WE DID IT !!!!

I don't have any photos, yet, they are still in Anchorage with Alicia and Justin -- so you'll just have to take my word for it, but we actually did manage to have a wedding today. It was a perfect summer day for our drive up to Anchorage. Alicia was just glowing and she and I had a special time together getting ready in the bride's room at the temple. When our temple was first built, it didn't have a bride's room, and ever since we went thru during the open house, we have been dreaming about getting ready for her wedding in that beautiful room. On the wall, is a beautiful painting of Queen Esther from the Bible. As we were getting ready, I reminded her of the story of Queen Esther and what her uncle had said to her, That it was possible that she had been born at this time for this purpose and how Alicia had been born at this time for her life's purpose.

Without knowing we had that conversation, President Briggs mentioned something to that effect when he started the wedding. We were glad to have Pres. Briggs do the sealing - he had originally said he would love to do the wedding whenever we could get the clearance, but then we had to arrange it so quickly and he had already scheduled a patriarchal blessing for a girl who was flying in from Dutch Harbor ( hundreds and hundreds of miles away - out on the Aleutian chain) that obviously, he couldn't reschedule. On Thursdays, Pres. Briggs does a session as the sealer and one of his ordinance workers is a distant cousin of Brian's that we had never met before. He came today, and I suspect he had a hand in helping Pres. Briggs to rearrange his schedule by a few minutes, so he was able to do the wedding. President Briggs was our stake president for many years, before we were active, then he was the education person for our stake, so he had come to our house, to set us up for home seminary when we first moved back from Tok...then for 6 years he was the temple president. He was so excited the first time he saw us in the temple - he remembered how inactive we had been and how hostile some of us were to the church.

Anyway, back to the wedding, it was very small - our dear Bishop and Maxine came, and Jess and Jennifer Clutts came and Bob Duncan. Jess and the Hillmans were three of the folks that came when Brian and I were sealed, and Jess was the only one that came when Alicia was sealed to us. We have missed them while they were off in the Army and have missed grandparenting their babies. and are glad they are home.

We felt many angels and loved ones there with us in the sealing room - it was an unusual wedding talk, but it was very special and we were all touched by his pronouncements of Alicia being a choice and special pearl of great worth.

The kids are spending a couple days in Anchorage for a mini-honeymoon and Brian and I are rattling around our big empty house. I guess we will need to learn to talk to each other. We've had "kids" around for 35 years and are entering that new ground that we hope will be a great new time in our relationship.

We will post pictures as soon as the kids get back and settled. It was hard to get a good picture of the kids and the temple - when it is sunny like this, Moroni is SOOOOOO bright, you can't photograph him - the temple is so small, he is so close. LOVE YOU ALL and thank you for your love and support. Charlotte

WEDDING Confirmed

We, Brian and Charlotte Carper, are pleased to announce the wedding of our daughter, Alicia Marie, to Justin Clark. The wedding will take place in the Anchorage Alaska Temple on Friday, June 29, at 12 noon. Please be at the temple by 11:30 am, if you would like to attend.

That's what you call ironic

So after 5 years of waiting and praying and hoping and begging, we got DSL........ My computer doesn't have a port for DSL. SIGH

Interesting letter in mail today

Alicia stopped to get their mail today and had a very quiet, dignified envelope from room 408, south temple street, Salt Lake City, Utah. She immediately called Justin and as soon as Alicia got home, the stake president called and said he got a letter from the same place today.

So, There are 3 tiny steps that have to happen now. interview with the bishop, interview with the stake president, schedule the temple. They are hoping for this Saturday, so Alicia can be a June bride (watch the movie, 7 Brides for 7 Brothers). We'll post when we find out if the temple can do the wedding this weekend or not. Thanks for all your prayers. Love, Charlotte

Solstice, Part 2

I forgot one of the main reasons I blogged yesterday.

