Smithfield Scoop

 I'm with you, Jenn - such a great family! Thanks for always responding to texts about family concerns. The prayers are felt, acknowledged and very appreciated! And they are answered. Thank you to all of you for your concern and prayers for little Jane. She is improving a little each day. Gus is still miserable, but will hopefully feel well before long. Lauren seems to be hanging in there, but we all know how exhausting it is to a mom, physically and emotionally, when the little ones are sick. Lots of prayers for the Mannings!

I'm with you, too, Emma - sure love to read about the goings-on in your lives! Thanks for posting on the blog - especially the photos! They truly are worth a thousand words. Those Stetson faces are SO funny! And the pictures of daily activities are very fun to see! Thanks for putting such family history classics on the blog.

Dad and I enjoyed our Christmas celebrations. We celebrated all weekend: Saturday we went to Barnes and Noble with the Belliston grandchildren to select some books. It is always fun to see them find corners to read books in before making a final choice. We also went to the Mannings to check on things there. We took supplies to make a Santa face charcuterie board. Gus, Chet and Wesley enjoyed helping and we had enough stuff left to make another Santa to take back to the Bellistons. 

We accepted an invitation from Mannings to return on Sunday and attend a "Bethlehem Dinner," like Passover, including a script about the symbolism of each dish that was served. It is done by candlelight, with the script read by Nick and commented on by the family. It is always very special. We were glad to spend some time with Lauren, Gus and Jane (who were not feeling well) while Nick took the older boys to his parents' home for a Christmas Eve party. It was delightful to see and feel the excitement of little boys about fun gifts received at the party. Gus couldn't have been more excited about the little teepee/tent he got and immediately began tossing in his favorite books, blanket, and other goods that he planned to sleep with! So cute! Westley was thrilled with the Monopoly game he got and Chet got busy putting together some amazing lego kits. What a fun time, remembering the many Christmases spent with excited, grateful children! Delightful times!

On our way home on Christmas Eve, we saw something unusual in the eastern sky in Cache Valley, specifically in Smithfield. It looked like some UFOs!! Dad thought they were drones, but when we stopped the car and got out, there was no sound whatsoever. There were many stars visible, but then there were a few bright orange spots, then there were a few more! They slowly faded, but didn't fall, then they just disappeared! We are still wondering what they were and who was behind it!

Christmas day was spent reading the books we received from Jenn and Lauren about their children! We laughed until the tears flowed at the hilarious deeds and sayings of such funny, precocious and delightful grandchildren!

Another year has passed so quickly. It's hard to believe we are already celebrating a new year. It makes me dizzy to think how fast 2023 has come and gone. I hope to record things better this year and live a bit more intentionally - you know, make some plans and help them happen! We pulled off the Nauvoo trip, and will hopefully find more wonderful things to do this year! We have some ideas....

Here are the few Predictions that were made today during Family Matters, as well as some things that are already in the works - or at least planned. If you think of things to add to either list, send it to me and we'll keep a running list!

Hopes and Plans for 2024:

Harts will host a backyard wedding at their home in August 

Harts, Flakes and others plan to meet near Dallas, TX in April for the solar eclipse

Mannings plan to start and finish building an addition on their house

Peter is planning to execute a flawless triple back flip

Ian plans to attend college somewhere

Cameron plans to attend college at USU

Wesley plans to be baptized in May

Grant and Peter plan to not attend Primary after the last day in 2023. They will attend Young Mens!

Predictions for 2024:

Joe and Lori Bellistons will move (Ruth)

Ian will get a lead role in a musical at college (Jenn)

Thomas will start construction on a new gym/new side hustle (Ruth and Elise)

Thomas will get two more dogs (Peter)

Flakes will move (Ruth)

One or two new apostles will be announced (Mom)

President Nelson will reach his 100th birthday in September (Dad)

There will be another new cousin, or two (Jenn and Ruth)

"Cousins in the making" (Elise)

The Word of Wisdom will be readdressed (Thomas)

Someone from our family will begin the process to become a full time missionary (Mom)

Sister missionaries will serve at the same age and length of time as elders - all 18 months (Alex)

Church will approve families to apply for missionary service together (Alex)

There will be an iphone 20 by the end of the year (Peter)

Flake Fun

Well, the month of December flew by! We had fun driving around to see Christmas lights, going to the town lighting, attending some fun Christmas Camps (kid craft days) and making the house look festive.  

