The Best of the Second Half of 2009

After 6 months of no blog updates, I have kind of recovered my password and am good to go again. It was fun to look back at the past 6 months and pick out a few pictures that sum it all up. I wish life were so simple and easy to organize. We had a fantastic 2009 and hope to make 2010 even better. We'll start in December and work our way back to June. It will be as if I never skipped a blog post at all!

Christmas Eve pajamas are a tradition at our house. Jacob was grateful his weren't the skin tight fire retardant kind. I made that mistake last year and he cried until I let him change - after pictures of course!

It snowed on Christmas Eve day in Tyler, TX. The kids ran around like crazy! We really need to get them up to Utah so they can see real snow that sticks for days and days!

Beautiful Sarah and her beautiful best friends. Couldn't ask for better girls!

Sarah's very first band concert. She plays the flute and is doing really well. This picture brings back so many many memories of painful hours of practicing!

Can you guess what Jacob is? A snowman of course! The only reason Jacob put this costume on was because it was for a grade. He is such a picky dresser!!

Bryan and I loved New York City. We were picked off the street to attend The Late Show With David Letterman. It was crazy fun.

Me and The Statue of Liberty. I had no idea how big it really was. I almost stroked out climbing the stairs to that torch. You think you're in good shape until you tour this city! I'll post more about our trip later.

Halloween and the kids are ready to trick or treat! Sarah and her best friends were Things 1,2 and 3. Emily was a cute fairy princess. Blake was a thrown together hippie /peace guy. And Jacob decided 1 minute before trick or treating to be a doctor. Thank goodness we had that costume available.

Blake's 8th grade football expereince with no broken bones. I prayed a lot those 2 months!

Wow..Blake is getting so old. I have a teenager and a 3 year old at the same time. They both act the same!

Blake's wish was to not have to write any more essays for History. Oh, I forgot...that was my wish for my birthday!

Happy Birtday my sweet Emily. She talked about this birthday for 6 months. She told everyone that would listen that her party was on September 7th. She turned three and is giving all of us a run for our money!

Of course Emily had a princess cake because in Emily's eyes everything should be princess and pink!

Ballerina Emily. Mommy and me dance classes are so much fun! You should see us. Emily is pretty good and I am spectacular...hahaha.

GO BYU COUGARS! This picture deserves a post all its own! The BYU vs OU game in the new Cowboys Stadium was lots of fun. Of course everything is fun when your team wins!

Emily's first day of pre-school at Oak Tree Academy. She loves her teacher, Ms. Liz, and she loves all her friends. Most of all, I love the break!!

Emily just being cute!!

The kid's first day of school. Blake is in 8th grade, Sarah in 6th grade, and Jacob is in 3rd grade. Blake asks me every day why he has to go to school, because he is sure he knows everything.

Just a sneak peak into the Hyland Family Reunion! We had lots of fun. Move those hips Blake.

Stacy and Wendy - in charge of entertainment...enough said!

We convinced Emily after months of negotiating that she wanted to be in a big girl bed. She liked her bed for the first 5 minutes she was in it. She still asks for her crib - 5 months later.

No more baby! Emily is all grown up! Bye bye crib.

Ahhh...the beach! I can't wait to go back. Emily liked the sand this year and all of us enjoyed the relaxation.

Jacob's Championship Team - The Rangers

Jacob's baseball team wouldn't give up this year!  They ended their regular season in 6th place and we were really proud of them.  They played the 3rd place team first in their tournament and beat them.  We thought they were just lucky, but then they ended up beating the 2nd place team the next night, and finally the 1st place team last night.  It really is true...everything is a little bit more fun to do when you win.  Credit should be given, where credit is due.  Jacob's team really was a talented team and he was blessed to have super good and patient coaches as well. Congratulations Rangers for a job well done!

