BEAR LAKE

On the 16th of August Rick and I left for Bear Lake to spend a few days at a cabin with the Phelps siblings. (Minus DeeAnn who couldn't come) We met up Wednesday night and had a wonderful dinner cooked up by Darla and Larry and Hal and Janis.  They made teriyaki chicken, cheese potatoes, salad, and so much more!  We enjoyed the evening eating and visiting.

The next morning Brent provides with a great breakfast!  We all enjoyed visiting and playing games until the afternoon when we left for the Logan Temple.  I was hoping to get a corn dog and shake in Garden city on our way.  We stopped at Zipz for a quick bite and then headed toward the temple.  We were all able to get into a sealing room that fit us all.  It was a really wonderful experience being with this family whom we both love so much!

Brent and Lar, and Ken decided to stay back from the temple.  

They didn't want to make the trip back through the canyon.

Here's a couple of pics....

That evening we had a nice dinner at Texas Roadhouse Steakhouse.  We sat with Hal and Janis and enjoyed reminiscing about our missions.  That evening after getting back to the cabin we found that Ken had turned on the movie Charade and so we ended up finishing that and then headed to bed.

The next morning we woke up to yet another breakfast by Brenton.  Good food for the belly!

Rick and I had a couple of wave runners reserved at the beach at Bear Lake.  We got there at 11 AM and it was the perfect time to be there.  There was pretty much no one on the water and we had such a FABULOUS time out there.  We each had our own machine for about forty five minutes until we rode double while Hal came out with Darla and eventually Kathy (who took some time to convince to come out)  We had a ball for a couple of hours tearing up the lake.  It was truly amazing!

 

We had gotten word that morning that Rick's cousin Mike Foster and his wife Shannon were coming to visit.  They met up with Karen and Dennis and others while at the cabin that morning and then they came on over to the lake.  That was the first time Rick and I had met him/them.  They are a very nice couple from Rhode Island.  They are very religious people and it was fun getting to know them.

After having fun on the lake we were ready for some grub.  We let everyone know we were headed back to Zipz for a late lunch.   Most everyone joined us and we were able to sit with Karen and Dennis and Mike and Shannon and visit throughout lunch.  

Here's a pic of our group.....

That evening we had a fish fry put on by Brad and Ruth and ?  There was a fun spread of fish, salads, fruit and even a beautiful (and tasty) charcuterie board set out by Kathy.  Here we are getting ready for dinner...

After dinner was cleaned up we had a fun time playing a couple of games.  The first one was Catchphrase and the second one was Guess Who.  For the second game we had to all write down on a piece of paper something that we had done that no one else knew about.  Then the papers were read one at a time and we all got to guess which person wrote down that thing.  It was a nice time learning about each other and laughing at all of our misses.

Here is a picture of our group.  We are missing Ken because he had left early that morning.  Mike and Shannon are in the very middle.  After the second game washer it was pretty late so we headed for bed.

The next morning Rick took a beautiful picture of the sunrise.  

Everyone got up and started to pack things up.  We were all gone by 10AM.

It was a wonderful siblings trip!  I'm so happy that we love each other and love spending time together!

CHERRY HILL 2023

The week after returning from Vegas we planned a little outing at Cherry Hill.  We met Sarah and Kendra and the kids for an afternoon of fun.

Here are a load of pictures without any order to them!

It was a fun afternoon with perfect weather!

 Rick picked up some KFC to enjoy before leaving.  We stayed until after 7 PM.  The mommas took home the littles and we had the five oldest stay with us in the trailer for an overnighter.  Of course, as per tradition we walked over to The Pie Pantry to get some frozen yogurt.  The kids enjoyed playing games (cover your assets) and watching the movie Kicking and Screaming before bedtime.  

The next morning we had a simple breakfast of cereal and fruit and then packed up the trailer and headed over to the Downtown Farmer's Market.  We met Skylar and Sarah there for some fun.

That little overnighter was a great memory made for us all!

Leg Amputation

While we were having our reunion at Mirror Lake Rick and I got word that my dad was having his leg amputated.  We knew that it was probably going to happen we were not expecting it to happen so fast.  We had just found out the day before the reunion that the doctors were recommending it.  We knew that my dad wanted to go home and talk to my mom about it.  We were thinking that it would happen the following week.  

  Scott and Kathy recognized that it wold be a huge ordeal to gat my dad back in the hospital if he was taken home so my mom came to visit my dad at the hospital and the decision to have the leg amputated was made at that point.  My dad was told by the doctors that if he did not have the amputaion he would most likely only live 1- 6 months so he chose to live. 

 

We had just missed the text as we drove up to Mirror Lake on a Wednesday.  On Thursday we decided to drive down the mountain to where we could get some cell service and see how he was doing.  Unbeknownst to us my dad was just getting ready to have the surgery THAT DAY!  He was not doing well and could not remember having consented and it was a huge mess and he did not fully understand what was happening.  It was a very emotional time for everyone involved.

We knew that the surgery was going to take up to three hours so we drove back up the mountain to our campsite.  We waited the three hours and luckily we were able to get cell service at the top of the mountain just a few minutes drive from our campsite.

We found out that the surgery went well and that my dad was in recovery.

