Change is in the air

Most of my posts are about pictures of what's going on in the life of The Hyle family. Today I thought I'd just post some thoughts I've been having because my heart has been heavy but in the midst of it all, you have to hold tight to those blessings that God gives us each and every day.
As most of you know, the hardwood floor business has not been all that busy lately, and my husbands body is screaming "Stop doing this to me!" :) It's been tight lately, which is always stressful especially when the future is unknown and you worry about what tomorrow will bring. So, we've been stressed, well, maybe I shouldn't speak for Steve, but as the provider for the family I know it's been weighing on him. The blessing however is that we have always had just enough. And we've been talking to my Mom who (for years) has been working for Business Innovations. It's a company that sells promotional items to other companies to promote their business. Mom has had a lot of success with this and Steve is going to begin training with her, trying to pick up some clients to see how it might work for him. It would be flexible enough that until we could be sure it will work, he can continue his hardwood floor business and do this at the same time. So if any of you own a company or know people who own a company that might be interested in his product, let us know! :)
Another changes is I have been hired with the Central Valley School district as a Classified Sub. I will be subbing as a secretary, teachers aide, supervisor, things like that. We plan to put all the money I make into savings so we aren't relying on a second income and only use it if we absolutely have to. I'm hoping someday this will lead to a permanent position in the school district. But we'll see what happens down the road.
I have mixed feelings about this. I've been a stay at home Mom for 14 years. I love being able to be there for the kiddos at a moments notice. I love my freedom and my spinning class, BSF, and Weight Watchers. But for a season I may have to set some of that aside to help out.
Another change is our dear friends the Benson's are moving to the Tri-Cities. This is one of the hardest changes right now. My heart aches at the thought of them leaving. Everyone keeps saying, "It's only 2 1/2 hours away. You'll still see them lots." But it's not the same. Fay's been living 1.7 miles down the road from me for awhile now and I will miss that comfort of having her so near. Kelly will miss her precious friend Avery. They are even in the same class this year but only for Sept. because they will be leaving at the end of the month. Kelly and I both cried when we found out. It's hard to see your daughters heart hurting while at the same time yours is too. Keith will miss Easton, although you'd never get him to admit that. They were able to put up with the craziness of their parents together. And Eric has been so good for Steve. Getting him to loosen up a bit and do things he wouldn't normally do. The Benson's are our crazy friends. We've had adventures with them that we would have with no one else. When I think of Eric and Fay I think of laughter. We do that A LOT with them. I know it's not good bye, it's see you later, but that doesn't make it any easier.
I just have to focus on the blessing that they're not moving to Billings MT. 8 1/2 hours away. They aren't moving clear to GA. (I know that's random, but we left some dear friends there when we moved away and have missed them ever since.) They are just moving to the Tri-Cities. I know that's a blessing but right now it's hard to feel any thankfulness in my heart because I just want them to stay. And Eric has gotten a really good job which is a huge blessing, and I am happy for him to have that.
Kelly said to me the other day. "Mom, everything is changing. I don't want it to change." I don't blame her and I understand completely how she's feeling. I don't want it to change either. I know some changes will be for the good. But some are hard. Some I don't like.
Thank goodness we have a loving merciful Lord and Savior who will never change. He is our ever constant in a life with twists and turns.
So...that's what I lean on right now. When it comes to business, friendships, schedules, health, whatever it is we have going on in our lives, it can all change in an instant, but we can rest assured that our God is unchanging.

8 Lakes Leg Aches 2010

Just finished the 8 Lakes Leg Aches ride. Mom and Keith rode 30 miles which impressed me because Keith has only ridden once this summer (at the beginning). I rode with Kristin, and Barry. Kristin rode with us the 1st 30 miles and then cut off to do the 75 mile ride. Barry and I tackled 45 miles. I was happy to do it right at about 3 hours and averaging about 14.9 miles an hour. I was surprised to be more sore after this ride than I was the Lewiston ride. Barry said he is more sore after Lewiston than 8 Lakes. My body must like hills more than distance. We had a pretty good head wind most of the ride which made it harder and one corner we went around if we would have stopped peddling I'm pretty sure we would have gone backwards. :)But the temperature was perfect. We could not have asked for a better day. I guess last year it was 100 degrees and they had to come get people off the course because of the heat! I've done nothing but lay around the rest of the day. I have no energy, but, I'm glad I did it and am looking forward to next year.

Updates

We have had a lot going on so I thought I'd do one post to catch up on all the going on's of the Hyle family.

First, when I lost my 52 pounds Dec. 2008, I decided the next goal would be not only to maintain, (Which I have succeeded in) but to also do something physically that I never could have done before. I knew it would involve my bike. Last summer, my back went out. I was in horrible pain and there was no way I was going to be able to do the bike ride I had planed on. This was very frustrating for me, but I focused on healing and getting stronger. Last Feb. I joined the gym and started spinning three days a week. I have loved that! My back now has defined muscles in it, and it helps to hold it in place. :) So, looking at my options for challenging bike rides, I chose the I Made the Grade ride. It is an 18 mile bike ride. That doesn't seem very long or challenging, but the last 8 miles are a 7% incline that goes up 2,000 ft.! June 19th I set out with my Sister, my friend Eric, and my Mom. Kristin, Eric and I tackled the hill. I was surprised at how much better I did than I thought I would. I would have been happy with three hours, but did it in under two! It felt so good to finish and not be horribly sore, but I was tired. The next day I felt great. No soreness. What a change from the past. There would have been no way I would have even finished.