The 2009 RCWLL Champions - The Rangers  The final score was 12 to 8!  Way to go boys!  Front row: LtoR - Sebastian Patterson, Lane Proctor, Jacob Hyland, Reed Gesse, Connor Case, Tagen Parma  Back Row: LtoR John Short, Graham Regan, Zaylon Walker, Hayden Hommel, and Tyler Hobbs.  Coaches:Kurt Gesse, Bill Hommel, Tim Parma
Jacob with his 1st place trophy.  He already has it displayed nicely on his trophy shelf!
The coaches promised the boys that if they won the championship game, they could dump the cooler of water on their heads!  The boys loved this more than receiving their trophies.

                                                  Everything is better with silly string!

We did it!  This picture was taken as their names were announced during the final ceremonies!
                                       Happy as can be...not to mention super cute also.
                                     Getting ready to congratulate the team that they beat.

Funny Stuff

A few weeks ago, I had to fill out forms for Jacob regarding the GT program at his school.  They asked very picky questions about his personality and behaviors and then asked for specific examples.  The form was due the next day and for some reason I was at a loss for examples, so who knows if he will qualify for the program or not.  These scenarios would have fit several of the categories nicely.  Too bad they didn't happen earlier.

On the last week of school, Jacob's class had an ice-cream sundae and pinata party.  After I served the class sundaes,  Mrs. Phillips, their teacher took them outside to hit the pinata.  She told them all of the safety rules and then asked Jacob to be first.  She blindfolded him and twirled him around a few times.  Jacob reared back the broom handle as far as he could and then swung with all his might.  Unfortunately he missed the pinata completely but managed to smack his teacher hard across her legs.  I immediately cringed, the class busted up laughing, and Jacob said, "Did I break the pinata?"   I was mortified, but the class seemed to think that Jacob was a hero. It was all fine and good until the class started chanting "HIT MRS. PHILLIPS" to every student that stood for their turn.  I grabbed Jacob and reprimanded him for being so disrespectful to his teacher.  The class stopped their chanting, but I knew  they were in trouble.  The next day at school, Mrs. Phillips told the class how disappointed she was at their behavior and told them how they had hurt her heart by being mean and chanting ugly words.  Jacob immediately started crying.  The teacher knelt by his desk and explained that she wasn't mad at Jacob for hitting her and she understood that was an accident.  Jacob just sobbed, and said he wasn't crying about the pinata, he was crying because "the workers were weeding and they accidently pulled my tree out of the ground yesterday that I planted months before and it really hurt my heart!"  He told Mrs. Phillips he understood what a hurt heart felt like!  What a sweet tenderhearted emotional boy.  Now the flip side...

Last night as we were sitting down to eat dinner, I served Emily her food.  I placed some watermelon on her plate.  Emily immediately said, "I have two pieces of watermelon."  I said, "Yes you do, because you are two years old."  Jacob chimed in and said, " I guess I need eight pieces of watermelon and you need 26."  "That's right Jacob!" I happily replied.  Blake about fell off his chair laughing and rolled his eyes and said, "Yeah if you are dividing her age by 2!"  Jacob's mouth fell open and said, "What?  You mean mom is 52!"  Her watermelon won't fit on her plate.  Bryan just laughed and said "no it won't, your mom is getting old!!!"  Thanks boys!

The Month has Come and Gone!

I have always said that the month of May is just as busy as the month of December.  And of course the busier the month the faster it seems to pass us by.  Here are just a few of the things that occupied most of our days and nights!!

