What did you do this summer?

Summer is exhausting! I always loved summer vacation as a kid. I liked not having a schedule, sleeping in, staying up late, vacations to the beach and EFY, playing with friends, etc. But I was always ready for school to begin again in the fall. Because truth be told, I loved having a schedule, seeing my friends everyday, getting up early, playing sports, etc.

Things have changed a little. I was anxious for school to be out. I was anxious not to have to wake my kids up at 6:30 every morning. I was anxious for them to be able to play with friends and not have a huge schedule each day. I am not sure what happened, but summer came and left and we never really had a break! I am not ready for school to begin again. What happened to sleeping in? What happened to watching cartoons so much that you have seen every episode at least 15 times? What happened to getting so bored of hanging out with friends that you couldn't wait to do math again (yuck).

Well when school begins again in 10 days and teachers and classmates ask the infamous question, "What did you do this summer?", my kids had better not answer, "nothing". I am going to re-cap our summer quickly to help them remember just exactly what we did do. In June we traveled to Cedar City, Kanab, and Richfield for baseball tournaments.

The first week in July we were in Park City for a baseball tournament, Allie's baptism, and a Little family reunion.

Then it was back up to Cedar City for Grant's All-Star baseball games. The next week Russ and Garrett were at scout camp. That is the longest I have ever been away from Garrett. They were back for only 4 days before Russ and the boys (Garrett, Grant, and uncle Chris) left for Yellowstone. They just got home last Sunday.

This weekend we were back up in Cedar City for the LAST baseball tournament of the season. Then this next weekend we have the Hyde family reunion (thank heaven it is in St. George and we will not be travelling too far, just to the lake!). School will begin three days later. Our lives are busy, but I wouldn't have it any other way! We are very blessed and lucky to have healthy kids, and stable jobs that allow us to have the experiences that we do.

Bitter Sweet

Baseball is officially over! It has been a really long- like 8 months long- sport season. We are happy and sad. The boys both had great experiences this year. Garrett was able to really improve as the season progressed. He was the new man this year on a team that has played together for three years. I think he struggled at first to really feel like he was a part of the team. But now he is just one of the boys and made some great friends. We learned this season that Garrett is FAST. He struggled with several different things throughout the season, but never with stealing. He is amazing to watch on the bases. He takes a HUGE lead off and loves to taunt those pitchers. Stealing bases is definitely his biggest contribution to the team. His coaches always look to Russ or I after he steals a base to say, "Man, he's fast".Russ and I learned a lot this season. Russ can now throw several different pitches (curve, change-up, four seam and two seam fast balls, etc.), is an expert in bat sizes, and now knows that baseball is almost as expensive as fly-fishing. I learned the baseball lingo, about tournament rules, and how to get red dirt out of white pants with navy blue piping down the sides that prevents the use of bleach!Grant was the youngest player is his league, yet did really well. He played with boys that were 10, 11, and 12. He had the opportunity to pitch, play short-stop and third base, and gained a lot of confidence. He was chosen to play on the 10 year old All-Star team. He was very excited. Grant is an amazing kid. He is so positive, always happy, and truly loves life. We were thrilled that he was able to have the All-star experience (even though he was out of baseball mode). His baseball season had ended in May, and we didn't find out he was playing all-stars until July! The best part was he got two cool new shirts, a new baseball hat, and little more experience.

We are a happy family...

as BLIND as a bat

Funny story:

