Last week was the annual Phelps Sister's trip. Here is a write up from Karen (thank you, Karen) with all of the details....
Monday we all left from our respective homes for a little "Sister's Trip" in Island Park Idaho. Larry and Darla came to our house and left Larry off to stay with Dennis, while Darla picked me up after loading all my stuff in the car, and took me to Island Park in her car. There were coming in their own vehicles, Kathy driving with Janell in one and Ruth driving with DeeAnn and Janis in the other. Darla and I stopped and ate a quick lunch at Fiesta Ole' out in the parking lot in our car, then got back on the freeway and arrived at the cabin about an hour before Kathy and Janell arrived and then just a short time later, Ruth and the others arrived. It started snowing just as the last car arrived and it was kinda fun to watch the snow come down while we were all safe inside.
Darla worked hard on fixing some nice big thick pork chops for us, along with baked potatoes and all the fixin’s, and others helped her to get dinner on. We ate that fun dinner, then sat around talking and laughing.
Darla and I went downstairs and started watching a cute little movie, but the others stayed upstairs and talked and laughed. At one point I heard them laughing and could hardly stay seated down there watching the movie—I wanted to go join them and see what all they were talking about! (…(My kids say I have this bad case of FOMO—“Fear of Missing Out’, and it’s definitely TRUE!!) 😊
The cabin has six bedrooms, and sleeping arrangements for more, so each of us had our own sleeping space. (I say “space” instead of “room”, because DeeAnn slept on a bed in the big upstairs room by the pool table and didn’t exactly have her own “room”.) But Kathy and Janell slept in the two downstairs bedrooms, Darla and Janis slept in the two upstairs bedrooms, and Ruth and Karen (I) slept in the two bedrooms on the main floor. (I think this is the way it was….)
On this first night, after dinner was over, Darla put the left-over porkchops in a big Tupperware container with a tight lid on it and slid it into a sack, setting it out on the deck to keep it cold. The next morning the whole sack and everything was gone!! It was quite a mystery till Kathy spied the sack setting out under a tree in the snow--where it obviously had been dragged! She got shoes and coat on and ventured out to bring the sack back in. The pan had not been opened, but there was a big whole gnawed into the sack where some animal had tried to get into it!!
Tuesday DeeAnn got up bright and early and made a fantastic breakfast for us of
Fried eggs, bacon, toast, and waffles with orange juice and milk.
After breakfast Janell and Kathy decided to take advantage of the Hot Tub, so they got in and stayed for quite awhile, watching the snow come down. I think this was the day that it was so cold that when Janell came inside, she had icicles in her hair!
We sat and talked for a while, then started playing games. Janell set out the game of Five Straight and we had a good time with it. We stopped in the middle of playing it and decided to have a delicious lunch that Janis had made – broccoli cheese soup and a lettuce salad. Jessica had made some chocolate chip cookies and Janis served those to us as dessert. We were happy to get those cookies because we had been trying to resist them for some time – – just waiting for Janis's meal to come around. 😊
We continued playing games that afternoon and sitting and talking and relaxing.
Janell fixed a delicious dinner for us of chicken Alfredo plus ravioli or lasagna or some other Italian deliciousness (that I can’t remember the name of, but just loved!), along with Caesar salad and hot bread. It was really wonderful and just hit the spot with all of us.
As the afternoon wore on, we decided it’d be fun to maybe go for a walk, so everyone that wanted to, bundled up in their warmest winter clothes and went outside in the snow, planning to walk down the road for a while. After getting out there, we discovered there was quite a strong coating of ice all underneath that snow and it was extremely slick—TOO slick to safely go ‘walking’. So, Janis swept off the steps and shoveled some snow, Kathy cleaned all the snow off her car and scraped her windows, DeeAnn layed down on the ground in her great big, long warm fur coat and made a Snow Angel, and then everyone all gathered under a tree for a fun ‘group picture’. That was about the extent of the ‘winter walk’! But it was fun being in the snow ‘cause it had snowed all night and most all day long.
That night we watched a Hallmark movie called " Wedding Bells ", and it was very much a typical Hallmark movie! I was telling everybody I liked Hallmark movies, but I was a little disappointed that this one was quite SO typical! 😍
I took a shower and hair-wash after everyone else went to bed, and it was well after midnight as I started to put rollers in my hair. As I stood by the kitchen sink, not touching anything, I heard a tapping or knocking sound outside on the deck door and goosebumps went all over my skin! I hurried in to where Ruth was laying in her bed reading scriptures, and said, “Ruth, would you want to come in the kitchen with me while I put rollers in my hair so you can tell me a bit more about that trip that you and Brad took?” I truly DID want to talk with her and find out more about the trip, but also, I was a bit desperate with nervous feelings!! 😊 We had a fun talk and I really appreciated her being with me like that!
