their sporting events.  She really didn't have a sport or activity that she was into yet.  Well, she has now become my busiest child.  She has gymnastics 3 days each week and soccer 2 days each week.  She also has activity days, school, and a social life that fills in any spare second she may have.  

This weekend Gracie had her first gymnastics competition.  She was nervous, but I think her mom was way more nervous than she was.  She did well.  It was certainly a good learning experience for all of us.  We really did not know what to expect going into the competition.  Now we are more prepared and are excited to watch her progress over the next few years.

Here are some of the highlights from her competition...

Gracie also had her first soccer game this Saturday.  She is very excited to play.  They won their first game and she couldn't be happier.  Here are a few photos my mom took of the day...

The Eagle has landed...

Today is a happy day in the Hyde home.  Garrett completed his Eagle Project!  This has been a long time coming.  He came up with two different projects, that the city so kindly completed before he could get them approved.  Then he finally was able to get his 3rd idea approved by the city and had all of his paperwork completed, just as the Eagle Project coordinator/leader/adviser/whatever was released of her duties.  We then had to wait for the next person to get trained in the position... which took another 3 months.  It was then in the middle of Garrett's baseball season where we are gone, traveling every weekend.  When baseball season ended, our cement guy was on vacation.  Finally, the stars all aligned and we were able to begin his project last weekend and finish it today.  We are so excited.

The Eagle Project:

Convert this area into a recreational campsite

These are the cement pouring photos taken last Saturday

We had to let the cement dry for 1 week before we could install the picnic tables.  So, today we rounded up some wonderful family members, scouts, and YM leaders from our ward to finish up the project.  We put together 2 picnic tables, drilled holes in the cement, placed anchor bolts and secured the tables to the cement slabs.  We also spread gravel around the area to level the site.  We need to go back one more time and clean the site up a little bit before we present it to Washington City.  

Here are the photos of today

Many thanks to those who came and helped us with Garrett's project this morning.  The work went quick and easy and we are so grateful to all of you.  

We are so proud of Garrett for accomplishing this great goal.  It has not been easy with all of his other activities.  He is one busy boy.  But, he persisted.  He did a little each week.  And now, he is done.  Hooray!   

Labor Day, Lagoon, and the Lake

In 2008 we went to Lagoon.  I took this picture of Russ and the kids as we were just going into the amusement park.  This picture has been on my home computer desktop for 4 years.  Every time we look at it we laugh at how crooked Garrett's teeth were and how little all of the kids look.  It really doesn't seem like that long ago that we took this picture. 

This past Saturday we took the kids to Lagoon.  I took a new picture of Russ and the kids as we entered the park.  I cannot believe how grown up they are getting.

As we walked into the park, Gracie quickly grabbed my hand and told me that she was not going on any ride that went upside down, or up high, or really fast.  I told her that she was going to get pretty bored, because that described 90% of the rides in the park.  She held my hand really tight for the first fifteen minutes that we were in the park.  We went on the "Clickety-Clack" as a family, then Grant and I took turns sitting off the ride with Gracie as the everybody else rode "Wicked".  Wicked goes straight up and straight down, then into a cork screw.  For some reason, I was instantly sick.  I have never really been one to get sick on rides, but the combination of those two, sent me into a spin.  I figured I would be volunteering to sit with Gracie the rest of the day.  NOT SO.  The next ride the boys wanted to go on was Colassus, a ride that has a double loop.  Russ talked Gracie into going on the ride one time.  He promised her that if she didn't like it, he wouldn't make her go on any more rides that she didn't want to go on.  She agreed and went.

  You can see her upside down in the last car on the left...

Well, she got off the ride with a crazed look in her eyes.  She was going crazy.  She ran by me and yelled, "That was awesome!  We are going again!"  She was so excited the rest of the day.  She ran from ride to ride wanting to try every big ride in the park.  If it didn't go upside down, really fast, or really high... she wanted nothing to do with it.  We unleashed a monster on Saturday.

There were so many great things about the day.  We saw so many people that we knew.  We saw our neighbors, one of Russ' roommates from Ricks College, one of Garrett's baseball teammates and his family, and we ran into Russ' cousin and his family.  It was so much fun to see Scott and Jenny Scribner and their 5 kids- Josh, Matthew, Aaron, Gracie, and Noah.  We ate lunch with them and were able to get reacquainted with their family.  They are such good people.

This picture was taken right after a short thundershower hit...we are not looking too great!

The other great part of the day was just how great everyone got along.  Garrett and Grant did not fight one time. 

 Everyone just went along with whatever anyone else wanted to do.  AND everyone had smiles on their faces the entire day.  What a fabulous vacation. 

After lunch, I was feeling a little bit better and was able to go on a few more rides.  Luckily, Garrett was willing to go on the wimpy roller coasters with me.

We also went into Lagoon A Beach for a couple of hours in the middle of the day.  That was a nice change of pace.  Unfortunately, that is when my camera battery died.  I only got one picture.

 At the end of the night, we were walking by Colassus.   It hadn't been running most of the day and when they decided to re-open the ride we were right there so we jumped on.  BIG MISTAKE!  We got to the top of the ride- 10 stories above the ground- and the ride just stopped.  We sat there for about 5 minutes before one of the workers climbed the stairs to inform us that there were having "power failure".  I about passed out!  I hate heights!!!  So I asked, "Arthur, is this something that happens often?"  To which he replied, "No, this never happens... but we are prepared for this kind of thing."  "So tell me Arthur, what happens if they do get this going again?  Could we have another power failure when we are upside down?"  "Oh no, once you finish getting up this hill, there is NO power involved.  Gravity will get you to the end of the ride."   I guess I have never known this before.  When you are twisting, and upside down, and going in crazy loops, etc.- it is the force of gravity?  For some reason, that did not calm me down!!!  The ride eventually started up and obviously we made it down just fine, but I was finished for the night.  I am not sure I will ever look at a roller coaster the same again.  

We stayed the night up north and went to church near Thanksgiving Point.  As we were driving back to St. George on Sunday, my friend Dayna text me and asked if we wanted to go to the lake on Monday.  SURE! Russ and the boys went out with Jeremy (Dayna's husband) early in the morning to get a little fishing in.  Then Dayna and her boys and Gracie and I drove out a little later.  We had a blast wake-boarding, skiing, tubing and playing in the sand and water.  What an amazing weekend.

Thanks Dayna and Jeremy for an AWESOME end to a great weekend!