Family Christmas Countdown

Sunday, July 06, 2008

New Mexico Fourth






P. was glad to get an extra couple of days off this weekend. We came up to Farmington (just 3-1/2 hrs. away) on Thursday morning and made it to a fun community concert by the river (that our cousin Rachel was singing in).

We enjoyed the city's fireworks on our friend's, the Buchanans, lawn (which has a great view) where T. loved their yard toy and the grass. Julia and her friend Candace went out and bought a $20 pack of fireworks that we set off in front of the house (and cleaned up the mess for Dad).
Friday was fun, including a vegetarian BBQ (black bean or veggie burgers), fourth of July fruit salad, corn on the cob, and s'mores (over the grill... mmm). We got downtown for the glow-in-the-dark parade where we were surprised how much candy came to us (usually it's out in the road for the kids to go out and get). Dad stayed home with T.
N. and I got out for a nice workout on Saturday morning. I think it's easier to breath down at a mile-high :). I ran 8 miles, and she biked a little further (to get us some Gatorade). I think I'll be fine for the marathon in 13 weeks.
Saturday evening, we spent some time with family that were in town for Farmington's annual triathalon (my cousin Taylor won his Male 20-24 division!). We had homemade ice cream and cookies out at Mama and Papa's.
and tonight we will celebrate T.'s 1st birthday (see our blog) before heading home tomorrow.
It's been a nice time - I'm glad we live close enough to do this.
I appreciate our country and annual celebrations of what it means to be Americans. It would be fun to be all together, but this blog will be the next best thing :)

Saturday, July 05, 2008

Our 4th of July

Well since we aren't close to any family (location wise) I always get a little sad on holidays like the 4th of July. I wish I was with everyone in my family having a BBQ, or something fun like that. But this year we were invited to spend part of the day with our friends and their families (most of their family lives in the area). We started out the day riding in the parade. Our friends own the Polaris dealership in town and so we all rode our rangers in the parade. Then we came home in the afternoon, relaxed, had our favorite bacon cheeseburgers (courtesy of our favorite hamburger joint Brad's Food Hut - YUMMO!) It might have seemed a little weird to BUY our lunch, not BBQ it ourself, but we enjoyed it. I even took a nap - which happens like maybe 2 times a year.

Then in the evening we went to back to spend time with our friends and their family - the Haltermans. They live clear out in the country - it's really quiet and nice out there. In some ways it reminds me of Mama and Papa's area - but more secluded. In their family there are 3 siblings, their spouses, kids, and then Vicky and Randy - the parents (at least that live here, there are a few others out of state). So it was a crowd, but lots of fun. We had a tasty BBQ with kabobs, salads, corn on the cob, desserts etc. Afterwards we did some fireworks, the kids broke a pinata, and we came home. On the way home we got to see the fireworks start and drove over to where they were doing them. We were RIGHT there, and enjoyed the show. Hunter slept through the whole thing - we were amazed!

Gabe spent the 4th of July in Logan with his Grandma Tammy and cousins. It was sad to not have a part of our family with us - we missed him, but know he's having fun with everyone else.

Sounds like you all had a great 4th - love you all!

Five Years



We've been married five years. The funny thing was, I've been thinking it was our sixth. To think I was saying we've been married five years for at least six months now! (: So we are having our second fifth anneversary.

So we have a lot of fun stories, but I thought I would put up the day Jed told me he loved me. We just came back from a trip to Utah. Jed went and saw a play at BYU with his roommates. The lead had pretty gold brown hair (so I heard). Well, let me back up a bit first. We weren't really dating yet. I think we both wanted him to get back into the dating game and normal life before we dated, but we still really liked each other. I actually loved him, and he me (but we didn't say anything). So Jed's attempt to keep things slow, and keep staying simple friends was to stay casual and talk like we weren't an item. So he would tell me about his date the night before, or joke about finding his future wife in some choir class. Which would have been totally fine, except it made crazy jealous, and caused me to think if I was losing my chance with him.

Now back to the story, the one with the pretty gold-brown-haired woman. Jed was telling me all about the play and mentioned that he always thought he'd marry someone with that color hair. Well, my hair isn't brown, or at least it wasn't at the time. It was more red, strawberry blond; and I knew that was how Jed described my hair color. So I hit an all-time upset. I went home, vented to my cousin. Then Jed said I left a pair of shoes in his car, so I went other there to pick them up. Of course I could hide that I was livid, thought I tried. I was too quiet, and walking too fast, and had too little of a smile for Jed to think I was my usual self.

