December Happenings

The first week of December was a doozy.  There were events happening every night.  This new Richard Paul Evans book arrived on Sunday at the first of the week.  I had Monday mostly empty so I took the time to read, read and read.  I really enjoyed the book and it was nice to relax that day before the business of the week hit in full force.

The next night was the ward party.  A lasagna dinner was served with salad, rolls and dessert.  It was nice.  The Phelpses and Rick and I were asked to take part in the program.  The primary sang songs and then the Phelps kids asked us questions on the stage.  The questions ranged from "Why do we decorate for Christmas?" to "Where did Santa come from?"  There were a lot of people that came and I think it was a success!
 

The next day was the Festival of Trees.  I had originally planned to go with Sarah and Kendra but Kendra couldn't make it and Sarah was going later in the day so I ventured off by myself to chick it out.  It's not quite the same going by yourself but I had a nice time.  The trees were beautiful but my favorite is the gingerbread houses.  They had some amazing ones.

I took a picture of a few different trees but am only posting two.  Honestly, so much work goes into these trees and I love looking at the little details and especially reading about the people that inspired each tree, most of whom have passed from this life.

This gingerbread house is the Home Alone house.

This one was my favorite this year.

It was a Victorian village scene.

So pretty!

So much work goes into these.

People have such creativity and talent!

The next day/night was Rick's and my annual Christmas date.

We started out at the German Christkindlmarkt at Heritage Park.   

We had such a fun time at this outdoor market.

It had many shops and food vendors to peruse through and we had a good time looking at all of the fun stuff people were peddling.  

We knew that dinner was coming in just an hour so we didn't enjoy the different foods like we could have but we did stop for a german pancake made fresh right in front of us.  It was light and yummy!

 Afterwards, just down the street was our dinner spot.  Of course, it was Five Alls, one of our favorites.  It is under different management now and is not as good as it once was but the atmosphere was wonderful!

After dinner we stopped at The Marriott to check in.  I loved the view from our room.  We did not get upgraded to a suite this time but we DID overlook the Gallivan Center which was AMAZING!  I love the l9ghts and seeing the families ice skating!  So magical!

Next we made our way over to the Eccles Theatre for our annual Kurt Bestor concert.  It never disappoints!  We loved all of the music and the wonderful atmosphere!  So wonderful!!

We ran into our friend, Pastor Traci Hardell.  She and her husband her were sitting right in behind us.

                                                  We were wowed by the music, as always!

Kurt had an amazing violinist as one of his guests and she was so talented!  I can't remember her name, though.😕

After the concert we got to meet the man himself and get a picture.  What a night!

                                Our Christmas date is such a fun tradition!  I love it so much!

The next day was a day to prep for the night.  We made some necessary stops to get food and what not for the Phelps Adult Party that night at DeeAnn's home.  Our group was somewhat smaller...Brad and Ruth were traveling in Denmark and of course, Darrell and Robin have passed on but Brent and Lar were able to come from Tennessee and Ken came for a bit of it, as well.  We enjoyed dinner, games and present giving!

The next day was full with our Phelps Family Christmas dinner.  DeeAnn's family was in charge and we had it at the Church Street building.  They decorated very nicely and everyone brought food.  There was SO. MUCH. FOOD!  We all enjoyed visiting and eating and then we had a nice program.  We started with our grandkids ringing bells to the tune Joy to the World.  They all did well.😀

                     Next Skylar and Sarah's family sang their fun version of Christmas Bells.

                                    (I didn't get a picture....I was enjoying the performance.)

            Lastly, Rick finished up our part by beautifully bearing testimony of the Savior.  

                                Here are some random pics of our cute graandkidddos...

It was a fun a busy week starting off the festivities for December and this wonderful christmas holiday!