After five years of calling and begging and emailing the phone company, we are so excited to announce that we will have DSL, starting this week. We have, literally, been on the waiting list for five years. What this means for all of you, is that if you call us now, and we are online, we will be able to answer the phone....so you don't have to keep calling and calling while we tie up the phone line playing Bookworm or doing family history. the modem is supposed to be here today or tomorrow.

the other thing I forgot to tell you about was the wildfires. After 4 excessively wet years, we are having a somewhat dry month. People are so used to it being soking wet that they are not using proper precautions with burn piles and such and we have had three wildfires this week. One was on the next street over from us. It was the first one and they had little bombers and big bombers and the helicopter with the water bag. That was all exciting as they flew over our house. At one point, when the fire was first starting, the helicopter was looking for a place to fill the water bag, and he spent some time hovering over our pond trying to decide if it was deep enough to use (it is only 1 foot deep and full of grasses now, so it wasn't enough). then at bedtime another plane flew over low and we went out to see what it was and we looked up and here was something floating out of the plane - they dropped 8 smoke jumpers and then their gear. It was not that serious a fire - it never broke 3 acres- and Alicia could hear the jumpers late at night laughing and talking amongst themselves. It was basically just a practice.

so we started with a 3 acre fire, then one broke out half-way between here and Homer, and it burned about 40 acres, I think. then last night one broke east of ninilchik, where Brian used to log and it went to 100 acres in less than 1/2 hour and just kept growing all night. We haven't heard how big it is yet today, but it was over 600 acres before we went to bed. It is so weird to hear helicopters and air planes flying back and forth. They had 3 blackhawk helicopters running around yesterday.

We are pretty protected here - we cleared out our dead trees years ago and keep a green barrier around the house. All these dumb people who have left the beetle killed trees just standing all over their property are the ones having the fires. (don't have to worry about lightning caused fires here - we don't have lightning, one of the few places on earth that doesn't).
Okay, that is all I think I forgot to tell you. Love, Charlotte

Summer Solstice

Summer Solstice is upon us and we still don't have a wedding or a wedding date. The First Presidency sent for more information last week so we sort of feel like we are back to square one. It is very frustrating for the kids. Our dear bishop is going to work really hard this week to see if he can find out what is going on.

In the meantime - we got thru king salmon season. Brian caught our limits in the Anchor river...he didn't feel the need to stand around down at the lagoon in Homer to add to those numbers. Then Saturday was the best clamming tide of the year, so Brian and Alicia and Justin went down and got some clams. Alicia fried them up a new way and they were spectacular. It was definitely a labor of love because she is allergic to them now and her hand felt like it was on fire the whole time she was cooking them for us and then she had to eat a chicken patty. She's a sweety.

We got a garden planted this year - we have radishes and spinach and peas up. We planted a lot of broccoli, but it has been cold and they don't look too happy. This is the first couple days of summer weather we have had in 2 years. It is so nice to have sunshine and warmth. YAY!!!

Alicia and Autumn have restarted their catering company and are in the loop to cater a golf tournament at the grand opening of the Anchor Point Golf course. It is a great opportunity for them, they have to come up with final pricing and menu, but it looks like they will have lots of contacts from this - (thank goodness for small towns) - alicia was standing in line at the post office when the manager of the golf course was asking the postal person if she knew any caterers.

Justin is working about 70 hours a week; Brian welds on boats and such - a couple days a week; Alicia works with me and teaches at the scrap book store and is developing her catering with Autumn and she has her work with the Young women; I just lay around.... I have been lupus flaring since early May and can't seem to shake it, but everyone has been really kind and taking care of me, which I appreciate ; the cat is sleep deprived because it is summer all day and night and there are BIRDS out THERE - just when he gets in and calmed down and ready to sleep, he will hear a bird call or the door open and he's off again for 3 or 4 hours. He's really, really tired.

So tomorrow is our longest day. Happy birthday to Alli and Joanna. And Happy Father's Day to all the fathers. We love you all. Charlotte

Hello!

Just a random picture from my bridal shower, of the Young Women dressed up in their toilet paper wedding dresses, from the TP dress competition. I couldn't choose a winner, they were all great! :)
Its been a while since we've updated on here, so thought I'd just post and say that we're still here, still hanging in there. :) Justin and I still aren't married, we're still waiting for everything to get straightened out. Other than that, we're kind of waiting for summer to get here too. It doesn't seem to want to break the 50 degree mark around here much. We'll get one day that's warm, and then it'll cool down again. We're waiting so that we can till and plant the garden too. Looks like its going to be another rainy summer - but we've still got hope that it'll clear up soon.

Mom's birthday was monday, so we had a little celebration for her. We had barbecued steaks, fresh corn, and cake. It was nice! Dad got mom a Mayday tree and Justin and I got her a guttendoort rugosa rose, that's supposed to grow 6 feet tall and 4 feet wide, and its hardy to -50, and resistant to sea spray, so should do good we hope.

