Ari and Eric’s Wedding 2014

Posted on November 28, 2014 by Nanette Harter

Ariann and Eric Schultz

Ariann Miller-Rhoads married Eric Schultz on July 5, 2014, at Dunrovin Ranch, Lolo, Montana. Family and friends gathered in Missoula to celebrate their commitment to each other.

Ariann is currently working at Community Medical Center Hospital in Missoula as a Labor and Delivery nurse while Eric is doing research as a biochemistry post-doctorate at the University of Montana, Missoula. Lyra, their dog (and baby) of many years, stays at home, ever vigilant for couch squirrels.

The celebrations started Thursday night, July 3^rd, with a cocktail party at the home of Eric’s uncle and aunt, Mike and Pam. The gathering was the first time Neil and I had met Eric’s family and we really enjoyed getting to know them. Eric’s parents, Maggie and Alan, are from Bakersfield, California, and his extended family came in from California, Wisconsin (I do believe the Green Bay Packers were mentioned a few times), North Carolina, New York, and Arizona. Ari’s mom Jamie and step-dad Michael came in from Arroyo Grande, California, along with family and friends from California, Utah, Washington, Arizona, and us from Hawaii.

On Friday July 4, the festivities moved down to the horse ranch for the Independence Day picnic and fireworks and the Saturday wedding. Friday we played outdoor games, chowed down with a BBQ dinner, did the wedding rehearsal, and watched fireworks once it got dark after 10. There were some accommodations available at the ranch plus a tent camping area. Mailea and I slept in the studio that during the day served as the catering kitchen, the groomsmen dressing area, and the common shared bathroom. Neil would have stayed in the studio also but because of the linen laundry fragrance (again, sigh) Neil set up our tent and slept out near the pasture.

Saturday morning began with the decorating, food prep and reheating, and setting up for the reception. In the afternoon, the bride and bridesmaids disappeared to the upstairs suite to dress and after a few finishing touches on the decorations everyone else went to put on their finery.

The wedding was absolutely beautiful and touching. There was so much joy and love shared. While the photos were being taken, I saw a line forming at one particular cooler. Why were Eric’s relatives standing in line over there?? Perhaps it had something to do with Green Bay Packers?? Turns out it held 4 kegs of Eric’s homemade brew specially made for the wedding reception: a double IPA, a saison, a peach cider, and a chocolate porter. Eric is a great brewer and they couldn’t wait to start sampling. I tried a little of each and, sorry Eric, I still don’t like the taste of beer but that one with a hint of chocolate was the tastiest to me. I’m glad you made the cider too 🙂 Dinner, wedding cake and dancing filled the evening of celebration. Did you know that Packers fans like beer?

Sunday morning, everyone pitched in to clean up and restore the ranch to a working horse ranch as we found it. The extended families and friends gathered for brunch in Missoula to say farewell and a final toast to the couple. In the afternoon, the living room at Ari and Eric’s home filled with family viewing the wedding photo slideshow and watching the gift opening. A full and fun filled celebratory weekend!

I must complement Ari and Eric (and “moms”) on the incredible organization and preparation. The whole weekend flowed perfectly. We were glad we could help with the wedding set up and later clean up and spend so much time with family and friends.

Photo gallery below:
Clicking on the first photo brings up a larger view with a description. Depending on your browser, you can use the arrow buttons or keys to move through the gallery photos. If you are receiving this in an email and don’t see a photo gallery below, please click into my webpage to view all the photos! Photo credits: Mailea Miller-Pierce and Neil Rhoads.

Roadtrip 2014

Posted on November 21, 2014 by Nanette Harter

Ari and Eric got married in July (Congratulations!!!) and it inspired us to do a four week road trip centered on the event. Initially, our planning began to be a logistical nightmare with flights and car rentals and hotels because we kept adding people and places to see. The convenience of camping and driving everywhere became possible because Mom and Bill’s car would be sitting idle in LA while they were on Maui during that time. When they offered for us to use it we said Yes! Thank You! ROAD TRIP!!!

Planning involved not only charting a route and making reservations but also amassing camping equipment. With contributions from Mom and Pamela, orders from Amazon, and a few stops the morning we arrived, we were set.

