Rick and Janell's News: St. George and Hafen Reunion

Last Thursday the Phelps Clan (minus Gary) drove to St. George for the weekend. We stayed in a beautiful condo in Washington. The condo was situated just off Washington Parkway Blvd in a cute little vacation neighborhood. The name of the rental was "About Time", and it was decorated with clocks and cute sayings about how important "time" is.

It had three master bedrooms and 3 1/2 baths. It fit us well:)

Friday morning we wanted to go on a hike. Brach researched around and found one that he thought would be fun. It was about an hour away in Toquerville. (Toquerville Falls) While Skylar and Sarah decided to take their kids on a different hike, we loaded up and followed Brach and the kids up to Toquerville. At one point we had to all get into his 4 Runner because the road turned to dirt and the signage said, "four wheel drive only". The dirt road was pretty harrowing as it was full of dips and gullies with some drop offs. Haivyn got a little nervous in the back seat, so we had to reassure her everything would be ok:)

We arrived at the falls and had a good time exploring with the kiddos. The falls were very pretty (even though the water was very muddy) It was running pretty swiftly, so I was a little nervous about the kids getting too close, but they enjoyed throwing rocks over the edge into the running water.

Rafe was intent on catching a lizard but they were just too darn fast! He was happy though when grandpa was able to catch not one but TWO frogs. Rafe packed them up in his tin and took them home to show Henry and Charlie his prize!

Haivyn and Scout found and started collecting old glass. The glass was worn down and not sharp but still I didn't like them touching it. They kept collecting anyway.......

After an hour of exploring we made the bumpy trip back to the car and then on back to the condo.

We picked up a couple of pizzas for lunch for everyone, and then after lunch we headed to the pool. We had a great time in the water, cooling off. It was into the low 90's so we were happy for the pool to play in. The kids had a blast! It was so fun being all together!

The Phelps Kids

MY WATER BABIES

BRADY

CHARLIE

HENRY

SCOUT

HAIVYN

XAVIER

LILLY (here she is taking a nap in the shade:)

Grandpa was tending:)

We left the pool a little before everyone else because we needed to get showered and drive to Las Vegas. My dad has his 80th birthday coming up on the sixteenth of May, and since we were all coming together for the Hafen Family Reunion on Saturday we decided to celebrate his birthday the night before the reunion.

Boyd and Mare were this year's reunion hosts, and so they hosted the birthday party as well.

We all sat outside under the pergola and had such a nice visit. Pete and Kelly were not able to make it because of other obligations so Terri and Deanna were each other's date:)

Boyd and Mare served up some appetizers of stuffed mushrooms and jalapeño poppers (at dad's request) and then followed that with salad and lasagna. Boyd served his mission many years ago in Italy and learned how to make THE BEST lasagna, so he cooked some up for all of us. This was the first time I have ever tried his lasagna and it did not disappoint!

After listening to Mom and Dad tell us memories of their younger years, and letting our food settle we headed into the dessert round. Lots was offered.....fresh carrot cake (again at dad's request). cannolis, coconut pie, and homemade ice cream. We did not lack for choices of desserts.

Here we all are! Rick's taking the picture.

The next day was our reunion. It was held at the church park. There is a nice big pavilion there and we were so glad for the shade because it was a very warm day! Boyd and Mare planned a carnival theme so there were lots of things for the kids to do......games, two bounce houses, water activities and lots of goodies. There was popcorn, snow cones, cotton candy and bubble gum.

At 4:00 we had a nice dinner. Scott and Kathy's boys were in charge of bringing the meat. They had spent the day, and the night before, preparing a bunch of smoked meats. They had brisquet, ribs and chicken prepared. Along with that we had a bunch of potluck salads with PLENTY of desserts.

It was a nice time getting together with the Hafen clan and catching up with family. While we had many attend, there were many that were missing. We counted about sixty in attendance.

Terri and Scott enjoying a snow cone!