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!

Paul and Grandpa Hafen relaxing in the shade.

Grandma helping Lexi with her snow cone.

water games

Skylar, Sarah, and Charlie

A visit from seth Kreiser

Rick, Scout, Kendra, Brady, Nicole, Will and Brach

Haivyn and her blue raspberry snow cone

                                    Kaitlyn, Merik, Alyssia, and Xavier

                                               Adam, Ty, and Ian

Nikki with baby Ada

Hugs from Henry to grandpa 

....and grandma

It was a well planned and fun reunion.

Goodbye until next year!

EASTER 2019

This past weekend was Easter.  We had a full few days coloring eggs and having TWO big Easter egg hunts.  Friday afternoon I invited the kids over for some egg dyeing.  Luckily, it was a gorgeous day outside and we were able to do the messy work outside.  My little cuties are so fun!  They each got to dye between six and eight eggs.  The Bomans were a little late so they didn't get in the pictures.

Henry's cute monster eggs!

After dyeing the eggs I popped in two Digiorno pizzas and we had a little picnic.  

Holy Cow!  That pizza was good!  

Rick took the day off work to get some work done in the yard.  He mowed, pressure washed the patio, and cleaned our outdoor furniture.  It was a big job, but boy does it feel good to have everything looking nice.  

That night was our annual nighttime easter egg hunt with our big kids.  They have such fun out looking with their lights to find the prize eggs!  Such a fun tradition!

The next morning was another big egg hunt, but this time it was for the little ones.  Everyone on the lane donated eggs and/or prizes and we invited family and neighbors to join us.  There were lots of eggs,  lots of prizes and lots of kids!  We had the three and under group find eggs in our yard.  Then the four to seven year olds went out looking in Darrell's and Brad's yards.  After a few minutes of that, all of the older kids were unleashed to go find what they could.  Everyone found a lot and everyone was happy!

After the hunt we enjoyed a big potluck at the pavilion.  The weather was perfect and we had a great time visiting while the kids played at the park.  Brach saddled up his new horse, Captain, and gave rides to the kids.  Rick also got out the BIG bubbles and boy, did the kids have fun chasing those bubbles around.

This picture doesn't show but we figured we had around forty kids.  The next day it hit me that I should have invited a few other families.  I felt bad that I didn't think of them while issuing invitations.

It was a wonderful day and we enjoyed being with everyone.  That night Elder Christofferson gave a fireside to the young marrieds (thirty one and under) in conjunction with our special stake conference.  We watched the Boman kids while Brach and Kendra went to the fireside and then dinner afterwards.

Our Easter Sunday was great!  We attended the Stake Conference where Elder Christofferson presided.  It is wonderful to be in the presence of, and listen to, the counsel of one of the Lord's  apostles on the earth.  I am so thankful for a living church.  Prophets and apostles are not just for ancient times.  What a blessing to have them on the earth TODAY!  I loved watching General conference just a few weekends ago.  I love rereading their words.

  We. Are. So. Blessed.  

The rest of our Easter Sunday was pretty low key.  Our married kids spent time with their in-laws so I  invited ourselves over to Trent and Kath's for Easter dinner.  Kathy had a big spread of ham, turkey stuffing, mashed potatoes, jello.....I mean the works!!  It was nice of her to let us come over.  

Kaitlyn and the kids joined us as well.

Easter is such a beautiful holiday.  I love that we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  I love that  I know that as truth.  Jesus died and then three days later rose from the dead.  He broke the bands of death.  He did this so that EVERY PERSON ON THE EARTH could be resurrected.  I know that after death our spirits and bodies will be joined back together again.  Not every Christian believes in the literal resurrection.  I was surprised to find that out a few years ago while visiting a government building in Bern, Switzerland.  Rick and I had gone into the building to look up some family history records.  The lady that was assisting us told us that her Christian religion, Protestant, did not believe that our bodies will come back to life again, that our spirits will live but not our bodies.  Franky, I was in shock when she said this.  Really??  I was thinking, "Have you not read the New Testament?"  It is full of eye witness accounts of the resurrected Lord! She seemed to be irritated at our belief in a literal resurrection.   Rick responded to her, "Well, I guess you'll be surprised when it happens then."   

I'm so grateful to have a knowledge that when after death our spirits will reunite with our bodies in their perfect form.  

It has been so nice that week before Easter studying about the Savior's last week on the earth.

I love Him.  I am thankful for his atonement and resurrection.  It is hard to fathom how He did it all, but He did.   And because of that, not only has He broken the bonds of physical death through his death and resurrection, but His suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane broke the bands of spiritual death.  We can be made clean from our mistakes and sins through His atonement.  As we repent and change and become better, His gift can work miracles in our lives.