Jed inquired, and I tried to say it was nothing, but this guy can read me like a book. So what does a girl say? I can't say, "Oh, You're HOT. I'm in love with you, and I haven't even told you I was in-like with you. You're wonderful and I don't have gold-brown hair! It's only been two months, and I feel like I've been keeping quiet for years (well, I guess I sort of did, since he was on a mission before). I just want to disappear, but you are in my one class I have every day, so I HAVE to see you, and every time I see you I want to say I love you, but I can't. ugh." Of course I didn't say anything near that! I really probably sounded stupid.

I stumbled around saying something like, "I'm really sorry, I'm being childish; but could you just refrain from telling me about girls with beautiful brown hair, and your dates; I know we are just friends and all, but I get jealous. Ok, ...uh...now can I go home?"

Jed, being the sweet person that he is, almost laughed. I'm sure he thought it was something much worse. He smiled and said that I couldn't go home yet. We went on a walk. He proceeded to tell me why he's talking like that, and that he loved me. It was all very romantic. That night he held my hand for the first time. We walked a long way and accidentally ended up in our spot that we had before his mission. I never felt like that when holding anyone's hand before. I still get butterflies when I hold his hand. Cheesy, I know. (:

What Jed didn't know at the time, was I was pretty sure I wanted to marry him that night, but I never told him that until after we were married! (:

Friday, July 04, 2008

WHisler Newman 4th of July

Well, I have been trying to post for two days, so this is the third or fourth time I have written this post. We have our big celebration tomorrow at Susan's sister Linda's cuz its Dan's 18th bday and Drew's bday too. We are having bb2 flank steak, mac and cheese, potato salad, antipasto, green salad, 4th of July fruit salad (I went to a special farmers market to buy my 16 peaches so they would be ripe for the salad), and choc cake. Today we are having a quiet day at home, except that we went and bought a new tv! We are trying to eat a red white and blue dish all three meals. So far we had blueberries and strawberries on our cereal, raspberries and blueberries on cottage cheese for lunch, and I don't know what we will do for dinner--maybe put berries and white cheese in the salad or something. And corn on the cob.

Love you all, Sandra

Happy 4th of July to all!

Well, I already posted about the 4th of July on my blog and invite anyone who would like to to go over there to share favorite 4th of July memories.

But, Blake specifically wondered what we were making to eat...so, here you go.

I just finished making a big ol' batch of 4th of July fruit salad and a big bowl of potato salad. We also have watermelon and corn on the cob. However, since we have been eating mostly vegetarian for the last year and a half or so, we are going to barbeque veggie burgers and black bean burgers. Yum! We also have the fixings for s'mores, but I don't know if we will have room for those.

We are making homemade ice-cream tomorrow, to celebrate with all the Rhien family. Paul, Nicole and Taylor are here for the weekend. Fun for all!

Love, Earlene, Scott and Julia

4th of July


HEY Blake - what a great idea to get everyone together in the middle of the summer.


Like Alicia said, we bought some beautiful rib eyes to BBQ but we didn't wait until the 4th. They were SOOOOOOOO good. We have a lot of fruit to munch on tomorrow and will probably make the potato salad. We bought brats and polish dogs, too.


Brian has to work on the cable barge out on the spit so he won't be home and the kids are hauling literally tons of firewood. They rented a dump trailor from Soldotna for the week and are taking advantage of having it here. They also plan to start work on the goat barn this weekend, I think.


Our ward has a potluck at a home in the middle of town that is right next to the parade start so traditionally most of the ward spends the afternoon of the 4th at the Evarts house. Anchor Point is famous for their 4th of July celebration. Our favorite part is the duck race - you buy little rubber duckies and they race from the bridge to the campground and you get prizes and the profits go to the Anchor Point Chamber of Commerce.


My very favorite part of the 4th of July for years was the Boston Pops on PBS, but since CBS took over - it has been so disappointing. I really miss it. I'll bet you guys who used to live in Provo area really miss that majestic celebration at Cougar Stadium.


Love you all, Charlotte

Thursday, July 03, 2008

4th of July BBQ

It's the 4th of July weekend and the BBQ is getting fired up. We're pulled pork and potato salad for our BBQ. What is everyone else making for their weekend?