Skylar and Sarah's new home

Here are some pictures of Sky and Sarah's new home!!  They moved in at the beginning of the month and are so very happy to be there.  This home is just a little more than what they were paying in rent so it's great that they are starting to build some equity.  It was a little bit of a fixer upper and we spent many hours helping them clean and paint!!  They got new carpeting as well.   It turned out really nice!  They love their new ward and the second week they attended Skylar was put into the Young Men's presidency!  He's really excited.  He says they are a great group of boys!

 

They invited us over for a family night this past week and so I got some pictures.  They are still unpacking and don't have decorations on the walls yet but that'll come:-)

 

 

A view of the outside

 

Just inside the front door

 

A nice spacious family room.  They just purchased the brown couch.

 

The kitchen and back door

 

.....more kitchen.  Sarah found this refrigerator on KSL for a good price.

 

Skylar's office.  He's way excited about this!

This desk is another KSL find.

That sealing fan will be changed as time and money permit:)

 

The master bedroom. 

Sarah likes the bright colors and I think it fits BOTH of their personalities well. 

Don't you think?

I love the flower mirror that she painted to fit her color scheme!

 

Master bath....another bright color

 

...and lastly the main bath.  

Sarah worked the color scheme around that cute shower curtain!

 

They have one more bedroom that will be used as a guest room. 

I didn't get a picture because it's full of boxes.

 

The covered patio....

 

....and the back yard.  They have a bit of space back there and it is fully fenced.

There are also a few fruit trees.  One is apricot and I'm not sure what the other is.

Skylar still needs to buy a lawn mower:)

Along with getting into their house they purchase a washer and dryer.  They haven't had one in their apartment so that will be super nice not to have to drag their laundry out to Grantsville each weekend!  These two have worked hard at saving and planning for this place.  They had to put out just a little more than they were expecting for the repairs but that always seems to happen.
                               Congatulations Sky and Sarah!!

Class of 1983

Thursday night we got a call from an old schoolmate of Rick's.   She told us of their class reunion that was going to be held on Saturday.  TWO DAYS away!  We arranged our day so we could take the 3 1/2 hour drive to Snake River High School to meet up with his old friends.  This was their 30th reunion and most of these people he hadn't seen since he left Blackfoot just after his Junior year.  He went to school all of his years in the Blackfoot area area but his Senior year moved to South Jordan so he did not graduate with his classmates.  Instead he graduated from Bingham High.  I think it's been a regret of his not to have graduated with those he grew up with due to circumstances beyond his control:(

 

We got there a little early so we stopped by his old stompin' grounds. Here is the house in Thomas where he lived until he was eight.  He has very fond memories of this house because most of his brothers and sisters lived here with him.  There is 18 years between him and, Karen, his oldest sister.

 

 

Next was the Thomas church just about a mile from their old home. 

 

Right behind the church stands the middle school. It was the Jr. High when he lived there.

 

House # 2

(Just a few miles away from house #1)

  Rick lived here for a few years then his mom decided to rent it and live in a trailer in the back.

It's pretty run down now:(

 

House #3

He lived here from the time he was about 13 until his move to South Jordan.

It's a few miles over in Rockford. 

 

 

Some pictures of his classmates.

There were quite a few people there.

I didn't know a single one.

They catered some Fresh Mex and did some visiting. 

 

 

We got back about midnight.

He was glad to have gone!

It was fun for me to see the homes he used to live in!

Bear Lake

Last night we got back from our family reunion held at Bear Lake.  We had so much fun last year at that campground that we wanted to try it again.  We arrived on Wednesday afternoon.  Beforehand we had decided to let each couple prepare a meal.  The first night was our turn.  Here's Rick getting the sausage ready. 

We served salad, spaghetti, french bread, and dutch oven cookies (got a little burnt....it was our first attempt and trying those:( and homemade ice cream for dessert.  It was a pleasant evening.

 

 

Sky and Sarah waiting patiently for dinner.

 

The next morning after a nice dutch oven breakfast we headed over to the beach.   It was just a five minute walk from our campsite.  The next two days were fun as we played in the water!