Other than that, not much is new here. We're just hanging out doing our thing. :) Hope you're all well. We love you! Alicia :)

More reception pictures

Here's where my shoes ended up about an hour into the event. I've never been a big shoe wearer..... :)
here's mom, Aunt Shirley, and I, in front of the arbor thingy. Sorry you can't see all of my dress. I need to get Carolee's pictures, and Justins and see if there's a better shot of the dress.
The girls with their flowers.

Getting ready to toss the boquet to the young women. It was an "exploding" boquet (I know that's spelled wrong I just can't remember how to spell it0 but anyway, I untied it before I threw it, because I wanted everyone to get a flower. It was really fun. They were beautiful yellow/orange roses. I kept a couple at home for me. :)

Here's dad and Aunt Shirley.

Here's the gift table, before everyone showed up.
here's the coconut bon bon chocolates, these were all gone before me and Justin even got to eat.
Here's us getting ready to feed each other cake. We used forks, and were very agreed that we wouldn't smush the cake. the slice we had was pumpkin.
Eating the cake...
Sorry this picture looks weird, there were about 5 people taking pictures all at the same time, so there were several flashes, so we kind of "glow"
Here's how the room looked before everyone showed up. The tablecloths were alternating red and gold.

Heres the meat side of the food table.

Here's the fruit and veggie side of the food table.

The table for everone to sign my guest pages. I used engagement photos and put one on each 12x12 piece of paper, so there was lots of room to sign around.

Here's one of the center pieces that Carolee designed and made.

Here's the watermelon bowl. We hollowed out watermelons (Autumn did, I only did one) and then filled it with fruit mixture, then the skewers that mom made were stuck in the back like a fan.

Welcome to the land of wedding food

Here's my Cake! I think it turned out really good. It had purple wax flowers, pink roses, red roses, babies breath, this pink flower that I'm not sure what it was called, purple daisy type flowers (we think they were asters), and dark red/purple snapdragons.

Here's mom! :)

Here's the hall as we were prepping. Carolee and Ashley (one of the young women) are in the background. In front is my cake! I'd just finished putting it together, and wanted to get a picture of everything getting ready. Those are the leftover flowers on the bottom right.

Here's a big pile of the food, all prepped up. We had strawberries (10 pounds), 4 watermelons, a box of Kiwi that were SOOOOO not ripe, broccoli, celery, red/orange/yellow bell peppers, carrots, and pineapples, plus olives and pickles.

Here are the brownie cakes. I circle cut big sheet pans of brownies, into two sizes, rolled the sides in powdered sugar, then stuck them together with chocolate frosting, then put another "C" on top. These got snapped up in a hurry! :)

Here's Aunt Shirley, helping with the prep stuff. Her and Autumn worked on the fruits and vegetables while I put the cookies and brownies together, and when I was doing the cake. They were invaluable. Then mom put the skewers together after they got the fruits all cut up.

Here's the sugar cookie wedding "cakes". I made them with 4 sugar cookies, held together with frosting, then put a "C" on top. I think they were my favorite dessert, but then I'm a sugar cookies girl. :)

Recepted

Well, we pulled off the pre-wedding reception last night. It turned out really beautiful. Everyone kept going over and over about how elegant the room looked and how good the food was and how beautiful the cake and dress were. We have tons of pictures that I don't know how to download off the cameras, but I will have Alicia and Justin post them for you. It was really a magical evening and we can't wait for the paperwork to come thru so they can be officially married. We're all exhausted today so I will wait and write more later when we post the pics, just wanted you to know that it turned out really, really perfect. thanks for all your prayers and good wishes. Love, charlotte

Engagement Pictures

I just wanted to share a few of the engagement pictures that my friend Carolee took for us. It was fun to take them, and then to get to look through them all. Hope you all like them. :) Love ya! Alicia

Bye Bye Dixie Duck

We are very sad to announce the loss of our great friend, Dixie Duck. She got eaten by eagles yesterday evening. I don't think Heathcliff realizes it yet, as around this time of year, it is common for Dixie to leave the yard to nest. He was just calling for her a minute ago, and I went out to talk to him. He is definitely subdued. As we were talking, an eagle started chirping on the other side of the pond, so they haven't left the pond area yet. The cat went crazy last night wanting to go out, but we had to wait until dark to let him out and this time of year, it is only dark from 11:30 to about 5 am. I hope the salmon come soon, so they will go back to the other side of the highway and away from our pond. It is time for the summer migration and we usually have a half dozen different birds on our pond every night for this month. If those big old eagles are sitting there, like our pond is a McDonald's drive-thru, it will definitely ruin our spring.

