Eric's Blessing

Eric Alan Phelps was given a name and a blessing by his father on the 6th of June.

What stood out to me was that he was blessed with good health, intelligence and to be good.  I love that last part.  Isn't that what we all want, for our children to be good?

This little guy is super special!  He has a pleasant disposition and is so cute.  This past week I noticed his eyebrows are reddish.  He might join the ginger baby ranks after all.  We'll see as he grows.  It's fun to see how much his brothers and sister and cousins love him.  We have loved having an infant in our midst.  What joy he brings!

I hope you have a WONDERFUL life little one!

You are very loved by so many!

 

Memorial Day Weekend

Another Memorial Day weekend has come to pass.  I took flowers up to the cemetery on Thursday morning to decorate Fern's, Kimmy's and Kamry's graves.  While we are in a severe drought and the grass didn't look so good the flowers added a little color to their graves.  Kathy had picked up some orange silk flowers (Fern's favorite) and they looked nice on each side of her headstone.

That afternoon we were off for our annual Capitol Reef trip.  Rick and I were able to drive down on the Thursday before Memorial Day.  The trip seemed long to me...  I don't know....my hip and all:(

After getting checked in at the Broken Spur we had a super delicious meal at the hotel's restaurant.  We got an appetizer of grilled shrimp with a small salad and potato skins.  We shared a country fried steak with mashed potatoes and it was just the right size to share.  We finished off the meal with a lava cake and ice cream.  It was so rich and lovely!

Our room was a nice king room with a patio sliding door as well as a jetted tub right in the room!  I know the Broken Spur is just a podunk hotel but I really love it.  I love the quaintness of the place with it's embroidered pillows and western decor.  We watched a movie that night (can't remember which one.....all I know is I fell asleep through it, big surprise:)  After a good night's rest we had a little breakfast in the restaurant and then drove into the park to hike to the Hickman Bridge.  Its' been a few years since we made this hike and that first fifteen minutes is kinda getting harder as I get older.  We were happy to make it to the bridge to take some pictures and to prove to ourselves that despite being fifty something we can still get out on these Capitol Reef hikes:)  After our hike we stopped at the Gifford House Store for a little treat.  They just had sold out of their last pie:(  That was ok, we told ourselves we would be back.  We got back to the hotel and decided to take the Ranger out on a ride.  We found a nice canyon on the end of town up in the red hills.  We did some exploring in the red sand and then headed back to the hotel for a well deserved nap:)  

That evening after Trent and Kathy made it to town we had dinner with them at the Mexican Restaurant at the end of town.  We enjoyed eating good food and then talking for a long time.  After getting back to the hotel, we found Kendra and the kids out at the playground.  Brach had left to go fishing so we let the kids come bath in our big jacuzzi tub.  They all got jammies on and then Kendra was ready for them to settle down with a movie and bedtime.  Us too:)

Hickman Bridge

A cool tree on our ATV ride.

The next morning after breakfast Rick and I and The Boman family headed over to the Visitor's Center to go on the hike to the waterfall.  Here are a few pictures of that.  We were hoping to see and catch lizards and we did!  Rafe and I counted upwards of seventeen lizards.  Rick caught two of them.  Chloe about had a fit!  She was terrified of the lizards!  Kind of cute:)

We made it to the waterfall and the kids had fun getting wet and skipping rocks.  After the fun we headed back into town.  Brach and Kendra wanted to go to the Mexican Restaurant since they missed it the night before.  Rick and I drove into town to the Slackers Food Truck.  The burgers were touted to be the best  around.  We picked them up and drove to the city park where we devoured our yummy burgers and fries.  I had our picnic blanket in the car so we laid it in the shade and took a nap:)  It was nice.  After getting back to the hotel we met up with Kendra (Brach had gone fishing again) and decided to get in the pool with the kids.  Brady refused to get his swimsuit on and threw a hot fit while the rest of us played in the pool and jacuzzi. It was quite humorous how much he did not want to be with us at the pool.  