Emily did take time out to smell the roses.  The weather turned warmer and the grass turned green and started to grow.  The weeds also started to grow, and so Emily and I took about a week to get all of our beds weeded and planted with pretty flowers.   We'll see how long it lasts.
Sarah had her dance recital.  It is quite the event!!!  The rehearsals leading up to the actual event last for hours...no actually days.  Her recital was great this year and Sarah danced in four different dances.  The costume changes between dances have to be speedy and timed just right. This year, Sarah was able to do most of it all by herself so that I could actually enjoy the recital. She did tap and jazz and really had a good time.  Sarah is with one of her best friends Sydney here.  I think her friends are what make dancing so fun.
                                                   Emily and Sarah...Peace out!
                                                                 Sarah and Kendall
Emily kept me busy this month just bossing me around.  She finished her first year of pre-school and absolutely loved it.  She loved her teacher and all of her friends, with the exception of Clark.  According to Emily, he gave her way too many kisses.  Who could resist?
I found a baby turtle in our garage one Saturday morning.  The kids kept it for about two weeks in a small tupperware container filled with dirt and expensive turtle food from the pet store.  I finally convinced the kids to let it go out in the forest.  It was a very sad day for Jacob.
Jacob played his very last 5 pitch baseball game...in the regular season.  His team did well enough to make it to the playoffs.  Hoorah...UGH!!!!
And lastly, we must have attended every award ceremony, orientation, and concert available to kids in grades 2,5, and 7.  In the picture above, Blake received his medal for UIL and solo and ensemble contest.  All of the kids had an amazing year in school.  They all got staight "A"s the entire year.  And once again, for the second time, according to my grades,  I am pretty sure that I am smarter than a 5th grader...at least the ones in Whitehouse,TX.

A Good Week for Blake

I've heard all of the miserable stories about having teen-agers and feel lucky so far. Blake frustrates me some, but not near as much as my two year old. This past week at school, he was chosen to be the student of the week at Whitehouse Junior High. The teachers nominate students based on grades, effort, attitude, respect, etc. Only 32 kids (out of about 400) are chosen each year from each grade. I was really proud of him. Blake didn't seem to really care. He didn't even bother to tell me about it! I had to read about it on the marquis! Blake standing by the marquis in front of his school! I had to take this picture on Saturday afternoon when none of his friends were anywhere in sight.

This appeared in the local Whitehouse newspaper, "The Tri-County Leader." Blake looks a little scared. He said he was nervous during the interview, which is obvious with his football answer!

Later, this same week, Blake was inducted in to the National Junior Honor Society. Here he is with a bunch of his friends.

It was all I could do not to walk across the stage and accept his certificate for him. I know I've earned it in years past. Blake does deserve most of the credit this year. I know he does higher lever math than I could ever dream of!

Easter and a Baptism...it doesn't get much better than that!

We had a super busy, but oh so great weekend.   My brother, David and his family, and my mom came in town to celebrate Easter and attend Jacob's baptism.  We also fit a groundbreaking into the mix and an Easter Egg hunt.  Thanks to everyone that took time out of their busy schedules to attend Jacob's baptism.  Despite a lot of worry and stress, everything turned out perfect!  I am thankful that I have such amazing and supportive family and friends.

Easter Morning, Emily found her basket, lots of eggs, and lots of candy.  She was a very happy little girl!
Cousins spent some time swimming.  Only in the heated hot tub of course!  
It was so funny to watch Emily dye Easter Eggs.  She refused any type of help.  Most often she would place the egg and her hands in the dye together.  Her hands looked beautiful in her silk Easter dress at church.  They were pretty blue and purple.  No amount of time in the bathtub or swimming pool removed the dye.  I think it finally all wore off by Thursday.
Blake and Hansen.  They were pretty much too cool to dye too many eggs.  I had to beg for this picture.
Sarah and Rebekah were the most creative and patient with their eggs.
                                                Jacob made some pretty fancy eggs too!
Jacob and his favorite cousin, Bevan.  Jacob gave Bevan his old baseball cap from last year.  Such cute boys.
Striking a pose in their new Racquet and Jog t-shirts...a must buy for any trips down to Tyler!
                                                  Opening a few gifts after his baptism.
Bryan and Jacob in the baptismal font right before his baptism.  Bryan was able to baptize Jacob.
                                                  Jacob with dad and mom
    An early morning ground breaking for our new LDS chapel in Bullard.  It will only take us 10 minutes to get to church in about a year!
Emily finding lots of eggs.  It was pretty cute whenever she found an egg, she would bend over to pick it up and all the other eggs would fall out of her basket!  Very frustrating for a two year old with short arms and legs!