Father's Day 2013

I have been so blessed when it comes to the men in my family.  Not only my dad, but both of my grandfathers are still alive and well.

My dad has always been such an incredible example to me.  When I was a kid, I always wanted to be just like him when I grew up.  He is so hardworking, thoughtful, intelligent, humble, loving and generous.  And really that's just the beginning of it.  I remember him coming home from long (and when I say long, I mean REALLY long) days at work and just playing with us kids until it was time for bed.  Now that I'm a parent, I realize just how incredible that was.  My dad may have worked long hours, but my siblings and I NEVER felt like he did because when he was home, he genuinely LOVED spending time with us doing whatever it was that we wanted to do.  I could seriously tell you a myriad of stories about how incredible he is, but in the interest of time, I will just say that I still hope to be like him when I grow up.  :)

My Grandpa Collyer reminds me of my dad in so many ways.  Or maybe I should say my dad reminds me of my Grandpa Collyer. :)  He is like this quiet strength in the corner of my life.  He doesn't talk a lot, but I know he loves me.  And if you get him talking about his grand kids or his garden, he just lights up.  I love him, and am so proud to be his granddaughter.  

Just thinking about my Grandpa Timms makes me smile.  He is always up for a good time, and loves to tell you stories from the good old days, and listening to him makes me want to experience the good old days too!  He also just got a little dog and oh my gosh, seeing how much he loves that tiny thing just melts my heart.  I love him so much.

Today my sister-in-law reminded me that this week it will have been five years since Zeke passed away.  I couldn't believe it had been so long.  So much has happened since then.  So many things I wish we could have shared with him in this life.  Every time I remember that only one of my kids even got to meet him, it makes me want to cry a little.  But we find so much comfort knowing that we will see him again.  We love and miss you Zeke. 

My brother is so sweet and happy and caring and generous.  I swear that kid would give you the shirt off his back if you asked him.  And then he'd go smiling shirtless down the street, happy that he could help you out.  I sure miss having him live so close.  One day he is going to be such a great dad.

And my brothers in law, seriously, they are just awesome. I've said it before, but I really lucked out when it comes to in-laws.  I just love being around them.  They are so fun and thoughtful.  I really don't know how I got so lucky.  Any time we get together we have such a blast.  I love it.

And seriously I really could go on and on. I have some incredible uncles (both blood and through marriage) that probably deserve a post in and of themselves, but I'll leave it at that for now.

Finally, I cannot tell you how grateful I am that I get to be married to this guy.  (I'm pretty sure he's going to kill me for posting this picture of him).  Te he he.  He seriously is the greatest though.  I love him so much.  I love him for his faith. I love him for his loyalty. I love him for his sense of humor. I love him for how much he loves me and our girls.  I love him for his passion and enthusiasm.  I love him because he makes me laugh.  I love him SOOOO much.  I'm so glad he's mine.  :)

And here's a little video the girls and I made for Bart for Father's Day. 

I hope all you dads out there had the best day ever!

Food Photography

When my dad was growing up on the farm, every year on your birthday you got to choose what was for dinner.  You could have anything you wanted.  Anything.  One year, when it was my dad's birthday, my aunt was really excited.  She knew they would have a good dinner that night.  (Birthday dinners were always good).  But when my grandmother asked my dad what he wanted for dinner, he responded, "Bread and milk."  Yep.  Bread and milk.  Of all of the foods in the world that he could have, he chose bread and milk.  My aunt still gets worked up whenever she talks about it.



As funny as having bread and milk for dinner may sound, I have to confess...it's one of my favorite meals too.  But only when it's homemade bread.

My mom has a bread recipe from her mom that my siblings and I absolutely LOVE.  In fact, my three siblings who are still in college each have a Bosch (purchased solely for the purpose of making this bread) and ALL semi-regularly make it!  Seriously, we love it that much.  :)  And since this month's blog circle theme is food photography, I thought I'd share not only some pictures of the bread, but the recipe as well.

Grandma Timms' Wheat Bread

1/2 c warm water
2 Tbsp yeast (sprinkle yeast on to water, set aside)

2 Tbsp salt
1/2 c oil
1/2 c honey
4 large eggs
1 can evaporated milk
2 c warm water
1/2 c apple sauce
8 c wheat flour
4 c white flour


Mix all ingredients except yeast mixture and flower in the bowl of a Bosch fitted with the dough hook.  To the mixture add 2 C of flour at a time, mixing well in between.  After you've added 1/3 of the flour, add the yeast mixture.  Continue adding the flour beating it well.  Add just enough flour to make the dough slightly come away from the bowl (too much flour makes the bread dry and coarse).  Knead 10 min in Bosch bowl or by hand.   Let the dough rise in bowl until it is 1 inch above the bowl, punch down.  Shape into 4 loaves and put into 4 bread pans that have been greased and floured.  Let rise slightly above pan.  Bake two loaves at a time at 375°f  for 25-30 minutes. 

Enjoy!

If you feel up to it, you can whip up some homemade jam to have with it too!  It's heavenly, and makes a great little gift to pass on to a neighbor or friend.



Now go check out Stacey's blog to see what she came up with this month. 

The Way I View - Fatherhood

Good grief, how is it July already?  Well, I'm not going to lie, my plans for my Fatherhood posts turned out much like my plans for my Motherhood post.  Except I didn't realize I hadn't fulfilled my plans until...well...today...which was a bit too late for the month of June.

Fortunately, Bart is out of school for the summer, so we've been doing lots of stuff as a family, so I had lots of pictures of him.  There are some definite benefits to being a school teacher.   :)

We started off the month visiting the Children's Art's Festival in Springville.  And honestly, I'm pretty sure I couldn't have planned on pictures that are more illustrative of the special bond Bart has with our girls than these. THIS is their thing.  This is what they do together.  What they bond over.  Bart is an art teacher, and the girls absolutely LOVE it when he does any type of art with them.  And I KNOW that the feeling is mutual.

I was horrified when we got to the art's festival and realized I had left my camera at home.  Fortunately Bart had his iPhone, so all was not lost and I was able to capture the day with that. 

Just like Motherhood is not all fun and games, neither is Fatherhood.  This month we had to replace part of our fence that had blown down in a windstorm.  It had blown down a while ago, but Bart had absolutely no time to work on it because he was trying desperately to finish his Master's degree.  Technically at this point he wasn't done, but he had submitted it and was waiting for a response from the Dean, so he thought he'd take the day he had to put up the fence. 

In the process of digging the holes for the posts, he realized that the roots of a dead tree were right in the way, so pulling down the dead tree moved from relatively low on his to do list to first priority. 

Unfortunately, pulling out the tree wound up breaking EVERY SINGLE sprinkler connected to the sprinkler box right next  to the tree.  So fixing that was added to his to do list that day. 

It was a long (although quite productive) day.  He NEVER would have been able to do it all without the help (and positive attitude) of our good friend.  Seriously Jake, I'm pretty sure we owe you for the rest of our lives!  Thank you!

Fortunately, the good things tend to outweigh the...trying things.  Ice Cream with the girls.  AWESOME. (Don't worry, that's face paint on Hannah's face, not some sort of crazy scratch.)

And going to the older girls' performances, and seeing them dance and sing and have a great time...a total perk of fatherhood.

Even if life isn't always sunshine and roses, I sure am grateful I'm going through it with this guy.  And I'm so grateful he's my girls' dad.  They are so lucky to have a father who loves and adores them so much.  I love you babe!

Head on over to Candace's blog to see her take on fatherhood (I promise it'll make you smile). ;)