Christmas 2010

We had Christmas with the Baker family this year!! Christmas Eve was a great night. We started with dinner Chicken and Dumplings, (a Phelps tradition) and finger foods (a Baker tradition) and enjoyed being together. Afterward we had our Christmas Eve program reading from the scriptures, singing hymns and sharing our testimonies. That was very special. When the program was finished the kids all opened up their Christmas Eve jammies and then headed downstairs to watch Scrooge (another Baker tradition:) while Santa came to fill our stockings

Our tree waiting for the presents to be opened!!


Christmas morning after all the hubbub. Kendra fell asleep snuggled up in the blanket she made for me and wearing her new cowboy boots surrounded by everyone's presents! A picture is worth a thousand words!

RICK'S EARLY CHRISTMAS PRESENT

This picture may be a little blurry but....LOOK AT THOSE TEETH! A few days before Christmas Mr. Rick was able to get his braces off. He/We have been waiting for this day for 2 years and 8 months. When he told me he wanted braces for real this time ( because he had been talking about it for years) I wasn't too thrilled with the idea. I loved him crooked teeth and all and frankly I didn't want his looks to change. Despite that, I could tell it was something that he really wanted to do so I said let's do it:) At first kissing was a little different but I got used to it:) His lisp was kind of annoying but I got used to that too. Now here we are with the worst behind us and all I can say is HOORAY!! btw...he says that too!!

CELEBRATING THE HOLIDAY

Last week was a fun week for us. On Monday night we went to "The Forgotten Carols" with the Bakers. The show was so amazing. Michael Mclean did a great job playing John and we also got to hear Jordan Bluth sing some of the numbers. (he was awesome) The Forgotten Carols music has been such a great tradition for so many Christmases. In fact, Skylar asked for the CD for Christmas. I think he wants a little piece of home. Before the show we went to Olive Garden for dinner and you know how it is. "When your there....your with family."


A group shot

Waiting for the show to begin

Tuesday night we went up to Park City for dinner. This time we had the Allens with us. We ate at the Park City Pizza and Pasta restaurant. It was really fun with our big group. Superior had some gift certificates so we ordered a bunch of appetizers and ordered to our hearts content. Here we are posing by the PC moose:)

After dinner we took a trolley ride up and down main street. Woohoo!! Of course we had to stop at the Rocky Mtn. Chocolate factory for some goodies! Good Stuff!

"The lovebirds:)"

On Thursday night Rick and I had a night out. We first made a stop at the temple and then had dinner at "The Garden". It was a big night downtown what with the Tab Choir concert going on so we waited an hour to be seated. Actually it worked out well. After dinner we walked to Abravenel Hall and got seated for the Kurt Bestor concert. That was really nice....here we are at intermission. That night we stayed at Anniversary Inn and had the luxury of sleeping in. We left by 11 the next morning and spent the day Christmas shopping. It was a great week full of Christmas Celebrations!

MORP

Gary went to MORP last Saturday night. His date was Ashlee May and they doubled with Gary's best friend Wyatt and Ashlee's best friend Jamee. He had a really fun time. They began their date at Jamee's house where they made homemade pizzas and then played the Wii. Afterward they went to the dance and took pictures.... then WITHOUT even dancing they left to go bowling. Don't they look cute in their superhero shirts. High School....ain't it great!!

housemates

BIG NEWS!!! We now have 6 more people living at our house. Rick's sister and her family moved in with us at the beginning of the month. Trent and Kathy and 4 of their children (Jenni, Julie, Chris, and Kallie are now living in our basement. Well, actually Julie is upstairs in the guestroom with Kendra:) It is working out very well. They have been living in TN for the last 7 years and now they are back. Trent started his new job at Maxwell Products and we are delighted that they are here.....especially for the Christmas season. We have already been having lots of fun as you will see in later posts.

Florida

Last month Rick and I took a trip to Florida. We stayed in Daytona Beach and had a great time. Here are some of the fun things we got to do......

Climb the Ponce De Leon lighthouse......

here's the proof........

eat alligator.........

walk on the beach.......

tour St. Augustine........

drink from the fountain of youth.....

eat out..........

take an airboat ride and see some 'gators.....

stand on a fire ant hole YIKES! (this is Rick btw.....my feet are certainly not that hairy:).......

Go to Epcot.......

....and ride a ferris wheel next to the ocean! Good times!!

