Happy Birthday Dad! Thanks to technology, I can still be part of your birthday party talent show. Mom wanted me to write a poem, but that is not a talent I poses. I can paint furniture. I took this ugly, rusted, metal, locker I got at a yard sale for $1 and turned it into a cute useable storage unit for my kids. It really looked bad when I picked it up. I painted it white. I covered all the rust spots and the ugly yellow color.

I distressed it a little bit, because it will become aged looking with my boys. I cut out boys locker on my cricket and stuck them on the locker. Now it looks cute and my boys love it.

I really enjoy looking at my children when they sleep. They are so peaceful and sweet. They are not moving or running or yelling. My heart just melts. I am glad that I get to be reminded how wonderful they are every day.

This is what it looks like on a Saturday night when you have 5 boys in your house. Five ironed shirts hanging up ready for Sunday. The shirts stay ironed for about five minutes, but one day they will look nice. I think that starts when they are on missions.

I have been busy for the last little while before school started. I have been painting these fun pieces. I found all three on the side of the road. They did not look like this when I found them, but they were solid and most of the drawers opened. I was going to sell them and put the money away for missions, but they were to cute to give up. The dresser above is nicer than any other dresser that I have so I put it in Kaleb's room. His last dresser was hard to open and close. I love finding nice furniture for free. Painting could solve all world problems. Just kidding.
This chair's leg was off, but Mark can fix anything. My friend Trisha helped put the fabric on the chair. She also picked up the dresser for me since Mark had the van on a scout trip. Thanks Trisha.
Now I just need to find a cute free chair on the side of the road. I have been driving around alot more than usual hoping to find more treasures. I wish you could all see these things in person. Hint. Hint! New England is beautiful in the Fall. Come and see us. Maybe you could find a treasure too.

We started and ended our trip with seeing the Gruwells. We stopped aong the way out in some truck stop in Nebraska. We saw Matt and the girls. Then we stopped in Buffalo before they moved. We saw the whole family then. It was great to see them. I wish we had more time.

We went to temple square and ran into some other Hydes. How funny. Cute children.

We went to look around and have Dad tell us about the buildings that Grandpa Yound and Great Grandpa Young designed. It was so great to listen to Dad talk about his dad and grandpa.
Mark and I stood in this spot 12 years ago by ourselves. Now look at four boys later. Who knew it would end up this great. Cute husband and boys.
This is the best shot we could get because our boys were diving in the water. I think we should of told Kayden that you throw money in, not dive into the water and get money out. I just pretended he was not my son. Just walk away and then they start yelling for you. Doesn't work that well.
The Hydes flooded Memorial Grove for family pictures. We wore red and white and then changed into Red Sox gear for the real family picture. We stayed in Red Sox clothes and went and got icecream after at Nielsens. I was at the end of the line and the cashier asked me what was up with all the Red Sox shirts. I told him we were from Massachusetts and we were getting family pictures. Little does he know that most of us dress this way all the time. We are not all together at the same time though.

Mom and Dad Hyde celebrate 50 years of marriage. We celebrated with dinner at the Lion house. It was fun and delicious. Let's hope we all make it to fifty years.

We went to This is the Place park. The kids rode horses. Made leather things. Went to a bank and lots of other pioneer things.
All of the kids loved the train ride. They wanted to keep riding the train.
The Brigham Young statue is in the background. I tried to tell the children how awesome it was that they were descendants of Brigham Young and what a great prophet he was and on and on. They did not care that much. I hope later on in life they will appreciate their great heritage.
Grandpa with the boys. Everyone loved Colton and Cooper. Colton called Grandpa "Grandpy".
The kids never cooperate for pictures. Sadly, I think this is the one everyone is in.

Sparkler fun. The kids loved going sparklers. Tosh you missed a great firework show by Mark and Tyler on the 24th.
Cute boys. These boys had so much fun together. They would just go off and play.
The kids lured Tyler and Malary into the water slides and had a great time.
Cooper sitting in a pile of tubes. Cooper adjusted well to the water and learned to swim on the stairs.
Some of the cute Young girls. Look at Mom looking as young as ever. We all hope to look likeher when we grow up. It was so fun being with Angie and Natosha and all the family.

We came down from putting the boys to bed and this is what we found stuck to our front window in our door. It just stayed their for a while and hung out. I think he was looking for bugs. Funny.


Who knew that a cute two year old could create such a mess? I sure didn't. I was out staining my front porch, just trying to finish before the rain came. Cooper came out and told me that Colton was playing with the powdered sugar on the counter. I don't have powdered sugar on the counter so I didn't get too concerned. I came in after finishing painting and saw this mess. I could not believe my eyes. I learned a lot of lessons that moment. First, put your two year old down for a nap before you stain your deck. Second, listen to your four year old and go in and check on your crazy, two year old. Good thing he still looks cute after making a huge mess. It took me about an hour to clean up this mess. Cooper helped clean up the playdough he pulled out in the living room.

March brought good things into the Hyde home. Mark got a new job, Grandma Young came to visit, and we had lots of Birthdays. Hooray for March! Grandma Young snuggling in Boston with our family. I think Grandma looks cold.

My mom really knows no embarassment. She walked the streets of Boston wrapped up in a blanket. I guess having 11 children has thickened her skin to what people think and doing what makes sense to her. At least my kids would still be seen with her.

Cooper's Pirate birthday party. He was a wicked, good pirate. All the kids had a great time.

Colton screaming on a ride at Chuckie Cheese on his second birthday. Not quite up to riding big kid rides. He is still tough.
Colton eating cake on his birthday. He's got the chocolate face to prove it.