That evening we, along with Kendra and the kids joined Trent and Kathy (who had been fishing at Fish Lake for the day) for dinner at the hotel restaurant.  We had a good time eating and talking:)

Pictures of our hike:)

The next day was Sunday and we all met up at the Torrey Ward.  This place is like coming home:)  After a beautiful meeting of word and music and being able to partake of the Sacrament we went back to the hotel and grabbed our cooler with the lunch makings and drove into Fruita.  The park was pretty full but Brach and Kendra were able to secure a table for us.  All of us had an enjoyable lunch together and then Brach and Kenni headed out for home.  Trent, Kath, and Rick and I played a few rounds of Cornhole and then went on back to the hotel for a little nap.  That evening Rick and I took a drive into Teasdale.  What a beautiful area.  We just love these little towns in Wayne County!  Later Trent and Kathy met up in our room for a looong game of Phase 10.  While I was trailing a long ways behind the first half of the game I slowly crept up and WON THE GAME!!  Woohoo for me😃  

The next day we loaded up the ATV's and made the trek home.  It is always so good to get home after being away.  We enjoyed going to the cemetery that evening and walking around remembering all of our friends who have passed on.

It was a beautiful weekend spent with family.  I love our yearly tradition of Capitol Reef.  Next year hopefully when Eric is a little bigger then Skylar and Sarah and their kids can join us.  

We sure did miss them!

 

GIRL'S NIGHT

Just after Mother's Day some of the "mothers" in the Phelps family had a little night out.  We started our evening with a trip to the Millpond Spa.  Well, some of us started out at the spa, some decided the spa life wasn't for them and declined the offer.  As for me, I indulged!  A wonderful full body massage and a European facial.  It was amazing!!  While my services began at one o'clock Darla and Janis arrived at two.  Janis received a mini pedicure and Darla got a 30 minute massage.  I think they enjoyed themselves:)

 The others met up at the spa at 3:00 and we left for SL from there.  Through Superior Asphalt's Marriott Rewards program Rick was able to reserve us three rooms for the evening at the downtown Marriott. Kathy and I got to stay in the biggest room.  Yes, she had to put up with my snoring and yes, I heard her once or twice as well:)  The others were just right next to us in two more adjacent rooms which made it handy for spending time together.

After we left the Millpond Spa and got checked into our rooms we went right out for dinner.  We were all hungry!  We settled on The Cheesecake Factory because seriously, what's not to love about that?  We all really enjoyed our meals and some even got some cheesecakes to go.  (I didn't get one but got to take a bite of all of the other's desserts:)  As you can see in the picture below DeeAnn loved her specialty drink:)

Here is a picture of us all just outside the restaurant at the City Creek Waterfall.

(Doesn't my spa hair look ravishing!!)  Hmmm....

After returning to the hotel we changed into our swim suits and went down to the jacuzzi.  We had a nice time talking and reminiscing.  There are only three of us in the picture but Darla, Janis and DeeAnn were with us as well.

Darla and Deed checking out the hotel's fireplace.

That evening we gathered in "the suite"(mine and Kathy's room) and played a fun game of Blockbuster and ate our dessert.)  It is a game that Kathy brought.  We had to guess the names of different movies that we've seen.  Even though Janis and DeeAnn said they don't watch much TV they were able to give good clues for their teams.

After a good night's rest we all got ready and left the hotel.  Ruth was able to join us for this portion of our girls date.  She met us just as we were leaving the hotel. Our morning excursion was to the SLC Cemetery.  (The Prophet's Cemetery)  We got a little lost finding the place but after grabbing some cemetery maps from the front office we eventually all arrived at Joseph F. Smith's headstone.  We gathered around his (and his four, or was it five wives) headstones and read about his life.  We spent the most time here at his grave talking about life and family and how we should love each of our children.  Karen expressed how grateful that she was that our families really love to be together and that hers in particular really have a good time together.  I think most of our families enjoy spending time together.  Our family (Rick's and mine) have a little different dynamic (being a blended family) but we're working on it:)  Our hope is that we will have them all in the temple with us some day:)

We didn't have a lot of time at the cemetery but we were able to see Wilford Woodruff's, David O. McKay's,  President Monson's and Hinkley's headstones.  I would have loved to stay longer and find some more.  All but five prophets, I believe are buried in this cemetery. 

I have more pictures but can't seem to get them onto the blog:(

 

After the cemetery we ended our girl's date at a downtown French restaurant named Gourmandise.

I think I can say for everyone that we had a great girl's getaway overnighter.  I sure love being with these wonderful ladies!  I consider them all to be my good friends!

