Wedding Update

I think some of you have been wondering about Ashley's wedding.  She'll be getting the announcements out this week, but here are some of the details.  The ceremony will be at 1:00 and the reception will be from 5:00 to 7:00 on December 17.  Ashley would like our family to wear her colors, if possible, which are red, white, and silver with black accents (you don't have to wear all of them).
Things are starting to come together.  Tonight we worked on the centerpieces.  I think they turned out pretty good.  We got the ideas from this blog.  Here are some pictures of what we did.

We'll put these out on the tables in little groupings.  Here's what Ashley's hands looked like at the end.  Mine were about the same.

Also, Ashley made these for the nieces to put in their hair.  There will be something for the nephews, too, but not to wear in their hair.  :)

Happy Birthday, Jenny!

I just wanted to wish Jenny a happy birthday.  I hope you have a wonderful day.  I got a program recently that makes videos and I wanted to post this one in honor of Jenny.  The thing that stands out to me is what a good mother she is and how much she loves being one.  I love her kids tons and they are amazing.  She and Steve are doing a great job!  Cross your fingers that the video works!:)

Ok, the video didn't work.  I'm not sure why, so here are some pictures I found recently of Jenny for you to enjoy.  I'll keep working on the video.

Tiffany, Jenny, Michael, and Jonathan

Kristi and Jonathan, Jenny and I, and Lance and Tiffany

Kristi, Wade, Me, Jonathan, and Jenny.  I never realized what a cute baby Jenny was!

Too Much Fun!

Last night I ran across a really fun app on Facebook.  It's called Relative Finder and you can use it to find out if you are related to any of your Facebook friends.  Your friends have to have the app, too, so I couldn't tell if I'm related to them.  But I did find some other fun things.  There's a part where you can find out famous people you are related to.  Here's some of what I found about our family:

Austin Cowles Hyde and Mary Melissa Griffeth Hyde



Through our great great grandmother Mary Melissa Griffeth's line we are related to Oliver Cowdery, President Boyd K Packer, Ezra Taft Benson, Hugh B. Brown, Neal A. Maxwell, Parley P. Pratt, Orson F. Whitney, Reynolds Cahoon, Joseph Knight, Thomas Edison, John M. Huntsman, Mitt Romney, Eliza R. Snow, Gordon B. Hinckley, Spencer W. Kimball, Lorenzo Snow, Eli Whitney, James A. Garfield, Ulysses S. Grant, Franklin D. Roosevelt, William H Taft, and George Washington.

Amy Louisa Hyde and her mother, Mary Melissa Griffeth Hyde

Through our great grandmother Amy Louisa Hyde we are related to Martin Harris, Elder M. Russell Ballard, Elder Dallin H. Oaks, Elder L. Tom Perry, Matthew Cowley, Orson Hyde, Bruce R. McConkie, LeGrand Richards, Marion G. Romney, Lyman Wight, Edward Partridge, Orrin Porter Rockwell, Emily Dickinson, Philo T. Farnsworth, Steve Young, William Shakespeare, Francis Cooke, Harold B. Lee, Joseph Fielding Smith, Emma Hale Smith, Orville and Wilbur Wright, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, Calvin Coolidge, Millard Fillmore, Rutherford B. Hayes, James Madison, and Richard Nixon.

Through Mary Ann Cowles, the mother of Austin Cowles Hyde, we are related to Elder Robert D. Hales, James E. Faust, David B. Haight, N. Eldon Tanner, Frederick G. Williams, Elias Higbee, Susan B. AnthonySusan B. Anthony, Walt Disney, The Osmonds, William Clark , Heber J. Grant, George Albert Smith, Wilford Woodruff, John Adams, Quincy Adams, Warren G. Harding, Benjamin Harrison, Herbert Hoover, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin Pierce.



Albert William Harrison and Amy Louisa Hyde Harrison

I found one person to whom we are related through Grandpa Harrison.  His name is Gail Halvorsen, also known as the Candy Bomber.

Blanche Atwood Barnes

The biggest surprise to me is that we are related to a few LDS leaders through the Atwoods on Mom's side.  Elder David A. Bednar and Elder Jeffrey R. Holland are both distant cousins of ours through our great grandmother Blanche Atwood Barnes.  We are also related to an early LDS pioneer, Solomon Hancock, and Truman Osborn Angell (the architect who designed the Salt Lake Temple and several other buildings on Temple Square).

