Wedded Bliss

The day started out calm and quiet. We woke up in the B&B we chose to stay in and had a leisurely breakfast of muffin, coffee and juice. Very simple, very relaxed and very perfect!

We had a couple of errands to run on the way home, pick up some more Sparkling Cider, another bottle (or 3) of wine, some more ice (just in case) and some finger foods for our guests.

At home we collected the cameras, changed into our wedding clothes and coordinated transportation for the kids.The it was time to head over to VickieLee's.

VickieLee is my dear friend and co-worker who has helped me in so many ways and is always the first person I think of when anything needs doing right. So naturally, she was my go-to gal for the most important day of our lives.

Always the hostess, she was in her element as she welcomed friends and strangers alike, making sure each had their choice of beverage and the serving platters were never empty.

Allyssa was so impressed with my menu choices she asked that I make pizza rolls for her next formal affair too. And just for the record, they don't really make much noise even when you "clank" them together :)

  

 

 

VickieLee is very artistic and her home has a lot of stained glass, which makes for some really interesting backdrops in some of these photos.

 

Karl picked out his first Non-Clip-On tie for the occasion.

Here's a pair to draw to.

Together we can accomplish almost anything and no matter what we get into, a good time WILL be had by all.

 

Jocelyn, aka "Asian" is by far my favorite kid of all time. She's funny and smart and looks good in purple. Besides, SHE didn't make fun of the pizza rolls. Just sayin.

  

The groovy goulies, aka Allyssa and Karl. You can't tell from the picture but Allyssa was actually pushing Karl down so she could appear taller. Just wait babe, one of these days, he's gonna getcha.

 

The lovely and talented Miss Lauren, my stunning Maid of Honor who can magically create beauty with a wave of her spray can. Actually, no hairspray was used in the making of this magical moment but without her final touches I would have felt less presentable.

  

VickieLee's home shares an almost identical view of Pioneer Peak that we have from our home, but she is on the other side of the river and enjoys the view across the river bottom as well. We had many little birds flitting outside the window in spite of the near zero temperatures.

  

During the ceremony, I cried. And because I was unprepared, I didn't have a tissue.  Pam, being the thoughtful, kind, friend that she is, offered me her sleeve. This is an ongoing joke between us and this time it made me laugh so hard I almost had wine come out my nose. With friends like these who needs enemies?

 

I now present, Mr. & Mrs. Thomas Olsen.

 

My mothers cousin Judy and her husband Carl moved from Fairbanks last year and now live right around the corner from VickieLee.

Soaking in the moment, while Tom talked to Barb on the phone. Happy in the cozy nook with the wonderful view surrounded by friends & family.

Time for everyone to sign on the dotted line.

Lauren hamming it up for the camera.

Michael witnessing on our behalf.

 

Karl and Allyssa's boyfriend Ilir investigating their beverage options.

My little boy starting to look more grown up.

Not to be outdone by his lovely wife, David strikes a G-Q pose.











And through it all, Baby A (Lauren & Dave's daughter) snoozes all warm and snuggly in her bunting.

We're Building A Barn!!!

Our chicken habit has grown to include more than just regular old egg layers. Now we have added a rare landrace to our collection. Meet the Icelandic Chickens...

Icelandic Chickens were nearly extinct until an Icelandic Preservation Society stepped in to help save them. Since the 1970's conservation efforts have helped increase the population in Iceland and then in 2003 the first eggs were imported into the US. Since that time, more eggs were imported and more chicks were hatched. As the chicks grew into beautiful mature birds, their eggs were shared with other preservationists and the numbers have continued to grow.

The Icelandic Chickens are unique in that no two look alike, there is no standard as there is with most chicken breeds. They are, quite simply, simply beautiful birds.

http://www.aviculture-europe.nl/nummers/10E06A03.pdf

Here comes the barn

Construction starts TODAY!

the site has been selected

We are putting the barn in the clearing to the right, in front of the fireweed fields and by the trees for a wind break.

The excavator's been delivered.

The dirt work should be happening as I type this, I can't wait to get home and see the progress.

Guiness Brownies

Guinness Brownies
The original version of these brownies was developed in Ireland. The malt in the Guinness stout beer intensifies the flavor of the chocolate in these delicious brownies. The texture is an interesting combination of fudge, mousse, candy, and traditional brownies. Although decadently chocolate, they are surprisingly light due to the eggs. You won't taste the beer at all. Great for St. Patrick's Day or any day.

