Fourth of July Weekend

[Sorry folks, this is a little out of order, I know]

The fourth of July is definitely my favorite holiday! Even before last year, when Nick kissed me for the first time (not to mention his first kiss EVER) after we fell asleep watching a John Adams documentary.. I know, romantic, right? We spent all of last 4th together, from watching hot air balloons in Provo at 6 a.m. to watching Stadium of Fire fireworks up at the Y and then sitting and talking 'til 1 a.m. Anyway, we were able to do some fun things this time, too, and celebrate our first actual holiday as a married couple.. woo hoo!

Thursday, July 2

Nick happens to only work Monday through Thursday, ten hours a day, so our weekends start a little early. Jacob and Nicholas came on over and we all snacked on some pizza, visited with Nick's cousins and played video games.

Later in the evening, we headed to the SLC airport. My cousin Richard came home from his mission in England! Richard and I are two weeks apart, and all of us cousins on my dad's side have always been pretty close :) So it was fun to see him again!

Friday, July 3

Nick's parents bought us all tickets to go see the Utah Symphony up at Sundance. You get dropped off at the bottom of a huge hill and then take a nice.. or steep.. stroll up to the top. There's a gorgeous amphitheater up there and the performance was really fun. They played Star Wars, jazz, and various patriotic tunes.. it was a good time!

Friday, July 4

We actually spent the whole DAY part of the 4th running wires through conduit. If that's not a fun way to celebrate, I don't know what is! Nick always gets these really fun ideas of how he can make things better so that's what we generally spend our weekends doing :) Luckily he lets me tag along as his handy assistant!

Anyway, after that escapade, I took off to the kitchen to attempt some fun patriotic pastries. They LOOK fun, but much to my dismay, the crust was a little too thick, so they tasted kind of dry.. oh well! They made for good pictures.

After our long wiring project, we didn't have time to make it up to Kaysville to see my family, so we ended up eating dinner down here and then heading down to Springville to light off the "good stuff" with some friends much later in the evening. It was fun to just kick back and laugh with friends. Mostly just having time to spend together.. weekends are the best!

Surprise!

Yesterday was Nick's 23rd birthday, so naturally I threw him a surprise party! I started planning it a few weeks ago, by letting all the friends and family know. I really wanted to make it somethin special for him. Luckily, we all managed to keep it on the down-low and he was thoroughly surprised!

(and was apparently very pleased!)

The plan the whole time had been to pick up Nick from work at 5:30 in Draper, meander around a little.. blindfolded.. and then have him back at the house a little after six. I took him out to Rumbi's that afternoon for lunch, when he informed me that he'd be getting off at 4 instead! I tried to be excited with him, but inside I was thinking.. "well what do I do with him for two hours?!" Luckily I convinced him we couldn't go home, and we kind of wandered, went to Wendy's, etc. At about 5:30 I stuck a blindfold on him, much to his dismay, and we drove ALL over the place, finally arriving home. Luckily, he was clueless as to where we were, insisting his manly instincts told him we were heading north (and I encouraged those "manly instincts"). Needless to say, he was very surprised.

It was really fun to have all the family and friends there! There was food (I made four "party-sized" subs, which worked pretty well: turkey, ham, meatball and philly cheesesteak). Nick had been wanting to do a "luau" for a while, so I went and got a ton of hawaiin-style decorations, and Lisa and "Brenanny" went to town on the deck, it looked wonderful! We played with a pinata, blew out candles, opened presents, sat around and talked, and played games with friends. It was a really fun night, and Nick had a great time :) Happy birthday, sparky!

Here are some photos of the event:

Nick & Zekie (Zekie and Squeaks were quite a smash.. everyone at the party was smitten by their wit and charm)

Nick opening presents: he got a fun lantern and several gift cards.. we love those!

Nick blew out all twenty-three candles in one foul swoop.. good work!

