The Hyde Family

Meet Ryder

Sat, 4 Feb 2012 16:40:35 -0800

We have been searching for the “perfect” dog since just after Christmas. The fact that we were searching at all is amazing since Charles has forever said he didn’t want a dog. And who wanted to go looking? Charles! The boys, of course, have been very excited. Especially Brenson. We decided we wanted to rescue a dog so we’ve been watching the Rancho animal shelter website and going at least once a week to visit dogs we thought we’d like. We finally chose one in mid January so we ran out to get all the pet paraphernalia. (Not unlike running to the baby store for all the stuff you need for a new kid!) But, when we went back to adopt someone had already taken “our” dog. We were all disappointed but Brenson the most. So we started praying. Every night we asked God to watch over our new dog and bring him to us when the time was right. And then we saw “Nevin” a 4 month old golden retriever mix. And I’m so glad we waited! We decided to name him Ryder - after Flynn Rider on the movie Tangled (my favorite!) He’s a super sweet puppy and has already shown his smarts in crate training. He’s puppy fun but not crazy dog wild. He chews and chews his toys (he’s already destroyed 2!) but has yet to chew things we want (like shoes and table legs). We’ve only heard him bark a few times and he sleeps really well in his crate. The boys (especially Charles!) love him! And I, of course, adore him too. God knew exactly what dog we needed.

Valentines

Wed, 1 Feb 2012 14:26:21 -0800

Christmas is gone, the new year has begun and we are back into a normal routine. Which translates to busy days with not much fun to blog about. Today is the first day I’ve taken any pictures since my race so I guess it’s high time I get something posted or my 3 readers are gonna stop visiting. ;) We busted out the Valentine’s decorations today which included decorating hearts for the windows. I really like putting them up since the house feels kinda sparse once all the Christmas stuff comes down.

13.1 LA

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 14:13:44 -0800

Well, it finally came... race day! After many months of training and hundreds of miles logged I ran a half marathon today. Our awesome friends the Sanders offered to watch our boys so Charles could drive down with me and cheer me on. We had to get up at the horrible hour of 4 a.m. to make it to Venice on time. After picking up my running buddy Laurel and another friend we made it down in excellent time (not much traffic on Sunday before the sun gets up). You’d have thought we were golden... and then we hit the lines of cars trying to park. We had a purchased parking pass that was supposed to get our friend a breakfast and us an awesome parking spot. Apparently everyone else had one too. We finally ended up getting out of the car and walking to the start. Poor Charles didn’t get to the parking lot until after the race started and then was turned away because the lot was full. Nice parking pass. I was SO glad he came since I don’t know what I would have done if I had been driving. The race was awesome, hard, encouraging, challenging, long, and fast. So many different thoughts and emotions all at once. We hit a hill somewhere around mile 9 that was horrible but then got to run down to reach mile 11. I was spent by 12.5 but we somehow managed to finish with a strong run to cross the finish line. Like horses to the barn. ;) I was so thankful for my friend Laurel. I was feeling it on Sunday and she encouraged me to push through and kept me running when I might otherwise have walked. We crossed the line together, finishing in 2 hours and 10 minutes. WOW! Running with World Vision was great. We had our names on our shirts and they had people stationed throughout the race to cheer us on by name. They also had a tent at the end with snacks and drinks and even brought in the In N Out truck. Eating an In N Out burger after running for 2 hours? Nothing could taste better! And the best part - as part of 700 World Vision runners that day we helped raise over $350,000 for clean water in Africa. AWESOME!

Building fun

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 17:33:05 -0800

Camden got a box of building straws for Christmas from my aunt. With no school today we had a chance to open it up and see what it was all about. It was really fun! The pieces really are like straws and it comes with little connectors so you can make just about anything. We had fun creating our own things and then made the rocket and house that come with the directions. The boys loved the house but decided it was a jail instead. Thanks Aunt Doris!