Alicia found the remains and, of course, is devestated. Dixie had so much personality and was so friendly and funny. Our original ducks hatched her from an egg they laid, and as soon as she entered the yard, the goose decided that she was his gosling, and they have been inseparable ever since. So part of Alicia's angst now is what to do with Heathcliff as he will be very very lonely without his little Dixie, especially this winter. I know it sounds dumb to be attached to a duck and goose, but that's just the way we are.

Moving the date again

We are sort of stuck in limbo here in Alaska. We were asked for some additional information by the First presidency, so we are waiting again. The bishop thinks we will get our clearance in about 3 weeks. ( we have to get a special clearance because Justin was married before). Basically what they are working on is a temple divorce from his first wife- the civil divorce was a couple years ago. Aunt Shirley is coming to Alaska for a month and will be here from the 3rd of May to about the 15th (or 18th or something, I can't remember). She was planning to be here the first part of June, but I think they found cheaper flights if they came the first of May instead of the middle. Uncle Mervin's granddaughter up north is graduating from high school, so they are coming up for that and decided to come see "her boy" while they are here.

Alicia and I saw her in 2003 when we went to Wallowa county, but Brian has only seen her once since we left Oregon. she came up to visit a few years ago for her granddaughter's graduation, but Brian was working out on an island, and didn't get to see her. They miss each other a lot, and will have a great time visiting. They are very close. this is the first time we have met Uncle Mervin - Brian worked with him at the mill, but Sis and I don't know him. Uncle Lonnie died just after we went to Oregon to interview him in 2003.

So back to the wedding plans - we are talking about just setting a date for the reception - we are looking at May 11, but it is 2 weeks from today and I just don't see how that is practical, since we don't have anything done yet and don't have the engagement pictures printed or the invitations, etc. We thought it would be good to just set a date so we could start ordering flowers and food and such, but it is coming up really fast. Alicia would really like to have Aunt shirley here, for Brian's sake, but I really think we will have to move it another week. (I know that isn't what I told Earlene earlier today).

the kids went to soldotna today and bought the supplies to rebuild the basement. They are putting in a nice triangle shower in the corner and putting the toilet next to the sink, like I always thought it should be (they came up with the plans themselves, it was just coincidence that it was the way I always pictured it). Then they are taking out the washroom sink and putting in a vanity, also new fake wood flooring and cupboards. they also got soundproofing. One room is already sound proofed and really not much sound comes up, so that is good for all of us to have some privacy.

In the main room, they are putting in the same wood floor on the kitchen part of the room - new kitchen cabinets, counter top and sink. When we first moved in, there was a full kitchen down there, but the cabinets were built from rough lumberthat covered in contact paper, so we just tore it out. Unfortunately, we had a plug in for a range down there, but disconnected it when we had some electrical challenges. If they decide to put in a range, they'll have to rewire it. For now, they will have a small refrigerator, a full freezer, microwave, toaster oven, etc. but will do their big cooking upstairs and then eat downstairs.

Alicia got her dream mixer - a shiny black Kitchenaide mixer - from Blake and Johanna, so she is excited. she had 2 showers, so far, a tupperware shower and a regular shower. the tupperware shower was online and the other was held by her friends at church. Over 40 people came and everyone, at both showers, were very generous. We have cool presents all over the house while we try to get the downstairs built and the wedding put together and prepare for our summer guests.

Oh, some of you might not know - there wasn't any water at the little house. Apparently over the past couple years of sitting empty and having Bruce put the sawmill on top of the property caused the well to sink into silt and sand and Alicia and Justin just didn't want to put all that money into a house that wasn't theirs and that they would have to move out of in a couple months anyway. Ron is going to be deployed again - this time to Afghanistan, so Lydia and Aranda are coming up here. Last time he went to Iraq, they lived down south, but this time, they see the need to come home and let us all take care of them. It will be good to have them near again. Anyway, Justin moved in downstairs. so we already have a house full - he's downstairs with all his stuff, and she's upstairs with all her stuff and we are moving all the sewing room upstairs and had to rebuild the food storage room and move that. WHEW.