Prep Time: 15 minutes                             Cook Time: 30 minutes
                                 Total Time: 45 minutes                           
Ingredients:
* 1 cup all-purpose flour
* 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 6 tablespoons unsalted room temperature butter, cut into cubes
* 8 ounces dark bittersweet chocolate, chopped
* 3/4 cup white chocolate chips
* 4 large eggs, at room temperature
* 1 cup superfine or granulated sugar
* 1-1/4 cups (10 ounces) Guinness Extra Stout beer (see Note below)
* 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
* 1/8 cup (about) confectioners' sugar for dusting

Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with nonstick foil.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, and salt until evenly combined. Set aside.

Melt butter, bittersweet chocolate, and white chocolate chips in a double-boiler over very low heat, stirring constantly until melted. Remove from heat.

In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add melted chocolate mixture, beating until combined.

Beat reserved flour mixture into melted chocolate mixture. Whisk in Guinness stout beer. The batter will seem a bit thin. Drop semisweet chocolate chips evenly on top of batter (some will sink in).

Pour into prepared baking pan. Bake 25 to 30 minutes on center rack in the oven, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean.

Let brownies cool, uncovered, to room temperature. Dust with confectioners' sugar before serving.

Note: The Guinness should be at room temperature. This recipe uses a little less than a standard 12-ounce bottle of Guinness stout beer. Do not include foam in the measurement. Either spoon off the foam or let it rest until the foam subsides.

Yield: 36 to 48 brownies, depending on cut size

Review
Just as good without the alcohol!
I hope everyone will try this recipe just as written, because they are super-delicious - best brownie I've ever made or eaten! I've not made brownies any other way since finding the recipe - they are that good! But I just made them using 10 oz. of cola in place of the stout, and I thought they came out just as good as the original recipe. I mixed 2 packets of instant coffee granules into the Coke to enhance the chocolate (just like with the stout, you don't taste the coffee or the coke flavor.) I think I'll probably add the instant coffee again, next time I make them with stout (I use Young's Double Chocolate Stout instead of Guinness.) But you could also substitute 10 oz. of weak coffee or water (or even orange juice, to add a subtle hint of orange!) if you wanted to avoid using alcohol. Also, I substituted peanut butter chips for the white chocolate this time, but you couldn't really taste the PB. I think you could though, if the cup of chips scattered over the top at the end was PB instead of semi-sweet (but only for the non-alcohol version, not the original recipe.) And the first time I made these, I mixed the choc. chips into the batter before pouring it into the pan; I liked that way better than scattering them on top because you got bits of melty chocolate throughout the brownie instead of just on top. Lastly, be careful to *slowly* add the melted chocolate to the beaten eggs; otherwise, the heat from the chocolate will cook the eggs and you'll end up with scrambled chocolaty eggs. Anyway, try these brownies TODAY!

My Icelandic Babies

I made this video of my new Icelandic babies to share with a friend at work. I love all the colors and man do they have personality! Can you spot the turkey? I'll give you a hint, it's white.  =)

Catching Up

Wow. Ok. I guess I've not been keeping up with all the "current events" around here.

Let's see... The week after we moved in I got to travel to Maryland to the FEMA training center and took the Floodplain Development course so now I am a Certified Floodplain Manager. Woo-hoo! "Camp FEMA" was a lot of fun, but I sure am glad to have all that testing behind me. I met Floodplain Managers from all over the country (some of which gave me some excellent ideas for possible wedding locations) and I even revived the Civil War by way of instigating a North vs South snowball fight =)  And just for the record, those big 'ole Texas boys make big 'ole snow angels, the kid from Florida (Who had never seen real snow flakes in his life!) made a pretty decent angel too.

I got home in time to enjoy a great Housewarming/Engagement/SuperBowl party. There were kids of all ages in and around the house, thank goodness we have lots of room, it was nice to see all the different groups enjoying themselves in their own way. Tom and the rest of the hard core football group were holed up in front of Tom's 60" tv, a short walk to the beverage fridge, and if there were any bad calls I didn't notice because the sound of yelling never carried to the upper level ;0)

The kids enjoyed the day with lots of junk food and several trips into the hot tub. My daughters were responsible enough to start washing towels in their side early in the day so we had a constant supply. We were able to get the cable tv installed in their living room so they were happy. I have to wait for Spring thaw to get it run into mine. It seems the tower base was built in a way that cordless signal from the cable router won't work and we have to run actual cables into that room and you can't manipulate cable at -12* without the casing shattering. Oh well, I have a DVD player and I don't really watch much tv anyway.

The rest of February was spent working like crazy to get our previous residences emptied out and the new house unpacked and organized. What a project! Who knew we had so much stuff. Tom had lived in his house for 18 years, and although it didn't feel cluttered, it sure did have alot of stuff to sort through. I had only been in mine for 5 years but between my mother and grandma "downsizing" and my 3 kids "collecting" it was bursting at the seams too. I ordered a dumpster for the driveway and my goal is to fill it up, repeatedly!