ELDER PHELPS

So I know I have not blogged much about the Sky boy. I don't know why..... I just haven't. He is doing excellent!!
This picture was taken on his 20th birthday back in August. He was so excited about this cake. They ordered it from a bakery and it looked so delish....but unfortunately it looked better than it tasted:(

These are just some random photos from his time in Yuty where he spent about 4 mos. It is a small town in the middle of nowhere. Most of the people don't even speak Spanish but an indigenous Indian based language called Guarani. It was diffucult for Sky but during his time there he worked really hard and with the help of some of the kids in the ward he was able to progress in the language. He really loved the people here and loved the small village atmosphere. It was hard for him to leave.

His worn out shoes.......

got fixed at the zapateria. Much better!

Felipa's baptism. She was baptized in this little pond. This was toward the end of his time in Yuty and his companion is E McGee who was fresh out of the MTC.

My handsome boy in his whites!!

Skylar and Elder Skinner (who looks so much like his cousin Dalton)

The mission car! HA!

A wonderful investigator (Zuni) and her daughters. Sky left the area before her baptism.

Skylar got transferred back into the city (in an area called Ybate) which is where he is at present He is loving his new area and his companion E. Moreno. They were able to attend the temple (his second time since he's been in Paraguay) and they are having a lot of success with the people there. I can see that my boy is growing in leaps and bounds and I love it! I do have some more recent pics but they are still in my e-mail and I forgot how to put them in his mission file. Blast! One of these days I'll be first rate at the computer....not anytime soon I'm sure:(

He says they're apt is a real dump (his words exactly). Last week they caught 11 mice in one day! Yikes!! I'll post the picture next time. I love my red-headed missionary!!

Halloweeeeeeen

I thought I would post some pictures of the kids from Halloween night. Kait and Leesh were able to come home for the weekend so that was fun. We had a fun Halloween Dinner on Friday night. On the menu was...Dinner in a Pumpkin (the kids LOVED that), Mummy Dogs, Witch Broom breadsticks, veggies and dip and Rick's homemade rootbeer. Afterwards we watched Wait Until Dark (with Audrey Hepburn) and had apples with carmel dip for dessert!

Saturday was the ward Trunk or Treat. The twins had a fun time dressing up and helping to pass out candy to the the kids!

Wyatt and Gary didn't dress up but enjoyed the evening.

They ended up going to the Stake Dance later that night.
Kenni had to work that night and she was soooo excited about her hunters costume!
She sure looked cute!

Last but not least....a group shot of the Casa girls.

Halloween is such a fun holiday!

COUPLES RETREAT

This weekend we had a fun outing with Rick's brothers and sisters. For the last 21 years Rick and I have been hosting a Halloween Party in late October. This year we changed it up a bit. We spent 2 nights up at Brighton Ski Resort (if anyone is wondering why we have gone there so much it is because Superior did the parking lot of the Brighton Chalets and so we have some trade on their condos up there:) Thursday evening we took a stroll around Silver Lake. On our way to dinner we saw a cow moose and her baby. COOL STUFF! Later that night we sat around visiting, playing games, and telling funny stories. I was laughing so hard I could hardly breathe! You know how it gets when it's late and your tired....that's how it was!

Larry, Darla, Kathy, Trent, Rick and I.

(DeeAnn was taking the picture:)

Here's a picture of Rick with a belated b-day gift from Kathy....

The movie "How to Train Your Dragon".

A group shot in the parking lot....Ruth, Brad, DeeDee, Darrell, Dennis, Karen, Larry, (Darla's taking the pic) Hal, Janis, Kathy, Trent, me, and Rick.

Missing in the picture is Robin and Ken, & Brent and Lar.

We took another walk around the lake.....Here are some of the girls.

And most of the guys!

That night we came into town and had dinner at the Braza Grill. Not a decent picture but there you have it. It was a memorable time and we sure love being with family. We are glad to be part of such a wonderful one!!

THE PUMPKIN PATCH

Last Monday night for family night we headed out to the

pumpkin patch!

Kendra has been waiting for this for a couple of weeks now. It's kinda becoming tradition for us. The patch was NOT very good this year but we still found some decent pumpkins. What cute kids!! It's so cute to see how much they love each other. They get along really well!

Yes, through all the weeds we did find some good ones!
Here's my winner!

Afterwards we came home to make caramel apples. Here's Kendra's beauty! She crushed up heath bar to top it with. The rest of us just dipped our slices and ate them that way! After that fun activity we sat down to watch the infamous "THE GHOST AND MR. CHICKEN". Don Knotts is soooo funny! It was a great night!