THE PHELPS HAPPENINGS

I've been a slacker. It has been 4 weeks since my last post so here's an update on the happenings around here.....

Gary is doing great. He received his Duty To God award today in Sacrament Meeting. n He has been finished with all of his requirements except for one for about 6 months. The last one was to read the BOM. He has a tough time reading and so it has taken quite the effort to get through it. It was getting down to the wire (he had to finish it before he turned 18) so we decided that we would, as a family, help him finish. Since we have just recently finished the BOM in our family reading we thought we would start where Gary was in his personal (3rd Nephi) study and start reading each morning with him and then him read as much as he could that night. It worked out great and he is officially finished. I am truly a proud mom!

Skylar is an awesome missionary. He is now in a place (still in Asuncion) called Amumbay. He likes it because there is a big marketplace close by. He is making some great contacts and is seeing success as he teaches the gospel. In one of his last letters he said how he loves doing baptismal interviews. Hearing the people's testimonies and their wanting to be better is such a spiritual boost for him. He is an amazing son and I am so blessed to be his mom:)

Kaitlyn has graduated from JobCorps with her diploma and her CNA certificate. She has been interviewing for jobs the past 2 weeks and has received 3 job offers. She is not sure which one she will take yet but she is looking to rent an apt. in So. Jordan which is close to any of those jobs. Rick was able to help her get a car this past week. A Toyota Corolla. It is an '07 and is a pretty red color. We hope that this will help her get started in her new independant life. She has not seen it yet but is really excited.

Leesh is home for her Spring Break this weekend. She is always happy and cheerful and is glad to be here. She should graduate from North Asnpete this May. She's not quite sure what she wants to do after that. We'll see:)

Kendra just got back from a cruise that she went on with a couple of friends. She took a 4 day 3 night cruise to Catalina Island and Ensenada, MX leaving from Long Beach. She had a good time! I was very relieved to hear her voice on Friday morning after she got back into port. I was praying that she would be safe...you know with all that Mexican drug stuff going on. I was very relieved to know that she wasn't lost/kidnapped in Mexico. She is dating Brach Boman (again:) and is very happy! One word that describes Kenni is SUNSHINE!

In the middle of the month Kathy, DeeAnn and I took our girls to St. George for a couple of days for a last hurrah before Destinee leaves on her mission. It was fun being together. Rick and I are going to go back to St. George for 2 nights at the end of this week as well. I have had Fern for this month and that has been good. Thankfully it is easier with Kathy living here to help when I have to be gone.

Well, this is a long post but it feels good to update on the happenings of our family:) BYE!

OUR WEEK IN PICTURES

We got to SEE and DO a whole lot this past week in Costa Rica. I am very greatful for the opportunity to spend time with my favorite person in this amazing country. We are truly blessed!!

Well here it is.....Wednesday day night and our last one in this beautiful country. I wanted to get caught up on the last few days that we've had. Monday we got up early and golfed nine holes. Did we keep score....ABSLUTELY NOT!! That would totally ruin our day so we didn't even worry about it. As usual we took quite a few mulligans......Rick WAY more than me. HA! After thAt we came back to the hotel and while Rick napped in the room I headed out to the pool. He joined me a little while later and we both enjoyed the sun and water. That night we drove over to Playa Flaming and watched the sun set again. flamingo beach is VERY nice. More of a family beach and just a beautiful setting! We had dinner and seriously I fell into bed by 8:00. Sun + water = exhaustion.
Yesterday was ROCKIN' AWESOME!! We went white water rafting!! We had been thinking about it for a few days and I was the one pushing to do it. as we got to the Tenorio River and were getting our rafting instruction, I was thinking what in the heck am I doing!! I'm not twenty! after our guide (who was sooooo excellent) suggested that we have a practice rescue, I was totally thinking, ".they don't make us do this in Jackson Hole! What have I gotten myself into?!?" This was another of those experiences you just say to yourself...." OK, I' m here. I'm doing this!" And I did! It was SOOOOOO Fun! We got into some class 3 and 4 rapids and it was great! we went through about 2 hours of rapids and then floated for about an hour. We got to see three Toucans. THREE! one was about 20 ft away from us and let me tell you...those are spectacular birds. We also saw some herons, egrets, hawks, kingfishers along with some long nose bats and some river spiders. These spiders were HUGE! About 4 inches in diameter. They kinda freaked me out to tell you the truth. Like I said our guides were excellent. We had Wider (pronounced Weeder) and his brother Daniel (who was the photographer). These guys were special. they had such a good spirit about them. (yes, Rick placed yet another BOM....a total of three for the trip). Very spiritual and family oriented brothers. When we made it back to the base camp we had a typical Costa Rican dinner and headed back into Tamarindo to see the sun set. We missed it by 5 minutes. Que Lastima!
Today was a pretty laid back day. We left early (again....this is not the sleep in late kind of trip, my husband has kept us on the go) and drove into Santa Cruz and Nicoya to sightsee. by mid afternoon we had made our way back to Playa Conchal. We enjoyed the surf and
Sand and DID catch the sunset again on Playa Flamingo one last time.
Tomorrow we will be leaving late morning with our bodies a little redder, our memories a lot fuller, and big smiles on our faces! This has been such great trip.......one of our absolute favorites! They treat us like royalty here at the Marriott and it really is a beautiful resort. We have been very blesses to be able to make this trip. Pictures will be posted soon!!