July 4th Weekend

We had a wonderful 4th of July weekend. We drove to Lincoln City on Thursday and showed Lisa the Oregon coast. After lunch at Mo's, we relaxed on the beach. The weather was perfect. When we returned home the kids went to see "Get Smart", and everyone enjoyed the laughs.

On the 4th we had a BBQ at Misty & Bart Carters house. It was fun to visit with neighbors, eat great food, and watch the kids do fireworks. Alex provided the most colorful displays! It was fun introducing Chris and Lisa to everyone. We sure missed Matt, Jo & Sydney. Molly brought some darling pictures back from Utah with her; Sydney has the cutest chubby legs and cheeks. We can't wait until August to see them.
On Saturday Uncle Joe, Amy, Glenn & kids came to visit. We all cooked a great meal that Chris chose - lots of mushrooms to go with the BBQ'd steaks. I made Kenin's favorite cake with raspberry topping for his 46th birthday, which we celebrated Saturday night.

Every night we played "Nickel Nickel", a card game that the Walches taught us. The kids love to play it, and Chris was such a good sport as I think he lost every game. My parents played cards all of the time while I was growing up. All of the Andriches were taught "Mojo card etiquette" and Jeff loves to correct us when we don't follow the rules. I love that my kids enjoy playing cards. We had so many laughs. Saturday night 11 of us crammed around the table and played the game. I could play this every day.

On Sunday morning all of our company left. It was hard to say good-bye to Chris and Lisa. It was such a quick trip.

Today Jeff and Alex left for their week stay at EFY. Molly and Zoe Smith made a cake for Jeff Tolley who is going to Samoa on his mission. They were so cute decorating it. Tomorrow Molly is going to Hoquiam to stay with Tessa, and Kenin leaves for LA. It will be a quiet week for me and Sami.

Kenin’s Favorite White Cake w/Raspberries

Bake a white cake in a 9x13” pan. Cool.

Soften an 8 oz package of cream cheese. Whip with mixer, slowly add 1/2 cup powdered sugar.

In a separate bowl, whip 1 small carton of whipping cream. Sweeten with powdered sugar and mix in 1 tsp vanilla. Fold whip cream into cream cheese and stir until blended. Spread over white cake and chill.

Cook Danish dessert as directed for pie filling. Add berries and let stand for a few minutes. Carefully spoon over whipped cream layer of cake. If it is too runny it will spill over the edge. That is why I let it sit and thicken for a bit. Chill cake.