Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Francis

We got a call from Fancis on Sunday morning just before church.  He had opened his mission call just that day in Mbale.  

He is going to serve in Johannesburg South Africa!!  
He will be leaving on June 7th. 

He was so excited and expressed what a special day it had been for him.  We had been anxiously awaiting the news of where he would be serving so we were very happy to get his phone call.

Francis is like a son to us.  Our Ugandan son.  (Although, I think he looks upon us more as grandparents!  Just for the record we are too young to be the grandparents of a 23 year old!!:)  

I cried tears of joy as he told us of his news.  (I should have worn waterproof mascara that day:)  He has experienced MANY challenges these past few years as he has been preparing to serve a full time mission.  Francis is already an AMAZING missionary.  He spent many days with us preaching the gospel around our branch boundaries!  He is truly, one of THE most amazing people I have ever met.  He is full of faith and love for Jesus Christ and His true gospel.  He knows so much of being a missionary because he is a missionary EVERY DAY of his life.  He is always looking for new people to bring into the gospel.  

Only now he gets to wear the official badge!

We are so happy and pleased for our Ugandan son!!





Rick and I are thinking to make a trip back to Uganda to see him before he leaves.  I want that so much!  But.....Uganda is sooo very far away and is not easy getting there along with the expense of it all.  It is in discussion though, so we will see.  

I would love, love to see him before he leaves.....
as well as all of our dear friends in Mbale, Busia and Kampala!

Wednesday, March 7, 2018

The Month of LOVE

Because I've not taken time to post all throughout the month of February, it's all gonna be a mashup!
Here's the skinny on what's been happening in the Phelps family......

Starting off with my two supers.....Scout and Haivyn.
At the first of the month we had the family over for Sunday dinner and the girl cousins love to play dress up superheroes!


Rafe being a Jedi warrior.


                     Me loving on sweet little Merik!


Just after the first of the month, Rick needed to take a road trip to CO to measure a road for Meeker City.  He invited me along:)  It was a five hour drive to get across the border into Meeker.  We stayed at a little hotel for a one night getaway.


We had some delicious Mexican food.


The next day we woke up to a snowstorm!  By the time Rick finished his morning meetings with the City the snow stopped coming down and we were able to drive home without weather trouble.  Oh yeah, before we left we stopped at a mom and pop place for lunch and I have to note that I had the BEST grilled chicken sandwich EVER.


Later that week I took a quick flight into Vegas for an overnighter with my parents.  My Aunt Dora Hafen passed away and her viewing and funeral were on Friday night and Saturday.  After the viewing on Friday I had a date night with my mom.  
First, Panda Express and then to top it off......

 BASKIN ROBBINS!!  

I love this lady!!



While I was off visiting cousins and eating Chinese with my mom Rick was keeping things real back at home.  He was taking care of Henry and Charles while Skylar and Sarah were off celebrating their 6th anniversary in NYC!  Grandpa is the favored one so he did very well with these two cuties!



I got back Saturday night just in time for Saturday night session of Stake Conference. 
Henry and Charles were staying with Grams and Gramps Rigby that night so that Rick could get to the leadership session as well as the evening session.

We got the kids back the next morning and enjoyed the Sunday session with them.

The next day, Monday we were tending Rafe and Scout as well while Brach and Kendra went to the Jazz Game.  What do you do when you're tending four little ones all at once? 

 Go to a fun play area, of course! 

We borrowed Kathy's van and loaded it with car seats and kids and headed to the children's museum in SLC.  The kids had a blast!  Lots of running and playing and imagining!!












The next day I planned another get together with my littles.  We had a pizza lunch and decorated Valentines cupcakes and made Valentine's crafts.  It was a lot of fun.  Thankfully Kendra was there to help keep order:)  (We're missing Haivyn at this party:(


Cuties!!!!


Since our Temple Night is on Wednesday nights we planned to celebrate Valentine's a day later on the 15th.  We got to stay at the Anniversary Inn in the Romeo and Juliet room.  It is a beautiful room with the bed snuggled up in a loft.  It was very cozy:)  We first had an amazing dinner at the Roof and walked by the temple (it was very cold so we took a quick snapshot and then headed back to our room.









The next day we enjoyed a movie, The Darkest Hour (about Winston Churchill) then went to the Sportsman and RV show at the Sandy Expo.  Before going back home we picked up some cookies from Ruby Snap.  (Of course, we shared with the kids!)


The next weekend was our St. George Parade of Homes trip.  It had been since Thanksgiving since we had spent any time at our St. George home so I was super happy to be getting back!  The new Cedar City Temple was on our list to visit for one of our new temples so we stopped on our way down South.  It is a small temple but very nice inside.  I love how it is built up on a hill so as when traveling from the North on I-15 it is very visible as you are coming into town!


It was SUPER windy and cold!!


So cold that it was even snowing in St. George!
This is a rare photo of falling snow into the pool.  


Unfortunately, Rick got terribly sick that night about two in the morning.  Poor thing.  Let's just say he became good friends with the guest room toilet!  Vomiting and diarrhea.  Poor thing!
I ran to Walmart to get some meds for him and then he slept on the couch the rest of the night.

Needless to say, he stayed home the next day while I went to the Parade of Homes by myself.  He was feeling better by the evening and was able to eat some soup:)

By Saturday, while still being weak, he was able to join me at the Parade.  
We had a good day looking at beautiful homes and decor.  

Sunday we went to church and then that evening spent some time with Kelly and Deanna's family.  It's always good to visit with my sister and nieces and nephews.

We sure loved being back in St. George for a few days.






While in St. George I got to meet up with my childhood friends for lunch.  It had been quite some time since we have gotten together so it was nice to catch up on everyone's life.


We traveled back home the next day.

This is the end of a bunch of things that took place in February.  It's kind of all thrown in there but at least it is recorded!