Some things we did were:

 

 rented some waverunners (no pictures of those)

 

......Played on the paddle board 

 

......did some fishing

 

........made a sandcastle

 

.......then made another sand castle

 

rented a paddle boat

 

......played in the sand and water with Rafe

 

 

.......had a tailgate lunch under the shade of our new canopy

 

 

.....took a nap

 

.....and enjoyed the sun

 

Friday night we celebrated Skylar's birthday.  Brach and Kendra made up a nice dutch oven stew for dinner with some peach cobbler for dessert!  Afterwards we had a family council and testimony meeting.  Then we did some celebrating by telling fun memories of the birthday boy, opening presents, having some carrot cake that Sarah made, and then playing some games in the trailer.

 

Skylar got some new waders and a new hiking backpack and had to show them off for us. 

He was way excited! 

Brach and Kendra got him a gift card for the movies and a goody basket to take with him.

Skylar and Sarah had the Thursday night meal and they served us fajitas with fresh guacamole.  We had fun playing games and watching a movie that night.  Friday morning Kaitlyn and John were in charge of breakfast. They made ham and eggs and pancakes!  John was a huge help at the camp.  He pitched right in and helped with whatever needed to be done!

  We did have a few problems that I should document.  When we got there on Wednesday, while Rick was setting up, the hitch on the trailer broke.  It took a little extra brain power to try to figure out how to get the trailer off the truck and then the trailer set up but it all worked out.  The second kink was on Thursday when we were at the beach our canopy broke.  First, Chester was hooked up to one of the legs and at one point he took off after another dog and broke the leg of the canopy.....later the wind came and blew it into the next camp.  I had bought the canopy for Rick for Christmas and was so excited to use it.  This was our first use and it broke!  I spent $120 on that thing and it didn't even come with any stakes!!  Rick got up early Friday morning and drove into Logan and picked up a new hitch and a new canopy (with stakes this time) and it worked out great. 

                                           All in all it was a fun reunion!

  We did have some issues with a child or two but that's par for the course in the Phelps family.  I don't usually blog about the hard things in life.  We all have trials and sometimes I wish it were different..... but it's not.  It has been very difficult raising children with severe emotional issues as well as.... dare I say it....  mental illness.   It has been the most difficult thing in my life.  Thank goodness for Rick being right there by my side through it all.  Not to mention Skylar and Kendra (who have had to deal with it since they were very young) and their good mates who try to be very understanding.   We continue to do our best as a family to love each other.... and help those who are lost to find their way:)  I just might not be inviting ALL of my children next year.....we'll see.

                                  LIFE REALLY IS GOOD!  I LOVE IT!

Harvest

After yesterday's wild frog experience we walked over to the garden.

Who knew all this yummy stuff was underneath all that greenery?

I used some of it for last nights dinner.  Fresh cucumbers and carrots (with a little dressing.)

For my mexican rice I used the green pepper, tomato and onion. 

The onion was small but it sure added flavor.

 

 

cucumbers, green peppers, jalepenos, onion, radishes, and tomato

There's plenty more where this came from.
 Plus, we planted pumpkins (regular orange AND white), potatoes and watermelon.
Harvest time is GREAT!  I just don't know what to do with all of it.  There's just the two of us now and that sure is a lot of food.  If you want something....COME AND GET IT!! 

Frog legs anyone??

Yesterday morning Rick was in the back yard and found this huge frog sunning on our trampoline.  We have know idea where it came from.  We're guessing from DeeAnn and Darrell's pond. 

He was fat and ugly........ just as a frog should be:)

 

 

After checking him out we put him back in the safety of the pond. 

He seemed to be right at home!!

Between him and the hawk thats been drinking from our fountain (and tormenting our poor robins) it's just a regular wild kingdom around here:-)

 

PS.....Occasionally we'll see an owl.  Now THAT is cool!

The Faces of Rafe

Here are some faces of Rafe.........

 

 

.....being silly!

 

surprised!!

 

content:-)

 

not a face but I LOVE this picture:)

little Mozart

 

sleeping

 

messy eater:-0

 

enjoying the water

 

eating rubarb (from Grandpa Boman)

 

LOVE this little guy!!