Samuel McClellan Ober and Ethel Jane Davenport Ober with their children.  The girl on the front row is Wilma Ruth Ober, our Grandma Barnes.

I found one other connection through Mom's side of the family.  Through our great grandmother, Ethel Jane Davenport Ober, we are related to Inis Hunter, the wife of Howard W. Hunter.

I hope I don't come off as bragging in this post.  I don't think being related to famous people makes us any better than other families.  In fact, I think all families have many interesting people they are connected to (both famous and not famous).  It's just a lot of fun to see who has a connection to our family.  Also, I should say that we are very distantly related to most of these people.  Most of them are 6th, 7th, 8th, or 9th cousins several times removed.  The people we are most closely related to are Orson Hyde (2nd cousin 6 times removed) and Matthew Cowley (2nd cousin 3 times removed).  I hope you had fun seeing who we are related to.  If you are interested you should check out the Relative Finder app on Facebook.



Goodbye, Dear Friend



We knew that this day would come.  We've talked about it occasionally as we saw her limp a little more than usual.  We just kept hoping it could be put off a little longer.  A couple weeks ago Princess went camping with Dad and the kids.  She fell in the creek and she just hasn't been the same since.  Last night it became apparent that she couldn't take care of herself any longer.  So, this morning at a little past nine, Princess left this world for a better place.  She will be greatly missed.  Her are the things I have loved the most about her:

• She was such a sweet dog and she loved everybody.  She always wanted to be near the people she loved.  I remember when I would come home from college or for a visit she would run circles around me.  She usually ended up sleeping on the foot of my bed sometime during the night.  Even in the last couple of weeks she would lay at my feet even though I know she would have been more comfortable on her soft bed.
• She loved cats.  When Mom and Dad moved in with me, my cats were not very thrilled.  By the end, she had become friends with most of them.  Sandy even came out and sat with us last night as I worked with Princess trying to help her feel better.  This is saying a lot because Sandy did not like Princess at all in the beginning.  In fact, I wondered if we would survive having them in the same household.   
• She loved cookies and bones, but she would never eat them.  She loved to bury them.  If she was in the house when she got one she would spend the longest time wandering around trying to find a good place  to put it.  We found cookies under the couch cushions occasionally.  One night I woke up in the middle of the night because she was trying to bury a cookie between my bed and the wall.  I was a little annoyed at the time, but it makes me laugh now.

We will really miss this loving, sweet, faithful friend.  I truly believe, however, that we will see her again.  She won't be old and tired anymore, just beautiful and happy.

Here are some pictures of Princess:

This picture is of Taylor and Princess.  He's twelve years old now, which means Princess was about the same age.  That's 75 in dog years.  She had a good long life.

You could always tell when Princess wasn't happy.

And this is when she was happiest, camping with Dad.

P.S. If you want to share your memories of Princess you can write them in the comments.  I think that would be a great comfort to Dad.

Fairy Tea Party in the Woods

Cassidy spent her birthday with us and wanted a tea party for it.  I wasn't able to do it before Dad took the kids up to the campground so we changed it to a fairy tea party in the woods.  Here's what was on the menu:

Unicorn Calzones

Sugar and Spice Sandwich Swirls (except I didn't do the swirl part)

Mini Angel Food Cakes with Blueberry Pie Filling

and

Strawberry Milk

I went up the day before and made flower crowns for them.  They got to choose their own papers for the flowers.  I let them try the crowns on and then we stowed them away for the next day.

This was a "no boys allowed" event so I made plates of food for them and they were exiled.  For a while, they watched from a rock a little ways away.

JJ, Taylor, and Burke (the orange behind the tree) watching from afar.

Kelsie was a big help.  She helped me set everything up and she took most of the pictures.  When everything was ready we called the girls together.  Since it was a fairy tea party they had to pretend they were fairies and have their pictures taken.

Then, the feast began!

I love the looks on their faces in this picture.  It was a happy day!

KayLee entertained us quite a bit.  I think she may be attempting the "Aldridge look" in this picture.  Dad taught it to her.

 It got a little goofy near the end!

When the girls were done, I let the boys come and finish everything off.  I think they enjoyed it more than the girls!