ST. GEORGE FOR THE HOLIDAY

A few weeks ago when thinking and planning for the Thanksgiving holiday, I knew that it would be an "off" year and that our married kids would be with their in-laws.  I suggested to Rick that instead of making another full-on Thanksgiving meal and being sad that most everyone was gone, that we go down to St. George for the holiday.  He agreed to the idea and, I invited Kaitlyn and Gary to come along.  Kaitlyn thought it would be fun, and Gary said he wanted to stay and work.  So that was our plan, to just take Kaitlyn and her kids.  Just a few days before Thanksgiving Alyssia came into town, and so we invited her to come along as well.

We started off Wednesday morning to miss the heavy traffic.  Kaitlyn was nervous to drive her car, but she followed us the whole way and felt good about that.  The backroads were great, but the freeway traffic was pretty crazy.  We made it to St. George by 3:30 and decided to have dinner before the crowds got in.  We stopped at Olive Garden and had some seriously good food!  Olive Garden is always a good idea!😀

 

After dinner we drove to La Quinta, where the trade has been plentiful.

We got checked in and found, unfortunately, that the hot tub was closed for repairs.

I had been looking forward to sitting in a nice warm tub because the pool is not warm enough for me this time of the year.  Rick and Kaitlyn took the kids out to the pool to swim while I watched the Home and Garden channel.😃  Later that evening together Rick and I watched Midnight Lace.  That was fun!

The next morning was Thanksgiving  Day!  

After breakfast we took Haivyn and Merik to the movie. We saw The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.  Rick bought popcorn for the kids, and they had a fun time munching on that.  

The show was cute and the kids liked it.  Kaitlyn and Alyssia wanted to stay back in the room, so it was just the four of us. 

After the movie we came back to the hotel to get the twins and went out for our Thanksgiving Dinner.  We were hoping to go to Chuck A Rama, but the line was SUPER long so we went to Cracker Barrel instead.  There was a line there as well, but somehow we were able to get right in.  The food was really good and we all had dessert.   After all, it WAS Thanksgiving!  Pumpkin pie came with our turkey dinners but I gave mine to Alyssia, and instead I had the coca cola cake with ice cream.  It was really delish!

Afterwards, the kids wanted to go back to the hotel to go swimming.  While they did that we took our bikes out and found a trail to ride.  We ended up riding by Jim and Emily's home and found Jessica Ricks and her daughter Grace just outside of the house by the park.  We stopped and talked with them for a bit.  Brian and Jessica's oldest children, Paden, Garret, and Maddie live in St. George and work for Jim so the whole family came down to be with them.  While we were talking, Emily came up with her daughter, Faith.  We chatted for a few minutes and then took off again.  The sun was going down quickly and we had only gone two miles.  Anyhoo, we rode for about twenty five more minutes including turning around and getting back to the truck.  It was getting too cold!

The next morning,  Rick led Kaitlyn and Alyssia to a shopping center to do some Black Friday shopping.

Kaitlyn has not felt good about driving on her own here in St. George, so she will not drive unless she is following us.  Anyway, while they were off shopping, the kids stayed in our room and watched a cartoon movie while I did my own Black Friday online shopping.  After that we picked up the girls and went to Bath And Body to get some Christmas gifts.  The store was PACKED but we were in and out in 45 minutes.  After that we led them out to Hurricane for the movie Wicked.  While they watched the nearly THREE HOUR movie Rick and I found a spot in Washington to ride our bikes.  We had a nice time and had some beautiful vistas overlooking the valley.  The weather was warmer than the day before and the sun was shining, so it was really a great ride.

When the movie ended, the girls met us (Rick convinced Kaitlyn to use her GPS and meet us) at the Black Bear Diner.  We had a nice meal and then went back to the hotel for about an hour to chill.

Rick and I had scheduled a sealing appointment at the St. George temple for 6:30, so that's where we spent our evening.  It was very nice.  I love this historic temple; it is special to us as we were married there.  I love the fact that it is a pioneer temple and that the renovation has gone back to much of its pioneer decor.

They had just turned on the Christmas lights an hour before we had our sealing session so when we arrived there were tons of people walking around the grounds.  After our sealing session we walked around to admire the lights, as well.  It was nice!  This picture doesn't show the Christmas lights, but it does show the lit up temple!

We are packing up this morning and heading back home.

