Father's Day -- ohhhh, yeahhhh....

I know, I know.

For the rest of the country, Father's Day is over. Long gone. A blip on the radar.

But in my own little blogging world..... I'm just now getting to it.  Ha!!

But I absolutely have to say how very grateful I am and how blessed I feel that we have this amazing guy:

And also THIS amazing guy:

I love the steadiness and the wisdom that Todd's father brings to our whole extended family. He is truly a treasure to us. He is slowing down a bit these days, but still as awesome as ever! LOVE our Grandpa! And he's such a great grandpa to all our kids ..... like these two:

So silly!

Grandma hosted our family for Father's Day, and we had a Hawaiian-themed party -- hence, the plastic leis! We missed having the other kids here with us, but it was still so nice to get together with family.

And a little silly.

Or a lot silly!

That's one of the fathering qualities that I love about Todd..... when he wants to, he can be just as crazy as any of these three crazy girls. Once, he unceremoniously dropped a child into the hot tub -- fully clothed. She did NOT expect that from her dad:

(He almost had Alyssa too, but she had the advantage of being forewarned.)

But there's way more to him than just that.

He has always been a wonderful provider and protector for our family. Owning our own business, which has seasonal work, can make it a little tougher at some times of the year, but he has always made sure that we never worry about any of our needs. Ever.

As a young, clueless teenager, I used to snicker whenever I overheard my Depression-era mother say, "Well, at least he's got work."       Like it was some huge achievement. But with age comes some understanding, and I really do appreciate that we have work.

Todd is also a wonderful teacher to our kids. Any one of them could recite his mantra: "Anything worth doing is worth doing right. The first time." They may not always live it (yet), but they sure know it. I think one of the most effective family home evening activities we've had was the night that he took the teens outside, opened up the hoods to the vehicles, and discussed maintenance, care, and how an engine works. 

As busy as he is, he takes the time to spend time with our kids. That last photo was a steelhead fishing trip he took the boys on. He has helped them through all their Scouting years, helping each one of them attain his Eagle Scout rank, and gone on a whole lot of campouts along the way -- including those Winter Campouts. (Think about that one for a moment: Winter. Campout. In Northern Idaho. Oh, yes.)

He has been a baseball or softball coach for every one of them (and I'm sure Emma's turn will come, too.). For the girls in particular, that added up to a lot of years and a lot of teams. He had years when he coached three teams at the same time: each girl's Little League Team, and also a travel-ball team:

(Alyssa is always the "tall girl in the back" of group photos)

He's the guy who teaches his kids by example. He almost never instructs the kids on what work he wants done .... he will go out and DO it, and pull the kids along into working alongside him.

He's the guy who disciplines his kids when I am more of a softie than is good for them. He's also the guy who tells me to lighten up when I'm being too hard on them. He taught me a great lesson many years ago, by showing me that each child is different, and they don't all pop out of the same mold.

 And. This is the guy, who treats me like a queen.
He buys me flowers, because he knows how much I love them -- and then pops an allergy pill so he can stand to be in the same room with them.  He drives long hours on trips and lets me snooze away in the passenger seat. He brings my visions to life.....  Our living room entry that now looks like this:

Started out by looking like THIS:

Yes, seriously!

And yes, .... I sketched out the arch of the entry, the columns, the lights in it ..... and he built it all.

As you read through this blog, if you click on any of the entries on the "Home to Haven: Remodeling" page, you can see an abundance of his hard work. That represents many, many long hours for him, often quite late into the nights.

Right now, even as I type this, ..... this is what he's doing:

Hard at work again, on the latest landscaping project in the front yard. I'll tell you more about it when I have more to show you. Hmm... what's that old saying about the difference between men and boys is the size [and cost] of their toys? So true!!

He brings home surprises, he makes memories with us, he supports and sustains us all. He leads by example with our spiritual lives and our children always know where he stands on any issue. He blesses us continually.

He lifts me up, and also keeps me grounded.

I am forever and eternally thankful for him. Words cannot adequately express how much I love this guy.

So, Happy Father's Day, sweetheart! You are truly the BEST!!

Sum-sum-summertime!! ..... and chocolate.

Summer may not be here yet on the calendar, but it's definitely here in spirit. And weather. And I love it! I've probably said this before, but ..... I love having the doors and windows open and breezes freshening up the house. I love driving with the sunroof open. I love going barefoot. I love the smell of freshly-mown grass, and blooming flowers and coming rainstorms. I love brighter colors after winter's duller and darker neutrals. I love sleeping with just a sheet and the ceiling fan running. I love lemonade and milkshakes and homemade ice cream. And I totally don't understand why we don't think of making homemade ice cream in the wintertime-- it's not like it couldn't happen then.