The next Monday I arrived in Vegas to help with my mom.  I hadn't realized that just after four days my dad would be released from the hospital.  He got home that afternoon and the work began for his care giving.  It was a lot.  We helped him to the toilet many times and he was in so much pain.  It was hard to witness and I wondered how this was possibly going to work.  He didn't (and still doesn't) have very good stability and it took three of us to get him into the bathroom.  His needs were great.  That along with taking care of my mom's needs was emotionally and physically draining. Deanna arrived on Tuesday and  Rick arrived on Wednesday.  Together  we did our best in caring for them.  By Saturday we were all exhausted.  I honestly don't know how Scott and Kathy and Mare do it all of the time without getting burned out.  

At this point my dad is doing much better.  Most of his stitches have been removed and his physical therapy is ongoing.  He is trying to get his leg ready for a prosthesis.  He is hoping to have a little more mobility soon.  I believe he will always have to use his walker, though.  He is too unstable without it.

 

Phelps Mirror Lake Reunion

This year's Family Reunion was held up at Mirror Lake.  Brach and Kendra were in charge and they did a phenomenal job!  There was a lot of good food, fun activities, and game playing throughout the days.

We we're so blessed to have superb weather!  The days were warm and the nights were chilly with just a few rain sprinkles here and there.

We all arrived Wednesday afternoon to start off.  Rick and I were in charge of dinner that night and Rick cooked up some good grub!  We had dutch oven chicken, potatoes and corn.  We also served salad and watermelon, as well.  Since Sarah had just recently had a birthday and Kendra had hers coming up within a few days I decided to have them be "princesses" for the evening.  

Instead of cake we had stopped at the Chevron in Francis for their AMAZING doughnuts.  Kendra had seen somewhere that they were some of the best in the state.  Thought they were really tasty!

Here are the birthday girls with their birthday treats!

The kids wanted to get in on the picture!

That evening everyone (but me) took a walk around the lake.  They said the view was just gorgeous with the sun setting on the mountains.
 

Oh, how we love our kiddos!

The next morning grandpa dutch ovened again for breakfast.  He made eggs, potatoes, and sausage while Sarah helped by grilling up some pancakes.  A good way to start the day!  The kids wanted to get back to the lake for some fishing and swimming so we all headed over to the lake.  My goodness!  This is one of the most beautiful lakes!  But a little cold!!  That didn't stop the kids from jumping in!  I believe most of the kids, that wanted to, caught a fish...some of them with a little help from Uncle Brach.  Except Rafe.  He caught his a little later. 

The kids loved playing Cover Your Assets in the trailer.

I think they made a lot of fun memories doing that!

That afternoon Brach and Kendra gave us a soap carving lesson.

Everyone enjoyed carving up their soaps. 

It sure made the area smell good!

That evening Sarah made dinner: meatballs and rice.

We had to miss it because Rick and I drove down to Kamas to get service to talk with Scott and Kathy.  My dad had decided to have his leg amputated that very night.  We knew that amputation was a possibility but didn't know that it was scheduled already.  It was a very emotional time for me.

We came back to camp with the instructions to call back in three hours.  Luckily we were able to get service at the top of the hill,  just a ten minute drive from camp.  The surgery went well.

After Rick and I got back and had some dinner we went over to Brach and Kendra's fire pit to make some s'mores.  The kids love roasting marshmallows!  Charles loves the ones that catch fire:)

After s'mores the kids got their pj's on and we gathered around the trailer for a movie night.

Brach and Kendra provided candy treats for everyone.

We watched Tom and Huck.  It was fun!

Most the kids fell asleep before the movie ended but some of the older kids stayed awake.

It had been a day full of fun!

The next morning Skylar and Sarah served up mountain man breakfast to get us started for the day.

After breakfast we gathered all of the family together to play the Baby Game.  I had printed up baby pictures of all the family members (I forgot Brady and duplicated Kaitlyn:0)  It was fun seeing everyone try to figure out who was who.  Some of the older kids did very well at guessing!

After breakfast the group took a hike up to Ruth Lake.   They had a nice time except Chloe had a meltdown and cried herself sick.  Other than that lovely experience I think they all had a nice time.  

I stayed back with Brady because he had been sick that morning.  We colored and made bead bracelets while waiting for everyone to get back for lunch.  Oh yeah, we also caught a wasp that was in our trailer using honey and the kids' bug holder.

After the hike and lunch (sandwiches, chips, fruit and cookies) Skylar and Sarah went out to the lake for some paddle boarding.  We took the grandkids on a raft ride.  The younger kids liked it better than the older kids:)  But they all ended up somewhere in the water getting wet!

Later that afternoon Rick and I enjoyed a little nap in the trailer while the young'uns painted rocks.

Some got really creative and they turned out really cute.

That evening after Brach and Kendra made us a delicious taco salad/nachos dinner the kids had fun with the piñata.

This was our last night, so Brach and Kendra had planned a meeting around the campfire where we shared stories of our ancestors.  It was very nice meeting, and it felt good to talk of the importance of remembering what our predecessors have done for us.

The next morning we all got up to a breakfast from Brach and Kendra to end our reunion.  They served a continental style breakfast with muffins, yogurt and cereals.  

What a wonderful reunion!  We missed Gary and Kaitlyn, and of course, Alyssia but hopefully they will want to join us next year.