We had a nice, quiet Christmas morning with the kids and then headed over to be with Scott's family and it got chaotic with 3 barking dogs, one anxious 8 year old and 5 yelling adults.  We made gingerbread houses and went to the Giving Machine.  Then the party started to break up and everyone went home.  

The newest, fun thing is that the kids took great interest in playing Jingle Bells on the piano and singing at the top of their lungs.  It was really fun to listen to. 

The other day I had a friend ask me if my family got along and still spoke to each other.  She is one of 9 kids and she has 2 siblings that talk to her.  One of her siblings even put forth the effort to return the Christmas card my friend sent!  That started me thinking about how great you all are.  Thanks for putting forth the effort to stay connected.  Thanks for being willing to be open so that we can pray for, cheer for, cry with and support each other.  I didn't realize how rare that is.  

I hope that you all have a wonderful new year and that it is the best year yet.  

Merry Christmas from the Hydes!

 Merry Christmas yall!! We love you so much!! Thanks for sending your cute Christmas cards to us. We loved reading them and seeing the beautiful pictures :) love you guys so much and can’t wait to hang out soon!!

He LOVES oranges. It’s the only way he would smile for this picture 😅

And here are some highlights from the cruise and other shenanigans.

Went to a cute zoo

The Bahamas: don’t be fooled… it was raining and COLD

Labadee Haiti: so rainy but totally awesome

Stetson was NOT having it

The Dominican Republic: the best stop even if they didn’t have Morir Soñando 

Hyde Happinesses

 Hello hello! Not too much occurred this week. It was a doozy as far as Stetsons sleep went… this kiddo really doesn’t like sleeping and it’s wearing on his parents let me tell ya. The newest development is this screaming crying choking thing that he does when he wakes up and doesn’t immediately get nursing. So now we’re working on trying to get him to fall asleep without nursing. It’s long and painful but I’m hopeful it will allow Cam to be able to put him down sometimes. 

Other news is that we booked a cruise on Tuesday 😅 it embarks this Thursday and we’ll be gone until the 22nd. It will be a blast! We’re going to the Dominican, Haiti, and the Bahamas. Very exciting!! I’m a bit nervous just because I’d rather die than get nauseous, but I have lots of Dramamine so hopefully that helps 😂 

Annnnnd we’re moving to Utah. Cam booked the moving truck for the 28th! He and his brother will drive it and Stetson and I will fly. Cam decided to go back to school at USU and they granted him In State tuition again, so that’s nice! He’s going to be studying nutrition I think, with the thought of medical school in the end. 

There ya have it! Hope you have a great week!

Those eyebrows 😅

Newfound love of oranges, peel and all 

Chaos 

Always checking on Oakley 

A nice walk in 60° weather! 

Christmas bread making! So grateful Cam goes along and helps me out with this fun tradition.

Stetson and his crush, Amelia, at church. They absolutely love playing. 

Hyde Happinesses

 I’ve gotta tell you, it makes me so so happy to see your posts!! They totally make my day. You guys are the very best. I love hearing about your lives and all the good things you do. 

Not too much to report this week. Stetson still has a runny nose. Rumor has it it won’t stop until sometime mid-march. Maybe later. I will keep you posted. We had a pretty rainy week and I got away with making lots of soup 😋 hats off to Cam for putting up with all the soup days. I think he handled it alright though, because there was lots of bread to go with it. 

Stetson has been keeping us highly entertained with the faces he’s been making lately. Pictures to follow. He also is loving blowing bubbles before bed and popping them with his mouth like Oakley does. I don’t know if Oakley will ever warm up to him, but he sure gets a kick out of her. He’s still sleeping quite horribly. Sometimes I handle it better than other times, but mostly I feel like a walking zombie, barely functioning. And I have a permanent eye twitch. Very fun. He’s also been standing a lot more on his own, but isn’t very interested in actually taking any steps. One day he’ll decide that’s what he wants to do and that’s what he’ll do! 

Stetsons faces: a miniseries. His teeth make it all so much better 😅

Just the gift I wanted under the tree 😉

He’s not quite sure what to think about the new puppy… he prefers the “big dogs.”

This is his most effective way of telling us he’d like an orange😄 he’s not quite pointing yet, but he’ll motion over to the counter with the oranges, get this big grin on his face, then not be able to contain his excitement and wait for us to peel the orange.