So, a week ago, school let out for the summer. My mother used to dread school vacations. I remember she would sign me up for summer school, just to get me "out of her hair". I didn't think I was that difficult a child, but Mom surely wasn't a fan of having me "underfoot." I am rather a polar opposite, because I love having the kids home and NO SCHEDULE during vacations! It makes me really happy!

So, when our local church youth leaders asked if they could use our back yard for a water play activity on the last day of school, I was all for it! I love the youth, and love having them here. We set up the volleyball net for them, and Todd actually had several from his Sunday School class come early for a pizza party. Todd has often told them about how amazingly-good pizza is when it's got the smokey flavor of being cooked on the pellet grill, so this was their chance to sample it. That's the only way we cook pizza anymore: outdoors, on the grill. It comes out with the crust a bit more crusty and the cheese takes on the smokey flavor --mmmmm-- so good!! Like it was cooked in a wood-fired pizza oven.

Then, it was game on, with all the teenagers! They used the volleyball net to create a Water Balloon Battleship game. I think you can figure out how that works!

One side would load up on water balloons,

And the other side would line up for the barrage:

But of course, the game changed into an all-out water fight ....

(Which, I'm so glad their leaders had figured that into their plans. Can you imagine how dull it would have gotten if the water fight part hadn't been allowed?)

I didn't get a lot of "great" pictures. I need to practice more with action shots in late afternoon light. I should really have everyone come over again for a rematch, just so I can practice with the camera!

After the water fight, the kids played some regular volleyball, and ate the yummy treats that everyone brought.

I think the kids enjoyed it a lot, it was a great school-end activity, friendships were strengthened, and their leaders were smart to have something for them that was just for FUN.

There were a little over 30 kids here that evening, and many of those were some of my former and current Seminary students, and also some of the new ones that will be in my class this coming fall. I love my Seminary kids so much!!

So, also that day, I decided to make some brownies to add to the table of treats for the kids. I've been trying to be careful lately on what I've been eating (more on that in an upcoming post), so I haven't done a whole lot of baking. But, sometimes, I just need to bake something!!

So this is my go-to recipe for when I decide to make brownies from SCRATCH. Most of the time, I'm all about a boxed brownie mix. In fact, that's so convenient, that when we've gone camping, I often bring brownie mix to make while we're gone. I take the bag of mix out of the box, and write the eggs/oil/water on the bag with a Sharpie marker, along with the baking time and temperature.

But if I want to feel like a Holly Homemaker, I make them from scratch. 

The original recipe calls for chopped nuts instead of chocolate chips. And while I love nuts, I am not a fan of nuts IN things. I like them on the side. Coated in cinnmony-sugary goodness. (That's another recipe post for another time.) I also like them spiced. Or roasted and salted. Or honey-roasted. Just don't (generally) put nuts IN things. Like cookies, or brownies. Unless the nuts are the whole point -- like pecan tassies or something.

So, yes.  I totally use chocolate chips instead of nuts. But if you're in the "love nuts in brownies" camp, go ahead and knock yourself out.

Here we go......

First, I've changed to always using a glass baking dish for brownies. Probably because I was tired of warning people not to use a sharp knife in my "good" non-stick baking pans. Even when I provided a plastic knife to serve them, somehow my non-stick pans were always getting scratched. This way, I stay happy! Baking times change a little, so check the recipe closely.

Start with the REAL butter, and please don't fudge and use margarine for this one. 20 years ago, I would have used margarine, but today's margarine has so much water and air in it, it's not even close to the same as butter for baking purposes. So, I put the butter and the baking chocolate in the mixing bowl and microwave it to melt it. Butter melts faster than chocolate,so you have to watch it, and stir it a little.

You don't have to wait for the chocolate to melt all the way, because it will finish melting as you stir it with the hot butter. When it's all melted and smooth, it looks like this:

Some how, a wooden spoon just seems "right" to use with this recipe.

Then add the sugar ....

When you mix in the sugar, it takes on a gritty look. Which is probably a help when you add in ...

... the eggs (and vanilla). The grit of the sugar helps the eggs incorporate better. And actually, I think the addition of the sugar helps temper the butter/chocolate mixture a bit, so that the eggs don't scramble on contact.

This is that chocolate chip part ....

Well, after the flour, that is. Flour, and THEN the chocolate chips. Anticipation of chocolate is probably at work in my brain, here.

By the way, going off topic here for just a moment..... Have you seen this product, or am I the only one who didn't know about these things:

These baking melts are kind of like big, fat, flat chocolate chips. I debated putting them in with this batch of brownies, but decided not to do it this time. (Which is fine, because these brownies don't need them at all.)