On Wednesday night—our third night there--right before I went to bed, I wrote a little writing in my notes , so I will continue with it: ~~~~~~~~
Today is Wednesday night---actually it's Thursday morning March 11 at 1:14 AM We sisters have been staying at the cabin in Island Park Idaho enjoying ourselves immensely and we are just getting ready to leave when we awaken later this morning. Right now, everyone's in bed except me and I'm heading there soon. I want to mention about the fun day we had today. I woke up early after not sleeping very good last night and thought I would fix breakfast, but decided to get dressed first.
While I was finishing getting my make up on, Kathy came upstairs and started fixing breakfast. She made delicious ham and cheese omelets with toast, and we could have leftover waffles, too if we wanted, plus she fried up ham on the side. Janis helped her fix the breakfast and it turned out wonderfully well. We all decided not to go anywhere during this time we were on this little sister’s trip, so we just stayed here at the house every day and night….and It has been SO fun! (Kathy made good use of the hot tub…)
Dennis is sick at home and is going downhill, so I'm cutting my vacation a bit short and taking Darla and Ruth as well. The rest are planning to leave on Thursday anyway – – Janell, Kathy, Janis and DeeAnn.
Our meals have been wonderful. After Kathy's good breakfast, Ruth fixed a delicious lunch of marinated chicken breast grilled on the grill outside along with potato salad and a delicious lettuce salad. It was a fun lunch that we ate after playing some games and sitting around talking.
We continued to sit around and talk for a while after lunch, then went downstairs and watched three episodes of "Pride and Prejudice".
Around 6:30 we decided to come upstairs and eat some supper before watching the other three episodes of "pride and prejudice". I stayed downstairs talking for a little while extra, then DeeAnn came down to get me, and I was astounded and shocked and extremely Surprised when I saw that the dining area had been all decorated with happy birthday items in honor of MY birthday. That was so exciting!!!
We laughed and talked and got pictures taken and Kathy and DeeAnn set dinner on and we ate a delicious Mexican Fajita supper that Kathy had fixed with chicken, refried beans, Spanish rice, and all the trimmings. It was really a fun supper and I ate way too much, so it gave me heartburn later in the night.
After supper they brought out a nice, delicious chocolate cake from Costco with candles on it that were arranged in formation to make 75. That's the new age I'm going to become on Monday, March 14th! ☹
They sang happy birthday to me and we kind of cleaned up the dinner dishes, then went back downstairs and watched the last three episodes of Pride and Prejudice", and headed to bed at almost midnight.
What a fun Day and what a wonderful surprise tonight was for me! I got some really nice little gifts from my sisters, too. DeeAnn went around cleaning things up here at the last, so we are both heading to bed really late. It's 1:25 AM. ~~~~~~~~~~~~
This concludes the information from my Wednesday notes, but then we had Thursday to still be there. And before moving on to Thursday, I’d just like to reiterate the fact that I LOVED that little birthday party you had for me and I sincerely Thank You for thinking of it and carrying it out!! That was the Prettiest tablecloth I have EVER SEEN!! !! (And mark my words—I’ve been around for a LONG TIME!!!) 😊 And that was a Delicious Cake!! ….And it was good that we all had an occasion in which to stand around and have a Group Picture!! 😊
It was fun to have the snow coming down for part of the time we were there, and it was interesting that the temperatures were SO LOW part of the time!! (I think it was something like 13 degrees with a minus 24 degrees—or something like that!) The icicles and the overhang of snow on the roof were fingers of nature that were very lovely to look at, and we truly enjoyed being in that woodsy setting.
On Thursday morning we knew that we were all leaving, so we started cleaning out the fridge and taking bedding off the beds and gathering up our things to pack them and take them home. We didn’t fix a breakfast. That fridge was filled to the brim with lots of goodies that each of us had brought, so most of us just grabbed something that was left over and ate that. Then we loaded up our left-overs and cleaned off the counters and did a bit of sweeping and felt thankful that they’re getting new carpet in, so we didn’t have to clean up Much—or pay a cleaning fee.
Rick came to pick up Janell and Janis and we all sat and talked for a while and marveled at how blessed we all are to have the big, wonderful Family that we have. Darrell is very sick and has been for quite some time –laying in the hospital after just barely going through another surgery. And our nephew, Kaleb has had a dreadful case of Covid that seems to have turned into something else that’s keeping him sick. We mention them in our every prayer—along with several others, and we’re very pleased that we can call upon our Heavenly Father for blessings. We’re SO thankful for our knowledge and for having the Gospel in our lives!
We are very thankful, too, for the fantastic Family we are a part of, and for the individual little families we’ve each been blessed with. And we are SO grateful that we sisters all love each other so Very Much like we do!! Thanks to ALL of you for making this time possible and for just EVERY SINGLE THING~!!!
And this marks the end of the Sister's Trip Post. We didn't get out and do much because of the cold weather but we loved the down time inside the warm cabin and just talking and spending time with each other. These times are great connecting and catching up with each other without too many distractions. Can't wait until next year, girls!