Garn going to town on the pinata! All the kids got a turn, from youngest to oldest. Garn made sure to spin them around the number of their age. Everyone softened it up, and then Garn gave it a few hits so the kids could dash after the candy!

Hitched!

Well folks, we did it! On Thursday, June 11 at 10 a.m.-ish, Nick & I got married in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple for time and all eternity :) Happiest day EVER? Oh yes!

We got to spend the day with our wonderful family and friends at the luncheon, the reception, and all the in-between! It was such a crazy (and somewhat rainy) day, but everything turned out perfect.. and we were in our own little bliss-world, so we probably wouldn't have noticed if it hadn't.

Anyway, thanks to EVERYONE who helped out so much! Seriously, we have the best family and friends, and we're so happy we got to spend so much time around you all! It wouldn't have turned out half as great without everyone slaving away for us :) Thanks so much!

-Nick & Erica Thurman (yay!)



PS- Thanks to Katie for the random shots! We had TONS of people taking pictures, these are just a few of the ones we've seen so far. Kelly & Cody also took wonderful pictures, we'll make sure to share :)

Patience

ONE MORE WEEK!

We can do that, right? Hopefully!!

Cafe Rio Sweet Pork Salad

Doesn't the name just make your tastebuds burst? Mmm. I love this stuff, I think I could live off of it, I'm not gonna lie. I learned how to make it back in Young Women's, but lost the card recently (It'll turn up once I move everything...), so I recite it to you now from memory. Good memory, don't worry.. it tastes good!

What goes into the salad:
Romaine lettuce
Sweet pork
Black beans
Mexican rice
Corn
Tomatoes
Cheese
Tortilla strips
Creamy tomatillo dressing

... Really you can throw in anything you want. Sauteed onions are also tasty. Making everything is rather self explanatory. The only parts you need recipes for are the pork and the dressing.



Sweet Pork:
Get a huge pork roast (preferrably boneless) and stick it in the crock pot on high for 6-7 hours. Also pour in a cup of water and sprinkle generously with sugar. It's great because you can stick it in in the morning and leave it all day.
When it's done, take it out and shred it with two forks. It's so tender it'll just fall into chunks, so it's not hard to shred.
Put it into a big bowl and mix in ketchup, honey bbq sauce, garlic salt and sugar. I'd start with a cup of each (ketchup and bbq sauce), but then put more in a little at a time until it's good and moist. Add garlic salt to taste. Add about 2/3 of a cup of sugar.. or until it tastes sweet enough.

Creamy Tomatillo Dressing:
1 packet TRADITIONAL Hidden Valley Ranch mix (not BUTTERMILK)
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup salsa verde
handful of fresh cilantro
lime juice
Stick all the ingredients in a blender and let it go until it's a creamy sauce. It takes a little while, so be patient. You can take away/add things to taste here, also. You can also throw in jalepenos if you want, we're just not that into the spicy stuff.



We also tried something new this time. We took all the tortillas, put them in pie pans (one at a time), sprinkled them with cheese, and broiled them in the oven 'til they were a crispy golden brown and the cheese was melted. Then we put them in large bowls/plates, piled everything on, poured on the dressing, and crumbled tortilla chips on top.

Very tasty :) Sorry the directions are so sketchy.. I just play with the ingredients a little each time. Try it, though, it's pretty quick and REALLY good.

You're invited!

We're sending these out today & tomorrow (I never knew stuffing, sealing, stamping, labeling and sending envelops could be so much fun!), but I thought I'd give a sneak peak anyway.. sorry if this ruins it terribly for you :) I was just proud of my hard photoshop work!



(the big day is THREE weeks from today.. I wanna be married!)

Not Just Food

Okay, since we evidently don't post on here enough to justify it being JUST a food blog, I told Nick I'd make it about food AND us.. what could be better?! So from now on there will be our various recipes (such as the Cafe Rio Salad we made on Saturday.. to come later!) and our various adventures and happenings. Maybe that will make it more exciting? Probably not...

24 days 'til the big day!!