HOWEVER. In the last two batches of chocolate chip cookies I've made (both batches for other people, and one went to Cameron at college), .... I have used these, and they're REALLY good in the cookies! I don't mix them into the cookie dough, but I've taken one of them and embedded it into each of the dough mounds on the cookie sheets. So every cookie gets one of these babies inside it.

Oh. My. Goodness. Seriously, good stuff right there! Where have these things been all my life??

Anyway.

Back to the brownies! Mix it all up,

And put it into a GREASED baking dish. 

I totally thought I had greased my dish well enough (I use baking spray), but when Todd cut these brownies, he said he had a big problem with them sticking. So my takeaway lesson is: don't forget the grease, and be generous with it.

And don't forget to let the five-year-old lick the spoon, either!

I always thought my mom was the coolest for letting me lick spoons or bowls or beaters!  This is my way of being the cool mom. I admire mothers who are totally into healthy eating constantly. That's just not me, though.

Anyway ---- Then bake!

After you ignore the dirty stovetop, please note that these brownies were just a bit too underdone. But better underdone than overdone, when we're talking about brownies, here!

Not finished with these yet, but here's the recipe with exact ingredient amounts for you:


One Bowl Brownies

4 squares unsweetened chocolate
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Microwave chocolate and butter in a large bowl on HIGH power for 2 minutes, or until butter is melted. Stir until chocolate is completely melted.

Stir sugar into melted chocolate mixture. Mix in eggs and vanilla until well blended. Stir in flour and chocolate chips. Spread in a 9x13-inch glass baking dish.

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out with fudgy crumbs. Do not overbake.
Cool in pan. Frost if desired. Cut into squares. About 24 brownies.

(When using a metal baking pan, increase oven temperature to 350 degrees.)


So, to me, brownies always need something to "finish" them. Usually, that's frosting. And sprinkles. Once, I tried just dusting them with powdered sugar. I thought it was great -- not as decadent, but still good -- but the family sure didn't go for them like that. Guess who ended up eating most of that batch? You got it.

So, I usually use canned frosting (for convenience sake) to frost the brownies, and I top that with sprinkles of varying kinds. And that's what I did for this batch, too, because I ran out of time to make frosting from scratch as well. (Sorry, no finished photos. Ran out of time for THAT, too!!)

BUT, if I were to make frosting for brownies -- THIS is the recipe I use:

Glossy Chocolate Frosting

3 tablespoons shortening
3 squares unsweetened chocolate
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Microwave shortening and chocolate until melted. Stir in remaining ingredients, beat until smooth. Place bowl of frosting in a bowl of ice and water; continue beating until frosting is smooth and of spreading consistency. Perfect amount for a batch of brownies. Ok, and if you're really all that into nuts, you could totally put in 1/2 cup of finely chopped nuts. But I didn't tell you that.

I have also substituted cocoa and butter for the squares of chocolate in this frosting, and it worked just fine. 3 Tablespoons cocoa powder + 1 Tablespoon butter or shortening = 1 square of baking chocolate.

Whew!! This was a really long post. Probably should have divided it, but too late now! And, you probably are craving some chocolate by now. If not, you should go re-read this until you do!

One WICKED Evening

Once upon a time, not so long ago, there was a benevolent wizard who purchased tickets to a Broadway show for three of his absolute most-favorite females in the entire world.

And then, in an act of pure unselfishness, (as all good wizards are unselfish!) this wizard proceeded to chauffeur those three females for the two-hour drive to get to the show, spring for a delicious Italian meal for the five of them, chaperon the five-year-old princess on a mini-shopping spree through her favorite stores during the show, and then drive this wild group for the two-hour trip back home again.

Can you imagine???

THAT, my friends, is quite simply a-mazing! What a wizard!!!  In fact, ..... he's pretty WONDERFUL .......  ;-)

And it was absolutely divine!! We loved every moment of it!

The girls (especially Darcie) were SO excited!

Ok. All three of us were pretty darn excited:

But especially Darcie:

We were totally like tourists, taking every photo op we could:

Coincidentally, we ran into some friends from home, who helped us out with our photos, and we grabbed another good witch-bad witch shot as well: 

Loved the anticipation before the show started!

And a couple of weeks after we got back, we got a good laugh when we found that another friend had totally bought the exact same t-shirt as we did. (I told you we did the "tourist thing"!!)

So cute!

It was absolutely amazing -- the highlight of our year, truly!

Miss Emma didn't feel like she missed out on anything, especially with her trip to Build-a-Bear and Toys R Us. And though Todd might have come along to the show, he didn't have as much interest as we did. So thanks again, Baby! What a great memory!!

MWAH!!

P.S. He totally gave me the option: better seats and return the same evening, or nosebleed seats and spend the night instead of driving home. I opted for the better seats -- Good Decision!!