Today Russ and Brent got up at 4:00 a.m. to drive to Page, AZ. Russ had to complete an audit/inventory and wanted to introduce Brent to some contacts at the hospital there. When they finished the inventory they began the long drive home. By the time they got to Kanab, Russ was beginning to feel a little sleepy. They decided to stop and get some snacks, walk around for a minute, and use the restroom. As Russ was standing at the urinal taking care of some business, a blind man entered the restroom using his walking stick. He came and stood behind Russ, a little closer than Russ would have liked... but he was blind... so Russ let it slide. That is until he felt a WARM, WET, STREAM running down the back of his leg. Yes, the blind man thought Russ was the urinal. Russ shoved the poor blind man and told him, "You're pissing all over me!" The blind man was very embarassed and apologized over and over again. Poor guy! The funniest part of the story is when Russ came out of the bathroom Brent asked him what was wrong. He told Brent what had happened and the two lady cashiers behind the counter over-heard and started laughing. The one lady came out from behind the counter and proceeded to spray Russ down with Lysol. Luckily Russ had an extra pair of pants in his car and was able to change. He took a shower as soon as he walked through the door... can't imagine why he'd want to do that! Russ said to me, "I don't know why that guy was using a urinal. Our boys can't make it in those, and they can see! He needs to just sit down on the can!" So, there is a good piece of advice: If you lose your sight, sit on the can... or, don't pee on the man in front of you.

Although the picture above was taken in the ocean, I imagine that is what Russ looked like this afternoon!

I can't BEAR it

Grant is progressing right along in scouts. In March he earned his Bear. Due to baseball and pack meetings conflicting, he wasn't presented his award until this week. He has advanced to the Weeblos group and has already earned his fitness award. Good job Grant. You are amazing!

Look what the Redstorm brought in....

Our oldest, handsome nephew graduated from high school this last week. We had the opportunity to go down to Las Vegas and celebrate his graduation. We went to Kurt's (Russ' brother) house. We had a huge pizza party (which I think more ended up on the kids' faces and than in their bellies)...followed by a pool party.

The best part about Reese' graduation is that Dixie State College (right here in St. George, UT) gave him a football scholarship. We will be able to watch him play with the Redstorm and we are VERY excited about it. He is going to live with us for a few weeks before school starts. Gracie is HAPPILY giving him her bright pink bedroom (so she can sleep near me...in my room). We just hope that all 6'4" of Reese will fit in her full size bed. Gracie's bed looks enormous when she is sleeping in it. I am guessing that will not be the case when Reese takes it over!

Congrats Maurice... we can't wait to have you here.

Viva Mexicooooooooooo!

I absolutely blew Russ' 40th birthday. I was planning on sending him on a trip to Mexico to go fly-fishing. Well Swine flu hit and nobody was to travel to Mexico. Russ was not afraid of swine flu and still would have gone, but we could not convince any of his fishing friends to travel there with him, and there was NO WAY he was going by himself. So instead we had a small family party and celebrated his milestone birthday very quietly. BORING!


This year I wanted to surprise him with the trip he was supposed to take last year. In October I began planning and saving my money to send him. In January I recruited a friend in planning. Chris has been one of Russ' fabulous fishing buddies for close to 15 years (or more?). He and his wife, Carie, went to Mexico with Russ and I two years ago. Although Carie didn't love the fishing experience, Chris had a great time and has wanted to go back ever since. I spoke to Carie in January and asked if she was interested in sending Chris to Mexico for his birthday, which is two weeks before Russ'. She loved the idea. Chris was spending his spring break remodeling her hair salon and she was feeling guilty because he usually goes on a fishing trip during that time. Together we went to work. I requested time off for Russ through his boss, and contacted a fishing guide we had used before, and then we made all other necessary reservations. Carie and I booked their flights and took special consideration to give them the most fishing time, using the least amount of time away from work (Russ has taught me some good tricks for vacation planning). He got 6 days of fishing and only had to use 2 vacation days... pretty impressive planning.


On Chris' first day of spring break, his first day of remodeling the hair salon, Russ went over to give him a hand. The kids and I went over to "assist" as well. When we finished we all went out to eat. Carie and I told the boys that night about their birthday gift. They were VERY SURPRISED and VERY EXCITED. Chris said he might even make it through the remodel job without too much pain.


This last week they went on their trip. They had some wild adventures (as always), caught some good fish, hooked a crocodile, flooded a car engine, ate some authentic Mexican civiche, spoke with Spanish accents - like "Creesp and Roose", took very few pictures, and had a fabulous time (well at least Russ did- I haven't talked to Chris yet).



Happy 40th Birthday AGAIN!