COVID

COVID has hit the Phelps family.  Rick got to feeling sick on Tuesday, Sept. 21st.  He had severe congestion in his sinuses and achiness throughout his body.  I suggested he go get tested for Covid before coming home from work.  He did and the rapid test came back POSITIVE!  It was confirmed the next day with the results of the PRC test.

It kind of threw us for a loop because we had plans for the week.  We were planning to spend a few nights in St. George for my birthday present and then head off to Vegas to spend time with my mom and dad.

One of the events we were so looking forward to was seeing the show "The Count of Monte Cristo" at the Tuacahn Theatre on Thursday evening.  Well, Covid changed our plans to quarantining at home for the next ten days.  We are currently on our 6th day of quarantine.  I started feeling sick on Saturday and am not sure if I will get tested this week or wait until next when we are wanting to leave for a fall foliage trip to the Canadian Maritimes.  If my test comes back positive we will not be going to Canada:(

Anyhow, we have just been hanging out at home.  On Thursday DeeAnn brought over a special treat for us.  She found the recipe for our favorite lemon cake and brought it warm out of the oven for us.   That was so thoughtful of her.  She mentioned that she had the "Monte Cristo" movie and said we could borrow it.  Unfortunately she couldn't find it but she brought us a bunch of movies to watch while we are just at home.  We had the thought to just rent the movie on Amazon Prime, which we did.  We enjoyed the show except for the sad ending!  

We have felt the generosity of others through their texts and well meaning messages.  Kendra and Sarah each picked up groceries for us, on different days.  Kathy offered to pick some up but I got back to her too late.  Jackie Williams surprised us with a yummy soup dinner and pumpkin cookies on Friday.  Roberta Rupp left some goodies on our porch just yesterday.  Kendra and Sarah have called/texted each day to check in on us.  They are so good to us.  We find ourselves appreciative of the good people in our lives.

We have both tried to keep ourselves busy.  We are feeling sick but not sick enough to just be laying around.  I have been in the yard working, making meals, typing in recipes for our upcoming family cookbook, decorating for Halloween, and Rick, of course, has been on the phone a lot arranging things for the crews at work.  One day he did drive out to Orem to look at the roads there.  He also has been working in the yard and doing a couple of honey dos while he is hanging around.  So, with all of this going on we have been trying to keep ourselves active and accomplishing good.

On Thursday, Sarah told us that Skylar and the boys were out at the highway selling hot cocoa and cookies to the morning commuters to earn money for their upcoming Legoland vacation.  I just had to ride my bike down to see them and to purchase some goods from them.  Keeping social distanced, of course.

They were so cute and excited to be earning some money!

Little Dolls!

 Anyway, that's the goings on at the Phelps home this last week.  Hopefully we will be completely well by next week to get to Nova Scotia.  Fingers crossed!

GRANDMA HAS A BIRTHDAY

 A week ago the family got together for my birthday celebration.  I told the girls that I wanted to have a pizza dinner so Sarah and Kendra made it happen.  They prepared the dough, bought all of the toppings, shredded cheese and prepared the pizza stones:)

My birthday was on a Sunday this year and Rick had a special meeting he needed to be so we decided to get together at 6:00.  The whole family (except Alyssia) was here to celebrate with me.  

I baked up two cakes for the occasion.  A knockoff Olive Garden Lemon Cream Cake that turned out fabulous!  Also, I tried a new recipe for a turtle pie cake that was just so so.  I accidentally scorched the pecans so it kind of ruined the cake... haha but the family was gracious enough to tell me that it was still good!  That's true love, right there!😀

Here's a picture of Sarah and Eric assembling some pizza.  We each made our own pizzas and cooked them in the oven.  The kids' pizzas went first because they were so hungry.  

I made a supreme pizza which turned out so yummy!  

Here's me and my little munchkins that I love so much!!

AND  a couple of crazy pictures for the memory books

Here's me and Brady waiting to blow out the candles!

Which he unashamedly helped me do!🔥🔥

I opened presents and received a new grocery bag holder (which was on my list) and the promise of a new book in the mail.  Also I got a new pair of shoes and a new piano songbook.  I got to shopping the next day and bought more shoes, a skirt, two shirts, and some cute Halloween decor.  

                  I'd say my birthday was a success!  Thanks to all who made it great!


 

Charlie turns FIVE

Our cute little Charles Rick turned FIVE a few weeks ago on September 3rd.  For his birthday he got to "go to work" with his dad which included the Nickelcade and a fun lunch.  We celebrated with him and lots of other family members a few days later at a party hosted by his parents.  Charlie had "The Flash" cake and recieved a grundle of toys.  A few things he got were a new bay blade, legos, new clothes and jammies and a magna doodle and etch a sketch.  A favorite memory of the night was at the end when we all went downstairs to watch him and his cousins (and Grandpa Rigby) dance to his new video game "Just Dance"!  It was sure cute and we were all amazed at the moves Charlie has.  He kept right up with the video and had a smile on his face the whole time!  

We sure love our towheaded bright blue eyed Charlie Rick!

 

Ketchikan, Alaska

Last week Rick and I joined Sunnie and Janae Titmus in Ketchikan for a few days.  We had been planning this little getaway for a few months and had been looking so forward to it.

Our friend Dick Mouritsen passed away unexpectedly (from Covid) and I felt very strongly that I did not want to miss his funeral which was being held the morning we were scheduled to leave.  With a little tender mercy experience we were able to get our flights changed with no extra fees.  At first Delta was going to charge us close to $900 to make the needed changes.  After waiting on the telephone line for 3 hours to finally talk to an operator from Delta, it took another thirty minutes for her to finally relent and give us the flight changes to get us to Ketchikan without extra charges.  We were so thankful for her ability to talk to the upper authorities to get permission to trade it straight across.