What a blessing to ponder on these truths.

Happy Easter!

Denver

A few weeks ago Rick and I took a trip over to Denver for a couple of days.  Superior Asphalt will be doing the roads of a suburb close by, and Rick needed to make contact with the people at the city.  He also needed to look at some of the roads. 

Since I have never been to Denver (only in the airport) I asked if I could come along.  

We got up early on a Thursday morning,  I'm talking like 3:30 in the morning early!  Our flight left at 5:15 and was full.  There was a blizzard in Denver the night before so many of the flights were cancelled, but by early that morning flights were running again.  We knew that it was going to be snowy and cold so we packed for the occasion.

After arriving and renting our car we drove right to the downtown of Denver.  The first order of business was getting tickets to the Denver Mint.  We had just missed the 9AM tour so we bought our tickets for 11 AM and then needed to kill some time.  We stopped at a cute little restaurant where the locals like to eat. (According to the Mint's ticket agent)  It was a restaurant called Dozens situated in an old historic home.  The food was fantastic (especially the hot chocolate) and we got our bellies filled.

We still had a bit of time so we drove over to the State Capitol which was just a few blocks away.  What a magnificent building!  I got tears in my eyes when I looked up into the rotunda.  Seriously,  I did.  It was just so breathtaking!  We would have loved to take a tour and climb up INTO the rotunda but we did not have time for that.  It was getting close to our Mint tour time.  So glad we stopped to see this historic and beautiful building.

We really enjoyed our time at the Denver Mint.  No cameras were allowed, for obvious reasons, so no pictures, but it was really fascinating to see and learn how the US coin is made.  The day we were there they were producing pennies and dimes.  THIRTY MILLION A DAY!  I was in awe of the magnitude of it all.  Also, they store a whole lot of gold there.  BILLIONS of dollars worth of gold.

Crazy.

We spent about an hour in the gift shop and came out with a bunch of coins.  I mean like HUNDREDS of dollars worth.  They are mostly for an investment but we got a few packs of uncirculated coins for my dad, too.  He likes that kind of stuff.  His birthday is coming up and he turns the big 80 in a few weeks.  

Next stop was VooDoo Donuts.  While the donuts were good, they weren't worth the feeling of being accosted when you go into that place.  If you don't like crudeness, don't go in.  Anyway.....

That night we stayed in the Springhill Suites in Greenwood Village.  Right down the street was a unique Native American restaurant.  We tried it out for dinner.  While I had some chicken nachos, Rick went full boar with the bison ribs and fry bread.  Good eatin's!

The next day Rick took the morning and got some work done while I hung back at the hotel and read.  When he got back we grabbed some lunch and went exploring for the day.  I love historic homes so I suggested that we go back into the downtown area and visit the Molly Brown Home.
(The unsinkable Molly Brown)

Unfortunately, we did not take one picture of our time there:(  I totally forgot.

Margaret Brown was raised as a poor farm girl in Hannibal, Missouri.  When she was of age she left Hannibal to go see her brother who was mining for silver in Colorado.  While she was there she met and married James Brown.  Long story short he became a millionaire when gold was found in the mine.  Margaret Brown was a fighter for women's causes and helped in the suffrage movement.  It was fascinating to see her home and learn more about her.

Next, at the suggestion of our friend, Sarah Vandergon, we drove about forty minutes over to Golden.  It is a cute little old western town snuggled in a valley.  It has a river running through it and a fun shopping street.  We were able to find some trinkets for our grandkids and also perused an antique store.  I'm not much for antique stores but we spent an hour in that place looking at a bunch of cool stuff.  I did buy a new salt and pepper shaker because somehow mine got lost!  Of course, we had to stop at the chocolate shop and get some sweets:)

The next day was Saturday and our flight wasn't scheduled to leave until the afternoon so we took the time to go to the temple.  The Denver Temple was very close to where we were staying.  This was one of the highlights of our trip.  Every temple is so magnificent and unique.  I loved my experience here.  This is our third new temple of the year.

While this trip was short, it was nice to be able to see some of the sights of Denver.  One thing that I was surprised about was the lack of mountains.  I always thought that Denver was a lot like SLC with mountains around.  You know, that big Rocky Mountain Range?  Well, there are mountains but they are far away.  If you're lucky and you look really hard you can see them in the distance.  Without the mountains I could never tell which direction we were going.  I kept asking Rick, "Which direction are we going?"  Somehow he always knew.  It felt so strange to me.  

I think it would be nice to go back when it is warm and do some outside activities.

Thanks, Denver for a nice visit!