Satan's Breath

Last night I walked into my first class of block 2 and was immediately sweating, but it wasn't my nerves.

Apparently they are trying to save cash so they turn down the AC in the summer months. It was awful. 40 students crammed into a corner room on the first floor down a little hallway. We all sat there for 3 hours fanning our faces with the new syllabus while having IV insertion introduced to us. It was torture! When I took a bathroom break I literally had to peel my clothing from my skin. I almost thought it was cooler outside, but when class was over I walked out the doors and was slammed by the deadly heat of Phoenix at 9pm.

I've always tried to describe it to people, but have never been able to get it quite right. It's like pulling dinner out of the oven, or It's like having the hair dryer in your face whenever you walk out the door, but for some reason these descriptions have never really satisfied me until this morning when I read what a friend had written who was just visiting. He said that when the breeze blows it's like Satan's breath.

I think he hit it right on.

Away.

I took a girls weekend - something that I have never personally done, but have always wanted to. It's hard to plan though. Hard to coordinate, but WE DID IT!

Me and 2 of my best girlfriends. Well, and we decided to let Three come along too.

It was complete with plenty of good food. Massages (prenatal for me baby!). Late mornings and later nights.

Meeting up with Joel. More laughter.

And just acting like we were in high school again.

Yeah, It was a pretty successful trip.

On the way home we even saw some Nevada wildlife. Big Horn Sheep.




It was great. The whole trip was, but I missed these guys terribly, just like I knew I would. I was greeted at the door with the best hugs and kisses. Easy told me how the girls kept asking where I was and when I was coming home. They loved all their special treats I brought them and we tucked the girls in for an early night since E and I were both completely exhausted.

Ugh. Now I am hitting the books again. It makes my stomach churn.

killer apologies

sorry my blog has been dead.

i hope to revive it this week. when you blog daily it's nice to sometimes have little breaks. unfortunatly, it makes people worry about you a little.

if you have tried calling me, i'm sorry but my phone is also dead. i left my charger in nevada, which is typical and my mother has been neglecting sending it to me - also typical. you would think that i'd just go and buy a new charger, right?

well, wrong.

there is also something a little nice and liberating about not being completely attached to a cell phone, so i don't want to go and just buy a charger (plus aren't they like $30). it makes me feel like i'm living on the edge. like, if i'm driving down the road and something happens and i won't be able to call anyone about it ---- what would i do?

meanwhile, i start my second block of nursing school tomorrow. more to come on that.

as for now, i'm sorry, but this post is dead.

Gone Again

Just me this time. I'm off for some r&r with my best girlfriends.

Funny thing is that considering how pumped I am to leave and be with my friends, I'm so sad about it too.

Mainly because of these 3:

Girls,

Be good to your daddy. Please eat all your food which will probably consist of hot dogs, mac & cheese, and PB & J. Try not to whine (Blondie) and please go to bed without screaming fits (MaeMae).


E,

Love you. Miss you. Don't let the chickens kill over and please water my garden. Also, try to do the girls hair for church - at least comb through it.

xoxo, Mom

Reuniting the Hydes

Long post. Not offended if you just look at the photos. I probably would.

My mother is a Hyde. I am proud of this. I'm proud to have such a great heritage. A strong family.

My cousin amber and I sort-of headed up this reunion. A first for the RL Hyde clan. I don't know how we could not celebrate having the most fantastic grandparents in the world.

Hydes are runners and it was appropriate that there were some foot races. It goes without saying that Lewis' well...we are not really runners.

This one is my favorite. You can tell that we don't take competition lightly.

Except for her.
This is the part where I realize that I should not run a race when 6 months pregnant as I barely make it across the finish line.

And then we are back to the competition.


Grandma was even in on it. She rocked us all in the horseshoe tournament making it to the finals. I could tell that my grandpa (who was recovering from surgery) was pretty proud of his bride.

