THE EPITOME OF GRACE AND BEAUTY

Last night I attended the Women's Health Fair where Elizabeth Smart was the keynote speaker. It was truly an inspiring evening as I listened to her tell her story. I cried as she told of the night she was kidnapped and the horrible experience that she had to endure that night. One of the things that was the most inspiring to me was, as she told of the feelings and thoughts that came to her after that evil man stole her innocence, she laid there alone feeling dirty, impure, and almost in despair thinking that no one would even like her anymore because of what had taken place. She remembered her mother once saying to her that there would ALWAYS be two people in the world that loved her no matter what she did. The first was God. Her mother had told her that God would ALWAYS love her. The second was her, her mother. Her mom told her that whatever happened to her in life and no matted what choices she made (and this was clearly NOT a choice that Elizabeth made) that she would love her always. At that moment Elizabeth was filled with hope. She thought, "If God loves me and my mom loves me than surely my dad would still love me and my brothers and sisters would still love me as well. That hope spurred into determination and she thought to herself, "I will survive this." And she did.

I am amazed at the power of love. It can bring the lowliest person from the depths of despair. It can bring wayward children back into the light. It can change the hardest of hearts. It is what has saved us from the fall. As I got to meet and talk briefly visit with Elizabeth after her presentation I told her that she is the epitome of grace and beauty. And she really is.

INTRODUCING..........SARAH PHELPS

February 12, 2012 was another fabulous day in my life. Sarah Rigby officially became Sarah Phelps!! Another daughter in the family...YEAH!! Rick and I could not be more pleased. Skylar and Sarah are very happy after their 1st full month of marriage. We visited them last night in their apartment in Salt Lake and they are so fun. It brings me such joy to see my son so happy. We love Sarah and welcome her wholeheartedly into our family:) Here are a few pictures of her......she is absolutely stunning!! I love the first picture with the veil over her face......and then I had to add some with Sky as well:) When we get pictures of the wedding I'll get those posted too.

Happenings

Hello blogging world!!
I'm here in a hotel room in Palmyra NY. Rick and I brought Kaitlyn and Alyssia on a trip for their graduations. We were supposed to do this last summer but because of conflicting schedules we weren't able to. Our first 3 nights we stayed in NYC and it was super cool! we did lots of touristy things like the Empire State Building (at night and my favorite), Top of the Rock, Statue of Liberty, Little Italy, Chinatown, Hayden Planetarium, and saw "The Lion King". I'll post some pictures soon.

In the 2 months since I last blogged we have taken a trip to Paraguay and met some truly fantastic people. I hope to eventually post some pics of that trip as well. Our exciting news is that our Skyboy became engaged to his lovely girlfriend Sarah Rigby on December 16th. They are looking forward to their wedding which is scheduled for February 22nd. Just 4 short weeks away! We are way happy and excited for this occasion. I'm hoping to get the invitations out by next weekend. I know I have a lot of pictures to post on this blog but I'm not sure how soon they'll be up. I'm thinking that life will slow down a little in March:)

See you all later!!

EARLY THANKSGIVING

This year since we are leaving Thanksgiving day for a trip to Paraguay the Phelps family (plus Sylar's girlfriend Sarah) had an early Thanksgiving celebration. We all (minus Alyssia) got together on Monday night and had a really nice time. We started out with dinner...ham, turkey and ALL the fixins' and ended with a family night and games. Rick took the day off and then Kendra and Kaitlyn came early and helped to get things ready. It was so great being with the family!! We all came with a little Thanksgiving thought to share and talked about the things that we are most grateful for. We also shared memories of Thanksgivings past. To end the evening we played a couple of games. We had fun vying for candy in the Thanksgiving Trivia game, and playing an autumn Pictionary. There was lots of competition and laughter. After the games........PIE!! Cream Cheese Pie is definitely my favorite:) I love having grown up kids! Our family is growing and it is a marvelous feeling. I am so very thankful for them and ALL of the MANY, MANY blessings that Heavenly Father bestows upon me:)