Plus, Brian has been filling in at the school - his boss retired and they are short handed until they fill the vacancy, so he works 1 and 1/2 shifts of work within the time he usually works one shift - he is exhausted. and his welding is picking up for spring and summer, which is good. We thought he would have all summer off to weld, but he only has 2 months off from the school. they do all their heavy cleaning and maintenance when the kids get out and aren't there. He works until June 8 and starts again on August 8. He is hoping to work full time at the high school after next week. Right now, he works half at high school and half at middle school. With his boss retiring, another guy he works with moved up and left a full time opening at the high school.

today was my yearly care review that determines what hours Alicia gets to keep in her job. It went very well, we think. this is the third year we have had the same reviewer. the first year, i was the first one she ever did and she missed some things, but she got it right last year, and is getting much better. I hope that keeps everybody up to date. We had frogs croaking last night and spruce grouse calling for each other. Definite signs of spring. FINALLY. LOVE YOU ALL, Charlotte.

April 15

I still don't have any pictures to post - we are hoping to take the engagement photos this afternoon, but it has been so gray here, Alicia doesn't want to take them yet.....but it doesn't look like we will have anything but gray here for a while, so hopefully we can take them this afternoon.

They still haven't got enough water over at their little house. Earl and Justin worked on it all week, but with not much success. We aren't sure what to do next.

Justin's parents - Ruthie and Earl - got called home for a family emergency, so they had to turn around and leave on Friday. We pray for them to have a safe and speedy trip home and are sorry for the illness of Ruthie's brother that called them home.

The wedding is still on hold as we apply to the First Presidency for clearance. Please keep the kids in your prayers.

On Easter Sunday, the ward leaders were asked to all bear their testimonies in church and Brian was the first one up. I had never heard him bear his testimony - he will only do it on days I'm not there. So it was special to hear him. This Easter season, I have been very aware of the "tender mercies" of the Lord and I am so thankful for the atonement of my Savior and the peace that act brings to my life. I LOVE the Gospel of JESUS CHRIST !!! What a blessing He is in our lives.
Charlotte

Justin is Here!

Hi, I just wanted to put on a quick Happy Easter message, and to say that Justin and his parents arrived safely today. They made really good time on the drive up, and got here early this afternoon. We had a little trouble getting the water working, but its sort of working now. We'll have to see if we can get the water running a little better. But so far, everything is good. Its great to have Justin here finally, and to meet his parents and get to know them!

Happy Easter everyone! Hope your day is great and full of the magic and joy and love of Spring. Love Alicia

From the Mother of the Bride

We are waiting to send out the wedding invitations. There is a little scheduling complication and we are waiting to set the date for sure. They would like May 3, but may have to postpone it.

In the meantime - Alicia has started registering. She is registered at bedbathandbeyond.com and at jcpenney.com. We looked at registering at other companies, but these were the two we have in Alaska. We also have Walmart and Fred Meyer.

We are hoping those who live in the lower 48 will be able to avoid shipping costs on gifts if we can pick up them up at the stores here in Alaska. I don't know if this will be possible, but we hope it will make things easier. She is alittle nervous about registering and being the center of attention and such, so I'm trying to help buffer her a little.
LOVE YOU ALL, Charlotte

Earlene, Gabe and the Scrapbooking convetion

Here's some shots from our conference, and from our time with Joanna and Earlene. Our visit wasn't as long as we all would have wished, but it was SO nice to see each other and get to spend time together.

Party for Great Grandma and Grandpa

Sorry the picture of Pammie is so blurry, but I wanted to share a picture of her.
There was a little fish pond outside this window that Gabe absolutely LOVED. He kept talking about the fishes, it was really cute.

HOORAY!!!!!

Here's my beautiful, beautiful ring & my super great soon to be hubby! :) He's awesome and we are so excited for when he moves to Alaska and we get to start the rest of our lives together. We had a great time togther this weekend, and we are just super happy, joyful and any other word you can think of. YAY! Oh - and we're moving the wedding date up from June to probably early may, just so everyone has a heads up, we'll get the invites out as soon as we can. :) Love you all! :) Alicia