Poor Eric with all those girls :)

1 hour 55 minutes 32 seconds. :)

Yep rode to the top of that!

Absolutely gorgeous view from the top. We were so high up, by the third to the last switchback, I started shaking from being nervous from the height of the hill.

We have also spent some time with our friends the Bensons. We say we survived 8 out of 11 days with the Bensons, they say they survived 8 of 11 days with the Hyles. :) First we went to the cabin in Plain Wa with them. We all piled into the Sequoia together and headed out. Keith was coming home with Auntie from Seattle that day (they had gone to the Mariners/Cubs game together) so we meet them somewhere on I-90 to grab Keith. When we got to Wenatchee we hit the Taco Truck for some delicious tacos which gave us all really bad gas. :) Let's just say that lead to an interesting weekend. HA! Within 3 minutes of getting to the cabin, Avery locked herself in the upstairs bathroom, so between the problem of trying to figure out how to get her out and the fact that there was no toilet paper in there, it was an interesting beginning to the weekend. Eric ended up taking a video of how to unlock the door on another door in the cabin and then climbing up a ladder, showed it to Avery through the bathroom window. Thank goodness that worked! Friday we went into Plain Hardware a favorite spot to shop and spent the rest of the day resting at the cabin. (At least the women did.) The guys headed out on a crazy adventure across the river. They hiked along the ridge (wish I had a picture of it) climbed down the cliff a bit by the river and hiked around while Fay and I snapped pictures of them. They were quit proud of themselves. Then at some point hot and sweaty they found a little swimming hole and got down to their undies and jumped into the river, it was so cold they could only stay in about 15 seconds. Keith took video of the Dads acting like a bunch of kids. :) But I wont put that video on here so you don't have to see them in their undies.
Saturday we headed into Leavenworth to spend some time, but for the most part we just hung out at the cabin enjoying the sun and each other and laughing a lot. We came home Sunday.

Monday Steve and I got sick but on Thursday we were headed out with the Benson's again, this time for a weekend of camping with them and Fay's Mom and Dad, their friends Mike and Jan and my Sister. I took no pictures of our weekend camping. Steve and I were still feeling sick and I just couldn't get myself to get up and take pictures. Keith got up in the mornings at 4:30 am to go fishing with Fay's Dad Rod. He didn't catch anything, but still enjoyed the time spent with him. We had four dogs with us. Bella, Toby, Moxie and Fays parents dog. And when Fay's sister stopped by they brought their two dogs. It was a fun weekend, but we headed home on Sunday afternoon and that night went with the Bensons, and my Mom and Dad to the Indians game for a 4th of July celebration. A tradition of ours for many years. It was a fun packed 11 days. With lots of great memories made. Thanks for putting up with us for that long Eric and Fay. We'll have to do it again someday. :)

Eric showing Avery the video on how to unlock the bathroom door. :) Can you see the annoyed look on his face at Steve for taking a picture?

Mornings at the cabin. A little piece of paradise!

At some point, Eric decided to jump into this tree and give it a hug. Silly Eric!

Kelly had to join the tree climbing

Avery too!

We had fun learning to shot a sling shot.

This was our solution on how to deal with the kids. :)

Group picture!

Goofy group picture!

Country Woodworks Hardwood Floors

We have just gotten a web site for Steve's business. We are really happy with how it turned out and hope it will help boost our business. Our friend Carl Schenkenberger designed the site and we think he did a superb job! Thanks Carl. Feel free to check it out and share it with others. :)

www.countrywoodworks.org

Track 2010

This year Keith tried out track rather than Baseball. They were both at the same time, so he had to pick one or the other. He ended up really liking track. I have a few pictures from the season I thought I'd share. Thanks Dad, Mom and The Benson's for coming to his meets. It means a lot to Keith to have you all out there cheering for him. :)

Mothers Day 2010

We had a nice Mothers Day this year. Mom, Dad and Kristin joined us after church for a lunch of sub sandwiches. One of my favorite meals. We took a walk through the neighborhood, and then headed off to Mom and Dad's house and Keith and Kristin made dinner. Grandma and Aunt Debbie joined us which was really fun. It was a packed day (Full of eating) but fun to spend time with family. It was nice to be spoiled for a day. :)

Trouble #1 and Trouble #2

Gorgeous Calla lilies

They drop water drops.

Silver MT Water Park

For Steve's birthday Dad and Mom got him a trip to Silver MT Water Park. We got to stay one night in a condo up there and had 1 1/2 days at the water park. It was a lot of fun. I would actually like to stay up there in the summer to ride the Gondola up the mountain and hike and picnic at the top of the Mountain. Keith wasn't to crazy about the park. In fact, he pretty much just sat the 2nd day there, but it was fun to people watch. Kelly was on the go constantly. I don't know how many times she went around the lazy river. :) She loved it. So here are a few pictures, and maybe a few videos if I can figure out how to put them on. :)

Kelly's exhausted!

Notice Keith is dry. I don't think he did a single thing but sit in that chair the second day.