Can't wait to get back to my own bed and beautifully Christmas decorated home!

Christmas Kickoff

Last night was our annual Christmas Kickoff.

We met up at Capital Grill for a delicious dinner and good conversation.

In attendance were Rick and me, Skylar and Sarah, Brach and Kendra, and Gary.

We were expecting Kaitlyn and Alyssia to come but they backed out just a few hours before the night began.  We all felt bad about that because this has been a special night for us as a family for a number of years now.

Despite the fact that we did not have every family member in attendance it was still a wonderful night!

We ate to our hearts’ content in a private room in the basement.

 After dinner Gary went off to work, and the rest of us drove to Tooele High School for a presentation of The Forgotten Carols with none other than Michael McClean himself playing the part of John the Beloved.  It was such a beautiful night.  The story is so tender and has such amazing music.  The production brought the Spirit right into my heart.  I hope all of my kids could feel it.  Being there was the perfect way to start out the Christmas season listening to words and music teaching of the Savior, Jesus Christ.  

For the encore Michael came out and had us all sing We Can Be Together Forever Someday followed by Silent Night.  I was crying so much I could barely sing, but even still I didn't want to miss out on joining in the chorus with everyone in the audience singing.  Both Rick and I (and I hope our kids) left on a high; feeling gratitude for the Light of the World and for His goodness and love.

Early Thanksgiving Dinner 2024

Yesterday we had an early Thanksgiving dinner.  It is an "off" year for our family, and so the married couples will be having Thanksgiving dinner with the other side of their families.  

We decided to have our dinner the Sunday before Thanksgiving.

It was nice because Alyssia was able to make it.  We haven't had a full family picture for six years, so it was nice we could yesterday.   We all enjoyed eating good food and visiting.

Rick and I were in charge of the turkey, potatoes and gravy, cranberries, raspberry jello, pomegranate salad, rolls and three pies... two pumpkin and one cream cheese.

Kendra brought candied yams and a chocolate pie and a banana cream pie.

Sarah brought homemade stuffing, green bean casserole, and a buttermilk pie.

It was a lot of food and a LOT of work.

After dinner the kids had a turkey hunt (finding the hidden turkeys throughout the house), then we watched a few of the kids do a dance routine, and then we played two rounds of the name game.  The kids love that one...I do too.  Haha!  

Anyway,  it was a great night and we all enjoyed one another's company!

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

COSTA RICA

On the 11th of this month (November) we took a week long trip to Costa Rica with Brad and Ruth,  John and Tracy Beckett, Kathy Mouritsen and DeeAnn.  We stayed in the same house in Playa Hermosa that we stayed in two years ago with our kids.

We flew out early in the morning (5:30) and arrived in San Jose around 2:30 in the afternoon.  After renting our cars and stopping for dinner, it was dark.  We traveled the two hours to the market in Playa Herrardura to pick up some groceries and then drove the rest of the way to the house and arrived around 9:00.  I think everyone was happy with the accommodations.  I know we were!  We love that house!  The sad part of our trip was that it rained for THREE days after we got there.  There were spurts of it stopping but it pretty much was a constant.

After getting a good night's rest we all came into the kitchen to get some breakfast.  It was really nice because we just sat around the table talking for a long time.  It was nice after a long day of travel to just have a laid back morning.

We got out for the afternoon and drove around to see some things.  

Here we all are at the Jaco’ sign.

We then drove down to the Tarcoles River to see the crocodiles.  The river was running really high because of all the rain, but we were able to see three crocodiles.  It was exciting!

We then stopped at the little shops there and grabbed a little something to eat for a snack.

Afterwards we took the scenic drive up the mountain to Bijagual.  

It is so beautiful up there.

At Bijagual we stopped at a little shop to look around.

I think some of us bought a few things.

We had dinner that night at Los Guarumos, one of Rick's and my favorite places to eat in that area.

We all enjoyed our dinner!

The next day was Wednesday, and we had an appointment at the San Jose Temple .

We left the house by 8:30 to make the drive and get there on time.

