Summer Singpost-Stephanie and Pete

A Snowy Baptism Day

The last four months have been busy and exciting at the Phelon home. For Halloween Brandon was an Ice Wolf Ninja, Kenyon was a Storm Trooper, Shaylee was Barbie Mariposa and Jaron was a darling little pumpkin.
I was deeply saddened to hear of Grandma's death on November 5th. I miss her greatly and can't imagine not seeing her when I go to Utah this summer. She was a wonderful woman and I count myself blessed to have had her for my Grandma. I was grateful that I was able to see all of you at the funeral.
We had a very fun Thanksgiving with the Garrison's. It was their turn to host and we ate lots of yummy food, watched football and read all the fun ads for shopping the next day.
In December Brandon turned eight! I had such a hard time believing my baby was eight. It just seems like yesterday he was born. His baptism was held on December 21st. Mom and Dad came to Vancouver in the middle of a snowstorm to be there for his special day. We had the most snow that the Portland area has had in 40 years during the weekend of his baptism. The day of the baptism it snowed a bit in the morning and all church meetings were canceled for the Stake except his baptism. It was a wonderful meeting, our hometeacher and another man in our ward spoke. Dad and Nathan were able to be witnesses and Pete baptized and confirmed him.
When we came out of the chapel, the snow was really coming down. It was so neat and made his baptism so special. We were sad that the Garrison's couldn't make it, but we understood since they couldn't get out of the driveway. We were glad that Mom and Dad had come to Vancouver from St. Helens the day before so they didn't miss it. It was a very memorable day.
We had a great Christmas with both Mom and Dad and Pete's Mom there for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. Kathy was supposed to leave on the 22nd, but her flight was canceled due to all the snow, so she stayed until the 26th. We were thrilled to be able to have everyone there for Christmas. I'm sure it was a once in a lifetime for my kids to have all their grandparents for Christmas.
For Martin Luther King day we were able to go to the Great Wolf Lodge for a nice little vacation. It is an indoor water park and hotel. It was a ton of fun! Our kids loved it and we will be going back to make it a yearly trip.
For President's weekend we went to stay at the yurts at Fort Stevens by Astoria, Oregon. We are having a lot of fun and are on our way to Tillamook right now as I type this on Pete's Blackberry!
I hope everyone is doing well and I miss you all greatly!