MAY BIRTHDAYS

On May 8th we celebrated Xavier's birthday two days early.  We had a little get together with him at our home with a cousins party.  I made him a race car cake that he seemed to like:)

We enjoyed watching him open presents, eat cake and ice cream and interact with family.  Brandon and Jenni were able to come with Sophie, Britta, and Allegra.  That was nice because I think Zavi really grew to love their family as he lived with them for three months. 

We are grateful that John and Tarra (Zavi's foster parents) let us have them for the day.  Xavier is learning more words and communicating better.  He knows many animal sounds and is a happy child.  He fits in very well with the Tippet Family and they really love him.  He has his difficult moments but they are taking good care of him.  We are still waiting to find out if he will be able to be adopted by the Tippet Family and will not know for another little while.  We pray that he will to have stability in his life.

Haivyn turned SEVEN on the 9th.  We celebrated two days later (on the 11th) at the soccer park in Tooele.  

I made some bbq beef sandwiches, chips and the birthday cake while Kendra brought a salad to go along with the meal.  The kids had a nice time playing on the park toys while the adults got to visit with each other.  

Haivyn is a really good girl.  She can tell me stories of Jesus and draw beautiful pictures of the things she's learned about Him.  I wish I could get her to Primary each week.  It is a little difficult seeing that Rick and I serve in the Singles Ward.  We'll figure it out but in the meantime she is learning to love Jesus and that's really important at her age.   Haivyn loves to play outside.  It could be rain or shine (or snow) and she just wants to be outside playing!  She plays well with her cousins and we are thankful that they have each other!  We sure do love her! 

 

MOAB

On the 3rd of May, Rick and I took a quick trip down to Moab for him to look for some work.  It was a quick trip because we needed to be back on the afternoon of the 5th for our second round of the Covid shot.  We weren't sure we were even gonna go but knew that our schedule the following few weeks was gonna be full so we did it.  We left Grantsville around 2:30 for the 4 1/2 hour journey.  

The ride went well but Rick forgot his tennis shoes so after we stopped in Salina for dinner we looked around for a place to buy shoes.  The only shop that we could see was Family Dollar.  Who knew Family Dollar carried men's tennis shoes??  Well, they may not be his favorite shoes but they sure worked for the purpose of biking and hiking, which was on the agenda while in Moab.

We stayed at a new Marriott property in town called The Element.  It was very nice.  We got a ground floor room that looked out to the beautiful pool.  

After a good night's rest Rick got up early and went out to drum up some work.  He got a few leads and if I remember right he got one job sold:)  While he was out I went out for some exercise.  I walked over to the Colorado River and across the bridge about a mile away.  I also went out to that beautiful pool and enjoyed some sunshine!  When he got back we went for a bike ride into town.  It was a nice little jaunt.  Moab is a fun town with a lot of tourists and lots of eateries and shops!  We stopped at the food trucks and each had a fabulous sandwich from a Greek food truck.  

Man it was delish!

We then rode back past the hotel back to the River and followed it up a little ways.  My rear was getting a little sore at this point so we opted to head back to the room.

After bike riding we drove into Arches for a little hiking.  We got to see three arches on our hike.  Sand Dune Arch which we thought was super cool.  It was an easy walk and very sandy passing through a little narrow.  We had lots of fun climbing!

Next was the Broken Arch about a mile from Sand Dune Arch.  This was a relatively easy walk as well but it was definitely hot with not much shade.  Thankfully it was early May because I'm sure the summer gets SUPER hot on these hikes.

A beautiful outcropping on our way to the last arch.

We got to the third arch (right there in the middle) after losing the trail a couple of times.  It's hard to see the trail when it's on rock.  We managed but maybe walked a little farther than we needed to.  This was a really beautiful sight.  We got to climb up underneath and lay in its cool shade for about 15 minutes.  After resting we made our way back to the parking lot.  After a morning walk, nine miles of bike riding, and a couple mile hike I was ready to be done.  So that led us to.....

....dinner!  We ended our fun day eating some grub at the Moab brewery.

These little impromptu work trips are a fun way to spend time together doing adventurous things.  Traveling, hiking, biking, eating or just hanging out.  I love being with my sweetheart WHATEVER we are doing!  I'm grateful Rick invited me along!