We listened to the session on headphones in English.

It was a good experience to be there.

After the temple we found a food court just across the street and had some lunch.

After lunch it had stopped raining, so we decided to take another picture in front of the temple because in the first one it is hard to tell that we are at the temple.  We met up with the missionaries and they got in on our picture.

We made the drive back to the house and that evening we just hung around and snacked and watched some Carol Burnett you tube videos and laughed a lot!

After a while I escaped and went to read my book:)

The next morning we had our tour with The Crocodile Man Tours on the Tarcoles River.

This is always a must when we are in the area, and it did not disappoint.

We saw a lot of birds and crocs.   It rained quite bit but we were still able to have a nice time!

After our tour Rick and I went to get a massage in Jaco’ while the others got some lunch.

Kathy and Tracy got in for a massage right after us.

After our massage Rick and I got some grub at 

Rhythms Restaurant.  We all spent the evening at the home playing games and then watched the movie Support Your Local Sheriff.

The next morning we ate at a fun restaurant in Jaco’.

John got a massage while Rick, Kathy, DeeAnn, Tracy and I did a little shopping.

Well actually, THEY did some shopping while Rick and I just mozied around.

We walked over to the beach only to find that it was pretty trashy.

The water was brown in color from all of the muddy rivers running into the ocean.

It was not pretty at all.😔

That afternoon we went to Rainforest Adventures and took a tram ride up the mountain to a waterfall.

It was a fun, slow ride with beautiful views at the top.

We had a nice dinner at Hicaco restaurant.

John and Tracy got a little lost but finally found us.

The restaurant had really great ceviche, and I had yummy shrimp and rice

That night we went back to the house and watched You Again.

The next morning we went over to the Marriott and had their wonderful buffet breakfast.

Kathy said, "This is the best meal we've had on our trip!"  Ha Ha!

It WAS really good!

We wandered around the Marriott grounds and enjoyed the beauty there.

The view from the tower is spectacular!

After the Marriott John and Tracy joined Rick and me for an ATV tour at Vista Los Suenos Adventure Park.

We got a four seater ATV so we could all go together.

Our tour took us down to the beach where we were able to see three sloths!

The other part of our tour took us up high to an overlook where we cold see the jungle and the ocean in the distance.  It was a great view!

Lastly, our guide took us to see a bunch of scarlet macaws hanging out in a tree.

I believe I counted eight, and we were able to get pretty close.

We saw some Capuchin monkeys at the adventure park.  They are fun to watch with their tail working as another arm.

After our adventure we stopped at a Panaderia for some baked goods.

Then we were able to catch the sunset at Playa Hermosa.  While the water at this beach was brown like the other beach, the difference is that the beach was clean and much nicer than the on in Jaco’.  It was a black sand beach.

On Sunday we went to church at Quepos.

Rick was able to translate for me, which was nice.

The others were using their google translate.  They said that it was saying some really funny things.

After church we drove the extra ten minutes to get to Manuel Antonio Park.  The sun was shining, and it was a beautiful day!  The views driving into the park area were really beautiful!

With so much rainfall in the previous days, the park had closed down, which was a bummer because it's a really fun thing to see while there in the area.  The drive was nice, though, and we were able to get out and see the beautiful Manuel Antonio Beach.  DeeAnn said, "Oh, NOW I see why you love costa Rica!"

It's too bad that we had so much rain because it does put a 'damper' on our trip and it is hard to experience the true beauty of the area..

I could see that if it were my first time to visit I would be less than impressed.

Anyhow, we got a couple of pictures and then drove to El Avion Restaurant to get a picture of the vista from the restaurant balcony.

This being a Sunday and our last night of the trip we ended up making a yummy dinner at the house.

We all pitched in and cooked up some potatoes and chicken and steak.  We had a fresh salad and some pineapple and watermelon.  It turned out very nice.

That night we played games and watched some silly videos.  It was nice to spend the time at such a beautiful home surrounded by beautiful people!  This was another amazing trip making great memories with some of our favorites!  Hasta luego CR!