Etiwanda Falls, take 2

Mon, 2 Jan 2012 17:19:40 -0800

With summer like weather and another week off we decided to try another hike on the Etiwanda Tail - this time up to the falls. I had forgotten just how much up there is on our hike up, especially for the little legs people. Dawson motored up for a while and then scored the best seat in town - the backpack with Charles. Camden did well for a while too and then lack of food caught up with him so he scored the second best seat - piggy back with me. I tend to forget about Camden’s crazy high metabolism until he is a crabby mess. Get some food into that boy and it’s an attitude 180 in minutes. We did reach our goal (so pretty!) and then enjoyed a picnic lunch and some cool toe dipping in the water. The hike down took no time at all. ;)

Etiwanda Trail and Random Fun

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 16:18:33 -0800

Since our winter weather has turned into summer we took advantage of a gorgeous day and went hiking on the Etiwanda Trail. We had planned to make it to Etiwanda Falls but got out late and had to be back for an appointment. It was still a fun trip and let the boys burn some energy - which is always a good thing!

Discovery Science Center

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 16:07:05 -0800

We wanted to go on some fun outings while Nana and Aunt Lynn were here. The day after Christmas we decided to go to the Discover Science Center. They were both looking forward to visiting since I’ve talked about the fun times we’ve had there. For Christmas DSC had a gingerbread house contest. The whole front area was full of houses of all different shapes, sizes and themes. Of course, I didn’t take any pictures but I can tell you they were fun to look at. We went to a cookie decorating event and the boys each got to decorate and eat a cookie. After the new and exciting we cruised all our favorite exhibits. By mid afternoon it was crazy busy and, therefore, time to leave.

Christmas Day

Sun, 25 Dec 2011 21:04:00 -0800

Christmas Day started with a challenge for me. You see, this year our church decided to have services on Christmas Day rather than Christmas Eve. I’m big on traditions, and I don’t like change. So the thought of getting up and being out the door by 7:40 Christmas morning and attending 2 services (one to attend and one to serve) was not very appealing. There goes the slow opening of Santa gifts. Out goes the lazy breakfast. No lounging around in Christmas pjs while opening and playing with Christmas gifts. And then I remembered why I celebrate Christmas. So I sat myself down and told myself so suck it up. This only happens once every 6 years (give or take a leap year). I can move back my “traditional” morning to spend a few hours thanking God for sending His son. I can sacrifice my lazy breakfast to help throw a birthday party for Jesus, cake included!, with a bunch of 2-5 year olds. I’ll still get to open presents and it won’t kill me to be dressed in something other than my Christmas pjs. And you know what? It was nice! I got up extra early to make some monkey bread so we at least didn’t have to eat Cheerios on Christmas. Thanks to my early rising children, we still had time to open Santa gifts. We made it to church on time and it was nice to have an hour to rein in my focus; to sing carols and worship. It was awesome to welcome a slew of kiddos to our Jesus birthday party - I got chills when we sang happy birthday and all 40 some kids blew out the candles. And when we got home... we enjoyed a lazy lunch, took our time opening and playing with our mound of gifts, watched a movie and took our Christmas pj picture at night. It was a great Christmas.

Christmas Eve

Sat, 24 Dec 2011 20:39:47 -0800

Christmas Eve is all about traditions at our house. And we started with a newer one but one that I love to do... Santa pancakes. I think this is year 3 for these silly pancakes but they make me smile every time. After breakfast we went to the park to get the sillies out. We have had several days of wind so it was great to be outside. And, thanks to that same wind, it was a gorgeous day. This year our tradition of going to Christmas Eve service and then eating dinner had to be switched up as our church opted to have services on Christmas Day instead. It was a little odd, not getting ready and going to church, but it was kinda nice too. We didn’t have to rush anywhere and took our time with my favorite Christmas Eve tradition, abelskives. We’ve had these scandinavian pancake balls for Christmas Eve as long as I can remember. I have so many memories of standing on the stool whipping the egg whites. It’s extra special for me to now have memories of my kids doing the same thing. And then comes our last tradition... opening one gift before bed.

Gingerbread City

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 20:11:35 -0800

My sweet friend Thea brought us a Christmas goodie basket yesterday. Inside was a gingerbread city kit. Fun! Dawson and I sat down this afternoon to put it together. I asked the other boys if they wanted to help but evidently they are above such things now. Craziness if you asked me. Dawson and I had fun. And Camden did eventually join us, at least for a few minutes.