We arrived early Tuesday morning July 1 at LAX and Chris, my brother-in-law, was kind enough to pick us up. After a breakfast visit with Pamela and Chris, we unpacked (car and bags), inventoried, shopped for provisions, repacked the car and we were on the road out of LA by 1. Even then there was traffic but I guess nowadays the question is when is there not traffic in LA? Soon we were driving through the open desert on Hwy 14 and 395. This is very familiar territory for us so we didn’t stop anywhere for pictures. (Therefore some photos of the first two driving days are taken from the internet—photo credits below.) Mt. Whitney and the Alabama Hills looked much like this photo. We were drinking in the beauty all around us as we zoomed through the Owens Valley.

We made it to Benton Hot Springs (past Bishop, California) in seven hours and were sitting in the outdoor natural hot springs tub in time for a beautiful colorful sunset! We had reserved a room for the first night on the road thinking we could get a good night’s sleep since we took a redeye the night before but that was not to happen for Neil. The B&B room was full of fragrance with scented sticks and laundry detergent. Neil slept on the ground outside the room in his sleeping bag. Cold and uncomfortable through the night he was up and soaking in the lovely water before sunrise. That was so delightful it made up for the rest of the night. I got into the water a little later and we did enjoy more time to soak in the hot springs tubs before sitting down to a good breakfast and setting off on the road again.

Wednesday, July 2, was our long drive day. We drove from Benton, California, through Nevada and into Idaho north of Boise. In Nevada we drove along the western shore of Walker Lake. The water level was low due to the prolonged drought but still it was beautiful.

We were setting up our tent just as it was getting dark. While planning our route before leaving Maui, Neil had found the spot on Google Earth! As he zoomed in on the maps, he saw tents along the Payette River just off and below the road. When we arrived, we sure enough saw the tents but there was a gate across the little access road. Oops! We decided to set up in the open area beside the gate because if we searched any longer for a new spot, it would be dark. I was adamant that the first time we set up the tent on the road, I wanted daylight. As we were setting up, cars started arriving at the gate and campground. Turned out it is the river rafting guides summer camp. They lease that little stretch of the riverbank for the summer and after their long days of rafting they come to this spot with their friends and party then crash. They invited us in but we were already half set up and our spot was fine.

When I looked at the phone as I climbed in my sleeping bag, it was an hour later than I expected. I knew we didn’t take that long to set up; Neil said welcome to Mountain Time. We both slept really well that night! We stopped for breakfast at the next town and visited with the waitress and some of the locals as we ate a hearty meal. It was gorgeous driving through the mountain roads of Idaho and over the pass into Montana. We made it to Lolo Hot Springs early afternoon where we had booked an economy cabin. We settled in and then enjoyed an afternoon soak in the natural hot springs water before heading to Missoula for the first wedding activity.

Coming next: The wedding festivities

Photo credits:
All photos by Neil Rhoads except the following—
Alabama Hills/Mount Whitney photo credit
Walker Lake photo credit
Google map Zimmer Creek
Payette River photo credit
Lochsa River at Split Creek Bridge photo credit
Lolo Hot Pool photo credit
Lolo Outdoor Pool photo credit

Update to Gardening Project

Posted on November 6, 2014 by Nanette Harter

It’s the beginning of November and we have just gone through a hot and humid few months on Maui. We are always grateful for the ocean across the street and the cooling trade winds when they come. The crotons we potted in January are well rooted and growing steadily but still not as quickly as we had hoped. We decided to add some additional privacy screening by putting up some reed fence to the front of the lanai. We are happy how it turned out. We did put the bird feeder dried bush back against the lanai but we can’t see the birds enjoying their sunflower seeds as clearly now. The Hearts and Flowers greenery ground cover has had mixed success covering the outside of the pots. A few have had been fully covered with beautiful green plant while the one next to it is attacked by a fungus or insect that cause the plants to wilt up and die. I am constantly snipping from the healthy ones and replanting in the other pots and looking for natural sprays.

Our bee balm and ageratum plantings looked like some of them might succeed for a while and we had one reach full bloom. However, these starts grown from seeds were not able to survive the Kihei insects or at ground level. The pots with the greenery are enough for now. The side fence by the cottage continues to look good with our tropical foliage. And we do enjoy looking over toward the potted greenery we planted behind Jean and Morley’s house. It is very shaded and it doesn’t grow quickly.

On the lanai we have a few potted ferns and hanging herb baskets. We continue to enjoy morning tea with our gecko friends. They line up in the sun waiting for us to come out with their mango treat. They seemed fine with frozen mango juice after the fresh mango supply was finished. We started referring to the lanai table as ‘the playground’ because any new box or plant or temporary addition on the table has to be explored and climbed all over by our little green friends.Their antics are endlessly entertaining.

Now that the sun is moving south we can enjoy a little sun bath in the cool mornings.