In February I also discovered the wonders of Icelandic Chickens. They are a preservation project that I just couldn't pass up. Not only are they cold hardy and and expert foragers, they come in a wide variety of colors, shapes and sizes which is what I like best about them. I like to look out and see a broad spectrum of pretty critters in the yard, this is going to be a match made in heaven. Now that I can get all the variety in just one "breed" I won't have to manage a whole bunch of different pens and breeds which will make it much easier to actually relax and enjoy my chickens.

Life in the tower is awesome! The hot tub gets used nearly daily, sometimes twice a day, it's become my "dessert" after a long day. The plants are loving it and I am so excited to have a solarium to house a wider variety of trees and flowers that I wouldn't be able to grow otherwise. I think a small citrus selection will be next on my list.

The entire house gets so much sun, I love all the windows, and on our first hot day of the season it was great to have them all open and letting the fresh air in.And the best part... every single window has a stunning view! Come on over and you'll see what I mean.

Moving Day

THAT WAS THE BEST MOVE EVER!!!!!!!

The house is even more amazing now that it's our and has our stuff in it, even if it IS a sea of boxes piled everywhere. The kids were awesome, Tom was the epitome of calm, and everybody worked really hard.

We started Friday evening at Tom's house in Anchorage, 47 miles from where we live. His brother and 3 friends helped us get all the big heavy furniture in the truck Friday night (it was -5*) then we drove out and parked the truck and got some much needed sleep. Tom got up at 5:30 am and drove back in to his house, met his brother again and they loaded up the garage fridge and washer/dryer, plus some other heavy stuff on Mike's trailer and brought it out. I got up and ran to the grocery store and literally filled the car with groceries and Red-bull. While I was at the store my girlfriend showed up at my house and rousted the kids, She had them filling every car in the driveway to the brim. As soon as I got home I loaded the incubator and eggs in the front of her pickup, grabbed the huge U-Haul and led the parade to the new house. The sellers were just finishing loading up and we had a brief chat and exchange of keys in the driveway.

Finally, it was ours, all ours. The kids ran screaming through the empty house exploring every room while I set up the incubator and then gave my girlfriend the tour so she could direct traffic more effectively. I had the groceries hauled in first and threw some ridiculously easy but really yummy breakfast casserole in the oven then began unloading the big truck. Tom and Mike showed up about 10 minutes into the unloading and got the joy of hauling in the heavy stuff. The girls got tired and whipped out their cell phones, called every boy they know. ;)

Round 2 was amazing, VickieLee is a drill sergeant and got those kids whipped into a well coordinated moving machine. They had the furniture out of my house and into the truck faster than I could point out what needed to go. When we got back to the new house I barely had time to take care of the dogs while she had the truck unloaded again. She's good! She made those kids work fast! She came and announced they were on their way back for round three and told me that my job was to reassemble all the furniture that had been disassembled to move. Tom and Mike were assembling my son's bed (a million screws in that sucker) and before I could even start to get things put back together she was back with ANOTHER Truck load. 

Anyway, it was wonderful to have so much help. The dogs are SO happy to have a dog-door. Although we have no snow, just ice and my Chesapeake managed to tear a pad running around her new backyard. She loves have a really big yard and just runs full tilt all around it. The cats are busily exploring all the new nooks and crannies, the dogs can't stop running from room to room. The sellers had raised boxers so they had 5 dogs in the house and even though it is super clean, my girls can still smell their dogs.

Yesterday morning Tom and I took our coffee and sat up in the Tower watching the sky get lighter behind the mountains. We didn't have time to watch till the sun actually rose, the sky gets lighter starting about 8:30-ish but the sun doesn't come up till about 10. But what a way to start the day!

I have never been so happy about being so exhausted in my whole entire life!

Tom is now busily assembling tv's and other electronic "stuff", the cable guy is on his way to the house to hook make everything do what it's supposed to do, and I'm at the office working the day away plotting and planning which room to organize first.

See you all a little farther up the trail.

It's Official

It's finally OURS! Tonight we start at Tom's in Anchorage, we're loading up all his furniture first. We'll bring the truck out and park it in my driveway overnight. Tomorrow, we'll eat a hearty breakfast before heading over to start unloading.  Yay!!!!!

Almost Home

We've jumped through so many hurdles, some we didn't even see coming, and in a matter of hours we should finally get loan approval and be ready to sign...

<Big cleansing breath>  We are almost there. A few last little wrinkles to iron out.