As it turned out we were able to leave after the funeral and go as far as Seattle.  We stayed at a hotel near the airport and caught the flight to Ketchikan the next morning arriving just after 12:30.  It was a beautiful day and whereas it was supposed to rain the next couple of days we tried to do as much as we could that day.  

Sunnie and Janae picked us up from the airport in a Toyota Camry rental and we headed right to lunch.  We ate at the New Yorker Restaurant.  Janae and Rick ordered the lunch special, black bass.  What they didn't know was that it came in a soup.  They didn't love it but both ate most of it.😁

Next we went to the Lumberjack Show.  It was very entertaining!  We were on team Canada and won overall.  It was fun to watch the lumberjacks chop, saw and climb and run!

Next, we drove over to Ward Lake and walked around the lake.  My goodness!!  It was so beautiful!

We were able to see the salmon swimming up the river to get into the lake to spawn.  Thankfully we didn't cross a bear on the path!

Next we drove up to Lunch Falls.  The falls were steep and the poor salmon were trying so hard to make it up stream.  I'm not sure how they do it.  I think the odds are not in their favor jumping up those tall falls.

There were a lot of dead ones in the water.

This is us at the falls next to the road on the south end of the island.

We went back to this spot after two days of rain (just before we left to go home) and it was so much bigger and running so much faster!  At that time we could barely get a picture because it was coming down so fast and we didn't want to get drenched.

That night we had dinner at Annabelle's restaurant.

The food was so good!

Alaskan King Crab was on the menu!

We all chose that except for Sunnie.

I think he got the salmon.

The next day was pouring rain.  We had a nice breakfast at the Pioneer Cafe and then drove over to Herring Bay to look for bear.  Sad thing is we didn't get to see ANY bear this visit to Ketchikan.  We drove up to the bay at least four different times but didn't see any.  Big disappointment!  Sunnie and Janae had seen SIX the night before we got there.

We had lunch at the Mexican place just down from our air BandB.  We weren't hungry but Sunnie said he didn't want to miss a meal!😂

Next, we drove up to a lodge and marina on the North end.  I can't remember the name.  We watched a couple of groups come in from fishing and watched the workers fillet the fish.  Kinda cool!

Next we drove over to the Blight Totem Pole Park.  We spent an hour or so walking around looking at the totem poles and the scenery.

We had dinner that evening at the Fish House.  I thought they would have something non-fishy for me but alas, the only thing on the menu without fish was a small dinner salad and the fries.  I noticed they had cornbread and that sounded good but one bite into it I knew there was fish in it.😁  Everyone tried to make me think that there wasn't.  Rick even had a bite and said, "no, I think that's green pepper."  Janae took a bite and said, "I think they might have some bits of halibut in there".  Finally the bus boy walked by and yes, he confirmed there was salmon in it.  Shocker!  Not really, for me, though!

After dinner we stopped at the Crepery.  Sunnie and Janae shared a strawberry shortcake crepe while Rick went next door and ordered some pie and ice cream from the Pioneer cafe, where we had breakfast that morning.  I helped him eat it and it was delish!  (Better than salmon cornbread, anyway!)

That night we settled into our comfortable clothes, turned up the heat to warm up and played two rounds of 5 Straight.  We each both one a round:)  Sunnie went off to bed and Rick was on the phone so Janae and I played a fun dice

The next morning was our pack up day.  After packing up most of our stuff we had breakfast at Sweet Mermaids bakery and then did a little shopping for souvenirs.  We had a little time so we walked through Creek Street. It is so pretty with all of it's colorful buildings.  It was a pretty rough place with bars and immorality back in the day but now it is just shops and restaurants.  Most everything was still closed due to Covid and no ships being in that day.

Janae and I caught our flight a little earlier than the guys, who were flying to Juneau later in the day, to get started on their fishing trip.  

Our flights were uneventful and it felt good to get back home at the end of the day!

                                    Good times making good memories with good friends!

SWISS DAYS 2021

Oh, how I have been excited for Swiss Days this year.  It was canceled last year because of Covid (like so many other things) so we were ready for it to come.  We got there around 3PM and after the first order of business, namely the bathroom, Rick got to the second order of business....the PIE AND ICE CREAM!  Haha!  I had to laugh because that is something we usually do halfway through our day there.  But the kids were happy to dig right in.  Rick shared his berry pie with Brady and Chloe while Rafe and Scout enjoyed a piece of pumpkin pie.

Brady and Scout wanted to get their faces painted which was a long wait but they turned out so cute!

Unfortunately, these were the only pictures taken.  We didn't get a picture at the end of the day with all of our purchases and the whole group together.  Anyway, we saw and bought a few cute items for the house!

Afterwards, we enjoyed dinner and ice cream at Spin Cafe in Heber City then made the trip home.  

It was a fun day!
 

Backpacking trip for the guys

Skylar loves to hike up into the high Uintah's and is wanting to make it a yearly trip.  This year the guys, who included; Rick, Skylar, Brach, and Brandon, hiked up to Red Castle Lake.  It is VERY far but they love the beauty of the area and the bountiful fishing.  They left on a Thursday and drove 3 hours to the China Meadows trailhead and then hiked up TEN MILES to get to Red Castle Lake.  Brach brought his two horses who carried up the packs and heavy stuff for them.  They got to camp about 5 in the PM and set up camp.  

The next day they hiked to a higher lake and did some fishing.  I think Rick only caught one fish while Skylar and Brach caught quite a few.  They brought them back to camp and cooked them up for dinner.  They hiked down the next afternoon and got home about 9:00 Saturday night.  I think it was a good time for all of them.