But of course the best part was just taking in my family and enjoying every moment of being together. Creating new memories and cherishing the old ones.



After the baby blessing of my sweet new little nephew Gibbs we headed home.

I was so glad to have Easy by my side on the way home (12 hours) to help wrestle the girls and sit through traffic across Hoover Damn. He always seems to make things a little easier for me.
Sorry I'm ditching you this weekend. Love you.

A little pink frosting will do -

We didn't waste much time on our arrival to Nevada before we started partying.

Because well, my MaeMae turned

2!

And not only does that deserve a little party,

but it was pretty

fantastic to celebrate it with cousins.



We love you sweet girl!

Happy Birthday!

a GREAT escape

we had to get out.

the heat was killing us. no kidding. people die out here from it. a kid died yesterday hiking. i don't know why the hell he was doing that in 110 weather, but he ran out of water and didn't make it. tragic, right?

anyway, it's brutal for us to stay here on the weekends so when aly invited us to her family's cabin we jumped at the opportunity.

after a few hours in the car and a few tantrums from my maemae we were able to finally reach our destination and guess who was there to greet us on the front porch???

(i'm not one to toot my own horn, but this is a pretty fantastic photo :)

this tiny little guy and his 3 siblings. sweet right? well, it was sweet until we went inside and found hundreds of these.

this was just a handful of the daddy's that were hanging in the bathtub. no kidding - hundreds

...but it didn't stop us from totally enjoying ourselves.

after spending the night cooking, settling, whacking spiders, playing horseshoes, and working on puzzles - the first thing in the morning the girls occupied the coveted porch swing overlooking the beautiful pines and canyon.

later that day the non-pregnant adults enjoyed some cliff-jumping, snorkeling, and spear-fishing in fossil creek. i'm not sure i would have jumped even if i wasn't pregnant, so i was a little thankful for the excuse this time.

so i just waded in the water and worked on my tan a little while snapping away with my camera.



she is one of my favorite people. thanks for sharing your special cabin with us alish - we loved it. minus the spiders.

our fun was cut a little short due to our girls and i leaving for nevada the very next day. 12 hours alone in the car with my 2 toddlers. probably the most fun i've had in my life.

here.

i am here.

yesterday we drove 12 hours through the hot and dry desert and found our home at 11pm. we were all a little sore, tired, and cranky.

i can't wait to tell you all about our trip to nevada but, i'm going to save it for later.

because first of all, these ladies...have been busy!



on thursday i received the text from my friend christen:

I feel so bad...two of your chickens
flew into your neighbors back yard.
Do you have their number?

i didn't, but wasn't too worried. dumb broads. that neighbor has a dog and i was sure they were toast. i told Christen not to worry, and carried on.

later that night I got another text:

You still have 4 chickens!
Brooklyn (her 8 yr old)
caught them...She is awesome!

i was relieved and will be sending a treat Brooklyn's way for her sweetness and bravery. i think that the ladies felt bad about the drama they caused and when i went out to feed them this morning one of them had left me a treat.

a single egg.

this baby is like gold.

next up: spiders, cabins, friends, and fossil creek

until then.

speaking of cookies...

This recipe is killer.

It's totally worth heating up your kitchen.

in reach

i guess got lucky with my first born. she is calm. she stays by my side. she listens. she is respectful. she makes friends easily and she rarely throws fits.

i feel like i have her pretty well figured out.

this afternoon, we were playing and talking. she was cutting hearts out of paper that i had folded and drawn the lines on for her. she made a daddy, mommy, and sissy hearts. all with sweet little happy faces. meanwhile, i was wasting time on facebook and i didn't even notice it.

but then, i went to get a drink. i passed the bathroom and there it was...

just like little white feathers. all across the bathroom floor and in front of the living room mirror.

no!

i called for her. expecting the worst. expecting this:

she came.


and what?

really?


she looked normal.

just a few more layers around the front. shaping her square little face. i guess my trim the other night wasn't exactly what she wanted and i guess she didn't quite get the whole only-mommy-cuts-your-hair-talk we had.

so we had it again.

and i gave her a cookie.

126

hey, remember how we went to the beach.

of course you do. it was only 2 posts ago.

well, i forgot to tell you that the very best part of coming home from the beach to my in-laws house is stopping for oranges.



oh yes, lots and lots of oranges and oh yes, i'm still dreaming about my mother-in-laws fresh squeezed Orange Julius 10 days afterward.

so, if you ever find yourself driving along highway 126 in southern california between Santa Clarita and the beach please stop at a fruit stand

and take in the goodness.

the funny thing is that while my vegetarian father-in-law was purchasing the oranges and while i was drooling over all the fruit my husband bought jerky.

beef jerky.

and we both devoured it in the car.

so much for fruit stands.

american.

I'm so disappointed.

Not only did the horse we bet $5 on lose on Saturday, but I completely forgot to replace the memory card in my camera, so I have no photos of our amazing weekend.

We went up to Flagstaff to get out of the heat. I'm so glad we did because we actually got to be outside sweat-free.

If I remembered my memory card I would have pictures of the following (please use your imagination):

• The cheap hotel we stayed in Friday night and the fantastic Mexican food we ate at Cafe Ole.
  
• The parade Saturday morning that included a Christian singing group with a life size Jesus (still debating with E if he was real or not) hung on a cross in their float - blood splattered everywhere (really not so necessary - and quite jaw dropping).
  
• Us lounging in the park for a picnic lunch
• The horse races - that I was so stoked to bring Easy and the girls to since I spent some time there as a little girl with my grandparents. I forgot how exciting it was.
  
• The free dinner we had in Cottonwood
• E and I watching fireworks from the roof once our exhausted girlys were in bed followed by a dip in the pool.
  

All well, there is always next year.

Hope your Fourth was equally wonderful!!

of boys and girls

Easy's Back.

On Monday he went to Colorado and after a whole week of having him to ourselves in CA we were extremely lonely without him.

All us girls basically moped around the house for three days. We are hopeless without our man. We missed his humor and his love. We need him here to take care of us.

Upon his return the girls mauled him to the ground. I was relieved to have them off of me and loved hearing their screams and seeing them light up as they took him down. I doubt he could breath with their faces smashed up against his. We are blessed to have such a guy.

I often think Three will be a boy, since I do feel a little different this time around and because it seems to be boy season. Easy predicts a boy and tells me that he is very insightful and knows these things, but then I think of how well he treats us girls and I don't understand why Heavenly Father would take the chance on sending a boy. Yep, we have a pretty good thing going here.

I also know how little boys love their momma's and I know that a mini little E would probably just steal my heart away. I would be putty in his hands. Which might be another reason to send a girl - I've already become such a soft-y.

beans. beans.

It's no secret that the best part of camping is the food.

I bought a dutch oven a year ago that I have since fallen utterly in love with.

The family favorite is beans. Yes. Beans.

l Can Pork and Beans 1 Can Lima 1 Can Baked Beans (plain) 1 Can Pinto 1 Cup Cooked Bacon 1 Cup Cooked Sausage 1/2 Cup Brown Sugar 1/2 Cup BBQ Sauce 1/2 Sweet Onion Ground Black Pepper Directions: Mix all ingredients in a large pot and cook on low flame for at least 1 hour (I like to heat it slow for 3 hours). Never boil, only simmer. Comments: This is wonderful with a big slice of bread and sweet ice tea. Yum!

I prefer them with homemade corn bread.

She likes it with a little attitude.




And this one just likes corn. She prefers her own and then mine. Grandpa's is nice too. The problem is that you just can't tell her no. Trust me, I've tried. Those big pale blue eyes see right through me. She knows just how to lure you in and when she says, "Peas?"


...it's all over.